Thursday, Sept. 10----Money (Geld) Problems!!

I went to German class again today. Dagmar (the teacher) and I ate lunch together in the cafeteria and discussed some upcoming issues, like Nicole missing all next week, are the two Singapore students going to be in the class next week, when will this class meet during the regular school year, etc. We then worked on these issues when class resumed after lunch. It appears that class will be for 2 hours on Monday and Tuesday afternoons during the semester, and I'll be teaching during the Tuesday class. During class, we learned the names of common school items, like notebook, pen, etc., and articles der, die, das. I will again swear that all Germans must be brilliant. Where we use "the" whether we're talking about something that is masculine, feminine, or neuter (man, woman, ball), the Germans use der for masculine, die for feminine, and das for neuter. However, inanimate objects can be masculine. feminine, or neuter. As far as I can see, there is no logic behind the choice. Der Kuli (the pen), die Flasche (the bottle), and das Handy (the cellphone). And this is nominative case---just wait until you give the girl a bottle, for example----der, die, das, den, dem----what a mess!!! Everyone persists in referring to Brandi as a "he", because der Hund is male.....don't tell her!

Anyway, after class, we again went to the dorm for Nicole and Dana to get their banking stuff. They had not been successful yesterday in being able to get money from the bank. They get "free" bank accounts because they are students. I was telling them that I could get money with my debit card, and that we should try the university ATM because I'd gotten money from there last week. Holy cow---the machine told me there was no money in my account!! I was trying to get 300 euros. I tried this twice. Their cards (MasterCard and Cirrus) did not work in the machines either. So, we went downtown to the main bank they had visited yesterday, which turns out to be the same bank branch I'd opened an account in, and I saw the same young woman and waved. This time THE MACHINE ATE MY CARD!!! Here I am offering to help Dana and Nicole, and I HAVE NO DEBIT CARD!!! Yikes!! And we are supposed to be on a bus at 7:30 am for 3 days in Berlin. What fun is Berlin with no money, kein geld?? So, I joined the girls in line. One is having a problem because it simply takes days to transfer money; she got 300 euros on her credit card so is fine for now. I have communicated with her father, who appreciates my help, and we think we have this student ready for the trip. Student #2, however, is another matter. The bank person told us that we need to go to a computer and print out a receipt that shows she has transferred money from her savings account to her checking account. I waited in the line where the same young woman who set up my account the other day was working. I explained about my lack of a card now and asked if there was any money on my account (the university is reimbursing my airline ticket directly to my account). No, no money. I explained the problem and the dear young woman basically loaned me 300 euros on my signature, telling me that when the university money comes in, they'll deduct it from the account. Hurray!!


We came back here to the house and asked good ol' Henrich for help; could he let Student #2 use his internet to access her bank account, and then his printer to get proof of this. She uses Wells Fargo (which does not have a good rep in Marquette, at any rate), and for some reason, she can't access the transfer part, but did get a printout of the amount of money in her account. Henrich, as usual, was Johnny on the spot and willing to help.

While she was working with Henrich, the other student and I were up in my flat calling NMU. These students have been told they have to pay $200 or 200 euros (I don't remember which, but 200 euros is about 300 dollars) as a student activity fee. They're having trouble accessing money, they can't get their computer access until they pay it, and I don't think they should have to pay it. I called the int'l student office at NMU, the one person who would know for sure was naturally at some all-day meeting, but the secretary told me that when Bielefeld students go to NMU, they don't pay the student activity fee. So, it seems to me our kids shouldn't have to pay here. I told the girls not to pay it (knowing it's not easy to get money back once paid and the paperwork surely would be confusing), and have sent an e-mail to my contact here (Riza) explaining the problem, and left a phone message and sent an e-mail to the NMU person.

Both girls wanted to go back to the bank to see if Student #2 can just show the paper she did get printed, and get money. I hadn't yet called my own bank to see why the ATM took my card, supposedly on orders from my own bank. So, off they went. I called my contact person at my bank, Deb, who could see that there were two problems: 1) not thinking, and wanting extra money if I needed to help the 2 NMU students, I had asked for more money than the daily limit.
I asked for 300 euros, and with the $39 transaction fee (Yikes!), this was over $400. The machine told me in English that there was no money available, which was evidently their English version of "You're asking for more than your limit." The fatal problem, however, was that between 2 ATM locations, I tried three times, and that is the point at which the ATM keeps your card because it might be stolen.

At about that point, in talking with Deb, I realized that I had been smart enough to ask for a 2nd ATM card and in fact had it with me. I'd had it mailed to Christine, and it got to her the day before I left. Deb somehow cleared off the 3 attempts, but I'm not going to use this card until tomorrow. Knowing that I have access again is wonderful. Money is good; geld ist super!! I have no idea what Nicole and Dana have accomplished, but I sent an e-mail message that I now have my ATM card and can loan them money. Surely the 3 of us will not need $1200 in 3 days.....Well, I won't need my share!

You should have seen the 3 of us----ready for a 3 day trip to Berlin, and basically, none of us had any money at one point!! I now know that at least 2 of us do; I don't know if Student #2 got $ or not, but at least I can help her if needed. This is craziness!! These 2 young women are going to get a polite request from me tomorrow---they've been battling this fee business for a couple days, and supposedly Student #2 has had "no" money for 3-4 days, and neither of them asked me for help. I'm perfectly willing to get into the middle of some of this. They're young and they have no German. I'm older, at least look responsible (so it seems!), and have some understanding of German. If I know there is a problem, I will certainly help. I will readily say that the bank people all tried to help and would have let Student #2 use their computer, but their computers don't access more than their own system apparently. And how nice for the young woman to let me borrow money based on knowing that there will be money coming.....whew!! There is NOTHING like being in a foreign country and having the machine take your card!! Another proof that knowing people helps, or something.....

Brandi and I went shopping again because I don't trust my little travel alarm clock; it didn't go off this morning even though I think I had it set correctly. I managed to find a wecker (alarm clock) though the store I went to didn't have one like I would LOVE to have. Henrich had loaned me one the other day that talks instead of rings: "Guten Morgen. Das is sechs Uhr" or something like that---Good morning. It is six o'clock. Honestly, if I can find one like that and it isn't horribly expensive, I'm going to get it for a souvenir.


I've had Wasa brod und kase (Wasa bread and cheese) while I've been writing this. I'm going to try to pack things for both of us into my backpack tonight. Then, I'll need to take Brandi's airline crate (soft-sided, Sherpa bag), for the bus, and then her fold-down nylon crate for the hotel room. I suppose she could survive without that, but it basically takes no space and would give her much more room when left in the hotel. Her medicine and mine, her bowl, leash and harness-vest, her food, my clothes, perhaps the computer, jacket, toothbrush, hairdryer, etc. I simply refuse to take one of my gigantic suitcases, so a backpack with about 5 different compartments will simply have to do. AND MY CAMERAS!!


I have no idea whether I'll have computer access while we're gone, so if nothing is posted, I guess it means we didn't!! I'm sure you will all survive a weekend with no postings from Carol und Brandi. Glenna mentioned the other day what a "cultural bath" I am getting here; what interesting language and how very, very true!!