Facebook dictatorship

Most of the rich world is on facebook. We all have to be, it's both trendy and useful. We are all a great family connecting and sharing thousands of pictures, feelings, states of mind, informations, games, and all that can be considered as additional trash (stupid games, tests and everything else that you can chose to hide).

Facebook is a great tool to get in touch with friends we actually do care. Those that you remember more than once a year because suddenly their status turned into "single" again. After a while I got myself with almost 300 friends, quite a few that I actually never met or just shared an event or crossed eyes with. In the real world it is enough for acquaintance and will provide a smile, a nod or even a good day if ever encountered again. It may evolve to a real uninterested "how are you?" whose answer is never expected to be more than a "fine, thanks. And you?".

But Globalisation wants to Facebook them as friends. Friends with the apparent similar friendliness level as the ones who were there for you during those not so nice times in life. Or equal in status those co-workers that never said anything to you in the last two years but believe that you should share with him/her the last Christmas pictures with your Aunt Agatha or the last Bachelor Party revival that you hosted for your University mates.

More out of need than boredom I started to do some clean up. I thought it would be ok to start by the ones I never met. Net buddies. It didn't work. Some are actually cool net buddies with whom I shared common interests and keep in touch with. So they had their place within my Friend list. But it was starting and the list grew thin. Then came the list of friends of friends that think that the old proverb "friends of my friends are mine too" (or something like that). Actually some of the friends of my friends are mine too, but not all of them. So here some more were sent to oblivion. Strangely nothing happened so far. Not a single complain.

Starting to feel lighter I kept on going. Where should I continue? Known people or Workplace one? I'm not sure where I could draw a line, so I started to separate those to stay and those to go. I know lots of people I shared some time with in many ways and many forms but it was gone. No need to keep bounds that never existed. Other characters travelled through my life for an amazing short period of time, and unexpectedly, stayed in touch, being the both of us to be blamed. Sometimes life provides some nice encounters. Arriving at the workplace situation it was quite easier. I took off all of those I actually don't really speak with. Still easy and swift. No harm taken.

But the time to face oddness came. What about those friends who were more than good friends and are now completely unaware I even exist. Should I keep them for memory's sake or just accept them as good memories? Naa. Pressing the "unfriend" button. Now it was done. From almost 300, I came down to 150 something. Only one was willing to "friend" me again. But as I recall, we were not really close. Nor did we speak. One complain was heard from afar. But it never came before, in the real life at least. Only the virtual killing of a friendship shook the wounded relationship.

For now I'll keep the numbers as they are, actually I would like more people to do as I do. I may go lower than 100 if I'm lucky.

Being polite

Being polite is a basic rule for social inclusion and acceptance. The respect of others provide a fair ground for a successful interaction leading to the satisfaction of both needs avoiding unnecessary problems.

It seems easy and productive that way. And it is, most of the time. Unfortunately this last week was full of those little moments. First I had a little taste of politeness taking the tram. Mornings, 7h23, the tram is full of people. Elderly people standing by, while youngsters are sitting as nothing was happening around, listening to any kind music. This is actually acceptable as I have no idea of the level of fatigue of all commuters, but what really pisses me off is people leaving their bag packs or anything else on the seats while many other human beings are just standing around. It´s rude and egoistic. This morning I had also another good example: a guy was occupying almost two seats, I seated in the space left but he didn't budge! I don't understand that need to occupy all when the tram is at full capacity. I had a similar situation the last Friday. I was the one occupying the space of two persons in a front to front seats. Putting my legs at maximum range, letting the space in front not free for other legs. No problem I thought. The tram with three wagons had only two more persons in it. 'Til I reached the Haupfriedhof Station (Graveyard Station). Then, only one person came in. Wanting to sit right in the place where I had my legs! Wait a minute? Why this specific place? Well... I couldn't believe that one but I moved my legs off the grid, allowing this fair lady to sit correctly... Going on...

