Any english speaking mum´s in Germany

[chrissi1]

I live in the Wiebaden/ Mainz Area and like to meet up with english speaking mum´s.My son´s 4 1/2

Hi again.
I´ve got a question!!
Does ds with his 5 yrs have to pay for a brit rail ticket??
I looked at the website.They did´nt asked for children etc.Only Adults.
I think he has to pay at the Stansted Express, but not in London,after 9.30am.
So I wondered if he has to pay, on my journey from Stanst. to Bury St Ed, and Bury St Ed. to London????
I think i looked everywhere but didf´nt found anything.I´m fed up now.

To answer your second question - rail companies vary but most will only charge a child rate for a 4-5 Year old. In our area a child (under 12 I think) with an adult will only be charged £1. A child under I think 2 will not be charged. The standsted Express will be different, as it is a dedicated train (we have a Gatwick Express, from Gatwick to London Victoria Station, 2 stops,) and children will pay more. Use a regional train if you can. I will look up which train company you will be on. You are flying to Stansted? Your holiday sounds great, it's nice to meet up with old frriends and go back to places you knew before.
Your first question - we don't really say 'I also', we would be more likely to say 'me too.' 'I would like to go too'. 'Also' is generally more likely to be written down, than spoken. It's not wrong, (some people may say 'I also want to go' but it 'feels' wrong. 'Ich auch' is right, but would you say 'mich auch' oder 'Wir auch'?

My dh goes to munich tomorrow and not back until tuesday, so I will ask him to get me a GALA. I haven't seen that one, I am still going through the BILD I bought, about the Oscars. All the gossip is so old by now!

Hi
thank you !
I was not in London for 5 years.
Unbeliveable.Never been so long away,since I first went to London in 1990.
There were times I came over every 3 month.Later I went at least once a year.
Everytime in spring I got homesick,as it is my favourite time in England.
Ok I went to suffolk but it´s not the same.
For me it´s a bit like comming home.

Thank you for the I also explanation!
Thats the reason I never learned to say it,as you say you don´t speak it.
it felt wrong to say for me.
I only hear`ed the children at playgroup say it and wondered.
There are some words I dont use as I did´nt learned them.Only later in a book I come across them but then I´m reluctant to use them.
Do you know what I mean?
Maybe saying I also is a american thing to say..
Luckyly you´ve got a husband who goes to Germany from time to time.
Maybe you even find a website where you can order German mags?
I found one for engl.I send them a mail and payed but they did´nt send anything,until last week they called me to say it takes longer as they have to order my parenting mag especially for me.So I´m very happy it worked out,as you can´t get parenting mags here.

Is't strange, sure, to have some words that are usually only written. 'Also' is def. one of them. Sometimes on the radio or TV you can tell if a person is 'reading' something out loud, as the language is slightly different. We wouldn't say 'I also want to go', we are more likely to say 'I wanna go too'! but it is unlikely to be written down like that! Even tho it means the same thing.
In Arabic the written language is so 'Pure' that things like TV or telephone don't exist in the written form. If you want to write about a telephone (or anything which was not around at the invention of the language)you have to write something like 'the speaking machine'.
DH has gone off now, so we are left here again, until tuesday. School tomorrow, so I must go and sort out the uniform...and I have 3 of them now wanting a packed lunch, (ds2 was eating hot school dinners before) and I have no fruit, no bread, no crisps in the house.

School uniforms,I like the idea but then you have to have it always ready in case ds gets himself dirty.I don´t like that.
Here they thought about uniforms but that was it.I think Germany is a bit affraid that the Germans and other coutries say : It looks after militarism .Uniforms.....
Very iteresting what you wrote about the Arabic language. Sorry forgot to answer your question.
Yes you say, Wir auch.
Wenn jemad sagt, :` Will jemand Brötchen und jemand sagt ,ja bring mir welche mit,(und Du willst auch welche),dann kannst Du sagen mir auch.a bit complicated.
Have to go to work.
So wenn jemand sagt bring mir ....,dann kannst Du sagen mir auch,weil jemand ja schon mir gesagt hat.Dehalb auch.

