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Living overseas

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Original poster

German Corner

627 replies

finknottle · 15/02/2008 09:58

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

OP posts:
chrissi1 · 29/03/2008 11:56

well done berolina.I loved the NPD comment.It´s not easy not to explode, with comments like that.
Grrr!

admylin · 29/03/2008 14:17

Actually the 2nd old lady was right, you have to watch they don't get aggressive and hit you in Berlin! I've had plenty of comments like that about the dc not being dressed right or strangers who would never speak to you but when they have something to tell you off about then they start....grrr! I so miss the casual conversations or just someone chatting to you out of the blue like back home, everyone says it's friendlier where we come from. When my parents come to stay here in Berlin they talk to everyone even though they can't speak German - just because they're used to it.

I've just had German friends to stay and when the sun came out my 2 dc stripped off their jackets and scarves to play at the playground but the German dc had to keep her fleece, thermal waistcoat and jacket on! After a while she complained to her mum that she wanted to take her things off like my 2 - she was allowed which I was quite surprised about but then she came back after 5 minutes and said 'mum, you need British blood to strip off in this weather, give me my coat back - I'm too cold'

chrissi1 · 29/03/2008 18:28

I remember once going shopping in a supermarket and ds was playing with this sliding doorin the veg area .a man came and said watch your child he´ll trap his fingers.I told him calmly to mind his own buissness.He could not and send his wife.while she was ranting on about children and how to protect them her husband went to my son,who trapped the mans fingers.I could´nt surpress a grin.
my MIL drives me mad sometimes,because she dresses him like he´s going to the North Cap.what drives me even more mad is when ever it is just dribbling.he has to wear full clothes and a cap/ hat.
I am German but I don´t overdo it.I think it´s funny that people wear summery clothes right into October but start with thinner clothes in May.

admylin · 01/04/2008 17:29

Kindersurprise are you around ? I need your expert advice. It looks as though we have a date to move to Hannover (September) and I've been given the great job of searching for a flat/house on the internet but I have no idea which areas are nice - which areas should I forget about etc? Can you give me some tips on where to start? I have felt like crying all day since dh got the confirmation for the job and I haven't broken the news to the dc yet. They are home now doing their homework and I just can't tell them...

taipo · 01/04/2008 21:53

Wow, admylin. I would say congratulations but it doesn't sound as though you're very thrilled at the prospect of moving to Hannover. I know you were hoping to get out of Germany altogether so this isn't ideal is it?

I can't offer any pratical advice about Hannover since the last time I was there was about 25 years ago during a school exchange.

When we moved here last year we did most of our searching for somewhere to live on this site.

I really hope things turn out well for you.

admylin · 02/04/2008 10:12

Thanks taipo, I used that site too for our move to Berlin. I'm slowly coming to terms with it today and I feel better, could have cried yesterday and didn't sleep last night though.

I think it will be better there for the dc, Berlin-Mitte is not great for them and schools can only be better in Hannover. Do you know any German sites with city reviews or such like? Focus or Spiegel might have some info but if you know any others let me know. I have to try and figure out which areas to avoid and which areas the best Gymnasium and Grundschule will be in - that sort of thing. Then I can save time (and my feet) when flat/house hunting. Last time in Berlin we searched for a flat wiothout really knowing where to look and we walked for miles from besichtigung to besichtigung because we got the wrong Ubahn Ausgang or wrong end of the street (there are some really long streets in Berlin!) talk about useless. This time I have to be more organized.

SSSandy2 · 02/04/2008 11:26

geez bero at fencing with an old lady! They are mega tough. I just back away - fast.

I once had an old lady in the supermarket tell me I must speak German to my dd since we're in Germany. She wasn't nasty about it but I don't get into an argument with them these days. I just gave her a huge cheesy smile and wandered off (speaking English to dd as I did it of course). She was a bit bewildered but thankfully didn't chase me, pressing her point.

You have to be really careful with the word "nazi" here, they can take you to court for that but I don't think calling someone racist is likely to floor them. I had my lovely old German neighbour telling me how he was looking for a new tenant for next door and how I shouldn't worry, he wouldn't take foreigners. I said, Herr S, I am a foreigner! But he didn't seem to take it in, just kept trying to reassure me I wouldn't get a foreigner moving in next door. Hilarious but also a bit weird.

taipo · 02/04/2008 11:27

would be better than Berlin in many respects. Still hard though to start again somewhere new.

We did the house hunting like headless chickens thing when we moved from Hong Kong to London. We really had no clue where to go (and London is big!). In the end we narrowed it down to a couple of affordable areas - there were very few - and concentrated on those. We still managed to end up living next to and sending our dc to the school with the second worst results in the borough though.

After a quick look, I found this.
I suppose you could try posting in toytown Germany for advice but I've never found it very useful.

SSSandy2 · 02/04/2008 11:28

ooh and wilkommen in Deutschland Ernest! Hope you like it here. We were in Zürich yesterday, had to think of you. Hope all goes well with pregnancy and birth, for you too Franke. Hang in there ,not long to go now.

taipo · 02/04/2008 11:30

Oops, the first part of that message got lost there. I meant to say: I could imagine Hannover would be.......

Welcome back Sssandy! Did you have a good holiday?

SSSandy2 · 02/04/2008 12:06

hi taipo, it took me a while to unwind really. I think I must be very tense generally but towards the end I think I turned into a human being of sorts! The hotel was nice (Sharm el Sheik) but the trip back was tiring so I'm still feeling a bit wrecked this morning. Glad to see the back of RAI gulp (iItalian dc's tv) which fascinated dd no end although she speaks not one word of Italian and she'd switch it on at the crack of dawn every morning. I thought I'd slowly go mad if I had to watch Cosmic(eh) Cowboys(ah) again.

