Streupflicht und Schneeschaufel

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Thanks Gabster for the inspiration for the thread!

Add your resolutions here & I can slip alongside and pretend I'll make some too.
Still too fragile - my sleep patterns go haywire when I'm home, stay up till 1 or 2am, then awake at 5am (6 here, usual flipping school time) then I come back & keep crashing on the sofa at 10pm and wake up at 4 bright & breezy.

We have snow, very pretty and h is off till Weds so am pushing him out for Streupflicht, bartered it for a fry-up with real English bacon, hmmmmmm.
Forecast is for -12C to -14C tonight - and when the children go back to school on Thursday. Yikes.

On my way to work this morning I was a bit disconcerted to have Tom Cruise staring out at me at every tram stop - in posters for the Stauffenberg film. Anyone seen it or heard whether it's any good?

Admylin
Good to hear that your Granny is a better.

Gabster
Househunting from afar is really difficult. We were so lucky that a few of DH's colleagues were moving away from Geneva so we were able to take our pick of houses really. Most of them were fine, only one not really suitable.

There will be another exodus shortly as the company is going through a massive reorganisation. It was started before credit crunch got really bad but has gathered momentum. They asked for voluntary redundancies (voluntary seperations they call it, still redundancies to me) and got a lot more takers than expected. Now the whole company is pretty much been shaken up and people moved all over the place. DH got word yesterday that his job is safe but one of his coworkers (and a good friend of mine) will no longer have a job here. They are at the moment looking for a solution, she might relocate back to UK or somewhere else. I will be really sorry to see her go as we get on really well. We go out once a week and she often comes around for tea.

We were busy the past week with my parents. On Tuesday we had a inauguration party, complete with American Bean Pie and Brownies. It was good fun, our neighbours and my friend came around. It was such a laugh.

We got talking (as one does) about previous presidents and a joke was made about Monica Lewinsky and the cigar and my mum asked if Monica smoked cigars.

hello everyon.
Admylin, so glad to hear your grandma's getting better. Gab, good luck luck w. house hunting

Hi all
How are you feeling about your own move these days ernest?

hi ZZZen. Feel v. positive about it. Dh flew over last night and is going this am to drive round areas we've been considering to see what we think. (We've picked a few areas but never actually been there, so no idea if it's a toilet or not)

I am going over in about 4 weeks - just me and the baby! can't wait.

Challenge really in not putting life on hold, as we still have to live here for a year. Now we've decided, I just want to go now, as do the boys. Like I said, challenge is to try and make the most of this year rather than wishing it away.

How are you now? Feeling better?

oh yes was feeling like a "toilet" myself over Christmas/New Year. What a horrendous virus. Yuk-o seem to be fit now.

Feeling F A T tbh. Must tackle it. Really must tackle it.

Otherwise good, relaxed.

I think when you know you have just about a year left and winter fizzles out, you will feel like driving about looking at everything, experiencing everything before you go. That'll be nice for all of you I think.

What are you planning to do about the dc's German once you're in the UK?

that's a serious issue for us. I am very sure if we do nothing, they will lose it, esp ds3 aged 5.

So options are

tutor
au pair
try to find german friends

I guess au pair would be best, but I hate the thought of someone in my house.

Not to mention the cost and worse, the aggravation.

wwyd/what do you think?

We've written a list of things we want to do - a mixture of day trips to weekend or longer holidays that are easier or beter to do based here.

Any suggestions or recommendations welcome

glad you're feeling better.

Also feeling F A T

do you know about the German Saturday schools for German expats? If you google "German Saturday School uk" it links (with my new pc cannot copy and paste it) to a main site which lists the Saturday schools in and around London.

Maybe one of those would be convenient to where you'll be living. Would help the dc keep it up,the 5 year old learn to read and write German.

Shame the baby will probably grow up the only one who doesn't speak German. There is at least one German kiga in London I know but it may not be a convenient commute for you.

I would go for meeting up with German expats or German classes rather than an aupair, unless you need the extra help (who doesn't?). Having an aupair means a lot of work and you have someone around all the time. Don't know if I could be bothered. There have been a few threads on German expats in UK on here.

If you feel like heading north, the area around Würzburg is really lovely, all rolling hills and weinberge. Go in summer when the Weinfeste are on, you can go in the afternoon/early evening and have a few drinks while the DC play. Volkach is good, as is the one in Sommerhausen. Both beautiful villages, particularly Sommerhausen. Check out the Weinfestkalender.

Another great time to head for Würzburg is in May, for the Afrikafest. It is the biggest in Europe and lots of fun. If you time it right, you could be there for the Würzburger Weindorf too.

Zzzen You're a star. Thanks for that, I'll have a look at the link in a minute. I've never heard of it, but sounds like a good solution possibility. I do 't fancy au pair but really important the kids maintain and even further develop their German. Thanks also for your suggestions Mme L they'll be added to list we'll be doing a weekend in Berlin. And in summer we're thinking of hiring a motorhome and doing a 2 week tour round Europe a big circle eastwards through former Yugoslavia then up to Polandand back down to Munich.

