I have forms coming out of my ears!

Can you guess what I’ve been doing this weekend?
Yes, that’s right. Filling in forms for the employment agency. First there was the application for unemployment benefit I which they gave me last week. Then, since I’m probably not going to be entitled to that benefit anyway, I downloaded the form for unemployment benefit II… the subsistence allowance. Answered the million questions on the main application form… half of which Jan had to help me with because I did NOT understand them… and was then instructed to fill in three more forms. Aarggh! But less than a week after first going to the employment agency (and more than a week before I’ve even become officially unemployed) all the forms are filled in. But – you knew there was going to be a but didn’t you? – I can’t hand them in yet. I got in touch with the employment agency this morning and was given an appointment for 29th June. That’s 21 days away. 3 whole weeks! Why did I even bother being quick? Also, my other appointment with the employment agency (to discuss the possibility of going freelance) is also on 29th June. I now have one appointment at 9:30 am then a second appointment with a different person at 10 am. I just hope the first person is quick!

Oh well, back to job hunting I guess. At this rate I’ll have found a job before the unemployment people even get round to dealing with my application…

Money matters

I spent an hour at the bank this morning. I am now officially skint. I had to open a very specific bank account, a Mietkautionskonto, into which I paid the deposit for my flat. The point in this account is that it belongs to me but I am not allowed to take any money out of it. The owner of the flat is allowed to take money out of it, to repair any damage I cause to the flat, for example. I could just have given the money to the housing association directly, but the advantages of doing it this way are a) I am informed if she requests to take money from the account, so she can’t spend any without me knowing why and b) I get to keep any interest that is earned on the money. Good stuff – if anyone out there ever plans to live in Germany you might want to make a note of it. But of course I couldn’t just open the account. In order to get the keys for my flat I have to prove that the deposit is actually in the account. So I handed over all the money that I had taken from my English bank account plus an extra 50 that Jan lent me. Then, having borrowed another hundred euros from Jan to pay into my normal account, I headed to the other bit of the bank, where the machines are, and transferred the rent for March to the housing association’s bank account. So I now have a total of 70 euros left in my German account. I just hope my wages go in before the student residence takes the rent for March out…

And now, having taken today off to sort out flat stuff, I’m going to have to arrange to leave work early one day next week so I can go back to the bank. You see, before the account with my deposit in can be opened properly I have to get some forms signed by my landlady then bring said forms back so that the bank can countersign them. And of course the bank closes before I get home from work every single day (and isn’t open on Saturdays – what’s that all about?). And since the only appointments you can make to see someone at the bank are for a whole hour (even if you only need 10 minutes!) I’m going to have to leave work about an hour early. Provided I manage to get an appointment on Monday or Thursday, when the bank is open til 6pm. The rest of the week they close at 4pm. I’m sure work are going to be really impressed with me…

The dreaded forms of doom

I have finally finished filling in my university forms. It’s only taken me four days. First there was the saga of the disappearing black biros. I managed to solve that one by getting the boyfriend to bring one round for me. I then managed to muck up filling in my module choice form and had to ask Jan to reprint it for me. I asked him on Thursday, reminded him on Friday and he finally printed it out yesterday. He actually typed in all the information for me before printing it this time – all I had to do was sign it. An excellent idea if you ask me. I would only have messed it up again otherwise. Unfortunately I stayed at his place last night and had no idea how much I have to pay so I wasn’t able to fill in the financial forms until this afternoon. I’ve probably mucked them up too and just don’t realise it. Quite frankly I don’t care anymore – finally all the forms are filled in and sitting in an envelope waiting to be posted tomorrow. After that I can forget about them… at least until they get in touch to tell me I’ve made a huge mistake somewhere and won’t be allowed to carry on studying there til I sort it out. That would be just my luck.

I hate filling in forms!

Pencilcase psychology

I tried to fill in my forms for uni today. Yeah, that’s right, I said tried. Meaning I did not succeed.
How hard can it be? Is probably what you’re thinking now. Very hard apparantly – if you’re me.
I looked up the module codes, found out how much I have to pay, gathered together all the information I need then looked at the top of the first form and read the words “Please complete this form in black biro.” OK, I thought. That should be easy enough….
WRONG!
How is it possible that I have two whole pencil cases full of pens and not one single one of them is a black biro?? I have blue biros, red biros, green biros, pink biros. I have glittery gel pens. I have pens that write in highlighter colours. But I don’t own a bloody black biro.

I’m sure this probably says something fundamental about me. Something like “fond of bright colours, likes glittery things, doesn’t want to grow up.” Either that or it just proves I’m the least organised person in the world, ever.
I’m sure I used to have a black biro…