How are things your end?

admylin · 02/04/2008 12:14

Are you brown then? All ready for summer!

Ernest is looking for ideas for her dc's leaving party and presents, see if you have any good ideas for her

taipo · 02/04/2008 12:22

I always dread the trip back after a nice relaxing holiday. Not enough not to want to go away though.

Things are OK here. We stayed put for the Easter holidays except for a brief visit to MIL. Took the dc to the new 'Spass und Erlebnisbad' in Karlsruhe and was shocked at how dangerous the slides were. I went down the wild water one with dd and nearly drowned in a couple of places. Also very nearly lost my swimming costume. DD loved it though!

Dd had gone back to school this week so it's nice to have some time to myself again. Should be looking for a job but can't quite bring myself to do it.

SSSandy2 · 02/04/2008 13:31

slippery swimming costumes Last time we were in Egypt I was swimming around placidly and then I started chatting to this Egyptian man in the pool and his little girl. He was giving me a rather doubtful look and it was only afterwards that I looked down and realised a boob had escaped ! Eek....

chrissi1 · 02/04/2008 14:21

Sorry you are so upset about moving.
Try www.meinestadt.de/hannover/home or Hannover.de.
Good luck.

Cadmum · 02/04/2008 14:23

Hello there!

We are officially no longer members of this club as we have moved to Geneva BUT I do have faster internet now so I may lurk.

Hello to those who were so helpful in my darkest Vienna days.

Cadmum · 02/04/2008 14:25

admylin: Sorry about the move... I know that this will not make things much easier for you. It could be better there though, right?

SSSandy2 · 02/04/2008 15:01

Great to hear from you again cadmum. I've been wondering how you'd been getting on and if you were still in Vienna. How are you settling into life in Geneva?

Btw you can escape from Vienna, you know, but you cannot escape from the German corner!

SSSandy2 · 03/04/2008 08:57

Speaking of attempted escape, how is our finknottle these days? I've been trying to send her an email this morning but the crap mailtool is so slow, just won't load. Think it's time we threw this pc away and got a new one in fact.

So come on now finks, you can't be in your garden ALL of the time, how was your Easter?

admylin · 03/04/2008 09:18

Morning SSSandy, our pc needs re-newing too, it drives me mad some days. Was also wondering what finknottle was up to, are their Easter holidays longer or different dates?

Ooh cadmum, I always wanted to live in Geneva (why eigentlich?) are you enjoying it?

Cadmum · 03/04/2008 20:06

Eiglentlch, it is beautiful here! People are WAY, WAY friendlier here as well which has really helped. The kids are already running round the neighbourhood with the locals and the doorbell rings endlessly on the days where they are not outside. I think that they already speak more French than German which is interesting...
I do miss some things about Vienna that I didn't expect to miss. Life is just cruel that way, I suppose.

SSSandy: LOL about the foreigner comments. I could tell stories that would make most people cringe about the racism in Austria. We were Auslanders for sure in our village BUT accepted with open arms compared with a family from Jamaica. I don't know how they managed to put up with the endless rude comments.

SSSandy2 · 04/04/2008 08:38

ah yes that delightful bluntness. I think in an odd way I have become used to it and no longer really notice but in the beginning - wow!

So come on now, what do you miss about Vienna?

So glad to hear that you're happier in Geneva and what a relief that the dc have settled in so well and so fast. Are they at an international school there too?

It's funny, isn't it admylin, I always thought Geneva would be a nice place but I have no idea why, maybe it is the sound of the name or something, quite soft? Genf doesn't sound that appealing, does it?

Cadmum · 04/04/2008 12:45

The odd thing about my experience in Vienna is that I was so bl__dy relieved when anyone actually chose to speak to me that I did not care about the topic of discussion...

Mostly I miss friends and the established routine.

I miss the house we were renting (though NOT the landlord).

I miss Lidl and Aldi. I miss all shopping there really.

I miss the architecture. It really is a beautiful city if you can look beyond the shameful amount of graffiti.

I really miss being with DS2 all day which is made worse by the fact that he really misses it too.

We are on the whole much happier though.

The DCs are NOT at an International School. Yippee!! DS1 is back to being homeschooled while DD1 and DS2 are at a bilingual Montessori. It is not perfect but my goal is that they will all start at the local school in September. I want DS1 to catch up on all that they ignored at the International School like maths and spelling. I want DD1 and DS2 to have this time together at a small school whilst learning to speak French and it seems to be working relatively well. Only DS2 is finding it all a bit much at the moment. (2 weeks off at Easter and he did not want to go back this eek at all.)

SSSandy2 · 07/04/2008 08:35

poor little lad. It's awful for us mums when they don't like their preschool/school, isn't it? Do you think he is finding it a bit much to adjust to with the new language, new country? I really hope it all works out well. Has he found any friends there yet?

Can everyone spare a thought for our lovely finknottle? She's going through a bad time right now and doesn't have the heart for MN at the moment. One of her very good friends has been involved in a serious accident and it all looks very bad for her and of course for her family too. Let's all send some strong positive vibes across to Finknottle.

admylin · 07/04/2008 09:37

Oh no, that's awful. Hope we see you back here soon finknottle, we miss you.

Kindersurprise hasn't been around lately either.