{"tag":"health","articles":{"blog\/life\/ich-bin-kein-berliner":{"key":"blog\/life\/ich-bin-kein-berliner","type":"article","published":true,"meta":{"createdAt":"2018-04-16T19:32:15+02:00","publishedAt":"2018-04-28T11:20:00+02:00","group":"berlin-idiots","category":"blog","subcategory":"life","slug":"ich-bin-kein-berliner"},"content":{"en":{"slug":"ich-bin-kein-berliner","title":"Ich bin KEIN Berliner","intro":"\u003Cp\u003EI need to rant.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019ve had enough of Germany. I know, I know, it\u2019s given me opportunities that I could never expect in my homeland of Poland, I\u2019ve spent amazing three years here, \u003Ca href=\u0022\/blog\/how-to-%C5%9Blub-jednop%C5%82ciowy-polak%C3%B3w-w-niemczech\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-people-carry\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E I married the love of my life here\u003C\/a\u003E... But now it\u2019s not time for good stuff. Now it\u2019s time for a complaint.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHere\u2019s (some of) the reasons why I want to move out from this country.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Csvg xmlns=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\u0022 style=\u0022display: none;\u0022\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E","content":"\u003Cp\u003EI need to rant.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019ve had enough of Germany. I know, I know, it\u2019s given me opportunities that I could never expect in my homeland of Poland, I\u2019ve spent amazing three years here, \u003Ca href=\u0022\/blog\/how-to-%C5%9Blub-jednop%C5%82ciowy-polak%C3%B3w-w-niemczech\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-people-carry\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E I married the love of my life here\u003C\/a\u003E... But now it\u2019s not time for good stuff. Now it\u2019s time for a complaint.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHere\u2019s (some of) the reasons why I want to move out from this country.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EAusbildungssystem\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGermans don\u2019t care if you \u003Cem\u003Eknow\u003C\/em\u003E how do a job. Germans don\u2019t care if you already have \u003Cem\u003Eexperience\u003C\/em\u003E doing that job. There\u2019s just one thing they care about when deciding whether or not to hire you: your Ausbildung.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWell, ok, not necessarily. For high-level specialists it\u2019s skills that matter the most (but they probably have a degree anyway), and if you\u2019re happy with working without a contract or working your ass off at McDonald\u2019s or you simply have some luck \u2013 you can be fine without an Ausbildung as well. However, if you\u2019re a talented, clever, young person, speaking fluently in three languages, who emigrated right after their A-levels and didn\u2019t have a chance to start studies yet, but has ambitions beyond cleaning hotel rooms \u2013 it can be quite a while before your CV gets answered by anyone.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAusbildung is basically 3 years of working for a company, during which you \u201clearn\u201d how to do a given job. You\u2019re not an employee. You\u2019re not entitled to minimum wage, your working hours aren\u2019t regulated by law. The employer can theoretically abuse you as they wish. Why? Because if you get fired, you basically need to start all over again. Imagine working 10-12 hours a day for 500\u20ac\/month and after two years not being able to speak up, because those two years of sacrifice would get wasted.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAlso: if you need three years to learn how to be receptionist or a cashier in a supermarket, you\u2019re an idiot. It\u2019s not rocket science, it\u2019s not car mechanics, it\u2019s not IT. My husband was a fully self-sufficient, responsible and highly valued hotel receptionist after, like, two months or so of work. In Poland, a training for a cashier can take two days. Germans require a 3-year \u201ckaufmannische Ausbildung\u201d to handle that job.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat\u2019s funny about that (well, bittersweet) is that even the employers are suffering from this system \u2013 on their own wish. We\u2019ve heard some complaining how they can\u2019t find any workers nowadays... sure, the CVs are coming in huge numbers, but none of those people have Ausbildung, so \u003Cem\u003Ehow the hell am I supposed to trust them to use a cash register and talk to people?!\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003ERude people\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThere\u2019s a stereotype in Germany that Berliners are the most rude people you\u2019ll ever meet. You know how there\u2019s some truth to some stereotypes? That\u2019s definitely one of them.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELet\u2019s start with smoking. Cigarette smoke is the stink I hate the most in the world. Not only is it nasty, it can also give you cancer. How could anyone force someone to breathe that shit in? \u003Ca href=\u0022\/blog\/keiner-furzt-in-der-u-bahn\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-people-carry\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E Of course, Berliners can\u003C\/a\u003E...\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNo smoking\u201d signs are totally ignored, the fire hazard of open fire in a subway station is totally ignored, the common decency of not producing cancerogenous stench when you\u2019re in a crowd of people who cannot go away is not an issue anyone worries about. Seriously, I\u2019ve wasted a ticket to the second day of \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.pyronale.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E Pyronale\u003C\/a\u003E because during the first day I \u003Cstrong\u003Eliterally couldn\u2019t breathe\u003C\/strong\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cfigure\u003E\n                \u003Cnoscript\u003E\n                    \u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/frische-luft_big.png\u0022 alt=\u0022Frische Luft in Berliner S+U-Bahnh\u00f6fe: 31% Stickstoff, 19% Sauerstoff, 50% Zigarettenrauch\u0022 class=\u0022border\u0022 width=\u0022642\u0022 height=\u0022778\u0022\u003E                \n                \u003C\/noscript\u003E\n                \u003Cspan class=\u0022hide-noscript\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022data:image\/png;base64,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\u0022 data-src=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/frische-luft_big.png\u0022 alt=\u0022Frische Luft in Berliner S+U-Bahnh\u00f6fe: 31% Stickstoff, 19% Sauerstoff, 50% Zigarettenrauch\u0022 class=\u0022border\u0022 width=\u0022642\u0022 height=\u0022778\u0022\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n                \n            \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut it\u2019s not only smoking. For instance, recently my husband got shouted at for \u201cfollowing\u201d some lady \u2013 while he was walking \u003Cem\u003Ein front of her\u003C\/em\u003E. People can\u2019t learn to stick to the right side when walking slowly up or down narrow stairs. They don\u2019t even think of taking off their backpack when it\u2019s crowded in the subway, or about letting people \u003Cem\u003Eout\u003C\/em\u003E of the train first, before they start squeezing in. Those are things that 5-years-olds are learning! There\u2019s plenty of situations that make you doubt human decency and basic intelligence. I almost forgot that cars letting pedestrians through on a crossing is a thing \u2013 in one day in Rotterdam it happened to me more times than in three years in Berlin.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003ETransportation\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESpeaking of transport and of comparing Berlin to Rotterdam: In the latter it\u2019s trams, bikes and pedestrians who are first-class citizens. Berlin is clogged with cars. In Rotterdam I saw half-empty parkings in the city centre! What I didn\u2019t see was idiots (pedestrians or cars) blocking a bike lane, which in Berlin or Szczecin is a sad norm.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDo you think air conditioning in public transportation should be a given in modern cities of the 21st century? If you\u2019re coming to Berlin, think again. Not even the newest models of U-Bahn or S-Bahn trains have (or are planned to have) AC. Busses do, but it\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.berliner-woche.de\/steglitz\/sonstiges\/fahrgaeste-spueren-klimaanlage-in-bvg-bussen-kaum-d32312.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E usually set up in a way, that you can\u2019t really feel that it\u2019s colder\u003C\/a\u003E...\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESpeaking of newest models... Did you know that Berlin still uses wagons from 60s and 70s that are also what \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pyongyang_Metro#Rolling_stock\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E the Pyongyang Metro is using\u003C\/a\u003E?