November in Berlin

 Guten Tag auf Berlin! 

    November has come to a close, the leaves have fallen from the trees, the weather has become colder, the Notübernachtung has opened, I have turned 23, Thanksgiving has been celebrated, and the time has come when I once again send an update!

German Learning 

    I have completed A2.1 in German learning. I am beginning to understand more of the German spoken around me. When I was first immersed in the language, I was a little lonely due to not understanding what was happening around me. Listening and not understanding was exhausting. I have tried to learn not to be embarrassed speaking, even when I know what I am saying is imperfect. I have been lucky to live with incredible people who are patient, listen when I speak my imperfect German, and encourage me to keep practicing. 

The Notübernachtung

    The homeless shelter has officially opened for the winter! 

    

    Before I discuss my work in the homeless shelter, I want to give context to homelessness in Germany. I think it is important to understand who I work with and what it is like. 

    In Germany, there are many protections for employees. It is difficult for a business to fire an employee, and if they can, the government will pay for a person's flat and give them a living stipend until they can find another job. This practice helps prevent homelessness, but a problem with is that a lot of paperwork must be filled out before the government gives these stipends. When a person doesn't have the knowledge or know where to find help with this, it can still lead to homelessness. 

    From what I can remember, 30% of the people who come to the shelter are German. The other percentages are Polish, Romanian, and other European countries. Since Germany is part of the European Union, people can enter Germany and get into the German welfare system. To be homeless in Germany is better than to be homeless in their home countries, and the borders are open to them, so many people come to Berlin. 

    Since many people are not from Germany, it is difficult for many of the employees to communicate with the guests, and it can be frustrating for the guests to communicate with the employees as well, as there are so many language barriers as people can speak anything from Russian, Polish, Hungarian, French and, sometimes, even English. 

    There are no accurate statistics on how many homeless people live in Berlin. I was told that some time ago, they wanted to count, but on the day the government sent people out to count, the homeless disappeared from sight for a day and could not be found, so there are no accurate statistics. We do know that there are thousands of homeless people on the streets of Berlin. 

    Our organization has a few vans with the words Kaltehilfe or "cold help." People will call the Kaltehilfe when they find a homeless person and are concerned about them sleeping in the cold. They give the homeless person some warm food and will bring them to a shelter if they want, though often they will refuse, preferring to sleep on the streets. One of my friends who had worked in the Notübernachtung before I did said that in the winter, you can feel the cold radiating off their skin as they enter the shelter. 

    The shelter I work at has around one hundred beds, but we take in around 130 people a night.  Around 11 pm, the lights go out, and many homeless people will fall asleep on the benches they had previously sat on to eat dinner. Some will fall asleep on the floor, sometimes under a table. I am told that after spending so much time on the streets, some can no longer fall asleep on a bed as it is too soft. For others, we simply run out of beds, and the streets are too cold for them to sleep on. 

    There are other shelters in Berlin but an aspect unique about the one I work in is that it is what I would refer to as a “catch-all.” Some shelters are only for women, some are only for families, some do not allow animals, some want people to come sober, or maybe a person has to arrive by a certain time every day to keep their bed, or perhaps a person does not have proper documentation. We take women, men, and people with dogs. A person can arrive in any state, and they will be taken in as long as we have a space for them, even if they do not have proper documentation. I think it speaks to the philosophy that all people, regardless of condition, deserve basic necessities such as food and a warm place to sleep. 

    There was one English-speaking guest who I happened to stop to talk to one day. When he learned I was American, he ran and brought me a chair to sit on so we could have a conversation regarding American politics. For about fifteen minutes, I was able to sit in a room of people having dinner and talk about American politics to someone who perhaps knew more about the subject than I did. 

    Yesterday, one of the guests I know talked about wanting to go back to their home country, frustrated at being homeless in Berlin. "We live terribly, my feet hurt from all the walking. Back home I walk in the forest, I can go fishing. Here I live a horrible life". When he finished talking, he looked at me and said something to the effect of "Sorry for complaining," to which I said, "It's okay, you can complain anytime, and I will listen." 

    I am grateful for working in a place that works hard to treat the people we care for with dignity and respect, for being able to communicate pretty well with the guests who come to our shelter, and for my coworkers, who have been amazing to work with. After every shift, we meet in the employee room, and every person takes some time to discuss and process how their shift went. 

Resonate In Germany

    At the end of November, the Resonate Cohort came to Berlin. We once again met up and learned about faith in the context of Germany. We started with a focus on migration, which makes sense for the context in which we work in Germany. This focus on migration makes sense, as the church we work at attracts people learning German, which often happens to be refugees. 

    During one of our outings, we toured a government building. Something I found intriguing was that the building was constructed using a lot of glass to represent transparency in a government. 

Thanksgiving 

    I am incredibly grateful that I celebrated a (vegetarian) Thanksgiving with my housemates (I live with multiple vegetarians and have never cooked a turkey before). I introduced my housemates to green bean casserole, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, which many had never had before. 

    For the first time in my life, I baked a pie. I bought three pumpkins (way too many —I only needed one) and made the pie crust, after which I realized we had no pie pans. After searching the house up and down, I found a quiche pan. I was surprised to learn the filling was liquid when I put the pie in the oven. No photo is to be found of this pumpkin pie, but it was a perfect pumpkin pie. 

    Before serving the pumpkin pie, I introduced them to the tradition of going around the table and saying what they are grateful for. I am incredibly thankful for my housemates who made an American holiday feel homey, even though many had never celebrated Thanksgiving before. 

    Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. 

    A. Kuperus