2013 ist schon da! A new Kaffeeklatsch thread for the New Year - living in Germany and Austria

[LinzerTorte]

All welcome - whether you're living in Germany or Austria, have questions about life in those countries or just want to chat.

Previous thread here.

Hmm, I seem to have sat down again .

ploom that website is not really about squats, more about walking and standing and how bad sitting is . It's a bit dogmatically "natural is best" - the whole premise is that we don't use our bodies in the way they are designed to be used, ie. don't have the lifestyle humans used to 200,000 years ago. It's intelligently written though and very persuasive.

Re dvd swaps, ploom gave me a pile of dvds several months ago instead of passing them directly to whoever is normally next in line. I actually haven't got around to watching them and only noticed them while clearing out some dvds last week - who gets them next? Antique? Admylin?

I sent a parcel of dvds to rebuy yesterday - should hopefully get about 56? for them!

weissdorn it's a deal, send me your address too.

cheassounds like they pay good prices for dvds, when I looked on there at selling books they were offereing a few cent for each book!

admylin The first book that came up when I looked at rebuy was Shades of Grey - you can get ?3 for the first book. If only we lived in Germany! I was quite excited to see that rebuy have an Austrian site too cheas, but slightly less excited to see that you still need to send your items to Berlin. I haven't sent a parcel outside Austria since it cost me nearly ?15 to send a paperback book to the UK, so would probably be paying them to take things off my hands.

MrTumbles We might have just about managed on ?20 this week as, inspired by a thread on here, I've been using up food from the freezer and cupboards. Thanks to Lidl's British week, however, I've spent over that on Cheddar alone.

Hmm, maybe they pay postage from Austria after all... if I can find ?30 worth of things to sell, that is.

cheas - had a look at that website. Some of her ideas are good but dont fancy living without furniture in the living room even if it would help my posture. Thats a good amount of money you'll get for your films - had never heard of that website until now.

mrtumbles (like the namechange) - glad you got the special offer for the car. I could have done with taking mine to the garage - it was making a strange noise yesterday but chickened out as I wasnt sure how to explain myself. Annoyingly the blister is on the same heel thats got the longstanding problem - grrrr. The Hausarzt gave me a referral to an orthopod for it but I havent made that phone call either. Wont be doing it this week while it looks so awful.
Maybe the shock of how long the homework took on Monday and the fact that you had to cancel your dd's social plans that afternoon might spur her on to daydream less? This is how it works with my dc - well for a few days at least.

admylin - have wasted too much time on youtube this morning watching before and after braces photos! The results can be amazing. Am hoping thats how it works out for dd.

Will be ready for some DVD's when you have some linzer but no hurry. Think I need "things to do before you are 40" not 30!! Still 18 months to fit it all in .

At least fitting it in is still an option, Ploom.

I might have a look at the rebuy site later, it sounds a lot better than the one dh and I looked at a while ago.

admylin is next in line for the dvds, I think, cheas. She passed them onto me.last time & I passed them onto Nutella.

Glad you got the car sorted without too much hassle, MrTumble.

Ploom I have to admit that having a kamikaze boy is good fun! The cheeky smile & infectious laugh soon cancel out the heart-stopping moments

On my phone now so will try & get on the laptop later to post properly. I still can't quite get on as well as I'd like with he touchscreen for typing.

First post attempt on phone.... Look away cheas sofa too comfy to get off!
Liking the jam bruises and excited toddler in small car stories,- very sweet. Sorry to hear about blisters and stiches being left in. And yet more illnesses.
Ds is schulreif but some tutting from headmisstress and teacher who did tests re "augustkind und bub"- apparently they are very often problems (no square brackets? To insert a hmm). I don't mind him being a vorschulkind if that is what he is but i can do without the tutting. I am sorry i did not consult with frau director before conceiving and giving birth (shock)
Being half a brit i don't miss many things apart from tea but i get that at my local " indianer" shop.
Must go get my dc. Will be back on Keyboard soon....

