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.

dd at school, ds1 at KiGa, Ds2 asleep (for as long as that may last), I have my books open and really am writing that review for my class...

but I just remembered - who was it who recommended the bookswapper site for English books within Germany? I've been using it a lot (no need to buy books on Amazon any more, equates to just paying 85cent delivery for a free book). Anyway my slightly loopy DH decided to write an Ap for his phone so that I can scan the bar codes of books I have to swap instead of type the info into the site, and he asked me to tell people about it - I don't know many English speakers here so said I'd tell people on here. The Ap is free, he just built it because he has never built an Ap before???

The site is

www.bookswapper.de/swap/news.php?action=news

and the free Ap for Andriod phones is at:

market.android.com/details?id=de.bluezed.android.bookswapper

Thank you for reading... now I will get back to work :)

I remember looking at the bookswapper site (can't remember who recommended it, but I have the feeling it was someone who isn't on the thread any more) and wishing I lived in Germany! The app sounds great, Thatis; I wish my DH did something useful (useful for me, at any rate!). Instead, he seems to spend most of his time travelling at the moment - he's off to Romania again tomorrow and then flying straight on from there to Ulm for the rest of the week.

Hi, I hope this is the right place to ask - has anyone had experience of working through a zeitarbeitsfirma in Germany? So far they have been pretty quick in getting me an interview for a good job that I would be happy to do. The question is, should I pass the interview and get the job, what is the experience of being employed by them? Do you get ripped off, I understand they have to earn a margin but I have the feeling they are going to pay me as little as possible then cream off the rest rather than have a set percentage of the fee that they pass onto me. Do they pay on time? Has anyone been taken on by the company afterwards? Any experiences would be interesting or questions I should ask before starting to work via a Zeitarbeitsfirma.

Hi freedom, I don't have any experience of Zeitarbeitsfirmen I'm afraid. Maybe one of the posters in Germany will know more.

Hallo! Sorry I haven't posted for a while but I have read most of the posts. It takes me so long to read everything and then I don't have time to write anything myself! Hope you have all had nice weekends. It took me an hour's drive this morning to drop dd off at school, then take dh to work and back again because of all the snow. It can go away again now, please! Dd still has 3 weekends of skiing lessons though. Got to go again now and pick up dd from school. Hope you are all having lovely evenings.

freedom my (German) BIL worked for Zeitarbeitsfirmen for years. He did OK but seemed to change jobs frequently. Of course he took home less than he would have if he had been employed directly, but it must have been a living wage as he afforded to live in Munich - he was working in admin, mainly in banking. He was promised permanent positions by the firms almost every time, but nothing ever came of it - that could have been partly his personality though, he can be a little bit caustic! He was never out of work for more than a week or two though, they always found him new contracts when one ran out. He has a permanent job now but found it himself not as a spin off from an agency job.

Don't know if that helps - asked DH and he said it's not really possible to answer the question of whether you'll get ripped off as it's going to depend what you are doing and on the specific agency. I guess just be sure you know the T&C you are employed on before you accept any work, and don't accept less than you are happy with - not really a lot of point in stressing over what % of what the employers are paying the agency is coming to you, just about whether the amount you are getting is an amount you are happy with. (Over a decade ago I worked in an investment bank in London that sued contractors, and the agencies took huge percentage slices of what the bank paid - think up to 20% plus finders fees, but the contractors still got very healthy pay packets indeed to take home!)

Hi Jenny

Linzer I forgot DD had a birthday party to go to this aft, so once homework was done it was time to go to the party, and once she got home it was dinner then beditme - will be sure she writes to your dd tomorrow! Sounds as if your DS doesn't need the Vorschule at all if it's only a phase that shows itself when you are about - hope school understand that, guess they see similar every year!

used contractors, not sued!

Off to bed now, so tired it's crazy... Don't want to be teaching this time tomorrow, not sure I talk a lot of sense in this state of long term sleep deprivation, or should even be driving at night let alone teaching... oh well...

No worries, Thatis - we also had a hectic afternoon here so I forgot to remind DD2 that she wanted to write to your DD. A friend of hers came over more or less straight after I'd picked the girls up from the piano lesson and by the time she'd gone, it was dinner and then bedtime. I'm sure she'll find time tomorrow, though, which I'm hoping will be a little less hectic despite two English lessons.

Morning all!!

