Sommer, Strand und Sonne - life in Germany and Austria

[LinzerTorte]

A thread for all those living in Germany or Austria, and for anyone else who would like to chat.

Same here, the dc will hand in all the school books on Wednesday too and have 2 or 3 sessions of dvd watching instead of lessons!

It's a Toyota like this and it's an automatic and I hope it's easy to use the parking sensor thing on the back. Do you have to switch it on on yours? I forgot to ask at the garage, although I will get him to show me everything when we pick it up!

The car looks good - a friend of mine used to have a Corolla and was very happy with it.

No, we don't have to switch our parking sensors on; they go on automatically when I put the car into reverse. We had them retrofitted, though; if they'd already been fitted when the car was made, we'd have had sensors at the front too and there would be a button to switch them on and off IIRC. I think they'd still go on automatically when you go into reverse, though.

Linzer Well done on finishing your tax return. Those things look absolutely awful! DH filled in one for us this year but he used software lent to him by a friend which made it easier. With any luck, we should get a good chunk of money back at some point. (Well, according to the software, anyway. It works it out for you as you go along and provides you with a running total).

Admylin The car looks good! I've never driven a Toyota so I'm afraid I can't give an opinion on that side of things, but it looks like a good size and an automatic does make life easier. We have an automatic Corsa at the moment but will have to sell it and get something bigger before the baby arrives. If we end up with a manual I'm sure I'll cope but it just won't be as nice (by nice, I think I mean lazy :) )

I'm defintely feeling more reassured and less panicky now I'm home, although I am more aware of the baby's movements and seem to constantly have a hand on my stomach to check how hard it is. I didn't have a room to myself, which was both a good and a bad thing! I was in with a lady who had just had a c-section at first and she was absolutely lovely, a few years older than me and really friendly and down to earth. After 2 nights I had to change rooms and ended up with a very friendly lady the same age as me, but who was utterly hygiene-obsessed (not that I want to make myself sound like a scutter here), was constantly spraying everything with disinfectant spray and moaning and whinging 24 hours a day. Admittedly if I had been stuck there for as long as her I would hardly have been a ray of sunshine myself, but I'm not the most patient at the best of times and hearing the same stories 100 times a day was starting to drive me slightly crazy. I think had I been able to go for a wander and escape I wouldn't have ended up so fed up, but we were both on bedrest so no chance! Still, she was perfectly friendly towards me and seemed like a nice enough person.

The nice weather has come back! It's lovely and sunny outside and should hopefully stay that way for the rest of the week.

hello!! been what feels like a long time since I was on here! loads has gone on so sorry in advance if i've missed anyone

admylin - glad you've sorted out a new car. I'd love those reversing sensors. Dh's car has them - they seem to come on automatically. Mad that your and Linzers dc are finishing already when my dd has another 5 weeks of school yet. The weather here was apparantly rubbish for the whole Pfingsten 2 weeks but they went back today and its now 30 degrees! typical!

Linzer - well done you on the tax return and more importantly on the race at the weekend! I've lost my way with C25K but will hopefully get my way back this week. Will you keep it up now you've dont the race? you need to book yourself on the next race!

Later - so glad it all worked out ok with the baby. how many weeks are you now? do you need to go to the hospital for some follow up? will keep my fingers crossed that the contractions settle down a bit!

ernest - nice to hear from you. How's the flat coming along in the UK? Hope you get everything sorted with ds1 - what is he doing thats getting him into trouble?

sticki - hi!! i'm also going to see take that in Munich! i am beyond excited already. Sorry - but i'm no use with hotels - we're staying with my BIL & SIL altho there in the middle of moving so i might be looking for a hotel too! Did you find a hotel? I'm a huge RW fan so its him i'm more excited about seeing than anyone else.

Well we had a fab week in the UK - shame the weather wasnt so great but i was expecting that. It was sunny one day and we were at a friends in the NE so we went to the beach. My dc were fascinated that the beach was only a 5 min drive from her house (unlike our 11 hours to the Ostsee last year!). We also went for the day to my childhood holiday town - was exactly like i remembered. It was a hilarious day - we hired bikes but my best friend cant ride a bike so we hired a tandem. It was beyond tricky to ride but that just made it all the funnier!!