Last week we had a team issue (well one of many to be more precise) regarding a difficult situation: eating at the work place. Yes, it can be an issue. Two weeks ago a complaint was verbally filled in an open team meeting regarding this topic. As most of colleagues eat at their table, bringing a mix of smells not very appealing for other colleagues and use the working floor as a normal dinner and chat room, even bringing friends over (!) disturbing the peace of some of the other colleagues (in which group I put myself). Those lunch at work colleagues are the same one claiming that we need five minutes away each hour from the PC vicinity. But they stay 45 minutes for lunch. As being polite is part of being human, I was expecting them to change for another room (like, humm.... lunch room?) or at least to discuss it. Of course in East Germany open discussion seems not be allowed so nobody complained. During the meeting. But they kept to bring food and acting as they were in a café in the same room as their working colleagues. Bollocks. One week after, another colleague still believing in a possible dialogue sent an email to all colleagues and managers to request an apparently difficult definitive answer (yes or no). No one answered. Wonderful internal communication. One more week passed by. Then in a team meeting it was definitely decided by the High Command that it won't be allowed to eat. 'Til an email was sent a couple of hours later allowing it in the second room where, apparently, all are OK with keeping the lunch system. Fair enough. If all are really ok with it.

Smugglers

Arriving at a German Airport from abroad is always a thrill. Besides the mixed feelings of coming back home where it almost never felt like it, one thing keeps the adrenalin pumping. Smuggling food. Each trip is a further pushing off limits, one kilo codfish and one cheese are nowadays a kilo of cheese, three kilos of codfish, three sausages, four bottles of wine and going up. The starting tiny luggage is now almost obsolete and needs an update to appreciate the full twenty kilos maximum allowed (as I will NEVER fly "low cost fifteen maximal cargo person" except in case of emergency).

Sometimes I feel like a "guerilla" passing thought the embargo of a country at war or alike (Cuba, North Korea and Auslander in East Germany knows what I am talking about). Why punishing us with limits to the food we want to bring in? Colouring the Wiener Schnitzel pommes combo is such a crime? I risk a fine for bringing food which will allow me to endure the weeks away from those I love. What would be here in Kalte Deutschland if I can't have my thursday Mcvities cookies? Or my once in a month codfish dish?

As a smuggler the second hard time after the passing at the the "nothing to declare" zone is the rationing. As the next trip may be far away in time, each smuggled good has to be divided fairly in parts to hang on till next trip. Those succulent cookies are to be eaten on Thursday only, with an Italian coffee (smuggled too) and or a Port Wine (yes, this one too). This leads me to the next point: Sharing. Sharing with friends is a way to diversify the type of good and to keep the stock up. Trading fish and port Wine for Italian Coffee and olive oil or french cheese and pâte de fruits. Import/export is a luxury in tiny Thuringen, as prices for normal goods turn into caviar like priced goods. Today I just came back from Italy with five liters of olive oil and around three kilos of coffee (and more, but I don't want to catch the attention of the Zoll Polizei). Damn, it felt good to enter the at the Hauptbahnof feeling finally safe from prosecution. Next Friday, France. Then, it will be a long winter...

Travellers Friendly Reminder

If you travel in Germany get ready to pay for everything. If you need to urinate you'll pay at least 50 cents for using the toilets in many mauls, train stations and other public places. Airport still seems to be free zones so enjoy them! If you need them for something else, you'll even have to pay more. So travel light and be aware of too much beer drinking!

Back to work!

Amazingly, things have not changed a bit.

Except for this weird occurrence. My empty water bottle, used for daily refuel and as main drinking (no, it's not coffee) has been removed. Stolen for the "Pfand"? 25 cents??????

Wacken 2010

Damn. I can't believe I didn't got a ticket for it. First time I'll miss it in four years in German soil. The Biggest Metal Open Air Festival which delivers. Damned ticket... For 2011 I'll be there.

5 days till it begins for 80000 Frantic Metal Heads:

\m/

Holiday's After Shock

When you live in East Germany one of the best moments to experience is when you leave for some holidays outside of its borders. For some unknown reason I saw this by many of my co-workers getting back and/or before their own holidays. More than once. Could it be remorse of leaving "Das Vaterland" who cause those surgical strikes on the calendar? It would be interesting to check on that.

The opposite and sometimes complementary part is the sudden I'm back and ill occurring so many times. This time it happened to me. I could blame it on depression, as after a wonderful time in Sweden with family and friends I got used again of being with interactive smiling humans and "natural" behaviour all the way. All seems, and is, so damn natural and normal that the Erfurt sadness and brutal manners are no more the common way of acting. When I was changing trains in Leipzig last Tuesday, I was pushed aside by some guy who was so rushed he even forgot to ask for free passage or even let me know that he wanted to pass me quicker than I was going. I almost instinctively tackled him with my foot. I was cursing him in all the languages I speak. Too bad I didn't send him to the floor. I'm sure he would have talked then.

