Berlinerin

They even crossed out Bethesda! And yes, I know it's a horrible picture of me.

As of today, ich bin Berlinerin. To say eine (a) Berlinerin would be the same grammatical mistake JFK made in 1963 that left the country giggling for years to come. Oh, and there's an "in" at the end of Berliner because I'm a lady. Well, female anyway.

Back to registration. In Germany, it's required to register yourself in a city. When you move to a new city, you register. When you move out of a city, you give notice of departure. When you switch apartments or houses, you keep them informed. All with a trip to your local Bürgeramt, and you better be prompt about it! Apparently if you wait longer than 2 weeks you can be fined, as a girl in the waiting room informed me today. Thankfully I was still under the 14 day mark.

I suppose I've made it all sound a bit tedious but in truth it was pretty painless. I was there and back with my requisite stamps in under an hour. It included a 10 minute walk to the center, a few minutes searching for the right room, acquiring a number and filling out a form (that included a question about my religion), 10 minutes in another room handing over my form and passport, a few stamps here and there, and a 10 minute walk back home.

The whole process was... dare I say it... efficient.

What apparently was less efficient were my follow-up questions about ID cards, health insurance, and passports. In fact, the woman found my question about renewing my passport anywhere other than at the citizen center so humorous that she laughed in my face. So I guess I pulled a JFK after all.