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

Sorry bienchen I've been with German car insurance since I got my first car here in Germany. Hope the move went well.

Just sent a job application off to Hamburg for dh using his e-mail account and noticed an e-mail announcing the department are doing a Christmas Kekse backen get together using the professor's kitchen and ordering pizza afterwards. I wonder if dh will want to go to that?!

we're back from the Kinderarzt - he wasnt too bad today but whether thats because I went in saying I wouldnt normally bring a dc with a cold but its not improving. He said her lungs are clear but her throat looks a bit red so he prescribed her something which the Apotheke then didnt have . So have to pick it up later. Glad I went to the doc tho - didnt want it lingering over the weekend.
admylin - I'm really happy with our normal Hausarzt so dont plan to go back to the Kinderarzt (and the dc are very rarely poorly anyway). Just typical he was off this week.

bienchen - glad your move went ok. I had a lot of NCD when we moved here - think 9 years and we went with Allianz and they honoured all the full years NCD that I had. They just needed to see the proof obviously. We dont have car insurance with them anymore as dh found a cheaper one but they were really helpful in getting my first insurance in Germany.

admylin - she sounds like a complete bitch to work for. Really hope your dh finds another job soon.

linzer - I havent even started my Christmas shopping . Maybe I should have a look at that thread.

admylin can't believe the callousness of your DH's boss. I would look for another job asap as well if it was me but I appreciate it is a major upheaval for everyone for the family. Looks like the Hamburg crowd are friendly and fingers crossed for the application. Nobody deserves to be taken advantage of repeatedly.

ploom good news re DD. Would have done the same and taken before the weekend. You probably find that DD responds quickly to meds and then wonder what all the fuss was about but it is so much better to have them checked over and treated if necessary rather than relying on out of hours service.

oh and thanks ploom re Allianz (known to me as the "teure Apotheke aller Versicherungen". Have made an appointment with the local agent for Thursday to go over requirements. It will deffo be better to do this face to face to ensure that paperwork meets their requirements than do online aqnd then find out later they won't accept this or that.

My biggest frustration yesterday was the application for Kindergeld. The Familienkasse has given me some very strange paperwork to send off to England to ensure we no longer claim. Not sure what Inland Revenue will make of it since I struuggled to understand it. Must have to do with the fact that KG is means tested in Germany but (not yet) in the UK. I think it will take months to get processed but we might get a nice lump sum in time for Easter.

Ploom I´m glad you´ve got things sorted with the doctor.

Bienchn I´m afraid I can´t be much help with the insurance other than to say my car is insured with DA Direkt and I´ve never had any problems with them.

admylin I´m beginning to think that ds will never be finished with speech therapy. He used to be completely unintelligible and has made enormous improvements, but I think when people don´t know him they still struggle to understand him. He´s also got huge problems with his grammmar. Mind you he´s quite bright so is doing well at school, but he´s only in the 2. Klasse, so I think the problems will become more apparent when he has to do a bit more writing.

Before I forget, I was in TK Maxx in Kassel this week and they had lots of Christmas cards and crackers in stock, so it might be worth poppng in if anyone´s got one near to them. For those new to Germany, it´s important to buy standard rectangular cards or you end up paying more in postage than the cards cost as I´ve found out in the past.

admylin I am simply aghast at how your dh is treated by his boss. I'll cross my fingers as well that he finds a much better job soon.

linzer and hupa we love Bond films here and have seen all of them many times. Neither of us want to see Skyfall in German though, so we're hoping it might still be in the cinema when we go to the UK around New Year time - is that at all likely???

ploom did you get to the dr with dd? Hope she feels better soon.

bienchen I think we're also insured with Allianz. At least you know there's a precedent for taking ncd with you if ploom managed to sort it out. Hope you find your feet soon.

I've also been reading the Xmas threads, although I got way too distracted by the "is it ott to spend 700 quid on a 3 yo" thread . I'm completely torn atm between wanting dd to have a proper British Xmas with a stocking full of small items and a tree present as well and feeling that she doesn't need much for Xmas as there's nothing she has really asked for. The only thing she's actually requested is an eggtimer with a plastic lion on to time teethbrushing (there's obviously one at kiga). I haven't found one on Amazon, but there's a huge choice of other ones, so hopefully she won't mind if it has a frog, or a ladybird, or a princess instead of a lion .

