Die Kaffeestube Teil 2 - virtual Kaffeeklatsch in Germany and Austria

[cheaspicks]

Chat for those living in a German-speaking country, or anyone else who is interested.

I second the rice thing, world, dd adores it (not rice pudding, though) but you never see it on restaurant menus. Also hate kids' food served without salad garnish/vegetables. DD loves cherry tomatoes, cucumber, bell peppers, carrots, grapes, etc. We ate in a restaurant in Buxton recently that had crudités and dips on the kids' menu - pitta bread strips, carrot, cucumber, pepper and celery sticks served with hoummous, mayonnaise and chilli sauce. DD ate everything bar the celery, mayo and chilli sauce - it took her over an hour!

Have been running with the Bastelnachmittag idea in my head while practising . You could do it once a month, charge something like 5? per child to include materials and a free beaker of apfelschorle (or whatever). If you can find a friend or two to help, the parents are then free to sit and chat (and order coffee and cake). Make an attractive poster each time advertising the event, so if you're doing origami then you have a picture of a paper boat, frog and flower, or whatever, and hang it in local kigas, the library, etc. You can incorporate the musical instrument thing by making shakers out of plastic tubing and cardboard filled with rice one month. Other ideas - book binding, lantern making (possibly done to death in kiga, though), Native American jewellery making (to keep it unisex, or do jewellery making just before Mothers' Day and advertise it as "make Mum something nice", papier mâché (needs time to dry, but parents could come back to collect the next day), friendship bracelets, salt dough modelling. Er, just ignore me if this is totally off mark .

Linzer thanks for asking your focus group. Do you think a jigsaw is a suitable neutral present? I've seen a map of Europe one with about 60-100 pieces (can't remember exactly). That's kind of educational, isn't it?

Good ideas, Linzer, will have a look in Müller.

Yes, I think a jigsaw would be fine cheas; they're suitably neutral as long as you don't go for one with something like Lillifee on it. DS enjoys doing them and a map of Europe sounds good (we have one with a map of the British Isles which all three love doing).

cheaspicks yes, my daughter loved all those things you've listed.
And when she was younger, she really wasn't much into pasta, which is probably because we hardly ever eat pasta, but she liked eat it when we visited IKEA.

She loved red and yellow bell peppers, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, carrots, olives, she loved cooked peas and broccoli and cauliflower and lots of those things, but also not the celery.
She loved quark with potatoes, she loved red cabbage with potatoes, and pita bread and all those things.
And it's nearly impossible to find those on a child menu. And when they are little it's great if they can have a plate or bowl with those little nibbles.
I would have not even minded to buy cookies or a little piece or slice of cake, such as Marmorkuchen, if I would know it's okay for my child. She would have not eaten much anyway, only a few bites and at least I would know there are no additives such as glucose and all that other horrible stuff in it.

Also, I would feel welcome as a mother if there wouldn't be much fuss over crying baby, or broken plate, or messy table. If there would be smiles, a relaxed atmosphere, and someone who would come quickly and clean it up without me getting embarrassed about it.
Even something like having a DIY bucket and sponges close by, so I would even clean some mess up myself.
Also being able to lay my baby down beside and do a quick diaper change without having to go somewhere else, so I still could have all my belongings or another child in view.

And I like Linzer's and your idea and mentioned before already, about having a shelf with books, jigsaws, and little play toys which can't be swallowed and are sturdy.

My kids don't like rice much (well DD eats pretty much anything, but she doesn't say "Yay, rice"...) but all 3 like rice pudding and would probably live on pasta and pesto or pasta in a mushroom sauce if allowed to - they also all love tomato or mushroom soup with a chunk of fresh bread ... just to be awkward for cake on her menu ideas :) However cake's cafe has to appeal to the local audience and as we aren't German the kids don't have totally typical German kids' taste - German (well Bavarian) kids seem to eat mainly Paar Weiner mit Bretze or Schnitzel mit Pommes when out, in my experience (and my kids like those things too but they aren't very healthy and a token salad on the side tends to get left, except for the cucumber and tomatoes if they are appealing looking cherry tomato type)!

