Eric's Germany Journal

Parts

• December 11 to December 15.
• December 16 to January 3.
• January 4 to January 17.
• January 18 to February 3.
• February 4 to February 15.
• February 16 to March 2.
• March 3 to March 27.
• March 28 to April 25.
• April 26 to May 21.
• May 22 to July 26.
• July 27 to October 7.

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

Once inside, there was a one-hour wait at the ticket counter. I heard that was because airports in other cities were closed due to the weather, and many people on the Frankfurt flight were rerouted through Boston. However, the Munich flight was not full, and the seat next to me was empty, so I had some room to spread out. The flight was uneventful but a little late because the usual tailwinds were not present.

Thursday, December 12, 2002

Hotel Ibis.

After registering, we checked into the hotel and headed out to open a bank account. That wasn't easy; the first bank wanted us to make an appointment. We went off to another, and now I have a German bank account. I couldn't put any cash into it, though, because the bank didn't have the machine to test US dollars. After opening the bank account, we went back to the government offices to get a tax card, which tells the employer how much tax to withhold. I'm not sure why a bank account was a prerequisite to that.

Entrance to the Christmas Market.

An EADS office building.

Then Lars dropped me off at the hotel. I managed to get an Internet connection made, but it took some trial and error. There are F and N connectors in the wall phone outlet that do slightly different things, and I needed a connector adapter, a tax impulse filter, a change to the phone number to dial, and a change to the modem settings to tell it to dial without hearing the usual US dial tone. I wasn't able to connect to the German ISP I signed up with, so I called my New Hampshire ISP.

After that, I feel asleep pretty quickly. I had been awake around 28 hours, minus an hour or two on the plane. I slept from 6 to 11. After 11, I tried to sleep for an hour, but that night was pretty bad. I had major pangs about wanting not to be here. I felt crippled, not knowing where anything was or how to communicate. Plus, I did not even have any local cash. So I stopped trying to sleep and got up for about an hour and a half. I worked on the Internet connection for a while and was able to figure out why I had not been able to connect to the German ISP. I fixed that, and now I have a good arrangement. I will be able to send email and access everything through the local ISP, and my usual email address will continue to work and be readily accessible to me.

Then I went back to sleep and slept for six more hours. The temperature in my room is good on average. Unfortunately, the heat vent is near the ceiling, so the top of the room is hot and the bottom is cold. Who puts a heat vent at the top? Architects in a cold country should know better.

Friday, December 13, 2002

After breakfast, we tried to change my dollars for euros. The bank that had been recommended to us also did not have the necessary machine, but they referred us to another branch. I suggested to Lars that we try the Reisebanke (travel bank) in the Hauptbahnhof (main train station), which we were near, but he wanted to go off to the recommended branch, which was halfway across the city. Oh, well. After getting euros, we had to go back to my new bank to deposit some of them.

Ulm says this church has the highest spire in the world. The pillars are not bent; I stitched three pictures together. The pictures do not do the height justice; the building is imposing when you are near it.

The Münster seen from a distance. The spire is 161.6 meters high.

At noon, we met the real estate agent and visited two apartments. The first apartment felt comfy, but the two apartments were comparable. I picked the first. That went pretty quickly, and I now have a nine-month lease for an apartment in west Ulm. That just means I have to pay for nine months, not that I have to stay for nine months. See my calling card for the address and a link to a map. The building is about 200 years old. [I asked again when I knew more German and was told it was 300, maybe 360, years old.] The apartment may be about 600 square feet, and the rent is €540/month. That includes heat, electricity, water, and waste service. There is a washing machine and a dryer in the apartment, which is good, because there is no self-service laundry in the city. There might be one in Neu-Ulm, but that is a long trip just to do laundry.

I will move in on December 31. The apartment is about a kilometer from EADS and is about two blocks from a bus stop on a line that goes straight to EADS. A streetcar (Straßenbahn) goes from there into the city. I have to figure that out. The route seemed to be a streetcar all the way on the map, and both the bus and the streetcar are numbered 1. Maybe it is usually a streetcar but part of the route is temporarily serviced by bus due to construction work. For my first week of work, I will be taking the streetcar from the hotel to EADS and passing by the site of Einstein's birth everyday.

My home away from home.

After renting the apartment, we had to notify the Einwohnermeldeamt that I would be changing my address. Lars decided to do that by fax rather than making a third trip. However, I'm not done at the government offices. Within three months, I have to go to the Ausländeramt (Alien Registration Office) to get an Aufenthaltserlaubnis (residence permit). We also had to visit the bank to tell them about my new address. Plus, we set up automatic transfers to pay my rent.

We also ordered phone service. I do not yet know when that will be connected. I hope it will be done before I move in, because I do not want to lose my Internet connection. I should receive the phone number in a few days.

In the early evening, I went back to the Christmas Market, and I revised my opinion of it. It is fairly extensive. I lost track of my location and where I had been several times. There is chocolate, other food, clothing, toys, puzzles, jewelry, a ride, and more. Some of my research had prepared me for German street etiquette: Push through crowds and accept being jostled. I bought a map and some postcards in the tourist office, and I bought some chocolate in the Christmas Market.

For dinner, I tried the café next to the hotel. I managed to order in German and still get a vegetarian meal—cheese tortellini with vegetables. It was very good. All the food outside the hotel has been very good.

Having accomplished some things on my own, I slept better Friday night.

Saturday, December 14, 2002

Why is Einstein's head poking out of a seashell? Perhaps in the spring we will see the fountain functioning.

This marks the former site of the house in which Einstein was born.

I have found just about everything I need to survive, so I am feeling better now. Even so, the simplest things take a lot of effort. I have to figure out where what I want is, what words I need to ask for it, what time it is available, and so on. I am never going to learn German because many of the words I look up are not in any of the dictionaries I brought. I did find the word Champignon, though. Avoid that; it's a kind of fungus. Some of the restaurants are more candid and use the label funghi to warn you off.

In walking through town in the morning, I discovered there is a farmers' market there on Saturday morning. I bought some fruit for lunches and some bread. I would have guessed the produce was local except that the pineapples seemed out of place. I did have one problem in the morning: The cold and wet makes the brick streets icy. The sidewalks are very slippery in some places, even with good shoes.

Müller department store.

I returned to the hotel in late morning and found I had mail. Just like real life. The bank sent me a letter about the PIN for my ATM card, so now I have to translate that, because I see "PIN" in it but not a number that looks like a PIN to me, unless they use six digits here.

While I was walking from EADS to my apartment, a car pulled up beside me to ask directions. Boy, did they have the wrong person!

The mall is much like US malls and is a good size. The US chains Staples, Foot Locker, and H&M are there. Those are the only names I recognized, but the store Real Markt is much like Walmart. There is an Eis Café in the mall with ice cream in flavors not seen in the US, like Nutella and apple. I may do much of my shopping at local shops though. There is a small grocery near my new apartment and a small shopping plaza. There are bakeries all over the place.

Inside the Christmas Market.

I also bought some chocolate for the next few days. Another booth was selling roasted chestnuts, and I bought some of those too.

Sunday, December 15, 2002

This part of the Stadthaus contains the tourist bureau and some other space for civic activities.

Later entries ⇒

© Copyright 2002 by Eric Postpischil.