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

Good luck world. Hope it goes ok.

Hi cake - nice to "see" you again . How's the restaurant getting on? Did you have your craft afternoon? Will keep my fingers crossed for a warm weekend and start to October to keep the punters coming in!

ha ha linzer at my faux devastation. Not sure how its going to work but the classes are on top of one another so popping in and out seems like a good plan. I quite like &respect my FA - as much as you can like a FA- but when I get round to having the gynae surgery I need I wont be going to him - will be going to the nearest big University clinic for hopefully the best care. Think you've got a good thing if its a friend that you go to (or is there a higher embarrassment factor?).

world as in, life moves so quickly, the thread moves on and suddenly I haven't posted in ages! Don't know what happened :)

Hi Ploom, our craft event is on the 7th October. I'm currently trying to find two more stallholders, which is a bigger pain than you would think! People don't want to sell their stuff!!

We could do with some good weather in October - the last 2 or 3 weeks have been dead and we've got lots of bills to pay as usual

On a happy note, I have been asked to be a bridesmaid for my friend's wedding :) It'll be good motivation to lose my baby weight as baby comes at Christmas and she's getting married in June...

world That must have been quite a scary experience on the bus. Hope it all goes OK at court.

Cake Hello again! I was wondering where you were when we were talking about Wales a day or two ago. Exciting news about the wedding.

Ploom Do you know when you'll be having the surgery? It felt a bit weird the first time I went to see my friend but it's fine now and not really too embarrassing, although (possibly TMI alert) it can feel a little strange discussing things like libido when we both know each other's DHs.

I've not had any comments about underdressing DS, but one woman did tell me children should not be dressed in green! Huh? Any idea what that was about?

Vegans How strange!

Linzer I was really lucky and found a FA I like straight off here. She's actually American and I'm not sure whether that helped to put me at ease a bit more. She doesn't do stool/blood/urine tests as part of the normal check-up either. I think I only had blood and urine the first time I went and then during pregnancy.

cake Good luck with the craft event! I hope you manage to find two more stallholders. Congratulations on being your friend's bridesmaid :)

Ploom Glad you had a nice breakfast! Hope the parents evenings go ok and that you don't have to do too much flitting about.

world Good luck in court! That sounds a little scary.

Bienchen That's a good phrase! I'll have to try and remember that next time (especially now I'M brave enough to argue back!)

nutella Love the post-it note happy slapping idea!

Weid weather today, can't decide whether it is going to clear up or start thundering again, so I think staying in with a cup of tea is the way forward.

Antique it's definitely a stay in with cup of tea day here too! Although I just went out to drop ds off at table tennis and he turne dup back at home 15 minutes later as it was cancelled and no one had thought to tell all the boys (atleast they all turned up and it wasn't a case of ds being the only one who hadn't got the message/listened last time)!

Vegans do you think the green clothing complaint could have been lost in translation?

cakebump I thought you must have bene busy at the restaurant and no time for mn or something! How is the baking going? where did you learn to bake? I do some baking but I don't know if 100% of it would be worthy of selling in a restaurant!

ploom well done and you have my admiration for even thinking of going to both meetings! My head can't take more than one parents meeting so if they coincide I decide which is the realyl reallymost important and send a note in or ask another parent to excuse me at the other.

bienchen how scary that the dog didn't get on with your dd. Good that you noticed on time and could rehome your dog with someone you chose and knew.

nutella dd's hockey teacher told her he got his dog at a special farm that takes rescue and tierheim dogs so they can have a better life before finding a new home, now she's wondering where it is! I think you're doing it the best way, a leihund is great! Now dd needs a friend who occasionaly needs a dogsitter!

A big wave to everyone else, can't keep up - it's so busy here at the moment isn't it?

admylin I don't know what it's like at secondary school, but I find that 75% of the things covered at the primary school parents' evenings seem to be the same in every class so (theoretically) you don't need to go to more than one - which I've masochistically done for the last two years.

Antique I would have jumped at the chance to go to an American gynae (or ob-gyn, I suppose I should say) if we had any native speaker doctors here; I'm sure there are some in Vienna, but we don't get many out here in the sticks. (English native speakers at all, let alone doctors.)

Vegans I've never heard of children not supposed to be dressed in green either; how strange.

Have just got the DC into bed so am now going to enjoy my last half hour of peace and quiet before DH gets home. Not that he's particularly noisy, I hasten to add. Or that we even have a huge amount of energy to talk to each other in the evenings. I struggle to be sociable after about 7 pm, so it's a good thing I rarely go out any more.

Bienchen as much as I would love a dog I've already decided it can wait until all children (we're starting with one... see how we go :) ) are beyond baby stage. I can't imagine trying to train a puppy and a LO I'm having enough trouble on my own without making life unnecessarily complicated :) although the Leihund is thankfully low maintenance! Which is also deceptive when it comes to pet ownership.... just don't let my DP know!

