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What's the deal with having to include a photograph of your face in your CV (resume)? As policy, this promotes racism and other forms of discrimination.
People lock up their garbage here. In NYC we make art and theater out of things other people throw away. My career is over!
Head to NeuKolln or Wedding or just about anywhere... you might be able to do something with all the discarded cigarette packets, old Doener fleisch bits and non-pfand bottles. Or after a sporting event in Koepeneick or Olympia Stadium, enough garbage to supply a team of full timers. Better yet, head out to any out of the way park and in the bushes you will find all manner of discarded bits and bobs. If you are daring, Tierpark would supply you with enough used condom wrappers and other related items for a years work.
Hilarious, N-a. Thanks for the tips. As it turns out, I have figured out a wonderful new project. I sprinkle powder made from ground banana chips onto all the dog poop on the sidewalks and wait for the next dog to come by and eat it. Then I follow that dog until it poops, and I repeat the process. Of course it's all documented on video. I call this piece "Dogs Eating Each Others' Poop" and I think it's going to be a big big hit.
the true face of Berlin
www.vice.com/de/read/nazis-loesen-strassenfest-in-kreuzberg-aus-duerfen-aber-nicht-teilnehmen/154840
Berlin could be lovely, we just need to change a few things:
Remove the Berliners
Move it out of Brandenburg to somewhere nice
Replace a few of those hideous buildings
Add some history which giant just ww2 and its consequences
Add a variety of interesting foods
And... there we have it again... 5 year old dances for 5 minutes and the old people start banging on pipes
no true face, just fake ... superficial city
LOL at these comments...iv read 7 pages north and had a good laugh...I was in Berlin last year for 3 months and experience one of the rudeness mentioned here...but above all I've finally realised something
which, at the time I couldn't quite understand, but after reading thee posts makes perfect sense..I was dating a German girl and could not figure out why she wouldn't wash/bathe after a full days work..she would stink and I s completely puzzled as to why she didn't shower or use deodorant..it was only after I said something and argued about it that she changed her habits!! So now it all makes sense...they are fooking stinkers!!! Lol
newbie here... a little story that caught me off guard but it seems to be the norm. I went walking in the Koepenick forest the other day... beautiful sunny day, crisp air, birds on the wing... I was feeling quite joyful and light of heart. Ahead on the path was a sweet looking older couple heading in my direction... I recited my practiced German greeting in my head a couple times and as they got nearer, I caught the Husband in the eye and with a hearty and honest smile said "Guten Morgen"! He not only didn't register my heartfelt greeting but he quickly turned his eyes to the path, put his arm up protectively in front of his wife with a look of shock and horror, she looked away quickly with a horrified expression and the both shuffled almost off the path to get around and past me as quickly as possible. I was quite literally dumbfounded and stood with my mouth agape for some time trying to process what had occurred. From what I see and read.. I am due for more of this?
Hello there,
can anyone comment specifically on the state of Bavaria? The opinions on this site seem to be valid in any area to a large extent. As stated in my previous post, I have mostly lived in Bavaria and would like to share some complementary ideas with you.
German guys will not stand for their opinions (if they have any at all) but instead blindly support their women (their very low standards to women reflect this reality). It seems, they are shit-scared of what their women think of them. Far too often, you are dealing with hidden female hierarchies which don't include a tiniest bit of human warmth.
Generally, don't expect to be welcome anywhere. There is an incredibly widespread feeling of collective superiority among Germans and they will let you feel it, if you are not concidered being one of them.
Xenophobia is rampant. If you dare to propose the slightest change to anything, you will be seen as enemy immediatelly, even without having done anything. This is where their „we know it all better“ part comes in. They preserve this belief by disregarding other's perspectives.
Looking for human warmth? Germany is a role-based society and your role as a foreign person is being a half-slave. Assigned and preserved by almost everyone. And if you are not executing the role as expected, prepare to be treated like a dog.
Want to be seen as an individual? Your worth is meassured by the group of people you are being associated with and your percieved rank in it. Speak five languages and have lots of life experience? No one cares. On the other hand, everyone wants to find out your status-related information as soon as possible so that they can jugde you by their standards.
You see yourself as a man of character? You will find out, that Germans rarely have a character because they sacrifice every bit of it for the sake of their conformist mainstream collectivism. Of course, they expect you to do the same even though there is nothing in there for you.
An interesting fact to note is that Germans see themselves as a part of the political system dispite not trusting their politicians and dispite being fooled. They also tend to believe the press and the television. They seem to assume truth because of the free press ideology. Critical thinking seems less important then subordination.
