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!

Welcome, 008, and sorry to hear about the fine. Would it be annoying of me to say that at least on the positive side you did not get run over by a big lorry? :)

ads, thanks, the Landlord and lady seem nice, sorry to hear about yours though!

Wow thats still a steep fine for going thro a red light - can see why you're having a bad day.
I have had a couple of days of being frustrated with my German skills too - I've been here for 3 years already & there are still times where i'm not sure what someone has said. Its a frustrating feeling isnt it?
I have family in Munich (thro my DH) so have been there a few times since we lived here - is it as expensive as it appears to be? How old are your dd's?

I'm in bed already & really should be sleeping - think rest is the remedy for my sore throat.

Impressed at your teenage dd speaking 3 languages admylin!

Hello 008 sorry to hear about the huge cycling fine - we live near Munich (near-ish, DH works there but we live in the sticks past the end of the S2 line - DH wouldn't even contemplate living in a flat and you have to be a millionaire/ fancy pants executive on an all singing, all dancing ex-pat deal, to have a house in Munich don't you?)

DD never stopped loving KiGa, though she was excited about starting school, wonder if our KiGa is different or if it's just because she started school relatively young (by local standards, it was a week before her 6th birthday). She actually sometimes says she wants to go back to KiGa and always enjoys her celebrity reception when she comes with me to fetch DS1! We are planning on leaving DS1 at KiGa an extra year as it seems to be better for boys not to be the absolute youngest in the class, as he would be, so he'll be nearly 7 when he starts school, wonder if we'll have the problem of him being sick of it then?

NoHun glad to hear you have moved and have space and your own washing machine :o Seriously your DS sleeps til 11am? I'm no fan of my DSs prefered 5am but I must say I wouldn't go for 11am either - how do you manage to go to toddlers, have you found an afternoon group? Ours finishes at 11.15 (actually it would suit me if it started and finished even earlier, but I don't know if I'd keep the people without school age children to get up for/ get home to attending if I did that). How do you get to the bakery on a Sunday when they shut at 10.30am? Or is that just around here? Are my priorities wrong? :o I must say I do enjoy the smell of the world at 5.30am, especially on a summer morning when it's rained in the night, even if the only reason I'm outside is to throw DS2's dirty night nappy in the outside bin! :)

DS1 was nagging me to cycle to Kiga - its 5km the flatter way or 4km with a steep hill, and takes 30-40 mins at 4 year old cycling speed, so I only do it if he asks, which is about once or twice a week, otherwise we take the car! But now his friend has come over and they are playing on the drive so he wants me to take his bike in the car and leave it there so we can cycle home! His friend keeps coming over at 7.10am, I don't usually mind because DD leaves for the bus at 7am anyway (as does the friend's sister) but it was a pain yesterday as I was trying to get all the kids out the door to drive to school, as DD had both normal school bag and sports day rucksac and looked too over-loaded to be expected to walk to the bus stop and get all her stuff off at the other end!

Morning all!

Thanks for the kind words. I have decided to go back and have a look at the light, as I think I may have the grounds for an appeal ... watch this space ... I may decided I don`t have the energy for Munich bureaucracy!

It is lovely here, and yes, fairly cripplingly expensive. We were lucky enough to have bought a flat in London Docklands eons ago, and we sold it just before the crash to move here ... we thought wed be living in luxury ... but it didnt quite work out like that(!) We did, however, manage to afford a nice little flat with a small garden, and it´s in a really good area. So far kigas etc have been great (we went the elterninitiative route, as regular kiga places are like gold dust) and we are just about to do the rounds of looking at schools for DD1 for next year.

I haven`t managed to catch up on all 33 pages of chat on this thread, but I am going to go and read it now! I just wanted to say good morning to everyone and thanks for being there yesterday.

BTW, nohun, you are right, at least it was a fine and not an accident. x

Just back from taking DS to his last ever day at KiGa. I've registered him for Monday and Tuesday next week (before we go on holiday) and for the last week in August, but as the girls will be at home then anyway, there doesn't seem to be any point in sending him unless he desperately wants to go (which I'm sure he won't; he had to be peeled off me again this morning).