Can someone tell me a bit about Fasching pls? We had fasnacht in Basel, they didn't really do much in Zurich. Theme is Pippi Langstrumpf? How on earth do I do with ds???

Ernest
You need Michel aus Lönneberga. Get the book, if you don't have it already. Our DC love it.

Trousers, white shirt, braces, hiking boots and a cap. Done

Find out when the Faschingzug in your area is, they often do a Kinderfaschingszug too. Then take yourself and the DC along, don't forget a big bag each for collecting "Kammele", the sweeties thrown from the floats.

I think that Munich does Fasching, not sure. I can ask DH, he used to live in Starnberg.

Zzzen just had a look and we'll be really close to 2 of the schools, that's really lucky. Du just sent message that he's seen some really nice (and really manky) areas, so looking good

Just seen you're reply Mme L. Ta. I'm at a play bit with the boys and doing this on my iPhone, and thinking of you mnetting for do long on yours. That was real dedication ;)

Oh, isn't if fab to sit in a indoor playarea and MN instead of flicking through 2 month old Gala and Stern mags?

Ohyes indeedy;) half thought of bringing lap top. Wish I had now. De has just discovered interesting in pulling hair. Really really hard. Ouch

Just wondering, Ernest what made you both decide to move back? If I remember rightly your dh wasn't totally convinced then you decided all of a sudden on way back to Germany?

I'm in real pain at the moment, can't sleep because of stomach pain. Been to doctor and she said it's stress and worry but she can't cure that. I have to eat schonkost whatever that may be and no milk products, fatty food or spicey food.

Sorry to hear you're in pain, admylin. I imagine that Schonkost is healthy food which is not going to disagree with you in any way. Not sure though.

Is your mum still there to look after you?

No took her to the airport on Friday night, that's when my Magen started hurting too. I'm making some plain soup to keep me going.

It's horrible, isn't it, when you have to say goodbye after you've had family staying for a while?

Did she help you make any decisions regarding moving back to UK?

Not really but told me I could go back to their place anytime, even for a trial or few weeks - doesn't really solve much though as h will never be able to get work there. Hard to decide - stick it out here or live seperately.

That is a very tough decision. No wonder you've got stomach pains. I've no idea what I'd do in your position but I don't imagine you can carry on for much longer the way things are atm.

What a horrible situation you are in, Admylin.

Schonkost, I think that they mean no butter, no fat, just lean meat and lots of veg.

Ok, just had a quick google,

Bei Magen-Darm-Beschwerden wird leicht verdauliche Kost gereicht. Besonders geeignet sind gekochtes Gemüse (das allerdings nicht blähend wirken darf), fettarmes Fleisch und Brot, außerdem geriebenes Obst. Milch, fette Speisen und Zucker sollten vermieden werden. Außerdem sollte viel Wasser oder dünner Tee getrunken werden. Besonders bekannt sind Zwieback und Haferschleim als Schonkost bei Magen-Darm-Beschwerden

mmmm, Haferschleim. [boak]

Still, better than what I am on at the moment, a big fat 0

I am doing Heilfasten again to try and shift some of the weight I put on last year when I went on the pill. I am on day 4 (well, 3 really as I cheated a bit on day 1 ) and have lost 2.5kg. My aim is to lose anohter 5kg so I will probably have to stick with it till the weekend.

This time I am finding it a lot easier, even managed to resist the cream cakes that my friend brought on Saturday.

Admylin
What do the DC think about moving back to UK? Have they ever actually lived there?

No never lived there but spent alot of time there before they were schulpflichtig and then alot of the school holidays (like the complete 6 weeks right to last day of the summer holidays!) and they don't really like Germany. Ds often complains about things here in comparing them with UK . He says it's painfull to his ears when he has to listen to them trying to speak English at school. I guess it's different living here being marrie dto a German. We might fell more inclined to adapt and fit in and the dc would be half German. Right now they have German passports as h is a German citizen (since '96) but that's it.

My soup sounds as if it's schonkost, thanks for the info. Just heard h reversed into a car at a traffic light in Berlin at the weekend and we'll probably have to pay the damages or risk increasing the insurance rates. Expensive weekend as the petrol to get there isn't cheap. Blardy mid life crisis - going to party in Berlin because he hasn't got any friends in Hannover.

Hmm, it does seem difficult though. I imagine that some of their feelings are clouded by the fact that they have never lived in the county, and experienced day to day life, school and homework etc included.

Saying that, they obviously feel quite British, which is something that my two don't really feel. They see themselves (or DD does, DS is too young to think that far) as German with Scottish relatives.

Just got a great bargain. We looked at Lightning McQueen fancy dress outfits in the Disney Store in Lyon, and were amazed to see them priced in Eu and in £. Eu45 and £25! At the current exchange rate, almost half price. I have ordered it online in UK and got it sent to my parents where we will be on DS's birthday anyway.