Germany?

[Saphira]

DH just came home !!

Yay! Where was he?

 

[SarahDiener]

China! For a week :O I was a bit paranoid that I was going to go into labour...

 

[Saphira]

China! For a week :O I was a bit paranoid that I was going to go into labour...

Wow, nice! Work related? The chances of going into labor at 34w are slim but I understand how you must have felt. Hopefully he'll be staying put the next 2 months at least!

 

[morri]

my oh also has to go to china in october too ...
Weekends been good enough, today I was for breakfast at my mother's place where also my sister and her kids and hubby were. They also brought three pampers boxes worth of baby clothes that I can look through (sizes 50 to 68)
They went on to a erntedankfest parade in a village in the sticks, which i didnt feel like going to(llots of standing) but I may go to the ones next week with my oh. (which are closer by)
I was out by bus this time, and although it was a pleasant temperature theoretically I sat at the bustop for about 30 minutes, and the sun shone straight into the bus hide so that was quite warm actually .( the bus line outside my place runs every ten mins, but this line only runs every 40 mns on a sunday...)

 

[SarahDiener]

Yeah, work related, had a conference. I know the chances are slim, but it's mostly because being in germany it would kind of be a disaster if t did happen I'm not close to anyone enough to take them in with me, so I'd basically be on my own .

Where is he going in China?

I hate taking the bus . Everyone in Germany glares at me as well....
Good that you had a nice time with ur family

 

[morri]

I think taking the bus here is very good, because I haven't got a drivers license, but I still have my students ticket Why do you think every one glares at you? I am sure they don't and if they do ignore them .


He is going to shanghai area-- sometimes he is in guanzhou(sp?) and last time I think he was in Pudong.

 

[Saphira]

3 Pampers boxes worth of clothes! Lucky you morri! We had to start from scratch because we were the first in both of our families to have kids of my sisters, his brothers/sister and all our cousins!

What do both of your husbands do Sarah and morri?

Yes, and crazy things like that always happen at the worst of times Sarah. :/ I would have been semi-freaked out too!

Oh, the infamous "German stare" as I always called it. I'm quite familiar with it especially when my mouth opens and English comes out - add a pregnant tummy to the mix and you've got yourself a real stare fest. To be honest, I haven't noticed it for a while though. I guess I've been officially Germanized haha! I think it's a semi cultural thing because I know in the U.S. it's considered rude. My mom always told me as a child not to stare so I grew up with that in mind. My husband's telling me he was also told as a child not to stare so I have no idea, maybe it's not a cultural thing after all.. At least it doesn't really faze me anymore like it used to.

 

[morri]

Haha, Oh and I are always speaking English too, but I guess i am too German to notice anything like that
The boxes, are still subject to sorting though, as My sister has 2 boys, so I am not going to get the stuff which says boy too obviously . (i don't mind dark blue stuff and hope there are some neutral colours too in there, I prefer neutral colours(like green or yellow) most . )

My oh is working as a Fleet superintendent in a 3rd party ship management company, which means that every now and then he has to go out and check up on ships(like dry dock) or like this ship he is at atm, it has problems and he has to go and check them out and step on the toes of the suppliers, and engineers etc.

 

[Saphira]

Haha, Oh and I are always speaking English too, but I guess i am too German to notice anything like that
The boxes, are still subject to sorting though, as My sister has 2 boys, so I am not going to get the stuff which says boy too obviously . (i don't mind dark blue stuff and hope there are some neutral colours too in there, I prefer neutral colours(like green or yellow) most . )

My oh is working as a Fleet superintendent in a 3rd party ship management company, which means that every now and then he has to go out and check up on ships(like dry dock) or like this ship he is at atm, it has problems and he has to go and check them out and step on the toes of the suppliers, and engineers etc.

Yes morri, you're too German to notice that! I think a lot of the extremity has to do with where in Germany you live. In cities like Berlin or Munich no one pays much attention. If you live in a smaller city like Augsburg though people don't hear English much and tend to stare more as a result. Probably the same in the middle of no where in the U.S. speaking German. So, nothing out of the ordinary when looked at that way, it just made me wonder in the beginning if I constantly had something on my face or my jeans are open or something!

