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!

Thanks. DIdn't want him to be the only one without a 4You, but I thought they looked seriously uncool and babyish and didn't think in a couple of years he'd want to use it anymore, so £££ for not much I felt, but had visions of it being an unwritten requirement and him geitting sent home and told be buy one!

ANother Q for all you German dwellers, I need to (urgently) send a thank you to a campsite, would ideally like to send a small gift, double ideally something english, like toffees, but frankly any token thanks other than flowers eg box of chocs and bottle of wine. Anyone know a web site in germany I can do this (to send withing germany) thanks. funny all these things you know easily how/where to do in UK even though not lived there for 10 years...
I am now thinking Bayern has drawn the short straw out of all the Bundesländer summer holidays. It has been cold and rainy for a significant part of our holidays. The cold I am happy with, but the rain is somewhat limiting.

Our Krippe and Hort have reopened, so at least I can get rid of 2 kids while I get on. Have so much to do, still need to manage a lot of the house eg instruct tile layer, double check and instruct electrician, as well as buying furniture urgently needed, plan storage and shelves blah blah as well as keep on top of running this house, try to organise move,, do the packing and look after the kids. OMG, feel a nervous breakdown fast approaching.

And to cap it all, I've stupidly offered to host the bible study at my house tonight which means cooking for X amount, even worse, ensuring the house it tidy (bloody open plan living , doc appt for ds2.

and breath.

tell me about y'all. Can't let it be all about me.

welcome back ernest - hope your still breathing after all that!!!! wow you've got a lot on your plate at the mo! but it'll def feel better with some of the dc out the way now places have reopened!

I'm no use about your present but i'm sure someone much more knowledgeable will be along in a mo!!

my dd has a jansport bag - she was near the end of the 2nd class when we came here and thought the proper bags were too babyish so asked for a rucksack. Its really durable (she carries a lot in it) and its got a lifetime guarentee (can never spell that word!!).

i'm having a quieter week this week - only dd at home in the mornings! ds1 is back at kita and ds2 is with the ILs!!

had a lovely few days with our visitors altho it felt like an emotional rollercoaster - was so so good to see them but then the dc look so like my friend that it was heartbreaking as well. esp the dd - i was staring at her the first day they were here - she is so like her mum!. but it was also great to share memories about my friend with them - she is so sorely missed by everyone.

but on a less sad note - ds2 had a fab birthday. we had a fun day out at an animal park on his birthday then spent the next day (along with a lot of other people!!) at Playmobil land! it wsa fun but feel like i spent the whole day trying not to lose him in the crowds! cant believe my baby boy is 4 already - no more toddler time for our family!! whoo hoo!

I sympathise with you ernest, you will be exhausted once this is all over. One thing to remember, there is no point tidying or cleaning in the old place anymore!

When we moved I had so much more to do like painting, shopping trips for DIY stuff and after a day in the new place I had to come home and feed the family, keep the washing machine running and shopping. I think I just fell into my bed every night with exhaustion. Are your lot easy with food? Can you fob them off with the same thing two days in a row? Try giving the older ones a few cartons and get them to start packing their own stuff maybe? Must admit, I tried that but I had to re-pack abit as dd just threw her stuff in and I managed to fit twice as much in as she did.

No idea about online gift sending. I'm the same as you, things that I could easily figure out in UK are impossible here. I know Amazon now has food so you might find a nice toffee selection there and you can get things sent as a gift directly. Hmm tasty sounding!

Hi - sorry ZZZen that I didn't see and acknowledge your post - thanks very much for keeping us in mind!

In fact things have moved on a little since I was last lurking here. We have now decided to live in Potsdam, and so are looking at schools there instead. We found what looks like a nice flat and certainly the landlords have been lovely and helpful, so that's a bonus.

I'm totally at this rucksack/school equipment costs conversation. Everything is so expensive! Do German kids never lose things - seems like a recipe for disaster. I'm so glad I'm not a 14 year old going to school with lots of expensive losable/nickable stuff. I would have spent my entire teenage years being shouted at by my Mum I reckon!

glad you got it sorted sticky - dont know that area at all but glad you've sorted it!

linzer - did your dd go back for the second day at school? she looked so excited in those photos!

so i feel a bit stressed about ds2 (4) at the moment - he's really unhappy at kiga and is making the situation worse for himself i think by being badly behaved! he's a challenge at the best of times but i think he's definitely getting better as he gets away from his toddler times.

so this morning one of the kindergarten staff was telling one of the other parents (in mine and ds2's earshot) how difficult he can be and how he sometimes doesnt speak to the kiga staff. i was fuming that she was speaking about him like this so he could hear her. waited till pick up time then had some calm words with her - was a real test of my german. she apologised and i said we need to make an appointment to sort out the situation - he's unhappy, they think he's difficult so he misbehaves which makes him more difficult and more unhappy.

any suggestions welcome!

sorry for the big moan - hope your all ok!