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt all makes them slow. They are unable to send trains in 1-2 minutes intervals, like they do in Warsaw or Madrid. They are unable to go fast, like a subway should. To both my current and previous job, the comute by bike (with all the lights, traffic, crappy bikelanes) takes roughly the same time as by subway (you know, with engines and designated tunnels just for the trains).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBVG is old, rusty and unpunctual. They don\u2019t see any problem whatsoever with \u003Ca href=\u0022\/blog\/u-bahnmusikanten-verpisst-euch\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-people-carry\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E annoying musicians\u003C\/a\u003E or stinking people in their trains. Basically the only thing they do right is \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/BVG_Kampagne\/status\/938003895560884226\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E laughing at themselves for being this crappy\u003C\/a\u003E...\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EConstant construction\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (BER) is already known in the world for being constantly unfinished. Billions have been spent on it, but the opening date keeps getting pushed forward and forward. I think it would be fair to say it\u2019s the biggest waste of money in Germany\u2019s modern history.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESpeaking of airports: the two that Berlin currently has (and both to be replaced by BER) are both on tops of all the rankings of worst airports in the world. Whoever has flown from Sch\u00f6nefeld to, well, anywhere, will be able to give like tens reasons why SXF sucks.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen it comes to less significant constructions, it\u2019s still not impressive. For instance the U-Bahn station I live near to. How long can it take to renovate a simple subway station? In Berlin, apparently, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/BismarkDaisy\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E 2,5 years already\u003C\/a\u003E \u2013 \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/BismarkDaisy\/status\/940549607242784768\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E and nobody really knows when is it going to be done\u003C\/a\u003E. But maybe let\u2019s not talk about the whole station. How long would it take to renovate a single entrance to a subway station? Nothing fancy, no escalators, no art, no fancy design, just some stairs with ~30 steps. I didn\u2019t count exaclty, but half a year is my lowest estimate. Seriously.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EApartment crisis\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERent prices in Berlin are skyrocketing, growing ~20% every year. No wonder: lots of people are coming, but hardly any new living spaces are being built. The city is huge (my daily commute is about one hour, without even leaving the city boundries), but it\u2019s unbelievably short. Berlin has virtually no skyline, no skyscrappers.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDon\u2019t people want to built them, live and work in them? Sure, many do. But even more don\u2019t, including the Senate of Berlin claims \u201cit\u2019s not in the spirit of Berlin to build high\u201d. They are fighting like lions to protect the \u201cspirit of Berlin\u201d, which seams to mean crappiness, unimpressive buildings and horrible rent prices.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EPost\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDeutsche Post and DHL are crap. Me and my husband weren\u2019t able to collect each other\u2019s mail before the wedding, even though we signed a relevant authorisation, twice. I can\u2019t even count the number of times when a package wasn\u2019t even attempted to be delivered \u2013 just marked as \u201creceiver not at home\u201d and left at the post office (and yes, we were home, we even saw the delivery guy from the balcony).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s not any specific post office, by the way. We had to visit at least five different post offices, some of which were kilometers away, because they were, apparently, all responsible for the deliveries to our address. And sometimes they were dropping my package at a shop ~500 m away, claiming that shop is our \u201cneighbour\u201d.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019ve sent plenty of formal complaints to them about situations like this. How many were answered in any meaningful way? Just one. Only because I was especially furious \u2013 they forced me to rent a car, so I could bring some balcony furniture home from a far away post office. I specifically ordered it online with home delivery to avoid problems with transport. But why would they care about doing their job? They didn\u2019t even attempt delivery, just made me pick it up myself. So how did they react to my complaint? They gave me a 10\u20ac voucher for sending packages (which I never do, so it expired already).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBTW, what the fuck is the big deal with apartment numbers in Germany? In Poland, Netherlands or US people simply have numbers on their doors, mailbox and intercom. Germans aren\u2019t convinced by that idea. So when a mailman wants to deliver something, they need to scan all the mailboxes or walk door to door to find the correct receiver. In Poland they could just think \u201cok, appartment 40, there\u2019s five doors on each floor, so it would be on the 8th floor\u201d \u2013 and that\u2019s it.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHere only the surname matters. So having multiple families called \u201cM\u00fcller\u201d in one building is problematic, having multiple people with different surnames sharing an apartment is problematic, delivering stuff is problematic, picking up stuff is problematic, moving out is problematic.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003ENotice periods and customer rights\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA notice period of three months is crazy \u2013 at least from the customer\/employee side. But Germans seem to love it (it\u2019s the legally allowed maximum for services).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd as much as I can understand it for contracts like employment or rent (where the other party needs time to find a replacement for you), what sense does it make in case of mobile phone or gym membership? None, except for them counting on you to miss the deadline and automatically prolong your contract for another year.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt kills flexibility and it kills my trust in the honesty of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.1und1.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E 1\u0026amp;1\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/superfit.club\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E SuperFit\u003C\/a\u003E etc.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen I was fighting with \u003Ca href=\u0022\/blog\/mysn-schenker-kurwa-ma%C4%87-de\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-computer-speaker\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E Schenker\u003C\/a\u003E for my right to warrantee service I came to a sad discovery: while Poland has a special government agency that supports customer rights and helps in the cases like mine, Germany does not. They do have \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.verbraucherzentrale-berlin.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E  Verbraucherzentrale\u003C\/a\u003E, but the thing is \u2013 they\u2019re just an association, with no authority and no ability to fine companies that abuse customer rights. And you have to pay them to help you, while all they can offer you is a consultation.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EDigitalisation\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA Dutch guy who heard that we live in Germany joked \u201coh, so you\u2019re coming from the past?\u201d.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen I got my first German credit card (first available after six month living here, before that I could only get an EC-Karte that was useless anywhere abroad), it came with a leaflet, declaring that is has a brand new, shiny, modern, super-\u00fcber-comfortable feature: \u003Ca href=\u0022\/blog\/fear-of-the-paypass\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-computer-speaker\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E PayPass\u003C\/a\u003E \ud83d\ude12\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EPayPass is a thing that I already had in my first debit card when I was 13. PayPass is a thing I was always taking for granted. But no. Most Germans still have no idea you can pay contactlessly. After a long, long adaptation period, at least the cashiers know that it\u2019s possible.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThey usually don\u2019t know, however, that you can pay with your phone with an NFC chip. One thought that my husband has to be trying to scam her, and she threated to call the police on him. Seriously.