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 "

I think I have "digger's elbow" - like tennis elbow and housemaid's knee, only from digging my so-called veg patch.
It is taking days to get better, must be age...

What have you got in your veg patch finknottle? I had a garden with veg patch before and I had a sort of Pflücksalat that I went out and cut off the leaves for the salad and it carried on growing, and radishes and a patch of strawberries too. Best part was the tomatoes - even made fresh tomato soup, was lovely.

THink you should get some of the men of the household involved in the digging, finks! Maybe you'll have a nice big vegetable patch in your next home admylin. Any developments on that front?

Wondering where KIndersurprise has got to these days?

No, still nothing being offered for August so we can't even start looking at places. I am tempted to move to a village or outskirts of Hannover at least and have a garden but then I hate being abhängig from cars and public transport even, so I need easily cyclable/walkable reached civilization on my doorstep too (don't want much do I!) - my most important thing is, I don't want the dc to have too far to go to get to school so they can manage it alone and I can start thinking about myself abit and what I want to do. I have to revive my brain, it can't go on like this much longer.

yes I would personally choose to live right on the outskirts if not outside the town - but that's me. I'd like a couple of dogs, horse-riding or something nearby for dd and as few people as possible! I want some peace and quiet, less traffic, more nature but you need to know what YOU want, as you say. You don't want to be out in the wops and feel isolated and depressed with it.

I do know what you mean about wanting to do something with/for yourself too. Today I am feeling so tired, headachey and rotten, the way these bugs are and I thought, oh the excruciating BOREDOM of having to occupy a dc at the same time when I would like to just lie down and read a book or switch off for a day or so. I dragged myself off to the playground for half an hour so she'd get out a bit and I thought, I have been doing this for nearly 8 years now and surely this is not what life is all about? Maybe it's just because I'm tired and feeling under the weather but I do feel I want to move on to something different

I know the feeling.

I'm starting to warm to the German thing of letting the dc go as early as possible and keep having visions of mine with their front door key getting in from school ALONE and doing their homework ALONE and then getting a snack Alone and me coming in a few hours later from work and everything is fine, then the vision just turns nasty and they have trashed the house, not done homework and have half the neighbourhood dc in my kitchen scoffing all the bread....

and when I do as you say, just take me-time and go to bed in the afternoon with a book I get these feelings of bad mother, neglect, poor dc etc and I get back up and take them out! We can't win.

yes at times I think I made a mistake and spoiled mine with attention over the years (mind you as a SAHM with only one child hard not to really). On good days, I don't mind, throw myself into the whole being a good mum thing, as I see it but when I am preoccupied or feeling ill or something, I do wish I'd brought her up to be more independent

Wondering if taipo had any luck finding a job. It's tricky finding one that fits in around school too, isn't it?

I'm going to hav eto let mine go anyway in Hannover because ds will be at Gymnasium and dd at Grundschule with different times etc so I will just have to hope we move in good time to let them practise their school walks and get used to teh area.

Thinking about what you said I would like to live on the outskirts to get a better house but it's the school run thing and them being able to get to and from places like swimming, aikido or whatever they do. How do you tackle that part? Dd's dream is to have a dog too and it would certainly get us out of the house. Hmm, will have to look at the offers again, there were some nice ones with gardens in the surrounding villages. Have to speak to Kindersurprise as she has experience but she hasn't been around for ages. Was she expecting?

No idea where this is exactly but
something like this would be tempting just to have the garden and a house to ourselves.

Yes, maybe a new house, a new start will be good all round. It's nice looking at houses/gardens, isn't it? So long as you aren't doing it for months on end. Have you considered advertising in a local paper for a place from September?

I don't know the answer to letting them go. I am quite torn on this one. I just don't think it is safe to let them travel around Berlin on their own. Perhaps I am wrong though and it is reasonably safe. I think I would try and get them to cycle to school/activities if there are cycle lanes en route. Otherwise I'd want them to go to activities with a friend, safety in numbers kind of thing.

We also got our veg patch on the go for the first time this weekend. DH did a wonderful job of planting and digging, while I sat back in the sunshine with the marvellous excuse of having to feed the baby!
DS1 is most excited about going to collect his own tomatoes and courgettes... We moved here at the tail end of Summer last year so this is the first time we're experiencing this. The house suddenly seems more attractive now the sun's come out. My mood has improved too!

Found you all on sparkly new thread. We enjoyed the sunshine at the weekend although we didn't go anywhere as dd has a chest infection atm.

Feeling a bit under the weather myself today - headache and general aches and pains, maybe alo has a result of weekend gardening and growing old.

