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!

sticky DH assures me that you should be able to go straight to the dr with your card. Worst case scenario is that they give you a bill as they would a patient with private insurance. DD is privately insured so we have to pay her medical bills and then submit them to the insurance company to have them reimbursed.

canella dh points out that that sentence would not be any better in English. "...could not have been collected..." I tend to tail off at the end of sentences with too many verbs and look helplessly at the person I'm talking to in the hope they will finish it for me.

not any help sticky sorry!! but i'm sure they'll see her if you turn up with her! hope she feels better soon!

silken - yeah i suppose thats right about it being a lot of verbs in english! never thought about it like that!

thank you all for the reassurance and replies :)

sticky - I would just go along and see what happens....I thought the idea of the EHIC was to simplify access to drs. Hope it goes well and your dd gets treated.

canella- glad to hear your hand is okay again. Though take it easy, woman! A whole house under control? How is that possible
:).

Linzer- can you talk? or rather can you sing? Hope you did not loose your voice and that the class went well. Had to smile at your DD playing UNO with specialist...great game, I am hooked! Though I learnt it through the DC so am not sure if I am playing the right version as the rules seem to change all the time. There are a lot of rules, numbers, colours to concentrate on so I can see its educational value.

hupa- how is DS? Good to keep him home early in the process and give him a better chance of fighting the virus.

Glad to hear I am not the only one with silent dcs regarding school. I have been talking to another mum whose daughter tells her everything so I now know what is going on.

We went to an art museum yesterday. The class teacher has linked in with some charity which takes children round a couple of museums, shows them a few key pieces. Then the children draw/paint a picture, some are selected for an auction at the Dorotheum and money goes to children in need. The woman doing it yesterday was brilliant, really got the children (and me!) engaged and learning.

dd is more settled at the moment, thanks. We had a very peaceful afternoon and evening yesterday and this morning was fantastic.

right, off to drive across Vienna to pick up some second-hand ice skates. DD2 wants some "mit ohne Spitzen" - it took me ages to figure out what that meant, but I showed her a picture of a pair and bingo!

bananas - my dc do that "mit ohne" thing aswell. e.g. "mit ohne Sahne" when ordering cake.

sticky - it should be no problem just turning up. Occassionally that happens here and people simply pay and then claim it back on their insurance or E111.

Canella- glad to hear you´re back in cleaning action. I must admit our place usually looks ok but only because I´m always afraid of people popping by unannounced and don´t want the house to look a tip.
I hate those sentences with too many verbs. I tend to do silken´s trick of tailing off near the end and hoping that the person I´m speaking to knows what I´m trying to say.

Dd is back at school today. I´ll give ds another day at home, but he´s not been nearly as ill as dd. There´s now a sickness bug doing the rounds, so it probably won´t be long before we´re dealing with that.

Linzer - hope your voice holds out for tomorrow.

Sorry cannot catch up will do so tomorrow...hope you're all really well. xx

Heard saw little one today so all is well on the front. Though spent 3 hours with different mw,nurses etc because no one knew what to do abt us/our files because we're leaving..ucky sick now. :( good thing we're not leaving tomorrow.

Like I said hope you're all well. xx talk to you tomorrow.

Hope you're preparations are going well bebe. It's great when you see and hear the baby isn't it.

If you're going for check ups while in Germany you could get a scan every time. I saw mine every appointment, was great to see them growing. Had one of those 3d ones with dd too which was amazing.

Ds turned up home just after 10am yesterday, heating had gone off in school. Dd turned up an hour later, she'd been round the shops with 2 of her friends and bought herself a magazine! Growing up fast. She'll be fed up today as her snack box is sitting on the table, she forgot to pack it and probably spent her last money on the magazine yesterday so she'll be turning up hungry and thirsty when she gets home. Off to make a round of pancakes for her getting in.

Had a dusting of snow here today too.

Fortunately my voice had returned when I woke up yesterday so I was able to do all the singing I'd planned for the lesson after all. My new laminator has just arrived so I'm quite excited - now just need to find some things to laminate! I think a large clock would be more useful for next week's lesson though (wonder if they have one at school - I'm sure they must have) as DD1's teacher wants me to start teaching the time to them.

