Die Kaffeestube - German and Austrian cyber Kaffee und Kuchen

[admylin]

Kaffeeklatsch for anyone in a German speaking country or interested in German, Kommt herein und setz euch!

(Unlike in the UK where even if you move around every few years, it is still more common to buy)

Gator I think it's also harder to get a mortgage in Germany as compared to the UK or atleast in the past as I think it's all changing now. I remember my cousin 'buying' her first house when she was 19 and she'd just trained to work in a nursary, not married, no savings - back then totally normal thing to do but unheard of or impossible in Germany.

Yes, both dc were exhausted and neither of them turned up dressed and ready to go at the breakfast table this morning so it was a one off! Ds was just happy that it's weekend already!

Dd has her dyslexia lesson at 5:30pm tonight which will be hard going as she'll be tired and (she says) has to force herself to be smiling and awake!

Morning!
we bought our house here nohun but thats because we plan to be here forever. As the others said, it is very common for people here to rent and there has been no great rise in house prices here like in the UK so there isnt that financial gain to be had. But we were used to owning a house so it seemed like the right thing to do. And it was amazing how much house you can get for your money in the arse end of Germany. We've even got a sauna. And rooms we dont use. Complete opposite to our new build in the UK.

My MN name comes from dd's favourite scottish sweets. Wanted a one word name as everyone shortens the long ones on here. And a recent namechange has made me feel a teeny bit more anonymous.

admylin - typical that the early rising was a one off - thats teenagers for you. At least its nearly the weekend already and they can sleep tomorrow.

Waves back to gator.

Linzer - didnt know you needed a knee brace - how long do you have to wear it for? did it help this morning?

thatis - funny how these childhood things still rile after all these years. I'm still bitter about not being allowed to grow my hair long (despite it being long for 20 years now!). Have got everything crossed for you that the sleeping improves. Can you nap at the weekend when your dh is at home?

Been dragged round the shops by ds1 this morning - he still had Christmas money and wanted to spend it on something Star Wars. Its shocking how expensive the stuff is because its "in" at the moment. But we treated ourselves to an ice cream in the sun so it wasnt all bad.

Now trying to decide if I risk making them a meal they've not tried before - have got a salmon and sweet potato fishcake recipe - they love salmon but I hate cooking something then no-one eats it.

Hope you all have a nice weekend. Dd is back on Sunday eve - she's been having the best time at the beach on the Indian Ocean side of S. Africa. What an amazing Easter she's had.

Thanks for all the name explanations!

Thatis, I am glad about that! I wouldn't have wanted a joint party. Must be tricky though with them so close together. I wonder how twins cope. I have a friend whose sister had twins either side of midnight, how cool is that! :)

admy, I did know home ed is illegal here, but DS is only 18mo, so we could have a few years here before it is an issue. I'd like to have moved on to another country by then anyway.

Ploom my dc get that money burning a hole in my pocket thing and then get very fed up when they can't find anything or the item is too expensive! Hope your ds got what he wanted! Is dd going straight back to school on Monday or has she still got a few days off?

NoHun you can enjoy your stay here even more if you know you're not here for good! I'm torn between wanting to settle and wanting to move on at the moment. Dh just applied for a job at Imperial College London and I could imagine it'd be a nice change of scenery for us if he got it! Although the Edinburgh job he's waiting to hear about would be great too!

Homework help!
Could you ask your dc to answer these questions (if they are old enough) for dd's homework please? She needs the answers for Monday and they can be in English or German!
Here are her questions:

1. What are the disadvantages of drinking alcohol?
2. Have you already tried alcohol?
3. Do you think you will drink alcohol when you are older?
4. At what age will you try alcohol for the first time?
5. Why do young people drink alcohol under age?
6. Why do people drink alcohol?
7. Which type of alcohol is most popular with young people?
8. Do your friends or family members drink?
9. Why is it forbidden for minors to drink?

