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.

morning all, I'm trying to give up mumsnet for lent, but as dd has had me up stupid early I'm taking a peek (only to try to find someone to sort out my new iphone hiccups for me, honest)

Trying to catch up - what's been going on? As far as I can work out dentists and tv? We have a humax box which is an amazing invention. Should watch some german tv, but never do.

Hope your collective teeth are ok Ad, I really hate dentists too.

Westvan hope you're feeling better. And cope with all the cake.

We have got more good news. Had meeting with psychologin re ds 3 and she says he's hochbegabt, absolutely in no way a sonderschul kind (thought the idea was total madness) and even better, totally ruled out ADHD. Next day we had a meeting to rediscuss with the kindergarten (following thier recommendation he should go to a special school) I got the Hort leader to come, as I knew he agreed with us, and he told the Kindergartnerin he totally disagreed with her, also said in his opinion ds3 is a great kid & obv v. clever & totally Unterfordert, and muss unbedingt in the normaly school gehen.

So (big raspberry) to the Kindergarten and woo hoo for ds3 & the Hortleiter. But it has been extraordinarily stressful and am terrified he'll be 'rejected' and declared nicht reif or whatever at the Schuleingangsuntersuchung in a couple of weeks, or turfed out at the Schuleinschreibung/schulspiel.

Does anyone know about this Schulspile malarky? WHat should I expect? Do the kids normally already have their Ranzen for this? Is it a big deal? What's the score with thos cone thingies? The school culture thing is totally unknown to me and scary.

Sorry this is long. One last thing, I am desperate to improve my german. Dh is so much better than me, and in these last meeting I've been really frustrated at fumbling for words. I'd also like to think that at some point I could get a job but need to improve. Tried VHS classes but not gone well, plus dh work made it impossible. Any great ideas? I need both more regular practice speaking (think regularity and confidence a big issue) but also urgent need to improve written skills)

Ad how's the house hunting going? Hope the new bed helps. I was waking up with back ache every morning, and persueded dh to replace our bed. Bliss. Insisted on one with 2 separate single mattresses, andso he could stick to his rock hard firm one, and I got a lovely soft one. Perfect. Had no back ache and wonderful slepp ever since.

Morning everyone! That's great news about your DS Ernest; I hope the Schuleinschreibung goes well (what's the Schulspiel?). It's Schuleinschreibung for DD2 next week, which she's very excited about. She already has her school bag - are they such a big deal in Germany as they are in Austria? We were told we were far too late when we went to buy DD1's school bag in June and that the "school bag season" is over by Easter so we were extra early this time round!

We had quite an exciting morning yesterday, with a journalist and photographer from an Austrian magazine coming to interview us about bringing up the children bilingually. It was for an article about Kindergarten in Austria and how the children aren't being "gefordert" enough, and they were interviewing a few children (or rather, their parents - DD2 refused to speak to them, as I'd feared) with particular talents/abilities (bilingualism in our case). It will be interesting to see how much of it makes it into the magazine; probably not more than a few sentences and a minuscule photo...

Hope you're feeling better westvan and that you survived all the cake-making!

Off to try and do something productive now before the DC wake up - have already spent far too long on MN...

I'm not exactl sure what the Schulspiel is, hence my Q but it seems to be a BIG DEAL. I think we turn up to officially register them, then they have a lesson, so a mini school session, but they're watched like hawks and can potentially be rejected by the school based on this session? Becasue fo the mad Kindergartnerin am now terrified!

So do I understand we should get the schhol bag now and bring it to the Einschriebung? It seems to be such a big deal I don't want to mess it up dor ds

I've never heard of Schulspiel before - but maybe it's like the Mäusefest at our school (I think it's a term specific to our school), which sounds quite similar. DH went with DD1 as DS was still very small at the time, but I think the children had to go round 6 different Stationen doing various things at each one (drawing, etc) and were observed while doing so. I don't think it was too strict though; I haven't heard of anyone being rejected here. (They only seem to be concerned if a child is starting school early, i.e. before 6). The children didn't need their school bags until the first day of school (although I have heard of Kindergartens where the preschool children can take in their new school bags on a particular day); it's just that everyone seems to buy them at the start of the year - but things are quite likely to be different in Austria to what they are in Germany. Even DH wasn't exactly sure when DD1 would need to take her Schultüte on the first day - whether she should take it to the church service or would only need it afterwards in the classroom - but it all varies so much from school to school anyway; our neighbour's DD didn't have a church service on her first day. I don't remember starting school ever being this complicated in the UK or such a fuss being made about school bags. And then there's the expense - the average price for a school bag seems to be �130-�150, not to mention all the various Hefte, pens and pencils, paints etc etc that the children need.