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThere was a wind of hope last year \u2013 Vodafone introduced a service called Wallet, basically the NFC payments, like Android Pay. This year they are rolling back completely, because people didn\u2019t use it.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENetto, a chain of supermarkets, has three (yes, only three) markets in Germany with an option of self-service cash check out. It\u2019s only for testing of how it would be received. And well, it\u2019s not being received well \u2013 queues to the remaining cashier-operated registers got longer, while the self-service stands are usually empty. Which makes it really fast for me to make groceries there.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen it comes to technology, Germany is in the third world.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EDubbing\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGermans put dubbing over every movie and series they can. Trying to find a movie in OV (original version) in a German cinema might be really hard sometimes. Even though I\u2019m fluent in both English and German, watching an English movie with a German (or Polish) dubbing is a total go-no for me. It just sounds fake. It doesn\u2019t match the dynamics of the film at all. (With a noble exception of dubbed animated movies, of course). I had to cancel my \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.maxdome.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E Maxdome\u003C\/a\u003E (German Netflix) subscription, because crappily dubbed movies was all they offered.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThat\u2019s why it usually takes Germans a couple of months more to prepare a premiere of a new movie \u2013 we can watch them only after the rest of the world already forgot about them. That\u2019s also one of the reasons why Germany isn\u2019t that good at English.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EEnglish\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EYou might have thought that Berlin is international and multilingual. Well, sure, in one sense. During a short subway ride you could hear like twenty different languages, either from tourists or residents. But try to use English in a shop (outside of Mitte, of course). Or try to run an errand in B\u00fcrgeramt, Finanzamt or a bank without speaking German. There\u2019s almost no way. One of my employment contracts was bilingual, but the other was German-only (for an English-speaking job). I can\u2019t imagine signing that, if I didn\u2019t know German.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor comparison: in the Netherlands you seem to be able to do anything in English. Employment contract, official paperwork, shopping, anything. And it\u2019s not even their official language (except in Dutch Caribbeans).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOf course I\u2019m learning Dutch anyway, but you know... It already felt like home, even just after first arriving there, when you\u2019re able to communicate with anyone freely. Shouldn\u2019t English be a given in our modern, globalised world?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EPhone is the boss\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAs a person who worked for a couple of start-ups trying to digitalise Germany (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/campsy.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E Campsy\u003C\/a\u003E,\n\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/caterwings.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E Caterwings\u003C\/a\u003E,\n\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.zinsgold.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E Zinsgold\u003C\/a\u003E,  \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/vendomo.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E Vendomo\u003C\/a\u003E, ...), I know how big of a struggle that is. Germans are used to communicating over the phone and reluctant to change it.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI, on the other hand, have a strange phobia of calling someone I don\u2019t know on the phone. Especially if it\u2019s in German (which I really prefer in writing) and if my signal reception is crappy (damn you, 1\u0026amp;1!). Sometimes you write someone an email (and maybe even explicitly select \u201cemail\u201d as a preferred contact method in a contact form) and they still call you back on the phone \u2013 only to complain about my shitty reception and to present me an offer that I could mishear, I could forget, and that I have no written record of.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut nothing can beat the situation that my husband had. He sent someone an email asking for an appointment. They asked him to call. But the next day he was around the place, so he just came over. The girl at the desk told him they only make appointments on the phone. So he did call her, literally standing two meters away \u2013 and he did, indeed, get an appointment this way. What the actual fuck?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022text-center my-4\u0022\u003E\u003Ciframe width=\u0022640\u0022 height=\u0022360\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QoScZopb020\u0022 frameborder=\u00220\u0022 allowfullscreen\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOh, and some institutions love physical mail just as much as the others love phones. For instance our health insurance \u2013 whenever I send them a question via email, they answer it via post. Which costs them money, costs the environment and makes me wait 2-3 more day for a response. Brilliant, isn\u2019t it?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EHealth insurance\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI have praised the German healthcare system in \u003Ca href=\u0022\/blog\/niemiecka-s%C5%82u%C5%BCba-zdrowia\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-people-carry\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E one of my blog posts\u003C\/a\u003E, but that was in comparison to Poland. If you look at it from the Dutch perspective, it starts to look really crappy.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E~350\u20ac each month go from my salary to a health insurance company, plus another ~350\u20ac paid on the employer side, plus my husband had to pay 175\u20ac before we got married. In return we get a system when getting an appointment at a specialist usually takes about three months.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the Netherlands a similar level of coverage, for two people, will cost us 247\u20ac\/month. Seriously. And although we didn\u2019t see it yet with our own eyes, they say queues to a specialist aren\u2019t a problem over there.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EMore?\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI could go on for quite a while, but I guess it\u2019s enough already. The point is clear, I think: as much as Germany is a better place to live than my country of origin, it can still be annoying as fuck.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe moved here looking for Ordnung, modernity, innovation... We got Berlin \u2013 total contempt for the rules, hipster-anarchy-squat-whatever culture, rude people and technological stagnation. Ich bin ja \u003Cstrong\u003Ekein\u003C\/strong\u003E Berliner. I\u2019m totally out of sync with \u201cthe spirit\u201d of this city.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s time to move on.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENederland, hier komen we!\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Csvg xmlns=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\u0022 style=\u0022display: none;\u0022\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E","tags":["air conditioning","ausbildung","berlin","crap","dubbing","emigration","english","germany","health","health insurance","insurance","language","migration","movies","netherlands","phobia","phone","public transport","taxes","transport","transportation"],"hasMore":true,"image":null,"introLite":"\u003Cp\u003EI need to rant.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019ve had enough of Germany. I know, I know, it\u2019s given me opportunities that I could never expect in my homeland of Poland, I\u2019ve spent amazing three years here, \u003Ca href=\u0022\/blog\/how-to-%C5%9Blub-jednop%C5%82ciowy-polak%C3%B3w-w-niemczech.lite\u0022\u003E I married the love of my life here\u003C\/a\u003E... But now it\u2019s not time for good stuff. Now it\u2019s time for a complaint.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHere\u2019s (some of) the reasons why I want to move out from this country.\u003C\/p\u003E","contentLite":"\u003Cp\u003EI need to rant.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019ve had enough of Germany. I know, I know, it\u2019s given me opportunities that I could never expect in my homeland of Poland, I\u2019ve spent amazing three years here, \u003Ca href=\u0022\/blog\/how-to-%C5%9Blub-jednop%C5%82ciowy-polak%C3%B3w-w-niemczech.lite\u0022\u003E I married the love of my life here\u003C\/a\u003E... But now it\u2019s not time for good stuff. Now it\u2019s time for a complaint.