EnglishWoman Yes, DH said that it's not ideal for a boy to be the youngest - or at least the smallest - in the class, which is another reason why we think the Vorschulklasse is best for DS; he would probably be both the youngest and the smallest otherwise.

Our bakery doesn't shut until 12 pm on a Sunday. How can this be - longer opening hours in Austria than in Germany? Admittedly, there isn't much point in going after about 9.30 am if you want decent bread/anything more than a Semmel, but we occasionally go there for a coffee mid-morning.

admylin at you having to hand over your driving licence for a month. DH has warned me that I could have mine taken off me if I was found to be under the influence on my bike which may have happened once or twice. I'm also very impressed at your DD speaking French to you; it just shows how much higher the standard of language teaching is in this part of the world.

008 Hope you're feeling better this morning. That is a steep fine - I'm sure I heard of someone paying less for going through a red light in Vienna (in a car). It must be even more frustrating as you didn't realise you were in the wrong at the time. I had to slow down at a junction yesterday for a cyclist who had obviously gone through on red and must have known, and you see cars doing it too. And why are the police never around to catch those annoying drivers who overtake me when I'm doing 30 km/h along our 30 km/h road?

Ploom Must admit I'm looking forward to the end of KiGa too - I definitely feel like I've done my time there, and DS doesn't seem to enjoy going any more. No more Gesunde Jause to take in either! But it will be a bit of a shock to the system to have them all at home at midday.

Gator Completely agree about Tchibo - so many nice things that you don't actually need! I've had some running gear from there, but it's not particularly cheap compared with Lidl/Aldi.
I also found myself wondering how anyone ever coped with more than one child. And then I had another one, and wondered how I'd ever thought that "just" one was hard work. (Actually, I do find that one of their own can be harder work than two sometimes.)

NoHun Glad you're settling in OK and have a washing machine of your own again. Which reminds me... must go and put the washing in the dryer before I forget about it (it's pouring with rain here, so no point hanging it up outside).

Whoo hoo linzer to the end of kiga for your ds!! By the sounds of it he's also ready for a change.
My ds2 will probably be one of the youngest at school (end august birthday) but he's constantly trying to read & do sums with ds1 (yesterday in the car was adding 11 + 11!!) so think he'll be ready academically but not sure he's mature enough to cope with sitting still & listening. Time will tell.
englishwoman - my ds1 was like your dd - he would happily still be at kiga if he could be. Ds2 just never settled there - the first year was hard as he didnt speak much german, the 2nd year he didnt like the staff in his group (the one he liked was on mat leave) & this last year he's missed his brother. Just time now for a new start.

Hope your weather is better than ours today for cycling home. Its chucking it down here. What a summer eh!

NoHun wow, an 11am baby! My 2 were sort of 9:30am-ers which was perfect until they had to start being at kindergarden for 9am at the latest. That's when I think we might have been homeschoolers if we'd lived in a different country.

They still live in hope that we move to the US to be homeschooled!

Ploom is the throat abit better? Mine is getting better, maybe the sambucca killed the germs off!

EnglishWoman I know what yu mean about the smell of the world at 5am, not that I've experienced it often! Big cities are great at that time too although you can't shop but still nice to walk the streets of Paris or Berlin at that time. Dhaka was also lovely at 4am but from about 5.30 after morning prayer it just got crazy and loud.

Linzer hope ds has a nice Abschied at kindergarden. Ds's was a catastrophe because he wouldn't fling his arms around everyone and do the hugs goodbye so they went all serious and said he wouldn't join in and he'd upset everyone. Boy, was I glad to get out of there that day, we went for an ice-cream to celebrate on our way home.

Pouring down here too, what a summer. Is anyone expecting flooding? It just seems to have rained far too much in the past weeks.