(Sorry, I know world is German - I meant we as in my family :) )

English Austrian children too - I was meaning to post before (but got distracted for a child-related reason that I can't remember) that the children's menu cheas mentioned sounded brilliant and my DC would have loved it, but they also love the staples on Austrian children's menus, i.e. Wiener Schnitzel and chips, sausages and chips, and spag bol. But at least they like baked beans so don't have solely Austrian tastes.

Jigsaw is a good present cheas I agree, a lot of things you have to know the child quite well to get right, but a jigsaw should be fine for almost any 6 year old. Playmobile also still goes down well at 6 - right up to at least 8 as far as I can see from DD's friends. She went to a 7 year old boy's party the other day, but he has an enormous Schleich farm so is always in need of animals and fencing, so she bought him some chickens :o

Some of the ideas for cake 's cafe sound great as a customer but quite high maintenance to run - I would go for franchising out the activity provision and hoping for spill over orders of cake and coffee, and repeat business, rather than trying to run craft sessions myself, unless I had a real talent for it - it would be like trying to run a children's party monthly and doing it alone would be hard work, especially if cake is waitressing at the same time! I would keep everything as simple as possible, remembering toys and games will get broken/ food spilled on them/ pieces lost and need replacing - I agree they are a good idea to have, but need to be carefully chosen for durability and wide appeal as well as not being potential choking hazards to the smallest etc. and regularly cleaned and replaced, so that needs taking into account. I don't think health and safety would go for nappy changing at the table and even though I have 3 fairly small children including 1 in nappies I would rather good changing facilities in a bathroom than people changing nappies in the main cafe. Good baby change facilities are something lacking in a lot of German cafes and restaurants though (I have changed my kids on lots of floors and even a window sill once...) and warm, cozy, clean, safe changing facilities with room to take other kids in with you and a well placed bin are a huge plus in a cafe. Free nappies and wipes would definitely have me going back - our DM has a changing area with nappies and wipes and a rocking horse for older sibling, and I have bought things in there just to change a baby there before.

We have been trying to spring (autumn?) clean the kids rooms this morning, but Oh my goodness is it hard to do with a toddler in tow - he did nap for 45 mins but it wasn't enough, and when awake he is either getting into danger or pulling everything out faster than I can sort and tidy, and the older 2 start off trying to help but are distracted and playing constantly... Hmmm . Guess we made some progress but it is a bit depressing!

Yes, but unfortunately all is offered in most places is Wiener Würstchen, Chucken Nuggets, Kinderschnitzel, Pommes, Spaghetti etc.
And I wished it was different. My daughter wouldn't eat salad as in leafy salad, got stuck once, oben am Gaumen (sorry don't know how to say it in English) and made her choke terribly and then for many years she avoided it, but then it wasn't an issue anymore.

English she also loved tomato soup and broccoli soup, and all things which were like a stew/Eintopf.

And I was thinking of little ones when I didn't feed her Pommes and Chicken nuggets and the like. maybe because she spent so much time in the U.S. and I found the food appalling and so unhealthy.

Whe she was a little bit older, I made homemade Frikadellen in the U.S. and that was a hit too. I mean they are really like meatballs, but I hated buying them as there was so much stuff in there, where I wasn't even sure what that is.

And I've gained so much weight in the U.S. it wasn't even funny anymore. But that is another topic alltogether

English in regards to changing diapers , I see it's obviously called nappies in the UK, you are right. I wasn't thinking really at the table or on the table, maybe being more discreet about it, also well the smell is an issue, too. You are right. But sometimes my daughter was wet, needed a change and I could have done that in 2 minutes, and yet there was so much hassle and the changing facilities in German restaurants etc. were terrible

Oh wow loads to catch up on, and loads of ideas too!! I'll have a proper read through them all and get back to you all individually.

