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".)

Hehe, PieTrap, no reports of white gloves yet, though I have had to sign and return the letter (I have checked the dc). I am of the nits like clean hair school too. Agree we should get to the bottom of this. Or we could just slug it out in the fluffy white stuff outside, hurrah!

Hello from Vienna!

Children who get nits in our school in Vienna can only go back to school with a note saying they are free of them. Either from a dr or from a Hygienezentrum - they disinfect your dc for you!

So here they clearly think it is a hygiene thing though I also heard it wasn´t.

I have also heard "hair dye keeps them away, that is why most people who work in kindergartens have dyed hair"

Also interesting difference that teachers and kindergarten staff can check here, whereas they weren`t allowed to in the nursery and school mine went to in the UK.

Every Autumn, we get a note saying that there are nits at school (previously kindergarten). I never believed it to be true. I think it is just scaremongering. But, before you hand me over to the nit-polizei, I did check mine. I sprayed them with repellant spray and it seems to have work - stinks though. And not sure how safe it is, really. Vinegar is meant to be great to kill them and keep them away.

Ach, now my head is itching. Does that happen to anyone else? As soon as nits are mentioned, I start itching.

Me too sue-nan! Itchy itchy itchy...It's interesting that they get 'treated' over there for nits. They wouldn't do that here - all those nasty chemicals? Lots of people here would faint dead away. Incidentally, I never used chemicals myself, I coated the hair with loads of conditioner and nit-combed it out. (conditioner sticks them so they can't run away from the comb) Takes ages but does get the blighters. V cathartic to wash them down the sink.
I do have boys, tough, so short hair anyway.

Mu mum used to use Meths (or petrol once I remember. They smoked too and I was petrified)

BTW I'm coming to Berlin next week for a few days with my 2 boys - what's the weather like ATM?

Hello [waves]

I used to post on this thread, but I can hardly remember who anyone is, MN username wise, aside from Linzer and Nutella - not sure how many are new and how many are namechanges!

Should I do an intro? I am bored of myself and can hardly be bothered I've been living in Bavaria for the last 7.5 years with my German husband and 3 kids - ages 9, 7 and 3 (nearly 4). I'm a SAHM now though I do teach English classes via VHS (and one private student who is a mum from school) in the evenings. Kids go to local school/ KiGa. We live in the back of beyond miles from anywhere. I can think of nothing else to say :o

Autumn in our very rural part of Bavaria I know 100% SAHMs and a lot with 450 EUR mini jobs, a couple who went back to their old jobs after Elternzeit. I only know one who says she works full time, but I don't actually believe her :o She says it to get out of things :o She works at the airport - not something that can be done from home, and she is home far too much for it to be possible she really does a 40 hour week :o I do believe other parts of Germany are totally different though. I wanted to be a SAHM when we moved here (I had a small toddler and was pregnant) but feel rather than I'd like to do something else now that my youngest is coming up to 4.

The whole work thing is part of the reason I'm browsing the internet at this moment - for various reasons I would like to get back into the regular workforce, but I am absolutely stumped as to what to do. Am floundering rather! Have applied for a few things but no luck so far and a bit lost as to who I am work wise, given our location, the fact most jobs (esp office jobs) in Germany expect a specific training or qualification with a far greater degree of specification than the UK, and the fact I don't think my German is really office standard. It is a quandary. I am worried I am condemned to being a bit part self employed language teacher for ever more now!

ptumbi meths for nits and even petrol, that is quite frightening actually! Have a lovely time in Berlin. I can't remember who lives there.

Hello Tumbles I'm looking forward to working mainly so I can speak to other adults I don't know when it would happen. I'm happy to be a part time something, like a waitress or work in a coffee shop. I do love coffee. I might teach a bit, but right now the thought of lesson planning (which I don't feel super confident at) is beyond me and my concentration span.

Hello Nutella - you can't be a waitress doncha know - unless you've completed an apprenticeship in catering :o

It's not that bad - but most of the ads for traditionally "low skilled" or generic office job list a completed apprenticeship as required or preferred, where in the UK they might say "experience preferred".

