Europe changed to winter time one week before the US i.e. the last Sunday in October. Somehow Anand and I were not clued into it much at all. Maybe because we don’t know the language well, did not hear much comment on the radio or TV as we would have back in the US. Anand said he had not even been aware of it at work – (God I remember how paranoid we would be about our appointment calendars back in the US during the time change process).
So last Sunday – 25th Oct, we woke up at our usual time and did the morning routine, sit down breakfast with coffee etc., We wanted to visit a ceramic museum in town and we knew it opened at 11 am so took our bikes and reached there promptly @ 11.
The doors were of course shut – we looked at our watches and then decided to walk to the back of the building – thinking that we were at the wrong entrance. We did not have much luck when we got to the back of the building as well. Next door to the Ceramic museum was the Film museum and we saw some activity there – a lady was behind the ticket counter and there were a couple of other staff as well.
We went into the Film Museum to enquire what time the museum next door would open. The lady at ticket counter was getting ready for the day by counting notes and coins etc in her cash box. She took a break from counting and told us – elf uhr – which meant 11 o’clock. I showed her my watch and told her it was elf uhr and of course she went into an explanation in German – which I could not follow. She looked around and spotted a man having coffee and asked him to translate and he repeated what she had said in English. When we pointed out it was 11.10, he said no – it was only 10.10 as we had just turned back the clock by 1 hr.
We felt so stupid at our mistake and promptly changed our watches. We then wandered around the quiet streets of the old town or Altstadt till 11 am when we went back to the museum. It was more than worth our 1 hr wait to see the museum.
I guess the best thing about turning back the clock is that now when I walk Socks in the morning it is light at 7 am, but I hate it that it gets dark at 5.30 pm and I have to take her for her evening walk in the pitch dark. I guess the reason I hate the dark evenings is that there is no possibility of seeing light till the next morning….
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Had a wonderful laugh early this morning....
I took Socks for a walk in the Hofgarten around 7.30 this morning. Met one of my friends returning from her morning walk with her two small dogs. As usual, the dogs always want to say HELLO to each other before moving on and the two of us started chit chatting. Just then another one of my neighbors’ joined us with her dog. I was introducing her to my friend in the park and told her that my neighbor had been here just ein monat. She asked us whether we were married to Germans. I told her no - my husband was Indian like me and my neighbor and her husband were Japanese.
She asked us what brought us to Dusseldorf and we told her our husband’s work. Next she asked how long we would be staying here and we told her about 2 – 3 years. She asked us if we didn’t mind that we had to move again in 2 – 3 years and we told her that we had been doing it for the last 20 – 30 years. She said that must be hard.
Her next comment was that our husbands should be paid well if they keep going to work in different parts of the world and that they should give us nice houses, pets to keep us company, waitresses (I think she meant maids) to help us adjust to moving around the world every 2 – 3 years.
I really laughed aloud at hearing her words. She thought it was only fair and asked us to pass on her compliments to our husbands. We wished her a schon tag and continued on our walk… I thought my early morning laugh was a wonderful way to begin the day..
She asked us what brought us to Dusseldorf and we told her our husband’s work. Next she asked how long we would be staying here and we told her about 2 – 3 years. She asked us if we didn’t mind that we had to move again in 2 – 3 years and we told her that we had been doing it for the last 20 – 30 years. She said that must be hard.
Her next comment was that our husbands should be paid well if they keep going to work in different parts of the world and that they should give us nice houses, pets to keep us company, waitresses (I think she meant maids) to help us adjust to moving around the world every 2 – 3 years.
I really laughed aloud at hearing her words. She thought it was only fair and asked us to pass on her compliments to our husbands. We wished her a schon tag and continued on our walk… I thought my early morning laugh was a wonderful way to begin the day..
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Driving alongside trams in Dusseldorf
I grew up in Mumbai, India and am familiar with city trains but they always had their special tracks and the only time that vehicular traffic would interact with them is at railway crossings which have gates and lights and alarms which would open and close to allow the trains and road traffic to cross one another safely. This was similar to the other countries I lived in – US, Singapore and Japan.
However coming to live in Dusseldorf, I have had to learn to drive alongside trams on streets sometimes with scary results. My first experience of driving alongside them was my venture into Nordstrasse in the first week that I arrived here. I was in search of mundane things a dustban and brush, large towel for exercise etc.,
Parking along Nordstrasse is itself a nightmarish experience as I was re-learning to parallel park again after almost 4 years of never using this skill in the US. You also park seitenstreifen – which means half on the pavement half on the street. This is not helped by the fact that the street is only open for one way vehicular traffic but two way tram traffic. I had just managed to parallel park my car on the one available free space on the right side of the street, when the first tram came by. He patiently inched past my badly parked car. The second tram driver was not at all that polite. He came and stopped right beside my car and opened his window and rang his tinkling bell very much like a cycle bell.
I had to perforce roll down my window as well and he vociferously proceeded to tell me to tuck my car in further into the sidewalk all in German of course. Though I did not undertstand a word of what he said, his manner and demeanour was loud and clear. After another four attempts I managed to park my car with no inch of free space between the car tires on the right side and the sidewalk. I was so thrilled that when I returned home I posted on my FB page that I had successfully parallel parked my car.
