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".)

Hi Tree- I'm in Austria and my Austrian PIL live in one of the skiing villages on the Stubai valley very near Innsbruck (Mieders). I'm pretty familiar with the city and general area from trips but have not actually lived there. I can find out if you have more specific requests that aren't easily googled yourself.

Tyrolian German can be a bit special- they (locals) still consider they talk "better" than the Vorarlbergers though! Each valley has it's own dialect so there is lots of "inbred" type jokes too. Innsbruck itself is lovely, nice city-vibe, loads to do, great situation at the bottom of all the mountains. 6 months there would be great fun.

Hello to everyone else! I still lurk/ catch up with you intermittently.

that sounds like a great idea tree! I've no help to offer at all I'm afraid, but our first German trip was 3.5 months when DD2 was only 3, and it's amazing what they pick up. I think its very much worth doing and not nuts at all. C4ro we've had many holidays in the Vorarlberg, it is a very special accent/dialect Beautiful though, I'd happily talk like them and live like they do!

And in Berlin, we have 24 hour supermarkets! Not that I've ever wanted to shop in Edeka at 3am, but I could…. There are whole malls open on a Sunday as well. I don't really like it actually, I like to think everyone gets a proper day off and goes home at a reasonable time. This is not the only respect in which I display Luddite tendencies though!

heinous I may join you in the Luddite tendencies in so far as 24 hour supermarkets seem a bit too much. We have to drive all the way to Bratislava (well, only 45 mins away!) to get Sunday shopping. DH works on Saturdays so that is quite handy. I am now used to the shopping hours here, and the smaller shops. But that may be because I always felt faint and sick at the end of a trip to one of the big supermarkets in the UK. And that was before children. The arrival of online shopping saved me, especially as it coincided with the arrival of babies.

C4rogood to see you again. How was your ear op? hope it went well and you are fully recovered.

tree I have limited knowledge of Innsbruck but do go there for work sometimes. Seems like a nice quiet town, and great standard of life. Last winter I had a morning meeting there, and one of the women was keen to finish at 12 because she was meeting friends to go skiing in the afternoon. That sound good to you? My Viennese colleagues - prejudiced of course - have a standard joke. "How do they say banana in Tyrol?" "Bananach" and then they ROFL . It's true that there are a lot more ch sounds- no idea where the tongue goes but will ask Linzer tomorrow - when they speak.

I also learnt NADG. Or rather NAD because I am still struggling with the G part of things. I reckon if I wait long enough the genetive will be dead and I don't need to bother with it I envy those of you who learnt it at school, I started learning German in my 30s, when most teachers thought I was too old for that chanting, which is a shame because that helps me learn. MrTumbles I had to smile at your post that you couldn't even begin to contribute to the grammar discussion. Surely you also have some "trauma" related to learning this beautiful and difficult language?

wooly how are you doing? Baby still happy inside? DD1 was nearly 4 weeks early, so was expecting dd2 to be early. But she took her time and was 10 days late. So I do know the feeling of expecting the baby to arrive early...DS arrived on his due date, he's still the "easiest" (as my 100 year old Gran would say) of the three. Which reminds me I had better go and pick him up.

linzer I am taking no clutter from you! Only books, but they aren't clutter are they?

Waves at everyone else, and hope you have a good weekend.

Thank you everyone. I hadn't thought of FB groups, so that's really helpful. And reassuring to know it's not nuts but we would be going anyway
captain of course!
suenan DH will love that (the ease of getting to the slopes I mean).

I am so impressed I have to share - with a three minute google I have found three Kinderärzte near us that are open on a Saturday - two of which are also open on a Sunday. Wow!

Reason why I googled is not so "wow". DS has woken up with dreadful stomach ache and is rolling about in pain . Not sure how much is a bit of a show, or really real pain, but I am waiting for the drs to open to get it checked out anyway.

Visiting drs seems to have turned into my hobby. Anyone else feel they spend a lot of their time in doctors?

Oh no suenan! Hope he gets sorted soon.

