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.

DS's bowling party went well - drove 3 5 year old boys, 1 4 year old boy and DD there, bowled, had pizza and ice cream and Apfelschorle, calmed a bit of wildness but they were mostly good... one of DS's friends couldn't lift even the children's bowling ball though, same friend also couldn't reach the sink in the toilets or climb into our car (he's a lovely, very smiley, chatty, confident boy but not only one the short side but also evidently not very physical, as even my 17 month old can now climb into his car seat from the ground - it's a high up style of car, a van based 7 seater, but you'd have thought a 5 year old could manage it!!) It worked out just fie though, as DD enjoyed babying and helping him in a way she doesn't get to with her own 5 year old brother (who is almost the same height as her, 1kg heavier, physically stronger and has bigger feet! :o )

One of DS's friends opted out of the party at the last moment as he didn't want to come without his mum and she was working (he usually does full days at KiGa but the plan was I would pick him up, along with the other boy whose mum works) - then he turned up when we arrived home with a much too expensive present . DS1 had football training after his party, he ended up in tears at the very end when a bit of rough play (a big pile up of boys) got out of hand, but I think he was just over tired - he's quite a size to carry to the car nowadays though, not sure I'll still be doing that by next birthday! Then I had the parents eve for DD, which went well although it revealed that a few things DD has been telling me are not strictly true nothing important though.

One thing from the parents eve - we should be listening to our children read for 15 mins a day, then asking questions to ensure comprehension, we should get them to practice previously learnt spellings as well as the ones set atm, we should do mental maths with them daily, and of course they should do their set homework - and she showed us where she'd written today's 4 set tasks on the board, so DD is not having to do anything extra due to not finishing in class as that is what she had written in her homework book... but homework should only take half an hour... does anyone else's mental maths suggest this does not add up!!!!

English what a lovely birthday that must have been, so you were alone with all these boy?! You got to love those 4-5year olds though, they are so funny.

Is the mental math daily training and listening to reading/asking comprehension questions something which is possibly considered not part of the homework assignments 30 minute timelimit, maybe???

And yes, I guess the wind and degree difference, even if just one or two degrees must be the reason for that.

Definitely on the chilly side here today - 3° when I went out with my run - but I agree about temperatures feeling different depending on where you are. This would be a normal winter temperature where my parents live but would feel much colder, mainly due to the wind chill factor, whereas it's a nice autumn day here. Likewise, it was 23° at most when I was back in Wales in the summer but it felt boiling hot, whereas that would be quite a pleasant temperature here and I only start finding it too hot when it hits the high twenties.

English Agree that spelling practice, reading, etc. probably don't count as homework unless the teacher said something specific about including them in the half hour.

Wow english I don't know how you manage to fit so much into one day! I'd have managed the party and the parents' meeting maybe but not the football training aswell. Did your ds1 sleep well that night?!

Linzer cold here too, my dc even agreed to put jackets on to go out to school and dh has got his scarf out!

world I'm putting my cold empfindlichkeit to age! I used to walk around in thin tights and above knee length skirts in my youth in the depth of winter but I just feel like hibernating now as soon as temperatures go below zero!

I'm having a baking morning (Turkish Pide/Börek and plum steusel cakes on the go now) and then dc are at various activities this afternoon so my weekend starts at 8pm when the last dc is collected.

I've definitely noticed that a good woollen coat is perfectly warm on a typical German winter day, say -4 deg, but useless at 2 deg where my parents are in North England. I agree that the wind must have something to do with it, but I guess the humidity plays an even higher role.

I hadn't really thought before about the same thing being true of warm days, but DD was splashing about in a concrete paddling pool on an overcast day (21 deg) in the UK this summer without getting cold that quickly - here I wouldn't dream of going to the Freibad with her when it's under 26 deg.

ploom what did the dr say about ds1 being so tall? Hope they put your mind at rest!

bienchen if you're still checking here, we had a stick for internet access for a couple of months after moving. DH did internet banking, etc. using it - I can't see why it would be less safe than using a phone app. Mind you, German banks require you enter a special Transaction Number to make a transfer or payment online - you either have a list posted to you or you get a text message with the number to enter - so even if someone was were able to "watch" your banking activity online, they still wouldn't have access to your TAN list iyswim. Hth.

Morning all!

