Before I begin the list, let me note that the conversion rate from euro to dollar is pretty horrendous. It has been getting worse every day since I arrived, meaning that my rent goes up about $10 per month. The rate is now somewhere around 1 euro = $1.60. Hence, all the ridiculous petty items I need to buy from home (I've included the price change in parenthesis so you can see what I mean).
ROOT BEER (non-existent)
Tortillas (5 euro =$7.50 for 5 flour tortillas in Berlin- corn tortillas non-existent)
Refried Beans (vegetarian / canned) (non-existent)
Bottles of Tylenol / Ibuprofen (9 euro = $12 for 18 caplets)
Sammy hair gel (non-existent)
Biore strips / face wash (non-existent)
New shoes: boots, sneaks (50 euro - 80 euro = $75 - $120)
Socks (4 euro per pair = $6.00)
American to European Adapter (I can't seem to find these anywhere)
Shower Rod (it's like $45 here! Dude!)
Things to bring back:
Tape measure (because I never got used to the metric system really...)
Some good books
Things I need to do:
renew driver's license
get a hair cut (easier to explain in English)
Showing posts with label Moving to Berlin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moving to Berlin. Show all posts
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
New Apartment!
After much moving anxiety we've moved into our new apartment and in doing so learned a great deal about how move ins generally go here.
-For starters, apartments are usually left completely vacant by the previous tenants who will usually take the light fixtures, fridge, oven, even the kitchen sink and cabinets in our case. This can be rather expensive to "fix" so I highly recommend finding a place that has a real kitchen unless you're willing to put forth the effort.
Invisible Kitchen.
-Another thing: the apartments are usually filthy when you move in. I spent 2 hours cleaning our floors & bathroom yesterday only to uncover layers of dirt, dead bugs, and some shattered glass on the balcony that our rental agent kept trying to getting us to clean (but we refused). Luckily, as our rental agency assured us they could clean the rooms earlier we got 100 euro taken off our rent for this month. Now they are shiny and clean.
-Because the housing market is doing so poorly these days, landlords will often spiff up the apartment with nice extras such as new flooring, balconies, or in our case a very excellent queen-size tub.
-Most contracts require you give 3 months notice prior to leaving.
-The deposit is usually 3 times the "cold rent" - or rent without utilities. This can be rather expensive to pay, but you are allowed to pay it over 3 months (they won't tell you this, but it's the law).
-Some rental agencies / landlords will require you to do a lot of work in order to get your deposit back- such as painting the walls, or even refurbishing the apartment if you stay long enough.
More pictures of the new place here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/everythingandrobots/sets/72157604106201473/
-For starters, apartments are usually left completely vacant by the previous tenants who will usually take the light fixtures, fridge, oven, even the kitchen sink and cabinets in our case. This can be rather expensive to "fix" so I highly recommend finding a place that has a real kitchen unless you're willing to put forth the effort.
Invisible Kitchen.
-Another thing: the apartments are usually filthy when you move in. I spent 2 hours cleaning our floors & bathroom yesterday only to uncover layers of dirt, dead bugs, and some shattered glass on the balcony that our rental agent kept trying to getting us to clean (but we refused). Luckily, as our rental agency assured us they could clean the rooms earlier we got 100 euro taken off our rent for this month. Now they are shiny and clean.
-Because the housing market is doing so poorly these days, landlords will often spiff up the apartment with nice extras such as new flooring, balconies, or in our case a very excellent queen-size tub.
-Most contracts require you give 3 months notice prior to leaving.
-The deposit is usually 3 times the "cold rent" - or rent without utilities. This can be rather expensive to pay, but you are allowed to pay it over 3 months (they won't tell you this, but it's the law).
-Some rental agencies / landlords will require you to do a lot of work in order to get your deposit back- such as painting the walls, or even refurbishing the apartment if you stay long enough.
More pictures of the new place here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/everythingandrobots/sets/72157604106201473/
Finding An Apartment
Here are some links for sites that list apartments in Berlin.