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHere\u2019s (some of) the reasons why I want to move out from this country.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EAusbildungssystem\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGermans don\u2019t care if you \u003Cem\u003Eknow\u003C\/em\u003E how do a job. Germans don\u2019t care if you already have \u003Cem\u003Eexperience\u003C\/em\u003E doing that job. There\u2019s just one thing they care about when deciding whether or not to hire you: your Ausbildung.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWell, ok, not necessarily. For high-level specialists it\u2019s skills that matter the most (but they probably have a degree anyway), and if you\u2019re happy with working without a contract or working your ass off at McDonald\u2019s or you simply have some luck \u2013 you can be fine without an Ausbildung as well. However, if you\u2019re a talented, clever, young person, speaking fluently in three languages, who emigrated right after their A-levels and didn\u2019t have a chance to start studies yet, but has ambitions beyond cleaning hotel rooms \u2013 it can be quite a while before your CV gets answered by anyone.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAusbildung is basically 3 years of working for a company, during which you \u201clearn\u201d how to do a given job. You\u2019re not an employee. You\u2019re not entitled to minimum wage, your working hours aren\u2019t regulated by law. The employer can theoretically abuse you as they wish. Why? Because if you get fired, you basically need to start all over again. Imagine working 10-12 hours a day for 500\u20ac\/month and after two years not being able to speak up, because those two years of sacrifice would get wasted.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAlso: if you need three years to learn how to be receptionist or a cashier in a supermarket, you\u2019re an idiot. It\u2019s not rocket science, it\u2019s not car mechanics, it\u2019s not IT. My husband was a fully self-sufficient, responsible and highly valued hotel receptionist after, like, two months or so of work. In Poland, a training for a cashier can take two days. Germans require a 3-year \u201ckaufmannische Ausbildung\u201d to handle that job.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat\u2019s funny about that (well, bittersweet) is that even the employers are suffering from this system \u2013 on their own wish. We\u2019ve heard some complaining how they can\u2019t find any workers nowadays... sure, the CVs are coming in huge numbers, but none of those people have Ausbildung, so \u003Cem\u003Ehow the hell am I supposed to trust them to use a cash register and talk to people?!\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003ERude people\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThere\u2019s a stereotype in Germany that Berliners are the most rude people you\u2019ll ever meet. You know how there\u2019s some truth to some stereotypes? That\u2019s definitely one of them.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELet\u2019s start with smoking. Cigarette smoke is the stink I hate the most in the world. Not only is it nasty, it can also give you cancer. How could anyone force someone to breathe that shit in? \u003Ca href=\u0022\/blog\/keiner-furzt-in-der-u-bahn.lite\u0022\u003E Of course, Berliners can\u003C\/a\u003E...\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNo smoking\u201d signs are totally ignored, the fire hazard of open fire in a subway station is totally ignored, the common decency of not producing cancerogenous stench when you\u2019re in a crowd of people who cannot go away is not an issue anyone worries about. Seriously, I\u2019ve wasted a ticket to the second day of \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.pyronale.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E Pyronale\u003C\/a\u003E because during the first day I \u003Cstrong\u003Eliterally couldn\u2019t breathe\u003C\/strong\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cfigure\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/frische-luft_big.png\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/frische-luft_mini.png\u0022 alt=\u0022Frische Luft in Berliner S+U-Bahnh\u00f6fe: 31% Stickstoff, 19% Sauerstoff, 50% Zigarettenrauch\u0022 width=\u0022240\u0022 height=\u0022290.84112149533\u0022 loading=\u0022lazy\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/figure\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut it\u2019s not only smoking. For instance, recently my husband got shouted at for \u201cfollowing\u201d some lady \u2013 while he was walking \u003Cem\u003Ein front of her\u003C\/em\u003E. People can\u2019t learn to stick to the right side when walking slowly up or down narrow stairs. They don\u2019t even think of taking off their backpack when it\u2019s crowded in the subway, or about letting people \u003Cem\u003Eout\u003C\/em\u003E of the train first, before they start squeezing in. Those are things that 5-years-olds are learning! There\u2019s plenty of situations that make you doubt human decency and basic intelligence. I almost forgot that cars letting pedestrians through on a crossing is a thing \u2013 in one day in Rotterdam it happened to me more times than in three years in Berlin.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003ETransportation\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESpeaking of transport and of comparing Berlin to Rotterdam: In the latter it\u2019s trams, bikes and pedestrians who are first-class citizens. Berlin is clogged with cars. In Rotterdam I saw half-empty parkings in the city centre! What I didn\u2019t see was idiots (pedestrians or cars) blocking a bike lane, which in Berlin or Szczecin is a sad norm.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDo you think air conditioning in public transportation should be a given in modern cities of the 21st century? If you\u2019re coming to Berlin, think again. Not even the newest models of U-Bahn or S-Bahn trains have (or are planned to have) AC. Busses do, but it\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.berliner-woche.de\/steglitz\/sonstiges\/fahrgaeste-spueren-klimaanlage-in-bvg-bussen-kaum-d32312.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E usually set up in a way, that you can\u2019t really feel that it\u2019s colder\u003C\/a\u003E...\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESpeaking of newest models... Did you know that Berlin still uses wagons from 60s and 70s that are also what \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pyongyang_Metro#Rolling_stock\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E the Pyongyang Metro is using\u003C\/a\u003E?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt all makes them slow. They are unable to send trains in 1-2 minutes intervals, like they do in Warsaw or Madrid. They are unable to go fast, like a subway should. To both my current and previous job, the comute by bike (with all the lights, traffic, crappy bikelanes) takes roughly the same time as by subway (you know, with engines and designated tunnels just for the trains).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBVG is old, rusty and unpunctual. They don\u2019t see any problem whatsoever with \u003Ca href=\u0022\/blog\/u-bahnmusikanten-verpisst-euch.lite\u0022\u003E annoying musicians\u003C\/a\u003E or stinking people in their trains. Basically the only thing they do right is \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/BVG_Kampagne\/status\/938003895560884226\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E laughing at themselves for being this crappy\u003C\/a\u003E...\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EConstant construction\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (BER) is already known in the world for being constantly unfinished. Billions have been spent on it, but the opening date keeps getting pushed forward and forward. I think it would be fair to say it\u2019s the biggest waste of money in Germany\u2019s modern history.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESpeaking of airports: the two that Berlin currently has (and both to be replaced by BER) are both on tops of all the rankings of worst airports in the world. Whoever has flown from Sch\u00f6nefeld to, well, anywhere, will be able to give like tens reasons why SXF sucks.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen it comes to less significant constructions, it\u2019s still not impressive. For instance the U-Bahn station I live near to. How long can it take to renovate a simple subway station? In Berlin, apparently, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/BismarkDaisy\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E 2,5 years already\u003C\/a\u003E \u2013 \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/BismarkDaisy\/status\/940549607242784768\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E and nobody really knows when is it going to be done\u003C\/a\u003E. But maybe let\u2019s not talk about the whole station. How long would it take to renovate a single entrance to a subway station? Nothing fancy, no escalators, no art, no fancy design, just some stairs with ~30 steps. I didn\u2019t count exaclty, but half a year is my lowest estimate. Seriously.