It was just great seeing people and weirdly great to be able to speak english all the time. And great to bring back some goodies! Cadburys chocolate and fruit pastilles have gone down a treat!

Other good news is that our old kitchen is on ebay old kitchen and even tho it doesnt finish till tomorrow, the bids are already at over 700euros! . Roll on tomorrow evening to see how much it sells for. So we're now in the process of emptying the kitchen - it feels like moving all over again. But the excitement of having a new kitchen at the end of this (for the first time in my life!!) is keeping me going.

Hi Canella, great to see you back! Sounds like you had a brilliant time in the UK; my DC are also fascinated by the sea whenever we go back (my parents live on the coast). of the Cadbury's; I'm on my last bar of Fruit & Nut, but fortunately it's a large one. Don't think it will be keep me going for over a month, though!

Yes, I'm definitely going to keep up the running and am already starting to think about next year's race - should I do the Frauenlauf (6 km) or try to improve my time on the Ringstrassenlauf? Decisions, decisions! My legs are aching today, which is quite surprising as I'm up to running 28 minutes now (am on Wk 8 of C25k) and I "only" ran for 21 minutes yesterday - I didn't think I was running particularly fast, either. I kept hearing Laura's voice in my head telling me that it was about stamina, not speed!

Later The only place I've had a private room was in the USA when DD1 was born as all the rooms were private there; you have to pay extra here (or - as is always the way in Austria - know someone influential). It was quite good when DS was born as the first woman I was sharing with had had a C-section a couple of days before me so it was good to see and hear what progress I'd be making and ask if such and such was normal. I did find it quite tiring at night though, esp. when I was sharing with two or three other women, as there always seemed to be at least one baby awake at any one time. In the USA it was assumed that you'd want to leave your baby in the nursery overnight and a nurse would bring him/her to you for feeds, but here it's assumed that you'll want to keep your baby with you.

Wow canella that looks like a good bargain for your kitchen! When we were looking before we moved here you could get a cheapo kitchen new for about 1500 or we looked at gebraucht but you had to pick up yourself so we were happy to pay 800 for the one that was in the flat already. It's a good quality solid wood one and 10 years old.

Your holiday sounds great. I would love to go on a good old fashioned sea side holiday with the dc, fish and chips, penny arcades, rock pools etc. I could get to Newcastle quite cheaply but where to stay? And I'm not keen on bed and breakfast but a holiday cottage would be nice.

Hello Canella! I've just had a quick peek and your kitchen is lovely. Fingers crossed the bids keep going up.
It sounds like you had a good time in the UK, isn't it lovely to just speak English all the time and eat all the things you hadn't realised you missed.
I'm just coming up to 27 weeks, so still v. early. No more follow-up at the hospital (unless the contractions get stronger/painful), I think my Dr will just be keeping an eye. I have an appointment next Tuesday anyway so will see what she says then.

Linzer I think you could pay extra for a private room here, but to be honest I wasn't all that bothered (even after my moaning about my Zimmernachbarin!) and there wouldn't have been room, the maternity ward was jam-packed. I was even in a room for Privatpatientinnen at first until a 'normal' bed became available. As far as I could make out, you have the choice between having your baby with you all the time or leaving them in the nursery for however long you wanted and having them brought to you for feeds or when they needed you. It seemed that most people left them in the nursery but that may just be the hospital I was in.
(I'm very impressed by your running stamina by the way!)

Admylin I'm already planning UK seaside holidays for when the baby is old enough to enjoy them! DH thinks I'm a bit mad for getting excited about them already, but I really miss only being a few hours drive from the beach, fish and chips on the coast, rock pools etc. I think I'm more excited for me than for the baby though, if I'm honest.

I think the bids will go a bit higher - i've not much experience of ebay (altho dh has!) but there always seems to be mad frantic bidding in the last 30 mins. But its reasonably priced since they have to dismantle it and take it away themselves. Saves us paying for a skip etc!

