Streupflicht und Schneeschaufel - Winterliche Unterhaltung im Deutschem Eck

[admylin]

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

Snow and more snow here in Hannover! Lucky for us we have a Hausmeister to do the Schneeschaufeln every morning.

Any of you heard of Kurt Schwitters? Dd has just had a week long project about his work, not my cup of tea really, for example two of his poems:

Das Urgebet der Scholle

Schale
Schiller
Schale
Schule Schule Schule uhle
Scholle Scholle Scholle rolle
Schale Schale Schale scheele
mahle mahle mahle Mehl
male male male Malerei
alle alle alle allerlei

Seenot

Wenn die Kraniche bellen
Auf den tanzenden Wellen,
Muß das Schifflein zerschellen.
Und die tausende Raketen,
Die beleuchten das täten,
Würden grausam zertreten.
Wer das jemals erlebet,
An den Zähnen erbebet
Und ins Jenseits entschwehöbet!

I'm more worried about them starting Goethe and Schiller type stuff when German gets even harder.

Never heard of him, Admylin. Sounds more like the kind of rhymes that they used to do in Kita for language development.

I did some translation for the Kurt Schwitters archive last year. Now that was one strange guy. I think the poems are enormous fun in small doses.

He died in the Lake District (ie Cumbria).

admylin - yes, we've registered her for the Schiller Gymnasium. Seems nice there.

Congratulations on the good news, Ernest.

Did you see his Merz Bau blauerengel? Dd wants her room to be like that when we move, I think she's a fan!

So did everyone have a nice weekend? Ds went to visit his school friend who has gone in to hospital to have his broken arm fixed, his mum is in another hospital with heart problems and the dad is left to deal with it all and he can't speak German. Offered to help but he said he'd manage but dh is going to try and go to check with the doctors who are treating the mum.

On Sunday night dh went for a rare night out with ex-colleagues passing through on their way back to Berlin. On his way home he was slightly speeding and was pulled over by a police car. The police man came up to the car ready to do the alcohol/drugs test but he asked for identification first. Dh handed him his hospital id card and the police man said oh, sie sind Arzt, fahren Sie weiter, schöne Abend noch. I bet if he hadn't had that card with him, he'd have ended up with a ticket for speeding atleast.

thats a brilliant story about your dh admylin - it amazes me that doctors are seen to be above the law!!! hope it doesnt encourage your dh to speed more!!!!

been to my german course this morning and wondering if it really is the right place for me to learn the language!! there were another 6 people there - 3 young people who've only been here a few months and speak impressive german for that length of time but another 3 who've been here for years and still cant say " ich bin .... gefahren" or "ich habe ... gegessen"! granted todays lesson was a bit harder about dativ/akkusativ but we spent the whole morning going thro the same examples - was losing the will to live by the end of it! These 3 women just slow the whole thing down! these lessons are so much cheaper and i only go 2 mornings a week but i'm wondering if i learnt so much more going for a 1 hour private lesson!

now i've typed this i sound so intolerant but i'm desperate to speak really good german and altho i'm a proper Hausfrau at the moment, i've got a really academic background. these lessons just dont progress quickly enough for me!

sorry for the big self absorbant moan!

I remember I did Volkshochschule evening courses before I had the dc when I was an au pair in Germany and it went quite quick with the basics, well up to about level 4 and I got up to the first Goethe exam (can't remember the exact name). It's a shame you aren't near a university as you could try to get on one of their courses that prepare foreign students before they start their Studium, dh did that in Tuebingen and it was quite a good intensive course with morning lessons.

We went to see a house today, yet another disaster and waste of time. The owner did say it was a small house but we didn't think it could be THAT small, and all the paper was peeling off the walls and the excuse was that it was badly decorated - I think it was peeling off because the walls were damp!

Re the police letting your husband off as he was a doctor, admylin - it wouldn't surprise me if the same thing happened here in Austria. And titles here (Dr. etc) seem to be even more important here than in Germany, though they don't always appear to be that difficult to come by - my SIL automatically became a professor after having taught (at a secondary school) for 15 years (or thereabouts) and her DH (who works in a bank) got his doctorate from an evening class. Going back to the police and speeding though, it also all depends on who you know - a friend of mine got pulled over for speeding but it turned out that her DH had been to school with one of the policemen. She was pregnant at the time so he said something like, 'Oh, as you're pregnant we'll let you off this time' - it had far more to do with the fact that he knew her DH though, of course.

