Angelika/Mike Schilli |
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Angelika On a different note, I'm still busy going to my English lessons. I met a nice German lady there who comes from Hamburg. She worked there as a streetworker. She lives in our neighborhood and therefore we often stick together chatting or enjoy the sunshine on her balcony.
We got in touch with other Americans through Michael’s company and of course there’s also Richard (my friend Sylvia’s husband). Many of you are quite eager to know if I’m not bored since I have no job. But I’m not. Until midday, I'm busy with my English class and then I usually need to do some homework. Well, and then there’s still some chores to do (get the mail done, go shopping, go to the laundry service, find out about the area, get information on social institutions ...).
I enjoy finally having time to read, do shopping trips or take photos. Nevertheless, I miss my job, and I think a lot about the kids I used to teach in Germany. I miss being part of a team at the workplace. It’s also difficult to find training courses. I can’t participate in courses that I’m interested in, because either they’re too expensive or I don’t qualify because I don’t have the American degrees required. It’s very bureaucratic here. Sometimes I am quite frustrated if something doesn’t work out the way I want. Therefore, I can’t always enjoy my spare time. I've collected addresses of social institutions for pre-school kids and I’ll take some time to look them through and maybe find one that fits me for volunteering.
Coming up is my friend Christa visiting. She's going to stay for three weeks. We'll take some trips to discover California and San Francisco. I can’t wait to see her. Michael still likes his job. At this very moment, he is trying to find out how to fill out an American tax declaration and is very close to giving up, but he has to deal with it.
Anyways, my dears, I will finish this newsletter now. We hope you won’t forget us.
Love,
Angelika und Michael
Thanks to Boris Kleinbach, kleinbach@ymail.com for translating the original German text to English.