I think the approach to nits must work even though it's draconian, as my kids have got to 9, 7 and 3 without having nits (touch wood); it seems as though I the uk most families with school age kids are resigned to having them regularly

Our three didn't have nits until DS started school (even though he'd been at KiGa for three years before that, where I'd have thought they'd be more prevalent). The first time, I kept DS off school and sent him back with the requisite doctor's note; the second time I didn't as I wasn't sure he even had nits (he'd been scratching his head and I thought it was very likely, but couldn't see anything), but I treated him with a combination of Nyda and a Nitty Gritty comb and found one or maybe two lice. (And yes, my head is starting to itch now too, suenan. )

Nutella I have the worst of both worlds - I work but don't speak to any other adults. No, I love it really, especially being able to choose my own working hours; I worked yesterday evening so that I could go out for coffee with friends this morning, then rushed home to finish off my work in time for the midday deadline. (I know it probably sounds more stressful than anything. )

MrTumbles One of my friends here is a flight attendant (I don't think I've ever known so many cabin crew/pilots until we moved here - you really need family nearby for it to be feasible, though) and manages to work from home quite a bit; she can log into the system from home and I think she arranges cabin crew schedules etc. She doesn't do a 40 hour week, though!

ptumbi I couldn't even tell you what the weather's like in Austria at the moment - we've had everything ranging from heavy snow to spring-like temperatures and sunshine so far this week - but hope you have a great time in Berlin!

too much my dc's Kiga opens at 7am in theory, but even ast 8am when I take DC3 (to fit around possibility of my school kids missing the bus and needing a lift to the school which is opposite Kiga but 3 miles from our house) there is only one of the 3 groups open for kids booked in early. 2/3 of the kids do "core hours" only - 8.30-12.30. One group then stasys open til 4.30pm, for the full days kids. Those places were gold dust when my older 2 were at kiga but now they regularly advertise in the newsletter that afternoon hours are available, even though the Kiga is over subscribed for "core hours". Bavaria though.

Linzer the mum I don't believe about working 40 hours is turning out to be quite strange - I think she has "issues" or at least a chip on her shoulder. She certainly works, but she is at the end of her drive watching her son leave for the bus when I watch my kids go, and mentioned that she goes home and has a lie down after work because she's "fertig" before picking her son up from Mittagsbetuung (which closes at 4.30pm) - she can't be working 40 hours, esp as its a 45 min drive each way to the airport (without traffic or parking)! Its non of my business except that on 2 occasions she has actually stood up in meetings unprompted and to stunned silence from everyone and shouted about how the lazy Haus Fraus should be volunteering for the various things we are always being asked to help with, not look at her (nobody was especially) when its so hard working full-time! I guess to be sympathetic it shows how rare it is in this area and how awful that mothers feel judged to the extent they loose their... erm... Perspective.... Except that I can't see that she even does work the hours she claims!

Hello Ptumbi I'm in Berlin! Are you here too now? As you can see, the weather's not too bad… no rain forecast all week anyway. The weekend was great for sunshine, but now we're back in trüb, weather Berlin seems to specialise in… are you here for fun and frolics or is it all work?

Re jobs, have you considered some sort of self employment MrTumbles? I guess that might not help with the talking to people so much. I seem to be gathering ever more music pupils atm (there's a shortage of teachers in Berlin), so despite not really looking for work all that actively it seems to be arriving anyway. Do the jobs advertised in windows also require all the apprenticeships etc? Or, could you do an apprenticeship? I'm not sure how it works, but presumably there are back to work/get into work schemes - and that could help fine tune your German too? Hope you can find something that fits.

Though I think the job market in Berlin is very different, nearly all the mothers work to some extent it seems, unless they've just arrived and don't have German. The mother there does sound like she's lost it a bit!!

Heinous - I come over tomorrow! I'm coming over with my 2 boys - one doing Alevel and one GCSE German this summer, so am hoping it will be helpful to them. ds2 (A level) will hopefully do all the talking... I'm glad there is no rain forecast, I'm expecting it to be cold though.

I've been over about 4 times before and love berlin - I love the trees, the cafes, the architecture . DS3 (16 YO) has not yet been so it will be interesting to show him Checkpoint Charlie, the Wall, the museums, the Tiergarten, Unter Den Linden, Brandenberg gate...so much history.

I was made redundant 2 days before christmas here, so I'm now looking at jobs that I might be able to take with me when I eventually come over - like Barista in a coffee shop, or reception(hotel) or shops - although I think I'd need to get up to speed with my german first, definitely.

