Der Herbst ist da - wir wollen aber kein Regenwetter: Life in Germany cont/d

[finknottle]

Too lazy to scroll through the other long one.

Here for Obst und Blaetter - guess what d came home from school singing yesterday?

All welcome, Austria & Switzerland & any German-speaking Leute too

Quietone I've got a delivery of Branston and Marmite coming on Friday when my mum and dad come - oh and Boots paracetamol and Ibuprofen for my headaches! Tell your dh to make a parcel up and post it before he flys back!

DH has switched off his precious Blackberry, otherwise he'd get work calls all weekend. I can't get hold of him to beg for painkillers and Marmite! Oh, and nappy sacks and BBC Good Food magazine...The list is endless once I start thinking about it. We're going back for 2 weeks at Christmas. I can't wait!!!

Oh I wish I had planned something - maybe we'll go back at Christmas too but have to wait and see how things go here - can imagine they'll give ds a pile of homwork too. Should look into flights as I'm really having withdrawl symptoms at the moment.

I am, too. It's the first time since we moved out here back in August 2007. I got all misty eyed watching Rick Stein's Food Heroes the other day. I todl DH, and he said "We don't live in rural Devon or Cumbria. It's not really like that for us!" He's right - our house back 'home' is a terrace in Brizzle. I'm just getting all nostalgic...Dug out some Christmas Foodie mags that I've kept the last couple of years, and the sheer range of foods available in the UK made me insanely jealous.

We do live in Cumbria in a lovely market town right on the edge of a lake and we go up the hills and fell walking and the dc collect cristals. We go up on the moor and buy fudge and lemon curd from a farm shop and get wind swept standing on top of the moor surrounded by sheep! The dc just run about the whole time we go home, let them out of the car and they're off over rocks and hills down to streams what ever the weather. You can imagine I felt even more homesick when I lived in the middle of Berlin!

My PIL also live in Cumbria, so when we were in the UK we had many a visit up there. Bliss, utter bliss. God, moving toBerlin must have been a right shock!

Admylin
That sounds so idyllic. I bet Berlin Mitte was a big shock.

We are living in picture postcard land now. I opened the doors to the balcony this morning and was faced with a stunning panorama, snow topped mountains in the distance. I can only see the mountains when it is a really clear day, today it was incredible.

We went into Geneva and had a walk around the lake, found a fantastic playpark. Your eyes are constantly drawn to the horizon, on the other side of the lake you can see clear to the snowy Alps. We kept nudging each other and saying "Look at that!".

We had a chat with the neighbours this evening, they seem to be really nice. They have a dog and we have arranged to go out for a walk with them occasionally.

I was delighted to find Weetabix in the supermarket recently. Actually, I bought Weetabix in a German supermarket before I left, I think it was Edeka. Or Kaufhof?

Off to bed now, I am really looking forward to Mum coming tomorrow. We can have a good natter.

I'm really looking forward to my parents coming too - and I have plenty of jobs saved for my dad as he does get abit bored after a while so we can get him busy and I also hope to get a shopping day as my mum is good at that - I hate shopping alone for clothe sand shoes as I'm useless at imagining what things would look like on me and can't be bothered to try everything on with noone there to give an honest opinion!

Today I managed to put up a holder rail for the shower head in the bathroom with many curses and swearwords to the German system of taking such things away when you move out. Still no lights up though. At the weekend I also managed (with only a few tears) to put up a telescopic shower rail - you'd think it would have been easy but there is always something that isn't explained on the instructions. Anyway, ds was very calm and helped and ignored me getting all wimpy. Hope he turns into one of those men who can fix everything - unlike his father.

I get really painfull homesickness when I see hills and mountains so it's OK with me that Hanover is so flat! Good cycling place anyway, loads of cycle paths too so quite safe. Geneva sounds lovely. H has seen quite a few job offers there too and has applied for a couple in the past but never got an interview. The dc always wanted to go as it's French speaking and I always rave about France and the language (influenced them probably) but I can't manage to influence them enough to like Germany (I'm a bad actress)

Anyone ever used a Logopaedin in Germany? KiGa have found one for my DS1. He didn't sit still today and they seem fed up with him. I'm getting the red mist again.

I'm going to see this lady this afternoon with DS1 and DS2. I'm dreading it, and hope DS1 reacts favourably to this lady.

Wish me luck.

