Fruehlingszeit in the German Corner - chat continues here

[SSSandy2]

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

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

KS, thanks for the lidl info, I would have missed it if you hadn't said as I don't really need anything but I will be going tomorrow for sure! The sea salt and balsamico crisps are tempting and will try the beans. Lol, my 2 also live on beans when we're at my parents house, alternate between baked beans and yorkshire pudding!

This morning I found some sandals and 2 skirts and a top to go with my linen trousers so I should be able to use them all for the holiday. Thank goodness, was hot work this morning but it seems to be cooling down abit.

Is everyone still in Lidl? I've got mint sauce at last! The dc will be delighted, ds puts it on everything!

It's slightly cooler today thank goodness, but only slightly. Is it still hot down south Ernest? When we lived in the south and the weather forcast came on after the German news we were always in the hottest area. This time it's been our north east corner that has the hottest weather - seems we move around with it!

It's absolutely pouring down here in Munich. Our garden is one huge love-fest for slugs and snails and my tomato plants are suffering. Got no car so have to walk to KiGa later to pick up DS1 with pram (DS2).

Does anyone have one of these Chariot things that you can pull behind a bike? We're thinking of getting one for days like these. There's no point getting a second car just for KiGa runs, plus I like the exercise.

Hi quietone, I've seen those bike things and I always have to cringe when I see them on the road, and they don't seem very safe to me especially when I see babies in them with no helmet on. I suppose if you had a good bike pathway it would be OK. I did have a friend who had one for her 2 and 5 year old to sit in and her 6 year old rode along side on his bike, she was very brave but she had no choice other wise she wouldn't have got far with her 3 on foot!

Wish it would rain up here, it's not forcast though. Our garden is one big yellow patch of dried grass and all the government ministerium buildings seem to have constant sprinklers going on their bits of grass - can't be very umweltfreundlich somehow to be using so much water.

I appear to be the only mother in my town who doesn't own one of these chariot thingies. They're everywhere in this part of the world. Got loads of bike paths in our town, and There's more cyclists than cars on the road in our little town. Hmmm...will think further.

To change the subject COMPLETELY...my DS1 is singing a song from Kindergarten endlessly. Of course, his is a version of it as he's learning the language. I've tried googling it, but it's difficult when I'm not sure of the words. He sings "Meine Mumby, Meine Munby, and a lalalalalalala...da stuck, DA STUCK. Repeat that line, then something about Auch, then ends shouting DELIVERS!!!"

Any ideas would be welcome, plus jokes about me trying to decipher an English kid's German!!

We went to Lidl yesterday! dd has converted her class to salt and vinegar sticks now.
Did anyone buy the golden syrup flavoured oats???

TQO, it sure is raining isnt it! The children say our Tiefgarage is flooded, but I havent been down to look.
Bet the Isar is thundering, it really is a sight worth seeing in teh centre of Mch.

I've got 2 packets of those vinager sticks hidden in the kitchen and a steak pie in the oven. Ds is having it with potatoes with mint sauce on!

Any of you fluent German ,good on phone people help me on the German school thread? I want to phone tomorrow. Any help would be great!

Went to Lidl today, we had beans for lunch today They are actually really good, better than the Heinz ones that we get here in the supermarket. Is it my imagination or do Heinz beans taste different here?

We are watching Germany's next top model at the moment. Eeek, they have to hold snakes and spiders while they are getting their photos taken.

How did you find the steak admylin? We had it for lunch yesterday, thought it was ok. The little apple pies were ok too but had a lot of lemon in them. What I found really disgusting though were the crisps. They were vile. Dd was saying, "you know what mum, I think I prefer German food to English food, it tastes better!"

Have you tried those oats NN? Saw on your other thread about dh not turning up to court. What an idiot, eh? Can imagine how that went down. All good for you though.

Yes, we had the steak pie yesterday and the dc were really looking forward to it but they both got a bit of chewey meat in about the first bite so they didn't eat it all.They are very fussy about meat being soft!
Maybe I didn't cook it long enough as the pastry was burning on the top after 50 mins and it said 55.
The crisps were not that great either and the caramel shortbread is nice but I wish I hadn't bought it so I wouldn't be tempted.

I have failed at phoning the new school in Hannover today, couldn't bring myself to pick up the phoene, sad eh. Instead I have researched alot about my new area and have found 2 libraries nearby and a swimming pool, plenty of forset all around and a tiergehege in the forest too but couldn't find any info on what it is exactly. Maybe KS will know!

Well, I think the dc will have a much nicer life there than here in mitte. Looking at mobile phones so ds has one atleast for the school walk (for my peace of mind really) but we have a conflict in that he wants a cool one with camera and I want to get him the tchibo 15 Euro one to start with!

We got the shortbread with chocolate chips in it. It was so hot again I couldn't face trying them but dd seemed to like them.

Seems a bit cooler today, doesn't it? Even saw something that looked suspiciously like rainclouds. Do we have rain forecast, do you know? Dd dancing on a show today, going to be filmed for tv apparently , so there you go my little mad woman running about a stage on German tv. Will have to try and video it for the family. Have never managed to do this successfully before though

Think positive about Hannover - till something happens to burst the bubble, I'd try not to let any negative thoughts creep in. Tiergehege, I'm thinking deer for some reason

Yes, sounds like tiergehege could be deer or wildschwein - we used to go to one in south Germany and we loved it, it's going to be great to have countryside around us at last.

