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As promised, here is the 2nd part of “10 weirdest things I’ve seen in… Jena”. You can see the first 5 items of the list in part 1.

Part 1: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and now…

6. Sixteen-month calendars and 18-month planners

Jena people and quantities. I don’t seem to be able to figure them out! So you can buy a calendar in September for the following 16 months and I needed a yearly planner last summer and it was practically impossible to get one for the current year (2007) but, surprisingly enough, I was able to get one for the 2nd half of 2007 and whole 2008. But then…

7. …no dozen eggs

You can buy a box of 6 eggs, but the next “size” is a box with 10 eggs! Not 12 which is what I’m used to seeing. Here’s an image of a 10-egg-box bought in Jena:

What are the usual box-sizes in other places? I know in Alacant it’s 12 eggs, and so is in Dublin…

8. No double-duvets, just two single ones!

And then, it is VERY hard to find double-size duvets in Jena (and duvet covers). It seems here they use two single duvets for double beds. I can see the advantage of having your own duvet and not having to fight for it with your bed-partner, but what about when you are in the middle of the bed? Either you end up with two duvets or none at all…

9. TV-series in 2 boxes and double seats at the cinema

Each season of series like Charmed or Heroes are sold in two halves. I can see the advantage if you don’t know if you are really interested in a series or you don’t have enough money saved up, it could be better to just have to pay for half. But I have the feeling that buying a season in two halves is overall more expensive than buying it complete. I have been told this practice is actually becoming common in other places like Spain or UK, but it still surprises mes. Oh and tying up the bizarre quantities in Jena, at the cinema, one can choose a double seat: where two people can sit together without the armrest in the middle. They call them “love-seats”, of course…

10. Lufthansa lost luggage auction

I think this is actually the weirdest thing I’ve seen in Jena so far. They had a Lufthansa lost luggage auction once! I couldn’t believe my eyes. They set up a stage in the middle of the Goethe Galerie (Jena’s city centre’s shopping centre) and they would show a luggage and auction it without even showing the contents! And people actually paid up to a couple of hundred euros for some of them! I saw some guy pick up his “new” luggage and extract 3 smaller luggages from inside, in decreasing sizes, and within the smallest one, he found a mobile phone. Another woman got a luggage with loads of clothes and a dictionary. Very funny… but what I don’t understand is, if Lufthansa did find the luggages, why not give them back to the original owners? And why would you pay for a used luggage with random clothes? And the most frightening question of all… did Lufthansa actually make a profit out of it? Because it might turn out to be better for them to keep on “losing luggages” and then auctioning them…

The end.

So, what do you think of the 10 weirdest things in Jena? Have you seen them in other places? Do you know a place where you saw 10 things even weirder than these? We are accepting contributions from anybody who’d like to share their list of weird things they’ve seen anywhere in the world. We can either invite you to olivetalks as a guest blogger (you will retain full credits, of course) or just let us know where have you posted the list and we will comment on it in olivetalks!

So, you’ve been informed. “10 weirdest things I’ve seen in… Dublin (Ireland)” coming soon!