Thanks ladies

We've had a positive day here and have taken advantage of the pouring rain + lack of customers to do some serious brainstorming.... :)

In answer to some of your suggestions:

ploom I think I will pick the midwife's brain when we meet up about Krabbelgruppes in the area, as I want to know anyway for myself once the baby arrives. I'm planning on getting her advice as to whether there is a local group, where they meet currently, what they do etc. If they wanted to have a morning here we could certainly provide coffee and cake plus it would be great for me to have the local group meeting downstairs!

I have thought about an English conversation group, but being in the middle of nowhere I think DH and I are the only English speaking people for a few kilometres around! There's an American guy actually in the next village... but I'll definitely keep my ear to the ground and if I think there's a market for English learners to come and practice their conversation with a native speaker (ie me) I'll pounce on it!

tadjennyp I love the idea of a book group, and was a member of one in the UK. It would have to be in German though for the reasons stated above, which would be fine I just wouldn't be able to join in!! But again I'll do some asking about to see if there might be a market.

A craft/knitting circle - again, I'll ask around and see if there'd be much take up. I think our customer questionnaires are going to come in handy here!

We are having a craft morning next month as a friend of mine has a craft circle, so we're having a little sale here with coffee and cake. I've really got my fingers crossed that we'll have enough customers in to make it worth my friends while - we're doing a lot fo advertising.

Acoustic/Open mic night - we're definitely going to look into this. It fits with what we usually do anyway, we have a lot of music nights and they are very popular, and a lot of people around here play instruments or sing and love to get up and perform! We thought about combining it with comedy too, I think it would be really popular.

Children's musician - again I really like this idea, I'll ask around to see if there is anyone local we can use. I'm sure they sometimes have someone down at the local Naturschutzentrum doing drumming etc with school groups. It also reminded me we also have a local storyteller who could maybe come in. I'd have to look at whether the people wanted paying or not - usually when our bands come they collect money from the punters and we add in a little bit.

English A Stillgruppe really appeals to me from a personal point of view as well as a commercial one. Again, I'm going to use my midwife as first port of call.

Eltern/Kind Frühstuck - again I like this idea, and I think it links in with world's idea of having a more relaxed, family friendly vibe. Its a little bit tricky with our layout, we haven't got much space, small toilets etc but I think we could certainly incorporate some of the general ideas into making ourselves more popular with families. We certainly think we have a relaxed atmosphere!

cheas Again, the midwife-led BF support I think would be great for myself personally, plus I would hope that the midwife would jump on it as a great way to support the community. I'll run it by her when I see her.

I think the Bastelnachmittag could possibly be run in the holidays by my teacher friend - you've given me the idea of maybe an autumn themed one in half term or certainly Xmas decoration making in the December holidays. I'll ask my friend if she might be interested. There's a possible language issue as she's not fluent German, but maybe she could do it with a German friend.

All the child friendly suggestions have been noted - I think we would certainly be interested in doing fresh, healthy, non-additive filled child food as that goes along with our general philosophy anyway. Everything we cook is freshly produced from scratch from locally sourced ingredients. plastic beakers, paper and crayons, warming baby food etc is easy to do, with minimal outlay.

And finally English I think you have hit the nail on the head with the idea of franchising out the activities. What I will try and do is co-opt those with a bit of an agenda to "reach the community" eg the midwife and hope we don't have to pay her, or can pass the charge somehow onto the customers. Obviously everything else has to be subject to a very yawny profit and loss calculation :)

Again, thanks everyone, I can't believe the support available on here! (well, I can but ykwim )

cake
I have thought about an English conversation group, but being in the middle of nowhere I think DH and I are the only English speaking people for a few kilometres around! There's an American guy actually in the next village... but I'll definitely keep my ear to the ground and if I think there's a market for English learners to come and practice their conversation with a native speaker (ie me) I'll pounce on it!

