Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen : German Corner 3 - life goes on

[SSSandy2]

Other thread was getting a bit full. Alles wie gehabt :
"Deutsch or English
Native speakers, expats, anyone
From Brezeln to Bier

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

I am trying to imagine admylin in full cowboy gear turning up to her dc's new school in Hannover

We've had a very very wet day today. Dh had took the day off work and decided to take the dc into the wood to make a bow and arrow with them. About 20 minutes after they set off it started to pour down. They turned up a couple of hours later soaked to the skin and dripping all over my freshly mopped floor.

Later I took them to a trial judo lesson. We cycled there and again got completely soaked. Dc at least could change into their PE kit. I dripped water all over the (probably freshly cleaned) floor of the sports centre and then sat in a corner of the cafe steaming away quietly until it was time to collect them.

LOL at the picture in my head of Admylin the Cowgirl at the school in Hannover. She will need a horse though to really give the other parents a laugh make a good impression. I have a hobby horse she could borrow.

It has been changable here too, with some showers but not that heavy.

I have muffins and brownies baking in the oven at the moment, with a little help from my friend Dr O. DS is celebrating his birthday in kita today, a month after his actual birthday which was in the holidays. He was very excited.

I hope it does not rain as I have to take them there on the bike.

Have you noticed that the posts here and on the FOOC thread always contain a weather report. How very British!

Hi MmeLindt. I've just had a look at some of my recent posts on here and nearly every one contains some comment about the weather

Mind you, Germans go on about the weather almost as much I think and when they do it's always linked to their health. Mil never fails to mention how her Kreislauf is suffering because it's too hot or too cold or whatever and when she hears an ambulance in the village she'll put it down to the weather causing people to collapse all over the place.

How are the brownies and muffins doing?

We are all a bit weather obsessed, aren't we.

The German preoccupation with their Kreislauf is something that has always baffled me.

And the whole lüften/Zug thing. MIL goes around opening windows and closing them, "Es zieeeeeeeht!". The worst time to visit MIL is winter, their house is always freezing cold as she flings open the windows and doors to let some fresh air in as soon as it has just got a bit cosy and warm.

Yes, I don't really get the lüften thing either. Seems like a colossal waste of heating to me if you are constantly opening all the windows to let arctic air in.

I don't get the fear of the Zug thing but I am seriously into lüften these days.

Wonder how fink's holiday is going, sounded like she had a heavy schedule, didn't it?

Any decision on the houses in Geneva ML. Are you under time pressure to make a quick decision?

SSsandy,
Just saw your other thread about German S and UK S. I did not know that you were planning to move to UK. Although, considering all the problems you have had with the nasty S situation here, I don't blame you. What does your DH think?

Spooky Xpost, SSsandy

We have pretty much decided on the one nearer the town. If we don't like it then I will blame you for the vision of yoga on the front lawn. OOOOmmmmmmmmmmm.

We are under no pressure as long as the bloody big boss doesn't get his finger out and sign the bloody contract.

well dh likes very much the job he has and what he does/can do there. He also likes Berlin, so is reluctant to leave. He would like it to work out here and we have had a fair bit of stress with it as you can imagine what with dd not settling well into the schools. We have certainly been thinking about moving, solely re the schools, for quite some time really.

He has been travelling the world, just got back today from Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Wellington, Taiwan, Hong Kong and L.A. He says he liked Sydney best and has been picking holes in everyone he met everywhere about the schools.

We must sound like utter school freaks somehow! Anyway we both think now that we have to settle her in a school overseas. I think it's quite a nice place for dc (Germany or what I know of it) in a lot of ways and we could have a nice std of life here but we couldn't find a primary school that suits dd, where she'd be happy (mind you I haven't been to every single school but have investigated very thoroughly and moaned a lot about it - as you know)

THen as you known the German state is quite dragonian about clamping down on HE so that isn't an option, even short-term. Puts us in a bit of a fix really.

So yes, now really looking at schools in various options overseas. Wish me luck I get it right now forthe 3rd school in 3 years!

OMG can't believe it still isn't signed

The saga continues.

The Nachmieter for our house have just been over to say that they don't want to take our kitchen after all; they just don't have the money. We were only asking for 1500? for the kitchen, 2 Velux window blinds, the stairgate and the Ausbau of the attic room (carpet).

Do you think that was too much? The kitchen is from Ikea, about 5 years old but in pretty decent nick.

So we now have to take the kitchen out and either take it with us or sell it. I am dreading DH coming home tonight as he is going to flip. He is so stressed at the moment with everything that he might hit the roof.

We are going to write his boss an email tonight to see if he can do anything about the signature needed.

I might wait and tell DH about the kitchen next week.

You don't sound like school freaks just like the other families I know here who are going mad at the German schools. A friend of mine in Bavaria is ready to flee the country.

Sorry, not supposed to mention the S word on this thread.

