i didn't take this picture but i like it.
Dear my blog
I’m sorry that I’ve neglected you for so long. It really wasn’t my intention. You see, sometimes things get a little crazy and it’s hard to even wrap my brain around sitting down and sorting all my thoughts out in order to formulate them into logical posts. I’m well aware that the best way (and probably the only way) to be a successful blogger (or diarist for that matter) is to write EVERY DAY, but I’m working on it. I’m not perfect, but who is? Forgive me?
Okay.
The thing about April has been that honestly, for the most part, everything that COULD have gone wrong, WENT WRONG. And then some. When I left off, I had plans to go to the Bürgeramt to officially register my apartment. This honestly should have been no problem. So I showed up sometime in the late morning, got a waiting number, filled out the paperwork, and sat and waited. And waited. And waited and waited, etc. Finally my number was called, I got up and went into my assigned room and handed a seemingly pleasant woman my paperwork. So she pulls everything up, la dee da, here’s my passport, when suddenly there’s a problem. She tells me that my roommate, the only other person who lives in my apartment, is not the “main renter” whose name is on the lease, but its someone elses name. I saw this name on our mailbox and our doorbell, but I have absolutely no idea who this person is, funnily enough! So I insist, no, my roommate can rent to me, but this woman will not budge. So I call up my roommate (who by the way, does not have a cell phone), and he doesn’t answer. I come home, he’s miraculously home anyway, despite not having answered his phone, and I ask him who the hell this mystery name person is and why this is all happening. So a long explanation later, he shuffles around, finds some paperwork, and decides to join me at the Bürgeramt. We go back to the same lady, and he proceeds to be, in my opinion, pretty damn rude to this office-lady who is just trying to do her job. In the end, we don’t have the right paperwork anyway to prove that he is the main renter, so we need to get the paperwork from the landlord. We call the landlord, their office is already closed (of course!) but the lady had said all we’d need to do is fax the paperwork to her and we can fix the problem. So once we actually get in touch with the landlord, they REFUSE to fax it. They insist they will only mail it, snail mail style. Keep in mind, I had my appointment at the Ausländerbehörde to get my visa IN TWO DAYS and basically started hyperventilating until I realized that I had my old registration from the place I was staying before, which was technically still “good” because I hadn’t registered my new place yet (ah the confusing ins and outs of German bureaucracy …… and this is ONLY the beginning, trust me.) So, I could still technically get my visa, and I just decided to wait until we got our dumb piece of paper that was so all-important for me to live where I currently ALREADY LIVE.
Then the Ausländerbehörde. Thursday, I showed up in plenty of time, waited, listening to my Bill Maher podcast and trying to be calm. My number was called, my friend Antje accompanied me and we walked into the room where probably the nastiest looking bureaucrat in the whole building was waiting for us. He had rotten teeth and gross stringy hair … but anyway. He looks over all of my paperwork and then tells me, nope, sorry, no visa. Why? Because my health insurance was not good enough, not expensive enough, clearly didn’t comply with the recently passed laws etc etc. So he said, make an appointment, get some better (read: SUPER EXPENSIVE) private health insurance, and come back and it’ll all be kosher. So I left … FURIOUS. Absolutely furious. Yelling and cursing in rapid-fire East Coast English, unable to formulate the German words and phrases to encompass exactly how frustrated I really was. So what did I do then? I went home and sitting in my mailbox was the letter from the landlord. So I marched BACK to the Bürgeramt DETERMINED to register my place. And after waiting probably another 2.5 hours in a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT bureaucratic office building, I did it. Minor victories are still worth something, right?
So all of this meant that once I got my fancy-pants, super expensive private insurance, I had to go BACK to the A-Behörde (as we’ll call it). So on Monday I woke up at 4 am (a time when I’m usually considering leaving a bar …) hopped on the train and made my way back up to Westhafen to wait in line! I got there a little after 5 am and was about #20 in line. Now keep in mind, the gates first open at 6 am, and the DOORS open at 7 am. So this means you’re stuck waiting outside, in spite of the weather, for at least TWO HOURS. Also, what’s really cute, is that in certain cultures “waiting in line” has very little significance, so once the gates open, people basically bum rush you to get to the front of the line and the whole thing becomes a lot more unpleasant and aggressive. Eventually, though, I got inside and 2 hours later had YET ANOTHER APPOINTMENT, this time for one week later.
The end result of all of this? On Tuesday, April 20th, at 12:30 pm I officially got my visa. A one-year Aufenthaltstitel (meaning I need to renew this bad boy by April 19th 2011, if I want to stay), as well as an Arbeitserlaubnis (Work Permit) to work as a freelance English teacher. Boom. Done. Almost 2 months after I showed up in this city, I’M LEGAL BABY.