I know of two places here, where the owners are Native English speakers and there is once a week an English conversation evening, open for everyone, then they serve the people and sit with them and simply chat with them in English and once I was there and they were reading some English Children's Classic.
And all of the people who ended up going there were older and wanted to brush up their English skills and listen to a Native speaker and also ask questions about the UK and the U.S. and get travel advice and all those conversations somehow developed organically, and they thought it was great for them because it was fun and open and not a course, so instead of paying for the Volkshochschule and having a set schedule, they paid for the drinks etc. and brushed up their English. I didn't continue to go as it was too simple (their English was really basic), but thought the idea is great.

Glad we were a help cake. i think the English conversation class I meant was more what world described - the opportunity for non-English speaking prople to practice their English with a native speaker. People would jump at the chance & it gets people in to your restaurant for English practice & then you might get them coming back at other times to eat.
Good luck with it all - you sound like you've got a busy time ahead .

oh I see world, yes I could possibly see a market for that here. I'll ask around, thanks.

Hello to everyone!!!!

alice how is your situation with the gas leak???? Hope all turned out well!!!!

hi world!

It's been quiet in here today..... following on from your suggestion, I asked around at the bar last night about English conversation and the first two guys I asked do speak a (tiny) bit of English after all!! Jus shows, you don't know if you don't ask!! :)

I've been to the out of hours doctor today as I have a UTI, and also now a headache . DP has enquired how I am feeling precisely zero times.....

Hope everyone is having a lovely Saturday evening with their families...

Hi cake good to hear from you. I am going to have a lazy weekend. Have been mumsnetting a lot last night and was reading with lots of interest the 'Tipping in America' thread and learned so much about British views on that matter and thought how similar to Germans their views were on that and how different it is to how it's done in the U.S.
Sort of made me think again how much similarities there are between Brits and Germans...
And someone also started a 'Tips in UK' thread which really showed again how much people are not willing and not ABLE to pay more than the actual prize, which is understandable, but good and unique service always makes people spend money happily.

Sorry to hear about your UTI and headache, I also had this terrible headache two days ago, didn't even know where that came from.

Cake, please feel free to pm me anytime should you feel like it for whatever reason

Evening all!

DS has taken his first steps! Well he sort of did about a week ago, but just fell forward onto me, then nothing for a week, then tonight he took a definite, unsupported step towards me while we were Skyping with my parents, which of course made them very happy too!

cake Oh no! I hope you feel better soon. It sounds like you've had some great suggestions for the restaurant!

world It really surprises me sometimes how alike, yet how different the UK and Germany are. Just when I think I'm completely used to things here, something pops up and surprises me.

TheEnglishWoman I have a hard time cleaning with one DS in tow, I can't imagine getting anywhere with cleaning out with three! Hope they are all feeling a bit better and recovering from their various ailments.

Linzer at your focus group! I haven't tried DS on baked beans yet, but he really enjoyed his Marmite on toast, which made me disproportionately happy (DH can't stand Marmite, but I love the stuff.)

cheas Any luck with the present buying?

antique yeah, yeah, yeah to first steps!!!!!!!

I'll never forget, how our daughter started walking, truly walking on her father's birthday, my exH thought it was THE best b-day present, and then.....2 1/2 months NOTHING. That was a bummer ha ha ha, we almost doubted it really happened .

Cold and rainy here today, so the barbecue we were going to this evening has been cancelled. I've got an Indian takeaway out of the freezer instead.

Antique Yay on your DS's first steps! And what perfect timing, when your parents could see them too. Definitely cause to celebrate.

world I was also reading the thread about tipping earlier. One thing I found a bit strange when I first moved here is the way that you'd always round the amount you were paying for a drink up the nearest euro, or even add a euro or two; in the UK, I'd never normally tip if I was just having a coffee, for example.