On most streets which have tram traffic you see two sets of traffic lights at every signal. The first is the usual red, orange, green for vehicular traffic and the second is the same set of three lights but these light up with a white light - a horizontal line, a circle or vertical line. When we first arrived here we would notice these two sets of traffic lights at every junction. When my husband asked someone in the office they said we should not worry about the second set of lights just concentrate on the vehicular traffic lights.
But I learnt to my dismay that you very much had to pay attention to the tram traffic lights as well. When you drive beside trams on main streets – vehicular traffic is on the extreme right and left of the road while the tram traffic goes through the centre of the road. Often when there is a tram stop, there is a traffic light which lights up just behind the end of the tram with the words Linien verkherfrei (I guess literally means leave the road clear ahead for the tram stop) and this turns red and you stay behind this line so that the tram doors can safely open and take in or let out passengers who have been waiting on the sidewalk.
On one such occasion I found myself right beside the tram driver at the head of the tram both of us waiting for the traffic light to turn green. At this particular traffic light I had to make a left onto a main street and since there was no dedicated left turn signal as soon as the light turned green my usual practice was to go forward to the centre of the road and wait for a clearing in traffic from the opposite side before making the left turn. Most of the time I would only be able to complete the left turn when the lights were turning orange and the opposite traffic were slowing down in anticipation of the red light.
On this particular occasion on receiving the green light I made the usual move into the middle of the street to make a left turn. What I did not realize is that the tram driver had received the green light to move ahead as well in his case the vertical white light on the traffic signal and usually trams have the right of way in such situations. I unfortunately did not know this so was blocking the tram driver who needed to go straight across the main street to the opposite side. He was furious and kept ringing his little bell at me and I had no hopes of making a safe left turn until the last minute when the lights were turning orange and by then the tram driver had a stop signal as well.
My husband when I narrated this story had visions of getting summons in the mail for huge fines for having hindered tram traffic. I learnt a valuable lesson to look at the tram traffic lights as well when I am beside them at traffic junctions.
However coming to live in Dusseldorf, I have had to learn to drive alongside trams on streets sometimes with scary results. My first experience of driving alongside them was my venture into Nordstrasse in the first week that I arrived here. I was in search of mundane things a dustban and brush, large towel for exercise etc.,
Parking along Nordstrasse is itself a nightmarish experience as I was re-learning to parallel park again after almost 4 years of never using this skill in the US. You also park seitenstreifen – which means half on the pavement half on the street. This is not helped by the fact that the street is only open for one way vehicular traffic but two way tram traffic. I had just managed to parallel park my car on the one available free space on the right side of the street, when the first tram came by. He patiently inched past my badly parked car. The second tram driver was not at all that polite. He came and stopped right beside my car and opened his window and rang his tinkling bell very much like a cycle bell.
I had to perforce roll down my window as well and he vociferously proceeded to tell me to tuck my car in further into the sidewalk all in German of course. Though I did not undertstand a word of what he said, his manner and demeanour was loud and clear. After another four attempts I managed to park my car with no inch of free space between the car tires on the right side and the sidewalk. I was so thrilled that when I returned home I posted on my FB page that I had successfully parallel parked my car.
On most streets which have tram traffic you see two sets of traffic lights at every signal. The first is the usual red, orange, green for vehicular traffic and the second is the same set of three lights but these light up with a white light - a horizontal line, a circle or vertical line. When we first arrived here we would notice these two sets of traffic lights at every junction. When my husband asked someone in the office they said we should not worry about the second set of lights just concentrate on the vehicular traffic lights.
But I learnt to my dismay that you very much had to pay attention to the tram traffic lights as well. When you drive beside trams on main streets – vehicular traffic is on the extreme right and left of the road while the tram traffic goes through the centre of the road. Often when there is a tram stop, there is a traffic light which lights up just behind the end of the tram with the words Linien verkherfrei (I guess literally means leave the road clear ahead for the tram stop) and this turns red and you stay behind this line so that the tram doors can safely open and take in or let out passengers who have been waiting on the sidewalk.
On one such occasion I found myself right beside the tram driver at the head of the tram both of us waiting for the traffic light to turn green. At this particular traffic light I had to make a left onto a main street and since there was no dedicated left turn signal as soon as the light turned green my usual practice was to go forward to the centre of the road and wait for a clearing in traffic from the opposite side before making the left turn. Most of the time I would only be able to complete the left turn when the lights were turning orange and the opposite traffic were slowing down in anticipation of the red light.
On this particular occasion on receiving the green light I made the usual move into the middle of the street to make a left turn. What I did not realize is that the tram driver had received the green light to move ahead as well in his case the vertical white light on the traffic signal and usually trams have the right of way in such situations. I unfortunately did not know this so was blocking the tram driver who needed to go straight across the main street to the opposite side. He was furious and kept ringing his little bell at me and I had no hopes of making a safe left turn until the last minute when the lights were turning orange and by then the tram driver had a stop signal as well.
