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.

nutella - we were also puzzled by our buggy at first but you'll soon be putting it up and down while balancing the baby on your hip!!

cheaspicks - I'm shocked! here was me thinking with you being a musician would have been glued to the proms . I've been trying to catch up on the closing ceremony on youtube but it seems to have been one long coldplay concert and i'm not that big a fan.

ds's have been beyond good this morning - I stripped their beds and they've been playing dens for an hour. Plenty of time for me to MN then!

linzer I usually shop at amazon, for which I've got my account registered, or iTunes which comes out of my uk bank account.

I haven't needed to shop anywhere else since I changed my account (which voided my credit card), but if I find it a pain in future I'll apply for a card on the new account.

ha ha world - cross posts!!

ha ha ha Ploom that's funny. I am not a Coldplay enthusiast and since last night even less, I got the feeling of do you know one song then you know them all.
I loved it when they had a song with the Paraorchestra. I was touched, so beautiful.

Wow, I don't check in for a few days and this thread explodes! I have scanned or, else I'd be here all day, so apologies for not namechecking!

Oh, got to go, being dragged off to play!

vegans oh I feel the same, can hardly follow, but it is a lovely thread

It only really gets very busy in the mornings and then everyone mysteriously vanishes at around midday.

Having said that, I can't believe we've already filled more than half the thread after only a couple of weeks. This must be a record, surely?

Today I am home, so I was able to read and post, but usually after lunch I get extremely busy and if weather permits I love to be outside...and then mostly cannot hardly catch up. Today I couldn't stop laughing. Linzer I still have this picture on my mind where this woman felt to question your parents' ability to teach you how to properly clean the floors and now I am rolling again!!!

ok, here's another "funny now but horrible when it was happening" Berlin story:

Once upon a time, when I was hugely pregnant, in the middle of a super snowy winter, struggling through the massive drifts on the sidewalk to get my adorable, extremely well trained/behaved doggie some fresh air around the block he squatted & relieved himself.

I whipped out a poop-baggie & as I was attempting to gracefully preggie-bend over and scoop the poop I heard a male voice screeching behind me. I turned, slipped & fell (still with the poop-bag on my hand & of course holding the dog leash).

I looked up at my verbal-attacker, who was still yelling at me, and tried to make sense of what he was saying...apparently I needed to pick up the poop - which I was in the process of doing before he caused my fall - and my dog's urine was destroying his apartment building - just my dog's pee...no one else's...

Still on the ground , while scooping the poop (& obviously very pregnant), I tried to calmly explain that a) I always pick-up the poop & b) dog urine will not destroy a building (but maybe all the drunken idiot football fan wee & puke might ;O)

The guy just continued yelling at me. I struggled to my feet (my lovely doggie sitting calmly beside me this entire time) & the man got right up in my face...still screaming... so... I... chucked... the... open... bag... of... poop... at... his... head.

He just stood there spluttering, so I smiled my biggest Canadian smile & said "Tschüssi"

I'm pretty easy going & always try to have a pleasant expression but there is a definite limit to my try-to-be-understanding-of-others self. I honestly can't understand the behaviour here (unfortunately that's not my worst experience).

• it's been over a year since that incident & whenever I see that man I give him a big smile...he crosses the street. tee,hee!

awesome this is unbelievable. Seeing any pregnant woman falling or slipping would make my heart sink. This is outrageous behaviour.

OH MY GOD Awesome that is awful! He rightfully deserved dog poo to the head! Good that you had it to hand

admylin I can live with my cooking not being perfect but I've only been having issues for the last 2-3 months. I'm blaming the baby! I find the flour here pretty good, you have to experiment with the different types and brands but normally things are fine...

I find northern Germany much more rude than southern... But I'm sure it's also a stadt - stadt thing

nutella I think you could be right. Northeners are also perceived as more cold, more distant, less talkative, and harder to befriend...that's what other Germans say at least.

Omg awesome that really made me LOL & go on your behalf! Cant believe he left you lying on the ground - but at having to see him in your neighbourhood. Doubt he'll do it again.

My yorkshire puddings always work out ok admylin but its other baking recipes from the UK that I have trouble with so I just bring British baking powder back with me each time I go. Individual Toad in the hole is a huge hit in our house so I'm forever making york puds!

