Not punctual!

I think I am not very lucky with time. Today is my 3rd time  of being late in class despite that I did not miss anything when I arrived 'cuz the Instructor have not started yet. But I have been meaning to be punctual today. I left the house at 8am, together with my Sweetie. And waited for 15 minutes at the Bus station for the Bus. Unfortunately, I am as always confused with number 3 and number 4 Buses. I should ride Bus number 3. Yet, I rode Bus number 4! And it does not go to Steingrube. So what I did was, I stopped at the Dammtor Station. And rode Bus number 3 there. But I needed to wait another 15 minutes for the next Bus. And so, I was late for 5 minutes. Tomorrow, our class will start at 9am. Hopefully I won't be late anymore. 

At this moment, the sun is shining and I can see clearly the blue sky. Thank God! Yet, this morning, it was cloudy and very very cold. I checked the temperature short before 8am this morning. And I thought my Sweetie has changed it to a Farenheit scale. But when I looked at it again, it was not 67 but 6.7! And the coldest temperature it recorded since 12 am today was 4.7°c! The morning cold air makes me sneeze. I am still not used to this cold weather here in Germany. My sneezing is on and off. This last few days, my sneezings was lesser compared to last week. Fortunately today, it seems like it won't rain.

Our lessons today was just like yesterday. Nothing really special. It was again about using the verb heißen (are called or named), sprechen (speaking), kommen (coming), wohnen (living), and sentences or phrases like Tut mir leid (I am sorry) and Entschuldigung (Apology), pronouncing correctly the letters in the Deutsch Alphabet, using Sie and du in the sentence and sorting out the sentences.

Then during our 15 minutes pause, I went to Herr Jüngerkes to give him a copy of the permission letter from Ausländeramt that I could take the Integration Course, and show him my Residence Visa in my passport. Yes, now I have my RV. Just had it yesterday. It was fast. Herr Seyler was not in the office yesterday. And I guess he advised his colleague to process my papers as he knew that we are coming to his office. We just waited for 5 to 10 minutes, filled up a form and immediately the RV is in my passport. It is valid for 3 years. So on 2013, I will be renewing it. These two requirements for my Integration Course are very important. It may allow me to take the Integration Course absolutely for FREE or we may have to pay 1 Euro per Unit. And for this first course which contains Modules 1 and 2 (A1 Level of the Language Course), has 200 units. So it costs 200 Euros. Actually, it costs more. Bundesamt will pay more for me. The City will pay 1.35 Euros per Unit. There are 6 Modules. The next course will be Modules 3 and 4 (A2 Level). And then next Modules 5 and 6 (B1 Level). And 200 Euros per level. A total of 600 Euros or 600 Units to complete the Integration Course.

This condition is valid only when they check that my Sweetie's monthly earning is enough to pay. But if they found out that we don't earn that much, then Bundesamt will pay for my whole course and thus, I get the whole course for FREE! I really hope that I will get the course for free. 600 Euros is too much. I think, we will know  it  by next week. We still need to submit some papers for the assessment by Bundesamt.

Oh there are few things that amaze me here in Germany. 

1. One-ride Bus ticket is 2 Euros = It is estimated to be almost Php 120. Yet, 2 Euros is from end to end. So if I ride the bus at the first end station, and stops at the last end station, I will pay only 2 Euros. Or if I ride the bus at the first end station and stops at the next station, it is the same, 2 Euros. It is in favor with passengers having to ride the bus from end to end than passengers needing to go only to the next station.

2. Daily Bus Ticket or Weekly or  Monthly or Yearly Bus Ticket = Daily, weekly and yearly Bus tickets are much much way better. Daily bus ticket costs 4,20 Euros, weekly costs 14,20 Euros, monthly costs 50,50 Euros, and yearly is 517 Euros.

Daily bus ticket can be used the whole day. And it is really cheap when I want to tour around Hildesheim with only 4,20 Euros as mine transportation expenses.

Mine is a weekly ticket which I bought on Monday and valid until next Monday.

3. Bus schedule = Bus arrives at the bus station every 15 minutes. From Monday to Saturday it is always at the  13th minute, 28th minute, 43th minute and 58th minute of the hour. During Sundays, it has a different schedule.

4. Bicycles = I see children as young as 3 years old biking with their Mom or parents. They have their own bicycles! This amaze me so much because as early as 3 years old, children are growing to be independent.

5. Security Guards = The hotels, big and small shops, malls, offices don't have security guards. Oh and I have to open the door by myself when entering the building, or most of the time, the door opens automatically. =)

6. No free toilets = I have to pay or donate atleast 50 cents when entering the toilet. 50 cents is around Php 29.

7. Guten Tag  or Danke or Tschüss = I like it when somebody greets me Guten Morgen, Guten Tag, Hallo or Guten Abend. And Germans do that most of the time even though they don't know you. Same with Danke and Tschüss.