Frankfurt & Munich

On March 2006, I left Barcelona to Germany to pursue residency and a work permit in the E.U. I really liked Barcelona, so this was a tough decision to make, but I was struggling to remain in Barcelona and work legally.

I arrived in Frankfurt on a cold, blustery evening and met my friend Feli. I stayed with her for a few weeks as I combed the city looking for work, going on interviews at English institutions and meeting with self-employed teachers wiling to give me a few tips on how to manage in Germany. The first week, I started to slowly slip into a mild depression due to the language, the weather, and my lack of contacts and stability. I had a job offer in Munich as a kindergarten teacher, but I didn´t know a soul there and I was relunctant to move there. Two weeks later, I was on a train headed for Munich.

Munich is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. It is something out of a fairytale, but the day I arrived it was cold, windy, and snowing...my heartached for Barcelona and warm sunshine.

I worked in Munich as a kindergarten teacher at a small, wonderful kindergarten called Die Zappels. Before I tell you about the kindergarten, first let me tell you about my living accommodations. When I arrived in Munich, I didn´t have a place to live....yes, a job, but no place to live. Die Zappels is a parent-initative kindergarten, that basically means the parents are responsible for everything...the building, the hiring of teachers, the structure, the food served, etc. You get the picture. They were supposed to help me find housing in Munich, but by the time I arrived, they had not secured housing, so basically I was homeless! I stayed with one family for one weekend, then stayed at their neighbor´s apartment for the rest of the week (she worked in Cologne during the week). This went on for two weeks and then I had to find another place to stay. One of the parent´s had an American friend, I will call him Dave, that had a room to rent, but it wouldn´t be available for weeks, so he kindly spoke to an acquaintance of his to see if he had a room available to rent for a few weeks. This man, I will call him John, called me and told me he spoke with Dave, and he would be more than happy to help. We made an appointment to meet at 9am on Saturday at his apartment *sigh!* it went downhill from there.

I arrived at Dave´s apartment at 9:10 on Saturday. My back was hurting from sleeping on a couch for over two weeks, so I wasn´t in the greatest of moods, but I managed a cheery smile when Dave answered the door and led me into the apartment. He introduced me to one of the other tenants that lived there with his wife. Then Dave showed me to the kitchen, offered me a seat, proceeded to make a cup(s) of tea and poured out his life story for two and a half hours *blank stare* My left foot fell asleep and I almost followed suit but pity for this man kept me awake. I kept asking myself, 'How do you get yourself into these situations?' Dave told me about his first wife leaving him when he lost his fortune. His second wife (she was a nurse, they met while he was the hospital recuperating from surgery, I´m leaning toward a lobotomy) left him after 11 years of marriage, she went to church and never came back after the services! *blank stare* you think Davey-boy would learn, oh no! he was trying to get wife number three..she was a woman he met while on holiday in Spain, Granada to be exact. The problem was she was a total psycho case and he regaled me of stories of this woman´s psychotic exploits...ok, at this point my stomach was churning from hunger and anxiety and I really needed to stand up so I could get blood circulating to my left foot again. Just when Dave took a quick breath to launch into yet another story, I blurted out I needed to see the room he was renting because I had an appointment at noon and I was afraid I was going to be late if we didn´t hurry along. Molasses on a cold Vermont morning move faster than Dave, he slid out his chair and stood up like a man who just finished a seven course meal, I was just waiting for him to belch for effect. Ten minutes later (an eternity for me at that point) we made it to the room. It was a charming, well lit room and I immediately liked it. We discussed the move in/out date, date of key exchange, etc. Then ole´Davey says 30 minutes later, `Oh yeah, remember I told you I go down to the church to do volunteer work´ I nodded my head and murmured `uh-huh´ as I fished in my bag to get my mobile phone to call my co-worker to notify her I would be late for our noon appointment. Davey continued,`Well, yeah, I also help out some people too, I let a guy stay here overnight, he sleeps in the kitchen.´ Ok, my mobile slips out my hand back into my bag as my brain tried to register what this man just told me....did this man just say that he allows a homeless man to sleep in the kitchen?!? I am supposed to step over a homeless man to make myself a cup of tea..oh, I can just hsee the scenario....me: `uh, excuse me, I just need to get over to the cups to make myself some tea.´ homeless guy: sniffing and shuffling out of the way. I snapped back to my senses and nodded numbly as I made my way for the front door.

I thought he would leave me at the front door, but he wanted to escort me to the metro station. The man talked as if he was allergic to silence...my mind was racing with thoughts on where I was going to live, I didn´t have anymore options, but I wasn´t to live in a place that doubled as a part-time homeless shelter.

I met with my co-workers that Saturday afternoon and explained my situation. We were all numb with disbelief. I stayed at the apartment of one my co-workers until another solution could be reached. That meant another sofa...*sigh*

One of the parent´s at the kindergarten was taking his family to South Africa for a three week holiday and offered his home for that period of time. I seized the opportunity and moved in while the family was away.

I finally moved into the room John was renting out in mid May...almost two months after arriving in May! I shared the apartment with two other students, John and his wife lived in an apartment around the corner from the rental.

June 2007...I was ready to leave Germany! I had enough of moving around, parents squabbling over power issues at a kindergarten...a kindergarten?!?and sharing an apartment with a whining Barbie that kept a refrigerator in her room because she couldn´t risk sharing with strangers and a long-haired 20-something waiter that didn´t know the meaning of clean and it´s purpose in shared spaces. On May 30, I handed in resignation letter and a month later I was on a plane back to Barcelona (breathing easier but alot heavier).