Life in the town of Norderstedt

Hi

I am moving to Norderstedt with my wife and two toddlers in 2 weeks time. Would really appreciate any tips on things to do, facilites and what it's like to be an expat there. Any help greatly appreciated!

We don't live in Norderstedt but have friends and family there, so go out for food sometimes.

Our two favourites:

Alter Reporter is a pub with very good food (by far better than normal pub grub), they have great cocktails, food specials like "all you can eat" Tapas etc., skittles alleys, a great beergarden, and the BEST service I have ever encountered anywhere.

and

China Restaurant Mongolei
Marktplatz 3
22844 Norderstedt
phone 040 55440598‎
(a phantastic Chinese serving a la carte or Mongolian Barbecue. The food is fresh, very tasty and for € 12,80 the barbecue is a real bargain - service also very nice and attentive, even if your kids are not into Chinese food, there's breaded chicken, chips and other stuff that kids like available)

There's a good swim/sauna place in Norderstedt called Arriba.

Norderstedt is on the Northern edge of Hamburg just inside the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. Wikipedia reference here (in German).
It sprawls quite a bit so things could all depend upon where in Norderstedt you actually are (for example if you are close to Hamburg airport).

Been there a couple of times so I'd assume generally speaking its an OK place to live. Again depending where you are you could have good public transport into Hamburg (U-Bahn).

Thanks for all your advice and tips, well the house is just 2 mins drive inside the border when I am driving from central hamburg. Anybody know where the nearest supermarkets/shopping facilities are?

To find your local shops use the "Maps" facility in Google and enter the shop name and Norderstedt ie. "Aldi, Norderstedt". Other shops Lidl, Edeka, Rewe, Real.

Same goes for any other sort of business, very useful facility, Google Maps!

Hope you have settled in ok. I've been living in Norderstedt for 5 years now... not found many native English-speakers but in general am starting to like the place! It takes some getting used to as it is a "forced" and not "organic" town, i.e. it was created as a planning exercise almost 40 years ago, rather than developing over time. Consequently the town's identity is not really clear, and it has a satellite culture, with many people identifying more with Hamburg life than Norderstedt.
Maybe it's time for an English-language Stammtisch here...

If there ever is a stammtisch in Norderstedt just shout and I'll come around since I have an office there anyways near the airport. I'm good for any evening during the week and on weekend in reinbek.

For supermarkets:

there is als coop with two of their brands:

www.sky.de -supermarket

www.plaza.de - hypermarket

plenty of famila- hypermarkets around Norderstedt : www.famila.de