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elbkaida posted:-jokes: I noticed on the internet, that quite a lot of Germans aren't very good at picking up on jokes or sarcasm. Combined with the general assumption that US-americans don't know poo poo about Europe, that reaction doesn't surprise me much. So if you make some sarcastic comment half the Germans would tell you how "that is actually not correct and it really is like this ... " (I catch myself doing this sometimes, probably there is some German instinct to correct people on their misconceptions or mistakes, that overrides sense of humour), one quarter will not get it and the other quarter would laugh. i find this the case when having conversations with Germans (currently living in Germany). Often I think they have to focus quite a lot just to understand my English, so much so that the jokes sneaks by them.
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Dec 18, 2009 00:47
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I saw this joke and it made me laugh:quote:A young English couple who are unable to have a child end up adopting a German infant.
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Dec 19, 2009 02:34
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hccht hccht hccht hccht greetings from switzerland 
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Jan 22, 2010 00:03
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Anmitzcuaca posted:Is anyone in this thread a student in Berlin? Can you give me an idea on the cost of rent, food, entertainment and stuff like books etc? Hoping to do an exchange in Berlin next year. Berlin is pretty cheap. Way cheaper than sydney. I got a fully furnished big room in a nice place for 300 EUR a month, which included all bills and stuff. Food was about 40-60 EUR/week but I ate reasonably well, mostly cooked at home. You can get a kebab for 2.50 - 3. A 500ml becks is about 2.40 from a shop, and a small becks is between 2.50-3 in a club. You can live a comfortable student existence for 1000 EUR/month. You can get by on 650 - 700/month. One of my cousins and her boyfriend were both students and spent about 1200/month and they rented their own place. If you're going try and find a place to stay a few months in advance, they advertise way earlier than in Sydney. Berlin is a great place and full of students/people on low incomes. Don't expect to be able to find work. But go and have a blast. unixbeard fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Mar 28, 2010 |
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Mar 28, 2010 16:11
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79 posted:What is the coolest thing I can possibly do in Berlin? I am staying for four days next week. I like to drink and I like blues and rock 'n roll and art. I want to buy some recording equipment and a musical instrument. There is something which draws me to Kreuzberg. I am half Turkish if that makes any difference (doner is OUT). My main aim in going is to get away from stuff over here, so I'm not dying to go to the Brandenburg Gate or whatever; I want to see something which will make me feel good. This will be my first time and I hope there will be something that will make me want to come back again. The only touristic thing I have planned is that I want to see the Stasi museum. Tell me something that will blow my mind. theres a big music equipment place at Kulturbrauerei, get the u bahn to eberwalder str in prenzlauerberg. Go and check out c/o berlin photography gallery oranienburger str then walk up the street to check out tacheles, cross the road and get some food from dada felafel. You can also go for a stroll along auguststr in mitte for some galleries. there's an alternative walking tour that leaves from alexanderplatz at 11am (i think, google it) which is a good way to get an overview of the different regions of berlin. aplatz is a tourist ghetto so definitely get to prenzlauerberg, friedrichshain and kreuzberg. The coolest thing you can do is just be yourself because noone gives a gently caress and thats what berlin is all about.
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Apr 2, 2010 00:50
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yeah i think it can be really hard, especially if your german isn't good. From memory if someone wants to hire a foreigner they have to show they can't find a german to fill the role. also beware the mini-jobs that pay max 400 eur/month but often desperate foreigners get sucked into working them full time
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Jun 19, 2010 11:08
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Fasheem posted:That's to get a working visa. The rules are different with a student visa. do know the rules for students well enough to explain? i never got a good grasp on them, they seemed a bit intricate for my grasp of german. quote:Most of the stuff I've read online and such says that it's 99.9% impossible to find a job as a student and you will be too poor to afford anything and has been generally pretty pessimistic so I figured I'd ask here, too. The other stuff might have been more aimed at US students or something, though. you have to understand that Berlin is the coolest city in Germany so all the young people want to go there to study. Indeed, entry to the universities is quite competitive because everyone applies. One of my cousins from Berlin has to go to university in Leipzig because he can't get in to uni in Berlin. So with all the people moving there and looking for work, it can be hard to find it, especially when everyone else speaks perfect german. It is a pretty cheap place to live though. such an awesome place. just looking at it on the map makes me miss it.
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Jun 20, 2010 11:01
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yes it is a bit like that, but: The official unemployment rate is something like 15% for berlin vs 7.5% for the rest of germany, and I doubt that includes all the ausländers there trying to "make it". berlin has a kind of youthful naivety where it's totally normal to be in your late twenties and to never have had a "real" job. It rocks. Enjoy it while it lasts
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Jun 20, 2010 16:22
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I always like the Dom in Cologne. If you're in Berlin this thing was kinda cool http://berliner-unterwelten.de/tour-2.14.1.html
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Jun 30, 2010 20:44
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Ziir posted:Yeah, I understand why people would be wary. It can take a long time to find a place, relative to what I was used to. Some Germans can take wg's very seriously, it's almost like a surrogate family. It varies from place to place though. I would try and find a temporary place for 1 month while you look around, then start looking as soon as you get there. There's usually a few weeks at least before the room advertised becomes free.
