Seven and a half hours later…

I left home this morning at 6:30—actually a few minutes before that—and did not return home until just after two.

Along the way I discovered that something I did in one stop in Weimar is done in two stops in Berlin, and must be done in a specific order. It should be obvious by now that I did these things in the wrong order.

My first stop this morning was to the Foreigner’s Office, which is inside a building that’s not really that easy to get to, and it’s only open from 07.00 until 14.00 on Monday and Tuesday, then on Thursday it’s open from 10.00 until 18.00. It’s closed on Wednesday and Friday.

I queued for almost an hour at this office only to discover that I needed to Anmeldebestätigung first. In Weimar it’s done in one office.

Basically I could have slept in, gone for a short five-minute walk to a nearby office, and then done my Anmeldebestätigung. It wouldn’t have been realistic to accomplish this today and then go to the Foreigner’s Office, but had I done this in this order, I wouldn’t have needed to set the alarm for 06.00.

By the time I finished going from the Foreigner’s Office to my future office (to pick up some paperwork and ask questions) and then onward to do my Anmeldebestätigung, it was 12:15.

That left me just enough time and battery power on my phone to go to the Schufa office to order my credit report. I did this a few weeks ago in Weimar but it never came and right now it’s in limbo, so I decided it would be a good idea to start the process to get another one.

Anybody looking for Schufa’s Berlin office, please note it is listed as being at Mariendorfer Damm 1-3. It’s in number three, which is on the corner facing Mariendorfer Damm even though it is not listed on all signs as being there. Go up the steps, in the door, and then take the elevator to the fifth floor.

They promise it will arrive in a week, which gives me a day or two to put my name on a mailbox.

Meanwhile I then returned home and took a brief nap: standing in lines and waiting my turn takes a lot of energy, especially when one sets an alarm for 6 in order to get to the first office early.