My parents have just left for the airport so I haven't had much time over the past 2 weeks but it's just taken me 4 days to catch up with the thread! I think I'm there now though :)

Happy belated birthday, admylin!

English You sound like an organisational genius! Hope your DC enjoyed their birthdays.

Linzer It's nippy here today too, but quite sunny. 10°c at the moment but I have a huge jumper on and have put a nice cosy blanket over DS for his nap.

Vegans Enjoy Scotland!

World It's funny how perception changes, isn't it. My parents live in Canada, so have winter for 6 months of the year, extreme cold etc, but they say it's a different cold, not as damp as the cold in Europe so is more bearable. We are over for Christmas this year so I'll report back.

Big wave to everyone else!

DS had a lovely first birthday this week and Christening at the weekend. He had the time of his life with my parents (who he hasn't seen since he was 8 weeks old, but we Skype with them regularly) and the flat is now bursting at the seams with toys and new clothes. He is shattered, bless him, so is just having a nice pre-lunch nap and I'm going to treat myself to a coffee in peace after 2 weeks of whizzing around.

Hope everyone is well!

x-posts cheas. I definitely find a thinner coat more than enough here, whereas in Manchester it wouldn't quite do.

Ploom Sorry, I missed your post - good luck at the Kinderarzt. Hope they can at least put your mind at rest.

Hello everyone

admylin Yes age, that must be a major reason, as a teenager I could get livid with my mother constantly telling me that I would be cold, take that scarf with you, close your jacket, put the head on, no way was I cold. I actually felt hot most of the time and she was simply annoying. She couldn't understand that if I would feel cold, I obviously would do something about it.

But then there is also me observing parents with younger children and they differ so much in what they and what their children are wearing and sometimes I wonder, if they themselves don't even have a jacket on why would the child need to be so wrapped. or when they walk into a store in the wintertime, they open their coats or take off their hats and and loosen their scarves, and the child still is full wrapped and I remember as a kid I was burning hot and sweating already, but thankfully may parents did the taking off coats etc. and when leaving putting it back on...

cheas i think you are right about the humidity part. This is something I usually associate with summer, but why should all the humidity part not also be a factor in winter times?!

antique yes perceptions do change. And I think it takes a while, in my third winter I felt okay, the first I thought I was thrown into a freezer, seriously no joke.
Up there in the North, there were lots of other U.S. Americans from other states who are used to heat and sunshine, and they felt terrible in their first winter. I mean I at least have experienced snow before here in Germany and also in southern Bavaria, BW and on winter holiday in Switzerland and Austria, BUT still up there it's quite different.
However lots of other Americans from those sunny regions have never ever even experienced snow and those extremes of cold temps and then you really have to adjust all your driving to those weather conditions.
And it wasn't uncommon to hear about pipes bursting and Wasserrohrbruch and break down of electricity etc. all not in my area, but yet close enough and we could watch about all this in the news, and I didn't know how people survive and how they manage.

Linzer temps have dropped here too, but it is nice and dry and sunny. I got out an extra Bettdecke yesterday, and was thinking about turning the heat on for the first time, but then I thought it might be daft to do so while still in September

Happy belated birthday to your ds, antique! Skype is excellent for our kids (and their gp), isn't it? Though I remember trying to explain to dd at 18 months that we were going to see Grandma and Grandpa in real life and her not understanding at all ("Ganma on de puter"). Anyway your parents must have loved getting to know their grandchild properly. Do you know when you'll see them (in echt) again?

cheas My parents are very suspicious of any kind of technology and hate having their photo taken, let alone being filmed, so I doubt I'd be able to persuade them to skype (I must admit I'm not that keen on the idea either, although I can see it's a great way for DC to keep in touch with their GPs, for example). I had to set it up for work but was very relieved that I only needed it for file transfer and that the agency didn't actually want to see me!

world I could never work out quite why burst pipes, power cuts, etc. were so much more common in the USA - it was like being back in 1970s Britain. And talking about being thrown into a freezer, I found the summers equally hard to get used to; you would walk from blistering heat into what felt like a freezer as soon as you went anywhere indoors thanks to all the air conditioning.

Antique A belated happy 1st birthday to your DS; glad he had a lovely time with your parents (and I'm sure they had an equally lovely time).

admylin DD1 has to pack a hat, scarf and Halstuch for her school trip next week. Unfortunately she doesn't appear to possess any Halstücher and I can't see her wearing one even if she did. No doubt she'll come back with a cold.

antique how lovely to have his first birthday AND christening. All so special and having grandparents around, how lovely!!!!