Property Managers:
http://www.degewo.de
http://www.taekker.de (These are the people we're renting from)
http://www.ca-m.de/
Advert Sites:
(Note: Some of these sites charge commissions- check the site for details!)
http://www.wg-gesucht.de
http://mopo-immonet.berlin1.de
http://www.studenten-wg.de
http://mieten.immonet.de
http://www.immobilienscout24.de
http://www.rooms-in-berlin.com/
http://www.immowelt.de/
You can also find places by putting an ad out and/or reading the ads in the papers immobelien, zitty, and the local paper. Zitty and Exberliner are also online. Craigslist is an online classifieds site that we used all the time in the states. Here it's sometimes used, but usually for sublets / shares. Expatica is a great site for getting solid information. Unfortunately not many use their classifieds section.
http://kleinanzeigen.zitty.de/
http://cgi.xberliner.com
http://berlin.craigslist.org/
http://expaticade.franglo.com/classifieds
Other ways to get a place:
If you're desperate you can always go through a rental agency. I've heard this can be pricey, but is worth it as they do all the work for you- narrowing down the thousands of available empty apartments in Berlin to just one. Here are some I've found / been recommended to:
-Claudia C. Rehberg
Managing Director
Professional Organizing Relocation Consult GmbH
Post: Wiesenstraße 18, D-65843 Sulzbach
T: +49 (6196) 5946 12 F: +49 (6196) 5946 71
Mail: c.rehberg@proforg.com
http://www.progedo.de/41-1-press-articles.html
http://www.steptoberlin.de/aboutus.htm
http://www.first-relocating.de/
More about relocation agents here: http://www.expatica.com/de/housing/relocation/what-can-a-relocation-agency-do-for-you--571.html
Property Managers:
http://www.degewo.de
http://www.taekker.de (These are the people we're renting from)
http://www.ca-m.de/
Advert Sites:
(Note: Some of these sites charge commissions- check the site for details!)
http://www.wg-gesucht.de
http://mopo-immonet.berlin1.de
http://www.studenten-wg.de
http://mieten.immonet.de
http://www.immobilienscout24.de
http://www.rooms-in-berlin.com/
http://www.immowelt.de/
You can also find places by putting an ad out and/or reading the ads in the papers immobelien, zitty, and the local paper. Zitty and Exberliner are also online. Craigslist is an online classifieds site that we used all the time in the states. Here it's sometimes used, but usually for sublets / shares. Expatica is a great site for getting solid information. Unfortunately not many use their classifieds section.
http://kleinanzeigen.zitty.de/
http://cgi.xberliner.com
http://berlin.craigslist.org/
http://expaticade.franglo.com/classifieds
Other ways to get a place:
If you're desperate you can always go through a rental agency. I've heard this can be pricey, but is worth it as they do all the work for you- narrowing down the thousands of available empty apartments in Berlin to just one. Here are some I've found / been recommended to:
-Claudia C. Rehberg
Managing Director
Professional Organizing Relocation Consult GmbH
Post: Wiesenstraße 18, D-65843 Sulzbach
T: +49 (6196) 5946 12 F: +49 (6196) 5946 71
Mail: c.rehberg@proforg.com
http://www.progedo.de/41-1-press-articles.html
http://www.steptoberlin.de/aboutus.htm
http://www.first-relocating.de/
More about relocation agents here: http://www.expatica.com/de/housing/relocation/what-can-a-relocation-agency-do-for-you--571.html
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Banks & Banking
Today we opened a bank account at Deutsche Bank to keep all our euros in. We chose DB because it seemed like a safe, convenient option for us as Bank of America has an agreement with DB regarding withdrawals at their ATMS. Basically, if you have a Bank of America account, you can use a DB ATM without having to pay any international fees or foreign ATM fees. You do have to pay a 3% conversion fee, but this is usually not too bad.
