Der Nebel steigt, es fällt das Laub - a German and Austrian autumn thread

[AntiqueMuppet]

A thread for anyone living in Germany or Austria, or anyone else who fancies a chat.

Previous thread here

Pleasure, admylin, and thanks!

nutella, sounds like a very cakey day! :) Yum!
You can get vegan chocolate spread, you know! :)
Re clothes, I use EcoBalls, and sometimes soap nuts. I have found they work really well, even on cloth nappies. I sometimes add some essential oils if I am doing gym kit.
German men sit down to use the toilet?

Witches I don't know any German men intimately enough to comment or whether it's widespread in Austria too (must ask DH), but those who do are derogatorily (is that a word?) known as Sitzpinkler and thought of as being a bit hen-pecked.

Nutella I watched that episode of Have I Got News For You a couple of weeks ago (I thought I was about six months behind, but obviously have even more catching up to do than I thought) and that bit really made me laugh.

DS has atopic dermatitis but I must admit I don't use any special laundry detergent (although I don't use a lot of detergent when I wash). The one thing that really affects him is having baths too often; my parents live in a hard water area and even one bath there will affect him really badly, but we can get away with giving him a couple of baths a week here - any more, and his skin starts to get very itchy.

admylin Will have to look at that Klassenarbeiten site; I still use the Abfrager one after you recommended it ages ago.

Antique Most of the mums I know here work part-time but also have grandparents on hand to help out. Even my expat friends have ILs living close by; it's quite unusual here to move very far away from where you grew up, even if you've been to university.

DD1 was very proud of herself today (as were we) as she got a 1 in her maths Schularbeit. It's the first time she's ever had a 1 in any SA; I don't think she ever got higher than a 3 in maths at primary school. We knew that she could do the maths, but she has to be in the right frame of mind - sometimes she just doesn't concentrate and read the questions properly, so often struggles with Textaufgaben.

Must get back to work... it seems to be non-stop at the moment. I was offered a large job this morning, which would have been great if it hadn't had to be done by Wednesday - as it is, I'm only able to do about a quarter of it.

I did have a lovely birthday party, thank you. Dh did a great job of organising it. The snow held off till this morning and a few weren't able to come so the house wasn't overrun.

Well done to Linzer's dd - a 1 in maths! Glad also that antique's lo is feeling better. Well done on all the purchases. V exciting about the vegan week - will be looking up that site shortly. Need some vegetarian ideas, but can't imagine giving up cheese .

Need to get ds2 down for a nap so I can make a start on my new birthday books! Have a good evening, everyone!

Hello everyone

Sorry I am way behind.

I am married to a German and have a half German son, and neither sit down to pee - even the 5 year old doesn't make a mess though, so I don't get why adults would, unless drunk or half asleep? MIL informed the world in general over her 60th birthday meal (with about 15 adult guests) that "women" do the cleaning so "men" should sit down to pee so they don't have to clean it up, and that FIL always has to sit down and everyone who wants to "pisel" in her house knows to sit - nobody knew where to look - she doesn't even drink much so it wasn't a wine fuelled announcement! It is the reason I'd never ask DH or DS to sit though :o

Glad you had a good birthday Jenny.

Well done on DD's maths result Linzer

Wonder if they'll stick with the vegan week Admylin - my DS announced one day that he didn't want to eat meat as he didn't want animals to get "dead and killed" for him to eat, which I was going to respect and cater to until he announced he did still want to eat sausages and gelb wurst as they are "too yummy", at which point I rather lost sympathy - but then he was only 4 then ;) One of my sisters was veggie for 10 years, from age 14 to 24, then one morning she suddenly decided to eat sausage and bacon and wasn't any more - very odd, she still can't explain it beyond saying she just changed her mind on a whim! She's married to a very successful and fashionable local organic butcher who rears and slaughters his own meat now

I like Sebastian as a name too, we thought of it for both DS1, when DH vetoed it immediately, and then for DS2 when he liked it more, but then the older 2 had very short 2 syllable names which we like and wanted to stick with that length, plus locally Sebastian is always shortened to Basti which I don't like...

