Süßes oder Saures!

So this post is going to live up to my blog’s reputation and be depressing (thanks, Peter). Maybe it is depressing, but I suppose it’s not a good indication of my time here in Berlin. I guess I just need a place to vent and get things off my chest. But yeah, I haven’t posted about what’s going on in a couple weeks, and thus I am going to just write what comes to mind, and not in chronological order.

I FINALLY got paid, I think maybe 9 weeks into my job. That is horrendous, and despite having my money, I am still really mad. I know some people who still haven’t been paid, so I guess I should be feeling blessed. It was nice to actually pay my rent on time. And buy a bed (see below).

Since my computer crashed, I no longer had Word, and my mom had conveniently bought the newest version for her own computer, so she mailed me the copy. And two weeks later, I finally got a notice about it—saying I had to go to customs to pick it up. It turns out that because she wrote it was worth $200 (it can’t be worth that much???) I had to pay 20 Euro in customs. I tried to convince the guy that because it’s from my mother it’s not a gift, but apparently that is a ridiculous argument. And I literally cried as I left from customs, because when you have 25 Euro in your bank account (this was before I got paid), you cannot afford to dish out 20 Euro for something you should not have to pay customs on. What makes it the stupidest thing ever is that the same day I picked it up from customs, my parents arrived in Berlin. What luck! They could have just brought it with them, but because I was in the middle of law school apps and desperately needed Word, my mom mailed it. Didn’t realize it was going to take so long and that I was going to have to pay the equivalent of $30 for it. L

My parents were here last weekend, and it was so good to see my dad. Except he fell the day before coming and broke some ribs. Huge bruises to boot. Yet he still came. That’s a trooper. But then he couldn’t walk that fast and was in a lot of pain. And then he and I both decided it would be a good time to get sick. He had to lie in bed for most of Saturday, and he was only here 48 hours. What luck! But it was good just to see him and show him Berlin. He’ll be back in the spring for sure. And of course it was good to see my mom, but extra special to see my dad since it’s been a while. Oh yeah, that reminds me, my brother leaves tomorrow for truck driver training. That’s right, he’s becoming a truck driver. No comment. Except I hope he enjoys it. And I hope he toots his horn when people do that arm thing driving by on the freeway. I always loved doing that as a kid.

Let’s see, I also finally got my visa on Thursday. You get a 90-day tourist visa, and I got my residence visa about 80 days into my tourist visa. Phew. My residence visa ends June 30, which is the same day my job does. I asked for an extension, since I’d heard that sometimes they’ll give you a few days or even a month. The woman got really mad at me and said they never ever do that (yes, they do, my friend just got a one-month extension). I guess I will have to go to Poland on June 30 and get my passport stamped coming back in. This would be after my last day of work. Or maybe I will just be gone before then. Argh, who knows. But one thing for sure—German bureaucracy is as HORRIBLE as the stereotype.

The woman who lived in my apartment before I moved in (i.e., the one whose room I took) came back and took practically every single thing in the whole apartment since she’s moving to Munich. I’m not kidding. She took my bed, which is kinda something I wasn’t happy about. Actually, I should say mattress, because I have been sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Yep, just as un-fun as it sounds. She even took things like the toilet bowl cleaner, the salt and pepper shakers, just about everything. While my apartment was once full of all sorts of furniture, it is now almost completely empty. She had a right to take it all, as she owns it, but I feel like she could have at least left the toilet bowl cleaner. She must really be as broke as my roommate says she is. Also, my roommate hates her a lot, and it makes me feel weird, but at least I know I don’t have big shoes to fill.

So I needed to get a new bed. I’d been sleeping on some “emergency” mattresses from neighbors upstairs, but they looked like someone had had an emergency on them, if you get my drift. I was very happy to be buying a new mattress, rather than borrowing or buying one. Was not happy to shell out the money for one. Never realized just how expensive they are! I headed to Ikea on Friday to buy the mattress and an actual bed frame. Was interesting going there alone. I felt a little foolish lying on all the beds and mattresses, trying to figure out which were the best. Decided on a 21-Euro bed frame, and so I went to the warehouse section of the store to find the bed, and I put it on my cart and was wondering why the price was 39 Euro. Just figured it was a mistake. Waited in the Costco-like line, asked cashier why the price was wrong, he said go ask the customer service, so waited in another Costco-esque line, was told the price was really 39 Euro. At which point I realized I bought the wrong bed. Well, the right bed, but in the wrong size. Typical Meghan. So had to go back and get the right one (which was not where they said it was), wait in the Costo line, and then go back to customer service to return the other. Lots of waiting in lines, as you can see. Oh yeah, had to wait in the delivery line too, since there is no way I could take a bed frame, a mattress, and my assorted goodies back on the S-Bahn.

Amazingly, the bed was delivered within 24 hours, and I had the pleasure of setting it up all by my lonesome yesterday. It was an easy process overall, until I got to the end and had all these extra metal parts. The picture instructions (thank God not in German) told me what to do, but it made no sense, so I just left them out and set up my mattress (which smells like dead fish, they must have sprayed it with chemicals for its warehouse life) and bedding. Then I decided it was probably a good idea to figure out what to do with the metal parts, so I disassembled the bed partially and added them in. I’m pretty sure they serve no function whatsoever. We’ll see how long this bed lasts before it breaks while I am in a deep sleep. You all know it’s bound to happen. I mean, come on, it’s me we’re talking about. I am not known for my assembly skills.

It was also Halloween this past week, which means I got to teach my students about it and bring candy corn to school. The kids decided that German candy is definitely better. Fine by me, that means more candy corn for me. I won’t complain. I also got a room of 30 11-graders to sing the "Trick or treat, smell my feet" song, which was admittedly awesome. And we actually had trick-or-treaters come by our apartment on Wednesday night, and I was so happy I gave them full-size candy bars (I didn’t have any other candy, but trust me, that is really generous of me, as I have a huge sweet-tooth). And I took pictures of them too. Made my night.

Friday night I went to a Halloween party with all the American and British teaching assistants in Berlin. It started at 7 and was hosted by our sorta mentor and her husband. I couldn’t believe that some people were rude enough to come already drunk at 11 or 12. When a party starts at 7 and is hosted by a real adult, I think it’s bad to come so late. And to pre-game so much. More than one person had to go throw up. Glad to hear they are enjoying the other Berliner experiences that are really foreign to me.

I’ll skip the commentary on my huge law school angst—how I screwed up recommender forms, how my mom has had to tell me to give it a rest several times, how I hate applying from a foreign country, how I fear I will not get into any schools, etc. I’ve made so many mistakes, and I am sure my pre-law advisor is tired of getting my emails every day. At least I’m done with 7 apps, and have 3 more to go, although I’m delaying those until a little later in the game in case I get in anywhere earlier.

Well, this has been a long post, and I need to do my lesson plan for tomorrow. Still haven't talked about a lot, like my classes and how these creepy people keep talking to me on AIM (people I know, but still creepy (ok, nice but creepy)). Oh, I promise to post pictures soon! Tschues!