leise rieselt der Schnee - for all those lovely people in Germany and Austria or whoever wants to join us!

[Canella]

a new wintery thread in honour of Hupa's first snow of the season!

If there are any british foods you are desperate for I have ordered stuff from here

www.british-allsorts.de

It is expensive but he will deliver it to you (the cornish pasties are lovely!) and I have been satisfying my urge for walkers prawn cocktail crisps.....yay!!

never seen them bebe - dont often see smoothies in the shops here!

tallpoppies - never ordered anything from there! i just beg my visitors to bring stuff or i take a near empty suitcase when i go back to the UK and fill it with goodies! thinking of driving back to the Uk during the pfingsten holidays - imagine how much i could bring back!!! heaven!

Have you tried the salt and vinegar crisps from Edeka - they are just as good as walkers!

Have a good weekend!

We leave a week from yesterday!! Tying down the last few paperwork things today hopefully. Then massive 'all hands on deck' tidying on the weekend, and packing on Monday/Tuesday. PIL on Wednesday and my scan (PIL watching Moo so dh and I can both go) then disembark on our grand adventure on Thursday.

Might pack all the excess room in the car with fruit pouches and supposedly baked beans. going to be a messy trip

Good luck with the packing bebe! We can get baked beans here in Austria - slightly more expensive than in the UK, but it's not worth us bringing them over on the plane - but I remember my parents bringing over baked beans when they came to visit us in Germany as we could only get extortionate tins of Heinz.

Canella of you being able to get salt & vinegar crisps; we don't have Edeka here. DH thinks they're disgusting but the DC have already acquired the taste - we bought a packet at M&S last weekend and DS said, "Mmm, salt and vinegar!".

I've never ordered anything online either as I stock up when I'm back in the UK; we always take two extra bags over with us. Having said that, I am wondering about splashing out on proper Easter eggs from an expat shopping site this year; will just have to check whether it's worth the postage. I would love to be able to drive back to the UK but I think it would be a bit of a nightmare journey to my parents; the six hours to Italy is about all I (or rather the DC) can cope with at the moment!

You can buy heinz baked beans in tengelmann and innocent smoothies in rewe. Also now in rewe - mcvities chocolate digestives, cadburys fingers and hobnobs!
I buy mainly local german brands but there are some things I really miss!!
I never seem to have extra bags when I come home, I usually try and go on the cheap flights who charge extortionate amounts for baggage which would kind of defeat the object and am always travelling with the 3 kids who seem to come back with lots of extra stuff that takes up any bit of room I may have in my case! There's only so many cases you can fit in the car to get to the airport!
Have a good weekend y'all! x

Am even more envious of the fact that you can get hobnobs in Germany! We do have M&S within driving distance but you can only get M&S branded food so no Cadburys or chocolate hobnobs, unfortunately.

We usually fly Ryanair and pack the extra bags into one of the suitcases, so at least we only need to pay for them on the way back. Even with having to pay for the luggage, it's often still far cheaper to fly with Ryanair than Lufthansa. Selfishly, most of the things I bring back are for me (apart from food for everyone such as cereals, etc.), other than at Christmas, when we have to bring all the DC's presents back. It can be a bit of a squeeze fitting five suitcases and five pieces of hand luggage into the car - we always feel like we have to make full use of our hand luggage allowance when we fly with Ryanair because it's one of the few things that's free - but we usually just about manage it!

Thanks tallpoppies, very good to know. :) So just a few pouches until I can get her used to something new and we should be ok. :)

Have a great weekend everyone. xx

Ah linzer - now you have succeeded in making me jealous. Sadly no M&S here :(

We're less than an hour's drive from Hungary here and fortunately there are two M&S stores in Bratislava.

A German friend of mine was thinking about going to M&S in Prague; she lives near Regensburg so isn't too far from the Czech border.

Hungary? I meant Slovakia.

i'm also jealous of M&S!!!

can i ask a question about this 10? that you have to pay at the doctors - I had to pay 10? at the A&E type place and the receptionist said that was ? a Notfall payment for this quarter. I then had to pay it again when i went to the Hausarzt.

