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I like Munich, Hamburg, Köln,-but not Berlin! If you want to stay alone, without friends and depressed, then a cab ride to Berlin!
I was with a berlin guy for few months. I liked him and we were getting along pretty well. One day out of nowhere and without a reason he disappeared, stopped answering messages and I never heard of him again.
I have to pay €17 per month for a RET ARD tv licence, when I live lone with no tv, no smart phone and no radio or computer connection. Yet another apartment or house with 6 people who all have TVs, smart phones, radios and computer connection, pay the same total as me.
WTF is that about. Why don't these rip off numbskulls charge by the size of the apartment. This is he final straw in Berlin for me. The problem is it's still run by Lefty communists from the DDR times.
Given the quality of German media, I don't see how anyone can justify paying anything in television tax. State-run television and radio that exist solely to spread pro-establishment propaganda? And then you have the conspiracy-theory idiots who point at the private-run stations with their abysmal quality suggesting that somehow legitimizes state-sponsored media. It's all idiotic. Germans should just stay away from media all together. They are bad at it.
Typical English pop song text synopsis: "Hey, I have to say that I love you, and I want to keep you forever and care for you. Do you want to join with me?" or "I have a serious problem. I can't take it anymore, I wish I was dead. Please help me!"
Typical German pop song text synopsis: "YEEAHH let's dance all night long, drink us to death, consume illegal substances and fornicate uninvolved inferior women so that they become mentally retarded children until we are too old to realise we wasted our lives."
Until Adel Tawil (who happens to be half tunesian/half egypt but was ironically born in Berlin) came along with his song "Ist da jemand?" ("Is there somebody?") which does roughly match the english synopsis. This may have opened their eyes to some of the mostly soul-blind Germans. And when I saw the official music video I saw another incredible peculiarity of Germans: tons of smileys.
Other artists of Tawil's kind are Tim Bendzko and Max Giesinger, but their soul texts are a rarity for Germans which are unable to understand the English texts.
(For information: I am a German-born, but my parents moved to Duluth, Minnesota with me when I was a few months old. I honestly think this was the right decision.)
Germans love English-language pop music but rip at it relentlessly to 1. show that they understand English enough to somewhat decipher the lyrics and 2. push down their fears that emotions actually exist.
You are absolutely spot on. Almost no German bands producing anything other than mindless bubble-gum music with too much production and too little substance. The Beatsteaks, probably one of the most popular current bands from Berlin, is a great example. Their newest single, which is played on all public radio stations probably 50 times per day, attempts some kind of love story from the perspective of an addled druggy forcing marriage upon someone who doesn't want it.
Yes. I'm sharing some bad climaxes of German music "culture"
Brian Sanhaji - A simple thing - www.youtube.com/watch
sounds like an Eminem/Depeche Mode crossover remixed by Ralph from Kraftwerk
Kollektiv Turmstraße - Randale in der Fußgaengerzone - www.youtube.com/watch
typical for a group of leftist influenced rowdies - enhanced by heavy accent vocals
Format B - Something Suitable - www.youtube.com/watch
no words, this sounds like Silent Hill composers on Drugs...
Many actually hate their jobs but it provides for some human needs like getting lost in authority. These roles are quite a female dog cause human needs are very attached to it like scapegoats which are usually the artists (so that's why there is no cultural value much) also don't get any love for being who they are.
Nothing of cultural value has come from Germany in the past 100 years because Germans are void of any emotion, except perhaps impotent rage. Their movies, television shows and music are all depressingly bland despite receiving some of the largest government subsidies in the entire world. TV shows and movies are copies of copies of something that might have once been moving - but all signs of humanity of the characters is scrapped in favor of cheap, gratuitous sex, unnecessarily provocative situations and "humor" that appeals solely to prepubescent boys (and, for whatever reason, a large portion of the German population). The music is even worse. It's either the germification of what was popular in America and England 5-10 years ago, laughable German hip hop/rap or mindless and monotonous robotic techno you could only produce, or tolerate, after destroying your brain for years.
In summary, Germans are incapable of creating anything of cultural relevance beyond, arguably, a codified system of laws.
