Summer fun

It seems like ages ago but in July we had an amazing summer vacation in Denmark. Have you ever been to Denmark? I know it might not be on the bucket list of many. There are so many other locations in Europe one wants to discover first. But Denmark is actually a really beautiful and laid back country that makes the perfect destination for a family vacation.

We stayed on a lovely peninsula in the west of Denmark, close to the little town of Elsegarde. On Airbnb we have found a lovely accommodation named Blushojgaard (this is their website but you can also find them on Airbnb) in a renovated farmhouse on top of cliffs and close to the sea. There were even cows grazing in front of our window which was one of the highlights of our little one 🙂

But our favorite feature of the accommodation was this swing on top of the cliff. What a great location for a picnic with the best view ever.

We loved this place and the surrounding area a lot! The nature was beautiful but not too extreme for a 2 year old. Close by were several beaches, little towns as well as the city of Aarhus.

The beach that was the closest to our accommodation was all pebbles but only a short drive away where the sandy beaches of Ebeltoft and Boeslum. The water temperature in July was refreshing but not super cold and the waves were really small so our little one wasn’t scared of stepping into the water.

We explored the surrounding area and fell in love with the rolling hills and views. Our favorite place became the ruins of caste Kalo. To reach the castle you walk over a narrow stretch of land that is surrounded by water on the left and on the right. Then you can roam around the ruins and climb up an old tower to enjoy the view. Really magical.

And then there is the city of Aarhus close by. Aarhus is quite a modern, student type of city with a newly done harbor area. You can do a lot of shopping here, enjoy the cultural offers but we were there mainly for the playgrounds ;-), the park and the nearby deer enclosure (family vacation, what can I say?! :-D).

A really cool feature is the endless loop bridge (“Uendelige Bro” in Danish). Great photo opportunity.

So if you’re already planning your summer vacation 2022 – put Denmark on your list!! 🙂

Work

Work has been slow in the last weeks, mainly because of the life update I will talk about in part II (so stay tuned… ;-)). But I am still working on my eBook about Highlights and Hidden Gems in Stuttgart. I hope to release it by the end of this year. If you’re interested in buying a copy as soon as it is published, just drop me a line: mel@living-in-stuttgart.com . I will point out the must-visit places when living in Stuttgart but also a lot of insider tips and places not even every local knows about.

Moreover, I am still offering my online German conversation training. Due to covid I have stopped the group courses for the time being but I found that online 1-to-one German communication coaching is actually a really good training for my students and more intense then a group course anyway. So if you’re interested in brushing up and practicing your spoken German, get in touch with me via mel@living-in-stuttgart.com . For more information visit Online Communication Training by Living in Stuttgart.

So far for today. Stay tuned for part II of my life update. I will talk about REALLY big news 🙂

The post Life update – part I: Summer fun and work situation appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

I don’t know about you but I am SO glad summer has finally arrived! These last months have been really exhausting with this on and off lockdown situation and the horrible weather this spring. Definitely a mood killer. I tried to fight the corona blues with sport and activities in nature. Nearly every day I put the little one in the stroller and went for a run. I really needed this in the morning in order to wake up.

We have a little forest close by. This was the destination for our morning outing. Here we stopped and I helped her out of the stroller. Then we went explore. She is really confident with being in the forest now. One of our favorite activities: playing hide and seek. But with a twist: She tells me behind which tree I should hide. So I go there, hide behind if for a few seconds and show myself again while shouting “Boohooo!” It cracks her up 😀

Another thing she likes: Standing in circles of pine cones. She helps me collect them, then I lay out a small or bigger circle on the forest floor and she immediately rushes into it. When I lay out various circles she likes to run from one to the other.

We stay in the forest for half an hour or an hour and then I put her back into the stroller and run back. This kind of morning activity was a lifesaver for me during the lockdown(s).

How is the little one?

Oh my god she has grown so much! And she is speaking now. Not in full sentences of course but she learns more and more words on a daily basis. It is sometimes hard to keep track. And she has favorite kid’s songs now that she makes us sing again and again (and again and again and…) One of here favorites is “Old McDonald had a farm” in the German version.

And she is fascinated by everything with wheels these days. Even better: Things with wheels on a construction site. Cranes, excavators, big trucks… you name it, she loves it.

We haven’t started with any child care apart from family members yet. She was meant to start a few months ago in a watched playgroup three mornings a week. But the covid situation was so bad at that time that we postphoned the start to September. I am really looking forward to this. Not only because it means that I can work on a regular basis again (and provide you with more updates about what’s going on in Stuttgart!) but also because being around other kids her age more often will be so good for her. It always melts my heart when I see her playing with other kids on the playground. What used to be normal before covid looks like heaven nowadays, doesn’t it?!

Why the long silence on the blog?

Apart from just not enough time (I did work of course but mainly with my online German conversation groups and as a journalist) I was preparing something special for you guys! I was – and still am – working on – tatatataaaaa – a guide book for Stuttgart!