Good on you linzer for keeping the running going! You'll be my inspiration!

later - can understand why you were worried - 27 weeks is still early. But they sound like they're looking after you.

The area north of Newcastle is lovely for holidays - can you get a ferry to Newcastle admylin? shame the weather is so unpredictable! We holidayed there a few years ago and the cottage was great, really remote but in some of the photos it looks like nighttime even tho it was the middle of the day - it was just so overcast the whole time. And it was August!! But we still had a good time!

Good luck with kitchen canella - what's the background, you moving?

Ad, hope you like your new car. Mine has rear parking sensors, they come on automatically, as does dh's - sure they all do?

We completed a while ago on our flat (1 ST week of May) and stayed there last week. Builders start today! It's going to look so different. I am excited about it. I love the flat, and the kids LOVED Brighton, which is why I feel homesick - I actually have a place in uk now! Wole thing will be refurbished and redecorated ( one wall knocked down, new kitchen, new bathroom). Can't wait.

Our break in uk eventful - the 3 boys nearly drowned themselves, and lost ds3 in London and had to call the police and report him missing luckily got him back in 1 piece!

Spoke to ds1 teacher who says she's happy with him and we don't need to meet. Luckily for ds, we were in uk when dh read the letter, otherwise he would have ripped his head off! So seems not such big deal after all

admylin Seaside holidays are great, but I'd be worried that if we booked one in Britain it would rain for the entire week! At least the DC get to see the sea at my parents' and love walking along the beach collecting shells, even if the water is too cold to swim in. Everyone here seems to go to either Croatia or Italy - and to one of two towns in Italy. Have just found out that we'll be in Caorle the same week as two of DD2's school friends!

Later Will you be giving birth in that hospital? Do you have a choice of hospitals? Realised after I'd posted that my USA v. Austria comparison wouldn't have been very useful for you to read, but then things differ so much from hospital to hospital anyway - it's hard to generalise. (I know a lot of people complain about not being able to have gas and air over here, but not having given birth in the UK I haven't missed it.)

Canella Yes, a lot of people seem to leave it until the last few minutes before they bid, especially if it's a popular item. Fingers crossed it will go up even more!
I've still got a couple more weeks of C25k to go btw, so we can still be virtual running buddies. Are you planning to go out running again soon?

Ernest Losing your DS in London must have been very scary. We lost DD2 in Bratislava for about 15 minutes once and that was bad enough - the language barrier didn't help either. It must be great to have a place in the UK; how long will it take before all the work is finished?

Wow, it's hard to keep up with this thread while my dps are here! Such a lot is going on.

Linzer - well done on the run, that is really impressive. It's great that you are keeping going!

Great news on both the car and the kitchen admylin and canella!

Glad the baby is ok later. That is a relief. I had a private room here in the States and kept ds2 with me instead of using the nursery.

It was scary, He was missing for over an hour! We werd staying in Wimbledon, it was our 1st Day, and we had gone to Park with sil and her 2, so 6 Kids in all. On Way back, my Boys rushed on ahead, got back a Couplet minutes After them, ds3 scooter by door, sil cleaner Said she'd let the Boys in. Baby screaming, so sil deal w him, me cook dinner for other 5 kids as getting late. Dinner finally ready, call kids to table, all come except ds3. Only then do we realize he never came back and ds2 admits he took ds3 scooter off him! Rushed out to look, but then I realize it's been ages, so call the police. It was really terrifying giving a description etc over the phone. Thank God during the course of the phone call they were able to tell me he had been found, and they brought him back a bit later in a squad car.

1st day back at school today all the kids telling about their holidays, he says he got lost in London and nearly drowned in Brighton . fun holidays.

Later, when are you due? My German birth was def the best of the 4. Good luck.

Wow Ernest that sounds so scary! Its heart pounding when they go missing for a few mins when they're somewhere they know but in a big city - cant imagine how scared you must have been.
No we're not moving - we've ordered a new kitchen which is coming the first week in August so we've got a busy few weeks to get the room ready for it. Need plug sockets moved, new floor etc! Will be a busy summer.

