Die Kaffeestube - German and Austrian cyber Kaffee und Kuchen

[admylin]

Kaffeeklatsch for anyone in a German speaking country or interested in German, Kommt herein und setz euch!

Thanks admylin - marking my place!

And thanks for the words Linzer - wanted dd to write it but she nearly just wrote Gute Besserung von dd! Will get her to write your words later.

Thanks for the new thread, admylin.

I'm never one to knowingly turn down Kaffee und Kuchen. Feel like I could do with some now, in fact; DD1 got her maths test back and she got a 5 (the lowest grade here).

Gern geschehen, Canella. (Does anyone actually say that? I'm not sure I've ever heard it here.)

Ooh thanks admylin!

Chocolate cake ok for everyone? (Although I guess a Linzer Torte would be more appropriate :) )

Oh no - a 5. Is she upset? Dd is always upset about telling dh about her marks when they're not so good.

Oh dear, poor dd Linzer, she practised so much aswell. What sort of maths was it? Was it Textaufgaben?

I quite like a slice of Käsekuchen, the German baked style. Although chocolate cake is always good!

I love Apfelstreuselkuchen. Chocolate cake great but with a big dollop of cream. (maybe the reason my belly is the size it is!)

Yes, Streuselkuchen is great - there are some great cakes in germany that's for sure.

Canella what sort of yoghurts do you buy? (Saw your twitter about them!) My 2 will eat the odd corner yoghurt but otherwise not keen.

Sorry, Linzer, I completely missed the post about your DD's maths test. How is she?
(Thoughts of cake had taken over my brain)

Canella I'm wondering how long I can blame my belly on having a baby, when in fact it's my daily biscuit habit that's causing the wobble.
Ah well, it gives DS something nice & soft to lean on in the bath!

Chocolate cake is fine by me too! I actually prefer Sacher to Linzer, but someone had already taken that user name. And Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte used to be my treat whenever I went up the TV Tower in Berlin - a bargain 3 DM too!

DD1 was a bit subdued when she told me about her maths test results, but seems OK about it now. She went off to console herself by basteling a wind turbine (as you do). DH is going to be really disappointed, although I know he won't be angry with her.

It was mainly fractions and Raten (installments?) this time, admylin. They also had to convert measurements, which she really struggled with. Mind you, I can't do those either: "Wieviel dag sind 8 1/2 kg?" is beyond me too (although I see she actually got that one right). She just can't her head round the idea of downpayments and installments at all, and lost all 4 points on the Raten question.

Am sitting here with dd's German homework.
She's stuck so those of you who studied German did you maybe come across 'Der Knabe im Moor' from 1892 by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff? She has to find all the Geräusche and the optische eindrücke and explain them. It's brain-hurting stuff.

Funny how school systems are all different - dd in the 5th class hasnt done fractions. I'm sure we learned them like your dd linzer at primary school. I am a secret maths geek so love helping dd with maths. I'm so sad, I cant wait for her to do Algebra.

admylin - i buy muesli corner ones and probiotic ones from Aldi then buy fruit corner ones from Lidl. And sometimes Sahne Kafer (?sp) ones for dh but since they've got 350 kcal per pot I never eat them. Never buy proper Müller ones unless they're on special offer.

Realised I've got a yoghurt obsession & an obsession with using the word "ones"

admylin von Droste-Hülshoff sounds like a name you'd make up if you were writing a vampire novel Sorry, I know that's not helpful in slightest.

Thanks for the new thread. I think it's going to take a while for me to remember that the green posts are yours and not Linzer's, so please excuse any mix-ups.

Canella I saw a selection of Ranzen in a shop window today for 69 ?, if you fancy combining your shopping trip with some non-virtual Kaffee und Kuchen und Klatsch!

DD has been given the all clear by the dr and is noticeably more cheerful today, so she can go back to kiga next week. The dr saw her sucking her thumb, though, and told her she should practise licking it instead. I actually think that might have had a chance of working, except I idiotically told MIL and she will be so insistent about it that DD will lose any desire to do it for herself (plus she's probably set up a reward system involving giving DD a Smartie every time she takes her thumb out of her mouth).