Do/have your dc have/had an chalkboard/magnetic/painting easel and has it been used enough to justify having it standing around? I'm thinking that it might be a reasonably cheap and practical "big" present, either that or a wendy house/play tent...

sorry, big x-post as some guests arrived just before i'd finished writing what I wanted to say.

bienchen Kindergeld means tested? I thought everyone got the same - we get 184? for one child (we actually repay it as we earn over the limit, but it's still faithfully transferred into my account each month).

ploom sorry, didn't x-post with you, obviously just didn't read very carefully.

cheaspicks We had an easel that I think we bought in IKEA. DD used it loads for a good few years and ds hardly touched it. I think if your dd likes drawing/painting etc. it would be a really good present.

cheas We have an easel and it still gets used quite a lot - mainly by DD2 or when friends come to visit. DD2 has a magnetic calendar on one side of it and changes the date every day as well as a magnetic "learn to tell the time" clock (saves cluttering up the already cluttered fridge!). The DC don't draw on it as much as they used to, but it did come in very handy when I was teaching English. It's also invaluable when the DC want to play school (mainly something that DD2 does when she has a friend over).

hupa Yes, I was caught out by the square cards thing too when we were in Germany - it cost me 9 DM to send a square card to Japan! Luckily they don't seem to be as fussy about the shape of the card here. I've heard they're not popular with the post office as the machine doesn't know where to frank the stamp and we do often get unfranked stamps on square cards.

Re Kindergeld (this will be my last post, honestly), my friend in Germany told me she gets just under ?400 a month for her two DC so that would fit in with your ?184 per month per child cheas.

cheas my dc had one (easel with one side chalk board and one side magnet/white board) and they both used it alot. I bought them a big roll of paper and paints and these brushes from jako-o to go with it and the set of magnet letters and numbers were used alot too.

bienchen we spent a few months living in the UK and when I came back to Germany I had to send a form off to the child benefit place to get proof that I didn't get UK child benefits. I'd never had any and wasn't even in their system so it took them ages to reply (must have confused them) then as soon as I got that form back I got Kindergeld. Is that what you mean?

hupa I saw the cards and crackers last time I was in TK Max. Better think about starting soon or everything will be sold out like last year!. Is it just me or is everything starting so much earlier than it used to? I'm sure I never even heard Christmas mentioned before the end of November in the good old days or is my memory going? You practically have to start in October now or you won't get anything you want!

We just went to dd's dyslexia lesson but no one opened the door to let us in and no one was going in or out so she must be ill and forgot to let us know. We went for a wander in Rossmann instead and dd has bought her first couple of bits of eye make-up (mascara and eye-liner)! I know she's been wanting to try it for ages and we got the Rossmann brand that doesn't test on animals (alterra I think), they have a small but nice selection and aren't too expensive.

Linzer I think KG is slightly more for a second child, but it could still work out at just under 400? for two kids. You never know though here whether these things are different from Bundesland to Bundesland...

hupa, admylin, linzer thanks for sharing your thoughts about the easel. DD does a bit of drawing, but isn't obsessively keen (yet). I think she would use the magnetic side quite a bit since she likes playing with magnetic letters and our fridge door isn't magnetic (well, it is, but covered by a cupboard door). She would probably use a blackboard as well, since drawing with chalk is something a bit different - she loves drawing on the road. She's also starting to try to write - manages a recognisable m - but since discovering she can type she's less interested in trying to write .

Well, I'm probably the least qualified person to comment as I have the fewest German connections on the thread and maybe my friend said just over ?400, but I thought it was just under. I've also realised that I was confusing Kindergeld with Kinderbetreuungsgeld here, which is only up to the age of 2.5 or 3 - not that it makes any difference to my post. Child benefit only increases for the third child here but I have no idea about Germany. Do I win today's prize for least helpful post?

cheas we have had 2 indoor Wendy Houses/ play tents and they are cr@p! Well they are very exciting the first day but start to collapse/ kids remove polls etc - they only last intact a week max (but that could just be in our house - maybe if just your DD plays with it she'll be more careful, but if she has a friend or 2 around odds are high on them wrecking it!) Easels on the other hand are much more practical - MIL gave the kids one a couple of years ago and all 3 use it (it's just a chalk board, not reversale, she paid a couple of ? for it at a floh Markt but the chalk board itself is magnetic. It's used mainly for chalking on, playing schools, drawing, writing announcements (DD), DD teaching DH to write... Henry uses it too.

