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.

Thanks you 3! Now I won't get a bad grade from the German teacher atleast!

Outnumbered get well soon.
Linzer I had a feeling it'd be omega-3 from the UK! Wonder why they don't have it here.
cheas I've also been reading that thread since it started and the blogs that were linked to! What a load of lurkers we are eh! Oh well atleast it got me to throw a load of stuff out and get some tidying done!

Morning!

Thanks for all the advice & sympathy about ds2 (he's 8 platanos) and his poem. I got him to write out the first verse on Monday and we talked about the story in the poem so he could maybe imagine what came next & he's now able to do 2 verses. He's got till Friday to learn all 4 so think he'll get there. But the ease with which ds2 has learned it compared to ds1 is worrying so might look into those courses at the VHS grinch.

outnumbered - hope you feel better soon.

Linzer - how was your ds about going to school this morning?

platanos - how's your ds today? Hope he's feeling better.

admylin - really shocked by how that teacher spoke to your dd - hope she gets in contact with the dyslexia teacher.

hupa - glad you had a good holiday of all the snow at the right time. We're maybe hoping to get some use of our skis this weekend.

Its British week at Lidl tomorrow and if you go can I ask you to buy the cheddar cheese from the Isle of Man. You might have seen it on my FB but I have a great friend from there and her BIL & SIL have a farm that supplies milk to make the cheese so think it feels like a great way to support their community. Its such a little island that it feels crazy to think they've managed to get Lidl to sell their cheese.

I went to my book club last night - it was an English one linzer - had a really nice time and they've picked the books for the next 4 months so hope to go again.

Waves to everyone else - have used nearly all my free time this morning skypeing with a friend in Asia - ah well at least it was kostenlos!!

Get well soon, outnumbered! I hope 'papa-tag' goes well at the weekend. It's really sweet that your boys are missing their dad :)

Linzer That's a good tip about buying the vitamins in the UK, although certain brands of formula and follow-on milk contain omega 3 here so maybe it won't be long until the tablets start to appear. At what age did you start to give your DC a multivitamin, if you don't mind me asking?
Did you manage to start your new book this morning?

admylin I hope the dyslexia teacher having a word with your DD's teacher has an effect. That comment on her test did sound quite unnecessary. Fingers crossed!

platanos I hope your DS is better soon. Good luck with the knitting!

cheas Is it quite easy to get started with knitting? What sort of things do you knit? I quite like the idea (and am desperately trying to activate my bastel-gene!) but I already have enough scarves, hats etc. I was thinking of going on a beginners sewing course at some point. I can sew by hand but I have an old sewing machine which is long overdue some attention. Only problem is, I have no idea how to do anything other than a basic straight-line stitch on it!

Hello to everyone else!

Ploom What are your book club's next four books or will you out yourself if you say? I've given up on RL book clubs but have just finished reading The Snow Child for the MN group on Goodreads and really enjoyed it. It's British week at Lidl next week here too so I'll l

x-post, Ploom!
I was thinking of looking for our nearest Lidl to get some cheese so I'll make sure I get the one you mentioned if I find it.
I hope your DS manages the poem. It must be so demotivating for him, bless him. It sounds like he's done really well to have learned the first two verses so far so I hope that's helped him :)

Oops, posted too soon... look out for your friend's cheese; I'd probably buy some Cheddar anyway.

Antique I started DD1 on multivitamins as soon as she started on solids as you could get multivitamin drops in the USA, which I think our paed recommended - she hated the taste, though (I think it was the iron - actually I remember now, they were recommended if your baby didn't have formula). We gave them to DD2 as well as DH still used to travel to the USA for work back then; I can't remember about DS, but possibly around the one year mark. IIRC he used to have multivitamins in liquid form (so may well have started at around 6 months too) and we then switched to tablets when he was 2 or 3.

Yes, I started Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami this morning - have only read about 10 pages so far, though!

Dont think it would out me linzer but am thinking of a 2013 name change anyway .
Mr Vertigo by Paul Auster
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
The Casual Vacancy JK Rowling (most of the group are Americans & love her Britishness).
The other 2 I've forgotten but will post them once the email comes.

Casual Vacancy is on my want to read list too ploom and The Glass Castle is great, I read it in Berlin and then read it again recently. Lucky that you've managed to find a group near you for English books.

