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!

Aargh, just lost a post thanks to clicking on Previous page by mistake. Anyway, in brief: I'm more familiar with American than British baby-related vocab, but didn't pick up the practice of exclaiming "good job!" to my child every two minutes.

And I have achieved my Gesundheitsziele (all a bit superficial really, as they rely mainly on information you give them that you don't smoke/drink too much, how much you weigh, etc.) which means my Selbstbehalt is now 10% rather than 20%. Luckily the doctor didn't charge me for the appointment, which would have defeated the object somewhat.

Linzer congratulations on your Gesundheitsziel! Thank goodness the German Krankenkasse doesn't work that way.

You were right - it was a Klempner that was needed. Dh checked how much water was coming out of the tap to the dishwasher last night and it was hardly any. The Klempner just tried to fix it but he has to come back on Tuesday with a long flexible wire to try and free the pipes (yuk, loads of rust and gunge came out just from behind the tap). He said this house needs complete new pipes and as it's so old and nothing has every been done.

Now I'm going to be washing dishes by hand right next to a brand new dishwasher. If Klempner can't fix the pipe it's tough luck for me.
I just want to move house soon..

To be fair, it's only my Krankenkasse (for self-employed people) that offers it and it's not obligatory, but as it saves me 10% of the copay if I go to a private doctor (and my gynae and dermatologist are both Wahlärztinnen) I thought I might as well. I could easily have made it all up, though; there was no way that the doctor could know that I'm not actually smoking a packet of cigarettes a day, drinking a bottle of wine a night and never getting any exercise.

Glad you've found out who you need to get the dishwasher working, even if it hasn't been done yet - fingers crossed it can actually be fixed now that you've bought one. Or that you can find somewhere else to move to.

Reason no. 1534 why I'm glad I'm giving up the English lessons: I'd made a board game (well, printed one out and laminated it) and two of them immediately said they didn't want to play, while another two said they found it boring. The Tuesday group played it without any complaints, so I don't think it can all be put down to my lack of teaching ability. Oh well, only one more lesson to go with this particular group. You won't have to put up with my complaining for too much longer.

Admylin, so sorry about the dishwasher. Hope Tuesday comes round really quickly!

You're an absolute saint to have put up with these kids for this long Linzer. Well done on the health check. I think they'd probably smell it if you smoked a pack a day though! I think it's a good idea to get discounts for not using the health system through taking care of yourself.

I feel my language is becoming more Americanized, though I don't think my accent has. A friend in Wales I was chatting to seemed to think it had changed though.

Going camping this weekend to see how well all five of us fit in a four man tent. Should be interesting! Hope you all have a great weekend. Apols for missing anyone. Can't talk about the German/Austrian education system much!

Jenny hope camping is fun and you all fit (is a bigger tent not an option, 4 man tents are snug even for 4 aren't they?)

Admylin how infuriating and frustrating about the dishwasher, hope it's sorted soon.

Have name changed - thatsnotitatall :)

Thought we had a new member for a second!

Jenny hope the camping trip was fun!

Linzer honestly, can't you start the summer holidays early for the English group? Unless you're counting on the money, it's not much fun if it goes like that. Won't they all be busy with end of term stuff and you aswell?!

I couldn't sleep last night as I have had a sore neck for ages but now it's in my shoulder and really sore. Trying to warm it with my cherry stone cushion thing and taking pain killers today.

Admylin could you come over all German/ Austrian and go to the doctor about your shoulder?

Linzer I agree with admylin, could you do that?

I just popped back on as I am wondering if I would be mad to take the DC to PlaymobileLand on my own next Sunday - DH will be in Edinburgh and I'd quite like to do something with the kids... People on this thread have been, we haven't yet but it's only an hour's drive. Would it be too chaotic with DC aged 6, 4 and 1 alone, or perfectly pleasant? They are relatively civilized and trained to walk to heal when necessary (well except the smallest but he can always be contained in a buggy). So keeping them under control isn't an issue, but do you need 2 adults to take different ages on rides etc. ?