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EApartment crisis\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERent prices in Berlin are skyrocketing, growing ~20% every year. No wonder: lots of people are coming, but hardly any new living spaces are being built. The city is huge (my daily commute is about one hour, without even leaving the city boundries), but it\u2019s unbelievably short. Berlin has virtually no skyline, no skyscrappers.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDon\u2019t people want to built them, live and work in them? Sure, many do. But even more don\u2019t, including the Senate of Berlin claims \u201cit\u2019s not in the spirit of Berlin to build high\u201d. They are fighting like lions to protect the \u201cspirit of Berlin\u201d, which seams to mean crappiness, unimpressive buildings and horrible rent prices.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EPost\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDeutsche Post and DHL are crap. Me and my husband weren\u2019t able to collect each other\u2019s mail before the wedding, even though we signed a relevant authorisation, twice. I can\u2019t even count the number of times when a package wasn\u2019t even attempted to be delivered \u2013 just marked as \u201creceiver not at home\u201d and left at the post office (and yes, we were home, we even saw the delivery guy from the balcony).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s not any specific post office, by the way. We had to visit at least five different post offices, some of which were kilometers away, because they were, apparently, all responsible for the deliveries to our address. And sometimes they were dropping my package at a shop ~500 m away, claiming that shop is our \u201cneighbour\u201d.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019ve sent plenty of formal complaints to them about situations like this. How many were answered in any meaningful way? Just one. Only because I was especially furious \u2013 they forced me to rent a car, so I could bring some balcony furniture home from a far away post office. I specifically ordered it online with home delivery to avoid problems with transport. But why would they care about doing their job? They didn\u2019t even attempt delivery, just made me pick it up myself. So how did they react to my complaint? They gave me a 10\u20ac voucher for sending packages (which I never do, so it expired already).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBTW, what the fuck is the big deal with apartment numbers in Germany? In Poland, Netherlands or US people simply have numbers on their doors, mailbox and intercom. Germans aren\u2019t convinced by that idea. So when a mailman wants to deliver something, they need to scan all the mailboxes or walk door to door to find the correct receiver. In Poland they could just think \u201cok, appartment 40, there\u2019s five doors on each floor, so it would be on the 8th floor\u201d \u2013 and that\u2019s it.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHere only the surname matters. So having multiple families called \u201cM\u00fcller\u201d in one building is problematic, having multiple people with different surnames sharing an apartment is problematic, delivering stuff is problematic, picking up stuff is problematic, moving out is problematic.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003ENotice periods and customer rights\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA notice period of three months is crazy \u2013 at least from the customer\/employee side. But Germans seem to love it (it\u2019s the legally allowed maximum for services).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd as much as I can understand it for contracts like employment or rent (where the other party needs time to find a replacement for you), what sense does it make in case of mobile phone or gym membership? None, except for them counting on you to miss the deadline and automatically prolong your contract for another year.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt kills flexibility and it kills my trust in the honesty of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.1und1.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E 1\u0026amp;1\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/superfit.club\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E SuperFit\u003C\/a\u003E etc.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen I was fighting with \u003Ca href=\u0022\/blog\/mysn-schenker-kurwa-ma%C4%87-de.lite\u0022\u003E Schenker\u003C\/a\u003E for my right to warrantee service I came to a sad discovery: while Poland has a special government agency that supports customer rights and helps in the cases like mine, Germany does not. They do have \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.verbraucherzentrale-berlin.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E  Verbraucherzentrale\u003C\/a\u003E, but the thing is \u2013 they\u2019re just an association, with no authority and no ability to fine companies that abuse customer rights. And you have to pay them to help you, while all they can offer you is a consultation.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EDigitalisation\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA Dutch guy who heard that we live in Germany joked \u201coh, so you\u2019re coming from the past?\u201d.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen I got my first German credit card (first available after six month living here, before that I could only get an EC-Karte that was useless anywhere abroad), it came with a leaflet, declaring that is has a brand new, shiny, modern, super-\u00fcber-comfortable feature: \u003Ca href=\u0022\/blog\/fear-of-the-paypass.lite\u0022\u003E PayPass\u003C\/a\u003E \ud83d\ude12\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EPayPass is a thing that I already had in my first debit card when I was 13. PayPass is a thing I was always taking for granted. But no. Most Germans still have no idea you can pay contactlessly. After a long, long adaptation period, at least the cashiers know that it\u2019s possible.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThey usually don\u2019t know, however, that you can pay with your phone with an NFC chip. One thought that my husband has to be trying to scam her, and she threated to call the police on him. Seriously.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThere was a wind of hope last year \u2013 Vodafone introduced a service called Wallet, basically the NFC payments, like Android Pay. This year they are rolling back completely, because people didn\u2019t use it.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENetto, a chain of supermarkets, has three (yes, only three) markets in Germany with an option of self-service cash check out. It\u2019s only for testing of how it would be received. And well, it\u2019s not being received well \u2013 queues to the remaining cashier-operated registers got longer, while the self-service stands are usually empty. Which makes it really fast for me to make groceries there.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen it comes to technology, Germany is in the third world.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EDubbing\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGermans put dubbing over every movie and series they can. Trying to find a movie in OV (original version) in a German cinema might be really hard sometimes. Even though I\u2019m fluent in both English and German, watching an English movie with a German (or Polish) dubbing is a total go-no for me. It just sounds fake. It doesn\u2019t match the dynamics of the film at all. (With a noble exception of dubbed animated movies, of course). I had to cancel my \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.maxdome.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E Maxdome\u003C\/a\u003E (German Netflix) subscription, because crappily dubbed movies was all they offered.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThat\u2019s why it usually takes Germans a couple of months more to prepare a premiere of a new movie \u2013 we can watch them only after the rest of the world already forgot about them. That\u2019s also one of the reasons why Germany isn\u2019t that good at English.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EEnglish\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EYou might have thought that Berlin is international and multilingual. Well, sure, in one sense. During a short subway ride you could hear like twenty different languages, either from tourists or residents. But try to use English in a shop (outside of Mitte, of course). Or try to run an errand in B\u00fcrgeramt, Finanzamt or a bank without speaking German. There\u2019s almost no way. One of my employment contracts was bilingual, but the other was German-only (for an English-speaking job). I can\u2019t imagine signing that, if I didn\u2019t know German.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor comparison: in the Netherlands you seem to be able to do anything in English. Employment contract, official paperwork, shopping, anything. And it\u2019s not even their official language (except in Dutch Caribbeans).