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.

Hupa I expect he'll be embarrassed! He's quite shy and every time I ask if any of his friends have girlfriends yet he says no as if I've gone completely mad! He'll be 14 in May though so it could start to change any time.

Dd is 12 and also shows no signs of wanting a boyfriend (thank goodnes) although 3 girls in her class are 'going out' with boys.

Jenny Happy birthday to your DS - I can't believe he's one already either; it doesn't seem five minutes since he was born! DH is away until late Wednesday evening; normally I wouldn't mind at all, but he had been planning to take some time off during the Semesterferien - now he'll probably just take Friday off. Although I must admit I'm quite happy for him to be at work on Thursday as the DC are all going to a friend's house in the afternoon and I'm looking foward to having a few hours to myself.

Thatis Oh no, what a stressful experience. These temperatures are enough to test anyone's car; the tiler doing our bathroom was well over an hour late this morning as his car wouldn't start.

admylin I always thought project weeks were when the whole class went away somewhere together - although that's only really based on what happens in our school (DD1's is the only 4th year class not to go on Projektwoche). The DC will be off all this week - it's a week when virtually everyone goes skiing, although the Semesterferien are staggered so it's only two or three Länder on holiday at a time. Some friends of ours are going away on Wednesday but haven't booked anywhere; rather them than me! Lots of people book a year in advance.

hupa Glad you had a good weekend. I wish we had Gesamtschulen here; they're moving that way with the Mittelschulen, but I can't see how it's supposed to work when they still have Gymnasien.

The DC were all supposed to be going to a friend of DD2's this morning, but DS announced when he got up this morning that he wasn't going to go. He's very clingy at the moment, and also refused to stay at a birthday party on Saturday so I had to bring him back home again. He's fine if he's been somewhere before and knows the mother, but doesn't like going somewhere new. Luckily, another friend of mine phoned up to ask if he wanted to go and play and I'm having her two over this afternoon. As well as another friend with her two DC. I hope I haven't been overambitious. Perhaps they can all go and watch the tiler at work. That was DH's suggestion, at any rate.

Quick question - what do you all give workmen to eat when you have them in the house? I'm just back from a trip to Burger King; he said he would go himself, but it seemed silly as it would have taken an extra half hour out of his working day - and besides, I feel responsible for providing lunch for him. He turned down my offer of a filled roll from the baker's. I suppose I should have provided him with a hot meal, shouldn't I? I know my MIL always does, but DH thought a roll should be fine.

Linzer I only know from friends and family who have had workmen in the UK and all they provided was cups of tea, the workmen brought their own sandwiches or went to buy something at the nearest bakery (like a pastie or pie) for their lunch break. Do you really think you should provide food as in a proper lunch? I wouldn't, but maybe offer tea/coffee and kekse.

Well, I know that my mum provided tea and sandwiches when they had workmen in recently so thought I'd do the same here. (Translated into Austrian as bread rolls and coffee.) DH said it would be quite unusual to offer biscuits with morning coffee (although it turned out he didn't want any coffee anyway, just water), but that I should offer cake after lunch - I do actually have some in the house, as we've got visitors this afternoon.

I'll ask my friend when I pick up DS later, but she's a clone of my MIL so is bound to provide a big cooked meal. I can't imagine anyone doing so in the UK, though.

Guess what I'm about to eat...

...the first Creme Egg of the year .

Silken
Linzer We´ve had loads of workmen here over the years and I´ve never offered them anything to eat. They usually bring sandwiches with them. I´ve asked dh and he said he would offer a bottle of water, but even that is optional. Maybe Austria is different, but I really can´t imagine most people offer hot meals.

I asked my friend and she said that she would offer workmen a hot meal as it's the done thing in Oberösterreich (where she and also DH are from) - but that it's not common here in Niederösterreich and that belegte Brötchen would be about the most you would offer them. Also, that they usually bring their own drinks. Have just taken him some Kaffee und Kuchen anyway, and I think that's it for the day!

silken I almost had a creme egg yesterday as DH gave me four for Christmas. Amazingly, I have resisted temptation so far.

at the temperatures and the car incident! Glad you made it home safely thatis. Breaking down is always incredibly stressful.

at the creme egg. I nearly bought one yesterday but as there will be so much birthday cake floating around this week (dd is 6 on Weds) I resisted. Regretting it now!

