Endlich Sommer - and time for a new Kaffeeklatsch thread...

[LinzerTorte]

... for those living in Germany or Austria or anyone who just wants to chat/ask a question about living in or visiting this part of the world - all welcome.

Previous thread here

Hello!

I had really good intentions and was going to start posting regularly again but just kept getting sidetracked, although I have been lurking.

MrTumbles How is your DD feeling now? Have the ABs kicked in? Sorry to hear about the dog situation. I think in that case I would have to send her back. It seems a little unfair on the dog and like you said it's not the best message to send to your DC but if none of you are comfortable in your own home and she is causing that amount of stress then it's just not worth it.

outnumbered Have a lovely time at the wedding! How fab that your babysitters are coming too!

How was the curry, Nutella? glad to hear your DS is sleeping better at night now.

Hope your cold clears us soon, Linzer! It's really that lurgy time of hear now, isn't it. Good news about your tooth - but will you still have to pay the €600 for the treatment in six months time?

Is your DS ready for his French adventure, fussy?

How is your DD getting on at Kiga now, C4ro?

Congratulations Yoni! I'm afraid I can't help with the bureaucracy side of things though.

Hello to Ambling and hupa and anyone else I've missed.

DS (who is now two!) is having a nap and I'm having a coffee and enjoying the peace and quiet, as he seems to be slowly dropping his daytime nap and I'm starting another part time course next week and should hopefully have some work coming in in a few months, to coincide with the end of the course, so I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to sit on the sofa and drink coffee while it lasts :)

Hello antique :) it has taken me several months to post again!! And no to your ds dropping his daytime nap already!! Ds1and3 were nearly 3, ds2 started the on and off thing not long after his 2nd birthday I think. As I already had ds3 by then, I really wanted him to sleep and let me have a break. For some reason he'd go to sleep fine when anyone else took him to bed but me

Ds2 still really poorly. Last night his temp was so high he was hallucinating. Really horrible and scary stuff he was 'seeing', like a cloud that wasn't full with rain but with blood and there were loads of Kika and Cbeebies characters he was seeing to. Mainly Yakari and everyone ff Abney and Teal.
Took him to the docs today, and his temp rose so dramatically again, it made him all dizzy so they gave him more ibu there and then. He is now already in bed, and fingers crossed he's a little better in the morning!

mrtumbles been meaning to ask: what's this with the satellite moving and us losing free UK TV?!? is there anything we can/ must do???

AntiqueMuppet taking DS to the airport today - long train journey then down to Bayonne. Can't get to St Jean tonight due to sparse train service (4 per day) so is staying with one of the teachers in Bayonne. Bit of a scary first day but he's getting used to them!!! I'll let you all know how he gets on.
itsMYNutella have sent you a pm.

Antique If I decide to go ahead with the ceramic inlay then yes, I'll still have to pay €600. But if I decide against it, then I think the alternative would be an amalgam filling - which would be free apart from the €15 for a schmerzlose Behandlung (and I'm not quite Austrian enough to do without a local ananaesthetic).
Which course will you be starting? That's great that you have some work in the pipeline - is it translation work?

outnumbered Hope your DS is feeling better today.

DD1 had an English test on irregular verbs a few days ago, but - despite not making any mistakes in the test itself - only came second as she'd written the date "wrong" (24.09.2013 instead of Sept. 24th, 2013)! I managed to resist complaining on FB yet again, but the very same evening a (non-English-speaking) friend of mine posted how annoyed she was that the teacher had crossed out homework in her DS's exercise book and replaced it with home-exercise! Has anyone come across home-exercise in Germany or is it just an Austrian monstrosity?

crossed out the word "homework", I mean

fussy Hope your DS's journey goes smoothly and that he enjoys his time in France.

Linzer I think I would have to go down to the school and make the teacher write "homework is not home-exercise" at least 100 times... Or they might just have caught me on a bad day . That is nuts! Besides shouldn't it be 24th September 2013? Unless they are learning American English??? - not helpful, sorry.

fussy I will reply to you shortly. I hope he has a safe journey. Tell him to go to the little restaurant next to the bridge by the river. They make their own sausages which are awesome! :)

DS must have more teeth coming. He was fairly miserable yesterday (and moaned about it a lot so that we all knew) but seems to have woken up happier today. Fingers crossed that somehow the teeth gods are kind and we get away with minimal fuss for most of his teeth.

