steam

Conversation in the steam bath today. Present were: an Afghan lady in her mid fifties, a Nigerian lady of about 25 and I. The Afghan woman used to be a biology teacher and seemingly is very proud of her two successful dentist sons. Since she was quite talkative, I also learned, that she lives since 28 years in Berlin. Prior to that, her familiy stayed in Russia for a couple of years. But the war Russia waged on Afghanistan made them move to Berlin. The Nigerian woman trained to be an aesthetician and physiotherapist and seemingly just sat her exams. She intends to open her own beauty parlour soon. As we chatted along, starting off with commenting on the shoe-thrown-on-Bush incident (we all thought, Bush desevered it and the journalist throwing the shoe should be let off with a minor fine to pay and the Pulitzer Prize), the situation of foreigners living in Berlin popped up for discussion. Since all three of us were Non-Germans, we all had something to say. Both women were of the opinion, that it is very hard for foreign people to live here. Grades were automatically lower for foreigners during her schooling and professional training, the Nigerian woman said. With her being a lively character with a strong sense of fairness, she picked many fights over this injustice. Which wasn’t exactly helpful for her advancement. The Afghan woman agreed; her sons seemingly had to study much harder than natives to reach their grades. She used to tell her sons to try and get either wealthy as soon as possible or otherwise achieve an as high as possible social position. As she worded it: “Only then would Germans cease to notice your black hair. Money and status impresses them.” Are these ladies right? I begged to differ. I love Berlin for many reasons, but best for it’s tolerance. All and sundry can just be, what they want to be (within normal rules of conduct, that is, and even that is quite an elastic term here). Berlin provides me with much needed breathing space. Back home in small town Austria I was suffocating with the petty bourgoisie and backwardness all around (that is including Graz also, although it is the second biggest town there is). Were those ladies right, nevertheless? Is it just my perception, coming from the one place on earth worse than Germany? I am still not convinced…

Christina Courtin, Foreign country