Still more patience required

by Mark

You guessed it,,, still no internet at home. Please don't mention that to Kristi,, it makes her get this funny little twitch. The problem is that we need to sign a 24 month contract to get it, but since my work contract is only 6 months they won't give it to us,, even if we paid the whole 24 months upfront. I have learned that we are allowed by German law to break the contract if we leave the country and can't get the service, but they won't let us in to break it. We still have one more try in the works and a back up plan so we haven't given up navigating around the barriers, yet. We had very few expectations when we left home, but being able to get internet was one.

We have settled in and made the apartment a home. Being up in a remodeled attic means great light and views as well as lots of places to whack your head in the dark. Kristi seems to be doing well on the synthetic hormone and Claire as you might expect already has a troop of friends. We did get to take a nice Saturday excursion via train to Erfurt. They have a very nice Gothic Cathedral and lots of medieval towers and old streets. We climbed to the top of one tower that was first mentioned in 1100 and took in the view. Ben was most thrilled to find a Burger King. We did get some lovely pictures that I didn't get on a USB stick for the journey to work, so boring old text is all I have to share for now.

German Bureaucracy is something to behold. We are now into our second week with no end in sight and I have no idea how many people at the many different offices I've showed my passport, work contract, proof of health insurance, and I'll need my kids birth certs and even my marriage license before it is all over. I'm sure without my lovely handler, Angela (pronounced Ahn GEE La), I would be in jail. If anyone here changes residences they have a week to change their government registration, take a number please, and they ask you everything including your religion. I guess that will come in handy if they ever want to round up the Jews on short notice, again.

On that note, the Buchenwald concentration camp is in Weinmar about half way from Jena to Erfurt. Since there wasn't a train station there, the Nazis off loaded everyone headed to Buchenwald at the Paradise station in Jena (same one we used) and marched them in winter to Buchenwald on a Jewish trail of tears. The Soviets erected a huge memorial, but apparently it fails to mention that the Soviets used the camp for political dissenters as well.