Yes, my dear readers, we've come to an end of our kindergarten oddysey. Una has been accepted to the Catholic kindergarten Unserer lieben Frau in Baumeisterstrasse, which was our first choice anyway. She had previously been rejected at the city kindergarten in Sybelstrasse which made me feel very disappointed - it's difficult seeing your child being rejected, regardless of the situation.

I tell my friends that this outcome made me more excited than graduating from university had. In a certain way, this is perfectly understandable; throughout my schooling, whatever happened was a direct consequence of my work input. Within the limit of my abilities, the situation was under control. Getting a kindergarten place for your child in Germany is a matter of luck. You have no idea what your chances are before getting a reply. And we've been lucky.

In spite of our "happy ending", the fact remains: your child's upbringing should not be a question of chance. The situation in this area of public life remains extremely unsatisfactory. Promises are being made for 2013: the family minister Ursula von der Leyen swears everything is about to change. As a matter of fact, the rumours have become official: they are going to build a huge daycare facility on our very street! But not soon enough for kids who are about to start kindergarten in 2010 or generations of children before them.

Before words turn to deeds, the only advice I can give you is to apply for a kindergarten place as soon as your child is born. It will save you a lot of frustration and anguish. I may be wrong, but it will be a cold day in hell before I believe a politician's promise.

My new foodie blog is finally online! Check it out!

Pictured: the cover of my grandmother's recipe notebook, with my grandfather's quaint handwriting.

...and we have snowdrops to prove it!

Una was delighted to finally be able to play outdoors and today she ventured into the cold and damp playground sand. I just hope this jovial atmosphere won't be cut short by a sudden return of snow, or even worse, sleet.

I think spring is more appropriate for new beginnings than the stereotypical new year's resolutions. And in the spirit of all things reborn and renewed, I'd like to announce my new project. I have only ten months left of being a stay-at-home mum and I'd like to use this time productively. I've inherited my grandmother's cookbook and I intend to recreate some of its long-forgotten recipes as a part of a new blog. In this undertaking, my mother's help will be absolutely indispensible, and since she's coming over for a visit tomorrow, I don't think I'll be able to regularly update you on the progress of our work. I won't go into details now, but let's just say that the way I'm going to do it is nothing like any foodie blog I've ever seen. The main entries will be in Serbian (latin alphabet) but I'll also include an English translation of the recipes for the wider audience. There'll be an abundance of photos, advice and commentaries.

My main goal is to save my culinary heritage from certain oblivion. I don't know if Una will ever show a desire to cook and bake, but if she does - she'll need this. My grandmother's cookbook is in a bad shape (the oldest notebook is probably from the 1930s) and her cyrillic handwriting is somewhat exotic (if not illegible) to those who aren't used to it. It will all be lost unless I do this now. I learned from my mother by constantly hanging around her kitchen, but then again, I lived with my parents until I was 26 - plenty of time to get to know the ropes. Young women today don't have this opportunity. I observe them at supermarkets, loading they trolleys with godawful frozen pizzas and industrial cream cakes. Mostly not because they don't have the time, but because they don't know how easy it is to cook something truly tasty. I'm not on a mission to convert (a la Jamie Oliver); I just feel I owe this to my grandmother who practically raised me and to my daughter who deserves to eat better.

Stephie wanted me to do some portraits for her, so we went for a stroll in Südstadt a couple of weeks ago. These are not necessarily the best photos of the lot, but I like the wintery atmosphere they transport. Having said that, I do hope that spring is around the corner.

The photos of Stephie standing and the portrait with the glasses were taken at f/3.2, 1/640 s. The other two - f/2.2, exposure 1/1000 s. ISO 400 for all. I used a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens.

I've already written about the kindergarten problem a few months ago. I feel this issue needs to be addressed further. The statistics say that most of my readers come from Germany and one would think this is no news to them, but I don't think that the wider public, especially the people who don't have kids in kindergarten age, are aware of just how bad things are. For all of you who live outside of Germany and think of it as a country of social bliss - well, let me bust this myth which may have been reality a long time ago but has nothing to do with the country we live in today.

It is now mid-February and Una still hasn't been given a kindergarten place. We haven't heard anything from any of the four kindergartens that we applied for. We do know, however, that she hasn't been given a place in the "first round" at the Catholic kindergarten in Baumeisterstrasse because we know some kids who have. Now, if some of them decide to decline the offer, Una will perhaps be given a chance to jump in.

Why would anyone want to decline the oh-so-precious place? Afraid that their child won't be admitted anywhere, parents apply to dozens of different kindergartens - even to the ones they don't really want to send their children to. Panic reigns supreme. Say the kid is admitted to three of twelve; one place is accepted and two automatically become available once again. So mathematically, most kids get their places after the official term is over. When does this normally occur? Nobody knows for sure because each kindergarten has its own schedule and is not in any way synchronized with other daycare institutions or forced by laws of local government to let people know by a certain date what their decisions are. Thus, if you're in, the Baumeisterstrasse kindergarten will let you know at the beginning of February. The Sybelstrasse kindergarten - in mid-March. The manager of Aufwind told me that they won't be able to say anything for sure before summer. Hypothetically, if one wants a place in Aufwind, and is in the meantime accepted in Baumeisterstrasse, one would have to accept the place that had first been offered even if this wasn't one's first choice. Hoping that they would get a place at Aufwind, the parents would be keeping the place at Baumeisterstrasse "just in case" until they hear from Aufwind next summer. This is why parents are advised "never to lose hope" - there are places that may become available even six months after the original placing date.

Nobody really cares that people are forced to become part of this mess. Rather than insist that the local govrenment introduce any kind of system in the place distribution process, parents prefer to organize themselves independently and establish new kindergartens that provide a short-time solution to their problems but in the long run become swallowed up in the chaos and follow the same "rules" of admission as every other kindergarten in Karlsruhe.

To be perfectly honest, I've pretty much given up hope. Sure, Una will get a place when she turns three because the law says she is guaranteed one. We have no idea where a free place will be found for her - but right now, this doesn't really matter. Unless you send out application forms to every kindergarten in your part of town as soon as the child is born, you don't really stand a chance. And sometimes not even then: if it is true that kindergarten Aufwind has a waiting list of 250 children, you can save yourself the bother - no matter how many children move away or immigrate or reach school age, the chances of a place becoming available are next to none.

This is a huge disgrace for the city of Karlsruhe, for the German state and a slap in the face of its taxpayers. People are forced to dedicate an enormous amount of time and patience for the application process and endure humiliation, disappointment and concern when their children are rejected. If you get to choose anything, the best you can hope for is getting a place in a kindergarten in the vicinity of your home; choosing the place that would be best for your child education-wise, or a place that you would answer to any other standard you hold important, is a privilege given to the rarest few.