German Corner

[finknottle]

Deutsch or English
Native speakers, expats, anyone
From Brezeln to Bier

Please don't ask if you join in, everyone is welcome

For discussion of schools see separate thread

[chrissi1]

Hi there I´m the new one I suppose.
About the shoes
I don´t know if you know but Elefanten got bankrupt and Deichmann bought them .
Since then it´s said that the quality dropped and the price.
I talked to a shoeshop owner,asking him why he had no Elefanten shoes anymore .
He told me because the drop in quality

[admylin]

Yes I've seen elefanten shoes in Deichmann but they don't have very good quality shoes in general although must admit they are cheap. Trouble is my dc are getting to that age where they just sit in a shoe shop and turn down every shoe I offer because they 'look wierd' but in the UK we always find so much that we can hardly fit it in our luggage (how I dream of driving over with a van!)

Well atleast it looks as if I'm not the only one who has trouble with shoes so that's calmed me down!

Trockodile when you comapre prices for contact lenses are they cheaper too? My mum can never believe how cheap glasses are, she says they are alot more expensive in UK.

[admylin]

Kindersurprise I would also be interested to know about postage to UK. It is expensive isn't it. At Christmas the postage nearly cost as much as the gifts I sent to my nieces. I was meaning to go on Ebay.de and read their page on sending items -might be some good tips - just never got round to it.

[trockodile]

Admylin -no, not cheaper -about 45 euro for 30 pairs (£25 pounds in UK) -BUT, at Tesco I also had to pay a yearly check up of (i think) £25. No check up-no lenses. (Think it is law). So probably about the same.

[SSSandy2]

So how is everyone? Feeling a bit washed out (again/still) so I am drinking a BIG jug of strong coffee and trying to forget that I have a lot to do today. Ah the joys of amnesia.

We were watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on video on Friday (borrowed from the school library) and I really had to cringe through part of it. Do you all remember it? The bad guys are so obviously German, with Hitler or Kaiser Bill moustaches and the "ja, ja" and "jawohl" all the time. Gawd.

Struck me how many of the films I saw as a dc (mind you suppose in those days there weren't that many anyway) had Germans or someone speaking in a very German way as the bad guys. Didn't pick up on any of it as a dc but now I really notice it. We borrowed Bedknobs and Broomsticks last week which has the Germans trying to invade England and being chased off by ghosts, then in the Sound of Music of course there are the Nazis bossing everyone about.

In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when they arrive in this fantasy land Vulgaria with the long red and black flags hanging down, dd goes "Oh no, mummy look NAZIS!" and I'm like maybe this film shouldn't really be in a German school library, you know? How scarey is that children catcher too, talk about creepy! Didn't remember him.

[chrissi1]

The cheapest way to post a parcel is the Landweg.At least thats what I did.
I think there are other companies ,not just the Post.Maybe they have different prices.
Tried the internet?
I don´t know if it helps but you could try
www.deutschepost.de/efiliale

[finknottle]

Mornin' all
Our village postwoman is v friendly and once warned me if I sent a round parcel (a money-box for my nephew, round tin) that it'd be more expensive as there's a "rolling tax" - honest Daftest thing ever. Bought a jiffy bag and stuffed it in and heh presto, half the postage.
Dh is off work today and when he's finished his coffee I'm dragging him to the garden centre. Want him to buy me us a greenhouse. Think I'll be lucky to get a cold frame
Sandy - it is odd isn't it about the films, I watched Where Eagles Dare with ds1 and it is a war film so fair enough - but Chitty and Bedknobs

[SSSandy2]

Good luck with the greenhouse. Think positive! Wonder how much they cost, ahve to say I haven't a clue. You feeling better this week?

[chrissi1]

About shoes again .Did you try Vertbaudet?

[finknottle]

I was sent a Verbaudet catalogue recently - lovely clothes imo.
There's a new French girl in dd's kiga group and I told her mum I knew she was French by her clothes
Sandy - all bug-free thankfully. Greenhouse heap big expensive but I want one, wail. Dh built himself a sauna so I think it's quite reasonable...I should have got one when he bought the sauna.

[SSSandy2]

I'm getting odd visions of a combined sauna-greenhouse atm

French dc are always well-dressed, aren't they? You can always pick them out. NOt to mention that somehow their hair stays looking tidy all day long. No idea how they do it.

[SSSandy2]

you should have got one BEFORE you let him have the sauna.

[admylin]

Morning all, just got in from shopping, how I hate Monday morning shopping - went for a coffee afterwards to compensate! Slept in aswell this morning but we just made it to school. Are your schools strict about coming late? I noticed there is a section at the bottom of the report to write in number of days off sick, days off sick without a note and another thing and then days late never been late ourselves but half the Brazilian fraction at our Grundschule comes late every day.

Vertbaudet is a good idea, they do have a few shoes and the clothes are nice. Only problem with them is if you want to make an order of a few things they often have a 4 to 6 week delay in delivering - out of stock or on order whatever.

What are you planning on growing in your greenhouse finknottle? We are so proud again this year, have daffodils and tulips planted in the garden and they're actually just coming through! Wish we could do more but as usual what's the point 'til we know where dh is going to be working in September.