I've not had much luck yet with job searching but that's partly because I'm finding it so hard to motivate myself. I did go for an interview at a language school in Karlsruhe a few weeks ago and they were interested but said that they would probably have nothing before autumn. I have started doing a conversation class with a neighbour and a friend of hers once a week so that's a start I suppose. Do any of you work and if so, how do you fit it in with school? I also signed up with Usborne Books and am trying to get a book fair organised at the international school.

I feel like I live in a British bubble at times although having the dc at local schools does force one to integrate to some degree. I'll know I've gone native when I start watching Volksmusik programmes on TV. That'll be never then

I'm really suffering with allergies at the moment. Nose, eyes running. I went to get some other tablets today because the ones I've been using (and taking double dose) haven't helped.

I really miss Boots - you can go in and browse and decide what you need but in Germany you have to go and stand like a school child at the pharmacy and wait for what they decide to offer you. I now always ask to see alternatives and ask them to tell me all the prices but you get treated like one of those annoying customers and feel as if you should apologize for entering the shop! I use paracetamol for headaches, general aches and pains and the price differences are unbelievable if you buy Bayer (for probably 7?) or Berlin Chemie for around 2? . In Boots atleast I can decide to take the brand named pack for 9:99 or boots own for 2.99. OK, rant over.

And why doe smy euro symbol not work??

Right, that's the last time I mention the wonderful weather. Anyone else 15 hours into torrential rain? I can't believe I caught the sun yesterday, then struggled to get DS1 into his weatherproof trousers for KG this morning.

Still lovely and sunny and warm in Berlin! wonder if it's heading our way, it might put a stop to my hay fever.

It's not raining here yet thequietone, it's overcast thought. Was lovely yesterday though, wasn't it? Let's hold onto that and hope that better is to come.

I know what you mean about the chemist shops admylin. THey have all their things tucked away in drawers and you can only wait and see what they offer you really. Never thought to ask for alternatives/compare prices. They sometimes pull out two different brands but not often.

I have to take dd there this afternoon. She has something funny on the palm of her hand. Don't know what it could be, doesn't look like a wart but it's a hard bump under the skin and it's been there since before Christmas. I'd like to know what it is and try and get rid of it but can't be bothered going to the doctor with it.

It's not lovely and sunny here admylin!

Taipo, do those teaching jobs pay reasonably? Here teaching English is generally very badly paid. A friend of mine travels all around Berlin and Brandenburg teaching but she doesn't make much with it although she works pretty much full-time. I couldn't do it with dd and the school hours, dropping her off and picking her up from school. I just don't have enough free time inbetween. Her youngest is just sitting the Abitur exams so they are all quite independent now.

Hi SSSandy2, let us know about DD's hand. I've got one on my leg too. My DH had one on the palm of his hand for about a year, but seemed to think it was fine to cut it out himself (shudder). He always fancied himself as a doctor! I can't be bothered to go to the doctor about the one on my leg either.

Really, it is in Mitte! Must be a gap in the clouds! I can see clouds on the horizon in the direction of Wedding though! I had to take my jacket off this morning on my way back from the pharmacy it was so warm!

I sent dd off to a friends yesterday in a T-shirt and skirt because the weather was so good. An hour later we had torrential rain and thunderstorm. Even though my friend drove her back she still looked like a drowned rat by the time she´d walked from the car to the house door.

Admylin - dh is a Hausarzt and has a few allergies himself.I´ll ask him later what he uses. He´s tried out most brands because he usually gets a few samples from the drug reps.

oh stop it. I'm about to put the heating back on...

Rained all yesterday afternoon here but brightening up again now.

A friend of mine mentioned yesterday that she gets all her medicaments off the internet where it's much cheaper. I'll ask her what site she uses. I really suffered last week with hayfever, made me feel really miserable. This week's been OK so far.

The language school I interviewed for were offering 35 euros an hour which I think is a pretty good rate. I've heard of others which offer as low as 12 euros which is really not worth it when you take travel costs and time into consideration.

I was a primary school teacher in England and dh is always trying to talk me into working in schools here. He doesn´t realise just how much that thought terrifies me. The more I read about the German school system the less I want to do with it. Besides I need to gain another German language qualification before I can work in schools. I did quite fancy the idea of teaching English to children, but then I´d have to pay someone to look after my two while I do it and I´m not sure it would be worth it.

That sounds very reasonable taipo. I think the going rate in Berlin is less, but I may just be out of touch.

Doesn't Kindersuprise teach ENglish to dc with the Helen Doron method? How old are your dc hupa?