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 can't work because of the heat (MN is also proving to be too much of a distraction). It's so hot here on the top floor (where the computer is); I really want to open the window but the DDs and I are already covered in mosquito bites. I think they must be more attracted to the female of the species.

My new car has air conditioning, thank goodness. I've been trying to walk/cycle as much as possible recently - it doesn't really help with the heat as it means I'm outside for longer, but it does make me feel slightly virtuous!

juststrudel - the local paper for Bonn is called General Anzeiger

property bit of their website

another good property website

I'm quite jealous, Bonn is great

we all had a crap nights sleep because of the heat! we've got mossie nets on the windows and balcony doors but even with them open there was no air! ds1 sleeps so soundly every night but even he was awake for well over an hour! but then ds2 was up at 6.30 and by 7 he was asking for breakfast so i had to get up! funnily enough ds1 is still asleep!!!!! grrrr!!

think todays supposed to be even hotter! cant take any more of this heat - i'd be happy if it was in the 20's but anything over 30 exhausts me! going to friends today to watch the football - think i'll try to hide inside all afternoon!

are you all going to watch the game?

zzen - saw your other thread about ghana - did they go out last night? gutted for you!

Thanks a lot emkana will check those links.

Glad Bonn gets the MNer thumbs up

Sorry to hijack your thread but I need urgent German cake assistance

see here, for the full tale of the most delicious East German cake with 6 eggs and sunken chocolate pieces in it

If anyone can supply me with a recipe I will love you forever

You could ask your question here ChefkochBackforum
There are some fabulous bakers, some East Germans and many very helpful people (and some who are all three things at once) in that forum.
I did a quick recipe search but couldn't come up with anything useful.

Think it might be a Zupfkuchen ?

Wow, Germany could win this football thing! We went shopping for a couple of stand fans in Saturn and it was totally empty with little groups of staff watching the match and everyone was in such a good mood and friendly. Dh said next time they play we'll come shopping again - actually I think watching the game will be good. Wish I'd seen Angie cheering though!

no idea about your cake sorry!!

went to some neighbours to watch the game yest - apart from the awful heat it was a great day!! fun being part of all their celebrations! saw angie cheering on the tv - she looked all weird in her red suit! has she nothing informal to wear? she also looked like someones granny clapping excitedly! funny!!

well we've been out at the kiga Familientag today - was all going good till ds2 turned into the devils child!! he was overtired after all the partying yest but there is no excuse sometimes for how naughty he is!! wonder sometimes where we got him from - my other 2 are so easy going and never any trouble! he wanted a water pistol that another child wouldnt give him so he was trying to hit the other child!!! so as i was
taking him out the situation he started scratching me and screaming at me!! in front of all the other parents and the kiga staff!! i was fuming at him and totally ashamed - the staff were saying "oh it happens to kids all the time!" but i can imagine what they are really thinking!!

but big moan over - off to sort out the playroom! will def need a cold shower later!

lol poor you canella. They were really thinking: it happens to everyone's kids at some time. Honestly. They've seen it all.

You getting anywhere on that cake Darrel?

so zzen did you make jam?

What a heat these past few days. It's cooled down slightly and I got my first proper nights sleep last night. Still feel like I need to catch up though.

Have you both recovered from the kiga scene canella? I really feel for parents even now when I see a dc in melt down as I've been through it. Think you did the right thing in just removing him from the scene, you can't do much else in those situations.

We're going to watch football at a friend's house tomorrow. Dd isn't very begeistert but ds is over the moon as they have a huge flat screen TV.

Packing going well, need a few more boxes from baumarkt then we will be ready.

its def cooled down today which is great!! i'm still got that stinky summer cold (which has now gone to my chest!) so i was really complaining about the heat! think the temp is supposed to rise again towards the weekend - grrrrrr!!!

