Es herbstelt schon! Autumn in Germany and Austria

[LinzerTorte]

A thread for all 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.

Thanks Linzer sounds good, might give that a go next week.
Has the screaming and squealing stopped?

Is anyone interested in a Gutschein for 10% off online orders on Tchibo? I have a Tchibo card and they sent me 2 vouchers, one for me and one to give away. Have to spend 30€ atleast. They don't have much for dc on their website at the moment but I think the voucher is valid until the end of December. Let me know and I'll send you the code.

hello :) I hope it's ok if I drop in… we're moving to the Black Forest in January. I wondered if any of you are around there?

Spooked, thanks -- we've got the card now!

One thing I noticed here which is nice is that shopkeepers and cashier people tend to give DS (5 years old) something free in the store -- candies, a small piece of chocolate, a biscuit, Disney stickers, an apple at the obst store, etc.

It wasn't like that in the UK where we were (Northwest).

Welcome to the thread, Mouse. I don't think anyone is in the Black Forest area, but I am rather hazy on where exactly places like Karlsruhe and Kaiserslautern actually are, so maybe there'll be someone within a couple of hours of you. It's a lovely area of Germany though .

ha ha, thank you FrauEnglisch We're a good bit south (or will be come January) in a village outside Freiburg. My OH and I had a spell there once when we were young free and a couple, but this will be with our DDs this time, so could be quite a different experience. You're right, it's beautiful there, really looking forward to it

Can i pick your brains? Both our DDs will be at the local school. We have a bit of experience now, because DD1 went to school (Grundschule class 1) for a few months when we were living in Potsdam before. Does it make a difference though, whether you're on the old East or West side for schooling? I'm not sure exactly what classes they'll be put into - well DD2 in class 1 I guess, because she's 7. DD2 is 9 now, but although she has some German from last time she's a long way off fluent. I'm a bit nervous - the Potsdam school were really great and just dealt with her lack of German as if it were no problem at all. The next school/teachers mightn't be so patient…

What do you think? I guess some of you must have been in a similar situation at the beginning? Is there anything I can do to help the girls and/or the school?

Hello mouse and welcome to the thread. I am afraid I am no use on schooling in Germany- I live in Austria - but wanted to say hello!

Just quickly as I am getting ready for DS's party later on. But something is bugging me, and DH is out of the country and unable to answer grammatical problems that keep me awake in the night.

I was telling my colleagues that, after some years in the UK we moved to Berlin for 10 months. I said "wir sind nach Berlin gegangen" and they laughed and said "ah, du bist dann lang gegangen". I do often say "gehen" when I should say "fahren" or "fliegen" and it has become a bit of a joke in the office. But was I not right in this case?

Back to baking.... have a great Saturday all!

mouse Hello and welcome! Sorry, am also in Austria so not much help on Grundschule.

platanos Yes, I would have said that you were right in that case. If you were just talking about going to Berlin for a weekend/on holiday then you would obviously use fahren, but as you actually moved there I'm sure that "nach Berlin gehen" is perfectly fine (and actually better than fahren in this instance).

Back to work... was rather annoyingly (but as usual) sent some work about 10 minutes before the DS came home from school yesterday, so it's going to take up quite a bit of the weekend. But at least I have our meal out tonight to look forward to.

mouse helle. I lived in Freiburg for a year. It's so beautiful there. If you are arriving in January, it will still be the first Halbjahr anyway, so maybe you can take your dds to the school for a long chat to see which class would be best, taking into consideration age, language and what they've done already at school.

platanos I would probably have said 'wir sind nach Berlin gezogen' but don't think it's 'wrong' the way you said it.

Hello to everyone else :)

platanos Just asked DH what he would say (without mentioning either gehen or fahren) and he helpfully said "Wir sind nach Berlin gezogen". Upon further questioning, he said that gegangen is fine and there would be no reason to find it funny (but that you wouldn't say gefahren), so I'm not quite sure why your colleagues would have found it amusing.

x posts outnumbered - should have refreshed before I posted!

that would be good outnumbered - that's what the Potsdam school did. They were ever so kind, and gave DD1 a pencil case which she still treasures :) I guess I'm a bit nervous because they were so super nice and I can't believe it will be as good again… must be more optimistic :)

Just been reading all about the onions upthread. I am readying myself for the culture shock…

Thank you all for the lovely welcome :)

Thanks outnumbered and linzer and husband. I'll use gezogen next time then, just to be on the safe side. They only find it funny because I often use gegangen wrongly, but I think they are too strict with me .

linzer hope you manage to get your work done. Enjoy your meal out - is this your 20th anniversary meal? If so, congratulations are also in order!

petite it is nice that children get given extra little things. But here it tends to be sweets, and only sweets. That annoys me a bit. Even the dentist gives them Kinder eggs .

ambling I also love butternut. I made some buttenut lasagna last week. DH, DD1 and I liked it, ds and dd2 were not that impressed.

spooked have you been to Tournen yet? Hope it went well and your dd enjoyed it. Any matching leotards in sight?

