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!

Morning!

It was hot here on Saturday too - an unexpected 31 degrees but was more overcast yesterday and "only" 24. But somehow I managed to get a bit sunburnt while out cycling. Just hope the weather holds today and tomo for our Maibaum fests.

silken - ds2 still plays with the doctors set that I bought for dd when she was little. He loves walking about with the stethoscope round his neck. I think I've said before how little we pay for our village music lessons - 6 euros for 45 mins . The music teacher has started doing them again after she fell and broke her hip - respect to her but wonder if she really shouldnt be resting a bit since she's 87!

admylin - must be so difficult to live with the uncertainty of where your dh will get a job. Are any of these ones he's applying for permanent jobs? Did you get your tyres changed? Think we paid about 30 euros for ours.

linzer - hope you're having a fab time at Playmobiland. Much pressure from the dc for us to go again - its a year since we were there last. Maybe we'll go one weekend in May if it stays warm. Think its good that you've made a decision about ds going to the Vorschule - you know him best and he'll probably really thrive there. I wouldnt worry too much about dd1's cycling test - at least you know now what she needs to work on when you're out together.

hupa - how's the kitchen? I was also surprised at how many younger dc here have braces but actually its a great way to fix some of the simpler teeth problems while their mouths are still growing. I'm really hoping that dd wont need train track braces when she's older because of how well the retainers have worked.

thatis - loved the FB photos of your gorgeous dc. Your ds2 is really adventurous for having just turned 1 - he was amazing climbing up that slide. Typical 3rd dc!

Waves to everyone else.

Got a busy few days ahead - there's a Maibaum fest today and tomorrow in our village (need to bake for the one tomorrow) and a bigger one in the next village tomorrow which we'll hopefully cycle to and back from. But we were out for over 2 hours yesterday and I'm a bit saddle sore. Wish someone would invent bikes with a comfier seat.
Then my MIL is coming tomorrow afternoon to stay the night because there's an Oma and Opa day in kiga on weds - and guess what....I need to bake for that too! So really should get off MN and get baking.

Hello all! Glad you all had a nice weekend weather wise at least! Our weather was pleasant and we were able to get out and about, taking turns going skiing. Loved the photos thatis!

How are you feeling about the Vorschule now Linzer? When is ds' birthday? We were considering getting E tested for early entry KG as his birthday is in September and he likes to help A do her homework. We decided that he wasn't emotionally ready in comparison to some of his friends who are definitely going this year. Pre-school is definitely expensive though.

Dh is going to Regensburg this weekend then off to Sweden for a week. He has to leave on Saturday to get there in time to start work on the Monday. I am as I have never been to Regensburg or Sweden!

How did the baking go, ploom? And all the party preps thatis?

Hope you all have great evenings!

Afternoon all!

The rain is back today but we've just enjoyed a four day weekend of sunshine, 30°c and drinking wine in the sun at various vineyards on the Rhine. Poor DS must be shattered after all the new sights & faces as he's had a few short naps already today. Tooth number two is almost through too, very cute!

jenny I'd be jealous too! You must be a skiing pro with all the skiing you get to do :)

ploom How did the baking go? I saw your FB pics & you looked like you were making the most of the lovely weather,

thatis What gorgeous pictures! Did DS2 enjoy his birthday? Were your older two happy that he got to have a party?

admylin Sorry to hear your DH didn't get the job in Michigan. Do you have a preference of the places he hasn't heard from yet?

silken How did the crisis cleaning go?

Linzer Did your DCs enjoy Playmobil Land? DH usually does our winter tyres, or he and FIL do it together. I keep meaning to get him to show me how to do it properly with aligning them and everything but I've always been either ill, pregnant or in the middle of a bf marathon when he's done them.

Hello to anyone I've missed!