I can hear DH snoring very, very loudly from 2 floors up, which is putting me off going to bed slightly - I stayed up to answer some emails and the snoring started 5 mins after he went up...

Nuttella I am aware the count down to baby arriving is getting urgent and I haven't posted you or cake anything, I am struggling to keep up with normal life atm tbh no real excused beyond hurting my back and living with a toddler who is mostly awake, and the normal hectic bustle and laundry mountain associated with 3 small kids and a husband who does nothing at all in the house, and the bit of evening work I do which requires child free preparation... I am a bit swamped with day to day and the boxes I started sorting haven't got any fuller... but I am aware I am sitting on my bum now and could be doing it (excuse now is DS1 is asleep in the room where the stuff is, and DS2 only just fallen asleep on the sofa next to me, and I really need to be in bed too, when the snoring subsides...) Must try harder though, and I will!

Hope you get some sleep soon English. Actually I had an East German boyfriend who always sat down too. He and his two elder brothers were brought up by their widowed mother who had to work as well as look after them, so they made sure they were perfectly clean!

Morning!
Funny how we all liked Sebastian but no-on used it. I agree english about not liking Basti - terrible name. My SIL's brother called their baby Leopold which is fine enough but I hope they dont nickname it Poldi - not sure whether I dislike Basti or Poldi more. Hope you got some sleep english and hope that dh of yours stopped snoring - he could be in the guiness book of world records if he's that loud!

linzer - whoo hoo on your dd's 1 in Maths. Maybe she just needed a new teacher to make it come alive. She must be really proud of herself .

witches - I only know one German man intimately enough to know what he does on the toilet and he's a sitter downer. Is this because he's East German? I've no idea. I found this so strange at first but its quite normal now. Ds1 has copied him but ds2 is defintiely a stander (and a sprayer ). Shocked at your spraying houseguest antique - that is beyond yuck from an adult. Really think your dh should say something to him.

jenny - glad you had a good birthday. Cant believe you've got snow already - doesnt seem 2 minutes since it was melting before the summer.

nutella - loved your cake obsessed post - thats what being pregnant is for! To eat cake with no guilt attached.

admylin - thanks for those website recommendations. Thankfully she's only got an English test this week - think her friends are using her as a study aid!

We booked our wee skiing trip last night - we're going cross country skiing again in the mountains an hour from us - just need to keep everythign crossed that we get some snow this year. But we're going back to the place we went the first year and the snow was a metre deep then so I'm remaining optimistic. There's also some downwhill in the next town so might organise the dc some lessons while we're there (and have a few runs myself).

Just time for a quick catch-up while I have a coffee break. Coffee definitely needed today as DH had another early flight to catch; his alarm went off at 5 am and it hardly seemed worth going back to sleep afterwards. Sadly forgot to ask DH about Austrian men's toilet habits before he left, so I have nothing interesting to report on that front.

Ploom I did think a couple of years ago that I should learn to ski, but have now decided that I'm definitely too old! Plus I don't like cold weather, exercise etc. and have a million and one other excuses. I do feel a bit left out in skiing conversations, however, as I can't contribute much more than "I went cross-country skiing once 20 years ago". (Our neighbours were having a discussion about skiing styles, different types of skis, etc. at the weekend.)

English I misread your post and wondered why you'd be posting cake to Nutella before her baby arrives! Although I had a real sweet tooth when I was pregnant with DD2, so wouldn't have complained if someone had posted me cake.

Jenny at you having snow already. Didn't you have it for months longer than us at the start of the year?

Jenny sorry I missed your birthday! Good to hear you had a nice time! I got books for my birthday and I was so excited to have some new books to read :)

Linzer so jealous of you having DVDs of HaveIGNFY to watch! Always so funny :) And very well done to your DD! I bet she is pleased as punch to have a surprise 1 :o

English honestly there is no pressure or rush to send us stuff, although if you have some cake lying around.... With your sore back and busy schedule I'd rather you have a lay down and a nice than go rummaging through boxes!!