Cake Boo to the UTI and headache; hope they clear up soon. And grr at unsympathetic DPs...

DH is asking where I am in a rather impatient tone, so must go!

Evening everyone
cake hope your uti and headache get better soon.

Antique congratulations on your DSs first steps.

Linzer thats a shame about the weather and your cancelled bbq.

DH viewed a lovely house today. There is just us and one other couple interested. Im keeping everything crossed in hope we get it.
I was putting something in my diary earlier and saw an entry for next week saying DD2 back to school. It made me really sad and homesick for UK and I even cried a little. It just feels like im never going to get used to life here. I hope im wrong.

cake hope you feel better soon. Could they give you something for the infection?

World enjoy the lazy weekend, mumsnet is great for that sort of weekend!
Linzer enjoy the take away!
Antique that's great that ds is walking! He really did time it well for the grandparents!

Had a nice morning in town with dh. He decided not to go into work and have a chill out day. I saw that all the Autumn Winter stuff is in the shops already. Tempted to get the winter coats very soon as I usually leave it too late then there is no choice. I need a new coat and both dc need one due to growing. TK Maxx had some great bargains.

wanting hope you get the house. Is it in Mitte? You might be lucky if you can move in at short notice, the quicker the landlord gets his rent is always a plus point.

Big yay for first steps Antique !!! The older 2 aren't too much of a hindrance to cleaning as long as I don't spend more than an hour on something and accept being interrupted with questions and requests, but I can do stuff - its just it was their rooms we were trying to do a big sort out of in a pre-birthday/ end of summer/ fact the boys have now moved into another room but 3/4 of DS1's toys and all his clothes are still in the old one/ oha my god these rooms are tip blitz, but they would actively help for about 2 mins then get distracted and play with the things they were meant to be tidying! Tidying with a toddler is a whole different thing, as he hates me to walk away from him (even a step) and it is a cue for him to pull and cling to be carried, and when he is playing happily it is usually gleefully throwing whatever I've just sorted/ folded down the stairs or all over the floor, or bombing up the stairs to the attic, or up DD's full height bunk bed to run up and down the top bunk laughing like a banshee and throwing himself down wildly, looking every second as if he is going to go over the low guard rail - and he goes down the straight ladder FORWARDS (backwards isn't exciting enough at the grand old age of 16 months), and yesterday managed to crack his head doing it - he was fine, but much panic and screaming for a minute or two. Makes having a sort of kids wardrobes/ mysterious items that have ended up under the beds and furniture/ and wheat from the chaff toys thinning out and general attempt at tidying near impossible.

Big boo for headaches and UTI cake :(

We are going on holiday tomorrow - I efficiently packed clothes for all 5 of us while DH had Henry first thing, as soon as I got out of the shower, but preparations have been down hill from there - DH spent the entire day trying to sort out a computer software problem that was preventing him burning a compacted DVD of kids films for the kids to watch on the car DVD player - OK holiday preparations of a kind, but all day? Whilst I looked after 3 kids, cleared out the car (we are driving there), took the yellow bags, glass and tins to the recyclehof (we must be the only Geminde where they don't pick them up) cleaned out the rabbits, called around everyone DD has invited to her party to let them know she had written the wrong date on one invite so others might be wrong, went round to the neighbour who is going to feed our pets and get our post in to take the key and spend the obligatory half hour chatting to be polite... Shouted at the older kids for constantly play fighting then accidentally hurting each other and telling tales and howling about it, cooked lunch and dinner, did 4 loads of laundry in the vain hope of clearing the existing pile before we come home with holiday laundry... I feel run ragged yet that I have loads left to do - I meant to wash the downstairs floors once DC3 was in bed (mainly due to neighbor coming in to feed fish and deposit post) but I cannot settle him so he is still up and climbing over me... ummm... may I say ARGH! Oh now he is having a tantrum because he just got and opened DH's laptop and I took it off him - poor thing he is only trying to learn by imitation isn't he? :o