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!

That is so sad Jenny and sends a chill through me :( Your poor cousin. no idea what to write - I agree with the others that just acknowledging the baby's life and death openly is the most important thing.

:( How heart breaking.

admylin No, neither of mine have earrings. I was very judgy when my niece had her ears pierced when she was 5, but would probably let mine have them down now. However, neither of them are interested - DD1 is about as far from a girly girl as you can get and just isn't interested in clothes, make-up, etc. at all. DD2 is more girly and quite a few of her friends have had their ears pierced, but she said she doesn't want hers done until she's 14, which is fine by me! I normally only wear pure gold ones for any length of time, but can wear other ones provided it's not for too long.

have them done

And, if I'm being pedantic, neither of them is interested.

Linzer my dd wasn't interested until yesterday! She's changing so fast at the moment though. Have had to get her a couple more bra tops as she wears them all the time now too! She's still not into boys though - thank goodness! I see some 12 and 13 year olds in her class going on about boys on facebook and even having 'in a relationship' on their profiles.

The kick helped (altho the friend who popped in for a cuppa was a very good/bad distraction).

admylin - dd had them done the summer she was 9. She was really good at caring for her ears but it took a lot longer than I had imagined before she was able to wear fashion earrings. And she's had an infection in one earlobe this last few weeks that required antibiotic cream from the GP. So its not as easy as I first thought but your dd is older than mine so maybe she might be fine.

Ouch linzer at 100€ for contact lenses. We really must practice our assertiveness - think we're all as bad as one another.

Thanks for that info ploom, I'll tell dd about that side of it too.

Linzer how long do the contact lenses last at that price?

Sigh, both my dc are still in bed. I know I slept late when I was a teenager whenever I could but it's taking some getting used to with my 2. Seems such a waste of a day but I don't want to start nagging but maybe I just don't want to nag because I don't want to sound like my parents and infact they were right and I should nag as they did...why is it so complicated!?

jenny what a terribly sad thing to happen to your cousin. I can't begin to imagine how they must be feeling. I also don't know what you should write. Are you close?

nohun it's a relief to have a moving date, isn't it? Ours still seems quite a way off, but being able to plan is great even though I'm not actually doing anything yet.

admylin DD is still waaaay too young for earrings imo, but some people get their infant's ears pierced, so what do I know! I guess my theoretical cut-off age would be 12 (for agreeing without much thought, I might be persuaded at a bit younger depending on the child). How old is your DD?

ploom yay for your friend coming out the other side of her bf torture. Have you cleaned your car yet?

Yesterday's lesson was as difficult as I was expecting, but I got a laugh out of them when I said I'd have to hunt down Prince Harry (and kill off quite a few other royals) to be in with a chance of becoming Queen, so I didn't feel particularly intimidated. You all did well with your game of bingo: skinny jeans, check; canvas shoes, check; heavy eye makeup, check; bizzare combover sideswept fringes, check; sullen boys, check.

X-posted

I had my nose and belly button pierced as a student and was told to use homemade salt solution to clean them (hot water in glass, tip in table salt and swill until no more will dissolve). Ime it was better at preventing an infection developing than the stuff you get when you get your ears done at Claire's, plus you always have the ingredients to hand. Hth.

Well done on getting a laugh out of the sullen students, silken. Will you be teaching them again?

admylin It's a box of 6 lenses (well, two boxes - one for each eye) so in theory they should last for six months, but I often keep wearing the lenses for longer than I'm supposed to - if I'm happy with the strength (which I'm not with the current ones, so do stick to one month with them) - so they could last for a year or more. It would be far cheaper to buy them online, though.

I can quite easily see DD2 changing her mind about earrings before she's 14 and DD1 might want hers done then too - they have quite nice little studs at the paediatrician's, so I'd probably take her/them there. One of the girls in DS's KiGa group is celebrating her birthday today and was wearing a very frilly party dress and long dangly earrings - not a good idea at KiGa age, I don't think!

Ploom I know. I can manage to be quite assertive with other people's children now; just need to work on my assertiveness with adults!

I've somehow managed to double book DS this afternoon. His friend's mum phoned to ask if it was still OK for him to go there this afternoon, as we'd discussed a few weeks ago, and I had to admit I'd completely forgotten about it - I'd arranged for him to go and play with another KiGa friend. So now he's going to the first friend from 11.50-3.30 and then to the second friend at 3.30! (She's at KiGa until 3 pm, anyway.) That's what happens when I don't write things down straight away...

admylin, there were some articles a while ago about why teens need to sleep more, here, for example. I hope to let mine sleep when they need it. I don't like being deprived of sleep myself!

