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!

O Germany-based MNers would you mind if I cheekily intruded and asked for help?
We have been invited to a wedding in the Black Forest, in the south near Titisee, and I would like to spend a week beforehand in the area - not necessarily where the wedding is - we can aim for that at the end of the week.

I am going mad looking at TripAdvisor and trying to make out German hotel websites.
Would anyone know of a decent not hugely expensive hotel with family rooms and non-Michelin starred food that would make a good base for 5 or 6 days?

Eek have killed it.

Ignore me - as you were!

Erm I mean "as you were" as in "carry on"...not as in you were actually ignoring me...

Katisha, it's normally quiet on here in the evenings - don't take it personally! I'm in Austria so am not much help I'm afraid, but hopefully someone else will be along soon who knows the area a bit better.

afternoons/evenings, I meant to say

Katisha, I used to live in that area and it's great for day trips to Zürich, Stasbourg, Stuttgart, Lake Constance (Bodensee) and the Black Forest is beautiful. Can't say much about hotels as we were poverty stricken students at the time w elived there. We used to visit Zürich, Stasbourg and Munich with a really cheap coach service!

Look into getting TBE vaccinations before you leave for that area too.

Hope you get some better info from someone else. Feel free to ask anything else!

The handbag had gone by the time I got there so will have to treat myself to something else on a non-valentines day! Actually I'm due an order on Amazon, my wish list is getting too long!

Cannot help at all Katisha I'm afraid (had to look how close that area is). Another place you might be able to look is Toytown forum (google) that's where dh and looked to find a lot of info how to do things in Germany and where to stay.

Thanks very much - will look at Toytown.
We need jabs????? Really?

Calling all Austrian mnetters, anyone in Lech? Off skiing there on Thursday with my dd (8) and ds(11 months) for 10 days and may need a change of scenery when looking after ds as some point!

Hi BoattoBolivia, we are in Austria but about seven hours from Lech and I don't know that area of Austria at all - sorry. I did ask DH, but he's never been to Lech either. There are one or two others in Austria on the thread but all in the Vienna area too, I think - although someone might know the Lech area better than I do.

Found this for katisha, you put the postcode in of where you will be to see if there is a danger from ticks (the red zone).

Still got ds off, and dd has a mega German homework so I'll be back later when fully awake to hopefully get some help - subject Gedichte und Metaphern. Poem she has been given to dissect is Feuerwoge jeder Hügel and i'm sure it's a beautiful poem - or it would be if it was in English!

That reminds me, DD2 and DS need to have their tick boosters fairly soon (they should have had them last autumn but I forgot, so the doctor said they should have them this spring instead). I'm due for a booster too according to my Impfpass, but they've since changed the recommendation to boosters every 5 years rather then every 3 years so I think I should be OK until 2013. It's either FSME jabs or passport renewals!

I don't envy you having to help your DD dissect the poem, admylin - I'm not looking forward to having to help the DC with that kind of thing. DD1 has now decided she wants to go to the neue Mittelschule (mainly because she says her best friend is going there); I wonder if they're less likely to dissect literature etc. there than at the Gymnasium. She occasionally has to write Bildgeschichten at school but otherwise they don't do any kind of creative writing (it's rare that they even have to write a sentence on their own) so goodness knows how she'll cope when it comes to writing essays - I'm also worried about whether my German will be up to it!

My 2 have hardly ever written many essays and nothing like creative writing. They both had the subject - Märchen in year 6 and they had to write the ending to a given Märchen in a test, then ds had Lügengeschichten and Münchhausen wher ehe had to write a Lügengeschichte but dd's class didn't have to do that, they just read a few of the stories and had to point out which style they are written in.

Anyway, back to this poem, if you can help I'm really stuck.
Feuerwoge jeder Hügel,
Grünes Feuer jeder Strauch,
Rührt der Wind die Flammenhügel,
Wölkt der Staub wie goldner Rauch.

That's the first verse and dd has to find all the Metaphern and write what they mean in their origional form and what they mean in the form here.
Feuerwoge is one and it means origional Feuer and Welle. Here it means the hills. That's the example in the book. So where the heck are the others in verse 1? I guess it's goldener Rauch and Flammenhügel and maybe Grünes Feuer ..but explaining the meaning is not easy with my German. Think I might beg for help in th ebilingual section and maybe a German will come along!

