Melbourne (12 days)

Melbourne was our ‘catch up with friends’ part of our journey. The mornings were late starts and the nights went long with the never ending dinners and games. Many thanks to those that were able to make time and catch up. Sorry to all those who I left out this time round, I hope to see you on my next trip!

I love the skyline that Melbourne has. By far it’s one of the varied city skylines I have seen around the world.

A more typical shot of Melbourne below with the Flinders Street train station, St Paul’s cathedral and the Yarra river (taken from Southbank).

We stopped by the Vic Market on our first day so that I could brag about differences b/w DE and AU markets/food. I have spent many years shopping at the Vic, often coming back with about 15Kgs of stuff on my back as I ride back home or to a train station.

Behold our latest discovery… it looks like something straight out of Dr Who with all the bad/old school monster costume design and tacky aliens, but it’s actually just a lemon. This was found near the Organic (auf Deutsche ‘Bio’) area.

Dancing was a must for us. For those that don’t know, Melbourne has the biggest Swing dancing scene outside of the US. Swing Patrol are massive and so if you’re living in Melbourne, I would definitely check it out! There is something on every night for all levels and the odd competition or ball for the more ‘spectator’ type people.

Fun pit was our first stop where the teacher (Brad) was in shock to see me.. It’s good to see a few familiar faces…. ..Daniel! You’re back… I thought you were in Germany… Leon also happened to turn up later which totally surprised me and the others when he gave me a hug.

North Melbourne feels like my birth place for Swing Dancing.. I know that I was really born into Swing dancing at (the now extinct) CBD, but North Melbourne is where I was raised and found my Swing. The dancers are great and the teachers (Shob & Andy) really make the place alive with good spirits, bad/funny jokes and great technical insight into fixing my dancing.

Below are images from the paintball birthday event which Viesha organised. This place in Dingley was one of the best paintball places I have played because of the field design/setup. Unfortunately, Anja hurt her knee while ducking for cover on the bridge (last photo) because there was a brick exposed and yet hidden at the same time in the ground. Luckily, that didn’t really affect the rest of the trip, however it was sore for at least 3 weeks.

My favourite moment is when I ‘killed’ like 10 people all lined up like sitting ducks on the ‘barrels course’. All I did was run up straight along side their defensive stretch and shot like I had infinite ammo. I think they thought it was: A) impossible that I was there, B) that I was on their side and C) the thought “what is going on and why am I in pain… where am I being shot from”. I have to say, it was a little too much fun. Adrenaline overload.

One of my favourite stops for sight seeing are the bells of St Paul’s and St Pat’s cathedral. I’m not religious, but I have a great fascination for the ringing and the technical skill and challenge that is involved in Bellringing. I think it’s sharing this with others that really leaves an impression in people’s minds. I’m not going to explain Bellringing in detail, but basically: it’s not typical music, bells are not instruments that are easy to stop/control, the weight of a bell can be compared to that of a small car, there is a conductor for the band, it can take months to learn the physical skill safely and properly, the mental ability is far, far more complex and difficult than the physical (methods, peals, touches etc.) and you can’t do it anywhere you hear bells (one requires full circle ringable bells set up for ‘english’ style change ringing). You can find more about Bellringing on the change ringing wiki

Below: My mum on the treble, the band at St Pat’s.

Above: St Pat’s Cathedral Melbourne, St Paul’s Cathedral Melbourne

Below: St Paul’s Bells (4 of 13.. there are two 2s for different keys)

Probably the most memorable experience would be feeding the Sulphur-crested cockatoos and rosellas down at Mt Dandenong. Anja had up to 4 cockatoos on and hanging off her at one point. They landed on our shoulders, our hands and climbed all over us. It was actually a lot of fun! A bit scary at first, but the birds are civil. If you happen to have a fear of birds, or have seen to much Hitchcock, then I wouldn’t recommend this.

Lunch at the botanical gardens. It was fairly short lived once the rain that came however it was one of our few rainy days on our trip, so not so bad in the end.

There was also a few special dinners and parties, but this post is already too long. Check out my next post on the Grampians for the complete Melbourne trip!

‘Before a few’ (top down):
——————-
The festival parade representing the beer produces and the like responsible for the event.
Thousands upon thousands of stores sell heart shaped gingerbread biscuits for friends, to eat or to give to a potential date.
Horses carry many carts containing barrels of beer.
A man on the train kind enough to let me take a photo of him.
Pushing the beer barrels onto the carts.
The traditional first tap of the beer keg to officially start the beer flowing for the event. Often done by a famous person or the major (in this case).
Traditional footwear for the lads and paraders.
One of the many theme park style rides available for the not so drunk and kids.