Ploom thanks for the guilt free cake advice - oh and do you have self raising flour? is there such a thing in Germany? I just use plain flour (have found 405 works well) and add baking powder... I thought 550 was more for bread

The bean has been crazy active lately! Even the midwife at the Geburtsvorbereitungskurs (sp?) last night had a feel because he wouldn't give me any peace and I obviously kept pulling faces... of course as soon as anyone lays a hand on bump - DP is the only exception- it's lights out and snooooze in there!

DP also didn't help last night by pointing out the fact that he not only has a big head but also big broad shoulders (if only I didn't love that "rugby player" shape so much ) so now I'm starting to worry!

Witches have you seen ecoballs for sale in Germany? I've seen them and used them, nifty little things, in the UK but haven't seen them here. Was also a little last night to hear washable nappies not being recommended by midwife.... apparently there used to be a nappy exchange scheme but it no longer exists and that the difference environmentally speaking is in favour of disposables . I thought it was a rather fine line, but that it also depends on washing method etc. Ah well... I will keep looking into it but I think at least the first few weeks/months will be disposables while DP and I are busy trying to figure out which way is up :o

But thanks for general washing advice!!! - I mean detergent... if someone wanders on here now they'll be a bit at me needing washing advice.... I better go... my posts are becoming massive!

Hello everyone. This thread is so busy it´s taken me 2 days to catch up and finally find time to post.

We had a lovely holiday - much better than we expected. A lovely hotel with great food and got back here to the added bonus of blue skies and sunshine.

Happy belated birthday jenny. I´m always really excited about the first snow of the year, but the novelty soon wears off.

Linzer Well done to your dd, she must be so proud of herself. Watch out or you´ll be turning into an einser mama before you know it .

nutella I think it´s recommended not to use fabric conditioner if you suffer from eczema, but other than that I´m afraid I don´t know.

Dh is a sitter downer and gets more annoyed than me if we have visitors who spray. He even wanted to put a sign up telling people to sit, but I thought that was a step to far.

Sorry to anyone I´ve forgotten. I´ve finally found time to post and have forgotten half of what I read yesterday.

hupa at your DH putting a sign up. Glad you enjoyed your holiday; it must be nice to get away at this time of year. I really feel in need of a break - and slightly sunnier climes - at the moment. (Oh, and please warn me if I show the slightest sign of turning into an Einser-Mama! I'd never mention DD2's grades as she's never had any problems at school, but a 1 is a huge achievement for DD1.)

Nutella I've just had a look through the DVDs I've finished with but unfortunately there aren't any with HIGNFY on them. Maybe someone else has some though, if you'd like any? My DVDs do the rounds of the thread, starting off with Ploom, then admylin and I think Antique has also had a few. They're probably all rather out of date now, but I still find HIGNFY very funny.
(Btw do you still want me to send you some DVDs Ploom or have you got enough to watch now that you've discovered the filmon website? I have a few that I could send you, or anyone else who's interested.)

Nutella I have a batch of Linzer's dvds with some HIGNFY on. If you want to PM me your details I'd be happy to post them on to you.

Our guest is leaving in an hour or so. I mentioned the toilet lid issue to DH last night and said he'd noticed too but didn't know whether to say anything. In the end we both dithered for so long that it hardly seems worth it now he's going.
(To add to the survey - DH is a sitter-downer :) )

Hello to everyone! Just having my last sachet of Cadbury's hot chocolate while DS naps. Mmmmmmm!

Antique I will definitely be sending you a PM! :) Thank you!! At least I'll have a really good excuse to lounge in front of the telly soon + mat leave = super fantasticness!! :o
I always pick up green & black's cocoa (can't explain why but find it more chocolatey than most other cocoa powder ... cake and chocolate obsessed) in England and have been in a hot chocolate mood lately... also really fancy rice pudding... might make some tonight since DP is away in Nürnberg for the night...

Hupa at DP's oldest brother's house they actually have a sign stuck to the flush button of the guest toilet giving the instruction to sit... I wonder if BIL or SIL put it up....