Well done on the quick Google though!
BTW -45 mins to Bratislava? That must be lovely -Slovakia is on my list for a visit

suenan Oh no, poor DS. But am very impressed that you have not just doctors but Kinderärzte who open at the weekend; out here in the sticks, there's just one GP on call for the whole area. Books are now all in the cellar btw, so off my bookcase at least (which counts as decluttered in my book).

Heinous 24 hour opening? When I lived in Berlin, it was a real rush to get to the supermarket before it closed at 12pm on a Saturday. I don't mind Sunday closing, though (and like suenan said, we have Bratislava nearby if we're desperate) and find I actually prefer the smaller supermarkets (apart from the fact that I have to end up going to two or three to get everything I need ).

Hi C4ro, good to see you again. Have you been back to our street recently?

Thank you both . He doesn't seem to have anything serious. It might just be a bug - a strange bug because there are no typical tummy bug symptoms. I was most impressed when dr said if he got worse we should come back tomorrow, a Sunday!

linzer Thanks for keeping the books. But do feel free to declutter them by giving them to anyone else who may want them. I don't want to hog them.

Good to hear it's nothing serious suenan, hope he's on the mend soon. I'm sure we'll be able to find another date for me to foist some books on you coffee soon. I did manage to pass on three today but still have a huge pile to get rid of.

Sunday service in Austria? Mind you, I was even more shocked earlier today to discover that they can make you pay if you call out an ambulance; friend has just had to pay over €600 for a call-out!

Continuing on the book decluttering theme, I've decided that we really don't need to buy any more books in German - the DC can join the library instead. It's free to join all this week, so I took DD2 along and thought we would save the annual €20 fee; sadly it was just the €2 Einschreibgebühr, however. But at least it's free to borrow books this week as well; I decided it would probably work out cheaper to pay the 40 cents per book rather than the annual fee, but DD2 has just finished the first book she took out so I may have to reconsider particularly if the other two want to borrow books on her card as well.

€600 to call out an ambulance?! When? Surely not in all cases? Worrying not to know when you get charged and when not.

Interesting about the library and the difference with Vienna. Here the dc can join for free and don't have to pay for books. Adults pay a yearly fee (about €20 iirc) but don't pay for book borrowing. I only have to pay to order books from another branch. Maybe we should also swap children's books?

Just konmaried two drawers. DH most impressed but a little worried, he jokingly said they looked a bit "neurotic". He's by no means messy but this was clearly too far.

No, not in all cases - only if you don't have medical treatment afterwards, i.e. aren't taken into hospital or visit your GP the next day, etc. I think the paramedics should warn you!

Swapping the DC's books also sounds good - I really must konmari their shelves too (I actually have gaps on mine now!). It's good that children can join your library for free; there seem to be certain periods where children can borrow books for free here (e.g. during school holidays) but more often than not they have to pay. I'm a bit about having to pay to join a library, but I suppose all the money goes on providing brand new books for school children every year or something!

at neurotic looking drawers. DH has been quite impressed with mine so far, although he's usually fairly sceptical about my decluttering attempts and still blames me for forcing him (he claims) to throw away almost his entire collection of school exercise books. He's probably just happy that I mainly seem to be sticking to folding so far!

600 for an ambulance? Heck. Makes me grateful for the NHS - and for free librabries!

I'm sure the benefits must outweigh the costs? Actually I wonder why we do have fre libraries - it must cost a lot to buy all thoise books, and staff and equip them. I wouldn't mind a charge for loaning books (40p sounds ok) if it keeps them open.

You don't need to reconsider moving to Germany captain, as I'm in Austria. I've never heard of it happening before (DH was quite shocked too) but it was one of the rare occasions that made me miss the NHS. Otherwise, the health care system here is very efficient and mostly free at the point of delivery; I think it's one of the main things I'd miss along with the wine if I moved back to the UK.

I don't really mind paying 40 cents per book, I must admit. I buy a lot of books for the DC in English that are either second-hand and/or very cheap, but it's much harder to find affordable books in German; we generally pay around €8-10 for a children's book here (there aren't really any charity shops where we live). I lurk on the Christmas bargain threads and am very envious of all the bargains you can get in the UK. Actually, I think the shops are the other main thing I miss; I really don't enjoy shopping here and go as little as possible, which would be quite good for my bank balance if it weren't for the invention of online shopping!