I finally have a chance to post!

nutella your son sounds really sweet. I also hope you have minimal fuss over teeth. Can you get that calpol tooth gel, or something similar in Germany? Hope the wedding is shaping up.

outnumbered I was going to write "how is your ds?" but actually: How are they all? Congratulations to your father, though I understand the mixed feelings. On a more superficial note- did you find a dress? You have some wonderful babysitters - do you think they would like to do a postgrad in Vienna?! Did your DH enjoy vienna? The weather has been particularly cr*p.

linzer I have yet to come across "home exercise" - you will be the first to know if I do. I've had a few fillings without local anaesthetic - I am not sure why really. It was just not offered, and once I asked and the dentist suggested we start without, and then with two hands and three gadgets in my mouth, it was hard to protest. DH thinks I am mad, actually I am just daft.

Antique I am also curious to know what course you are doing. Hope your son does not drop his nap. Ds is 6 and still naps if we are home, so some children do.

mrtumbles how is dd? You seem to be having a really tough time with the dog. Has there been any progress? She sounds really stressed out all the time.

DD1 has now settled into her new school now. As has ds. Glad the first weeks are over. ach, time to go as dd2 is here and wants to chat- she's rather quiet at times, so must take the chance.

Oh dear - I just popped on to post and I can hear DS upstairs in his cot saying 'hello poo'.....
Ah well, I'll be back later I'm sure

Just passing through quickly, but outnumbered this is what I was talking about regarding the satellite moving:

www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/blogaboutthebbc/posts/Changes-to-BBC-Satellite-transponders-in-2013

Key patronising politician speak sentences from the link being

"The overspill of the BBC’s services will be reduced so viewers outside the UK will find it even harder to receive them. I know that this causes unhappiness to some of you living outside the UK. However, it is entirely appropriate because the BBC domestic services are for people living in the UK only."

Which makes me want to award a MN symbolic to Alix Pryde (what kind of a name is that anyway, looks like 2 consecutive spelling errors :o )

The satellite is due to move on Sunday :(

mrtumbles!!! What are we going to do?? I hardly ever watch German TV, and the boys really like their Cbeebies in the evening!

*outnumbered" apparently it will take a few months before we lose the channels (the satellite is due to be launched this week but apparently it takes them ages to get it into position and then actually switch them over). Once we've lost the channels though the only options are a really enormous satellite dish or a paid for service over the internet - DH says that would be about 50 pounds a month . I will get more info from him and let you know - he's still in bed.

"Entirely appropriate unhappiness" for those living outside the UK is still making me - she's got a way with words that Broadcast Directer !

mrtumbles we already have a 90cm dish as the smaller one didn't even receive the current signal, so I doubt it is big enough. Had a look on sky digital. The basic package (which would be enough for us) is something like 21.50/month. Or is there a different rice for when you live abroad? But even that would be very annoying if we had to pay that for something we had for free before.

What have you decided about your dog??

Hope everyone is having such fabulous Goldener Herbst weather this weekend as us!

outnumbered we have 90cm too, no chance it will be big enough for the new signal apparently :( I am pretty sure that Sky package won't work from outside the UK, you have to give a UK address. There are companies who will host your box for you in the UK and stream you the signal, but its a legal grey area and costs about 25 pounds a month.

Dog is staying for now, the charity we got her from have gone silent on us anyway. Anna had her party yesterday - 10 kids in the house was no problem for her, but extra adults last weekend and she barked endlessly and kept peeing on the carpet :/ Her tolerance of kids is her saving grace, although I really don't like the way she tries to push DC2 off my lap - she is fine with him otherwise, but possessive of me, and she has to accept I "belong" to my children before her, and won't tolerate her pushing them and barking at them when they want my attention.