Ernest that must have been so scary. Did your ds say what he had been up to for that time?

It's good news that the letter for ds1 was a false alarm but does the school not think beforehand what sort of stress a letter like that can cause at home? Imagine if your ds had got into big trouble at home only to find out it wasn't anything at all.

It's going to be really hot today and I'm still on foot everywhere - I have to get some shopping and go on 2 buses to pick something up so I had better get going before it gets too hot.

It will come across as really lax then, because looking back it's scary to consider, but the event itself wasn't, well only for a few minutes. Most of the time he was gone we didn't realise, as soon as I realised, I called the police. The call was scary, but during the call they told me he was ok, and i was so busy concentrating on finding the number, remembering exactly what he was wearing etc, I think i only had a scary couple of minutes. He seemed to enjoy it. Everyone was ladling on the praise, the police women thought he was lovely and kept saying how clever and gorgeous he was, so think he enjoyed it on the whole. A lady found him just past our street, but because it was our 1st day there, and his glasses were broken so he couldn't see properly, he didn't recognize it. He went the the station, got mad a fuss of, and had a ride in a police car.

Could have been very different though. As I was unpacking that night i felt really sick getting his clothes out and imagining if they hadn't found him ...

Mind you, the incident in Brighton was MUCH more terrifying. I still feel sick. We had been cooped up due to bad weather and the boys needed to let off some steam, so we decided to walk down to the sea. It was pretty stormy, early evening. There's basically a small cliff from the top road with loads of stairs, boys ask if they can run ahead while we struggle down 600 stairs with push chair. They run to the end of the groyne, next thing, ds1 climbs over and is totally out of sight. Cue me and dh screaming for him to get back. Next thing - ds 2 & 3 follow, climbing over end of groyne, now all 3 boys out of sight, can't be heard above wind and stormy seas, waves crashing. I'm yelling, dh says not to panic then sprints down the stairs and up the groyne leaving me to hump push chair and dd down not knowing if boys alive or washed out to sea.

Terrifying couple of minutes till i'm in ear shot - dh screaming at them to get back over wall onto groyne, they all screaming in delight at getting soaked by waves. We have BIG talk about people being washed out to sea, respecting the power of waves, not going over groyne walls ( especially ones with big red flads and DANGER signs on them ) etc etc. They still adamant it was brilliant and thrilling and we're too old to know what fun is. So needless to say, it will be a while before they are allowed anywhere near water again. Ds3 was knocked over by one wave. Absolutely terrifying (parent viewpoint) awesome and brilliant ( child viewpoint).

Supposed to be really hot again here. Ds moaning about how hot it is in school. Kids praying for hitzefrei. I'm so glad for shutters, keep most of them closed all day so house is still pretty cool and comfortable.

Off to ikea later, just doing insidey jobs to avoid heat. Don't envy you having to cope with shopping and changing buses in this heat ad. When do you get your new car?

It all sounds very scary, Ernest. You just can't be too careful where the sea is concerned. I remember driving back from Bratislava imagining what it would have been like driving back without DD2; even though she wasn't lost for long, it felt like an eternity.

It must be really hot in Germany atm. A friend of mine in Baden-Württemberg has posted on Facebook that it's hitzefrei for a couple of days there, and everyone in the UK seems to be complaining about the heat too. It's fairly hot here today - hopefully it won't be too hot at the KiGa Sommerfest this afternoon - but unfortunately it's supposed to cool down towards the end of the week and rain is forecast for Friday, which is DD's birthday (she's having her party in the afternoon).

Hitzefrei here too - ds turned up after the 4th leson. Dd must be staying as she has a training session for the acrobatic show on Saturday. I hope they don't over do it.

Ernest, I can imagine how awful it must have been when your dc went in the waves. I've sat at the top of steps on a day when the sea was rough and crashing down waves etc and I was terrified and held on to my 2 even though they wanted to go down a few steps. They just can't imagine what could happen or how strong the waves can be, and worst of all the huge rocks that you can't see.

Did you get anything nice at Ikea ernest?

Just a quick post as I'm off out in a few minutes, but I am finally the proud owner of a German driving licence! The saga is over!