Well Berlin was fun! The airport station at Schonefeld is just pants ... no maps, no directions, no ticket machines - Well, a few on the dismal dirty dark concourse, but no way of knowing which station you want when you've queued for 20 minutes to it, and actually no way of knowing which machine you want until you get there (underground?overground?S-Bahn?). No one to ask. In the end we jsut got on a tube to Kurfurstendamm (3 changes of train) and found that we were at the wrong end of the Ku'Damm and had a 25 min walk to the otehr end, which turned out to be 5 mins walk from a station on the direct line from the airport. Should have done my homework!

Anyway we 'did the Brandenburg gate, the Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the Ritter-chocolate shop (!) the GedachtnisKirche, the Tiergarten, had currywurst and kartoffelsalad... All in lovely weather!

So all in all, had a good time. DS3 has a german Oral exam today, so am hoping he learned a bit in the few days there!

Glad you enjoyed Berlin, ptumbi! Schönefeld sounds like a bit of a nightmare, though; I've never been there, as Tegel was more or less the only option when I lived there. The Ritter shop sounds great; definitely time for another visit. Any news on the job front?

Work is ridiculously busy at the moment, so I seem to be doing very little other than work and chauffeur the DC to their various activities. DD1's piano lessons are now taking up (part of) three afternoons a week, as she has to sit a music theory exam in the spring (involving special classes) and also has to go to another girl's lesson to practise a duet that they'll be playing together at some point. She's also decided she wants to go to yoga in the next town, which is a bit of a pain as it involves so much driving. I occasionally get to sit down in the afternoons, but not very often.

Did manage to get out for a meal with suenan last week, though (hello if you're lurking!), which was very nice. My bookshelf is now double stacked but, very annoyingly, I have virtually no time to read.

Your Berlin trip sounds good, ptumbi. How did the oral exam go? Hope it went well. I think we are heading to Berlin this summer, doing a bit of a road trip through Prague, Dresden, week in Berlin and then back down, maybe through Leipzig or Weimar or...haven`t yet decided.

Hi Linzer, you do sound busy,with work and the driving around. I hope they know how lucky they are to have a mum who does that for them. I`ll remind them next time I see them.

I am lurking tonight as only three of us home so I have more time. Dh is away and DD2 is off skiing with the school this week. She called earlier to say there is a vomiting bug going around, oh great. She`s enjoying the skiing, though Monday was her first day ever on skiis and today the teacher took them down a red slope by mistake. She said she went down on her bottom.

waves to all others. ah mrtumbles I think you may also remember me, as the only other Austrian (kind of regular) poster.

Linzer - I went into Berlin Tegel on my first trip about 8 years ago. It was much nicer. I think there was supposed to be a new airport opening up last year in the east of the city (Brandenburg Airport) - don't know what happened to it!. In Schonefeld the Tensa-barriers were all designed for Brandenburg Airport.... ? So maybe there is no money being spent on making Schonefeld nicer.

My ds3 plays piano quite well - there is a shortage of music teachers here too, so he teaches himself via youtube! I have to ferry them about too; German lessons, school evening things (He plays their GrandPiano!), up to college if the trains fail...

Suenan - road trip sounds great! How long wil you take? I hope your dd enjoys skiiing - a great life skill; one I didn't take up till age 40(something) and I think it's too late, I was/am too scared. Red runs scare me. I'm happy on a Blue, happier on a Green! I've done the 'down the slope on my bum', sans skis, helmet, gloves...
Hope she doesn't get the vomiting bug, or bring it back with her!

Work-wise - not much happening. i can't seem to get motivated - after 6 years of sitting in an office, doing my own hours, looking out over the runway (always something to look at/get distracted by!) I can't think of standing behind a till or sitting at a desk or committing to certain hours. I'm lazy I think.

About jobhunting: I've been told today that after two years out on parental leave my chances of a job are slim and I probably need to halve my last salary in terms of expectations. Another says not to compromise on salary as I'll never get back up to the proper level. Who is right, in your experience?

Well, FWIW (I was a SAHM for about 8years, if not longer) and I didn't go back into the same line. I was a computer systems administrator, but after a year or so out of that, you are pretty much obsolete!

I started at the bottom, helping in school, got offered TA-cover, did lunchtime-supervisor, then bits and pieces; part-time and term-time. Nothing 'career' wise! Mainly Office work. I dont know about going back into a proper career. What are you looking for?

