Getting closer to the date I move back to Berlin and have spent most of my time over the past few weeks researching the best way to do it. What I've discovered is that if you're a bum and have nothing much to show for yourself, its very easy to do, you just pick up and go. If on the other hand you have your own company, a house and a little bit of savings, its a real pain in the posterior. Quite why things are this way round is beyond me.
But, I've now got myself a tax consultant over in Berlin to sort out all the company side of things along with my accountant here (as I'll have to file tax returns in both countries) and I have a pretty good understanding of the tax laws and legal responsibilities I have running my company in Germany. Basically, things are beginning to take shape and fall into place, even if it is a huge gangly pointed shape that's falling into an ill fitting place.
Other than that, I've been volunteering at a local dogs home. Sounds good but is a bitter sweet thing, part fun of taking the dogs out and playing with them and part soul destroyingly depressing having to put them back in their cages. The only weird thing about it is that we're only allowed to take the dogs out for an hour a day, between 12 and 1. Firstly for the good reason that you have to wait a certain amount of time after they have been fed to take them out (12), all well and good. But then we have to stop at 1 because thats when the place opens to the public. I understand theres a safety issue but surely they could of come up with some kind of fence or way of being able to take the dogs out more.
What this results in is that the dogs are caged for pretty much all of the 24 hours in a day and when you do take one out you have to be quick, run them round as there are another 50 dogs waiting to be walked and you only have one hour to do it in. Its the horrific decision between not being able to give a dog a good break from the cages with some human contact or that some of the dogs won't get out that day because you didn't get to them in time. It all comes down to something is better than nothing, but it still really pisses me off.
On a lighter note though, a few of my favourite picture findings of late :
Why with a Fish! WHY!
