JN53

That took me a while to figure out what Car Friday was, and I celebrate Easter! Karfreitag or Good Friday is what it is. Now I get it! Hope everyone had a nice Good Friday!

I did take a picture of the Mona Lisa in the early 90's, because she was so famous, but I never could never figure out she was/is so famous. I was much more impressed with the huge wall paintings.

I am not up on what's been going on with the JFK school in Berlin, but I assume they still have the curriculum in English and it's a state school. It's in Zehlendorf. Maybe that's an option for you. Someone else might have more info on that. I think Nelsen Mandela also is an option, which is in Berlin, too.

  Well, now she knows about it. It seems I've known about it forever, but I probably learned it years ago during my first year in Germany. Don't include me in the "ALL."

I never filed state taxes when I lived in Germany, as I wasn't a resident, but I never lived in Ohio, either. I'm not sure if being a resident or not is important for Ohio. I suppose you could find this out from the federal website. 

It sounds like you are a real born-again Christian, as I understand it, from what you say. Judging from what I've experienced when attending the state Lutheran church (most that I visited seemed to not have born-again pastors),I would definitely not baptize my child in that church, but look for a church I actually want to attend and then baptize the child there. I also, years ago, said I was evangelisch, as you did, since it was the closest thing, I thought. However, I was able to easily get out of the church and didn't have to officially get out, but just wrote a letter saying it was a mistake. I preferred to support my own free church. Of course, if you want to continue to support the church with your taxes and want your child to be a member of the state church, that is your choice. I'd say the first step is to go to whatever church you choose and see how you like it. Then I would probably just ask the pastor about baptism information.

I actually thought turkeys were only pardoned before Thanksgiving and not Christmas.

Can you find cardboard envelopes? You'd ask for:  Briefumschlag mit Karton verstärkt. Those might be good. You wouldn't send it as a Paket. It wouldn't be heavy enough. I doubt it would go as a Päckchen, but I assume the post office would know how to send it. Would you want to make sure it got to the embassy? I think that might be "per Einschreiben," if I remember correctly.

I once had a really good hair cut in Lichterfelde in the Schweizer Viertel (near Goerzallee). That was several years ago. I think I paid 40-50 euros for it. 

I think the bigger a building-at least in Berlin-, the longer it takes to get to know people. It took me almost two years to get to know the lady below me and that was only in a 3-apartment building. By getting to know, I mean that I started to exchange two or 3 sentences with her.  In another place in Berlin I lived for 15 months and I rarely greeted anyone in that building, which had maybe 16 apartments in my entrance. In another house in Berlin, where I took care of children, I definitely greeted everyone and they greeted me. There were 6 apartments in that house. I suppose it varies with people and situations.

I don't remember what travel insurance I had when I travelled to the US, but I am pretty sure I found out about it through my regular insurance, TK. Can you check with your insurance in Germany? The insurance I got was very inexpensive.

I can't give you any ideas on Grundschulen, but if his German isn't up to par by 1st grade, you could always have him stay in kindergarten an extra year. Some people might even suggest that he go to a German only kindergarten in order to learn German very quickly. There are others on this forum that I am sure can help out more.

    While I can't say that you are wrong, I do know that Panda is a very highly respected member of this forum and I have never been led wrong by any information she has posted from her vast knowledge of German taxes. I would always tend to believe what Panda says.

I'm sure someone else more knowledgeable will contribute, but I assume you got your master's in the U.S., so I assume you'd be licensed to teach German (and French) only as a foreign language. I'd say there are enough German teachers in Germany, so that would not be an option. In my opinion, you could try the international schools.  Good luck and hope it works out for you.

Excellent advice, French bean. My mother worked for years with Alzheimer's patients and I was around them some, as well as a grandmother who had Alzheimer's.