Embarrassingly, I managed to reverse into a concrete flower pot whilst trying to get into a really tight space in the Fahrerlaubnisbehörde car park! I was trying to get into the space but leave enough room to haul myself and the bump out of the car As if that wasn't embarrassing enough, a helpful German man came and shouted at me for it! (I'd like to point out that the flower pot had nothing to do with him, he was just your average busbody). But then a nice lady told me that my parking was fine and that she had done the same thing the week before!

ooh, congratulations later

Well done, Later - you must be so relieved to have it all out of the way now! How annoying about the man shouting at you (I initially read your post as the man having shouted at the flowerpot, in a sort of John Cleese way); I think that would have upset me more than the actual reversing into a flower pot, which is easy enough to do. I would have reversed into a bench not long ago, as I just didn't realise it was there, if it hadn't been for the parking sensors - I don't know how I managed without them before. Well I did, but my old car was full of scratches and dents; even sensors wouldn't have stopped me reversing too close to/into a pillar and breaking my wing mirror, though.

Thank goodness that's sorted later!

Oh I am really looking forward to my parking sensor now! Our old car had scratches on from our garage and a dent from dh reversing too fast into a pillar in the Parkhaus.

I wonder if I booked a lesson in parking with a driving school if it would help or just be a waste of money? I can only do straight on parking spaces, can't do the side ones at all.

Well, it certainly wouldn't hurt - it took me lots of practice before I felt confident. I'd always avoided parallel parking up until we moved to the USA, but I had to do it as part of the driving test there so there was no getting out of it any longer. I practised loads with DH as there was a place at the driving centre where you could go and practise, with cones on each corner of the space - maybe a driving school would have something similar? The driving centre also gave me a useful booklet with advice about parallel parking (where to start from, when to start turning the steering wheel in the other direction, etc.), which I found really useful. Having parking sensors really helps too, as I know that the worst that can happen is that I won't get into a space and will have to drive off again - I'll attempt spaces now that I wouldn't have attempted before with the Polo.

I remember being able to park when a friend used to go with me and guide me through it! I've forgotten it all now. I'm going to google for some tips or I wonder if you tube has some training videos! Then all I need is to get used to long distance and motorways!

ad, don't bother with a lesson, just go out at a quiet time, eg early SUnday morning and practice in a car park or quiet area. Careful. My car has door a right big dent in the back from my dh reversing into a skip That's with parking sensors. He drove too quick for the sensors. He's gun ho with my car. His company car has barely a scratch on it. He also smashed my wing mirror reversing too quick out of the garage

Maybe I should learn not to let dh anywhere near my car.

Ernest What a scary experience with your DCs in the UK! I'm glad everything turned out ok but can only begin to imagine how scared you must have been.
Good news about your flat in the UK - are you moving back over there?
I'm due at the beginning of October, so still a few months to go. I've heard really good things about giving birth here as opposed to in the UK, but as it's my first, I have no basis for comparison.

Admylin See how you feel - I'd maybe just go out and practise early on a Sunday morning, as Ernest suggested, and if you still feel you would prefer professional help (as it were) then you could always book a lesson or two. I haven't parallel parked since my driving test 10 years ago so would be useless at it now! Luckily when I use the car it is generally during the day so there are spaces I can drive forward into. I should practise, but I'm lazy!

Canella Fingers crossed the bids shoot up on your kitchen!

Jenny Hope your time with your DPs is going well.

Linzer I would have just laughed if he had shouted at the flowerpot! Instead, I just swore at him without thinking but I don't think he heard, thank goodness! I'm glad the paperwork hassle is finally over - I wouldn't have bothered changing my licence as you don't need to if you have an EU licence, it's just the photo had expired on my UK licence and as I don't have an address in the UK anymore it was just easier to get a German one. Plus I won't have to pay to update the photo every 10 years here so it works out cheaper in the long run.
There is a good choice of hospitals here and the hospital I was in last week is the one I have chosen to give birth in, so at least I know my way around now!

32° here today! I have showered twice already and am still sweating in a most unladylike manner :)