The rain has arrived here this morning too after days of glorious sunshine; apparently it was even hotter here than where we were in Germany (it didn't really get very hot until our last day there). We had a great time at Playmobil FunPark; the DC loved it and they're old enough now to go off and play on their own, so it was nice not to have to be running round after them the whole time. We stayed at the on-site hotel, which meant that the DC could play with all the indoor Playmobil while we were having breakfast and before the park opened - last time we were there, there were too many children playing with all the things they wanted to so it was good for them to virtually have the indoor play area to themselves.

Gator Sounds like a wonderful weekend. Good news on the tooth; he must look very cute.

Jenny DS will be 6 at the end of July so would be one of the youngest in his class (the cut-off date is the end of August); I think he's the youngest Vorschulkind at KiGa, certainly in his group. I've come round to the idea of Vorschule now and definitely think it's the best thing for him.
DH went to Sweden last year but I wasn't at all envious as I think it was about -30° when he went! I would probably have felt differently if he'd gone in the summer, though.

Ploom Hope the Maibaumfest went well. What's the Oma and Opa day - do all the grandparents go into KiGa? I'm so envious of people who have grandparents nearby or who are willing to look after their grandchildren for more than a few hours. My neighbour's parents are often here helping them out; they arrived again yesterday, in fact, while she goes off to Nice for the next four days.

admylin Sorry about the job in Michigan; fingers crossed for the other ones.
Almost all the children here seem to pass their cycling proficiency, despite the fact that they don't go out on their bikes beforehand as a class before the test. This led to another of those "bei uns" conversations between DH and me (me: bei uns, the children would actually be taken out to practise cycling before the test; DH: well bei uns, it's up to the parents to take them). So much here seems to depend on how much effort parents are prepared to put in.

silken ?13 for 45 minutes teaching would hardly seem worth your while. I also think that ?15 for an hour's English teaching (which seems to be the going rate here) is ridiculously low considering that we pay ?25 an hour for maths Nachhilfe and ?38 an hour for dyslexia tuition. I don't think DD1's maths tutor needs to do any preparation beforehand either, whereas it takes me almost as long to prepare a lesson as to teach it.

Sounds like you had a great time Linzer - Playmobil is great and I'm sure my 2 would have love dit there before they turned into aliens teenagers.

Mayday is lovely in the villages isn't it ploom! When we lived in the small village it was one of the highlights when the tent was put up and the biertische set out for a Fest!

I'm not sure if I have a preference as such gator - if dh gets a permenant job offer I'd be happy anywhere I think! I could atleast start to make long term plans.

Latest unglaubliche thing from his work place: they got him to write a grant application but he had to show his boss when it wa sready to be sent and they said oh lets send that in the new doctors name instead - and they did!! Now the grant has been accepted and the money is coming in and everyone is congratulating the new guy! Honestly I think they want him dh to quit of his own free will so they're doing these things to him.

I've been ill since yesterday, some sort of virus I think so headache and stomach ache, not eating and sleeping lots, was in bed at 9:30 last night. Just about managing to do the basics but the flat turns into a dump the minute I stop picking things. I don't care what it looks like now though.

hope you feel better soon,..Admylin

tis soooo black here and raining so hard
peers at soggy dog
oh well better get on

It's pouring with rain here too, Cinders - I've postponed my run until tomorrow and am going to get on with some lesson planning instead.

Hope you're feeling better soon, admylin. How incredibly frustrating about the grant application; I can't believe the way his employers treat your DH.

We've just discovered that DD1's Klassenabschlussfest clashes with the DDs' piano concert. We asked DD1 which she'd prefer to go to and she inevitably said the Abschlussfest; I'd said that I'd be happy to take DD2 to the piano concert if she wanted to go, but she wants to go to the Abschlussfest as well. In some ways I feel like boycotting it after having to sit and watch the Werklehrerin, Religionslehrerin, etc etc being thanked and presented with flowers at the Christmas party - it's just so strange the way that DD1's class has stopped thanking me for the English lessons or giving me anything. But I suppose I'll end up going for DD1's sake.

Im a mean mother

I just avoid ds school

he is always such a pickle,

sorrry cant type anymore my laptop
has gone weirdy

Linzer I'd be abit like Cinders and avoid it too! Can't you just drop them off and tell them to come home hen it's finished?!