It sounds like your DS will be fine, Ploom - I think a lot of children (particularly boys) find the adjustment from KiGa to school quite hard, as they're suddenly expected to sit and concentrate for hours, but I'm sure the teachers have their strategies to help the children get used to it. If the only option for us had been leaving DS in KiGa for another year, I probably wouldn't have done so as I think he'd have got bored (he's been complaining that he's bored there now). He can read a bit and is also quite good at maths, so definitely needs to be stretched a bit more - just not to the extent that they are in the 1. Klasse, I don't think.

admylin The proper Abschied was when KiGa officially ended on 29th July, when all the children were swept out with a broom (they've been thrown out of a window in previous years) - now it's just Ferienbetreuung, so we won't say a proper goodbye (DS's teacher is off now anyway until August). DS objected to going back, saying that he'd already been swept out and wasn't allowed back in, so he was very pleased that it was his last day today.

The rain has finally stopped here, but it's still quite grey and cool. I haven't heard any flood warnings, but am just keeping my fingers crossed that there won't be any flooding when we go back to the UK (I'm already prepared for rain).

I'm sure your right about both our ds's. Imagine if we were in the UK - they'd be going into Y2 & they'd both be reading by now.

Havent heard any flood warnings admylin but havent had the news on today. Thanks for asking if i'm better - my throat is better but my cold is worse . Your remedy sounds fun! Maybe I should have tried that.

Dd was home today poorly - she banged her head last night at her school play & has been a bit out of sorts since. She's not vomited or been unconscious but she's really pale & has a sore head. Feel like i'm fussing over her but concussion always worries me. She's been sent off for a nap just now - cue much moaning!

hey kids, just popping in to say 'hey' as it's the anniversary (almost) of when we left Munich, or had some crazy dream abt living in Munich, cannot remember which.
Hope everyone is well. xx

Hm, saying he sleeps til 11 must have jinxed things - he woke up at half seven today! Was just hungry though, so after a hearty breakfast and some play, we went back to bed for a couple of hours. AtticWoman, we go to a music group one afternoon a week, I am hoping to start a couple more classes in September, but other than that, I don't take him to toddler groups as such. We go to the park every day, sometimes I have arranged to meet someone, other times he just mixes with whoever is there, or enjoys solo play/play with me.
I didn't even know bakeries opened on Sundays! :)

admylin, another good reason we want to homeschool! :)

Ploom, scary! Hope your DD is ok.

bebe, I think you were before my time here, but hi anyway! :)

Hi bebe, good to "see" you again.

Ploom Hope your DD is OK. DD2 had concussion a few years ago (after falling from a low stool in her bedroom onto the carpeted floor) and spent a night in hospital, but it was fairly obvious something was wrong - she was crying with the pain about an hour afterwards and was then sick. They kept her in overnight for observation but she was fine; it was a pretty scary experience, though.

Ploom How is your DD? That must have been quite scary. Was she ok after her nap?

Nohun It sounds like you have a volles Programm with your DS :) It's good to hear you're settling in so well. I think the positive attitude really makes a difference.

Hello bebe! How are you all? Has it really been a year?!

admylin We had torrential rain here too, but no flooding. It's July, what's going on?!

Linzer How is your DS now? Is he looking forward to the Vorschulklasse?

008 Ouch! What a fine! Did you go back and have a look at the light? I hope you have grounds for an appeal. I'd love to see Munich - a friend of mine lived there for a while, but I never quite got there and then he upped and moved to Australia, dammit. I heard it's the most expensive city to live in in Germany. I know what you mean about the random, unexpected culture shocks just when you think you've got it.

Forgot to add - hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

Hi everyone!

008 one of DP's brothers lives in Munich and we were discussing how expensive it is to live there. DP says they have a system like London, so the cost of living is higher but generally you are paid a little more to compensate for that... Is it true? Sorry just curious.

Gator I think Europe has signed up for lots of extra rain this year :(

Englishwoman I used to work earlys/lates/nights and don't miss the early morning smell of a city at all! Much happier to experience it on special occasions; like when we go on holiday and have an early flight! :o

Got more free baby stuff this week. Joined some baby club at Rossman (now looking to see what other places have them) got some samples and vouchers. Then today we were at our local Südstadt Fest and there was a stall for a local Maternity/mummy/baby shop (forgotten the name already) & they gave us a goodie bag (baby grow, dummy, more samples) great stuff! Now just have to work my through a mahoosive pile of samples.... :o

And I also hope you're having lovely weekends, today has been lovely. Almost like fabled "summer" season I've heard of but had almost forgotten!