I dont know what to suggest re your dog. Especially as I don't know no anything about to 'treat' or train stray dogs.
But wrt to her pushing in between you and ds2, I do think you need to how her that she is just a dog, and people come first. IMO that also means that she shouldn't be allowed on e.g. the sofa at all times. Being allowed to be on your lap on the sofa at some times, but that being pushed away at another time would make no sense to a dog. I always think dogs are very autistic in their thinking. All rules need be be incredibly clear and strict.

Our dog does get lots of cuddles. And he does sit or lie on my lap. But only when I first sit down in the floor and invite him on my lap. As we had him from tiny, it was of course easier to enforce it, as he had never been allowed on the sofa before. But there would be quite simple methods of teaching her. I've done it before with my previous dog, who was lovely but quite dominant.

Another 'tool' we have used to teach our dog where he is allowed or not allowed , are stair gates. He is not allowed upstairs at all. He only tried to go upstairs for the first weeks, then he accepted that his place is downstairs. The stair gate has been removed quite some time ago, as he wouldn't try to come upstairs anyway. We also have a stair gate in the doorway to the kitchen. He is allowed in the kitchen (but he never steals food), even at mealtimes. As long as he lies down quietly. If he begs for food he will go out and the stair gate is shut.

And he never ever gets human food. And with everything we do or give him, it is always clear that he is 'only' a dog, yet a very loved one.

Wrt the barking, the only thing I can think of is really rewarding her whenever she is quiet, especially when adults around. But as you said that she has such a sensitive stomach, I'm not really sure how you can reward her, apart from praise as well. You really need a professional for help. Shame on that charity leaving you along like that!!!

Anyway, kids running riot. I am I have not one across as patronizing as I really don't mean to be!

outnumbered she is never allowed on my lap,at all. I don't honestly ever want a dog on my lap... She is allowed to sit or lie on the sofa (we have a 9 seater corner sofa so there is room for everyone) and to put her head on my leg though - kind aren't I? :o So there is consistency, and to be honest now she only tries to get onto my lap at the most infuriating times when I am trying to help/ cuddle/ otherwise pay focused attention to the kids, or when she knows she has just done something wrong

We have also had to put the stair gates up again, which was annoying as we'd only taken them down 6 months ago, blimin' pain getting laundry to the basement, as currently she is only allowed on the ground floor. The first day we had her she raced up the stairs at every opportunity and managed to get onto, and poo on, DC3's changing table!

I'd be interested in hearing more from you about dog behaviorists and how to find them here, we've found several dog training schools (the one I tried wasn't very good IMO but I may try another soon) but is a behaviorist something different? More of an adviser who will give consultations tailored to the specific situation?

mrT our dog (I say our dog, we had him when we were kids about 20 years ago), was a rescue dog and we took him to a dog psychologist (I don't know if he had a couch) and they taught us some extra tricks to help him settle and not react so much to some of the things that scared him. But that was also organised through the charity we got him from. I've forgotten where you got yours from, (sorry if you said - my brain is like a sieve, DS is pushing out some more teeth and he has a cold) but I would persist in trying to contact them. Failing that contact your vet, they should be able to advise further and possibly refer you.

Our dog also needed a quiet space that was his and he could feel safe in, usually that was his bed. We also had a cage for when we took him with is in the car; sometimes when the boys were too noisy he would sit by his cage to be let in and left alone for a bit of peace.

DS has been playing with the remotes and has managed to turn the telly on. He is now patting the screen

mrtumbles sorry bit manic here. I am seeing my dog trainer again on Friday and will ask him what to look out for (ie memberships, qualifications etc) when looking for a dg behaviourist. I knw our trainer also deals with 'problem behaviour' in dogs and is very good.