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOf course I\u2019m learning Dutch anyway, but you know... It already felt like home, even just after first arriving there, when you\u2019re able to communicate with anyone freely. Shouldn\u2019t English be a given in our modern, globalised world?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EPhone is the boss\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAs a person who worked for a couple of start-ups trying to digitalise Germany (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/campsy.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E Campsy\u003C\/a\u003E,\n\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/caterwings.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E Caterwings\u003C\/a\u003E,\n\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.zinsgold.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E Zinsgold\u003C\/a\u003E,  \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/vendomo.de\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E Vendomo\u003C\/a\u003E, ...), I know how big of a struggle that is. Germans are used to communicating over the phone and reluctant to change it.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI, on the other hand, have a strange phobia of calling someone I don\u2019t know on the phone. Especially if it\u2019s in German (which I really prefer in writing) and if my signal reception is crappy (damn you, 1\u0026amp;1!). Sometimes you write someone an email (and maybe even explicitly select \u201cemail\u201d as a preferred contact method in a contact form) and they still call you back on the phone \u2013 only to complain about my shitty reception and to present me an offer that I could mishear, I could forget, and that I have no written record of.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut nothing can beat the situation that my husband had. He sent someone an email asking for an appointment. They asked him to call. But the next day he was around the place, so he just came over. The girl at the desk told him they only make appointments on the phone. So he did call her, literally standing two meters away \u2013 and he did, indeed, get an appointment this way. What the actual fuck?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022text-center my-4\u0022\u003E\u003Ciframe width=\u0022640\u0022 height=\u0022360\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QoScZopb020\u0022 frameborder=\u00220\u0022 allowfullscreen\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOh, and some institutions love physical mail just as much as the others love phones. For instance our health insurance \u2013 whenever I send them a question via email, they answer it via post. Which costs them money, costs the environment and makes me wait 2-3 more day for a response. Brilliant, isn\u2019t it?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EHealth insurance\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI have praised the German healthcare system in \u003Ca href=\u0022\/blog\/niemiecka-s%C5%82u%C5%BCba-zdrowia.lite\u0022\u003E one of my blog posts\u003C\/a\u003E, but that was in comparison to Poland. If you look at it from the Dutch perspective, it starts to look really crappy.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E~350\u20ac each month go from my salary to a health insurance company, plus another ~350\u20ac paid on the employer side, plus my husband had to pay 175\u20ac before we got married. In return we get a system when getting an appointment at a specialist usually takes about three months.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the Netherlands a similar level of coverage, for two people, will cost us 247\u20ac\/month. Seriously. And although we didn\u2019t see it yet with our own eyes, they say queues to a specialist aren\u2019t a problem over there.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EMore?\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI could go on for quite a while, but I guess it\u2019s enough already. The point is clear, I think: as much as Germany is a better place to live than my country of origin, it can still be annoying as fuck.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe moved here looking for Ordnung, modernity, innovation... We got Berlin \u2013 total contempt for the rules, hipster-anarchy-squat-whatever culture, rude people and technological stagnation. Ich bin ja \u003Cstrong\u003Ekein\u003C\/strong\u003E Berliner. I\u2019m totally out of sync with \u201cthe spirit\u201d of this city.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s time to move on.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENederland, hier komen we!\u003C\/p\u003E","words":2935,"readTime":12,"lang":"en"}}},"blog\/society\/confession-is-harmful-if-it-s-obligatory":{"key":"blog\/society\/confession-is-harmful-if-it-s-obligatory","type":"article","published":true,"meta":{"createdAt":"2017-11-22T13:16:20+01:00","publishedAt":"2017-11-22T13:00:00+01:00","group":"zdrowie-seksualne","category":"blog","subcategory":"society","slug":"confession-is-harmful-if-it-s-obligatory"},"content":{"en":{"slug":"confession-is-harmful-if-it-s-obligatory","title":"Confession is harmful if it\u0027s obligatory","intro":"\u003Cp\u003EToday I found out that in some laboratories, when you want to get your blood tested for HIV\/HCV\/syphilis\/etc. (for free and anonymously), you do \u003Cem\u003Enot\u003C\/em\u003E have to go to confession about your sexual life. It was a great surprise for me, because whenever I did such tests, I always got to fill out a questionnaire about what, when, how many times, and with how many guys I did it. And then I had to further elaborate in a face-to-face conversation with some stranger.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Csvg xmlns=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\u0022 style=\u0022display: none;\u0022\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E","content":"\u003Cp\u003EToday I found out that in some laboratories, when you want to get your blood tested for HIV\/HCV\/syphilis\/etc. (for free and anonymously), you do \u003Cem\u003Enot\u003C\/em\u003E have to go to confession about your sexual life. It was a great surprise for me, because whenever I did such tests, I always got to fill out a questionnaire about what, when, how many times, and with how many guys I did it. And then I had to further elaborate in a face-to-face conversation with some stranger.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor me it may not be a big problem. For most Berliners probably neither. Here it\u2019s not a shame to tell someone you\u2019re gay, and not that big of a shame to admit how promiscuous you are.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut when you are a catholic gay boy who is afraid of what would people say, who still believes (or has only just stopped believing) that sex with a guy is a serious sin (and even if not, it is still very awkward discuss your sex life with anyone) \u2013 then the problem starts to get more problematic.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EYou should get tested regularly every three months. But if you don\u2019t have any symptoms, if nothing is wrong with you, if there is nothing urgent about it, however doing the test involves going through emotional tortures \u2013 will you decide to go there at all?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt is good that organizations fighting HIV want to have as many anonymous statistics on human sexual behavior as they can \u2013 but the main goal should be to have the least number of infections in the first place. It is good that the doctor wants to know as much as possible about the patient in order to best advise him \u2013 but he should rather not advise at all than to have the patient not come.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIf we started a laboratory visit with an information that the survey \/ interview is completely voluntary, and we asked for a consent to participate in it, how many more people would choose to come?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI would prefer it if 20 people voluntarily filled in the questionnaire, and 80 did not, rather than if 40 people filled it in out of coercion, but the other 60 decided not to come at all...\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Csvg xmlns=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\u0022 style=\u0022display: none;\u0022\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E","tags":["gay","health","hiv","homosexuality","sex","sexual health","test"],"hasMore":true,"image":null,"introLite":"\u003Cp\u003EToday I found out that in some laboratories, when you want to get your blood tested for HIV\/HCV\/syphilis\/etc. (for free and anonymously), you do \u003Cem\u003Enot\u003C\/em\u003E have to go to confession about your sexual life. It was a great surprise for me, because whenever I did such tests, I always got to fill out a questionnaire about what, when, how many times, and with how many guys I did it. And then I had to further elaborate in a face-to-face conversation with some stranger.