The removal man who came today way nice, friendly and German. But he was quite old, I felt sorry for him having to carry allour stuff (I'ma wimp I know) and when I said will you be sending me a Vertrag he said you'll get that anyway when you give me the Auftrag on MyHammer.de Just hope he turns up on the day - but I guess he will send me something after I give him the vertrag from my side? Very difficult to decide as I have visions of Finks and her laurel and hardy team!

why did he come today? On the day I'd expect to see Poles, Bulgarians and Belorussians frankly

I asked him to come for a Besichtigungstermin as he gave the lowest offer on the myhammer thing I have running. I think the others are all -owskis or -Ögulus
and one or two have bad Bewertung on the site. The last ones that came would have been nice for me to drool over a sthey unloaded but I can live with the other one - who knows what his mitarbeiter look like anyway!

Well last night I was watching part of Panorama. Did anyone else see it? Boy how sad about that Afghani girl who was stabbed to death by her own brother and how she had been beaten by mum, dad and brother for years and the Jugendamt knew all about it. It was really sad. The poor child, she'd called the police/Jugendamt so often. Anyway the reporter had this woman from the Jugendamt on there, spokeswoman or some poor internal scapegoat I don't know. She came across SO badly though, cold as they come and totally disinterested, absolutely dead-pan, "the Jugendamt hat sich nichts vorzuwerfen"

The reporter was asking if they had done enough to help this girl and so she says yes, "wir waren mitten drin in der Erziehungsarbeit mit der Familie bis es unterbrochen wurde" and the reporter goes "unterbrochen durch den Mord". That was good, she didn't have an answer to that one, jsut blushed. But honestly I hate the way the Jugendamt is always so "selbstgefällig" when dc die horribly. Why can they never show sadness, remorse? I would really like to see a bit of that, even the words "we are all very sad that Morsal has died". Anything at all, but they are always the cold Beamten, would dread being mixed up with that bunch in anyway, just imagine it.

Admylin
Where abouts in Hannover are you? Is it not near the Eilenriede? And the zoo? The Eilenriede is a massive park, not sure about the Tiergehege, could they mean the Zoo?

If you are near the zoo, then it would be worthwhile getting a season ticket. It cost 149euros for a family ticket. The zoo is the best I have seen.

Hi KS, we'll be in Kleefeld near the Eilenriede which is to the west and the south of us and in the south bit I saw (on one of the many maps I've been looking at) a part marked as wildgehege.

Told the dc about it after school and ds was really pleased as he loved his life back in south Germany (he and h loved it) and remembers the Wildgehege there and the cool forest in summer.

I was thinking about the season ticket but then I though my 2 are maybe not going to be wanting to go more than a couple of times. If we lived really close to it I'd getone but we'll probably just stick to pic nics in the forest areas and there are quite a few playgrounds around too. The Makler also told us to get one of those tickets and was very proud of his town's zoo! Any other tips you remember about Hannover then let me know! Did you have many English friends there?

Admylin
Hmm, your DC's are a good bit older than mine, so they might not be so impressed by the zoo. There is a fabulous playarea, but again I do not know how older children would find it. I have very happy memories of the playpark, I used to let DD run wild while feeding DS. There is a cafe right next to the playpark so I would settle in with a coffee and a book.

Otherwise, that area is not far from List, which is a lovely Stadtteil. Lister Meile is a very nice shopping street, look out for Bagel Brothers and The English Shop there.

The Mövenpick cafe in the town centre is great for breakfast, Cafe Kröpke, next to the Kröpke Uhr.

Right opposite the Kröpke Uhr is a great ice cream parlour, they opened just before we left.

Moving down towards the Rathaus, have a look at the Markthalle. It is an indoor market, some fruit and veg and dozens of stalls selling delicious fast meals. Great for a quick snack, cheap and cheerful pasta dishes. Really fab.

Maschsee is lovely for a day out, DH was in Hannover recently and jogged around it. You have just missed the Maschseefest, it was on last week. It is a great festival, with bands playing all around the lake.

What else? A great day out is a trip to the Steinhuder Meer, about 40 min from Hannover, iirr. You can hire a paddle boat for an hour and have a coffee in one of the little cafes. Don't forget to buy some smoked eel on your way home :-)

If I think of anything else, I will be back.

Thanks KS, some good tips there! I think we went in cafe Kröpke last time when we went on our flat hunt. Was nice. Yes, my 2 might be fed up with the zoo after a couple of visits but they are really looking forward to the forest. Now all we will have to be home sick about will be mountains! I really miss the hills from back home!

Good to hear there's an English shop too. I'm just writing an email to dd's new school asking for permission to come in and look around in July - I think I'll put it on here to get it corrected later.

all corrections gratefully accepted!

Oh, you needn't get homesick about the mountains. About an hour or so south of Hannover is the Harz area, it is lovely. Gosslar, Braunlage. There is a little railway line to the top of the mountain called Brocken (I think). We had a day out there and the DCs were delighted as it snowed.

Oh that will be worth a visit then. It's still not the same as having them on your doorstep though. Still, looking forward to the move, and getting out of Berlin-Mitte.

Funny, I never missed the mountains or the seaside for years and now I find myself yearning for them. I am getting more expat-y as time goes on.

Same here, when I was young, free and single I could have wandered the globe and never spared a thought for back home. After having the dc I started to get homesick and this year is quite bad because I haven't been back for ages and we won't make it this summer - so withdrawl symptoms are upon me!

In winter the zoo in Hannover have a really nice area with a skating rink (you can hire skates) and a tobbogan run (with tyres not sledges) and stalls selling Glühwein etc. We went last year and the children really enjoyed it.