I'd mention that the guy was nasty to your mutual friend so they don't send anyone else his way. His nastiness was totally uncalled for and provided no benefit for you.

What have I forgotten?

flea, German public education is pretty good, depending roughly on which part of town you're in, and public schools are free. However I would reserve the right to put the children into an international or US school, which will be private and therefore cost money. A quick Google has turned up two, the International Schule Berlin and the John F. Kennedy School.

I have no idea as regards Berlin prices, but I would imagine for a big German city you're looking at at least EUR 1,500 per month rent approximately for a good-sized, well located appartment.

My Berlin experience is (cough) 25 years old, but I know that there is a huge English-speaking expat community, and you can get pretty far without speaking much German, if you need to. You will almost certainly find lots of institutions and people to help you settle in and find your feet. It's a fantastic city.

If you can, you could try and get them to pay for one return trip to the US per year for the whole family, though that might be pushing it. Or at least enough cash for a German Buffista F2F!

Please DO email me with any questions you may have. I'm happy to help, really.

Ian McKellen, fronting the Fleshtones, at Warhol Factory c. 1987. Today just got better: [link]

Ian McKellen, fronting the Fleshtones, at Warhol Factory c. 1987. Today just got better: [link]

I've got an MP3 of that! That was for Andy's cable access show, and that was the special Valentine's episode.

DH and I have been toying with the idea of relocation. The cost of living + school situation here has us both more than a little overstressed.

(Not to Germany, probably. More like moving back home to DC.)

Thanks so much, everybody. I'd feel so much more confident if we were talking to, say, IBM (with whom mr. flea has has a preliminary interview for a different job abroad) - I am confident they know what to do, you know? These guys are new at this, and the fact that they are asking us what we would need is sort of scary.

I think the Buffistas would appreciate this:

[link]

Please note: I am NOT ita.

What is the link to our good things tumblr? Hubs has been having kind of a mid-life crisis thing and is just down on the world.

Plus, I'm feeling it a bit today as well.

It's here, DJ: [link]

In "my diamond shoes aren't the only thing killing me" news, S. left the house with both lighters and I can't find any matches.

::starts to twitch::