Yes. I'm sharing some bad climaxes of German music "culture"
Brian Sanhaji - A simple thing - www.youtube.com/watch
sounds like an Eminem/Depeche Mode crossover remixed by Ralph from Kraftwerk
Kollektiv Turmstraße - Randale in der Fußgaengerzone - www.youtube.com/watch
typical for a group of leftist influenced rowdies - enhanced by heavy accent vocals
Format B - Something Suitable - www.youtube.com/watch
no words, this sounds like Silent Hill composers on Drugs...
Anyone ever have a German tell them that television tax and state-run media help keep reporting neutral?
www.ft.com/content/23e02b76-7074-11e7-93ff-99f383b09ff9
Ever since the Nationwide refuge enthusiasm with ridiculous clapping of arrivals I lost any belief in independent media opinions here, it was sickeningly one sided, and the worst part was the fuhrer the Germans let themselves be whipped into, they just seemed so eager to be told what to think.
As a foreigner I really wanted to see the good in refugees coming to Europe to seek more peaceful, prosperous lives. I've never thought much of German "culture" (or lack thereof) or the arrogance most German males seem to still possess to this day. So the German right-wing propaganda wasn't at all appealing to me. I fought with my own logic and reasoning for months, ignoring the "bad apples" that, at the beginning of the influx at least would still occasionally made it to the press (molestations in public pools, the whole Cologne thing, later the rapes and murders and, eventually, terror attacks). And then I noticed I was almost never casually seeing any more news articles about crimes committed by refugees. I did some research and realized that the crimes were still there, but you had to read official police reports (though they do their best to make it near impossible to isolate crimes committed by refugees) or foreign media to get to them.
There's obviously a problem going on and the media has clearly taken the role of subservience.
On vacation in u.s. Southerns are friendly and warm human beings compared to Berliners. Media loves to hate on the south calling them rednecks, deplorables and stupid for supporting Trump. Despite some bad apples, I prefer the southerners 1000 times over to Berliners.
Yoga mom, eco mom, vegan mom, hipster hippi yuppi whatever irresponsible types, moronic working class, retards with money called "investors", people who are writing crap about AI, intelligence and never coded even one line in their whole lifes called "innovator"s.........never seen so many useless people in my life. If Berliners disappear altogether, world loses nothing.
You're being a bit hard on them, please consider that they excel at rubbish bin scavenging, smashing beer bottles on bicycle paths, being overbearingly smelly while they beg for money, they are industrious, haven't you noticed all the entrepreneurs selling MOTZ newspapers in the U-Bahn, what about all their wonderful varieties of food like currywurst, doner, and, well there's um, let me see, did I say currywurst and doner.
What about the friendliness when you visit the office that welcomes you to Berlin, the Auslander Behorder and they are really chilled out, so chilled out it takes you 2 months to get an appointment for the BurgerAmt (town hall) to get the document you need to get everything else done in Berlin, like bank account, phone account etc etc, so you have plenty of free time to enjoy Yoga, more Yoga, even more Yoga and some extra Yoga as well.
Haven't you noticed how they love colors, you know, the 50 shades of Berlin grey. What I like best is how alternative and individual everyone is, they're so alternative and individual that they all look the same, and very colorful, they make sure you can't miss the rainbow of hues in their tattoos, to show how individual they are.
They're also very sharing, especially when they cough in front of you without covering their mouth, to share their germs with you, and they are concerned with your health, because when you complain that they coughed all over you, they say "but germs make your immune system stronger.
I have a college degree, but I'm working in Berlin as a janitor, part-time. I am a social worker. When I looking for a job here, they will say always, that I do not have sufficient qualifications. I have a partner in Berlin, because of which I live here for ten years. I love my partner, but I hate Berlin!
I think it's absurd to have a college degree and at the same time clean fat Germans' poop for a living. Living in this crappy city is not worth it. Being janitor offers no future, no resume headline, no savings....no future. If gf is worthy of this, then she will understand how absurd to work as a janitor and agree to move, so both can have decent jobs. Otherwise she's just another fat German girl :)
OP maybe comes from a poor country where he earns less as a social worker compared to a german janitor.
Or, OP committed a crime and can't go back to his own country. Or, OP is an american and has a medical preexisting condition that's cheaper to treat in Germany.
Why work as a misrable janitor in a misrable city? Love alone cannot keep someone in Berlin for 10 years.
OP: been there, done that. I came to Berlin because of a (now ex-) partner and believe me: it is NOT worth it! Talk with your partner about it and try to find a solution. If your partner refuses to leave Berlin: let go! You will find someone new somewhere else. Life is too short to live at a place you hate, sooner or later you will deeply regret it. Make changes now!
