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.

Well done westvan! Are the taps all shined?! I've been doing a mega cook so I can freeze some stuff and keep out of the kitchen for a couple of days!
I've got bolognese, lentil dahl and meat and potato curry on the go and rice and pasta all cooked.

Dh sent off to a job offer at Geneva university today. Wouldn't mind moving there.

There was a Putzplan hanging downstairs and as far as I could see the stairs were clean enough so I didn't notice anyone NOT doing their part. Still, as you say some people probably waxed, scrubbed and polished and others (me) just did the sweep and quick wipe version. No need to get your knickers in a twist like the landlady though...one point was shoes too. I think a student, quite young living in one of the one room apartments has 3 pairs oftrainers lined up outside his door. Don't bother me but someone has complained!

@ bananas - I'm back in the UK now

are there still flats with the communal loo in the hallway? That one threw me when I first pitched up in Austria. Not to mention the bath/shower that I had in my kitchen in St Polten! Imagine my mother's face when she came to visit!

Lol, thelightsareon we once looked at a flat in Mannheim with the shower in the kitchen! In east Germany alot of flats were like that too.

How I dream of a nice modern bathroom, not like my present catastrophe. We have dark blue/turquoise tiles half way up and peeling off paint on the top half and a bathtub that must be well over 30 years old with bum scratching grooves on the base and rust around the plug hole!

Did you live in Mannheim, admylin? We had quite a normal flat (no bath, but toilet and shower in the bathroom!) there, although the couple living below us told us we should always wear slippers as the sound carried too much otherwise.

I've never come across a flat with a communal toilet either here or in Germany (although I did share a bathroom in Berlin with seven male students and no lock on the door). I remember thinking how luxurious DH's WG seemed when he was a student in Graz - well, it was clean and modern, which was more than you could say for all the places I lived in when I was a student!

Yes, in Berlin some apartments still have the toilet right next to the kitchen. No partition or anything.

The apartment we lived in in Hannover had little rooms on the landings between the floors and apparently those were once the toilets (one for two apartments) until they put proper individual ones in. I think before that they used to go to the communal swimming pool to take a shower.

No Linzer, didn't live there we have friends in Mannheim and were going to move there (hence the flat hunting) but then dh got his PhD place in Tuebingen so we ended up there. I quite liked it in Mannheim though , decent sized city and quite close to Frankfurt.

Neighbour knocked on my door yesterday to say that a known peadophile has just got out of jail and moved back to our area and to warn the dc not to speak to him and to go in groups. No parents are letting their dc out alone at the playground. My 2 don't go to the playground anymore (babyish!) and they don't stop off without telling me. She even described what he looks like...not sure where she gets all the info and how much is gossip.

Our lift is now where the communal, on the stairs toilets used to be. In my german class one woman was talking about how shocked she was that many of her friends (students, young workers) were living in flats with communal toilets/bathrooms in the stairwell...and not far from the Ringstrasse (posh central avenue of Vienna).
Admylin...fingers crossed the Geneva thing works out - sounds like you could do with a move. Does your dh know the political ins and outs of this position? Admire your marathon cook, I think I need to get organised like that.
I went to see someone about my DD yesterday and she said to try and keep evenings calm so DD can go to sleep more easily. Hmmm...totally fail most days. She is right of course but I do feel like bursting out laughing when they give me that sort of advice...as if I chose to have hectic bedtimes!
Right, having a tidy and clean house today...it is such a mess! Esp the laundry...

Same here Bananas, washing is on and I'm about to brave the wind and rain and walk to the shops (probably Aldi as it's nearest) so I hope there isn't a special offer mad rush on today!

We forget how not so long ago in the UK most people had outdoor loos, much rather have one on a landing than out in the yard! Central heating is fairly new aswell. Don't know how my gran managed!

Better get going as the rain has turned to a drizzle so I might not get soaked through after all!

My grandparents used to live in an old railway worker's house with an outside toilet, which always seemed like a huge novelty to me and my brother (luckily an inside toilet had been installed too by the time they moved in). Nowadays it seems quite usual to have a toilet on each floor...