No, I am not depressed of being back here, even if I could have reasons to. The usual bad weather will just make me curse again the long German Winter but no more as usual. Nor the people because there is still a lot of good persons around here.

I'm Ill. That's why this time it's hard to be back here. But I'll only have a couple of days more to be here. Then it will be moving out again, can't wait for next week, for another holiday in the normal Germany: Bayern!

Eastern Winds in Office

At this blog there has been an earlier writing about Open Windows. This is a little addition to this. Some may consider it very minor, not perhaps even worth mentioning, but for me it is.

Think about sitting in an office where people open windows every once in a while without any kind of consideration to the colleagues, ie not even a "Somebody minds if I open the window for a while?"

You ask them kindly to please close the window since even though it is supposed to be spring the degrees outside are under 10 degrees celcius and some of us just simply freezes, might have allergies or are physically sensitive. They do close the wondow. They do! Just after this though (READ:) they put on the electrical fan, blowing directly into the backs of the colleagues. YES!!! May I ask - have I missed something? Where goes the border of being collegial and egoistic in an office of more than fifty people?

The winds of the East may certainly make you both cold and trembling...

Credits are not mine this time, but I can say It happened to me also...

Ich bin Krank!

Damn. Finally this winter weather got me. Headache. Dry throat, all time sneezing. The flu. The one and only, not the panic lie pestilent flu they tried to sell us. The normal and incapacitating one.

So here I go, calling work to inform them I won't make it and I'll go to a doctor. At least my Team Leader is human and understand that illness is normal. After this important formality the big and important one was to go. The doctor. This banal activity is still for me a possible issue as my German is not so perfect as it could be, so it's a kind of Russian roulette I am playing. If we, me and the medic, get lost in translation it could turn into a problem. As it is a normal, but annoying flu, I took the risk. By the past I always used so gentle - female - friends to help me out with it. The doctor by the time may had a different idea of myself as I took always a different one. Anyway those dear friends had to endure some half naked moments of mine (not so unpleasant I hope) and some dentist drilling (worse I imagine) as I could even explain myself. By the past I even used Latin terminology to make it clear, but this time I did it all the way in East German.

First contact with the reception was to find a "Termin" (appointment) as I wasn't coming like any regular customer with a previous premonition which would have me booking an appointment several weeks ago. Yes, my illness was unexpected. Nervously they checked their written agenda for a time for me while they were asking if she (the doctor) was my medic. Because if you don't belong to a medic, you won't have an appointment. Most of them have a numerus clausus on patients. So they'll send you out of their cabinet if you are not a regular customer. The Hippocratic Oath the usual medics make when their job seems to be overruled by the East German laws. Thankfully it wasn't my first time so, smiling I said she was my doctor (Christian 1 - East Germany 0). 10 euros after, I was allowed to wait for her in the waiting room. Here I got to pay the quarterly tax to see a doctor, valid for the quarter of the year (January - March, April - June, July - September, October - December). Not a big deal, when I remember that in Portugal I should pay 25 euros EACH time for it, or wait 3h in the hospital and still pay 6 euros (if my memory is correct). So for once, bravo East Germany.

My name and room two are in the same phrase, here I go!

After a brief contact the doctor asked me what I had (Well guess, Ich bin krank) and she checked my throat with one of those horrible wooden sticks in which I almost choke each time. Ok, no big deal..."Since when are you like that? Ok.... Do you need a paper for your work? Ok you'll have these and those and a "Krankenschein" for the rest of the week. And the antibiotics are for free..." Say what? Wie bitte? Yes, they are for FREE and generics (at least the state won't pay much more for the same stuff). Well... take that Portugal, our doctors always prescribed me expensive medicine and of course for some company who had paid the doctors holidays somewhere (as for Portuguese doctors we always are treated like collectors points to get them some goodies, but that's another story); Free and generic (here East Germany just tied the score 1 to 1).

Time to go! I went to the pharmacy and here it was, all set and back home for some recovery. I still had to send two papers to my beloved -not- Adecco company, and to the Social Security (the double of paper work... Ok, it seems useless but anyway, it's not such a drama). I am quite glad to have found a doctor on a Wednesday, as many are not available that day. Don't know why, but it's difficult to be ill on a Wednesday here. You may not found a doctor that day...