Would really like S not to wake up at 5 in the morning thinking he's going to get fed. Doesn't he know he's not a newborn anymore?!

Jenny how do they celebrate birthdays in the US? At primary school I mean? Here I am still surprised when dd comes home (year 7 of Gymnasium) with a bag of sweets because some class mate had a birthday. They still bring something for every child in the class. My dc don't do it now but when they were at primary we did (integration and all that!). Had to get 27 little bags of sweets ready, or 27 mini chocolate bars or whatever.

Linzer have you got the tiler in again or has he finished? Sounds like the done thing to feed the workmen in parst of Austria then. I remeber when the removal men came to move us to this flat they sent a body builder type professional and his lehrling, a really baby faced 17 year old. I bought him a pizza and he was so pleased to get 10 minutes to sit and eat it. His colleague wouldn't stop though and only drank water and a coke from 8am to almost 4pm.

Had a fight with dd this morning as she wanted to go out without a hat. She's taken the hood off her coat and lost it and they're going on a day trip to a paper recycling plant in these minus temperatures. Got her to put an extra hoody on and wear the hood up atleast and off she stomped to school. I'm half thinking it really is cold and she should have a hat on and half thinking the teacher will by judging us if he sees she's not dressed properly (well she is now).

Ice on the inside of our windows this morning, the condensation froze even though we hace central heating on all night.

The tiler is still here, much to the children's excitement - DS, in particular, is fascinated by what he's doing. He's assured me they're not in the way and I've managed to get them all into the room next door now, where the DDs are doing some painting, but the poor man is being subjected to DS's favourite song on an endless loop - Kinder an die Macht (at least I've got him to turn the volume down).

There's no way I'm going to Burger King today as I'd have the dig the car out from under 10-20 cm of snow. It took me 40 minutes to shovel it all off the path this morning; none of our neighbours was to be seen so I think they must all be away, apart from one who's at work (his wife has a two-month old baby, so I'll let her off). The tiler said the motorway was really bad this morning, with cars slipping and sliding about, so I'm definitely going to keep off the roads for as long as I can. Anyway, lunch is sorted - I'm doing pizza and the tiler has said he'd like some too (DS asked him off his own bat!).

DS's friend and his little sisters were supposed to be coming over this afternoon (and the DC going to them on Thursday), but that's been cancelled as he has chickenpox. I was wondering whether to say they could come over anyway as we've all had it, but after googling and discovering that it isn't all that uncommon to get it twice (DD1 also managed to catch it despite being vaccinated) I decided not to risk it.

admylin I also think I'll be judged if the DC go out without hat, scarf and gloves and in less than 10 layers, but they're proper Austrian children and always put a hat and gloves on of their own accord (DD1 in temperatures where I really don't think a hat is necessary). Whether this will continue as they get older remains to be seen, but I think people are probably less judgy of teenagers than of toddlers - or at least of their parents!

Jenny Hope you got a better night's sleep last night. The 5 am starts are real killers; we went through it with all three of them.

I now appear to be on my own in here listening to Herbert Grönemeyer, so had better go and see what the DC are up to.

Linzer that is alot of snow! The ground is covered here but just a thin layer and it's very cold. I have to go to one of those stupid collective Elternabend meetings tonight otherwise I wouldn't be leaving the house today. The teacher has told the dc that the parents have to have a really good excuse to not come and also to arrange for someone to take notes for them if they can't make it.

Are you having your main bathroom tiled or are you adding a new one to the house? How I would love to have an all new shiney clean bathroom. I hate ours, rust on the bath tub, enamel totally scratched and paint flaking off the walls. I can't face decorating it my self and I'm not paying for the bath to be fixed (have to live with just having showers for now). I might try and paint it in Spring but it's such a big job getting all the old stuff off first and the mess and I'd rather save abit and get someone in to do it. Secretly hope we might not be here too much longer.