It will be called “Highlights and Hidden Gems of Stuttgart” and I plan so sell it as an ebook. It will introduce you to the main sights of Stuttgart and – more importantly – to many fun facts and hidden highlights not even every local knows about. Stay tuned for more information. Oh I am SO excited to share this with you 🙂

In the meantime: Tell me what you look for in a guide book about the city you life in! You can do so via email to mel@living-in-stuttgart.com or simply the comment section below this article. It will be great hearing from you!

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As many other businesses, no matter if small like mine or big, the crisis has taken it’s toll. I am still lucky because the blog has never been my main source of income. It is more a project my heart is attached to 🙂 I am also very thankful to the lovely participants of my German Conversation Groups who didn’t mind changing from in-person-meetings to online-sessions. You guys are THE BEST! 🙂 This and the jobs I got as a freelance journalist helped me make it over the crisis so far. But it didn’t leave me with much time to write for the blog. I really really hope this changes for the better this year. I miss you guys! 🙂

With the blog I am in somewhat of a personal dilemma. I don’t want to write about events going on during the pandemic nor about awesome places in Stuttgart because I don’t want to promote any situation that might help spread this devil of a virus any further.

But I thought I pop in today with an update about what I’ve been up to these last few months and some ideas how to entertain a 1.5 year old child when all the childcare facilities are closed. 🙂

Daily routines with a 1.5 years old in Stuttgart during the Corona pandemic

We are following the Corona rules and regulations very strictly and prefer to be a bit more cautious rather than too loose. Better be safe than sorry, right? Plus, I really REALLY want this crisis to be over and the only way I can help dealing with it is by not getting the virus and spreading it without knowing. So no play-dates, no meetings on playgrounds, no going to crowded places for us. Can that get a bit lonely from time to time? Yes? Do I think there is any other way handling the situation? Absolutely not.

So what we do at the moment is we go out in the morning every day. No matter if the sun is shining or if it is snowing. We have a little forest close by. It is too far for the little one to walk so I put on my running cloths, put her in the stroller and we jog over there. It is a great way to include some fitness into my daily routines and it really wakes me up in the mornings. When we arrive at the forest I take a break, take out the little one and we leave the trail and go explore. And there is so much to explore!

A few days ago, when there was fresh snow, we found animal traces. I guess from a mouse and a squirrel. I was actually more fascinated than the little one, but still 🙂 She loves it when I hide behind a tree and pop out my head from time to time and shout “Guguck!” (the German version of peek-a-boo in case you wonder… :-D) She also loves balancing on fallen trees (with my help obviously :-D), making piles of fallen leaves and sticking broken branches into holes…. There is so much to explore in a forest.  This can entertain us for quite some time.

When I took her out of her stroller in the forest the first time she was not very interested. But the more we go the more she gets excited. I think she had to get used to this new, strange environment. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been talking her for walks through the forest since she was born. But at that time she didn’t really understand where she was. I noticed that at some point a few months ago she became aware of her surroundings and places that were not our house or garden suddenly scared her a bit. So with the forest I didn’t push anything.

When we come back home it’s time for some snacks: pieces of an avocado, apple slices, the leftover of her breakfast… I mix it up a bit every day. After the snack we play at home. High in demand at the moment: Dancing to the tunes of her music box “Toniebox“[Affiliate Link] which she got for Christmas, climbing on her Pikler triangle, building towers with Lego and painting.

Around 11:15 am she has an early lunch. Lunch is actually one of the topics I talk about most with my mom- and dad-friends. It can be really tricky figuring out what your little one likes. So here is a little list about what my girl eats at the moment:

• pancake, either with broccoli baked into it or with cheese and ham on top of it
• noodles with cheese and ham
• Wiener Sausage with steamed veggies (carrots, broccoli, zucchini, potato…)
• Fish fingers with steamed veggies
• noodles with macarele

After lunch it’s nap time. She sleeps for around 2 hours during the day at the moment which is great. Gives me some time to work, eat, work-out and even to relax. I hope she will nap until she is 18 years old… (don’t say anything! Let me dream!! :-D)

Whereas the morning routine is mostly the same every day the afternoon routine changes frequently. Some days the grandparents come look after her so that I can work. On other days when it is just me and her we sometimes check out if the playground is empty (there is very small one that not many people know about in our neighbourhood so the chances are usually very good), we check out every corner in the garden, we take a walk up and down the street (super exciting apparently…) or we stay home and play a bit more.

We have dinner between 5 and 6 pm and around 7 it’s time for bed (which doesn’t mean that she falls asleep at that time… :-D)

And that’s pretty much it. It sometimes feels like “Groundhog day” (do any of you guys still remember that movie??) but on the other hand I also enjoy being able to spend that much time with her. She is growing up SO FAST!! So actually every day, how exhausting it might be, is something I want to treasure.

Apart from entertaining the little one most of the day, I try to work as much as possible. I am so thankful that I was able to transfer my German Conversation Groups to online meetings and it has been so much fun meeting so many of you lovely internationals and helping you mastering the German language! To another year of speaking, speaking, speaking and learning a few fun facts about Stuttgart and Germany on the way 🙂 (If you are interested in improving your spoken German in a private online class, shoot me a message to mel@living-in-stuttgart.com)

Next to the conversation groups I work as a freelance journalist again and I am also very, very grateful for that. But I also really hope that the crisis will come to an end eventually so that I find more time and new sponsors for the blog again in order to be able to write more for you guys about the life in Stuttgart. These days will come again, I am sure of it.

