Thursday, October 18, 2007

The only thing in common is beer

It’s been 17 years now that there is no wall in Berlin, outside of the touristic attraction. Nevertheless and not so surprising everybody is talking like it was still existing. Proof comes everyday. Where do you live, where do you work, what’s your favourite area, where to go out, dining out, etc, etc etc , every little conversation about yourself is based on this relationship you have with the city.
Sometimes I have the feeling I passed the test only by mentioning that I hardly go to the west of the city when everybody else is calling it The West.
I was walking back to the station on my way home with a colleague and she explained to me that she ‘s living in the far east of the city and that is absolutly beautiful in the green and quiet. She mentioned nevertheless that now she notices more people from « the west » moving in the area.
Even my german teacher at the second class mentioned that it went too fast. She disagreed with the fact that former german Kanzler (prime minister) Helmut Kohl was on the list of the peace Nobel price. From her side, it’s not a mistake but 6 months to re-union a country, it’s a bit short. She’s not that wrong ; if you look at it, make one with a) a prosperous rich industrial country with a strong currency who promotes individuality and b) a socialist country where everything is ruled by the party (you still can find some buildings where even the bathroom and toilets are … shared, I let you imagine what the gay scene can do with this !) was everything but a simple task. And I don’ speak about the currencies. The deutsche Mark was a very strong currency but nobody heard about the one used on the other side. Only my friend who’s born there remembers how it was and still has issues with it. He explains that it is very difficult for him (and I guess for millions of people, even worse when you stay in the country) to deal sometimes with the everyday’s life because he never learned to deal with his own life ; everything was decided for him. Why bother when the party takes care of everything ? then a few years later arrived euro currency and I admit it’s not that good. It’s perfect when you’re a big european traveler because you never change currency and your administration is far much easier but from my very little personal side, I also eat much less and my clothes are not tailor made anymore and I don’t expect to visit South America anytime soon, things that were « common sense » … before.
Maybe that’s why it’s easier now to find things from the past, from « the east ». People have the nostlagia of earlier times. Is it a sign that the country failed the re-unification or people was not prepared enough. I can confirm that my german « westy » friends still do not accept to pay a tribute from their salary for the country when they hardly find a place for their children at school. I admit that when I saw « Solidaritätszuschlag » on mine … . Even the festivities on the 3rd of October (day of the reunification) are no big success. Even yesterday the fireworks on the Fernsheturm was more popular. It’s always the same anyway : from outside, it looks great (and it is) but from the inside, it’s never what you think. Beer ? anyone ?

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