Oh god ItsMyNutella I wish she wanted some quiet time on her own - we provided her with a fabric "box" (the travel type but canvas walls and roof) to be her sacred undisturbed space in the hall way, but she only goes in it to sleep, won't go near it when there are people awake. She also has a traditional dog bed in the living room, which I am trying to train her to go to on command but without much luck... She does use that when DH is home, as she doesn't like him and stays away from him, but when its just me and the kids she is a stalker and when not running about in a frenzy barking wildly, or trying to steal food if anyone leaves the kitchen door open if a child has it other than at the table, she is stalking me and trying to sit as close to me as she can or trip me up while I move around - I'd sell my kidney to buy her a gold plated dog bed if she'd seek out solitude for most of the day ! Will have to try vet, just not eager to pay €40 to ask for a referral

Thanks outnumbered

MrT oh dear... Well it didn't happen often and it was usually when all my brothers had spent plenty of time playing with him .
I really hope you get something sorted. Although I was a bit at 40€ referral fee! Why are vets so expensive??

Hope everyone enjoyed the bank holiday today! We had a lovely walk in the sun. It's always lovely when we can enjoy the weather.

Finally found time to post! I got a kindle at last so every spare minute I've been reading that.
Now we're on our first day of half term so two weeks off school. Dc have loads of appointments at different doctors and dentists. Dd even needs a certificate of good health to be allowed to join her cheerleading club!

Wasn't it a lovely day yesterday in Hannover Nutella? We took ds round to the university campus to show him where he'll be doing his Praktikum. It's going to be quite a trip every morning 'commuting' to the other side of town. He also has to walk 10 minutes from the tram stop as the building is in a side street behind the main university.

MrTumbles has the dog settled down abit yet? I hope she settles and calms down for you. I wouldn't make an appointment with the vet, I'd just go in and ask at the reception if they could recommend a good verhaltenstraining hundeschule. You might be lucky.

outnumbered did you decide about a TV package? I would really like to have some UK TV too but don't want the hassle of a dish on my balcony.

Must get going, have to sort the mess out in my hall as I pulled everything out of my 'hide the mess' cupboard and now have to decide to either sort it out or shove it back in so I can get through to the kitchen. I have loads of bags with winter coats and clothes that don't fit the dc. Got rid of all the shoes that don't fit last week.

admylin Kindles are great, aren't they? I've just been downloading lots of sample chapters after going through the gripping reads thread; the only problem is that I could spend my entire time reading sample chapters and never get round to reading an entire book!

Is everyone on half-term at the moment then? I thought the thread was quiet. We get a couple of schulautonome Tage around the 1st November bank holiday, but otherwise it's straight through until Christmas here.

Was just thinking that it's probably time for a new thread as it's not exactly summer any more. Does anyone want to start one?

Linzer kindles are great! I'm reading my way through loads of the free classics, I'll read anything really but I love the old classics. Just finished the complete works of Charlotte bronte and Thomas Hardy even though I'd read them before.

We've got another full week of half term but we're booked with lots of appointments that I want the dc to get out of the way. Dd celebrated her 14th birthday too this week. She's still recovering from her all nighter (just a sleepover with 2 friends as can't fit any more in her room), starting at 5pm with the making of caramal apples and they had pizza at midnight and after that I went to bed but they were still up at 3:30am and none of them could tell me when they went to sleep in the end!

It has gone very autumny hasn't it? It's my favourite time of the year and it won't be long before Glühwein is back in the shops! We need a nice Herbstliche thread title.

Linzer can't we just pretend that it is still summer and that it isn't horrible and grey everyday maybe that's just Hannover and that the sun is shining??! I remember there being a beautiful blue sky and sun about two weeks ago and standing in it and trying to tank up ... Oh the sun is breaking through the clouds, I'm off!!

Fussy I hope DS is settling in France. I'm very jealous!

I think DS is on the verge of sleeping through mindless blind hope he still wakes twice a night but isn't really feeding, just searching out some nipple comfort

Hi all, I'm new on here and have just found this thread. It's great to see all you Ausländers on here (LOL). I live in Wegberg, NRW. Married with 2 kids (girl-6 & boy-4).
I was working for the Army until the end of last year as the barracks (JHQ) closed down, i'm currently working for a company on another army barracks but not bringing in great money. It is better than being on Arbeitslosengeld though. I have found it so hard getting job in Germany, has anyone else had this problem?

Anywho, just thought i'd say Hi, Hope you all have a good day. xx