Taking the dc swimming again this morning - trying to make the most use of these last few days of holidays. Then the boys need haircuts again - I only took them at the beginning of the school holidays - think all that sunshine has made their hair grow .

ploom enjoy the last few days of freedom and no school! I'll have to try yorkshire puds again. Usually mine rise well but aren't cooked in the middle so I leav ethem in and they burn!

nutella I'd say the southerners are much worse than the northerners! I guess I had my worst experiences in Schwabenland, the shouting man awsome had to endure was like a daily thing in Schwabenland. In the end I use dto stand a laugh atthem in disbelief when someone started ranting at me or us. Some of the worst were Deutsch Bahn employees. What a miserable frustrated bunch of people.

How do you say 'oh for goodness sake keep your hair on!' in German? That's the most frustrating part - at first in Germany I just coulnd't answer back properly.

awsome that must be one of the worst experiences, lucky for you that you didn't hurt yourself in the fall. I sometimes think Germans don't worry about damaging or hurting someone as they're all Haftpflichversichert and a lot of them are also rechtschutzversichert!

Dh asked his bank (by phone) about putting his dispokredit up for a month and his usual Berater has left/moved to a different branch. The new one said she could only put it up 500? so he told her that wouldn't do, he'd be changing banks if they don't get back to him by today and she should get in touch with her colleague to confirm dh's trustworthyness as quickly as possible! He's geting very good at ranting on the phone!

Off to physio later, I got my weights (similar to the ones you linlked to linzer) and have been doing the Übungen. I think I have a cm more movement so it's a start.

admylin Oh yes, I got ranted at by a Deutsche Bahn employee once. Tbf I was in the wrong as I crossed the tracks before some kind of barrier thing had opened, but everyone used to do it so I didn't realise you weren't supposed to. I was not doing it because I thought I looked "cool".

DH always says "reg dich ab!" to me when I'm getting overly annoyed about something that he doesn't take seriously. Not sure if that would work with strangers, though! I also remember our German teacher at the VHS telling us that it sounds silly if you say Sie to someone when you're insulting them, but I think you'd have to be really insulting someone and it probably isn't the kind of situation we're likely to get into! I still don't always get the du/Sie distinction; one of the hairdressers where I go says du to me, but I hardly know her so carry on saying Sie!

Ploom Enjoy the last few days of the holidays! It's apparently the last day of summer weather here today, but I don't mind it cooling down a bit; it was over 30° here yesterday which is too hot for me even when I'm on holiday.

world I came across some very unfriendly people in the south west too and have been shouted at everywhere from Munich to Berlin!

awesome What an awful experience; I don't blame you for reacting the way you did!

DD1 announced yesterday that her English teacher isn't a "proper English teacher" as she's Austrian. I'm determined not to be hypercritical but have seen the cover of their exercise books and was a bit about a few things. I also realised (not unrelated) that none of the DC knew what a Christian name is; DD1, despite the fact that she must have learned it at school yesterday, still thought it means surname when I asked her and the other two thought it means middle name (not helped by the fact that Christian actually is DH's middle name). I had to laugh when DH then admitted that he'd asked a Muslim student in London what his Christian name was and got a very look in return.

I'm off to the hairdresser later and I know he spent some time in the USA and I'm sure somewhere else and so he doesn't cut my hair in a "Hannover Style" (think bizarre blobs of colour on women with slightly mannish haircuts aged anywhere between 30 and 70) but he is really good fun so perhaps I'll ask him for a German keep your hair on equivalent that I could say to strangers :)

DP did give me a really good sentence for when people are rude/patronising but of course I can't remember it...

Linzer I'm blaming you, summer is over, just heard the rain outside get going :( ....... Although yesterday the heat made me rather grumpy. I'm looking forward to winter this year because I have a better excuse to stay indoors :o

admylin it's odd, I know a girl from East Germany who lived in Hamburg for 7 years and found it incredibly rude but feels happy here in Hannover... I always have a great time in Hamburg but find people in Hannover really don't give a crap if they've just elbowed past you and they never apologise!

Hmmmm.... if only they were an objective way to test it....

Mind you, I know tourists on the tube in London are viewed as mostly for entertainment of "locals" because some of the lines can be confusing, you don't need to press the buttons and if your backpack is stuck in the doors you don't need to scream; because the tube can't move before you're free and the doors are closed properly...