So what else went wrong this month? Oh lets see, two failed trips to Ikea, one due to it being closed for Easter Holidays, the second because, surprise surprise! Ikea does not accept credit cards in Germany!!!! So! Being broke as I am, I literally did not have the cash for any of what I wanted. After spending close to 2 hours in the Ikea, carefully picking out all of my items for purchase, I had to leave it all sitting there at the check out and walk out in disgrace, basically. Oh there were tears. What else? Assorted other fails, really painful blisters on my feet due to inappropriate footwear, extra bureaucratic headaches at the Finanzamt as well, where I went to get my tax number (but I showed THEM who’s boss! sort of!)
I’d like to end this post with a review of all the GOOD things! Because as I’ve said before, it’s important to stay positive and now that I’m looking back on April, I think the good outweighs the bad, and the outcome has been overall quite good.
1. I conquered the beast that is the Ausländerbehörde, and after 1.5 months of trying, 4 separate trips there, waking up at 4 am to stand in line outside and watch the sunrise with dozens of other stressed out foreigners, €50, a lot of running around and a giant pile of paperwork – I HAVE A VISA. I set out with a goal, and I accomplished it, and now I can legally work and more importantly – legally GET PAID. No more one-meal-of-spaghetti-a-day. No more freaking out about paying my rent (well maybe one more month of that …) but really! I get paychecks now!
2. Related to the whole work/paycheck thing – I have a job! I have three jobs actually! I got invited to accelingua’s training and orientation seminar on April 10th and 11th which means that I am now officially an employee of accelingua GmbH and that I can start teaching as soon as a class opens up for me. I have already started working for Iberika and my classes there keep growing. First I just had Herr K., now I have an evening Business English Course that’s all ladies which is really fun, and I’ve picked up some days in an intensive course. All of this results in me getting my FIRST paycheck at the end of this month! And all of it going to pay my rent! Yippee! But this also gives me hope for next month, starting classes with accelingua and also going in to talk to the people at inlingua GmbH as well (aka my third job offer). If all continues to go well, I’ll be working more and more and earning more money and by the end of the summer, will be really comfortable.
3. I’ve also picked up more private students to replace the ones who have left the city or who don’t need class anymore, etc.
4. I’m starting a free Spanish class tonight with Iberika. It’s free because I’m an employee of the school, which is great! I’m hoping to really improve my Spanish this year and maybe even start learning Portuguese eventually! It’s also exciting to have something to do in my free time besides read/watch entire TV series online.
5. I’ve been reconnecting with old friends and have been feeling really good about my social life lately. This weekend was the first time since I’ve been back that my social calendar has been really full. Honestly, when I think about it, it’s practically the first time since I left Berlin originally that my social calendar has been this full! Meeting for coffee, for drinks, for outdoor bbqs in the park, teaching, parties, etc. This weekend I was all over the place! It was amazing, though, and it’s so good to have my friends back and have people to hang out with.
6. Tim was stuck in Berlin for almost an extra week! Due to my new best friend/favorite thing/lifelong obsession – THE ICELANDIC VOLCANO. Eyjafjallajokull. Just … yes. Basically the Giant Ash Cloud Of Death that hovered over fair Europe kept my best friend grounded and forced him to hang out with me, which was so nice. Lots of dinners, of eating Ritter Sport on the canal and enjoying the nice weather, going vintage shopping, eating yummy köfte sandwiches, swapping stories and listening to ridiculous German radio stations. I miss him even worse now, but I was lucky to get him for some extra time! Spoiled, even!
7. I’ve been making all kinds of new friends! I met up with a friend of a friend, for example, who is another expat and with whom I had a really amazingly fun time just drinking beers and eating currywurst. We had so much in common and got along so well and already have plans to hang again this week. I also recently met up with a girl from my accelingua training whom I also really adore – she’s Belgian (or actually Flemish? It’s a bit confusing), but grew up speaking French, went to NYU, speaks PERFECT English, even with an impeccable American accent, and is just so open and talkative and hilarious and sweet. She’s really wonderful and I know she and I are going to get along really well too. There’s something about making new friends that I really love because I swear it’s so much easier for me here and in the US I have the hardest time making new friends or even holding on to my old ones … I still haven’t 100% figured out why, but there must be some reason for it.
8. I got a new bed! A big comfy bed that takes up like 1/3 of my room and I LOVE it. Now I sleep like a baby every night.
9. I’ve also started dogsitting Ditte which is very good for my psyche, and also allows me to catch up on my MTV Deutschland intake.
10. I’ve been here for two months already and I really think that so far I’ve been successful. I’ve now got a job, I’ve got a visa, I’ve got a decent apartment (more on that later), I survived the Ausländerbehörde (much more on that later), and it’s now springtime! It’s nice outside, I might eventually be able to retire my wool coat (but not yet!), and the trees are blooming. May is going to be really good I just know it.
And so I leave you with this gem, a little old but still a sweet jam. For some reason The Gossip always feels springtimey to me and Beth Ditto is just fabulous in this video. I recommend this for all your cleaning-the-kitchen/dancing-around-in-your-bedroom/singing-in-the-shower needs.
