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.

I've heard good things about Three Cups of Tea, admylin. It was on my book club list, but I missed one meeting, stopped getting the e-mails and decided I didn't have the energy to go into Vienna in the evening anyway. It's a shame in a way as I'd suggested two out of the next three books (still haven't read them), but it was just too late in the day for me to make sensible conversation.

Hope the party goes well tomorrow, hupa. A big party isn't my idea of fun either, but at least you haven't had to organise it. DH likes to invite friends over for barbecues, but I don't mind too much as I don't have to think about cooking.

It's the school Sommerfest this afternoon but the weather isn't very summery at the moment, so it's quite likely it will be indoors. I don't really feel like going as I have a sore throat and am feeling a bit under the weather, but I think the DDs would be quite disappointed if I didn't go so I'll just have to summon up the energy. DH will be coming by scooter after he's dropped off the car - and picked up the money for it - at the garage.

hi all!

admylin - sorry to hear about the accdient and I good for you that you got back to driving straight away. I hope the lawyer can help you out. Are you feeling okay now?

canella - great news on you passing the exam!!! congratulations. Hope the kitchen stuff goes smoothly!

linzer - hope the sore throat clears and that the Sommerfest is fun. Your running sounds great.

hupa - hope you enjoy the party. If it's all organised by dh, you can just pretend to be another guest!

glad to read babies are fine, driving licences are sorted (I have to get an austrian one) and hoping for better weather for jenny!

halbwahrheiten - did I spell that right? I know what you mean about proper summers. I complain when it gets over 29ish but it is nice to have a proper summer. We noticed that after years in the Uk and one year in Finland we have needed to invest in a summer clothes for us all!

oooh, book suggestions- just what I need! can't get into the one I am meant to be reading, so will look into your suggestions...can i ask - why do you pay delivery charges with amazon rather than getting them delivered for free from bookdepository? Are the prices cheaper in amazon even when add in delivery cost? I have never compared and contrasted, as you can tell!

life is a bit strange - got bad news from home about my father who is very ill - I am going over at the beginning of July but it`s just so so hard to be far away. And the fact that my life kind of goes on as normal feels weird at times. and on that note, I am off to pick up the dc and go to the park.

Hi platanos, I was wondering how you were doing! Sorry to hear about your father; it's very difficult when you're so far away from your family, isn't it?

Re delivery charges - I rarely order books from Amazon.co.uk because of the delivery charge (I occasionally buy from Amazon.de, but it very often doesn't have what I want and seems much more expensive). If I do order from the UK site, I get the order sent to my parents and pick it up on my next visit. I generally order books from play.com, which often has good offers and has free delivery to Austria, although they don't have such a wide selection as Amazon.

The Sommerfest was actually quite good fun in the end; I still have a sore throat, but felt much better when we were there. Luckily the weather cleared up for it and so most of it was able to be held outdoors after all. The children really enjoyed themselves and DS was very proud of the fact that he got six stamps too (for completing six Stationen) and so also won a prize.

Ah the joys of Kindergartenfeste! I remember them well! Our very first one there was a dad BBQing sausages so we bought one for the dc and it had little green speckles inside so we went back thinking it was bad (it was some sort of herb)! How embarassing, just showed our total lack of knowledge in the hundreds of different Bratwurst in Germany!

Platanos, sorry to hear about your dad, good that you can manage to make it over though.

All these book websites I've never heard of, must go and browse. I use amazon de and co.uk basically because of habit and I have all my details saved so quick click shopping is great (and abit dangerous)!

It was actually the school Sommerfest this afternoon; the KiGa one isn't for another couple of weeks. The DDs went off with their friends to do all the Stationen and DH went round with DS, so I had time to chat to friends, drink coffee, etc. - it's definitely easier now that the DC are a bit more independent!

Books aside, I should really remember to use Amazon more often as things often seem much cheaper there than anywhere else. If only I'd thought to look for the sports bra there first... It also took me a year or two to realise it's cheaper and easier to buy a coffee machine on Amazon rather than in the shops (the one I've just bought is our fifth, I think).

Oops, sorry I was sure you were at a Kindergartenfest! Well, you've still got that one to look forward to! We've got a school one coming up at the begining of July just before they break up. It's a big affair with Bierzelt and it starts at 5pm and goes on really late (so I've been told).