Morning all!
We got back from a cold, wet, but lovely two weeks in the UK on Thursday and I am still battling the mountain of washing.
It was so nice to be back and to catch up with everyone, eat all the food I've been missing etc. DS was happy and smiley the whole time and fell completely in love with my brother. I'm thinking future babysitting possibilities.....

Hope everyone's well!

Linzer Those kids really do sound a nightmare. I'm not surprised you can't wait for the teaching to be over.

admylin I hope your shoulder and neck are better soon. I love my cherry stone cushion :)

jenny Enjoy camping!

TheEnglishWoman For some reason when I saw the new username I knew it was you! No idea about Playmobil Land but if you do go have fun.

Hello to everyone else. DS has discovered trying to climb the unit the TV and radio are on now that he is pulling himself up. Unfortunately he's really unstable and it always ends in tears - either because he can't do it or because he gets angry with me for not letting him.

Morning all,

Boiling hot this morning so, in my madness, I went out for a run (in my defence, I'd already arranged to go out with my neighbour). It's either one extreme or the other: cold and rainy or over 30°. Why can't we have some nice in-between weather? Still, at least it should be nice for the DD1's Klassenabschlussfest this afternoon - even if I'm only there for half an hour before I take DD2 to the piano concert (half an hour will probably be enough for me, anyway).

Gator Glad you had a good trip and that your DS enjoyed it too. My brother is also really good with the DC; I wish he lived a bit closer so that we could get him to come and babysit.

EnglishWoman I think Playmobil FunPark should be quite doable on your own as long as you don't have children who are prone to running off in three different directions all the time, as it's likely to be fairly busy and so easy to lose sight of them for a few seconds. There aren't any rides as such, just "lifesize" Playmobil models, e.g. a pirate ship (you possibly wouldn't want to take all three on a raft on the lake on your own), farm, castle, a water area where they can splash about, a playground, etc. There's also a big indoor area where the children can play with Playmobil; it's always been very busy when we've been there in that the children often haven't been able to play with the sets that they wanted, but the areas for younger children (with Playmobil 1-2-3) are generally a bit quieter and it's nice to go in for a break.

admylin Hope the cushion works and that your neck is better soon. I would second going to the doctor if it doesn't get better before long.
I'm finishing the English teaching this week for the two school classes and the Friday group so it's only the two Tuesday lessons I'll have to teach next week (and don't have to do any preparation for the first as I'll use Friday's lesson). I did wonder about finishing a couple of weeks early and discussed it with DH, but he thought I should teach more or less until the end - and the fact that I know I won't be doing it again in September makes it more bearable!

Jenny Hope the camping was fun and that it wasn't too much of a squash in the tent!

TheEnglishWoman , no I don't fancy going to the doctor yet, hate going! Might think again if I have any more bad nights though! Can you maybe make a day trip with a friend then you can take it in turns watching different aged/sized dc?

Gator welcome back! Did you get loads of nice shopping? I'll try and get those dvds sent off this week sometime. Good luck with finishing the washing and the pile of ironing it will make!

I know how you feel, admylin; apart from check-ups, I only go to the doctor if I'm on the verge of dying. Which, despite the fact that I'm almost always underdressed in everyone's opinion here, happens surprisingly rarely.

Same here Linzer! My main problem is that I can't do the maoning pitiful look so I never get taken seriously anyway and usually end up being sent home with instructions to rest or take ibuprofen!

Now dh, on the rare occasion when he goes to see the doctor, he always comes out with someting prescribed that really helps because he does the dying swan so well.

admylin I did far too much shopping! I think I have Asda's entire stock of tea in my kitchen, but DH calculated (typical scientist) that even the amount I came back with will only last a few months. My brother is planning on coming over later in the year though and he knows the price for picking him up from the airport is a huge box of tea and some sort of chocolate.
I brought some self-raising flour back too, amongst other things, and my sponge cake finally turned out the way it should be yesterday. We were in the car - I'm not sure I'd dare try and bring flour back in my suitcase if we were flying. I have visions of being locked up for drug smuggling!
I had to laugh at 'dying swan'

Linzer How true! I'm also practically naked in comparison to most of the people I know here, yet seem to get ill far less often.....