Yes school uniforms - we have about 3 changes of them, in case they get dirty, but I have 2 boys in the same school now, so at least they get handed down. The uniform is just a school-blue sweatshirt with shirt and tie, but my eldest has to wear shirt, tie and black jacket. Most schools here have a uniform, even if it is just the same colour jumper. At least I know that there is somethingclean that they will wear in the morning!
Oh so you do say mir auch? It sounds wrong to me!
Anyway, I looked up the train companies for East Anglia (that's the area Suffolk is in) and there are 3 I think; NationalExpress, FirstCapitalConnect and EastMidlands. You can look them up with .co .uk on the end. I looked up fares for NatioanlExpress, and 1 adult from stansted to Bury St Edmunds is (single, ie oneway) about £14.50, Return is £16.50. Children are from age 5-15, so I'm not sure if Owen would pay.
Stansted express goes only from stansted to london, one stop I think. Unfortunately you can't book more than 3 months in advance.
I have the same problem trying to get back from Amsterdam after our holiday. I don't want to fly, even tho we are staying right by Schipol airport and can fly straight home to Gatwick. We could take the ferry from Hook of Holland to Harwich, and then train, but that would take about 18 hours! So I am trying to find a price for the Eurostar, going from Amsterdam to Brussels, and then eurostar to london and down to gatwick, but this is about twice the price of Easyjet to gatwick! I am trying to be 'green' and go the least polluting way, but it is not easy!

Hi my parents went with Eurostar and got a good price,but as you take different routes...
thank you for lookig up.
what I saw at the net was about the same,16 Pound.I still got my old ticket fron 2 yrs ago.Though it was a savers return,for 8 Pound.Unbeliv.that you have to pay the double for way.

Hi
I visit my parents today and stay til Sunday.
O Saturday I have a class reunion.20 years!!!
That´s a point you start to think ohhh,Am I
realy that old ?????
I got my hols changed,so it´s August now!!
31 July til 6th of August in BSE and 6th - 11th August in London.
Do you say thirtyfirst of July??? It feels better than , thirtyone of July.( Thirtyone sounds odd)

Def thirty-first. And then thirty-second, thirty-third etc. Hope you have a lovely time at your parents. The last school re-union i went to was 24 years! And everyone looked exactly the same! What was strange was the way the school felt(it was held in the school, in the main hall) - I think I had forgotten so much of the building, but other bits were so clear! And yes, I did feel old!
DH came back from Munich via Hanover; I remember having my teeth out in Hanover Military hospital. I would have been about 10. Anyway, he brought me a GALA and a Bunte! I remember mum reading Bunte. There is a article, and photos of Albert (of Monaco) and his girlfriend Charlene ...and I quote 'Charlene flirtet ihren Albert an, wie das so nur Blondinen tun'. Does that really say sh flirts as only a blonde can? As a brunette I am offended! (But she is very blonde)
And I am amazed that you have Wayne Rooney as a 'celebrity' over there! He isn't even that celebrated in England. And Barbara Becker! She is only famous because she married Boris! You can tell I don't read the gossip magazines in this country, can't you?

Hi
Back from Erfurt.
You are right, they realy looked the same!!
Well kind of.I certainly would have walked past some of them,but if you´re confronted with them you know!
The funniest thing of all was,that my best schoolfriend went to two concerts in the Town I live now I did´nt know.Another one said , you live in Eltville ,it´s nice to walk the promenade along the Rhine! I was gobsmacked and asked how do you know? She said, because somtimes I take a walk there with my children.Unbeliveable.She even asked me if I know someone who does private daycare.It was a bit as beeing in Eltville instead of Erfurt.About half of us are in Hessen!The other half stayed in Erfurt.
urrhh Poor you, tooth extractions....
We had a schooldentist.He had a room in the school and he cared for all pupils in my and nearby schools.The tricky thing was ,as if by magic the dentist appeared while you had a subject,then he called out a name.You had no choice you had to go.It was okish if he came in maths.Though thanks to him I had a yearlong prob. with dentists.Injections?? Phah what for.Ice spray maybe if it was realy bad.

Perfect translation,youre right.blondes are always something better.did´nt you know? Esp.the ones with the loooong wavey hair.
I´m dark blond by the way, but redish at the moment matches better with my green eyes
.
Tell you what
We get the IN clothes from England 1-2 years later .
We get toys from Eng.1-2 years later.
The same with cooking,gardening,DIY-shows,tv children storys,( it took postman pat about 20 yrs to grab a plane and come over)
So in the meantime, we have only Wayne Rooney,Barbara Becker or prince August, until some of your English celebs come over!!!!In two or three years, well they might even take 20 yrs liks Pstm. Pat !!

Indeed it looks like you read German mags and don´t just make it up!!!!!!!!!!!

uhoh ,no I did´nt mutated into a teletubby but realized how late it is.Should be tucked up in bed and fast asleep.

Help,Help!

