A fine day out

Monday, 28th May was another bank holiday here, the fifth in as many weeks. Although the weather on Saturday and Sunday was not particularly good holiday weather with sun but frequent, prolonged showers, at least Monday the weather seemed to be more settled and promising.

Since we had heard that Potsdam was a nice place and with mum and Bridget's arrival in less than two weeks, for a week with us, we decided that we'd better check the place out first.

We drove the 20 miles at a steady place and parked on the street in what seemed to be a deserted section of downtown Potsdam. Quiet as it was, we were in the right place and quickly found some of the sights, including a walk around the inside of the peaceful and picturesque St. Nicholai Church.

We meandered through a pedestrianised section of town, now much busier but still not crowded, browsing the sites, though as it was a holiday the 'regular' shops were closed but the touristy shops and cafes etc were all open and doing brisk business. The weather was certainly not hot (about 18 to 20C, 64 -68F) but it was quite bright and nice for walking in town. A quick refreshing tea and donut in that most German franchise.....Dunkin Donuts...and we continued onto the main Potsdam attraction of SansSoucci castle and grounds. Surprisingly, entry to the extensive grounds was free, though donations were accepted.

The grounds were very nice and we had a nice stroll round the terraces, through the trees taking in the various vistas.

The weather by now had warmed up quite a notch so we drove over to a large park and lake where we just lounged on a bench and enjoyed more tea from our ever-ready thermos flask. We spent a good while there, watching people rowing, swimming and enjoying tea on the lawn at an hotel on the opposite shore before heading back to Mahlow for our own teatime lasagne and salad, very nice.

My camera batteries are still dead so I've borrowed a few pictures from the Potsdam tourist site! Thanks for the tip, Gill!

Now we just need mum and Bridget and we can do it properly and even take some pictures of our own.

Out with the old!

On Wednesday, 23rd May, we finally received all the documentation from our friends in Wuppertal that did the conversion work on the car to bring it into line with German specs. I was keen to get to the local car registration office early on Thursday morning and get the regular license plates but on checking late Wednesday night to see what time the office opened, we discovered it was not until until 9.00am on Thursdays. The rest of the week it is 8.00am. A nine o'clock opening was too late to go directly there before work since I am usually in work by 7.30am and didn't want to take off more time than I had to. I was also not allowed to drive the car to the place, it had to be public transport which further lengthened how much time I would lose. At least on Thursday's the office is open till 6.00pm so with careful timing of buses and trains I reckoned on leaving work just 1/2 hour early and still having plenty of time to do the business.

As it turned out however I was stuck in meetings all afternoon that seriously overran their anticipated time. I didn't get out of the meeting till almost 4.45pm, way too late to make it, even by taxi, to the registration office.

So on Friday I made another attempt to go, leaving on an almost familiar routine of two trains and a 15 minute walk to get to the office at 7.40am and be third in the queue the same as when I got the five day temporary plates that had expired on Sunday 20th (hence why I could not drive the car there).

I again had to select a 'ticket' to get served, I had a choice of three tickets and chose the top button although I was not at all sure that ticket was for the service I wanted. Fortunately, it turned out an inspired correct choice.

My number was soon displayed and I went to the correct station to be served by a young girl who was obviously being trained in the job as she had an older women sitting the other side of her checking and advising. I was so grateful as I came out with that well known phrase 'nitch spracke Deutsch, spracken sie English?'!!

She replied, in good English, that she would try and she was not quite, but close to, fluent in English, phew!

After lots of data entry and a few (English) questions, my license plates were authorised. I went out of the office to the 'shop next door' to get them made, then it was back into the office to pay the fees, another strange procedure but at least now I had my new plates in my hand. A quick walk back to the railway station and, presto, today there is a taxi looking for a passenger. I take the taxi and in fifteen short minutes he drops me at work.

The English speaking clerk and the taxi were answers to prayer today. Last time I went to the office to get the temporary plates I took the train to Rangsdorf then had a 3o minute walk to work across fields. Friday was warmer and no day for walking the fields in sun on the way to work if I was to arrive sweat free!

So it was out with the (five day) old plates and on with the new plates.

Now the plates are on the car and we can easily assimilate into the rest of Berlin traffic without drawing attention with our USA plates. We did get personalised plates, though only enough to get UK in the middle to get a hint of our origins.

No doubt I will put a picture of the new plates here at some point but my camera batteries are dead at the moment.

