Endlich Fruehlingszeit in the German Corner

[admylin]

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

Thank goodness it's over at long last! That was a long winter. Welcome Spring!

nighby, meant ot ask about your dd doing GCSE- How old is she and what's the story if you can be bothered to explain?

Nothing beats the swiss village we lived in for picture perfect. I'm always shocked (and tbh a bit ashamed) when I go back to UK to see how shabby it all is not just shabby, but obviously was, and is, really poor - areas of NW Kent and Northumberland. Though the Northumbrian coat is breathtakingly spectacular (and cold)

Quick poll - choice now is house - grey with white or grey with pale yellow? Dh response - I really don't care.

I'd vote for white.

Dh gave us a scare this morning (at 5am) he woke up and couldn't move his lower arm and hand. He works with neurologists and research is about strokes so he thought he might be having one. He went to the hospital which is round the corner and just now got the all clear. It must have just been cramps from sitting at the computer last 3 days non stop preparing poster and abstracts for conference which he is at now.

Pouring down today. Does anyone else get headaches when the weather changes? I always seem to get one when it goes from being warm (ish) to cold and wet.

run and get your German passport double-quick now if the weather is affecting you, you are well and truly German.

Why have a grey house? All winter everything is so grey and dismal - sky etc, I couldn't have a grey house as well. What's wrong with a bit of colour. What style is your house, could you manage a sort of palish terracotta?

a lot of yellow houses in Germany. If you don't go full on yolk yellow, I quite like that, also they go for darkish green which can also work

I also have a slight headache this morning, admylin. And it's pouring with rain here too. I'd put it down to the stress of oversleeping slightly and then having to rush round in headless chicken mode (even more so than usual), but my MIL would no doubt know that it was caused by the weather. DH always gets a headache when the weather is about to change. Glad to hear your DH is OK anyway, it must have been very worrying.

Lots of yellow houses here too but I'm not keen; I think I would go for grey and white rather than grey and yellow. There's a blue house near to where my parents live which looks very out of place; I'm not even sure it would fit in here.

Wow - so many posts since I was last on.

Ernest - well done to ds1, you must be really pleased.
For the house I´d go with white as I think it will look fresher than yellow. There´s a house near us that is a bluey grey and white and looks really nice, but most seem to various shades of yellow with one pink one that sticks out like a sore thumb - quite literally.

I must admit I´m always quite shocked at how dirty Britain is when I go back. There always seems to be loads of rubbish blowing around. I know everyone always comments on how green it is back home, but I never cease to be amazed at the sheer size of Germany´s forests when I fly overhead. Forest that size just dot exist any more in the UK.

Is anyone else following the election closely? I´m planning to stay up to watch it tonight, so will no doubt extrememly tired tomorrow. I spoke to my brother yesterday who lives in München and he didn´t even know about it!

i think white ernest but then it probably will need more painting in years to come than another colour!! but it should last a few years at least!

admylin - so scary about your dh - glad he's ok! maybe i'm becoming german too - i feel properly low today cause the weather is so miserable! but no headache! i even put on my fave music while putting the shopping away and even that didnt lift my mood!

hupa - i agree how dirty and rundown big parts of britain are! surely the councils should take some responsibility to make the towns and cities look decent! in some of the parts of the NW of England we lived in it was really bad - def influenced our decision to come here!

having porbs with my MN - it'll only let me right short posts! weird!

didnt realise i had to register to vote now that i'm overseas so no voting from me! not sure who i'd vote for anyway! will be really intrgiued to see what happens tonight! we've still got a fair bit of money in UK bank accounts so my dh is hoping for a change of government since he thinks that will improve the exchange rate in our favour! i never really understand these things (thick emotion!!).

so i've got to sit a citizenship type test in 2 weeks to pass my german course (even tho i dont want german citizenship) and i'm surprised at how easy the mock ones are!! so i tried the british one - failed it big style!! think they shouldnt let me back now!!

ernest - just that my 3 eldest had so much stress, and dont seem to be getting on at all well with the german system, so weve decided to bypass it, and they are going to do english gcses in parallel. HS education is crap, and allows them to do only 5 subjects, so they need teh full range anyway.

I had an illuminating conversation with ds2s teacher this morning, where she admitted straight out that she believes that a child who gets poor grades at 10 years old, will never get good grades! Because they are missing great big holes in their knowledge, which will always pull their grades down, apparently.

She is a complete FOOL though.

do they have to do any monitored coursework NN or do you just register and pay to sit the exams?

I don't know where you get your grit from, I really don't . I would have thrown in the towel ages ago in your place, but you just battle on. And your ex.... crumbs. Big thumbs up to you

Last time we were in London, I was waiting for a tube with dd and a lady with a strong German accent (tourist) came up to me and made a point of congratulating me on the improved cleanliness of the tube stations which had been really really bad last time she was there apparently.

I said, I do appreciate you telling me, it's so nice to hear about improvements and she was nodding her head emphatically and saying how really really bad it was last time.

Actually I thought that tube station (Marble Arch) was looking like it needed a good clean at the time so heaven knows what state it was in last time she was there.

pmsl Zzen, did she hold you personally responsible? Did she pick you out at random?

NN, thanks for infos - so they're attending german school but doing english exams at same time? I am amazed at the effort you put in. I am horribly lazy with my kids I can't remember the last time I even looked at any of their books. With ds2 starting the 4th class I guess I will have to makke more effort, he is nowhere near as motivated as ds1 and will need some input at least from me.