Hope your DH is ok, and kicks some ass. Or leaves them high and dry.

Ouch at the price of contacts, Linzer. Makes me think they should be free, it isn't fair some people have to pay for essentials like this, and some of us don't.

silken, my advice would be to start dejunking and packing now! Kudos to thatis for her super speedy packing up in two weeks, alone! I didn't realise how much stuff we had. I will never let it build up like this again! Going to be more scrupulous with what we keep, throw bills and paperwork away as soon as we don't need them (or scan it!), and just not gather so much stuff. Not going to buy anything we don't need either. Yes to stuff for DS, but DH and I really have enough.

DH starts work on Thursday, and has found out Friday and Monday are holidays! Yippee! :)
Am enjoying the takeaways. Curry last night might have been the best ever! :) Pizza today, I think! Am certainly making the most of it in case they aren't as nice in Frankfurt. I am a bit particular about food, even without the vegan aspect.

So sorry to hear about your cousin´s baby jenny. I think that just letting her know that she´s in your thoughts and are there for her if she needs you is all you can do at the moment.

linzer and ploom I always order my contact lenses from the internet and haven´t had any problems so far. Last time, I used an offer from Groupon and I think I ended up paying about 10 Euros for 6 months of lenses.

admylin Dd still hasn´t got her ears pierced and hasn´t mentioned it at all. I´ve got my ears pierced, but have worn the same pair of small hoops every day for the last 10 years, so maybe my indifference has rubbed of on dd.

Nohun- glad you´ve finally got your date sorted. Definitely make the most of the takeaways, especially the curries because I´ve found it impossible to find a decent one here in Germany.

Silken Will the school lessons become a regular thing or was it just a one off?

Well I braved the hairdressers this morning and am actually pleased with how it looks. At least i haven´t felt the need to wash it straight away which is sometimes the case.

Thank you so much for your kind words. X

Glad you have a moving date finally nohun. Good luck with everything.

Sounds like a great lesson silken.

Haven't worn contacts since before A was born, though I don't like how I look with glasses. Ought to sort that out.

Glad dd had a nice time yesterday in town admylin.

Dd mentioned getting her ears pierced the other day, but I can hold off till she's 7 without being hypocritical!

Hope you are all having nice days.

Morning!

Hope your doing ok jenny.

Glad the haircut went well hupa - I still havent braved going. When are you off skiing? Hope you have a fab time. Keep meeting to register for groupon - have heard they've sometimes got good deals.

nohun - havent had a good indian curry in the 3 years we've been here. But then I live in the sticks so its not surprising. Cant wait to have one when I go back to the UK in June! (desperate emotion!)

Wow linzer - your ds has a better social life than me. I also need to write everythign down. Am very thankful for the big family calender that lives in the kitchen. WIth 3 dc its easy to double book.

silken - glad you survived the lesson. Teenagers are my worst nightmare - am dreading when mine are that age. Really hope the fashion for boys havign their jeans hanging low and showing their boxers is over by the time my 2 are that age.

So my FIL phoned yesterday to tell us he's accepted a locum teaching job at the end of the year. In HONG KONG!!! No idea where they get the idea from or where he saw the job advert but they're going for 2 or 3 months! Sadly its at a time when the dc are in school so there'll be no chance of visiting. They are the most spirited pensioners I've ever met!

ploom we'll have to get together at the indian restaurant here one of these days. It's not amazing, but it does satisfy the cravings somewhat.

DD has decided she doesn't want to move because the new house is "too messy". I think it's more to do with grazing her knees rather painfully on the stairs last weekend, but I am concerned about how the move will affect her. I think that's partly why I'm leaving packing a bit longer. I've done a bit of sorting out and have decluttered my wardrobe, but I'm not feeling the clock ticking down yet. We last moved four years ago, plus I have had phases of trying to follow Flylady, so I'm hoping we don't have too much stuff to get rid of.

silkenI´m sure your dd will change her mind once the house is finished. Our dd hates change and burst into tears when she heard us discussing a new kitchen. I think she´s inherited hoarding genes from dh´s father and Oma and she can´t bare to throw anything away.

ploom Your in-laws sound fantastic. What a brilliant thing to do, although I suppose you´ll be short of baby sitters while they´re away.
We´re off on holiday tomorrow. We´re actually going away with friends for the first time, so I´m a bit apprehensive about how it will work out. Luckily we´re in an hotel rather than an appartment, so we´ll be able to have a break from each other if it all gets too much.