DD1 announced this morning that she has to know the national anthem (all three verses) off by heart by tomorrow - help! They were actually told a week ago, but did she think to tell us then? She got the results of her Sachunterrichtstest back yesterday - 36 out of 44 (no points deducted for spelling mistakes, fortunately) and she got a "Brav!", so she was quite pleased. Apparently quite a few children got full marks - DH is convinced that some must be borrowing books from older children who used to have the same teacher, and wants me to try and do the same which I'm a bit about.

Lol at choosing to have a hectic bedtime, bananas - I keep telling myself we're going to have a lovely calm relaxing bedtime but somehow end up shouting at the children yet again...

The work finally arrived yesterday afternoon and is almost twice as long as I'd been told initially, but at least I have until Sunday to get it finished instead of Friday. Am falling asleep over mineral oil tax refunds at the moment (or should that be petroleum tax?); I think a coffee is in order!

How did the national anthem learning go Linzer? I meant to come back on and say you could search for it on youtube and play it on repeat for her all afternoon! Too late for that idea now.

Yesterday was strange. From the window it looked wet and cold and grey but when you went outside it was warm!

The Stadtteil Laternenlauf was on yesterday, led by the Feuerwehr with big torches and then all the little dc with their soggy paper lanterns and the local pub had set up Glühwein and sausages for sale on the carpark. Looked so sweet but I remember when my 2 were in that age group they didn't even like the Laternenlauf, too cold, dark and busy and they didn't get the songs somehow as they were just learning German. After 2 years of Laternenlauf they refused to go to anymore! I only saw it yesterday because we happened to have walked down to the shop to get school supplies (cardboard, special paper, a ruler).

That would have been a great idea, admylin - oh well, too late now! We struggled with it for about 45 minutes yesterday (until I had to leave for my dermatologist's appointment), but it was hard work - even now, I can only remember the first line, "Land der Hämmer" and "heiß umfehdet" (don't ask me what umfehdet means, though). However, after practising some more with DH this evening and this morning, she can now remember most of it - fingers crossed she still can at school!

There was a notice up at Kindergarten this morning about the Martinsfest next Thursday - for the first time, there's not going to be a lantern procession from Kindergarten to church as there are too many young children to walk that far (lots of 2.5 year olds; up until a year or two ago, children couldn't start Kindergarten until they were 3) so we'll be meeting directly at the church. Must admit I won't miss it, though - I completely agree with what you said about it being too cold, dark and busy admylin!

I'm feeling a bit sore this morning after having the mole removed, although it was fine yesterday - I'm hoping it's because it took the anaesthetic the rest of the day to wear off rather than because a stitch came out in the night or something, but I haven't plucked up the courage to look!

We're going to have to improve our vocab - no idea what heiß umfehdet means but if you find out let us know.

Ds was doing a poem last night be Eduard Mörike, any of you come across him in your German studies? He had to explain the meaning of a poem called Die traurige Krönung and I couldn't fully understand what it was on about. There was a king in Irland and a son in it I think and they seemed to be celebrating but apart from that...what on earth does geisterschwuel mean?

I was talking to another mother about it and she said that a lot of the language used in the national anthem is quite archaic, so that made me feel a bit better! No idea what geisterschwuel means, sorry - and I still haven't found out what umfehdet means either, but I did come across quite a good parody on wikipedia (I particularly liked the line "Land der Titel und Diplome").

So do you think your dd will have remembered the words today?

dd found her old primary school poems yesterday. The teacher would hand out a Gedicht der Woche every Monday and they had to copy a verse a day and sometimes they had to learn them by Friday and dd could still remember the ones she had had to learn (teacher would pick 3 or 4 dc each week to learn that weeks poem).

I'm not sure, but will find out in a few hours! I don't know how they'll be tested - whether each child will have to recite the whole poem, but at least they don't have to write it all down. Oh, and I've discovered that heiß umfehdet means hotly fought over!

Right, must go and see to the washing - I've neglected it for the last few days so must have a good two or three loads, but no time to do it all today. At least some new DVDs arrived from my parents yesterday so I have something to watch while I do the ironing, folding, etc!

Ooh, what's on the dvds? Wish mine would think that far and send me some dvds - I have to ask for everything so don't do it often. In the past year they've sent a little bag of sweets to the dc but only when asked!

