Amy nearly in the papers

[pne]

There was an article in the local newspaper about Amy's new kindergarten (with the headline "Now all that's missing is the children"!), with a picture of Vivien (the teacher), Stephi (the directrix), Till (the Zivi), and three children (Sana, Hussein, Kristin).

I imagine that if Amy were already going there every day, rather than once a week, she would have been on the picture, too.

It's also a little amusing that Stephi explicitly points out that "we've already got children from India, Poland, Sweden, and Arabia"; that accounts for four out of the six I know of so far :) So it's more of a coincidence that the first "batch" of children is so diverse. (And IIRC, Hussein's father is from Lebanon rather than "Arabia", though he travelled around a bit and I don't know where Hussein grew up.)

Comments

[conuly]

The Zivi?

Zivi

[pne.livejournal.com]

Hard to translate concisely, since there's no cultural equivalent in the US AFAIK.

It's short for "Zivildienstleistender" (or should that be "Zivildienst Leistender" under the new spelling rules?).

Germany has a draft, so all males in a certain age (with certain exceptions) have to serve in the military for a certain time. If you're a conscientious objector, you can instead do "civil service" (Zivildienst), generally in "social"/care establishments such as hospitals, old folks' homes, or - as in this case - a kindergarten.

They're generally called "Zivis" colloquially, and in some cases are all but indispensable (since they're performing compulsory service, I believe they get paid by the government rather than the institution in question, so they're cheaper than hiring, say, a nurse).

Re: Zivi

[conuly]

Oh. So his job in the kindergarten is like, assistant? But he's the Zivi because it's government-mandated, more or less?

Re: Zivi

[pne.livejournal.com]

So his job in the kindergarten is like, assistant?

Something like that. I don't know what exactly his tasks are, but they tend to be unskilled labour (for obvious reasons - they don't get particular training). So, perhaps helping with the cooking, or fixing minor things, or helping children cut out things; I don't know exactly.

But he's the Zivi because it's government-mandated, more or less?

He's a Zivi because he's performing the "alternative service" in lieu of compulsory military service, and I imagine he was assigned to that kindergarten.

I don't know how the assignments work out exactly, i.e. how the gov't decides who gets posted where.

"Zivi" isn't a job description, though, in the sense that "this kindergarten has five teachers and two Zivis" and if one post is free they have to fill it, since the civil service he's performing is really for the gov't and not specifically for one particular institution. That is, it describes him more than his relationship to the kindergarten.

If that makes sense.

Not every institution need necessarily have a Zivi, but it's not uncommon.

But if you see someone working somewhere and get told he's "the Zivi", then you know why he's there (he wasn't hired/didn't apply there, but was assigned there because he's performing alternative service) and you have an idea of the kind of jobs they do (comparatively unskilled ones).

Re: Zivi

[fridoline.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, the young people can apply to do their service in a specific institution, if there is a place for Zivis there, but of course there is no guarantee. But I have heard of friends or brothers taking over a specific Zivi position from their brother or friend.

Re: Zivi

[conuly]

Got it.