wunderbar-wurst

So, we are in the process of renewing our visas.  David's is done (thankfully) as they were willing to get his done without quite all of the paperwork needed for the family.  We have had to collect a number of random items for this including letters from the school for each child and a form signed by the landlord which states the measurements of every room in the house (goodness knows why).  I returned to the Auslanderamt Tuesday thinking I had everything I needed.  Alas, no.  The form with the room measurements needs a stamp from the rathaus here in Eppelheim (again, goodness knows why--or why they did not tell us this in the first place; sometimes I think they make up the rules as they go) and now we need Dave's January paystub since for his visa the last four were Sept. through Dec. but now the last four will be Oct. through Jan.  Sigh, seriously?  So,Thursday I got in to the Rathaus only to find the person with the stamp is out sick (why someone else cannot stamp it I do not know!).  I'll try again Monday.  It always boggles my mind how Germans can be so remarkable effeceint at almost everything and so terribly inefficeint at government paperwork--sometimes I think it is a good thing that I cannot work in Germany as how on earth else would we have the time to keep up with the forms.