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!

I think they might be something different, Hope, as Eiernockerl are basically Nockerl (a bit like gnocchi) mixed with scrambled egg. I prefer Zwiefelnockerl, although the onions are very fatty (like much of MIL's cooking, it has to be said).

Yes, I'll have to try making Kaiserscharrn again - or persuade DH to do so. He excelled himself this weekend by making two Sacher Torten on Saturday (for DD2's and DS's birthday celebrations in KiGa) and then a strawberry and raspberry flan on Sunday. I really should be a bit more adventurous - I only ever seem to make brownies and muffins.

How is your DS settling in at Kindergarten, Hope? I seem to remember he started slightly after mine.

Morning, another hot day today. Was so hotlast night I had to sleep with the balcony door wide open, then being on the 3rd floor is not so bad. I wouldn't dare do that if we were ground floor.

I always seem to log off here just as a few of you start chatting. I think I'll have a stay at home and hog the computer day today anyway. Dd has the Auftrag to clean her 2 gerbil cages, ds should do abit of maths practice (he got a 3 on his report) and I have to order the Sperrmüll collection online.

Wish I hadn't asked dh but he wants to keep a hideous TV shelf thing in pine wood that I can't bear to look at anymore. Honestly I'd rather put the TV on the floor! Have an evil plan to dismantle it for the move, then tell him some vital parts are missing and we can't re-build it. What do you think?

Go for it, admylin! There's never any point in me asking DH or the DC whether we should get rid of something, as they inevitably want to keep it - surreptitious is the only way. DH will occasionally agree that some of the DC's toys can go to my ILs, although we rarely spend more than 2-3 days there at a time and they have more than enough there already.

It looks like being another hot day here too. I think we missed out on spring completely this year. DH is in Turkey at the moment, which he wasn't particularly looking forward to as it's likely to be even hotter there.

I had a rare evening on MN yesterday with DH being away. I've been able to MN a bit more now that the football is on, although DH doesn't seem to be into it quite as much as others. Really need to drag myself away now to do the housework and tidying that I failed to get done yesterday evening.

Hmm, I haven't done much yet today. Just had a cup of tea, both dc still in bed but they didn't get to sleep until really late last night, it was just too hot.

People keep asking me if I'm looking forward to the move - I mean who would look forward to the hell that is moving house?! Obviously it's usually people who haven't moved house for over 10 years or something like that!

OK, so first job done. Online didn't work for the Sperrmüll thing so had to phone a 0800 number - surprisingly friendly woman on phone. So we can't get rid of our broken stuff until 20th of July. Will have to leave it in our old place, good job we're not moving 100 km away.

The fridge is going on the 23rd and I have to go to some office and pay 8euro for a sticker which I have to stick on my fridge and then put the fridge outside. I'd have freecycled it but it's so big and old (definately not 'A' energy group) and the veg trays are broken.

I know the feeling - I've been up since 7am and haven't done much at all yet. I'm trying to decide which thing to start on - there are too many choices and I never could make decisions!

Have to make my sleepy dc some sort of breakfast lunch combination soon too.

We've been eating water melon for the last 2 days, got a huge one from the Turkish shop and it's so sweet. Too hot to cook anyway.

I love watermelon

Hi - just having a naughty quick look at work and will post properly later. Thanks for all the replies. Blauer Engel - I did have a look at Toytown, but will have a better look to find out about where to live.
Have a good day!

You can check out the immobilienscout.de website for flats in different areas just to see what is on offer. You can specify size, price etc. Do you speak German? You could start at places near where you/dh will be working maybe?

Don't forget if you want 3 bedrooms you have to look at 4 room flats 4 Zimmer Wohnung for example.

Schneenockerle

sounds cute to me. Never had Nockerle of any description. Wil investigate for when it gets a bit cooler.

Sachertorte is diff, isn't it? Never tried but Kaiserschmarrn is really not too difficult. Don't make ours with sultanas though, not so keen on sultanas generally
. I think the one we make is in the Dr. Oetker kocken mit Kindern book (or some such Titel).

Do you know what? I have never made jam, ever. I remember my mother doing itand buying amsses of fruit from farms, sterilising jars etc. Too hot for me to do all that atm though, except maybe at 3 am or something.

that is sad about your HUngarian grandfather Hope and his family.