Have to tell children at playgroup something about creatures in the Garden.Hope you can say creatures.I´m sure animals is wrong.What I mean is I ask them what lives in a back,front garden.Beetles flys ,lice,dragonfl.These are insects but what are slugs,snails,earthworms,roaches.....
Ich will sie fragen welche kleinen Tiere kennt Ihr.Igel,Maus währe auch nicht verkehrt.Ich brauche den Überbegriff,für alles.jemand sagte creatures sind nur grosse Tiere,das ist glaub ich falsh-I remember from church something like All Gods creatures big and small. Can´t look at my thesaurus thats why I thought I ask you

All creatures great and small - from the bible. Ok, so, (earth)worm is wurm. slug is nacktschnecke, snail is schnecke. bee = biene.beetle = Kaefe (umlauted a) fly = fliege. dragonfly = libelle. wasp =wespe. Animals;- hedgehog i think is spackleswein? Fox, Fuchs. Birds, = Vogel? Rabbits kanninschen.
Flies/beetles etc are insects, worms, slugs etc are invertebrates (literally, without a backbone). Animals you can say, or creatures, for everything that is not a plant, but normally would mean things like foxes, dogs etc.
I hope this helps, and is in time! I didn;t log on yesterday at all, because I had a carpenter and 2 plumbers here!

Hey you got the teletubbies then? My ds2 loved them. I'm a bit out of touch with childrens tv but I rememeber lala, po, dipsy and tinky-winky. My favourite was lala, cos he is green. I am assuming you have the same names for them?

I am stunned at how similar we are, chrissi. I have the same name as you (near enough, my name is Christine but I get called Chris by most people), we both have an Owen, we both like languages and art, I have reddish-brown hair (natural, I would like to point out!) and green eyes! You like england and live in germany, I like germany and live in england!
How weird is that?

BTW there is a really good translation site, (babelfish . altavista. com/ tr, without the spaces) where you can put in your words and it (normally) comes up with a pretty good traslation. I use it all the time!

It´s spooky!!!!
Wahey,another WOMAN, who´s called Chris!
Unbeliveable.I know it´s a man´s name, so people asume I´m a man.Like mailorder etc.My ex engl. boyfriend gave it to me,because it was too difficult to say Christiane.
Allone that you´r son is called Owen was very odd.Though it´s a known name in England....
I´ve got green eyes with yellow,orange parks in it,very tiny though.
Earthworm is Regenwurm, the one that comes up if it´s raining.
Wurm is worm.
Beetle- Keafer
Hedgehog is Igel ( it would be Stachelschwein)( Stacheln- spikes)
Birds- Voegel Bird - Vogel
Kaninchen!
I think i go for creepy crawlies how´s that??

I can see that you watched telitubs long ago.Lala is the yello one ,the only girl in town.Dipsy is green, po is pink and tinky winky is purple.
ds loved then too of course!
We have them in Germany, with the same names and the same babytalk.Though we mostly watched english DVD- Tubbies. This had a sideeffect on my.After some time i walked throu the flat singing lalalala.
No honest, after some time you wish for booh or noddy,anything realy,as long as it´s not teltubs.
Christine I don´t belive that!!

Sideeffect on my...On me of course.
sorry for the yellow without w and then istead of them

Creepy Crawlies is a good one - includes all the insects and spiders and earwigs. Don't like spiders, but I am ok with the others! So did you tell the children at playschool - in english? Gosh they start early in germany. What a good idea. Though we do get lots of French input - songs, numbers, colours in french quite early.

Yes of course, lala is yellow - it was dipsy I like. The green one. It has been a long time, ds2 loved them, but he is 11 now!

I knwo what you mean about people thinking I am male - though I met a man the other day whose name is also chris. Short for Christopher, I suppose. I think my name in german would be pronounced christina? I dont like that, it gets shortened to Tina.

People call me Christine Christina Christiana Christa......And so on.I tell them I don´t mind I listen to anything that starts with a Chris!
No as it says ,ChristinE with a E like in Apfelsine!,or e in extasy!( don´t know where that word came from it just sprang to my mind.)
If it would be Christina you use a long A.
No it was not at playschool.they have minders or teachers to do that it was Playgoup,or as we now call us English Explorersas they´re not in playgroup age anymore.They´re in Owens age now, one is 7yrs.then there are the siblings.As most of them have 3 kids it´s all ages.Only the children like ds are a special group as they don´t like to sing and craft everytime.
It went quite well, so said Heather ,another mother who helped me prepare.Of course I spoke english.No German allowed!!
First I asked them which creepy crawlys they know .As Americans don´t know what creepy crawlies are I also said creatures.They started talking and after some time I had to stop them,so that we had time for the snailrace!They screamed for joy( at least it sounded like it)They cept asking me are they real are they real??
I had 5 huge snails and Owen´s won!
I used a realy big pictureframe. It usualy hangs in the kitchen, I just needede a big glass. Dh says i´m crazy but as I always say better crazy than dull !

