**German Chat**everyone welcome* - macht es euch gemütlich

[ZZZen]

reden wir weiter...

hmm sorry no, I can' t think off-hand. Will your dh or is it you be with teh Freie Unviersität? If so, I know they have an accommodation office and friends of mine who went to Berlin for a couple of years had lovely accommodation provided for them very close to the university.

Otherwise if your German is up to it (and I think it is?) the Berliner Morgenpost online

sticky - sounds like you've got an exciting time ahead!! we've only just moved to germany (dc are 7.9, 46 and 2.8) - oldest one spoke some german before we came and the little ones understood some! we've done no other preparation with them and to hear ds1 after only 6 or 7 weeks of kiga speaking some german is just great!! and we live really rural so no-one is geared up to him speaking english really! in berlin i'm sure they'll have had more experience of english speaking children.

mme lindt - will show dh that wuerzburg thing tonight - we've still not been to Wue which is really bad!! but BIL coming this weekend so we might go then!

just been out to the post office and when we came back the owners of our house were outside - they're visiting the neighbour so were chatting across the fence. complicated story but we're renting from them for the moment and in the process of getting the mortgage sorted. think he was kinding of hinting for me to invite him in - they lived here for like 20 years so i'm sure he feels funny about us living in his house but the house was no where near tidy enough to let someone in - all the lunchtime dishes werent tidied up!! i'd have been ashamed! think we need to wait until the house is more presentable - still got lots of decorating to do and our pictures to put up before i'd let him in!

ps dd had her first school test today - she got a 3 mostly because she didnt finish the test! i think thats not bad but i'm sure dh will come home and expect her to have done better!! think she didnt understand the last 2 questions - it wasnt that she couldnt do the maths!!

zzzen, yep - and that sounds like a very nice and easy option. My german's reasonable (of the gossiping with friends variety, but I did do the Deutsch fuer Juristen Goethe certificate when I got back, which might help job-wise (it's dp who's the academic, I'm a lawyer (sadly!!), but I've not been back in 5 years so it's slightly theoretical at the moment! We kept a German sat for the TV, so my passive understanding is still there, but we should be back this summer, so we'll see.

Canella, that is even more encouraging!! Good luck with the decorating.

Now off to do some work... sigh.

I have just spent ages reading this thread! Obviously a good day for hanging around by the computer-it is so miserable here.

I have been at German classes this morning where we discussed 'Schweinegrippe' and also the ballot in Berlin about religion classes in schools. Quite enjoyed it.

Canella I am planning on teaching English in our KG with another parent-German but sounds English (Midlands!)usually. I am not letting DS in the class even though my friend was keen on having a native speaker because I think it would be too confusing at the moment for him to speak in English to children he is now used to speaking German with iyswim.

Sticky-my DS started KG last year with no German just as he turned 3,by Christmas he understood pretty much everything and can now talk well too-although he does not have a huge vocab-and passed a speach test with higher marks than a lot of the native speakers in KG. He loves it, is crazy about all things German and we are so pleased we did it. DH is in the British Army so we could have stayed in the English system and am so glad we didn't. He is getting so much out of it all even though we will not be here permanently.

Better go and do some housework now!

DS did a bit of English in Kita last year and thought it was fun, but a bit strange.

another part of the previous owner story - he phoned dh later this afternoon (once he'd gone home from the neighbours) to ask if he can come to the house to pick up some photos that he left! obviously his plan to get in the house today didnt work so he's planning a second attack tom!! just feel the house isn't ready for him to look at - feel he would be sad at how bare his old house looks! so i guess i'll be tidying ++ tom and tring to stop the kids making too much mess!

quick question - whats the story about giving way to cars coming from the right? is it only on small roads? what if there's lines like give way? do they still have the right? let some man out today - he looked at me like i was mad!! confused me even more!

If there is a Vorfahrtachten sign post then you give way. Or a stop schild.

Otherwise look out for a Vorfahrtschild. This means that you have Vorfahrt, right of way.

If you are in a 30er Zone then it is always left before right.

look found this great website with all the info in English.

ooops, sorry. In a 30er Zone it is rechts vor links. Traffic coming from the right has right of way.

Where did you do your driving test mmelindt? I learned to drive in France then failed the test, they were crazy drivers, south west of France, instructer kept shouting 'plus vite' quicker. Then I had a few months in UK between jobs so did my test again there after a few practise hours and the teacher kept shouting slow down slow down! Now I'm used to driving in Germany and will have to get used to UK again in the future.