We opened the account mostly because we're worried that the euro is just going to keep growing in strength while the dollar gets weaker and weaker. Might as well convert a huge chunk into euro now and not have to worry about the conversion rate later on.
We also found that we needed to have a German bank account in order to pay rent. You see, here in Germany they have their own credit system using EC cards and they don't use checks at all. To pay large sums of money people usually wire it from one account to another. To pay regular bills like rent, or health insurance, it's necessary to have a German bank account so you can set up regular transfers.
The bad thing about the DB student account is that it doesn't offer much of an interest rate at all. I think it was 0.5%. Awful really. They have accounts that have larger interest but you need to have a residence permit and full-time job for these. The perks of the DB account include: free checking (which not every bank offers in Germany unlike the states where they're DYING to throw free checking your way), free online checking, free wire payments (from one account to another domestic only).
So now that we have German bank accounts it looks like we're one step closer to "living" here and not just being tourists for an extended period of time.
We opened the account mostly because we're worried that the euro is just going to keep growing in strength while the dollar gets weaker and weaker. Might as well convert a huge chunk into euro now and not have to worry about the conversion rate later on.
We also found that we needed to have a German bank account in order to pay rent. You see, here in Germany they have their own credit system using EC cards and they don't use checks at all. To pay large sums of money people usually wire it from one account to another. To pay regular bills like rent, or health insurance, it's necessary to have a German bank account so you can set up regular transfers.
The bad thing about the DB student account is that it doesn't offer much of an interest rate at all. I think it was 0.5%. Awful really. They have accounts that have larger interest but you need to have a residence permit and full-time job for these. The perks of the DB account include: free checking (which not every bank offers in Germany unlike the states where they're DYING to throw free checking your way), free online checking, free wire payments (from one account to another domestic only).
So now that we have German bank accounts it looks like we're one step closer to "living" here and not just being tourists for an extended period of time.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Groceries & Being Green
After discovering how expensive a normal German meal can be when you take Euro-dollar conversion into consideration, Schnitzel and Vegi decided that it was time for some home-cooked meals. But where to find a grocery store? After looking around on the net, and painfully trying to dislodge the search function amongst the German-labeled links for the major grocery stores, Vegi finally gave up and decided to go for a walk. While on the walk, she found all four of the major staple grocery stores here in Berlin which include: Pennymart, Lidl, Edeka, and Plus. Pennymart is a little scary- kinda cheapo with lots of children running around. Lidl and Plus are probably the best in my opinion, and Edeka seems smaller (at least the one by our place is) and more expensive but good for things like cheese and dairy.
After shopping, Schnitzel enjoys a hearty meal of pasta, shrimp, and a 6 pack of beer.
We decided to go with Plus for our first major supply run. Among the treasures we discovered were: frozen calamari (2 euro), bucket of strawberry yogurt (2 euro), vegi burgers (1,69 euro), pesto (2 euro), and (my favorite) one euro black caviar! We were a bit perplexed to find that at grocery stores you’re expected to either bring your own bag, or buy one at the market. They have some nice ones at Plus for 1 euro. I think it’s a very cool thing that they’re trying to reduce the waste problem that is plastic bags (which take forever to biodegrade and are pretty awful for the environment). San Francisco was trying to do the same last I heard by prohibiting major grocery chains like Safeway from using plastic, and only allowing paper. However, the same problem exists with trashing paper bags- it creates trash and depletes forests. Reuse is really the best way. I’ve also been told that all bottles are reused and if you bring them back to anyplace that sells the same product they’ll refund you a few cents. Very cool. A remarkably green solution that I wish the American people weren’t so squeamish about.
After shopping, Schnitzel enjoys a hearty meal of pasta, shrimp, and a 6 pack of beer.