Oh good, outnumbered came on and did a native correction. I guess I should probably add "stop hyphenating compound words in German" to my ever-increasing list of New Year's Resolutions .

Hope you feel better soon, outnumbered. It must be hard for all of you to adjust to your dh working again, but the kids will probably adjust faster than you do. Papa-Tag sounds like a great idea.

linzer I love Murakami!

ploom I will go to Lidl especially to buy the Cheddar now. Just have to remember where the shop is...

antique I think I learnt the basic knit stitch at school at age 8 and I knit a jumper with a lot of help from my Mum at age 13, but then didn't do any more knitting until about 6 years ago when a friend asked me if I could teach her how. She had a Martha Stewart magazine with some diagrams in and they kind of jogged my memory enough to remember how. My friend and I then both obsessively knitted rib stitch scarves on big needles and kept phoning each other up to see how long the scarves had got. Since then I've knit a couple of baby blankets, a few items of clothing for dd (a pinafore dress, a cardigan and a pair of bell-bottoms), two jumpers (the first of which I never wore and eventually decluttered), arm-warmers, fingerless gloves, a couple of lace scarves, a few blanket squares for one of the MN blankets, the odd baby hat, lots of pairs of baby socks and a few pairs of adult socks. (Admylin, I haven't forgotten your socks, but I still haven't quite finished the pair before .)

Hi everyone
I'm currently living in Singapore with my British husband and toddler son. We are very likely to move to Frankfurt a. M. at the end of the year.

ploom good to hear your son is getting there, even if it is slow. I hope he is not too frustrated. That book club sounds good - are the people nice? and is the level of discussion right for you? (I fear attending one in case I get totally lost in the literary discussions!)

linzer well done on the reading - you'll read more than 50 at this rate. I often go on the goodreads website to read reviews, but I can't set myself a challenge like yours - my everyday life is challenging enough for me, without having to add another aim and objective . But a few of the books mentioned on here are now on my list of books to read...though have promised myself that the next one I start will be the "The 100 year old man...." Thanks for your offer to pick up some british goodies - that is sweet of you! I saw my local spar has ginger snaps now...but I resisted as I was being healthy. Though my resolve shattered as I waited at the till - now have small bag of M&Ms and Maltesers in my cupboard...which I am going to have right now, with a cuppa. ds likes M&Ms so will share with him to lessen the guilt!

cheas Impressive list of things you have knitted. Thanks for the links and ideas btw. I have started my hat - I am not sure what will happen though and ds keeps saying that it might be a scarf after all, cheeky monkey . But as I am making it on cirucular needles it may be a snood, and therefore something new! TBH I can't see it turning into a hat....want to join me knitting antique

hi nutella hope all is okay with you and little one.

admylin that is a really shocking thing to write on your dd's exam. was the teacher questioning your dd's dyslexia? and what a way to do it . I hope that the teachers talking to each other will help. The marking system sounds bonkers....I must admit the more I read here, and listen to other parents, the more I am dreading my dd1 leaving Volkschule.

outnumbered hope you feel better soon. Putting 3 to bed on your own every night sound exhausting and hope that you will find a routine that will make it easier for all of you. Will dh always be working such long hours? what is his first reaction to the job?

Thanks for asking: DS is still poorly - he's got a fever but is not that unwell otherwise. The dc used to get multivits the dh read something in der spiegel about how bad it was to have daily multivits (I don't know the details, I did not read it) and we stopped taking them. I suggested this morning that ds might need a little vitamin boost but dh is adament that multivits are bad . I've not read up enough to know the pros and cons, the only way I could convince dh is if I took ds to the dr - which I am planning to do if he is not better tomorrow. Apart from the poor child suffering, I am running out of leave days, and it is harder for dh to take time off work...

Ooh The Casual Vacancy is on my wishlist too. You'll have to report back & let us know whether you enjoyed it, Ploom.

Hi Merlioness! Are you moving over for work? I don't live too far from Frankfurt & really like the area, although it's bloomin' cild at the moment

hi merlioness- sorry x-post. That sounds like an exciting move?! have you lived in germany before? Have you been to Frankfurt or is it all a big adventure? I live vicariously through other people's adventures...my greatest adventure at the moment is trying to knit a hat . Good luck with the planning!

Thanks for the list of ideas, cheas! I think you've motvated me enough to go and buy a few basic supplies now!