\u003C\/p\u003E","contentLite":"\u003Cp\u003EToday I found out that in some laboratories, when you want to get your blood tested for HIV\/HCV\/syphilis\/etc. (for free and anonymously), you do \u003Cem\u003Enot\u003C\/em\u003E have to go to confession about your sexual life. It was a great surprise for me, because whenever I did such tests, I always got to fill out a questionnaire about what, when, how many times, and with how many guys I did it. And then I had to further elaborate in a face-to-face conversation with some stranger.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor me it may not be a big problem. For most Berliners probably neither. Here it\u2019s not a shame to tell someone you\u2019re gay, and not that big of a shame to admit how promiscuous you are.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut when you are a catholic gay boy who is afraid of what would people say, who still believes (or has only just stopped believing) that sex with a guy is a serious sin (and even if not, it is still very awkward discuss your sex life with anyone) \u2013 then the problem starts to get more problematic.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EYou should get tested regularly every three months. But if you don\u2019t have any symptoms, if nothing is wrong with you, if there is nothing urgent about it, however doing the test involves going through emotional tortures \u2013 will you decide to go there at all?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt is good that organizations fighting HIV want to have as many anonymous statistics on human sexual behavior as they can \u2013 but the main goal should be to have the least number of infections in the first place. It is good that the doctor wants to know as much as possible about the patient in order to best advise him \u2013 but he should rather not advise at all than to have the patient not come.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIf we started a laboratory visit with an information that the survey \/ interview is completely voluntary, and we asked for a consent to participate in it, how many more people would choose to come?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI would prefer it if 20 people voluntarily filled in the questionnaire, and 80 did not, rather than if 40 people filled it in out of coercion, but the other 60 decided not to come at all...\u003C\/p\u003E","words":370,"readTime":2,"lang":"en"},"pl":{"slug":"przymusowa-spowied\u017a-szkodzi","title":"Przymusowa spowied\u017a szkodzi","intro":"\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDzi\u015b dowiedzia\u0142em si\u0119, \u017ce w niekt\u00f3rych laboratoriach gdy robi\u0105 ci (darmowe i anonimowe) badania krwi na HIV\/HCV\/ki\u0142\u0119\/etc., wcale nie musisz si\u0119 nikomu spowiada\u0107 ze swojego \u017cycia seksualnego. To dla mnie niema\u0142e zaskoczenie, bo kiedy bym sobie takich bada\u0144 nie robi\u0142, zawsze najpierw dostawa\u0142em do wype\u0142nienia ankiet\u0119, co, kiedy, jak i z iloma robi\u0142em, a potem jeszcze musia\u0142em to doprecyzowa\u0107 face-to-face jakiemu\u015b obcemu kolesiowi...\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Csvg xmlns=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\u0022 style=\u0022display: none;\u0022\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E","content":"\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDzi\u015b dowiedzia\u0142em si\u0119, \u017ce w niekt\u00f3rych laboratoriach gdy robi\u0105 ci (darmowe i anonimowe) badania krwi na HIV\/HCV\/ki\u0142\u0119\/etc., wcale nie musisz si\u0119 nikomu spowiada\u0107 ze swojego \u017cycia seksualnego. To dla mnie niema\u0142e zaskoczenie, bo kiedy bym sobie takich bada\u0144 nie robi\u0142, zawsze najpierw dostawa\u0142em do wype\u0142nienia ankiet\u0119, co, kiedy, jak i z iloma robi\u0142em, a potem jeszcze musia\u0142em to doprecyzowa\u0107 face-to-face jakiemu\u015b obcemu kolesiowi...\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDla mnie mo\u017ce to nie jest to jakim\u015b ogromnym problemem. Dla wi\u0119kszo\u015bci berli\u0144czyk\u00f3w pewnie te\u017c nie. Tutaj to \u017caden wstyd, powiedzie\u0107 komu\u015b, \u017ce jeste\u015b gejem, i nie a\u017c taki wielki przyzna\u0107, jak bardzo jeste\u015b rozwi\u0105z\u0142y.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAle gdy jeste\u015b katolicko wychowan\u0105 ciotk\u0105, kt\u00f3ra boi si\u0119, co ludzie powiedz\u0105, kt\u00f3ra wci\u0105\u017c jeszcze wierzy (albo dopiero co przesta\u0142a), \u017ce seks z facetem to grzech ci\u0119\u017cki (a nawet jak nie, to i tak ogromnie niezr\u0119cznie si\u0119 czuje m\u00f3wi\u0105c komukolwiek o swoim \u017cyciu seksualnym) \u2013 wtedy sprawa zaczyna si\u0119 robi\u0107 bardziej problematyczna.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWarto bada\u0107 si\u0119 regularnie co trzy miesi\u0105ce. Ale skoro nie mam \u017cadnych objaw\u00f3w, nic mi nie dolega, nie dzieje si\u0119 nic pilnego, za to badanie wi\u0105\u017ce si\u0119 z przej\u015bciem przez m\u0119czarnie \u2013 czy na pewno chc\u0119 w og\u00f3le tam i\u015b\u0107?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFajnie, \u017ce organizacje zajmuj\u0105ce si\u0119 walk\u0105 z HIV chc\u0105 mie\u0107 jak najwi\u0119cej anonimowych statystyk na temat zachowa\u0144 seksualnych ludzi \u2013 ale g\u0142\u00f3wnym celem powinno by\u0107 na pierwszym miejscu jak najmniej zaka\u017ce\u0144. Fajnie, \u017ce lekarz chce wiedzie\u0107 jak najwi\u0119cej o pacjencie, aby mu jak najlepiej doradzi\u0107 \u2013 ale pewnie wola\u0142by nie doradzi\u0107 wcale ni\u017c \u017ceby ten pacjent w og\u00f3le nie przyszed\u0142.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJe\u015bli zaczniemy wizyt\u0119 w laboratorium od informacji, \u017ce ankieta\/rozmowa jest ca\u0142kowicie dobrowolna, i spytamy o ch\u0119\u0107 wzi\u0119cia w nich udzia\u0142u, ile wi\u0119cej os\u00f3b zdecyduje si\u0119 w og\u00f3le przyj\u015b\u0107?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWola\u0142bym \u017ceby 20 os\u00f3b dobrowolnie wype\u0142ni\u0142o ankiet\u0119, a 80 nie, ni\u017c \u017ceby 40 os\u00f3b wype\u0142ni\u0142o j\u0105 z przymusu, ale pozosta\u0142e 60 nie przysz\u0142o wcale...\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Csvg xmlns=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\u0022 style=\u0022display: none;\u0022\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E","tags":["aids","ankieta","anonimowo\u015b\u0107","badania","hcv","hiv","homoseksualno\u015b\u0107","ki\u0142a","laboratorium","seks","spowied\u017a","testy","zdrowie","\u017cycie seksualne"],"hasMore":true,"image":null,"introLite":"\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDzi\u015b dowiedzia\u0142em si\u0119, \u017ce w niekt\u00f3rych laboratoriach gdy robi\u0105 ci (darmowe i anonimowe) badania krwi na HIV\/HCV\/ki\u0142\u0119\/etc., wcale nie musisz si\u0119 nikomu spowiada\u0107 ze swojego \u017cycia seksualnego. To dla mnie niema\u0142e zaskoczenie, bo kiedy bym sobie takich bada\u0144 nie robi\u0142, zawsze najpierw dostawa\u0142em do wype\u0142nienia ankiet\u0119, co, kiedy, jak i z iloma robi\u0142em, a potem jeszcze musia\u0142em to doprecyzowa\u0107 face-to-face jakiemu\u015b obcemu kolesiowi...\u003C\/p\u003E","contentLite":"\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDzi\u015b dowiedzia\u0142em si\u0119, \u017ce w niekt\u00f3rych laboratoriach gdy robi\u0105 ci (darmowe i anonimowe) badania krwi na HIV\/HCV\/ki\u0142\u0119\/etc., wcale nie musisz si\u0119 nikomu spowiada\u0107 ze swojego \u017cycia seksualnego. To dla mnie niema\u0142e zaskoczenie, bo kiedy bym sobie takich bada\u0144 nie robi\u0142, zawsze najpierw dostawa\u0142em do wype\u0142nienia ankiet\u0119, co, kiedy, jak i z iloma robi\u0142em, a potem jeszcze musia\u0142em to doprecyzowa\u0107 face-to-face jakiemu\u015b obcemu kolesiowi...\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDla mnie mo\u017ce to nie jest to jakim\u015b ogromnym problemem. Dla wi\u0119kszo\u015bci berli\u0144czyk\u00f3w pewnie te\u017c nie. Tutaj to \u017caden wstyd, powiedzie\u0107 komu\u015b, \u017ce jeste\u015b gejem, i nie a\u017c taki wielki przyzna\u0107, jak bardzo jeste\u015b rozwi\u0105z\u0142y.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAle gdy jeste\u015b katolicko wychowan\u0105 ciotk\u0105, kt\u00f3ra boi si\u0119, co ludzie powiedz\u0105, kt\u00f3ra wci\u0105\u017c jeszcze wierzy (albo dopiero co przesta\u0142a), \u017ce seks z facetem to grzech ci\u0119\u017cki (a nawet jak nie, to i tak ogromnie niezr\u0119cznie si\u0119 czuje m\u00f3wi\u0105c komukolwiek o swoim \u017cyciu seksualnym) \u2013 wtedy sprawa zaczyna si\u0119 robi\u0107 bardziej problematyczna.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWarto bada\u0107 si\u0119 regularnie co trzy miesi\u0105ce. Ale skoro nie mam \u017cadnych objaw\u00f3w, nic mi nie dolega, nie dzieje si\u0119 nic pilnego, za to badanie wi\u0105\u017ce si\u0119 z przej\u015bciem przez m\u0119czarnie \u2013 czy na pewno chc\u0119 w og\u00f3le tam i\u015b\u0107?