Linzer I've tried saying ganz ruhig bleinen when someone has been abit too aggressive but laughing at them helps even though it makes you feel like you're the crazy one not them!

nutella good luck at the hairdresser - hope you get what you ask for! How did you find an english speaking one? I've atlast found one who cuts ds's hair the way we ask (in Misburg where we live) but I haven't dared to try going myself yet.

Pouring down now. Hope it stops before the dc come out of school although I have sent them with umbrellas and strict instructions to protect their school bags so we don't get any water damaged books that we will then have to pay for like last school year.

admylin I'd never even thought of the DC's books getting damaged by water; DD2's school bag does have a rain cover but she rarely uses it as I'll pick her up from school if it's raining heavily. Will have to arrange where to pick up DD1 if it's raining (although I'm sure walking in the rain wouldn't hurt her!) as we're not supposed to drive into the narrow road where the school is and it would probably be chaos if it was raining anyway, but there's hardly anywhere to park at either end of the road.

Nutella I was watching a documentary about the Tube yesterday and it made me feel quite nostalgic, although at the same time glad that I don't have to cope with those crowds any more. We're trying to arrange a trip to London at Christmas but the hotel I e-mailed a few days ago still hasn't got back to me so I'll have to try somewhere else.

Every time I find a hairdresser I like, they either seem to leave or go on maternity leave! I'm not good at making appointments so I've started going to a hairdresser's where you can just turn up, although you really have to go first thing if you don't want to wait.

What does 'keep your hair on' mean?

Deutsche Bundesbahn employees also know as Bahndrachen.

Am glad to hear that Notherners don't have this bad rep with everyone. I read the thread about Switzerland and it reminded me of how Germany was in the 70's and still could be in places like the 'Schwabenländle'

admylin I agree, I think not saying anything and looking at them with contempt or disgust, says it all really.

world It means "calm down!" I've just looked on Leo for German equivalents; it only has "keep your shirt on" (which means more or less the same thing) and gives "mach mal nicht die Pferde scheu!" (never heard that one before) and "reg dich ab!" (I hear that too often; see above).

admylin A friend recommended him. (She's German but doesn't seem to have normal German tastes.) Today was trip 3 to him and I find thats usually when problems pop up, if there are any, because I tend to let them do what they like.
It's cool, if a little shorter than I intended but it'll grow and I couldn't decide what I wanted anyway. I think when I go back I'll ask for the same haircut but left longer :)

Oh, and I asked, there is (as yet) no German equivalent for keep you hair on.

Hi everyone

I'm just quickly checking in... I could do with a German equivalent for "keep your hair on" too! I find I either say nothing when random strangers berate me for God-knows-what, or they end up being the last in a long line of people who have slowly worn out my tether, and they get it with both barrels .

Plus I find it hard to regulate exactly how rude I'm being (ie what the exact shade of rude is in what I'm saying) so I should probably just not say anything...

My old neighbours hated me, partly because I had a dog (although he was not noisy) and partly because I wasn't German and in my 70s like them. I often felt like I couldn't blow my nose without someone pushing a note through my door or shouting at me on the stairs . My underneath neighbour used to accuse me of all sorts of wild things! Once I met DH they backed off a bit as I had someone who could properly defend me!

My PIL have turned up today unannounced, and seem to be staying overnight. It drives me nuts! Although they do usually give us a couple of days notice, it is always "we're coming on Friday" and we have no say in the matter. I shouldn't be irritated because they are lovely, but my parents would never dream of just turning up and I can't help feeling like they're imposing on us. Particularly as we only have one bedroom and they stay in the living room. I just feel like we're all on top of each other and there's no escape!

Arghhhhh!

oh that was less of a quick-check-in than I had intended!

This is so funny, I will have to read all this again later, when I'm home. This 'keep your hair on' thing starts to make sense to me when I think about the German description of a very feisty person, then we say he/she has hair on the teeth. Die/Der hat ganz schön Haare auf den Zähnen. So maybe if they kept the hair on the head they wouldn't come across as so nasty

With funny, I mean unbelievably rude and shocking and sometimes I think it all becomes so comical and absurd. When I read all this, I can literally imagine the people behaving that way and it makes me cringe and I cannot help but laugh so much about this as I think they can't be helped.