Linzer LOL at you being a masochist!

I like my FA, she is really nice and I know she explains things to me clearly so that I understand; of course it also means I can trust her which I really really appreciate. Never had a good Dr relationship in the UK, but then every time I went I tended to see a different person not sure that is really helpful in terms of patient care.

admylin maybe getting your DD a job helping out at a tierheim or similar would be helpful in staving off the "can we have a dog" questions (depending on how old she is)

I don't think it was a translation error, she spoke really good English. I'd seen her the day before in another part of town, it was a Saturday, and we were near a church, she asked me if I'd been to church in the morning, I said no, and she looked at me like I was going to hell! She was a bit strange, really, I found it hard to shake her off.
Haven't seen her since the green clothes incident, and that was months ago. I think it might be a religious thing, not wearing green?

Waving at everyone,

don't dress children in green? What's all that about? Strange!!! Why do people feel they can just barge in with all these unsolicited opinions, sometimes I think as soon you start to get visibly pregnant and and then most of your time as a parent, all these people come out of their holes with their unsolicited advice and opinions arrrrggggghhhhh

Being a witness wasn't as bad as I thought. The assailant looked completely different, all well dressed and different hair cut and so calm.
I thankfully didn't need to state publicly my full date of birth and only needed to say my current age, and they also did not make me so openly my address, which was very sensible I think.

Well his lawyer apologised for any fears and upset his client has caused and asked me if I would accept an apology and if it would be okay for his client to address me directly, which I accepted and then his client apologised for all the fright and upset and inconvenience etc.
And I wasn't even the victim who was physically assaulted and felt quite safe as I was sitting beside two strong men who also kept an eye on the "nutcase". But the young man he threatened and then attacked, I felt so sorry for.
Anyway, it was all okay and am glad it's over and really always hope not to be at the wrong time in the wrong place, those unfortunate events really could happen anytime anywhere...

world glad it is all over for you and wasn't as bad as expected, stillI can think of better ways to spend a day;)

vegans very odd comment re green clothing and certainly not common attitude. AFAIK muslims regard green as a special colour reserved for the prophet Mohammed, so maybe something that a strict muslim would adhere to but certainly not expect that from other religions.

admylin our friends used to look after our dog when we were travelling and could not take her along. They adored her and jumped at the chance to have her all the time (semi retired, living in the countryside, active lifestyle, no kids = perfect parents for her)

cakebump here people fall over themselves to have a stall and make some money. Wonder why...

We have been invited to the Laternenumug at DD future Kiga, have ordered a Laternenstab from Amazon. Apparently things have moved on from my childhood, we had real candles in paper lanterns /. Have not secured a lantern yet but have a cupboard full of chinese ones. Will I get away with a red one with some black lettering on?

world so glad you did not have your full personal details in public, would put anyone off to act as a witness I would have thought.

Vegan i have heard that green inside the house is meant to be unlucky - I think its a very old superstition (I bought lovely thick green carpets for throughout my first flat - they were lovely honest - and the carpet fitters admired it but said "lots of people won't have green in the house"... Never heard it applied to children's clothing though...

I have seen a few FA from the same practice, but not especially liked any of them, the one who I had for my last pregnancy made the apts seem largely pointless and failed to tell me things she should - the surgeon asked me if I'd decided to have a tubal litigation at the same time due to it being my 3rd section with poor scar condition, and although I wouldn't necessarily have chosen to if I had had more time to think about it, it should have been brought up earlier in my pre-natal care, not at the pre-op! Can't say I have any fondness or great respect for any of the FA I have seen - though like Linzer we have very limited choice as there is only one practice in the nearest large town, and I would feel too self indulgent taking up a large part of the day and arranging child care for after school etc. to travel into Munich to see a specific doctor if I wasn't actually ill...

Cake hope you're not over doing it - I haven't forgotten about the baby things, it is on my list for tomorrow or next week at the latest to sort through!

Exactly Bienchen I was really worried about that. He seemed like someone who doesn't have much to lose...and the police showed up while we were all in the bus and he continued with them as well and in the end they needed 4 people to restrain him and take him away. Today his lawyer added in his apology the explanation that his client was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine...
And it didn't take a day, only half an hour, but I had to go all the way to court and then drive back to work and make up some of my time, which is quite calm these past weeks, but from next month on I am again on different schedule and will do Aussendienst again for the next 10 weeks, so that will be quite stressful.

I also had real candles in my Laterne, loved it. Someone asked about real candles on the Weihnachtsbaum, yes some still have it, I never did, as I find it too dangerous and I want to be able to chill and don't want to worry about fires

As far as I know not wearing green has nothing to do with islamic religious practices.