Party over...phew! They are all so little - 6 and 7 years old! I am sure that when dd1 was that age I thought she was a big girl. And expected a lot more from her, than I do from ds. Interesting change in perception and one which I must be more careful about.

Speaking of "big girls", one of dd1`s friends (11 years old) was told by the school dr that she was "fett" . Apparently the girl then told the PE teacher who will have a word with the director. I have seen the girl, looks perfectly lovelvy, she is not skinny, but neither is she overweight. And even if she were, how insensitive and stupid is that dr? DD1 has not yet been to the dr, so waiting to see what she comes back with. I am thinking of mentioning it to the Klassenvorstand at parents' evening next week, even if it is none of my business.

Evening all!
Welcome mouse. Sorry, I'm also no help. DS is only 10 months old.

Things always seem so hectic and I am so tired at the moment. When do children stop taking up all of your time, hanging from your trousers when you put them down and wanting to be in your arms when you want to do something? And then when you sit down on the floor to play with them they decide that actually you're not that great and the mirror in the hallway/the washing machine/ the cables in daddy's office etc etc are where they want to be??!

I'm so jealous of the mummies with babies that sit and watch stuff DS is definitely a hooligan. We did go to a tagesmutter (would like to do some semblance of work 2 ish days a week) and he managed to scare her 2 year old daughter by being very forward and wanting to play with her she had never seen a baby do that before! We haven't found one yet; But I think I feel better knowing there is the possibility of having some free time.

Sorry, I meant to say more hellos and comment more but then this will turn into a massive post! I'll try and come back more often!

MrsNutella aww, it's tiring but enjoy all the cuddles and hugs! Before you know it he'll not have more than 15 minutes a day to even acknowledge you (I've seen ds for only 10 minutes today while he made me a cup of tea and found himself some snacks in the kitchen).
Are you looking for an english speaking Tagesmutter?

platanos is it standard to have a school doctor visit in Austria? Never heard of it here in Germany. Did you manage to speak to the girls mum? She might be planning on saying something already? Not OK of the doctor.

wannabe welcome! We used to live down south near Freiburg and also lived in Berlin (now in Hanover). Nice accents down there! How long are you planning on staying? I'd guess the schools will be flexible with your dd1. If your staying for a long time it's be worth trying to avoid year 4 straight away to give her time to catch up with German. Year 4 is when they decide on secondary school (Gymnasium,, Realschue, Hauptschule) and you need a good grade especially in German and maths to get into Gymnasium.

Hope you had a nice meal out Linzer. Did you find a good babysitter?

petitemom yes, I remember when my dc were smaller there would often be offers of sweets, mini Brötchen, wurst, Lyoner or cheese when shopping! The local bakery had two different women working there and one didn't give sweets to toddlers, the other did and on the day we were served by the no-sweet woman ds would stay standing blinking at her at the till waiting for his sweet!

ambling just very briefly....I just saw that Aldi Sued will be selling Sony Xperia L on Thurs 28th! For €169. dont know if that's a good price or if that's what your dd was after, but that I'd let you know.

Ambling Yes, we had a lovely meal thanks and were very happy with the babysitter. It was just a shame that she doesn't live a bit closer, as DH had a 40-minute round trip afterwards to take her home.
School doctors are quite handy as it means the DC can have their jabs at school, but we always get a note home saying that they've got Senkfüße/Plattfüße/Senkplattfüße. We took DD1 to the orthopaedic specialist the first year, who said there was nothing to worry about, but have ignored all the notes since.

Nutella It does get easier, even though it probably seems relentless atm! We're not quite at the stage where I only see them for 10 minutes a day, but I can certainly get on with other things when the DC are around - and if they have friends over, then quite often I don't see them all afternoon.

platanos at the school doctor. A friend of mine had an issue over the KiGa teacher apparently calling her DD fett and I remember DH saying at the time that it's just not a word you'd use to a child, it's really not nice at all.
Yes, 20 years together... thanks for the restaurant recommendation; it was certainly an experience and the food was delicious. I was amazed at the size of one of the courses brought to the woman at the next table until DH pointed out that it was actually a tiny portion served on a very large stone.

Linzer glad to hear you had a great anniversary meal out. 20 years... You get less for murder

Ambling with DS it's like trying to hug an irritated cat, he isn't keen. But then sometimes he is asleep.

Today DS is particularly miserable. He had another croup attack type thing yesterday morning. The hosp dr offered to keep him in because she really wasn't happy with how rattly he was after all the medicine he could have was given to him. Then we had to take him to our dr to sort out a problem with the prescription and of course the dr who I've never met before and spent 30 secs with DS thinks I'm just a worrier. So annoying! And I hate being rushed, after waiting for at least an hour it would be nice to have a couple minutes with the dr.