My husband when I narrated this story had visions of getting summons in the mail for huge fines for having hindered tram traffic. I learnt a valuable lesson to look at the tram traffic lights as well when I am beside them at traffic junctions.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The neighbourhood I live in.....
The first time I thought that that the neighbourhood I live in was unusual was when my husband gave me instructions to drive to our new rental apartment. He said from the main road I should turn right into Arnoldstrasse and the landmark was a boutique selling wedding dresses called Veronica which was at the corner of the main road and Arnoldstrasse. Sure enough I saw the boutique first before seeing the street name due to its large picture windows which were all filled with mannequins displaying beautiful bridal dresses.
Once I had got familiar with driving to our new apartment I noticed that just two blocks around the apartment there were at least 6 if not more bridal boutiques with names such as Honeymoon, ATV Design, Braut Modern etc. Did not understand what the mystery was till we came to collect the keys to our rental apartment. We live two doors away from the City Registry office for marriages and births. Not sure whether the abundance of boutiques in my immediate neighbourhood is supposed to make people crave to get married and they can fulfill their desires by first buying or renting proper wedding gear before proceeding to the registry offices.
On the very next day after we collected the keys and the packers were busy unpacking all the doors and windows of the apartment were open, I could hear shouts and clapping sounds and found that I had ring side views of various groups of people going to the City Registry office for weddings. The ceremony itself is done inside the Registry offices but often the wedding parties stand on the pavement outside posing for pictures.
Other times since the Hofgarten is just across the street from the Registry offices, they put up tables and have champagne and music and hors d’ouvres etc., Living on the first floor and having a balcony which juts half way across the pavement below I get a bird’s eye view of all the events. Some weddings are simple with just the bride and groom and a couple of friends.
Others are more elaborate with families and friends and parties in the park. I have seen a fiddler serenading one of the wedding parties. Other times the bride and groom being driven by someone in full livery and a top hat in a decorated cycle rickshaw in the park. Often at the end of the festivities the group of cars with the wedding party will go honking down the street to announce the happy event.
All in all I think we have found a happy neighbourhood to live in as both weddings and babies celebrate life.
Once I had got familiar with driving to our new apartment I noticed that just two blocks around the apartment there were at least 6 if not more bridal boutiques with names such as Honeymoon, ATV Design, Braut Modern etc. Did not understand what the mystery was till we came to collect the keys to our rental apartment. We live two doors away from the City Registry office for marriages and births. Not sure whether the abundance of boutiques in my immediate neighbourhood is supposed to make people crave to get married and they can fulfill their desires by first buying or renting proper wedding gear before proceeding to the registry offices.
On the very next day after we collected the keys and the packers were busy unpacking all the doors and windows of the apartment were open, I could hear shouts and clapping sounds and found that I had ring side views of various groups of people going to the City Registry office for weddings. The ceremony itself is done inside the Registry offices but often the wedding parties stand on the pavement outside posing for pictures.
Other times since the Hofgarten is just across the street from the Registry offices, they put up tables and have champagne and music and hors d’ouvres etc., Living on the first floor and having a balcony which juts half way across the pavement below I get a bird’s eye view of all the events. Some weddings are simple with just the bride and groom and a couple of friends.
Others are more elaborate with families and friends and parties in the park. I have seen a fiddler serenading one of the wedding parties. Other times the bride and groom being driven by someone in full livery and a top hat in a decorated cycle rickshaw in the park. Often at the end of the festivities the group of cars with the wedding party will go honking down the street to announce the happy event.
All in all I think we have found a happy neighbourhood to live in as both weddings and babies celebrate life.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Navigating underground car parks in Dussseldorf....
I am very glad that living in Singapore taught me to reverse park. Almost every commercial building you went to in Singapore, you would find signs on pillars either saying reverse parking only or the aisle ways were so small that reverse parking was an easier way to get in and out of the car park – especially since we always had huge cars. And I think I got the hang of it over the 3 + 6 years we lived there… I did not want to forget this skill and all through the 4 years we lived in the US I would reverse park into my garage every day and try to do the same at car parks at work etc., I am glad I did because now I have to use the same skill on a daily basis.
Here are my adventures of getting into the two residential car parks on a daily basis since we arrived in Dusseldorf more than two months ago. We had picked up our rental car at the airport and drove to our service apartment in Felix-Klein-Strasse. Our instructions were that the keys to the apartment were in a lockbox right next to the apartment main door and we were given a code to open the lockbox and get our keys. The apartment key also opened the entrance door to the apartment complex. There was another key which was to enter the garage.
The entrance way to the garage was right beside the apartment complex a tight single lane, which had a wire fence on one side and huge concrete planters on the apartment block side. At any point of time only one car could go into or come out of the car park. This is quite common in residential car parks. You drove straight for about 150 ft and on the driver side you found a post with a keyhole in it. You put in the garage key and turned the lock and you would see the lights outside the garage come on. Basically traffic lights but only red and green.