10. When are you allowed to buy alcohol in Germany (what age)?

Ploom / Gator I've had problems with my knee when running for a few months now and finally went to see the Orthopäde a couple of weeks ago. He diagnosed Belastungsgonarthralgie (Gonarthralgie just means a painful knee, apparently!) and prescribed a knee brace. I also decided to get some properly fitted running shoes, hence the gait analysis in Vienna, where I also picked up the knee brace from the Bandagist. I also have an elbow brace, which I'm wearing all the time as I have a (non-running-related!) painful elbow and it does seem to be helping, but I only have to wear the knee brace when I'm running ? thank goodness, as it's very tight. This morning was only the second time I've worn it (and the new running shoes), but my knee does seem to be better. I'll carry on wearing it for a bit and then try running without it, as the man at the running shop said it shouldn't be a permanent solution (not sure why, though).

admylin I'll ask the DDs about your DD's homework - I'm not sure how alcohol aware they are though, so I'm not sure they'll be able to answer all the questions (but am pretty sure they'll be able to answer no. 8!).

Ploom Did you make the fishcakes? They sounded delicious. Mine can be a bit fussy about food that they're unfamiliar with; the first time I made fishcakes, they didn't really like them, but I made them again not long ago and they went down better.

NoHun People here seem to rent for longer than they would in the UK; partly, I think, because once you buy a house, you stay there for the rest of your life (and then pass it on to your children) - or so it seems. Because house prices don't really go up and you pay quite a substantial amount of fees when you buy a property, if you do buy a house and then sell it, you're quite likely to make a loss. Building your own house (or at least having it built for you) also seems much more common here than in the UK; quite a few people we know have done so.

admylin I've just questioned DD2 (7) but I'm not sure whether your DD will want to include your answers in her survey as I don't think she's really aware what alcohol is! (Apart from knowing that it's wine, beer, etc.) I'll ask DD1 later, but I'm not sure she'll be much more knowledgeable.

1. What are the disadvantages of drinking alcohol?

It has sugar in it. It?s not good for you.

1. Have you already tried alcohol?

No.

1. Do you think you will drink alcohol when you are older?

Is wine alcohol? Yes!

1. At what age will you try alcohol for the first time?

26.

1. Why do young people drink alcohol under age?

Because they want to try it.

1. Why do people drink alcohol?

I don't know.

1. Which type of alcohol is most popular with young people?

Wine.

1. Do your friends or family members drink?

Yes, family ? Mummy and Papa.

1. Why is it forbidden for minors to drink?

They?ll stay up too late.

10. When are you allowed to buy alcohol in Germany (what age)? I don?t know.

Love the answer to No. 9 linzer. dd isnt back till 10pm on sunday so wont get a chance to ask her & ds1 has no idea what alcohol is.

Chickened out the fishcakes & just ate the salmon myself with a big salad. Was delicious. Peed off tho about picking the bones out the steak tho. Always makes me nervous. Need to stop at 2 glasses of wine tho before i'm drunk after my lack of carbs!

Linzer, those answers are adorable! :)

I would love love love to build our own home, really hope we will actually do it! I have designed a first draft - it has slides coming out of the windows on the top floor for fire escape purposes! :) Our rough plan is to lead a life of travel and adventure: a couple of years here, a few months back in the UK, then a couple of years somewhere else, then a few months back in the UK, etc.
Right, I am off to dream and plan things on Pinterest! :)

1. What are the disadvantages of drinking alcohol?

That your brain starts not working and you don't grow any more so you can't think very well and stuff.

1. Have you already tried alcohol?

Once I tried a bit of Daddy's beer!

1. Do you think you will drink alcohol when you are older?

No - but I will when I am a grown up

1. At what age will you try alcohol for the first time?

19

1. Why do young people drink alcohol under age?

I don't know

1. Why do people drink alcohol?

Because they like it

1. Which type of alcohol is most popular with young people?

wine maybe

1. Do your friends or family members drink?

Mummy and Daddy

1. Why is it forbidden for minors to drink?

Because their brain will stop working and they won't grow any more

10. When are you allowed to buy alcohol in Germany (what age)?

I don't know

(Answers from dd, age 6.5)

I would just like to announce that DS2 only woke twice last night, and had no milk between 8.15pm and 5.50am!!!

Wooo hoo!

