I’ve been stressing about how I’m going to get my tax card figured out. HR needs it to pay me and they gave me a document with a link to the application and told me to take it back to the buergeramt (where I got the Anmeldung). But the link doesn’t work and I can’t find any info about it anywhere on the berlin.de website. All the various expat blogs confirm that this is how I need to get it but I was having extreme difficulty finding the application. The HR person confirmed that I would just get it from the buergeramt so I decided I would just go there one morning and try to get the application there, translate it, and turn it in. I need this card! It’s my understanding that as long as your deductions are done right you don’t have to file anything for taxes (but let’s be honest, do we think the deductions are going to be done right?). Well. I spent a solid afternoon on this yesterday and discovered something interesting… Starting in 2011, Berlin will no longer be issuing tax cards, the process is to be performed electronically by one’s employer to the ministry of finance. That doesn’t sound complicated at all! Am I in the right place? Oh but Melissa mentioned this new information to HR who was not familiar with the process. This is not the last you'll be reading of the tax card situation.
Yesterday, I went to lunch at the hotel next door with Randi and Melissa. Compared to other food options in the neighborhood it’s a little pricy and it also is/is trying to be a little fance. The food was great but I think I might get a little more satisfaction from a sammy at the food stand downstairs (which I had for my 4:00 snack).
This week is Berlin Fashion Week and there’s a tent up somewhere in this city. I’m about as fashionable as a cardboard box and I don’t mean in that hipster sort of way where a cardboard box is soo hot right now. Randi and her friends were planning to go to a kick-off type party and Melissa and I tagged along.
First we grabbed a beer from the office to take with us on the train. It was not a necessary measure but I’ve been seeing this going on everywhere and thought we should participate at least once.
First we grabbed a beer from the office to take with us on the train. It was not a necessary measure but I’ve been seeing this going on everywhere and thought we should participate at least once.
So that party was pretty dang entertaining. It was just at this bar by Alexanderplatz however the crowd was really unique. Most of the girls looked like one of the many stages of Bowie or a Lady Gaga video or maybe both. There are no words to describe this people watching. So there was that part of the bar. There was also this back room with a piano and a French cabaret singer. I took some pictures but none of them do the place justice so here’s a picture of the ceiling.
Melissa and I went to McDonalds on our way home. And THEY HAVE A BURGER THAT HAS HASHBROWNS AND BACON. IT IS THE GREATEST THING I HAVE EVER EATEN. For the burger without a bite missing, please visit McDonalds WebsitePS Check out this new cube decor I got from Neil all the way from the big city:
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