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Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Dresden and West- and East-Berlin / Dresden ning Lääne- ja Ida-Berliin

Last weekend I were in Dresden with other trainees from Berlin. Dresden is around 150 km away from Berlin and used to be one of the most beautiful cities in the Central Europe before II World War. US and British aircraft bombarded Dresden heavily during one night in February 1945 which resulted in destruction of 80% of the buildings in the centre and the death of around 300.000 inhabitants and refugees who gathered this night to Dresden. The rest of destruction was done by DDR Communists who built ugly gray monstrums in the heart of Dresden.

However, it has been done very much to restore the city. All in all, Dresden is very beautiful town which is worth to be visited. Interesting is the fact that the most common postcards for tourists are black-and-white pictures of the city from the 1930s with the words "Dresden as it was before..."


Zwinger castle - one of the main sightseeings in Dresden / Loss Zwinger - Dresdeni üks olulisematest vaatamisväärsustest

The trip there was great - we were 16 altogether and all from different countries!

Story No. 4. About Sandra Bullock and solidarity of men vs. women. One interesting happening from the train Dresden-Berlin. To make the trip more interesting, we organized different games. One of them was connected with various celebrities and we started serious discussion once on the topic "How sexy is Sandra Bullock?". Boys and girls were 50-50 in our company. Girls were from Turkey, Brasil, Kasakhstan, Greece and France. Boys were from Greece, Egypt, Ukraine, Jordan and Estonia (me). Despite multiculturality, all guys were of the opinion that Sandra Bullock "is sexy or at least very attractive". All girls were at the same time of the opinion that this actress cannot be considered as sexy. Who said that there are different standards of beauty in different countries? :)

Story No. 5. About invisible wall between East- and West-Berliners. 1989 the wall in Berlin
fell. 1990 Germany became re-united. Despite this fact one can feel invisible wall between East- and West-Berliners. It is especially interesting to live in Berlin in this sense. I have been talking to several people from the East Germany (former DDR). Although no-one really wants Communism back, there is a lot of nostalgia and disappointment in Capitalism among them. West-Germans, on the contrary, call "Easterners" lazy, who don't want to work. A little bit of statistics to visualize this invisible wall: unemployment rate is around 8% in West Germany, whereas this number is almost 20% in East Germany .

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[EST] Eelmisel nädalavahetusel käisin koos teiste praktikantidega Dresdenis, mis asub ligi 150 km kaugusel Berliinist ja mis oli enne Teist maailms6da üks ilusamaid Kesk-Euroopa linne. Ühe 1945. aasta veebruariöö jooksul pommitasid USA ja Inglismaa s6jalennukid linna, mis t6i endaga kaasa vanalinna hävitamist 80% ulatuses ja ligi 300.000 linnaelaniku ja sinna kogunenud p6geniku surma. Imeilusa vanalinna hävitamisele aitasid kaasa hilisemad kommunistid, kes ehitasid kesklinna halle arhitektuurimonstrumeid (Dresden asus DDRi territooriumil ehk kommunistlikus blokis).

1990. ja 2000. aastate jooksul on siiski palju tehtud, et linna taastada. Siiani on linnapildis näha palju kraanasid. Kokkuv6ttes v6ib öelda, et Dresden on väga ilus linn. Huvitav on aga see, et k6ige rohkem on linnas müügil must-valgeid postkaarte hüüdlausega "Dresden as it was before..."

S6it sinna oli l6bus, sest meid oli kokku 16. K6ik erinevatest riikidest, k6ik toredad noored nagu minagi ;)

Lugu nr. 4. Sandra Bullockist ja meeste vs naiste solidaarsusest. Üks huvitav seik rongist Dresden-Berliin. Et oleks l6busam, korraldasime teiste praktikantidega igasuguseid mänge. Ühe mängu ajal, mis oli seotud erinevate kuulsustega, tekkis meil t6sine diskussioon teemal "kuiv6rd seksikas on Sandra Bullock". Mehi ja naisi oli pooleks. Seltskond oli väga rahvusvaheline. Neiud olid Türgist, Brasiiliast, Kasahstanist, Kreekast ja Prantsusmaalt. Noormehed olid Kreekast, Egiptusest, Ukrainast, Jordaaniast ja Eestist (mina). Vaatamata mitmekesisusele, olid k6ik noormehed meie seas ühte meelt, et Sandra Bullock "is sexy or at least very attractive". K6ik neiud olid aga seevastu seda meelt, et see näitlejanna küll seksikas ei ole. Kas keegi rääkis, et eri maailmakohtades pidavat olema erinevad ilustandardid? ;)

Lugu nr. 5. Nähtamatust müürist ida- ja lääne-sakslaste vahel. 1989. aastal varises kokku Berliini müür. 1990. aastal toimus Saksamaa taasühendamine. Vaatamata sellele on tunda nähtamatut müüri lääne- ja idasakslaste vahel. Eriti huvitav on selles suhtes elada Berliinis. Rääkisin mitmete Ida-Saksamaalt pärit inimestega. Kuigi keegi otseselt kommunismi taastada ei taha, ütlevad k6ik, et paljud eluaspektid oli toona paremad (tasuta meditsiin, haridus, töö k6ikide jaoks, sotsiaalne kindlustatus, ühtekuuluvustunne jne). Paljudel on t6sine pettumus kapitalismis. Lääne-sakslased nimetavad seevastu "idalasi" laiskvorstideks, kes ei viitsi tööd teha. Natuke statistikat illustreerimaks seda l6het: kui Lääne-Saksamaal on tööpuudus ligi 8%, siis Ida-Saksamaal küünib see 20%-ni.

Kusjuures seda, et Berliin arenes 40 aastat kahe absoluutselt erineva süsteemi all, on linnapildist ilmselgelt näha. Ma elan ja töötan muidu Lääne-Berliinis. Imelik tunne tekkis korraks, kui sattusin esimest korda Ida-Berliini elamurajooni. "Nagu kodus" - tuli kohe selline m6te :)

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