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.

admylin If you haven't already written your letter/email, I suggest you be as direct as possible without sounding accusatory. Germans don't seem to be offended by what we might see as complaints and it's the job of a head teacher to deal with those anyway. Maybe something along the lines of: Ich habe schon mit x, y und z gesprochen, aber es wurde noch keine klare Vorangehensweise getroffen. Die Schulung meiner Tochter ist mir natürlich sehr wichtig, und ich möchte, dass sie zum Schulbeginn weisst, was von sie erwartet wird, und was sie von der Schule erwarten kann. (Check that through if you want to use it!)

Later Happy birthday for yesterday . Could your niece perhaps be jealous of the pregnancy rather than the impending baby? She's presumably always the centre of your inlaws' family gatherings, but now you're getting attention for being pregnant, where you were previously more of a bit-part (in her eyes)! Hopefully the baby itself, being new, willbe easier for her to accept.

Hi everyone else. DD has just woken up, so I have to go and make lunch.

Hi all flat should he finished today! Proof will be in the pudding, fingers crossed for Sunday night! Dd finished Krippe today. I almost got emotional. She was gutted when she couldn't go to Kiga though.

For ds3 1st day at school, loads were in Tracbt, inc all teachers. All girls if not in dirndl at least in 'party dress'.

Happy belated birthday!

Wow, thanks silkenladder, that sounds like real German iyswim! I'll use that and abit of my own and send it off for next week. I know they will be in school preparing the week before it all gets going again so should maybe have a half hour to spare for us.

I always write in a far too polite and sorry-to-bother-you sort of way. You'd think I'd be used to it by now. I must look for an advanced level German course, it has really bugging me that I need this rentenversicherung helper to just fill in a few forms. Honestly, I managed most questions but there are about 4 or 5 that I just don't get what they want from me!

Hupa, sorry to hear about your ds's lip, bet it hurt to get stitched up too. Hopefully it won't look too bad on his einschulung photo! It'll be one of the accidents he never forgets! We've got one of ds with his eye all swollen and his cheek grazed and it's THE accident he remembers from his toddler days, although he had plenty of others!

Ernest, how cute all the dc in Tracht and Dirndl! are you all packed and ready to go? Are you all going over or is dh still working?

Canella, you'll have to put us a photo up of your kitchen when it's done!

Hello, you dropped off my list again! I didn't think it was that long since I posted but I suppose I read all the posts and kind of reply in my mind, then get distracted by the dcs! Lots of school stuff going on. It all sounds much more ceremonious over there. I'm not sure whether we just drop them off and then pick them up two hours later!

Great advice on the letter from silkenladder. I'm sure it's a typo but shouldn't it be von ihr, not sie? It is a while since I had any in depth conversations in German though.

I hope everyone has lovely holidays and the work is done right. Off to the farmers market then might brave the county fair this afternoon. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts are playing!

Hi all,

We've been back in the UK a couple of days now and have been enjoying some surprisingly sunny weather, although I wouldn't call it hot exactly. Hope the weather isn't too bad for your holiday in Austria Canella - the forecast seems to have improved since I last looked - and that you're having a great time.

Yes, great suggestions for the letter from silken - I also spotted a couple of typos (Vorgehensweise shouldn't have an "an" in it and no t at the end of weiß) but that's just me not being able to switch off my proofreading brain - the suggestions are far better than anything I could have come up with.

admylin I often think I'm far too polite and indirect in German, although Austrian German does seem to be a bit more formal and flowery sometimes - they tend to use the subjunctive more, e.g. ich hätte eine Frage instead of ich habe eine Frage, and I usually do a double take if Germans I don't know say hallo or tschüß to me.

Ernest Hope the flat is now finished and looking good! DD2's best friend wore Tracht when she started school but we're not really in a "Tracht region" (thank goodness).

hupa Your poor DS; I hope he's feeling better now and is OK by Tuesday.

Jenny Hope you enjoy the county fair!

The journey over went OK; only DS slept on the plane, but all three fell asleep in the car on the way back from the airport and we all had a lie-in until 11 am the next day. Highlight of the stay for the DC so far has been a trip to Morrisons to buy a magazine and have a Fruit Shoot in the cafe - I was hoping there were no other MNers around judging!