Mrtumbles- when is your ds1's birthday? Right really must move bottom from sofa!

Good news on the schulreifness platanos but I wouldn't have been impressed by the tutting either. Then again, what do you expect if you're careless enough to have a boy in August? I foresightedly made sure that DS arrived in July instead of on his due date in August.

Hello! Just stopping in, more new members... Would welcome you properly but I'm on my phone, can't scroll back and am totally rubbish at remembering anything right now!
Wait, slatternly and bertie?

Antique I've been meaning to say I was checking the post and was going to complain about Deutsche post being rubbish at delivering anything in December until you mentioned you found the CD in the glovebox although the yoga breathing I learnt was useful so I can imagine a bit of hypnobirthing could be worth a try in the future...

Admylin I think that hof sweeping duty is about two weeks long. But after our stint in April it will probably be November/December when it's our turn again. (again -phew!)

Well DS seems to not be suffering so badly with his wind and tummy pain this week (touch wood, fingers crossed, thumbs pressed!). But my goodness can he fart! last night he did a lot of farting while feeding, DP and I were in hysterics; every time we thought he was done he casually farted some more. DP took on the task of cleaning him but put on an apron first - just in case

Can a three week old poo too much? He has been very busy making nappies overflow full dirty today but where on earth has he been keeping it all? Especially after what he produced last night he is still drinking plenty and seems fine, healthy and happy. Just a bit .

Slatternly I think you asked what we miss from the UK. For me it's being able to go to the cinema any night of the week and see a film in English ( although in many German cities it is possible), I miss the choice of UK fashion, the quality and the price of the clothes. I also miss biscuits (chocolate digestives are my personal favourite). Oh and a decent choice of bras! They seem ever so boring and expensive here. There is also limited choice above a C (I'm a D/DD). - my polish friend has also complained as she is a tiny back size and says the choice in Poland is better

Love the stories about jam bruises and excited toddler talk too

Someone asked how we met our OH. I met mine in New Zealand (as you do) by chance. We were there individually on holiday / an adventure to think about life, careers etc; and we both signed up for a road trip a local was organising and had 5 crammed full days together. DP liked me straight away and I realised the next day or so that wherever I turned whatever I did there was DP following me . Sadly after those 5 days I flew back to Oz then onto Japan and eventually back to London, he had another 6 weeks in NZ. We kept in touch; I flew out to visit him the first weekend he was home and the last weekend before Christmas (that was in 2009)... Then I moved to Germany in October 2010

ploom just mashing beans and courgettes for dh & thought of your dd. Dh has had top for a while and bottom only since monday. Will she get all at once? Wax has been good to protect the skin inside the mouth. Hope it goes well. I just puree food on the firdt days after the tightening.

admylin i have found quite a bit of vegan sweet stuff- does dd like the alpro puddings? Alnatura also does quite a few bars etc. And if she is into baking we have found lots of recipes on the internet. Will have a look for our favourite choc cake and link if you want.

linzer how can schools cope with mothers like us?!

good evening! this really is a thread where on some days hardly anything is posted all day, and on others there is so much I dont know where to start. You've been very busy!

I didnt get to post at all as I still have ds2 at home. yesterday he was so poorly so he just slept or was on my arm/on my lap. Today he must have been feeling better, didnt nap and did lots of whining.