Hmm, definitely not easy. It's years since I studied literature, but I would guess that the other metaphors are Grünes Feuer and possibly Flammenhügel (as they are hills but are not literally on fire). Would goldner Rauch be a simile rather than a metaphor as it says wie goldner Rauch? And what does wölken mean? Asking a native German speaker for help sounds like a good idea!

Good one LInzer, should have seen that! You're right about the wie goldner Rauch as they just did that before they went on to Metaphern (they're Vergleiche) and next up is Personifikationen!

I've emailed a German friend and asked on here so we'll see how far I get by this evening!

wow thats way above my level of german!! think i'd struggle to break down poems in english!!!
Hope Linzer helped you or you get some help from some of the German people on MN!!!

DD sems to do a fair bit of creative writing at school (and always gets a 1 for it unlike the maths!!!). It seems like a better way of assessing their German than writing Diktats!

katisha - sorry no help to you! never been down that way!

I'm proper confused with the german health system again. Do you remember i went to the Frauenarzt at the end of last year? Well they phoned me a few weeks ago to say i needed to go back for a follow up smear - just needed a repeat sample i think!! So i went this morning and booked in then the receptionist said "so can i have your referral please" - i said i didnt have one since they had phoned me to organise the appt but she insisted i got one from my hausarzt or paid the 10?!! but i've paid that already this quarter when i broke my hand!!

So i need to get this straight in my head

• Do you need an Uberweisung everytime you go for an appt even if you've been to that doctor before? Or is it just every new quarter? Even if its for follow up?

• Do i pay the 10? praxis gebuhr to each different doctor if i dont have an Uberweisung? is it not a one off payment each quarter?

I am beyond confused! sorry!!

I think I know this one canella!
If you pay for the quarter at the Hausarzt then you have to get a letter from him for every other doctor you want to visit in that quarter - or you pay again.

I once went to a Frauenarzt quite far from where we lived and payed the 10 ? then later found out I had to go back there to get a letter for the Hausarzt. Was a right pain having to drive so far just for that.

It's a silly rule because as far as I can see if you show your reciept of payment they shouldn't need any other proof or letters but that's the way they are. I've walked out of a Frauenarzt place before too because I was booked in for a standard smear which is free of the Praxisgebühr by law but they wanted it anyway!

That all sounds very complicated with the Überweisungen and Praxisgebühren. Actually, I think the system in Austria used to be quite similar in that you had to get a new Überweisung every quarter, but luckily they introduced e-cards not long after I moved here and it's much easier now as you just have to hand over your e-card every time you go for an appointment with any doctor.

Aargh, DD1's friend's mum has finally phoned me back to tell me that she forgot to say that her DD (who DD1 was supposed to be walking home with) finished an hour earlier today. The annoying thing is that I phoned her about an hour ago as I'd forgotten to tell DD1 to wait for her DD today, just to check that her DD would be walking home at the usual time - but as usual, she didn't answer her phone (she's a bit flaky to say the least). So I went into school when I picked up DD2, found DD1 and told her she should wait for this other girl - if only her mum had answered the phone, or phoned me back within 10 minutes or so! Will just have to drive to school to pick DD1 up now... I'm so annoyed (not about having to drive to school, but about how unreliable this other mum can be). Was just thinking it would be quite useful if DD1 had a mobile phone so I could ring her to let her know - do your DC have mobiles? Our neighbours' DD (same age as DD1) has just got one as a result of her parents failing to pick her up from school one day!

Gosh I cannot imagine trying to do dissect a poem/literature in a foreign language!

I find I'm slightly depressed. The pregnancy not going quite as smoothly as last time has made my nerves a bit ragged (along with all this other new stuff). (still spotting) and have random pains that are just 'stretching pains' apparently but make life not so comfortable.