Think ds is just in a meltdown phase at the mo! ds1 is at my ILs for the week and ds2 doesnt cope very well when his big brother isnt here! he was having a meltdown at 2am this morning! all about a bloody drink! he likes to have a bottle next to his bed and last night he decided it wasnt the right bottle so poured all the water all over the carpet! i could have throttled him! but calmly just took it away and sent him back to bed - cue much drama and howling!! took a good 30 mins before he was back asleep! think i might bring ds1 back sooner than later! really hoping ds2's meltdown phase passes soon!

looking forward to the football tom! no special plans but you're plans sound good admylin!

how is the friend who's mum died? did the dad get the funeral organised? been thinking of them often - so hard!

ooh juststrudel I'm jealous too - I love Bonn. Beautiful parks, great museums, cosmopolitan without being huge...

I really miss Germany at the moment and would love to move back....

It sounds like you've had it even hotter in Germany that it's been here. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be slightly cooler but temperatures in the thirties have been forecast for the weekend. We'll be going to Italy on Sunday so it's likely to be even hotter there.

You're so lucky that your ILs will have your DS for the week, canella. We'd planned for DD1 to stay on at my ILs for a day or two after we'd been there this weekend, but then SIL remembered that her DS had a doctor's appointment on Monday (sorry admylin, you may well have seen my rant already!). Quite why DD1 couldn't have stayed at home with my PIL is beyond me (SIL, her DH and DC live with PIL), but according to my MIL "das wäre nichts für sie". DD1 is apparently the kind of child you need to spend time with (both MIL and SIL kindly pointed this out to me) and they really wanted to take her on a day trip to the zoo or somewhere similar.

So I am now working until around 1.30 every night because I can't get much done during the day, and the ILs will only have DD1 if they can take her out on a day trip. It's not so much the fact that I think I have the right to expect ILs to look after her (I don't); it's just that MIL has always looked after SIL's DC so that she can go out to work. Mind you, she's been doing it for the last 14 years so probably wants a break now! And don't get me started on the Hausübergabe (who cares if it's fair as long as it's the way that things have always been done in Austria). Grrr.

Apologies for rant; I'm going to take out my frustration on some ironing now!

grr at your ILs linzer - that sounds like a really unfair situation! why couldnt your dd been there at the same time as you're SIL's ds?we only do well at the mo because our dc are the only grandchildren they have!!

but i've just had nice news in the post - i passed my german exam!! and by a mile! i got 161 points out of 165!!! why do i still not believe my german is any good then!! but still proud of myself! think i really need to find some advanced lessons now!

Well done canella! Yes, do keep up with the lessons. German is a difficult language and i can't believe after so many years I still can't get the endings and Kausus right (den, dem etc). The one thing I am good at is the accent!

Was at a party recently and the north Germans thought I was from the south of Germany so obviously didn't sound too foreign.

I know how you feel about your ILs linzer. I have a similar situation but with my parents. They have looked after my sister's 2dc since they were born so she could go back to work part time, no child care costs and she has had plenty of weekends away and nights out too. When we go back nothing is offered and my dad even says he won't go anywhere with all of them as it's too expensive with all 4 grand children.

Also they have never been over to help out and let us go away (always remember mmelindt on here and thinking how great her parents are flying over from Scotland) anyway, we al lmanage don't we!

Congratulations canella; it sounds like you passed with flying colours! Which exam was it?

SIL and her family live in the same house as my PIL, so the fact that she had to take her DS to the doctor's should be neither here nor there - PIL would have been at home and it's not like DD1 is a toddler who they would need to run after all the time. But it seems like they don't want her there unless they (SIL and family) can spend the entire day with her!

admylin - it's very unfair, isn't it? My SIL and her DH have never had to pay rent or bills, haven't had to buy a house, have free childcare, have a lot of their food shopping done for them and paid for, a lot of meals cooked for them, etc etc. The thing that annoyed me most, however, was that my ILs just didn't see how it was at all unfair that my SIL got the house and DH got - nothing. (OK, he did get two plots of land, but so did SIL as the land obviously has to be divided up equally!)

But you're right; we all manage in the end - it's just that I'm a bit envious of the way that SIL seems to have everything handed to her on a plate! I doubt we'd get much more help if we were nearer to my parents though, as I think they feel that they've "done their time" with children, which is fair enough. They looked after the DDs for a day once but were completely exhausted afterwards and said they couldn't look after two at the same time again.

