#337: Free seats, Museum Sunday gone, Anarchy high school
The rundown on Glühwein costs
Hey 20 Percent,
My bid for German citizenship has hit a self-made bump.
But first: I got 31 out of 33 on the citizenship test. Not bad for not having studied a single minute but still annoying — I have no idea what I got wrong.
The only thing I am now missing is a language certificate and I was supposed to have a test mid-November but … I overslept and totally spaced the test, which also has to be booked like two months in advance. I’m a bit annoyed but I’d been traveling a lot and just forgot to look at my phone — I rarely have appointments at 8.30 in the morning.
I’ll try again, hopefully in January. The child in me thinks they should just look at my Insta but I’m sure bureaucrats don’t have social media. That might make their lives fun.
Stay warm this weekend, y’all! I recommend long underwear.
Andrew
PS: We have some sponsorship spots free in the coming weeks. Does your business want to advertise to people like you? Get in touch! (Today’s sponsor is Deep Management 3.0)
Broken seats, broken plans in P-Berg
You could own a piece of East Germany — for free. The sports ministry is giving away the aged and sometimes broken seats at the under-construction Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn stadium (photo above) in Prenzlauer Berg, according to RBB24. Just shoot them an email (address in the linked article) and make an appointment and decades of flatulence could be yours. Only 6,000 of about 20,000 are still available and you have to unmount (🔧) and retrive them by Dec. 6. The East German stadium opened in 1952 and was being razed to make way for a new accessible stadium. The rebuild is controversial because it’s a historic, still-functional stadium. Environmentalists have won an injunction halting demolition until 2026 but Berlin’s latest budget cuts may be the final straw in the plans. The city-state cut financing for the re-do to about €250 million this month from €307 million, according to Tagesspiegel. (Thanks to reader Andrew Blackman for the news about the seats)
Museum Sunday will cost you
Speaking of Berlin cutting funding — Museum Sundays are no more, says Monopol. Making all museums free the first Sunday of every month felt like the most egalitarian cultural subsidy but the Senat says it can save €2 million a year by eliminating the hand-out. The program began in July 2021 and lured 2 million visitors. The program even had one of the few functioning and aesthetically pleasing websites of public Berlin entities. I assume the final Sunday will be Dec. 6.
What American high schools feel like, actually
Teachers and administrators at the Friedrich Bergius Gymnasium (7th-13th grade) in Tempelhof-Schöneberg cried out for help in a seven-page letter Tuesday, saying the school was descending into anarchy, according to Tagesspiegel. Students wage water battles against each other and teachers, fear being filmed while going to the bathroom and gather in uncontrollable mobs during breaks. The school had once been held up as exemplary but has since fallen on hard times — parents no longer battle to get their kids in and it’s used as a repository for students unable to gain admission to other Gymnasiums. The education department even took away their gym so another school could use it and up to 25% of the teachers are out on sick leave.
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
🪖 Is Germany preparing for war with Russia?
🚗 First it was VW, now Ford’s in trouble too
🖥️ Data cable cut probably wasn’t accidental
👔 A good summary of the German political climate
Factoid
€7.50 warm — that’s what a Glühwein will cost you at the Breitscheidplatz Christmas Market, according to RBB24. That’s up from between €6 and €7 last year. Want cheaper hooch? Try Wintertraum in Treptow-Köpenick (€4) or the Lichtenberger Winterzeit opposite Ikea (€4.50). Nikolaiviertel and Potsdamer Platz are charging €5. Protip: Don’t buy the mug. If you end up living here for a while you’ll end up with a shelf full of the things you never use except for kids’ birthdays.
💪 💪 💪 Visit our sponsor! 💪 💪 💪
🚀 Tired of team chaos and disengagement?
If you're a tech lead, CxO, or just done being "that boss", join Deep Management 3.0—an interactive, hands-on training on modern team dynamics, systems thinking, and strategies to empower your people.
Since 2010, I've helped 900+ professionals who, like you, were tired of poor collaboration, low performance, and slow adaptation to change. They found practical, human-centered ways to transform their teams.
Fair pricing: pay a % of income, or later if jobless. 9/10 say it's worth it.
Join my final training of the year—start 2025 in a whole new way!
🔗 🔗 🔗 Useful links 🔗 🔗 🔗
"Germany has also advised citizens on ways to prepare for the worst by boosting their self-sufficiency through mechanisms including installing diesel generators or even wind turbines, according to the report." I know we're the 22%, but did anyone get this memo?