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".)

x-post suenan. DD2 does wear some of DD1's old clothes, but they also have such different tastes that I end up having to buy new clothes for DD2 as well; she likes dresses and skirts, which DD1 wouldn't be seen dead in. I think the last time I managed to get her into a dress was for a wedding in February.

That sounds a bit much with the music school. We've got a similar thing in that DD2 already has an hour of piano straight after school on a Friday but she now also has to go to a Musikkunde class on Thursday evenings (which handily clashes with DD1's Pfadfinder meeting). What does your DD think? DD2 seems quite happy to have both piano and theory classes (it's just me getting a bit fed up with the chauffeuring, but Musikkunde is more or less obligatory as she took the beginners' exam a couple of years ago so now has to do the intermediate one), but I think that if your DD was finding it a bit much, I'd have a word with the teacher. Not great that he's communicating through her either - would you have the chance to speak to him when you take/collect DD or does she go to her lessons on her own?

Hello! Must have lost track of the last thread, or did it die?

We've gone past our 1 year in Germany mark :) DS is now a Schulanfanger and he is extremely proud and excited about this.

bertie happy anniversary! what's your assessment of your first year in Germany? Great to hear ds is proud and excited about school - long may it last! DS started school last year, and a few weeks into the school year declared that he didn't want to go anymore, he knew how to read and do maths, so why did he have to?

linzer thanks for asking about ds. The medicine brought the fever down, but it is going up again. I am hoping he will sleep through it. Your poor dd2 - glad to hear she was alright in the end, and that it wasn't D&V. Yes, it is a book. I have heard it is good, but not read it yet. Have you? How long is it, I wonder? I am only reading thin books at the moment as I want to get to the 50 books in 2014 target .

DD2's not impressed, and is rather overwhelmed. He's a bit strict and not the encouraging type. Apparently she has to do theory or orchestra, but she's at school at the time when the theory class runs. I think you are right, I will talk to him. She normally goes alone, but I will go next time. Though I am slightly scared of him too.

Off to put the dc to bed. And then read my (very thin) book. Hope the climbing toddlers stay safe and the bumps are all fine. Have a good start to the week.

Noticed today that Lidl have their skiwear on offer from 6 Okt.

Hello everyone, still knocking around...am also considering the winter clothes options...and am the type to leave it too late to get the perfectly acceptable kids stuff from lidl/aldi etc.
I look forward to the day my German is good enough to quickly translate a sarky comment, understand it, and come up with a cutting remark back

Thanks, Dorado, I will have a look at Lidl.

My German is a million miles off being able to come up with a cutting remark, even when not under time pressure. Fortunately I've discovered that nothing irritates old women rebuking me for some infraction more than acting like I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.

Bertie we must have arrived about the same time. My Dd is a Schulanfanger(in)? too, and also very proud of herself.

We have a street fair right outside our house at the moment, complete with carousel, sweet stalls and lots of drinks stalls - I think in honour of the Oktoberfest. Quite exciting having it there, but we have already spent of a fortune on (not very amusing) fairground amusements. DC are obsessed with a fishing game where you scoop ducks out of water, and are given tokens to exchange for the tackiest crappy plastic toys that look like they will break in seconds.

Black The street fair sounds like fun; I can see there would be advantages and drawbacks to having it right outside your house, though!

efes I can't even manage to come up with cutting comebacks in English until several hours minutes after the event, so have no chance of ever doing so in German (although do find myself muttering under my breath in English sometimes).

dora Don't think we have skiwear on offer here yet, but you've reminded me that I really must sort through the DC's winter gear and see what we need so that I'm prepared.

suenan How far off your target are you? And can you tell how thin books are when they're on your Kindle or are you reading "proper" books? I've just waded my way through The Goldfinch so am now enjoying a few shorter, lighter reads! (Plus yet another book on decluttering which I hope will finally inspire me.)

