German Corner

[finknottle]

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From Brezeln to Bier

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For discussion of schools see separate thread

I know this has no connection to anything but can I just race in and say how much I love my wonderful paediatrician and the whole health care set-up for dc here. I can't praise it enough

and yes, this is really me!

Are you still on?
The boys are out and dd is in my study so I'm relegated to the laptop in the kitchen. Big treat for dd & reward for s/thing so don't want to hoof her off to check my email.
Spill cryptically.
Did you get my email after lunch?

Yes, sandy your paediatrician sounds great! Mine is a DDR doc so a tough old bird really! I'm still waiting to hear from the krankenkasse about the lost brace.

Just shoved dd off my computer (bribed with ice-cream) and have read your email & replied.
If there were no merit in your argument, the outcome could have been v different, remember that.
Admylin - hope you get good news about the brace!

Hi you two! I just popped on briefly because I was SO RELIEVED that it went well with the doctors and we will have the A on Monday, so I had to let it all out. Yippee! (please may it have the desired effect!) Then we got stuck into another session of CHarlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Oompah Loompahs, so haven't been online for a bit.

Thanks so much for the mails and listening to my convulated weirdo rants. God I think I'd crack up entirely if I didn't have your help. I'm that close to it at times.

These braces aren't sounding good. Eek at 200 euros every time they get lost. Didn't know they had to take them out to eat and for sport, and so on. Dd will lose them immediately. She constantly loses everything. Her teeth are coming out extremely crooked, like at right angles at the front and I will really have to get them done.

do you know what though to get back to bad news again - since everyone will feel more at home with me that way - dd is 128cm but 29 kilos. I knew she was getting stout now we had to give up sport but I was kidding myself it was still under control. I have to get onto that pronto, don't I? That's bad.

I don't know - it might be good to do as quickly as possible but I read somewhere that 50% of all dc get braces in Germany. In the 'old days' there weren't so many I'm sure. My niece's teeth came out all crooked and they eventually went for a check up after the obligatory 6 month wait on NHS and he said come back in a couple of years time so no hurry there! That was a year ago and she looks OK now so might not need them after all. I don't think dd really has a big problem with her teeth but it was all offered so we went ahead with it.

Am half-watching some Cornish detective with woeful eyes and half-laptopping in a v lazy fashion.
Have to admit I have no idea about weight/height ratio. My 3 are so skinny and they never stop eating. I used to be like that once upon a size 8.
Is it me or is there more emphasis here on orthodontists - rather US style? We've now taken out extra dental insurance for our 3 with future horrendous bills in mind.
Sandy, bet you're dancing around!

Did the doctor say you had to do anything about it Sandy? I've no idea what mine weigh or what the normal weight should be.

We're OK with our Krankenkasse they pay everything - you only have to pay 20% up front which you get back if you complete the therapy, which we won't if dh gets a job abroad.

My dh and my dc are fighting over the TV - we only have 1, better go and send them off to bed. They like to stay up late on Fridays even though their eyes are only half open. Dh won't be late going to bed as he was beschäftigt with his brain slices till 5am. Then it'll be my turn to watch but there is never anything on, should get more channels maybe but then dh (TV addict) would only watch it even more.

You lot have been busy today.

Hi Taipo, and welcome. I would love to be able to nip over to France to the supermarket, I love French supermarkets.

We are quite close to the Dutch border so we pop over there occasionally. It is one of the things I love about visiting ohter countries, going to the supermarket.

Did you notice that Ryanair have extended their flight plan? I have just booked Düsseldorf to Edinburgh for me and the DCs in July, only 300euros. DB and his fiance are having a baby so I have to go over and see my new goddaughter.

Have you all battened down the hatches for tonights storm? It is pretty windy here already.

Admylin
Oh, the lost brace sounds like a pain. My friend's little brother once flushed her brace down the loo because she left it wrapped in loo roll. Hope the Krankenkasse pays up.

Sandy,
What weight should DD be then?

My cheap flights have stopped going to Newcastle from Berlin. It was so easy to get home from Newcastle.