Still not feeling 100% but everything is in such a mess. Dd says she has no t-shirts left (there is alot of ironing on the pile) and ds forgot his sport gear so I have to go and sit outside the gym to catch him with it in 10 minutes, dh forgot his keys and glasses this morning so had to come straight back from getting to work (I always check his desk as he sets off to leave the house as he's a scatty professor type). All things I organise (too much probably) when I'm fit nebenbei.

Dyslexia lesson this afternoon for dd and the cupboards are bare so big shop too. So much for having a rest to recover. And I've still got a headache...

The thing is, it's really for the whole family so it would be a bit weird just to send DD1 on her own (or just the DDs). DH did say he'd be happy to take DD1 on his own and would tell people why I wasn't there if they asked, but I'd feel a bit as if I was sulking! And it seems a bit childish. I wouldn't have a problem if they only gave a present to the teacher, who obviously spends far more hours with the children than I do; I'm just a bit about the way they stopped acknowledging me halfway through the 3. Klasse.

Still bucketing down here. The RE teacher is ill yet again so DD1 only has four hours today; she and DD2 had agreed to walk home together (I'm picking up five other children from school for today's English lesson), so I'm hoping the rain will have eased off a bit by midday as I can't expect them to walk in this weather.

We've also got DD1's dyslexia lesson and shopping to be done this afternoon, plus her maths lesson to be fitted in at some point as well. We've decided to stop the maths Nachhilfe after DD1's Schularbeit as DH doesn't feel it's helping a huge amount (and he still does lots of maths with DD1 and still gets very stressed about it...) and will probably stop her dyslexia lessons after the summer as well. She enjoys going but it's difficult to say how much it's helping and, at ?38 a week, it's a teurer Spaß. Again, DH does a lot of German with her outside school and her tutor seems to do quite a few things (like playing UNO) that we could easily do with her at home.

Morning! Dont mean to make you jealous but there's not a cloud in the sky here .

Wow linzer 38 euros is a lot of money to pay each week esp if you cant see that its definitely helping. And if your DH is doing a lot of extra stuff with her anyway then it seems like its maybe not worth the money.
I think your DH has the right idea that he takes dd1 to her fest and you go to the piano concert - at least that way you wont get so upset when they give the teacher a present and dont thank you. is dd2 playing the piano in the concert?
Glad Playmobil was fun - must try to organise our trip there soon. Maybe in the Pfingstferien.

admylin - hope you feel better soon. Being ill and being a mum/wife dont go well together. Cant believe what they do to your dh at work - is there no-one in management that he can go to? What would happen if he stood up to them and told them they couldnt take his work?

ahh gator a new tooth! its amazing how quickly the all come through. Has he been ok with them coming thro? Mine were never too poorly - just a bit snotty. Glad you had a good weekend in the sun.

Waves to cinders

The "oma and opa day" was just to let them have time at kiga with their grandparents. Sadly my MIL doesnt know anyone there so she said it was beyond boring after ds" left her on his own and went to play. But she wanted be there for him because she wont be at his first day of school (they'll be in Hong Kong by then).

My cookies for the oma day went down a treat but think my muffins bombed at the Maibaumfest . They were big ones with blueberries or raspberries inside and dont think thats what Germans are used to. But I have to bake again for the Vatertagfest int he 17th so I think i'm going to make my non-bake cheesecake and put loads of fruit on the top. Havent made it in a while so think i'll have to make a practice one at the weekend! any excuse eh!

Just got back from the Optician - grrrrrrrrr is what I want to say. This is now the 3rd time I've been to try to get the right contact lenses. The left eye one is great but I've got an astigmatism in the right eye and the lens feels awful. She says its the right strength but because of the astigmatism it has to be a bit weighted at the bottom (???) so i might just have to accept it not being comfortable. I dont think so. Told her I wouldnt pay for lenses that were uincomfortable. So she's now ordered me a different one to try but it wont be there till next week so i'll have to go back again. As i said grrrrrrrr. Really wanted to just order some on one of those websites that linzer recommended to me but no chance at the moment.

