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.

OTOH you may be able to pick up British TV in Germany anyway; friends of ours near Hannover just have a normal satellite dish and can get all the British freeview channels.

Linzer perhaps we watch too much TV anyway, we're very guilty of just having the TV on in the evening and watching any old shit that pops on. It might do us some good, and watch a few more DVD's and watch on demand stuff as and when we can.

Yes, from what I've read on here the healthcare looks amazing; do you just sign up to a monthy insurance system and go from there?

Hello all. I don't know if you remember me popping in about a year ago when DP first mentioned possibly moving to Germany, I ended up avoiding the threads a bit because it's been a crazy year - he's been out there 6 months now - not knowing if I wanted to take the leap, wondering if our relationship would survive the distance - very emotional.

Anyway, we got engaged just before Christmas and I'd already decided by that point that I definitely, 100% am going and so we're planning the move for late August which is simultaneously exciting and terrifying and I'm really sad about leaving all my friends here etc - but it's happening So thought it was about time I got back onto the thread.

I'm doing a CELTA course currently so that I can teach English when I get out there, I think this should pay a bit better than shop work etc, and also require less German, since I'm not sure at what level my German will be by the time we move over. At the moment it's barely more than nil.

Also DP is having a bit of a stressful time at the minute and is missing English food etc so am looking for suggestions to put in a care package for him.

we have a satellite dish and receive most of the UK freeview channels! we also have dvb-t aerial which means we also receive a few German channels.

re no shopping on a sunday - you do get used to it. when we first returned to Germany took a while to adjust and I kept forgetting that we cant go shopping (bakeries are open on SUnday mornings though). especially as dh was away mon-fri, which means all shopping had to be done on a saturday, unless I fancied taking three young children shopping on my own.

around here all supermarkets are until 10pm though, MOn-sat. it's only other shops that close at 8pm, and some at 6pm.

overall internet shopping is good here, I find. and amazon prime is my best friend :)

Oh well that's good outnumbered. I don't suppose you could give me the names of any naice supermarkets? We are usually Sainsburys/Waitrose/M&S frequenters, what would be the equivelent over there?

hmm, I usually shop at Lidl and Aldi (and I think the quality at those two is better here than in the UK), and only go to other shops for whatever I cant get at Lidl or Aldi. Equivalent to those you mentioned would probably be EDEKA, REWE and Real?

slatternly Yes, the good thing about only watching DVDs is that we limit ourselves to half an hour or an hour of viewing a night. We only have the two Austrian channels otherwise, and there's rarely much on worth watching! I'm sure I'd waste far more time watching TV if I was in the UK.

Am not too sure about health insurance as it's been a while since I lived in Germany, but I'm sure others on the thread will be able to help.

Hello Bertie and congratulations on your engagement. Does he like tea/biscuits/chocolate/crisps? DH probably misses cheese most, but that's not the easiest thing to send.

outnumbered Yes, the bakeries being open on a Sunday morning is very handy if you run out of essentials. I don't think I've ever been to a supermarket here (D/A) that I would describe as naice, but I do like Lidl and Aldi - I find Aldi slightly better quality, but go to Lidl more often as it's easier to get to. It's amazing how much money you can save by shopping there; I can get a trolley full(ish) at Lidl for around ?20, but put a few things in my trolley at Billa etc. and end up spending ?30 or more!

Re health insurance I am not sure tbh. Reason being that slyternly bill be in a very high income bracket. I am not sure if you'll be able to choose between state subsidized and private insurance? Or if you HAVE to go private with such high income?

With state subsidised you would find up one of the insurers (techniker krankenkasse have a very good reputations, we are very happy with ours (bkk Mobil oil) as well). Maybe ring them up and ask? Costs are then split between yourself and your employer.

If you intend to be working anyway, private may be an option anyway. With sahm it works out more expensive, as one has to be separately for the sahm and children, whereas in state subs sahm and children are included on the working partners insurance.

But as I said, it's possible that you don't have a choice to go state subs anyway due to your income.

