Santitas

Don’t forget to inform elderly neighbors who may have gone through WWII and might be scared when those sirens go off. I informed my 92-year-old neighbor yesterday, and she knew nothing about it. Now this is someone who is very informed and usually knows about things before I do.   I don’t know what it’s like in other cities, but Berlin could’ve done a better job of informing its elderly population tbh. I’m sure this will be traumatic for many of them. 

You don’t just stop loving someone because they’re sick. That’s not something that can just be turned off. 

So sad and shocking... https://people.com/movies/chadwick-boseman-dead-cancer-battle/

RIP Sir Ken. Most viewed TED Talk ever and extremely amusing.   https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity?referrer=playlist-the_most_popular_talks_of_all

If the university is a public institution, the timeline is quite normal. It took approximately four weeks for everything to go through the proper channels and for me to finally sign my contract, and according to my colleagues, that was unbelievably fast. They’d never seen anything go through that quickly before 😳

Yup, it’s also a country of almost 300 million vs 80 million. Of course there are going to be many other languages. Look at the EU.

I don’t know. I guess because I’d never had cantaloupe flavored ice cream. But you’re right, it’s just another fruit-flavored ice cream!

I know it sounds gross, but I tried the new Cantaloupe ice cream from Häagen-Dazs, and it’s sooo good 🤤 

Yeah, we’re planning on doing just that. Joining and then putting ourselves on the waiting list.   Never thought about swapping apartments. I suspect our current Genossenschaft won’t let us do that though; however, it doesn’t hurt to ask.    Don’t get me wrong; the Genossenschaften that we called we’re not very encouraging. They warned of a 5+ year wait, but they weren’t nasty/unfriendly. Curious that they were like that with you and still expected you to give them your hard-earned money and join 🤨  Customer Service in Germany 🙄🙄

Wow, really?? Incredible! You‘re right about them going external when no one external wants the apartment though. That’s what happened to the last two vacant apartments in our building.    We‘re thinking of moving though and called two different Genossenschaften last week and described what we were looking for, and although they were super friendly, they said we’d have a 5+ year wait 🤷🏿‍♀️🤷🏿‍♀️ They didn’t mention anything about signing a document or not taking new members, but it probably has a lot to do with location and the housing project you mentioned. These two were in Reinickendorf/Tegel.    Are you looking for something in particular? We’re in a two-room apartment in a Neubau and pay 800€ warm, which is unheard of in our area where the going rate is about 2,000€. Perhaps send me a PM if you want more details. Or perhaps you’re already in our Genossenschaft 🤷🏿‍♀️

An acquaintance is in a Genossenschaft like the first one described. They got together and built a swanky building in Friedrichshain. Cost a boat load of money. For regular people, the second type is the best option. I found our current apartment on Immobilienscout24, but I think that’s an exception to the rule. I was talking to the neighbor downstairs, and she said they only had to wait eight months for an apartment to free up.    Many Genossenschaften are inhabited by old people, and I mean oooold. My next-door neighbor just turned 91. Sooo basically the wait shouldn’t be that long to get in. Since having moved in, at least three neighbors have moved on to greener pastures 🥴

Yeah, it seems like this summer won’t be happening. They bought tickets that they can change for free, thankfully.    Americans 🤦🏿‍♀️🤦🏿‍♀️

Wow, okay. Did she at least get her money back?

Ah, ok. Let me rephrase the question then. Anyone planning to have family from the US come visit this summer once the borders open? Were they able to buy tickets normally? Did they have to do anything else?

Has anyone had family from the US come out to visit yet?