Nein, Ich bin Dein Vater!!

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"Nein, Ich bin Dein Vater!" is the German translation of Darth Vader's epic movie line. I am a bit of a movie nerd so I instantly noticed how the movie experience here in good ol' Europe differed from back home in the States. Aside from calling it "The Cinema", here are some more things that I just find/found odd.

Things I Took For Granted: Full Kitchens, Elevators and Closets

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One of the most valuable lessons I have learned while being a black expat in Germany is that the most unsuspecting things are totally different. Things you take for granted as common practice are just different for no good reason :) If you decide to take the plunge overseas, your house hunting trip usually serves as your first introduction to the whacky customs of your new land.

Renting a flat in Berlin is filled with many surprises, so many that I think this post will have to be split into two so I don't either bore you to death or scare someone off from moving abroad :) Take it from a person who has moved within the United States four different times before living abroad, moving within Germany is more complicated and more expensive. As with anything, if you know the rules of the game you have a better shot at succeeding. So here's the memo about moving to Berlin. You can't claim later that you never got it.

Living in Germany, Can I Really Do This?

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Living in Germany, occasionally I suffer from bouts of homesickness. Missing home varies from day to day but it's usually tied to an unpleasant experience and how hormonal I am. Today was a day when I thought briefly, I should just pack this whole show up and take my ass back to America.

I had to pay a visit to the local Zollamt (tax office) to potentially pay duties on a package I received from the States. I received a notice because my package was from an online retailer and Germany wanted to collect their VAT (value added tax). Fair enough, I went to the office, with my receipts printed out, listing all the items and their value and knew it would be an interesting morning. Because the Zollamt, or any Amt in Germany, is always an interesting and a drawn out experience.

Long story short I am finally called forward after checking in and waiting with all the other schmucks that don't support the German economy.

Things I Took for Granted: Clean Eggs

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Well tonight I decided to try a new brownie recipe. A coworker is leaving the office life and heading back to the States to play in horse shit. haha. (I will miss you, A) No seriously she is following her passion and reentering the horse world. I think, horse folk are like a cult, but don't tell any of them that I said that.

buppie im berlin: Black American Living Abroad

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'How in the hell did you wind up in Berlin?' Random strangers to long lost friends ask me this question on a regular basis, the abridged version of the story is ' I moved here for work'.