I didn't know Kindergeld had to be paid back if you earn a certain amount, I am pretty sure that isn't the case here....

On that note DS2 has wandered over requesting "Change" - and he is rather smelly! Off I go...

admylin I can't imagine DD1 being interested in make-up, although some of the girls in her class started wearing it at primary school. She also said that she's seen some of the older girls (so 13/14) at school using hair straighteners in the toilets!

I managed to get a few bargain Christmas presents from the Body Shop, but from the UK website - the Austrian one is like most Austrian retailers, useless so much more expensive and they never have any decent offers. The UK site has a good outlet section (got some 5 pound shower gels for a pound each) but I've just had a look at the Best Deal - reduzierte Produkte section of the Austrian site and it contains one single product!

Linzer DD typed a reply to your DD but then managed to press something which closed the entire internet browser before pressing send, and of course the reply was gone when we re-opened the browser, so she flounced :o She has assured me she just "needs a rest" and will write it again tomorrow (with me staying beside her this time) and actually send it! :o

My DD would probably wear make up now if I let her (age 7) but it would be in the spirit of dressing up/ pretend play/ theatricality rather than attracting boys obviously! She has asked several times at what age she will be allowed to straighten her hair - she does have very fine, wavy hair that can look a little wild and unkempt/ slightly like a light brown dandelion clock except the day after it's washed (when it does into ringlet curls, but they don't last). A lot of her friends are the ramrod straight haired very, very blond type so she does stand out a bit I guess... still I won't be buying her hair straighteners for a lot of years - apart from anything they are pretty dangerous unless supervised, I can imagine her leaving them on and stepping on them in bare feet/ burning the house down!

Oh, meant to say - nope, DS2 didn't sleep through last night, nowhere near, in fact I ended up with him from about 11pm on... so just taunting me then as Ploom said! :o In his defence he does have all 4 canines coming through, I saw this morning! Cheas I look forward to when he has the degree of rationality to point out it makes me sad if I don't get to sleep all night - once he can I will (gently) lay down the law, but its impossible to do that with an 18 month old, as although he has a reasonable vocabulary and is pretty talkative, he certainly doesn't have "emotion vocabulary" - a typical "sentence "is "Go outside ball, Comeon?" to indicate he'd like to go out and play football, or "Please a get down" to get out of bed or the car, rather than talking about how he feels, and his replies to questions are single words, most often yes or no or the name of what he wants!

sorry to read about sick children, sore tummies and little ones who sleep through one night only.

Bienchen - I moved here over three years ago and am still traumatised by the paper work involved in the move. Hope it all gets sorted soon...

admylin- the way your dh is treated is shocking. I think he should go to the kekse baking party, slip some laxative in the dough, and then suddenly have to leave due to a "family emergency" before they are ready...

Interesting to read about musical instruments and how far to remind or nag or not nag, or encourage. DD1 is good at practising without a reminder. dd2 needs a nudge...sometimes the nudge is that she can play to me as I cook dinner, sometimes just the fact that dd1 says she will play sets up the competitive scenario and the fight over who can play where (favourite spot is our bedroom on our bed).

Can someone please point me to that christmas thread? I am the worst christmas present buyer, esp for my family abroad. I still have the presents from last Christmas somewhere in the house. But when i visited in September I thought I would take them with me, looked for them and could not find them. Disaster.

Linzer - there is no TK Maxx in Austria is there? One day I shall make it to the new Primark in the north of Vienna. Never been to one so curious to see what that is about. Thanks for the vegan cheese at Merkur tip - got some yesterday, and about to make some vegan lasagna WITH cheese.

The DC normally have swimming lessons on Saturday, but two are coughing and sniffing so we are not going today. Apparently there is a monster flu going round, and then a strange one that causes no fever but sore throat and exhaustion - I know we are far away, but i wonder if that is what your dd has ploom?