No wind in Berlin yet but must remind dd to go and get her bird house in the morning, it's not tied down. It's supposed to get to us tomorrow midday.

We used to travel with HLX from Hannover to Newcastle.

Edinburgh is much nearer to my parents though

Yes, used HLX from Stuttgart but up in Berlin it's Easy Jet but they don't do Newcastle anymore. I'm really due a trip back, missed Christmas and now Easter fell through too - and in summer we'll be in the US - I'm having withdrawl symptoms because I know I won't be able to go for AGES.

so where would you fly to now admylin?

ks I don't know really, never bother with the charts but 29 is a lot for a 7 year old, I think maybe 22 is about right. She likes her food. She really just eats too much for her metabolism I reckon, she finishes something, I clear up and get a coffee on and my book out (bad housewife emoticon) and then it's "mummy, I'm hungry again".

If I could ever figure out how you post pictures, I could put a couple of photos up for your judgement. She doesn't look monstrous or anything but she isn't a leggy, twiggy little thing like lots of girls in her class.

I never seem to get these storm warnings - one of the disadvantages of having satellite TV and having Radio 4 on all day. I only check the local weather if I think my garden will get frost.
Advantage of course is that I'm now watching Gardeners' World, ah, Monty Don

you really are due back admylin.

Finks is that satellite tv then? You have satellite tv too don't you ks? Which one did you get is it the Kabel Deutschland one?

crossed posts again!
No admylin, doctor didn't comment on her weight, too busy doing EKGs and Ultraschall and all the rest of it. I mean I wouldn't say you'd look at her and instantly think OMG this kid has a weight problem. She has a big frame - wide shoulders, oddly athetic looking for a dc who can't do anyhting remotely sportly to save her life.

Do you know when she was born and I was in the hospital the second Untersuchung they do, the doctor rolled this 2 day old baby over onto her tummy and she raised her head, then her shoulders and propped herself up on her arms and he called over to all the others, "hey come and look at this" She had rippling muscles all the way down her back and they were going "OMG this one'll be an olympic athlete". Think it was all the aerobic I did right through pregnancy. She was doing it with me!

How far from the truth that prediction was

On my budget I have to fly to Liverpool or Glasgow both mean my dad drives 2 hours to pick us up and 2 hours back which I don't want him to do anymore, he's geting on and it tires him out. Newcastle was better because he went over and had a nice lunch and rest at my uncles house and then drove an hour and abit back. I could also get a train from Newcastle as my uncle would pick me up and take me to the station. Seeing what we're paying for the flights to the US - we could afford to fly Lufthansa to Newcastle really. Have to be even nicer to dh to get him to pay that though and he doesn't deserve THAT nice!

Yes, it's wonderful. I had too many years of CNN bloody International. Am a news junkie. You get all the radio stations on satellite too, I love radio.
Re dd's weight, google BMI Kinder. Should be some calculator.
And ask your helpful paed.

Admylin, am still at the cost of your flights. After buying this house & having to finish it, it'll be years before we can afford anything more than Ryanair to the UK.

good idea finks, just done that. Seems it is still Normalgewicht but I think they are giving you a wide range for Normalgewicht these days. Bet you 15 years ago, it would have been different.

Still she's on the higher end of the scale in the direction of Übergewicht, so I think we have to get it back under control. She used to be skinny but she was moving a lot more before this school year. We had to drop all the dance and football and Kung Fu, swimming and so on but she was still eating the same or maybe even more with the school dinners.

I was too and somehow think we could have got them cheaper - we booked early enough. Do you get plenty of visitors from back home atleast? My parents might be coming over so I'll get them to fill a case with our food and drug fix! My sister isn't coming, she got a new kitchen instead. Still have a shoe problem though.

We are lucky where we are at present, we can choose between several airlines. Easyjet, Ryanair and German Wings all fly to Scotland.

Our sat dish is from Technosat. It is pretty small though, don't know if it would work all over Germany. Just switched over to Gardeners World, forgot it was on.

Did Emanka ever tell us where she always buys shoes in Germany?