Ah yes of course you're in Austria! I actually like the big dept stores in germany - is it KadeWe? And Karstadt? I remember those from my childhood...esp at christmas, so glittery and huge

And yes the wine! We holidayed in Saarburg in the Mosel valley in july; the campsite left us a bottle of red wine which I loved (not really a red wine drinker) and even the dc liked it. I took a photo ofthe wine label - which had absolutely no identifying names on it, so I've been trying to track it down every since. Finally found it on saturday - it's not available in UK, and it's apparently one of those 'qualitatswines' which are made from a mix of grapes/wine - and available over there at £2 a bottle! Great taste in wine, me

I have happy memories of spending hours in Karstadt, KaDeWe and the like when I was an au pair, but there isn't anything like that here (not where we live anyway - most of the shops are on the small side, there isn't much choice and there are rarely any bargains). OTOH I was very impressed with the service and efficiency at the small hardware store when we took DD2's list of incomprehensible (to me) items for Werken there a few weeks ago. I said to DH that yet again, it's like being back in the 50s - but in a good way for once.

We're in a wine-growing area so there's lots of good cheap wine here; I'm always shocked at the price of wine when we go back to the UK. I went to Asda for the first time ever this summer (there isn't one anywhere near where my parents live) and was quite excited to find wine for around 2 pounds a bottle - but it was like vinegar. I will drink almost anything am no wine connoisseur, but it really was undrinkable. So that put paid to any plans I may have had of moving back!

Back to school today after our lovely 2week break christmas shopping in the uk and oh my was it dark - leaving the house around 7.30 - and with the clocks changing next weekend only going to get blacker.... at least it's been lovely and sunny for the past few days!

Library here (NRW) is 20Eur annual adult fee - DC are cheaper (poss free) but what they can take out is age restricted to their card - so we just have on adult card for the whole family as there is no limit on how many items we can have at any one time! There's even an online renewal service.....

Won't it be lighter in the mornings then though, dora? It's getting quite dark now when the DDs leave the house at 7am, but unless I've got it the wrong way round it should be better from next week - for a while, at least.

Unfortunately the children's and adult's libraries are in different parts of the building here so I'm not sure you'd be able to borrow children's books on an adult card and vice versa. Then again, as I'm planning on paying per item rather than per year I don't suppose it makes much difference. I'm just going to make sure that DD1 and DS also get library cards this week when there's no charge for them, in case they need them in future.

Oh yes, we have a Karstadt, and DH is utterly obsessed with Mueller. To be fair, Mueller is beautiful with a huge glass front and when they deck it out in Christmas lights it looks amazing.

Yes, Müller is probably the best shop around here. I still can't get excited about it the way that I can about shopping in the UK though.

I thought as it goes backwards 7am now will be like 6am is currently - or am I confusing myself?

At least they always come home from school in the light.......

Hmm, if the clocks go back, that means that when you wake up at 7am it's actually gone back to 6am - meaning you can stay in bed another hour and by the time you get up, it will have had another hour to get lighter. I think. But yes, it will at least still be light when they come home!

Do your clocks go back on Sunday? I work for an airline and we sometimes get the situation where we are in tune with Europe as we go back/forward and you lot haven't. it causes alll sorts of fun and games as we have to allow for an hour here or there....

Yes, they go back on Sunday - I thought they went back/forward at the same time everywhere in Europe (Germany/Austria/UK, at any rate) now? When I first lived in Germany about 25 years ago, the clocks didn't always change at the same time so I had to be careful if I'd arranged to phone my parents at a particular time, but I don't remember that happening for years now.

You have really confused me now, I think I am staying in bed next weekend. As far as I know, I think, it will get lighter in the morning and the UK and Austria and Germany (and Spain but that may not be relevant here) all change their clocks at the same time.....
Hold on a minute, I will have to google. Okay, wikipedia says that most European countries (and yes, that includes the UK ) have been in sync since 1996.