Linzer - I'm sure your ds will be fine once he starts school - its all so unknown at the moment to him. My ds2 sounds so similar in his abilities to your ds - which i find really reassuring. Hoping to get his german reading a good bit better before he starts school tho - he loves trying to sound out words and since german is so logical I think he'll do great.

Thatis - I've used that bookswapper website too but not had any takers recently for my rubbish books. Am beyond impressed that your dh made an app - I wouldnt even know where to start. Too cute that your ds has started to walk - nothing will be safe now.

freedom - no help - sorry. Have never worked here.

Booked my flights last night for my trip back to the UK. Just me. No dc from a weds till sunday - cant imagine all that time without them. I'm going to celebrate my best friends 40th birthday & to see my lovely friend and her new baby so it'll be a great few days away. And the flights were less than 100? so all a good deal.

Going to skype this morning with said lovely friend with the new baby. He's 4 weeks old today and she's having the hardest time BF. She's got a plenty supply but her nipples are agony - he's been checked for tongue tie, she's been treated for thrush, she's got Lanisol (?sp). ANy other handy hints from you lot? I'm not the best person since I had equally big problems BF so can sympathise but havent got any good advice.

Good news on the flights Canella; I can't imagine being without the DC for that long either! Two nights is the longest I've ever been away from the DC and that's only happened once. I'm looking forward to Saturday though, as we're going to a friend's 40th birthday and the DC are all staying overnight at the neighbours' so we don't have to rush back.

Your poor friend; I can really empathise as I found the first few weeks of bfing a real struggle with both DDs (actually, it lasted for well over a month with DD1). I spent a lot of time in tears from the pain and decided it was far worse than labour!

One tip that a midwife gave me was to numb your nipples with an ice cube just before a feed, which I found did help. Also to expose them to air as much as possible, and to let them air dry after a feed. I didn't find that Lansinoh worked all that well for me; the lactation consultant also recommended putting cabbage leaves into your bra (which I didn't try!), and rubbing some expressed milk into the nipple area after a feed, as it's a natural antibiotic. As long as there's no underlying cause, e.g. thrush, and the baby is positioned correctly, I think you probably just have to wait for the nipples to toughen up and it will get better eventually. It came as a bit of a shock to me how long it actually took, though, especially with DD1.

I had the same painful problem with feeding ds and tried all those tricks and more! I had silk pads to put down my bra, also tried sitting with my boobs out to air them, silicone caps to put over the nipples while ds drank and one midwife told me to put quark down my bra! I gave up after 3 months. Hope your friend finds something that helps and one good piece of advice would be not to stress about it if it doesn't work out, nothing wrong with giving a bottle.

Great news about the trip. Will your dc be at home with dad or at grandparents' house? I could really do with a trip to the UK to get some clothes as I am sick of not finding anything nice or affordable here.

Dd is away this week, saw her off yesterday. Really strange when one is away and can't wait for Friday. Sure she'll be having a great time and hope she gets to try the cross country skiing although it doesn't look like it from the weather report (she's in Harz).

Thanks very much Thatisnotitatall Interview tomorrow so we will see how it goes.

freedom good luck with the interview. My brother worked for a Zeitarbeitsfirma when he first moved to Germany. He obviously wasn´t earning as much as the permanent staff, but was earning a fair bit more than he had in the UK.

Canella I´m sure you´ll have a great time in the UK. I´m off to Barcelona for a long weekend in the summer with a couple of friends and can´t wait.
Linzer´s tips for your friend are really good. She could maybe try different positions. I had a friend who used a kind of rugby ball type position and that really helped.

Thatis I´m very impressed at your dh writing an app. I´d forgotten all about the bookswapper site, so thanks for reminding me.

admylin I hope your dd has a good time.

Thanks for the advice about BF - have passed it all on. She's now expressing in the day as well as giving him a bottle of formula and just BF at night. I feel so sorry for her - I also remember the feeling so well - it was that painful with all 3 of mine which is why I gave up each time - and think she's getting to the point of giving up BF which I can totally understand

I've heard lots of good things about Barcelona Hupa. Dh went there last year and loved it. Its just nice to have a few days to yourself once in a while.

admylin - hope there's some snow for your dd altho its really warmed up the last week or so, so I'm not sure. I also find it weird when one of them is away from home. Dd is going to South Africa with my IL's for the whole Easter holidays and I will be a wreck for the whole time she's away. Will be glad when the 2 weeks are over and she's home safe.