Cild? I meant cold!

platanos I wonder why multivitamins are bad for you... I know that getting the vitamins from the food you eat would be preferable and that you shouldn't rely on them to make up for deficiencies in your diet, but I hadn't heard that they're actually bad per se. I should have asked the doctor this morning! Hope that your DS is better soon and that you don't have to take much more leave so that we can meet up in the Semesterferien. I'm not tempted by ginger, but Maltesers would be a different matter - am not sure I've even seen them here, though.

Hi Merlioness, whereabouts in Germany are you from originally?

cheas I discovered Murakami through a book club, and Norwegian Wood is only the second book of his that I've read. I did enjoy Kafka on the Shore (I think we had the number9dream discussion a while back), but I've heard that Norwegian Wood is more accessible.

Ploom I'm another one who'd be interested to hear what you think of The Casual Vacancy. Although I mustn't buy any more books until the summer, at the very earliest!

Must go, DD1 wants to play Tabu...

Hehe, I'm German, but have lived in the UK for 7 years before our 3 years out here.

I'm currently a SAHM, but it's my DH's job that's taking us to Frankfurt.

It's definitely a big adventure for me, as I haven't lived in Germany my whole adult life.
I'm from Munich :)

Oh, and I've never been to Frankfurt.
I guess we wouldn't actually live in in Frankfurt.

Antique, do you have children?

Hi Merlioness, you'll atleast have the advantage of mastering the language before you come! Keep us updated, as I'm like platanos and live vicariously through other people's adventures too - well until our next move whenever that will be!

Linzer enjoy your game of Tabu! Dd's dyslexia teacher told us to try playing Tabu. I have to look for it as we don't have it yet but I expect dd will get frustrated and mad at me as my descriptive German skills are not up to her level!

Have to go out in the cold now, to the post office and quick stop at the supermarket as I have a craving for something sweet! Come to mention it Maltesers wouldn't be a bad idea platanos!

platanos I think you might have started a group-craving for Maltesers.

merlioness I have 1 ds who is 16 months old. How old is your toddler? How are you feeling about the move?

admylin We have the junior version of Tabu, which I found quite manageable! We only played for about five minutes though, as DD1 kept complaining that DS was "nerving" her (he would often guess the word before she did and kept squeezing the quietsch thing).

platanos Have just remembered that the doctor said this morning that zinc is important for your immune system and recommended seafood and nuts (or, more lazily, the multivitamins we have provide 75% of the RDA ).

Antique, my DS is 14 months old :)

I'm excited about the move really. Not so much about the stress mind you!

How long have you been in the Frankfurt area?
How did you find meeting people?

merlioness We've been here for three years now. I found it quite hard to get to know people at first, but then I wasn't working when we first moved over and we lived in a lovely, but quite snobby, unfriendly area. We've moved out of that area now though and I've found it much easier to get to know people, especially since having DS.
There are a lot of expats around and I was finding it a lot easier to get to know them than the locals, but that has changed since we've moved to a much friendlier area.
If you're a wine drinker it's an excellent area to live in too!

Right, DS and I are off to Lidl to stock up on cheddar (and possibly a nice sewing box I spotted in the brochure....)

Hope everyone's having a nice morning and no-one is snowed in!

antique we're nearly snowed in - had another moment of regretting the rear-wheel drive on the way back from the kiga run. It's currently snowing in a very gentle Christmas-filmy, leise rieseling way, but I may walk to work later if it doesn't stop. I wish the bags I have to carry weren't so heavy, though.

linzer there was a study a few years ago which found that people who took vitamins regularly died earlier than those who didn't iirc. I don't know how good the study was, but it obviously stuck with me, as I now feel uneasy about taking them - but still do because of ttc.

merlioness welcome to the thread. That move sounds like quite an adventure! Hope it all goes well - as admylin says, knowing the language will at least make it all much easier to sort out.

I've now got about halfway through that minimalism thread without actually doing much decluttering. I managed to clear out a drawer in our TV-Bank (is there an English word for that?) - threw away all the cassettes since we have nothing to play them on and put some dvds away in a box to go in the loft. Does anyone know of a site like webuybooks in Germany that would take dvds and maybe some books? I can't imagine ever wanting to rewatch any of the ones I packed away and having them filling up the loft instead of in the living room is not much better really.