Do you think they might be just trying it on? I mean 1,500 is really not excessive. If you don't have it in ready cash, you could get hold of it easily enough surely. THey know you are in a jam with moving overseas,so think you might just say oh well then never mind?

Did you tell dh?

I wonder if you could call or even drop in personally to see the boss (dh) to get it signed, I mean he just has to have it in front of him and sign it, rather than send an email because it is gettign a bit tight.

you could advertise the kitchen and see what happens. If you can't sell it on time, it'll be a hassle. You'd need to pay for someone to come in and dismantle it and do what with it exactly? THen you'd need to have the kitchen repainted where the cupboards were.

And these people are going to live in a flat with an empty kitchen? Because if they can't afford to pay 1,500 for yours and everything else, they also cannot afford to buy one new. Bit weird the whole thing.

I do believe them, they have lived opposite us for 2 years and were hoping to move into one of the houses. (They live in a 2 bed flat, which was ok while they just had one DC but with 2 DCs is getting too small)

They said that their nachmieter want to buy their own kitchen so they would have to take their kitchen out anyway.

They have just finished doing up their flat about 2 months ago so really were unsure about moving but it might be long enough before anohter house is free. And ours is the best of the houses as it is the end one with a double garage and large garden.

We might just take the kitchen with us.

Can't go into the boss who is holding up the signature, it is the CEO of the European branch of the company with 17000 employees, don't think he would have time for me. DH will speak to his new boss in Geneva.

PMSL (sorry) at all this moving of kitchens from place to place. I suppose if they have to take their kitchen with them into your home they might as well install it and not buy yours, see their point of view. Might come in useful in Geneva from what you said about the state of the kitchens there.

Moving is so stressful, isn't it, even if everything goes without a hitch? I suppose the company is paying for the move so you might as well take the kitchen and sell it there if it is no good to you in your new home.

MmeLindt, sorry to hear about your kitchen stress. It does seem quite ludicrous really all this moving kitchens about.

We ended up taking the kitchen with us when we moved. The cupboards are now in the cellar and are quite usuful really for storage. The sink is just sitting there though, not plumbed in.

Hope you get that signature soon.

taipo did you see ML's thread about whether to start dd in school in Germany if she would be moving soon after to a French language school? Seems the contract may be delayed and they may be here longer than planned. After having moved dd from the British -) German system etc, from your experience what would you do?

I have spent half the day today googling internet/TV/telephone companies in CH. Mind is now boggling with information.

I am considering internet telephone, not much dearer than a normal telephone but much cheaper for calls, especially to UK and D. Might be a bit annoying if the internet connection is a bit dodgy.

We are a bit spoilt here, I have the flatrate for UK so will take bad to the rather high prices in CH.

you're finding it quite a wrench to leave Germany?

I would find it more difficult if we were moving to a place less appealing than Geneva. At the moment my itchy feet are taking prescedence over my achy heart.

I will miss my friends here, but I don't know if I can say that I will miss this area. Not the village, perhaps Ddorf, I love Ddorf.

I think once you are actually there and installed in your new home, dd settled at school, it will be fun, exploring a new place, progressing in the language.

On thewhole I do like the experience of living overseas because in the end even if you are just doing boring mundane things, it doesn't FEEL quite the same if you are doing it in French etc

I think it'll be a nice experience all round

You are right, I just wish we could fastforward 3 months.

A friend had a good idea today, she said why don't you aim to move after the Herbstferien. They start here on 29th Sept so would be great for moving during these 2 weeks. And Geneva holidays are from 20th October so she could start there after the hols. That way she would feel like she had a Abschluss in Germany. Sorry cant think of the English word. I have been here too long.

Am really looking forward to getting stuck into the French language.

Yay! The signature is at last on the contract!

Bit late for DD, she had her first day at school today. Well, tomorrow really. Today was just to see her classroom and find out which teacher she has. Tomorrow is the full thing, with Schultüte. Argh, still got to finish it tonight.

So it looks like we will be aiming for mid Sept for our move. We will get in touch with the guy from the relocation agency tomorrow and see how things go. I hope that someone from the removal company can come before the end of hte week.

Was speaking to my Mum this mornign adn she suggested putting the kitchen in the cellar if the landlord does not want us to put it in the kitchen. At the very least, we will have storage space and if we can plumb it in we will have a fully contained flat in the cellar. We might never get rid of my parents though.

oh that's excellent news with the contract, finally! That must be a weight of your mind ML.

Gosh your school goes back very early. Here the new school year doesn't start till September 1st.

Could I ask a favour of you German speakers, please?

There is a German song on the Baby Einstein Language Nursery DVD that DS2 really likes and we'd like to know all the words. I can make out some of them but my German isn't good enough to get them all.

It is a little song about baking a cake, there are two lines which go something like:

Butter und Salz
Eier und Schmaltz

Does anyone know the words to it?

Danke schon (sorry can't do umlaut)