I want to watch the rest of Lark Rise to Candleford but only the full first series is on Youtube. Might have to splash out on the dvd from Amazon.co.uk!

Quite a wide variety of programmes, but the Apprentice is what we've really been waiting for - I've been having to avoid spoilers in the meantime! One of my friends here watches it on YouTube (they've bought a special cable so they can watch it on the TV), but my parents (or rather, my brother) don't mind recording it so it seems easier to have it on DVD! Otherwise, everything from Midsomer Murders and Mock the Week to the Inbetweeners, Location and Have I Got News For You. Oh, and Surgery School is my current ironing fare (DH refuses to watch that kind of thing!). If you'd like any sent on, just say - I'll only be throwing them otherwise and they're very light to post (my parents used to spend a fortune posting videos to us when we lived in Germany!).

wow i dont post for 2 days and the thread goes mad!! was a mad couple of busy days but got a lovely quiet morning today (but far too much housework!!) so cant read all the posts!

admylin - hope your stairs are shiny now after your warning!! what is all that about! i think some german people have uber high standards of cleanliness! as long as my house looks clean and tidy i'm happy!

Linzer - hope everything comes back ok about your mole! how long do you have to wait to find out? i'm presuming everything was ok with my smear since they havent phoned and its now been 2 weeks!

so i'm chuffed with myself that i got take that tickets in the middle of the night! i'm a huge robbie williams fan but i've always been pregnant or not able to go to see him at previous concerts and altho i'm not really a take that fan i think they'll still be good in concert! so the tickets went on sale last night at midnight but i thought i'd wait till this morning to get them but ds2 woke me up when he climbed in the bed at 2am so i just got up, logged onto the computer and bought them! was back in bed in 5 mins! read on here about people in the UK waiting on the computer for 5 hours to get tickets! i wouldnt have been that dedicated!
And its in Munich so that means a couple fo days away from the dc! a nice birthday present for me next year!

well better go and clean downstairs - upstairs is all done already!
hope you all have a good weekend _ we're off to the ILs but are having a night in a hotel without the dc - our first night away from the dc together in over a year! looking forward to a really long sleep!

Well done on getting tickets canella! And that you had a good time over the weekend...sounds great to have a night away together!

Hope the mole is not sore anymore Linzer. Well done for getting it sorted. I am still to book my Frauenarzt appointment...what a chicken I am.

Oh Martinsfest, I do find it a bit too hectic, especially one year when they had real candles in the lanterns and it was windy. This year the kindergarten celebrates it indoors- sigh of relief.

One quick question. I had the tyres changed a week ago. Yesterday when I went to use the car I noticed that the wheel trims (is that what they are called, or wheel caps?) are missing from the front two tyres. Either they did not put them back on after changing tyres (I think they were on but the car was parked in a narrow space, another car was waiting to get in so I did move rather quickly) or they fell off shortly after they put them on. If the latter, then surely they did not put them on very well? I only drove 2 hours across Vienna last week. Would you go back to the garage and make a fuss? I feel like an idiot for not noticing when picking up the car, though I feel I would have noticed if they were not there. So, the question is that they put them on so shoddily that they fell off on a 2 hour, slow drive. Hmm....not sure what to do.

Hope you are all having a good weekend! I am hoping it will not rain so we can go jumping in leaves this morning. I think I want to do that more than the childern.

That doesn't sound good, bananas - I would go back and complain. Either way, the garage is at fault; it does sound a bit more likely that they weren't put on tightly enough as you'd have thought that either you or the garage would have noticed that they weren't on initially. I'd be tempted to say they fell off as I'd feel a bit silly having to admit I didn't notice whether they were on in the first place - and even if it turns out the garage had forgotten to put them back on, it's still their mistake. (Mind you, I'd be even more tempted to send DH to complain; I'm a bit of a coward about things like that, especially when I have to do them in German!) The day after DH had his tyres changed last year, we kept hearing a rattling noise and it turned out they hadn't put the wheel back on properly! DH was livid and went back to complain, but the boss (who had changed the tyres himself, apparently) had already left for the day and DH didn't follow it up in the end.