Hope the other ill dc are also feeling better today.

Silken good news that dd is better and hope the thumb sucking improves. Guess that's one advantage of them having a dummy, you can take it away but you can't take thumbs away. I remember my aunt having to put special badly tasting nail varnish on my cousins thumbs to stop her from sucking.

Here's the Gedicht for anyone wanting to prepare for what is to come in German lessons. This film helped me to understand it somehow better than just seeing it on paper.

Hi, All.
Found you!

Sorry to hear your DD had a disappointing maths result, Linzer, sounds tricky!

Hope all poorly little ones get well soon.

This weekend, DH is driving some boxes to be stored at his parents' home while we are away, and I can't wait to see the floor again! We are selling some things, and will start afresh in Germany, living simply. No other news, I feel boring just packing and clearing out. Looking forward very much to a fresh start when we move.

I'm here for some cake, though I'd rather have a cup of tea at this time in the evening please (German cake is all good, but proper tea, strong, with milk - no German "Black tea" or herbal stuff thanks :) )

My kids get ?0.25 per pot Aldi "sahne" yoghurt, and a corner one as a treat on shopping day (and I buy the little quark pots for the baby, which DS1 is also allowed but has to be limited so he doesn't eat all 6 at a sitting) are they hard done by yoghurt wise? They seem quite happy and usually have one after dinner and maybe lunch...

Sorry to hear about the 5 despite all the work Linzer , not really looking forward to grades starting next year (dd's school doesn't give grades in the first class, but yesterday at the Elternsprech thingie I went to one mother asked the teacher to explain the hierarchy of the comments the teacher writes, and whether "Prima" is a 1, "Gut" a 2, etc. - guess she just can't wait for it to start lol!

Glad your dd is better Silken

No Hun I am looking forward to seeing whether you manage not to accumulate possessions for your toddler, I am sure that is mainly what our house is full of (much to my husband's despair) - if you are planning a DC2 I challenge you not to accumulate enough toys, books, toddler musical instruments and puzzles, craft supplies, clothing, ride ons, bikes, sledges etc. etc. to open a childcare facility - how can you part with even outgrown things things when a future DC might also use them:)

DS1 went downhill mid morning and his temperature shot up and he was miserable, til finally Neurofen/ Calpol combo kicked in and he slept for almost 5 hours! Funny illness as it is just cough and intermittent fever, but spoke to another mum on the phone today and her 3 year old had exactly the same earlier in the week. I am meant to be meeting up with some English speaking friends and acquaintances from DS1's toddlers group days tomorrow, was quite looking forward to it as I rarely get around to meeting up with any native English speaking adults... our location combined with being home for the end of school at 11.20 for dd has made it near impossible since September, but doubt we can go now - not sure it is OK to even if he has a totally healthy night and is fine in the morning, as he may still be contagious, always the way!

Sorry I've missed some comments out, can hear ds2 already...

DS loves yoghurt, we give him a soya brand, I hope they have it in Germany. I have checked their website (www.alprosoya.de/), and I think that they do.

Thatis, DS is exempt from the ascetic lifestyle! :) We already have more stuff for him than ourselves. :) We are trying for DC2, and I have already stored some things.

Yay, Kaffeeklatsch! Thanks for the new thread, admylin!

I still can't get over nohun saying she's 36! I'd have pegged you at least 10 years younger than that! There is one tired looking woman staring back at me in the mirror, I can tell you.

I really miss German yoghurt. American does not cut it. Can you still buy Frische Landliebe in the glass jars?

S is finally walking and so pleased with himself. If you do pirate impressions he does them back and it's hilarious. He's a right ray of sunshine usually, when this molar isn't bothering him.

Sorry about all the illness. I hope they all recover in time for the weekend and you can get out and about in the fresh air. Sorry about the 5 for dd Linzer. They grade them quite harshly, don't they? Dd has her parents' conference next week and they have lost another day of school to budget cuts.