SO I decided I'm going to make Moo a summer dress today. It'll be fun (hopefully) trying, and working with bright colors will help my mood in the dreary weather we're having. (Plus that girl is going through another growth spurt I swear, and she's not going to have much to wear in the summery weather- when it does come)

Linzer, yes my two got mobiles for that very same reason. I had the problem at one point that ds was in one school and dd in another and neither of them had friends living in our direction. They could then ring me when school finished early (often) or whatever. I got them the cheapest phones from Tchibo to start with.

They have both upgraded in the meantime to slightly more expensive ones with cameras but ds has alot of friends with expensive high tech smartphones. I honestly don't know how they afford them, iPhones and the likes are so expensive.

Still no further with poem - I can see myself phoning a German friend this afternoon. I have to though, dd said so many of the dc get their parents to help and one girl always adds loads of extra work straight from the mum's computer! It seems to be the done thing at Gymnasium here.

Oh I love little girls dresses bebe, enjoy it. They get to a certain age where they refuse to wear anything pretty or frilly or cute! Make the most of it. When we went to Bangladesh my SIL made me loads of little summer dresses for dd (who was then 6 months old) and I had them for years as she made me so many in different sizes. I've kept the nicest ones in her baby box.

DD1 claims that almost all of the children in her class have mobiles, which I think may be a slight exaggeration, but I know that quite a few of them do. How old were your DC when they got their phones, admylin? I was even wondering whether to get one for DD2 - she seems a bit young to me, but it would definitely have its uses. The school phoned me up about a month ago to tell me that DD2 was waiting outside for a friend who'd finished an hour earlier (it was the same friend that DD1 should have walked home with today, only that time her mum had told me she had five hours when she only had four). She must have been waiting for quite a while for one of the teachers to notice her standing around on her own after all the other children had gone. Maybe I should consider stopping them walking back from school with that friend rather than getting them phones!

bebe Sorry to hear you're feeling depressed. Are you any nearer to getting your health insurance sorted out? I hope you can see a doctor soon and that you can have your mind put at rest.

I wish the DDs would wear dresses more often - I should have put them in dresses from the start, but babygros and trousers just seemed more practical when they were little and DD1 has refused to wear dresses ever since.

Dd was in Year 4 and ds in Year 5 When they got their phones. It can be frustrating though, when you give them a phone and then try to call them but they don't answer! So it could just be another form of stress!

Bebe, it would be great if you could meet up with one of the mums in your area - ernest is quite close. Are you missing your old place and friends too? Are any of them planning to visit while you're here?

Just had an email back with all the help I need for the poem too - thank goodness! This has got to improve my German along the way...

Still no parcel with the paperwork I need...so no, no luck yet with the insurance.

Moo doesn't really care for dresses as she's a very active child; they get in the way of her climbing etc at the parks. They are actually very practical for her body style however(if they're the right style,) because they tend to fit her rather muscular body for longer than pants and shirts. (for instance though not being 2 yet she's grown out of many 3yr (girl) pants -because the girl trousers are too narrow in the waist. The boy trousers we have that are 2-3yr do fit her however, but are getting a smidge short) Trying to either find girls things which aren't too long, or boy things which aren't too obviously 'boy' is problematic. Plus she's very warm blooded and in the summers even back home she'd often over heat unless in a summer dress. I figure if I make a bunch of cheap little dresses then we all benefit.

thanks for the advice admylin!! it just seems so fecking complicated! i got the uberweisung from the Hausarzt without any problems and thankfully i'm back in the town where the Frauenarzt is tomorrow so i can drop it in but i'd have been really grumpy if i'd had to drive unnecessarily (esp since fuel is so expensive at the mo!!)

Glad you got the help with your poem! your german will be amazing by the time they finish school!

Linzer - dd (9) has a mobile but they're not allowed to have them on at school so she's never taken it! it was just an old one of my BIL's and actually i think its finally died this week. I think its a handy think for them to have esp if they are out and about. ANd it sounds like you're 2 might benefit esp since the coming home from school keeps getting messed about!

Bebe - the dress making sounds great! i agree with admylin - make the most of it! absolutely no chance i'd get dd in a dress now!

well off out to the library, hairdresser and butcher all before dd goes to dancing at 5.30! crazy tuesday!