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.

hello again :) It's sounding snowy over there!

Bertie! Hello! Lovely to hear you're in the BF too - I will be very interested in your weather updates That sounds very sweet with your DS and his little friend How long have you been in Germany? I think it is definitely harder understanding children than adults. OTOH once you've tuned in it's a great way to learn German - I used to go to a Spielgruppe with DD2 and I was a very enthusiastic learner of nursery rhymes I like the ones with actions… Little children are so much more sympathetic to an adult just doing their best to communicate (no gehen/fahren/gezogen issues )

Stansted is quite a way from us too - we're up in the North East, so we're flying from Newcastle to Dusseldorf. I've not been to Dusseldorf yet but I know the motorway around it quite well now, isn't that awful? Must go in sometime.

Thanks, that's an excellent point re Yr4 and Gymnasium entry Ambling and hupa. We're not really sure yet whether we're there long term or not, but either way I wouldn't want her feeling worried. She's young in the year so there'd be no harm going down a year (at least). If the school don't mention it, I will. Thank you!

Mrsnutella it sounds like you're having a tough time at the moment, hope your DS is better soon.

It has snowed here but not settled yet. If DP's photos from last year are anything to go by, when it does it will be here to stay. Actually the weather here tends to be milder than most of Germany because it's in a big valley (or something like that!)

We can fly Stuttgart to Birmingham but you have to book months in advance or it's twice the price, which as it's in the 100s anyway is a big difference. I do often think we're utterly insane though as everyone else who lives abroad seems to have tons of money to start with whereas we're just about scraping by! Love it though.

Need to find a new apartment before August of next year and DP is stressing about the commission. From last year's experience, we're starting to look now. It's probably harder in a way this time because we've got DS settled in kindergarten now so we don't want to move far away from where we are.

that does sound hard with the apartment. I started looking at renting a flat for the time we're there, but it just seemed so complicated and expensive I've negotiated a rate on a holiday apartment instead (which funnily enough is owned by a woman who lives in the midlands - I only found out after I'd written an email in my best German then felt a bit foolish ) If we do stay longer we might have to do the proper rental market. Up til now we've always got away with finding something off a friend of a friend or doing the holiday apartment option, much easier… but like with the schools I worry eventually our luck must run out!

I hope there's some decent snow after Christmas! I suppose ideally none at all down in the valleys, but then lots of pretty snow to "visit" up on the hills. That's my request put in, if you could just sort that please

Yeah, we looked at holiday apartments in the end when we got desperate. Our current place is a holiday/student let so it was nice and cheap but it's tiny and really not set up for living in long term, we have a tiny little non-kitchen with no hot water and we're right up under the roof so it gets very cold and also very hot depending on the season.

Bertie good luck with the flat hunting. It's a stressfull job as I know too well! We wanted atleast 3 bedrooms and it took us over a year to find this place as we wanted to be near school. Are you on a facebook group for expats or English speakers? I know the Hannover based group often has people moving back home offering their flats so that's one way to avoid paying the agent fees atleast. Otherwise advertising yourself in the local paper.

WannabeFayeMouse I also need to fly to the Newcastle to get home but this xmas I was looking at 2000€ for 4 tickets (dc are full price now) from Hannover. I used to get cheaper flights from Berlin but don't want the hassle of getting there and back so we are staying put!

Linzer and FrauEnglisch if you're looking for a quick meal idea for the dc we just tried the Gemüsestäbchen and the Spinatstäbchen by Iglo as I read somewhere they're vegan. I thought they had cheese in but on reading the package they don't. My two liked them (with sweet chilli sauce) but thought they're a good veggie 'fast food' to have in the freezer!

Nutella Hope your ds is feeling a bit better today. Have they checked him for asthma (not that you got a chance to ask about anything like that by the sound of it) - change doctor maybe?

Hupa you're lucky that your dh sorted the phone buying out. I hate having to decide and there's far too much on offer! Ds says he wants a Samsung and some expensive headphones for his PC so he's looking at slightly cheaper phones than the ones dd is looking at so he can get both!

outnumberedbymen thanks for the tip, aldi nord has it too this week but I'm too much of a wimp to fight the rush on specials day at aldi, I'd rather pay more!