Gator that is my dream - to drive over to UK and fill a car with tea and nice new clothes and shoes! Ds just ate the last of our marmite this morning too and we've got one or two servings of Branston left then I'll have to get online and pay through the teeth to restock.

What wa sthe crossing like with the car? Did you book well in advance for the ferry? Was it expensive?

Gator I think we need a campaign to raise awareness of the fact that being overdressed will make you ill. We could tut at overdressed babies and whip scarves off people if it's over 20° (colds are no excuse). DD2's teddy had a scarf on the other day "because he has a cold". I am beginning to worry that my children are more Austrian than British.

admylin Maybe they realise that you're British and therefore hardier than your average German. I forced my mum to go to the doctor's once as she had a hacking cough that persisted for weeks, but they just said there was nothing they could do for a cough; I remember thinking that wouldn't happen in Austria. Of course, whether the medicine they prescribe you here actually helps is another matter.

admylin Online prices really hurt, don't they! Do you have a Real near you? The big one near us now has a British section. It's ridiculously expensive, of course, but might be cheaper than buying online as you wouldn't have to pay postage.
We got the ferry from Calais to Dover and it was absolutely fine. I booked about 3 months ago and paid about ?120 I think. TheEnglishWoman did the Hull-Rotterdam crossing recently, I think. When I looked it was more expensive but it was overnight so you have a cabin, if I understood correctly. We would ahve flown but we were in the New Forest for a few days, then in Manchester for a few days, then in Scotland for a few days, so we would have needed a hire car anyway.
I was quite good on the clothes front this time, but only because I was feeling slightly guilty about how much I had spent on groceries. There is a pack of Hob-Nobs and one of Caramel Digestives in the cupboard just waiting to be devoured :)

Linzer Yes! I lived with a microbiologist at uni and she used to go mad when people thought you could get a cold just from going out without a coat and scarf. I quote her whenever someone tells me off. Blind 'em with science, I say even if I don't really understand the science myself

Having a cuddly day today as tooth number three is starting to poke through and DS is a bit clingy as DH is back at work and I think he's missing him a bit, bless.

Gator lol at blinding them with science! My scientist dh often comes home and declares that he's starting with a cold because he was cold standing at the bus stop for 2 minutes!! OK, he was brought up in a tropical climate so anything under 20° is cold.

Hope the tooth doesn't hurt too much.

Linzer we'd never stand a chance with that campaign. Germans are always right even with English grammar so no way would we convince them to play dangerous games with their babies (like taking a layer off or even going bare foot)!

Thought I'd mention - dd got an invitation to a bday party made by her friend here wunschblatt.de/ and thought it looked good incase any of you need to make invitations for any kind of party. There's a free trial then it looks as if it costs 1? per pdf so still not bad.

admylin That reminds me that we need to get DD2's and DS's invitations written soon; I think we have enough paper invitations this time (I always stock up when we're back in the UK) but that site looks like it could be useful in future.

We've decided to have DD2's party on the last day of school (which I refuse to call Zeugnistag even if everyone else does) as quite a few of her friends are doing that Austrian thing of going on holiday the day after school breaks up. I'd rather have a week or two to relax at home first plus if you go on holiday straight away, you still have seven or eight weeks to kill afterwards.

Gator I read about a study years and years ago on a bilingual parenting site where they got half of a group of volunteers to have a very cold shower before subjecting them to cold germs, and found they weren't any more likely to catch a cold than those who hadn't had the cold shower. I still quote it, albeit only to DH as I don't have the courage to mention it to anyone else!

I've just realised that the KiGa Sommerfest is next Tuesday so that gives me an excuse to cancel the afternoon English class (all three boys who come are at DS's KiGa), which would have started at the same time. I might as well teach the earlier class, though, as we'll have time and it will mean an extra ?25 for no additional preparation.

Less than an hour to go now until the Klassenabschlussfest. Unfortunately DH doesn't think he'll be able to make it until 5.30 pm (it starts at 5 pm), by which time the presentation to the teacher, song that the children are singing, etc. will probably be out of the way - so that kind of limits my opportunities for storming out! Although I could still commit the cardinal sin of leaving without going round shaking everyone's hand (which I hate doing, anyway).