Must start work as I have a deadline at midday tomorrow and DD2 will be off school tomorrow for a random inset day (the Gymnasien seem to get an extra one; DD1 and DS in particular are not happy).

suenan and linzer I really need to switch to thin books for the rest of the year. I challenged myself to read 100 books (rather randomly, 50 seemed too doable, so I went for 100). I'm now two half-books away from 50 (one of which is The Goldfinch) and don't have much of the year left to get through the next 50, but I'm definitely blaming my slowness on the length of books I've chosen - the vast majority have been over 600 pages! Maybe I should start counting Rainbow Magic books...

bertie has your ds started school or is he in a Schulanfänger group at kiga? I had the idea that he was only a few months older than dd (but I might have got that completely wrong) and the terminology is a bit confusing.

suenan playing in an ensemble, especially a large one like an orchestra, can make learning an instrument a lot more fun, although it probably depends a bit on how the rehearsals are structured. I know how over-committed kids can get though and I think most music teachers would be understanding about a child and its parents wanting to maintain a range of hobbies.

Ps, linzer what's the decluttering book? I'm getting a Kindle for my birthday and one of the first books I want to download is the Konmarie book - mad Japanese tidying expert who thinks folding socks hurts them (or that's the impression I've got from reading the MN thread about it). Not sure when I'll actually do any decluttering with a newborn though!

The KonMari book is great, I'm doing it now :) It's more of a mindset than a decluttering book, though, and I'm following it through to the letter to try and get that mindset change. It is definitely helping, and has actually changed the way that I look at things. But maybe that's my interpretation, I have an aversion to the word "declutter"!

DS is in the Schulanfänger group, he starts school next year. They've put him in a special group to go and check out the school early, too, for kids who might need extra help settling in (because of the language issue). His birthday is this weekend and he'll be six, how old is your DD?

I find every book I download on kindle is depressingly short so I feel like I never get value for my money as I zip through them far too quickly.

After a year I have to say I like it here :) The weather is certainly gorgeous, or at least it is in the Rhine valley! We're finally getting our first visitors next month and then two more following in December, which I'm excited about. I've only just got around to sending off the form for Kindergeld which I'm hoping they will back pay. I had to ask for the cancellation of child benefit notice three times and it still took almost two months to arrive

I think I've heard of this de cluttering book in good housekeeping - my mum often brings a copy with her that she treats herself to at the airport. yes, ok, I do enjoy reading it and there was an article in there about how to de-clutter your life forever.

I'm a very keen de-clutterer but only in sporadic bursts. I think what has affected me was losing lots in a flood when I was young and then having nowhere to store stuff as a young adult. So if something isn't useful and is living in a drawer I'm prepared to get rid of it.

FrauEnglisch I counted books that I read to the DC towards my Goodreads goal last year, but decided it was cheating so stopped doing it earlier this year (think I may still have a few children's books on there from the start of the year though). I've set myself a lower goal this year and think I'm still on track, but haven't checked for a while.

Yes, the decluttering book is the KonMari book. I've been lurking on the thread too (have spotted you on there, Bertie ), which I only discovered yesterday so have only read about a quarter of it so far. I don't normally spend much more than 99p on Kindle books as I prefer the conventional kind, but downloaded the sample chapter and decided I couldn't wait for the paperback to arrive so ended up buying the e-book (it was a few pounds cheaper anyway). I read up to the clothes section last night and am feeling quite inspired, so now just need to find the time... once this deadline is out of the way and I've planned Thursday's English lesson, I shall make a start!

