O du wunderschöner Herbst - life in German and Austria thread

[admylin]

It is a wunderschöner Herbst at the moment isn't it. Lovely sunny bright blue sky with a chill in the air. Shame we're stuck in the house, ds has a flu like virus so the balcony is as far as we'll get.

nips in to

say hello

as in rl

my voice is gone .....

bleugh

bye again all....

I didn't actually get to Hofer until 8.30 in the end, by which time it was packed - I managed to get a pair of boots in size 27 for DS (only pink ones left in size 28) and the last two pairs of ice skates in size 28-31 for the girls; I can't believe how quickly everything goes.

Sounds like a good idea to get your DD checked out, admylin. I've heard that Gymnasium can come as quite a shock to children used to only ever getting 1s at primary school, who suddenly find themselves getting 3s and 4s. They don't give grades during the year at our Volksschule, only on the Zeugnis, but you can usually tell from the teacher's comments what grade it would be (DD1 has had bemüht a couple of times which is probably a 3, and got schade once, which must be a 4).

Cinders - hello, good to see you back here! Hope your voice returns soon.

I remember in south Germany Aldi was awful on special offer days. The women would be pushing and grabbing to get what they wanted! Do you have Tchibo in Austria? In Berlin their dc clothes were like a uniform at our primary school, everyone had the same stuff!

The sofa still hasn't arrived. Could do with going out to the shops but it'll have to wait.

Yes, we have Tchibo/Eduscho here too - we've had some good bargains from there and it's a bit more civilised than Lidl and Hofer, but you're right, you do see the children's clothes everywhere!

Hope your sofa arrives soon; it's such a pain having to wait in for things. Morning up to 13 Uhr probably means 12.55 but you don't want to risk it!

Our neighbour has gone shopping so her youngest DD is over here, but she's left her other two (aged 4 and 8) at home and she's been gone a good half hour already. That kind of thing doesn't seem all that uncommon here, but I'm sure there'd be an outcry in the UK! She also leaves the 2 and 4 year olds at home when she drives the oldest to school in the morning; I wouldn't dare leave DS home alone for more than 30 seconds!

Must go and paint DD2's fingernails... I painted them very dark purple for Halloween and she seems to have acquired a taste for it (must just remember to remove it before school tomorrow!).

linzer - you didnt get there till 8.30!! thats positively late by german standards!!! lol! after my fire drama last monday i was unusually in Lidl just after it opened (i wanted some cheap snow boots for myself) - i was shocked by how busy it was and that all the boots in my size were gone already!
was just there before for shopping and again it was busy cause of their ski clothing special offers! shopping is definitely a national sport in germany!!!

tchibo in germany is weirdly more expensive than the same tchibo stuff in the UK! i still buy stuff from it but when we lived in the UK my ILs would always just get us to buy clothes for the dc from the UK website - think they've got some strange exchange rate going on!

admylin - is your sofa there yet? hope you've been productive while you've been waiting!! i've got to wait in a morning next week for our long awaited dining room table! i'm in love with it but we've had to wait 3 months for it to be made its the one in the main picture. we're getting the bench too but in a chocolate brown colour! i love this range of furniture - got some wall units for the other end of the living room in it too! shame its so expensive or i'd buy everything they have!

well better go and crack on with the washing! the pile is huge today!

Very nice canella! you'll be able to have some good dinner parties soon. Looks comfortable too. I hate mine, it was with the kitchen and has one of those corner benches but it's not comfy and the table is too small for a decent dinner. When we have our long over due house warming (not that I'm in the mood for warming this place) it'll have to be a buffet!

Yes, productive for my brain while I am waiting for my delivery. Been looking up Dreisatz and Zuordnungen to help dd learn for her maths test this week. If 5 apples cost 1,77? how much do 3 apples cost? I know how to do that now, good eh..

Linzer, no I wouldn't leave that age for too long either. Well not at all come to think of it! I always took my 2 every where. I started leaving ds when he was 8 but not for hours.

yeah i left dd this morning for 40 mins but she's 9! have left ds1 (6) if he's poorly while i nipped to the bus stop with ds2 but would NEVER leave ds2 home alone - no idea what would happen!

Still no sofa, looks like it could really be 12:55!

admylin - Well, as long as it arrives in the time specified, I suppose... The worst thing is when they haven't even brought it by 1 pm and you've waited in all morning.

Canella - I know, I have only myself to blame for arriving a full 30 minutes after the shop had opened. (The fact that DH phoned me just after I'd left to say DD2 had just woken up and wanted to come with me didn't help; I hadn't gone far, but had to wait for her to get dressed.)
Love the dining table btw - we only have a cheap Ikea one, but it really isn't worth us getting anything more expensive as it's already stained with felt tip, has been stabbed with sharp forks and even sawn into (by DH!). Maybe once the DC are in their teens, we'll consider getting a nicer one!

