Speaking of Polizei (see below), I think my lack of German spared me a confrontation yesterday. I was driving to work, and the only way I knew to get to the front of our building was to cut down a side street next to our building that may only be available for taxis, buses and bikes (my reading of the sign, which is in German, is a bit vague). I cut down that street yesterday and there were three Polizei with various cars pulled over. One of them stopped me, looked at my Virginia tags, and asked "sprechen Sie Deutsch"? So I was honest and with my most innocent face said "nein", then pointed at my building and said "Ich arbeit in der BIZ" (which I think is a goshawful way of saying I work at the BIS--BIZ in German). He just sort of rolled his eyes and said OK and let me go. So I guess the lesson to be learned here is that sometimes being an ignorant, monolingual American has its advantages.