Wenn es im Winter stürmt und schneit, haben wir eine Flasche Glühwein allzeit bereit - life in Germany and Austria

[LinzerTorte]

As I couldn't find a suitable poem mentioning Glühwein, I composed my own. Please don't laugh.

All welcome - anyone living in Germany, Austria or anywhere else who would like to chat.

The email was sent to the dc (dd and her friend) but neither of them regularily check their emails so that's why we missed it. I'll have to get them to add me to their list. I'm not sure if dd will carry on with hockey after this year as she enjoys it but doesn't want to play seriously like some of them.

Hope you don't have too much snow, I haven't had to clear our garage drive once this winter thank goodness!

Thatis woeful ignorance of poetry here, I'm afraid, although the few lines you and Linzer have quoted between you make Eliot sound quite accessible.

I've been contemplating a New Year's namechange, too, in the interests of muddying the tracks a bit. I haven't been struck by inspiration yet, though.

I did realy well with decluttering when I had that interlude of Flying last year, but I'm also now at a point where I can't bin anything easily. My wardrobe is probably the one thing I could tackle, but everything elsr would require lots of organising, more storage and possibly even fly-tipping, since they've banned us from delivering our own Sperrmüll to the tip .

My plan is therefore to spend the rest of my life on MN and Ravelry until I can't get to the door any more DH does something about it .

Silken, that makes it difficult to sort things out if you can't take stuff to the tip. No wonder most people have overflowing cellars here, full of junk that you can't fit in your bin.

In south Germany we used to have Sperrmüll collections twice a year on a set date but here you have to call and ask for them to collect stuff but atleast it's free.

I was stressing about our old car tyres and some bits and pieces but dh siad just leave it all at teh back of the garage and we'll pay for it to be taken away when we move again like last time( 25? and the removal firm took loads of stuff away for us) although that's only good when you move as often as we do!

Have just posted this on Facebook, but for anyone not on there this is very funny.

Annoyingly, my plans to get on with things have been interrupted by work so I'd better get back to it.

Morning all!

silken - can you not phone them to come and pick up your Sperrmüll on a certain date? That would give you a deadline to get it done. I had to google what Ravelry was - do you do a lot of knitting? Think we're going to try to go to Oberhof area again this weekend for skiing - will wave on the way past your junction. We really shoudl get together again soon.

admylin - think taking some non cut up fruit would probably be better - it would be brown otherwise. Think you're tempting fate saying you've not cleared the path once this year - hope you're not snowed in by next week!

hupa - Munich is a nighmare for property at the moment - its so expensive. BIL and SIL paid just under half a million euros for their flat. Its a fair size for a flat but its still a 2nd floor flat. For that money i'd be wanting a garden at least (and much more).

linzer - glad your nearly all on the mend. Hope dd2 is better soon. What dodgy taste in music did you have?

gator - I love babies too at this age - they are so much fun without being everywhere. Love the cackling.

thatis - the Elliot reference went right over my head too - I am so ignorant about literature. Wow your dh has a long commute - but it makes it a long day for you with the dc too. Did your ds2 enjoy his party?

I had a shocking day of diarrheoa yesterday but thankfully havent passed it on to anyone. Always puzzles me when that happens - we all ate the same so why did I get it?!? But much better today. Even managed to continue with the shred so must be better. And dealt with the monstrous washing pile - feel I deserve my MN time now.

Cant believe but the whole school debarcle starts next week for ds2. Feels like I'm just getting used to ds1 being at school and now its the next one's turn. But I'm not going to go to the Elternabend next week since its just information about what to expect over the next 6 months and I know all that from last year. There is only one other boy from the village going to school with ds2 and ds2 cant stand him! That should be interesting. There should have been one other boy but the mother said yesterday that they've put his name down for the Montessori school in another town. Its something I know nothing about but also feel the German system is treating my other 2 OK so am optimistic for ds2 (and I dodnt want to pay for his schooling!).

x posting!! that is just hilarious - he's got Germans down to a T!! will put that on my FB immediately.

Yes, very funny and so true!
I cross some roads on red and dd always tells me off! She finds it too peinlich to think her mum might do something rebellious!

at you being told off by your DD, admylin. Thank goodness the Austrians aren't into asparagus quite as much. They were pretty hard to avoid when we lived in Germany, especially as they were often the only vegetarian option on the menu at work. I'm not sure I've ever eaten a vegetable quite as tasteless.

Canella Glad you're feeling better today; maybe you just have a more sensitive stomach? DH is more badly affected by things he eats than the rest of us.
I don't think I'd pay for a Montessori school either unless I was desperately unhappy with the other options, although I'm sure it has good aspects. I've also heard it can be quite difficult for children to integrate into mainstream schools later (I don't think you can do the Matura at Montessori schools).

silken You should read the Waste Land if only to appreciate Wendy Cope's summary of it in limerick form here. Actually, don't bother with the Waste Land itself; the limericks are a less waffly and more entertaining version. I particularly like the line "Wei la la. After this it gets deep."
I don't know how we'd cope if we weren't allowed to take rubbish to the tip. What we could do with as well is a charity shop; we have a huge pile of things accumulating in the cellar that are too good for the tip but nowhere to take them (nowhere that doesn't involve a good two hours in the car, at any rate).