Welcome home....the long way round

On Tuesday 15th May we discovered that we might be able to get a temporary car license plate, so I got home from work, called Direct Line who emailed me the necessary form although, with some experience of German bureaucracy, I was still a little dubious about our success. Early the next morning I went to the car registration place and...hey presto....they gave me a license plate valid for five days, oh ye of little faith.
So at short notice we booked a train to pick up the car in Wuppertal and decided, that since we were more than halfway there anyway, we would go onto Brugge in Belgium for the long weekend to join Lynne, Keith, Roger, Liz and Corrine.

Thursday 17th May was a public holiday in Germany although the office in Wuppertal was open for us to pick up the car. We left the apartment about 6.15am and four train rides and a one mile walk (all uphill) later we were re-united once again with the car.

A quick survey showed that all that needed to be done to make it conform to German standards was to fit a rear fog light, put in some white lights instead of yellow in the front and add a couple of reflectors on the rear bumper.

We headed off, via KFC, to Brugge and got there about 5.30pm to find our hotel in Damme was about 5 miles outside of there, the wrong side of Brugge.


We spent a good weekend there, good enough weather without being too hot, plenty of food and walking.










We did face a difficulty in spending money since the Belgian bank / government cannot decide if it wants to join the rest of the EU banks in adopting a common (Maestro) banking system. Where did someone say the EU HQ is? Oh yes, Bruxelles in ....Belgium!


We had warning signs of the trouble ahead in the Carrefour store when the cash would not accept four of five different cards from Germany, UK and even Canada. With a basket load of stuff we were summoned to the customer service desk where we repeated the exercise but this time the system decided to work and it accepted our card.


Saturday night was another fiasco in trying to get cash from ATM's although I found one (in six) that accepted my card at the third attempt. Many other tourists were also having trouble, we had to queue with about 15 others to get cash from the only ATM in Brugge that seemed to be working for tourists. Sunday morning, checking out of the hotel was another round of 'try this card...again'....the hotel owner said he was used to it, most visiting tourists seem to have problems with their cash and credit cards.



We left at 2.30pm on Sunday, a little later than planned and it didn't help getting home when we decided to stop to shop at a 'Euro Store'. There was also some showers on the way out of Belgium as well as some slow traffic and diversions. Once we got on the Autobahn we could at last pick up some speed although we still didn't get back to the apartment till almost midnight.


Anyway scattered throughout this post are more pics of the entire weekend, be thankful I didn't post all 94 pictures!

Anything but home sweet home....!

On with the story of getting you upto date.
If you paid attention below, you should know that we moved into our apartment in the town of Mahlow on 30th April.
The apartment is officially described as a 3 room apartment. I never could really figure out for sure how they counted apartment rooms. Here it is
a bit easier but when they start talking about 3 1/2 or 4 1/2 rooms you have to wonder. That sounds a bit like, if it takes two men four hours to dig a hole, how long does it take them to dig half a hole?
Anyway, our apartment is two bedrooms, a lounge , a kitchen, a bathroom (complete with washing machine) and a hallway. Apartments are also stated by size, ours is 83 square metres.


Lounge before the wall unit but just imagine it on the right hand wall!

The spare bedroom is actually pretty big, large enough for a single bed and a double. The lounge is also a good size, with a dining table, 4 chairs and two computer desks at one end and a sofa, wall unit and bookcase at the other end which also leads into a 'wintergarden' (enclosed balcony).

Our bedroom, knew that broom handle would come in handy, but what do we do when we need to sweep up?



The kitchen seems over sized for the size of the apartment, it has floor and wall units all along one wall but nothing on any other walls. We have put a small table there we use for breakfast and putting grocery bags on but not much else.
Hope you enjoy the pictures.

By the way, the answer to the riddle of how long it takes two men to dig half a hole is that they can't do it. You cannot dig half a hole, only a hole half as big!

Another country, same church...

God is our refuge and strength, Psalm 46

Sign in the underground station....would this be allowed in the USA or is it too exclusive?

Get your very own (German) new testament by calling....

Having travelled and worked in more countries than most and worshipped with congregations in those different countries, one thing we have learnt is that there are many church variations but only one universal Christian church. Wherever we have been, we have been led to various churches where we were welcomed, worshipped, enjoyed fellowship and found ways to serve. There is no reason to think that Berlin will be any different. The issue is how to find that one church that God would want us in, experience shows us that there is no single answer to finding that answer. God has led us to different churches in different ways, and sometimes it seems those ways take forever to become reality.
Our conversion, fittingly enough was at an 'ecumenical project' (C of E, Methodist) church but we have little reservation about crossing the great denominational divide that so many seem to struggle with. If we can agree with a church on salvation and theology basics then it seems good to us. Consequently, our spiritual path has taken us through Methodist, C of E, Messianic congregation, Brethen, Assembly of God, United Methodist Church as well as other denominations tried but just not where we should be although not on theological differences.