OMG tell me about it. I remember at the start of the year getting the lists for ds1 & 2, and it set me back I'd say well over ?200 ?80 just the books and paints/pencils etc.
This year I have 3 to deal with. cricke.y

Our paper has endlich fruhling written on front. Ha.

We have inches of snow, AGAIN. WIll the winter ever end???

Snow here too - just for a change. Every time I think that spring may finally have arrived, it snows again.

The expense is bad enough with one child, I don't envy you having to fork out for three Ernest. I'll have that to look forward to in a few years' time! You used to be able to get a Schulstarthilfe of ?100 (so it paid for part of the school bag...) if you had more than two children, but that's been abolished now.

Must go and finish filling in my tax return; it can't be put off for any longer...

In a few years I'll have 4 to fork out for (faint) dd had the sense to be a girl, so in unlikely to be fobbed off with a 2nd hand bionicles Ranzen. Anyway, my boys are such hooligans not much survives to be passed on anyway.

DS has already announced he wants a school bag with pírates on it, such a shame we won't be able to pass on DD1's lovely pink Lillifee schoolbag to him... So it's called a Ranzen in Germany? It's a Schultasche here, and DH tells me off if I call it a rucksack ("it's not a rucksack, it's a schoolbag"). Well to me, if you wear it on your back it's a rucksack, but apparently no one will understand what I'm talking about if I call it that.

In CH it's a schultech. Only just getting to grips with it. I don't think I'll ever get to grips with Brotzeit. It'll always be Z'nuni to me.

That's good news about your ds, Ernest. Big raspberry indeed to the KG.

I've never heard of Schulspiel either so perhaps it's a Bavarian thing.

I think ds went for one morning to the Grundschule before he started properly but I don't think it was very formal and no question of the school rejecting anyone afaik. It was more a chance for them to get used to the idea of big school.

He didn't need a Ranzen until he actually started properly but we definitely needed it for the first day which is called 'Einschulung' here. That really was a big deal - first there was a church service and then they went to meet the teacher and had their first lesson. The Schultute is very important, mostly filled with sweets, small toys and bits and pieces for school. Some parents spend months making their Tuten. Am ashamed to say that I bought one - don't really do 'basteln'

So were you in Switzerland before you moved to Germany, Ernest? I've never heard of Z'nuni - I'm not very familiar with Swiss German at all. We call it Jause here. It took me a while to get used to Austrian German (both the accent and the different terms used) but after 6 years here my German has definitely become quite 'Austrianised' - I would always call a Tüte a Sackerl now, for example.

I tend to leave basteln to the Austrians too - I'm just not into it at all, plus my attempts are usually so pathetic I end up wondering why I bothered. I can't work up any enthusiasm about making my own Adventkranz for example; I did make a half-hearted attempt last year, but had to throw it away as it was so bad! It's now time to start bastling all the Easter things; a friend came over last week with eggs for us to paint, but I had to admit I didn't have any paint (not the kind you can paint eggs with, anyway). The creative gene has obviously passed me by.

wow ernest thats great news about your ds - like the raspberry blowing!! i'm no use about all this school starting thing because dd went into the second class when we came here and we've decided to let ds1 wait until next year to go to school (he's a kannkind - October birthday). Sorry i'm no use about your questions.

I imagine it must be hard to deal with all these situations if you feel you're struggling to say exactly what you mean but you sound like you're doing really well to be able to deal with all of this! is it maybe that you need to watch more (terrible) german tv to hear more german? have you got german friends that you can chat with? I had my first anniversary of being in germany last fri and i am annoyed that my german isnt better!! i'm going 2 mornings to this german course and everyone says my speaking is so much better but i want it to be really better and NOW!!! so i understand how you feel!!!