Morning!

linzer - so did you feel like you got some revenge? Did you storm out or tsk tsk not say goodbye to everyone?? Like you're "anti-cold" campaign. I always get told I'm too nakedly dressed but worked out yesterday that I have less colds than anyone I know. Not sure I've had a proper one this year (touch wood).

admylin - that seems like a good website thanks. Is the man coming today to sort out the dishwasher? How's your shoulder?

gator - glad you had a good time in the UK. Taking the car seems like a great plan - imagine how much stuff you could fill the car with! Did your ds cope ok with all the travelling?

englishwoman (like the name change) - playmobil land is definitely doable with the 3 dc on your own. As LInzer said there are no rides as such apart from some rafts in the lake and if you know you're older 2 arent runners then you should be fine. there are seperate areas and I just tell my lot they can stay in that area till we move on. We went last Saturday and it was busy but not shockingly busy. Definitely enough toys to go round. But we went with another family and I found that more stressful than going on my own with the dc. It meant there were 6 dc to watch between us 2 mums (the dad was absolutely no use!) and it became like trying to herd sheep. Made a promise to myself that I'll never go with another family again.

tadjenny - hope the camping went well and wasnt too much of a squish.

hupa - hope you had a fab time in Barcelona.

Well I am beyond excited today cause I fly to the UK tomorrow! eeeeeeeee!! I'm nearrly sorted - more organisation required to make sure dh is sorted with the dc - have written a detailed list of who needs to be where when and what they need to eat and when. He is out the house 11 hours a day - he has no idea what goes on. Bin gespannt as to how it works out.

Looking forward to some decent chocolate and some shopping! again eeeeeeeeeeeee!

Ploom Have a fantastic time in Scotland. I´m sure your dh will be fine, although the dc may end up watching more dvds than usual if my dh is anything to go by.

Linzer We definitely need an update. Hopefully they remembered to thank you this year.

admylin Any luck with the dishwasher today?
Dd is on a class trip to Hannover Zoo tomorrow. She´s got to be at school for 7:20 because it will take 2 hours to get there. The forecast for tomorrow isn´t looking too good, so I´m relieved that I didn´t volunteer to go with her.

Gator I´m gald you enjoyed the trip and managed to stock up. Thankfully the friends I met in Barcelona brought supplies of Galaxy with them, which was much appreciated.

Well I had a great time in Barcelona. It was so great to meet up with friends that I´ve known for over 20 years. It´s always like we only saw each other last week. That, plus the combination of great weather, food and a beautiful city made for a really relaxing weekend.

Hupa sounds lovely, were you celebrating something? Or just having a well deserved weekend away?! In Hannover today it's sort of heavy/humid so could well be storms on the way. Hope it doesn't last and your dd ha sa nice day tomorrow. I've never visited the zoo here but I know loads of locals have season tickets as it's got lots of playgrounds and it's clean (no dog mess) so they go to the playgrounds there for around 300? for a yearly ticket.

Ploom have a great time and enjoy the shops! Hope you can fit everything in the suitcase coming back!

Neck and shoulder feel abit better, did some stretching exercises that I remembered from some pysio I had once years ago and took it easy yesterday but had to go shopping yet again today so feels sore again.

Waiting for the plumber to come at 1pm and hoping that he can fix it, he said he might fix my taps in the kitchen too as they're ancient. I wonder if I can get him to change the toilet flush thing in the Gäste Klo as it's so old I can't even get the part out to change the washer.

Linzer how did it go? Flowers? Chocolates? Hand shakes all round?

Glad you had a good time hupa - its fab meeting up with old friends (esp ones who bring chocolate!).

Fingers crossed he does all the jobs today admylin.

I'm not taking a suitcase with me to the UK!! I'm flying with Ryanair and the flight wasnt dirty cheap - prob about 100€ but they wanted an extra 50€ for a suitcase. And even then it can only weigh less than 15kg. So i'm travelling very light, borrowing some of my best friends clothes when I get there & might post some stuff back. Can only surely be cheaper than 50€!! I'll also see a friend who's coming over in 2 weeks but flying with Lufthansa so maybe she might be able to bring some bits too. Will def curb my shopping crazyness tho!