During a few (top down):
——————-
The many dressed up girls of which many wear their expensive dirndls.
One of the bands that was on break and decided to get up on the tables and chuck in a few songs. Each tent has a few bands that play constantly throughout the day and night with songs perfect to sing a long to, both old and new.
My ‘bretzel’ (similar to pretzel) that was helping me drink the 2 Mass (1 L beers) that I had on the day (the whole chicken also helped).
Some of the food that the many waitresses carried throughout the tents. Most trays had up to 8 meals on them!
A traditional ‘Prost’ or cheers.

After a LOT (top down)
——————-
The lights of the rides and tents at night.
The drinking games?
Pissoir = Pissing wall
The not so traditional dresses (it says in lip stick ‘I fcuked Jack’).
The many drunk lads that are happy to sleep against a wall or in the park (see below)
The packed tents and ‘beer participants’ happy to sing, dance, prost and all while standing on the tables!
Me.. wondering if I’ll make it. (FYI I did and even went swing dancing afterwards!…. but I couldn’t have done it without the chicken!)

When I met Anja in the city for lunch, the question was where? Beautiful sun beaming through the winter cold but ice cold winds making the idea a pipedream. Out of shear luck, we headed down a street looking at cafes we didn’t even think existed and found one with a free table at the back. One free table! One next to the window with the entire sun beaming through! Needless to say, superb toasted sandwiches, exotic drinks and great service.

My next stroke of luck involved finding a German learning magazine in the main train station (of which countless hours can be lost looking for the right exit alone). Found it with no problems but the cashier insisted I only gave him 6€ and not 7€. In my best deutsch I stood my ground and after a minute of pointless argument I saved my self from being ripped off like a foreigner. Despite him wanting to count the till and show me the security footage.

On these days of luck, one must ask him self… “how much is a Lotto ticket in Germany?”
Considering that my luck might be changing or had already ran out, I spent 4€ on a ticket (choose 6 out of 49 times 5 ). I should have been charged 5€ but was only charged 4€.

Two days later, I won just over 11€ for having 3 numbers correct. This value was also slightly higher than the expected average winning (for matching 3 numbers).

All and all, a day to remember and a day to document. For all those who seem to have a bad string of luck, just remember that tomorrow is another day… and it’s got to be somewhat lucky for someone right?

After being asked these kind of questions like 12 times, I decided to look it up.
FYI
Munich = ~1.3 Million
Syd = ~4.8 Million
Melb = ~4.3 Million

DE = ~ 84 Million
Aust = ~ 24 Million

So one can say that Melbourne is almost 4 times bigger than Munich (even if it doesn’t seem like it).
Sydney and Melbourne are the 2 biggest cities in Oz… almost the same size (people don’t get that Melbourne could be as big as Sydney because most know Sydney).
Germany has almost 4 times the population of Australia.
Germany is about the same size as Victoria.

All this came in incredibly handy when I was quizzed (at my DE school) on it for a Christmas chocolate prize. The poor American that had lived in Munich over a year guessed 1 Million but it was 1.3 that got the goods!

Finding out the population of Australia and therefore Munich really paid off….  those many little chocolates didn’t make it back from Egypt.

(this was in Nov/Dec after applying start of Oct)

I have broken down everything into the following areas:

- Documents (all the official pieces of paper one might need)

- Places (where you can get the pieces of paper)

- Tips for getting jobs

- Visa specifics

- Bank requirements (for opening a bank account)

Other stuff:

- best resource!
http://www.toytowngermany.com
Best resource for foreigners. Everything in English (as a rule). Was a very valuable resource.. always the first place I looked for information. A lot of events too.

- finding a place to live
http://www.wg-gesucht.de/
Great site, found accommodation (get someone to show you how it works).

http://www.studenten-wg.de/

Didn’t really use, but an option.

- language schools
Axioma
http://www.sprachschule-axioma.de/german-courses/
This school was really good, but a little full on. Courses for all levels, be prepared to be frustrated and depressed.. German is complicated with more exceptions to the rules than rules.

- how things are done

You will notice fairly quickly that German has very specific ways of doing things.
For instance: if someone asks you a question, reply directly and exactly to what they ask. Do NOT ask another question or say something unexpected. You must wait for the appropriate point in the conversation to ask questions.
Also, in terms of official rules, there are way too many departments in Germany for managing everything, and not all of them know what’s going on. It is common to be booted from one person to another in order to find an answer. When you are waiting for a document to be processed, it’s probably because it has travelled across 4 desks and 3 different departments.

