A Foreign Minority

So I believe I wrote in an earlier post (in an accomplishment-enduced mood of generosity), that the foreign registration office could "background-check me to their hearts' content." I am now officially revoking that statement. It's been nearly 3 weeks since they told me I'd get my permit in 1-2, and this whole thing is just getting ridiculous. I go to the office to see if this folder from Heidelberg has arrived. They tell me "no, call again tomorrow." So I call. No folder. "Check back in a day or two." So I do. No folder. "It's got to get here soon; call back." No folder. The lady said today she'd send an e-mail to Heidelberg. Even if that miraculously induces some action among the workers down south, the file still has to travel here and be reviewed and whatnot. All this wouldn't matter, except that I wanted to enroll in the university this semester (got my paperwork submitted and everything), but I have to show the school a visa to prove I can study here by tomorrow, which clearly isn't going to happen. I kind of wish I had the temperament (and vocabulary) to get mad at these people. Since I don't, I'm taking the angsty-teenager route and writing about it on my blog. Oh gosh. I apologize.

On the brighter side of bureaucracy, I'm finally figuring out the complicated processes surrounding German banking and the absolutely-not-made-clear stipulations of the German train system's "BahnCard25." If you're ever considering buying one of these things, talk to me first! The website does not tell you the whole story. One thing I'm quickly finding out is that the easiest way to good answers is to just go and talk to people face-to-face. If you're lucky, they'll think your accent's cute and take off whatever coat of steely reservation they put on when they became a office worker.

Relatedly: I like watching people's faces when I speak to them for the first time. You can almost always tell just when they detect you're a foreigner. It's something of a twitch toward a smile which quickly disappears as they realize you are going to ask them a question and they better pay attention so they can do their job.

I found out the other day, while browsing around on the German census bureau-like website,* that Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has nearly the lowest percentage of foreigners of any state in Germany (2.4%). A couple states were just a few tenths-of-a-percent lower, but most were considerably higher; the national average was 8.8%. What was super-interesting was the huge discrepancy between former West German states and East German ones. My calculator's broken, so I'm not gonna figure up exact averages, but we're talking like 10% foreign population vs. 2%.

Also interesting (to me, maybe not to anyone else): average age at first marriage. In the U.S., 27.7 for men, 26 for women. In Germany: 33 men, 30 women. A solid 4-5 years higher in Germany. And considerably higher than in some American states. I think it was Utah that married off the average woman at age 21.9.

Did my last week of "observation" at school this week, so I guess tomorrow we'll try to draft a regular schedule. I've gotten to see classes at pretty much all levels now, and even gotten a taste of classroom discipline. Some 9th grade boys got in trouble for smoking tea. A girl attacked a bathroom door. Each student in an entire 10th grade class failed their assignment to speak for one minute on a particular topic. Oh, high school.

Speaking of school-related things, my new (temporary) favorite German word is "eingeschult." (Past particple of "einschulen." Related words: "das Einschulen," "die Einschulung.") Definition: um....the passive, past-tense way to express that someone started school. We don't have that in English. Not that there's any reason you need it.
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*www.destatis.de, if you're interested. The site's in English.