JN53

I assume you mean the pastries. I don't know exactly what kind you want to send, but when I sent Schneebällen to my family in the U.S., there was no problem. They were fine when my family got them.

There's a library at the Rathaus Steglitz stop, if you want to go there. I haven't been there for a couple of years, but I assume there library is still there.

I'm not knowledgeable on this topic, but I do know a German family that took their daughter out of school for 2 weeks and then had 2 weeks of vacation, so they could go the Asia for a long vacation. They were able to get special permission from the school director since their daughter was doing very well in school. I suppose you should just ask the school your child attends.

  If you mean by "sported" - wearing a cow lick, there is no way I could have worn my grandfather's cow licks -huge squares-, but I did taste them as a child. 

  Hi 2B,   Thanks for the wave. I do regularly follow many TT posts. I just don't post much myself. TT has been very helpful to me and many others.

I may not be of much help, but I had tried years ago to get citizenship through my Great-grandfather. It did not work because it went through my mother, but that was because I was born before the mid-1970's. I can't remember the exact date, but it seems that after '75 or so it can go through a female relative. Anyway, that is all the info I have-not sure if that helps you, though.   I suppose your German isn't good enough to start asking at the Bürgeramt, but maybe a friend could go with you and you could start there? Good luck! Hope you get citizenship.

  I'd have to agree with optimista, especially the part of having a separate Germanic persona, though I don't think I do it by necessity. I just somehow learned it naturally during the years I was in Germany.

I don't know anything about what you applied for, but can you call the new company and ask if you can shadow someone this week before you sign the contract? Would that get you out of the job search? That does sound horribly brain numbing!

  Maybe it doesn't matter that much -or maybe it would be even better if the German wasn't corrected-, but, being an English teacher, I just can't not correct the German when I know some of what could be corrected.   I'd say, "Der Gegenstand (Fahrzeug) gehört mir nicht. Ich habe überhaupt keine Verbindung zu diesem Fahrzeug und keine Ahnung warum Sie sich an mir gewendet haben."   This may not be perfect, as I am not a native-speaker, but this is my contribution.