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After receiving her master's degree in German literature from New York University, Sarah Vilece decided to head to Germany to see what she had been studying. Vilece, now 30, has been living in Berlin since February 2002. She was only supposed to stay a year, but that changed when she met her husband to be.
She struggled to find work in Germany along with completing the necessary paperwork.
"How do you find out how to move to a foreign country?" she said. Some day she would like to write a book to help others because the Embassy gave her so much trouble.
Eventually she was hired as an English teacher for 3-to-5-year-old children. Once she completed the legal work, she needed health insurance, a permanent residence and a valid reason to stay in the country. Her passport allowed her to stay for a maximum of three months in one year, so she took German language classes at the local college to gain residence status as a student. She found an apartment through a roommate-wanted ad posted at the University and soon thereafter was living like a true Berliner.
One night when her roommate was out, Vilece decided to go to an outdoor movie theater. She found one seat that was open and asked the man sitting next to it, "Is this seat taken?"
He said, "Well, what do you think?" So Vilece took her seat.
During the movie the man asked where she was from and that started the beginning of their relationship. They moved into an apartment together that had never been renovated, wasn't furnished, had one wall socket, a hole in the ceiling, no heat or hot water, no sink and a bathtub in the hallway. On top of that, they lived there during the three coldest months of the year. But they fell in love and in October 2003 Vilece married the man from the theater, 38-year-old Matthias Hinse.
Vilece finally got her dream job in March 2004 as an English tour guide with Original Berlin Walks. It was the first job she'd wanted when she arrived to Berlin, but the company requires applicants to live in Berlin for a year to know the city better.
In April 2005 Vilece and Hinse moved into a new apartment. They pay 130 euros (about $165) a month for a two-bedroom apartment, but once again have no private bathroom.
"Matthias is 'Berlin's Handyman' so he's currently working on our bathroom, but who knows when it will be ready," Vilece said. |
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