** German Chat ** Alle sind willkommen. ** Frühling läßt sein blaues Band ...

[MmeLindt]

...
Wieder flattern durch die Lüfte
Süße, wohlbekannte Düfte
Streifen ahnungsvoll das Land
Veilchen träumen schon,
Wollen balde kommen
Horch, von fern ein leiser Harfenton!
Frühling, ja du bist's!
Dich hab ich vernommen!

*

Für Deutsche und nicht-Deutsche, Goethe-fans und Gottschalk-fans, für Herzschmerz, Heimweh und Heimatgefühle.

Alle sind willkommen.

shopping with toddlers . I only liked those places where you can leave the dc in soft play for a bit. I had dd strapped in firmly with 1 fist round a Brezel and theother clutching a Wurst.

Have a nice trip admylin. Hope the weather is nice and you all enjoy yourselves and recover a bit.

is everyone on summer time then?

afternoon!
dh went back to the shop today but altho it was from opti mitnahme we have to wait 2 weeks for it!! did think it was expensive - nearly 200 euros!! but its quite big and should hold most of the crap in the bathroom!! need load of things for this house - its got so much more space than our other house!! so much fun to spend his money!!

problem with ds2 is that he'll not go in the buggy because his big brother and sister are walking!! he's not been in a buggy since just after his 2nd birthday!!

had a long afternoon cleaning out the pond in the garden - the long cold winter killed the big fish but there's still loads of little ones so i was in my wellies perched on the edge trying not to fall in!! secretly wishing all the fish will die - i hate ponds!! priority is to get a fence or cover for it if the fish dont die!!

admylin - have a great trip - cant wait to hear about it xx

Admylin
Hope you got away ok, keep in touch and let us know how you are getting on.

Canella
Any thoughts of things getting better will be dashed when you read this next bit.

We went to DH's colleagues house for Kaffee und Kuchen and in that time DS managed to terrorise our dog, draw on their glass coffee table with felt tip pens (wiped off luckily) and then finally hid the key of the loo. We were outside in the neighbours' garden, searching the hedge where he told us that he had hidden in. I was on my tummy on the ground searching the undergrowth when DD told me that he had really hidden the key in the green bin. I held him by his ankles and lowered him into the bin (there was just garden cuttings) to get it out.

There was much drinking of wine this evening.

oh mme lindt!! i had my hand over my mouth reading that!! you must have the patience of a saint!! i cherish these hours when they're at KG for the peace i get!!
but mine were so good yesterday despite us doing the cleaning the pond thing!! my dh let them use some garden scissors to cut away the dead plants and they loved it!! was slightly anxious they would cut themselves but they were so good!! and they slept all night the last 2 nights - i feel like a new woman!!
i'll cross my fingers for you mme lindt that todays a better day!!

so chuffed the suns out today - might take the kids somewhere for a wander this afternoon - feel happier driving my car now its got its TuV etc sorted out!! dont feel like such an alien!!

hope you all have a good day!

eek ML. You must have been exhausted!

Canella does it have to stay a pond? The Mücken will eat you alive in summer. Can you not turn it into a sandpit?

dh has now decided he quite likes it!! but its in a corner of the garden away from where we would sit or the kids would play! but it still needs a fence or something!! cant rest when there in the garden in case they run round and fall into it!! its not the deepest pond (now i can see the bottom) but still ds2 is only 2.7 and you hear terrible stories about kids and ponds!!

but like your idea about a sandpit - that would be much more fun!! that would keep dh busy filling and sorting it!!

(are Muecken mossies??)

They are indeed canella. They will breed on the pond I expect and you will have quite an invasion. Still maybe they don't like the taste of your and your dc's blood!

I suppose you could cover it with a kind of wire mesh but then you wouldn't see the fish

I would not have a pond in the garden, but then you have heard enough about my DMonster to expect that.

We discovered last night that he had also put a loo roll down the loo in the kids' bathroom.

I was sitting on the couch drinking wine with my friend when DH came down stairs to tell us that. We did have a giggle. You have to laugh, or you would cry.

He is off to school today (Gott sei Dank!) so I had peace.

I went into town to get my contact lenses sorted (still not happy with them) and get a medallion for the dog, like a licence number. According to the website we need proof that we have insurance (thirdparty) for the dog so I took along our insurance certificate. Nono, that is not enough, we need a certificate from the insurance company stating that we have insurance for the dog, the normal insurance certificate is not enough.