That's good that you managed to get the tickets with so little stress, Canella! People seemed to be having nervous breakdowns on FB when the tickets were released in the UK; it made me quite glad that I feel too old for concerts now!

Hope you manage to find a good gynaecologist, bananas - the one I have now is great, so much better than my old one; I'm really glad I decided to switch. The mole removal all started with that appointment, actually; she recommended I have a Vorsorgeuntersuchung, and the GP then said I should go for a Muttermalkontrolle. I have to go back in a fortnight to have the stitches out and will get the results then, but the dermatologist said she doesn't think it will be anything to worry about. Once that appointment's out of the way, it will be probably be time to start all over again with the Frauenarztkontrolle!

Hope everyone's having a good weekend and that you enjoy your DC-free night, Canella - hope you manage to get that lie-in (I always seem to wake far too early on those very rare occasions that the DC aren't around!).

Hi bananas, we lost ours once, all 4 were stolen - so that could also be a possibility. Otherwise you could ask if the garage forgot to put them on.

I've got a headache, have been searching for our Christmas holiday online and there is definately too much choice!

How did the national anthem test go linzer?

Well done on getting tickets canella, who are you going with?

bananas - I asked DH about the wheel rims and he said that another possibility could be that the rims for your summer tyres don't fit your winter ones (the case with his car, apparently). However, as it's only the front two rims that were missing, he agreed that it's not very likely!

admylin - DD1 had to recite the first verse of the national anthem and said it went OK, that some of the children needed prompting but she didn't. So all that practising must have paid off in the end after all!
Hope your headache is better now; all that searching for holidays sounds a bit stressful. OTOH maybe you've been in Germany too long and the change in the weather is affecting you (it's suddenly got much colder here, at any rate).

morning all!! had a great weekend at the ILs (including our child free night in the hotel!). and obviously i was still wide awake at 7.30! as i said to my MIL - i've been getting up early for the last 9 years! no chance of changing that for 1 night!

but i started to be poorly yesterday afternoon with diarhhoea - cue many emergency toilet stops in random places! so no german course today! but since i've spoken nothing but german all weekend then i dont feel like i've been skiving! its a day for dvds in bed i think!

bananas - think i would speak to the garage first of all about your wheel caps - they would probably know whether they put them on. and get your frauenarzt termin sorted!!!!!!!

admylin - we're trying to book a holiday too for after christmas - i agree it would definitely give you a headache! where do you want to go? we're limiting ourselves to skiing probably in austria so the choice isnt so big!

linzer - you're never too old for concerts! we entered a competition last week to win tickets for James Blunt! i love live music! going with my SIL to see take that - they live in Munich so it all works well for somewhere to stay etc!

Hi canella, sounds like heaven, a weekend off and a night in ahotel, shame about you getting ill though. Wonder if it was MIL's cooking?

Well, we wanted to go to Dubai but looks like it might be cancelled! We went for a look around the airport at the little travel agent booths and asked a couple of them for quotes too but they came back with a week in Dubai for 5k to 10k. That was just flights and 3 star hotel. On leaving this morning dh said see if you can find London or somewhere nice for a few days atleast! Great, more searching to do later. London would be good as we have relatives there. Skiing would be no good for us as we're not snow and cold people.

Glad to hear you enjoyed your weekend away Canella, and hope you're feeling better soon. It would be a perfect day for DVDs in bed here too, as it's cold and very wet - but I have to work. A friend of a friend has asked me if I can help out with some translations as it's her due date today, but I'm still waiting to hear back from her about rates so am wondering whether she might have gone into labour already!

The last concert I went to was The Corrs in Frankfurt in 2000! It just seems like too much hassle nowadays - getting into Vienna and back late at night, we don't have anyone to babysit, etc. I'm thinking about joining a book club and feel that even that is a bit reckless, as anything after 10pm is a late night for me!

admylin - I know that Dubai can be ridiculously expensive; London sounds good though. We were thinking about taking the DC there last year, but decided that what with train fares (from my parents'), hotel, eating out, etc. it would cost too much (nowhere near 5k though, obviously!) and that the DC would be a bit young to appreciate it. DH wants to go for a day at Christmas, which is tempting despite the fact that we'd probably spend more time on the train than we would in London itself.