So I'm going to the clinic tomorrow at the hospital - will i have to pay it again or is it covered for this quarter by the one i paid for at the GP? DH never goes to the doctor (like most doctors!!) so he's no use!

I was of the impression that it is a payment you make once a quarter and that it covered everything. I may be wrong though, that has just been my experience so far! Myabe the time difference between going to A&E and the Hausarzt wasn't sufficient for the records to be updated?

thats what i thought too but the woman at A&E very clearly explained that the first 10? was just for emergency treatment so if i needed A&E again in the quarter i wouldnt have to pay it again.

So i'm presuming when i go to the fracture clinic i show them proof that i paid at the Hausarzt?

Can you tell that this is the first time in 18 months that i've needed some on going treatment!!

Canella, if I remember rightly (I'm also rarely at the doctor!) the notfall 10? is different to the Hausarzt one. Both are for the Quartal though so to be sure I would just show the reciept for both payed when you go to the fracture place. You definately shouldn't have to pay again.

How is the hand feeling?

I've got an appointment for dd to test for dyslexia in 2 weeks at last. She had French vocab to learn on Thursday and we sat together from 5pm to 9pm and she still couldn't do half of them so I'm sort of hoping the test will come out positive that she does have dyslexia. It was a page and a half of vocab so normal amount really. Ds learns them when he writes them out the first time so I have no way of comparing what is 'normal'.

Now need to practise what I am going to say when I go in to see the psychologist. Sounds silly I know but I always feel as if doctors cut me off before I've told them the important details.

Hi everyone.

I'm fairly new to MN, but have been living in Germany for 10 years. It's lovely to have found this thread as I have been reading it and nodding/laughing at everything I recognize.

My dh is a doctor, too, and has just explained the system to me. He reckons A&E counts the same as a Hausarzt and you shouldn't have to pay again in one quarter if you show your receipt. If you then go to a specialist you need an Überweisung from the Hausarzt, he thinks the fracture clinic would count in this category. I only ever go to the Frauenarzt and always have to pay there and they occasionally tell me that they would give me an überweisung if I ever needed one. Hth.

Hope everyone's having a good weekend. It's been a fairly quiet one here as both DD1 and I were ill last week and I'm still not feeling very energetic. We (or rather DH) managed to get all the DC kitted out with skis etc. this weekend in preparation for their skiing course in the Semesterferien, and DD2's godmother has been to visit today.

It's great that you're getting your DD tested admylin. It was quite a relief when DD1 was diagnosed, although we were advised not to tell the school (and still haven't, in fact) as the psychologist said she would probably get pigeonholed. Mind you, they've obviously picked it up anyway as she now goes to an LRS (Lese-Rechtschreibschwäche) course at school, along with four others from her class.

Hi silkenladder and welcome! Wherebouts are you in Germany and how old are your DC?

Linzer, here in Germany if you tell teh school they aren't allowed to take as many marks off for splling mistakes and the dc with dyslexia even get abit longer to do the tests. I think if she does have it - it could make a difference of one point so she'd atleast have a 3 instead of a 4 in German. It could even count for French and English.

silkenladder, hi and welcome. Where are you in Germany? We're in Hannover now, but we were in Berlin and the south west (near Stuttgart) before.

I'm pretty central and probably not far from Canella although the other side of die grenze. If I say that we have a very dodgy kfz-kennzeichen then that might pinpoint it for anyone reasonably local .

I have one dd, who is 19m. She hasn't started kindergarten yet, although most people here put their dcs in full-time from 14m (when the Elternzeit is up) - I don't know if that's an East German thing. I want to give her a chance to learn English first.