I also did a couple of German courses at the VHS when I was an au pair in Berlin and found the standard varied hugely depending on the teacher; I stopped going to one of the classes as I didn't feel I was learning anything. It was quite intense - 4 hours a morning 5 days a week, but I learned so much from them (apart from with this one teacher) and of course just from being out and about in Berlin, far more than I'd ever learned at school.

Good luck with your house-hunting admylin - I remember how difficult it was when we were looking here. Apart from the new builds (virtually all terraced houses with tiny gardens - what we ended up going for in the end), almost every house we went to look at seemed to have something major wrong with it. Apart from the fact that Austrians rarely seem to move house once they've bought a place and a lot of houses get passed down from one generation to the next, so there's very little on the market anyway, I suspect that all the best houses go by word of mouth - once again, it's all about who you know...

Yes, it's so true about the title thing, even yesterday we could tell the owner would have gladly crossed allthe other viewers off his list if we had wanted to take the house.

With the house or flat hunting I've noticed for every 3 bedroom place that comes up there are about ten 2 bedroom places. Really I think 4 bedrooms would be ideal - no hope of finding that here I don't think.

Do you go to Vienna often? I always wanted to visit Vienna, it's in my list of cities I would like to visit one day. Dh is maybe invited to a big neurology meeting in Chicago and that's also on my list so would be great if I could go too although it probably won't happen as I don't have much choice in leaving the dc with anyone. My parents are extremely busy retirees.

And they don't just flaunt the one title, either (not that I'm implying your DH is flaunting his title, admylin!) - it's not uncommon to see something like "Prof. Dr. Dr. Dipl.-Ing." etc before someone's name. If I'm translating titles, I generally allow someone to have one Dr or one Prof. before their name and that's it! I've even noticed that other mothers at Kindergarten/school will include the prefix "Mag." when they're signing their name.

There are very few four bedroom houses on the market here either - even the villas on the market only have two or three bedrooms! We're quite lucky as we've got three bedrooms (DD1 and DD2 share atm) but another two rooms in the Dachgeschoss. Ideally one of the children could have a bedroom up there when they're older, but it gets SO hot up there in the summer that I'm not sure whether it would be feasible.

DH works in Vienna and I used to go into the city quite a lot when I just had DD1 (to English-speaking playgroups etc) but it's not quite as easy now with 3 DC all at school and KiGa and their various afternoon activities. We do go in sometimes at the weekend though - we went ice skating at the Wiener Eistraum on Sunday, which was lovely, and luckily went with friends who helped out with the children (DH never learnt to ice skate as a child - ice skating was just for girls back then, apparently! - and refuses to start now) as it can be a little stressful trying to keep all three upright on my own!

I'd love to visit the USA again too - DH used to travel there quite a bit in his old job but I've never had the chance to go anywhere with him as I have the same childcare problem as you, admylin. I wish we'd been able to see a bit more of the country while we were living there; we packed quite a bit in to the 4 months before DD1 was born but travel (apart from one trip back to Europe) was off the agenda after that for the remaining 15 months of our stay... Have just reread that you live in Hannover; I've been there quite a few times as a good friend of mine moved there after university, although she and her DH moved out when they bought a house (to Steimbke, if that means anything to you - I think it's quite a way from Hannover, although they both still work in the city).

Dh is always amazed at how far people travel into Hannover to work, some live over an hour away by car. We've always lived near his work place because of his long hours then he doesn't waste extra time on travelling - but I suppose that makes the house hunting abit harder as we're limited to a certain radius around the hospital.

Yes, we've noticed that too, when people write Prof. Dr infront of their names as he says it's obvious you have the Dr part to get to the Prof. part!

Hannover is so quiet and sleepy compared to Berlin, it's a nice city but just very slow. I'm not bothered really as the dc are happier here now. Dh's old boss at Charite in Berlin wants him back but he said he wouldn't move us this time as they are settled and then he told his boss here that they want him back and if he doesn't feel 'appreciated' enough here he can go so they promptly gave him a 1200 euro pay rise!

I can't remember whether my friend and her DH have to leave the house at 5 am or "just" get up at 5 am but I know they have a long commute - it makes me glad I work from home (even if the downside is I can't switch off from work quite as easily...).

