What are you doing here?

For about a year and a half now, the first two questions I'm usually asked upon meeting a complete stranger are: A) What are you doing here? B) How long are you planning on staying? I realize these questions seem only natural for the asker, who is only trying to make polite conversation, but the cumulative effect of having to answer them on a nearly daily basis over such a long period of time is that I'm made to feel like a freakin' alien. Maybe I'm just bitter because I haven't come up with a good answer to either. I really don't know what I'm doing in Berlin. I'm not working much. I'm not studying much. I could lie and say that I'm gestating but mostly I'm just hanging out, going to parties, scribbling things into notebooks. I also spend a lot of time hoping I by some miracle (or cunninglinguis) continue to meet my visa requirements despite the government's attempts to suffocate us non-EUers in as much red tape as it takes. The stress of this coupled with the everyday strain of not being able to communicate clearly to the world surrounding me even the most basic of concepts (for example "I'm not an employee of Karstadt, fuck off old lady") inflated by the relentless stream of life-changing situations I've had to deal with on German soil has seriously started to get to me. Or maybe I'm just having one of those days where I'd rather be home and not need an excuse to be where I am or to explain how long I plan on being there. Maybe it's just one of those days and tomorrow I won't feel like I need the questions to stop that badly. I'll just smile and say, "Just living, and you?"

Berlin Launches Friendliness Campaign

"BERLIN (Reuters) - Berlin has launched a new "friendliness" campaign to keep tourists flocking to the German capital during a time of economic crisis.

With the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall looming in November and the World Championships in athletics due in August, police, street cleaners, airport staff and taxi drivers have begun wearing special red pins to signal to visitors that they are ready to lend a helping hand.

The campaign, launched this week by the city government and local companies, mirrors a friendliness drive that was launched back in 2006 when Germany hosted the soccer World Cup.

"Berlin has a reputation in Germany of being a rude city, but we're a rude city with a heart," said Rene Gorka, head of Berlin Partners, a marketing group that promotes the city.

After hitting a record high of eight million last year, the number of tourists to the German capital has leveledoff in the start of 2009, due partly to the financial crisis, Gorka said.

"Despite the crisis, Berlin is still attractive," he said, adding it was a bargain destination for tourists.

In addition to the 13 Berlin-based companies participating in the campaign, some 1,050 police officers and 2,000 transport workers are joining in.

"With the upcoming anniversary of the fall of the Wall and the World Championships in athletics, Berliners should be as friendly as they were in 2006 and not give any credence to our rude image," Gorka said.

(Reporting by Franziska Scheven, editing by Paul Casciato)

The Auslanderbehorde Disapproves of My Nationality...

But will give me a work permit anyway! That's right, I got my arbeitslaubnis (work permit) today so I can begin work just as soon as my boss contacts me and says she has a class for me. Yay! It was a pretty tame day at the auslanderbehorde (foreign resident's office)- a line around the block an hour and a half before the doors were even open and then, once the golden hour finally arrived, everyone rushed the door cutting in front of people ruthlessly to get to the head of the line. Guh. Something odd: there was a notice on the pole in front of the building that said that persons of certain nationalities would not be serviced today as there was a strike coinciding with 9/11. These nationalities included: Arabic, American, Afghanistan, Iraqi, Iranian, and Israeli among others. The notice said something about terrorism but was hard for me to translate as it was written in very formal Deutsch with lots of long, conjoined words. Luckily, the strike did not apply to me as I already had an appointment. Still, I think that is pretty lame. Many Americans do not approve of this war, and many of the other nationalities they listed probably don't either. I mean, why do you think we left our own country?

Got My Visa!

It was 7 AM (opening time) and the Ausländerbehörde (Visa Office) was crowded in all three waiting rooms. Turkish babies were crying. British expats were crying. And the machines that gently beep to let you know a new number is coming up kept breaking down. After only a couple hours of waiting, Carlos came out with a big smile on his face and a shiny new visa in his passport. Unable to resist the temptation to pry, I asked him what had gone on in there, if it had been violent, if they had made him give blood, urine, semen? He told me they didn't even ask him any questions, really, just handed the thing over. I, however, had to wait 6 hours only to be told by some German lady who didn't speak English that I needed some document of some kind and would have to come back in a few weeks after I'd obtained whatever it was. Not being the kind of person to give up my time that easily, I decided to take a new number, wait another hour, and try my luck talking to someone else. After tossing around some documents regarding my school enrollment, funds, and health insurance, I was given a visa for one year. I'm very happy to be done with this. I wouldn't wish the Ausländerbehörde upon even my worst enemies.

Mission Accomplished

1. Went to an interview for a job as a Business English Trainer (they gave me some tips on where to go for my intensive course and told me to come back in 4 months when I speak German)
2. Signed the lease for the new apartment (the rental agency gave us a free bottle of wine as a welcome gift! Can you imagine a landlord in the bay area doing something like that?)
3. Decided on a health insurance plan (which is actually pretty cheap if paid in USD as the conversion rate is not up to date- awesome)
4. Went grocery shopping at the Turkish Market- 1 euro each for bay leaves, chili, and other necessary spices. Not to mention: I love the Italian pasta guy. $4.50 for a ton of handmade pasta with truffle filling? Also: decided to get a pint of the freshly made hummus. That stuff goes fast.
5. Reserved a spot for both Carlos and I in the VHS intensive course. I think this will do just fine as for getting us our student visa. The instructor said so herself, and a few others have mentioned it would be okay.

We have a new apartment & our manager is dead

It's true. We arrived on Friday only to find that the reason our latest emails hadn't been answered by the manager is that he died 5 days ago. His wife and the hausmeister Mr. Kropp have been taking care of things, but haven't been able to really get things up to speed just yet. In light of the circumstances, we were moved into a new, larger apartment (twice as large, to be precise) which has a bathtub, balcony, and full kitchen with dishwasher. Unfortunately, the wireless issue has become an issue as only Carlos can get internet for any extended period of time in the apartment. The hausmeister has let me use his office (which is a small chilly room located in another building across the courtyard) for internet until he can get the gentleman who handles these sorts of things to, erm, handle it- although Herr Kropp recently informed me that this gentleman is currently busy with installing a new kitchen and therefor it might be sometime before we can get this whole thing straightened out. So far we've taken a few trips out into the city- once or twice out to dinner, and a long walk to Club Maria- yet another old-warehouse-turned-club where we saw Mouse on Mars & Vitalic. Needless to say, it was a pretty damn amazing thing. I ran into Kid606 (who I've been calling "unkie miguel" on account of the fact that he's been very accomodating of all of our silly touristy-type questions- despite the fact that he is a super star DJ). We're going to get cheapo bikes at the flea market on Sunday even though it is very cold, and I may freeze to death riding it back home. Carlos has been freaking out about visas pretty regularly. I had to buy him dinner at Schwartes Cafe a couple nights ago to get him to chill out. He seems to be doing better, having resigned himself to signing up for a language course in order to get the student visa. I think it's a much better plan that living under the raydar, as the german's seem to have some pretty serious fucking raydar. We're going to get registered on Thursday (the law requires that you register within 7 days with the foreign authorities office). This won't give us a visa or anything- that will all come later once we have a more permanent place to live and have paid for school. School, by the way, doesn't start until April. I think with 25 channels of public access documentary style work programming on the tele I'm going to be pretty bored for the next couple months, and unfortunately it's too damn cold to be frolicking around just for the hell of it.