Anyone in Germany care to chat?

[Brefugee]

I got a bit (lot) sick of all the German-bashing in that cake thread, some of it comes from just not knowing anything about the place, some of it is a kind of unwillingness to understand that things can be very different in other places.

There was a fair bit of niggling about how Brits might think German directness is rude - but as pp pointed out, Germans would think it rude if you walked into a waiting room at the Doctor's surgery without saying "morgen zusammen"

There was also German Cake Bashing (😂) at one point.

So. Anyone care just to have a long running thread for the expats/immigrants/Germans here who are in Germany, or from Germany and missing/not missing it, or are thinking of coming here?

I remember having a DC's birthday party here and being a bit taken aback at all the kids asking for forks for the cake (at home they would eat it from a napkin.)

Clearly I need to up my game and get some cake forks. Another faux pas to add to the collection

I’ve had no complaints about hanging my washing out on a Sunday. We did get a very loud complaint from the neighbour though when visiting FIL took it upon himself to mow the lawn on a Sunday. He subsequently received the necessary training in when noise is permitted and was very apologetic.

You can get sweets/savoury treats from a German shop called World Of Sweets. (They also have sweets from other countries).
If you happen to be near the border to Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg/France, sometimes their stores have British brands that German stores don't. Often it's possible to check their online shops in advance (like Carrefour, Delhaize, Albert Hejn etc) to see if it's worth it.

In some areas there are laws against hanging out your washing to dry on a Sunday or some religious holidays. And the person you rent from can always put rules in your tenancy agreement. In my building, we are not allowed to shower between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. - it's a 1970s concrete block and you can hear every cough and sneeze, so I'm happy to comply with this as it means I won't have to listen to the water from 4 other floors of showers running through my pipes while I lie in bed.

We have ILs (dh's db + his dw and MIL) not too far from you, Brefugee :)

80s- a shower rule very like yours has been overturned in court/case law (because it's unzumutbar to ban people, e.g. on shift work, from showering within particular hours), but if everyone's happy with sticking to that it's fine, obviously (and I get your point re not wanting to hear others showering at night!).

Thanks ConstructionTime, I'm actually very close to the Danish border, my DH works in Harrislee near Flensburg, where there are lots of Danish shops as stuff is cheaper.

That's a lovely area :)
I don't know the situation so well at Germany's northern (or eastern) border areas, but I wonder whether it's similar there. I noticed that for some reason a lot of the British brands show up in our neighbourcountries but not in Germany, except for online shops, large expensive supermarkets and such, as others mentioned before.

can anybody help me find the cake thread please

no pblm. Just found it

I'm in the Pfalz bit of Rheinland-Pfalz. Vineyards and almond blossom galore.

Been in Germany for 30-ish yrs. Find RLP a lot more laid back than Baden-Württemberg where I lived first. Am lucky to live in the old part of a wine village.

My 3 children are out of school now but I did Elternbeirat and Förderverein stints for years in primary and secondary. Didn't understand at first why I was elected as the Head of Governors till a couple of parents confided in me that as a foreigner I could say things to the schools that they wouldn't. So I happily played the "Ausländerkarte".

The best bit, it’s not called the Tuscany of Germany for nothing 😁 (I might be biased).

I did Elternbeirat and Förderverein stints for years in primary and secondary. Didn't understand at first why I was elected as the Head of Governors till a couple of parents confided in me that as a foreigner I could say things to the schools that they wouldn't. So I happily played the "Ausländerkarte".

i started out volunteering for those roles because i had no idea how German schools worked. And I did get something of a reputation for telling some home truths that others didn't want to mention.

We're both ex military but in 2020 and 2021 finally got round to visiting the eastern parts of Germany, really interesting places. We met people at a kind of fair in Magdeburg and they, late 50s like us, were all "so why did you come here of all places, is it the Hundertwasser Gebäude, and i was all "oh yes of course, it's great" but the real reason was that i knew it as the headquarters of the 3rd Shock Army during the cold war 😁

Totally fell in lurve with Warnemünde and Rostock

Just popping head in to bookmark - not living in Germany (sorry) but doing German on duolingo and fascinated by the language/country/culture. Have started following Liam Carpenter (very good) on TikTok which has lead to a bit more English-speaking-in-Germany-Tok, which is quite fun. Didn't understand all the cake criticism, would love some apfelkuchen right now.

@BertieBotts can you expound why

Remembering all these cakes I feel so hungry I love German cakes. Dd is trained to eat cake with a fork as well.

I am German without any connection to Britain except my love for the British culture 🥰 and my main reason for being here is that nothing like Mumsnet exists in Germany.
It's desperate - in the biggest forum for parents here, you (as a grown-up person) are "not allowed" to discuss politics, society and the like.
Apparently, it's not in the spirit of the forum.
Fair enough. I mean - why would we, we are mums, we aren't interested in anything beyond nappies and prams, are we?

Doro, is that Eltern.de, or Urbia? I've been there a few times and did notice that they were fairly netmumsish saccharine.

Brigitte.de was good while it was still going - huge forum with loads of topics including a parenting one, lots of discussion around politics and society and even an AIBU-type forum ('Was bringt Sie aus der Fassung?').

You're not alone. Approx 600k monthly visits from Germany. In fact, 20% of Mumsnet traffic is from outside UK.

It's Urbia. Eltern.de was shut down and its users, like those of Brigitte.de, were encouraged to join Urbia. But most of them left when they found out how limited the range of "allowed" topics are.

My daughter is half German & I spent around 15 years in Frankfurt & Vienna. I met an Englishman through work and moved back to UK in 2015 but I just came here to say I do miss German restaurant & Café culture !

On one hand, I miss the "Kaffee und Kuchen" culture, on whenever I'm staying with my aunt over Christmas I gain 3-4kg because there is Kaffee und Kuchen every single day.

I didn't know they'd shut down Eltern.de as well G+J must be really struggling.

we're all just sending faxes to each other over here, aren't we? 😂

But the lack of fora here is A Thing, and it is one reason my DDs consider themselves more British than German even though they were born here, went to school here and did their apprenticeships here. They say they feel more British because their consumption of media (so including music, books, films as well as social media) is in English. I notice it myself, preferring where possible to read/watch in the original language rather than translations/dubbed - if the original is something i speak. If not i don't care if i watch in English or German.

German TV is getting better. I loved Das Boot, Babylon Berlin and the Deutschland 83/86/89 series. I do like some German music but most of my cultural references are British/American and a bit of Australian music too.

München here and several years later am still not used to the shops being shut on Sundays. I don’t want to do all of my chores on a Saturday 😒
I found PG tips in an Indian grocery shop in Neuperlach cos exotic 🤣

Growing up over here, everything shut by 2pm, latest, on Saturday, except for the first Saturday of the month when it was 6pm.
So, I'm ok with how it is now. I used to want things to be open all the time, but now I'm happy there is a day when i can just flop.