After spending what felt like a very long two weeks finding someone who would be willing to fill out "The Form" (the aforementioned Wohnungsgeberbestätigung), we finally got that straightened out yesterday. Yay! Victory! Ish.
As I said in my last post, it required us to sign a six-month lease for a furnished apartment. It is large enough for us, it has a washer and a small guest room, but it isn't exactly what I had in mind for anything beyond a couple of months. It also means that our stuff will have to stay in storage for a few months, but c'est la vie (so ist das Leben).
Now that I have The Form, we will be allowed to go the Einwohnermeldeamt (I will never tire of the long German words. You have been warned) and register. Our ever efficient relocation assistant plans to help us get this done the day after we arrive. I'm rather hoping that pictures are not involved as I don't imagine that jet-lagged Robert is something that I want to be represented by on any sort of ID for the next several years.
Why do we have to register? No, the answer is NOT "bureaucracy!" All right, the answer may be bureaucracy. In any case, without registering, we cannot get residency cards. Without residency cards, I cannot begin work and without me beginning my job, the whole adventure will fall apart very quickly. So, register we shall! We have not been told when our appointment to get our residency cards (different appointment) is, but I hope to find that out next week.
As a side note to yerterday's activities, I had to do an international wire transfer to the apartment owner for the deposit (which is two month's rent!) and the first month's rent. Since wire transfers are quite final, I proofread the routing number and account number at least half a dozen times. "Wait! I MEANT a six, not an eight!" will get you no sympathy once the money has been deducted from your account. At least it was a bank in Germany, not the account of a Nigerian "prince".

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