Before even being offered a job in Germany I had done a little research on English speaking churches in Berlin. I only came up with one and that was 'RESET BERLIN' pastored by Jim, an American trying to reach out to young adult Berliners through a coffee-shop kind of church.
Over several email exchanges, Jim offered some advice and encouragement and even an apartment that one of his congregation was moving from, although that proved to be in the north west of Berlin, not where I needed to be to get to work at RRD.
On our first Saturday in Germany, Denise and I headed into Berlin to at least find out where the church was so that on Sunday we would not spend time getting lost trying to find it. With a good street map and my sense of direction (haha) we had no trouble finding it.
We visited there for two Sundays and were made welcome enough but it was not something we felt we could settle into, and more importantly, contribute towards with regards to any sort of ministry we might get involved with, so we looked at other options.

The outside and inside of Berlin International Church

Anonymous looking front door

behind the subway sign (not that Subway)

My manager at work is a Christian, though at an all German speaking church, but he put me in touch with other English speaking Christians at work who go to Berlin International Church (aka BIC, visit www.berlinchurch.org). BIC is not a 'conventional' church either although not of the coffee shop variety either. It meets on the 4th floor of an office building where it has the whole floor to itself, worship is contemporary, 90% English, and with another American pastor, Steve Mack with wife Karen. They are in Berlin as missionaries to Germany sponsored by their 'home' church of York Alliance Church in ....York, Pennsylvania.
We have joined a BIC homegroup, meeting on Thursday evenings. The group is often about 14 strong, a pretty big group although this group was at more than 20 until it recently divided into three different groups (but still ended up with 14!).
We do still struggle with where to worship here long term and what we should be doing, if anything, and have to trust that God will lead us where He will. Maybe it will be at BIC or maybe not, we will have to keep you posted, for now we'll go to BIC and see what transpires.

Reconciliation

By the middle of March 07 we had decided to rent an apartment in the small town of Mahlow about 8 miles north of the Rolls-Royce site and just outside the Berlin city limit.




1st Floor, above silver car front end!



Empty lounge!




One of our friends pointed out to us that on the train ride from Mahlow into Berlin, you can see the witness of the Berlin wall only about 1/2 mile north of us, easily visible from the train, just before entering what was West Berlin. The witness of the border is really just an ashpalt track where the DDR (East Germany) border guards used to drive along checking the border.
Getting back to the 21st century, we were allowed to get into our apartment on 30th March rather than the actual lease date of 1st April. So we scheduled to pick up our belongings (including car) that came from the USA in a 40 foot container.

Early on 30th March we took a train into Berlin to rent a removal van, drove to the storage facility, loaded up the van, drove down to the apartment, had a 'walk through' to make sure all was as it should be and moved our stuff in. "Moving in ' meant squeezing the king size, 17" deep mattress up a couple of flights of stairs and over a banister and then repeating the exercise with the couch, quite a feat. We then had to get the van back to the rental place before 3pm as it was booked for someone else later that day, we actually got back at about 2pm, loads of time!
We had actually picked up the car the week before and left the other things in storage for a week.

Here's a couple of pictures of the container and car as it was unloaded.

Following the car unloading, the next week I took it to the registration place to get it a German license plate. That was quite an experience but a total disaster as far as getting the license plate was concerned. It didn't help that on the day it snowed hard and the the snowflakes were the size of dinner plates. The car registration is still not complete yet but we'll save that story for a new day just to say that we are ALMOST there (we think!).

Getting upto speed

Us with mother in her back garden...September '06




Well we finally got upto speed by signing up for DSL instead of dial up so now we might be able to catch with the rest of the world a little now.

After selling up our house in Williamsburg, VA, and leaving the USA behind, we finally arrived in Berlin, Germany for a new job on 22nd Feb. 2007.




We spent a few weeks in the 'Townhouse' apartment hotel, stuck in the middle of nowhere except that it was 3 minute walk from the hotel apartment to my desk within Rolls-Royce Germany at Dahlewitz (about 20 miles south of Berlin centre).

Here's a few pictures of the Townhouse apartment and our little hire car we had for a month with RRD in the background.
Watch this space and we hope to get upto date before too long.....