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 "

Sorry to hear about your dd, admylin. Not what you need right now.

If the places are near each other you could try to squeeze in another appointment but it's quite tight.

Good luck!

Well it´s raining here, so it´s back to the computer and mumsnet for me. Isn´t it amazing what a difference to people´s moods a bit of sunshine can make. People here are actually smiling (or were until the rain came)which is quite unusual.

Hope you strike lucky in Hannover today admylin. It´s too late now, but I probably would have used the free time to stroll around one of the areas you´re interested in, have a coffee and try to get a feel for the place. Hope your dd is feeling better today.

Any sign of the baby, franke? The last few days are always the worst I think. Stripping wallpaper worked for me with dd, but only advisable if you´ve got someone to finish the job if the baby comes.

Yep, baby arrived on Tuesday night after a very short and scary labour. So that's all 3 of mine arrived on their due date [smug], well actually this one was 15 mins before his due date

Congratulations franke! Glad to hear that everything went well, although it depends what you mean by scary. Were you in hospital long?

Congratulations Franke

Admylin, sorry, haven't been around lately. Don't forget when flat/house-hunting to flash your dh's Doktor-Titel around Works wonders on Makler and prospective landlords...

I have only heard good things about Hannover tbh. Hope all went well.

Thanks all. Taipo, I arrived at hospital at around 11pm, practically pushing him out as my lovely midwife raced down the corridors pushing me in a wheelchair to the Kreißsaal (I know, I'll be able to laugh about it one day, it was like some wierd episode of the Wacky Races). We were home by 4am for tea and toast.

lol

If you have another one you'd better book yourself in the day before your due date

Congratulations franke .
No wonder it was scary with it happening that quickly. I´m even more amazed that you managed to escape from a German hospital so quickly and be back enjoying home comforts so soon.

How have your other dcs taken to the new arrival? I hope you´re managing to get some rest and being spoilt rotten.

Congratulations franke

I have an excruciatingly painful throat - it is going to be a stonking cold - I really really don't need this, what with ds1's birthday/ds2's Taufe on Sunday, cake and food to prepare, and guests arriving tonight and tomorrow I've only just got up really. dh got ds1 to kiga.

oh admylin, I'm sorry about dd. FWIW ds2 had to have one of those Inhalationsgeräte recently - he hated it and I think we got v little into him - whatever it was cleared up pretty much by itself - we avoided the ABs too. Could it be Pseudokrupp or whatever it's called? How was Hannover? Have just remembered I haven't emailed you re flat I will, I promise

Congratulations franke!

Yes Berolina doctor said could be psuedokrupp and dd hates the inhaler but I can get her to do it for 2 minutes at a time over the whol eday a few times so it's helping I hope. We had to start the antibiotics because it wasn't better - atleast she's off school so can recover.

The dc were exhausted yesterday and behaved really well even though it was boring for them. we managed to see 7 flats - quite proud of my organisation skills there - and I think we've got a nice one but will only relax when the Mietvertrag is infront of me! We saw some really strange places too!

On the way back in the train at 9pm I was looking forward to letting the dc sleep curled up on a seat in the Abteil we had booked but 2 other women were already in there and 1 had a really old dog with her and it had wet itself so there was a puddle under the row of seats and smell was awful but they were quite happily sitting in there and were really funny with me when I said it was disgusting and unhygenic for my dc. On eof them said, but it's an old dog and just like old men, they sometimes wet themselves - as if that made it OK. Anyway we got back at 11.30pm and I've never seen my dc get into bed so fast and of their own free will!

Good luck with the Taufe Berolina, hope the weather holds. How many are you catering for? Very brave of you if you're doing ot yourself. I would have had caterers in! And happy birthday to ds1 - is it a joint party/celebration or are you doing a kindergeburtstag too?

Well done with the flat hunting, admylin. I'm very impressed you saw 7 flats and have found one you like. Is it in a good area for schools etc.? Shame about the company in your Abteil on your journey back

Sorry you're feeling unwell Berolina. Hope you feel better for the birthday/christening celebrations.

Dd has been has one of those inhalers too and it's quite a struggle to get her to use it.

www.bio-berlin-brandenburg.de/nc/bioadressen/?tx_foelekf_pi1%5Bregion%5D=Wilmersdorf&tx_foelekf_pi1% 5Bmode%5D=1&txfoelekfpi1%5Bcategory%5D=59&txfoelekfpi1%5Bpointer%5D=0&txfoelekfpi1%5BshowUid%5 D=5900270

Bero, you can order cakes (absolutely yummy) from this bio-bäcker in the Ludwigkirchstrasse. We've had a Spanish chocolate one and the Himbeertorte and they're delicious. You can call and ensure they'll have one for you to pick up on Sunday if you wanted. Hope you feel better tomorrow!

My goodness FRANKE! Well done girl. How is your little one- healthy and happy and are you being fussed over? How DO you manage to give birth on your due date though? Wonder if it is psychological, like waking up at 5 when you know you have to catch a flight and being awake before the alarm goes off?

I had dd 2 weeks early (if the calculations were really right). I put it down to acupuncture. The midwife suggested I come in for a round of acumpuncture because it helps widen you in preparation or some such thing. Anyway I did it and I think that might have made her come earlier.

