Ich habe noch keine Nachricht von den Ausländerbehörde bekommen, deshalb warte ich noch – I have still not received news from the Aliens Authority so I continue to wait.

My application for residency has been and continues to be a somewhat protracted process and it appears that these immigration matters are prone to delays. I visited the Aliens Authority this week and I was told my application was still being processed. It was indicated that I have another two to three weeks to wait before I will receive news. I sincerely hope to know something within the next few weeks.

I have enjoyed the companionship of new flatmates and friends and I have been regularly meeting with some new friends from Japan. We have had fun conversing in broken German, attempting to discuss cinema, learning about cultural differences and appraising a variety of German confectionery.

A few Berlin cinemas have enjoyed my regular patronage. My local cinema in Prenzlauer Berg held a fabulous retrospective of German expressionist films from the early 1920s. Although these films were silent their text interludes offered a little gentle exercise for my fledgling German language skills.