It's funny when Germans and Germophiles pretend that German healthcare is 1. affordable, and/or 2. adequate. I pay much higher insurance in Germany than I ever did in the United States, only here I have to wait for weeks to get an appointment with a specialist, have to share a hospital room with strangers and am subject to lower medical standards in both practice and training. And also, by almost all measures, the United States makes a mockery of German healthcare - cancer survival rates being a prominent example. Oh, and BTW: the ACA is still in effect, therefore pre-existing conditions still cannot be grounds for excluding coverage except in states which have formally petitioned to exclude them - a provision that was introduced during the Obama era for instances in which the financial burden was too great for certain counties to subsidize hypochondriacs. And, of course, stabilizing care is always available regardless of insurance coverage and ability to pay. But continue to enjoy your failed socialist state where where a higher percentage of people live in poverty.
I stayed here in misery for years because of a girl. I'm now here in misery because of a child, but the relationship with the girl (and later, accidentally mother) long died. For your own sake, don't sacrifice your life for love- they don't appreciate it, and it may not last (especially as you spiral downward as an unfulfilled janitor resenting life while she matters on in German with her better employed friends - you'll drift apart. Almost every expat I know here that didn't come for the debauchery came for love. And I don't know a single one that's happily together with the same person 10 years later). Look after yourself first, your relationship second.
I'm not german and I came and stayed in berlin because of love for 3 years. I regret wasting my youth in Berlin because of love.
Love cannot last for 10 years if one of the partners is miserable.
Obamacare was not there 10 years ago so preexisting conditions were an issue especially for a poor student.
German healthcare is far from perfect but as a janitor he is covered by a public health insurance which typically charges based on income and provides a full coverage. At least I did not have to pay 20k euros for a hospital stay and a surgery. I was only charged 100 euros.
I ended up sharing a room with a crazy German woman but I am alive and debt free.
More stupidity above. Obamacare covers fewer than 3% of the population in America, i.e. about 1 in 6 who are living below the poverty line. It's a tiny number of people. And as a janitor in America, you generally will also be covered by your employer's healthcare. In fact, in most bigger cities janitors and custodians are union workers who earn pretty well and have undeserved benefits.
And if you are so concerned with living debt-free, consider the difficulties imposed on people declaring bankruptcy in Germany versus basically any other western country on earth. They are fine when the public is forced to consume your debt for health insurance and not working, but if you make one poor business decision then you are screwed for at least five years. Not so elsewhere. Germany is a country for people who are lazy and don't want to try at life.
Same here!! Got my bachelors degree in sociology and education from a public ivy in California. In the US I worked in education and I felt appreciated. Here, they told me, that this degree isn't enough to qualify working with children. They told me: "Da könnte ja jeder daher gelaufene mit Kindern arbeiten! Sie müssen zuerst 3 Jahre eine Ausbildung machen!"
Nice!! So lovely!! I feel my old life (and accomplishments) is worth NOTHING here...
Is it possible that the weather is fighting back against the Hipsters?
All this rain is really going to make lounging around in the various "parks" quite difficult.
Western parts of Berlin is pretty nice; East Berlin is an utter shithole.
Berlin is a great place if you want to escape reality. If you're content with not having a real job, real friendships or a real relationship, Berlin is for you. It's the ideal place to coast and to live in an escapist bubble. But if you ever want authenticity, you will likely not find it in Berlin. I find most people in Berlin fit this description to a T. a city full of broken lost soul types. Berlin is to be avoided.
Wanted to do business with a Berlin company today, worth thousands of Euros, only to be told they can't put me through, I'll have to send an email to make my enquiry, I thought fck this, so I rang a company in the USA and got straight through on the phone and solved what would have taken 10 back and forth emails in 5 minutes.
Hans: "Customer service, what's customer service, hey Klaus, you ever heard of customer service".
Gorlitzer Banhof
Brilliant economy of words.
Those junk-selling freaks make Berlin police look like Keystone Kops. I avoid Gorly B-hof because of them, because they piss me off so much, I get a feeling to I want to punch their creepy lights out, the problem is, the lights aren't even on. If this is the the end product of "tolerance", then brand me a racist, much better than being a pseudo-tolerant Lefty sheep.