#369: Strikes, burning Teslas and did cops swipe €80k?
And we get our Gendarmenmarkt back
Hey 20 Percent!
I finally took my language test — at the Goethe Institute in Mitte. I’m that much closer to becoming German.
I think.
During the spoken-German test I had to argue a point and by the end it felt more like a real argument and less like an academic exercise in an over-priced Mitte roof-top office.
I had to pick a topic from a list of proposed discussion topics and decided on “compulsory semester abroad for college students”. I took the viewpoint that it’s a bad idea. And I do think it’s a bad idea because I’ve A) lived abroad and know how difficult it is and B) am a shy person, which just exacerbates A).
Me and Prüfer:in #1 (Examiner #1) had a good enough conversation about why I thought it was a bad idea (emotionally difficult, not every field of study benefits) and why they thought it was a good idea (inter-cultural understanding, language acquisition). I thought the test was over but then Prüfer:in #2 (Examiner #2) entered the chat.
And it felt like they were not happy with my viewpoint. Like, you know those moments when you forget you’re living in Berlin and you’re unexpectedly faced with a Berlinerisch barista who would have preferred that you were never born? As if you’re being attacked for just trying to order a cup of coffee?
It was like that. I stood my ground but felt like the volume was rising. I was about to change my mind just so I could get my language certificate or coffee or whatever but then the test was over.
“You’ll get the results in a couple days,” they promised.
It’s been 10 days and still no results. I’m fully expecting to have failed.
Anyway, have a good, Berlinerisch-barista-free weekend! I may or may not be German this year.
Andrew
Trash strike (almost) over, BVG strike looming
I’m not the only one having unexpectedly difficult conversations — or how is your trash situation? Friday is the final day of the trash strike (every trash can on the street around me is overflowing), which is part of broader strikes by public employees, who have yet to reach an agreement on a new contract. Difficult conversations! And public transport provider BVG and union Verdi likely won’t reach an agreement after five rounds of difficult talks, according to RBB24. Members are expected to reject BVG’s latest proposal Friday, meaning more strikes will follow next week. If no agreement can be reached in talks on March 21, unlimited strikes are likely. At least the weather is getting warmer, making bike riding more comfortable.
OK, who took the €80 grand?
And some Berlin police officers are likely having uncomfortable conversations after €80,000 went missing from an evidence safe in a Kreuzberg police station, according to Morgenpost. The cash was part of an inheritance tussle and was being kept in a bag that has since disappeared. The cops say it’s too soon to point any fingers. Maybe the bag just got misplaced, they say. Yeah, misplaced into some officer’s trunk.
Burning Teslas is not a desert festival
Maybe it’s also time to have a discussion about what’s a good form of protest and what’s a bad form: Setting Tesla cars alight to protest Elon Musk, the unelected president of the US, seems wrong. At least four of the electric automobiles were set on fire Thursday night in southern Berlin and detectives specialized in politically motivated crime are already on the case, according to T-Online. The crime is especially egregious because the flames often spread to nearby cars uninvolved in geopolitical squabbles. Electric car fires are also especially difficult to extinguish because of chemistry. Please don’t punish people for bad decisions made in the past.
Wegner, Giffey in coalition discussions
And did you know our local politicians are involved in the current discussions to form a federal government? They are! And Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) wants any coalition agreeent to include a change to Germany’s constitution to protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation, according to Tagesspiegel. Critics say he’s not putting enough effort into the constitutional change he’s promised to fight for. Meanwhile, former mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) wants the next government to introduce a rent price brake for commercial rents, according to Morgenpost. We’ll let you know how their proposals do.
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Factoid
Gendarmenmarkt is back, y’all! A two-year, €21 million rennovation on the Mitte square was completed Thursday. The square was redone to add rainwater filtering cisterns below as well as new barrier-free electrical infrastructure. Festivals, like a summer classical music concert as well as the Christmas market (my fave), now won’t require kilometers of above-ground cabling. And cabbies get their favorite Mitte shortcuts back on the adjacent streets.
That is so funny about the mündliche Prüfung.
“Please don’t punish people for bad decisions made in the past.”
I bought a Tesla 5 years ago - it was the most advanced and cool electric car at that time, in many regards it still is. In so many years, neither American nor European car makers managed to get on par with that technology. It was not a bad decision: it was an educated decision from a person that also cared about environment.
I understand where we are. And how crazy these times are. How crazy this American government is. And I understand we all need to be careful and act. And I also applied the “I bought this before Elon got crazy” label. But, in my opinion, the world I would like to be in is also a place where people don’t have to explain why they bought something hoping to prove that their decision is decent enough for the rest of the community.
I love your podcast.
Raniero