I can officially settle

Yesterday we went to the Ausländerbehörde (Office for Foreigners) to extend my stay in Germany, as it has been three years already that we have arrived in the land of sauer kraut, grilled pork and beer. Back in 2006 I got a 3 year permission to _stay_, which if certain conditions have been met (like doing a German course), would be extended indefinitely. So at about 6:30am, in complete darkness and freezing cold, we dragged ourselves to the most miserable of all places on earth.

Even though we had an official appointment at 7:30, as we knocked on the door of the official woman that was meant to see us, she didn't hesitate to give us a number (700 - reasonably lucky I thought) and make us wait in the waiting room for about 20 mins. Then we got called in to give our documents and fill out forms saying that we are indeed still married for love and haven't lived apart, etc. Then we were given another number (333 - yet another lucky number) and made to wait another 10-15 minutes.

While waiting we tried to cheer ourselves up by coming up with various jokes about this Foreigners Office. One was that basically while you're happy, your misery goes off and lives at the Ausländerbehörde. Another was a business idea - that since there are so many waiting rooms with people waiting sometimes for hours to have a turn, we'd have a DJ come around and host parties for these people, to cheer them up a little. And of course there'd have to be a prize for the person who has waited the longest for that day.

Strangely only after waiting in total for 1 hour we got called in and I was given a brand spanking new permission to _settle_ this time. This one is not restricted, so Deutschland has officially invited me to stay here for the rest of my life... hmm... that doesn't sound right. This also means that it was probably the last time I will have to go to the Misery Office - hurraaaa!!!