Interested in teaching English in Germany? Read on…

A lot of readers want to know more about moving to Germany. About to take the same journey themselves (or trying to match dreams with realities) they (you!) write to me with questions about visas and salaries and job oppurtunites. I’ve done a FAQ about moving to Germany to answer all of the questions about how I got here and how I got a visa and a job and a place to live. And here comes the FAQ for the folks who want to come over to teach English.  Keep in mind that I taught English from 2006 to the beginning of 2008, so some of this information could be outdated.  Check with the consulate to be sure!

Two views of Marburg’s quaint orange-roofed houses.  Spring sure does make everything photogenic.

Photo (cc) flickr user batigolix

Photo (cc) flickr user Herr Sharif

“April, April, er macht was er will.”  So goes the saying in Germany this time of year.  And though the weather here is similar to what I grew up with in the northeastern United States, the saying is just another one of the little differences that remind me that I live in a foreign country.  We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

Growing up, April was always accompanied by a chorus of “April showers bring May flowers,” a positive spin on the rain common this time of year.  But the German saying highlights the unpredictability of April weather.  Last year in Mainz we had summer-like tendencies, this year we have beautiful spring weather one day, rain the next, almost freezing tempuratures the next.  Both sayings are certainly fitting.

In 2007 the World Bike Messenger Championship was held in Frankfurt am Main.  These pictures are from that event.

The first au pair test: can you get along with the kids? Photo (cc) flickr user GerryT

For the first week I wasn’t expected to work. Instead Janet drove me to the Ausländers- behorde (alien’s office) to fill out visa paperwork, to the central train station to find a photo machine that took passport-sized photos, to a language school to take placement tests, and to another office where I was issued the Frankfurt Pass that would get me discounts at museums and a free membership at the library.

The paperwork was easy, that first time. Health insurance, visa application, address registration—Janet was organized and experienced because every year there had been a new au pair to lead through the bureaucratic gauntlet.

In the North German town of Schleswig, visitors will find a reconstructed viking villiage on the water.  This week’s Wordless Wednesday photos were taken there in 2009.

Haithabu is a reconstructed viking villiage in Schleswig, Germany. Photo copyright Nicolette Stewart

Haithabu. Photo copyright Nicolette Stewart

Frankfurt am Main was the setting for my year as an au pair in Germany. Photo copyright Nicolette Stewart

Cracked out on plane sleep and bad movies, I watched the twins babble at me across the back seat of the car. I was disconnected and strung out: a shadow watching myself watching them from somewhere over my shoulder. I’ve heard that moving forward and backward through time zones shortens your life expectancy. Then again, so does every minute you are alive.