...
Richard Grenell is stepping down as American Ambassador to Germany and it's sad that there's one less non-conformist voice in Germany. He did a lot in the few years he was here from lobbying Germany to condemn Hezbollah (even if Germany nerfed the official statement to hell) and getting Germany to step up it's defense expenditure. There will probably be another few years again with no US ambassador in Germany, which is going to be horrible for anyone in Germany that doesn't want to live on taxpayer subsidies.
Germans like to talk poop by saying things like "You're lucky to be living in Germany instead of your home country". Oh really, I am lucky that I worked my butt off to fulfill all entry and visa requirements as set out by German law? I am lucky that I am over-qualified and under-employed like most foreigners here (on average foreigners earn 66 cents per Euro a German earns). Yeah Stefan, I am sure I'll fare miluch better as a foreigner in Germany than I would back in my home country - it's not like Germany's entire history clearly illustrates otherwise.
Why do Germans pretend that "courageous Berliners" (as stated by Gerhard Schröter) were responsible for bringing down the wall? They luterally just sat back and took it for 40 years. The Soviet Union collapsed financially. Maybe Berlin accelerated the process by burning ungodly amounts of capital but I don't see how Berliners did anything at all aside from simply walking across the bordee once the guards stopped shooting.
Technically, a mistake from a party official brought the wall down. He said the wrong thing to journalists asking for travel permission. So people took to the streets and tore down the wall. truth is, a lot of demonstrations happened, for example, in Leipzig, and these people risked a lot but demonstrated nevertheless.
They can't even keep people from jerking off in public parks you seriously think they could overthrow their own government? LOL with what? Slingshots, pepperspray and farts? It was actually the opposite: Something like 20% of the GDR were Stasi informants! Lol brave Berliners my ass.
Have to go back to Berlin for two weeks... not looking forward to it
Well, just because Germany and immigration don't get along well, here are some points I would like to mention.
Germans have very narrow perspective about immigration. They assume, each person who wants to come to Germany or has been living in Germany for some years is willing to settle down in Germany. This is not neccessarily true. If the job I have been doing does not require me to learn German, unlikely I would learn It. Because, I know that, I will be leaving the country after I am done with my current job.
I know, things would be much more easier If you are able to speak local language but there must be some tangible driver to learn It. I mean, do you think all foreign people who are working in Dubai / Singapore / China / Portugal / Poland / Japan etc can speak the local language fluently / on business level ? I don't think so. It's regardless the time you spend in that country. It is all about to be in the need of learning new language or not.
As It has been mentioned couple times in this topic, Germany needs to resolve the conflict between the policy of the state and the private sector If Germany claims that, It needs to have remarkable amount of external workforce to sustain the current economical situation. If you go to the website of DAAD or immigration websites which were created by German government, you would think that Germany is kind of heaven for immigrants in terms of working / studying in English solely. This is incorrect.
The last thing, If German recruiters / companies do think that not being able to speak " business fluent " German can be showstopper, they will keep watching all talented / skilfull people keep moving to Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Portugal etc after some time where being unable to speak local language is not a major issue as long as you are competent with the job you are applying for.
When I moved here I remember thinking "okay, nose to the grindstone - time to learn German so people will take me seriously". Got to C2 level eventually. But no one took me seriously. Seriously annoying when people here constantly mock your accent or constantly say things like "Oh well you're from X country so of course you think Y".
Indeed integration here is a lie unless you are subservient.
I live in another part of Germany, but so many things you write here ring true to me. No matter what germans say, Berlin is as German as it gets if what you describe here is true
So did I get this correctly, Tegel is meant to be closed in June and Schoenefeld carries all the air traffic? BER is not open yet, and will probably not open until the end of time. The whole situation makes me feel extremely trapped in this place. I am afraid that once flights resume we still won't be able to get out due to a lack of airports.