As soon as you turned the key to open the garage door, the red light would come on both outside & inside the garage. This signaled to someone inside the garage that a car was on the driveway outside and to you that the garage door was not fully open. The entrance into the garage was a curved 90 degree ramp into the underground car park. We would inch forward down the curved ramp and as soon as the doors were fully open would enter and park inside one of the marked car parks. Again we had a huge car, so I would try to reverse park my car every day, unless I had to take Socks somewhere. Since she had to get into the trunk, I would park forward and have to go back and forth at least a couple of times to stay within the marked lines.
While coming out of the carpark, we would turn the key at the beginning of the up ramp and wait till the signal light turned green before turning out as you had no visibility of any cars trying to enter the garage. The rule was that if there was anyone driving into the car park on the straight entryway as another car was exiting the underground parking – the entering car had to back out all the way into the street so that you could exit the car park as it was more difficult to reverse back into the car park on a curve.
I have had this happen to me twice as I was driving into the car park and had not yet reached the key pole. It is scary backing out into the main road especially because there was a high school on the other side of the wire fence and restaurant delivery trucks parked on the street. Many of the students would be hanging out in the driveway and I would inch my way backwards hoping that I would not run over anyone’s shoes or get hit by some vehicle on the street. Anyway got the hang of doing this at least twice a day over the two months we lived in the service apartment and then we moved to the rental apt. And I have had to relearn the process of getting into the underground parking at the rental apt…
The entrance to the new apartment car park is from the street behind our apartment building. I have to make a sharp 45 degree right turn to enter the car park driveway and there are always cars parked on the street up to the entrance to the carpark and just beyond the entrance, so that at any point of time only one car can go in or out. Again there is a green hedge separating our car park driveway from the street and the key post on the driver’s side.
We put our garage key into the key post and here we have just one light outside the garage door which lights up orange to indicate to someone inside and outside that the garage door is opening. Once we enter the car park, we make one right angle turn and immediately another right angle turn to our car park which is numbered and allotted to an apt. Ours is number 21. I have become an expert in reverse parking with about 6 inches to spare on either side of the marked lines.
Getting out of the car park is a whole new process. We make the first right turn and the key post is right in the middle of the second straight stretch on the extreme left and your car is in a curve, so we almost drive up to the garage entrance and then back up and straighten the car and drive forward till we reach the key hole, put in the key and wait for the garage door to open before exiting the car park. This was really getting on our nerves and we asked if there was a solution. The house meister said yes, we could order a remote which we did. It took two weeks to arrive, but now we don’t have to back up and get close to the key post inside the garage, just point and aim as we are approaching the garage door to go in or out…..
Here are my adventures of getting into the two residential car parks on a daily basis since we arrived in Dusseldorf more than two months ago. We had picked up our rental car at the airport and drove to our service apartment in Felix-Klein-Strasse. Our instructions were that the keys to the apartment were in a lockbox right next to the apartment main door and we were given a code to open the lockbox and get our keys. The apartment key also opened the entrance door to the apartment complex. There was another key which was to enter the garage.
The entrance way to the garage was right beside the apartment complex a tight single lane, which had a wire fence on one side and huge concrete planters on the apartment block side. At any point of time only one car could go into or come out of the car park. This is quite common in residential car parks. You drove straight for about 150 ft and on the driver side you found a post with a keyhole in it. You put in the garage key and turned the lock and you would see the lights outside the garage come on. Basically traffic lights but only red and green.
As soon as you turned the key to open the garage door, the red light would come on both outside & inside the garage. This signaled to someone inside the garage that a car was on the driveway outside and to you that the garage door was not fully open. The entrance into the garage was a curved 90 degree ramp into the underground car park. We would inch forward down the curved ramp and as soon as the doors were fully open would enter and park inside one of the marked car parks. Again we had a huge car, so I would try to reverse park my car every day, unless I had to take Socks somewhere. Since she had to get into the trunk, I would park forward and have to go back and forth at least a couple of times to stay within the marked lines.
While coming out of the carpark, we would turn the key at the beginning of the up ramp and wait till the signal light turned green before turning out as you had no visibility of any cars trying to enter the garage. The rule was that if there was anyone driving into the car park on the straight entryway as another car was exiting the underground parking – the entering car had to back out all the way into the street so that you could exit the car park as it was more difficult to reverse back into the car park on a curve.
I have had this happen to me twice as I was driving into the car park and had not yet reached the key pole. It is scary backing out into the main road especially because there was a high school on the other side of the wire fence and restaurant delivery trucks parked on the street. Many of the students would be hanging out in the driveway and I would inch my way backwards hoping that I would not run over anyone’s shoes or get hit by some vehicle on the street. Anyway got the hang of doing this at least twice a day over the two months we lived in the service apartment and then we moved to the rental apt. And I have had to relearn the process of getting into the underground parking at the rental apt…
The entrance to the new apartment car park is from the street behind our apartment building. I have to make a sharp 45 degree right turn to enter the car park driveway and there are always cars parked on the street up to the entrance to the carpark and just beyond the entrance, so that at any point of time only one car can go in or out. Again there is a green hedge separating our car park driveway from the street and the key post on the driver’s side.
