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.

platonos Only about another 20 years before the campaign comes to Austria, then. Not that you'd ever find anachronisms here, of course. All I can say is - nine weeks of summer holidays so that children can help with the harvest?

Good article platanos. Do you all have the same problem as us, we can't read adult German hand writing. When dh's boss writes comments on his manuscripts he has to take them to his colleague to read. Also alot of the teacher comments on Klassenarbeiten are so messy and unreadable it makes me wonder why they make such a fuss in Grundschule to have nice writing. I don't know any German who has readable hand writing.

Apologies for misspelling your name platanos. At least I could spell bananas. And now I really must get on as the DDs will be out of school in less than two hours. DD1 is insisting on going to Merkur after school today now that they're going down the stickers-will-ensure-that-your-children-will-force-you-to-shop-here route. Also need to buy a few last-minute bits and pieces for DD2's party tomorrow.

we had a big clear out with each move, but yes, we have tons of clutter. Every surface is constantly covered. I cannot keep up with it. It is a breeding nightmare.

I have a cleaning routing, which would be effective, but I can't be bothered. I think actually I feel too isolated here and that makes we feel lethargic. Stupidly I have lot of time to do stuff, but lack the motivation or energy. It's a vicious circle really.

Ernest, know what you mean about motivation. If only there was a pill for it! I am so good at putting things off too. Imagine if I went for a job interview and the question comes what are your main qualities? well, I'm really good at putting things off and I can ignore the ironing pile until it has dust on.

What are your neighbours like? Have the dc got friends near by to play out with? Did you ever get your garden sorted? I remember you were planning it and couldn't decide how to have it. Have you got a veggie patch?

Linzer, are they animal stickers? Here Rewe has an Aktion going with animal stickers and dd always wants me to shop there. We've had a break as the Rewe is too far without a car but she can't wait to go at the weekend. Spend 10? and you get 5 stickers. The album costs 2,50 but has been sold out every time we went. She's begging for the album as all her friends have one!

Yes, they're sea creature stickers. I saw another thread about the Rewe stickers and wondered whether they could be the same ones as Merkur is part of the Rewe group, but I think it said that they were WWF stickers. I didn't mind the Billa and Spar stickers so much as we quite often shop there, but Merkur is a bit out of our way so we'll have to make a special trip. Can you buy the album online? That's what we did with the last Spar album, but we missed out on the previous album as it sold out really quickly - it was being sold on eBay for about ?20!

It's crazy isn't it? That's one clever way of getting people to shop there! Some people were beging at the tills once asking people who didn't want the stickers (not everyone takes them) if they could have them, I was

Thats a really interesting article. When we moved here dd went into the last few months of the 2nd class and was sent home the first day with a big book to learn that style of writing. 2 years later, she writes that way when she must but finds it much easier to write her own way (not so joined up!). Wonder what it'll be like at the Gymnasium? Will it be more strictly enforced?

Have just checked the Rewe website and the sticker thing isn't on anymore so that's saved us a trip!

Don't think dd will mind, she's into topmodel drawing at the moment anyway. All the girls are doing it at school too. It's a colouring book with outlines of models and you draw or design the clothes and hair on them.

Not so strict at Gymnasium Canella or not in this one. Ds was in a different Gymnasium and the maths teacher didn't like the way he wrote 4 but other wise no comments made.

I can't imagine DD1 being into that kind of thing for a while - she's not interested in clothes, make-up, etc. at all. She's quite a tomboy and I was when she said she would wear a dress to school today.

I thought we would be able to get out of collecting the Merkur stickers as we hardly ever shop there, but a lot of children in DD1's class are collecting them so she really wanted to as well. At least we only had one album this time; each of them had their own Billa album earlier this year. It really adds to the clutter too.

It's good to know that handwriting isn't as important at Gymnasium. DD1's teacher told me in her second year how "schiach" her handwriting is and her new teacher wrote another comment the other day at the bottom of a piece of writing - "Nicht sehr nett" IIRC. Mind you, DD1 has already decided that it would be better for her to go to the neue Mittelschule "because I'm not so good at this school", which made me feel quite sad (not about her going to the NMS, just that she's already categorised herself as not good as school).

ds gymnasium (unfortunaley) doesn't seem to care at all how he writes (v badly)

That's sad linzer isn't it? That's the comment that really convinced me to get dd tested for dyslexia. What do you say when your dd says she's not that good? It's difficult isn't it? I try to really praise dd and reassure her that she's good at other things and bad spelling isn't the end of the world. Her dad gets to teach future neurosurgeons and he can't spell to save himself.

Yes, we try to praise DD1 as much as possible for the things that she's good at and tell her that as long as she does her best, that's the main thing. All the emphasis on grades and Zeugnisse doesn't help either, esp. now that she can compare herself with DD2 (who can get good grades without trying too hard).

I know I've said this before, but why do Zeugnisse have to be such a big deal? When we were at my ILs last weekend, MIL said "only a week to go... " and I was expecting her to say "until the summer holidays", but no - "until you get your Zeugnisse"! And when I made the appointment for DD1 at the orthodontist's a couple of weeks ago, the date the receptionist suggested was "am Zeugnistag".