Aberita - i'm also not the creative type!! but i always say thats something they can do at school/kiga!! i never feel guilty about it!! but this has reminded me - DS's are supposed to take some hard boiled eggs to kiga tom - not sure i've got any!! i'm getting the crap mother award!

DH had last week off and we were supposed to be going away without the kids but 3 weeks ago my FIL took a cancellation to get his knee replaced so we had to cancel our plans. but my MIL came and we had some nice days out last week - had a nice day in Wuerzburg shopping and went to a nice Therme - was nice to have some grown up time!!

But my FIL,BIL and SIL have been here all weekend and they've only left an hour ago - i love having visitors but it is knackering catering for so many grown ups all day!! we went out for dinner last night which was just great - no tidyign up for me and the kids behaved themselves! heaven!

contemplating driving now to pick up some chinese - just need some takeaway after a long weekend!

Canella, I think I should celebrate your first year of being in Germany with a glass of red wine later (like I really need an excuse!).

It's probably not a bad idea to watch more German TV to improve your German. When I first lived in Germany, I used to go regularly to the cinema and watch films dubbed into German. I swear it improved my German more than years of learning grammar at school and university. That and having to speak to real Germans! I used to hate speaking and felt much more comfortable writing German. Now it is the other way round.

I went to the spa last night in Baden Baden and very nice it was too. I sat there in the outdoor pool, the snow softly falling all around, thinking that life really isn't so bad here after all!

sounds great taipo at the spa! when we went it was probably not much above freezing outside but to be able to lie in the warm water with the sun on my face was just so relaxing!! and made me even more desperate for spring/summer!

and you are very welcome to have a glass of wine to celebrate my anniversary - i needed no encouragment over the last few days to celebrate!! but looking at the size of my belly it'll be back to running tom!!!

Do you mind if I celebrate your anniversary with a large glass of wine too, canella? It's good to have a slightly better excuse than just having successfully got the children into bed! I agree with taipo - getting out and about and speaking to Germans is by far the best way to improve your German. I learnt far more during my two years au pairing and studying in Berlin than I ever did at school and university. You can pick up a lot watching TV/films too, and it's slightly less intimidating!

The spa sounds lovely taipo. We have one here too with an outside pool; there's a kind of fountain in the middle with jets of hot water coming out, which is quite invigorating! I remember going to Baden Baden years ago while on a school exchange and have vague memories of it being very picturesque - quite similar to Baden, which is hardly surprising as they're both spa towns. Do you live near to Baden Baden, taipo?

Phew, what a weight off your mind that must be Ernest. Now if he has been 'diagnosed' as Hochbegabt you might have to speak to the Grundschule at some point so that they don't think he's being a trouble maker when infact he might be bored - Year one is very slow and boring really.

Could the Psychologin write you something like a report? As for the schulspiel thingy and the bags and cones I would maybe try and ask the erzieher at the boys Hort if you don't see any of the parents - they should be able to tell you what you need and when.

From 19th of March we've got 2 and a bit weeks off for Easter. No idea what to do with ourselves. Would be nice to go away for a week or so but no idea where.

Over two weeks off at Easter? What luxury! We only get just over a week here and not much longer at Christmas either - it's a shame they couldn't take a week off the summer holidays and add it on at Christmas and Easter (nine weeks is far too long in my opinion...). It's hardly worth going back to the UK for just a week as the journey back to my parents' takes the best part of a day, so we'll be staying here - and I vaguely remember DH telling me he would be away on a business trip for 2 or 3 days, so I suspect we'll just end up going to my in-laws for a few days.

This thread just popped up in Active Convos and I realised that I had not lurked or posted for weeks.

How are you all doing?

Ernest
Good to hear that DS is hochbegabt and to the kindergarten. Did you get your iPhone problem sorted?

nooooo. I'm not supposed to be one here.

quickies, used to live in Basel and Kanton Zurich (land not stadt).

ML - have spanking new Iphone 3GS how posh am I?

Ad, good idea to get Psychologin to write a report for the school. Back there with ds2 in May. Oh and also good idea re asking Hort re school start. for me obv. I couldn't care less (not competitive or anything like that) but don't want to balls up ds3 1st day of school by being the only one who hasn't got XY or z, or whatever he needs at this blasted Schulspiel. All these cultural (regional) nuances...

Was at kitchen planners today to get my new kitchen designed. Am v. pleased with it, luckily done it 2 now, so have pretty clear idea what I want.

