There are statues around the city of famous people from Magdeburg, and of course there is there are occasional buildings that are centuries old. When I walk from my apartment toward the city center, I pass an opera house, a university campus, a part of the city that is pedestrian-only, two Turkish restaurants, and eventually come to an open-air market in front of the old government building. Of course, there are also cafes, dollar stores (Euro stores actually), florists, banks and all the ususal things one might come across walking in America. In my part of town grafiti is a problem though and any building that is left empty for any amount of time gets tagged. Despite this, I have never seen anyone on the street who looked like the type to deface property. I feel completely safe walking here, even when it is late, but then I never really felt I was in any danger living in the U.S. either. I have not seen one person here who appears to be homeless, but I read that the rate of unempoyment in Magdeburg is quite high.
Today is reunification day in all of Germany. There was no school, so I took a long walk looking for apartments where I could take up permanent residence, since I have to leave my fabulous temporary apartment (The Germans who speak English all say "flat" instead of apartment). After a lot of wandering and site-seeing on foot, I came to the hub of the city where the open-air market usually takes place. I thought I might like to buy some more fruit, so I walked toward it, noticing something seemed a little strange. On Sundays and holidays the whole city shuts down. Knowing this, I expected to see very few people on the streets and all the shops closed, but instead there were tables set up and vendors out on the side-walks selling socks, handbags, jewelry and CDs. This was unusual to say the least. I turned the corner where I normally would find the carts where farmers sell their produce, but where the market stood last week was now an event reminiscent of the Puyallup fair. There was a stage with a big brass band, two carosels, games where boys were trying to win stuffed animals for their girlfriends, stands selling everything from crepes to donuts to fried fish, and booths of crafts for kids--all of this had sprung up directly in front of the old city hall. Strangest of all was the giant bungee bouncing ride that reminded me of those jumpers for babies that can be hung in doorways so the baby can jump all over. The difference was that these jumpers were a whole story high and situated right next to a somber statue of Magdeburg's most famous leader, Otto van Guerke (sp?). I didn't have my camera handy at the time, but I would have liked a picture of teenagers in giant Johnny Jumpers right next to the frowning mayor statue; it was a fantastic juxtaposition. I still don't know why there was a fair in the city goverment square, but maybe it was part of the celebration for reunification day.
On an unrelated note, even though I was not unemployed in Washington state, I did not have health care. The very first building I entered in Magdeburg that was not my apartment was the office where I got health insurance. I am not sure how it works exactly, or if it's true that everyone has insurance even if they have no job, but I know that anyone legally employed has health care. This was pretty exciting for a person who hasn't had health care in three years. Then about a week ago (after I had been here only a week), I got a toothache. It was a tooth that had been bothering me earlier in the year, but had eventually the pain had stopped and I had forgotten about it. This time, the tooth did not let me forget. So I had to try to go to the dentist...in German. The first question I asked was how much this would cost. The girl behind the desk looked a little apologetic and said that she was sorry but I was going to have to pay a fee for the whole quarter year and the fee in now 10 Euros. I repeated, "Ten Euros? And then I can go to the dentist for the next three months, for free?" So I got my tooth fixed for 10 Euros. There was a funny pantomime where the dentist tried to ask me if I was pregnant (for x-ray purposes it's important), but she didn't know the English word and I didn't know the German. She also asked if I would like a shot for the pain while she worked. If?! IF?! Does anyone ever say NO? Of course I wanted her to give me something while she drilled! So she did. Whew!
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