olivetalks

So here is the first post in the olivetalks “10 weirdest things I’ve seen in…” series as we announced. I am going to start with the city of Jena. Why Jena? Because that’s olivetalks’s operation’s base at the moment

Quick summary: Jena is a German city with a population of a bit over 100,000 people and located about 250 km south (-west) of Berlin. You can learn about the city in http://www.jena.de/ and here’s a picture taken by me so you can imagine the place better:

Ok, you’ve got the image? Ready to read what were the 10 weirdest things we’ve seen in Jena? Now, remember, we are not natives from Jena, so that could be why we found the things weird, and we are neither criticizing nor making fun of the locals! I mean, come on, it’s a very nice place to live and… I do not want to get smacked next time I leave the house… So…

1. A mammoth

I’m not joking. Towards the end of August 2007, I was walking home and I encountered a Mammoth in the middle of the city centre. Look at the image if you don’t believe me!

Then I entered the Goethe Galerie shopping center and saw that it was an exposition on animals of the Ice Age. Still, quite a shocking sight when you suddenly look up from the flier somebody had tossed in your hand and you were reading. The exposition had a few other animals as well, like this scary one:

or the huge bear:

yeah, the scary animal is the one on the right…

2. Jena Tourist Information Office and McDonald’s have the employees reversed

Yes, they do! First week in Jena my German was pretty much non-existent. I decided to go to the Tourist Information Office to get a few maps and pointers on where could I learn German. I was surprised to find there that the person behind the desk did not speak any English whatsoever. It seems they are used to dealing with visiting Germans from other places in the country, and do not expect that many foreigners… Shortly after I went to the only place I could order in the local language by combine the numbers I knew in German with the name of dishes, and be sure I was going to know what was I going to eat: McDonald’s. I only got to say “Ein BigMac bitte” and the employee without missing a step switched to English “would you like fries with the BigMac?”. Funny place where the underpaid McDonald’s workers speak more than one language and the Information office doesn’t.

3. Cinema in original version, scarce and then… without subtitles? And the cost varies?

Basically, it wasn’t until over 6 months of me arriving to Jena that they showed a film in original version at one of the (three) cinemas in Jena. Spiderman 3 in Original Version! Not that I cared for the film that much, but I love going to the cinema and I was suffering from a serious case of cinema-withdrawal. So I went, and I really found weird that the film did NOT have subtitles in German. Not that I wanted them, but after weird item number 2, you have to agree that it’s a strange leap going from not showing any films in English, to showing them without even subtitles… And then there is the cost of a show not only varying from day to day (seen that before: more expensive on weekends, cheaper on special days…), but here there are additional costs if the film is over 2 hours and if you want to sit at the back of the screen. Weird… and painful for the pocket I must add…

4. You can use Credit Cards for 20-EUR purchases but not for 1000-EUR ones…

Food shops like Tegut or Real (equivalents to Tesco in the UK or Mercadona in the Land of Valencia) allow you to pay with Mastercard or VISA with no minimum amount required. Roller (where you buy furniture) or MediaMarkt, don’t. Even if you buy 2000 EUR worth of furniture or an indecent amount of DVDs. Quite a surprising thing to realize after you’ve filled up your trolley with two bookshelves and a living-room table with its six chairs…

5. Red light = do not cross, even if you are the last person in the world

Pedestrian crossing, 10 am, 20 people on each side of the road. Loads of cars passing by. Until the traffic light does not flash green for pedestrians, nobody moves a muscle. Fair enough.

Same pedestrian crossing, 8 pm, 5 people on each side of the road. A car passes by every minute. As in one per minute. Until the traffic light does not flash green for pedestrians, nobody moves a muscle. Funny.

Same pedestrian crossing, 10 pm, 2 people on each side of the road. A car passes by every… no cars pass by. Until the traffic light does not flash green for pedestrians, nobody moves a muscle. These people are bonkers…

So what happens when someone does cross when the light is, not even red, but amber? You should look at all their gazes following the offender’s crossing… I would really like to take a picture one day… but I’d have to spend hours if not days for an “offender” to dare such a thing.

and 6, 7, 8, 9, 10…

Tomorrow! Same time, same place. I know I said 10 weirdest things, not only 5, but I did not expect to make such a long post and I don’t want your browser to collapse. You’ll get the 2nd part tomorrow. I promise

Continue reading “10 weirdest things I’ve seen in… Jena” in Part 2.