It's the same here linzer, zeugnisausgabe is such a big thing. How I feel for all the dc who are going to get grounded for bad grades too - loads of ds's friends have already forseen a week with no PC and trouble at home because they haven't got good enough grades.

Linzer I will join the fledgling flyers thread, thanks. Our flat isn't quite a filthy hovel, but it's not tidy enough for me to clean quickly and not clean enough to invite people back to spontaneously, which annoys me. I also feel if I can get into some better habits, I should be able to cope better once we've moved and have more storage and space.

Canella That murder in Zella-Mehlis is really scary, isn't it? I'm glad DD is too young to go anywhere alone and I don't have to decide whether it would be safe at the moment or not.

I'd always thought DH's writing was terrible because he was a dr. Now I find out it's because he's German!

The new fledgling flyers thread is here, silken. Must go and mark my place now.

admylin That's awful about DC being grounded for bad grades; I wonder if it happens here. Will find out in a couple of years at the latest, I suppose. Strict as DH is with DD1 wrt school work, I can't imagine him grounding her for not getting good enough grades.

Well done for joining the fly thread silkenladder, I should try again shouldn't I?

That news was awful wasn't it about that 7 year old girl. Have they found any clues yet? I watched the news late last night but they were just on about Frauenfussball and Greichenland.

We got he car yesterday and went for a little drive. Although it doesn't look like it, the new car is a touch wider than the old one so even more difficult to get in the garage, infact we had to close the side mirror. Now I'm scared to get the thing out of the garage again but I will have to try later this afternoon.

Go on, admylin, we can get the whole thread over there (Ernest has signed up, too).

There's nothing in today's paper about the murder except an interview with a psychologist advising parents on how to talk to their children about it.

In other news, apparently Princess Diana would have been 50 today. Is that really newsworthy in Germany?

Whoo hoo to the new car admylin! Did you get it out the garage? I've never even attempted to get dh's VW golf in ours even tho he does it every day! And def wont try my Touran! So respect to you!

Silken - i'll be the rebel that doesnt join the fly thread!! I can see the point of it but I really believe that in the time it takes to write a post on there you could have done one of the jobs (hides from the fly fans!!). For example - i hate emptying the dishwasher but i've realised it takes me only about 5 mins to do so rather than sitting thinking "oh i'll do it in a bit" and then it sitting bugging me that its needing emptied, i just do it quickly then its done. And it would have taken me at least 5 mins to write the post about it on here.

Stuck round the house this afternoon waiting for workmen to come to give us quotes for the jobs in the kitchen. The tiler has been - now waiting for the electrician!
Any thoughts on what colour the floor tiles should be? The bottom cupboards will be stone grey, the top ones will be a really light grey or milk glass and the worktop a shiny black. Dont want really light tiles (way too much mopping involved!) but not sure if another contrasting grey will look strange! Going to go hopefully tomo to have a look.

Hope you all have a great weekend

I reckon I must be the only one who doesn't watch/ read German news.

You'll get used to the new car in no time, Ad.

Sorry canella, dunno 'bout tile colour. Can't picture it. I would suggest a dark slate gray, but is that too gray? Sil has cream cupboards, black granite worktop and slate gray semi Matt/shiney tiles. Looks good, but if your cupboards are gray too might be too much?

Dh got us concert tickets for Wednesday. Can't find em. Both remember seeing them in letter rack, neither remembers moving them. Called, they won,t replace. Spent all day increasingly stressed searching, no luck. They were sent way back in April. Could've been accidentally shoved in recycling 10 times over by now :( gay.

Sorry, I haven't turned into an adolescent, that was an auto- correct iPad Gah!, not gay. Yikes.

Ernest, that sort of thing happens to me too. I hope you find them - good luck with the search. Could you have put them somewhere special/in an envelope in a drawer? I recently threw a 5? note in dd's bedroom paper bin. It had been emptied, so long gone.

We took ds to tennis last night then went for a drive. Dh came early from work for once and we ended up in an industriegebiet and a huge shoe shop so he got 2 pairs of shoes, dd a pair of converse and he bought me a new handbag. Have been looing for ages for one so all in all a good day although dh said coming home from work early is expensive business!

ernest - did you find the tickets?
admylin - that sounds like you all had a good shopping trip!

So the old kitchen is gone - wasnt as straightforward as we'd hoped. The winning bidders came to remove it on saturday and said it was too old and they refused to take it or pay! Was proper angry with them. But dh had had a late email from another person who hadnt bid as much so he contacted them and they came yesterday and removed it (for a good bit less money!) so alls well that ends well.

Being in the basement for eating isnt the most fun but its only for a few weeks. Thankfully the temporary kitchen comes this afternoon - and thankfully the weather was cold all weekend - the food hasnt gone too off!

Now for the real work in the kitchen - will try to post a photo of what a botch job the previous owners had made. Need a tiler asap.