Sorry you have such crap teachers to contend with nn. What a load of crap to write a kid off by age 10

Remind me what classes yours are in?

I can practically see the grass growing it has been so wet. It's like a jungle out there!

maybe she thought I had th longest face there and was most in need of cheering up

I wondered if she was just practising her ENglish and she was trying that phrase on everyone she met.

I am quite in awe ofNN actually, she just gets to grips with everything life throws at her.

No coursework for the international GCSEs, apparently. They just sit the exams - theres even a practical replacement paper for the science.

dd and I are discussing her doing History, which will be a big syllabus, but I reckon I can tutor her, because I had a wonderful history teacher, and consequently remember loads! apart from that it will be the sciences and english lang, and the 2nd foreign language. She doesnt seem that interested in Latin, which is a shame, but shes got to be motivated for it to work.

thanks for the compliment, zz! I think the german school system illustrates teh adage that "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" perfectly

Happy Mother's Day everyone.

Zzzen is right nn, you really are amazing. Your kids are so lucky to have a mum like you who's able and willing to put in so much time, energy and creativity into ensuring they get the best education possible when working with such impossible circs. Wow, am truly awed by your tenacity. How old are dc?

You got owt planned for today?

Happy mothers day! Nothing planned here, and dc wanted to make breakfast but I couldn't stay in bed long enough - they have reached the age where they get up long after me!

admylin - how I long for the days when the dc get up after us. I´m very that you´ve already reached this stage.

Nothing much to report here. I´ve been completely fascinated by the election and have wasted too many hours in front of the tv or on the computer following the latest updates. Must finally get my arse into action and do something today.

Those days will definately come, although I am not going to enjoy the rest of their puberty, dd has been in a mega strop since the weekend. I keep trying to figure out what's wrong with her but no one knows (including herself).

We're off school again next week (from this Thursday actually) and it doesn't feel as if we've been back long.

happy mothers day (bit late sorry!!)! hope you all had a nice time! i was supposed to get a lie in but dd came up 3 times in an hour to ask me random questions about what i wanted in my breakfast! bless her for thinking of me!

i'm also very jealous of your kids sleeping in admylin (but def not of the teenage strops!!)

off now to be a taxi service - its a proper downside of living in the country that i need to drive back and forward to the town to let the kids do activities! its swimming today but at least its only once this week - its normally twice a week! so glad thurs is a public hol!!

3 of my 4 sleep longer than us, just waiting for dd to get with it, she is improving a lot though. phew.

Ds passport not arrived today is last chance or our w/e in CH is off

What plans have you all got for long weekend?

Enrolled ds yesterday into the gymi - he's really going. woo hoo.

House is coming along. Anyone know anything about kitchens? trying to decide bwn XXXLutz & Semgmüller, Kitchen make Celina vs. Schüller. ANyone know anything about these kitchens?

Must get showered - in slow motion today.

No idea about kitchens, was glad to buy the fitted kitchen from the vormieter of our new place.

If we hadn't found a place with a kitchen I would probably have gone for an Ikea kitchen but that's a different cup of tea to buying for your own house I suppose. When do you think you can move in?

Great that ds1 got in to Gymnasium. Now get prepared for him to be bringing 3's and 4's home, don't stress (like I did last year) as it's normal because they are even tougher with marking than at primary. All the dc there are used to getting 1's and 2's and it can be a shock when the first 4 or 3 comes in.

Dd has a teacher who gives automatic 2 if you have more than 1 mistake!

wow admylin thats some strict marking!!! dd did some kind of german-wide test last week and got 84/97. i hope for her sake thats not a 3!! i think thats a really good score!but you never know with the german system!

i'm no help to you ernest about kitchens! despite all the really in-your-face advertising I quite like XXXL! we've waiting for our new living room furniture to be delivered from them! We will need a new kitchen in the next year or so and i had a look at the kitchens in XXXL - some of them seemed really good quality!! we looked at some kitchens in a local Moebelhaus the other day and they were nowhere near as nice as the ones from XXXL! but sorry we're no more use!

hope the passport comes today - got my fingers crossed for you!

passport here!

Got it at 12.30 - post office shut at 1 then that would have been it! Can't believe it, with only half an hour to spare! Now can't get in touch with my friend in CH....

Re kitchens, I like XXXLutz too. we got our bed from there and it is fantsctic. but the quote from Lutz was higher than Segmüller, but I was thinking that the Segmüller kitchen, although cheaper looked better quality. But then I'm no expert, so don't really know what to look for, so wondering if I would find a kitchen expert here.

I am banned from Ikea

what can I get to take with me as gifts for their 4 kids aged 6 - 12 plus them as thank you for putting us up if we do go? I hardly see the kids so don't know what they are into. And she is sickeningly good at picking out brilliant presents.

Mind you ds3 is poorly again so now half wondering if I should be dragging poor soul around.

oh thats excellent news about the passport - that really was cutting it fine! LOL at you being banned from ikea - hope its just dh thats banned you and not the actual shop otherwise you would be the first person ever to be banned from ikea!! i love looking at kitchens - dh has taken to saying "here's your porn" when the adverts come thro the post!!! but i imagine it'll be a nightmare to actually pick one!

not sure what kind of gifts you could take - girls always like some kind of accessories but boys are always harder!

hope you're ds3 is better soon!

hope your DH's have a nice Father's Day tom (altho i believe every day is Fathers day in our house!!!!!)