We have been in Berlin now for 7 month and i think its fair to say that we have finally settled down. A few more friends would make this place ideal, but all in good time I guess.
We have fought our way through the German paper war fare as best as we could, here you need to fill out forms and get them signed so you can fill out other forms that you can take with you to show someone else and so on …….. Looking for a flat and a school have been the hardest thing since Germany likes security and our family really cannot be described as secure German citizens . To us we are very secure and trustworthy but not in German standards.
After 4 month of looking for a flat of our own, we finally found someone that only wanted tenants short term (that means 4 years in Germany) and that had been living overseas themselves and therefore understood our struggle and frustration, combined with our lack of documents that every German landlord wanted. ….. So after what seemed eternity we moved into our new apartment that already came equipped with all the white goods and a couple of beds, perfect for the nomadic family that we had become. Waded down with a pocket full of cash we decided to make ikea our new friend since it was cheap , a 1 stop shop with ok furniture. Can you imagine of moving to a new place and realising that you have to buy everything and I mean everything? We tried the second hand purchase but it turned out to be more expensive and far more time consuming than it would have been in Australia. We also didn’t feel to lug everything up 6 flights of stairs by ourselves.
A big thank you goes out to Jochen and Wolfgang for helping us out in the beginning and supporting us with a flat and a car that we could use. To be honest we would not have stayed and persevered with settling here in Berlin if we didn’t have these guys help.
Richard being the Australian( kids have dual citizenship) managed to receive a 3 year residential visa without any problem, so for now we are here and the kids are mostly liking it. Sometimes i have little waves of guilt of dragging my children around the world and making them settle in a new country and other times I know that it was the right thing to do and you never get anything without a bit of hardship. Ayesha is on a major rollercoaster ride at the moment, friends come and go for her daily but i guess that comes with being in a new country and finding her place. Orlando loves it but he is so tired at the end of the day. School starts at 8.30 and finishes at 3 than we add travel time to and from school and the poor kids are out almost as long as a working adult. So our weekends are very relaxed and there is always a mountain of stuff to do in this city.
Life in Berlin after 2 years of travel !! May 2012