Wind, Obst, Wein und Spaß - living in Germany and Austria: the autumn edition

[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 (particularly as the previous thread has been so quiet recently).

The thread title comes from this song btw - they're not the first four autumnal German words that popped into my head. (It could have been worse; I did briefly consider "Nüsse auf den Teller, Birnen in den Keller".)

Sounds like we're heading for the same general area Ptumbi, somewhere near Trier probably. There's no timescale yet and we're not certain we want to go ahead as it means a lot of upheaval for the family but we need to properly weigh up all the pros and cons before making a final decision.

toomuchtooold sorry I've not been on for a bit.

There are Horts available for after school care, exactly what will differ wherever you are of course. As well as the Horts (which is after school care that starts immediately after school finishes), there were lots of after school activities. It will depend on your DC's ages as to whether they're big enough to take themselves off to something of course.

Neither of mine were at a KG (we arrived after DD2 was 6), but we lived round the corner from one - it was a Catholic one and they seemed flexible on when they arrived, judging by the people coming and going. Tell you what I thought was WONDERFUL, they also had a Wald KG which meant the kids spent all day outside in the woods, unless the weather was really really bad (it had to be baaaaad), when they had a little hut to retreat to. I used to run through the forest and hear them all playing, just such a good idea!

Children will arrive home on their own to look after themselves for a while a lot younger in the village I lived in, than I would have expected in the UK - that does affect what is provided and general expectations too I think. It did used to be (in W. Germany) that in nice middle class families mother would be at home to welcome the children back to a nice hot lunch, but of course that has changed a lot. DD1's class teacher was telling me she didn't think the system had quite changed enough yet to keep in step with that. But we did live in a village - I'm sure the offerings in a larger city would be much more comprehensive.

Oh and one more thing on your 7am question - a lot of people start work early and finish quite early too - so you could see people working in the offices in the town hall as the kids walked to school at 7.30am, and here too (Berlin) the morning rush hour is early, it's all quietened down by 8.30. So that will affect the KG hours too.

Hi may I join? Two years in germany now. On the stationary front I used to call those green strings with metal mentioned upthread Treasury tags. I am in a small nw town. The DC say kirmis with long first iiiii here. I miss being able to find coriander easily.

Hi and welcome, Autumn. I've never heard of treasury tags before (although I know what you mean), but I don't think I've seen them here either - mind you, I only tend to notice/know the names of things that the DC need for school, and those haven't been on The List!

I have no problems finding coriander, but cumin is a different matter. I asked my MIL about it, but she hadn't even heard of it. I did manage to track some down eventually, but it's one of those spices you can usually only find in expensive supermarkets here - I often end up importing herbs/spices from the UK as they can be much cheaper.

Only two - well, 1.5 now - more days to go now until the Semesterferien. It only seems like five minutes since the DC went back to school after Christmas. I also feel like I'm the only person in Austria not going skiing (slight exaggeration possibly ).

Hello Autumn . Treasury tags! That's what we used to call them at school.

I agree about the coriander, I can never find it in the supermarket either. I have brought it back from the UK in tubes, but it isn't the same. And now I have to make pesto with boring old basil or parsley instead of coriander. I've never had a problem with cumin though, but perhaps I was just lucky.

Wish we had Semesterferien, Linzer, we have nothing until Easter, and after that no school holidays until the summer, which seems a very long stretch.

It's swings and roundabouts, I think, Black - we don't have Herbstferien so the DC had school straight through from 1st September to 23rd December. The summer semester is definitely much better for bank holidays and long weekends, but school is only shut for seven days over Easter; the Austrians like to save up all their school holidays for the summer.

Hmm, sounds like there's a cumin shortage in Austria and a coriander shortage in Germany. Are we stealing all the coriander from you and giving you all our cumin in return?

Hi Linzer (waves)
and Black

No Indian or Chinese grocery stores around at all?

That's the only place I can ever find either coriander or cumin. With coriander, most ethnic food shops that do have fresh vegetables tend to get them in on Mondays.

Hi anzu! No, no ethnic food shops here at all - there's a Turkish food shop in the next town a few miles away but nothing where we live. There are plenty in Vienna, of course, but I go shopping in the UK more often than I do in Vienna so it's easier for me to stock up there.

We do have a Greek greengrocers but that is as exotic as it gets here without trekking all the way into the city. I will try going there on Monday, thanks for that tip. At least if they don't have it, I can console myself with some stripy purple and white aubergines.

Actually I don't even know the German word (let alone the Greek) for "coriander", which probably won't help.

It's Koriander in German Black, so much easier to remember than Kreuzkümmel (cumin), which always makes me think of Kümmel (caraway).