Hi again - I'm having problems re accommodation because we'll only be there 4 months, so really just want something furnished we can go into and come out again with no fuss. I wondered might a fewo do a long let, given I guess not everyone is rushing to Berlin in February (I wonder why I am, tbh, I hate the cold!!)

DP and I both have reasonable German. Our 2 dds don't at the moment, but we hope that they won't feel too overwhelmed by it. It's a funny amount of time we're staying, 4 months, sort of too long and not long enough at the same time! That's why I'd picked up on BE's suggestion of an international school, so that they had the opportunity to learn German but it wouldn't be full on like being at a German school. I would have thought the latter would be quite tough, given we're only there for such a short time - what do people think?

DD1 did develop a Kaiserschmarrn habit last summer though when we were back down south for our hols. I hope Berlin can match up to the Black Forest for the provision of yummy desserts and cakes

Hi sticky, the bad news is:

Berlin is revolting in February.

And the desserts and cakes are rubbish compared with southern Germany (and I say that as a passionate Berliner).

The good news is I have some tips on short-term accommodation. Your best bet for 4-month furnished accommodation is a Mitwohnzentrale. My experience with ImmobilienScout was not great in Berlin.

www.city-wohnen.de/eng/berlin/flat-search/

I used this lot when they just set up in Prenzlauer berg in the early 90s:

www.freiraum-berlin.com/english/index.htm

Click on Wohnen auf Zeit for this one:

www.zeit-raum.de/

To be honest, if you're just there for four months I would be tempted to get a nice, big Altbau flat in Prenzlauer Berg (rather than Zehlendorf, where a lot of families live) and put the kids in a private school like the Berlin Metropolitan in Mitte (although I don't know anyone with a kid there). It would be more fun for you all for such a short time, and you get more of the feeling of being in the 'real' Berlin. Zehlendorf is a bit sanitized.

God, I could do with a Kaiserschmarrn right now. Even the Dr Oetker packet mix would do.

Wonder if you could contact a few of the schools about a place for your dc and then look for a flat near there?

It's just that the school day in Berlin is quite long - alot of schools go from 8am to 4pm and if you have a long underground/bus trip on top of that it can be really exhausting for the dc.

Hi there - thanks ever so much (this is SO useful, you're all great!). We have written to a couple of places in Dahlem re schools, and yes, the early start had made me think that we would want to be living practically on top of them (tbh, we live about 3 mins away from dd1's primary and she finds it all a bit early at 9am, so she's going to have to learn to love the early rising. In the dark, in February, in the revoltingness of Berlin oh dear!!)

I will go and have a look at the sites you've mentioned. Thanks again!

I will be sure to fill up on Kuchen when we're in the Schwarzwald in August. Not that we need any encouraging! When I retire, I'm going to live in Cafe Dekker in Staufen and just eat cake til I burst. It will save on all that tiresome ageing process...

wow lots has gone on here!! sometimes this thread is really busy!

sticky - i'm no use to you about berlin but i like your plans for retirement!!

zzen - you really need to make jam!! i had never made it either until last weekend! i remember as a child it took my gran all afternoon to make jam with much stirring! i bought a pack of Gelier Zucker and added 1kg of strawberries and boiled it for 4 mins and it was ready!! bit of faffing with the jars but i couldnt believe how easy it was! think it might be the magic jam making sugar that helped!

so i was reading this thread last night and all the chat about Kaiserscharrn and was thinking i've never seen that! and then in Lidl this morning there it was!! didnt buy it tho cause i'm still not sure what it is! is it some kind of dessert?

so having a dossy morning this morn - got a really heavy cold and altho i've taken some beechams flu plus, i've still got no energy! and the man is finally here to fill the large hole in the wall so i cant really go anywhere! enjoying the rest because there'll be no rest when the dc get home! think its a pizza day today!

It's too hot isn't it canella. Are you sure it's not hay fever that's making you feel ill? Dh never had hay fever until he moved to Germany, and he really suffers (well, being male, it is slightly exaggerated)

I have so much to do but it's too hot, tried ironing but gave up and now I have to go into the kitchen and start cooking as dd has a friend coming for lunch and I promised their favourite spaghetti bolognese and they want garlic bread but that means putting on the oven so might have to pass on that one.

do ou have electric fans? I take one with me from room to room.

