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'm still here but only just - we're flying back to the UK in a couple of hours!

Deb - I used the Room for 5 website to find a hotel in Berlin; we booked one after checking out the reviews on this site.

canella - the birthday party was quite stressful; DS was really excited beforehand but I think it all got a bit much for him at times. We'll definitely be inviting fewer children next year!
Hope you're having a nice time with your sister. I know what you mean about 10 days being too long though; I'll probably be feeling the same at my parents'!

admylin - Hope you're settling in OK; it used to annoy me about the light fittings too.
Interesting to hear that you can order exercise books on Amazon; I'd never thought of doing so. Will have to check out whether they have the hundreds of different types we seem to need for school here.

Have a great time linzer! Wouldn't mind a portion of fish and chips and some decent pasties, and a good browse around a book shop!

Have often used Amazon for school books, you can always smuggle a couple in to the order for yourself too!

Well, I have piles and piles of cardboard to get rid of from the packaging of th ecoffee table, 2 office chairs for the dc, dd's new bed and desk and loads of damaged umzugskisten. Off to saw them all into little bits with my bread knife.

deb - i'm no use either sorry!

linzer - hope you have a fab time in the UK! i'm joining admylin in wanting to browse round a book shop and need some good traditional scottish food! just been looking up some recipies online - wonder if i might give them a try!

admylin - glad you feel like your getting somwhere! think cutting cardboard might be therapeutic for about 10 mins!! then i'd give up!

so my sister has gone back - grateful for some peace now! it was our wedding anniv yesterday and rather than ask her to babysit we just stayed in! i kind of thought she'd offer but she didnt so it was the most unromantic anniv yet!! so tonight is our eve for celebrating! got some nice champagne chilling - we are the most unromantic couple most of the time so feel we should make an effort once a year!

Thanks everyone, managed to get 2 rooms at a top secret hotel through Last minute near the airport for £78 for the 6 of us so that's not too bad.Turns out to be a 4* and looks fine, much better than the hostel option.

hello everyone!

i'm new here, just round mumsnet today.
still slightly confused as to how to make the best use of this place. having a hard time finding my way around, but i'm hoping that'll improve.

are any of you in or around wiesbaden by any chance?

i'm dieing for some english interaction for dh, myself and mostly our kids!

Hi joontoons, we're in Hanover. How long have you been here?

Know what you mean about needing some english interaction! We found a British family here and the boys are best friends and in the same class so that was luck.

Forgot to say, that sound like a real bargain debinaustria. When ever I look I never find decent deals like that!

Have you sold up yet or are you staying on in Austria after all?

we're in wiesbaden. i'm from here originally but lived in mannheim, berlin and then boston until we had our oldest daughter. husband is from the states. we're not even english!
we had one family here we were really close to but they moved back to the states a few weeks ago and life has gotten pretty lonely since.

our oldest is starting kindergarten now and i really worry she'll drop english if we don't provide more english interaction for her.

there are playgroups and afternoon programs in spanish, polish, french, russian, korean and lord knows what around here but NOTHING in english. just "learn english" courses for german kids which obviously isn't for us. and lots of US military but we don't have access to that and also quite frankly, that's usually more drama then i'm really prepared to interact with on a regular basis...

it's weird. feels like we don't fit in quite right with the germans, we don't fit in with the american military and everything in between doesn't seem to be very well organized. i'm keeping my hopes up though and am trying to get at least two more families together to start a playgroup. then we can start "advertising" around town and maybe more people will join us.

you could try the international churches if you are comfortable with religion. They might well have playgroups and you'd meet other English speaking families with children there

Otherwise an English language bookstore might have advertisements up for groups and things on offer in English. Isn't there also an American Women's Club in Wiesbaden?

Hi all. Just wondering si stickylittlefingers around? I think she is the one who was moving to Berlin and couldn't get a school place. Just stumbled upon this website. Seems to be a new school opening in August. I know nothing at all about it. It is in steglitz (south-west) sort of betwen Zehlendorf and Wilmersdorf. Is that any good to you sticky?

http://www.hisberlin.de/englisch_gru/schulkonzept_grundschule.html here

Well, we got back from Vancouver last Tuesday and I still have terrible jet lag. Things hotted up during the last couple of weeks we were there and I ended up with a nice colitis attack while my mum had some serious health problems that made me want to stay longer. But here I am, back in Germany. At least one of my brothers is there to keep and eye on things.

What happened to Germany's hot weather?? Not that I'm complaining, 37°C would have killed me but all we have now is rain. The garden is a mess but it's too wet to get out there and pull weeds.

