One good thing about Germany is definitely the public transport. Teenage children become independent much faster, notably they can meet their friends, doing sports or hanging out together at the public open pool without relying on their parents for a lift. Kids can walk to their school, meet in the city centre without any hassles. Also the playgrounds are mostly nicely designed and there are many of them. There are after school care and affordable kindergarten places as well. This is all very different in most places in Australia though. Both countries have their pros and cons but for raising kids my experience is that it is kind of a lot more interesting and affordable in Germany. Oh, and not to forget about the good dental care for children. No one needs to have holes or crooked teeth even if they aren’t well off.

That is a good list for living anywhere. The people who don’t succeed are the ones who find fault and always judge life as being better ‘back home.’

Your English accent is new to me, seems to be a New Zealandish speciality. I am easily grabbing it, but sometimes it's a bit surprising.

I am really glad that you could make yourself at home here and feel at happy here! I know how it is when you live far from home. I was living in the USA for 5 years (without language problems), in an unhappy marriage and I could just not get over it to watch the news about black youths shot to death by police every week, all that violence right next to this exaggerated but selfrighteous religiosity, that has no respect for lives if they are black or latino. I have friends there who still understand my point. There is so much hypocrisy in society and the system there, I don't know how they will ever be able to solve their urgent problems. I am now a Bavarian living happily in Kiel at the Baltic Sea. That is perfectly fine, and sometimes I cook bavarian food for my friends and serve it in my 'dirndl'. You are who you are! Don't ever worry about speaking with mistakes - as long as you speak halfway understandable absolutely no one will ever care. Feel hugged and keep feeling very welcomed here! Äähm I do recommend a family trip to one of our islands up here! You would be surprised about what huge and beautiful beaches we've got here!

Can I like this video multiple times! ?!?! I hope a lot more expats will listen to your words. I sometimes think, some people are just miserable and they would be miserable wherever they are.

So happy for you. Able to embrace the new country with open lenses. One day I hope to live abroad with someone and experience similar feeling with children.

It's good to hear, that you feel so fine in germany. I think, it's not only you who profit from our culture, it's also the german culture that thrives from the culture of immigrants. Who would we be without all those influences? And i think that you can be sure, that we even love all these accents of people from other countries speaking german. We are one world and knowing, that people can integrate like you do makes us happy too!

I so agree with you. I am a expat living in the US, from Middle Frankonia. I agree with everything you say. I was not able to speak English when I first moved to the US. I always will be German, but I am now happy living here in the US.

Hallo :) Vielen Dank für das Video! Es tut unglaublich gut, zu hören, wie Du mit Deinen anfänglichen Schwierigkeiten umgegangen bist und wie es Dir jetzt geht!

Very good video on how to deal with a new place.

A question to @AntoinetteEmily Would you feel (or have felt) thankful if someone makes (made) you aware of a misuse of words/misspelling/wrong pronunciation or would you feel ashamed?

I am happy for you 🥲

Nice to hear. If you see that your children are happy here, that definitely helped, right?

I am surprised about the attitude of people that grew up speaking only English. They always think it is a problem if they can not speak other languages perfectly. Germany is a country with millions of immigrants and most of them speak an interesting kind of German, to put it mildly. But who cares? They can communicate and that is the only thing that counts. And yes, most Europeans learn additional languages at school, English being an important example. But many of us do not feel confident in using English, just like some immigrants feel insecure about their knowledge of German. Nevertheless, English speakers often assume it to be easier for the locals to learn and speak English than the other way around. BTW: I always hated learning languages - but it was very satisfying to understand people ...

An excellent video!! You made a great effort to become fully part of German life. For the children it's easy, but for adults it can be very hard. Love your videos. Remember, there are a lot more people watching than are subscribed, (as Ive mentioned before(

Just don't worry about your accent... in the Franconian area where you live, hardly anyone can speak standard German without an accent anyway. 😁

Happy for you and best wishes to you and your family! But do never forget, your not living in Germany but in the Freistaat... 😉😂 The rest of our country isn't that much conservative and traditional. 😁

Can I give you a little legal advice. Because I like you're channel and don't want you to become trouble. If you have an advertisement in your video, you have to mark that part of the video as advertisement. Most youtubers put the word Werbung or advertisement in a corner. That seems to be enough but I don't know the exact details of this law.

As a young man I had the chance to live in NZ (work, house, friends) but I loose honor then. Today I am mad not to do. How can you feel home in this today Germany? But maybe Frankonia is a other style then life in real Germany (Hamburg, Hannover, Köln, Frankfurt, Berlin, München) or other big regions. I am happy you life in a really well region. 9:55

wonderful that you are calling it "feeling at home ". And congrats to the greatest politician of any country ever - soooooo sad Jacinda Ardern has resigned :(:(:(:( , what a great person . All the best to you and your family here in Germany. We know we are not the cuddliest people :):):). It can be very very hard for anybody, anywhere - when I moved to the US from Germany, it took me over a year to meet some people that actually whre worth hanging out with , and not the super shallow average american.