Dd thinks she can draw some pictures and sell them to earn money for our trip to the UK. How can I convince her that there isn't really a market for 6 year old's art without crushing her entrepreneurial spirit? I don't want her to do a load of drawings, set a stall up on the driveway and sell nothing.

at Fraeulein Linzer! We have a drive through drop off and pick up lane in our school! You can tell it's America. Well apart from the large flag hanging outside, etc.

I'm quite partial to Mohnkuchen at the moment, if anyone has any!

As bless you, tad. Well, I am 37 actually, 38 next month! I have a younger husband though! He keeps me young! :) I can't remember if you have said how old you are, but I bet you are being harsh on yourself!

I don't know about American yoghurt, but I have had American vegan ice cream, and wow, that stuff is supreme. It is a good job I don't live in America or I'd be fat on that stuff! I have been to Oregon, very lovely. Quite a big vegan community, too.

NoHun yes the Alpro yoghurt is available in most supermarkets round here (except Lidl and Aldi).

Thatis sorry you will be missing your meeting. Hopefully there wil be another one soon. How is ds today?

Jenny a drive through drop off lane is a great idea (although it wouldn't work in the UK going by how many parents accompany their dc into the classroom). Drive through banking that I recently saw on TV is another thing - time saving but non umweltfreundlich! I remember an American friend who stayed in Germany for a year saying that most of all she was going to miss going around on the bikes or on foot as in the US she would be back to driving everywhere.

Sorted out the Zukunftstag for ds last night. All secondary school dc go on a day to work in April so he's going to the Neurosurgery department. The colleague said he'd try to arrange a visit to an OP but I don't think ds is so begeistert. He'd rather go to a computer shop or follow a PC repair man for a day but those places are fully booked months ahead! Dd is going to look at fossils at the geographical institute!

What did your DD ask to do, admylin - or do they just get allocated somewhere? DS said yesterday that he wants to go and work with DH so that he can be with him all the time; he's a real daddy's boy!

NoHun I haven't tried vegan ice cream, but American ice cream was great - although the fact that it came in huge containers (a gallon?) was lethal.

Yay for DS, Jenny - how old is he now? DS didn't start walking until he was 16 months, so I was glad he wasn't my first as I wasn't at all bothered about milestones by that stage. DD1 was 13 months but quite late compared to most of the other babies we knew, so I was getting impatient for her to start walking.

Thatis I'm still getting the hang of what grades the comments actually mean. When I first looked at DD2's test yesterday, I thought that "nicht genügend" was a 4 but then remembered that that was "genügend". I thought that mangelhaft was the lowest grade, but maybe that's in Germany?

DD1 got 13 points out of 29, so the marking system does seem a bit harsh - I'm sure that would be a D rather than an E in the UK. At any rate, we've now arranged for her to go to a maths tutor once a week until her next Schularbeit in mid-May. Hopefully it will take some of the pressure off DH; he says he doesn't know what else he can do with her, as he spent ages revising with her for the test. He can also get very impatient with her, which obviously isn't great either.

Linzer dd is going with 3 of her friends to the geographical institute where they take them round all the different labs and explain what they do, then they show them the archives and the fossil collection. Should be about a 3 or 4 hour tour. Last year she went to a Berufsschule to follow a teacher around (he taught electronics of some sort). You have to organise this day yourself and school is closed on that day.

Some of ds's friends were so fed up as they had to go with their parents who work in a cantine, one is hospital cleaner and one had to go to a retirement home to clean.

Actually she's going to Die Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, had to look it up! I knew it was something to do with geology and she'll be able to join workshops about Geologie, Rohstoffe, Geothermie, Boden, Endlagerung radioaktiver Abfälle, or Kartographie.

That sounds like it could be really interesting, admylin. Definitely far preferable than having to go and clean!

Argh, I need to vent. Firstly about parents who forget to tell me that their child won't be coming to English (it's making me wonder whether I should carry on picking the children up from school next year). And secondly, we've had a letter from the headteacher inviting us to a meeting to discuss their "observations" of DS at school enrolment and to plan weitere Schritte und Hilfen für den Schulstart. If they suggest putting him in the Vorschulklasse, I won't be pleased (as far as I can tell, the only problem is that he's very shy in new situations - and separating him from his best friend isn't going to help).