This is my address as of today. My tiny room at the Studentendorf Schlachtensee which could really really use a heater. The two pretty women at the office/Rathaus (yes, I found the name funny too) are extremely nice and ready to help, and I probably should have asked them how to turn the heater on, but after the internet fiasco (they gave me the wrong password and I had to find out the right one from a Nepali boy I met in the kitchen and who suddenly started speaking in Hindi), I'm just not feeling up to it. And therefore the weekend shall be cold.
Speaking of weekends, there's something about Fridays. All the office timings say things like "9.00 to 20.00 Montag-Donnerstag; 13.00-15.00 Freitag"! (Ok, I'm exaggerating a bit, but you get the general idea!)
I have a cot with bed, pillow and blanket, a desk with a desk lamp and a rickety chair, a wardrobe, and a cupboard. There are two glass windows with blinds. In the common area, there's a living room with TV and some sofas, there's a kitchen with burners, microwave and an electric kettle. Europeans seem to take recycling very very seriously indeed. They have separate bins for paper/plastic etc. and for food waste. They also expect everyone to do their bit -- to take out the garbage when the bins are full, to keep the place neat and clean, etc. etc. And people seem to do it. (I'm sure someone can theorize this!)
I found this interesting about their public transport as well. When you get on the buses, you're supposed to take tickets yourself -- or, if you're a student, show your semesterticket to the bus driver. This seems to work for everything. They're also very strict about traffic rules, and rules in general, it seems. And the other day, I was about to cross the street, saw a couple of cars coming and waited on the side of the road. The cars slowed down, and stopped! For a moment, I stood frozen there, waiting, and the cars stood frozen there, waiting, and then I realized they had actually stopped for me to cross! How sweet. Erm, maybe. But it's disorienting for someone used to Hyderabad's mad traffic!
However, the buses from Berlin vroom around like Hyderabadi autos, so maybe there's more to the picture than meets the eye!
Some more unglamorous observations about the place and people:
- People here keep to themselves when they're in public. They don't seem to interfere in others' matters. This means, sometimes they won't help you even if you visibly need help. But if you ask for help, they're usually very nice about it.
- Everyone goes to the loo with identical-looking toiletry bags, NOT brandishing their toothbrush and paste openly like yours truly.
- Mineral wasser means mineral water, but make sure you take mineral wasser ohne kohlensäure versetzt rather than mineral wasser mit kohlensäure versetzt. Unless you want soda.
- If you pay 5 euro for a bill costing 4 euro 86 cents, they will give you 14 cents back. Not 10 cents. 14 cents, with nice 10-cent and 2-cent coins.
- You have to learn to drop a lot of coins and press a lot of buttons to survive in Germany. And it's not as easy as it sounds to find where exactly the coin goes into the cigarette dispenser or cola dispenser!
- Wo/man cannot survive on bread alone, not even with apple juice and yoghurt, though s/he can bloody well try.
Speaking of weekends, there's something about Fridays. All the office timings say things like "9.00 to 20.00 Montag-Donnerstag; 13.00-15.00 Freitag"! (Ok, I'm exaggerating a bit, but you get the general idea!)
I have a cot with bed, pillow and blanket, a desk with a desk lamp and a rickety chair, a wardrobe, and a cupboard. There are two glass windows with blinds. In the common area, there's a living room with TV and some sofas, there's a kitchen with burners, microwave and an electric kettle. Europeans seem to take recycling very very seriously indeed. They have separate bins for paper/plastic etc. and for food waste. They also expect everyone to do their bit -- to take out the garbage when the bins are full, to keep the place neat and clean, etc. etc. And people seem to do it. (I'm sure someone can theorize this!)
I found this interesting about their public transport as well. When you get on the buses, you're supposed to take tickets yourself -- or, if you're a student, show your semesterticket to the bus driver. This seems to work for everything. They're also very strict about traffic rules, and rules in general, it seems. And the other day, I was about to cross the street, saw a couple of cars coming and waited on the side of the road. The cars slowed down, and stopped! For a moment, I stood frozen there, waiting, and the cars stood frozen there, waiting, and then I realized they had actually stopped for me to cross! How sweet. Erm, maybe. But it's disorienting for someone used to Hyderabad's mad traffic!
However, the buses from Berlin vroom around like Hyderabadi autos, so maybe there's more to the picture than meets the eye!
Some more unglamorous observations about the place and people:
- People here keep to themselves when they're in public. They don't seem to interfere in others' matters. This means, sometimes they won't help you even if you visibly need help. But if you ask for help, they're usually very nice about it.
- Everyone goes to the loo with identical-looking toiletry bags, NOT brandishing their toothbrush and paste openly like yours truly.
- Mineral wasser means mineral water, but make sure you take mineral wasser ohne kohlensäure versetzt rather than mineral wasser mit kohlensäure versetzt. Unless you want soda.
- If you pay 5 euro for a bill costing 4 euro 86 cents, they will give you 14 cents back. Not 10 cents. 14 cents, with nice 10-cent and 2-cent coins.
- You have to learn to drop a lot of coins and press a lot of buttons to survive in Germany. And it's not as easy as it sounds to find where exactly the coin goes into the cigarette dispenser or cola dispenser!
- Wo/man cannot survive on bread alone, not even with apple juice and yoghurt, though s/he can bloody well try.
That still water and sparkling water business is real confusing initially! The damn waiter where I stayed last time thought it was really amusing that I refused to drink a bottle of aerated water fizzing all over first thing in the morning! But I miss it now . . .
ReplyDeleteJust read your Potsdam Diaries. One should admit your narrating style; the reading took me there, especially the traffic part,water part is really confusing! Samvad can take the initiative to start a separate bins 'project' for paper/plastic/food in the hostels here.
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