Sommer, Sonne und Hitze - living in Germany thread

[admylin]

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

Summer is here at last, now we can complain about it being too hot - when it isn't raining!

canella - sorry to hear about ds2. A broken elbow must be agony. I hope you´ve managed to get everything sorted - definitely a time for your dh to pull a few strings. Hope your ds is soon on the road to recovery and pain free.

I´ve got 2 children coming for a sleepover tonight which I´m dreading even though the dc are lovely. I´ve been putting it off as long as possible because I really don´t see the point. I never had sleepovers when I was a child, but it really seems to be the done thing now and dd has been nagging me for over a year. Dh has luckily for him managed to wriggle out of the whole thing by being away on a course.

Same here hupa, I never had sleep overs. It's a new thing isn't it? Dd wants her best friend to sleep over for her birthday, I said yes but I don't see the point really!

She's got it all planned though and is very excited and looking forward to it. Trouble is she's a night owl and her friend is a go-to-bed-early type and also wakes up dead early too.

admylin - I´m not sure exactly how much we pay other than it is horrendous. However, dh´s practice is downstairs and so we claim some of the money back from the other doctors as Nebenkosten. I think what you´re paying sounds really reasonable, but we´ve got a big, draughty house, so anything appears reasonable in comparison.
We had solar panels fitted last year and are waiting to see how much diffence it will make to the bills. Last winter was so exceptionally cold that I think we need to give it a while to get a fairer picture.

Yes, I bet a big house would be more expensive. If the Praxis is there too there'll be computers running all day etc.

A friend of mine in Berlin had an enormous bill because her 2 grown up sons always had computers, TVs and such like running in their rooms all day and when they moved out she saved a fortune on the electric!

We pay 65 euros a month - I was going to say we probably use less electricity than most people here (unlike most, we haven't had our heating on yet) but then realised we have gas central heating! DH wants to put photovoltaic panels on our roof; they're expensive but he says they'll pay for themselves in 6-7 years.

I remember going to stay overnight with friends (I don't think they were called sleepovers in those days!) but not until I was at least 7 or 8. They seem to start much younger now; DD2 has been having/going to sleepovers since she was about 5 and DS started when he was 3!

I did think about an autumn title for the next thread admylin, but haven't been feeling very inspired. I will have another think!

Yes, we need a new title, it's getting cold! Dd wants us to get some relaxing chairs to sit out on the balcony but even though loads of them are now reduced in the shops I can just see winter starting early as soon as I put them out!

I have to go and put the shopping away, I took dh to work this morning then did a quick shop, that's the best tim eto shop - 8am is nice and quiet, free from aggresive poeple and mostly the shelves are fully stocked.

Had an email from the food from home website, they have all their Christmas food stuff on offer already. Thinking about putting an order in. Dc like pear drops and aniseed balls too which you can't get here.

I really must go shopping this afternoon; I know Friday afternoon won't be quiet but it's still better than a Saturday. Besides, DH has plans for a day trip tomorrow - to the opening of Austria's largest photovoltaic plant (but apparently it will be more interesting than it sounds, with a bouncy castle and face painting for children, etc.).

What's the food from home website? There's an English shop in Vienna but it's ridiculously expensive and nowhere near where DH works. I can get a lot of things from M&S in Bratislava but obviously only M&S food, which is no good for my Cadbury's fix! At least we'll be able to stock up on a bit more food when we go back to the UK at Christmas as we won't be flying with Ryanair (with their stingy baggage requirements) this time.

This place but it's maybe no good for you as I see Austria costs more for postage. Within Germany it's only 5 euro up to 30kg.

I've had crisps and squash and all sorts from them when the dc have been craving! I don't do it often because they usually crave for unhealthy stuff anyway.