Although I had a lovely afternoon snooze I'm tired again. Ds should be back soon from table tennis and dd is getting a lift back from her party so I could go back to sleep but the kitchen is a mess and I still have to make our bed up as I changed the sheets this morning. Bad house keeping.

A Bierzelt sounds good - I find alcohol often makes these kinds of occasions more bearable! I'm sure I've had Sekt at school events before, but didn't spot anything stronger than coffee today (although probably wouldn't have felt like alcohol this afternoon anyway).

I've been feeling really tired the last few days too - I'm sure an Austrian would tell me it's to do with the weather/the moon. The house is in a state as I just didn't feel like doing anything this morning; I had to wash all of DS's bedding (yet again) but didn't have the energy to put it back on his bed so DH is doing it as I write!

I think we're all ready for a break linzer! I'm also fed up of the state of the flat. The hall is the worst part so the first thing you see when you come in too.

Both my dc are back, ds happy as he beat an older boy at table tennis 3 times. Dd had a great party but they went ona Schnitzeljagd and had to run through some sort of corn field to get one of theclues and her legs are all scratched. Have sent her for a shower and then we'll put savlon on the worst bits.

Have a nice weekend everyone.

Was your DD able to have a lift back from the party, admylin? I hope you manage to get a new car sorted soon. DH's has now gone from the garage (I don't park mine in there as I can't manoeuvre it in such a small space!) so we finally have somewhere to put all our bikes and scooters. The man at the garage who bought it off him has apparently just got divorced and his wife took everything, including the car, which is why he needed a new one!

linzer I'm almost ashamed to admit I've been saying that we're all tired because of the weather :o

I used to love Sommerfeste. Not quite the same here..

Halbwahrheiten, funnily I'm feeling awake and fit today as it's my kind of weather, fresh breeze and not too hot!

Linzer, yes, dd got a lift back from her party. I also hope we'll get a car sorted soon but it makes me mad just thinking that we'll probably have to get a loan again and that's just for a cheapish car - dh says he can go up to 7000 but I reckon 5000 is enough. We're meant to be putting money aside for a possible move next year not paying off another car. The old one was ours and it would have done us nicely until we find out about the next job. Relocations in academia cost a fortune as they never give financial help.

I'm going to go back to the lawyer next week anyway and see what he has to say and back to the doctor (couldn't force myself last week) as I get stomach ache and can't eat when I get really worried about things and that's back now, I just can't stop getting worked up about the unfairness of it all.

Hi everyone

admylin sorry to hear about your nasty car accident and resulting anxiety and lack of car! That's really bad luck.

Sorry I'm not keeping up on here atm. 3 kids under 6 is nice but creates a lot of distractions from laptop and especially from reading through a fast moving thread and retaining what I have read!

My car is in the garage too - boo hiss as it is only 3 months old, bought brand new! Not an accident luckily but a failure of the automatic gear box which happened whilst driving along - went into neutral and refused to engage a gear after that, thankfully it didn't happen on the motorway, where we were 5 mins earlier, but did happen 45km from home when I was trying to take the 3 kids and my mother (who was visiting and who I find very stressful to be with at the best of times) on an outing to a wildlife park. We never made it to the wildlife park, as although I phoned Fiat's recovery line they sent a tow truck which first didn't have space for all the passengers (though I had specifically mentioned the number) and then took us to a commercial vehicle garage instead of a regular one and kept us hanging around for 4 hours before saying they couldn't fix it under guarantee and would have to call another tow truck to tow us to a different garage! Very stressful hanging around a commercial vehicle workshop with 3 small kids and especially with my mother added into the mix, and more so when the entire day is wasted and the car still not going anywhere! Car is still in the (now correct) garage with no real progress except that there has been mention of the fault having occurred on other cars of the same model.

Fiat are at least paying for me to have a replacement car - DH stressed on the phone to them that evening that I needed to be provided with a large car for 3 car seats in the back, and at 10pm Enterprise car hire turned up with a 9 seater VW bus! So I am a bus driver for now and really feel I should pick up some extra kids for every journey to justify the size of the thing!