Sounds like our stuff linzer! We got a new coffee table but it already has a chunk out of the top and a scratch. No idea why though, the dc have big desks in their rooms but no, they always come and sit kneeled down at the coffee table to do their works of art!

Still no sofa...

Hi everyone,

Nothing much going on here. We had quiet Halloween, carved a couple of pumpkins but no trick or treaters, as usual. All the Turkish kids in the neighbourhood used to come to our house but I guess they've all grown up now.

I really hate the way they mark those stupid dictations here, so unfair to take marks off for the same mistake over and over again. What are the kids supposed to learn from that? That the teacher is a mean old bat? Mine have gotten a 6 or two on dictations but they usually don't count for much. If a student gets two 5's in major subjects (Math, German, English, French, Biology etc) on the final report card they usually have to repeat the year but there seems to be some leeway and a 1 or a 2 in another important subject can sometimes cancel it out. If they're on the edge and leaning towards 5's during the first term you'll get a "Versetzung gefährdet" letter from the school as a warning.

Must go do something. My house is a tip!

all this talk of 6's freaks me out - its amazing how different the standard at the Gymnasium is! shoudl be a warning to dd if thats where she goes next year!

now feel more worried about our precious dining table getting marks on it! dh is having a paddy already at the thought! thankfully we only really eat there all together at weekends - we've got a tiny ikea table in the kitchen that the kids normally eat at in the week (which is obviously dented + +!!) and we're going to buy some heavy duty plastic for when we all sit at the new one! but we've been sitting at our 10 years old ikea dining table for too long and its dwarfed by the size of the room so we had to take the plunge and buy a new one!

think i'll be like those women in the 70's and 80's who had plastic sheeting on their "good couch" and no-one was normally allowed to sit on it! maybe i'll just have a dining room table for show!

ad - did the sofa come? is it great? are you going to take the plastic sheeting off it

Yes, it came! It was five to one when the door bell went, I was just getting myself psyched up to phone and complain!

Didn't get a chance to keep the plastic, they had it off and set the whole thing up before I could think where I wanted it! Ds and I have tested it and both nearly fell asleep after lunch so it must be comfy.

Canella, you'll have to get a plastic cover. It's a shame to hide a nice table though isn't it. My parents bought a really posh highly polished dining table and when we visit they have it double covered the whole time, you might as well have a garden table under there. They have a thick plastic but heat proof cover and then a big double folded table cloth. Sometimes my dad even putstable mats on top of all that!

Westvan,so what did you do when you got your first 6 with the boys? did you call a school meeting or get Nachhilfe or were you more cilled than me (worry worry..) I think dd has to now really try hard to not get a 5 on her report. I think the German teacher will give her a 5 now so that's 1 already. I want to phone the kinderarzt to get an appointment to have her checked for dyslexia (her dad has it) but I'm not sure what to say. They don't like you to diagnose so maybe I should just say I want to speak about a psychological problem?

Admylin - well, they never actually got a 6 in any subject in the final report but they did get one once in a while on a test. And ds14 is notorious for getting low 4's and 5's on tests, mostly because he's extremely lazy. He almost didn't make it out of the 8th class (because of French and Geography - both taught by the same teacher - suprise, suprise!) but he pulled himself up by his bootstraps and they let him into the 9th. I don't think tutoring would help him much, he just needs to apply himself more.

I wouldn't worry too much but if you're really concerned you could make a appointment with the teacher to talk about it. Those 5 minute parent-teacher meetings are usually pretty useless but most teachers would be prepared to meet you for a longer chat if that's what you wanted. It's OK if dd gets a 5 as long as she's allright in other subjects.

As for the doctor you could just say "Schulprobleme" or "Lernschwierigkeiten" when you make the appointment and then explain what the problem is when you're there so they can decide on the appropriate path to take. I know there are some learning centres around her for dyslexia - they called the Legasthenie Lernzentrum or something. I think the school could even tell you where to go once you have a concrete diagnosis.

Canella - we've got an ancient Ikea dining table - one of those round wooden ones with two leaves that you can put in to make it bigger and it looks like someone's been chewing on it! All sorts of marks and scratches. Embarassing, really. Living room table is cheap but looks nice. It fell apart the other day when I was trying to move it a bit.

servus

sorry to gatecrash... I no longer live in Austria, but I'm loving reading about it.

Servus thelightsareon. Where did you live in Austria?

admylin - Your parents sounds much like mine; my dad is particularly protective of furniture, carpets, etc. I remember frantically rubbing at a scratch on the dining room table with a Brazil nut last time I was home (can't remember who was responsible for the scratch, but the Brazil nut worked!).

At least I won't have to worry about the DC ever getting a 6, as grades only go down to 5 here. According to DH, if you get one 5 in your Zeugnis you have to pass a Nachprüfung to be able to move up to the next year (although things may have changed in the few years since he was at school). I'm glad we have another few years before we need to start worrying about things like that.