DP sits because he says when he lived on his own or with other guys cleaning the toilet when one of you don't sit was just too disgusting - I'm not complaining :) I'll do a survey this weekend (visiting lots of friends in Nürnberg) and let you know next week.. I hope someone is keeping a spreadsheet so we can scientifically judge this later. :o

I told an american teacher at work today that I only have another 9 weeks to go and he seemed really that I could still work... He was nice though and did the expected ask about names etc.

I just have the one sachet of cadbury's left too antique!

Glad you had a lovely holiday hupa. Still trying to persuade dh to go somewhere sunny over Thanksgiving week.

If anyone is missing HIGNIFY then I can recommend the news quiz on radio 4's Friday night comedy. It broadcasts at 6.30 in the UK but I obviously download it from iplayer. Very funny. Love the Now Show too with Hugh Dennis from Outnumbered.

Very exciting about the ski trip ploom! Whereabouts are you going? I must book dd and ds1's skiing lessons soon, before the Saturday classes are full up.

Nutella, I must have missed when you joined. Are you teaching in Germany? Is your dp German? Is this your first baby? So exciting!

Your MIL sounds slightly nuts English!

Hope you have made it through the day Linzer. Dh had to get up v early Sunday morning to take next door and his Mum to the airport. She doesn't speak any English so he was flying with her to SFO to get the flight back to China. Felt slightly fuzzy all day.

Am going to volunteer in dd's school this morning. Have put ds2 into the same daycare as ds1 one morning a week so I can do this, which I do feel guilty about. It is just a few hours though. Ho-hum.

Have a good evening, everyone!

Have just got the DC off to bed so am about to start work for the evening, although I suspect I'll be flagging in an hour or two. Or possibly in around half an hour...

Jenny Friday night comedy on Radio 4 is great, isn't it? DH and I often listen to it in the car if we're going on a longish journey - well, we try and listen, but no matter how quiet and well-behaved the DC are beforehand, they usually end up arguing noisily as soon I put a podcast on. We often used to go and watch the News Quiz being recorded when we lived in London, as we lived just round the corner from the BBC recording studios.

Nutella It's surprising that an American would be as I would have thought they'd have less maternity leave than the Germans. A friend of mine who lived in the USA only had six weeks off after her DS was born, although she persuaded her boss to let her work from home for the next six weeks as well.

Antique We had a male visitor once who was worse than your visitor - even DH noticed. I won't go into detail, however, in case anyone is eating!

Was also going to say that you really shouldn't feel guilty, Jenny - I'm sure your DS will have a great time and, like you say, it's only for a couple of hours a week.

One of the nurses at our GP practice had two weeks off after having her baby and that was all her vacation time for the year. I couldn't believe that a medical practice could be so stingy with its staff. I think her dh looked after the baby. Hope you managed to get some work done Linzer!

Morning all.
jenny don't feel guilty about your ds, I'm sure your dd will love having you at school and your ds will have a great time. From my short visit in Texas I got the impression that the childcare was great and the dc somehow more looked after than here in Germany.

At dd's kindergarden they used the technique of learning by doing but that also meant that they refused to help a crying toddler to put her slippers on - she knows fine well that she can do it she's just being lazy or served up a dry crust from breakfast at lunch time because he took it so he has to finish it all.

nutella maternity leave is great, enjoy your last few weeks of sleeping when you want to! Have you found a cot yet?

I can imagine dd and I going vegan but the 2 men in the house won't even consider going vegetarian. Dd has started looking at cosmetic alternatives too. Quite difficult to know which ones are 'safe' so she's researching. She reckons Lush advertise as being OK but their prices are so high in Germany (much higher than in UK). Anyway, she's bought herself some soap and shower stuff with her birthday money!

Got ds's indoor trainers yesterday, size 44! He's 14 and a half so I'm thinking he might stay at that shoe size for quite a while? I know I had my adult shoe size 39 when I was 15 so live in hope!

Morning,

I finally got my work finished just before midnight (a late night for me) and really didn't want to get up this morning, but a run with my neighbour has just woken me up. How can almost half the morning be gone already, though?