I loved reading the stories about how everyone met their dhs

grinchhow are you feeling today? is your tongue still swollen? is it the glands that are swollen? and how is your ds2? it was really sweet about him on the rental car!! one of the Integrationshelfer has a Smart, and ds3 thinks it's amazing. he points out every Smart he sees and says 'look mummy, looks like Frau xy's car'

admylin i have been spared Muskelkater so far. the biggest amounts of snow came down on weekends, thus dh got to snow shovel . this week it's only been little amounts and I was able to just sweep the footpath. oh, and wow are your whirlwind romance with your dh

me and dh have a very boring story to tell...I was in Germany for one year after coming back from a year in Oz. I took a job in Regensburg, which I hated, didnt understand the Bavarian, but did understand dh, as he is from North Germany. a year later I had persuaded him to come to Wales with me, where he did an MBA and I did my PGCE. another year later we got married and spent another 4 years in the UK.

linzer is Austria cheaper than GErmany overall then? I cant imagine finding a glass of wine for under 1Euro. and my shopping for us 5 comes to probably about 100Euros, possibly even more of lots of toiletries need to be bought. I do have two children in nappies still, so lots of nappies and wetwipes. I buy almost everything at Lidl or Aldi and dont think I buy too many unnecessary items (unless I go shopping on an empty stomach .

ploom well for that lovely compliment. I'm not sure my spoken English is quite so 'perfect'. I certainly have good days and bad days. Sometimes I cant hear much of an accent myself, on others i think 'what on earth am I doing speaking to my children in Englsh with THAT accent?!'
It is actually thanks to MN that I did end up speaking English to our dc. I had posted something on the bilingualism thread when we decided to move back to Germany. ds1 was 18 months and already bilingual, and I thought it would be such a shame for him to lose it (while living in the UK I spoke only German with him). I was really unsure if a) if it would be too confusing for an 18months old if his mum all of a sudden started speaking a different language. and b) if I should be speaking to him in English at all, considering it's not my mother tongue. Looking at (and listening to) our boys now, I am glad I listened to MN advice and went ahead with it

I hope the appt at the orthodontist goes ok for your dd tomorrow! two of my brothers had train track braces and they never complained. actually, I always felt left out and wanted some too oh and I hope your blister gets better very soon so that you can enjoy some more skiing!!

platanos I wonder how much tutting I will be getting with ds3 then. His birthday is August 31!

nutella the thing with breastfed babies is that they can either poo almost non-stop of go for up to 5 days without a single poo. you can imagine how much comes out on that 5th day ds1 had one every third day, and I was always dreading to go out on the third day. had to take several changes of clothes with me.

right got to go, ds1 shouting for me as he has got 'Angst'. but I guess my post if long enough as it is anyway

oh, and just realised I called you by your old name mrtumbles

outnumbered That's funny, I was meaning to ask whether you'd spent time down under as your English sometimes sounds slightly Australian - it's the abbreviations, I think! My Australian friend here used to abbreviate everything, e.g. Kindergarten was kindi. I agree with Ploom that you really wouldn't notice you weren't a native speaker and wish I could write that well in German, but I haven't written anything more than a short e-mail in German for years.

I think Austria is supposed to be slightly more expensive than Germany on the whole. The wine was either ?1.10 or ?1.20 (so just under a pound if the latter, but not under a euro), but that was unusually cheap, admittedly. My shopping bill is probably not as high as it could be as I generally only cook from scratch about three times a week (the DC don't eat loads so one meal will last two or three days, and DH has a hot meal at work) and defrost leftovers on the other days.

Nutella I agree with outnumbered that almost anything is normal as far as breastfed babies and poo is concerned. I do remember that all of mine went through stages of pooing after every feed, often right up their back (and sometimes in the middle of feeding too - once in front of DH's boss ).

MrTumbles I was just telling dh about your ds2's fascination with the courtesy cat & he thought it was really cute too

outnumbered Hope your ds feels better soon. Not long to go now until your Kur - I bet you can't wait!

Nutella I remember my.midwife telling me when ds was tiny that anywhere between ten poos a day and one every ten days is normal for bf babies. This was shortly before he did a mega poo that seemed to last about ten minutes just as she had taken his nappy off to weigh him. It was like mustard being squeezed out of the tube!
Sorry again about the cd

Linzer I'm another one who reakly rarely writes in German. In fact I need to practise more. Saying that I did manage a lovely, politely angry email to the mobile phone company beginning with V the other day so maybe rage is what I need!