Linzer do they do any sort of Förderunterricht at school? Dd was in maths förder for a short time but then they stopped doing it. Maybe in her next school there will be something like that?

Dd just got a 3 in vocab test in french but she said the average was 4.9 so I guess she's doing OK (or the rest of the class is very lazy as she learned for ages for it).

ploom hope you get your lenses sorted, I remember I had lense with a little blue dot that always had to be at the top when I put it in - could have been to do with my astigmatism? Always worth trying a different optician too.

Hmm, my dc would have been fed up on oma and opa day at kindi! I'm abit like you linzer always envious of families with willing and helpfull grandparents. Some even fly out to their expat offspring to spend time with grand-dc and let the offspring have abit of time off.

No, the problem at dh's workplace is that they have no real management or gewerkschaft even. Starting as a postdoc in science you are really only 'safe' when you get a permenant lecturer or assistant professor job. Some of the London jobs are so badly payed because foreign scientist (India, China) jump at the chance to have the place on their CV and will work for next to nothing.

Anyway, headache is abit better so back to my ironing and then to dyslexia class. Have a nice weekend all.

Glad to hear the headache is better, admylin. Yes, DD1 also goes to a LRS (Lese-Rechtschreibschwäche IIRC) course at school, although it didn't start until the 3. Klasse (it started in the 1. Klasse in DD2's class, as did extra maths).

Ploom I'm very as it's still pouring with rain here (and my hair has turned to a frizz). How annoying about the lenses; hope you can get it sorted out soon. I have astigmatism but it's not very bad so I can wear normal lenses. I definitely wouldn't put up with uncomfortable lenses, though; I'm sure there must be some solution.

Both DDs are supposed to be playing in the piano concert - they missed the last one as it was DD2's first communion, but this is the big (well, more important) end-of-year one. We're also wondering whether we should enrol them for next year as we'd have to deregister (is that even a word?) them by the end of this month and DD1 has been saying for ages that she doesn't want to carry on with the lessons. It would be a real shame for DD2 to give up as she's making good progress (and, unlike DD1, will actually practise) but she's said that she doesn't want to go any more if DD1 stops going. It's yet another teurer Spaß (particularly if they're not interested/don't practise). Sigh.

Must dash as I have to pick up DD1 from her dyslexia tutor and take her to her maths tutor; I'm going to have a coffee with his wife while DD1 is having the lesson (she's British so I may even be offered a decent cup of tea ).

Hi, All!

Hope you missed me! :) Our Internet has been woefully slow, haven't been able to load MN since my last post, we are on a dongle thing until we move, it is dire, just tediously slow! So just a very quick one to say we are alive and well, but I won't be able to post much until we find our own place and get the Internet installed. Any time we do get to go on the Internet, we are house-hunting, which is hard when the pictures don't always load!. Think we have at least identified the area we would like to live in, so that is good!

My haircut went well, I was at that hacked off with it stage (I leave it ages between cuts, as I don't like going!), so had a load hacked off! I think she did a marvellous job, one of the haircuts I've been most pleased with. I found a picture in her salon styles book, pointed to it, and that's near enough what I got! Phew!

Hope you all have lovely weekends. Really sorry for not namechecking and acknowledging all your updates.

NoHun I was thinking you were maybe be in the middle of moving but the internet connection sounds like a pain especially as you need the internet for flat hunting. Have you registered with a few agents? I know it's painful to have to pay their fee but sometimes it's the best and quickest way.

Glad the haircut was good even without German! I'm also at the hacked off stage with my very long straight hair, not much I can do with it but I'm still too scared of the hairdresser so I need to go a degree further in hackedoffedness maybe!

Raining here today, washed away all the pollen atleast! Dd has gone swimming with her friend then they are coming back here later to study for a German test next week. Ds is still in bed and I have just dropped dh off at work so he can help his chinese student who also works 7 days a week - dh loves foreign students especially chinese or Indian ones as they are really hard working! His German students always have to have their lunch break or they almost faint from hunger at 1pm! His work takes ages to set up before you can start recording anything and usually dh gets left with finishing everything off as most of the German students have long gone home in a state of exhaustion.