How often a month is he away morri or does it vary? He must have seen lots from the world with such a job!

 

[morri]

Well I am living in the second biggest city in germany
It is very cosmopolitan and youll hear plenty of languages (like the first 5 people I heard when i went down to a street fair in Hamburg central area, were all American )
)
My oh doesnt go away every month thankfully lol. He only goes away every couple of months when it is needed. Although this year he has been away quite a lot(also due to this stupid vessel which keeps having problems) , most of the work though is done from his office.

He has seen quite a lot before though, before we met and he settled down here in germany he was a marine engineer

 

[SarahDiener]

DH was just in Guangzhou but we've been to Shanghai as well (and other places). DH is a lecturer/researcher, has a temporary professorship atm.

It's just the German way, I think people are suspicious of other people. Like, DH says they probably think you're going to talk to them if you make eye contact! I actually find a lot of people give me weird looks since pregnant! IDK if I look really young or something???? But you'd think more people would look at me with a friendly face, rather than a glarey one Obviously staring is weird, but the most noticeable thing is that when you do meet someones eye, in NZ people smile or at least just look away. Here they look back, and often look almost hostile!

Oh yeah, DH wouldn't ever notice the staring thing. It's just how you grew up . Also, our city is known for being grumpy and weird!!!

My DH doesnt go away that much... well, doesnt go away without me that much . I just thought I was a bit pregnant for China

 

[holywoodmum]

I'm jealous of your car now, we still haven't got one after 5 months... never noticed the stares on the bus thouhg... i like the bus here!

 

[Saphira]

Hamburg's the second most populated German city? Or biggest as in the area size? I didn't know that either way! I would have thought Köln is more populated, well that area anyway. I've actually never been to Hamburg before but would really like to go one day!
5 Americans at once?! I've heard Americans a few times in Augsburg but most always at the main train station so not sure if that really counts. In the outskirts, no chance really so I guess I'm special.

Sarah, a particular instance came back to me with this staring talk. A few months back, this one mom with a couple kindergarten-early elementary school aged kids really seemed to have a problem with me and my daughter for whatever reason I'll never figure out. We were all in DM minding our own business and she made it very clear there was something not pleasing her about us. I purposely ignored it and didn't think all too much of it at first, some people are just in a terrible mood after all. Moved into another aisle and she follows behind, stands nearby stopped staring in the stroller at my daughter with the meanest of looks. I thought to myself, WTH?! Who stares at a baby like that?! My thoughts went to figuring out what her problem was and I briefly thought of a few posts from various threads on this forum saying forward facing strollers aren't ideal, blah, and thought maybe that's her problem because I couldn't otherwise figure it out! I was SO ANGRY to say the least! My husband was oblivious to all of this of course. I made it clear with my stare back that I was not happy with her and proceeded to storm away. RUDE! I wish I was the type to actually ask what her problem was but I just can't do that, err.

And, I've also noticed staring doesn't end up in a smile or look away when eyes meet here. You know what you should do? Stare back with a blank face. I started doing that when I was feeling unusually confident and after a good stare down they'd usually look away. Sometimes the Germans win those matches though because I can't hold out, it's so darn awkward!

Aw, holywoodmum I know the feeling trust me! Hope you get that perfect family car soon! How's Patrick doing?

 

[dgirllamius]

I've noticed people staring. I find it so incredibly rude. I was in a shop once and this girl was literally staring at me. Not just looking for a few seconds then looking away, but full on staring for about 2 minutes. I really felt like turning round to her and asking her what her soddin' problem is. I had it when I was pregnant too, people would stare at me because I look younger than I am. When I was 25, I went to have a bra fitting and the woman asked me if I was over 16. People would stare as if I was a teenager and I even heard one woman talking about me - she was saying stuff like "kids having kids" ... I turned round and politely said "I'm 27 actually". That shut her up.