Jenny at the nurse only having two weeks off!

admylin I started buying cruelty-free cosmetics when I was about your DD's age (which was when I became a vegetarian as well); I don't know what's happened to my principles over the years. It's so much easier and cheaper to buy cruelty-free products in the UK. Having said that, M&S don't test on animals any more and you can buy their cosmetics online - they're fairly reasonably priced and I think they even have 10% off at the moment.

linzer how do you manage to stay awake so late?! Have you had alot of extra work recently? Thanks for the tip. I will tell dd to have a look on the website.

Latest job offer that dh found is in Houston. I really don't want to live there (it's far too humid and hot) but he's applying anyway. Anything to have the chance of a permanent position.

Did your DH hear anything about the job in Graz, admylin?

Once I'm on the computer I'm OK, but I really have to force myself to go upstairs and start work in the evening. Then I tend to wake up at around 11pm/midnight and really have to force myself to go to bed, as I know I'll just feel awful in the morning otherwise. Work has been really busy recently so I've been working quite a bit in the evenings and at weekends - it's either that or I have nothing at all to do; there never seems to be a happy medium. I think I've earned more in the last month than in the previous six months put together.

No, I think the applications are open until some time in November for Graz. He just got turned down for one in Australia (thank goodness - think of the massive spiders over there) which he was abit fed up about. Two of his colleagues have got jobs over there at the moment and love it - one of them actually studies spider venom and goes out into the bush to collect it I shudder at the thought of it.

The Houston application doesn't have to be in before December. I'm still living in hope that he gets an offer for the one in Canada that is still open.

You'll be able to enjoy spending all the money you've earned on the past few weeks atleast!

admylin!! I love Australia; although I'm not sure I'd want to live there forever. My Mum actually lived in a relative bush area in Western Australia for two years and she went on a first aid course but it was mostly explanations and pictures of what was venomous and what to do if you saw it. I realise that doesn't help at all with your spider problem... [hhmm] sorry...
I use Liz Earle products - not because they are totally non animal tested - but because they are fab and seem to keep my eczema in check.. until pregnant. But I don't think they're vegan.

I have an american friend here Linzer so I know that in the states maternity leave is rather non-existent, which was also why this guys comments seemed odd. But I think it also made the whole pregnancy imminent baby thing suddenly feel much more real [hconfused]
But jenny 2 weeks that is not long enough! My Mum said she was back at work after 10 days after me but she was working from home as a child minder so it's not so extreme...

Hi Jenny [hsmile] I joined the thread a couple of months ago- Yes I work as a teacher in Germany but I can't always say that what I do is teaching (yesterday z.B was haaaard work!) My DP is German - I met him in New Zealand... as you do [hwink] and yes this is my first baby. Yes it is exciting and in equal amounts terrifying!

Nutella I started working again when the DC were about 4-5 weeks old but only on a very part-time basis and from home. There's no way I could imagine going back into a full-time job outside the house after 6 weeks. Actually, I can't imagine doing so even now; I've got too used to being my own boss and to working part-time!

admylin I wouldn't fancy Australia either, but mainly because it's just such a distance from all our family and friends here. A friend of mine is in Canada and I always thought it sounded like a wonderful place to live, but he's moving back because they find the winters too harsh (am sure it depends whereabouts in Canada you are, though). Where's the job that your DH has applied for?

Just the quickest of fly by's from me as I am in my lunchbreak.

Baerlauch is wild garlic.

If you are after non mainstream cosmetics ( ie organic, vegetarian, etc) you could try a Reformhaus rather than a Drogerie or Apotheke. Not sure about vegan products but I remember the selection as excellent (admittedly goes back a long time). They may not do the fancy logos on the packaging, so it might be worthwhile to check the small print. Reformhaus used to be great for giving out samples, too. They may also help with advice re washing powder, etc for sensitive skin/eczema. There must also be Vegan websites in German where you might get better advice.

Good luck Nutella and enjoy the mat leave. Don't rush around to the last minute if you can help it; I scheduled a nap in the late afternoon or a quick lie down for 10 minutes or so and it made such a difference to me. Rather than being knackered and ready for bed by 8pm I would last another hour or two and have energy to cook and clean. I worked full time up to Christmas with my first and gave birth early Jan, so definitively needed the rest.

on my lunchbreak even.... so wish there was a facility to correct ...