I won't be on for a few days now as we're picking our nephew up today at the airport. Tourist programme planned for the weekend and entertainment for a 26 year old! Xmas market visit and maybe Berlin. He's from Texas so he'd quite like to see snow but doesn't look as if it's going to happen, lovely and mild today.

Bertie that does sound a tricky place to live (though cheap is always good!). If we do go to Berlin after Freiburg I will have to look into the expat-flat option Ambling. Actually the first time we lived in Freiburg we got our flat through advertising in the paper, that worked well.

What a shame the plane tickets are so expensive though! Do you mind staying in Germany for Christmas?

We're just at at the stage now of having to pack everything away. Big sigh, I hate sorting things out! It always makes me feel inadequate (i.e. I should have been more sorted out in the first place). So I'm going to commune with a black bag upstairs!

Can I ask another question? The move itself: I had a look at this website and spoke to them about moving some boxes of stuff. We're not doing a full removal, just some stuff for work, so a few boxes not furniture or anything like that. Have any of you used the Excess Baggage Company or anything like it?

actually ignore my last paragraph! I've found it's a lot cheaper to use parcel post (and probably faster too).

Mouse Glad you got it sorted in the end. We shipped a couple of boxes of books over when we moved back from the USA, but DH's employers paid for it so I'm not too sure about costs etc. I still find it amazing that we brought everything else back in our suitcases; we lived a far more minimalist lifestyle then!
And good luck with your snow request; let me know if it works. I like the look of the snow, but not the effect it has on the practicalities of getting anywhere!

Ambling Hope you have a good time with your nephew!
Ouch at the flight tickets; we've never paid more than €1000 (usually more like half that) to fly back to the UK, and that's for all five of us. I don't think airlines do child fares any more, do they? We've always paid full price for the DC once they'd turned 2 and needed their own seat, at any rate, although I was quite surprised to find that DD1 is now classed as an adult when I booked for Christmas. We paid just under €600 with Lufthansa, which I didn't think was too bad - once you've added on luggage, priority boarding, etc. Ryanair isn't usually that much cheaper.

Bertie Good luck with the apartment hunting. The flat we rented before we bought our house was up in the roof too and it used to get unbearably hot in the summer; the summer that DD2 was born was just the worst.

We had parents' evening on Wednesday, although I had a quick chat with DD2's teacher after teaching English so only needed to go and see DS's teacher. She was so positive and full of praise that I almost fell off my chair; I'm so used to "she works well and doesn't have any problems" being the most praise you can expect and have always felt that if a child isn't having any problems, it doesn't seem like there's anything to discuss. So that was a pleasant surprise!

On a more annoying note, our coffee maker has broken and I'm now facing a good three days either without any coffee at all or with just instant (I have turned into a coffee snob and am not sure which is worse!). This is when I miss having decent shops nearby. There is a small electrical shop in town but I'd probably go in, discover that the cheapest coffee maker is €80 but feel obliged to buy it anyway.

Nutella that's annoying about the doctor! Hope your DS is feeling a bit better by now. My Ds1 used to get croup every autumn, and was very wheezy (to the point people used to stop and ask me if he should be out of bed) every time he got a cold - to which he was very prone. Finally (touch wood) he seems to have grown out of both this year, at 6 and a bit, a year later than the doctors told me he would - his lung function tests have always been normal to better than average, which is how they rule out asthma.