Also had some kid stare at me on the tram once...I stared back. I'm good at staring matches, so he promptly looked away

 

[Bentlee]

Well I am living in the second biggest city in germany
It is very cosmopolitan and youll hear plenty of languages (like the first 5 people I heard when i went down to a street fair in Hamburg central area, were all American )
)
My oh doesnt go away every month thankfully lol. He only goes away every couple of months when it is needed. Although this year he has been away quite a lot(also due to this stupid vessel which keeps having problems) , most of the work though is done from his office.

He has seen quite a lot before though, before we met and he settled down here in germany he was a marine engineer

lucky you! My DH is gone for at least one week each month.

I've just bought a used baby bay (hope you know what I mean) for only 25 Euros! I'm so happy since we only want to use it if Bentley or I aren't happy with him sleeping in his own room right from the beginning.

 

[SarahDiener]

Lol, yep, exactly what you ladies are saying. I sometimes stare back, but then.. I just get sick of the situation.
One lady was walking along smiling today and said hi to someone working in a fruit stand. It made me feel way better

 

[morri]

Hamburg is the second by population, and here you always count the cities and never have Hamburg on the list . Before the wall came down Hamburg was actually the biggest city in Germany .
(1.7 mio) Cologne is just one city, and the Ruhrgebiet doesnt count as entity, you can even see every other city in the Ruhrgebiet has a different Numberplate (Do for dortmund, Bo for Bochum, DD for duesseldorf, MG for Moenchengladbach. etc.pp. ) The people tend to be very proud of which part from the Ruhrgebiet they come from

Cologne is Germany's 4th biggest city with a population of just about 1 mio peeps.

Oh and when I was going to the street fair in the centre of Hamburg it was 5 people(or groups of people independently of each other. Or maybe I only noticed them because they tend to be chatting louder than anybody else .

I don't think people are suspicious, they are just curious and mind their own business , I don't know whats worse though, people looking at you or the whole bunch of people on the public transport trying not to look at each other .
I think if someone smiled at you or you smiled at them they totally would take it as a sign of making contact or even flirting , I wouldnt say that faces look grumpy, they just look neutral

on another note, I was in town today for my gyn appt and all is going alright .I only gained 1 kg the last month , and my iron is on the up again 11.7 or so) they also did a ctg and the cervix is nice and closed, and the ultrasound is also all ok. the pictures arent that prettty this time, looks like she was a bit camera shy(or just bored from the ctg )
After wards I was at the hospital to register myself there and I got an appt for the birthplan talks too .

 

[SarahDiener]

Trying to get my DH to get me an appointment at the kreißsaal too!

They offer acupuncture at the hospital for free too, I've been thinking about doing it! I've done it before with my chronic leg injury.

My iron is still low, being on 2x80mg has only kept me at 10.5, I'm not even going up :'(

 

[morri]

At least you arent going down, keeping you at a bearable level, who knows where it would be if you werent taking them.

 

[Saphira]

Nice to hear your appointment went well morri. What a big jump in iron levels compared to what it started at! Those must be some pretty darn good pills! You had an ultrasound at the appointment? Is that the third tri one or you opted for it?
Is that what those appointments are mainly about (I mean setting up one with your midwife working at the hospital you'll give birth in)? I was confused as to what it was all about. I just brought in a list of tons of questions the 2 or 3 times we went in and other than that didn't know what to say. I guess she got an idea of my wishes for the birth but of course things don't always go as planned.

Sarah, have you been eating extra iron rich food? I tried to eat a lot of broccoli in the third tri to keep my iron up.

Oh guess what?! Found an amazing deal on a Mura 3 set! So, it's the Mura frame with seat of course PLUS carrycot and the insect net/rain and snow cover for.. 180€!! It's in mint condition too, less than a year old, barely used! The cheapest Mura 3 new on Amazon is 330€ and the carrycot is 175€ so it would have easily cost 500€. We wouldn't have even gotten a carrycot considering how expensive they are for a couple month's use but if she wants to throw it in I won't complain. Could be quite nice having it! So, we'll pick it up this weekend, soooo excited! Just a bit scared she'll sell it off to someone else but she did say it's reserved for us so hoping! Yay.