Hello Dear Friends and Family!

We've already been here for a month (23 months to go!) and decided to give you a little update as to what we've been up to. We apologize in advance, as some of you have already heard snippets of this.

Apartment Hunting

The first week we were here was quite stressful because we felt pressured to find an apartment quickly. We were told that the market was in high demand in Berlin because two huge companies were relocating their head offices here, so about 600 new families are moving to Berlin. To make matters worse, many of them want to live in the same area we wanted, since it is a very sought after neighbourhood.More about the neighbourhood later.

To make a long story short, we finally found an apartment in Prenzlauerberg (P-Berg), our area of choice. However, it has many closed rooms...something that will take some getting used to.The apartment is on the 3rd floor of an Altbau (pre-war building) with a lift, 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, and bathroom - all closed rooms with doors.Quite different from our loft, but nice nonetheless. We also have a tiny balcony which we'll certainly make use of.

We should be moving in our furniture around March 15th. We're just waiting for the new kitchen to be installed (flats in Berlin don't come with kitchens....strange but true) and some paper work to be finalized. If all goes well, we'll probably be living in our new flat by the week of March 17th. Once we move in, the first order of business will be to set-up the baby's nest.

The Baby

Since arriving, I've had two doctors' appointments, two ultrasounds, and two meetings with midwives. All is well with baby and mom. As of February 27th, she weighted 1,502 grams. She's shaping up to being a real Paduano baby (For those of you who don't know, the Paduano's were8-10 lb babies!!!). And she's so active that we've already signed her up for Karate classes (although Yoga has been relaxing for mom, we're not sure it will do it for this little one). We can't believe she will be here in 8 weeks (plus or minus 2 weeks!!!). YIKES!!!!!

Mom To Be

My doctor says that I'm doing just fine. The baby is not the only one who is getting bigger. As of Wednesday, my belly measured 40" around! But, besides starting to have trouble tying my shoes (Dom has been a great help here) and being constantly hungry, I feel fine. I do feel tired by the end of my German classes though, but they would probably drain me even if I wasn't pregnant!

Keeping Busy

Although I was a little concerned about how I would occupy my days, I really had nothing to worry about! I have been busying myself with pre-natal Yoga classes, meeting with the "Mums & Bumps" group, German classes, doctors' appointments, and other daily chores. The Yoga classes are all in German, but I just follow what everyone else is doing & it's fine. The teacher speaks English, so if I have questions, I can always ask her, or if I'm doing the downward dog while I should be doing sun salutations, she will correct me.I also became friends with a nice English-speaking woman in class.

I meet with the Mums & Bumps once a week for lunch. They are a nice group of pregnant or newbie moms who speak English and are also wives of Expats.They come from the UK, USA, Australia, and one woman comes from Montreal! This is fun because we speak to her 14-month old boy in good old Quebecois!

Learning German is BRUTAL!! Classes are everyday from 13:00-18:00, so this takes up a lot of my time, especially since I have to do homework & study in the mornings.I always considered myself good with languages, but German is a whole other ballgame! But I will try to get as much as I can now, because once the baby arrives, I won't have time to learn German bcs. I will be speaking "baby".

And What About Dom?

In general, things are going fine. I'm just eager to move into our new flat and get the baby bag and room ready. I think we're pretty tired of living in tiny temporary apartments (1 wk in Mtl 4 wks in Berlin). And we're looking forward to seeing and living in our stuff.

My German lessons have not been as intensive as Chantal's, but frustrating nonetheless. I've been taking them at work, just once or twice a week (1.5 hrs per session), so I'm really not progressing much. But work-wise, everything is in English (except for the casual conversations among German colleagues), so it's not so bad. Work is also fine. I'm getting more familiar with and involved in projects. Being a Canadian working in Europe for a Canadian company makes for many interesting debates and conversations.

Everything Else

And for the rest of our time, we've been keeping busy establishing our new way of life. We've met a few other expat couples from Quebec and had some outings with them. It's funny to see the looks we get from the Berliners when we're all speaking Quebecois French! We continue to discover our new city, how to get around it using public transportation, new restaurants, cafés, etc. We've already adopted the Berliner tradition of "all day Sunday brunch". For between 5-9 Euros, you eat as much as you want for as long as you want! Nobody tries to rush you out! You can even bring a book & read! It's great!

We're keeping in touch with what's going on back home through Facebook, Skypeing with family, checking out the highlights on the Montreal Canadiens' webpage and trying to figure out how to get back in time for the Stanley Cup parade. We're also downloading our favourite TV shows since English channels are scarce in Germany. Not having a TV to watch has forced us to develop new, healthier habits, like going for a walk after supper and reading more.

There's still lots to do and lots to discover, especially after we've moved in to our new flat in our new neighbourhood.

About The Neighbourhood

We did some research before moving here & P-Berg sounded great. It has many nice restaurants, cafés, boutiques, and is very child & family focused. In fact, P-Berg has the highest birthrate in Germany! This means many parks, children's stores and strollers everywhere! A lot of the Expats also choose to live in this neighbourhood, so there are a lot of English & French (from France) speakers. The following articles and website will give you a better idea of why we chose this neighbourhood. They are also a good source for those planning on visiting:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1654918,00.html

http://www.world66.com/europe/germany/berlin/prenzlauerberg
http://gridskipper.com/travel/prenzlauer-berg/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenzlauer_Berg

Although our experience of living in Berlin has been "sehr gut" so far, we do miss you all very much! We promise to keep in touch & continue updating you with our adventures. And remember, you'll always have a place to stay if you decide to visit Berlin....well, at least for the next 23 months : )

Hugs & Kisses

Domenic, Chantal & Baby

xoxox

PS - we don`t have many pictures to show yet, but we will in the next edition since our camera should be unloaded from the container by then.