Cannotbe fagged cooking in this weather really but doing it nevertheless - chciken and corn o n the cob today. Chicken premarinated in some weirdo sounding sauce.

How do you make jam canella, I really have no idea but 4 mins is sounding do-able.

Canella, you don't need some ready made Kaiserschmarrn, I will give you the recipe from dd's cookbook

Do-it-yourself Kaiserschmarrn

4 Eier, getrennt
30g Zucker
1 Prise Salz
1 Päckchen Vanillinzucker
125g Mehl
400ml Milch
50g Rosinen
Butter (for the pan)
Puderzucker zum Bestäuben

1. Die Eier trennen und as Eigelb mit Zucker, Salz, Vanillinzucker mit dem Schneebesen so lange aufschlagen, dass die Masse hell-gelb und cremig ist
2. Das Mehl abwechselnd mit der Milch unterrühren. Die Rosinen dazugeben.
3. Das Eiweiß zu steifern Schnee schlagen und unter den Teig heben (i.e fold in the egg whites gently)
4. Melt some butter in a frying pan. Ein Viertel des Teiges einfüllen. Auf schwacher Hitze so lange backen, bis die Unterseite leicht gebräunt ist
5. Den Schmarren wenden, mit 2 Gabeln in Stücke reißen. Weiterbraten bis die Stücke gebräunt sind.
6. Keep making the other (1-3, depends on the size of the pan) the same
7. sprinkle with icing sugar before you serve

thank you for that half english/half german recipe!! will give it a go when i feel less shitty!

no admylin its def the cold/womanflu!!! was just a head cold yest - scratchy sore throat, head full of snot but its now gone that achey way today! thankfully a friend takes ds1 to swimming this afternoon and dd is going to a friend - wish someone would take ds2! that sounds really bad but he is rubbish at entertaining himself (cause he never has to being the youngest!)

so Zzen - let me tell you about jam! it is idiot proof!

the jars - wash them in the dishwasher then put them in a boiling pot of water for a few mins to sterilise them. leave them out to dry.

You need 1kg of fruit per bag of Gelier Zucker. i used strawbs. wash them and take of the stalks. put them in a big pot and mash them to a pulp or put them in a liquideser.

add the Zucker and bring to the boil. boil for 4 mins!

fill the jars, put the lids on really tight then turn them upside down for 30 mins (this seems to stop them going moldy!). let them cool then store them in the Kellar.

1kg of fruit made about 5 jars of jam.

it really is that easy - took me about 30 mins in total!

ok you've confinced me, I'll have a bash at that. Fruit so cheap atm, you get great masses of it but it goes off so quickly. I remember visiting a friend's family in Oldenburg once and the mother had three huge cellar wall stacked to the ceiling with jams. Mind you she had 7 sons (!)

!!!!!!!!! 7

and ran a Gashaus and everything else. Very nice wom an. Made me feel very inadequate. Her jams were quite unusual combinations IIRC - jam for Fortgeschrittene maybe.

thanks canella

how old is your youngest ds? Audio books big help I found.

hello fellow Germans or people living in Germany, I just feel the need to have a small dig at German babycare...

My dsil who lives in Duesseldorf has just had her first baby 10 days ago, and we were chatting on the phone this morning. I had to bite my tongue so hard. She mentioned that the midwife had told her to dress her ds (who is admittedly quite small at 2.4kg, he came 4 weeks early) in 2 vests, a babygrow and socks underneath the babygrow. It's nearly 30C in their flat and now he's not feeding well because he's really lethargic . No shit sherlock! I would be if I was him!! I did say something along the lines of it really being a cultural thing, and how my dd1 (summer baby) was mostly just naked...

What is it with Germans overdressing their children?! So many times we've been there, with our dc running around in shorts and t-shirts, and noticed local children still wearing winter clothes.

dont get me started on baby clothing. every time Im there visiting my family I have to stop my mother putting socks on my dc. or an extra layer anywhere even though they are absolutely fine.
not to mention comments we get from strangers when out and about like isn*t your child cold?