Hi, welcome back! How are the boys coping with school and left overs of jet lag? Or have they recovered? It's really cooled down, thank goodness though, I wouldn't want that heatwave back.
I really suffered with it when we came back from Texas.

Sorry to hear about your mum, must be a worry. Did you manage to bring loads of goodies back with you? How many books? Tell us all about it.

The boys are dealing with the jet lag much better than I am! I must be getting old. Got a call from my dad yesterday and my mum seems to be doing well so we're happy about that.

I didn't actually bring that much stuff back this time. Odds and ends, baking tins, a bit of clothing and some cookbooks. I wanted to get out a bit more but wasn't feeling at all well the last week we were there so I stuck close to home. It was just so nice to sit in my parents garden and enjoy the breeze coming from the ocean. Even though they aren't right on the beach it's only a 10 minute walk away and they have a little peek-a-boo view so you can watch the cruise ships and sail boats going by. I would have been happy to just sit outside and read for 6 weeks!

That's good news about your mum. Do you keep in touch with skype and such like?

Sounds lovely where you live in Canada, dh just applied for another job in Vancouver this time (just sent one to Winnipeg too) and to be honest I wouldn't mind moving to either places!

I'm still unpacking! You know those annoying 'left overs' that I don't know why we have to keep or where they should go. I've moved so often, I really shouldn't have any of this clutter left!

Vancouver definitely wins over Winnipeg! Wouldn't that be something if you actually moved there?

hello all!!nice to see you back westvan - sounds like an idyllic place where your parents live. sorry that you were poorly tho - hope you feel better now!

admylin - is your dh looking at moving again? would you be happy to start over in a new country? at least in canada you wouldnt have any language issues to contend with!!! have heard its a good place to live but never been!

so we went on our hols on Ruegen last week - we had a really nice week altho whoever said months ago on here about the traffic being a nightmare to get on and off these islands was right! think the whole of germany was there on holiday - took us 11 (!!!!!) hours to get there! and randomly saw some UK number plates when we were there - its a long way to drive from the UK!!but once we were there it was great - we were at the beach every day bar one and in the sea most days - was mid 20's most days altho some serious showers at times! but overall compared to the weather in some places of germany last week i think we did really well!

dh is still off this week - the IL's are coming for a couple of nights later in the week to let us have some husband and wife time! not sure what else to do with the kids since the weather is so stinky! but i heard the summery weather is coming back on wednesday! hope it stays till my visitors come next week!

Morning all. Still quiet here isn't it? Wastvan are you on the mend? Canella, sounds like you had a relaxing time except for the driving part. Did you take it in turns to drive?

Here's something for you all to look forward to - in year 7 Gymnasium we have been told to provide our dc with a graphic calculator, cost: 95 Euro! At first when ds told us we thought he hadn't been listening or it must be a joke but then we got the letter from school with the specific make we have to buy. Aparantly they can not manage Abitur without it

Westvan did your 2 need a fancy calculator too?

Dd is upset, one of her gerbils is ill - just sitting hunched up or moving about slowly. She was so worried she took it to the vet last night and paid 15 Euro of her pocket money for an antibiotic injection and tonic but today it's still sitting there hunched up. One of the other gerbils has scratched its eye and she's worried about that one too.

Hi! Actually I'm even worse and have been lying on the sofa for the past couple of weeks. This is a really bad flare-up and I have an appt with the specialist on Tuesday. I suppose I'll have to take cortisone for a while. Yippee.

Admylin - yes, we had to buy two calculators at exorbitant prices. No way to get out of it, but they do in fact use them a lot right up until the 12th class. The school did a "Sammelbestellung" so we go them for a bit cheaper and we just had to transfer the money and they handed them out to the kids.

Poor gerbils, they seem to be such senstive little things. We had two when I was a child and they both got tumors and didn't last very long. So sweet, though. Hope dd's are feeling better soon!

wow this thread is super quiet at the mo!

westvan - sorry you feel so rubbish! hope you get some help from the specialist on tomorrow!

admylin - wow 95? for a calculator!! told dh and he was making a right blustering face and saying "well i'll not be paying that! the school cant make them!" when really like westvan says if they use it all the way to the end of school then its not so bad!

i really shouldnt be sitting here on MN - too much to do but just waiting for my lazy dd to finish her breakfast so just stealing 5 mins! she's turning into a teenager that doesnt want to get out of bed!

got some nice visitors coming today for a few days! not sure if anyone remembers me saying that a really close friend died just before we moved to germany? well her dh and their dc are coming to visit us! i'll be so excited to see them but also so emotional! and partly nervous since i dont know him so well aws i obviously knew her! but i've got everything crossed that the weather stays ok and we can get out and about - its ds2's birthday tom so was hoping for a trip to playmobil land! fingers crossed for no rain!