I could leave DS1 to play for a bit from about 18 months, but only if I'd "walked" him first - I used to drop DD off at Kindergarten then walk him to the next village and back (about 4km altogether) - he had to be on his running bike or pedal tractor, he wouldn't actually walk and pushing him in a buggy was worse than pointless. As long as I did that he would then play in quite a contented, self contained way for the remaining hour DD was at KiGa and I got stuff done. Both DD and DS2 are totally different though - physical exercise made no odds to how demanding DD was, she wanted constant interaction and still does at age 8 tbh - the difference now (and since about age 4 tbh) is that she can have friends around, so she doesn't need me , and being able to read helps a lot too, as that's something she will get absorbed in. She has never played alone though, not ever. Having a brother close in age also helped from when they were about 4 and 2, as from then they would play together, also meaning less intense demands on me. At 2 and 7 months DS2 is like DD - he plays alone a bit, building with Duplo or playing Playmobile or with cars, or drawing, but only if I am chatting to him the whole time, I certainly can't be in a different room. Siblings help. But they also fight and the boys are so wild together (its actually amazing how physically wild, and how loud, their happy play is - totally different to the way DD and DS1 play when its the 2 DSs) even in their happy play that somebody often ends up in tears...

DS2 is at Kinderpark now - like drop off playgroup. He loves it (I never managed to settle either of the older ones in there, but he started asking to stay with DS1 at KiGa so I thought I'd try) so now I get two 2.5 hour blocks a week child free in term time, which is very useful, if only for MNing putting laundry away!

Bertie our house was just advertised in the paper - I was surprised to discover you can search our local paper's adverts online (hardly anything is online locally, but the adverts from the paper are!) its a good way to find something provisionfrei and often cheaper rent.

Good luck with the apartment hunting Bertie. We found ours through Immobilienscout24, then DH had to arrange viewings for when he would be visiting for work. I didn't see it until we moved in (luckily it was a nice surprise, although he had arranged the furniture in bizarre configurations.) A bit stressful at the time, but actually I think we were lucky to find something so quickly.

Linzer I would have thought 80 Euros was a bargain for a coffee maker! Or do you just mean a cafetiere rather than a machine with capsules? Tchibo have cafetieres in this week.

We went to the Christmas market today, it turns out the good thing about living somewhere a bit gritty and unattractive is that the Christmas market isn't crowded at all. We actually managed to sit down at a nice wooden table in a little hut for a drink. I had a "SchokoLady" which was hot choc with Baileys in - clearly something no self respecting man would dream of ordering .

Spooked Neither - it's just a normal filter coffee maker. I've ordered one from Amazon but we've got friends coming for a meal later on today, so DH ended up going to Media Markt and buying one (for €30). I have friends with coffee makers that cost hundreds of euros but I don't think the coffee tastes any better; in fact, it's very often disappointingly lukewarm.

Our elf arrived this morning, so DS is very excited. Apparently the elf has told him that he's DS's friend as he's also a vegetarian. Now just need to think of some mischief for him to get up to over the next few weeks.

MrT thank you, DS improved a lot over the weekend. We rang up to make an appointment on Friday because he wasn't much better but they obviously close at lunchtime on Fridays now. They answered the phone but the first appointment was monday morning at 10:30. It was only after DH hung up the phone that I saw the calendar marked for DS's U6 on Monday morning at 9am so we had two appointments!!
But it was good because out usual dr did the U6 and we had the weekend to write down all our questions and she had time to answer them.

Linzer my mum used to have a very posh coffee machine that made very tasty coffee from beans but I know it was about £400 and the built in grinder was the part most likely to break fastest because sometimes little stones get in with the beans - she found out once it needed repairing. We have a cafetiere and a hand filter thing. I also can't drink instant any more. I think when you have it you get used to it. Now if someone gives me instant coffee it tastes of nothing and smells a bit like marmite strange. The PIL make instant espresso and offer it after meat lunch at theirs...

DS is being very cute. Last night in the shower tray bath he kept shouting in a very annoyed way "Da-daa" when DH left the room he will often crawl into dh's home office and say it as if he is asking where da-da is

Oops... How do I manage it? I finally catch up and have time to post, only to kill the thread...

Hi Nutella good that you had a better experience at the doctor for the U6.
Just spent a few days off doing tourism around the region with dh and nephew. He was lucky as the weather was great for this time of year. He left yesterday.

Are you ready for the hurricane? Warnings were out yesterday and I understood it was expected to arrive today but now they're saying tomorrow! Oh well, got all my balcony bits and bobs cleared anyway. Only think left out there is a beer crate full of empty bottles. I just wish the people in the house opposite us would take down their lifesize climbing santa who is hanging down from their balcony. If it goes flying in the wind it'll take a window or two out.

think = thing!