Glad the journey went well linzer. Is it a long car drive from the airport? What is a fruit shoot actually? Is it a drink? I must have seen them but not sure if I can remember what they are and why they are supposed to be so evil! Anyway, enjoy the sun, we've had humid heat then rain the whole time here.

Thanks for the corrections jenny and linzer, I am going to try and get the complete letter done today and I think I might write abit more so the headmaster has the chance to answer by letter too (if he doesn't want to speak to me) and then I can show that to the Jugendamt if they don't agree to help as they say the school HAS to help by law and they will tell them that if they have proof (ie a letter).

Dh and I had a look at Stanford where he has applied (just on google) but now I don't fancy it somehow. Hope he gets his wish and they make him permenant here otherwise we go to Berlin. Looked at the area where we used to live in Mitte, we had a flat in a quiet side street near the Regierungsviertel for 780 ? but the same area costs around 1500? for something similar now.

We're about three hours from Bham airport - normally we'd do the journey by train, but no trains at that time of night. That reminds me that I must go and book tickets and seats for our return journey.

I never realised that Fruit Shoots were considered so evil until I joined MN. They have quite a few additives and are supposed to taste awful, but the DC like them - and as they only have them when they're at my parents' if we go out somewhere, I'm not too concerned.

Can't believe how expensive Berlin is now; I always think of it as fairly cheap, but of course I haven't lived there for years. Going out in East Berlin used to be ridiculously cheap just after the Wall had come down. Hope your DH gets some positive news soon anyway, admylin.

I'm still at that phase where I'm quite enjoying being back home, but I'm not sure how long it will last! Mealtimes can be a bit exhausting (DS just won't sit still and my dad will start feeding the DDs if he doesn't think they're eating fast enough) and every time I turn my back on the DC, they switch CBeebies back on - but it's nice to have a change of scenery, not to have to worry about cooking and cleaning etc, and the DC love being here.

Thanks, tapjennyp and linzer for your corrections. I'm a bit about "von sie", as I hope it's not a mistake I would make when speaking. I wasn't sure at the time about "Vorangehensweise", but I was thinking about vorangehen - to proceed - and invented a conglomerate word out of it. Is that not possible with a verb? Just thinking about it, you say "Spielweise" and "Denkweise" not "Spielensweise" and "Denkensweise", so maybe not.

admylin I'm also usually far too polite and circumspect in German, but I often get the impression afterwards that I didn't get my message across, or that Germans see it as unhelpful rather than polite. Anyway, I'm glad you can use my suggestions.

Hope you're still enjoying the stay Linzer, I know exactly what you mean about the mealtimes, my dad gets mad with the dc if they talk too much, don't eat up etc depending on his mood.

Could you all have a quick proofread of this letter for me. I want to send it by email and have decided to write it from both of us and use dh's Dr title in the address as it seems to get people to listen/respect more etc..so have used wir instead of ich. Tell me if I'm too polite in parts.

Sehr geehrter Herr X,

wir hätten einige Fragen und wäre dankbar um eine persönliche Gespräch in nächste Zeit.
Wir haben schon mit der Klassenlehrer, Stellvertretender Klassenlehrerin und Elternsprecher betreffend die diagnostizierte Leserechtschreibstörung unsere Tochter (Anlage) gesprochen, aber es wurde noch keine klare Vorgehensweise getroffen beziehungsweise wir haben keine Antwort erhalten.
Die Schulung unserer Tochter ist uns natürlich sehr wichtig, und wir möchten, dass sie zum Schulbeginn weiss, was von ihr erwartet wird, und was sie von der Schule erwarten kann. Wir haben uns schon in Verbindung mit dem Jugendamt gesetzt um eine Therapie zu beantragen aber sie waren dort der Meinung dass es sehr wichtig ist dass unsere Tochter jetzt schon im Sinne des Nachteilsausgleichs von der Schule geholfen werde.

Falls Sie Fragen haben wäre Herr Hanß vom Fachbereich Jugend und Familie bereit mit Ihnen zu sprechen unter der Telefon Nummer: 0511 xxxxx.