Gah, have just got overly defensive and spent far too long defending the blog post I linked to on FB after an American friend of mine reposted it and a German friend of hers with no sensse of humour dissected it. Apparently you shouldn't cross the road when the light is red if you don't want to get run over, in the same way that you don't drive through a red light. (Not the point!) And they all love Dinner For One precisely because it's so British but know that it's only famous in Germany. (No they don't! Every German/Austrian I've met has been amazed that no one in the UK knows it. And doesn't find it funny.) And asparagus is delicious. And so on.

I need a to calm down now.

I want to gah for you - thats a german person with a sense of humour failure! I would laugh if it was "how to take the piss out of scots".

I know I'm taking it all too seriously, but still... gah! Another thing she complained about was that in American films, all Germans are Bavarians. (Does this mean that they only use Bavarian actors? Or that the German actors all assume Bavarian accents? Because I can't imagine an American actor pulling off a Bavarian accent. Or maybe they just talk about coming from Munich.)

My American friend admitted that the film industry had made them all believe that Bavaria is Germany and Germany is Bavaria. I still don't understand. I must be watching the wrong kind of films. Are there really a lot of American films set in Bavaria/Germany? Or do all the Germans in US movies wear Lederhosen and swan around Neuschwanstein-type palaces?

Gaaah I knew there would be a sense of humour fail somewhere! I stole reposted your link too but no-one has been offended by it - yet!

Quick question while we're on the subject - do Americans use the term 'greetz'? I have only ever seen it used by Germans when they write in English and it makes me irrationally annoyed, but I'm not sure if it's a German thing or an American thing. DH laughs in the face of my annoyance, although he doesn't use it himself (as it would be grounds for a divorce in my book).

Linzer I have heard complaints before that Bavaria and Germany are often interchangeable for non-Germans. I think that would annoy me too, it's a bit like confusing Scotland and England, I guess. My mum is Scottish and her side of the family get really mad about that, which I can totally understand.
MIL does the whole Scottish-English thing and when I correct her, she says it's ok because she is foreign

Silken Does it cost to have Sperrmüll collected where you are? I think here you phone up and arrange collection (we did with a few bits a while ago) and if you only use it once in a year it's free, otherwise you have to pay.

Canella I hope you're feeling better today! How exciting about your youngest starting school - I hope it goes well. Montessori seems to be quite an emotive issue here. SIL's friends are sending their daughter (who is the same age as DN) to a Montessori school this year and I remember them discussing it at Karneval last year - the discussion got quite personal and rather heated. We had only announced that I was pregnant about 2 hours before and I remember thinking 'Oh God, we have all this to come' :)

admylin That's really funny about your DD telling you off! When I was an assistant in a tiny back-end-of-nowhere town just outside Hannover, I lived right behind the police station and taught most of their kids. One dead Sunday afternoon I was walking back to my flat from the supermarket or somewhere and crossed the road at a red light. I didn't notice the police car until I heard 'Frau Gator, bitte beachten Sie die Ampel' (or something similar) over the police car's loudspeaker

On the subject of Dinner For One - EVERY year, without fail, my MIL spends an hour describing the film to me, telling me how amazing it is and expressing shock and horror that British people are generally unaware of it. She normally comes to the conclusion that it must be really popular in Britain and that I am probably just uncultured :)
She is lovely and I do love her to bits, this just makes me laugh as I know what is coming as soon as New Year's Eve is mentioned!
(I actually saw it at the PIL's one year and it was quite a sweet film)

Linzer I just tried to follow your link and I think the destination has changed as it's a protest against the US congress censoring the internet or something.... boo I wanted to read what you've all been talking about!

In-law family all Dinner for One fans and surprised I hadn't seen it too - I had to watch it the first New Year I was with DH. Its the reason DH dismissed Sophie as a suggested name for dd (though I guess she would always have had to spell it out if we'd used the "correct" ph spelling).

thatis are you on facebook? It's still on linzer's fb page. Use my email address to search for me on fb then I can send you the other friend suggestions if you like.

Oh thanks Linzer, just did that. Am on fb but really only use it for the parentsinmunich group and one other similar group these days.

I mean admylin (Linzer's link)... sometimes an edit button would be useful on MN - anyone know why there isn't one? I wondered that before...

thatis I sent linzer and canella a friend suggestion for you (I hope, never know if I'm doing it right!) and 2 others from this thread!

Our internet went off again yesterday evening. This time the technician thinks we need a new splitter, then if it's not that a new router/modem thing. Trouble is I don't fancy driving into the city to get one so have ordered one. Could take a few days but anyway, it's back on now.

Ds is now forbidden from wave boarding in the house. I think his constant skating over the cable isn't doing it any good. The cable is under a metal strip as it has to go from the hall to the desk in the living room.