That's awful, canella - really unprofessional of her. She shouldn't be complaining about your DS to another parent, let alone within your (and especially his) earshot. It's probably not much consolation, but DD2 wouldn't speak to the kindergarten staff for the first year or more (I'm hoping she'll speak to her teacher at school - apparently she did ask yesterday whether she could go to the toilet!). It's a good idea to make an appointment to speak to the staff; one of my friends here went through something similar and things did improve after she'd spoken to the Kindergärtnerin.

Well, we're now over halfway through the first week of school and DD2 still seems to be enjoying it; I just hope it lasts! She's far more excited about it all than DD1 ever was - she got her first piece of homework today and it was the first thing she did when she got home (even before having lunch). It was always such a struggle to get DD1 to do her homework but she (DD1) did it all by herself with no prompting from me today for about the first time ever, so hopefully she's turning over a new leaf! Luckily DS seems to be settling back in OK at kiga without DD2, despite saying before the summer that he didn't want to go any more if DD2 wasn't there.

Have just been to my first ever parents' evening; I've always sent DH before, but as DD1's and DD2's parents' evenings clashed we got a babysitter and each went to one. It wasn't very exciting (although the DC were v. excited about being babysat for the first time ever!), but at least I showed my face and I've offered to help out with the English lessons again.

Morning everyone.
Canella, that was very wrong of the Kindergärtnerin, can't believe she said that to another parent too. Do you know the other parent? I always found that about 50% of the girls/women at Kindergarten were not very professional even though they had 3 years training, didn't do them much good. I hope you get it sorted out, well done for saying something too.

Dd didn't speak for a year either. She was lucky as she had one of the good teachers and she understood and never pushed her to speak. We had a meeting and she said if we try to force her or constantly mention her not speaking it will only make it worse and in the end she did just start speaking out of the blue. She was quite happy there too even when she didn't speak.

Ds had bad luck as he had one of the rubbish teachers who took his 'differentness' personally and openly disliked him compared to the other smaller, sweet/cuter boys. Anyway, that's why I would suggest you try your ds in another group if they have several groups and hope that the other teacher is more professional.

Linzer, great that your dd isn't anxious at all and is enjoying school right from the start. And well done for managing the elternabend! I hate those collective elternabende, I don't see the point in them anymore. Last one I went to was such a waste of time. Because some parents don't turn up everything important is handed out on a print out the next day anyway. And that evening the teacher didn't have anything to say except some info about the Klassenfahrt, no one asked questions and then he handed the whole information that he had just spent half an hour telling us about, on a print out! One dad next to me had sat and written a page and a half of detailed points during the talk (probably to report back home) only to be given it all ready printed at the end!

canella poor you. Well done for going back and saying something, I know I wouldn´t be brave enough. I agree he shouldn´t be forced to talk - that would just make the situation worse.
Are there any strategies that you use at home with him that the Kiga could use? I know my ds likes routine and hates anything unexpected being sprung on him. Once Kiga realised this they were good at warning him that one activity was coming to an end and what was happening next.
At the meeting I´d ask them what it is exacly that they are finding difficult and then maybe focus on just 1 or 2 points and try to think of strategies to improve the situation. I´ve never really used reward charts with my two, but is that something your ds might respond to?

I also find the joint Elternabende a bit strange. We´ve got one mum in the group who doesn´t seem to realise it´s about general things happening in the class. Everytime she starts on about some minor problem her son is having eg. trouble writing the letter g, and we all have to listen for 15 minutes while she witters on. The teacher is too polite to tell her to stop, but the rest of us sit there getting bored.

Ernest - hope things are going well with the packing and that the move goes smoothly.

Yes, we had a parent lik ethat in Berlin - she talked for ages about how Tim feels about this or that and asked lots of questions that really should have been talked about in private with the teacher.

I have my first student. I have been wanting to try teaching but never got further than collecting bits of grammar info online but dh has a group of foreign doctors at his institute (most of them specialising to be neuro surgeons) and they are interested in improving their english. It's good that my first student has already learned the basics as I wouldn't know where to start teaching that. She always gets word order wrong when she writes something so I am trying to find some examples and rules for tonights lesson. Not easy because I was never taught grammar at school (anyone else never had more than verbs, nouns and adjectives at school?)

Good luck ernest, isn't your big move soon? Are you all packed?

