September 28-29

Monday was a HORRIBLE day. German was tedious, the weather had changed, no one had any energy, and I thought poor Herr Muttschall would tear his hair. I hit a depressed funk.

I went home with the intention of going back out to get anmelded but I couldn’t get off the couch once I had sat down. The handyman’s window shades continued in their closed position so I couldn’t get any help for the non-working refrigerator, and when I took Maggie out for a walk it started to rain. We went up to the Volkspark anyway, but there were a Great Dane, two French bulldogs and a Chihuahua in the off-leash area and I wasn’t sure about turning Maggie loose on such an odd assemblage. I could just see her caroming into the Dane and breaking its hip, or having an unintentional game of boules with the bulldogs and Chihuahua. So we just walked for a while, always a good antidote to depression.

Bought a half a roasted chicken on the way home for dinner – oh, they are so good here!

I decided to tackle the depression by making a plan for getting done the things that were most bugging me. The plan was to take Tuesday off from the Goethe Institute, get the fridge problem solved, go to the Bürgeramt to register, then get a bank account and take care of the internet order; do some miscellaneous shopping, as I still need some basics like a broom and hotpads. I had found a bakery with a “free internet here” sign just around the block so that figured into the mix as well. I was feeling very cut off, now living on my own, without email or Hannah’s landline which Sally can call for free so we can all talk.

Tuesday morning, the handyman’s shade is up! Knock on the door, talk with his assistant who informs me they don’t deal with problems like that and I’ll have to call the landlord. I call him and leave a message, then head out to anmeld. There’s a two-hour wait, for which I was prepared with my NYT crossword puzzle book. Got the stamp, but can’t register the dog at the same office; will require a cross-town trek to a different department. Went to the bank and had a pleasant experience opening my account but came out in a rainstorm and decided to forego the internet order and just go home. I took a side street I was sure would put me out at my main drag, but no, it took me way off somewhere with no cross streets, so I couldn’t even exit it. Finally ended up at an S-Bahn station, took the train back to where I started, went to the U-Bahn stop where I can get the tram up to my street. But I got turned around in the underground and came up kitty-corner across a huge platz from where the tram stops and decided it was probably shorter just to walk home at that point. Then it REALLY started to pour and by the time I got home I was as wet as I’ve ever been – raincoat soaked through, shoes squishing puddles, pant knees sopping.

And now I’m at the internet bakery and either their network is not working or my laptop can't interface with their system. Another day without my internet connections, and I didn’t even get it ordered yet. And I haven’t heard from the landlord about my fridge. I will continue with the bananas and peanut butter, I guess.

In spite of all this, it was nice to take a day off from school. That really batters my brain for 5 hours a day. In hindsight, a two- or three-day-a-week program would have suited my needs just fine. I think I chose the Goethe Institute because of its starting dates.