Forms, forms, forms

Meißen, 9th of October

Blinding sunshine is coming through our curtainless window ... this is wonderful! We haven't got time to enjoy it for very long, for the caretaker and two men have come to fix blinds for our huge lounge French windows. I am just about to bite into my toast when the phone rings. It is das Schulamt, the education authority for Saxony announcing quite bluntly that unless they receive forms 356/98b and 555/987a, b and c by this afternoon, they will not pay me this month! So I spend my first morning rushing to die Krankenversicherung, health insurance office, and bank. With the help of Marion, my colleague's German wife, I beat the German administration to its own deadline!

Personal freedom

In the afternoon, we find a glorious lake where we can swim and we have to pinch ourselves that this is not a holiday destination but our new home region! We also discover with some surprise the popularity of FKK, short for die Freikörperkultur, lit. "free body culture" or - nudism. An East German friend of ours explains that FKK was a way to express freedom from restrictions imposed by the state under the GDR regime.

Forms, forms, forms but no furniture

Every citizen in Germany moving to a new town must do eine Anmeldung, a registration, at das Einwohnermeldeamt, the registration office. It is important to get your tax card and code. We give the lady there a beaming smile as she hands over die Anmeldebestätigung, proof of registration. That smile quickly fades when we understand that we have to take this form to die Ausländerbehörde, office for foreigners, in order to apply for eine Aufenthaltserlaubnis für Angehörige eines Mitgliedstaates der EU, the residence permit for EU citizens. Then comes the news from our removal company that our belongings will not be arriving on the arranged day after all because ... they have left them in Liverpool! They eventually turn up a week later and I shall not waste time describing the anger, frustration and entire register of swear words I have used up in French and English.

Back to school

With the background of the biggest heat wave central Europe has experienced for 50 years, I start work at das Sächsische Landesgymnasium für Hochbegabte, Saxonian state grammar school for highly gifted students. Ein Gymnasium is a secondary school where children study to das Abitur, A level, and is similar to a grammar school in the UK since the German education system is very selective at the end of the primary cycle. The school where I am now working is special in that all its students are hochbegabt, highly gifted, in several subjects. All are boarders. It is also a state school, which is unusual in a boarding school. It starts smoothly with an INSET during which a brilliant Frau Doktor from Vienna leads fascinating workshops on psychology and relationships in a boarding environment ... but some of the other workshops are agonisingly long, especially when you have to sit quietly for two hours only understanding half of what was said. Students arrive in a few days and I can't wait to teach.

Sent by: Frederic

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