IKEA I spy

As a sublettor in Berlin, you expect everything in your apartment to be from IKEA, but you don't know for sure until you go to the source. Oh, look!

There is our motar & pestle (who needs one of these anyways?)

Pardon the Interruption, BUT....

I'm in the midst of reviewing/uploading Copenhagen BUT I wanted to break from that to update on the apartment scammer situation:

We went to the police station on Friday and identified the thief. We had heard he had been caught, along with an accomplice (the supposed girlfriend/wife). But we hadn't heard much else.

We brought Greg along and justified it by saying it was an experience he wouldn't normally have (sorry Greg). The security was actually friendly and we were greeted by a very nice & quite attractive policewoman - double surprise. She gleefully told us more about Herr "Peter Berger".

• Though he told us he was Austrian & spoke with a slight Austrian accent, he is actually German
• He is not a petty criminal, but a "Grosse Criminal". He was on Germany's Most Wanted
• He has been thieving for at least 8 years all over Germany. He was caught in Cologne.
• Of course, Peter Berger is not his real name. He has over 20 aliases.
• Along with aliases, he has multiple girlfriends who were helping him set-up scams

So - basically he is a miserable sleezeball. While I hope he'd be in jail forever, the police woman helpful told us he will go away for "at least 5-6 years". Are you kidding? You said he was a major criminal for at least 8. But here in Germany people often only get 20 years for killing someone. Odd place to show sympathy Germs.

Also, the money is still in limbo. The police will be pursuing a criminal case, and it is up to us to find a lawyer and pursue a civil case to possibly gain back the money. We are going to ask around & see what our options are, but all in all, we're pleased. He's been caught! And while we definitely could have protected ourselves much, much better, this was a real life bad guy. We're sorry to come into contact with him, but happy that justice was actually served. How cool is that? Our lost faith in humanity has- at least partially- been restored.

We cannot despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings.
Albert Einstein

Success!

The most Frustrating Waiting Room in Berlin

You too can be greatly annoyed in Berlin in just 3 easy steps!

1. Arrive in Berlin in need of long-term visa
2. Carefully study rules, regulations, and documents required and assemble your file
3. Go to the Ausländerbehörde (Foreigners Authority) where they will not give you appointment, keep you waiting for hours, have an almost indecipherable accent, ask for documents they hadn't mentioned up to this point, and then merrily (this is a joke as nothing is "merry" here) send you back home to come try again another day.

Eastside Gallery & Fernsehturm

Oh, the Ausländerbehörde. How I hate you.

Caught the Culprits!

In a turn of events I would have never expected (sorry for my lack of faith German police, I  have been well trained by your American brethren), they caught the female half of the duo who conned us on the apartment!

I still can't believe it. A prost to you sir! And to you, and you, and you! Little is known about what actually went down, and the man is still on the loose, but I can tell you it made our night thinking about her in a jail cell somewhere in Berlin last night. I know it's not becoming, but I hope it's awful. I hope she is terrified for her future and questioning how she even ended up here in the first place. Because that is exactly how we felt.

Who knows if they will catch him, if they will spend time in jail, or if even a little of our money will come back to us, but for now we feel like

JUSTICE. 

UPDATE: They caught the guy in Munich! We just heard & can't be happier. Feels like victory...even though we had little to do with it.Hopefully the good news will continue to flow in day by day. Thanks for all of your support!

They love stamps... lots of stamps.

Well, Ebe and I are officially registered with the local town hall. A rule in Germany is that you must register with your local town hall whenever changing addresses. We've been kind of bad and waited until today to do it. The process wasn't all that difficult, but we were a little nervous going in because our landlady has never registered, so we didn't want to get her in trouble. Needless to say, after a few questions in German, a glance at our passport, and some data input, we were given a piece of paper with a stamp showing that we have officially registered.... yay. Apparently German bureaucracy loves stamps. We finally have a document that is stamped, and now all we need are a few more to finally apply for an extension on our VISA.

After all this, I think I need a coffee. Which reminds me of a little rant I had with Ebe outside the Fernsehturm one day. Back home, Seattle being home of course, you order a coffee and you have your choice of 4 different sizes... short, tall, grande, and venti. Germany seems to have the choice of two... small or large, and the large isn't even that big! I order a large and get a cup of coffee the size of a short back home! Now, if I can still hold my hands still enough to perform a vasectomy on Kevin Federline, the coffee was too damn small. If I'm not running for the nearest john for fear of befouling my pants after my cup of coffee, the coffee was too damn small. I want to be shaking like a whore in church or Michael J. Fox after my coffee. Oh sweet Seattle barristas, how I miss thee.