Hi Admylin... just nebbing really, but when I did TEFL I found Fowler's invaluable. Especially for those "err, it just is!" moments. Won't help for tonight tho, I realise...

Still trying to sort out school. I might have to phone up, which I find a bit scary! Eeek. But my emails have been roundly ignored.

Canella - I hope the kiga situation is better now. One can do without such unpleasantness, especially when it affects dc.

When do you move stickylittlefingers? I also found that emails didn't get much response in Berlin when we were enquiring about schools! Are you pleased with the new flat?

I'm still only half settled in ours, still need to paint kitchen and the bathroom is a nightmare but dc are happy being near school and I hardly see ds as he can now just go off and join sports club, meet his friends to train on the running track etc after homework. Dd loves having the freedom of going to theshops or bakery down the road. Yesterday evening she went and bought herself some craft and painting stuff with her pocket money, came home and sat at her desk painting until bed time!

My student cancelled last night. Emergency at the hospital but I did find a good website (aimed at teaching to French students) with some good explanations so we've got 2 or 3 hours of stuff to practise. I went into the local library thinking I would maybe get a couple of books but it's a rather small branch so no luck there.

Have to do a big shop today, how I wish I could just order it all online.

hi - between Christmas and New year (! what a great plan!!) I think I am going to have to call. I will have to have a good think about what I want to say. I find it hard to speak German when in England.

It sounds quite idyllic with your dc (have you in fact moved to the 1950s)... I hope my dd1 will be OK at school (once we've even found one!)

You have my sympathy on the shopping. Such a faff having to do it non-virtually! I will have to be a lot more organised next year. I wonder do Potsdam residents also shop with wicker baskets (which was my experience in Freiburg (and not Camberwick Green, but I did wonder whether I had got mixed up at times :))

Hopefully the weather will hold out - it can be really cold at that time of year.

For shopping you'll have to get a groovy shopping trolley to pull along, come in all colours and designs but red tartan ones seem to be the top sellers! I didn't dare go that bright so mine is plain black.

My big shop today turned into a little shop because the shop I decided to go to didn't have half the stuff on my list. Oh well, atleast I got the gerbil food. Will have to improvise for the rest of us as shops are hell after 4pm on Fridays and Saturday shopping is too crazy/aggresive for me.

yes I'm not really looking forward to that aspect of things - not a big fan of cold weather! Am trying to imagine myself pulling along a tartan shopping trolley Am also imagining the admylin family trying "six new ways with gerbil food" over the weekend

Well, I got my big shop done Monday, after sitting for over an hour at the Frauenärztin. My appointment was at 9am and she said I would be the first patient, it was 10am before I even saw the doctor. The strangest part was - no one even said oh sorry for the delay or anything. Changing doctors for next time!

The shop had loads of different pumpkins so I got a butternut and a hokkaido so have to find some recipes now! I am on a mission to get my dc to eat healthier food which went quite well yesterday as I gave them a plate of carrots and peppers with Salzstangen when they were asking for snacks in the afternoon.

Anyway, I'm meant to be going through paperwork. Piles of it here. Also have to organise the MOT for the car - bet it will cost a fortune.

Dh is off to Athens next week to a conference. His boss isn't paying for any of them so he's had to book it all himself, hotel, flight and registration all well over a thousand euro. He didn't even want to go but the boss said he had to present his work. Looks as if we'll have the pleasure of doing a Steuererklärung to try and get some of back atleast.

The thread title definately needs changed too - there's no sonne or hitze around anymore!

yeah we definitely need a new thread (but i'm rubbish at thinking of titles!!) - absolutely no hitze here but it was sunny at the weekend! but pissing down today!

sticky - wow you're being brave moving between xmas and new year - that'll be a crazy time for your family!hope you get the school stuff sorted! i'm also not great with the phone but its getting better! still hate answering machines tho!

Admylin - think your dh's boss is a bit cheeky telling him to go but then not paying for it! was there not a drug company who would pay for him? dh is off to Barcelona to a conference on sat for 5 days and dont think he's paying a penny! hope you got your paperwork done! you sound like your getting there with your new flat and it sounds like the kids are loving life! my dd has that kind of freedom in our village - i love it! there was a thread on here at the weekend about a woman who had let her 9 yr old ds out alone for the first time to go to the shops 100m away! my dd is roaming all over our village and as long as she comes home when she says she will then i never worry!

so an update about ds2 and kiga - we havent spoken anymore to the kiga about it - there's an Elternsprechtag next fri which i'll make an appt to go to. But they just phoned before to just let me know that he's been like a different little boy at kiga yesterday - really chatty and participating in all the activities! i knew this tho cause he's came home much happier yesterday and said he'd had a good morning (which never normally happens!!). There was a member of staff who he just didnt get on with and she's left last week to go on mat leave and maybe her leaving was all he needed! but thought it was nice of them to phone - feel like they are now making some effort to make his time at kiga a happier one!

oh and school is finally back today - whoo hoo!! feels like its been a long summer holiday! dd is now in the 4th class and think she is feeling the pressure already! she really wants to get into the Gymnasium so i'm trying to help her this year without trying to put too much pressure on! its a fine line!

