In this episode, the couple explains how they helped their kid to continue his badminton training and become comfortable with the education and culture of Germany.
Main intro:
Archana and Ram, a couple originally from India, ventured to Germany to explore new horizons after working as software engineers in their home country. Accompanied by their 14-year-old child, they swiftly integrated into German culture. They purchased a house, obtained badminton career driving licenses, and even bought a car in no time.
Their child, dedicated to pursuing a badminton career, found ample opportunities to continue training in Germany. I was fortunate enough to host them on a podcast, unraveling their fascinating journey and experiences in this new chapter of their lives.
KEYWORDS
Moving to Germany from India with Kids in 2024
Challenges when moving to Germany with Teenage Kids
Badminton Training Options in Germany
International Education in Germany
How to Choose English Medium Schools in Germany
How the Schooling System in Germany
What are the First Things to Learn in Germany
Germany is not what you Expect
Moving from one Country to another Country
Bilingual Schools in Germany and Goettingen
How will you find your way to your home
Learn Basic German in School
Why Germany had more English-speaking kids in the School
how to get place in Gymnasium schools in Germany
High school Education in Germany
⏰ Timestamps:
0:00 Teaser
1:09 How to get admission in the Masters in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics course at the University of Goettingen, Germany
7:00 How to apply APS Academische PrĂĽfstelle
13:50 The Best Course for the Biologist in 2024 – Computational Biology
16:00 Change the Field from Mathematics to Biology in Bachelor and BTech
20:30 What is the role of a computational biologist do
22:00 Techniques learned at IIT Mandi in computational biology
27:30 Future goals of Krishna
27:59 Goettingen is one of the best places for future entrepreneurship
So okay something is turning up in Germany fine so what is Germany all about we started reading we started seeing some YouTube videos whenever you come up thinking that this is a Disneyland then you are shattered and yeah you’ll be depressed but it is different and we I mean at
Least I didn’t understand what’s going on I mean nobody knows us here what I see is like um when we came here we both were walking uh the first time we uh we were Inon and we were just walking on the road then someone just he has already was
Well trained in badminton in India and now he’s continuing that Legacy here in Germany and I think he is already has won several medals here they say you have to study Physics in German they have to study Physics in German only and they have to write in German
Only so this year in our second year into Germany he was able to play the national championships as well so the first condition when we were discussing about moving to Germany he said is if I can play badminton there like I’m doing in India then I’m okay rest of the
Things I can manage hi the Moto of this channel wisdom wibes especially the the podcast part is not only to bring um extraordinary people and uh expose their uh achievements but also to expose the extraordinary qualities in ordinary people because we believe that podcasts are the best way to uh instantly pass
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So now please uh tell me um how you managed your kid to bring here and then make him uh adjusted to this culture yeah so when this process was going on we started having some doubts okay maybe this might uh turn up into a situation where we might have to
Relocate then we were quite open we were discussing everything openly in front of prup so uh we started also understanding what is Germany because before to that we were not it Germany was never in our list okay uh to be very honest yeah um so okay something is turning up in
Germany fine so what is Germany all about we started reading we started seeing some YouTube videos and I started writing to couple of people to understand how the schooling system is and as he said his friend is already here so he started giving us some kind
Of inputs okay where to look at what we can expect when we land here so that it should not be a dreamy and greeny picture so when you are making a move it has to be realistic only then your integration will be smooth whenever you come up thinking that this is a
Disneyland then you are shattered and yeah you’ll be depressed and you’ll be you you are taking a sudden change which you did not expect you are thinking about something very beautiful but when you end up the picture is that no you have challenges for sure you’ll have challenges when you’re moving from one
Country to another country that two language is different right by the time when you uh you moved here what was he studying he finished his ninth standard there okay and now he has to to continue here yes and now but but here the medium of language is German yes so how did he
Manage yeah the best part is when we started uh his school here so I started to speak to the school from India itself so we know where he is getting into so we we don’t have to worry about that when we landed you started to speak with
Schools from there to here in English yeah I started writing them emails and I started getting responses so even we had appointment with the principal even before we landed to Germany in English in English yeah yeah because uh it’s a Bilingual School and uh yeah definitely uh they will be speaking
English right um so we came here PR started his school after Easter holidays and then the first thing they taught him is how will he find out his way to home mhm if he is lost how will he ask someone or how will he understand if someone tells him go straight go
Left you know those kind that’s the first two days that is what he was trained on you know how will he reach so initial uh couple of months he was completely focused on German basic German stuff uh so he was trained on that and then because of his friend
Circle because it’s a bilingual group though it is a bilingual I mean he could study in English but uh they also teach him German no uh so it’s like half of the subjects he can write in English or study in English half of the subjects are German based like the
Language itself German language and then I think probably physics was also in De and chemistry was in English I mean he can choose no no no school has that uh pattern already okay yeah yeah so if they say you have to study Physics in German they have to study Physics in
German only and they have to write in German only so first few months it was okay because they were integrating him still into the system so he was allowed to respond back in English in his answer sheets that was not a challenge but after that they were asking him now that