Off to do some tasks. Most procrastinated one is putting away the fans, which are still standing about.

ah, I know what I wanted to ask. Does the word "pedagogue" sound strange? It is used at work..."our organisation has a pedagogue who helps local children..." and it sounds a bit funny to me, but maybe because I do not work in that field? I am also sure that in a few years I will no longer be able to speak English. The other day the sentence (in English): "what is that then for a lorry?" came out of my mouth .

Morning!!
platanos - sorry that your dc are coughing this morning too. That virus sounds like what dd has and she's very generously passed on the cough and sore throat to me (altho thankfully I dont have the exhaustion). I dont feel even slightly unwell - very strange. I have heard that word "pedagogue" but not spelt that way - isnt it a type of education? But in your sentence it sounds like its a person? Sorry that was no help.

hupa - thanks for the TK maxx tip - there's one in the town where cheas and I are going shopping on Thursday so we'll definitely go there.

cheas - isnt it funny how all dc are different. english's dc werent bothered by a play tent but my dc (even dd) will still play with our ikea play tent that we bought when she was 18 months old! We later bought another set from Aldi that was a tent, tunnel and teepee and the tunnel from that was the biggest hit ever (whereas the tent from there and the teepee were a nightmare to set up). The one from ikea has lasted really well and is really simple to assemble. dd used to eat her tea in it in the summer when she was about your dd's age surrounded by her cuddly toys. My dc never had an easel but had a laptop size thing that was a chalkboard on one side and an Etch-a-sketch on the other - they never used the chalkboard side so much but that is maybe cause they're all not big drawers. Your dd seemed enthused about drawing at that spielplatz we went to so maybe it would be a good present.

oh english - I'm sorry he didnt do a repeat performance of sleeping thro. I agree its a hard age to lay down the law - they just dont have enough understanding. But he'll soon get the hint - his siblings sleep thro so I'm sure he will too.

admylin - I think your dd's at a fair enough age to start gently wearing make up sometimes. We're not that far yet although she's had shocking colours of nail varnish going on for a while now. I have to admit that she asked me and I agreed to straighten the random wavy bit at the front of her hair . She's got a slight wave in her hair but this bit of sweepy fringe at the front goes like Farrah Fawcet! So I ran my straighteners over it - it took 30 seconds and she was happy till the next time she washed her hair. And it does look so much better after. But she knows that is the limit just now for straighteners - and think she's happy with that.

So the boys have their first handball tournament tomorrow - we've to meet at 8.45 - way too early on a sunday morning! I take it this is the start of it - they're doing handball, football and tennis every week so I think I could spend my life at matches.

Hope you all have a good weekend .

linzer how was the meal? Did you have a good vegetarian choice for once?
I was the same as you, couldn't ever imagine dd being into clothes and make up. Well, from age 7 to 12 she wasn't (before age 7 she was into pink, Barbies, Winx fairies etc then she turned into a vampire over night at about age 7) and since she's turned 13 I've seen her stand infront of the make-up shelves in DM and Rossmann for ages thinking about it and looking at everything and yesterday she took her pocket money and proudly bought her own!

platanos I'm abit like you with the preparation for Christmas. What have you sent home to parents in the UK before? I'm stuck this year. I have no idea and am tempted to send money and tell them to get some wine as they send us money and tell the dc to get their own present, just for me the best part of Christmas is getting people presents and sending money is abit like 'can't be bothered'.
If you make it to Primark the pyjama sets for adults and dc are great (and cheap) and they seem to have some nice clothes for children.

ploom hope you don't get too ill with this virus and it doesn't make the rounds of the whole family.
I still can't get over the pupils wearing so much make-up and nail varnish at school!. We'd have been sent home in disgrace if we turned up with make-up on. I remember a girl being suspended for dying her hair red, they wouldn't bat an eyelid here!

english hair straighteners will be a good Christmas present for your dd in about 5 years time then! Curls or waves are so lovely though I'm one of those cursed with ramrod straight hair so I love curls. Hope your ds slept abit longer last night.

We had a really nice meal out, thanks admylin. There was lots of choice for vegetarians; I had vegetable biryani and also ordered malai kofta and navratan korma to take away - our freezer is now fully stocked with Indian food, which should keep us going for a few weekends!

DD2 is actually more into make-up (well, only really nail polish atm) and clothes than DD1 is so I can see her being interested in make-up once she reaches your DD's age, but just can't imagine it with DD1 somehow. I'm sure peer pressure will get to her eventually, though!

