German Bureaucracy!

I woke up at some ungodly hour (3 or 4... don't know because I didn't have a watch or clock) then drifted in and out of consiousness until I got up about 7. Spent an hour fluffing about and getting sorted. Then another hour reading my Lonley Planet German Translation book (thanks Debra, good prezzie!).

In to work at 9am. I went into town with Stefan (my supervisor over here) to try and sort out a bank account. Man... German bureaucracy is a nightmare! It is unbelievably bad.

First, to get a bank account I needed to have my address registered with the City Hall. So we went to the city hall. I needed to fill out these forms to get my application processed. We went into a room to hand the forms in, but the room we went into was only for Surnames A-K. So we needed to go to another part of the building. Then we found out we also needed a photocopy of my VISA + Passport, so we needed to go to another part of the building to get that. We then got back to the correct room with the required documents. They ticked a box then gave us the real form that we needed to fill out. This one needed to be taken to another part of the building. Here is where we actually registered my address. I also found out I am here illegally in Germany. Not only are you required to have a Work Permit (right to work), a VISA (right to enter) and a registerd address. You also need another permit which permits you a right to stay in Germany. Am I making anyone else's head hurt here!?! So I still need to complete this part which requires a passport photo.

Anyway, after all of this the day was over :) And we still didn't have a bank account which is the main reason we went out in the first place!

The next day I went out to the bank with Heidi, because I need a translator just about everywhere official. Nobody really speaks English. Got to the bank and registered for a bank account. I get a Mestro card at some stage in the mail (which is similar to an EFTPOS card, but you can only get cash at an ATM). After we left the bank we got to the car which had some police officers standing around it. Heidi freaked out and had a panicked conversation with the police.
I found out afterwards that the car had started rolling backwards down the hill and a lady had put a stone under the back wheel to stop it going any further. The parking brake obviously didn't work. There were no fines or anything, just a panicked Heidi who couldn't speak English for a while (was in shock).

After all the above stuff, the next few days were pretty boring. Just installing stuff on the laptop and easing into things.