Danke für Ihrer Zeit,
mit freundlichen Grüßen,

A German friend has done the correction - all sent and waiting for answer now! There was so much red on the letter - depressing. I must put finding an advanced deutschkurs at the top of my list. Silken, your first draft was good and thanks again.

Well, off to do a thousand other jobs today. If anyone is interested in seeing teh real German version I can post it up as our German lesson for the day!

admylin - well done for getting the letter sorted - let´s hope you get a positive answer. I´d love to see the corrections if you can be bothered to type them out. I find it really hard to spot grammatical mistakes, but then when they´re pointed out wonder why I didn´t spot them myself. I often tell dd she has only made 1 or 2 mistakes in her homework and then dh will have a look and find loads more.
I agree with Silken that Germans just get to the point and don´t waffle around with niceties which can appear rude to a non-German.

Linzer - glad to hear you´re enjoying your holiday. I´m just surprised you didn´t buy a Gregg´s sausage roll to go with the Fruit Shoot .

jenny - hope you enjoyed the fair. I didn´t realise Joan Jett was still going.

Dd left in torrential rain this morning for her first day back at school. I hope it improves for the Einschulung tomorrow or ds´s Zuckertüte will be a soggy mess by the time we get there. Luckily the swelling on his lips has gone down and he looks much better. Unfortunately he now looks like he´s eaten a jam sandwich and hasn´t bothered to clean his face. Mind you he´s really pleased the stiches are staying in until the end of the week because he really wants to show his new teacher.

Here you go Hupa. Friend also said if I write Schulbeginn it sounds like the first day of school as in starting school so neuen Schuljahres sound sbetter to a German ear.

Sehr geehrter X,

wir hätten einige Fragen und wären dankbar für einen Termin, um in nächster Zeit ein Gespräch bezüglich der Leserechtschreibstörung unserer Tochter mit Ihnen zu führen.

Wir haben schon mit dem Klassenlehrer, der stellvertretender Klassenlehrerin und dem Elternsprecher betreffend der diagnostizierten Leserechtschreibstörung unserer Tochter x (Anlage) gesprochen, aber es wurde noch keine klare Vorgehensweise getroffen beziehungsweise haben wir keine Antwort erhalten.

Die schulische Ausbildung unserer Tochter ist uns natürlich sehr wichtig, und wir möchten, dass sie zum Beginn des neuen Schuljahres weiß, was von ihr erwartet wird, und was sie von der Schule erwarten kann. Wir haben uns schon mit dem Jugendamt in Verbindung gesetzt um eine Therapie zu beantragen aber sie waren dort der Meinung, dass es sehr wichtig ist dass unserer Tochter jetzt schon im Sinne des Nachteilsausgleichs von der Schule geholfen werde.

Falls Sie Fragen haben, wäre Herr x vom Fachbereich Jugend und Familie bereit mit Ihnen zu sprechen, er ist erreichbar unter der Telefon nummer: 0511 xxxxxxx.
Danke für Ihre Zeit,

Hello all!

Thank you for the birthday wishes! We had ante-natal class in the evening so got to try out the birthing stool etc, which was quite fun.

Canella Did you get the door and window sorted in the end? When is the Einschulung? It sounds very exciting - for you and your DC!

Ernest Did everything turn out ok with the flat?

Hupa Sorry to hear about your DS's lip - how sweet that he wants to show his stitches off :)

Linzer Enjoy your UK holiday! How long are you over there from? I hope the weather is holding out.

Admylin Good luck with the letter - it looks good! I am awful at official, serious German. I get DH to read through everything like that and suggest more formal ways of phrasing things. I agree with Silken that Germans seem to prefer a more direct approach. I've found in the past that an indirect politeness (as we would understand it) sometimes comes across as uncertainty.

We spent the weekend with the in-laws again - DH's niece made yet another 'ich schiesse dein Baby kaputt' comment, but DH was around to hear it this time, so we both told her it wasn't nice. I think Silken made a good point that she is maybe jealous of the pregnancy. She was a little upset that we stopped with the PILs and not at their house, so I think she is maybe feeling like we will forget her once the baby is here. We made lots of effort to play with her during the day and promised to come for a 'sleepover' with the baby once he is here. Let's see how it goes!