Happy special days for you all. Also for you all

Linzer don't get me started on infrastructure in the U.S. am fearing I will step on someone's toes by airing my views

Antique happy first birthday to your DS! Hope he had a lovely time. I'm not an organisational genius, I'm quite chaotic and the house is a tip :o Ds needs friends to come around this afternoon as he was upset we didn't play pass the parcel at bowling :o sometimes I forget how young my "big" 2 still are...

Linzer I'd hate to skype with my parents, and don't, although I have it installed and do use it with my youngest sister very occasionally - she has introduced her new boyfriends to me using skype a couple of times :o

Why would anybody need both a scarf and a Halstuch, surely it's either or...

Its quite warm here now, but was 3 degrees on the Kindergarten run, DS1 always wears a long sleeved T shirt over a short sleeved when it's cold early on, but fails to take the long one off until I tell him he can DD on the other hand is exhibiting further teen tendencies by wanting to wear as little as possible. Ds2 gets wrapped up in the mornings but is going through the phase where he takes a lot of his own clothes off given half the chance anyway... He is wearing DS1's rugby shirt as a dress over his nappy atm as he was covered in soup after lunch and I was too lazy to go upstairs and get him a new outfit I will dress him properly next nappy change I promise :o ... and now he is climbing me, it'S only a matter of time til he notices I've sat down and obviously want to be used as a climbingwall...

When I say scarf, I mean Schal as in Winterschal

I really need to get better at checking in here! Sorry for all the Birthdays I've missed , hope you all had a lovely time!

My two years in Germany Jubiläum is now less than a month away... And I will be just back from a weekend with my family in England :) just making it within the flying while pregnant limits.

I'm starting to think my bump is actually on the small side. But I'm not complaining! I met a friend this week for coffee; she is due a week later than me but is bigger than me... Funny thing is I'm due on her birthday and she is due on my DP's birthday :o

English I love the idea of your DS in a little rugby shirt "dress" :) think it's cute while still slightly manly...

With regard to the cold I find the horrible wet winter here the worst :( it seems really long and it is soooo cold! My first German winter was in Nuremberg and it was extra cold but lots of snow (forgot there were colours other than white) so it was dry and I could put up with that. Then last winter in Hannover and my two memories are (1) it rained.... seemingly without end through December and January then (2) it was so cold the Maschsee froze and we could walk on it; that was strange but good fun.
Whereas the English winters I remember were rather uneventful; soggy but didn't rain for days on end and generally greyish and not much snow...

One more random thing; I am so pleased my winter coat is a button up coat :) I can still get it on and do up the top buttons so it keeps me warm enough at the moment.

Hello nutella

Linzer yes, yes so spot-on with the air-conditioning in those hot countries, the U.S. is terrible in that regard, at least I think so, plus the huge icy drink with all those ice-cubes then gave me the rest.
Or when on holiday, and then walk into the hotel or sit in a coach brrrrr
Once I got a terrible cold and ended up with fever and all the shenanigans while on holiday in Egypt, it was terrible.

Nutella I remember my first really cold winter in Germany was at Nuremberg christmas market, it was so cold I couldn't enjoy it as my feet were freezing then the bus broke down on the way home and we all froze some more!

By the way, are you still looking for a 4 room flat? Just saw the flat on ground floor of our building is on offer on immobilien scout and it says the bathroom will be modernised (wow)!

Linzer where is your dd off to on the school trip? Aren't those halstücher from kidergarden days? All the little dribblers used to wear one (except my 2 not) although now dd never leaves the house without a halstuch that has to match her outfit!

Awww thanks admylin but we've given up the hunt because we wouldn't be able to move before Dec and that was cutting it too fine for DP :) but kind of you to think of us!
And admylin I spent the whole winter in Nürnberg wearing my walking shoes (albeit summer ones - but the thicker sole kept me away from the cold) with one pair of normal socks and one pair of proper wooly socks :o

:o our doggy guest was making funny squeaky noises on the sofa while sleeping... I thought it was funny and told DP, he has just told me off for not giving her a reassuring stroke he is such a softie! :o I'm not sure if dos have bad dreams.... More likely she was dreaming about getting to eat allll the people food she wants!

admylin They're going to a small town a few hours drive away; it looks quite pretty from what we've seen of it on the Internet, with plenty of scope for the obligatory Wanderungen. The Gasthof also looks far more luxurious than the places where we used to stay on school trips. And yes, I'd completely forgotten about it but DS used to have loads of those little Halstücher; I wish I'd discovered them earlier (for the girls) as they were so handy!

world yy to those drinks in the USA that consisted primarily of ice cubes. Quite a difference from here, where people are very suspicious of anything too cold and would never give a child a drink straight from the fridge.