Our kindergarden was against english in kindergarden.They say unless you do it regulary it´s no use.

Another question for you. Can you say panty,as in underpants??
The otherday Owen did´nt found the German word for Unterhose and instead of pants he said panty.I´m sure you can say panty but started to wonder and looked it up in my thesaurus but could´nt find it.

Chrissi that sounds fab! What a great way to get the dc involved with the animal world. Where did you get giant snails? Where they real? I know you can get really big ones, African Land Snails they are called, and they are about 30 cm long. Americans don't know creepy crawlies? I live near a town called Crawley and it is always called creepy Crawley! It is horrible there tho, i don't really like it much. And of course it's a good idea to use Engllish as eearly and as ofter as poss, Owen has a great advantage there. The kindergarten is wrong! And the earlier the dc are exposed to the different sounds we have in english (th, j, w etc) the better. I think I've said before that the sound o-umlaut is a really difficult one for our ears, I can't hear the difference between that and O. And I think to our ears chistinE (short E) sounds very like christina.

Panties is another name for Girls pants (knickers) - it's not usually used for boys pants. Although Americans also have pantyhose, which is tights,(strumpfhose)! There are lots of slang words for pants (keks, skimpies, trolleys) - more even than I can think of!

Better he´s not saying pantys again,especially when he´s grown up, or people think he´s wearing girls undies.

Yes the snails were real!!
They were big but not 30cm.I´m sure then they would have screamed not of joy but........
The house was about 5,all in one9 cm.I found them in our front garden.In the back garden live only slugs.
I heard of Crawley, I just wonder why??
The Americans would say bugs for creepy crawlys.
Christine/a
It sounds similar of course.My classmates have mostly Scandinavian names that I hardly hear in the west part of Germany,like Gunnar,Hendrik,Annegret,Lars...
Christiane and Christina/ e are out of fashion now.I think here the popular girlsname is, Maria, since ages.
I booked flight and Hotel in August.I´m happy it´s all done now.I waited a bit too long with the Hotel.One week earlyer and they would´nt have put the prices up ( 45 pounds).

It's been a long weekend here, we had the monday off for May Day (first monday in may) - a spring holiday. We went up to the park with our next-door neighbours, playing Rounders (A game a bit like american Baseball), there were about 50 of us, in 4 teams. I was team captain of Team 1 and we lost to everyone! It was soooo hot and sunny, I got a bit sunburned, for the first time this year. My arm really aches now, from the throwing and batting. Good fun though.

Back to normal today, but it is still really hot, and supposed to be for the whole week.

My dh has booked me a weekend in Zurich; never been there, but Mum laughed when I told her, she says I will never understand Swiss German. Is it really different? Will they understand me? I don't know when I am going yet, but hopefully it will be this month. I am hoping my sister will come with me, it was her birthday in April and I didn't get her any present, so a weekend away will have to do!

First of May is a bankholiday too in Germany !Though the 1th was´nt that good we had fantastic weather ever since .Hot and sunny.ds went in t-shirt today first time.About 26-27 °c.
Never heared of rounders but you never learn out.
I thought You´re in Munich, thought lucky you ,you have nice weather here and can spent a day at the English Garden.
I´m not so fond of Munich or the Bavarians but I would like to see the English Garden!!

I´ve been to Zurich on the way back from France, but only short.I can´t swear it was Zurich ,there was a big lake.
You better belive your mum.If they speak real schitzerdeutsch you understand perhaps 1 %, maybe more depending at the area.As you prob know they have German speaking,french italian and retoroman speaking parts.
I think Zurich is in the German part .
Though they can,like the dutch,speak German that you can understand,If they care to do so.
Germans are not liked in Switzerland .I don´t speak of experience but I saw a few reports about Switzerland and Germany.They think Germans wear their noses up and are arrogant!!Well,some do,but I supp. swiss people also behave like that.
so you can try and speak German and maybe you´re lucky and they anwer back in understanable German.The 2 days we stayed there they were nice and I can´t say anything against them.
Hope you have a nice time.