(I stretched a worn night shirt over his mattress under his head as suggested by somebody - I have tried that before when he was younger and still feeding through the night and it had no affect, but either it helped last night or it was going to happen anyway.)

Not counting my chickens, but a night with only 2 relatively brief and feeding free get ups is a wondrous thing, I feel good :)

thatis great news, you must feel 10 years younger! Thanks for the Fragebogen, dd needs 1 more and her brother to answer then she's collected enough!

Sunny day here, off to buy a few presents with dh for him to take to my niece in London and for his sister and brother.

admylin Here are DD1's answers (she's 10) - as you can see, she's not much more alcohol savvy than DD2! I love the way that both think they'll first try alcohol in their mid-twenties.

1. What are the disadvantages of drinking alcohol?

Nicht vor dem Autofahren. Es ist nicht sehr gesund und hat sehr viel Wein und so drin.

1. Have you already tried alcohol?

Nein.

1. Do you think you will drink alcohol when you are older?

Yes.

1. At what age will you try alcohol for the first time?

About 25.

1. Why do young people drink alcohol under age?

Because they'd like to try it.

1. Why do people drink alcohol?

Because it's quite nice.

1. Which type of alcohol is most popular with young people?

Rotwein.

1. Do your friends or family members drink?

Yes, family members.

1. Why is it forbidden for minors to drink?

Because it isn't very good for them.

10. When are you allowed to buy alcohol in Germany (what age)? 10?

Thanks Linzer my dd says to say thanks to your 2!

Whoo hoo thatis!! Hope he repeats such a performance tonight. Or does an even better one.

Hello everyone.

The alcohol answers are funny. I love the precision of staring to drink alcohol aged 26. thatis i'm impressed that your 6.5 year old could give those answers. I'll have to try them on my 7 year old but I don't think she knows so much about it! (although she has had sips of wine and beer before).

I also don't think joint parties are a good idea. I had a friend who had a bithday 10 days before Christmas and many people got her just one present as it was meant to be a 'joint' present.

We bought our house in Switzerland 6.5 years ago. Traditionally few people buy here but it is changing. Mortgages are quite affordabe because they are always interest only, people never pay them off, and there are tax advantages to having a big debt. It is also more common here to build your own house, rTher than buying one which is already built.

Glad you slept better thatis. My youngest is 4 so i'm glad that's behind me. Occasionally I think I'd like a 3rd but sleep deprivation is one thing I'm not keen on, along with nausea etc (although of course it's all worth it!)

My name is just a nickname we have always had for our oldest DD.

Fingers crossed/Daumen gedrückt for tonight, thatis!

Henry's fantastic sleep last night has gone to my head and I am still up at 11.30 - I am going to regret this!

Bugster thank you - Dd likes to talk and think ... and talk some more about everything, so we have discussed alcohol on a lot of occassions and it wasn't a brand new topic when I asked her the questions. She could also discuss G/god and life after death in depth - she is just a talker and a questioner, for all the good it may or may not do her in life (she is also Schlampig, which in the German school system is more relevant :o )

I meant to comment on all the hysterically ridiculous PFB examples we have had on the thread over the last week or so, it popped into my mind at dinner when Henry wolfed down half his portion almost fast than I could shovel it in, then DD and DS started some verbal and almost-physical sparing and he totally lost interest and kept batting the spoon out of the way so he could watch them better, and utterly refused to eat any more - maybe I should feed him alone in his bedroom :o On the other hand he would breast feed with bombs dropping on all sides, utterly fixated, I am sure... No choking risk (should I not have handed Ds1 the pack of dried apple crisps to pass to him one at a time in the car as we drove to the in-laws this afternoon?) :) I am afraid I probably wouldn't have the patience to sit in silence and watch somebody bottle feed their baby! I have also handed over the spoon for less horribly messy meals now - DD could spoon feed herself with a spoon relatively successfully by her first birthday and it hit me I am over babying H by soon feeding him like some mindless baby bird!

Linzer I am sorry I forgot it was you who recognised my name!

I have been considering name changing again to Schlampig ... :o What do you all think? I was also considering chocolateisnotasleepsubstitute, but now I am optimistic (?) that DS2's sleep will normalise within the foreseeable future and then I will have no excuse not to force myself to address the issue of the much needed diet...