What the fuck? I am reading it is being "temporarily closed" but that it is actually being permanently closed. What the hell is going on with Germans and their rape of language? They are also calling these new bike lanes they "made" (they actually just converted normal two lane roads into one lane + bike lane) were also called "temporary" but admitted to be permanent.
This seriously feels like Berlin Wall 2.0 level shit.
The only thing worse than Tegel is Schönefeld. They have about 20% the number of seats required for an airport of that size and they seem to seriously think it is okay to expect passengers to sit on the floor. The food court sucks so bad and mostly ridiculously overpriced, especially for a destitute city like Berlin. Oh, and it closes at like 11pm at night like some tiny regional airport in the middle of nowhere.
Having a nonwhite body in this city is exhausting
I've met a lot of black Germans and noticed that most of them are not like the kind of Germans we complain about here. Yeah, some are but that's a minority. White Germans hate everyone who is not like them and consider black Germans as Ausländer. The same people though claim they are not racist.
That is the whole issue in Germany children of foreigners no matter what country your from or how long you've been living in the country or even if you were born there they will never consider them to be german!! German society is divided. It's always been that way.
Germans always whine about foreigners not “integrating” but the truth is, no matter how hard we try, they don’t want us to integrate. It’s always “us” and “them” and they feel superior, when in reality they’re miserable, negative, full of hatred and jealousy. When I arrived, I was wondering why immigrants didn’t try to integrate and thought that they were disrespectful. Now I know why.
So Today I thoughtvto treat myself to a nice walk in Grünewald! Great, so I thought! In the middle of the forest I crossed ways with a older Gentleman in very Short pants! Didnt thought a lot of it and stopped right afterwards to sit on a tree stump and have a Little rest and drink something! As my Look wandered around the forest I discovered the Same guy standing behind a tree, masturbating and looking towards me! Sad to say I didnt shock me
Flying back to Berlin soon to collect the rest of my belongings. I haven’t paid rent for May or June. There is this corona law where you can’t be evicted before June 30 if you don’t pay. Just wondering how long after June 30 it takes to evict. I have to fly to Berlin, pack the things, leave the big suitcase at a friends house, then I take off to an island until the end of August, where I come back to pick stuff up. Do you think I will still have access to my flat end of August or will it be gone by then
A manager at my company once went insane because a guy handed in a sick note from the doctor 1 day late. And then a month later she called in sick for 6 weeks for "burnout"!
In Germany "krank sein" is an excuse for everything. It's an excuse to take a WHOLE week off work because you have a bit of a cold and can't be arsed and also Germans always have to be perfect so any kind of illness would ruin that facade. It's an excuse for when you can't be bothered to go training because people aren't allowed to have a real life. It's just an excuse for absolutely everything and it is seen as acceptable and not a complete and blatant LIE. But I think it is the way Germans compensate for how fleißig and committed they always have to be.
OMG "Kur" is just a way some genius figured out how to milk health insurance companies to pay for personal vacations. Wow your shoulder hurts from clicking a mouse too much? 4 week Kur in the middle of nowhere Bavaria for you - all meal included. Who the hell is such a baby that they need free summer camp as an adult?
In the rest of the world normal people do work 10 - 11 months in a year.
In Germany you work on average 7 - 8 months in the consideration of 1,5 months of paid holidays, 1month of - unofficial - Christmas Holiday, 2 weeks of bank holidays and at least 1 month of krank sein.
Then people do wonder, why there are so many failed start up or why this country is not progressing as the rest of the world in terms of infrastructure, technology etc
This city has lowered my expectations for everything, it’s sad. If I find a place that isn’t covered in shit, piss, or garbage = I’m “impressed”, a slight smile = “wow great service!”.
This city is a giant refugee camp for both actual refugees and white people who act like ones.
LMAO @ beds in the country. King sized beds with two separate mattresses LOL and two separate duvets. Where's the German solidarity and collectivism? Oh it only exists when mandated by the government.