Hope it won't be too busy at your opening day out though. I used to like going to those sort of things until I went to the grand opening of the Berlin new Hauptbahnhof and got caught up in the crowds as it was time to leave, we were like sardines jammed together going over a bridge, people going both ways all pushing and it got quite scarey - then a few streets behind us there was that knife attack if you remember it. I've avoided crowdy places since then. Imagine I had my 2 dc with me - shudder.

no great time to read all the posts but just a quick update about ds2! Got the referral from the Hausarzt yesterday to an Unfallchirurgen - had no idea which one to go to so just went back to the hospital where we'd taken him on weds - they've no paeds service but i presumed they'd still see him!

had to wait a bit but then was seen by the friendliest doctor - a real character who ds2 was fascinated with! he seemed shocked by the size of ds2's cast (it was super heavy!!) so sent him for a repeat xray then replaced the cast for a lightweight one! he thinks its only a hairline fracture which means he might be able to come out the cast sooner! but at least now its a proper cast he can probably go to kiga next week!! and hopefully he'll sleep better tonight - the last 2 nights have been like having a newborn!

will get some time to read the rest this weekend - dh is off to barcelona! wish it was me!

Sounds good canella. Hope you all get some sleep tonight.

Do any of you know the German for the department where you would apply for expenses? Did I tell you about dh's conference where he's payed over 1000 euro out of his own pocket? Well, on another thread we've (helpful MNers) figured out that dh's boss might not pay but he's actually employed by the state of lower saxony and the hospital so there must be somewhere he can apply for travel expenses etc but what would it be called? Need to search for it maybe on the hospital website but no idea what to start with. Anyway, it can't be true that he has to pay it all out of his pocket.

Hi admylin - I just sent you a message on Facebook about the travel expenses. Found a couple of links that might be of help.

Thanks westvan, I printed that link and gave it to dh so he can show it to the other colleagues who don't know what's going on.

Seems to me that communication is quite bad in their department. At the Charite, the boss told them all the procedure when something like this came up i.e. which office to take which document to and who had to sign it etc...in these huge university hospitals it isn't easy to know who's responsible for what!

Dh goes tomorrow and doesn't get back until Saturday evening.

At the weekend we went into town as dh wanted to get me a birthday present but I couldn't find anything! Ended up coming home with 2 happy dc who got stuff bought for them instead!

How about : O du wunderschöner Herbst - German thread as a new title? Come on we've got to get rid of the Sommer und Hitze in the title!

Here, just to get you all in Stimmung!

Der Nebel steigt, es fällt das Laub;
Schenk ein den Wein, den holden!
Wir wollen uns den grauen Tag
Vergolden, ja vergolden!
Und geht es draußen noch so toll,
Unchristlich oder christlich,
Ist doch die Welt, die schöne Welt,
So gänzlich unverwüstlich!

Und wimmert auch einmal das Herz -
Stoß an und laß es klingen!
Wir wissen's doch, ein rechtes Herz
Ist gar nicht umzubringen.

Der Nebel steigt, es fällt das Laub;
Schenk ein den Wein, den holden!
Wir wollen uns den grauen Tag
Vergolden, ja vergolden!

Wohl ist es Herbst; doch warte nur,
Doch warte nur ein Weilchen!
Der Frühling kommt, der Himmel lacht,
Es steht die Welt in Veilchen.

Die blauen Tage brechen an,
Und ehe sie verfließen,
Wir wollen sie, mein wackrer Freund,
Genießen, ja genießen!

(Theodor Storm, 1817-1888)

admylin- good idea for a new thread title. The last couple of days have been perfect Autumn days here - bright blue sky with a chill in the air.
Has your dh had any luck claiming his expenses back?

No he's there now (in Athens) until the weekend and then he'll have to try and hand in all the bills but it's still a apain to have to wait so long as that money is missing from our earnings.

What a morning and night I've had. Ds coughed all night then at midnight he started with a temperature. When he woke this morning he panicked because he couldn't breath and he was boiling hot too. Took him to the doc who sent us straight to the hospital for x-rays, sonographie and blood tests as ds also had extremely painful stomach (from coughing) but doc thought it could be blinddarm.

All clear now and diagnosed with a virus so no anti biotics just bed rest which is where I'm also going now.

What a beautiful day it is today! I'm about to go out into my sorely neglegted garden and do some serious weeding. Managed to walk outside for a full hour yesterday - first real exercise I've done since about February.

Good to know that ds will be all right, admylin! Those coughs can be so worrying and you never know if it's going to turn into something worse.

Here I've got rid of the sonne und hitze title although sunny it is at the moment!