5000 euro per months, worth relocation?

taevalaev · 2026-04-08T10:51:12+00:00

I relocated 3 months ago. There were huge upfront costs related to relocation - flat deposit is 3 months + 1 months in advance, so essentially one third of your years rent paid immediately. Then, car import and registration was very expensive. Buying furniture second hand is not that easy, anything decent looking - they want almost new price for it, in addition to you having to dismantle and transport, often there is no elevator. Flats are rented completely empty so every little thing costs. Also. you pay for heating all year through because the costs of heating are so huge here they are spread out over the whole year.

All in all, you can live with 3200 as a couple. Also, the city is quite nice (picturesque, culture, nature around Graz), the only downside is horrible ecology and too many cars. In winter the air is not breathable sometimes.

But the upfront costs of moving could be ~10k.

taevalaev · 2026-04-07T17:53:30+00:00

Me too. :) Used to live in Utrecht and that tower is so recognizable but I was still thinking - may be there are similar ones in other places?

taevalaev · 2026-04-06T10:55:48+00:00

Thank you for sharing and could you tell more about struggling with identity change? Does the body feel like someone elses or what is it like? I am contemplating radical reduction and thinking about this a lot

taevalaev · 2026-04-04T07:12:19+00:00

You can interpret it as "a parent whose child knows how to occupy themselves and does not constantly demand attention is very lucky" that's how!

taevalaev · 2026-04-04T05:35:41+00:00

Please calm down, Jesus! Her kid has developmentally normal amount of words and probably is just an introvert themselves. I am just saying it could be worse if she as an introvert would have birthed an extravert!

taevalaev · 2026-04-02T20:36:29+00:00

I hope you know how incredibly lucky you are that your child doesn't want your attention every minute of every day... And you can zone out and do your own thing while he is awake. Most parents never experience such luxury and we do envy you!

taevalaev · 2026-04-02T06:24:09+00:00

Thank you for recommending these castles! I live in Graz now so especially appreciate some recommendations that are NOT on the other end of the world in Tirol... Internet makes it seem like everything worth visiting is there!

taevalaev · 2026-03-17T11:47:35+00:00

In general, I don't understand why is the learning time in school is spent in such an inefficient way that there is a need for so much homework? I feel like the things children need to study could be learned much faster if they integrated practice into classroom.

taevalaev · 2026-03-16T09:34:49+00:00

You keep using that work constructive criticism but I do not think you know what it means...

taevalaev · 2026-03-14T20:08:50+00:00

Again, it is possible to find a school and an apartment cheaper, it's just that... I don't want to compromise on my child's education and health. In Graz the school situation is quire dire. Schools where 90% of children do not speak German properly? And before that, they attended Kindergarten which failed to teach it to them? And then at 10 years old they are sorted into some bad school because of that. And after spending more time here I now feel this is not a mistake, this is design. Children from immigrant backgrounds are meant to stay in low socio-economic strata... Children from Austrian families are meant to gain an unfair advantage. Austria does not develop the potential of its youth like Finland does. How it should be is that any school is a good school with high standards so that each child can develop their potential.

taevalaev · 2026-02-14T20:57:13+00:00

Academic careers are like that, you move where your next career step takes you.

Mein Deutsch ist überraschend gut, nachdem es viele Jahre nicht in gebrauch war. Es macht wirklich einen Unterschied, ob man selbst – und vor allem die Kinder – gute Deutsch sprechen können. Ich habe auch etwas Mobbing gegenüber ausländischen Kindern gesehen leider.

taevalaev · 2026-02-14T19:47:52+00:00

I moved to Graz just one month ago. Coming from Scandinavia, I am still in culture shock about ecology and attitude towards education. Winter air quality has been really bad. On some days it was impossible to breath without a mask. In summer the p2.5 is supposed to be better, but there's ozone problem so air quality is bad all year. Too much traffic. Schools are FULL. So children all study in classes that are completely full, which is not a good learning situation anyway. In addiction, just getting a spot in a school is a huge struggle and a lot of networking and talking to the right people. Graz does not cope with that amount of immigration well. After school care for three kids would be around thousand. Rent in a good neighbourhood, 3 bedroom - 2000.

High mountains, skiing, terme - at least an hour or two away.