I'm not sure I could cope with the pace of life in Berlin any more either - not with the DC anyway. It was great while I was young, free and (for a while!) single, but after three years in London as well I've had my fill of big city life for now. And it sounds like a good move on the part of your DH admylin, staying in Hannover and getting the pay rise too! We did consider living in Vienna when we first moved to Austria but couldn't find anything suitable/affordable - and I think we have a much better quality of life living a bit further out of the city but still within easy reach. DH wasn't working in Vienna when we moved here either, so there didn't seem much point paying the premium for living there when he'd have a long commute too. The only thing I miss is the international aspect - there are very few expats living in this area and the only English-language activities are aimed at teaching English to Austrian children.

Morning all! It's gone very quiet here - hope I haven't killed the thread or anything...

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Spring finally seems to be arriving here; it's so nice to see the sun again! I went ice skating with DD1 yesterday, who has decided she prefers it to skiing - fine by me, as it's a far cheaper and easier (less hassle/equipment involved) sport.

I've just rediscovered your previous thread - I only got as far as reading the first page or two, but the bit about Germans believing you catch a cold from being cold made me laugh as it's exactly the same in Austria. The other thing I'm a bit sceptical about is that certain parts of your body can catch cold, i.e. "ich habe mir den/die/das [insert appropriate body part] verkühlt". Usually, said part of body has been in a draught.

Right, off to the dentist's now - just grabbing a quick coffee as I probably won't be able to drink anything hot for a few hours afterwards. Not that coffee is the highlight of my morning or anything, but I was devastated to have to go without after my last visit...

Arggh! I just wrote a giant post and it got eaten. Back later when I have tackled some of what needs to be done around here!

Hi everyone, I'm playing chauffeur to my dc most of today, both have things on at different times too. Oh well, time for a coffee in between runs atleast.

I'm long overdue a visit to the dentist too. What did you get done arberita? I still have 2 wisdom teeth to come out one day and I am so scared after the first two that I daren't go.

I seem to spend most of the day chauffeuring the children around - I dread to think what it's going to be like when DS wants to start doing afternoon activities too. Still, it's a bit easier than last year when they were at three different places (school, Kiga and nursery) and all finishing at the same time too.

I had a Mundhygiene appointment at the dentist's, which wasn't exactly pleasant but at least I knew she wouldn't suddenly find a filling that needed to be done or a tooth to be extracted... Did you have a bad experience with your first two wisdom teeth then, admylin? The dentist said she'd leave mine as long as they weren't causing me any problems; I get slight toothache with them on and off, but would far rather put up with that than have them out. In fact, I think I'd rather go through childbirth again than have them out...

Yes, I had one that needed to be cut into small pieces still in the jaw to get it out and in the middle of the OP the feeling started to come back and the dentist didn't believe me. I had 2 natural births with no pain relief and I'd still rather go through that agin than get my wisdom teeth out!

Finished chauffeuring for today, now I get to go and start in the kitchen which is so small but can get in one mega mess! We have to find a bigger place soon, I keep thinking, OK the next place we look at we have to take but we always end up saying no, surely we'll find something better.

I agree, it is less stress when the dc are at the same school, still we know so many families where the dc have 'chosen' different schools.

Oh that sounds nasty admylin, I'm not surprised you don't want to have the other two wisdom teeth out. When I met DH, he'd never had an injection when he'd had any dental work done (he didn't realise you could!). I've given birth twice with no pain relief, but have had a filling replaced once without an injection (as it only required one second of drilling) and never again!

We'll never manage to have all three children at the same school, or at least not until they're at secondary school, as DD1 will be leaving the Volksschule just as DS starts. But at least I only had one year of them being in three different places.

Right, must get on with some work - DS seemed a little off colour this evening and I'm going to be stuck if he has to stay at home from Kiga tomorrow, as I have a translation due by Wednesday. I suspect I may be burning the midnight oil today (just in case) and tomorrow (if he does stay home).

admylin and aberita: I sympathise so much with the dentist situation. I've had two births without pain relief as well (seems to be quite common in German-speaking countries, prob because no gas and air on offer anyway), and found them far preferable to a bad session at the dentist. That experience of your wisdom teeth sounds terrible, admylin. I can imagine this dentist blithely chopping away, insisting that he knows your pain better than you.