We're having a second bathroom put in on the top floor; it's a tiny room, but there's just about enough space to squeeze in a shower, toilet and washbasin. We've been meaning to do it for years (we had the connections put in when the house was built) but it's never been a priority. However, a friend of mine is coming to visit in April with her four children - and the thought of one bathroom between 11 people gave us the kick we needed. DH and I are also planning on moving upstairs at some point, possibly later on this year, when DD1 gets her own room (she'll have our old bedroom).

The Elternabend meetings are a bit of a waste of time, aren't they? Last year, both teachers had photocopied a summary of what they were going to talk about beforehand and really, they could have just put it in the Mitteilungsheft and saved us all going in. The worst thing was having to sit through it all twice as the girls' teachers said more or less exactly the same thing. I'm going to send DH to one of them next time!

Just came upstairs to discover DD2 and DS showing the tiler DD1's Zeugnis. Have now distracted them with a jigsaw so that he can get on with some work.

I do love my iPhone, particularly when I'm texting DH and forget to change the language to German. He asked whether the DC were having fun in the snow; I wanted to text back "Eher mit dem Fliesenleger". However, my phone decided to correct this to "Whee MIT men Fliesenleger". Have just had a text from DH asking whether he should be worried.

Linzer sounds like you've got a nice workman anyway, atleast he's friendly and not a grumpy one!

It's so cold - ds snuggled on his bed reading, dd asleep under her blanket and I'm trying do my ironing as it atleast keeps me warm! Am definately not getting dressed up for this Elternabend, going in my warmest fleece, jeans and big scarf and am going early to get a seat next to the heating!

Afternoon all!

It's freezing!! (Well technically it's a fair bit below freezing, but you know what I mean :) ) I just took DS to the Dr for his jabs & was so busy getting him wrapped up nice and warm that I forgot my own gloves - ouch.

admylin Good luck with getting a seat net to the heating tonight! Do people normally dress up for Elternabend? I imagine the Einser Mamas do but I'm not sure I could be bothered. Ironing to keep warm is a new one one me - I tend to go for heating up, jumper on, bucket of tea.
How did DD get on without her hat?

Linzer It's sweet that your DC are so excited by the workmen and that he is so nice. Are you looking forward to your shiny new bathroom? How was the pizza?

hupa Glad you enjoyed your skiing weekend and that you didn't end up stuck in traffic.

jenny Happy birthday to your little one! The Rückbildung is for back & pelvic floor muscles - I don't think I'll bother tomorrow as it's ridiculously cold, DH needs tha car & DS had his jabs today so might be a bit feverish tomorrow like he was last time. I think that's enough excuses to get me out of it :)

Hi platanos! 2 mean people in one morning really is enough to put you in a bad mood for the day, isn't it. I hope everyone else you came across was friendly.

Thatis What a nightmare with the car! Has it been ok since? I heard a lot of people are having car trouble due to the temperatures. Fingers crossed it doesn't happen again.

Brrrr! DS is in his bed sleeping off his injections & I have the heating on full whack & a huge cup of tea - I ws only outside for about 15 minutes in total but that was more than enough.
DS was a bit screechy when he had his jabs, but calmed down once he had had a cuddle, and then as soon as the Dr had left the room & I was trying to get him dressed he screamed the place down - the Dr, the nurse and the receptionist all came to check on us and left the door open just in case I was torturing him! (He was fine once I picked him up for a cuddle & fell asleep as soon as I got him in the pram).

Ooh do I win a prize for the longest post in the world?!

Hello everyone - Linzer your children's fascination with the tiler made me laugh, especially showing him DD's grades :) We are planning to move up to the attic next year too to give the kids each their own room - DS1 will have ours and DS2, who is currently in what is best described as a dressing room attached to ours, will have DS1's current room, which is the smallest (luck of the youngest) - in fact the boys may end up sharing our room for a while, as DS1 is currently very eager to do that, but DS1's current room is too small for 2 people, whether DH and I or both boys. Our house is rented though, so although we sometimes ponder making the attic a sanctuary with en-suite etc we never will spend that money on somebody else's house!