We put our garage key into the key post and here we have just one light outside the garage door which lights up orange to indicate to someone inside and outside that the garage door is opening. Once we enter the car park, we make one right angle turn and immediately another right angle turn to our car park which is numbered and allotted to an apt. Ours is number 21. I have become an expert in reverse parking with about 6 inches to spare on either side of the marked lines.
Getting out of the car park is a whole new process. We make the first right turn and the key post is right in the middle of the second straight stretch on the extreme left and your car is in a curve, so we almost drive up to the garage entrance and then back up and straighten the car and drive forward till we reach the key hole, put in the key and wait for the garage door to open before exiting the car park. This was really getting on our nerves and we asked if there was a solution. The house meister said yes, we could order a remote which we did. It took two weeks to arrive, but now we don’t have to back up and get close to the key post inside the garage, just point and aim as we are approaching the garage door to go in or out…..
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Third time my wallet was stolen....
I have had my wallet stolen only three times in my entire life. First time was over 27 years ago. I had just started working and in the second month my dad insisted that I should ask my company to give my monthly salary as a cheque rather than cash. I had just arranged for this and I was carrying my monthly salary home that evening in cheque form. As usual travel to and fro to work was in Mumbai’s famous/infamous local trains which are packed like sardines in a tin during peak travel hours. I had squeezed into the ladies compartment and did not find a seat so was standing between two rows of seats and since there are no handholds there, put my office bag on the rack up there. Sometime in between Churchgate and Santacruz I got one of the 8 seats in those two rows and sat down, but did not take my bag off the rack, thinking that I would pick it up when I have to leave the train at my station. Big mistake….
I did not realize my wallet was stolen, till I got into the bus from Santacruz station to go to my house in Kalina. Opened my bag to take out change – 80 paise to pay the conductor and found no wallet. I searched desperately through my bag and had visions of asking the conductor to stop and let me off the bus to walk home as I had no money when to my relief I saw someone from my neighbourhood on the bus. I sheepily asked him if he could buy my ticket as my wallet was stolen – which he was kind enough to do so. Did not lose much money because it was towards month end and thankfully my monthly salary was a cheque, which I got reissued when I went back to work the next day. No bank ATM cards or credit cards in those days so that was not a hassle.
Second time my wallet was stolen I was carrying Aditya – he was about 1 ½ yrs old and I had his diaper bag on the other shoulder and we were traveling in a very crowded BEST bus. My wallet was in the outer pocket of the diaper bag. This time I had already paid for the bus ticket, so I did not notice my wallet was stolen till I returned home and emptied the diaper bag and found no wallet. Again did not lose much money, but I had two long distance train tickets to Kerala in my wallet. I went to the main railway station the next day and gave them my compartment and seat nos but I had to pay 10% of the face value of the tickets to have them reissued. Again no bank ATM cards or credit cards just some cash and coin change.
The third time my wallet was stolen happened this last Friday – 5th June of all the places in IKEA in Dusseldorf. I have been haunting IKEA these last two weeks after we moved into the new apartment. First to find some blinds to cover the bathroom windows and bedroom door, then to find curtains for all the rooms in the house. I had just finished over an hour’s discussion with the seamstress @ IKEA about the master bedroom curtains which had to be custom made through an interpreter as she spoke no English and I speak no German.
I next went to the curtains department and was walking around with my shopping cart purchasing rails to install the curtains in all the rooms. I had my notebook and pen in my hand, the huge IKEA blue bag and my handbag in the shopping cart. I was going through my notebook and ticking off room by room – 2nd bedroom – room width 312 cm, tracks come in only 140 cm length, hence 3 needed, hanging pieces for the tracks – 9 nos, checked them off the list, then on to bathroom, study room etc., My cart was getting filled up with the 140 cm tracks all standing @ 45 degree angle inside the shopping cart.
In between I was haunting the staff in curtains with questions like what kind of hooks would go on these rails, would the hanging pieces help to hang the rails from the ceiling. I must have been muttering to myself too working out the width of the rooms and dividing it up by 140 to see how many rails I needed per room. I think I must have spent almost an hour in this dept. Finally I was making my way to the cash counter with my loaded cart when I saw that my handbag wasn’t in the cart.
I rushed back to the curtains department and told the staff that my handbag was stolen at the same time desperately looking around to see if I could spot my bag. The staff first said they could not do anything but call the police – I told them to do that as my phone, car keys, driving license etc was in my handbag. One of them was kind enough to accompany me to my car in the parking lot and asked the house detectives to keep a watch on it. At the same time he was calling the police from his phone. We went back to Customer Service who helped me use their phone to call Anand and Aditya to get the spare keys of the car and come and collect me from IKEA. While I was making the calls they asked me to come to the Information Desk. The policeman and I got to the Information desk at the same time. They had found my handbag in the Bedding section on the 1st level. All the zippers were opened, I dumped my bag upside down and these were the items that were in the bag - my bag holder, my compact, eye pencil, chapstick, lipstick, comb and car keys.
I guess they only took the important things namely my wallet, coin purse and cell phone. The policeman gave me his notebook and asked me to list what items were taken – I started listing – Leather wallet with two Amex cards, one Visa card, bank ATM card, Delta Skymiles card, Library card, Metro store card, US driving license, about 50 Euro in cash and change, all the family wallet photos, ND leather coin purse and of course my Tmobile DASH.