That's great news canella. I think it could well have been the member of staff who has left. My ds would have enjoyed kindergarten if it hadn't been for one teacher.

I think I'm going to put the massive pile of paperwork back on the shelf, I just don't know where to start. Have paid a bill and sorted out the papers that can go in the bin though.

Maybe Linzer will come along with a thread title idea, something autumn themed. I'm looking for one of those autumn fairs to visit. I've been to one before, sort of like a harvest market type thing - thought it'd get us out in the fresh air at the weekend. We've all been so busy with other things we're all looking pale already.

For year 4 your dd has to join in as much as possible to get the full points for participation and then just learn for the tests and she should be fine. I didn't know about the joining in part being so important at first and as both mine are quiet they missed out abit on those points, after that I always had to remind them to put their hand up. Some subjects are 50/50 so 50% of the marks are for participation in class, in Year 5 science was 70% for participation.

Hi everyone. Just coming back from the nearly-dead to say hi. I was in hospital for a few days a couple of weeks ago for a serious colitis flare-up and now I've been put on cortisone until November which is not much fun, but I'm certainly feeling a bit better. All I want to do is cook and eat right now which is all right, I suppose. :-)

Sounds like everyone is very busy with school and just life in general. We also despise those parent nights and rarely go any more - nothing really important and too much teacher vs parents stuff which really should be sorted out one to one. Ds17 is studying like crazy since this is his last year and ds14 is struggling along with French and hoping to get a better mark than last term.

I can't believe it's fall already. I wonder if it's going to rain until March now.

Good to hear you're recovering westvan. So what are you cooking then? I've still got my 2 pumpkins sitting looking at me in the kitchen but no idea what to do with them. One will end up as soup I suppose!

Ds had 2 friends round yesterday to study for an english test - they got hungry half way through and ate a whole box of chocolate chip cookies (I'd just made a double amount) and a huge bunch of grapes and that was just a snack. They washed it all down with a litre and a half of Apfelschorle! As they left I heard one of them saying I'm really starving.

Someone do a nice autumny thread then!

oh nice to see you back westvan - hope the cortisone helps! you sound like you've had a rough time recently!

well bad day in our house yesterday - ds2 (him of the kiga trouble!!) fell off his bike yesterday and fractured his elbow!!! . i felt so sorry for him - he cried solidly for over an hour till until we left the hospital. Yet again the hospital were efficient but a bit too efficient - no-one explained what they were doing to him and just started putting the plaster on so he was screaming and then not listening to me. He's only in a backslab but i'm not sure its set properly because he was fighting them so much. And all they said was that we should make and appt with our Hausarzt today and he would refer us to an Unfall chirurgen (?sp). Not sure where one is or which is the best - elbows are tricky things to break - dont want him to have any lasting damage from it. shame the paeds hospital is so far away!

so got an appt but its not till 4pm - hope i can still get a hold of a Chirurgen after that!

Oh no canella, poor thing. I bet that hurts - just thinking how bad it feels when you knock your funny bone.

Can you not phone back and tell them he's really in pain or you think it's urgent? After 4pm you won't have much time to go to another doctor - although some are around until 6pm or later. Have you got the car?

yeah i've got the car and the other DC are at school/kiga. he slept so badly last night and has had 2 doses of calpol already (think at 4am and 8am). he's happily on the couch watching dora at the mo with his arm on some cushions but really winces when his arm isnt supported. Think i'll phone DH and get him to make a plan - need his doctor priviliges to come into play here!

How did you get on canella? Hope he's feeling better today.

Ds is starting with a cough, already 2 down with it in his class so it'll be us next. Last winter with the swine flu scare I had us on slow release vit. C every day and loads of fresh fruit and fresh juice and we were fine all winter so might have to go and stock up today!

I've calculated our electric use (was worried about the cost of hot water on electriv boiler thing) but it seems to be OK if I added it all up right. How much do you all pay monthly for electic? We had a 600 odd euro Nachzahlung for the old flat so I was worried but seems as if it'll be around 65 to 70 euro per month here.