We decided to go with Plus for our first major supply run. Among the treasures we discovered were: frozen calamari (2 euro), bucket of strawberry yogurt (2 euro), vegi burgers (1,69 euro), pesto (2 euro), and (my favorite) one euro black caviar! We were a bit perplexed to find that at grocery stores you’re expected to either bring your own bag, or buy one at the market. They have some nice ones at Plus for 1 euro. I think it’s a very cool thing that they’re trying to reduce the waste problem that is plastic bags (which take forever to biodegrade and are pretty awful for the environment). San Francisco was trying to do the same last I heard by prohibiting major grocery chains like Safeway from using plastic, and only allowing paper. However, the same problem exists with trashing paper bags- it creates trash and depletes forests. Reuse is really the best way. I’ve also been told that all bottles are reused and if you bring them back to anyplace that sells the same product they’ll refund you a few cents. Very cool. A remarkably green solution that I wish the American people weren’t so squeamish about.
Registration At The Burgeramt
Today we took the first step towards living legally- registration. Loving the paperwork as they do, the Germans have a law that states both foreigners who want to live in Germany and stay longer than 3 months have to register with the local authorities within 7 days of arriving. Registration basically just means telling the foreign authorities that you’re in town, and that you intend to stay here at least a bit beyond the 90 day tourist mark. We registered on our 7th day here, and so just made the cut off (although I’ve heard that although they may yell at you a bit for being late in registering, it isn’t that big of a deal). The most confusing thing I think was that after looking around on the net everyone seems to suggest that you should go to the ausbelandhorder- of which there is one in all Berlin and it’s not anywhere close to where we live. After researching it a bit more we found out that we’re actually supposed to go to the bugeramt, which is a lot easier- there are 3 in Kreuzberg alone and plenty more all over Berlin. Also, on the net many people seemed to think we should print out a form and bring it with us. Not true- you do that once you get there. All we had to bring was our rental contract for our boarding house and our passports.
Behold the burgeramt!
Apparently, the graffiti in Kreuzberg extends even to government buildings. Cute recycling bins though (;
We went in, took a number, waited for minutes and hours and days to pass, finally our numbers were called, we went in, we talked to a nice rotund German lady with polar bear kitsche scattered around her office, she took our passports, entered the information, returned our passports, gave us a piece of paper with a stamp on it, and that was it! I was amazed, after hearing from various sources on the internet about the stuffy nature of German officials- how they will refuse to speak English with you even though they are required to know some in order to hold government office, how they love to turn you away & make you cry salty expat tears, how long everything takes (okay, that part is true), I was prepared for trauma! Luckily, we left, legal and happy with the paperwork to prove our ambitions.
Schnitzel watches his life slowly pass as he waits to speak with the German officials about his residency. Luckily, there is a soda machine to keep him company.
Another shot inside the registration office in kreuzberg. To keep you from killing yourself from boredom, they include a flat screen TV which displays questions about world geography. I can't think of a better way to keep foreigners entertained than by quizzing them on the population of Lithuania, can you?
On the way home from the Burgeramt we found the euro equivalent of a quarter machine selling what they called "heavy rings." Here's Schnitzel looking totally metal:
A cold, happily registered Vegi Schnitzel on her way back from the Burgeramt.
Behold the burgeramt!
Apparently, the graffiti in Kreuzberg extends even to government buildings. Cute recycling bins though (;
We went in, took a number, waited for minutes and hours and days to pass, finally our numbers were called, we went in, we talked to a nice rotund German lady with polar bear kitsche scattered around her office, she took our passports, entered the information, returned our passports, gave us a piece of paper with a stamp on it, and that was it! I was amazed, after hearing from various sources on the internet about the stuffy nature of German officials- how they will refuse to speak English with you even though they are required to know some in order to hold government office, how they love to turn you away & make you cry salty expat tears, how long everything takes (okay, that part is true), I was prepared for trauma! Luckily, we left, legal and happy with the paperwork to prove our ambitions.
Schnitzel watches his life slowly pass as he waits to speak with the German officials about his residency. Luckily, there is a soda machine to keep him company.
Another shot inside the registration office in kreuzberg. To keep you from killing yourself from boredom, they include a flat screen TV which displays questions about world geography. I can't think of a better way to keep foreigners entertained than by quizzing them on the population of Lithuania, can you?