The policeman and I walked back to Customer Service and he asked the IKEA staff if they had given me the numbers to cancel the cards, they scrambled around to get it for me. I tried calling the numbers from IKEA but the automated message was in German and the very first thing they ask is the card number which I could not remember at all, as all the cards I had were new. He said that I should go home as quickly as possible and call and cancel the cards. I called Aditya again and asked him to tell Anand not to come and pick me up as the policeman said that I was free to leave.
Got back home and started calling the various 1-800 nos to cancel the credit cards. Learnt something new about bank ATM/Debit cards in Germany. Anand and I always have a joint account and individual ATM cards. I got through to an English speaking customer service agent, he asked me to verify my name and bank account number and Bank Leizl number similar to a routing number and then proceeded to tell me that all cards under this account would be cancelled. I immediately protested and the customer service officer said that I could argue with him all I wanted but this was the procedure in Germany. Apparently the automated message in German told me that all cards under this account would be cancelled before I got to the Customer Service agent and since I don’t understand German all this went over my head.
Anand and Aditya were at that moment on their way to buy a frame for the washer/dryer which was delivered that morning to stand securely on top of each other and this store only accepted cash or ATM/Debit cards. I also had to go back to IKEA on the weekend and they only accepted cash or Debit card. The bank customer service officer said that the card cancellation would take effect within one hour. We could only get the cards reinstated at the bank when it opened on Monday but that would be too late for our weekend needs.
I immediately called Anand on his cell phone and asked him to go the nearest ATM and withdraw money that we would need for the weekend as he would not be able to use his Debit card after one hour. He did so and when the bank opened for business yesterday, we got his card re-instated. My cards will arrive in the mail in about 7 – 10 days time. I am glad I was not in the US as I would have many more cards to cancel such as Macy’s, Target, Kohl’s, TJ Maxx, Chase etc.,
Of all the things that were stolen I think I am going to miss my Tmobile DASH the most as I had over 400 contact details including wedding dates, birthdays etc and notes and for the last two months I had not synced it with the computer as the cables were in the sea shipment..I guess it was baptism by fire and I will remember to never leave my handbag in my shopping cart ever again
I did not realize my wallet was stolen, till I got into the bus from Santacruz station to go to my house in Kalina. Opened my bag to take out change – 80 paise to pay the conductor and found no wallet. I searched desperately through my bag and had visions of asking the conductor to stop and let me off the bus to walk home as I had no money when to my relief I saw someone from my neighbourhood on the bus. I sheepily asked him if he could buy my ticket as my wallet was stolen – which he was kind enough to do so. Did not lose much money because it was towards month end and thankfully my monthly salary was a cheque, which I got reissued when I went back to work the next day. No bank ATM cards or credit cards in those days so that was not a hassle.
Second time my wallet was stolen I was carrying Aditya – he was about 1 ½ yrs old and I had his diaper bag on the other shoulder and we were traveling in a very crowded BEST bus. My wallet was in the outer pocket of the diaper bag. This time I had already paid for the bus ticket, so I did not notice my wallet was stolen till I returned home and emptied the diaper bag and found no wallet. Again did not lose much money, but I had two long distance train tickets to Kerala in my wallet. I went to the main railway station the next day and gave them my compartment and seat nos but I had to pay 10% of the face value of the tickets to have them reissued. Again no bank ATM cards or credit cards just some cash and coin change.
The third time my wallet was stolen happened this last Friday – 5th June of all the places in IKEA in Dusseldorf. I have been haunting IKEA these last two weeks after we moved into the new apartment. First to find some blinds to cover the bathroom windows and bedroom door, then to find curtains for all the rooms in the house. I had just finished over an hour’s discussion with the seamstress @ IKEA about the master bedroom curtains which had to be custom made through an interpreter as she spoke no English and I speak no German.
I next went to the curtains department and was walking around with my shopping cart purchasing rails to install the curtains in all the rooms. I had my notebook and pen in my hand, the huge IKEA blue bag and my handbag in the shopping cart. I was going through my notebook and ticking off room by room – 2nd bedroom – room width 312 cm, tracks come in only 140 cm length, hence 3 needed, hanging pieces for the tracks – 9 nos, checked them off the list, then on to bathroom, study room etc., My cart was getting filled up with the 140 cm tracks all standing @ 45 degree angle inside the shopping cart.
In between I was haunting the staff in curtains with questions like what kind of hooks would go on these rails, would the hanging pieces help to hang the rails from the ceiling. I must have been muttering to myself too working out the width of the rooms and dividing it up by 140 to see how many rails I needed per room. I think I must have spent almost an hour in this dept. Finally I was making my way to the cash counter with my loaded cart when I saw that my handbag wasn’t in the cart.