Good to see you finks!

congratulations, franke!

bero, hope you are feeling a bit better. Lemon and honey, and throat-killing medicated sweets are the only things that get my lot back on their feet. Our AP also has the throat bug at the moment and my stock of strepsils is now finished.

quietone, we have got the mosquitos too. Some idiots family just down the road from us have got a huge ornamental pond, nicknamed the Muckensee by my children. Our windows are covered with nets, however, I am convinced that the little pests can still get through 1 layer of net, because we still get so many inthe house.
We have got a fish, so cant use the smelly stuff downstairs.
We have got 2 smelly plug in things. 1 is a bottle of clear liquid that screws into the plug, and doesnt bother me, but I do worry that the chidlren will touch it. The other is some solid pads that you have to change every day, and I can smell it in the room.

OMG at having an ornamental pond, you'd never be able to enjoy just sitting in the garden.

Hate the little beasties. We suffer through summer sleeping in stuffy rooms with the windows closed.

Last summer we had a meal outdoors at a restaurant right next to a lake - about 1 metre from the water. It looked idyllic but it was a bl* nightmare. We were bitten the whole time and had wasps trying to get into the beer. Yuk. Must say I don't get this al fresco thing.

Are we right calling them mosquitos though? For me (havign lived in the tropics) mosquitos are a bit different. Are Mucken not midges? Or gnats (whatever gnats are exactly)?

Well they are like mosquitos, only smaller. I think they are mosquitos. Not sure if the correct translation is Mucken or Gelsen though (and will never understand why Gelsenkirchen is so named).

oh ok so they are a plague of mosquitos then. Whatever they are, I hate them. Never heard of Gelsen meaning Mucken though. Does put you off moving to Gelsenkirchen alright though doesn't it?

How are your family doing these days?

Beolingus gives Gelsen == Gnat. It was a colleague who suggested it as a translation for mosquito.

Family is pretty down - dd very unmotivated, keeps saying she doesnt care about the Uebertritt any more. Must say, I am so disillusioned myself, I just feel even if she gets it eventually, she has already missed out on a lot. I am trying to get her enroled on extra evening classes next year, but she just isnt interested in anything at the moment.
Next week, I have to take them all the the JA to say if they want to live with ex or me,w hich is huge stress for ds2, because he has promised ex that he will say him, but he doesnt want to. The boys are with ex at the moment.
we had an awful pfingsten weekend, ex turned up and upset the children so much (ds2 was banging his head against the wall) that I didnt let them go out with him on sunday, so we had a standoff with him besieging our house all day until the evening when he caved in and started being reasonable. Then we were in court on tuesday, for the DV incident in january.

I don't know how you manage. How did the court case go?

how old is ds2 again?

ds2 is 8.

court case went really well, actually! I was a witness, facing ex across the courtroom. His lawyer started cross examining me with "you say that x hit you a lot. Did you ever report this to the pólice?"
I launched into a mumsnet-inspired, eloquent description of how a woman only comes gradually to the point of dobbing in the father of her 4 children, over a period of years and after much suffering and thinking it over. He did not pursue this line of questioning.
Then he tried, "you say that you stopped dd1 seeing ex, because he hit her. did you ever report this to the police?"
I said yes, I had taken dd1 to the polizei last year, the last time she visited ex and showed them the bruises.
Last ditch attempt to pick holes - he asked where were the bruises? I said, on her arms.
He swiftly dropped this line of questioning too!
I had headaches for 3 days afterwards, but it is the fruhlings fest in our town, so we went down there and partied a bit. Its all trachten, music and dancing on tables round here! AP was astonished that germans can let their hair down like this!!

oh well done getting through that court case. Your ex is a jerk putting ds2 under pressure like that, not to mention hitting you and dd. The world would have to be seriously out of joint for anyone to accord him any of your dc, surely? Anyway I think there must be a strong argument against it if he has hurt one of his dc, who is to say he would not hurt the others if they lived with him? And how about his behaviour towards you, is any court going to guarantee that he will not stop you seeing your dc once they are living with him. I think he hasn't a chance in hell but I so hope it gets through fast and at least in this resepct, things are settled and you get a bit of peace of mind.

Seems everything is conspiring against you all getting settled in Munich. Hopefully it gets sorted, step by step. Think you are doing a bl* fantastic job of it so far.

Where is your au pair from? Is she any good?

thank you! I dont think the court will award the dc to ex h, what really worries me a bit is what he will do after the court case in june. I am expecting that he will try to kidnap the boys at some point and take them to his country. Denying access wouldnt help, I cant watch them 24 hours a day.
AP is from Zim, she is great.

A really strange thing happened today in the supermarket - a big man dressed in a mini fushia pink dress and black stillettos flashed his bum at everyone at the till. I was unloading my stuff at the check out and someone wanted past and when I moved it was him - he had a really hairy bum too. I told dd to get behind me and stay theer and the guy just stood infront of the till and started dancing. The starnge thing wa sno one dared to say anything because he was so big and crazy looking. The girl at the till just kept on working and then eventually the man walked out.

After that we went to the post office and there wa s another crazy man shouting and holding everyone up. The women behind the counter were too scared to say anything and teh post men were 2 really young men and they just watched him. In the end aan older woman told him to go and finish shouting outside.

Is it a German thing though, that no one reacts and seems scared to say anything? In Hannover recently the town center Fußgängerzone was ful of drunks and idiots (one had wet his trousers) loads were begging - everyone just ignored them but we moved on. One was swearing and shouting and dh was the only person to tell him off and warn him to hold his mouth infront of our children.