Babysitter!!

Elena Robu has been sitting for us during IWC meetings for two years now, and would like to have her contact information posted on our blog. I (Saskia) personally highly recommend her. She is like the pied piper. One of my children can be difficult to manage, but he adores and listens to her.
Here's her information:
Languages: English& German (fluent), French (good), Italian&Spanish (conversational)
E-mail: Elena.Robu@campus.lmu.de

Working experience with children: 8 yrs

European Cultural Studies student in Munich
References upon request.

I would like to be contacted by e-mail. It is easier for me to answer the messages quickly.

Teach Your Child to Read

Are you worried that your child's not learning how to read soon enough? Or is he/she simply expressing a readiness to read that you don't know how to address? Laura Curtis, a new member, has already taught three of her children to read (well, one's a work in progress) with the book:

"Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons"
Siegfried Engelmann; Taschenbuch; EUR 17,99

It's very easy to follow, with short lessons. Give it a try and let us know what you think! It can be purchased at Amazon.com: click here to order. There are dozens of positive reviews on Amazon.

Child-friendly Holiday Place

Looking for a very inexpensive holiday with the kids? Laura Curtis has recommended the following summer resort: http://www.ferienpark-bischofsmais.de/. It's about an hour and a half from Munich. She says it is far from luxurious, but is ideal for children, with numerous activities, apartments with kitchenettes rather than having to eat at restaurants (though there are board programs), and great prices.

Getting a clean house and not doing it yourself

When I lived in the US, I wouldn't consider hiring a cleaning lady, even though I had two more-than-part-time jobs. Once we moved to Munich, I wouldn't have minded one, but had no idea how to find one, as I couldn't speak much German. And then I met my friend's cleaning lady/babysitter, and I thought she was incredibly nice and smart and sweet. She had a university degree, but had the bad fortune to be from a country where her salary wasn't enough for her to make ends meet. And so she became my cleaning lady/babysitter/friend.

It takes a cleaning lady 4 hours to clean my house, and that's without the kids' interruptions. If I were to do it myself, it would take a whole day. And then nothing else would get done that day. I highly recommend it. The going rate is approximately 10 Euros an hour. And the best way to find a cleaning lady is to 1) ask a friend who has one for a recommendation, or 2) ask a cleaning lady for a recommendation. Many have university degrees and are also able to care for children. Many are trying to save up to buy an apartment back home. While most do not speak English, some do.

My current cleaning lady (our original cleaning lady has gone back to her home country to go to medical school) attends an ethnic church and through that knows many young people like her who are looking for cleaning and babysitting jobs. Some speak English, too. If you would like a recommendation, please let me know!

Advocate for non-German students in German Schools

From Lauren Conroy:

I wanted to give you the international student association number and information from Gerdi Poellinger, the woman I dealt with regarding Gymnasium placement and language needs. This woman helps international families navigate the German school system in Munich. Wow! An advocate for us! She apparently speaks many languages, so don't be afraid to call :)

Her email is

gerdi.poellinger@muenchen.de

She is in the office on Fridays only and answers emails when she can.
Below you can find her hours and other contact information. Maybe you can call
to find you what services they provide for other ages/schools.

Freitag 9.00-12.00 Uhr und 13.00-15.00 Uhr
schulberatung-international@muenchen.de
oder rufen unter (089)233-26875 bzw. (089)233-26874

Swimming Lessons/camp

There is a swimming/skiing school in Ismaning that offers various swimming courses all year long, especially during the school holidays. And the website is in English! It's not in perfect English, but hey, they try, and you get the gist.

http://www.skischule-ismaning.de/

Kindl-Lauf

Courtney Kerr came across this on the internet and thought I would send it along if any of your children also have some extra energy to burn! The Kindl-Lauf has short runs for children as well as a Bobby car race and Puppenwagen race.

23 May 2009 Events begin at 8:30

http://www.muenchner-kindl-lauf.de/index.htm

Babysitter Recommendation

Here is a babysitter who has been recommended by IWC member Susan Case! She sat for us at the IWC monthly meeting last week, and was great. She's Canadian-German and grew up mostly in France. She is very sweet with the children, and calm.

The sitter is a student here. She speaks many languages...
Franziska Harder
Languages: English, German, French, Italian
Tel: 54572900
Cell: 015123308481

Dual nationality: Canada & Germany
Age: 20
Art history student in Munich
Character reference and recommendation from Susan Case

Summer Camp during School Holidays

The Penguin English Camp and Pingouin French Camp are for children aged 6-14. They are mostly day camps. There are also art and basketball camps available (in German, I believe). For more information, check out the website: www.penguincamp.de. It's in German, but if your German is poor, perhaps you can give them a call and find an English-speaking person to help you: 08093-708032. The e-mail address is info@penguincamp.de

Second-Hand English Book Sidewalk Sale

The Munich Readery

Flohmarkt

Saturday, 23 May
10.00 - 18.00

On the same day as the Maxvorstadt Hof-Flohmarkt, we will offer hundreds of books on the sidewalk outside our shop.

€0.95 for paperbacks - €1,95 for hardcovers

Small Print:
In case of rain, we'll move all the books inside the shop; our sale will not be postponed even if the other Maxvorstadt Flohmarkts are.


The Munich Readery
Largest English-language Secondhand-book Shop in Germany
Augustenstr. 104
80798 München
49 (0)89/121 92 403

www.readery.de

Welcome to the IWC Mother's Corner Blog! We have been really behind the times, relying on the Yahoo Group for all of our communication needs. While it works fine as a listserv, its website leaves a lot to be desired, and for that reason I'm going to try and move us over to this blog. At the moment, it's not password-protected because I want to just try it out the easy way and see what kind of reception it gets. Please comment and let me know what you think. The advantage of a blog is that posts can be "labeled", which allows them to be sorted. An index will be automatically created, so information can be easily found. For example, if someone posts about a gynecologist they like/don't like, the post will be labeled "doctors". By clicking on the "doctors" link, the blog engine will automatically bring up all posts with that label.

Anyone in the MC will be able to post directly to the blog, or you can send your posts to me. Posts can contain information or just thoughts for reflection. They can also contain questions, and other MC members can comment and give answers.

Please let me know your thoughts!
I'll be posting some actual information soon :)
Saskia,
MC Coordinator