Ultrasound tomorrow! I love seeing the baby on the screen - the Dr even switched the machine to 3D last time!

Hope everyone is well :)

Evening all,

Later Sorry, I think I forgot to wish you a happy birthday so belated birthday wishes from me! It does sound like your DH's niece is jealous of the pregnancy (poss. taking attention away from her?); hopefully the excitement when the baby arrives will take her mind off the jealousy.

We're in the UK until 20th August; unfortunately the sunshine of the first few days hasn't lasted and it was cold and grey here today. Have just spoken to DH and it sounds even wetter and colder in Austria, though. I hope the weather will be better for our weekend in London; it does usually seem to be 3-4°C warmer there.

admylin The letter sounds great. Interesting about Schulbeginn - I'm sure I've often heard it used to mean start of the new school year, but agree that it does make it clearer.

My dad is constantly following the DC round with a dustpan and brush, tells them to go and wash their hands almost before they've finished eating in case they get sticky fingerprints anywhere, and announced today that although they were very good for the first few days, things are starting to go downhill now! The fact that my mum and brother get very fed up with him doing it helps me not to take it too seriously, though.

hupa Glad your DS's swelling is looking better; boys are very proud of their battle scars, aren't they? No Greggs here, otherwise we would of course bought sausage rolls to accompany the fruit shoots.

silken I make more mistakes when I'm speaking than when I'm writing, but always feel I have to go back and correct them (which often means starting the sentence all over again - I'm sure it sounds silly and I should just carry on regardless). Am far too much of a perfectionist, though - unless I'm with DH or a close friend, I won't say anything unless I know I can say it 100% correctly and hate people picking up on the fact that I'm not a native speaker.

Forgot to say hope the ultrasound goes well tomorrow Later - must be v. exciting to see the baby in 3D.

Lost a long post there! Wanted to say good luck to Later for the ultrasound, have a great holiday with dps Linzer, great letter silken - always easier to translate into your own language, hope the letter does the trick admylin. We didn't stay for Joan jett but the dcs had a great time at the fair. We climbed a mountain yesterday but ds2 was not very pleased with the back pack. He may be a teensy bit young for it. Have posted a photo of the mountain if anyone is interested.

Jenny, looks like a nice area where you live! Are you in a town where you can walk to shops and school or is really as they say and you drive everywhere? In Texas we had to drive as everything was so spread out and too hot to walk anyway!

Linzer, hope the dc don't pick up on their grandpa's moaning and you're managing to get out and about and enjoy. My 2 picke dup on it last time we were there and they aren't keen to stay there anymore .

I have just booked tickets for us to go and visit dh's family in October for 2 weeks. It will not be a relaxing holiday and a very long journey but worth it for the dc to se etheir cousins, aunts and uncles and grandma.

Have you all been watching the happenings in London? Terrible pictures, feel so sorry for the shop keepers and people who live in that area.

Jenny that picture is lovely - is that quite close to where you live?

Linzer I'm the same - I have to go back and correct myself, even if it means starting the sentence again. I also hate when people pick up on the fact that I'm not a native speaker, even though there is no shame in that at all. It's just one of those things that I'm really picky and a total perfectionist about. It drives DH mad! (By the way, I am now craving a Greggs sausage roll, damn you :o )

Admylin Are the DCs looking forward to the trip? Family visits never really are relaxing, I guess, but like you said, it's a good opportunity. Do you get on well with your in-laws?

No 3D today, just a normal ultrasound and the baby is doing fine. He seems to hate the CTG machine and spends the whole time trying to kick the pads off and wriggle away which results in some very interesting shapes appearing in my belly!

I've just been reading the latest on the riots - how awful for the people affected. It's worrying to hear that it seems to be spreading. I hope the police get it under control soon, although it can't be easy to deal with at all.

Later, it's great to see the baby isn't it! The 3d scans are amazing aren't they, I had one with dd.

I keep watching the news, hope everything settles down in UK.

Only have MIL in India as FIL died before I met dh. She's very nice but we can't communicate so much as she doesn't speak much English. I know she can't wait to see the dc though as she last saw them when ds was aged 2 and dd was a baby!