Morning all! I hope everyone had a good weekend. The weather here was atrocious, but we quite enjoyed lazing around at home.

Ploom Thanks for asking about the kitchen. We´re getting one more quote this week and then will make a final decision. At least we know what we want - it´s just a case of finding the right price.
Mind you,we´ve got builders here this morning.We´ve realised that at some point in the past, someone had sawed through two of the supporting beams in the house, so we´re having to get them replaced.I think I´ll be spending the week dusting.

admylin I hope you´re feeling better. I really hope a new job turns up for your dh soon. He must get so frustrated with the way he is treated.

linzer I´m not sure what I would do in your position.Maybe let dd1 decide. I know that here the Abschlussfest is a really big deal,but maybe it´s not so important where you are.

I need to buy new glasses. The arm of my current paired snapped off yesterday and I think they´re beyond repair. Does anyone know if I have to go to the Augenarzt first or can I go staight to an opticians? I wear contact lenses mostof the time, so it´s not so urgent.

My brother´s wife is booked for a Kaiserschnitt tomorrow. She´s managed to make it to 38 weeks, which is pretty good with twins. She´s been confined to bed rest for the last 9 weeks and is starting to get cabin fever. I can´t wait, it´s just a shame they don´t live nearer, so I could helpout more.

Morning all,

We had a weekend of lovely sunshine interspersed with heavy rain showers here; fingers crossed the rain stays away next weekend as we've invited all the neighbours over for a barbecue next Sunday. We had a trip to the airport yesterday to pick up a new colleague of DH's who's come over on some sort of exchange programme from Turkey and then spent a couple of hours in Vienna with him while we were waiting for his apartment to become available. There were supposed to be three of them coming over but the other two cancelled, one because the apartment found for him didn't have breakfast included and he's used to his wife making him breakfast every morning. DH said it was probably a good thing as he'd already complained that the apartment was in an area where there were too many foreigners!

Just bumped into our German neighbour on the way back from my run; she always says "ich wünsch' dir was" whenever we say goodbye (my other German friend here does so too) and I'm never quite sure how to reply! (Danke? Dir auch? Danke, gleichfalls?) I think I just muttered schönen Vormittag! in the end.

hupa IIRC (and it's certainly the case here), you can go straight to the optician's as long as you have a glasses prescription. I'm not too sure, but I think they may even be able to tell your prescription from the lenses in your glasses anyway.

admylin It's quite impressive that your DH's students can hold out until 1 pm - anything later than 12 seems to be a late lunch here. When I worked in Germany, everyone went off to lunch at 11.30 am; I wasn't really hungry then but would force myself to eat to keep myself going throughout the afternoon, and would still end up starving again at about 3 or 4 pm (I think I put on about a stone while we were there).

NoHun Well done on the haircut; it took me months if not years to work up the courage to start going in Germany (and once I started going, I began to get paranoid about my hair colour as they would ask me every single time whether I wanted it dyed).

Morning!

Linzer - no-one's ever said that to me here. Think I'd just reply danke, gleichfalls. Glad you had a good weekend - did you make a decision about the fest/piano concert?

hupa - good luck with all that dusting! People here told me I should go to the Augenarzt first then to the optician but think that was duff advice. The optician said you only need to go to the Augenarzt if you've got any concerns that something is wrong with your eyes but for a basic sight test and glasses then the opticians is fine. I got a much more thorough eyetest at the opticians.

Waves to everyone else.

I've got a baking question - what do you all use as the equivalent to UK baking powder? I brought a big tub back with me last year but its ran out so bought some "backin" at the weekend for cookies that dd wanted to make and it definitely wasnt like for like. Confused myself by trying to google it and read that I need backpulver with weinstein in???? HELP!!!

Well, they're both from the same area of Germany (can never remember where exactly but south-westish so maybe it's a regional thing; you certainly never hear anyone say it here otherwise, anyway).