You know a bit of German try to put it in German so they were not forcing him but they were encouraging him to do that so that at least with mistakes he will start it and he is not the only child with that kind of background so there
Are children who are coming from different places and because this place especially is being an University Place I think these kind of children come more here so is it gymnasium yes so as we know that here uh after fourth standard yeah uh the students are divided to
Either go to gymnasium or to real shul or something like mixed yes and apart from private schools right but when he studied in India till 9th standard and is directly uh he he was he allowed direct to come to join the gymnasium here yeah what So based on what his marks or
I’m not sure about I just wrote to them with his uh marks cards probably I if I remember it right yeah I think I gave them last two years report they didn’t ask me okay but just to tell about the child I try to put as much evidence as
Possible to them I try to tell them okay we are working for so and so organization and we’ll be moving by so and so date everything and then this is what the child is all about this is what his passion is every I wrote a pretty
Detailed email to them I don’t think I have any other choice also because that’s the only Bilingual School so bringing him at that age and putting him in in this town it’s only one bilingual yes okay here it’s only one Bilingual School and yeah if he is put completely into
German yeah that would have actually hard experience for him yeah this was quite manageable but how is he doing right now and the culture here new friends yeah he finds some things different but he’s enjoying the process okay that’s great so he was already was well trained in badminton in
India and now he’s continuing that Legacy here in Germany and I think he is already has won several medals here and is uh progressing very well so would you please uh comment on that how you helped him to uh cope up with that here to continue that along with his studies
Yeah yeah so badminton is something that he has been working hard for so many years so now he’s in a place where it is something he cannot detach from himself so the first condition when we were discussing about moving to Germany he said is if I can play badminton there
Like I’m doing in India then I’m okay rest of the things I can manage so then I started figuring out are there is there badminton in Germany right yeah luckily there is badminton in Germany there are Club so a simple Google search has helped me that there
Is badminton in gingan and I started writing to those clubs again and started again giving uh you know explaining about the child what he has achieved all these years and uh at what level he’s playing badminton in India so the moment we came here I think uh a week later or
So again uh same like school he started into his Club also so they welcomed him very warmly and and uh that was kind of very smooth entry um you know now because of technology I would say things are much easy you know Google find could give me where is badminton you know yeah
So yeah he started and then he started playing uh Club level tournaments and then District level tournaments and then yeah it eventually moved to the next level and Next Level so this year in our second year into Germany he was able to play the national championships as well
That’s really interesting yeah so Ram I also knew that uh you played U like uh a role uh behind to really be part of training him yeah yeah yeah um before I jump to that question like I just want to uh add one more thing here that you
Know before uh we made a call to to move from India to Germany the as a said that like you know uh one of the aspect is that we we we were really looking uh into to his his his progression in in batminton because he he spent a lot of
Time uh in that like you know back in India he used to do a full-time batminton uh training starting from his like when he was in six and a half seven years I think right so from then till his 14 years like he was doing kind of a
Fulltime uh batmon and that is very hard for us to think take a call that you know whether in Germany can we get a fulltime or how how does that and uh in in our initial research what we found is like you know in batminton it is not POS
In Germany it is not possible to have a full-time kind of a thing with the with where we want to move you mean along with his studies along with his studies because in Germany I think going to school is compulsory right so uh so so we we we thought about this and one
One thing it struck us is like you know um technically if you if you look at right like if you if you get trained from that age till certain age uh the skill of the game will be in your muzzle memory right so then then then you keep
Trying yourself for the the endurance or the fitness so we a lot we we discussed this very very detailed level with pra and we we took a call that you know okay we have certain clubs there where he gets to play um and uh he the endurance
And the fitness he will do by himself so and I can help him in in in just feeding so but I am I’m I’m sure that this this will this will not help him in going to International levels why because uh for what I believe is
Like you know for a player to go to that level uh the player itself plays a 50% and the coach plays 50% um when he has to play at that level uh he h i don’t know we haven’t thought about that uh we we want to give um we
We just want to leave this to time uh that you know if If he if he goes and plays well at the the national level of deut land and maybe we want to see is is how the openings will come to him and I don’t know like you know still
Everything is open for him that you know okay he can he he can take uh some kind of a break and go completely into a sport for one year or two years and see how it can go but this is a long way to go but I’m sure that you know he with
This he may play he play he he can play at the national level and he may be at the at the first rounds or the second rounds of Internationals uh but uh to come to an international level that you know he needs to have some some more like you
Know um dedicated institutions where he has to go and train himself there so right now we are just focusing on on on on his uh just uh the skills what he has in the batminton and the endurance what he has to have so what is exactly lacking here compared to
India I shouldn’t I can’t say something is lacking or something like that but in India if you if you see in terms of a batminton right like the entire setup is way different there like you know you have certain schools where it’s kind of in hostels I think those kind of a
Schools are there here also but for us uh for us the main constraint is like you know the language like right now he’s going into IB syus where he can study in English and he has German as a language but those kind of a school sport schools I don’t know what it is
