Is there still a German Thread?

[BeatrixBurgund]

We've moved back to Germany after 8 years in Switzerland and Scotland, and with the kids in school, I just know I'm going to have lots of questions about the Bavarian education system.

And I'd love to catch up with all the folk I used to chat with (even if I can't remember their usernames!). I'm on a namechange - it's MmeLindor here!

Thanks finally - I like swimming and there is a SchwimmHalle in Aachen, so might try a club there. Not sure I even know how to ask for '1 adult swim please' in German though!

I'm sure I'm not going to miss anything from England (except maybe Marmite) - I really miss proper German Apple Cake though, the stuff with glazed apple slices on a yeasted base... Looking forward to trying a few of those. And Bratwurst, kohl, fried chicken with apple sauce. All not the same when you make it yourself

I'm sure you will work out how to pay for your swim, ptumbi. They probably have the prices up, if you put the exact change down on their counter , you will be given a single in return. In no time, you will be discussing season tickets and off peak hours changing in summer and winter. Enjoy.

Desserts from the Windsor bakery, mmmm..teaaddict. I love to chat to the Meister Baecker, who is delighted to tell anyone who will listen how English was always his worst subject at school and how his English teacher told him he had learned nothing in English classes and would never manage even a short visit to England.

FinallyHere - I'll hover behind people and listen in! 'Ein erwachsener Schwimmen' sound right? Or would it be Eine Erwachsene' as I'm female.... ??

I'll tie myself in knots with the grammar, I know.

Goodness, ptumbi do you really want an answer?

You know enough about the language to know about the gender assignment of nouns, which is a great start. My chatterbox mother managed to live and converse in Germany for decades without ever grasping that point. It's really useful, to start as you mean to go one and learn the gender alongside the word, because 'just knowing' is the only reliable way to find out. That, or DudenOnline, anyway. The fact that you are referring to a woman does not change the gender, though cases (nominative, genitive, accusative, dative) will change the article (or ending for the ein/eine ).

German grammar can seem complicated to native English speakers, because we are not used to the inflections, but also have very little experience of really reliable rules to follow in our language. For any rule in English grammar, it isn't difficult to think of lots of counter examples. German grammar rules tend to be a lot more reliable, with only a handful of exceptions to learn, making it well worth while learning the rules.

A german dictionary, well, nowadays maybe a link to an online dictionary or an app, will be really useful to get the gender clear from the start. If you really want to do well, before to go to sleep at night, think of the words you have learned and check you know the gender. Then make up a story with each word...zzzz.

My experience was that the people who wanted to improve their own English, were very forgiving and flattering and easy to get to know. The people who appreciated my efforts to get to grips with German might have been less obviously charming, but somehow over time, became much better friends.

You get to know most people differently, when you are 'speaking their language,, or at least trying to. For me, it was noticeably more interesting, to get to know people while speaking German. Come to think of it, that may well have been the same for those who were so keen to speak English

All the best. I'd love to hear about anything that puzzles you, it would be great to be in touch with the up to date challenges.

Thanks finally (I was only joking...but I know enough German to know that I know nothing really!)

I would like to be fluent, but think I'd really need to be out there a lot longer than 9 months for that. Still, it's an adventure!

Schlobob, decongestant tablets. They try to fob you off with crappy herbal tea there is case you go the full breaking bad with the pseudo-ephedrine, this is not funny if you can't sleep because of sinus blockage.

They do treat threadworms here but you can't buy the stuff over the counter, when I've asked for OTC stuff they offer a course of something you're supposed to take for a week and a half and it costs €30 for ONE person. So the pharmacist always looks worried and says go to the doctor, you can get it on prescription. But DS's paediatrician only ever prescribes it for him, never for the rest of the family, you're supposed to go to your own doctor and get one from them if you have symptoms. Why?? I have no idea what all the fuss is about, it's just worms FGS, they pick them up all the time. I once had to lie to an out of hours doctor and say yes I'd seen them before he would give me the prescription and DH went mad and wouldn't let me give DS the medicine. FFS. I even figured out the dosage and they give you about 20 times what you'd take in ovex, so I rationed that out for ages and just gave it to him secretly

So now I buy ovex. And try to keep DS's nails cut and get really hot on hand washing, because if I don't, we all get them, and DH never actually gets symptoms, so he doesn't believe me, gets all worried about the medicine because of the seriousness they treat it with here and we reinfect each other for weeks and it's GRIM.

Oh yeah on decongestant point, they also don't have Lemsip/Beechams (etc) here, so if you like that when you have a cold, bring that too.

We also bring marmite and Bisto and I prefer UK stock cubes, but the Aldi ones are okay in a pinch.

I've recently discovered Sammy's Super Sandwich Bread, BTW. It tastes like UK bread and not like the weirdly sweet American style bread. If any of you are sad enough (like us!) to stick to square sliced loaves anyway :)

About decongestants , I import pinementhol in bulk. I feel that it is the only thing that shifts a cough and cold. I suspect that its more about the smells that became familiar in childhood. I have their branded inhaler, too.

Finally, I think Pinimenthol is actually a German product and readily available everywhere? The smell is definitely a childhood memory, although not a good one, I used to have one cold after the other and hated that stuff with a passion!

Re decongestants, you can get several OTC products with pseudoephedrine in Germany. I swear by Reactine Duo but there are others as well. To avoid lectures and herbal tea recommendations I buy all the OTC stuff we use from an online pharmacy every few months. Prices for OTC meds vary a lot and buying online tends to work out a lot cheaper as well. Medizinfuchs is a really useful website to find the best deal if you’re buying several things at once.