Linzer that's a good price for a trolley full. I usually go to Lidl but my trolley full costs around 50? on avarage although I buy those small bottles of water and juice for school that add up. My dc like the fizzy water and apple juice mixed with water. When my dh goes into Rewe he'll come out with a small bag full for over 30?! Good job he doesn't do the family shop or we'd be bankrupt.
I also remember the rush to get to the shops before 2pm on a weekend! Thank goodness that changed. It used to be 'late night' shopping on a Thursday until 8pm otherwise weekdays all shops closed at 6pm! It was really hard to spend your money back then!

slatternly I noticed last time I was in the UK that grocery shopping was ALOT more expensive than here. I'd say REWE is the only naice (at a push) supermarket around where I live (Hanover) although you can't compare them really.

Hi Bertie welcome back! Congratulations on the engagement. Howoften do you see get to see each other at the moment if dp is already in Germany? Good luck organising everything. In my ideal care package there would be marmite, branston, a few (local) english newspapers/magazine, fudge, aniseed balls and some aspirin/paracetamol from boots!

outnumbered we also chose to stay in state when dh started earning too much to be insured automatically through work. We got a letter to say we could go private or stay in the state insurance. I think you have to have been in the state insurance for atleast a year to go freiwillig though or maybe I didn't understand the whole letter we got. We were thinking rather stay in the AOK than start hunting around for the best deals etc but for families it's definatley cheaper.

admylin Describing it as a trolley full was a bit of an exaggeration, but my weekly shop at Lidl generally costs between ?20 and ?30. The same amount at anywhere other than Aldi would cost at least ?50, but I do buy a lot of things like yogurt at Lidl which are very cheap but fill up the trolley! I can imagine a proper trolley full would cost ?50, but getting on for ?100 anywhere else.

Has anyone tried the Lidl fudge yet? It's made by Hatherwood, which I suspect is Lidl's-own-brand-for-British-week, so I'm always a bit suspicious of it (I'm sure no bona fide British company would sell fish and chips in the same bag).

No we didn't try the fudge this time. Have you seen these before? I think they're abit like fudge. I've seen them in Lidl and Rewe. Might be an alternative for when the British week is finished. Edeka have own brand baked beans too now alot cheaper than the Heinz version that they also sell.

I haven't seen those before, will have to look out for them. We can get own-brand beans here for about 70 cents; I'm amazed that anyone buys Heinz. I can remember being to find that Heinz beans cost over 3 DM when I first went to Germany, back in the days when they only cost about 5p a tin in the UK.

DD1 seems to have an endless round of tests and Schularbeiten at the moment. She got 7/10 in her last English test and got a 3, which I thought was a bit harsh - it's 70%, after all (think I need to forget about the British marking system!).

Hello to slatternly,Bertie* and any other newbies that I´ve missed. Where abouts will you be moving to Bertie?

I don´t think any of the German supermarkets could really be described as naice and will probably come as a bit of a shock to begin with, especially if you´re used to eating ready meals - they hardly exist here at all. On the plus, I can easily walk round a supermarket here and find nothing to tempt me, whereas in the UK I really have to restrain myself, so it keeps costs down. The nicest supermarket here is Tegut, but I don´t think they´re overall in Germany.

I´m not sure about the health insurance. I´m in the state system with TTK and dh and the children are in private with Hallesche and both have been fine.

admylin I haven´t tried those, but I did manage to get some great fudge from TK Maxx a few weeks ago.

Linzer I still haven´t made it to Lidl, so can´t comment on the fudge. I must admit I´m always a bit about those Lidl fish and chips.

Outnumbered I´m really pleased you´re going to manage to go on your Kur. I haven´t been to Cuxhaven, but a friend went there last year and had a lovely time.

Congratulations on the engagement Bertie!

We don't eat ready meals; I can never get on with then, probably the quickest thing we have is frozen peas or chips and I'm sure those must be available.

I think over here, a whole pastime has been built up around naice supermarkets, which is probably a bit sad. They all have cafes and coffee shops in them so you can make a trip of it

Hello, yes I was having a dozy day about the military service, I thought it had only stopped happening rather than been officially cancelled if that makes sense.

