Yes, yes, yes, we know. We’ve been beating that drum for weeks now. But when will it be?

We don’t know yet, but we will very soon. The polls to select a weekend for this year’s meetup have been open for a little over a week, and are closing on May 1st. There is still time to cast your vote! At the moment it’s a close race between a few weekends in September, with a candidate in October tied for third place.

If you’re an English-language expatriate blogger in Germany, join in on the discussion. Sign up for our forums (tell us where you are in Germany and your blog’s URL), check your calendar, and then cast your vote.

Over the next few months (and not necessarily in this order): Our Berlin Hosts will provide

• Arrival/Departure Hints
• Lodging Suggestions
• Detailed Itinerary

Past members, be sure to log in with your username and password to get the full scoop. All the planning happens in our discussion forum, so keep an eye out there, or watch this space as the planning progresses.

The hosting committee has already narrowed it down, considering their own availability and local events. So check your calendar and login to the board, to help decide when we’re going to get together this year.

We welcome all English-language expatriate bloggers in Germany. If you’re not already a member, apply here. Please give us your blog’s URL and a rough idea of your location in Germany.

See you in Berlin!

The Berlin hosts are on the ball — they’ve compiled a list of eight possible weekends for our meetup, and also a list of what’s happening in Berlin around those same weekends. Consult your calendar, mull it over, and see what others have to say about the festivals, concerts and goings-on in Berlin. In just a few weeks, we’ll ask for your vote about which weekends work for you and nail down our date to the one that is most compatible.

If you’re an expatriate English-language blogger in Germany, register or sign in on our forum to see the WEBMU detailed discussions.

Berlin has been an also-ran for countless (read: “at least 3 or 4“) years now. When AundAPenner offered up Münster, it initially looked as if Berlin had so much momentum as to be unstoppable. In the end, Berlin won more votes overall, but AundAPenner did manage to sell more than a few of the voting members on Münster — either as a contender for next year or a spot for a weekend trip independent of the meetup.

Your hosts for the Whiny Expat Bloggers MeetUp in Berlin are:

• TQE | That Queer Expatriate
• NoApathyAllowed
• Snooker in Berlin

Now that know WHERE our meetup will be, it’s up to the hosts to propose some options for WHEN in 2012 it will be. What does your calendar look like for the rest of the year? When could you pop over to Berlin to see the faces and hear voices you normally only read?

If you’re an expatriate in Germany who blogs in English, head over to our discussion board and be sure to sign in or apply for membership, if you haven’t already — without a membership, you won’t see the meetup planning discussions. Then see what the hosts propose. See you in Berlin!

Click over to the discussion thread at http://forums.expatbloggersingermany.com and be sure to log in with your username and password. Then vote, discuss, and convince your fellow expat bloggers to vote your way.

The poll will last about a week. Change your vote as often as you like during that period. We’ll tally up up the totals and declare winner as soon as possible after that, so that the elected hosts can get started with the next step: nominating a weekend.

We’ve revamped the discussion forum since last year, so just in case you need help, leave a comment here or tweet @ExpatBloggersDE.

Welcome to the end of February. It’s that time of year in Germany when all you can do, thanks to the still-short days and still-cold nights is fantasize about warmer, happier times — perhaps times spent with your fellow expatriate bloggers at your annual meetup sometime later in the year.

And so we turn over a new page in the calendar and invite you to nominate your choice of a host city for the Whiny Expat Blogger MeetUp 2012. Head over to our new-and-improved discussion forum and start cranking out ideas about where (and later: when) our annual meetup should take place.

Let the planning begin!

It’s less than a fortnight (does anyone really say that?) until WEBMU 2011 in Cologne. Jen at Resident on Earth is guiding a group of early arrivers to Aachen from Cologne. We’ve got eight confirmed travelers at the moment, but 10 would guarantee an English-language tour of the Dom (Cathedral) in Aachen.

If you’re attending the Whiny Expat Bloggers MeetUp this year and have earned an extra Friday off of work, spend it with the WEBMUers, soaking up a piece of history stretching back to before France and Germany were named as such. Jen will make sure you make it back to Köln in time for the Friday night dinner with the rest of the night-before attendees.

You can get all the details and let Jen know of your intention join our quest to Aachen on our discussion board. It’s open to all English-language expatriate bloggers in Germany.

Why Cologne? We decided that back in March of this year by a simple majority vote. Cologne (narrowly) beat out fellow contenders Magdeburg, Berlin and Frankfurt. I have a strong feeling about a town in the East or South for 2012′s WEBMU, since now we will have done the

• North twice,
• the West twice,
• the South, East and sort of the middle just once each.

Resident on Earth, one of our gracious hosts for the Cologne WEBMU, has a nice write-up of what to expect. For a good chuckle, read the press release warning on Letters Home, too. ian in Hamburg knows all too well, having co-hosted the Hamburg WEBMU in 2010.

And then sign up at our member discussion board to get the full agenda and all the details about who’s attending and where to stay and how to travel around in Cologne. If you are an expatriate in Germany, blogging in English, you are most welcome to join us!

Resident on Earth is collecting names of interested parties on our discussion board. Let her know here please, whether you’re interested in a day trip jaunt down to Aachen and back. She’s organizing a group train travel ticket. Also, for history buffs, Charlemagne’s tomb/shrine is a potential stop on our tour through Aachen. However, for that, a tour guide is obligatory, and will cost a few bucks pro Nase. Let her know your thoughts on that here, please.

Just stumbled onto our site? If you’re an expatriate in Germany who blogs in English, register on our discussion board to get the inside scoop.

This is the start of a more cohesive web presence for our group.

Watch this space!