It's now DD2's turn to be ill - quite annoying that it happened to be today as the photographer was at school. She's been a very easy patient though, and spent most of the morning lying on the sofa colouring.

I feel like we're going round in circles with DS, whose coughing and wheezing have been really bad the last three or four nights. I took him back to the Lungenfachärztin today, but she thinks it's either a) his cat allergy (I'm not at all convinced), or b) more of an ENT problem (ditto - the HNO-Ärztin said everything looked fine when we went to see her last month). Anyway, we've now got to go back to the HNO-Ärztin to have him checked out again and then back to the Lungenfachärztin for a follow-up appointment. She also thinks I'm verging on the asthmatic as the results of the lung function test weren't good, even though I told her I have a cold and cough (so couldn't blow into the maching properly).

At least your DD had only forgotten her lunch box, admylin - DD1 forgot all her homework and her pencil case today. DH would normally have spotted them lying around but is away at the moment, and I wasn't feeling great yesterday so went to bed without tidying up... fortunately she doesn't seem to have got into any trouble and she said that quite a few other children had forgotten their homework too.

Sorry to hear that your dd is ill Linzer, sounds like she's the perfect patient though. Good that you're getting your ds checked properly too - I remember ds having a cough for ages when he was smaller and I had him tested for asthma but he was clear (I have it).

Teaching the time should be fun, my 2 still get confused by the famous halb-drei etc, is that half past two or half past three!?

Well, I'm sitting here trying to find out how to make super quick crystals with salt or sugar. Dd's teacher in science has announced that each dc wh o brings a home made crystal to class will get a 1. So, one girl already had one from one of those science sets, another girl's Opa is a teacher at another school so she got one from him...don't see the point in giving grades for that. Anyway, dd set a sugar soloution up a few days ago but nothing is happening yet.

Just found out we cannot work thru dh's limited company. So we need to be residents of Germany. And get residency permit. Which means we need to pay for all healthcare and tons of other things!

now visas are being mentioned

bebe - is your dh not an eu citizen? Surely if he is, then he is entitled to work anywhere in the eu without a visa.
Hope you get it sorted soon.

admylin here im Osten people don't just say "halb drei", they use "viertel drei" for 2:15. That even causes problems for Wessies, let alone for non-native speakers. One morning I was woken by the radio alarm saying "es ist jetzt fünf nach viertel acht"! I think I was already in the shower before I'd worked out what time it was.

"viertel drei" is used in Austria too; I always get people to confirm that it's "viertel nach zwei" just in case! Hardly anyone would say "viertel vor drei" (it's "dreiviertel drei) and it's also more common to hear fünf or zehn nach/vor halb drei instead of zwanzig nach zwei etc. Oh, and "viertel über zwei" is often used instead of "viertel nach zwei". So basically I've had to relearn how to tell the time here!

How are the crystals coming along, admylin? It does seem a bit like cheating if one girl can get points for a crystal she doesn't make herself.

DD1 has a Sachunterrichtstest today; we've spent ages revising for it over the last week, so I just hope some of it went in. She did OK in the last one, although quite a few of the children in her class got full marks.

How are you getting on with all the paperwork, bebe? Hope you have a good journey!

Must go and wake the DC now and see whether DD2 is well enough to go into school today. She was adamant yesterday that she would be - it would certainly make things easier as DD1 was refusing, for some reason, to go and pick up DD2's missed schoolwork and homework from her teacher, despite the fact that their classrooms are next door to each other. I've written a note in her Mitteilungsheft asking her teacher to send her over with the homework that DD2 did yesterday just to make sure she does go. She's going through a bit of a difficult stage at the moment and refusing to do anything we ask of her; I don't think all this revision has helped her mood, either.

I also always get people to confirm that it's "viertel nach zwei" Linzer, I can't get used to all the dreiviertels and halbs here! The other day ds's friend rang to say he was coming at halb drei to work on their school project. Ds thought he meant half past three so he was under the shower when his friend arrived at half past two!

Absoloutly no crystals have grown yet. Checked online and it says the quickest results are with epsom salt, that should be bittersalz in the German apotheke so I'll try that at the weekend maybe.

Hope the test goes well for dd1 - sounds exactly like my dd though, we have to revise for ages and usually only half of it sinks in.

Wonder if bebe has set off yet?

