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Registered as a Berliner…
I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien… I thought it would be inconvenient and complicated. Registering yourself in another country is normally a hassle and a half and it takes hours if not days. Not so in Berlin. And it is all done with a smile and a giggle. The image of German bureaucracy is people in suits. Everything must be in order. Problems are not tolerated. I could not have been more wrong. You have only one week to register yourself after arrival in Germany, otherwise you face a fine. This afternoon we popped into the local Bürgeramt (Local Registration Office), immediately received a ticket number and went into…
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Copycat
I wanna be like you… In May, my colleague laughed at me when he saw me walking around the office in Birkenstocks just after we returned from Germany. He said I was taking the whole “German thing” too far. Just because we are moving over there doesn’t mean we automatically have an excuse to wear ugly shoes. (Can I just point out at this point that he wears yellow crocs in the office…) I guess wearing sandals to work isn’t really appropriate anyway, but it is so hot! And I know the UK doesn’t really get hot for long, but it is stifling in the office without any air conditioning…
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Berlin grows on me… Part Two
Piggybacking shamelessly on Vanessa’s previous post, I thought I would take the opportunity to present a few of my initial impressions and things I learnt about Berlin from the wonderful trial week we spent there. Firstly, I would have to say that the title of this post is probably a bit misleading as Berlin didn’t need any opportunity to grow on me. I think I enjoyed the city from the very first moment I first arrived. Spending a week sampling life there and managing to discover only a tiny fraction of possibilities Berlin has to offer left me feeling very reluctant to board a plane and leave. For me, Berlin…
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Berlin grows on me…
But why should I try to resist when, baby, I know so well – I’ve got you under my skin? Last week we went to Berlin to check out the apartment and the area we will be living in. It was basically to test whether it was crazy to pick up and move to Germany to eat sausages all day without a job, or whether we should be begging our bosses to keep us on. Luckily — Berlin felt right. It was such a lovely holiday. In fact, I cannot remember the last time I felt so completely relaxed. There were sunny morning balcony breakfasts, walks in the park and dancing…