Called here but the sport sport schools mostly are in German I think um in India what you can do is like you know you have a lot of Academies uh uh where you can you can get this full-time training where where they have a schedule that is personal coach yeah yeah not exactly a personal coach kind of a thing but uh you definitely get a coach uh where like a group of people would be trained under
Under him and the the coach will eventually look into the personal aspects of the game of each individual player and uh the they have each individual kind of a physio kind of a thing they understand that you know where where to improve on the fitness levels where to improve on the game when
They go to a tournament they have a detailed level of analysis and and next time they come and they they do this kind of a detail level kind of an review and they once again practice it the other thing is like you know in India
They have to play a lot like you know 12 tournaments compulsory tournaments at the state level and they they have some four or five National tournaments and one national championship and one state championship so the amount of games they play is like a full full-fed calendar
Calendar if you look at that every month you will have one or the other tournament in some cases in one month you have you have to play three tournaments because two state tournaments will fall under that and one National Tournament will fall under that
So those kind of a things I I could I could say that you know that is not the setup what Germany has Germany has a different kind of a setup all together so maybe in the sport maybe bmon is not that popular sport in in Germany as in
In India mightbe that is also one of the reason or the sporting structure is like that in in Germany but that is what it is yeah but he’s thriving right so I think I’ve heard the last time he want some yeah he is he is progressing good
Uh right now at this level whatever the skill he he has or he accumulated till um his his his um the childhood sufficient that definitely helps and he has to definitely work on on his endurance and fitness if he has these two things then I think that you
Know he can go very far um and then if he if he wants to really strike at the international level definitely I I I I believe that you know he should have some kind of a proper coaching or coaching style or a coach something like
That that we have to see I don’t know I haven’t have anything in my my mind that you know how he will have higher you go the harder it gets so yeah okay so to face the harder you have to train yourself harder harder definitely I think he’s getting time
Enough um yeah I is demanding I Demands a lot from him to do many more activities apart from just attending the school but yeah so far it’s okay so good things what I see is like um when we came here we both were walking uh the first time we we were
Inon and we were just walking on the road then someone just smiled and said hello and the hello here in Germany is hollow I still I don’t pronounce it correctly but it is different and we I mean at least I didn’t understand what’s going on I mean nobody knows us
Here do we know no definitely we don’t know anyone especially the German folks we don’t know right so we were quite surprised and it happened on the way uh maybe two or three people whenever they see you they say hello they they smile and they say hello so then we got used
To it we started greeting back saying okay hello which is uh very good thing yeah in whatever mood you come out from the home you see people you eventually have to bring up elevate your mood and you will smile so you know things are good there that’s one very nice thing I
Found in Germany people will smile at you say hello might not be the same case in cities but when you stay in some smallest places definitely this is the case same thing happens in the place that we are right now living as well um the other one no matter what their age
Is 60 70 75 they call their names no men or women the cycle ah yeah C it’s very surprising you know seeing men itself is surprising in of older men cycling but I see women also cycling very enthusiastically and energetically at that age he is very motivating and
Fitness cautious Fitness as well as I mean yeah it feels nice and it feels you know motivated motivates us yeah come on they cycling you can at least walk um that is one thing buses public transport is another thing which is very good even if you don’t have car uh that’s
Okay you can still survive you can still live you don’t have to trouble I mean you don’t have to worry about it wherever you live in Germany most of the places are connected and you have public transport everywhere that is one thing and even the trains but the bad thing
About trains is they get cancelled without prior notice sometimes we had very bad experiences of trains getting cancelled on our way to goler once um then the other thing is uh not so good is people smoke a lot men or women they they smoke a lot yeah that’s sometimes
Quite uncomfortable because uh if it is one person that is still okay if you are in a Marketplace and lot of people are smoking you are actually you know it’s not uh uh you don’t feel like you are in the right place at that point of time
That’s all so that is one thing even they carry children and they smoke which is I don’t really feel good about it um yeah past as I spoke uh I already spoke about uh the and you know living is essential in India right but sustainable living is essential in
Germany so yeah people live with more Consciousness how you dispose your garbage is very well deep rooted into the system here they segregate their garbage very clearly into yellow beans you know garbage plastic and paper and we have yellow bag we have uh green green tin or yeah black tin and we have
Paper blue yeah and there are some specific points where you have to dispose your uh bottles or glass bottles yes and also your unused clothes or tone clothes whatever it is yeah so it’s like you can’t uh dispose them however you want you have to manage uh your Disposal system so that’s also
One good thing uh it is there in India as well but it still has to evolve and it has to get into our genes uh then only we will be able to you know manage our garbage there um super markets are one interesting things I found um in India
Wherever I go uh in any mall food is one thing that you find at the last portion on of that floor okay and in Germany most of the malls I find them at the entrance okay yes in some places they are in a different location but most of
The places I find them at the moment you enter into the uh shop you will have vegetables and fruits so yes yes because uh that’s kind of you know saying that I’m encouraged a uh good Food
2 Comments
Very informative đź‘Ť
Well said, first thing I learned in German was how to ask for direction apart from introducing myself