My previous visits to Ausländerbehörde in Berlin, the so called Immigration office, have always been with a German speaker. I was always afraid that I won’t be able to explain what I need. One would think that most of the employees at an immigration office would speak English since they are dealing with foreigners and English seems to be the most common language, but they don’t, or they hesitate to speak. They also tend to get angry when you „waste their time“ with your slow and incorrect German. Well, what to do? It’s not like I can drag my neighbor or a German friend with me every time I need to get something done…

Today, for the first time, I tried to go there by myself and explain my complicated situation and get the required document. I have to say, that if it hadn’t been for my wonderful German teacher from Deutsche Akademie I probably would still be in ausländerbehörde or I wouldn’t have the document I needed. My teacher not only helped me with all the immigration (visa, temporary residency, etc) vocabulary but she also roll-played it with me. She pretended to be the angry immigration officer and I was the poor foreigner who stumbled when speaking German.

Luckily, my trip to ausländerbehörde was successful. I explained what I needed and got what I needed. Just a little patience always gets me through!