Ploom ?50 for a suitcase is just ridiculous. I've usually paid around ?40 for one suitcase (they must have put the prices up, as I'm sure August must count as high season too) and then put an extra couple of large holdalls in it for the journey back so that I can stock up and "only" need to pay ?20 for each as I only need them on the return flight. It does make me think twice about how much I actually need, though.

admylin Glad the neck and shoulder are better. Hope the plumber is able to fix as much as possible!

hupa Your weekend in Barcelona sounds wonderful.

I was thanked and got a bunch of flowers at the Abschlussfest yesterday so no need to storm out! It was OK, although I don't really click with most of the parents in DD1's class; I get along better with the ones in DD2's class. Could really have done with a glass of wine, though; they didn't even have any still water, so I had to force myself to drink fizzy mineral water!

This morning was mostly taken up with coffee with friends, which means the house is even more of a tip than usual, there are things everywhere since we moved the bedrooms around and I still have three English lessons to prepare. I had the last one with my KiGa group today and breathed a huge sigh of relief afterwards; I had to bring one game to an abrupt end (I was getting them to do various things such as open and close the door, and wasn't over the moon about them banging on the glass in the door and ignoring my instructions not do so) and they were all over each other, fighting etc., as usual.

I told the mother I was most nervous about telling that I'm not carrying on with English in September, but strangely enough it barely seemed to register with her - probably because one of her daughters burst into tears when she arrived as she was upset about a maths test they'd had in school. However, I did have a text from her later asking me to bake a cake for the school Sommerfest on Friday - so I've said yes as I'm unable to say no, although I'm a bit annoyed as I'd already contributed money towards the Fest. However, I asked if I could bake brownies or muffins as I'm already baking a cake for DS's birthday in KiGa on Friday, don't have a huge amount of time in the morning as I'm teaching both school classes and have a volles Programm in the afternoon (which isn't strictly true, but the DS often arrange things with friends at the last minute so I may well have). At any rate, I now feel no guilt about stopping the English lessons as it was this particular mother I felt most guilty about.

Hello all. Also gespannt about Linzer's Abschlussfest. Hope they were appreciative of you.

admylin - hope the plumber is excellent and can fix all the things that are irritating you.

Ploom - have a lovely time in England. Take a coat with pockets and stuff your underwear in there too. You should be able to get a couple of changes of outfits in a small piece of hand luggage...

Glad you had a great time in Barcelona hupa - it sounds marvellous.

You're brave Englishwoman, but I think it sounds doable from what everyone else has mentioned.

Gator - glad you had such a wonderful time in England too. Are you fully stocked?

Camping went quite well thanks. We got a new sleeping mat which is quite narrow so we should have enough room this season. Will try and stretch it out for next season too because I have it in my head that we will move home after two years . We only sleep in the tent as there's always a picnic bench and a fire pit on each of the sites we stay in, even the dry ones. The kids definitely love it!

Only 8 days till we fly back to the UK! Still trying to sort out meeting up with people and it's a little stressful! Fingers crossed everything works out.

Hope you all have a good evening.

Ploom hope the trip goes well - have a lovely time and think about us when you go around the shops!

Linzer thank goodness they thanked you atleast this year and you're almost done with all the teaching! Have you had much translating recently? Can you just turn work down over the holidays or do you try an dkeep it going?

Bad news here. The plumber turned up 2 hours late, fiddled around with a wire and got lots of horrible looking gunge (that he said was rust) out of the pipe. However, it has a bend at a point that he can't reach and would have to break open the wall to get to the main part. He has to ask permission first as it's the owners responsibility to fix - she can of course say no, then we're stuck. She's well known for not spending her money. We'll just have to wait and see.

I would move but we'll almost need a loan to manage it all, a months double rent atleast, a new deposit, removal firm, possible new flooring etc. I don't think we'll get the deposit from this place straight away or without a fight so that's 1700? sitting unavailable.