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFajnie, \u017ce organizacje zajmuj\u0105ce si\u0119 walk\u0105 z HIV chc\u0105 mie\u0107 jak najwi\u0119cej anonimowych statystyk na temat zachowa\u0144 seksualnych ludzi \u2013 ale g\u0142\u00f3wnym celem powinno by\u0107 na pierwszym miejscu jak najmniej zaka\u017ce\u0144. Fajnie, \u017ce lekarz chce wiedzie\u0107 jak najwi\u0119cej o pacjencie, aby mu jak najlepiej doradzi\u0107 \u2013 ale pewnie wola\u0142by nie doradzi\u0107 wcale ni\u017c \u017ceby ten pacjent w og\u00f3le nie przyszed\u0142.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJe\u015bli zaczniemy wizyt\u0119 w laboratorium od informacji, \u017ce ankieta\/rozmowa jest ca\u0142kowicie dobrowolna, i spytamy o ch\u0119\u0107 wzi\u0119cia w nich udzia\u0142u, ile wi\u0119cej os\u00f3b zdecyduje si\u0119 w og\u00f3le przyj\u015b\u0107?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWola\u0142bym \u017ceby 20 os\u00f3b dobrowolnie wype\u0142ni\u0142o ankiet\u0119, a 80 nie, ni\u017c \u017ceby 40 os\u00f3b wype\u0142ni\u0142o j\u0105 z przymusu, ale pozosta\u0142e 60 nie przysz\u0142o wcale...\u003C\/p\u003E","words":348,"readTime":2,"lang":"pl"}}},"blog\/society\/keiner-furzt-in-der-u-bahn":{"key":"blog\/society\/keiner-furzt-in-der-u-bahn","type":"article","published":true,"meta":{"createdAt":"2017-04-28T19:44:08+02:00","publishedAt":"2017-04-18T22:44:00+02:00","group":"berlin-idiots","category":"blog","subcategory":"society","slug":"keiner-furzt-in-der-u-bahn"},"content":{"de":{"slug":"keiner-furzt-in-der-u-bahn","title":"Keiner furzt in der U-Bahn...","intro":"\u003Cp\u003E...dann warum, zum Teufel, raucht man da?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Csvg xmlns=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\u0022 style=\u0022display: none;\u0022\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E","content":"\u003Cp\u003E...dann warum, zum Teufel, raucht man da?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EManchen Berliner ist es anscheinend schei\u00dfegal, dass rauchen in den U-Bahn Stationen verboten ist. Andere rauchen zwar nicht, aber sie verteidigen heftig die Raucher, wenn man sie r\u00fcgt. Obwohl es verboten ist (Deutsche Ordnung!), hab ich noch keinmal gesehen, dass irgendwer eigentlich gestraft daf\u00fcr wird, dass er\/sie diese stinkenden, giftigen D\u00e4mpfe in die Gesichter der Menschen blasen. Aber wenn man doch bestraft w\u00e4re, ist das Bu\u00dfgeld nur \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.morgenpost.de\/printarchiv\/berlin\/article102904288\/Bussgeld-fuer-Rauchen-auf-U-Bahnhoefen.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E 15\u20ac\u003C\/a\u003E. Ist es ein Witz?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERauchen ust wie furzen. Sicher, manchmal bist du dazu gezwungen, sei es durch Physiologie oder durch Sucht, aber auf der anderen Seite kannst du es auch f\u00fcr eine Weile halten und es in einem angemesseneren Moment tun. Sie stinken beide, sie sind f\u00fcr die Menschen um dich herum unangenehm. Und das Rauchen ist noch schlimmer, weil es negative Auswirkungen auf die Gesundheit von Passivrauchern hat.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAber kann man es sich vorstellen, einen stolzen, lauten, langen Furz unter einer Gruppe von Leuten auf der Stra\u00dfe, Bushaltestelle oder in einem Caf\u00e9 freizulassen? Warum zum Teufel ist es gesellschaftlich akzeptabel, Tabakrauch freizusetzen, ohne sich darum zu k\u00fcmmern, wer es inhalieren muss?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Csvg xmlns=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\u0022 style=\u0022display: none;\u0022\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E","tags":["gesellschaft","gestank","gesundheit","rauchen","u-bahn","zigaretten"],"hasMore":true,"image":null,"introLite":"\u003Cp\u003E...dann warum, zum Teufel, raucht man da?\u003C\/p\u003E","contentLite":"\u003Cp\u003E...dann warum, zum Teufel, raucht man da?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EManchen Berliner ist es anscheinend schei\u00dfegal, dass rauchen in den U-Bahn Stationen verboten ist. Andere rauchen zwar nicht, aber sie verteidigen heftig die Raucher, wenn man sie r\u00fcgt. Obwohl es verboten ist (Deutsche Ordnung!), hab ich noch keinmal gesehen, dass irgendwer eigentlich gestraft daf\u00fcr wird, dass er\/sie diese stinkenden, giftigen D\u00e4mpfe in die Gesichter der Menschen blasen. Aber wenn man doch bestraft w\u00e4re, ist das Bu\u00dfgeld nur \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.morgenpost.de\/printarchiv\/berlin\/article102904288\/Bussgeld-fuer-Rauchen-auf-U-Bahnhoefen.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E 15\u20ac\u003C\/a\u003E. Ist es ein Witz?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERauchen ust wie furzen. Sicher, manchmal bist du dazu gezwungen, sei es durch Physiologie oder durch Sucht, aber auf der anderen Seite kannst du es auch f\u00fcr eine Weile halten und es in einem angemesseneren Moment tun. Sie stinken beide, sie sind f\u00fcr die Menschen um dich herum unangenehm. Und das Rauchen ist noch schlimmer, weil es negative Auswirkungen auf die Gesundheit von Passivrauchern hat.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAber kann man es sich vorstellen, einen stolzen, lauten, langen Furz unter einer Gruppe von Leuten auf der Stra\u00dfe, Bushaltestelle oder in einem Caf\u00e9 freizulassen? Warum zum Teufel ist es gesellschaftlich akzeptabel, Tabakrauch freizusetzen, ohne sich darum zu k\u00fcmmern, wer es inhalieren muss?\u003C\/p\u003E","words":197,"readTime":null,"lang":"de"},"en":{"slug":"nobody-farts-in-the-tube","title":"Nobody farts in the tube...","intro":"\u003Cp\u003E...so why the hell does anyone smoke there?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Csvg xmlns=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\u0022 style=\u0022display: none;\u0022\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E","content":"\u003Cp\u003E...so why the hell does anyone smoke there?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESome Berliners don\u2019t seem to give a damn about the smoking ban in the tube stations. Others don\u2019t smoke themselves, but they fiercely defend the smokers, if you dare to reprimand them. Even though it\u2019s forbidden (and it\u2019s Germany, for fuck\u2019s sake!), I\u2019ve never seen anyone being fined for blowing those stinky, toxic fumes into people\u2019s faces. But apparently they would only have to cough up mere \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.morgenpost.de\/printarchiv\/berlin\/article102904288\/Bussgeld-fuer-Rauchen-auf-U-Bahnhoefen.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E 15\u20ac\u003C\/a\u003E anyway. Is that a joke?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFrom my point of view, smoking is just like farting. Sure, sometimes you\u2019re forced to do it, be it by physiology or by addiction, but on the other hand you can also hold it for a while and do it in a more appropriate moment. They both stink, they are both unpleasant for the people around you. And smoking is even worse, because of its negative effect on passive smokers\u2019 health.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut can you imagine someone proudly releasing a loud, long fart amid a group of people on the street, bus stop or in a caf\u00e9? Then why the hell is it socially acceptable to release tobacco smoke without caring for who will have to inhale it?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Csvg xmlns=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\u0022 style=\u0022display: none;\u0022\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E","tags":["cigarettes","co-existence","health","public place","shame","smoking","stink"],"hasMore":true,"image":null,"introLite":"\u003Cp\u003E...so why the hell does anyone smoke there?\u003C\/p\u003E","contentLite":"\u003Cp\u003E...so why the hell does anyone smoke there?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESome Berliners don\u2019t seem to give a damn about the smoking ban in the tube stations. Others don\u2019t smoke themselves, but they fiercely defend the smokers, if you dare to reprimand them. Even though it\u2019s forbidden (and it\u2019s Germany, for fuck\u2019s sake!), I\u2019ve never seen anyone being fined for blowing those stinky, toxic fumes into people\u2019s faces. But apparently they would only have to cough up mere \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.morgenpost.de\/printarchiv\/berlin\/article102904288\/Bussgeld-fuer-Rauchen-auf-U-Bahnhoefen.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E 15\u20ac\u003C\/a\u003E anyway. Is that a joke?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFrom my point of view, smoking is just like farting. Sure, sometimes you\u2019re forced to do it, be it by physiology or by addiction, but on the other hand you can also hold it for a while and do it in a more appropriate moment. They both stink, they are both unpleasant for the people around you. And smoking is even worse, because of its negative effect on passive smokers\u2019 health.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut can you imagine someone proudly releasing a loud, long fart amid a group of people on the street, bus stop or in a caf\u00e9? Then why the hell is it socially acceptable to release tobacco smoke without caring for who will have to inhale it?\u003C\/p\u003E","words":205,"readTime":null,"lang":"en"}}}}}