It's not often that I get a chance to walk around the neighborhood during the working day, mainly since I'm always working. True, the vacation days are few and far between, but I did arrange to spend a few days this month out of the office. For those folks taking 2 and 3 week holidays (which is normal here), my two days may seem like diddly squat, but I'll take 'em all the same, and will enjoy them.
Two weeks ago, I had a nice evening hanging out with Brandon and Karla at a cookout in Mannheim. It was super to be able to catch up again after such a long time. As expected, we took advantage of the freeflowing beer, ultimately missed our train back to Frankfurt, and had to spend the night as sort of uninvited, but very much welcomed guests. For personal reasons, it happened to be one of the best weekends I've had in Germany.
In the spirit of keeping that momentum going, I got myself pysched up for August (thus actually planning to take a few days off) by heading off to the Ordnungsamt early in the month to get my residence visa extended. I had been looking forward to this day for quite some time, as the extension means that I will now have more options regarding future employment within Germany, should I need that.
For a bit of moral support (and a ride), I took Ninjaa along with me, which added a certain element of excitement. First, we arrived late to the appointment, which is not well accepted in this country. Second, she offered an explanation as to why we were late, which was primarily because of traffic (and the fact that neither of us had a Tom-Tom). It's neat to hear Germans argue with one another.
At any rate, once we got through to the office where they would update my visa, I proceeded to speak informally, which is also not quite the right thing to go. Fortunately, Ninjaa helped smooth things along, and we ascertained that my visa would be extended until 2012. One must be in the country for five years before a full residence visa (not requiring renewal) will be issued, so long as the individual passes the language proficiency test. When the guy mentioned that, he sort of glanced in my direction, even though he was addressing Ninjaa. He wasn't deliberately slamming my level of German, but he was acknowledging that I am far from fluent.
True, I was a bit nervous during the whole appointment, since, as I've written here before, what if they reach in a drawer and pull out a list of all the times I've not sorted my trash or something? Unfortunately, this had a bit of a negative impact on my ability to speak clearly and consisely. (I said at least two words in Spanish during the conversation...but one of those was mierda, which doesn't really count)
As luck would have it, though, the guy said, "great, we'll just need to stamp this visa into your passport." However, he suddenly leafed through the passport and said, "um, you don't have any more blank pages. i can't do anything until you've got more pages in your passport."
Mierda.
My passport is 5 years old and certainly filled with it's share of stamps. However, I wanted to point out to him that I personally didn't have a problem if he put the visa over the one page where one small stamp was; a memory of one very bored customs agent in the UK earlier this year (who thought he was clever in merely using a new page as opposed to finding a place on one of the other pages that already had stamps).
Alas, I was told that I'd have to get pages added to my passport, then come back to their office to complete the process. We made an appointment for later in August, and then Ninjaa and I headed to the car.
"Why didn't you speak to them using formal Sie," she asked.
"I panicked," I responded, realizing that the answer isn't the type you want to give your language instructor.
Oh well. I'll get another chance in a couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, I checked out the consulate web page to find out just how one gets pages added to their passport. I'm relatively well travelled, but had never known that this was even a possibility. Turns out it's a pretty easy process, and the consulate web page enabled me to establsh an appointment to get this service.
I selected today for my morning appointment, as I'd already planned to have the day free. So, this morning, I woke up, had my coffee, grabbed my mobile and ipod (and my passport and the necessary forms), stuffed them in my backpack, then took the U-Bahn to the stop nearest the government offices. At 8.27am, I realized that I wouldn't be on time to this appointment either, as once again, I wasn't quite sure where the place was.
Within a few minutes, I did find it (gee, the American flag helped) and was preparing to profusely apologize on behalf of the local transport, (as that seemed more a legitimate excuse than me simply saying I screwed around too much at home and left the house late) when the lady brusquely asked me if I was carrying a handy. Of course I am, was my response, to which she replied, "You'll have to discard all mobile phones, mp3 players, and any other electronics devices; they're not allowed on the premesis."
I didn't try to argue with her, nor did I try to point out that the bloody website didn't mention anything about this. My instructions were only to show up at 8.30 with my little appointment card and my passport. I figured it was understood that I'd have a mobile with me, since 98% of the population carries them.
They weren't messing about. I actually had to go home and unload all the gear. I elected to use a taxi, and had a nice chat with a guy about how silly the whole thing was. He waited for me while I went upstairs to drop off my stuff, and I took advantage of the home facilities. We then drove back to the consulate, and, poop time included, the travel cost me 20 Euro. Not too bad.
Handy free, I was able to receive a ticket number, then was allowed to go through the security check, and eventually got to the waiting hall. A man checked my ticket, then sent me upstairs to wait. 15 minutes later, they called my number, I gave them my passport and was told to wait while they put the new sheets in.
I sat for another 25 minutes in peace, and absolutely loved the fact that no one from my office could reach me by telephone.
Eventually, my name was called, I picked up my passport, then took the bus back home. Not a bad little morning, really, even with the double trip.
Still slightly annoyed, I looked through the web site again, and still couldn't find anything mentioning that handys and electronics weren't allowed on site.
Nadja came over a little bit later before we went to the gym, and I showed her the website and said, "see, what the hell is that. they don't say anything about it."
She pointed to a little link which had a picture of a firearm (with a buster), and we then found a document that, indeed, listed all the things that one cannot bring with them to the consulate.
I think I may have actually seen that link a week ago when I made the appointment, but I think I just said, "duh, of course you can't take a gun to the embassy. why would anyone want to do that?" (um, no real need to answer that question...)
The list is rather extensive but a few items surprised me: can't take nunchucks, hairdryers, swords, baby food, and umbrellas inside. Period.
Wow, it's been awhile since I've needed government services, those aren't even remotely items I would think to take with me. Once again, live and learn.
(note - I'll be interested to find out what's going on in Valencia these days at the consulate. Once Lynne and I were there with baby Daniel, and we had with us all of the items listed above excepts for the nunchucks, as we'd recently been shopping. The two women sort of released the door buzzer without checking to see who we were, then proceeded to sell us some handmade jewellry at a little table in the waiting area. Had someone walked in with a large caliber machine gun, I'm quite sure the women would have said, "hey, put that down carefully against the wall and come over and take a look at these bracelets!"
So, after a relaxing afternoon, I'm preparing to launch myself into the last evening of the Bornheim Kerb festival. The party started last Saturday, and ends tomorrow morning. Obviously, the fact that the main area of the party (ie..where the stage is for the live music) is directly across the street from my living room window. The only way to sleep is to jump into the mix (almost said fray, there), drink as much beer as possible, then stagger home sometime around 6am. At least, that's what I did last time.
There's a sort of coolness about having a full scale party in the middle of the work week. The energy levels are high, and people are out in full force. Thursday won't be known as a very productive work day for most of the community, but hey ho, it's an experience you just can't pass up.
Thus, I'm wrapping this up, so I can go be part of the Kerb.
keep the faith
bryan
anti-soundtrack -
no Schlager
no oldies
no John Denver
no goofy folk songs
