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So tomorrow we have another Feiertag. A day when everything closes and the whole city is even more depressing. Just like Sundays! Its so backwards.
Every park in Berlin is freaking poison. They're all overcrowded so much that the meadows are basically just dirt after the first sunny day in spring. And they're full of weird public pissers all over the place because Germany's too poor or too cheap to install public toilets. Fine, if you really have to piss in public then at least be discreet but so many nasty men here will just whip it out like 5m from your blanket. Then there's a ton of drug dealers all over the place. And of course, if the park is a little bigger and has some empty areas then it's not uncommon to accidentally startle gays having sex in public. Seriously every single park I have seen has issues. Maybe there are a few decent parks in West Berlin where people generally seem to be a little better educated but man this city is cancer.
I used to think Germany was a pioneer in architecture and design. Bauhaus, Jugendstil, modernism, etc. But after coming here all I see is cheap and overused building materials. Everything looks like it’s sourced from the same place (like the ubiquitous green fences). Website, advertisement, and display design is non existent, tacky, and/or dated.
yes! That nasty green fence!!! You get large villas in Gruenewald or the like and they still have these ubiquitous, ugly green monstrosities.
Everything is 'praktisch' or stuck in the past/dated, as in post-retro. Even the stucco on Grundetzeit or Jugenstil was out of a catalogue here... mass produced... not indidvidually crafted.
Other thing, regarding the facades, they do not know how to preserve an aged, distressed look like italy - the masters. Buildings are 'overly-maintained' i.e. have curious shades of nasty pastels slathered on to death to try to look 'brand new', which then disappointingly removes any notes of character and charmed ageing.
I hate these fences. Often they won't let you go on green areas. I wondered why does nobody move them away. Some stations for example have field, meadow like areas nearby, but also sporting fields are fenced off. It's wrong and stupid, just freaking stupid.
Next time a German says you should learn German or integrate in Germany ask them if they mean like the Germans in Russia that maintained their language and culture so strongly that Germany still recogbizes them as Germans 100s of years later. Or the Ex-nazis and commies that fled to South America that built German schools and entire communities, where people are still named things like Stefan Meier. Or if they mean like the Germans that moved to colonial USA like Müllenberg who tried (unsuccessfully) to get laws published in German. Or the ugly Germans all over the world who still send their kids to GERMAN schools even though they live in a non-German country. These pigs are the kings of nonintegration.
Petition to re-name Berlin “curs-ed vortex”
"indianer"
www.cbc.ca/cbcdocspov/episodes/searching-for-winnetou
I left Berlin last year. Best decision of my life. Never felt so incredibly unhappy living in a place. Berlin has a weird energy I guess, a collective depression... a demon that has grown over centuries of horrible things that happened there... I don’t know. It is weird... as soon as I left, I came back to myself again. And still today when I tell people how bad it was, most people don’t believe me. “But it’s so great! Such a creative city! So progressive...” Yeah - try to live there and fornicate off!
Totally true. A weird energy, maybe from past horrible events. But also from clear sources. It's pretty dingy/trashy for a capital city in a wealthy country. Overgrown lots with graffiti, trash. Building/construction projects that are so slow they might as well be abandoned. Homeless people everywhere. Unreliable businesses. Simmering racism in the working-class white districts. And I'm convinced their "boomer" generation carries an intergenerational trauma, that makes them pessimistic and overly fearful. All of it contributes to a general lethargy and depression. And it that won't do it for you, the winter certainly fuckking will.
Where I am now?? Salzburg in Austria! Here’s the deal: I am Austrian but lived in California for a decade. Wanted to move back to Europe and the idea was - when Europe - then a progressive and cool place. Well, try trading California with Berlin! Two places that are the polar opposites... it was a tremendous shock experience for my psyche. What was I thinking?? Berlin (or Germany as a whole) only has this facade of progressiveness... it’s not! Might as well live in an Austrian village. I hated this pretense of a liberal, open minded Berlin... well, it’s not. Ausländer bleibt Ausländer - Even in “liberal, open minded” Berlin... its a joke! And I couldn’t take the staring and extreme social awkwardness...
Now I live in Austria again where I grew up. It’s not California; it’s narrow minded as f.u.c.k.! That’s for sure! But having lived now in several countries, the Austrians do seem friendlier and more chatty than the Germans. At least, nobody expects Austria to be open minded and liberal etc... Salzburg isn’t cheap either, but there are mountains really close by and the city is really beautiful. But planning on going back to the US, not now, but definitely some day.
Date rape is so common in Berlin that they sell bracelets at the drug store that you can use to make sure that no one has put drugs in your drinks. There is enough of a demand for this product in Berlin that every drugstore carries it in their very limited product selection. This is a mainstream product. Think about what that means.
Germans are all exactly the same. Every German thinks Die Ärtze is a cool band. Every German thinks Stefan Raab is funny. Every German watches soccer. Every German will sing the theme song to the Gummy Bears cartoon if you sing the first line. Every German hates AfD and any party that has ever cooperated with AfD in the slightest. Every German loves döner. Every German watches Tatort on Sundays. Every German owns a stupid book called "Europa" that they received from school when they finished 8th grade. Every German will laugh if you say the word "Maschendrahtzaun". Every German either goes biking or hiking on the weekends.
It’s funny how people think Berlin is a place they can “be free”. Really it’s not illegal in most developed countries to where whatever outfit you want or party hard. That’s your personal decision. But there are many MANY limiting and broken up thinga about the German government and system that will oppress you that you can’t opt out of. Not sure why this city is STILL being hyped
What are divorce laws like in Germany? Do they give custody to the German? Ugh
It’s funny how white trash American can go to Berlin and thrive because literally anywhere in Europe they would not last. You cannot dress like that anywhere else. Germany is like freaking texas
I may have to go in and out of Berlin to get something. I’m scared. I’m worried something bad will happen. Something will go wrong. Maybe someone will punch be in the street again randomly. I cannot feel at ease in that place.
Random piles of dog poop on the floor
You sure it's from a dog? German girl I used to date told me once that when she was a kid and outside playing with other kids from the neighbourhood that if they had to pee or poop they'd go underneath the stairs INSIDE of their apartment building. Why they wouldn't go up one flight of stairs to actually use a toilet is beyond me but welcome to Germany I guess.
I don’t believe anyone who says they are “the best”. I’m surprised a country with such a dark history STILL declares itself to be the best and STILL talks down to foreigners. To apologize for the holocaust is one thing. To change your interactions is to actually do something about it. Except many of them don’t actually care and even enjoy making foreigners life a living hell. Talk is cheap