Nutella Is it your friend's first too? I did an antenatal exercise class that started when we were all about 16-18 weeks (can't remember exactly) and the only one who was showing was a woman having her second - she was so obviously pregnant compared to the rest of us.

English at being introduced to your sister's boyfriends on Skype. DD2 has always delighted in wearing as little as possible and saying she's never cold, while DD1 is the exact opposite and still wants to wear her thick winter coat, hat and scarf in the spring. DH and I almost had an argument the other day about whether DS running round the garden in bare feet would make his cold worse.

We were supposed to be going out for a meal tonight while the DC stayed overnight with a friend, but all three of her DC and DS have a bad cough, so we've had to cancel. DH and I have mild colds too (I admit it; we were all running round the garden barefoot the other day) so we decided it would be better to postpone anyway from everyone's point of view.

linzer yy and not only here, in lots of regions and cultures where this would be looked at with suspicion. And I believe rightly so

NO Linzer don't give into the myth that having cold feet makes you poorly! DP's mum is a fanatic worrier about being cold... Although I'm slowly changing DP.... I've even seen him without socks on our tiled floors
Last time we saw MIL they were talking about the cold and I did learn the word for vest... But I've forgotten it... I'm not sure if I have ever owned vests... Other than vest tops, which I can't say I wear as proper vests.

I found out today (at a Kinderkleidung second hand sale/bun fight) that this is my friends 3rd pregnancy but the first to get this far which is why she has been keeping it a secret. Not sure if that would be making a big difference in terms of size tho but I'm happy that we're pregnant together and I can hopefully help her start to feel more relaxed and start enjoying her pregnancy.

world I've heard that drinking very cold drinks isn't good for the stomach, but being a hardy Brit, I resolutely ignore such advice - well, I would if I drank anything other than tap water and coffee. Aha, have just remembered I drink wine straight from the fridge, although I don't exactly gulp it down.

Nutella Don't worry; I have absolutely no intention of giving in! I don't think I've owned a vest since I was about 10, but the DC - well, DD2 and DS - wear them in the winter (mainly because you can get ones with Peppa Pig on ).
So about your friend, although it's great that she's got so far this time. One of my friends has just had a m/c and is feeling very low. (I did read somewhere about why you show earlier in second and subsequent pregnancies; there's definitely a reason, but I can't remember it!)

linzer

I miss read world 's post and thought she was saying that some religions viewed drinking cold drinks with suspicion :o Utter rubbish, and I even give German children apple juice straight from the fridge, in fact hose who are here very regularly help themselves after asking permission as my DCs do, and they are all still alive after doing this for several years :)

Just had DD's climbing wall party which was a huge success, every invited child came, and all complained when it ended and wanted to stay, and every crumb of the birthday cake got eaten, so that makes a successful party in my book :) The 2 boys DD invited came to her party over a boy's party they were also invited to at the identical time too, quite an honour :o (I think one of the boys, who is one of DD's closest friends and has been since they were 2 and 3, chose Dd for herself and the other chose a climbing party over an ordinary home party rather than one child over the other tbh). She has brought the 3 other girls from our village home for an extra hour's play with ehr new playmobile riding stable post party, but one of them is down here with me and the boys watching 'Pirates in Adventures with Scientists'' in English - her presence has driven DH up to the attic, as she came back down after 2 or 3 minutes and sat on the sofa while DH was watching UK Mastercheif recordings and started chatting to us - she plays here relatively often but I don't think has ever been here at the same time as other friends, maybe she struggles with the group play... anyway I find it really odd she came down to chat to me and DH, she said nothing to DS1 and commented on rather than interacted with DS2, she is an only child, maybe she is more used to adult company (she also asked to see what I am typing, not sure what that's about)...

English humans don't die that quickly