It's great that they're a bit more progressive in their attitudes towards dyslexia in Germany, admylin; there are definitely no allowances made for it here at primary school, at least. DH is getting worried that he's not going to be able to keep on doing all this extra work with DD2 when she's at secondary school; a lot of the time, it's very difficult to motivate her and he ended up getting very frustrated today. I'm still not convinced that Gymnasium is the right option for her but DH is not keen on her going to the Hauptschule, even if it's now a neue Mittelschule - we're keeping our options open anyway, and a lot probably depends on where her friends go.

I'm intrigued by your dodgy Kennzeichen now silken, but don't know the east of Germany all that well apart from the area round Berlin. 14 months does seem young to send your children to Kindergarten; when DD1 started, children had to be at least 3, although they've lowered the age limit here in Niederösterreich to 2.5 now. Does Elternzeit only last for 14 months then? I was sure it was more generous than it is here, where your employer has to keep your job open for you for 24 months.

It used to be 3 years and everyone got 300? a month, but the govt decided to reduce it to 12 months but pay 66% of previous salary. The extra 2 months are available if your partner takes time off as well. It was quite common for women to have 6 consecutive years off work, which is not a Good Thing, plus the low rate of pay was more of an incentive for the less well-paid (and less educated) so in the interests of social engineering and the economy it was changed. I believe you can still take up to three years off and your employer must keep your position for you, but SAHMs are very rare here and pretty much everyone I know plans to go back to work when their dcs turn 2.

My dd will start kg in the summer when she will be 2 1/4. It still seems early to me and I've wondered about putting her in half days at first, but they have lunch at 11.15 which makes the mornings rather short (I'm not a morning person).

Er, seem to have contradicted myself. What I mean is, everyone else from my ante-natal class has gone back to work, so I now hang out with the few mums I've met who are taking two years off.

One of my friends in Germany went back to work last year after nine years off (three perfectly spaced children!). Most of my friends here didn't go back until their DC had started Kiga and almost everyone I know is either a SAHM or works part-time - the Austrians obviously have less of a work ethic . It can be difficult to combine even part-time work with the short school hours, though, and a lot of people here aren't keen on putting their DC in the Hort (only a couple of children from each class go to the school Hort in the afternoons).

The 2.5 year olds at Kiga look tiny to me; mine all went to nursery for a year (from 2-3) before they started Kiga but they were in a small group of children their own age, whereas the 2.5 year olds at Kiga are with children up to 6. Kiga finishes at 11.45 and more than half the children are picked up then, but you can pay for them to stay later (which I do, so that the DDs can get their homework done in peace and quiet!).

thanks for the info about the 10? - will take all my receipts with me!

welcome silkenladder - nice to see someone in my neck of the woods! i'm also intrigued by ur number plate - asked dh who came up with an out there suggestion - is it to do with a type of fetish? (v strange question for this time in the morning!!!)

anyway off to get ready to go to the clinic - will let u know later how it goes!

hope the clinic goes well canella. And that you don´t get charged again. How does the hand actually feel?

hello silkenladder...I am also intrigued about the number plate! Canella´s comment about fetishes has just increased the curiosity.

admylin- impressed by your DIY skills!Good you have got an appointment sorted. Is is a dr you know? I also practise what I have to say to drs...I am still a little bit scared of them, even though many of them are younger than me by now. DD1 and I are going to the Schulpyschologin on Thursday...I am curious to see how that goes. She now goes to school okay, she is anxious about it at home and then puts on her brave face when she goes in. Teddy is still in the schoolbag and I take that as a sign that she still finds it stressful.

I am rather disappointed to hear that the schools do not accommodate for your dd´s dsylexia Linzer and that the psychologist told you to keep it quiet. It must be really hard for all involved. Hope you have recovered your energy to face the week.

All this talk of crisps etc makes me realise I miss more Spanish food than British food. Nothing beats fresh hand-made crisps from the little shop downstairs from where my parents live in Spain!

bebe - good luck with the last few days and scan. Nothing beats the feeling on driving out and realising you are on the way to a new adventure. Do you know where you are stopping on the way or just seeing how far you get and then finding something?

off to start the week - full of little things to do here and there. Hope you all have a good Monday. Snow and sunshine here...my favourite!