Wow English I have never heard about this superstition?! How interesting, i actually love green and dressed my child in green as well, which she looked fabulous in and one day out of the blue she asked not buy any piece of green clothing anymore...and I obliged

How strange all these comments & superstitions about wearing green. We'd never have worn green as dc but thats because we werent Catholic and green was thought to be a Catholic colour !

bienchen - we had proper candles in the lanterns the first year we were here but then realised you could just buy those battery operated ones which seemed much safer (and very cheap). We've got quite a few lanterns in the cellar after 3 years of kiga.

aw cake - nice news about the wedding. I lost the weight really quickly after my first baby without really trying. Was back in my normal trousers after 2 weeks. Shame I didnt stay that thin all these years later .

linzer - hope you enjoyed your last few mins of peace. I was supposed to have gynae surgery even before we moved here but they said that after the op I wouldnt be allowed to lift the dc and they were still little at the time so put it off. But there wont be much longer before I cant lift ds2 so I wont be able to put it off much longer. Dreading it though.

world - glad it all went ok.

The parents evening went fine. Spent most of the eve in ds2's class as I wanted to get to know the teacher a bit better. She's so much nicer than the battleaxe that ds1 has - thankfully for ds2. And managed to get out of being Klassensprecher for either class. Spoke to the teacher at the end just to say about ds2 not being friends with the other boys from kiga just to ensure she didnt push them to sit together. But there seems quite a few other boys so I'm sure ds2 will have some friends soon.

Very quiet on here today... I've been staying off MN as, after a very quiet period, I now seem to be inundated with work and will probably have to work for quite a bit of the weekend.

Ploom Glad you survived the parents' evening, although I'm disappointed that you didn't volunteer to be Klassensprecher after all. Wow, very impressed with you being back to your pre-baby weight within 2 weeks; I think it took me about 6 months after I'd had DD1!

world Good to hear it went OK yesterday and wasn't too time-consuming.

English Was that in the UK that a lot of people wouldn't have green carpets? I've just been googling and green is indeed sometimes considered an unlucky colour, but I'd never heard of it before.
I know quite a few people who'll travel into Vienna to go to a particular gynae (usually the one they went to see when they were living there), but I don't know how they find the time.

Bienchen Things haven't moved on in Austria; we still have proper candles in our lanterns here. I didn't realise that anything else was even an option!

Nutella Yes, the fact that you always see the same doctor is a good thing. Having said that, the fact that there's rarely more than one doctor in a practice here means that opening hours aren't great (most doctors seem to open for four mornings and one afternoon) and you have to find another practice to go to if they're on holiday. I wanted to get DS's allergy medication from the paediatrician before we went back to the UK, only to discover a notice on the door saying he was on holiday and the Vertretung was in the next town, which would have been a bit of a hassle if I'd really wanted to see a paed (I ended up going to the GP instead).

Linzer have pm'd you.

Hi everyone!

Hallo!

I put this in the old thread: a bit last minute I know, but

I am going on a family duty visit to the farterland and have a free day in Frankfurt on Friday, anyone got any ideas of what to do? Not been before, I'm interested in art and gardens.

I'm in Frankfurt, but only been here a few months, worldcitizen probably has better suggestions.
There are lovely botanical gardens here: www.palmengarten.de/#/de_DE/index/index.

Palmengarten sounds good, just need to work out how to get there without missing my flight back. Is there anywhere to dump a suitcase in FF - do they still have left luggage anywhere - I know we don't have that any more.

achillea My time in Frankfurt was a while ago, so I think the most helpful tip I can give is this link. Everyone speaks English and you can either call or pay them a quick visit. They are right there in the main station. Not sure where you're staying, but the airport stop is 2 stops away from the Central station, Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, as far as I remember lots of train lines pass and you could catch a tube every 4-7 minutes and even though they're only 2 stops, they are quite long-stretched and should take about 12-14 minutes I believe. Don't nail me on this one, it was a while ago when I lived there
Hope this link is helpful.

Tourist Information Frankfurt Central Station

You could either catch a tube, the U-Bahn, I believe the U6 and U7 would take you there and also Bus 36 (its end stop name is Palmengarten). It will take about 30 minutes from the city...but again am not so sure anymore.
There are loads of cultural options, and it would depend how man hours you have available to you, which is why the tourist info would be the best option as you could decided then and there what you're in the mood for and they would be able to tailor some suggestions to your interests and time schedule.

As far as I know, it is still possible to leave your suitcase in a locker there in the main train station.

vegan so it was you who moved to Frankfurt. How have you settled so far?

I thought worldcitizen was a website! I just googled it.

I'm going to be en route from Karlsruhe but my flight isn't until the evening. I am half german so can cope with the lingo. I'm glad the airport is so near the sation, I can dump my luggage at the airport and then spend the day looking at Kunst and Garten.

This is the first time I've been away on my own for 25 years, I'm being very control-freaky about it.

Yes, you can also leave luggage at the airport. I believe there are two options at least, one should be between terminal 1 and 2.