It's back to school again tomorrow after the long weekend, so I've just been preparing tomorrow's English lesson. The teacher wants me to do numbers but only up to 10, although I did tell her that we'd gone up to 30 last year. At least that's something that DD1 will find easy! Did you get something sorted out for your DD's English lessons, Canella?

I lived in Graz and then for a little while in St Polten (keyboard has no Umlaut!). Lovely places.

Morning all....ashamed to say I have not yet been to Graz, must explore! where are you now the lightsareon?

I think I have table envy...tis lovely canella. Had to laugh at the plastic cover business...we have a cheap ikea table, but still want to protect it. I got one of those wipeable plastic cloths in yellow but it looked hideous (no room to eat in the kitchen so the table is in the living room) and I found some transparent plastic stuff to put on it...so yes, it does look like I have not unwrapped it. I can send you some for your new sofa if you want admylin?

Had a hectic morning yesterday and finally remembered about the boots in the pm. I went at 14.30 (now that is late!) and found some boots for DC3. Last pair that were not pink. hurrah! Only 4 more little feet to clad.

Some of the things I have been reading here regarding schools annoy me. Sorry to hear that small children (and parents) are being put through this stress.

Off to get ready for the day...have a good one!

Morning, bananas you're up early! No need for plastic as they've all had a test sit and the sofa has crumbs on already and as usual crumpled up blanket and cushions strewn everywhere!

Had a really nasty letter yesterday from the landlady. She's such an evil old bat. Has anyone seen the Harry Potter film where Ron gets a letter from his mum and it comes to life and shouts at him then tears itself up? Well it could have been one of those, atleast that made me laugh.

I've been to Graz quite a few times (DH went to university there and still has friends in the area), but never to St Pölten - I really should make the effort as it's our Landeshauptstadt. Actually, I've just remembered that we did go to Aquacity there (as we have free entry with the NÖ-Card) but haven't seen much of the city itself.

Your landlady sounds awful, admylin; what was the letter about? Love the Harry Potter image though.

Well, must get on as I've got work arriving today so I need to finish preparing the English lesson beforehand. Knowing my luck though, the job won't arrive until this afternoon or until 5 minutes before I leave - it will be like your sofa yesterday, admylin!

The letter was to complain that we (from all 8 flats) aren't cleaning the stairs to her standards and she is disgusted. She will have to employ a cleaning service which will not be cheap and of course with so much coming and going they will have to clean twice a week and we'll be getting the bill on the nebenkosten!

Then it says if the situation has not improved by the end of November that is the action she will be forced to take. Some people in the house are ashamed to have guests because of the state of the stairs (well I'm ashamed to have overnight guests because of the state of the bathroom)! Wish I knew if that one was true, but the stairs are clean, OK the walls could do with a lick of paint but that's not out problem.

How I wish I could fight her with really good lawyer. Maybe I will try the Mieterverein after all.

Some people just seem to be looking for an excuse to complain and/or have ridiculously high standards. A friend of mine had an elderly neighbour knocking on the door of her flat to complain about the fact that she'd left her daughter's (clean) wellies just outside her front door (my friend's door, not the neighbour's)!

Do you know the other people in the house? Are they the kind who are likely to complain if there's a speck of dust on the stairs? I'm often ashamed to have guests over because of the state of our house, but I would have thought the stairs would have to be pretty bad for guests to mind! The Mieterverein sounds like a good idea.

The work still hasn't arrived, which is very frustrating - I've got everything done on my to do list (washing, tidying, etc.) and still have almost two hours before the English lesson, so am really hoping it arrives soon. It seems like such a waste of a morning otherwise, especially as it will mean very stressful mornings tomorrow and Friday trying to get the work finished on time.

I really can't figure out who could have complained Linzer. Each of the 3 floors has 3 flats, two of which are one room apartments. A couple seem to be youngish men and one is an old lady but she is quite friendly and an old man next door to us who is very quiet (I've seen him once since August and have never heard him)

The top 4th floor has 2 flats one of which is empty and the other is a nice single mum who is moving out next week anyway (and she's glad of it!)

I have to try and stay cool, I used to get really stressed and bothered about such nastiness and it really was a nasty letter but I keep the Harry Potter image in mind and it helps. I think it was called a howler (Ron's letter).

Is there a rotating "who gets to clean the stairs this week" schedule, Admylin? I can't believe the landlady is making such a fuss. Maybe she's just using it as an excuse to hire someone and make more money off her renters? It would have been nice if she had told you who had complained and what exactly was wrong? They do seem to go all batty about stair cleaning here. We used to live on the top floor of a four storey apartment house, two apartments on each floor, and we gave our stairs a spit and a polish every two weeks while another tenant from downstairs would come up and do it for our neighbour who was about 100 year old, but some of the other tenants would be out there washing and waxing and all sorts of stuff. Pretty pointless when people are going up and down all day.

I (finally) cleaned the bathroom today. I think I deserve a pat on the head.