We used a logopädin für DD, was pretty useless, tbh. My friend was delighted with her logopädin. I suppose it depends on the person you get. I feel that bilingual kids are often sent to SALT when they just need a bit more time to sort out their language skills. DD went to one lot of sessions (10x) and I refused to go to anymore, although the SALT wanted her to go back. She speaks fine now.

I was advised by the Schulärztin to take DS to a Logopädin here in Geneva. My own doc had advised me that he was not speaking perfectly but that he would give it anohter 6 months. He told me that lots of children are sent to therapy at age 3yo when they start in kita.

Sounds like the kita are not good with your DS. I cannot believe that he does not understand German when he has been in Kita since Easter. It seems more like the kita are having problems findign a strategy to cope with him, and that is their job. They are supposed to be the "experts".

I wonder if sometimes kitas recommend some kind of therapy as a way of passing the buck.

I suspect we would have been told to see a logopaedin if we'd moved here when ds was a bit younger as he had problems with certain sounds (can't remember exactly what now ) until he was at least 4. He's 6 now and speaks fine.

Seems very common round here for dc to go to some sort of therapy, mostly Ergotherapie, Krankengymnastik or to a Logopaedin. I suspect MmeLindt (love the halloween name btw) is right about passing the buck and I think a lot of it is probably unnecessary. On the other hand it could be quite helpful to speak to someone else about your ds and maybe he would enjoy it.

Good luck!

last chance to join the Munich meet tomorrow.......

Cake. mmmmm.

Sorry to hear your news Mme.Lindt. I´m pleased your mum can come over this week to give you some support.

thequietone - hope you got on o.k. this afternoon. It does sound as if kindergarten are trying to pass the buck, but as taipo says maybe he will enjoy it.

We´re just sorting out speech therapy for ds who will be 4 next week. I have to say that Kindergarten and dh have been saying wait and see, but he is so difficult to understand, I want a second opinion. The last straw was last week when some of the children in kindergarten asked why he only speaks English when he´s there. I know for a fact that he speaks German, but because they don´t understand him they´ve assumed he´s speaking English.

Hope everyone has better weather than us - it seems to have rained non-stop for the last 48 hours. Mind you when it does stop the Autumn scenery here is absolutely stunning at the moment, so I´m looking forward to walking at the weekend if we´re not washed away before then.

Oooohh I´d love to join you, but at over three hours on the train it´s a bit too far. Have a great time.

warm and sunny. Dh got a bit sunburnt at the Oktoberfest yesterday! mind you, he is fair skinned, but still....

I never did tell you all how he lost the boys yesterday. Only ds1 & 2, so only 50% of the children was his defense

Still, we did get them back. They don't seem too traumatised.

Evening all - excuse absence. DS has had a "can't sleep, won't sleep" mood for the last few days - saying I am stressed does not even cover it (slept 2 x 30m today!!!).

Sorry the weather is so pants for the rest of you guys at the moment - have had a beautiful gorgeous autmn sunny day here. Serves you right for rubbing it in about your balcony earlier in the thread Admylin.

Its funny how supply lists of British goodies match so well. Even down to the ibuprofen LOL. My sister is sending me out a box this week, but adding baby clothes (Tescos are just so much more reasonable than anywhere here) and calpol. Have found a courier company (this page which seems reasonable - will let you know how it pans out.

And excitement - have just booked flights!! Woohooo. Going to the outlaws though - so swapping chilly/frosty Munich for just as chilly/frosty plus soggy Merthyr Tydfill (South Welsh hills) but at least its Britain - lots of pork pies and S&V crisps, and maybe in time for Xmas puds too!! And gorgeous DS finally gets to meet granny and grandad for first time (mine have been over a few times already) so am dead excited.

Merthyr - lovely! My house is in Bristol. Been living there since 1996, on and off.

Logopaedin went brilliantly today. Need a hearing test for DS1 as he's hyper sensitive to sounds, so we want to eliminate that as a problem. He really loved it, and everything she said, he responded to correctly, apart from one time when he clearly didn't understand so just said "yes".

I also feel the KiGa are passing the buck. He is different to the other children, but I'm now getting to the point where I'm struggling to think he's normal. I know in my heart of hearts that in the UK, he'd be deemed as absolutely normal, but here? The kids seem almost robotic in their obediency. I'm sure he's normal for a 3 year old, and they just want him to sit still and shut up. Bloody teacher came up to me today. "Frau TQO, he did not sit still, he wants to move. Here is a list of what you must do. 1. Logopaedin, here's the number. 2. Sportsverein, he must do some sport as he has too much energy. 3. Frau and Mutter Group (shiver) in Eichenau. You must go."