But people are generally nice. If you make an effort to be polite (and maybe a little desperate for help), smile and try and ask in German (use the Sie form), people will be happy to help you.
One important thing to know is that the German language is very complicated and old. There are many outdated words that no-one uses and I’ve found that there are more verbs that have 2 different meanings than in English. The use of verbs/words/gender/case is very dependent on the object you are talking about, the mode of use/travel and the style of conversation you are having.
For instance: if someone asks you a question, in order to reply you should note the gender of the objects they are talking about, the motion/use, the form (Nominative, Accusative, Genitive and Dative), who/what is the subject and then work out if you have to apply special rules for past tense (and what kind of past: one closed event or a continuing event, haben or sein) depending on your answer.

I believe all this structure is a result of the language. The language must look nice, sound nice, flow well and be precise in every way yet it is ironic that most foreigners consider German to sound very harsh and horrible. The result is a society that tries to do everything perfect and obviously fails. HOWEVER, during Sylvester (New years) I was apart of the fireworks celebrations on Olympia Berg. In München, it is possible to launch your own deadly eye destroying rockets up into the air where ever you want…. I think that only due to the precise, planned, perfect nature of the Germans, no-one got hurt.
So it’s not to assume that everything is done the wrong way here, just very different. It has it’s up sides and it’s downsides, but with any government, business or society, once you know how it works, it’s all about walking the walk and talking the talk.

Documents:

Arbeitserlaubnis (working permit… what I got in the end)
- kreisverwaltungsreferat

Meldebescheinigung
- from Bergebereau (kreisverwaltungsreferat)

Freizügigkeitsbescheinigung
- not required (free movement of labour)

Anmeldebescheinigung
- kreisverwaltungsreferat

ausländerbeschäftigung (type of visa)
- ?? from Ausländerbehörde? (in kreisverwaltungsreferat)

Places:

Berges Berau
Arbeitsamt?
———————————————-

Landratsamt

—
(u2 to Fraunhoferstr.from insbrucker ring then tram south (27), to mariahilfplatz left then right to 17)

Mariahilfplatz 17
81541 Au-Haidhausen, München
089 6221-0

Google map

———————————————-

kreisverwaltungsreferat (most common place… everything can be done here)

(I think they are moving more things online now, possibly website is better for applications now)
—
Ruppertstraße 19
80337 Isarvorstadt-Ludwigsvorstadt, München
089 23396000

München (near Poccistraße U3/U6)
Infotelefon: 89. 233-96000

Open (for walk in.. phones are other times?)
Mo/Di 8-12, 14-18:30
Mi – closed
Do 8-12
Fr 7-12

Please contact the Immigration Office Munich if you
have further questions (Group Telephone information: (89) 23396010
auslaenderbehoerde.kvr@muenchen.de
———————————————-

Finanzamt (important for Tax)

Responsible for Steurer (tax).

I had to go here a spend a long time filling in forms and asking questions. One of the hardest things was getting a tax number.. who would have thought they’d make paying tax difficult. (perhaps more difficult as a free lancer from OS).

———————————————-

Ausländerbehörde

Call visa (Aufenhaltserlaubnis) department
Ausländerbehörde – (Munich) 233 960 10
ausländerbeschäftigung
———————————————-
Australian Honorary Consul, Munich
—
Maximilianhöfe
Maximilianstraße 13
80539 München
Office hours: Tuesdays 9.00-13.00hrs

http://www.germany.embassy.gov.au/beln/consular.html

———————————————-

Getting a job tips: (freier Mitarbeiter)

Include certificates in Resume
Recruitment agencies
Meet employers for lunch
Meet freelancers for lunch!
Get local IT magazines
Look up local/online IT/Adobe/Career expo events!
Go to job post notice boards?
Sign up to XING

Visa

- Info

If you want to work more than 3 months, you must have a specific visa (Aufenhaltserlaubnis). You must go to the office for foreigners (Ausländerbehörde) with:

Your passport
You accommodation contract
Your work contract
Your registry at the town hall (Anmeldebescheinigung)
3 identity photos

Residence permit
- contract about flat
- health insurance
- income

http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/en/Infoservice/FAQ/Uebersicht.html

Have you not found the answer to your question? Give us a call (hotline number +49 3018 17 2000) or send us an email. One of our help desk staff will answer your inquiry as quickly as possible.

http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/en/Infoservice/FAQ/VisumFuerD/Uebersicht.html

Have you not found the answer to your question? Give us a call (hotline number +49 30 5000 2000) or send us an email. One of our help desk staff will answer your inquiry as quickly as possible.