Errr - chrissi - I'm not in Munich! I'm in the south of england! Who are you thinking of? I have been to munich, last december, and we walked in the English gardens (right next to the hotel!) - they are lovely, you are right. There is a christmas marekt in part of it.
Well, I am not going to Zurich until about september, I could go in August, but I think it may be too hot there then. And the hotels are booked up for june, (some football matches, I think) so august is the earliest, after our holiday. You say there are retoroman speaking parts - what is retoroman? I've never heard of it!

It is sooooooo hot here today, has been for a few days now. I went to London yesterday and it was about 28C. It is slightly windy today, so not as bad, but I must go and sit out in it, as it is supposed to rain again next week!

Hi I know you´re in Gatwick .Only some time ago you said your husband might have to go to Munich in May and you might go with him.
My mistake.
This fantastic summer weather gave me a sore throat and flulike symt.
It got worse for ds.
Last summer i stayed at my parents and Owen got stung from,Í dont know what.
it started as a red spot and became a blister.Overnight his right face got so swollen that he couldn´t open his right eye .Went to a doctor and got antiallergic liquid.Only 5 days later,back home his left side got swollen and he coul´nt open his left eye.We went to A&E,as it was weekend.Grass midges ( hope thats right)were the cause.
this year only a week into the nice weather,friday exactly he got stung 3 times in his left cheek.I gave him the liquid ,as it started to swell.The next day he got stung 3 times on his right cheek...next day,overnight his face was swollen again,as something stung him in his eyelid at night.
We don´t even have summer.I ask myself where will it end.
I went to the doc to get more liquid and asked him about immunisation,but he said it´s only for bees and Bremsen( dont´know the word,they fly aound horses,horse flys?)
He obviously is allergic against the insect spit and you can do nothing.
Though we have a appointment with our dermatologist in 2 weeks.
Only he´s supposed to go to the forrest next week,for a whole week.
I got him immunised against chicken pox but now he looks like he´s got them.

Rätoroman,with ä, my mistake.
Rätoroman is a dialect spoken from people from Graubünden,Südtirol and Friaul.I dont think I could understand!

Hi Chrissi - sorry i havent' been on much, there's been a lot going on here, not all of it good. Anyway...
That sounds scary, Owens reaction to insects! i haven't heard of being so allergic, it doesn't sound good, as the allergy will only get worse the more he is exposed to it. Is this the first time it's happened? Maybe he will need anti-histamine tablets, as the reaction seems really severe? Good luck with the dermatologist. I get hayfever, a reaction to grass in the summer, and have to take tablets, otherwise my eyes itch and I sneeze a lot. But allergies to insects can be serious. I hope he can still do his forest thing.
Diese woche hat ds2 urlaub mit ihr Klasse von Schule, nach der Isle of Wight (?). Das ist ein insel im sud-england, ganz klein aber sehr huebsch, viele Strand. Er kommt zuruck Freitag. Es ist schoenes wetter, at least.

The schools are on holiday again next week, so we are going away as a family - we are flying to Iceland for a few days on sunday. I've never been there, but I am interested to go and see the lagoons and geysers!

Iceland!
Wow.A fried once went there camping and said it was great.
Is it isle of wight,or is it Isle of Man where you can´t drive with cars?? Isle of Man I think.
Nice to do a schooltrip there .Hier machen die Schulen Trips ins Ausland,ski fahren in Österreich ,Trips nach Italien.Das kann sehr teuer werden,erst recht für Familien mit 2 oder mehr Kindern.
Am 6.-20.Juni fahren wir in die Türkei.In unser altes Hotel.Warscheinlich das letzte mal,weil es 300 Euro teurer geworden ist.Sehr schade weil es sehr sauber und gut war,super Strand etc.

Can you tell me wich sells cheaper food/things, Tesco´s or Sainsbury´s.I think it´s Tesco but I´m not sure.

his forrest days are over til September.I bought something for Zecken (ticks,habe ein neues Wort gelernt!)and gnats.(all the Amerikans say Mosquitos, but is´nt it tropical.What do you say)
Anyway I bought a spray.It´ll last 6 hours but for gnat protection it´s every 2 hours.It worked as he got no stings yet,but the weather is cooler now.About 17 °C .
Maybe he needs the tablets.I think the docs don´t like him to take medicin regulary that early,thats why we use the sirup,but wait and see.Last year was the first time. We´ve been to Turkey two times before last year and there he got stings that became scars ( on his legs,still there).I´ve got the feeling that might have been the trigger.
You still can see his stings on the cheek.Hope they don´t become scars.I tell you what the doc says.I´m curious.
Heuschnupfen ,Ich bin froh das ich das nicht habe!!Das muss schrecklich sein.