At the moment dd is complaining that we haven't done anything in the school holidays. She's fed up but atleast her friend is coming for a sleep over tomorrow. We've got a couple of guests coming next week then next Thursday school starts. She keeps saying we'll have to write about our holiday and what am I going to write? Oh dear.

Thanks admylin and Later, the mountains are about 40 mins drive away and you can see the one we climbed from our street. There is a nice little supermarket, coffee shop, a few playgrounds and the dcs pre-school within walking distance but otherwise you have to drive everywhere.

Glad the scan went well! It's great the little one is doing so well. He'll be here before you know it.

Sorry your daughter is a little fed up admylin. I'm sure they sometimes forget what they have done!

Ds2 is really grumpy today, think he's getting more teeth. Have a great evening.

Lovely pic Jenny; the new photos of your DS2 on FB are gorgeous too.

admylin DD1 often complains that she's bored; part of the problem is that she's not very good at entertaining herself and relies too much on the computer, TV, etc. She loves riding her bike up and down the road where my parents live, which is one thing I suppose. I wish I could get her to read more, but she only seems to be interested in reading when she's in bed, when she'll read for hours and I can never get her to switch her light off.

Later Glad to hear it's not just me with my perfectionist ways. Also good to hear that the baby is doing well and keeping active!

Well, I've just cancelled the hotel in London where we were planning to stay this weekend. It seems like things are finally calming down there a bit (so far this evening, at any rate), although the looting and rioting are still going on in other cities. DH wasn't keen on going (I thought that things might be OK by the weekend) and DD1 was also quite worried about us going to London, as she'd seen pictures on the news and kept saying that London was burning and that it was broken. Phoned up the hotel booking line to check when we had to cancel by and although we had another day to decide, the woman advised me to cancel - she said they were in Manchester and things were really kicking off there. DH thinks we'll be able to rebook for the weekend if we do change our minds, but atm he has "kein gutes Gefühl". I'm feeling quite disappointed but it's probably for the best. Am cheering myself up with a Cadburys creme egg - I had a box waiting for me that my parents bought for me at Easter.

Hi all. Sorry for butting in but I could do with some quick advice. I'm about to come to Koeln for a few days with my 8 week old DS and wondered about German attitudes to things like public breastfeeding & taking babies to restaurants etc.

I have lived in Germany before (Berlin & small place nr Leipzig) but I was much younger then & didn't have kids so I never paid much attention to that kind of thing!

In London I breastfeed pretty much anywhere, discreetly if I can, and we take DS in his pram to restaurants, cafes & pubs quite a lot, so am wondering if we need to change anything while we're away.

Anything else I need to know? Expect I'm worrying too much but I like to be prepared! Thanks in advance to anyone who shares their wisdom!

Hi CitizenOscar, I'm not much help I'm afraid as I live in Austria (where I bf anywhere and everywhere without any problems; we didn't eat out a lot when the DC were small but no problems there either), but hopefully someone else will be along with more advice soon.

All quiet in London last night. Am wondering whether I should try to rebook somewhere tomorrow if there are no problems again tonight.

Linzer, I would wait another night and if all has calmed down you could try to re-book. Is there anywhere else you and dh could get a couple of nights away?

I think your dd and mine sound quite similar except mine can busy herself with drawing and she'll often go and bastel with paper, felt and cardboard. At the moment she has a miniature collection of models of cakes, cheese and buscuits carved out of white rubbers and painted! I wish the headmaster would answer my letter but up to now all is silent from that corner.

CitizenOscar, bf and taking baby to restaurants was never a problem where we lived when dc were small. Have a lovely time in Köln!

admylin - thanks for copying the letter, I´ll have a good look through it in a moment.

Linzer - sorry you´ve had to cancel your plans for London. It´s really awful watching the pictures. I used to drive by one of the buildings that has been burnt out on my way to work, it must be devastating for the people affected.

citizen - I never encountered any problems when breastfeeding my dc when they were younger and always took buggies etc. into cafes and restaurants.

Ds had his Einschulung yesterday which was really lovely. He´s usually a really calm child, but I think nerves and excitement got the better of him and he was really loud and silly - I dread to think what his new teacher thought. I´m just hoping he´s a lot calmer today.