I don’t know if you have any experience in dealing with German bureaucracy, but I’m going to assume you don’t know anything, is that OK.
OK good.
Although I’m having a lot of fun in Berlin, there are a lot of official documents I need to have, and appointments I need to make, before I have an official visa to live here for an extended period of time. The first step of this journey though was making an appointment at the Bürgeramt to register my address. Unlike the United States, you need to inform the government of where you’re living at all times. If you change addresses, you must mail a form to the Bürgeramt, or make an appointment, within 2 weeks. Although this isn’t necessarily difficult, you need to have all of your documents ready to hand them: passport, birth certificate, Anmeldung (registration form), and a rental agreement.
This theoretically is straightforward, until you delve into personal accounts of someone’s trip to the Bürgeramt, and the various inevitable situations that make the process less straightforward. For example, I’m staying with a friend for free, which means I have no rental agreement. I didn’t have my birth certificate, nor a copy of it: schade. What I actually ended up bringing with me: passport, Anmeldung, letter signed by the people I’m living with confirming that I am indeed living with them. That’s it.
So naturally, I was slightly terrified that this wouldn’t be adequate and that I would be given a stern talking to auf Deutsch by a man in a finely pressed suit and impeccably groomed facial hair. Something like this finely crafted piece of digital art.
I made sure to get on my train early, because it’s on the far south side of Berlin, and ended up arriving an hour ahead of my appointment. I tentatively walked up to the counter, made eye-contact with the woman behind the desk, and this conversation commenced (auf Deutsch, of course:
Me: I have an appointment. My name is Heidi.
Cute German Woman: Oh ok let’s see…what time is your appointment?
Me: I’m a little early…my appointment’s at 12:00pm?
Cute German Woman: *laughs* Ooooh you’re very early. Well, you don’t have to wait here dear, go get yourself a cup of tea. *motions drinking tea from a cup*
So I did. And when I came back my number was up and I went directly into “Platz 1” where a man very unlike my mental depiction of a German bureaucrat was sitting behind a desk listening to German pop songs on the radio. He had a black t-shirt on with what I’m quite sure was a metal band. He had shoulder-length white hair, a beard, glasses, and spoke very good English. I immediately felt overdressed for this appointment. After speaking with him, giving him my documents, and holding my breath, he said, “Heidi! That’s a very German name!” And I said, yes. Yes it is.
I don’t know how, but I think that helped me get my address registered, because the appointment was over in 10 minutes.
Then I did what any mature, adult person would do after having a very mature, adult appointment, and played Pokémon for 30-minutes on the train ride back home.