Nohun Make the most of the weekend and I hope you move goes smoothly.

No time to catch up properly now, but just need to get something off my chest.

AIBU to think that if I'm teaching until 1pm, children are being picked up until 1.20pm - which includes taking one child down to the road where her mother is waiting and another mother coming in to chat for 5 minutes - a father cannot expect to pick up his DD at 1.30pm and for me to have already given her lunch?

I had no idea whether or not she would be staying for lunch or when exactly she would be picked up, btw.

And this week was a "good" week. Last week, one girl was picked up at 1.30pm and another at 2pm. (Mother very apologetic, but even so...)

YANBU, Linzer. I assume all the kids are friends/classmates of your dc? If they weren't, you would expect the parents to be waiting outside in their cars at 1pm. Can't quite imagine anyone not picking up their kids until an hour after a piano lesson, for example. What if you had plans for the afternoon and needed to grab a quick lunch and be on your way at 1:30?

hupa thanks for the reassurance. I'm sure DD will be generally fine - she adjusts fine when we go on holiday. It's just now she's out of the last clingy phase I'd rather it stayed that way for a while!

Thank you, silken. Yes, they're all in the 1. and 2. Klassen and I pick them up from school, so I don't think it's too much to expect that their parents pick them up on time. I probably wasn't strict enough to start with, however, as the children all wanted to go off and play at the end of the lesson and I said to at least one mother that it was fine if she didn't pick her DD up on the dot as she was welcome to stay and play while I was getting the lunch ready. I think arriving 30 minutes late is pushing it a bit, however, especially at around lunchtime. It's stressful enough as it is anyway, as DD1 has her dyslexia lesson at 2.40 and we need to leave at 2.15 to pick up DS from KiGa beforehand, so only had 45 minutes to eat lunch today.

I'm still in two minds about whether to carry on teaching. I probably will as I do enjoy it, but it's incredibly time-consuming - apart from the preparation, today's lesson took two hours altogether (from when I left for school until when the last child was picked up). I can understand one parent being late occasionally - but for every single parent to be late every time? (A parent arriving at 1.10 pm would be early.) Maybe they see that if they do arrive at 1.10/1.15, their child is the first to be picked up so feel like they don't need to bother being on time? It's only this group too; the children in my Tuesday group are always picked up on the dot.

hupa Hope you have a good holiday; where are you off to? ?10 is a real bargain for contact lenses; I usually buy mine online for far less than I pay at the optician's, but have never managed to get any that cheap.

silken I'm sure your DD will be fine and settle down in the new house more quickly than you expect. I felt very guilty about moving when DD1 was two and we were moving from a house with a garden to a flat, but she was absolutely fine. We moved when I was 5 and I found it quite traumatic, but that was more to do with changing schools and being the "new girl" than the move itself (and I assume your DD will be staying at the same KiGa?).

Ploom Wow, you have very adventurous ILs! Mine went on holiday outside Austria once (to Italy, about 35 years ago) but came home after a couple of days because my SIL didn't like it (and DH thinks my MIL was glad of the excuse). I think he's still upset about it evennow as he was the only one enjoying the holiday!

Jenny I don't like how I look with glasses - and I can't stand the feel of them either. My mum always used to tell me I'd get used to them if I wore them all the time, but her argument was somewhat weakened by the fact that she got lenses herself about 10 years ago.

NoHun Sounds like your DH will get off to a gentle start at work! Good Friday isn't a bank holiday here, which always surprises me considering how many other religious holidays we get. There's an excellent Indian restaurant in Mannheim btw (or there was about 12 years ago), although I'm sure Frankfurt will have a far better choice of restaurants. I can only remember going to an Australian one, which I think had kangaroo on the menu.

Have just dropped off DD2 and DS at a Montessori workshop and now need to collect DD1 from her maths tutor, where she went straight after her dyslexia lesson; it's all go here this afternoon. No time to proofread, so apologies for any typos.

dd is on her way to S Africa. I know she'll have a fantastic time but i was watching her walk in to the airport and was having ridiculously morbid thoughts. What if something happens to her? I properly sobbed for the first 15 mins of my long drive home (not the safest thing to do on a busy motorway!) then sobbed again when I got home. I know I'm being irrational but might need some hand holding over the next 2 weeks. Am on my 2nd glass of wine already while dh goes in the sauna (he loves it - I'm not a fan!) and trying to watch some Graham Norton on Youtube to cheer myself up. Going to be a long 2 weeks!