Bank requirements:

(I went with Commerzbank in the end because they have a good online banking site in EN and offered 50€ bonus when I deposit more than €2000 per month for 2 months.. they also let me open an international account without any DE docs… I later changed it to a proper DE account later. Commerzbank are also part of a big group of banks which means more ATMs without charges)

Bank account
- girocontro (free postbank)
- postbank girokonto free if monthly income
banks
- stadt sparkase muenchen
- cashgroup (deutscher bank, postbank, tresdnerbank comertzerbank and etc….)
- volksbank

>1200 no fees

230 Leopold str.
Swabing
near Munchen freibeit.

Visa,
Passport,
Meldebescheinigung from Landratsamt or
kreisverwaltungsreferat

Bergebereau to register for Meldebescheinigung

“
Official proof of residence which you get as you register your address (Meldebescheinigung) or, if you have student accommodation, your contract of rental
“

–
We recommend that EU-students apply to the foreigners’ registration office for acertificate of free movement of labour (Freizügigkeitsbescheinigung). This certificate is not obligatory, but might be needed for example when applying for ajob in Germany

Well, for 1.. You were right. Everyone was right. German is hard!

Here are some things I am now trying to learn, recall and use more often.

Past tense with gegangen and gearbeit n all those ge words (not so hard, but many variations on verbs). The hardest part is working out haben or sein for past tense.. I habe gesagt I have said

Ich bin aufgewacht I woke up

Prataritum (past) Ich hatte, du hattest, er hattetet and all those tricky variations like ging instead of gegangen and war instead of gewesen.

Konjunction II (future?) form 1: würde + infinitive … Ich würde das Filmsehen (?) Ii would like to see the film.

Form 2: es könnte sein It could be. Wir sollten schwimmen We should swim.

But you have to know prat. to transfer words into kon. form2.

Nominative, accusative, dative and genetive forms for der, die and das as well as plural forms for each gender. Uses of an, auf, in, zu etc. based on question to workout a response in the correct form.

And on top of all this grammatic, I have been expanding my vocab.

The good news is that I’m learning German better than the Germans like all those foreigners that correct the locals.. That could be me some day!

2010 will be the year of deutsche. I think my new years resolution will be to only speak German to German people for as long as I can!

Wish me luck! Oder viel Glück!

So.. Any would know any Egyptian? I just know the walk ; P

Wishing you all the best for Weihnnachten and the new year. Party like there’s no 32nd of December on Sylvester!

Cheers, Dan.

I thought this post might give you an insight into how I’m feeling..

What I miss: Nice almonds, aust gold sultanas, real museli bars, those nice chicken and vegetable soups from the Asian take away places, butter chicken with salad and garlic dressing from the vic market, the VIC!.. Buying good fresh cheap meat.. Roasts, SALMON! A wide range of fresh veges. Having friends around for dinner, my parents and friends from every shiny chapter of my life (you know who you are) Bike rides, tennis with my dad, catching up with crazy cool design ppl at rmit, My clothes and blue inside jacket, Swing dancing Thursdays!! Social dancing Thursdays!! Catching up with friends on Thursdays!! Friday funpit, Sunday blues. The summer!! The St Kilda promenade Watching rage, dc who, catalyst, Aussie comedy/comedians and bands on tv. Flying my helicopter. Ealry nights ; )

What I love:

Nugart crossaints, the baked apple desert across from where I work, plum cake, shnitzel and roasts from the buthcher for lunch, My colleagues and life at Publicis, the ease of travelling by subway, the warm subway when it’s cold, The wonderful, generous and good spirited people of München, swing dancing and all the events (when I have time), the people I have come to call friends and have spent many times having a laugh going out or playing games! Singing random lyrics from the flight of the conchords (“mango!”) My iPhone (dict, maps, music from home, vids from ozi tv), bionade (tasty german softdrink.. same feeling as LLBs), Aimdudler (Austrian LLBs), Christmass lights and strong Chrissy spirit! Kicker (even if I suck), sleeping in during the week.

And last but not least, my girl friend Anja. Without her I would have no cross cultural jokes and the feeling of home. “home is where the heart is”

To all those missing me.. There’s a tradition here when drinking and ‘cheersing’. When you pick up your glass and clink while saying “prost” and looking each other in the eyes (so to ensure good sex for the next 7 years), you also tap the table with your glass before drinking. This is prosting for all those that have either passed away or are not able to make it (in memory of). So as I drink the very fine beer or bionade, I am remembering all of you and wishing you were here.

Prost!

Schazlik + crepe + glüwine !!

Plenty to see, plenty to eat, here’s some photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/pettetd/Chistkindlmarkt26112009