Post #9: Week #2 at BMW

This last work week, starting on June 1, had a lot of interesting activity with BMW. On June 1, we didn't have to go into work because it was Pfingstmontag, or as it is known elsewhere, Pentecost Monday. On Tuesday, since Herr Leistner was on vacation, I went in and reported to Frau Garth in the department's space in FIZ (Forschungs und Innovations Zentrum: Research and Innovation Center). I spent most of this day reading technical literature; starting with an article on Klebstoff (stuff used to stick two things together), and moving on to a book about Faserverstärktewerkstoffe (Fiber re-inforced materials).

Due to an e-mail received over the weekend, we (Frau Garth, Ramsey, and I) that we would have our paperwork in order by the end of the day Tuesday. Unfortunately, this was not the case, so Frau Garth sent us home a little early.

On Wednesday we actually got word that our paperwork had come through from the ZAV. This meant that we were then allowed to take the paperwork sent to Frau Garth to the Kreisverwaltungsreferat (not sure of an appropriate translation. If you find one, let me know) to register and to get the Aufenthaltsgenehmigung that would allow us to get our Praktikumsvertrag which was the piece of paper that was holding us back from actually being allowed to do work. Frau Garth was nice enough to show us how to get to the Kreisverwaltungsreferat and explain a few insider tips about it.

Thursday morning, we left for the U6 and got off at Poccistraße for the Kreisverwaltungsreferat. We went in, and were confronted with multiple waiting rooms, each labeled with different parts of the alphabet. The first thing that we needed to accomplish was to register, so Ramsey went to the "H" waiting room, while I went to the "M" waiting room. After waiting for about 30 minutes, I went in and was registered in about 5 minutes. And, as the person explained to me, the German system ignores the "Mc" part of "McKown", and as such, my family name is technically "Kown", so I went through the rest of the daygoing to the "K" waiting rooms. After this, we went to the floor above, where we would actually get the Aufenthaltsgenehmigung. After waiting for about 45 minutes, I went in, gave the person my paperwork, and was told that I needed to get a Passbild (passport quality picture), so we went back to the U-bahn station and got the pictures taken in the booth, brought them back and gave them to her. During this time, she had completed all of the necessary paperwork, and sent me off to the Kasse (counter/cashier). Come to find out though, Ramsey's registration didn't work correctly in the computer system, so he couldn't get his done at that point. So he had to go back on Friday morning to get his part finished. After giving €50 and my passport to the Cashier, we waited in their waiting room for an hour before they called my number to pick up my passport. So now I have a set of stickers in my passport that explain why I am here for this summer.

After this, we went back to BMW to explain how everything went. As we walked in they were getting ready to go to lunch. Frau Garth told the others to go ahead and that she'd meet them downstairs after talking a little with us to see how it all went. After telling all of this to her, she invited us to have lunch with the rest of the department. So we proceeded to the Cantina and enjoyed a lunch and informal conversation with a few of our co-workers. We then spent the rest of the day at BMW doing what we'd done the previous two days: read technical literature. Toward the end of the day, Frau Garth explained to us where we needed to go to get the Praktikumsvertrag from the Personal Direkt.

On Friday, we started the day at 8 at the Personal Direkt (in a little unassuming building in the shadow of the four cylinder headquarters). Ramsey had left to be at the Kriesverwaltungsreferat at 7 and had somehow beat me to the Personal Direkt. As it turned out, they didn't open until 9:30, so we took the opportunity to pay our June rent at the Studentwerk; which meant a trip to Haderner Stern. We got there just as they opened at 9, paid, and got back to headquarters about 10. We walked in and they handed both of us a folder full of various documents that had to be signed. I didn't notice until after I'd signed the first copy of the Praktikumsvertrag that every single page of everything in my paket had me listed as "Herrn Ryan KcKown". I mentioned this to the person working there, and they went and "fixed" it in the system. After spending 45 minutes or so going through everything, we finished and headed back to FIZ. We talked with Frau Garth and explained that all was going well thus far. We then proceeded, on her recommendation, to the Finanzamt to work out the Lohnsteuerkarte (salary-tax-card). Or rather, the Ersatzbescheinigung ( ...?...). (It took a bit to find the place because the directions weren't the greatest). We finished all of this up and headed back to BMW around 1. Around 3, Frau Garth sat down with us and started to go through and set up our Ausweistermin (ID-getting-appointment), set up our access to the company computer network, etc. We got most of the way, but given that the system updates at night, we could only get so far having only that same day registered on the network. It took a while to figure it out, too, that I was still in the system as "Ryan KcKown". Oh well.

So on Monday, we get our official ID's, our e-mail accounts with BMW, and then after work, set up a bank account and eventually get all of the remaining paperwork in order.