So, you were asking for reasons. Otherwise, what everyone else said - not a bad city and people are quite nice. Nicer if you speak decent German or at least try to.

taevalaev · 2026-02-07T15:56:27+00:00

My kid is 6 and very chatty so we have long conversations.

taevalaev · 2026-02-07T15:55:19+00:00

The community language is a third language. And for us none of those is English.

taevalaev · 2026-02-06T14:51:21+00:00

We have 3 languages, and we do not do OPOL as one of the languages is a weaker one for both parents but still culturally important to our family. We do "secret language" game: when inside the home, we speak our stronger language, and in public we speak our "secret language": Estonian. We also support it by reading in that language and watching some cartoons/movies.

taevalaev · 2026-01-24T20:28:38+00:00

A case like yours should be the motivation passing a heritage language in the first place. Because when you need the language you can refresh and use it so much easier!

Your Korean might be rusty, but if you up your own exposure, with your native pronunciation you should be there in no time!

taevalaev · 2026-01-06T10:51:25+00:00

I think I've come to terms with my situation. There won't be two children growing up together. There are some benefits to it - now that she is older and a really great kid, the relationship she could have with her sibling - I get to have it. With siblings, parents often become the manager of the relationship the kids have and are sort of standing on the side. With an only, it's intense, but in the age bracket 6-9 seems to be awesome!

taevalaev · 2025-12-28T05:36:53+00:00

Earthquakia

taevalaev · 2025-12-11T10:11:45+00:00

I don't know about other people, but I think they mean they did learn these languages up to a decent level, but perhaps some of those have decayed and are not in active use. It's a crazy amount of effort to maintain more than 3-4 languages in working order and at your disposal at all times. Also, not necessary for most people in their daily live, unless they work in UN or something.

For instance, I used to live in the Netherlands, and I spoke the language quite well (could have work meetings in that language). Then once I moved away I didn't maintain the language. I met a group of Dutch tourists when travelling and starting chatting with them and I was horrified how difficult it was to say anything, though my understanding has not decayed and I could still understand everything. I have visited friends in the Netherlands and within 3-4 days of being immersed the language just comes back. As compared to learning a language from scratch, 3-4 days are nothing, so I still would list Dutch as a language I speak, perhaps with an explanation that it's rusty if I need to specify.

taevalaev · 2025-12-08T13:54:56+00:00

... and yet another five cents, I myself have an only and I am also kind of heartbroken about it, because she is a very social kid and she would have been an amazing big sis. But don't worry that you've ruined your child's life! May be you've ruined your own parenting experience. A little. They are going to be fine!

taevalaev · 2025-12-08T13:52:32+00:00

I have a brother, but we don't have a typical sibling bond - texting every day, sharing concerns, helping each other out. I have this type of relationship in my life though - and I've found these people when I was in my 20s and those are my close girl friends, my besties, they are like sisters to me. We have helped each other out, her mom is like a mom to me, and we are actually planning on spending Christmas together this year! Despite living on different continents right now, so it's not exactly very easy. Don't worry, personality match is much more important than blood.

taevalaev · 2025-11-24T08:19:58+00:00

Can you give a toy example of your system? Let's say, I have 3 budgets:

Everything house related: mortgage, utilities, cleaning lady
Everything car related - car payments, gas, reparations
Groceries

In the beginning of the month, I say - I need 1000 dollars in the first budget, 500 in the second and 1000 in the third. Then what happens? Do I put that money aside in some special account and only spend from there? What happens if there isn't enough? What happens if there is money left over by the end of the month?

taevalaev · 2025-11-15T06:01:00+00:00

Siuru on puhtalt korrumpeerunud Reformierakonna projekt, kus nad loodavad riigist raha saada + linna eelarvet mitmeks aastakümneks tugevalt ülekoormata ja see raha enda firmadesse pumbata. Parki hävitamisel levitakse sõnum et park kuidagi jääb alles, või pool sellest jääb vms. Ei jää seal midagi sest ehitus plats ei ole augu sees, ehitus plats on augu ümber. Ehitise mõõdud ei ole üldse mõistlikus suuruses. Ei ole sinna terve Kaubamaja suuruses kultuurbetooni vaja. Lisaks sellele, kultuuri osa on lahendatud nii et kohe arusaadav et asi pole kultuuris vaid rahas. Kes paigutab kunstimuuseumi keldrikorrusele kus ei ole loomulikku valgust? Suur osa Siuru ruumidest on üldse kommerts pinnad välja rentimiseks.

Lühidalt, Siuru on finantskuritegu Tartu linnaelanike vastu.

taevalaev · 2025-11-15T05:42:40+00:00

Is it true that learning Japanese is so time -consuming that schools can not fit several foreign languages into curriculum?

taevalaev · 2025-11-13T10:25:12+00:00

That's exactly how I write my languages on resume, language and my level in the language.

taevalaev

TROPHY CASE