How I missed German bureaucracy!

I spent Monday morning sorting my admin. Starting with getting registered. Contrary to the UK, the German state expects you to tell them where you live. All within one week of moving. You of course need to proof of your new address which can be either a tenancy agreement or at least confirmation from the house owner that you indeed live where you claim to live. My landlord had written a handwritten note to that effect. And admittedly, the note could have really been written by anyone. Fortunately, the guy who was dealing with me was very nice. His colleague on the other hand clearly thought I was up to no good. My landlord has the same name as his father. Who passed away years ago. I got the impression she was feeling very smug in thinking she had caught me out, when telling me that the gentleman had already passed away. Well, do your research properly, missy!

Anyway, it was all sorted in the end. I also applied for my police check. He wasn’t able to tell me, whether the German police would really bother to check with the English police that I had been a good girl... I doubt it, given that I only paid €13 for it. I was then sent upstairs, in order to officially declare that I no longer wanted to belong to the institution that is the Roman Catholic Church. Which cost me €31!!! The civil servant offered some explanation of why this is done the way it is. All very informative. This decision has nothing to do with my faith by the way, and all to do with me not wanting to pay church taxes. Whenever I explain this to a non-German, they think I am joking. I don’t actually know whether any other country levies a church tax.

I then went to investigate my mobile phone and internet options. I could only find an o2 and Vodafone shop. As Vodafone only offered internet for a fixed term, the decision was easy. Until it turned out that o2 were happy to let me have a contract for my phone and a contract for the internet – but refused to let me pay for my phone in monthly instalments. As I couldn’t be bothered to research other options, I agreed to pay for the phone upfront. I then cycled back home (btw, I am really enjoying the cycling so far! It’s all flat here, and there are super wide cycle lanes everywhere!) and went to set up my phone and internet. Feeling very smug about my efficiency.

I then tried to sign up for health insurance which I thought I could do online. I of course hadn’t checked the online form properly and had overlooked that it needed a signature... And I of course don’t have a printer. So, I shall visit the branch here in Rosenheim and hopefully get that sorted.

After I went for a quick shop, I ran into Maria, who lives downstairs. The house was lived in by my landlord’s parents. And Maria is one of two carers who looked after his mother for the last five years. His Dad passed away quite some time ago. His mother passed away in April, but he’s still employing the two carers to look after the house. Maria is from Hungary and comes over for a few weeks at a time. She clearly likes to chat and has been very sweet to me, so when she offered me a coffee, I decided to spend some time with her. 

Now, I am not very good with old/elderly people. But I needn’t have worried, as she was able to keep up the conversation all by herself. I spent more than an hour on the terrace with her, and – amongst others – was shown a lot of her photos on her tablet (yes, she has a tablet and contrary to me, knows how to use it). This also included photos of the deceased which to be honest, I could have done without ever seeing... I left feeling slightly depressed about getting old.

And the evening ended with chatting online to my friends, which was very nice :-)