Until then, I try to pop in from now and then with some updates or fun facts here and there. In the meantime: I would love to hear from you. How are you dealing with the situation? How does your daily routine look like? And if you have kids: How do you entertain them every day?? 😀

Stay safe and stay healthy!

The post Hello again – this is what we’re up to these days appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

1) The little one (obviously :-))

Being a mom gives me so much joy every day, more than I ever imagined. Are there very exhausting days and nights? Oh yes, especially nights at the moment. But that is forgotten in an instant when she smiles at me, crawls towards me or when we play hide and seek and she screams in joy when she finds me!

I think in this situation with the lockdown and all we are lucky that our little girl is in an age where she doesn’t need much more than mom and dad. We don’t have to explain to her why she can’t meet friends, can’t go to kita, kindergarden, school… and – thank god – we don’t have to homeschool her! All of you parents of older kids: You have my highest respect!

2) This super cute baby turban

On our way back home from Australia we sat next to a lovely family from Estonia and I startet to chat with the mom. Her little girl was wearing the cutest little hat I have seen so far on a toddler and I asked her where she got it from. It turned out she had just started her own little business: Nikiki Baby Girl Turban and she manufactures those lovely hats herself.  I was impressed and said I will definitely order one once we are home but she was quicker and send me one as a present. And what can I say? I LOVE this hat! I even want one for myself (imagine, twinning with your baby girl?!) and told her so and as I was not the only mom who approached her with this idea she might start a new line for grown-ups now. So if you are looking for an unusual, very pretty and comfy baby hat, check out her website www.nikiki.co

3) My online conversation groups

When we came back home from our 2-month Elternzeit into the Corona lockdown I was super sad. Not only because I couldn’t see friends and family after such a long time. Also because I was SO looking forward to starting my German Conversation Groups again. They are so much fun. I love meeting you guys and supporting you on your way to mastering the German language. But as we meet in cafés, restaurants, bars and such it was obvious that I can’t offer the groups for a while anymore.

But I didn’t want to give up so I did some research about what online tools would work best – and started offering online groups. It became clear quickly that the groups need to be smaller than my usual groups because speaking and listening gets very exhausting when too many people take part in a meeting. So I reduced the number to 4 participants and started my first two groups in March. And they were SO MUCH FUN as well! I am so happy that I have found a way to offer the groups even during the corona crisis. The next round will start today, on May 11, so if you want to improve your spoken German and virtually meet some new people (and me :-D), book your place in one of my groups! The Monday group is already booked out but there are free spots in the Thursday group.

4) Being active at home

I totally miss going to my mom-fitness classes. It is so hard for me to find time at home and to motivate myself to become active all alone at home. But now I’ve found a way how I can integrate some exercises in my daily routine. Whenever I play with the little one on the floor I do some planks and hold them for as long as I can. It’s that easy! I don’t need to make extra time for that because I am laying around on the floor anyway. And I don’t need to change in workout clothes or such, I just do them in my regular clothes. And when I’m at it I often include some push-ups and such as well. The little one thinks that’s very funny by the way 🙂

5) Home gardening

With regards to the super full Obis, Bauhauses and such I think we are not the only ones who are gardening at home at the moment. We have started to grow our own veggies and so far our dining room windowsill looks like a little plantation for zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes. And they are growing quickly, that much I can tell you already. We also have a little plastic greenhouse outside as well. Soon we will find out where the seedlings develop better. And some seedlings are already outside in big pots next to our patio (a few years ago we wanted to buy a raised garden bed but man are they expensive… So we just bought some big pots. They are doing the job as well and are much cheeper :-))

6) Fun baby related shows on netflix

As the little one falls asleep around 7 pm we have time in the evenings to watch some shows at the moment. And we came across two super fun shows for (expecting) parents: “The Letdown” and “Babies”. The Letdown is an Australian tv show that follows new mom Audrey through the first year of motherhood. So good! So funny! And SO true!!!

Babies is a documentary that reveals the emotional and astounding development of babies in their first year of life. I find it very interesting to see what the little one is going through from a scientific point of view.

7) Face masks

Ok, no, I don’t have developed a fetish for face masks now. But I think it is a good thing that it is mandatory to wear them now in stores and on public transport. Why? Because I have to admit I felt a bit strange and silly when I started wearing them before they became mandatory. I can’t explain it, it just felt very very weird to me. But I knew that they help a bit to spread the virus so obviously it makes sense to wear them. But the strange feeling didn’t go away just because I knew I was doing the right thing. Maybe you understand what I mean and even experienced the same??

Now that they are mandatory and everybody wears them I am totally fine with them. And it gives me a feeling of solidarity when I see all these people with their masks. And some of them even warm my heart. The other day at the supermarket there was an elderly gentleman with a handmade mask – and he had even drawn a snout on it. It was too cute 🙂

Ok, now it’s your turn to spread some positive vibes! 😀 What are you loving lately?

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