So, I have to go back next week once I have the right documents.

Afterwards I took a friend out to Annemasse to pick up her handbag. It had been stolen on Saturday, and the shop phoned today to tell her it was found. She does not have a car so asked me to pop out there with her. She kindly asked me out for lunch to say thanks.

Oh, and I will never again doubt the dangers of suggestion. You know the cases of suspected child abuse, when the found out that the children were making up stories, that they thought that the social workers wanted to hear.

ML: DS where did you hid the key? In the bush?

DS: Yes, in the bush.

ML: Did you throw it in the bush?

DS: Yes, threwed it

ML: In this bush? Or the other one?

DS: In this one, no the other one.

All the while the key was in the bin.

I obviously need to work on my interogation technique.

i think your ds would love a pond mme lindt!! ha ha!!

but we're still renting this house ( in the process of buying it) so cant change the pond at the mo!!

had a lovely afternoon in bad kissingen this afternoon - kids walked for 2 hours along the saale! might make them sleep tonight!!

Hi everyone-where has the week gone? We seem to have been non-stop! Went to the theatre to see Felix Das Musical last week which was surprisingly good and DS loved it! (not sure about the 50 euros it cost for 2 of us!).

He also did his Sprachkompetenz test at Kindergarten and did really well-I think!-with 58.75 out of 75. He did better than lots of the native speakers and apparently was very confident and chatty! Felt very proud as less than a year ago he had no German at all.

Been enjoying the lovely weather today-DS took his shoes off to play outside! He tried to persuade me to do likewise but my boots stayed firmly on!

Hope all is going well with you all, and that Admylin is having a great time!

trockodile - i dont know anything about that test but it makes me warm inside to think your ds has gone from no german to that good score in a year!! i'm expecting miracles from my 2 that they'll speak it right away but they are saying random words to me but i'm not sure there speaking to the KG staff!!
but well done to your ds!! there's hope for my 2 yet!!

weather been lush here too but cold when the sun went behind the clouds!! i was getting funny looks at the spielplatz tho - the german kids were still wrapped up in 50 layers while mine were that warm from running that they'd taken they're coats off!! shocking!! they still had a vest, long sleeved tshirt and caridgan on!!

Mme Lindt - lol at your ds. As you say, you have to laugh or you´d cry. Seeing your name reminds me - a patient gave dh a box of Lindt chocolates at lunch time and now there are only 4 left and I´m the only one who´s been eating them [big fat pig emoticon].

trocodile - well done your ds, you must be so proud.

abroadandmisundersttod - sorry I wasn´t on the computer over the weekend. Hopefully your ds is better now. With ds it took us a couple of days before we made the connection between him being hyper and the medicine - I don´t know why it took so long because he went from lethargic to hyper overnight. As I said we stopped as soon as he showed some improvement, but dh is a doctor so had some back up if he deteriorated again.

Well done to Mini-Troc. I can remember DS having to go to the second stage of that test as there was some concern about his speech. To think that your DS has gone from no German to such a high score in just a year is fab.

I had an aha-erlebnis today. I often drive through town towards the lake, the signpost says, "Lac, Evian" and until now I have thought that Evian means "water", convieniently forgetting the French town that the signposts are actually directing us toward. [doh emoticon]

I wonder how Admylin is getting on. Bet she wont be eating curry on holiday.

trockodile- wonderful news. You must be so proud at such amazing results after only a year.

Mme Lindt- have you tried the version with Meersalz? So different. I have more of a savoury tooth than sweet but come once a month I crave a bite of chocolate, but not sweet. My prayers are answered although I will have the salt police after me.

Hi Hupa- I read up on the meds DS1 was on after you mentioned the crazy behaviour. He was getting better so I dropped the one strongly associated with hyperactivity and aggression and my little boy is back and better. God he was SO argumentative and full of nervous energy that he was literally twitching and shrieking when I begged him to be quiet. I got so many of 'those' looks in Tengelmann.

No, have not tried choc with Meersalz. I don't actually eat a lot of choc, despite my name on MN. Actually I have been thinking that I should namechange to MmeGruyere as prefer to eat cheese than choc.

I tried ice cream recently with meersalz, um, caramel et fleur de sel. YUM YUM YUM . Absolutely without doubt the most delicious ice cream that I have ever tasted.