At the end I just rest at home, without any more problem than to kill the fever and rest, at the end me and East Germany tied up the Health Match. Good game, no faulty actions, just a bad timing to be ill.

November Rain

I sit near the window, looking at the rain pouring on the few people still running under it. Old tunes are playing in the stereo, dancing notes over memories of old. The gray sky color obliterate any will to move further than the proximity of the tea pot. Turning the day in a blues feeling. Dwelling in nostalgia is nice, recalling some friends, moments and places.

Life is a succession of cycles, with good things happening and felt in each season.

November Rain... I love it.

Too bad we're in May...

Skin Head Paradox

Yes there are some still roaming in Deutschland. I won't talk about the ones we have back home in Portugal or France, as I consider them even more stupid than the ones living here. It makes no sense for me to defend the arian theory of German pure Blood being someone from another country. Surely a too difficult task for those brains. Instead, I'll talk about an anachronism I saw last Friday at a concert with the brazilian band Sepultura in Erfurt (yes they did came to play in Centrum!). Sepultura, two more bands from the US and one from Spain came along in a a very Worldwide concert.

As from another time and space a typical neo-nazi was in the middle of the crowd. He wouldn't have been spotted easily if it wasn't for the red flashy t-shirt proudly announcing Arian Deutschland something. Was he looking for trouble or even, paradoxically, wanted to just listen to some non-aric music? I am not sure, but what I am sure of is that he was stupid. Most of them are anyway. But this one won the Oscar for it. Or Should I say the Berlin Bear? I have big difficulties understanding the fact that a follower of the Nazi doctrine would be paying twentyfive euros to go to a concert full of Ausländer bands. What is the point of being Ultra-Nationalist when you do or join something foreigner related. Like neo-nazis riding Harley's (after all it was born in the US), or International (yeah, true!) Neo-Nazis meeting in Lisbon or other cities, or using clothes made in Pakistan or wherever else than in Germany. I can understand pride and the feeling of belonging proudly to a specific nation as a sociological need. As long as other cultures could be seen from the same perspective not depreciating others. But all the hatred around rejecting all that is not "national", not recognizing the value and importance of diversity, is unnatural.

When the Spanish Band Hamlet finished, he shouted the already classic "Auslander Raus!" being totally ignored by all the other fans around. In the perfect indifference he searched for some reaction whom never came. Germans and non Germans around were just enjoying the music with beer or some others alcoholic beverages not providing to this obviously confused man the attention he wanted. Hopefully he wasn't drunk enough to pick up a fight so he kept on going around drinking beer and posing proudly with his red T-shirt. If this, of those of his kind are the "White-pride", well it sucks to be white.

Sausage and Beer

All countries have traditions. Portugal has codfish and wine, France has cheese and wine, Italy has pasta and wine... and Germany has Sausage and beer. I can't recall a visited German city without it (I didn't travel so much inside Germany but I know a good deal of them) or an event where I couldn't find them both. Even in a Wine Fair. Any cultural manifestation has it here.From Christmas to Christmas there will be sausage. And beer. Amazingly we can find as many type of sausages as France has cheeses or Portugal ways to do codfish. I know, I am repeating myself. As much as I can see sausages in a day. For breakfast, lunch, the afternoon break, dinner, or a snack. All the time and everywhere. It's for me unbelievable how many sausages they could eat a day. Everyday.

I can't hide that the "Thüringer Bratwurst" is the King of the sausages and they can really make it tasty. Aber, not all the time. I wonder how they can see us, Portuguese, with the ... yes you know, codfish or the French with... yeah, you got it. I know I eat more fish myself in a year than half of this citys' local population but can I consider myself addicted to it? Never mind. Let's get back to the sausages. Most stereotypes are taken from facts, and I believe they are just master lines of the cataloging of other cultures in a way to difference them from others and, especially, our own. Some clichés are important to point, as much as the baguette is bound to French people as much is also the sausage and beer for the germans I know. Simultaneously symbols and rituals of these local icons are in each German city I have been. A way of living, an integration mark to blend in.

Take a sausage.

Feel your German side.

Windows

Opening a window to get some fresh air is quite normal. It's refreshing and allows air to circulate for five minutes. It Sounds good indeed. But "fresh" and "five minutes" seems to be very different from my own concept of it. During winter, usually around minus twenty Celsius degrees, all the windows have to be open. For the all day. Which Creates a wind whirlpool quite deranging when you prefer not to work with your parka on.