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Aug 8, 2010 22:58
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quote:German companies are already complaining about a lack of skilled workers. According to the German Association for Information Technology (BITKOM), the industry is currently seeking 20,000 IT specialists. And the Association of German Engineers (VDI) says that Germany needs 35,000 more engineers than are currently available. The shortage applies to all sectors. from here: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,711046,00.html
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Aug 12, 2010 11:00
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Ziir posted:The vibe I'm getting from talking to my European friends that I met on vacation seems to be that there is a general shortage of engineers in Europe, and you just reinforced that (at east for Germany). Why is that? When I was on vacation in Switzerland visiting a friend, she made it seem like nobody went to school to be an engineer, and instead more people went to university for more practical degrees (if they went to university at all, that is). She made it seem like I could pack up and move to Switzerland and easily find a job as an aerospace (or mechanical) engineer with no issues. Switzerland has a very small population and some very big, global companies. It is impossible to staff them from the local population purely because it's so small. Getting a work permit is another thing though. They are not part of the EU so still control who can reside and work there. It does seem easier if you are on an EU passport, but they do have quotas for both EU and non EU permits. Germany is a little different because of the Mittelstand, which is far more pronounced than in Switzerland. It's basically lots of small - medium sized businesses that are all fairly niche but world class and form the backbone of the German economy (the world's second largest exporter). Much of those exports are service or engineering based, so all of the companies need good engineers. It seemed to me like studying engineering was kind of the default for Germans who finished high school and didn't know what to do. That is purely anecdotal though and based off a very small, probably biased sample (im a nerd so tend to meet nerdy people). It does seem like there is a shortage though. Will be interesting to see if the migration policy changes. The differences in the academic systems probably didn't help either.
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Aug 14, 2010 09:43
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here's an interesting piece on the state of the german economy http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/95292e5a-a898-11df-86dd-00144feabdc0.html
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Aug 16, 2010 09:35
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Ziir posted:Why is everything in Germany so slow? Opened a bank account last week, still waiting for the bank card to be sent to me. Until I get it, I can't do anything and I'm running out of money (I have all of my other money in an online account in America, but I'm waiting for the German one to open to transfer it over). Bought insurance too, and I'm also waiting for the card in the mail. Bought a bus pass the other day, and they told me to come back the next day to pick things up. Hah. I had the same problem when I moved to Germany. Now I'm in Switzerland and would you believe it's even slower here. Settle back and enjoy the ride.
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Sep 9, 2010 19:54
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this is a good one too, its more typical berliners http://piecesofberlin.blogspot.com/
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Sep 18, 2010 07:49
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The worst thing about the shelf is after a hard night out, it's really not something you should be confronted with first thing in the morning in a fragile state
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Sep 22, 2010 17:57
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east berlin, hipsters and lovely plumbing
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Sep 23, 2010 19:54
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I wasn't really being so serious, i lived in a bunch of buildings in the old east berlin and they all had lovely plumbing, either the sinks would constantly block or the water tasted funky and you had to drink bottled. And they all had shelf toilets, even ones that seemed to be fairly recently renovated. Maybe the plumbing thing is common, i don't know. Hipsters enjoy shelf toilets, but only ironically 
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Sep 23, 2010 21:20
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That sounds like hella fun, have a great time
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Sep 24, 2010 09:25
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Yeah as another aussie who went through winter in Berlin last year you get used to it. Lots of subzero days, I still remember this: I had never really seen it snow before heh. Just stay active, there is a big swimming pool at landsberger allee (schwimmhalle) and I would try go 3x a week. The worst time is around christmas cause everyone stops work/school so are just sitting round with their thoughts in the crappy weather.
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Sep 28, 2010 07:03
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yeah that should be fine
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Nov 17, 2010 09:06
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It should be noted when talking about the EU that Germany has benefited from a lower Euro due to the economic considerations of the EU as a whole, vs a currency that represented the economic strength of Germany alone. A lower euro due to concern over Greece or Ireland or whatever makes German exports cheaper, bolstering the how competitive they are globally, which in turn strengthens the German economy further. It is not unlike the current situation in China. Also if the US military is so good why couldn't they win in Afghanistan or Iraq 
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Nov 20, 2010 00:03
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i havent but if you like that sort of music i doubt you'll be disappointed
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Dec 19, 2010 23:19
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hey Ziir what did you think of sensation?
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Jan 1, 2011 19:44
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i miss girls who open beers with their teeth
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Jan 8, 2011 18:04
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ambulance was one of my favourite bars. 10 different types of gin. It shut down tho 
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Mar 6, 2011 01:34
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I got controlled & fined on an S-bahn in Hamburg, I even had a ticket but it wasn't for the right distance or stops or something. Tried to play the dumb tourist card, showed my Australian passport and everything but still got a fine. On longer IC/ICE I got checked every time, U-bahns it was very rare both in Berlin and Hamburg.