I find the idea of setting myself a target number of books to read rather peculiar - like challenging myself to eat more chocolate or browse the internet more :o Sneaking time with a novel falls into the same category in my brain... How do I make it virtuous? Do you have to read things that are worthy or hard going? :o

Speaking of books - have you seen [[https://bookswapper.de/bookswap/ bookswapper] - it's an online swapping site for English books here in DE - I find it quite a good way to keep books to a vaguely manageable level ;)

link fail.... bookswapper

mrtumbles my problem has been that the internet browsing has taken over from the book reading and having a slight background niggle about a book challenge was supposed to switch my default break activity to grabbing a book rather than the ipad. I do find that I am calmer after spending half an hour reading a book, plus the half an hour doesn't turn into two hours nearly as often as it does when I'm reading online. However, the internet is just so damn addictive!

bertie dd is 5. Her birthday is in May, so she'll be one of the youngest in her school year. She's not really excited about starting school, partly because her best friend won't start until a year later and partly, despite my best efforts to downplay it, she can already read more or less fluently and MIL some people seem intent on telling her she's got nothing left to learn in the 1. Klasse .

I'd also seen you on the KonMari thread, but had forgotten until linzer just mentioned it. I agree a bit about disliking the term "declutter". I read a few novels at the beginning of the year which happened to deal with Zen meditation and made me to aspire to a simpler way of life (which unfortunately is incompatible with my internet addiction, but hey). I think I have changed my mindset regarding new stuff (ie. I buy a lot less impulsively) and have learnt to let go of "could come in useful one day" stuff, but there's still lots of stuff that we have that could go, and sorting it and disposing of it takes motivation, time and energy.

Dorado we use bookswaper - my DH made the mobile ap for them and we met up with the couple who run it at a beer garden last summer
I just read whatever I fancy on bookswapper or can swap with the few local English speakers I know, sonever plan ahead what to read, but it means my reading gets to be quite varied

DS1 is in first class and not terribly impressed with school - the break isn't long enough to both play football and eat... Football always wins, he comes home cross and starving... His main comment when anyone asks him about school is on how the breaks are much too short... Homework is also a battle (far too much of it involves colouring in ATM) although actual lessons are OK. His teacher doesn't seem to be at all pleasan - he comes home telling me "x is dumb, Frau G said so" or "Y's Mummy does her homework for her, Frau G told us" DD's year 1 teacher was strict and held the children to high standards which seemed excessive for their age, but she was fair and professional... I am not warming to DS1's teacher (her odd approach to parents info eve didn't help with that).

MrTumbles I have to admit I did get a bit obsessive about reaching my reading target last year, but it definitely encouraged me to make more time for reading rather than sitting down and MNing, for example. This year I'm far less bothered about meeting my target but it's got me into the habit of reading more and I also like to have a record of all the books I read (I'm a bit obsessed with lists and the like, admittedly).

Will DS1 have his teacher throughout primary? She certainly doesn't sound great from what you've said.

FrauEnglisch Surely you should know that if you have a child who's reading at 4, say, you have a prodigy on your hands and they should probably skip primary school altogether. All they do in the first year is sit around reading "the cat sat on the mat"-style sentences (or whatever the equivalent is in German). Seriously though, it's interesting how attitudes to preschool reading differ; SIL (who's a teacher) was very about the fact that in the UK, it wouldn't be at all unusual for a child to be reading at 4 (even if lots are already at school by this age), whereas I sometimes wonder how the vast majority of children here get to 6, nearly 7 in some cases, without showing much interest in reading by themselves.

I've now finished the KonMari book and am still feeling quite inspired, so had better get decluttering/discarding/tidying before the inspiration wears off. I think her method probably works best if you don't have a hoarding DH and DC, but a lot of her ideas are very good and her method of folding tops is a revelation - I'm amazed at how much extra space there now is in the drawers.

MrTumbles at your son's teacher! Or is "dumb" not a horrible insult in German? Dd would be in bits if her teacher said something like that in front of the class. Fortunately her teacher seems lovely - we ran into her in Rewe and dd flung her arms round her .
Dd has a 20 minute break for playing, then a 10 minute breakfast break, which they go back to their classrooms for. V pleased about this, as I couldn't see dd wasting playtime to eat either. Although I forgot to pack her anything one day. Dd said she cried, and the teacher asked all the other children to share with her .

mrtumbles I buy a lot of books from charity shops in the UK and the English language sections of bookshops here and find the same thing, that the limited selection means I pick out stuff that I might not otherwise choose to read, or might not have noticed in a large bookshop. Having said that, atm I'm reading one hyper-popular book after the other: the Game of Thrones series, Apple Tree Yard, The Luminaries, The Goldfinch...