Funny is that would only happen in winter time, when we can freeze to death at work. What I found very impolite is the fact that nobody thinks of others doing so and keep in maintaining the window open, whatever the opinion of the surrounding colleagues. It reaches peaks of unreasonableness when we have colleagues from the other side of the room opening the window on the opposite side, leaving them with the fresh air required but leaving the others in front of an open draft where all the wind meets.

Worse than this situation is when the fellow worker near you open the window whom is in the AOE (Area of Effect) of both and go for a break! And close it when he/she comes back. The first time I was surprised and thought:

- Whhhhattt??????

But ok, once is only once. Until it occurs enough times to be called a modus operandi. What is wrong with them? Is the world just a place where they have not to share? Is the end of communism the start of an Egocentric Dictatorship? Why is it so hard to see, accept and interact with other without the ME first?

Once more I don't see concessions made, even if I am not a big fan of windows opening in general.I obviously accept it open for a period of time. That way, I think, both parts can be happy. As we live in a shared environment it's better to be aware of all persons thoughs, that's what I call socializing.

Smile!

Smiling is part of being happy. Or just keeping a positive attitude. Looking into life is also taking a peak at our future so, better to take it with a smile. Don't you think? As a habit out of good disposition and stubbornness or plain happiness I smile most of the time. Reflection of my current way of seeing life and what lies ahead. Life is a gift, I can't think of any other way to take it. That's why I can't understand why the common unsmile, thankfully not so much in younger generations, occurs.

I look at the human faces and I see smile wrinkles. But inverted. Sad or not, seriousness is mandatory and no expression of any feeling is allowed. In fact, I had a game with my wonderful girlfriend during Christmas. Each time we went out to do our shopping we counted the smiles on the faces we crossed. For a morning shopping the average was seven. As a shop seller has to please clients, many smiles could be disqualified. As an example, how is it not possible to get the Christmas spirit going; even atheists should be carried away by the global good mood. I only saw those same faces happy with some Glühwein in their hands. Otherwise it was with a sausage and/or a beer. Of course this is not a rule and hopefully many (but not so many) locals smile. I'm not sure how well they are seen by their peers but I get the feeling that showing emotions is a sign of weakness. Especially good ones. Last time I saw that was in last day V episode. In a typical day I'm on the tram to work and I can't see signs of life in there, almost no sounds, just unsmiling commuters. At any time of the day, this is the same. Except in the late trains when the alcohol speaks louder and tongues untie. Then I can hear laughs, speeches, teasing, verbal aggression, a kind of a tutti frutti of emotions long constrained behind the curtains of an imaginary ward. In this little city, I could make some parallelisms with movies like Gattaca and Equilibrium (except for the priesthood style). This apparent lack of emotions leads me to think people are not feeling anything. I wonder some times if they are happy. Could they? Can they now?

On the opposite side we have the "too loud", "making noises" and "talking all the time". That's the Ausländer squad. For me it is disturbing to see excessive smile and loudness also, but a middle point would be appreciated. I understand better why foreign women are so much appreciated here. They smile, laugh and well, behave "normally". The way I see it, most of people are attracted to happy others. So if sad faces are up to make any possible attempt of social interaction to go away - congratulations, it works!

Let the sun come into your life!

I would have tons of "cases" to tell about Germany and the german people but I'll write about one of the things that bothers me more: the german weather (and the relationship of the germans with it).

Well, we "latins" normally open the window when it's warm and sunny outside (to bring some good vibrations to the place where we are) and close it when it's freezing, of course.
I got very scared once, at work, when I opened the window on a wonderful day and the colleagues almost died! They got very scared because the warm air would come into the office! How can this be?? How can it be that someone wants warm air inside a room? How? They couldn't believe that someone wanted to feel the good breeze coming from the outside instead of feeling the terrible smell of sweat people...
The other day was my time to get scared. It was a very cold day and they opened the window to make some "frische luft" come into the office.... I really HATE this "frische luft"!!! It's not fresh air, it's COLD air! Freezing air! It's also very normal to dress the babies with warm clothes on winter days and put them on the balcon to do the "mittagsschlaf" because like this they get "frische luft"... the only thing that they can get is a frozen hand, please!
Once I heard that 15°C is a very pleasant temperature and summer vacation at Ostsee is the best! You have 17°C almost every day and can even go to swim!!