Ploom Good luck to your dd for her orthodontist appointment!

platanos How awful of you not taking the school year into consideration when giving birth. Tut tut indeed

Dh and I met at the Fresher's ball at uni! It was my first year and he was on a year abroad in the UK. We were in the same country every other year and long distance every other year for four years until he moved to the UK then we moved to Germany a few years ago. We've been together for 12 years but only married for four.

Good morning:) ds3 down with cough and fever now too and I am slowly but surely getting cabin fever myself. Luckily our babysitter has agreed to come over for a couple of hours this morning so that I can at least go to the gym.

Kur seems to be in jeopardy again. Dh came home last night (at 9.30pm!) saying that he may have to go to the states for a week at the end of February. [Sad] Our babysitters did offer a while ago that they would take turns in sleeping here and getting ds1 ready for kiga- but I don't think I could do it. It will be hard enough as it is, him staying here when me and his brothers are gone, but at least he'd see dh in the evening and morning. Anyway, nothing is for sure yet, so hopefully he doesn't have to go!

Ds2&3 are watching the Elefanten Show on Kika so I betteraje the most if it and get myself ready.

lnzer I'd imagine my English showing all the different English speaking places I've lived. I spent a year in California when I was 16, then the UK for many years ( but there in Wales, South East and North West) and Australia.

Ds3 screaming with earache now. I never know if and when to go to the paeds with earache. What do you usually do? Just calpol?

Weissdorn My DH is Scottish and I am the German one. We met in London amongst a group of friends. We then moved to Singapore for DH?s work and are now planning our move to Germany.

Nutella sounds perfectly normal to me. DS used to poo 6 times a day and then dropped to once every 8-10 days! Freaked me out, but with BFed babies it?s perfectly normal to go up to 14 days without a poo. It?s due to the BM being almost fully digested, so there isn?t much left. The lesser poos start around 1-3 months of age, but not all babies do!

Have any of you had a VBAC in Germany...? DS was born by CS here in Singapore, but I?d like to have a VBAC for number 2 (not that I am pregnant). I?m quite terrified of the differences between pregnancy and delivery here and Germany :(

outnumbered Oh no, poor DS. If he's screaming in pain and Calpol isn't having much of an effect, I would take him to the doctor's. DD2 had an ear infection just before we came to Germany in the summer and we went to the doctor's straight away, mainly because it was much less hassle than possibly having to find a doctor in Germany (she was prescribed antibiotics, which did help fairly quickly). Will keep my fingers crossed for you for the Kur.

I don't think I'd notice a UK influence on your English (apart from possibly a Welsh influence), but I've definitely picked up a hint of Australian rather than American. I miss my Australian friend; she was always my best source of gossip! (I had a letter from her a few days ago and she still seems to know more gossip here than I do.)

Merlioness Probably not much help, but a friend of mine here (Austria) had a VBAC and was really happy with the way it went. What differences worry you specifically?

Antique I find I'm much more confident about speaking German to people I don't know if I'm angry about something! I must admit I tend to get DH to write e-mails/letters and make phone calls wherever possible.

Weissdorn If your DH is happy to speak English to your DD, I would say go fot it (obviously he already has!). I sometimes wish we had English as a home language as the DC hear so little conversation between adults in English - and are exposed to very little English as it is - but I just can't speak English to DH (we tried having a day of English once a week before the DC were born, but it didn't work - it just felt wrong!). As it is, if we're having a family conversation the language is always German (unless I'm addressing one of the DC directly) and they're surrounded by German all day (well, morning) at school anyway. I think their German is inevitably going to be better than their English simply because they're exposed to it in a far wider range of contexts.

DH got back at midnight last night and bought me the two books I wanted. I also found two boxes of poppadums in the kitchen this morning, so it looks like he had time to do some shopping - he has also lugged a rather full suitcase upstairs (considering he was only away for one night).