bureaucracy

It is raining again.. well this will hopefully be the last night in the tent! If I am lucky, I will be moving to a room in Madrid, Hortaleza tomorrow .. or on Sunday. (If that doesn't work out, I'll be sleeping in a Hostel for a while.)
It is far from an ideal place to live(the room), but I will be ok for a while.
I was expecting a bit more enthusiasm from prospective future flat mates. I was shown the room by someone not even living there(I think she was the landlord or something), even though everyone was there. Two of my flatmates didn't even come out of their rooms at first until I said: "Hi!" Well one of them will leave towards the end of August. So cards will be mixed anew.

Then I had been in Madrid two times without too much success. The reason I went there was to apply for a NIE(an identification number for foreigners), although after reading many contradictory things I am not sure I actually need one. On the other hand it is asked for by the employer and will probably make many things easier.
So I went to the police station in Madrid, after searching for the right street for some time. There I waited in a line for some more time and then was told to go to another police station... okay so buy another metro ticket and go there. Then at that police station I was told... to go to another one ..again.. So another ticket and .. too late, because they are only open from 9-14 o'clock .. There were others sitting there (definitely not native Spaniards, so the chance was high they would speak English) and I asked them. They said the station would open again at 16 o'clock. "Strange!", I thought, "Probably just for people with appointment" . After all the opening times on the wall clearly read 9-14 o'clock. I decided to wait and eat a Döner, Moroccan style (with Olives) and in Dürüm instead of bread. So far I have learned one thing, all the 'normal' Döners here in Spain are too small!
Then at 16 o'clock I went to the police station again and they were open, but told me to come between 9-14 o'clock another day. Of course on all the police stations the persons that mattered only spoke Spanish. The police officer at the door speaks a bit of English .. but the persons responsible for foreigners just speak Spanish. One could think there is a policy behind this..
The next time I came with the pictures for the document, but they also want two copies of the passport, as if they can't do the copies themselves..
Whatever, they gave me a form to fill out. The thing is this form is not the simple form for the NIE, but one for a tarjeta de residencia. This is standard for Europeans. We don't need the NIE instead they have us apply for this tarjeta, which we wouldn't need either (afaik). Well the good thing is, I think this means I will have to pay less tax and a few things will be cheaper for me. So it's not bad, but still cheating! Or maybe I just didn't understand enough of what they said ?

Whatever. Then yesterday I read the information I got from my employer again and noticed that I would get information on these things at my HR Induction. Well so much for trying to get this done before work starts..
After that I decided to stop my fight with the form (I am not sure exactly what I have to fill out) for now and since the visit to another flat I planned for today didn't come to be, because after one mail I didn't get a reply anymore and I didn't find the contact data again, I have a 'free' day today ... with lots of rain (Oh it stopped!). I think I'll eat another Döner today. The last one in Alcalá de Henares or something like that, or maybe a Döner plate would be better...