Hope you've all had a nice weekend! Has everyone got the next 2 weeks off?

She'll be absolutely fine, Ploom - but it wouldn't be natural for you not to be worried; I know I'd be exactly the same. What a great experience for her. We'll be here to hold your hand over the next few weeks; I'm sure you'll be so relieved when you hear that she's arrived safely.

We're just off until a week on Wednesday here, as the Austrians believe in saving up all their school holidays until the summer. We were supposed to be going to my ILs at the end of the week, but DH confessed to me last night that he's booked us a couple of nights at a hotel in Vienna instead. The DC are going to be staying with friends (the ones whose DC we were supposed to be looking after while they went to Spain; we're still planning on having them for a weekend another time). We went out for a meal last night while the DC were all staying overnight at another friend's and DH presented me with a hotel brochure, a printout of all the OV films on (I've decided I want to see The Iron Lady and The Hunger Games) and a voucher for my friend's cosmetics studio (he's also booked me in for a manicure on Thursday morning before we go!). I keep wondering whether there's either an anniversary I've forgotten about or whether he's feeling guilty about something.

Aw that was really nice of your dh linzer. hope you have a fab time.
Thanks for the hand holding. Feel a bit calmer today despite not sleeping so well since I knew she was flying thro the whole night. But she sent a text this morning to say they got there ok which was just fab to hear.
So both ds's are at Turnen and dh and I are home alone for an hour. Seems weird at this time of day. Not sure what to do?

Wow linzer what could your dh be planning? Maybe he's going to be away on more business trips than he thought so he's softening you up before he tells you? Enjoy anyway!!

ploom I can imagine how you felt on Sunday seeing dd off. She'll be having a great time though. How are you feeling about it today?

Yestreday I had to drive dd to her hockey camp then took ds into the city to get him some clothes as he's grown so much. He has good taste, chose most of it himself, I think he enjoyed it.

Dh is throwing a party for some of his students, one just got back from Africa where he was helping medecin sans frontieres as an assistant doctor, one just got his PhD so he decided to have a party. Bought loads of food yesterday, now have to cook (it's only 10 people and us altogether) and have to hide loads of piles of stuff and dust and clean up abit then collect dd from camp where I just took her for her 2nd day. She can hardly walk as they did some intensive training yesterday!

Hope you are feeling ok ploom. I'm sure your dd will be having a wonderful time. I can imagine how much you are missing her though.

Wow Linzer! Is it 20 years since you first met, or something? Sounds like a fantastic gift.

Good luck with all the cooking admylin and have a wonderful party.

Ploom, South Africa, wow, what a great trip for a young one! Hope your DD has a great time, and that you can relax a little. I am sure I'd be nervous as anything were it my child away though!

Ooh, Linzer, Vienna, how lovely! All these places I want to see!

Well, we have made a start on our travels, and are in Frankfurt! Had a bit of a hectic start when the van taking our stuff from the UK arrived a day early!!! Luckily we were pretty much ready, as I do like to be organised! But still! Was a bit of a shock! Then the moving company's head office called and asked if we'd be ready if they came today, and we were like, er, they've already been and gone, but thanks for the warning anyway! :)

Then when the taxi arrived to take us to the airport, it didn't have Isofix for DS's carseat, despite us specifically asking well in advance, so we had to quickly ring round other taxi firms to find a company that had a car with Isofix, so that was a stress I didn't really need, but we got to the airport in decent time, phew.

DS is teething, lots of new teeth coming through, poor little poppet, but he is being ever so brave. He seems excited about the new apartment, not fazed at all.

The apartment is ok, I have to be grateful it is not costing us for the first three months, but if I may moan a bit, and I know I don't have to walk to a well in the next town for water, etc, but oh, for a washing machine in the apartment - there is ONE to share, between 22 apartments, and it is miniscule. Maybe I was spoiled with my 7kg model back home, but this one must be half that, so double the work. Am resorting to handwashing what we can. And there is no lift, so I can't use my pram (not that it's arrived yet anyway!). We are already looking to move, but I am aghast at the prices to rent something, yikes! Sorry, what a moan! I am happy really, embarking on a new chapter in our lives, the vegan food is fantastic - lots of choice at the supermarket, especially the ALNATURA shop, fabulous, so we are ok there at least.

Oops, that was a bit long! Have been without Internet all week, so am having a quick catchup. Only on a day dongle thing unless DH can get things sorted more permanently, which is tricky as we don't have a bank account here yet, so not sure when I'll be back online.

Happy Easter, All! [busmile]