DD2's cold and temperature have now developed into the stomach bug that's doing the rounds in her class. I've just been into school to take her homework in and pick up today's work and confidently told the teacher that no, she didn't have the bug - only to get home and be proved wrong... Just hope the rest of us don't catch it now.

I remember DH telling me about how he'd arranged to meet a friend and had left him waiting for an hour (can't remember whether it was a German friend or someone from a different area of Austria used to a different system). I'm wondering how they learn to tell the time at school - whether they use viertel vor or dreiviertel, for example. I was quite surprised that they learned Januar when they were learning the months, as no one ever uses it here (it's always Jänner). OTOH I noticed when we were talking about the months in last week's English lesson that I was using "der Monat" and the teacher "das Monat".

Must go as DD2 is calling...

Poor thing, a cold and a virus on top is really tough. Hope the rest of you don't catch it.

I should be ironing, better get started and then have to start painting the doors and door frames sometime, all chipped from changing the locks. Dc won't be late today as it's Zeugnissausgabe so 11am they get let out!

Let out at 11 am when they get their Zeugnisse? They're out at about 8.15 am here - although come to think of it, that's only at the end of the year. I can't remember what happens at the end of the first semester but I don't think they're let out much earlier than usual.

DH has just sent me a letter to translate for his boss so I'd better get off MN and make a start on it - it's not needed until Monday but I don't want to take any chances with a stomach bug in the house...

still here
struggling with terrible preggy sickness, a cold and the stress of finishing things (probably all related). Hopefully going just after supper.
Hope your days are better than mine. xx

good luck bebe!!! take it easy!

still here

Bebe, what happened? Hope you get everything sorted.

We've got 2 days off school now. Going into town tomorrow for a coffee and to meet westvan and in the hope of finding atleast a couple of tops for dd, most of her stuff is getting too small.

Have to decide about starting on painting teh door frames or not. Any idea how long it takes to dry?

Hope you left OK in the end bebe and that you had a good journey. Let us know how you're getting on when you have a chance!

admylin No idea about the door frames, sorry - I'm hopeless at anything to do with DIY. Hope you enjoy your coffee with westvan today.

It's still freezing here; the only good thing about it is that it's probably too cold for snow.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. We picked up the DC's skis (DD1 has new ones and the other two had theirs adjusted) on Saturday so they're all set for the Semesterferien now, and went to the cinema to see Yogi Bear yesterday (the first time I'd ever seen a full-length 3D film). I can't remember the last time I saw a "proper" film at the cinema (we haven't seen that many children's films either); there were posters advertising The King's Speech everywhere when we were in London, and I was quite annoyed that it wasn't yet out.

bebe - wonder where and how you are and hope all is well.

admylin - no idea about how long paint takes to dry, sorry. Hope you find something for dd...where do you shop? I am finding it hard to buy things for dd1 as they all seem so teenager like and she does not like that either.

Linzer - how was the weekend? did you escape the tummy bug? How is your DS today? Tis a bit puzzling to be sent back and forth.

Saw the Schulpsychologin on Friday about dd1. Not sure what to make of it. Good news really as all is normal, she is an average child with no problems at school(we knew that already). But no real help offered with her anxiety etc. Psychologin said all was normal behaviour, which is great, but leaves us, as parents, none the wiser. So, will just have to get on with it. DD is much calmer so will just observe and see if we need to get private help from the organisation which helped with the bedwetting.

right, time to start the week...yawn... have a good day all!

That's good news about your DD bananas, although frustrating that you haven't been offered much in the way of help. Hopefully things will continue to improve; I've heard that the third and fourth years of Volksschule can be a much more stressful time than the first two.

DD2 is fine now and back at school today (under protest - she said she wanted to go back to Kindergarten and also wanted me to drive her to and from school, but I stayed firm and told her the fresh air would do her good!). Luckily she doesn't seem to have passed her bug onto the rest of us, although I'm wondering whether DD1 and I had already had the same virus but without the sickness.

DS was coughing quite a bit in the night, but as usual was OK this morning. We don't have much confidence in the Lungenfachärztin (the only one in this town, unfortunately) so I asked my doctor friend if she could recommend another one. She spoke to a colleague, who advised us to go and see a paediatrician specialising in allergies and recommended two, so we'll make an appointment with one of them soon.