Weather has been pants here this morning - tipping it down and blowing a gale since my kids got up at 5am... sigh! My 3 and 5 year olds are "not house pets" as my DH puts it and need lots of outdoor time in order not to be infuriating as they bounce off the walls indoors lol, and Sundays are so dead here in rural Bavaria that a wet and stormy Sunday is a real nightmare - thankfully it looks as if it might be blowing over now and a bit of blue is peeking through the clouds!

5moreminutes, sorry to hear about your car too - sounds nasty. Were you stuck in the middle of the road or parked when the gear box went? Hope they get it fixed soon. We're still waiting to see if our garage can find a decent car for us, but as it has to be quite cheap we won't be getting too many offers. Was it otherwise a help having your mum around? When mine came just after I gave birth both times it was nice to have someone there to hold the baby, otherwise I was by myself most of the time.

Sounds like our weather too - we've stayed in all day.

Well, anyone near Regensburg? That's the latest place dh is appling for a job to!

Sorry to hear about your car, 5more - it sounded like a very stressful experience. Our neighbour has a VW bus and I don't envy her driving round the narrow streets here, let alone finding a parking space, but it certainly has lots of space (I know she finds it useful being able to put the pushchair in without having to fold it).

I don't know anything about Regensburg I'm afraid, admylin, although I have the vague feeling I went to a wedding there about 15 years ago - would have to check with DH though, and he's in Brussels until Wednesday. Hope you manage to get to the doctor's this week and that he/she is helpful.

After a wet and windy weekend, the weather has finally improved here. We finally got all DD2's and DS' birthday party invitations written yesterday, and they took them into school and kindergarten today. I shall be glad when July is out of the way and we get a break from birthday parties until Christmas.

Hope you find a suitable car admylin, and that the insurance pays out soon.

I was driving at 50kmph when the gear box gave out but luckily there was a small gravel pull in I was able to coast into, so that bit could have been much worse, very dangerous in fact if on a faster road in more traffic.

To be honest my relationship with my mum is pretty terrible and I find her being here much more stressful than being on my own with the kids, and as I use slings and Henry is pretty chilled I don't much want anyone to hold him. Iin fact I have realised I am a bit possessive of my babies while they are small and feel very uncomfortable while anyone but dh holds them (and he is the type who is quick to hand them back after 5 mins), I am not sure why, I kind of thought it I normal feeling this way, but I am suspecting now that maybe it isn't! I have been the same with all of them though so I know I'll get over it as he becomes less tiny and dependent! My mum stayed after my second was born and just held him all the time and expected me to do all housework, cooking, cleaning (she kept pointing out housework I "could be doing", and suggesting I bring her cups of tea while she sat and held my 2 week old baby, and tbh I resented it bitterly, which is one of the reason I put her off coming til he was 6 weeks this time, but it was just as bad! She really drives me up the wall and I snap at her constantly then feel bad - I am worst when I have a small baby though I think. In fact it was so bad this time DH has said I need to clear the air with her somehow in case she dies while we are on such bad terms! He actually has a point - our relationship has never been great and has worsened considerably since I have had children, and is at its worst ever now, but I am really not sure what to do about it - DH suggests I send her an email but my dad says I should bite my tongue and grin and bare her visits and calls - which DH thinks is part of the reason our relationship is so bad, as I let all the irritation I feel with her fester and only let it out by snapping but never discuss the source of the problem with her - I just know it will end in her crying and me apologising and then feeling even more irritated with her if I talk to her about anything more personal than the weather!

Sorry that was a long rant - subject of my mother always gets me going, I really do need to sort it!

Hello Linzer sounds like July is to you what Sept is to our family birthday wise! My 2 big ones have birthdays on consecutive days, then dh 10 days later. Hope it goes smoothly!

I missed the question about Regensburg - DH went to uni there and I visited him there a few times, seemed nice to me back then, but that was from a single person's perspective 11 years ago! They have lots of lovely little pub/ breweries! :)

That sounds like a really difficult situation with your mum, 5more. I'm not particularly close to mine and my parents didn't meet any of the DC until they were three months or older, but tbh I didn't really want anyone else there other than DH while the DC were still tiny and I was establishing bfing, etc.