Boffin, not sure if you’re still undecided re preferred areas in Munich? Bogenhausen, Laim and Freising are three very different areas so I’m not quite sure what exactly you’re looking for.
I agree with 5moreminutes about Freising, it could be anything from very rural to quite suburban. I’m just wondering if it might be a bit too far out to work as an upmarket short term let? Although something near the Weihenstephan Campus could work. On their website, Mr Lodge say they’re happy to advise on suitable areas, so might be worth getting in touch with them.
I don’t know Laim terribly well but overall it’s not a massively desirable area I’m afraid. The northern bit along Landsberger Straße has brothels, dodgy used car dealerships and a few modern office blocks. I have a male friend who works in that area and he says walking to the S-Bahn in the evenings doesn’t feel particularly safe for Munich standards.
There are nicer bits, but there’s very little in terms of good bars and restaurants. It’s very much a working class area with lots of older people and I can’t really see it becoming particularly trendy in the next few years even though it’s reasonably central and has good transport links.

Bogenhausen (if it really is Bogenhausen and not somewhere further out that’s just being marketed as Bogenhausen) is lovely but as you say quite a bit pricier. If you can stretch to Bogenhausen prices there are plenty of other nice areas that might be suitable for you, but a bit difficult to give advice without knowing your budget and what exactly you’re looking for.

Are threadworms a big thing in Germany?

LemonSalad, thanks for that. MrLodge seem a bit slow to engage with useful advice, but the plan is this. We want to spend up to 450,000 Euros on a three or four room family flat including any renovations but Makler cost etc can be on top of that. It needs to be within an hour of the airport by public transport so we can use it easily ourselves at weekends when it is not being let, plus we will also use it for some holidays and live it in for blocks of time when we can. It needs to have a balcony and/or access to a garden, and two toilets (one in the bathroom and a guest WC), plus some parking and a bit of cellar space. Someone told me these areas were good, but our budget is a little unrealistical for most of them I fear:

Altstadt
Au
Bogenhausen
Giesing (Ober- and Untergiesing)
Haidhausen
Isarvorstadt
Lehel
Neuhausen
Schwabing
Thalkirchen

All advice gratefully received.
I have seen a flat in a converted castle in Eurasburg which won my heart on romance grounds but it's hopelessly impractical being two hours from the airport and we aren't in a position to proceed immediately so I can't believe it would be for sale long enough for us to buy it 😢

Although DH bought a load of lottery tickets for me today in an attempt to help the situation 😁😁 Love that man!!!!

Not really, Tea, someone was asking what to bring and I suggested Ovex, that's all :)

Are you looking on immoscout Boffin? I reckon look on there, narrow down some places and then check the areas aren't awful, rather than looking in particular areas.

I was looking online but I don't really know which places are awful. I only know Ebenhausen, Wolfratshausen, Planegg, Pasing, Wessling and Perlach.

Hi LemonSalad sorry, wasn't clear, I import Pinimenthol into the UK (the EU/common market has been goid for me, I can remember how much more difficult it was before) having grown up with it. Probably didn't like it much, but now it evokes memories of it being rubbed under my nose just before going to sleep by my dear parents. Gives it extra magic....

Hi Boffinmum unfortunately central Munich is very expensive. For Lehel, Altstadt and Central Schwabing the prices are around EUR 10 per m2. Isarvorstadt, Bogenhausen, Haidhausen Neuhausen are around EUR 9 per m2. Have you checked immobilienscout24 or immowelt? How about Ingolstadt?

I have never in my life heard of Pinementhol til now, but google strongly suggests it is available in Germany and from online German shops

www.docmorris.de/pinimenthol-erkaeltungssalbe/03745309

Sorry Finally I missed your last post on which direction you import in :o

Bertie You can buy hot lemon powder for colds (like Lemsip but without the asprin, marketed as with all the vitamin C and zink you could ever need, type thing) from supermarkets.

Boffin it looks as though you need to come over for a week solely to travel around on the U bahn and scout areas, to narrow your search down.

Central Munich prices are closer to a million for what you are looking for I'd say, so maybe you need to be looking very near and north of the airport. There must be a demand for rentals near the airport. Don't forget bus routes when you're looking as sometimes the travel time is vastly shorter than by S or U bahn due to needing to take a weird route with changes if confined to rails :o Have you looked at Hallbergmoos?

tinyurl.com/y9qoqc2s

I might well do that. I promised DS1 we would pop across in September and he could help. I could pay him in beer

PS We did win the lottery last night but only £25 sadly.

Thanks bertie, I thought "oh sh!t" when I read about threadworm remedies. Now I can exhale

DH reckons those vitamin c drinks don't work :o I can't stand any if them but the proper lemsip has paracetamol, decongestant and caffeine I think so apparently better.

BertieBits Lemsip also has nots of sugar, which feels comforting but probably isn't that great overall. It's hard to break the emotional connection, though, if you 'just' swallow the active ingredients separately.

I'm convinced that that additional extra is our placebo response to the familiarity of the known remedy's taste and smell. Advertisers don't want us to think that, obviously.

Bleurgh does it? I can never taste it, they make me feel worse.

Hallo! I've only just seen this thread, but I've found my folk! We're moving to Baden-Wurttemberg at the beginning of September. 7 year old DS is enrolled in the local German Primary School and we have a house sorted. We're just in the process of renting our own house out, which I'm finding almost unbearably stressful. In fact, I'm really looking forward to the move to Germany, but am finding the whole process of such a big move VERY stressful - how on earth can I possibly be expected to stay even remotely sane? It is definitely not helped by the fact that DH is already working in Germany, so is only back at the wkend.