Fruehlingszeit in the German Corner - chat continues here

[SSSandy2]

"Deutsch or English
Native speakers, expats, anyone
From Brezeln to Bier

Please don't ask if you join in, everyone is welcome "

[SSSandy2]

bero, come over to the new continuation thread - created by great popular request
Admylin mentioned you were under a lot of stress. What's up?

[admylin]

Do you think this is going to last and we're going to have a long hot summer again? I've just been looking at sandles online and I can't find any I like.

Did you go and vote for/against Tempelhof yesterday SSSandy/Berolina? A mum at school worked in the voting office and was SOOOO sure that it would be a positive outcome.

[thequietone]

Morning all. Isn't it glorious weather? Got a tan after renting a boat on Starnberg See yesterday. BBQ this weekend? Can anyone tell me what's with the 3 day week this week?

[berolina]

Nobody sent me a voting card dh got one and intended to vote no, but forgot.

Oh, just a bit out of sorts, having a where-do-we-go-from-here-and-what-am-I-doing-here -anyway escapade, plus the marital sea is a little choppy atm.

[SSSandy2]

hi admylin, hope it is a long summer but not excruciatingly hot. I find hot summers in the city uncomfortable - but rather that than long winters, eh?

I'm not fussed about Tempelhof one way or the other really. I don't know if Berlin really needs all the airports it has.

Thequietone, how are things with the baby? Thursday is a public holiday 1st May and Friday is a "Brueckentag" so that you get a long weekend Thursday-Sunday.

[berolina]

Escapade? Episode! Oh, that was glorious.

Nothinglike a good laugh at oneself to cheer one up. Escapade.

[admylin]

It's the great German Erfindung of Brückenfeiertag or something like that isn't it? 1st of May is a bank holiday and as it's on Thursday they all take the friday off too! My 2 dc are over the moon at the idea of only 3 days at school! I've warned them though - Friday is going to be spent on shoe shopping for summer!

[berolina]

Brückentag is jzust as well this year, as we lose a holiday as 1. Mai and Himmelfahrt fall on the samwe day. Stone-throwing wannabe Autonomen and drunken groups of men

[SSSandy2]

That doesn't sound great bero, hate those shake-up periods even if they do good in the long run sometimes. How are the boys?

This is my third day feeling all headachey and achey generally. Moan, mumble, sigh and all this glorious weather I am missing out on. Dd is off sick today too. Hopefully we're up and running normally again tomorrow.

[SSSandy2]

Quite fancy an escapade myself come to think of it.

What's with this ripping up cobble-stones and smashing cars on the 1st May? I just never saw any point in it.

[thequietone]

Urgh...baby is a nightmare atm. Unbearably windy at night and I just can't ease it for him. Onto my 4th night of no sleep now. Apart from that, he's ace!

So glad for the 3 day week. Time for some decent family time together. DH is ALWAYS away...

[SSSandy2]

You poor thing, coming over to Germany for two years only to find your dh is OUT of Germany all week! It's dire when they are small isn't it and you don't get enough sleep. Very badly thought out by mother nature if you ask me. Makes you suspect she is actually a HE in fact

Dd was full of wind too. Dh used to sling her under his arm and march about with her like a rolled up newspaper tucked under one arm. She'd be looking face down at the floor and was quite IMMEDIATELY. Dunno how that worked, maybe just the fascination of looking at the floor moving took her mind of things or that position truly did relieve her?

[SSSandy2]

"quiet" not "quite" sorry

[admylin]

Isn't it a strange tradition with 1st of may? No idea where it comes from but in the south of Germany it was alot more extreme than here - the next day the village would be covered in unrolled toilet paper, our car was sprayed with shaving foam and general mess every where. Never had that here in Berlin though, there's probably too many security cameras around our way so they wouldn't dare!

[SSSandy2]

It seems to be restricted to certain areas here though admylin. I mean they don't do it in Grünewald - although it might make more sense too. Generally it is the small shopkeepers and residents with cars in parts of Kreuzberg who get their property damaged. Apparently they get a lot of vandalism tourists who come over to Berlin just to take part.

[finknottle]

Do you know, berolina, I thought we were missing a holiday and couldn't figure out why. Serves me right, we usually have Harry Potter calendars and this year we have a Doctor Who one which is great for alien species but not for German Feiertage!

Nice thread, Sandy

We get lots of witchy things on April 30th, the children love it, dancing round a bonfire etc. Then on May 1st, Weinschorle and beer at the marketplace. I just cannot wait till the long weekend, am a great fan of "Brueckentage"

[finknottle]

Being Freudian, berolina, I would say you need time off, an escape indeed...

[SSSandy2]

Yep fine thing the Brueckentag.

Why do you have a lot of witchy things on April 30th finks? Is that Walpurgisnacht or something?

[admylin]

We only have foreign calendars at home and some mornings when we're ready early and set off to school and I don't see any other school children walking by - I think oh no have I missed a bank holiday again - I did this in the south of Germany once and we turned up outside ds's school to find it desolate and empty all because I had a calendar from abroad with no German Feiertage!

Integration is the key, only German radio and news then you know waht's going on!

[SSSandy2]

we only have foreign calenders here too come to think of it but I keep a beady eye on the school website for days off, days you can pick up early etc etc

[finknottle]

Can't do without Doctor Who, integration or not
I always enjoy marking the May holidays on the calendar as there are so many but I hadn't noticed it was Himmelfahrt missing. I don't notice so much what holiday it is, I just think, brilliant, no school or kindergarten, no snack boxes, no homework!

[finknottle]

SSSandy, have emailed you

[admylin]

I was so ashamed of living in my British bubble, everyone critisises Turkish citizens here for not integrating and I found myself to be doing exactly the same. That's partly because dh isn't German either so I think I would have been better at it if I'd have married a real German and not just a German passport German! Anyway after that I did start learning more German and going to a German play group for foreign dc etc.

[hupa]

I spent all weekend gardening and can now hardly move. A sign of getting older I think.

Dh is off to Berlin for the long weekend to meet up with his university friends. I just hope the weather stays fine, so I get out with the children while he´s away.

I´ve never even heard of the vandalism associated with 1st May - it´s obviously not a tradition that´s made it to Nordhessen.

[SSSandy2]

Thanks finks, I've mailed you back

Hupa, surely the good weather is here to stay now! I hope so anyway

I don't know about the value of integration so much these days admylin. It's a term that is always bandied about so much when the topic is immigration. I always used to assume integration was the key, nowadays I'm not sure, people are often very much happier co-existiong in parallel communities