Der Waldkindergarten (forest kindergarten)

It's a bitterly cold morning in January. The temperature is -6 degrees celsius according to my weather app. There is a thick layer of snow and ice on the pavement. The people out on the streets are all bundled up and walking purposefully towards their goals (tram stop, underground station, school, office). It is simply too cold to chat and linger outdoors. But as I leave my son's nursery I can't help noticing the bus parked on the corner opposite and the parents waving at their children.  

Just like any other morning, the bus will drive a group of three-to-five-year-olds and their teachers into the forest, where they will have breakfast, sing and play for three hours before being driven back to their warm kindergarten. These children attend a Waldkindergarten (forest kindergarten). The idea is that although the children grow up in a city, the forest is their playground and every morning their parents drop them off by the bus, which will drive them for half an hour outside the city into the forest, whatever the weather. Even when the temperature is several degrees below freezing. Obviously there are a number of advantages: the forest is a wonderful playground, the air is clean and pure and the children are free to run around, play, observe and learn about nature and the changing of the seasons. 

This concept is great in the spring, in the summer and even in the autumn. But in the winter? In Berlin? I know I'm missing the point here, but I'd rather be warm indoors than brave the cold Berlin winter for three hours every morning! 

Europe's number one airline

I remember my first flight with Ryanair. It was from Bournemouth to (Frankfurt) Hahn and it cost around £10. I had just finished university and low cost flights were a novelty back then. Hahn was tiny and still looked like a military airport. It was (and still is) difficult to reach, especially from Frankfurt, but flying had never been so cheap and parking was free.

Over the years other low cost airlines emerged and whenever I had a choice I would avoid Ryanair like the plague. I was delighted when I moved to Berlin to find that there were plenty of alternatives and for years I hoped that either easyJet or airberlin would start a direct flight to Palermo. Alas, that never happened. For a while there was Air One, but that soon disappeared. There was also Wind Jet, with a stopover in Rimini, but that airline no longer exists.

Then Ryanair announced a new connection: Berlin Schönefeld-Palermo. So after a long break I had to force myself to start flying with Ryanair again. Although I still would opt for easyJet when given the choice, I have to admit that I prefer Ryanair's policy of allowing passengers to take two pieces of hand luggage on board. 

What I find really annoying (as I assume most other people do) is the constant selling and announcements, including the jingle at the end of the flight if the plane lands on time. 

What amazes me is the fact that they are always looking for new sales opportunities but, as I recently discovered, that can be tricky when you "only" have two and a half hours of flying time. 

On my most recent journey back from Palermo, shortly after take off, the flight attendants started their procession as usual with a drink and snacks service, followed by duty free, then scratch cards, second bar service, special duty free sale (all perfumes for €20) and, wait for it, third bar service. With all this selling activity, the poor pilot couldn't get a word in edgeways. While two flight attendants were still passing through the cabin with their trolley and stopping to serve a cup of Lavazza coffee to the gentleman sitting behind me, the pilot signalled that we would be landing in 15 minutes. The stewardess looked at her colleague aghast: "This is ridiculous, we are landing in 15 minutes!"- she told him. So the flight attendants quickly cleared everything away and while one steward advised passengers that we would be landing soon, the pilot jumped in to announce that we would actually be landing in 10 minutes. A few minutes later as the pilot told the crew to take their seats, it all quietened down and we were able to land. "Ladies and gentlemen welcome to Berlin, where the current time is 1.30pm. Thank you for flying with Ryanair. Anyone for a cup of Lavazza coffee?"

An Italo-German-British Christmas

One of the problems of international families, in addition to the obvious one of living in different countries, is combining national and family traditions, for example at Christmas. 

In our case one of the main dilemmas is establishing when Christmas actually begins and when is it appropriate to wish someone a Happy Christmas?

These may seem like simple questions, but after years of discussion we're still nowhere near finding an answer that satisfies us all.

The German side of the family believes that Christmas begins at some point on the afternoon/evening of the 24th of December. It's not clear when exactly, but over the years I have learnt not to wait until the 25th to wish my husband a Merry Christmas. The answer would be: "That was yesterday".

While the Italian and British sides of the family also celebrate Christmas Eve (on the 24th), their Christmas is actually on the 25th.

The other problem is deciding when to exchange gifts and who brings the gifts.

Is it Nikolaus, is it the Christkind, is it Father Christmas, is it Babbo Natale, or perhaps the Befana?

I've managed to convince my husband that opening the presents on the morning of the 25th makes more sense than on the evening of the 24th, especially if you're four years old and get very excited about Christmas. I'm not sure that my mother-in-law was persuaded though... I noticed that she didn't put any presents under the tree.

On the positive side, we did have a rather large variety of Christmas desserts: Italian Panettone, German Stollen and British Mince Pies, Christmas Cake and Christmas pudding. 

By the time we got to the 26th of December (Boxing Day in the UK or Santo Stefano in Italy), I thought it was safe to say that Christmas was over. But, no I was wrong, the German side was quick to point out that the 26th is called the second day of Christmas in Germany. But wasn't Christmas on the 24th? Oh well we've got another 360 days or so to work that out. Until then Happy New Year! Buon Anno! Frohes Neues Jahr!