Wedding, WGs, new job & Bürgeramt.

I've been busy lately. Reasons: moving and starting a new job.
This post will also include a visit to the Bürgeramt.
Let's start with moving to a WG (shared apartment).

I was super stressed a week or two before it was time to move, because I didn't have anywhere to live and time was running out. I went to see a lot of rooms in WGs, trying to make the best first impression I could ever make so someone would pick me. And finally someone did, for a huge furnished room in Wedding just in my price range. People that are looking for a room mate always say that they will get back to you in a couple of days to let you know if you get the room or not. Nobody those though and they leave you hanging for weeks, which for me is stressful. In the beginning I got a few rejections but continued to look for a room. I saw about eight rooms in three parts of town: Neukölln, F'hain and Wedding. Some rooms where so-so. Some where amazing, like the WG in Neukölln with 14 people living in the same apartment, everyone with their own room, and a huge living-room/kitchen area. I was there for a dinner, which was super nice, meeting people in so different ages and from all over the world.
Some where unbelievably cheap and good, that of course the ones renting it out had gotten over 40 replays on their ad.
Some I got lost trying to find. I'm apparently one to get lost in the area between Wedding and Moabit.

Anyway, I got a room in Wedding and was super happy. I didn't have to stress out about not having anywhere to live and started to pack up my room in Tempelhof.
A couple of days after that some others got back to me to tell me that I got a room in their WG too but it was to late.
I'm really happy for WG life. I don't wake up to children screaming or making other sounds every morning and sleep like a rock. I have all this space that is mine and I gotten all my stuff in order and like it a lot here.

Next part: new job.
I got a job at a book shop in the Tegel airport. Pocket shop the book shop is called and is a Swedish company. They have 70% German books and the rest 30% in English. We are eight people working there. A mix from Swedes and Germans.
My first day was last week and some days before I was pretty nervous, but on my first day I was well rested and felt good about starting there. The first day went by fast and I got a lot of praise from my new collages and my boss. I had a great time. I like working with books and on the English section I'm a good seller. I, of course, read more in the English section so it's easier for me to recommend and advice costumers there.
I helped a 14-15 year old american girl the other day. She was a big reader so we talked about books we both like, I gave here some books to chose from and she choose The Book Theif by Markus Zusak. A really great book by a great author. 
I like this, helping people to find a book or two to have on their way. I think this job is just perfect for me.
Wedding is just eight kilometers from the airport so it's biking distant, which is just how I like it.

Now to the last part: Bügeramt.
Bürgeramt is the place you should go to to register your address in Berlin when you plan to stay, a so called Anmeldung. Then you get a piece of paper saying that you have an (permanent) address and then you can get a bank account or a library card for example.
I have never bothered with this even though I know I should have. By now I should have gone to four different Bürgeramt (ever part of Berlin has it's own) to register my address all the times I've moved. I haven't because I heard you have to be there early and wait for hours to get the piece of paper that I've never needed. Until now. Because I have a job that doesn't pay cash, I need a bank account, so I finally did it.

The Bürgeramt in Wedding opens at eight in the morning and only have open for "spontaneous" visitors on Monday. Else you need to make an appointment and there is at least two weeks waiting time to get one.
So if the Bürgeramt opens at eight, you should be there at eight right? WRONG!
You should be there before, at least an hour before they open to stand in line to the number machine, so that you will have a chance to get in and get helped.
I got up at six in the morning and was at the Bürgeramt 06:45, which was good because round 07:30 the line was so long that it went outside of the building. I heard stories about people waiting for hours and not getting helped before the Bügeramt closed and therefore had to come back several times. Also about the persons working there have been rude and not really willing to help in anyone. Specially if you don't speak German.
I was pretty scared and had two books with me, just in case I had to wait a long time. Thinking about what to say in perfect German.

At 07:45 the number machine starts to give out numbers so I stood just by the machine waiting for an hour. I got number 15 and the line never ended. There was 170(!) people waiting when the Bürgeramt opened. At 08:20 I was helped, I filled all the needed paper work before and had my lease to the apartment with me. Ready to do this. It took about five minutes and then I had this Anmeldung paper in my hand and left the other 100+ people waiting and went home.
This was so painless that I almost thought I did something wrong, but since I had the paper in my hand I was just happy to have made it.
Now I officially live in Berlin. I got a bank account and I registered myself as living abroad to Sweden. I feel very official and ready for an other year in Berlin.

Today it's one year ago I moved to Berlin. It's been mostly a great year and I hope the next one will have many adventures in it.