The first part of the prenatal care in Germany series covered everything related to going to the gynaecologist: appointments, ultrasounds, and tests, trimester by trimester. This part is all about the second pillar of Germany’s great prenatal care system: the midwife (aka Hebamme) who will guide you through the ups and downs of pregnancy, childbirth, […]
Prenatal Care in Germany Part 1: at the Doctor’s Office
When I decided that I should write down my experiences and observations about the prenatal care system in Germany I naively thought that one post would suffice. By the time I had written up the first paragraphs I realized that, unless I split it up, I’ll end up with one super-long post. And who has […]
My Germany Bucket List – 10 Things I Want to Do
At the end of the summer, it will be 11 years since I moved to Germany and, believe it or not, I still have a long list of things that I haven’t done! Here are 10 things that I still want to see, do or experience in the country that I currently call home. My Germany Bucket […]
Parenting German Style: the Beach Edition
As a child, I spent many glorious summers on the Latvian Baltic Sea coast, swimming, building sand castles, and fighting a losing battle against turning lobster-red. Bringing my own kids to the seaside in Germany, I couldn’t help but notice that Germans do a few things differently. For one, I cannot believe how much stuff […]
Celebrating Midsummer in Latvia
Have you ever experienced the magic of the shortest night of the year? Some of my warmest memories are of celebrating midsummer in Latvia: lighting a bonfire on the beach, spending the short hours of darkness singing and dancing, and watching the sun rise over the sea. Just like the winter solstice, the summer solstice […]
How I Finally Hacked Spelling my Name in German
When I lived in Latvia, I never needed to spell my name. While not very common as a last name, “Ieviņa” is the sweet form of the name “Ieva” – the Latvian version of “Eve”. A Latvian will never get it wrong. Ever since I moved abroad a decade ago, spelling my name has become […]
Birch Sap: the Springtime Superdrink
In Latvia, where I come from, foraging is a national sport. In summer we flock to meadows and forests to pick blueberries and wild strawberries. In autumn our woods provide us with a bounty of delicious mushrooms. But the real foraging season begins much earlier in the year. Soon after the snow melts and the […]
Birthday Party at Kids at Work, Hamburg
This week, let me tell you a little about Birdy’s 4th birthday party and the fun location where we celebrated it: Kids at Work. Turning four in Germany Here in Germany, the (unwritten) rules for the fourth birthday are in somewhat of a grey area. For the third birthday, kids are invited to the party together with their parents. For […]
Why do the Germans Give Easter Gifts?
Do you give Easter gifts to your loved ones? We Latvians usually don’t. But, as it turns out, even after a decade of living in Germany the country and its customs can surprise me. As I wrote about German Easter traditions last year: While in my childhood Easter egg hunting meant scouring our garden for actual eggs, […]
My 5 Commandments for Staying Consistent as the Minority Language Parent
“Are you a drop-dead-OPOL-mom?” an acquaintance inquired when I published my last update of Birdy’s language progress. I laughed out loud and then started wondering: am I? In our family, we follow the OPOL – one parent one language – strategy (you can read all about our approach here). In this constellation, I’m the minority language […]