When we arrived in Frankfurt I came face to face with Adjustment #1:
Air Conditioning is a Privilege, not a Right.
Granted, we arrived at the back end of a heatwave. And I do realize that temperatures are more moderate here and that A/C isn't needed as much. The airport did indeed have the air conditioning going, but it was kind of like visiting that friend who has A/C but refuses to use it until the news issues a warning. Pushing those big heavy bags around the airport while hustling to make the train didn't help either. Each time we entered a new building or corridor I thought "okay, this is where it'll be cooler." Nope. Nevertheless, we eventually arrived in Köln and hauled our luggage up four flights of stairs to the non air conditioned apartment.
The heat combined with the jet lag to give me a pretty awful start to this adventure. By Saturday I developed a pretty wicked stomach ache that only went away when I ate just bread and soup on Sunday. When I visited over the holidays I had the same stomach ache though not as intense or as long lasting. Until then, this never happened. I'm curious if anyone else out there ever came across this after an overseas trip. Hopefully this isn't a recurring issue.
No need to worry about us dying of heat exhaustion. The weather quickly changed over the weekend. Saturday afternoon the clouds rolled in along with hail. I'm not sure I've ever seen hail in such warm weather. Since then it's been much cooler. In fact, as of today it is starting to feel like summer is over. And She always laughed about how extreme the weather is in Chicago. Ha!
Last Friday we registered at the local branch of the city hall or Rathaus (insert joke here). I read my share of expat information in advance of this move and I was prepared for all sorts of red tape and bureaucracy. It actually wasn't as difficult as I had expected. There was just one truly ridiculous moment.
When my number was called, we were told to bring the paperwork to an office. The lady in that office seemed friendly enough. She did some data entry then told us to bring the forms downstairs to another office. This second lady (not nearly as friendly) also did some data entry. Once she was done, she had us bring the forms back upstairs to Lady #1. As goofy as that was, it didn't seem all that different from the DMV back home. However, I have the feeling that was just the beginning of a long process that isn't too different than the beginning of this episode:
| Futurama | Weeknights, 9p/8c | |||
| Bureaucrat's Joy | ||||
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