The fact that life here in Berlin has taken on an air of normalcy, making blogging about it seem mildly out of place, should, I guess, be treated with jubilation. Two thirds of a year have passed, I now have a permanent apartment, lots of furniture/nick nacks and a good group of friends. I've settled in to a fairly regular routine, discovered (mostly) where to buy the decent food and mein Deutsch Studien laufen gut. My point being that life has become ordinary here, not that it being so is a bad thing, my ordinary life here is a world away from my ordinary life in Warrington.
But, of course, there are (and I think always will be) curiosities about Germany in general and Berlin specifically. Whilst irritating at the time, they do mostly keep things interesting.
Being Serviced by Germans
There is a distinct cultural difference here in regards to customer service. Most people perceive this as customer service here is shit, or people don't give a shit, that they've got far better things to be doing than be serving a piece of crap such as yourself. Personally, I prefer things here, its more of a take control of your own shit attitude. If you want something in a restaurant or shop, do something about it, don't expect the staff to be living their life waiting on your every move. The only downside is a lot of companies have the attitude that you are lucky to be able to pay them money, they are providing a service and you should damn well appreciate how good it is that they are doing so.
For instance, vodafone called me up to offer me a new fantastic deal. Cheaper texts and calls!! Fucking Awesome I thought, I've been a pay as you talk customer with them for some time now, and they are offering me a few incentives to stay with them (ie. like they do in the UK). So, the lady on the phone explained just how much cheaper they were (about a whole 25%!) but then slipped up by mentioning two things.
1. A two year contract.
2. A monthly fee.
So, they basically wanted me to sign a regular contract. There was no offer of a new phone (unless I paid a few hundred euros) and there were no free calls/texts (outside a minimum to the vodafone network, of which not many people I know use). The end result being that although the calls and texts would be cheaper, it would in no way make up for the 20 euros a month I'd be paying. End result, I'd be spending more money. I pointed out the lunacy of such a scheme but it didn't sink in, she just couldn't grasp the concept. I just hope I had a rather moronic call operator rather than this being the norm.
Shopping
One, there are no huge supermarkets here. No Tescos, Asdas or Sainsburys. Now. In this world of anti-globilisation, you'd think that this is a good idea. Keep those big evil corporations out! But in reality, its just irritating. Yes, I can go to a local supermarket and buy regular food. But thats it, theres nothing special or out of the ordinary there. To get anything mildly exotic (hummous counts as such a thing here) you have to go to a small specialty shop. Which is great, I love small cooky little shops that have an odd eclectic range of bit n bobs. But as its a small shop, its near impossible to find and secondly, near impossible to remember where it was after you find it and what exactly it was that they stocked. The end result being that I spend far more hours each week than I should just looking for shit. I'd much rather suck on the giant corporate cock of tesco and do everything all at once in an easy and convenient place.
But there are a few little gems here and there, shops where you get things you wouldn't get in any supermarket in the UK, imported goods etc. Still, I'd like to be able to buy a normal (ie. non paprika) bag of crisps with hummous easily now and again.
Winter in Berlin
During the summer, I had a thousand people tell me "What?!?! You've never been here for a Berlin winter before. Fuck me, you're in for a nightmareish trip to hell and back". Now, as I've had people bitching and moaning at me about 'the cold' for my entire life, I took these prophecies with a pinch of salt. What exactly could there be thats so unexpected and bad? Winter, its cold, rains, mostly cloudy and it occasionally snows. The only thing that would constitute a hellish time would be if the entire city decided heating wasn't needed anymore.
So, when winter arrived and it turned out to be one of the worst the city (and I believe, the northern hemisphere) has had in years, I was a little disappointed. Sure, it gets down to -10 or -15degC a fair amount of the time. It snows quite a lot, melts and then refreezes creating an irritating ice rink across 95% of all pavements and for the most part, its grey and cloudy. But, to be honest, its allright. The cold air wakes one up and aslong as you're not a complete retard and wear correct clothes and shoes with, get this, GRIP on them! Its not so much a problem. Infact, I quite like most of it. So, as ever, it turns out that most people are just whiny little girls who go running home to mummy crying every time the temperature drops below 20degC. Losers.
Perhaps the most irritating thing though is that this, above, is what they do to cope with ice here. Put gravel on it. Just gravel. So instead of it being 98% slippy, its now only 96% slippy. Excellent job fuckwits.
The Good Things in Life
Now, after reading that big bitch fest at all the whiny people here in Berlin, you'd think that I'm disliking living here, or that I have taken a dislike to things in general. The opposite is most definitely true, its just, I do love a good moan. I guess its nostalgia, my Britishness wanting to poke its head out with an occational 'Now, just you listen here young chap, when we ran the world we didn't do it this way'.
My favourite coffee shop, where I do most of my writing, studying and general bumming around is still my favourite. Despite being mildly chain like.
Its very brown. And I quite like that.
Thursday night drinks are still every Thursday and still involve drinks.
And Daisy is still popping up now and again, being cute and demanding to be fed 24/7.
Wheres my food bitch?
For the most part, I'm out 5 or 6 nights a week, eating good food in restaurants, having a good laugh with friends and occasionally consuming much more vodka than I should be (which, thankfully for my liver, is far less than I was doing last year). Most pleasant indeed.
So, I'll leave you with a few further pictures of Berlin. The picture a day idea has died a death for the moment by the way, until I can come up with some better ideas than "oh, I'm sat in a restaurant/drinking a coffee and have just remembered to take a picture. Hmm, that wall/cup looks nice".
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