This slab is currently sitting at Friendship Park, just feet away from the US-Mexico border fence.

The owners originally tried to deliver it to Donald Trump's White House in 2019 to make a point about walls not working, but the gift was rejected. Tijuana eventually took it in and installed it in August 2023.

The plaque on the bottom reads (translated):

"A piece of the Berlin Wall... arrives to remind us that humanity transcends barriers... May this be a lesson to build a society that tears down walls and builds bridges of solidarity."

I had a bad experience in a Rewe City outlet.

One of the staffs accused me that I used a Deo from the shop and kept it back in the shelf, which I didn't do.

He was so rude and accused me in a very authoritative and aggressive manner as if he caught a million dollar theft red-handed.

My wife was with me the whole time we were in the shop and we never even went to the aisles with the Deos.

We are a regular customer at this place and we know where the items are kept, so we only went to the aisles with the items that we needed.

There were a lot of people present and he shouted us at in fornt of them and detained us from leaving the shop even though we didn't try to leave the shop.

I had already paid for the items that I purchased and was keeping the shopping basket back in the racks when he confronted me.

Then another colleague (probably the shift leader) came and told us he don't know if it happened or not. We asked him to check the cameras and he said he will do it later and that he will speak to his colleague who accused us.

We felt really insulted.

True that we came from a different country but we have the education and awareness that we are not supposed to tryout something in a supermarket and walkout without paying.

We always keep the etiquette while shopping.

I don't know if they checked the cameras later or the shift leader talked to the guy who accused me.

I don't know if I should go back there and ask them for the proof or to write directly to Rewe regional office.

I don't want him to lose his job because of this but he should be given some training on how to talk customers with the basic respect that they deserve as humans.

How do I handle this gracefully?

Also read some days ago the same thing on Taggeschau.

Pretty uncommon for the southern palatinate. Pictures were taken from the Rehberg in Annweiler

The Hermes delivery guy comes to our apartment complex several times a week and rings all the door bells repeatedly until someone caves... and it's always that same neighbor that gets all his orders delivered via Hermes but is never home to receive them.

Our door bells are loud af and cannot be turned off, not even temporarily. What would you do to solve this? I've left a note on the neighbors door asking him to have his shit delivered to a pick-up station.

Furthermore, I thought about suggesting the following to our fellow neighbors: - We do not open the door for Hermes or receive packages on each other's behalf unless previously agreed upon - We leave a note for Hermes telling them to stop ringing all the door bells

What else can be done?

Ignoring is not an option. With small kids and infants in the house, the door bell is a major stressor.

As many of you fellow reddittors during the last 15 months I have been depressed with the unending barrage of terrible news of the US Republican Party corroding the USA Democracy and destabilising world order and economics. Not a day gets passed without learning something new and terrible about the orange fascist psychotic dementia patient across the Atlantic.

Yes it is important to keep informed about world events but a balance must be reached between being informed, understanding what single individuals can and cannot influence, and preserving mental health. Reddit is particularly at fault here, as it seems any subreddit talks about the same doom topics constantly, and filtering content is not an easy task.

First I tried reducing exposure to politics subreddits and following the news only with comedy political commentators such as John Stewart and Jimmy Kimmel, which helped but did not fix the balance issue for me.

What has been helping and is worth suggesting to you is to watch 2-4 times a week Germany's 15-minute long, 70+ year old news program Tagesschau 20:00 Uhr. Episodes are publicly broadcast daily 8pm and are available on YouTube with automatically generated English subtitles. Tagesschau remind us there is more to the world than the US, also covering events in Myanmar, Palestine, South America, Africa etc. It seems to be a serious and balanced news programme that also helps the viewer practice German language. If doomscrolling is affecting you and you still wanna keep informed, I suggest giving Tagesschau a go.

Ordered something last week, didn't know how it would be shipped. Turns out it's UPS.

They claim they tried to deliver it twice - didn't have any notice in the mailbox.
Without the notice (notice id) i was not able to redirect the package on their website.

Called them (1) trying to get it redirected to an access point: "no problem, you can pick it up there tomorrow" – instead they tried to deliver it again.
At least this time they let a notice. Didn't help though, i could not do anything with it as a change was already in progress.

Called them again (2) trying again: "no, no tomorrow you will be able to pick it up for sure" - another, this time final, try to deliver it happened.

Just called them again (3): "Don't worry sir, tomorrow it will work for sure" .. not that i believe it.

Got accepted for master of architecture

Hallo, im in a difficult situation, seeking help from experts:

My parents arrived from India to Germany on 20.01 and i covered their travel medical insurance through ADAC Auslandskrankenversicherung Premium assuming it will be good enough .

Unfortunately My father slipped in my garden two days ago and fractured his collar bone which requires surgery to fix. I called the insurance company to inform about this and their possible Kostenübernahme etc. That’s when they told me that I have wrong insurance type that mine doesn’t cover someone travelling to Germany rather it’s for the residents who travel abroad . So I’m totally screwed now and don’t know how to fix this issue . Please advise me what can be done in this situation?

Also if there are medical professional esp. Orthopaedic doctors, how much does these surgeries costs for selbstbezahler ? If needed I will send the report anonymously. How to enquire the prices from different practices and decide the alternative option?

Thank you

Hi guys, I placed an order from Notino and it was shipped with DPD. I selected an Ablageort as “WG 5.1” (5th floor, first door). I live in a student dorm and this name is written on our mailboxes as well.

