“The worst was all that paperwork”

She is still finding her way around her new role as head of the section, Anya Waite says. But she is propelled by her enthusiasm for research: "I have a lot to learn about people, about communication. But I am also looking forward to bringing my research to the poles-the Arctic is likely to be one of the worst-hit areas of the world's oceans by climate change. The Southern Ocean is the big controller of the global climate. Both areas are fascinating and offer remarkable opportunities for research that can shift our understanding of how the world works."

But in Germany, famously, there's paperwork to do before any revolution. Anya Waite recalls quite some pains: "We had to move about a square meter of paper-residency, medical and dental insurance, tax numbers, work contracts, rental agreements and so on. It was especially hard at first to get through long forms in formal German when our German was still poor!" Today, she and her family are learning German as quickly as possible. She also finds help from her colleagues at work, which usually takes place about half in German and half in English.

All in all, Anya Waite feels like she's getting very good support. Her landlady has been a great help in enrolling the kids in school, and someone from AWI was assigned to help her get the family through most of the formal German paperwork. Also, Anya Waite is excited to be in the middle of Europe with many interesting places close by. That's no wonder: In Australia, visiting another country means leaving the continent.

Her family does miss the Australian beaches from time to time, but they are also delighted by some things about Germany: How friendly people are in their new home town of Bremen, the flourishing Nature and the environmental protection ("Germany is green and Green," she says) and how social support is working: "There is real social democracy here, where poorer people are taken care of better than they are in Australia."