That teacher doesn't sound great, but I've heard similar things in rl about teachers reading out grades in front of the whole class and making inappropriate personal comments about pupils . What is it about the culture of teaching in Germany that manages to bypass the notion that positive expectations and praising effort produce the best results? It's frankly baffling how there are any well-adjusted adults in Germany at all.

Hi Girls - can I join in? I guess this is a sort-of chat thread, but I have a few questions....
My long-term plan is to move to Germany to improve my german - I need a place accessible to england easily (which seems to rule out large parts of germany ) - I live near Gatwick currently and would need to fly back here. Once the dc are all in Uni - 3 years to go!- I will be looking. I've thought about Berlin,(nice) Hamburg, (expensive) cologne (not bad) and errm, luxembourg (improve my french at the same time?) I flew to Lux this summer for a camping holiday in Saarburg and it was easy to get to and not many people spoke english, which was perfect.

Can you think of anywhere I havent?

And how long do you think it'd take to brush up my slightly better than O-level German? I'm thinking a year, maybe 2.

linzer x-posted there. I take your point about dd obviously being a prodigy who should go straight from kiga to university, but I just don't think she needs to know it herself. MIL is so deluded though: she and FIL went to an art exhibition in Zurich recently full of Miro and Picasso sketches and came back determined to keep every piece of artwork dd produces for when it's worth millions in a few years .

The folding is great isn't it! I did dd's t-shirt drawer a couple of months ago and it really does seem self-maintaining. I keep my clothes on shelves in the wardrobe, though, so I'd have to acquire some beautiful and expensive boxes from Muji to do the same with my tops. Atm that seems unnecessary, but the book may well convince me otherwise when I finally read it.

brg that is something of a relief to read that your dd has a nice teacher at school. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for dd's class next year, but at best I think it's going to be best of a bad lot (from what I've heard).

captain I think my sis flies Gatwick-Erfurt (with Germania) when she comes to visit. I wouldn't count on the route continuing to exist long-term, but Erfurt (capital of Thuringia) is beautiful, cheap and lacking in English speakers! Personally if I could live anywhere in Germany I'd probably choose Berlin, though.

As for fluency, I moved over with A level German and it took me nearer to two years to feel fluent. I had the impression that some of the other exchange students were improving faster than me - there are probably several factors involved, including personality, practice opportunities, who you meet, etc.

that doesn't sound very good at all about the teacher MrTumbles, what a shame . Ours are both at a Ganztag now so there isn't much homework - none for DD2 except reading, and DD1 has some, but could get it finished (if she wished, and didn't sit chatting with her friends ) in the silent study periods at school rather than at home. It's good in some ways, though last year when they were bringing home work every day to do in the afternoons I did at least have more of an idea of what they were up to. Swings and roundabouts!

Thanks for the book swapper link Doradoo, that sounds a good plan. I have the opposite of a clutter problem, we moved here with so little I miss having "stuff", as it is useful sometimes! I have barely any books, but can't quite get my head round a kindle . I have been reading DD2's books in desperation (though the last one - Mysterious Benedict Society - was actually very enjoyable. I have the mind of a 10 year old obviously!)

Thanks for the heads up re the Lidl ski wear too Doradoo - we have one down the road so I should be able to get in their early with my elbows sharpened

Feeling a bit knackered, still trying to work out what we're doing long term (what country to live in etc!). We had a parents evening for DD2's class last night. Pleased the teachers seem very good and motivated, but a bit sad that Berlin seems to have no money to give out for school resources, it's all a bit bare so the parents need to get together and sort things out. Not that I mind doing that, but it's a big difference from BW. Down there with the rich people