When I first came over to meet DH's parents shops didn't open past 2pm on a Saturday, and that was 12 years ago, not 20... but even here in Bavaria they open til somewhere between 6 and 9pm on Saturday, depending on the shop. Be prepared for shops (not supermarkets but almost everything else - including bakeries ironically) shutting for lunch too - for several hours sometimes. (Bavaria anyway, not sure about other places)

I have heard that there is an internet shopping service in central Munich, in a very narrow post code area, so maybe it will catch on a bit more widely some time... I know people who use Amazon Prime for things like nappies... but no, no internet shopping in the way it exists in the UK.

We have a satellite dish for UK TV but do also need a decoder box, and the UK channels are all being moved to a new satellite at some undisclosed point in the medium term future and we may not be able to receive them without a very large dish then - we have already lost some channels, such as CITV and E4, though we still have the important ones (BBC1&2, ITV, Channel 4 and of course crucially cbeebies)

Bertie congratulations - My DH (who is German but lived in England for 7 years) missed salt and vinegar crisps and cider :D

Slatternly food wise TEA - the tea you get here is not the tea you buy in the UK, so if you are a PG Tips/ Yorkshire Tea or whatever drinker buy in bulk in the UK or find an internet supplier. Also Cadburies - despite great choc here cadburies is a comfort you can't get here. Oh and decent biscuits to have with tea, the biscuits here are wrong... Baking supplies are also different - you can't get self raising flour which threw me for almost a year til I got my head around using baking powder and you can't get golden syrup, so can't make flapjacks or crispy cakes with the DC... malt vinegar is another thing you can't get, although as of course there are no fish and chip shop chips that is less of a big deal, but something I miss.

I miss Indian food esp take aways but there are good Indian restaurants to be found, they are just not plentiful like in the UK - our nearest is a 45 minute drive. Some of the things I miss would be findable in a big city so I think I will stop going on, and come back and catch up on the thread again later as I have 5 kids in the house and I think I need to check why it has got so loud upstairs, plus the toddler needs attention rather than watching whatever comes on next on cbeebies - I put it on for Something Special and Show Me Show me and meant to switch it off straight after, oops

Afternoon!

Linzer I quite liked the fudge! It wasn't a fancy Cornish clotted cream fudge or anything but it went down a treat in our house. I think British week might be over now though so we'll have to wait until next time to get some more. I think Hatherwood is Lidl's own brand.

I can't remember who was asking but I second Grinch's statement about tea! I need two teabags to make a cup of tea if I buy black tea here, but I tend to stock up on PG Tips when I'm back in the UK and make anyone coming to visit bring me a box too.

outnumbered Good news about your Kur! Do you have a date for it yet?

admylin You'll have to report back on your DS' Japanese cooking! I bet it will be really interesting to learn to cook Japanese food.

Welcome back, Bertie and congratulations on your engagement! Whereabouts will you be moving to?

Hello slatternlymother! Whereabouts are you moving to? (You've probably mentioned it already and I missed it.) Edeka is quite a nice supermarket, as is Tegut (round here, anyway) but not quite what you'd call naice. Perfetto in Karstadt (a department store) is naice-ish but quite pricey.

Hi platanos & hupa!

to anyone I've missed.

DS has discovered forward rolls as the most entertaining thing. Unfortunately he only seems to want to do them on the sofa, which is making me a little nervous. He almost threw himself down the hard, steep, wooden stairs yesterday so we seem to be in full-on kamikaze mode again this week!

linzer I did really like the Lidl fudge, but wasnt trying to compare it to anything. But the cheese they had this time was much much nicer than the Hatherwood one they had the last few times.

this time of year is always so stressful, both for teachers as well as pupils. but i am at all the negative comments from all the teachers. another thing I just find so unnecessary. I always always tried to put something positive down, trying to encourage to do better rather than putting them down. and I always avoided using red pen

weissdorn I agree. in the first instance I would always advise to choose state health care, and possibly opt for 'private Zusatzversicherung', although we dont even have that and are fine (touch wood). later one can always change to private - and then will always have the option to go back to state. I am just not sure if you can enter the state system on a high income if you havent been in the German state insurance system previously.