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Mar 20, 2011 20:24
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Hungry Gerbil posted:Germany needs engineers. That's what you hear in the news all the time at least. I don't think your German is that important. In some companies the people even use English as the main language for meetings. Germany needs to liberalize its immigration policies and stop trying to pay people like it's still the 90s. It's just not internationally competitive salary wise and the extra hoops around hiring an ausländer hamper the ability of german companies to recruit from overseas. I can earn twice as much and pay half the tax working in Switzerland. I read the same things in the German press all the time but the pervasive attitude of "Deutscher angst" prevails. If you want to work in Germany, especially in Mittelstand type places you would struggle with less than C1 in my opinion. It varies of course, and I'm not an authority in any way. I think the idea of doing a masters in english is a good one, you could get your German language skills up on the side and use the time to make contacts.
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May 18, 2011 11:30
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Fasheem posted:Edit: There are some nice apartment on that site. What's wrong with this one? It's so cheap, and looks pretty much the same as the more expensive ones of the same size. remember that german ads state the total number of rooms, not the number of bedrooms as other countries do. So a 1 zimmer is one room (i.e bedroom and living room in one) and a kitchen. but yeah places in berlin are cheap as hell relative to a lot of other cities.
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May 28, 2011 15:32
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I found europcar pretty reasonable. A lot of rental places don't like you driving into eastern europe. moving back to berlin on friday 
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Jun 25, 2011 16:55
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I went on the "Anti-pub crawl" at a visiting girlfriends insistence. We did go to some bars but spent a lot of time on a tour bus that had a bar. It's OK and perhaps convenient in that they help you get around but you're not gonna visit anywhere you couldn't find in any tour guide. This is a good site for finding bars http://berlin.unlike.net/ For harder music I would say tresor or berghain. Weekend and Watergate are also good but a bit softer I always had fun there though and Weekend has a cool view. K17 is great if you like that sort of music and it's busy, can be a bit lame when its quiet. I never managed to figure out when it would be good or not. Residentadvisor has a good whats on. Also if you're planning a big one you might want to ensure you're prepared in advance. C/O Berlin was a great gallery but i think it's closed now or will be by the time you're there :/
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Jun 27, 2011 23:54
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cyberia posted:I am keen to check out K17 and SO36 as there is essentially no goth/punk scene in Melbourne and it'd be nice to meet some other alternative people. I never went to SO36 but K17 on a quiet night was way better than anything I experienced in Sydney.
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Jun 29, 2011 17:37
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eviljelly posted:English is by far your best bet, if you don't speak German. As far as I can tell, almost everyone in big cities speaks English. Even in small villages (I stayed at a village of 1200 people for a couple weeks, and I biked through countless other small villages), you can find English speakers. Also, almost under the age of 40 speaks English, and even a lot of people over 40 speak English. Even if they say they don't speak English, they actually might speak pretty decent English. Yeah, and your best bet is to just start speaking English. Don't ask if they speak it. If they truly don't or really don't want to it will be clear soon enough, but most people can and will speak English. Some people are just cunts though.
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Jul 13, 2011 13:10
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militarygrade posted:Any Berlin goons around to get a beer? I've been in the city five months or so but have been working and studying and could use a chat with a fellow internet dwelling resident. yeah hit me up unixbeard@gmail.com
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Jul 21, 2011 08:57
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hankor posted:are you in berlin? that is the address of where i get my film developed, and it doesn't look like a bakery.
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Jul 26, 2011 09:31
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Oh yeah that explains it. I love German bread and can't stop eating it which makes me hella fat so I basically have to block out all bakerys from perception.
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Jul 26, 2011 11:04
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I've never had a problem getting into Berghain (jinxing myself now I know), just leave the fedora at home, don't be incredibly drunk and at the very least be there to have a good time. It does help if you speak german and are generally chatty/friendly to other people in the line. There are also plenty of other great clubs in Berlin so don't get too hung up on it. There's a dance festive on this month which will have stuff on this w/end http://www.tanzimaugust.de/index3.html In other news I'm glad to see some sunshine, the last 4 weeks have sucked weather wise. unixbeard fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Aug 17, 2011 |
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Aug 17, 2011 17:06
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How do you guys feel about the whole car torching thing in Berlin/Hamburg?
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Aug 21, 2011 23:03
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hankor posted:Call me if you do this, I want to be there when customs decides to investigate. why on earth would customs care about 200€ ? The cards thing has always bugged me about Germany. Like if i can buy a stick of gum at a stall in a 3rd world country with my maestro card you'd think one of the worlds largest economies could also be able to accommodate that. It seems to have gotten better the last few years though. Also, stay classy Udo http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,779758,00.html unixbeard fucked around with this message at 11:15 on Aug 28, 2011 |
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Aug 28, 2011 11:07
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Zwille posted:They'd care about possible drugs. Hiding your money in your body will look like you're hiding drugs although I dunno how they would be able to tell. I get where you're coming from but I just don't think it should be a practical concern
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Aug 28, 2011 11:18
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