It is unfair isn't linzer. Dh's family are miles away too - well half on the Indian side and the rest in the US but when we do go to them they seem to want to do everything for the dc, never say no to them and I could leave them for days with any of their aunts. Even their older cousins took time to take them off and entertain them when we were in Texas.

My side of the family think differently and like your parents, think they've done enough. They also have retired on very good pensions and can fly off around the world on 3 to 5 holidays a year. Oh well, rant over - is good to get out and moan about now and then!

I have got rid of all out altpapier today, wow that stuff is heavy even though it'S onlypaper. We have loads of it though!

Dd is out by herself - well with her friend. This is the first summer I have really given her freedom to go off like that. She rang before to say they were changing locations which I was pleased about. Good that she let me know.

BY the way thanks for asking about ds's friend canella. He seems to be coping really well and have had him round here as often as possible. He has always starving so I always try to make something nice for him to eat.

The funeral still hasn't been organised, the dad was sent from one place to the other to find out what he needs to do but in the end he's passed it over to the wife's mother and uncle to organise so hopefully it'll be in the next week at the latest. He doesn't speak the language and although I offered to help he didn't take me up on it and tried to sort it himself.

Poor Germany, no party celebrations after last nights game.

We were at friend's house none of whom are German but we started with one sofa of German supporters and the Spanish supporters had to sit on the other sofa but half way we all changed to the Spanish side!

Trying to plan my move , have booked the removal firm and they said I should make sure the street is free for their truck but on looking at Halteverbotschilder they add up to about 60 to 70 Euro, what a rip off. Wondering if I can park our car across 3 spaces in the evening?

Need to get some boxes from Baumarkt and then tomorrow we go to the new flat for the handover but I'm worried now as we haven't even got round to paying the deposit so she might not want to hand over. We pay actual rent from the 15th but the owner did say we could go in to lay the flooring etc. Must buy wine today , every night I am going to need loads of it until this move is over.

yeah the vuvuzelas were all quiet last night!! but people were philosophical at the bus stop this morn - they were beaten by the better team! spain were so much better than germany last night! wonder if germany peaked too soon!

its such a stressful time moving admylin - when we moved here last year i was sure my BP was sky high for the whole month before we moved!! think i cried every day for the last few days!! so stressful! wine is a necessary purchase to deal with the stress!!

about my german exam - it was a B1 exam - think its the level required if people want to apply for citizenship (which i dont) so quite a basic level! not found any more lessons yet - a def downside of living in the countryside - not much call for german lessons! the man who i went to before only
does advanced lessons in the afternoon but i've got my kids every afternoon so not found any other lessons yet! thats my task for the next few days!

but still not got rid of my summer cold! its gone into my chest now but dont think it needs antibiotics yet. and since dh is a respiratory doc, i'd have to be really poorly before he recommends antibiotics!

Oh dear, I'm not feeling that bad yet, but your move was a big moving abroad move so double stress. I felt lik ethat when we moved to Berlin because we were still coming out of the student status and poverty stricken so we had to do it all ourselves (with a couple of friends) including driving a van and carrying everything up to the 3rd floor. I was in physical pain for weeks after.

Well, we got our beans and dd got herself some roast beef meals, yuk really but she likes them. There were alot of Germans buying the marmalade and shortbread and the caramel shortbread too. But all Germans though, I hung about thinking I might hear some Brits shopping!

Yes the football match was rather really. They just didn't play as well as they had done in the previous matches.

And now for something completely different - I have a favour to ask.
Dd1 (nearly 11) would love to have a German penpal. Whilst we have lots of family in Germany, there's no-one in the age bracket at all so I thought I'd ask here. Maybe one of your dc has a German friend who would like to write to dd?
She speaks and reads German fluently, likes books and animals, and would love to get some post and write a few letters. If you have anyone in mind I will CAT you our address.

Hi geekgirl, one of dd's friends would like to write maybe - most of them away on holiday. I will ask them when we meet up if you like, although might it sound strange if I ask for someone on a forum?

I'm enjoying the enforced Ruhezeiten here in in our building. In our rental contract it says absoloute Ruhe between 13 and 15Uhr! Fine by me, I can down tools and have a coffee - also use it to make the dc be quiet and read!