Admylin I hope you don't get a note sent home about hatless dd - I got a note from DD's teacher with lots of exclamation marks complaining that I must buy her an "Echtes Radiergummi" because I had sent her with a pink heart shaped one since she lost her "regulation" one.

Argh I am distracted by DS1 having a tantrum at DD, who is tormenting him these days by starting a game with him then refusing to continue and totally blocking him out - she can be a mean little so and so sometimes as she most definitely does it for the reaction, but on the other hand I remember being the eldest and being commanded to play with my youngest siblings against my will by my mother who basically wanted me to occupy them so she could get on, and I don't want to force her to play with him either - argh! Meant to reply to everyone but ignoring a tantrum whilst monitoring it for violence or dd winding him up further, or DS2 being collateral damage, takes concentration lol!

Problem with the car was the diesel most probably, it's been OK since it's "warmed up" to minus 13...

Gator hope DS is over his injections by now

Thatis Hope you managed to avoid a full-on war!

Quick question - those of you who bottle-fed. When did you stop sterilising bottles & teats? Thinking of buying a microwave steriliser as it would take up less worktop space than the steriliser we have but we'd need new bottles too (the ones we have are too big for the microwave sterilisers). If we're only likely to be sterilising for another 2 or 3 months it hardly seems worth the expense, but if we have another year ahead of us I could do with my worktop back.
Everyone seems to do it differently so I just thought I'd get a few opinions.

Gator I'm sure I've heard that you should carry on sterilising bottles for a year, but I don't have any personal experience. I also vaguely remember being told by a lactation consultant in the USA that you don't actually need to sterilise bottles at all and that the formula companies are just covering themselves as they don't know how thoroughly you wash up - there does seem to be a lot of conflicting advice.
Hope your DS is OK today after his jabs btw.

Thatis DD1 is awful for teasing the other two; she really knows how to push their buttons and DD2, in particular, really overreacts - it drives me mad.

The new bathroom is coming along well, despite the DC constantly interrupting the workman. He's still taking it in very good part, though. I'm continuing to cook for him, but I must say he makes a nice change from visiting children as he actually has second helpings. He also comes downstairs to eat with us now, rather than me bringing him his food upstairs, which feels a bit weird (although he's very friendly). Not quite as weird as discussing bfing with him, however.

Sorry Gator, forgot to answer your previous questions - the pizza was fine (it was one I'd had in the freezer and defrosted, so didn't involve any actual cooking) and I'm really looking forward to the new bathroom being ready. It will be good to finally have tiles in the kitchen too (another thing we've been putting off for years), which the workman is doing after he's finished the bathroom.

Hmm that's about what I'd heard about sterilising, Linzer, all very conflicting, but I've found the bits on UK Amazon a lot cheaper, even with postage, so I might just go for it. Will see what DH thinks later.

DS is fine today, no side effects whatsoever this time. He has spent the past 24 hours almost constantly blowing raspberries while awake. It's quite hard not to laugh when he's grizzling/complaining and blowing great big, wet, bubbly raspberries at the same time

Just a quick hello! I'm off to collect dd from hockey, half an hour there and half an hour back with a really bad headache. Have just got up from having laying in adark room.

Gator, I stopped sterilizing at 5 months for ds and dd didn't have bottles until much later at 6 or 7 months and I never sterilized them for her.

OK, having laying - you know what I meant! My eyes are like two little slits but the asprin should help my headache soon I hope. If not I'm sure the blast of cold air will when I go down to the garage!

Hello everybody. May I join? We are hoping to move to Germany at some point in the next six months. I'm intending to start a new thread when I've worked out exactly what I need to know, but if anyone has any pointers as to how much cheaper (or otherwise) it might be to live in Frankfurt as opposed to London, I'd be very grateful. But I really don't want to highjack your thread.