Ultimately, if you are a man of your own and unique character, you will find far more gratitude and human warmth in return for your integrational attempts in other countries then in Germany.
Your post is really good, I felt identified with some aspects you've mentioned here. So here are my 2 cents. I know that Bavaria is one of the most closed societies in Germany, so much so, that other Germans label Bavarians as hardcore conservatives. I cannot say anything specific to Bavarians more than I met and tried to mix with some of them during my time at the university. I can, however, say a couple things about Lower Saxony where, unfortunately, I lived for a couple years before moving to Berlin (where I found about this website) and finally back to America.
As a male I must write this disclaimer, I in no way even suggest that women shouldn't be allowed as part of a hierarchy, power, leading roles, etc. This is only a critic about the role of women in German society in general, it's not an attack to women in general.
Being Lower Saxony one of the least diverse areas in Germany your description about Bavaria fits LS almost perfectly. It has some differences though, where you mentioned that people treat you like a dog, in LS expect to find signs at the entrance of stores saying that they won't allow foreigners into the store. So they won't even treat them. (I never said they were good differences). So besides xenophobic door policies and denied services, which I've only heard about my grandpa mention and CRITICIZE, there is one thing that really caught my eye, female hierarchies.
How female hierarchies affect Germany is in no way foreign to us, we've all been affected by that rude bank teller, that crazy female neighbor that has cats and walks around naked (true story) and that next door German girl you like, yes the one that never showers, that one that always gives you the nastiest looks. So why should we care, I'm not German. Well that's the point, most German males haven't ever seen any better, but we have, so that's why we complain. Plus the cultural discourse of the superiority of German people and Germany lead males to think that that is the way it should be. Never to confront females, being pushed by fear while females decide, quietly, very quietly what to do and whom to hate. They never will tell anything directly, they will only ostracize the others and in order to gain acceptance (forget it if you are not German born by several generations) you must only negotiate your way through women. Because a male, won't be your friend just because he likes you and have gotten hammered some times while watching football , no, his female bully friend, girlfriend or even mom has to approve of this first, if and only if the other person has the status to be approved of. How do I know this, I don't want to tell. But this is inhuman because this isn't only about friendships, it's about everything in life, from getting a loan to graduating from high school (Abitur's got nothing on the SAT), to befriending somebody to getting married, to building up a business to getting a job.
I don't know how everything became the way it is now, that is to a sociologist to inquire, I simply don't have the slightest interest in knowing how.
So if you've got the feeling that rules are not clear, you are not the only one. It's because they are hidden to outsiders, hang on long enough and they maybe adopt you as their pet but you won't know the rules, not ever. You will only be conditioned as a drooling dog. You cannot know the rules. You cannot know the truth. The truth: that this is an empty shell with no content, no soul, no brains, no essence, only repetition... only custom.
them: There have been big name artists living in the city, like David Bowie
me: Who the f-u-ck is David Bowie
bc employers won't hire me because my skin is dark, even though I got a master's degree in science.
Indeed Dan. And it's not because they are qualified. It's because Germans are threatened by anything different...anyone they fear they cant control. They know that Qualified Foreigners are smarter, work harder and would wipe the floor with their sh*tty so-called German Work Ethic.
@Truth I so would like that to be my case, because then it would make some sense. If me being completely incapable of articulating a single word in German and me having a completely obnoxious touristy attitude were the reasons for not offering me a position, or calling back that's fine, really. I am a big boy I know how job hunting is. That would make some sense actually and I wouldn't come here and rant about this issue. But that was not the case. Let me tell you something about myself mate, I speak German, so I know for a fact that that wasn't the problem. The thing is that in BERLIN I've been told in the face, bluntly, that the color of my skin WAS the reason (and also a problem for some) why I haven't been taken into consideration, several times (or something along those lines). That I might be not fit (or even detrimental) to their company culture. That I should be working with my people (whatever that means) and I'd be better off in my community (wherever the hell that is). I grew up in a +1M city (not Berlin fyi) so I don't have "a community". It is cute and kinda naive for you to think that the language is the problem, it's not. Educated foreigners are everywhere China, HK, UK, etc. So, go on, please keep treating young professionals like shi-t and enjoy your shrinking labor force, I'm sure eurotrash Berliners will fill the labor force shortage. No wonder why young Europeans from other countries (with degrees) don't stay longer than a year, even the ones from Greece and Spain. Now I work for corporate America, I am finally free from that evil spell called Berlin.
Even the lego here is fascist...
imgur.com/a/ZznAY
Whale Watching at that sh*tty lake in the middle of nowhere.