Kultur 4 Crosswalk and Schwarzfahren

I thought the section on German logic was quite interesting. I can’t, off hand, name any instances in which this happened (like the train ticket example), but I know it happened on several occasions when I was in Berlin.  It is very true though, from experience, that Germans in general think on a very logical level (in my opinion almost too logical at times).

I am really intrigued with the cross-walk and punk teenagers/young adults article. I can relate to several parts of the section. First the article listed Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain as being the areas where these rebels hang out late at night. I found it very ironic because I especially associate seeing these people on one night I was out in Berlin. On that night I was at a private club party, and guess where? I was within a couple streets of S-Bahn Warschauer Straße‎, which is located in Friedrichshain, but heading towards Kreuzberg lol. While some of these characters may wait for the little red dictator (the green and red guy are very popular Berlin souvenirs), I was alarmed when a couple of young men were walking behind me down the sidewalk, punching down on and breaking various side-mirrors of cars parked along the street. I decided to walk faster.  I just thought that the location and personal experience was pretty ironic and funny. On another note, I am definitely one of the few people who HATES to wait for the walk light to turn green. Nathalie would very very rarely cross on red… basically when I forced her and just started walking. Now I wasn’t crossing with cars 20 feet away from me. I would cross when there wasn’t a car within a quarter mile. I WOULD STILL GET HARRASED BY HER! I was in shock that people would wait for minutes while no cars crossed their paths. Nathalie’s only explaination was that it is no different than a stop light for a car; you don’t just drive through a red light anyways when there are no cars coming, so why should you do so for walking. To me it is common sense, and the lights are just to help protect people and organize a system of motion throughout the city, but people USE YOUR HEADS! I believe one of Nathalie’s reasons was to not be a bad influence on little kids, which was also made in the article. Also drivers in Berlin are all Arschlöcher.

A couple of other small notes. It is a certainty that Germans are much more comfortable and used to being naked around others. Often people walk around wearing very little in front of company and nudity is simply more accepted in Germany (and I believe probably all of Europe for that reason). Nudity is constantly apparent in statues, newspapers, and television commercials. 

Lastly, I have experienced exactly what the subway article described (thank goodness though, I always had a valid ticket too!). It is sometimes easy to spot the ticket employees, but sometimes not. Look for very baggy clothing, and/or a large rectangular hand-held device sticking out of a back pocket. Also, if you EVER see someone get off of the subway and instantly back on, but on another car, that person is most certainly going car-to-car to check for tickets. I have seen these people on the busiest routes during rush hour, and on the smallest lines at the edge of town at 6:00am (on my way to the large DB station to get on a DB to Amsterdam).  Also every time I was checked, everyone in the subway car also had a valid ticket. But I do get very nervous now when I do Schwarzfahren, which happens occasionally when I forget money, or my pass is only valid for the first 3 stops of my 5 stop journey. Like the article said, the people are very sneaky and dress typical or are even underdressed (in Berlin people don’t go out into public in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, ever, unless it is literally all you have). As soon as the doors close they yell for the tickets and at that moment you are very glad you remembered to stamp your ticket before getting on the subways!