We rent here btw - we were getting into a sticky situation in the UK due to me switching from a lucrative office based career in The City when we bought the house and took out the mortgage, to an entry level teaching salary, and then to child minding, and then the imminent arrival of DC2 meaning my childminding income would have had to go down as he would have cut into my numbers. We got ourselves out of it by selling up and moving, but my understanding is you need very substantial deposits - 25% plus - to buy here, plus there is not the likelihood of making a nice profit on the property market (nor even the same concept of a property "ladder" you climb by making a bit on each of 3, 4 or 5 plus consecutive properties as you "climb" towards your "forever home" on the back of profit off each property you buy and sell). Also when you rent your landlord has to sort it out when the toilet breaks or the roof needs re-doing :)

I hope you got a better night's sleep in the end, Thatis. I used to find it particularly frustrating when they'd slept through or at least for a longer stretch at least once, so I knew that they could do it, they just didn't. I remember getting all excited when DD2 slept through at about six weeks - but she didn't start doing so regularly until she was 13 months.

I like chocolateisnotasleepsubstitute, although would probably capitalise the initial letters to make it easier to read. To me, schlampig has quite negative connotations - but only because it makes me think of DH getting impatient with DD1; it's no worse than messy, really. As an aside, I'm trying to remember if I saw Mr Messy in German and what he was called (I saw the Mr Men books in German when we were in Vienna, and surreptitiously took a photo to post on Twitter!).

You need a substantial deposit to buy a house here too. We put down nearly 50% and there's no way we could have afforded a bigger mortgage. The concept of a property ladder doesn't exist here, partly because, as I said further up, you're likely to make a loss when you sell. We'd definitely make a loss if we sold as we bought a newbuild, which people will pay more for than a house that someone has already lived in. A lot of people seem to want to return a house to newbuild state when they move in; we know a few families who bought houses that weren't particularly old and spent weeks if not months renovating them before they moved in, whereas I'm sure that in the UK, people would have moved straight in without bothering to do anything to the house or changing things later. (That's partly to do with property chains as well, I'm sure, which don't really exist here either; it's rare in the UK that you'd be able to carry on living in your old house while renovating your new one.)

NoHun I wish I had the time for Pinterest, but really don't need something else to spend too much time on!

Ploom I can't manage more than two glasses of wine either, even with/after food.

admylin Did you find some nice presents for your niece?

Mr Messy is indeed Mister Schlampig, while Mr Bump is Mister Aua and Mr Silly is Mister Dämlich. (Does anyone actually use dämlich? Our German teacher at the VHS told us to use albern, but I never hear that used either. I can't really think of anything meaning silly other than blöd, but you have to be careful with it. I also like mühsam, but tend to overuse both that and umständlich.)

Thatis, Schlampig is a great username! :)

Ok, so I'll scrap the idea of buying a house! Didn't need to make a profit or rise up the property ladder, just wanted to expand our options - there don't seem to be any properties to rent that aren't ridiculously expensive, or cause us to make several compromises.

Linzer, Pinterest saves you time! Next time you need to do up your bathroom, you've already collated all your ideas! :)

I think MissUnentschieden would sum me up quite well (is there really a Little Miss Indecisive?). I like the sound of Mister Unverschämt too - wonder what he is in English... Mr Cheeky? Although wouldn't that be Mister Frech?

Have just googled - Miss Unentschieden is Little Miss Fickle (have gone off it as a user name now) and Mister Unverschämt is Mr Rude.

What would a good translation of my username be? I used Google Translate and got keine hun gedacht. Any good?

Hmm, hun is a difficult one to translate. When I first saw your user name, I thought Hun was a reference to the Germans but I assume you mean it more in a Netmums sense? In which case, Schatzi and Schatzilein spring to mind as equivalents used here (in Austria, at any rate) - although they're not really used in exactly the same way as hun (i.e. flung around indiscriminately by people who use txt spk). So your user name would be something like KeinSchatziBeabsichtigt - although you completely lose the pun then (no pun intended would be kein Wortspiel beabsichtigt).

Must go as the DC want me to play a game and are getting impatient!