I hope I spelled that correctly. High school French class just gets further and further away with each passing day.
So Germany is out and the nation is depressed. Rainer has recovered from Football Fever. Italy and France will by vying for the title of World Champion this weekend.
I just realized this morning that it’s already the women’s semi-final at Wimbledon. Wimbledon just isn’t exciting for me anymore. I miss the days of Sampras and Agassi (and my favorite tennis hottie Goran), and going back further even to Becker, Bjorg, Lendyl, Conners and McEnroe. Now Federer wins pretty much everything and he’s a quiet guy. No exciting outbursts, no “You CANNOT be SERIOUS!” Just quiet Swiss efficiency. Good for watches, bad for exciting sports matches.
The World Cup has completely overshadowed the Tour de France in Germany, where it is usually obsessively watched every summer (I imagine the same has happened in France, perhaps more so). Maybe this isn’t such a bad thing for this year’s Tour, as none of the favorites are participating due to suspected doping. Poor Jan Ulrich, everyone thought this was his year. Rainer thinks everyone dopes in cycling. I don’t know, but I don’t want to believe that Armstrong was doping. I feel that a guy who survived cancer should take more care of his health.
I need to go to the Auslaenderamt before my visit to the US and get my residence permit renewed. Soon I will be a permanent resident of Germany! But first I need to survive another struggle with German bureaucracy. Aargh! I’m sure there is a rant coming in the near future.
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Ew…good luck. My visits aren’t always successful on the first try, I have to go twice to correct a mistake.
How many years do you need before you can be come a permanent resident, I forget? I know I’ve got awhile.
Just like you said Heza, my first try was not successful, I will be making a return trip next week. (And you can get permanent residency after you’ve been married to a German for 3 years – I guess that proves I’m not in it for the free health care).
Yes, those pesky Aufenthaltserlaubnis thingys… I finally got the ultimate prize, the AufenthaltsBERECHTIGUNG after about 10 years (didn’t have a German wife to lubricate the process). Then lost my passport, got a replacement, found old passport again, carefully scanned and printed the Berechtingung from the old one out and taped it in my new passport.. it is a credit to my skills at forgery that the printout has been accepted without question dozens of times. Sometimes though some eagle-eyed official catches me out and there ensues a long 3rd degree, but I can generally impress them with my pretty thorough command of German vocabulary (I adore learning new words) and so far I have been let off with a warning to go immediately to the Einwohnermeldeamt which I painstakingly don’t heed because I have such a horror of the place, it is so full of FOREIGNERS!