I found the rugby ball position really useful too, canella as it was immensely painful to feed dd before that. It wasn't great after that but the latch was so much better and it did give my nipples time to get used to it. I hope your friend finds it easier soon. Great news on the flights too. I'm sure you'll have a great time!

I can't believe H is walking already! S took his first steps last night but still seems happy to crawl around at great speed.

Good luck with the interview freedom.

Apologies for not replying to anyone else. Dd's 2 hours and forty minutes at school are almost up and I need to leave a bit earlier because of the ice and snow. Have a great evening!

I always knew it as the football hold. I assume that means you can pick up the ball in American football. (Disclaimer: I have absolutely no knowledge of any kind of sport.)

Jenny That makes DD2's four hours seem like a long school day. She'll have five hours most days when she goes into the third year in September - but with DS starting school then, I'll still only have four hours of child-free time most days.

Thanks Hupa well it went decidedly averagely. But the next interview is next week so maybe I will have better luck there.

Gosh it's quiet on here! Hope you had a nice St David's Day. I'm sure the next interview will be more successful, freedom.

Anyone know the word in German for clay pigeon shooting? One of my group wants to know.TIA

I know, Jenny. Where is everyone? Not that I had much time to post this morning with DS around. He had a tummy ache and was very slightly sick, so I kept him at home - but he was absolutely fine all day and his usual lively self, so I didn't get any peace. I'm hoping he doesn't have a relapse tomorrow morning as I don't want to have to cancel my first ever manicure!

Clay pigeon shooting is Tontaubenschießen btw.

Good luck for next week, freedom.

Thanks Linzer! Hope ds is better for you.

Morning all! Thursdays are always a busy day for me - big food shop, ds1 home stupidly early, music lessons, ds2 home later. Not my fave day of the week.

Hope your ds is better this morning linzer and you get for your manicure. I've only ever had one once but really enjoyed it.

Had a great night out last night with some other English speaking women. 3 of them are already friends but they brought along another 2 so it was a fun night. Most if them were connected thro the american army (one was the wife if the commander of the whole garrison here - that sounds impressive!) so there was a bit of army talk but it was still so nice to be out. Must do it more often.
Dh is off this morning to Hamburg for a meeting until tomorrow. Looking forward to an evening of peace & quiet. Wonder how early I can put the dc to bed.....

Enjoy the manicure Linzer, I had one once too and it was really good.
I get dd back today, it has been a long week. Waiting for the phone call to let us know they're arriving.
I've had abit of a spring cleaning week, dd's room was really in need of a big clean and I've caught up with the washing just in time for the suitcase full of dirty Klassenfahrt clothes and bedding!
It looks like Spring is here today, very mild and sunny. Should try to figure out what to plant on the balcony. I've bought a big bag of soil so that's a start!

Morning all!

V. busy week here with dental appointments, dr appointments, spring cleaning, rearranging the kitchen to make room for a new fridge freezer, high-chair shopping & a baby who seems to be making his first crawling attempts so can't really be left alone while I make a quick cuppa anymore. I really need to get round to babyproofing the flat before he's properly mobile.
He can roll onto his tummy now & does at every opportunity, but hasn't quite worked out how to roll back yet so gets quite frustrated. He sticks his bum right up in the air & does a sort of commando shuffle forward to get the toy he wants, so I guess it won't be long until I'm chasing him around the flat :)

Canella I can't really offer any bf advice as I just ended up giving up. The only thing I could suggest would be for your friend to get in touch with a really good bf consultant. I had Nystatin gel then Daktar gel which helped with the nipple pain for a while.
Good luck with your evening of peace & quiet!

Linzer Hop your DS feels better soon. Enjoy your manicure.

admylinI bet it will be lovely to have your DD back. Have fun planting - I get all excited about bags of soil & new plant pots - really makes me feel spring is here.

freedom Good luck with your interview next week! Let us know how it goes :)

Sorry for the awful typing - baby is asleep on me. Can't believe he is almost 6 months already. Where did the time go?!

Hi everyone. I've been checking the thread every hour over the last couple of days, but also haven't really had time to post anything. DD has been at home with an ear not-quite-infection, ie. it could turn into one if I take her to kiga, according to the dr. She prescribed some "homeopathic" drops (they clearly aren't, since they appear to contain active ingredients) and Rotlicht sessions, which has made me feel like a proper German mum .

We were at the dr again this morning and the catarrh is still there, so I'm facing another week of DD being at home. Still, the flat is bizzarely cleaner than when she's at kiga .