Canella, congrats on 1 year in germany. end of April is my 2nd anniversary. It's so weird re language. Sometimes I feel like I can do well (ie this am at kitchen planner. He even commented several times on my perfect german (ha ha) yet other times I can't string 2 words together, esp eg when talking to kids for some weird reason. And I cannot, just cannot talk to my own kids in German, eg if they have mates round I might try so as not to be rude, but I just cannot do it, so have to be rude and just talk to them in English in front of their mates.

Admyiln - have you returned to UK since you returned to Germany? I guess not enough time has passed for you to want to stay at your parents again...? what else could you do with 2 weeks? Do you actually want to go away?

No, I will be good again, and see you lot next on easter Sunday and not before. I have given you all up.

If you do have any top tips for the kitchen/any other part of house, do let me know. eg I really want a wäscheabwurf. I think it's a non-negotiable item.
Ad, any news on your house or was it a garden flat? Anyy news at all? How's dh?

Sounds lovely to have a new house to do with as you wish, ernest. We will probably end up with the flat with big garden even though we aren't 100% sure they are going to fix the damp problem profesionally. If we don't find anything else we'll take it and just sort any problems as they arise.

No idea what we will do at Easter but if we still haven't moved - a week away from this tiny flat would be nice. Could go down to the south of Germany where we used to live but need to find a holiday apartment or hotel as friends don't have room. Wouldn't mind a week over in London shopping but the dc wouldn't be too pleased about that. Best of all would be that we have found a flat and we'll be moving.

Just had a call from the owner of the damp flat. We have a Wohnungsuche ad in the Stadtteil paper today and she must know our number off by heart (even though she never phones to keep us up to date)

She said the Handwerker are in there and they are doing something to the walls but they also ripped all the papaer off the wall and she was going on about some back door that needs something done to it, I didn't get it all but sounds like they want us to do all the decorating. Can't be right or not? Then she said the garage will take ages to clear and it'll cost more of course (I knew that)!

Sounds like a major job and we're not very good at handwerken so that means paying someone to do it. Wish someone else would phone.

Sorry to hear about the problems with your flat admylin. Moving can be such a nightmare - even when you've eventually found somewhere, there still seems to be so much else to deal with. I was browsing some property websites last night (fed up with our neighbours, though it's nothing major) but decided I really couldn't face another move.

DD2 has her Schuleinschreibefest this afternoon "zur Feststellung der Schulreife". I still can't decide whether we should request a particular teacher or not as I've heard varying things about all three. Plus we didn't get the teacher we asked for with DD1 and it all turned out for the best.

Oooh, that flat sounds like more trouble than it's worth, Admylin, especially if they are trying to talk you into doing the work they should be doing themselves. Hopefully something else will come up very soon!

Still feeling awful. I'm starting to think that this isn't stomach flu but more like the colitis I had last year. Now taking brewer's yeast to try to get things under control.

My littlest baby turns 14 tomorrow and is about 3 inches taller than I am. Where does the time go?

I know westvan, same here with the dc growing so fast! I am just about allowed to pat ds on the shoulder but no hugging anymore! Thank goodness dd still comes for hugs. Ds will be 12 in May, seems like yesterday I was changing his nappies!

I am so torn with this flat, it's big and has a huge garden but the hassle of it all and the fact that the old lady who actually owns the place sounds like a real pain and she lives next door, makes it hard to decide.

Admylin
Sounds dodgy to me. I thought that flats were normally rented with wallpaper/white walls and you have to return the flat in the same order when you move out.

The only thing you can do is have them put into the Mietvertrag that you will decorate the flat beim Einzug but not beim Auszug. At least that way you are not going to have to do it twice.

And advertise in MyHammer to find someone to do it at a reasonable price.

Aberita
I did not request a particular teacher when DD started school because it is not something that you can really know in advance. The teacher that DD has now is lovely but a bit scatty so some of the mums were unhappy about her. I think that she is good for DD, she started singing Money Money Money at my parent teacher meeting last night when DD said something about money money. And she can waggle her ears, DD informed me impressed.

Saying that she sometimes gives DD homework that they have not covered in class so it is not all good news. But I would rather she is good for DD in her social skills, which is so important at primary school age.