Hi all,

I've been back in Austria about a week now; we got back just in time for the last few days of summer, but it's been pouring with rain all day today. Hope you've had better weather for your visitors, canella.

admylin - I couldn't believe the price of the calculator either. I was asking my SIL about whether they need more and more expensive things for school as they get older, but she said it actually gets cheaper as they don't need things like Heftschoner (I bought about 30 at the weekend!). But apparently school trips get more expensive, or rather they will when all three of them have to go away at the same time. That won't be for years yet, though - I think she just wanted to point out the extortionateness of having 3 DC (my ILs have never quite got their head round the fact that we actually wanted three).

How are the gerbils now? We used to have gerbils when I was younger; my grandmother got some at the same time as us and left them all out in the hot sun once, thinking it would be OK as they're desert animals. They all died.

canella - It sounds like quite an emotional visit; it's great that you're still in touch with your friend's family, though. A friend of mine died in January and I have no idea how her DC are doing (forgot to ask about them when the executor of her will phoned me up as it came as such a shock), as both her parents had died the previous year and she and her H had divorced quite acrimoniously about a month before she died. I still can't quite believe I'm never going to see or hear from her again. How long is it since your friend died, if you don't mind me asking?

westvan - Hope you're feeling better soon.

It is quiet isn't it. My excuse, every time I sit down to relax and join in on mn someone seems to want something from me. I hope it's just the whole settling in thing and everyone will get into routine soon.

Dd left on Monday, she's somewhere near south of Göttingen I think for a whole week. I'm a big softy and really miss my dc when they aren't here so I'm suffering but I know she'll be having a good time with her friends.

The gerbil has had a house visit from a vet who gave it fluids and checked it over, it wa sall skin and bones, she left us some syringes to feed it baby brei and it has picked up. I'm in charge until dd gets back so it will hopefully be OK.

Westvan, school offered to order the calculators for us to (all of 5 euro cheaper) but I thought I would rather have the guarantee myself so we ordered it on Amazon. We also had to get a book with all the mathematical and scientific formulas and tables inside which look like a nightmare to me (maths and science phobia)!

OK, off to give ds his lunch, he just got back from school.

Hi - I haven´t been on here for ages. I actually banned myself during the summer holidays and spent last week catching up on paper work, but am now free to waste loads of time on mumsnet.

We did a Eurocamp holiday for the first time this year. We were quite close to Venice and the dc had a great time. It was so hot though, that we´ve decided never to go so far south in the summer again. Even dd said "I think we should`ve gone to England - it´s never too hot there."

canella - hope everything is going well with your visitors and that your ds had a good birthday.

admylin - I hope the gerbil survives. I can´t believe vets do house calls for such small pets. Did it cost a fortune?

Well, dd took her gerbil to a vet near where we live and she gave it a tiny injection with antibotics but she held it up by it's tail so dd said she wouldn't go to her again. I started searching on the internet for the next nearest vet and this one came up and she only does house visits so I called her!

The first vet took 15 euro and the house vet took 16 euro, 5 of which was for the travel so not too bad!

Hi everyone, we've been away but back now. How is everyone? Still got 2 or is it 3 weeks of summer holidays left. We are due to move house 2 days after they start back at school.

Ad, I have a gymi related Q. One of the mums told me the next bag should be a half rucksack-half Ranzen hybrid, best make being 4You. I've looked at them and think they look awful! And can't imagine say a 13 14 year old using one. Plus they are about 100 euros .

So, are they really ugly and expensive things really what everyone will be having. He is desperate to blend in and be the same atm but at the same time be cool. Do kids not just get a cool rucksack?

95 for the calculator and . Sounds like the teacher/school are just pushing for everyone to have exactly the same model to make explaining things easier (cynical)

how is gerbil now)

Just quickly - nice to see you back ernest!

My dc have have a Jansport bag and a Dockers rucksack - both very sturdy and about on the 40 to 60 euro price range quite affordable and with the 4you ones, they could want a 'cooler' bag in the next couple of years anyway.

DD says the 4you bags aren't waterproof! In her class - out of 27 around 4 have the 4you bags. Ds says quite a lot of them have jansport bags.

Gerbil is recovering but now has a big scab where the first vet gave an injection.