grinch I remember shops having a 'lunchbreak' for a couple of hours too. but that stopped along with the saturday closing times. at least in Lüneburg it did at least 12-15 years ago, and here in Kaiserslautern shops are open throughout lunchtime too. i wish bank were open on saturdays though!!!
another thing I had to get used again though were doctors surgeries being shut over lunchtime, doctor's surgeries being shut on a Wednesday afternoon and hairdressers usually being shut on a monday.
grinch how come you lost some channels? does your satellite dish possibly need adjustment? we have a 90 cm dish btw, and we dont have any problems. actually, the only channel we dont seem to get is CHannel 5, so no Neighbours, Home&Away and Big Brother, but I can live without that

why cant you get Golden syrup? isnt it the same as Zuckerrübensirup? I dont like it personally, but I know my MIL always has some as she eats it on her toast

I ordered huge packets of PG Tips from Amazon.de, and it wasnt actually too exxie. well worth the money anyway, as antique I think the GErman tea is just far too weak!

antique our Kur starts on Feb 20th, so not long to go!! and I think I mentioned that I am allowed to take a Begleitperson with me? usually they want a relative to accompany, but I dont have one as MIL is still not well enough. but I rang and asked if a friend would be able to come for the first few days, to help me get the boys settled (ds2 is likely to find the change very difficult), ad it's ok. meaning I get to spend 4 days with an old school friend whom I usually see once a year at the most, and then only for about an hour!

I had to laugh at your description of ds doing forward rolls. ds3 loves doing them too. and his official nickname is 'kamikaze kid': I dont know if I have become more relaxed about it due to him having two older brothers, but I have become a bit 'oh look ds3 has another huge bruise on his forehead'. I only worry if there is blood too

hello to hupa and everyone else!

for you grinch this is the syrup I mean. you can get it in all supermarkets, should be in the same aisle as honey, jam etc

oh, and following everyone's dicussions about naicesupermarkets, I have realised that I have no idea what that word actually means what's the definition?

and Marmite I absolutely do not miss the first time I was offered some toast with it on I spat it out thinking something had gone off

outnumbered naice is just a MN word for nice (it makes me think of nice said in a posh accent) and is often used in conjunction with ham - again, only on MN - IIRC someone once found a shopping list in a trolley with "nice ham" on it.

I've never noticed Zuckerrübensyrup here, but it looks darker than golden syrup; I don't suppose it matters if the taste and consistency are the same, though. I actually have two full jars in my cupboard atm (I forgot I'd already brought some back from the UK when I was overexcited to find it at M&S in Bratislava a while back), which have no doubt expired by now and show I can probably live without it. I don't miss Marmite either; it isn't a taste I've ever acquired.

As further proof that Austria lags behind Germany somewhat, it would be extremely difficult to find a supermarket here that stays open much later than 7 pm (they close earlier on a Saturday) - the only place I can think of that stays open later is Ikea (9 pm). Smaller shops closing for lunch is also still common here. DH was complaining that the chemist near to where he works is closed from 12-2 pm, and his lunch break is the only time he can really go as he starts work before they open and leaves after they've closed. I could sort of understand it if it were a one-person business, but he said no - there are several people working there. And who gets two hours for lunch?

Antique and outnumbered That's good to know about the fudge; I treated myself to four packets yesterday, but haven't got round to opening them yet. I did open the cheese today though, which is definitely much nicer than the Hatherwood one.

Have just had an e-mail from DH to say he's arrived OK in London. I've only just remembered that I wanted to ask him to buy a book for me, so hope I'm not too late as I think he was planning to fit his shopping in today; he may be able to find it at the airport tomorrow, I suppose.

Food and drink wise, I've just remembered something I'd miss almost as much as the bread if I moved back to Britain - decent affordable wine! I'm just at the prices when I go back to the UK.

DONT OPEN THE FUDGE!!! you'll regret it! both of my packets were gone within 12 hours max!

thank you for enlightening me re the naice.

and yes, you are right, pharmacies close during the lunch hours too! it always annoys me when I forget, walk down and find it shut.