LOL, the bad guys were always the Germans in those old films weren't they! I remember when I told my Grandad that I was going to Germany to learn the language he got quite mad and told my dad off for letting me go and said if it'd been his daughter he'd have been after her with his shotgun!

[admylin]

Ooops I meant to put the school bit on teh school thread, forgot about it! I'm not with it today - always like this when I sleep in, I never catch up!

[SSSandy2]

my grandmother was worried I'd be murdered and kept asking whether the Germans hate the English. She didn't think it would be safe to have a baby here!

There are a lot of those little children's shoe shops admylin. There are two near the old school here and one I know of near Schloss Chbg. Have you tried checking the yellow pages to see if there is one near you? I find nice shoes for dd in Görtz and Leiser usually. When she was smaller they always ended up being Ricosta for some reason. Last ones were some Austrian company, can't remember the name but I don't know where you find nice boys' shoes.

[SSSandy2]

oh dear oh dear oh dear you really mentioned the dirty S word on here. Lucky for you finky is out after greenhouses! I'm tired too, couldn't sleep last night worrying about you-know-what. Other thread.

How was your weekend?

[admylin]

Weekend was OK - dh was out both days working and we pottered in the garden admiring our little green shoots and did a bit of English (spelling, dd's new problem!)

[SSSandy2]

Weekend was busy as usual. Tires me out in fact, I need Monday to recover. Need today to recover from Bible study last night, very intellectual Russian woman rambling on and on trying to figure out when God was closing a door to her or when she was supposed to persist against the odds and develop her character. Nice woman but did make me feel VERY tired the whole thing.

Dd has to go and have her eyes checked tomorrow. She is really worried about having to wear glasses. Have noticed her rubbing her right eye a lot and she said on Friday she can't see ANYTHING with her right eye. OMG! I'm freaking out and hoping that's not right. Will find out tomorrow I suppose.

[admylin]

Do you use glasses? Or her dad? My dh has excellent eyesight and only needs his 'old age' reading glasses now. But I've got glasses and have had since I was in year 4 but up to now my dc seem to have inherited dh's eyes. Does your dd get headaches? Both mine have been complaining lately - maybe should get a check up done again but ds reads loads and he swears he can see all the words properly. Maybe it's just from too much reading - can you read too much? Dd's headache are from school stress that's festgestellt but whta can I do about that, nothing.

[SSSandy2]

No she doesn't get headaches unless she has scarlet fever but thankfully we haven't had that this winter. She does read a lot and I wonder if the light in the bedroom is wrong. Maybe she needs a stronger more focussed reading light as well as the overhead one?

It just started this school year that she'd be in bed readign to me and rubbing her eye a lot. I thought it was from being tired becasue whenever I asked about it, she fobbed it off quickly, saying she was ok. Seems all this time she has had a problem. I noticed at church yesterday she was covering one eye with her hand and looking at the words on the overhead projector , then changing hands so there really must be soem kind of problem.

I am short-sighted and need glasses for watching films, driving etc. Probably all the time in fact but I hate wearing them and only put them on when I need them, like for tennis or something. I got glasses when I was 30 I think.

[admylin]

Lol, I used to be like that,only wore mine for reading and TV but when I had the dc I was constantly tired so wore them more often and eventually it got me used to having them on and I'm now a blind bat when I take them off! Also couldn't care less what I look like, in the old days I never left the house without make up and hair done - how things have changed!

[SSSandy2]

How often does your dd get headaches then admylin? Do you keep her off school when she gets them? I suppose you would have to.

I wonder why the school stress is causing her headaches though because you said she enjoyed school and her teacher was very nice.

[admylin]

No she usually has them when he gets hoem from school or at the weekend. I've tried the doctor but she isn't very helpfull or I need to be more pushy.
Dd is very sensitive - for exampe sh eis a perfectionist and if she can't manage soemthing she worries about it 'til she can.
In sport, she has a darling of a teacher, one that really loves children - you can tell but she started telling my she hated miss henning and she was stupid and mean etc, she drew pictures of bananas and labels with the teachers name and stuck them on the bananas - then I found out it was because she had given dd a 3 in some gymnastic test. Now dd got a 1 again and she is happy in sport. In maths she will have to work really hard to get a 1 but that gives her a headache because she hates being bad at something. I think she needs to learn some relaxation and hoped the doc would maybe send us on a course but nothing came of it.

[SSSandy2]

that doesn't sound good. Dd is a perfectionist too and point blank refuses to do things (ie sport) she isn't good at. She can't bear not being successful at things but I suppose it is something she will elarn over time.

Bit worrying the head-aches though. Have to go and pick dd up early today. I'll have a think about your dd. Mind you I don't know how to solve my own dd's problems so doubt I'll come up with anything very useful! Are you awake yet?

I have to do a Russian-English dc exchange thing this afternoon and I SO do not feel like doing it I can tell you.

[admylin]

We'll be busy too, always get mega load of homework for dd on Monday and have Aikido - always a rush to get tea and into bed on time after doing homework.
Russian exchange sounds intersting, tell us all about it tomorrow Ok.