Those who know me will know that I dislike winter. Dislike is probably a little mild, actually. Hate, would be a better word. Abhor, perhaps. Loath. Detest. Hey… sure, a fine winter’s day with snow on the ground when you’re dressed properly… I can enjoy that. But the rest of it. Hate it. Abhor it. Loath it. Detest it. But it’s worse now. Cause not only do I have to try and keep myself warm, I have to keep a child warm! Read on for my rant!
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When Sammy was around 18 months, things got a whole lot more fun. He liked going places and doing things on his own two feet. The days of easy stroller walks were unfortunately over, but it opened up other possibilities.
Earlier this year I was still home with Sammy full time, and although it was lovely… it can get pretty monotonous. I was looking for new things to do… and living in a small town limits things somewhat. A visit to a playground… playing in the garden… visiting the supermarket. These are all things to do… but they’re not terrible exciting.
So one day, in the grips of loneliness, I translated the word Petting Zoo and googled it. Cause that’s what we were ready for. Sammy was too young to enjoy a large zoo – but a petting zoo? Hell yeah.
And wouldn’t you know? There is a Streichelzoo (petting zoo) 20 minutes away from where I live. Though it’s more on the scale of a hobby farm than those mobile petting zoos that visit schools and shopping centres.
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Even with a generous allotment of maternity leave in Austria (for me it amounted to 2 years, 2 months), it did eventually come to an end.
I was looking forward to going back to work. Craving it, even. Something new to look forward to; getting out of the house (wearing more than stained tracksuit pants); drinking a cup of hot tea in peace while I read through emails; talking to my colleagues about more than just nap lengths and tantrums.
In some ways it was as easy and enjoyable as I imagined. In others it was harder.
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Like many other places in the world, getting your child into subsidised care in Austria, means registering early. But given the two years of potential maternity leave, there’s more time for planning. You don’t, for example, have to think about it before you even get pregnant! But there were some things about childcare in Austria that I wasn’t quite expecting. Though to be fair, I based it all on my perceived notion of Australian childcare. And obviously I’ve never had a child in Australian childcare! But here’s how it works here.
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This might sound bad, but last week my husband took Sammy, along with the in-laws, for a beach holiday to Italy. They went for the week, but I could only join toward the end because I had to work. You might think I’d be bummed… missing out on long beach days, and mouth-watering Italian food, and my kid running around on the sand with a big grin on his face.
Well… in a way, I was. But in another way, I was ecstatic.
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Being home with Sammy for the first two years of his life, I just assumed that he would be more proficient in English than German, at least until he started daycare.
Turns out I was kind of wrong.
I guess it’s because it’s the local language, so although he tends to hear me speaking English most of the day, German is the thing that’s on in the background all the time. He also spends plenty of time with his grandparents, who obviously speak German to him, and I’m also in the habit of speaking German when they’re around so they understand me.
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