Autumn I would imagine it varies a lot depending on the field you're in. I haven't worked for an employer since I was pregnant with DD1 and only started doing a decent amount of work when DS was about 2 (I'm now freelance), so was effectively on maternity leave for about 6 years, but I don't think it's really affected my earnings. I earn wildly varying amounts due to wildly varying hours, but that's more to do with me working freelance than anything. If I was working 9-5 every day now, I'd be earning far more than when I worked in-house.

ptumbi Looking out over a runway sounds great, if rather distracting! I really liked Tegel - it was a nice size and an easy bus ride from where I used to live. Ah, happy memories. Am very impressed at your school having a grand piano; some of the music school teachers teach lessons at DS's school but they only have room for an upright piano (although DD1 is learning on a grand piano at the music school).

suenan I was wondering how your DD was getting on with the skiing (got mixed up and thought it was DD1 going - has she already been?); hope she doesn't catch the bug - or, even worse, bring it home with her. When is she back? DD2 will be going skiing for a week next year and apparently they're all supposed to be able to ski before they go. DD1 OTOH has never been for more than a day with school as most of the parents in her class aren't keen on their DC going and their skiing week had to be cancelled as not enough children signed up.

Thanks ptumbi and Linzer. Another, middle view later today as well: Two years is just about explainable as materrnity leave but get a job quickly as a three year gap is much harder to explain... I don't suppose anyone knows of any large companies where there is someone who is known to want to help women back into work? I'm in a profession.

Overlooking the runway is hugely distracting, Linzer. Especially in high winds/bad weather, watching the wobbling and crabbing in... One of the guys in the office (real anorak, loved planes, worked in gatwick for about 40 years) used to get the 'alerts' on his phone - any 'mayday' calls to control tower came to him too. We watched several 'emergencies' in my 6 years - not so many, really. (and all OK!) Quite reassuring that I can count on my fingers how many. 'Go rounds' (where the plane can't land for some reason - runway being used for eg) were regular, and fun to watch.

Autumn - no idea I'm afraid, not in germany any way.I know they have a different view of 'mothers' returning to work. In UK it's the norm. (Although when I started work in the early 80s, it was not so long before that 'Married women' were not allowed to work 5 days a week - friday was reserved for them to do housework, cook, shop, look after the DH etc )

Henious all I can do on a self employed basis is teach English I do teach a couple of VHS classes and have a private student. Problem is there is zero demand in the mornings when the kids are at school/ Kindergarten core hours, and most demand is late afternoon and evening - I don't think I'd cover the cost of putting the children into Mittagsbetreung and afternoon Kindergarten, or just barely. ..

MrT could you maybe advertise conversation groups / coffee mornings? It's something I've thought about doing... But once the kids are all at Kiga or similar.

MrsN there is a glut of conversation groups for the older well off frequent holidaying retired types in the nearest town - VHS offers 3 per week, all of which have been running 10 years or more. My VHS "handler" :o asked me to offer one targeted more at stay at home mums (which I thought was a slightly difficult segment to pitch to without sounding massively sexist, but oh well) when I very first started 4 years ago, but it didn't get enough sign ups to run. I have vaguely been thinking I could advertise through Kindergarten, but I'd feel cheeky charging much for a coffee morning set up with kids too small for Kiga welcome as I'm not sure how it could be made to work as a class...

I've got an advisory apt booked at the Agentur für Arbeit so will see what comes out of that. Self employed routes seem unlikely to be very satisfactory until the children are old enough not to need ne home when they're home tbh.

MrT/MrsN (Oh you two should get together!) are these conversation groups to assist people with their german? What does VHS mean?

It does occur to me that when I come to Germany, unless I know someone or have a job, I'll be sitting in a flat (or the pub!) in the evenings, with 2 TV channels, not learning german. Anyone know if there are 'au pair/volunteer' type things where you can look after someone in the day and meet people and maybe even live-in?

I'm beginning to realise that german is hard! We did 'adjectival endings' in german tuition yesterday. Sooooooooo, on top of 16 different ways of saying 'the' and 'one/a', there are several different ways of ending the adjective according to whether there is an article, or the article is (errrm) nominative, or singular....I just go by what sounds right! It's like Latin, except I reckon Latin is even harder. I should have taken up french.