Linzer have you calmed down yet? Fwiw I've never met a German who knew that Dinner For One was unknown in the English-speaking world either. In any case, we own it on DVD (from the time DH was trying to convince me that I must know it really) and it appears to have been produced in Switzerland .

Gator I've never come across the term "greetz". It sounds like it would make me want to punch anyone who used it, though . what does it actually mean?

Canella yes, I knit quite a bit in front of the tv. I tend to have one big project on the go and then do baby socks as and when they are required. I'm terrible at finishing the big stuff, though. I spent most of last year knitting a lacy scarf and have actually finished it, but just can't be bothered to weave in the yarn ends and press it. I've now started a woolly sweater inspired by watching The Killing, but I needed a lot of internet research to get me going.

It would be great to get together again soon. We're going back to the UK at the end of next week, though, so it will have to be February. Incidentally, I'm meeting someone tomorrow who is looking for a new music teacher - he lives in the place near you that begins with M. He's tipped me off about a few other students in that area who are currently teacherless as well, so if I can fit them all in, I may be driving your way a lot more often!

admylin what a nightmare to lose internet connection. Our server has phases of being rubbish, usually when I need to print out some flashcards for a lesson. Hope you get it sorted out soon.

gator I've never heard greetz either. Also wonder what they really think they are saying when using it? Probably trying to translate Grüße!

Speaking of Dinner for one, the first time I was in Germany as an au pair I didn't speak a word of German and the mother was all excited because at New Year she would show me a programme in English and it would be realyl fun. So, the time came and hse took me to the TV room and it started and before anything happened she was laughing. Then half way through she was slapping her knee and nearly falling off her chair and at the end she could hardly breath from laughing. I honestly wondered where I had ended up and wanted to go back to France where I had been happily living, totally integrated for the past 4 years!

silken knitting is a great skill that I never mangaged to master. I envy you being able to do it and I heard that alot of people do it watching TV and to relax but I always had to be 100 concentrate dand if any one spoke to me while I wa sknitting I would forget which stitch I was on!

Morning (just, although it won't be by the time I press post) all,

Yes, I've finally calmed down now and can bring myself to use the Internet again silken. No, actually I've been over at the neighbours' for brunch; all the Nachbarinnen were there (five of us altogether plus one baby). It was lovely, although I do find it a bit hard to join in discussions about Kachelöfen (I have no idea how many kilos of wood you need to feed them with), incidents we've had while skiing (as I've never been) and balls (apparently they can no longer keep going until 4 am now and have to come home by 2 am at the latest). Nor do I believe that children lose a year of their childhood if they start school at - shock, horror - five.
Interesting to hear that DFO was made in Switzerland. Oh, and I named DD2 after it. (FWIW I've never had to spell her name Thatis - apart from the few times when I've been asked whether it's written with a "langes i". I said "with ie" once, and they looked at me as if I was slightly odd for not knowing that that's the same as a langes i.)

Aha, so it's you that admylin suggested as a friend for me Thatis. Have just sent you a friend request!

How frustrating about the Internet, admylin. Hope it gets sorted out soon. And what is wave boarding? (I know, I should google it.)

Gator at you being told off over the police loudspeaker! I've never heard of greetz either (but do think you'd be perfectly entitled to divorce your DH if he used it). Words like wanna and gonna annoy me immensely too, particularly when they're used here. I saw a sign at the zoo on Saturday that said, "Wanna try it? Wanna buy it?" and it put me right off either trying or buying whatever it was.

Here, England includes Wales, Scotland, Ireland etc. Even my ILs talk about us going over to England. The other problem is that half the people here don't seem to know exactly what/where Wales is; someone even thought I was from Wels (in Austria) once.

Well, suppose I'd better do something productive for my last child-free half-hour. Just not sure where to start (apart from by switching off the computer, or at least moving away from it).

linzer don't google it or you'll think i've gone completely mad! I have no idea what the contraption is called in English but it's a sort of skateboard with only 1 wheel at the front and one at the back! Like this

Ah, I see.

I'm multitasking, cooking lunch, airing the bedrooms (in good German tradition) and doing the washing!

Afternoon all.

Thatis I've just seen admylin's friend suggestion & sent you a request on FB. (I'm the one jiggling the baby, although I'm sure you've figured that out :) )

Greetz seems to be 'Grüße', as far as I can tell - it tends to appear at the end of texts and emails. I'll ask Dr Google but if none of you were aware of it either then it's probably a German thing.

admylin Good luck with getting the internet fixed. I hope it doesn't work out too expensive (or complicated!) Well done on the multi-tasking!

silken I'd love to be able to knit but I'm another who would have to concentrate & would lose my stitch count etc if distracted.

Linzer Wanna and gonna (or even gunna) also irritate me. NOt for any sensible reason, they just do. I think it might be linked somehow to the swearing in a foreign language thing we were talking on here a while back.

The guy from the Peugeot garage just called and confirmed the price etc so we should hopefuly have a new car by Saturday! Yippee!