I learnt to drive in Germany, it was my PIL's wedding present to us actually.

My instructor used to say, "Uuuund Gaaaas, gaaaas, gaaaas geben, uuuuuuuuund gaaaaas..."

Now DH is always telling me to slow down.

Yes, I find they drive too fast here too. In the US everyone drove really nicely and smoothly even the young nephews always drove slowly in their big cars.

oh i'm annoyed now - had written a big post and i deleted it by mistake!! i'll try again!

mme lindt you are a font of all knowledge - thank you but i'm still a bit muddled!

i wasnt on a road with a Vorfahrtschild sign so i yielded to the car coming from my right - but the driver looked at me like i had 2 heads! just made me more confused! there were no lines on the road so i presumed he had the right of way! all too confusing!

trying to phone my friend in the UK with this free calls website www.peterzahlt.de but its not working for some reason and keeping me waiting! more time for mumsnet though!

Sometimes the Germans just cannot believe it if you stick to the rules of the road.

If it was a Vorfahrtschild then you give way to traffic from both left and right. If there is no sign then assume rechts vor links.

If in doubt stop and let them go is my way of dealing with it. There are always some nutters who just know that they are right and would rather bump into you than give up their right of way.

Do you know the expression "Fahrer mit eingebauter Vorfahrt"?

Good driving canella, I often forget the Vorfahrt rule and then get the angry driver relly mad because I didn't let him have his right of way. Probably I secretly enjoy getting them worked up, some of them seem so frustrated with life or something!

dont know that saying mme lindt!! but lol at you admylin trying to piss them off!! just made myself dizzy doing the driving test on that website - started off realy badly but got better with practise!!

It means a driver with integrated right of way. Normally a Mercedes driver with a hat on.

Canella - have you been on the autobahn yet?! Speedy blokes in huge Mercs, BMW's and Audi constantly tailgating. I think you've really got to have balls to drive on German roads! I give way to the right in a 30kph though no-one does it for me when I come out of the same but it's better than having a smash.

The first time I drove in Germany, some old git in a E-class cut me up and honked at me. I was nearly in tears, until DH said "Did you see his wife?" (huge, fur coat, monobrow). "See," said DH, "God has already punished him."

Germans don't know how to signal at roundabouts, either....

BBC Online says schweinegrippe has been confirmed in Bavaria; which one of you is it?!?

And hello Sticky! I'm not in Berlin but in NRW. We have a lot of families from OZ, USA, Japan, etc because of Bayer. They stay from 6 months to 3+ years and the kids pick up the lingo so easily and integrate so well, it puts us adults to shame.... Good luck with your move!

BTW, I read that "thread of doom". Ignorance was bliss and now I know TOO MUCH!

oink oink

I knew it would be you Ernest - keep it in Germany, we don't want it over the border thank you!

LOL Frosch at your DH.

I have a cold, and everyone I meet asks if it is Swine Flu.

My friend's German DH asked about the "Pork Flu"

its me!! i'm the swine!!couldnt speak when i woke up this morn because of my stinky throat and cough!! dh said "mercy is on us" because i had no voice!!

frosch - i drove my car here from the UK on my own when we moved here - was nearly crapping my pants some of the time - i was definitely the slowest on the autobahn and i was driving at 75mph!! think thats about 125kph - far to slow for the cars racing to muenchen on the A7!

feel bad for moaning now about the previous owner - he came this morning to pick up the things he wanted and asked if it was ok for his daughter to phone me - he wondered whether i might want to go to the exercise classes she goes to in the village! feel bad when he was just being kind! so she just phoned - class isnt on for 2 weeks so she's going to phone a few days before to organise when to meet!

still dont know her name - i'm totally not used to people introducing themselves with their surnames - seems so weird with people my age!! my dh says people at work still call him Herr Dr X and he works with them every day!! so different to the UK!

canella - there seems to be many levels of (in)formality! My PIL have lived next door to their neighbours for the past 35 years, yet they still address each other as Frau So-and-so, even though they have keys to each other's houses and water plants whilst on holiday, etc. My DH is Herr Frosch at work and his secretaries are Frau This and Frau That, though I've rebelled and call them by their first names. Isn't it odd? Standing naked in the shower at my Fitness, it is very odd to be called Frau Frosch.

Good on you for making 'local' friends!