Actually, I prefer to end my story here otherwise I'll get into a very very very bad mood.... (the good thing is that at this moment the sun is shinning!!!)

This text is from an anonymous font, we'll keep it that way. Enjoy!

From the origins...

Du hast alles kaputt gemacht!

This may be the first real German phrase I could really understand. At first it seemed that I was to be blamed for all the sorrows of the world, guilty of opening Pandora's box on me and my surroundings. Hell on Earth brought by a Portuguese mischief. Discordance is a common problem encountered in communication between humans, especially if they are not from the same cultures. All have a very specific way to deal with it. As a Portuguese kind of Frenchy I would switch between drama queen and auto derision at a very quick pace, but I must confess that my Drama would never reach the levels I have encountered here.
Actions and events barely annoying turned to be just Apocalyptic ones. My lack of understanding of how things worked (here) could be punished by death on sight a few centuries back but today it would be only THE END OF ALL! Suddenly each of my actions out of good faith (most of the times) may provoke an unwanted and unexpected snowball effect which would be ended by a fatalist:

- Du hast alles kaputt gemacht!

Whatever the situation would be the moment it was occurring, it was a killer phrase. After that, check mate. No exit. You'll be going down. And I went. More than once. Actually quite a few times, not to even say periodically.

Strange series of words for the non German speakers (like me) but it could be translated by:

- Ahora si, la cagaste!
or
-Tu as vraiment foutu la merde!
or
-Now you really blew it up!
or
-Vai te foder! (with an ironic tone)
or
- Du bara förstör allting!

I was sadly glad to hear later on that I wasn't the only one and that actually I was just the average Joe on this one. For once being normal had a bitter taste. As I learned during the years, this infallible argument is recurrent in a man's life. To listen to it I mean. As far as I can remember I can't find something similar in the French or Portuguese culture, at least with similar impact. As I mentioned in a talk with some friends the other night, things in German may sound quite harsher than they actually are but this one take all the Oscars for the best Overreacting line as it is used for everything in all kinds of situations. Once a friend told me he had a fight with his girlfriend for a stupid thing (as fights usually are) and received this "Du hast alles kaputt gemacht!" damnation. Strangely, that day their path crossed other couples which had the same ending. He ended up laughing about it with the consequence of getting things worse on his side. I can't see from where this expression comes from, surely a turning point in German history may be to blame and nowadays all Germany has to live with this one. Leaving no parry to it.
It's kind of funny to still listen to this once in a while, seeing the defenceless accused giving up all hope beyond this point.

Language and culture are indissociable and all together make the differences between us. It's not only the things we say but the way we say them that turn meaningless events or sayings into real hurting weapons. Understanding and accepting those differences are part of the communicational process which can be quite difficult internationally speaking as you may know.

Wilkommen!

1989. 9th of November.

The Berlin Wall fell. A brand new world opened. Both ways. East and West started to learn about each other, sharing the same world as main property. Soon the East was West-ernised, not to say America-nized, and all seemed to be running well... Was it? Well... Bad habits die hard and cultural shocks were slowly taking over the situation. Instead of a wall there was now a chasm.

East Germany is a beautiful country, I have found in it a wonderful and amazing set of people. Some are foreigners and many are Germans but all are incredible.

I could have made a blog about France or Portugal in the same manner as this one. But I didn't.

I want to write about the here and now. About today. Because here in East Germany I am a total stranger. I don't belong here. And that´s why things struck me harder. It is challenging living abroad sometimes being a foreigner. There are those little and not so little things occurring that are completely awkward for the non-locals, some situations and reactions are just not being permitted in the general sense. Others are just funny - as funny as my way of living may sound to them.

So this is what this blog is all about.

I'll be writing about my own experiences and some of others who prefer to be kept in the dark due to possibles "Du hast alles kaputt gemacht" moments and other disagreements. Of course I'll keep this open to some possibly known quality writers and expecting some of you to join in later on. A bit of fun, some anger and many cultural differences which are worth mentioning. Real moments in the life of the persons it crossed. I don't mean to be rude or disgraceful after the blessings Germany has given to me and still is, but some things have to be shared.

Some good other bad but all in all these were situations making me believe as I was experiencing them that I was finding myself in a "Twilight Zone" episode.

Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Berlin_fallofwall_emerson.jpg