I rushed back to the curtains department and told the staff that my handbag was stolen at the same time desperately looking around to see if I could spot my bag. The staff first said they could not do anything but call the police – I told them to do that as my phone, car keys, driving license etc was in my handbag. One of them was kind enough to accompany me to my car in the parking lot and asked the house detectives to keep a watch on it. At the same time he was calling the police from his phone. We went back to Customer Service who helped me use their phone to call Anand and Aditya to get the spare keys of the car and come and collect me from IKEA. While I was making the calls they asked me to come to the Information Desk. The policeman and I got to the Information desk at the same time. They had found my handbag in the Bedding section on the 1st level. All the zippers were opened, I dumped my bag upside down and these were the items that were in the bag - my bag holder, my compact, eye pencil, chapstick, lipstick, comb and car keys.
I guess they only took the important things namely my wallet, coin purse and cell phone. The policeman gave me his notebook and asked me to list what items were taken – I started listing – Leather wallet with two Amex cards, one Visa card, bank ATM card, Delta Skymiles card, Library card, Metro store card, US driving license, about 50 Euro in cash and change, all the family wallet photos, ND leather coin purse and of course my Tmobile DASH.
The policeman and I walked back to Customer Service and he asked the IKEA staff if they had given me the numbers to cancel the cards, they scrambled around to get it for me. I tried calling the numbers from IKEA but the automated message was in German and the very first thing they ask is the card number which I could not remember at all, as all the cards I had were new. He said that I should go home as quickly as possible and call and cancel the cards. I called Aditya again and asked him to tell Anand not to come and pick me up as the policeman said that I was free to leave.
Got back home and started calling the various 1-800 nos to cancel the credit cards. Learnt something new about bank ATM/Debit cards in Germany. Anand and I always have a joint account and individual ATM cards. I got through to an English speaking customer service agent, he asked me to verify my name and bank account number and Bank Leizl number similar to a routing number and then proceeded to tell me that all cards under this account would be cancelled. I immediately protested and the customer service officer said that I could argue with him all I wanted but this was the procedure in Germany. Apparently the automated message in German told me that all cards under this account would be cancelled before I got to the Customer Service agent and since I don’t understand German all this went over my head.
Anand and Aditya were at that moment on their way to buy a frame for the washer/dryer which was delivered that morning to stand securely on top of each other and this store only accepted cash or ATM/Debit cards. I also had to go back to IKEA on the weekend and they only accepted cash or Debit card. The bank customer service officer said that the card cancellation would take effect within one hour. We could only get the cards reinstated at the bank when it opened on Monday but that would be too late for our weekend needs.
I immediately called Anand on his cell phone and asked him to go the nearest ATM and withdraw money that we would need for the weekend as he would not be able to use his Debit card after one hour. He did so and when the bank opened for business yesterday, we got his card re-instated. My cards will arrive in the mail in about 7 – 10 days time. I am glad I was not in the US as I would have many more cards to cancel such as Macy’s, Target, Kohl’s, TJ Maxx, Chase etc.,
Of all the things that were stolen I think I am going to miss my Tmobile DASH the most as I had over 400 contact details including wedding dates, birthdays etc and notes and for the last two months I had not synced it with the computer as the cables were in the sea shipment..I guess it was baptism by fire and I will remember to never leave my handbag in my shopping cart ever again
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
All those who have moved to other countries can relate to experiences like this...
I had an adventure last month going to the City Office to apply for a “Bescheinigung fur Integrationskurse” – Certificate to attend an Integration Course that consists of a language course and an orientation course for new comers to Germany.
I did have the address of the City Office - 7 Willi Becker Allee, Dusseldorf which I input into the GPS in the car. It was my first time driving there and I faithfully followed the voice instructions and drove part way on a single lane road which had tram tracks running through it. Gave me a start when I looked in the rear mirror once and saw a tram following me on the road. Almost turned left on to a tram track only path at one point but reached the City office and wonder of wonders parking (or Parkhaus - as it is called here) was in a multistoried building right next to the City office building @ 6 Willi Becker Allee.
Entering the car park was a new experience as I was driving Anand’s new car which is much bigger than the rental car we had for the last 25 days. The approach into the car park is the usual curved ramp seen in such buildings. Only difference was that both the up and down ramps were beside each other, so at every level there was an open area where cars from that level could turn into the up or down ramp.
I was going up the ramp I think at about 10 km per hour speed. I am sure the cars behind me must have been wondering about this nutcase who was going in fear of her life, because I had reached there during office opening hours. Anyway could not park at the ground or next level as these were reserved so I went up to the next level and parked the car. So far so good. Did not remember to note down either the floor or the parking bay number – big mistake. Started walking towards an exit and noticed one which said E and marked Ausgang or walking exit. Went down two flights of stairs and reached the outside. I was in an area which was cordoned off for construction but they had a sidewalk you could walk on.
Exits from the car park opened out into a pedestrian plaza and the buildings were all around it in a circle. While entering the car park the City office was right beside it, but from the ground floor plaza could not see it at all. I almost went around in a full circle and saw other street names but not Willi Becker Allee. I did what I usually do in these situations ask the first person I see – I am lost can you tell me where Willi Becker Allee is. We always have an interesting conversation trying to interpret my English and their German. Anyway this office going girl knew that it was nearby but she could not find it. She asked another person and he pointed us towards an opening of the round plaza and there it was Willi Becker Allee.