Hope we don't get a hurricane! Dh said yesterday there were supposed to be storms and snow this evening, but that it would be up in the north, around Hamburg. Might have to secure the trampoline just in case it comes in this direction. We are predicted heavy rain tonight, which is bad enough.

Amblimg good point on the balcony stuff... I hadn't thought of it... Oh well it's only a few plants. It is really windy here. The windows in our living room whistle when the wind hits them directly. It's a bit chilly today. I don't see me venturing out to get blown around with the buggy!

I've been following this thread for a while now and have finally decided to post. DH and I have been considering a move to Germany and he has actually applied for some jobs now. We have DD who is 2 and DS who is 8 months. I am a SAHM and we would have a net income of around 2000 euro a month including child benefit. This is roughly the same as our income here in the UK but is it doable in Germany? We would be looking to rent a 3 bed house/apartment and we don't live an extravagant lifestyle.
We have both lived and worked abroad before but that was when we were single so it wasn't such a risk. I know it is a bit of a vague question but any help would be greatly appreciated.

MrsNutella they even sent the school kids home early today. Is it windy yet down your side of town? It's going wild here but then keeps stopping and going all quiet and still.

jimeyrose it'd definately doable on that income but would depend which city you move to. We lived as a family of four on 1600€ when the dc were that age and dh was a PhD student but we only managed because we has a very cheap (and small) flat. We had an old banger of a car too but it got us from a to b!
Which part of Garmany are you looking at?

spooked we also have snow forcast once the worst of this wind/storm has gone. I hope it calms down by the weekend as there's a vegan xmas market at the weekend that dd and I are planning to go to. Dd is hoping to get some candles, more choice than the usual xmas market ones anyway.

AmblingAlong Thanks for answering. It's good to know that it is possible. DH has applied for jobs all over the place but the best one would be in Stuttgart. That one would actually give us 2300 euro a month. He's been out of the field a long time though so I don't know what his chances are.

Hi jimey. We are currently on about 1200 between me and DP net, and that finances a tiny 2-bed apartment, bills, food, kindergarten fees for DS (5 years old) essential clothing and tram tickets for DP and I to get to work and not much else. We are in Karlsruhe so assuming Stuttgart is pretty similar as they are fairly nearby. I think you'd be okay on 2000 but it would be tight. It's best not to factor in kindergeld at first because it can be a real pain to get it. And the one for a child under a year is even worse! If you've been receiving any benefits in the UK you MUST go and badger the relevant offices for a cancellation confirmation before you leave, it will make things much easier.

The biggest worry for us moneywise is saving for our next move because the commission you pay on finding an apartment is horrendous and you usually have to buy your own kitchen etc as well, plus pay the deposit! DP wants to save up about 4k for the move and I'm a bit worried we won't have enough, I hope to be earning more soon though.

Bertie Good to know that about the kindergeld because I had assumed it would be quite straightforward to apply for. You have given my DH a bit of a wake up call on the moving costs! He didn't believe me about the whole new kitchen thing when I told him before, so it's good you mentioned it. Hope things improve moneywise for you soon. We are lucky in that we own 2 houses in the UK and we are hoping to sell one in the next few months so that would provide us with a bit of a safety net to start.
When they quote rental prices do they include utilities or are they on top?

Hello jelly utilities are normally on top. You will often get the "cold" price (Kaltmiete), which is without heating. Unless it is explicitly included always assume it isn't. Then there are Nebenkosten, a sort of service charge/water/council tax type bill which is calculated per person normally.

Hmmm can't think what else...

ambling where is the vegan market? I came across a vegan restaurant recently near ish to the town centre. I haven't convinced DH to try it yetthough.

jimey oops fat fingers! Sorry!

Hi MrsNutella It is so hard trying to decide what is for the best. DH and I have permanent itchy feet but we really want to find somewhere that would be good to settle now we have children. I don't want to blindly rush into something and realise that we have ended up worse off!