On Monday morning I get up very early and catch the bus from Bolzano to Munich and get to work at about 10am (my work is fine with this, I just work abit later on Monday evenings). On Fridays I start work a little early, leave early and catch the bus back to Bolzano at 5pm. I get into Bolzano at around 9pm. So far on all three occassions Joe has met me at the bus and we've gone out for dinner or drinks with friends straight from the bus, it's a pretty good way to start the weekend. To make this whole arrangement even better I have a six month bus pass which lets me ride the bus as much as I want.
So the commuting is going smoothly, the new job is going smoothly. Moving to Germany though is a long process...
Firstly you must find somewhere to live! The whole system hinges on you having a registered address. This is not so easy in Munich, they have a rather severe housing shortage. I ended up finding somewhere for the first month, this allowed me to do the next step...
Tell the KVR where you live. The KVR is an intimidating place. I got there ten minutes before it opened and there were masses of people outside, having had experience with Italian public offices I thought that I would be there for hours. Actually this was not the case, when they finally opened ten minutes late (very un-German of them) and everyone stormed the doors I went to the info desk, the lady told me where to go and I went and stood in a line at that desk which was not open. When I got to the front of that line I got given a ticket with a number on it. I waited five minutes, then my number was up and a very helpful English speaking lady registered my address.
Now that my address was registered I could get a bank account (yay!), so I got one of those.
I also got health insurance which is mandatory in Germany.
Now I just need a tax number. Problem with this is it gets sent after you've registered at the KVR within four weeks, I needed it earlier than four weeks. Lucky for me I got it a week later, now I could go and get my tax class card. So I went to the tax office (slightly less intimidating) and got my number and another nice lady sorted out my tax class card in five minutes. So for all my fears about the German bureaucracy things have gone reasonably smoothly. I've also managed to find a permanent flat (yay!). I now just need to organise personal liability insurance and register as a resident at the immigration department (neither of these two things impact on getting paid, hence they are at the bottom of the list of things to organise), so it's been a busy few weeks but I'm almost organised to live in Germany!
So this boring image free post is kind of reflective of my life the last few weeks, lots of time in public offices or the bank, or reviewing training at my new work. But something cute that I see most mornings on my way to work is pre-schoolers being pushed in these carts by the daycare workers as a means to transport a group of tiny people efficiently to the park. Tots cute!
it's like an army truck but for toddlers