I never realised there was a difference between baking powder and Backpulver, but can send you a few tablespoons of M&S baking powder with the next DVD consignment if that's any help, Ploom. Have just checked and it expired in Nov. 2011 though, so I hope it's still OK (I don't use it all that often). I have about 10 DVDs here that we've finished with, so just need to get them ready to send.

Oh, and both DDs want to go to the Klassenabschlussfest and DH has informed me that he'll join us later as he's not sure whether he can get back from work in time for the start, so it looks like I'll be going.

Thanks Linzer but i'm going back to the UK in June so will bring some baking powder back with me. Along with gravy granules & teabags!!
Thanks in advance for the DVD's. Loved that Britains Next Big Thing series. I've got some to send on to Admylin - will do that this week.

Linzer if both girls really want to go I guess you can't get out of it. Maybe you could slip out to the loo when they start handing out flowers to other teachers just in case you think they'll ignore you again.

I've heard wunsch' dir was probably in the south west where we used to live.

Ploom maybe you just need to add abit more of the German backpulver? It says that those little bags are for 500g flour but I use the lot for 350 or 400g too!

Hupa I used to work at an optician's in Stuttgart and they aren't allowed to give you an eye test for your first ever pair of glasses - that test has to be done at the Augenarzt but after that if you need different strength lenses or just a new pair of glasses they can test you again. It's just with the very first time for some reason.

My teen dc are having big fights in the morning here - for the bathroom! It's like a classic comedy with fights thrown in every morning! Everything changes when they turn into teens. How I miss the days when I used to have them both at the sink brushing teeth together and I did their hair and helped them get dressed! We have a Gäste klo with a mirror and small sink but it's no good for brushing teeth and the light is bad so no one wants to go in there (I also hate it) so the bathroom is the only place. I might put a timetable on the door of the exact time and minutes that each person is allowed in there.

ploom I've also always used Backpulver and assumed it was the same as baking powder. I think the Alnatura one I usually buy has weinstein in, but it's already packed so I can't check until next week! I've variously used Backin and other ones as well and never noticed a difference. Or is it bicarb that you need??

Linzer I've heard "ich wünsch dir was" plenty of times and am now struggling to remember if it's mostly my Swabian friends who use it! Agree with ploom that "Danke, gleichfalls" is fine in response. I find it harder to respond to the terribly sincere "ich wünsche dir/euch alles Gute" I often hear (accompanied by a handshake and eye contact) from much older people, since it seems to require a more wordy response, or I feel they are wishing me success in my career, or something.

silken Ah, now I wouldn't have as much of a problem with (ich wünsche dir) alles Gute - I would either just say danke schön or, if appropriate, danke, gleichfalls. Although I do have a friend who says alles Liebe on the phone and I'm never quite sure if it's appropriate to say danke, gleichfalls/dir auch to that.

Another thing I've just remembered that I found quite strange when I first moved to Germany was the way that people would say danke dir (it sounded like a bad translation of thank you). But maybe that's another regionalism; you don't hear it used here, anyway.

admylin I've had the opposite problem with my DC - actually getting them to go into the bathroom to clean their teeth rather than wandering round the house cleaning them. The DDs are OK now but DS will still clean his teeth wherever. At least we've got the second bathroom finished now, which should prevent a few arguments when they're teenagers even if it is the size of a broom cupboard!

Ploom I'll get the DVDs ready to send to you later. I've also lent a couple to a Welsh friend here who said she watches Inspektor Barnaby while she's ironing and wanted to know whether Sgt Jones has a Welsh accent in the original Midsomer Murders. I wouldn't be able to watch it (or any British programme) in German; it just seems wrong.

Baking powder in the the UK has bicarb & cream of tartar in it which I dont think backpulver has. But bought some backpulver with weinstein in so will see if that works better for my british recipies. Have no trouble buying natron - just the baking powder that was troubling me.

Dont get me started on my problems with cream.......

silken - when do you move? Hope its all going ok!