Ok, will stop now otherwise I will have to go to Yvoire tomorrow to have another boule.

morning!! well its nearly lunchtime - its the last morning before the boys start KG every weekday so we've had a lazy morning - didnt get dressed till after 10!! the neighbours will talk!!

highlight of my morning has been buying some different bread - we've had roggenmischbrot everyday since i've been here so i bought a helles krusten brot - no idea what it tastes like but it looks good!! such a dull life that i'm excited by bread!!

off to another village spielplatz this afternoon - think they must wonder where this mad british woman is coming from!! i've been everywhere round here!!

Where are you all? its been dead quiet here the last few days!!

I've been busy fighting Kopfläuse, on the order of the Kindergarten, though I combed and combed and shampoo'd furiously and didn't find a single egg. DS sat patiently throughout, bless him.

MmeLindt - my mutt ate his medallion. Be warned!

Isn't the weather great? I'm off out this morning to potter around the garden and prune. Germans seem quite competative about gardening and I've been told that, as the token English lady, they are expecting a 'proper english country garden'. I hope he's joking! Last week, some bloke killed his neighbour because he threw his leaves over the hedge of his kleingarten. Scary....

Frosch
Watch out for those kleingärtners, they are crazy mad people. LOL at the expectations of an English country garden. Most gardens in my parents home town are of the crazy paving/chipping/concrete variety. Some have a couple of dying shrubs in faded plastic tubs to brighten things up a bit.

I have discovered that I can use Skype on my iPhone, and for only 3.95eu a month, I can call any landline in Europe. Since there is no flatrate available in Switzerland (like Countryflat from t-online) this is going to save me quite a bit.

It works well from home, on the WiFi network, will try it out later when out and about. I guess it will depend on how good the internet connection is.

Canella
Well done for getting out and about. The locals will get used to the strange English woman

i heard about this competitive gardening!! thankfully i dont have the competitive gene so it doesnt really bother me if frau mueller next door's garden is better than mine!! and she is in her 50's - thats what that generation do!!

thankfully the people who own this house are of that generation so the graden looks quite well established - i'm just expecting it all to bloom in the summer with v little effort from me!! ha ha!

Mme lindt - thats cool that you can use skype on your iphone - i've installed it on the computer upstairs but i'm more often on the laptop in the kitchen!! DH still hasnt organised a flatrate for calling the uk - we had a deal in the UK where we paid a tiny amount every month then it was free to call landline's in europe for up to an hour - need to get him to sort this!!

Frosch - headlice are my worst nightmare - i'm impressed with your ds's patience - my dd only had them once and cried the whole time!! i dread getting them on my hair - i've got the thickest curliest hair - i would never get them out!!

canella - i have a friend with a greek husband, who is fabulously hirsute. She says it's a nightmare when they have to 'do' the whole family because of all the fur! Urgh!

I would shave him and be done with it (when the nits are running riot anyway). Do they go elsewhere on your body then other than your head? Didn't know that.

Canella I have not been on much because I am cleaning my windows. There are SO many of them, sigh. ANd then when they are clean well everything else looks like it needs a good scrub in comparison. I am spring cleaning my kitchen today and I thought I'd go through the house, one room at a time. May not perservere tillthe end though, knowing me!

Did this guy kill as in blow his nut at his neighbour or actually do him in because of the leaves?! Wow

Zzen i am impressed that you are the perfect 1950's housewife!!! you have shamed me into doing something about mine - i hate doing it but once i start i realise what good exercise it is for my bingo wings!! been out on my bike already this morning - need to get a bit fitter!

boys started KG every morning now for 3 hours!! loving the time to myself but more importantly they seem to be settling too!! i moaned on here before about them always being together despite supposed to be different roooms so asked the staff this morning if they could try to keep them apart. i know it sounds dead cruel but they were never in the same room in the Uk at nursery and there is 2 years between them so they both need to make friends of the same age.
so when i went to get them the staff said ds2 had stayed in his room playing with no tears but ds1 had come looking for him!! so they let them have 5 mins together then sent ds1 back to his group!! feel much happier that they can settle without each other now - they'll be making friends now in no time!

ZZZen - you may have just given me that little push to clean our windows too. The front of the house has two enormous double French doors (24 panes) and DS2 likes to practice standing up against them and lick them, much to the amusement of the passers by. As I sit here, all I can see is a vast swathe of fingermarks and dribble...

Maybe I can tackle a few when he is asleep.