On the way home from the Burgeramt we found the euro equivalent of a quarter machine selling what they called "heavy rings." Here's Schnitzel looking totally metal:
A cold, happily registered Vegi Schnitzel on her way back from the Burgeramt.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Bored & Boarding House
(originally composed 02/01 17:00)
We safely arrived in Berlin at our boarding house which is called The Act of Balance. Upon arrival, we found out all at the same time that the owner of the property died 5 days ago, that our previous apartment had been rented, and that we were being upgraded free of charge to a much larger/nicer unit (for those looking at the website we were originally staying in type 2 but are now staying in type 3). The apartment is pretty big- ALOT bigger than our studio back in San Francisco. There are a few oddities about it however.
Lovely Art-Deco Couch in our apartment's living room.
1) We made an agreement with the owner that we would have high speed internet in the apartment, but due to the erm, circumstances mentioned above this did not happen. As a result, we ended up running from available apartment to available apartment (many of them nicer than this one!) to see if we could get a wireless signal. In the end, the only way I (vegi schnitzel) could get wireless is by sitting in the office directly next to the wireless router. Schnitzel, however, was able to get wireless in the apartment more or less, so we arranged with the manager that we would use the office whenever we needed to until they could have the wireless connection to our apartment repaired. UPDATE: We've since found out that this will not happen for some time, as the person who typically handles internet setup for the building is having a new kitchen installed and is too busy to see to other matters.
Couch & Matching 1990s Dentist-Office-Chic Table
2) There is a broken spot in the couch. We pointed this, and the fact that the main window can actually come off the hinges to the owners, but they seemed to have no problem with it, so I suppose we will just have to sit around it.
Somewhat intimidating / monolith-like living room furniture.
3) For some reason, the "large bed" is actually two twin beds that have been pushed together. This has resulted in much giggling from schnitzel and vegi schnitzel, who are beginning to feel like a Cold War Television couple.
Partially-broken, dangerously looming balcony window.
4) German television apparently consists of 25 channels featuring documentary-style programming about happily employed germans at their jobs. Considering Germany's racing unemployment problem, I can see why they would choose to saturate the country in this kind of programming in an attempt to boost moral.
We safely arrived in Berlin at our boarding house which is called The Act of Balance. Upon arrival, we found out all at the same time that the owner of the property died 5 days ago, that our previous apartment had been rented, and that we were being upgraded free of charge to a much larger/nicer unit (for those looking at the website we were originally staying in type 2 but are now staying in type 3). The apartment is pretty big- ALOT bigger than our studio back in San Francisco. There are a few oddities about it however.
Lovely Art-Deco Couch in our apartment's living room.
1) We made an agreement with the owner that we would have high speed internet in the apartment, but due to the erm, circumstances mentioned above this did not happen. As a result, we ended up running from available apartment to available apartment (many of them nicer than this one!) to see if we could get a wireless signal. In the end, the only way I (vegi schnitzel) could get wireless is by sitting in the office directly next to the wireless router. Schnitzel, however, was able to get wireless in the apartment more or less, so we arranged with the manager that we would use the office whenever we needed to until they could have the wireless connection to our apartment repaired. UPDATE: We've since found out that this will not happen for some time, as the person who typically handles internet setup for the building is having a new kitchen installed and is too busy to see to other matters.
Couch & Matching 1990s Dentist-Office-Chic Table
2) There is a broken spot in the couch. We pointed this, and the fact that the main window can actually come off the hinges to the owners, but they seemed to have no problem with it, so I suppose we will just have to sit around it.
Somewhat intimidating / monolith-like living room furniture.
3) For some reason, the "large bed" is actually two twin beds that have been pushed together. This has resulted in much giggling from schnitzel and vegi schnitzel, who are beginning to feel like a Cold War Television couple.
Partially-broken, dangerously looming balcony window.