LEAVE. ME. ALONE.

That's how I feel right now.

TQO
I do find that some kindergartens ask an awful lot of the little ones, 3yo is very young to sit down and shut up. We should not expect that of a 3yo and it should not be seen as an important goal.

My friend, whose DD loved the Logopädin is very sensitive to noise, she found it difficult to settle in Kita and was always hopping from one thing to another. She has been there a year now and is now in a integrated group for children with speech defecits, which has helped. The ohter thing that made a HUGE difference was when they discovered that she needs glasses. She has -3 dioptrin so no wonder that she could not concentrate on an activity. She had her eyes checked at the U8 only 9 months before. Might be worth checking that out too.

Perhaps some DCs just need more time though, and we should not be searching for ailments.

Thanks, Mme. DS1 has his hearing test on Thursday afternoon. I had a little "yay!" to myself this morning, as he took the initiative for the first time at KiGa. He approached his teachers and said "Guten Morgen" and shook their hands. He's always had to be prompted before. Just a small ting, but so significant to me, and the teachers were clearly impressed by this too.

I've not really considered his sight yet, as his is so good that he sees things waaaay before me. Planes that are so tiny in the sky and the minutest details in pictures.

Or, as you say, it's not medical, but just time. He's soaking up the German until he feels confident to try it on other Germans.

I have a job! Well, sort of. I'm filling in for a teacher who is off sick until at least Christmas. It's teaching English at a Wirtschaftsoberschule, so Abitur level, 9 hours a week. I'll have to go in 3 mornings a week starting early so dh will have to get the dc ready for school on those days

I'm looking forward to it but also ever so slightly terrified - I haven't taught like this for ages or worked at all for that matter so I expect it to be a big shock to the system. However, it is only 9 hours fgs so surely I can cope with that! I start tomorrow

Wonder how many slices of cake the Munich lot are scoffing

Taipo - congratulations! Best of luck tomorrow. I'm sure it'll be fine. Just need to throw yourself into that first day when it'll feel fine.

God, I wish I was able to get into Munich today. I couldn't make the cake scoffing as it's too difficult to get there without a car, and juggling the 2 kids. Sniffle...

Thank you! I hope I'll feel better after tomorrow. It has made me realise that I have virtually no smart clothes/shoes any more so I'm off in to town now to have a look, as well as to get my hair cut

That's a shame you couldn't make the meet-up. Are you going to get a car?

Congratulations on your job taipo. I was just racking my brain yesterday as to what sort of job I could try to get that would fit around the school hours. My neighbour has been telling me to do Nachhilfe for English where the pupils come to me at home but I'd always have the dc at home too and they are in fight-mode at the moment so I can't see them occupying themselves for an hour.

Actually I need to really give myself a shake as I keep having visions of myself falling at my parents feet when they come on Friday and begging them to take me back home with them. I went for a bank statement this morning which I shouldn't have done, better not to know when it looks like that!

Also wondering what they are up to in Mumich! We lived in Berlin for nearly 3 years and never managed a proper meet-up although there were 3 or 4 of us in Berlin at some point on this board.

It's dd's 9th birthday today - she was fed up at having to go to school so early and didn't want any of her cards at breakfast time. Well I've got her a big cake (lazy I know I bought it but she likes the one I bought!) and we'll have a little party this afternoon and repeat it on Friday with my parents s they are bringing all her UK presents too. I'm off to try and fold serviettes in a fancy way for her birthday table!

Happy birthday to your dd, admylin. Hope she enjoys her party.

It's so hard sometimes, isn't it? You've had a lot to deal with since moving so it's no wonder you're feeling homesick. It's such a horrible feeling too. I'm OK atm but every now and again something quite minor, like a particular smell or type of weather can set off those pangs of homesickness in me.

Congratulations on the job taipo. I´m sure you´ll be fine once you´ve started. Have you got a scheme of work to follow? Good luck with the shopping.

Happy Birthday to your dd admylin. Has she made any friends at the new school yet? Enjoy the cake.

thequietone - glad yesterday went well and well done to ds for taking the initiative this morning.