Ploom Was going to say sorry you're not feeling well but have just reread your post and realised you're feeling OK; hopefully you've just come down with a mild version of what your DD had.

I think I was more shocked by the fact that the girls DD1 saw were actually taking straighteners into school than the fact that they were using them at all (surely it would be easier to use them at home?!). I did try straighteners on DD2 once as, although her hair is very straight, it can get a bit frizzy at the back and I find using straighteners on my hair makes it less frizzy - they didn't seem to make any difference to her hair, though.

platanos No, I've never come across TK Maxx here and didn't know there's a Primark either - shall have to investigate! I always thought their clothes were supposed to fall apart after a couple of washes (have never been there), but DS has some Primark pyjamas passed on from a friend and they're actually quite good quality (and lovely and soft, so he really likes them).

The Christmas bargain threads I've been reading are here and here, although I think there were earlier ones too. Everything I've bought I've had sent to my parents' address as we'll be there for Christmas plus postage is cheaper, but I think quite a few of the websites recommended ship to Austria.

Re pedagogues, I remember our old primary school teacher calling himself a pedagogue but I wouldn't use it personally! It looks too much like a translated term and is used far less frequently than Pädagoge. You sometimes see "educationalist", although that doesn't sound great in most contexts either. Very often, I find I can get away with translating it as "teacher" as the word seems to have a less strict definition than "Lehrer" in German.

English DD2 was out for most of yesterday afternoon and overnight, so no worries about the PM (I know how frustrated I feel when I lose a post and can rarely be bothered to rewrite it). She was very excited to get your DD's message this morning, anyway.

english yes, I realise you can't reason with an 18 mo like you can with a 3.5yo. I was just trying to sympathise and I sincerely hope that your ds2 starts sleeping through consistently much earlier than dd has - even last night she came wandering through shortly after midnight asking for a drink...

I'm actually wondering whether to leave dd with her gps for the weekend and go to Berlin with dh in a couple of weeks. The main thing stopping me is the worry that it might cause yet another sleep regression . Either that, or she'll ask to sleep at Omi's every weekend after that!

linzer does your indian restaurant make mulai kofta out of potato/egg/cheese sort of mixture? I've got a recipe that seems to involve courgettes and chickpea flour, but the restaurant ones are more like an indian interpretation of Klöße - is of course very appropriate round here, but I would be interested to know which is more authentic.

admylin dd is probably going to get a hairbrush in her stocking. Hopefully it will be a long, looong time before she starts asking for straighteners...

platanos I agree that pedagogue sounds really odd in everyday English. I don't think I had ever come across it before moving here - have a vague recollection of being pleased with myself for understanding it when I first came across it in German (I think paedagogical approach is probably sometimes used in English - but I may be wrong). I guess teacher, instructor or possibly lecturer would probably cover all options in English - I usually refer to dd's Erzieherin as her "teacher" for example, but maybe I should be using "key worker" .

ploom well maybe dd could get both an easel and a tent, since my sister might appreciate a tip for what to get (these things are not expensive, are they?) I loved my wendy house as a child and dd was very taken with a solid plastic playhouse we saw in John Lewis last time in the UK. I don't think dd is the sort to semi-accidentally fall onto a tent and destroy it, english, but it's something to bear in mind when choosing one that will last!

cheas Yes, the malai kofta are quite dumpling-like - I've just checked the restaurant's website and it describes them as Kartoffel-Käsebällchen. I don't know how authentic they are but they seem to be made in the same way/from the same ingredients in all the Indian restaurants I've been to here.

The DC had a plastic playhouse which we've only just got rid of; it was very solid and sturdy, although not cheap. We mainly had it out in the garden although it was indoors for a while when we lived in a flat. We definitely got our money's worth from it, although I don't think anything less solid would have survived as long (small parts of it didn't, visiting boys usually being the worst offenders!).

Morning!
Linzer I went out for a curry a week or two back and I've decided it's probably best to wait until post pregnancy before I eat lentils again sorry TMI! The curry we had was good but I have just come across another couple of recommendations so hopefully I can persuade DP to a meal out again soon :)

Anyone know how to motivate a DP into playing with furniture and getting it finished and fixed to the walls?