I TOOK MY FRENCH HOLIDAY IDEA and looked a little closer at what I actually wanted out of it. That is, to escape. And where I really want to go isn't France at all but Germany. And you can't go to Germany and not go to Berlin. So that is where I have decided I wanna live. As I said, I did years and years of German so I shouldn't have TOO much trouble filling in forms, reading things, etc. I will just need to get a really good dictionary.
I would love to say, "I'm going there forever. Never again shall I set foot on British soil." (I am very much tired of Britain. This country is sinking into a morass of doublestandards. Modern Britain deals with nothing until crisis is reached (who does that remind me of?) Problems are swept under the carpet: out of sight = out of mind. Civil liberties are being eroded here perhaps quicker than anywhere else in the "civilized world" and that really gets me. The "mother of all parliaments" is utterly corrupt; the home of free speech and all that is losing free speech. Spy cameras are everywhere. The populace are rude and violent. Immigrant communities rule over us and are full of attitude. Foreigners always seem to be first on the housing queue.
Having said all that, Neonaziism is what puts me off Berlin (and Germany in general) the most. But you can't have everything. And I never said I thought the grass over there was any greener. I'm just so sick of Britain. I want to live with a different set of problems.And I intend to run away from my drug addiction.
I was already aware there are NA meetings in English in Berlin and that little link made going there seem a little less forlorn. I'm not "emigrating", just "migrating" for a while with 2 objects in mind. These being: 1: to get references/experience so I can actually go out and get a JOB ~ wow!! and 2: improve command of German enough to have usable skill rather than semi-useless semi-fluency.
I have never been to Berlin in my life. Neither have I set foot on the soil of any German-speaking country. My mind was oriented towards the region by years of language study at school, so it seems utterly ridiculous not to have gone. Also I long had a fascination with life behind the iron curtain ~ East Berlin of course was the gateway to all this. So when the wall came down without my having ventured behind it 
I was secretly rather miffed. There is something oddly romantic about former Soviet bloc chic. Giant alienating concrete architecture. Cold wind from the East ...What really sealed all this was when my Mum said at the weekend: "well if you want to go voluntary work over there I'll help you out". And I thought: Yippee! Then I'm going!!
"BIRD HOUSE" COMMERCIAL
They're selling orange squash, not that I think anybody would remember it from this... but the advert is amazing. The bird is a canary in natural coloration...
I think this is classic ...
Oh and while we're at it, here's a McDonald's ad from Thailand
Note how the English word "spicy" comes through loud and clear:
OK I promise: last one
I love this piri-piri Thai lady:
The neoNazi stuff would be very scary to me. I don't think that I would want to live in Germany--just not my idea of a place to hang out.
ReplyDeleteI think your trip sounds thriling, Gleddy! Does your mum want to adopt another kid? I'm 43, but what the hell. She sounds lovely.
ReplyDeleteLove,
SB
Hi Gleds, I've missed quite a bit haven't I ... belated Birthday greetings to you, see you got the digital radio you mentioned a little while back :)
ReplyDeleteReally sorry to read about little Bashful and Itchy. Poor old Spherical ... interesting death ritual she performed for Bashful. Who will look after her when you visit Germany?
ps the orange juice advert - too tweet *!*
ReplyDeleteSyd: I think it's just isolated attacks and always on nonEuropeans. To look at, nodoby would know I wasn't German anyhow. But I agree: it really does put me off going there
ReplyDeleteSB: I'll ask her!!
Bimbimbie: Spherical ~ I'm not sure. Anyway I have to get a new passport first. The old one's falling apart ...
I've been reading The Shock Doctrine - what's happening to Britain (and Canada and virtually everywhere else I think) is that feudalism is coming back with the ultra rich and corporations as the landlords. I don't know that you will escape it in Germany but at least it will be a change. My daughter's boyfriend came here from Germany - I'm guessing largely because his Mom is from here and his parents split but I wonder what his thoughts are about the state of things there. I'll ask him.
ReplyDeleteyes that is indeed the new feudalism
ReplyDeletewill you tell me what he says...pls??
Unfortunately I can't help you at all.I have a German passport and I speak german that's my mothertongue but besides that I live for 50 years now in Belgium and never have been in Berlin either. What enerves me very much is this completely fals image most of the britts still have from Germany although nearly all who suffered the WW2 are dead ! I am 66 now and was born in Frankfurt, destroyed to 90 % in the middle of the war. I have never had to deal with Nazis.The children of them have today all my age and I am really fat up to hear all the time that Germany is full of Nazis ! My generation is not responsible for what our parents did ! and one thing is for sure, there are more Neo Nazis in other European countries than in Germany. In Germany those parties are forbidden.My son was in Berlin and loved it. He told me that it is a town where he would love to live. (he lived for 10 years in London and loved it too. Now he is in Amsterdam) He is German/Italian and only speaks english or french. His passport is German ! He is 36. He never lived in Germany either. But don't expect a paradise. Work is short like everywhere in Europe. There is no exception. It can only come worse ! Belgium and Holland, Italy and France we are all in the same boat, and your country sits in there too !
ReplyDeleteGermany is the country I would most like to visit and I love the language. Berlin would be a fantastic city to spend some time in.
ReplyDeleteHaving studied a bit of German history/philosophy, I endorse what Gattina is saying. It's people from other countries that find the idea of neo-natzism fascinating. German people would rather leave all that behind and they are a lovely nation of people.
I'd particularly love to have a holiday in Bavaria. The scenery is spectacular.
Gattina: no it's the NEO-Nazis I'm scared of ~ kids a generation YOUNGER than me firebombing Turks etc... though I don't see that I should fear them any more than anyone else. I'm 100% "North European" in appearance...
ReplyDeleteAll I heard about Germany at school (re my own generation) was a kind of postwar guilt and a determination never ever to let something that terrible happen again ...
Lesley: yes apart from Berlin I wanted to go to Cologne or cuckoo clock land (Bavaria) or Vienna in Austria ...