4) German television apparently consists of 25 channels featuring documentary-style programming about happily employed germans at their jobs. Considering Germany's racing unemployment problem, I can see why they would choose to saturate the country in this kind of programming in an attempt to boost moral.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Seattle ----> Copenhagen & The One Way Ticket Issue
(composed 02-01-2008 15:45)
We've arrived safely in Copenhagen after a painfully long SAS flight. SAS airlines was actually quite nice- cute little cupholder thingies in addition to the normal tray tables, some interesting multi-cultural choices in in-flight movies displayed via LCD panels on the back of each chair, magazines displaying the princess of some scandinavian country on a horse, not-too-frightening vegetarian meal options for dinner (we slept through breakfast on account of the Tylenol PM we took to conk ourselves out). We arrived at Copenhagen with only 55 min. to transfer to our next flight. Surprisingly, the short transfer time was not a problem at all as security and passport control were a breeze.
Marrakesh - 10 Euro ticket here we come!
This was especially relieving for us considering all the time we had spent agonizing over our one-way tickets due to what we had read concerning them on the Toytown forums. Apparently, some people who used one-way tickets were not allowed to board their flights because of an agreement many countries have with the airlines that states if a passenger is not allowed into a country because they do not abide by the Timatic terms (many of which state you either have to have return tickets or proof of ongoing travel) then that airline must fly the passenger back to the country of origin for free. This made us pretty freaked out, so after much hysteria we decided to buy two one-way tickets to Morocco via the ever cheapo Ryanair (only 10 euro each) so we could at least prove we had "ongoing travel plans." Yes, I know that in retrospect this is all very silly. But when you're up and moving to one of the most anal retentive countries on the planet (in terms of security anyway) you get a little skittish and start doing weird things like purchasing tickets to Marrakech. It's a good thing we didn't need them. The nice ladies at United in SFO only asked us a few questions and after we explained that we were students and needed to apply for Visas in Berlin they let us go without issue. At passport control in Copenhagen they barely looked at our passports, just stamp n' go. Funny all that worrying was for nothing. I'm getting the feeling that a lot of the worrying is unnecessary.
Next Stop BERLIN!!!!
We've arrived safely in Copenhagen after a painfully long SAS flight. SAS airlines was actually quite nice- cute little cupholder thingies in addition to the normal tray tables, some interesting multi-cultural choices in in-flight movies displayed via LCD panels on the back of each chair, magazines displaying the princess of some scandinavian country on a horse, not-too-frightening vegetarian meal options for dinner (we slept through breakfast on account of the Tylenol PM we took to conk ourselves out). We arrived at Copenhagen with only 55 min. to transfer to our next flight. Surprisingly, the short transfer time was not a problem at all as security and passport control were a breeze.
Marrakesh - 10 Euro ticket here we come!
This was especially relieving for us considering all the time we had spent agonizing over our one-way tickets due to what we had read concerning them on the Toytown forums. Apparently, some people who used one-way tickets were not allowed to board their flights because of an agreement many countries have with the airlines that states if a passenger is not allowed into a country because they do not abide by the Timatic terms (many of which state you either have to have return tickets or proof of ongoing travel) then that airline must fly the passenger back to the country of origin for free. This made us pretty freaked out, so after much hysteria we decided to buy two one-way tickets to Morocco via the ever cheapo Ryanair (only 10 euro each) so we could at least prove we had "ongoing travel plans." Yes, I know that in retrospect this is all very silly. But when you're up and moving to one of the most anal retentive countries on the planet (in terms of security anyway) you get a little skittish and start doing weird things like purchasing tickets to Marrakech. It's a good thing we didn't need them. The nice ladies at United in SFO only asked us a few questions and after we explained that we were students and needed to apply for Visas in Berlin they let us go without issue. At passport control in Copenhagen they barely looked at our passports, just stamp n' go. Funny all that worrying was for nothing. I'm getting the feeling that a lot of the worrying is unnecessary.
Next Stop BERLIN!!!!
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