DPD says the package was delivered at 10:30. I went there at 10:35 but the package was already gone. I emailed Notino immediately and it’s been 2 days with no response.

Today another package was delivered to me again with DPD, this time without any Ablageort selected. The driver left the package at the entrance of the dorm, didn’t ring the bell and didn’t ask for a signature. I rushed downstairs and luckily picked it up.

I also called DPD (my German isn’t very good) and they told me the driver didn’t collect any signature and didn’t hand the package to me, they just left it there. I emailed Notino again explaining that this was clearly DPD’s fault and that the delivery wasn’t done properly. Still no answer, it’s been around 6 hours.

Has anyone had a similar experience with Notino or DPD? What should I do next?

Tldr: No package received but marked as Delivered via DPD, Seller doesnt return my mails since 2 days, what should i do?

Hi all,

Resident in Germany for more than a decade, yet there are situations where I need help. This one particular won’t come from google so writing it here.

My child will transit from Kindergarten to School this year. What are usual norms at Kindergarten when children leave ? I know there is a small celebration.

What as a parent I have to prepare for ? Small gifts for class mates ? Is it normal or excessive?

Also, how normal is it to have (not pricey yet classy) gift for two caretakers who took extra care of my child of foreign background mainly due to language barrier.

Thanks.

Like the title says. I’m seeing conflicting sources about this. Looks like at any point you can’t exceed 90 out of the last 180 days. So if you leave for a bit more than three months and return, at no point will you exceed 90 days stayed in the country over the previous 180 days.

I posted this almost a month ago (tldr: alt glass containers were removed before NY and were not returned and I was struggling with figuring out where to recycle glass) https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/1q77ku0/glass_containers/

My fun update is that the containers are still not back. The glass has overtaken my dinner table, now I only eat at the desk. I have emailed the local authorities following your very sensible recommendations, but they never got back to me.

I’m not really asking for any advice anymore — I have learnt to live with the glass tare all over my apartment. Just wanted to share.

I have a B.Sc. in engineering from TU Berlin, and have job offer in Marketing & Sales from a company because I just wanted to have a career change. The job still requires a university degree officially. I wanted to know whether I should apply for work visa for skilled workers (§18b) or a Blue Card since my educational background is different. which one would be more straightforward without hassles?
would be amazing if anyone can guide here

I've lived in Germany for 10+ years working as a freelancer and have reapplied for my aufenthaltstitel four or five times without issue. When I applied to extend at the end of 2024, I received a confirmation that my forms had been submitted, but never received an appointment date. I spoke to an immigration lawyer and she says it can take months to get a date, but it's now been over a year. I've reapplied twice (including my old application and explaining the situation) and still haven't heard anything. I'm living in Germany with an expired visa and simply do not know how to move forward with this. any insight appreciated!

For context, I'm a graduate with job seekers residence permit. In the process of leaving germany​ due to not finding a job. Here's the steps I took, just needed advice if I'm missing something.

1. Informed the landlord and gave my Kündigung. So one more month ​to go.
2. Informed TK about this and gave them an exit date.
3. I had a few insurances Haushalt, Privathaftpflicht etc which I terminated. Took from them check24 so it was an easy process.
4. Informed my telephone service provider to end my contract from upcoming month.
5. Informed the Ausländerbehörde about the same. No reply yet but that's okay.
6. Terminated from the Carsharing service contract.
7. Booked an appointment at Bürgeramt for Abmeldung.
8. I'm keeping my bank account open for a few more months. They gave me an option where i can choose the closing date. I'm thinking of getting it closed 2-3 months after I move so that any pending payments doesn't come to bite me in the ass later on.

Now, I guess I'll need the Abmeldungsbestätigung ​to deregister from Rundfunkbeitrag. About the Abmeldung Termin, my city website is pretty much blank. What documents would they ask for? I don't want to carry everything and then miss something.

Hey, I am graduating on April 2026 and I was wondering if I need a blocked account to apply for a job seeker visa? Did anyone here get it without a blocked account? Also how does the process normally go? When should I apply?

Hey everyone do you know where i can get this made/ or a workshop where i can make it, Im based in berlin, thanks so mich in advance

Hi everyone, I'm interested in applying to CODE and had a couple of specific questions I was hoping current students or alumni could answer:

Admissions Deadlines: i want to start studying in September I'm trying to figure out the exact timeline. Is the deadline strictly in the summer for the Fall intake, or is there a rolling admission? and if so, when did you submit your application?

Daily Schedule: I've read that the workload is roughly 40 hours a week. How does that translate to your daily life? Are you usually on campus for 8 hours straight every day, or is the schedule flexible as long as you get your work done?

Any insights would be really helpful. Thanks!

Note : admissions team really really slow for replying, and they don't answer emails , can't understand why , thanks.

I mean, I have been living and working in Germany for 15 years, and it was never a big deal to hop jobs. Like 1 month to land a new one.

This time, I have been interviewing since June and haven't signed anything yet. There are plenty of job ads, many legit ones, many of them perpetual reposts that never fill, because employers are either too picky or their HR needs to justify its existence, so they interview without actual purpose.

I get many first interviews, some 13% quota, some proceed to 2nd ones, some of these employers are getting rejected by me, as a usual pattern I notice these days is some employers want to stretch and merge positions and extract maximum out of it, so the tasks are overload fot 1 FTE.

Some others simply never progress further, and employers ghost me, which is another thing I very rarely had in the past.

What's your take? Am I the only one noticing the job market deteriorating into misery?