I remember my ILs wanting to come and visit with DH's niece when DD2 was about a week old; I said it was fine if my PIL wanted to visit but no one else for the time being - the rest of the family could meet DD2 in a few weeks' time. However, my PIL couldn't say no to DH's niece so "compromised" by just coming for a short visit (they never come for long visits anyway). I was very annoyed about the fact that DH's niece's feelings obviously took precedence over mine and still claim that the stress of the visit contributed to me getting mastitis! (It wasn't that the visit itself was incredibly stressful, but I did get quite worked up about the fact that my feelings were virtually ignored.)

5more that sounds like my MIL.. how old is your baby?

Can I ask you guys something? When your DCs watch movies at home, do they watch them in english or german?

The DC only ever used to watch English programmes, but now it's about half and half. They rarely watch full-length films, though; it's generally either Okidoki (ORF's children's programmes) or CBeebies/CBBC, plus they have quite a few DVDs in both languages.

I'm just wondering what to do with mine.. I want them both to be bilingual (have no aspirations to teach them romanian, really), but because DH's german is pretty basic it's all up to me, and I am so used to speaking english all the time I have to actively remind myself to switch languages.
I need some good kids TV in german, I would HATE to watch films in german that are originally in english. the whole dubbing thing really makes me cringe. (A few good friends from school work as Synchronsprecher for big films, and I tend to recognise their voices when I watch movies in german, for example the guy who does the german voice of Harry Potter...)

Hi Halbwahrheiten - tv and movies for the kids are in English probably 8 times out of 10 - we have cbeebies (and sometimes now cbbc) which I let them watch more than Kika as at the times they want to watch Kika is often not age appropriate to a 5 and 3 year old. They do watch a bit of Kika and Super RTL, and dd loves the Sunday Märchen. For dvds I usually askl them which language, although of course some don't give the choice. We watch kids films at the cinema in German of course.

So both! Their language ability is now pretty equal as far as I can work out from other people including KiGa and my fluent English speaking German DH (my German is functional day to day but not as good as the kids!), English having the edge possibly, perhaps because I am the one who usually reads to them and I read in English - they are the only English speakers at their KiGa though and are in separate classes so KiGa is a 100% German time!

I have missed reading your posts on the thread - I shall go back and have a look!

Baby will be 8 weeks tomorrow.

5more my DS2 is 7 weeks tomorrow :)

Halbwahrheiten, my dc are 11 and 13 now and don't mind which langauge they watch in. If it's a dvd we'll often watch in English, TV is German and with books it's also half/half. Ds read half the Harry Potter series in English and the other half in German!

I would suggest you try to read to them only in German, especially at bed time. You could get a nice collection of classic stories. My dc have The Hungry Caterpillar in 3 langauges!

5moreminutes, I understand how you feel about wanting to hold the baby! My mum did just that when she came after I gave birth and also waited for food and cups of tea. I think she did one quick round of half hearted cleaning up. I have the problem that my parents are nagging for us to go over to visit when they can manage to fly all over the world on expensive holidays but can't come over here. The dc don't want to go there at the moment as they would love a real holiday even if it's just at the Nordsee. A stay in Grandad's house means always worrying about what mood he's in, they get sent outside to eat a buscuit so they don't make crumbs!

I know what you mean about having it out too - my mum would also just cry if I said anything so I just try to put it off. I think an email is a much better idea.

Halbwahrheiten How old is your DS1? My DC's favourite German DVDs are Pippi Langstrumpf, Wickie, Michel aus Lönneberga, the Barbapapas and Biene Maja. They also really enjoy the WAS IST WAS factual series, esp. DS. Depending on his age, your DS may be a little young for some of them, however.

I can't watch anything dubbed either; I find it incredibly offputting. It's not always as noticeable with children's programmes/films, however, which are often cartoons - at least you don't notice the out of sync lips! I find the voices in dubbed programmes often sound quite fake too, IYSWIM, and can usually tell if a programme is dubbed even without looking at the screen. "Was ist was" was orginally an American series, I think, but you can't tell as it's all narrated by an unseen actor.

I wish I could get DD1 to read more English, admylin. We have the Harry Potter set in both languages, but she was only interested in reading the German - I think it was a bit advanced for her though, as I'm not sure she even finished the first book. She's working her way through the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series atm (was it you who recommended it?), which she loves - but again is reading it in German. She did ask whether we could buy it in English too, which is a promising sign. Whether she'd actually read it in English is another matter (I seem to remember her saying that DD2 could read the series in English and she would read it in German).