Last week, I went to do my mandatory get-out-of-quarantine COVID test in Berlin, and I have officially been deemed COVID free since. That means, this week, I was as free of a bird as I could be! So, I tried to make the most of it!
Here’s four cute adventure-highlights from my first week out of quarantine:
River Side Walks
My first meet up after coming out of quarantine, was with my dear friend Ornela for what I like to think as my daily mandatory dose of walking. Eversince being “free”, I’ve been out on walks everyday. When I can, joined by another person, and when I can’t also exploring on my own. Meeting up with Ornela was super fun, because we got to go to this river side promenade (Berlin’s version of sheshi, if you will) and just walk around for some 20 kilometers. This was super refreshing, and looked like a real dose of normality. There were street vendors by the river, and lots of people taking walks and grabbing food to go. A beautiful way to explore the city!
Communist Parks
After that first trip, I went on a second day-trip with my friend Fatjon to visit a communist park in the same area. This was also all outdoors and in line with regulations. The park was full of soviet war memorial features that was apparently big during East Germany’s time. There were lots of people walking around there too. A lot of the imagery was very similar to communist imagery in Albania, I felt like (full of macho men and macho women). There was also a lot of writing in Russian. While I didn’t understand anything, I did try my best to at least recognize the letters (more on my language learning in a later blog post!).
Perputhen Prime
Of course the highlight, as I hinted in my last post, was going to my friend Jonida’s for our first evening of watching Perputhen Prime together. It was such a pleasant surprise to discover that we both are avid Perputhen fans. It was all fun poking fun at Lediana’s supposed muscle strength and just enjoying it. She made me a nice dinner, and I got to swoon over how beautifully decorated her new apartment is!
Exploring The Surroundings, Supermarkets & Train Connections
With lockdown still in swing, there’s not much to do except for go on walks like I said earlier. Because I’m insistent on going for walks at least once every day, I’ve resorted to using this time to get to know the supermarkets in my surrounding area, and the different possible train connections as well. Walking to go to these places is fun because I get to hear birds chirping. Now cute, right?
***
As for an update on my to do list from before, things are looking a lot better from last week! 🙂 I got to jump a few hoops, haha. Here’s my progress report:
- Anmeldung:
This one I will do early next week, as that’s the earliest appointment I could get. I’ve got all necessary paperwork sorted though, so yay. - Bank account:
This one is done! I changed strategies this week as I realized there are bank options out there that can be done without the Anmeldung, so yay. Now I have a bank account! - Health insurance:
This one is also almost completely done. I just need to get the Anmeldung done too, so I can upload it. But I have registered for health insurance, and I also have a bank account to pay it.
Next step after all this:
4. Get a residence permit appointment. This one seems extra impossible. Let’s see, and wish me luck!
What’s your experience with bureaucracy? Do you love it or loathe it? I think I’m starting to appreciate it.
Rrita
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