Went in the main entrance and showed my slip of paper to the person sitting at the Information desk. He asked me to go up to room 171 and take a number and wait for my turn to be called. Went up to room 171, could not locate the machine to take the number. Thankfully saw a young Indian man sitting inside and immediately asked for help. He said the machine was just outside to the door to my left. Got my number and started talking to him. He had come for his work permit registration and he then took out his papers to get ready as his number was about to be called and that is when I had noticed that I had forgotten to take my passport. I had taken Anand’s work contract, our rental contract etc., but forgot the most important item which was my passport and I knew nothing could be done without it.
Went back downstairs asked the information desk to validate my parking ticket, found the Kassenautomat – machine to pay for parking and went to the same entrance that I had come out of. That is when my adventures began – to go in the door you needed to put your parking ticket in an opening. I put in the ticket, the device spat it out and then I could open the door. I was at the ground level of the car park which was reserved parking but for the life of me could not find a staircase to go up to the upper levels. I saw someone parking their car and I asked her did she know how to get to the upper floors. She said it was her first time at this Parkhaus and she did not know either. We both walked right up to the entrance but no staircases to the upper floor. Went back out through the door and back to the Kassenautomat. There were lifts there, decided to take one to the second floor as I remember walking down two flights of stairs before I reached the ground level
Could not find my car on this floor even though I walked the entire length and breadth. Went back to exit E and walked down one flight of stairs and then found that you could not open the door to the first floor from the stairwell – so walked all the way back to the ground – back to the Kassenautomat. This time took the elevator to the first floor and went in the door and found my car. What I realized is that there are several exits from the car park marked A through F. The main exit is D which houses the Kassenautomat and only through this exit you can get to other floors. All other exits only take you down to the ground level.
Drove out of there back to the apartment, picked up my passport and went back. I think this time it was a little faster as I remembered the GPS instructions from my earlier drive. Parked the car, found the correct entrance for Willi Becker Allee, went to room 171, took a number and waited for my turn which came in 10 mts. Went to room 165 gave the lady there the slip of paper with the request for the form I needed and my passport. She started furiously typing something into her computer. Didn’t know what that was about, but quietly waited. She finished typing and told me that I had to go to waiting room no. 129 and someone would come and call my name or ask for people without appointment. She had just emailed the correct colleague who was responsible for such certificates. I thanked her walked out and started walking towards room 129. Just before I got there a lady came out of room 135 and called Frau Prasad.
I was so surprised that I told her that email was instantaneous. She laughed and said yes, took my passport, punched in something into her computer and my photograph and details appeared on her computer. She said she would print out the list of schools and the Instruction sheet for the Integration course, explained to me that I had two years to register for such a course and then printed out the actual certificate itself. After my previous adventure it was almost an anticlimax getting the actual certificate.
But I am sure each one of you can relate to something similar…. HAVE A WONDERUL DAY….
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Socks is too old to be trained....
I guess it is right that the oldest member of the family is the person who visits the doctor first. Since we moved to Dussseldorf I have been trying to set up contacts of doctors for the family but Socks needed to meet with a vet before anyone. Reason being she is on a prescription medication that is a pain reliever & reduces inflammation for her arthritis condition diagnosed about 6 months ago and we were running out of the supply we had brought with us from Cincinnati and I needed to get it refilled as quickly as possible.
I took the help of the Newcomers Guide: Welcome to Dusseldorf-Rhein-Ruhr and the Relocations Service Desk Info Kit and rang up an English speaking vet to help refill her prescription. I took Socks to see him couple of weeks back and in the course of our visit mentioned the possibility of training Socks to behave like the German dogs. They accompany their owners to supermarkets, shops, cafes and stay close to their owners even without a leash.
The vet said that Socks is too old to be trained - the way he put it was that - 'you know the saying - you cannot teach an old person new tricks'. I think what he meant to say was that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. He went on to explain that dogs learnt best between the ages of 0 - 3 and that I should not waste my money. Ah well, there's goes my pipe dream of getting Socks to walk without a leash and lie down under the table in the outdoor cafe while I am having kaffe & kuchen with a friend. The dream was great while it lasted, but I guess it is back to reality
I took the help of the Newcomers Guide: Welcome to Dusseldorf-Rhein-Ruhr and the Relocations Service Desk Info Kit and rang up an English speaking vet to help refill her prescription. I took Socks to see him couple of weeks back and in the course of our visit mentioned the possibility of training Socks to behave like the German dogs. They accompany their owners to supermarkets, shops, cafes and stay close to their owners even without a leash.
The vet said that Socks is too old to be trained - the way he put it was that - 'you know the saying - you cannot teach an old person new tricks'. I think what he meant to say was that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. He went on to explain that dogs learnt best between the ages of 0 - 3 and that I should not waste my money. Ah well, there's goes my pipe dream of getting Socks to walk without a leash and lie down under the table in the outdoor cafe while I am having kaffe & kuchen with a friend. The dream was great while it lasted, but I guess it is back to reality
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