Nutella Sorry to hear that ds has been ill again. Hopefully he´s feeling a bit better today.

Linzer I´m glad you enjoyed the meal.

wannabe Hopefully you´ll strike lucky again with the school. I agree with Ambling, in that I would try to avoid Year 4 for your oldest dd if at all possible. It would give her a bit more time to settle in and improve her German before the move to secondary school.

Ambling Dh has bought a Samsung Galaxy mini for dd. I think it´s probably a bit small for your two, but I don´t think dd will be using it for much more than sending WhatsApp messages.

Has anyone else had snow yet? We had a couple of cms last week, which was enough to keep the dc entertained outside for an hour of two.

mrsnutella so grr when drs do that. I mean, probably every second child he sees atm has some sort of cough/bronchitis and he might be right that you are worrying more than you need to, but he could still take the time to reassure you and not give you the impression you're wasting his time. I do think hospital drs err on the side of over-cautious (DH is one) simply because they always have some horrible but rare case in the back of their minds where something was missed. Trust your instincts, though, and go back to the hospital whenever you think it's necessary.

Do you think your ds is building up to a new skill if he's in a difficult phase? Is he crawling/walking? I remember dd loved to empty things at that age - clothes pegs out of the peg basket, washing out of the basket, stationery and pens out of the cupboard, empty bottles out of a crate, dvds off the bookshelf... Maybe there's some creative way you can provide him with more of whatever he's currently really into, but in a different or safer way?

linzer congratulations on 20 years! Glad to hear you had a nice meal out. I'm very impressed that you're managing to serve your family vegan main courses now. What sorts of things are you doing, apart from the lentil flan? Are you using soya or seitan products at all, or sticking to pulses and nuts?

re: the Berlin thing, could it possibly be because saying you went to Berlin sounds more like you went there on a trip rather than you lived there?

(am German student and sometimes lurk on this thread, envying you lot over there!)

Nutella Grr, how annoying about the doctor. Hope DS is on the mend soon.

hupa Yes, we had the first snow of the season yesterday and it's snowing fairly heavily atm. Definitely getting towards the end of the cycling season! (DS, on his scooter, was moaning all the way home from school.)

FrauEnglisch I'm mainly using nuts and pulses; tofu is ruled out (although I buy it for myself) as DD2 doesn't like it. We had a seitan steak kind of thing the other week which we all really liked, but the cost alone would put me off buying it regularly (plus I try not to buy too many "vegan ready meal" style things anyway). I made kidney bean bake today but, so far, DS hasn't been impressed (he's eaten all his veg but left the rest).

Was wondering what the other vegetarians/vegans on the thread do about omega 3s? I used to give the DC fish oil tablets but DS won't take them any more. I add ground linseed to my muesli but I've been looking into it and apparently it's not as good a source and I even read somewhere that it's not recommended for children.

quirrel Hello! Do you have a year abroad/in Germany coming up? Re gehen/fahren - that would be the case if it was the other way round but platanos used gehen (it would only be if she'd used fahren that it would sound like she'd been there on a trip). It just sounds like her colleagues are being picky because she sometimes uses gehen when she should say fahren (which is not something I ever do, oh no ).

linzer help, I didn't realise I needed to worry about omega 3s as well as calcium/vit d/iron/b12, etc. I make my own muesli with linseed in, although I think I read whole linseed was so badly digested as to be worthless. Didn't know it was bad for children, I must google that What about using rapeseed oil? I think it's probably important to get plenty of fat in a vegan diet since so many main ingredients are then fat-free.

quirrel I think platanos's colleagues deliberately misunderstood her, rather than it being a mistake. A bit like saying you shouldn't say "ich heiße FrauEnglisch" because you could wilfully misunderstand it as "I sexy FrauEnglisch"!

FrauEnglisch Sorry! From what I remember, the article just said that flaxseed/linseed wasn't recommended for children as not enough is known about the side effects rather than it having been proven to be detrimental. It doesn't seem to have the same cardiovascular benefits as fish oil, however, although I'm not sure what the alternative is. Yes, I've also heard that there's no point in eating whole linseed - and have finally found a use for our coffee grinder.

Hi Mouse! I'm the other side of the black forest to you, but it looks as though we may share a closest airport - Baden Baden has Ryanair flights to London Stansted very cheaply. Shame it doesn't fly to Birmingham where we actually want to go

My DS is 5 so we haven't had to deal with school yet. The kindergarten are very keen on him playing with other German children though to improve his language rather than just having playdates with the English-speaking kids. It's hard though because I get nervous that I can't talk to the children if they only speak German! He has a little girl-friend and he has been to her house, her mum was quite amused that they'd just (apparently) rolled around together on the floor the whole time like puppies! He is starting to learn German but hasn't picked up enough to actually use much yet.

Bertie We need to start a campaign for more flights to Birmingham; we can't fly there from Vienna either. We usually fly with Ryanair from Bratislava, or sometimes from Munich.