Austria sounds great, aberita. I'd love to go back for a holiday. What kinds of translation do you do, if you don't mind me asking. I have a non-paying Viennese client at the moment and will probably have to start a Mahnverfahren. Downloaded the papers today. Is the Zahlungsmoral in Austria as bad as Germany?

Holby City is on BBC Entertainment soon so I'll be toddling off.

BBC Entertainment - am very envious! I'm not sure we can even get that here; I think BBC Prime has finally made it out of Vienna into Niederösterreich (where we are), but apparently it's not that great. Fortunately my parents keep us well supplied with DVDs of British TV programmes - including CBeebies for the DC (if I hear them come out with a phrase that I know they haven't heard from me, it's a pretty safe bet it's from CBeebies - DS' current favourite is "back in a jiffy!").

What a pain for you with the non-paying client BlauerEngel - is it a translation agency? My two main clients are agencies in Vienna and one takes absolutely ages to pay (3 months or so) but it's in their terms and conditions and they do always pay in the end (their rates aren't great though; I'm considering whether to stop working for them). So are you a freelance translator too? I used to work in-house for a German software company, then focused on technical translation when I first went freelance and have somehow ended up moving into fashion and statistics... variety is the spice of life and all that!

BBC Entertainment is a misnomer - full of repeats and total rubbish. Just about all I watch is Holby on Mondays and Casualty on Wednesday, with the occasional Judge John Deed, but they're all two years out of date so when my mum comes to visit she goes 'ooh, he's dead now' and 'oh, that ends really nastily' and other helpful comments. We only get it as a 4 euro per month extra on our cable package, otherwise I wouldn't bother. I think you're fine sticking with the CBeebies DVDs tbh. And some of the CBeebies programmes are on the website as well.

Fashion and statistics! Wow, what a combination. I know what you mean about low rates at agencies. This non payer is a direct client, though, an art gallery. It's interesting that 3 months is specified in your agency's conditions - I wonder if that's standard in Austria. Unfortunately for my client, my terms and conditions are 2 weeks to pay and that went past a long time ago.

But still, it has to be better than Austrian TV, which is full of dubbed American programmes (I just can't take anything seriously if it's dubbed) and - for that extra special treat on a Saturday night - Volksmusik.

I think the agency that takes 3 months to pay is an exception - the other agencies I work for normally pay within a month. And direct clients can be even better; I had one recently who paid me the day after I sent her the invoice - though that's very rare too, of course. What kind of texts do you translate, BlauerEngel? I hope you get the problem with your non-paying client sorted out soon - does it involve a lot of money?

Hi everyone!

Well, I'm sick again. Can't seem to shake this bug I got at Christmas and it keeps taking different forms. I think I will just lie low for the rest of the week and see if it leaves on its own.

Hi again. Sorry to hear you are sick again Westvan, Hope you feel better soon. Up to now we've been spared too much illness, but I have been forcing the dc and myself to overdose on vitamin C and D and such like!

I've found a really nice dentist in the mean time, ds went yesterday and I was so pleased he doesn't need any fillings. He's had trouble with his teeth since he was 2, even though he drinks only water and doesn't eat many sweets. Dd scoffs as many sweets as she can get her hands on and only drinks juice but she has lovely white, healthy teeth. Anyway, I'm next and the dentist specializes in Angstpatienten so she should be gentle with me!

Just got our new mattress delivered, can't wait to get to bed tonight now infact - should I maybe have a siesta? We've both had back ache and it was down to our rubbish bed, now it'll be so comfy.

Hi Admylin!

I seem to be the only one in the family who's got this so I'm guessing it's not contageous.

So glad you found a nice dentist. I don't really mind going, but it's certainly not pleasant if you need to have a lot of work done. I think my mother-in-law had an impacted wisdom tooth taken out at the MHH.

Our family dentist back in Canada used to tell us that some people are more prone to cavities because of the make up of their mouth flora and that there's not much you can do about it. Some brush all the time and have awful teeth and some live on sweets and have great teeth. One of my brothers has really soft teeth (how the dentist described them) and always had to use some kind of rinse to help harden them up.

Any more news on a new flat? Do you think you'll take the one they were renovating? I can't remember if you gave notice for good before Christmas or if you managed to take it back.

Our oldest turned 17 on Sunday, the dh turns 48 on Thursday and next Thursday the youngest will be 14. Seems like all I do is make cake for two weeks at this time of year!