** 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.

Trockodile
Well done to your DS. I hate to think what the DC say about us in school.

My experience of birthday parties is that the parents are quite happy to leave the DC there, but I am sure if you ask you can find someone to stay and help.

Admylin
Don't think about the Kindergeld. Remember the fact that if you do want to go back to work that you will not get 45% taken off your wage packet.

That's a good point mmelindt! I keep trying to tell h that too, when he sees job offers in UK he compares the wage with what he gets here but only the 'brutto' and he won't listen when I tell him he'll not be paying as much from his wages as here. Anyway he just got turned down for a UK job, still 2 applied for so he is trying and he has seen that we're fed up and not willing to spend anymore time waiting in Germany.

Couldn't you just cringe at the thought of what the tots are saying about us in Kindergarten! Even now , dd comes home with some tales that I am sure are not for my ears like one girl, she told everyone that her mum has debts and no money left and that she just borrows it from friends but never pays it back.

Yes, TheGabster I've heard of these new nurse practioners - it's a scheme to save money, nurses were offered the chance to study and got a degree like an MSc and can now prescribe and treat without consulting the busy doctor. I know someone who did the training and there are only a handfull of cases where she has to consult a doctor before treating as she sees fit.

Morgen zusammen!

Havne't been around for a while as M was here and was beginning to make noises about my internet useage. She probably worried that you lot are grooming me....

MmeLindt - you sound fantastically calm for someone who's been through that shit twice. Can't you set your mutt to 'kill'?!

Trockodile - do your kids pick up on the "Daddy's coming home" vibe? Is it usual for DH to be delayed when coming back? Don't they riot?! Mine travels frequently and I get really angsty if his flight is delayed for even a few hours. I should imagine it's worse if he's been on ops for six months. It's like every minute feels like a day!

Hi Frosch,

Have only one DS and TBH I never go into specifics with him. Daddy is coming home soon, or when he comes home we will go on holiday or first we will visit Granny, then it is Easter, then it is mummy's birthday-that kind of thing. Never do a count down chart or anything like that. In the army things change all the time and it is very common for plans to change, flights to be cancelled etc. He is only (nearly) 4 though. He may get more savvy as he gets older.

Have just ordered a Charlie and Lola cake topper from here. We are not allowed candles in the soft play though because of fire risk! Seems very unGerman-they are usually so laid back about health and safety!

ZZZen - doctors aren´t allowed to refuse treatment. Dh would just bill them as a private patient (but might not get paid). If someone without insurance nedds hospital treatment the Sozialamt will step in, but will then do everything to reclaim the money.

Sometimes in larger towns people will simply borrow a card from someone with insurance (or a stolen card and make sure they go to a different doctor. Obviously this is illegal, so not recommended. This won´t be possible when the new electronic health cards are introduced because they require a photo and a pin number.

One thing I loved about teaching was listening to the dc´s news on a Monday morning. Such classics as "My mum was so drunk on Saturday she fell out of the caravan door.". I´m sure some of the parents would have been mortified if they knew what their dc were sharing with the class.

trockodile - normally German parents just drop their dc at parties, but I´ve never been to one at a soft play, so that might make a difference.

TheGabster - hope ds is feeling better - ear infections are really crap.

evening all!

admylin - seems like your doing really well with cracking on with the move!! it'll all come together in the end!! it might make it easier that your dh is still in germany - he can sort out any stuff that you dont get a chance to!!

mme lindt - hope your feeling ok today! did your dh get anything sorted out with his company to make the house safer?

nice to see you frosch - MN does take too much time of my day even if its just reading random threads!!

had a crap day with ds2 today - he's in the middle of dropping his midday nap so late afternoons and evenings are like living with the devil!! he's gone to bed with no stories and i had to bring wine o'clock forward before i went quietly mad!! feel much better after 2 glasses of cheap german wine!!

oh and dd has a religion test tom - about as much chance of her passing that as nothing!! she's never been to church apart from weddings and carol concerts in the UK!!

Evening all.

Have emailed the people in HR who will decide if we are getting an alarm system put it. Sounds like it might happen though, as the guy in Geneva told our neighbour that it should get approved.

My neighbour came over for tea this afternoon, and we swiftly moved on to the prosecco. DH is out for the evening and so I can MN in peace. Just thinking about packing up the laptop and taking a glass of wine upstairs with me.

Today's update from KG was that one of the little girls is sad because she doesn't live with her sister (also at KG) and has a new mummy. Not sure what to make of that but prob best just to ignore it! Poor little girl if that is the case. DS seems to becoming a KG Agony Aunt!

My next party worry is that I got some Playmobil pretty cheaply in Real for the party bags so this sort of thing cost me about 3 euro. Is it going to look ostentatious and will the parents hate me? I was just pleased to find such good value party bag presents and not tat. Probably should stop worrying-I suppose people will just think I am mad and British!

I used to put those in party bags too! Most dc have abit of playmobil at home so they can play with them with their other stuff too.

For ds's party bags I would put a bag of popcorn , a gift like playmobil or a mini water pistol.

Back to sorting out for me, did quite well in dd's room yesterday. The nutty neighbour is back too - I gave her loads of stuff for her grand dc and she has since then been ringing our door bell 2 or 3 times a day! Can't say no but now she has announced she has time on Friday to help and she wants to help dd sort her room so dd frantically started doing it all with me so she can tell the neighbour, without hurting her feelings, that she's finished!

Trock
I would hate you for the playmobile but only because my SIL keeps buying it (or passing on their old stuff - as BIRTHDAY presents I have to add) for my DC and they just don't like it. They don't play with it, never have and it gets scattered about the playroom occasionally till I go down with the hoover and hoover up all the tiny little swords and flowers. How do I get SIL to understand that just because her DC loved it mine DON'T LIKE PLAYMOBILE.

Sorry, but she just brought Easter Bunny stuff, lots of little bitty Easter egss.

Rant over.

Admylin
LOL at the mad neighbour. At least it is motivation DD though.

Oh dear admylin, I feel a bit sorry for that neighbour of yours. She is going to feel a bit bereft when you leave, isn't she? Wonder if she will be visiting dh every night for achat!

Wonder if I will be likethat when dd moves out one day. Probably.

Thanks hupa, I was wondering how that works. Still even without insurance I think people are better off re healthcare in Germany than say in America. I always have those horror stories of poor people being turned away from hospitals because they haven't got insurance but maybe in reality it is not so drastic.

Should we start a new thread? It's still Frühling (supposedly) but the thread is quite full. Anyone fancy doing it? Canella? Frosch?

I started a new one since this is slow to load (at least on my pc) but can't link to it because my toolbar with cut and paste has disappeared!

COuld someone link to it please?

link

Hi, Some people will probably think I'm odd, but here goes.... My husband was posted out to near Hannover with the army, my son was born there but we have recently been forced back here The thing is that I love Germany, German, literally everything about it and I am literally heartbroken that we are back here. I really want to teach my DS some more German, he's only 16 months but I feel that he was born there and I want to keep some German roots, plus I am hoping beyond hope we will get to move back in the future.

So how can I (a not great German speaker) encourage the DS, most of his toys are in German and I try and read German books to him but I think I need some native German in his life!

Please help!

You can get all the German telly on your Sky dish in UK if you figure out how to program the dish to receive the main channels like ARD and ZDF. I'd ask the local Sky dish man....

What is the only time to correctly use “Gute Nacht.” in a German-speaking country?

after leaving the dinner table

before going to the movie theatre

coming home from work at 8 P.M.

before going to bed