Thanks, Gator. He is a fun, happy, lovely child, it is easy to have a positive attitude around him, wherever we are. Even easier now we have a washing machine too!

Nutella, great work on all the baby freebies!

Nutella DM have a baby club with loads of freebies and money-off vouchers, and if you sign up for the Pampers Baby Club online they send you money-loff vouchers for nappies and wet wipes every few months.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Rain, rain and yet more rain here, so it was an ideal day to go to Bratislava yesterday. I didn't manage to find any clothes for myself (M&S seems to have got even frumpier recently), but we stocked up on food and bought a few bits and pieces for the DC from Next and Mothercare as well.

Nutella It makes me feel almost broody when I see the boxes for mothers-to-be at my gynae; I'll do anything for some freebies. Like Gator says, DM is good for freebies too.

Gator DS is still quite clingy when I take him to KiGa, but seems to be looking forward to school. We should be getting a letter from his new teacher this week; I'm hoping it arrives before we go on holiday.

DS and I are the only ones up atm (DH left for work about half an hour ago); he doesn't want to go to KiGa today or tomorrow, as I suspected, but said he'll go the last week in August if his best friend goes. I've got a long list of things to do before our holiday, not to mention the packing, so I'd better go and get dressed and make a start.

Linzer & Gator thanks for the DM tip. I'll be popping by there ASAP :o

And just realised, Linzer you can shop on a Sunday?! I hate wet Sundays there is nothing to do here :(

Only if we go to Slovakia, Nutella. Bratislava is our usual stand-by for rainy Sundays and bank holidays.

Morning all, the kettle is on! I have no decent tea bags left so it's going to be a double bag cup of German tea for me.

Nutella I remember joining something from a coupon in one of those Eltern magazines and I got loads of samples and a plate/bowl, spoons, box to keep milk powder in at different intervals I also got samples for 3 month 6 month etc, could have been this one and I had stuff from this club too www.hipp.de/

Linzer enjoy the relaxing days with no kiga/school run! Lol at being swept out of kindergarden!

Ploom hope your dd is OK. Is her heel getting better?

Not sure if it's worth complaining about or reporting but dd's class watched a horrid film in Biology on Friday instead of lessons, it was rated a 16 (dd and quite a few of her class are 12, most of them are 13). The teacher allowed it and she keeps coming out with scenes from it - at one pont there are loads of people on a roller coaster and then one of them has a vision that it's going to crash/collapse so gets off with a few others, then it does crash and you see heads ripped off, bodies speared by flying bits of metal etc. The ones that got off and were saved by the vision go on to die of freak accidents of which I have heard every detail from dd. She hasn't had bad dreams but still ...who would let dc watch such a sick film?

admylin thanks for the tip! I will look into them too! I luuuuuurve freebies! But then doesn't everyone?
It sounds like your DD saw one of the "Final Destination" films. I think I've seen 1 and they are pretty dumb; but I agree, I'm not sure I'd let a class of 12/13 year olds watch it.

Right! I have to stop mumsnetting and get on with my day. Have a great day everyone :o

Morning!!
admylin - think you should speak to the teacher. There's a big difference between being 12 and being 16. I watched bridesmaids the other day - it had a 12 rating but no way I'd have let dd watch it.

linzer - good luck with the packing!

Feel jealous of all those free baby goods you get here - the bounty pack in the UK was nowhere near as good.

Dd seems to have recovered from her ?concussion. And her heel seems a wee bit better too. Hope they all stay well now until the holidays. Ds2 has a full programme this week in kiga - he's off this morning looking for bugs next to the river. Then its the sportfest tomo, Schultüte basteln on weds and on thurs something but i've forgotten what.

admylin I was looking at tea bags in M&S yesterday trying to decide whether to buy some. I could have bought some for you but it would cost an absolute fortune to send them to Germany from here - unless I only sent about five, which is hardly worth it.

Yes, milupa was another good one to sign up too; we had a couple of those bowls as well, which were really useful.

That films sounds awful - and completely inappropriate for a biology lesson. I would probably complain if it affected the DC, but am not sure if I would do so otherwise - I'm sure that other parents would, though (they would here).