31st March 2006 – Day 165

What a joke. A few days into Daylight Saving Time, I still set the wrong time on my alarm clock.

I wasted no time at all doing all the last minute packing and cleaning up the room. The fact that I'm leaving this place struck me when I finally packed everything into the suitcase. The room looks so empty. Just like the first day when I reached here.

I finished cleaning up all the furniture at around 1040. After which, I placed my luggage in the common room and the trash was taken out.

The Hausmeister was a few minutes late. Understandable, since today is the last day of the month. Many other people would be moving out too.

He did a quick check on the room and soon, I was on my way to collect back my Kaution. I didn't thought it would be so reibungslos.

I went down to the Krankenkasse to return them the insurance card. It was there that they revealed to me that they had not booked my account for the fees this month even though they said they would do so earlier.

Thoughts of not paying flashed past my mind. But it's better to settle all bills here rather than having them chase me when I'm back. The transaction cost would be even higher.

At the bank, I was informed that I would have to pay 6€ more for the Überweisung. Unnecessary cost incurred due to not checking properly before closing my bank account.

And the man at the counter still joked about the Interpol coming after me if I don't pay up.

That aside, all the administrative work were done quite painlessly.

I met Nan for lunch at the Mensa. I met Felix there too while having lunch. Felix is still doing his Studienarbeit. He's a pleasant guy to hang out with. Especially during IBWL tutorials when he explained the jokes to me.

After lunch, Nan and I went to have some cappucino. Then we started talking as if we were some old men, like what he said. Maybe we'll meet up again some time in 2008 in China, and continue talking like old men.

I followed him to the library as I had to write something for the "H5 Hall of Fame".

If you guys are interested to know whether my German has improved over my stay here in Karlsruhe, here's the proof. I wrote the following paragraphs in about 25 minutes without any help.

Liebe Leute von H5,

Hah! Ich bin der erste in diesem Buch zu schreiben! Es war ganz toll hier mit euch am H5 zu wohnen und euch kennen zu lernen. Ihr habt mein Aufenthalt in Karlsruhe unvergesslich gemacht.

Das Fluressen, die Feuerzangebowle, die Flurversammlungen und die "Ausländerfeindlichkeit" machten viel Spaß (Ja. Fährt nicht nach Singapur. Es gibt dort keine Kartoffeln und Strom! =P).

Weil ich zeitlicheweise schlecht geplant habe, hätte ich keine Zeit für ein Abscheidsparty. Das ist doch keine Ausreden. Trotzdem möchte ich mich für die wunderbare Zeit hier bedanken.

Seid nicht enttauscht! Hier findet ihr Schokoladen, die ich von Österreich und der Schweiz mitgebraucht habe. Das ist aber eine kleine Danke von mir.

Viel Erfolg noch in der Zukunft. Bis wenn wir uns wiedertreffen!

As you can see, anyone with 2 semesters of German at CLS could have written this. I'm sure a lot of mistakes can be found. Have fun finding them! But do tell me too where I've gone wrong.

As I still had 0,23€ left, I tried to spend it on something. No use bringing coins back. I passed by a breadshop and bought a Brötchen for 0,20€. Good enough.

I went back to hostel and started reading the magazines while waiting for time to pass by. Out of nowhere, a Chinese appeared.

It seems that he would be the next in my old room. But he's not allowed to move in as the Hausmeister claims that the ex-tenant (which is me) has not returned the room.

As he could only speak Chinese and English, he asked me to help him talk to the Hausmeister.

Well, just give it a try. It's not my problem too if negotiation fails.

I tried to ask the Hausmeister if he could move in today. But the Hausmeister now claims that there are some renovation to be done in the room.

"Könnten Sie bitte vielleicht eine Ausnahme machen?"

Probably because the Hausmeister was surprised to see me still here, he agreed to let the China man move in today and do the actual hand over on Monday at 0800.

"Das ist aber sehr nett von Ihnen!", I said to the Hausmeister, who is now extremely pleased with the compliment.

Oh well, everyone is happy now.

The time has finally arrived and I made my way down to the bus stop and subsequently the Straßenbahnhaltestelle. What a coincidence! I actually met Leo there. Leo has just finished his exams and decided to help me with my luggage to the Hauptbahnhof. I was more than grateful for his help.

Here comes the final test of the German administrative hurdle: Cancellation of my Bahncard 50. The lady at the counter said that the cancellation has to be done schriftlich. She handed me a piece of blank paper and I just started writing. Corrections from readers are welcomed.

Kündigen

Ich möchte meine Bahncard 50 kündigen, weil ich nach Hause fliege und nicht wiederkommen werde. Meine Daten läuft wie folgt:

Name: **** ***, ***
Bahncard Nr.: **** **** **** ****

Karlsruhe, den 31.03.06

Even if the letter doesn't get to them, they will find that the bank account does not exist anymore too.

I saved a grand total of 22€ with the Bahncard 50! Simply amazing!

At the airport, there were some problems too. My check-in luggage weighs 36 kilograms. The lady asked me to weight my backpack as well. 15 kilograms! And I 'm still holding on to another 2 kg on a paper bag.

She told me to repack my stuffs as they cannot allow such heavy stuffs in the cabin. Fair enough. I took out my laptop and some other electrical appliances and threw them into a plastic bag which I had prepared earlier.

She consulted another lady regarding my excess baggage. I was supposed to have only 20 kilograms. The other lady was much nicer. I told her my situation and she just smiled and told the lady, "Kein Problem!".

Lady number one then tried to explain that she had nothing against me.

"Sie brauchen nicht erklären," I replied. She didn't look very happy after that.

Which is true. Why do you need to explain yourself if you do not feel that way in the first place?

Even on the plane, there were some problems. My seat was allocated to another person. But that was easily solved.

So, farewell to Deutschland!