I once went in to a French corner-shop-type place in Lille and in my best schoolgirl-French said 'Avez-vous l'Epice Cannelle?' which was probably wrong on lots of levels. He didn't understand me anyway. I asked for Cinnamon and he went and got it... (it was for Vin Chaud - we were self catering )

Can I join. I am in Luxembourg

The local Turkish shop has amazing fresh mint for tea
Has anyone got the hang of Hausschuhe etiquette? DD has to bring Schleppen to music lesson in school now (why do they have to take their shoes off for singing??). We even had a children's party invite saying to bring anti-slip socks.
Anyone of you mums working? I've recently been told Germany is so conservative about mums at home that finding a new job (as opposed to going back after Elternzeit) is virtually impossible

GfPlux - what's Lux like? I went there last summer (en route to Saarburg) and thought it was beautiful - I'd love to spend a weekend there. is it expensive? The places we saw, briefly, spoke french mainly, and not much German, which surprised me. (If you speak french - was my School-girl french ok? )

Autumn - what's elternzeit?

Autumn That's strange re the Hausschuhe for music - does your DD wear shoes in the classroom otherwise? Children here all wear slippers/those Dr Scholl-style sandals (if they're older) indoors at Kindergarten and primary school (it varies at secondary - DD1 does, DD2 doesn't), but I've never heard of them having to take Hausschuhe in for a particular lesson.

I work from home, so probably don't count as I can choose my own hours to fit round the DC. Most mothers here seem to work part-time and I know a few who managed to find new jobs after maternity leave or after the children had started school. I can imagine it varies from area to area in Germany; isn't it fairly common for mothers to work in the former Eastern Germany but Bavaria, for example, is much more conservative?

Hi Gfplux, how do you like living in Luxembourg?

ptumbi How strange that he understood cinnamon but not cannelle. I have heard that French people will refuse to understand what you say if you have even the slightest accent, but if that was the case it's bizarre that he was quite happy to understand the English word!

Luxembourg is a really great Country to live in. For me it is important to live very close to Luxembourg City as there is still a cultural difference between Town and Country.
We have first run Cinema with all films in their original language. There is a lot of Culture. The Government has spent a lot on theatre, gallery's, museums and music spaces.
Luxembourg has a population of +/- 600,000 with nearly half non Luxembourgers. About 120,000 people come across the borders (from Germany, Belgium and France) every day to work.
Propert is expensive, think London perhaps.
Social security is wonderful.
Official Languages French and German. English is widely spoken
Sorry going on a bit.

Luxembourg sounds great, Gfpfux. Where are you from originally? Or have you always lived there?

Ptumbi, Elternzeit is parental leave. Germany has up to three years, usually first year at full pay. Very generous but perhaps not great in persuading employers to take me on, especially as parents of small children are now entitled to 20 days on top of usual holiday for when children are ill. That's a month! Few companies can afford to risk that. Sorry, rant over...

Linzer - yes they wear normal shoes everywhere else. So maybe it is just Dd trying it on for a new pair of anti slip socks

Ooh and I am growing my own coriander now. Found some seed pots at ikea.

Well done on growing coriander Autumn - I always find they bolt and go to seed (although you can use the seed too...)
I'm very impressed with the extra 20 days off for child sickness! All we get over here is a grump and hassle and an unspoken agreement that you'll do unpaid overtime. !

Ooh, growing your own coriander, I'm impressed! I didn't find any today, maybe I'll have to start growing my own as well.

I'd love to visit Luxembourg. One of DH colleagues grew up there - apparently whenever people find out they always say how unusual it is and how they've never met anyone from Luxembourg before, and then bombard the poor girl with questions about the country. I can report that I also did exactly that .

I don't work (I don't speak good enough German), but most of the mothers of DC's school and Kindergarten friends do seem to work part time at least.

Nits/ Läuse: Just had a note from dd's school. They say there is an outbreak and we need to check the dc etc. But also: We should each consider whether our hygiene at home is up to scratch . The Brits on the other hand always took pains to say it wan't down to hygiene. So who is right?

I think we in UK went through a phase of saying 'Nits actually prefer clean hair!' as a way of making it not such a stigma. (So people could say with pride - my dc's got nits ) Then it was 'nits don't care, clean or dirty,they love it!' ... so I don't think hygiene comes into it really.

will someone come round wearing white gloves to check do you think? . IME German schools make more of a thing of it (having to send back a letter to confirm you've checked yours don't have any when there's an outbreak… plus that thing of having to inform some contagious infection or something or other body that you've had an outbreak if your DC get them), but I've never heard this one!! I was always told nits prefer clean heads (and i've never had nits, so you can draw your own conclusions about my own cleanliness…!).

yes, I think that too. Nits like clean hair... There must be someone on MN who knows where the truth lies! . I suppose the only other foolproof plan is very short hair?