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Corner Gärtnerstrasse, Grünbergerstrasse
I’m Florian, I was born in Friedrichshain, and at the moment, I’m a student.
And you’ve been living here all your life?
I haven’t been out of Friedrichshain for longer than 6 weeks – all my life.
Why is that?
Because it’s my home and I haven’t been on vacation for a longer holiday than 6 weeks.
What do you like about Friedrichshain?
What do I like about Friedirchshain – that it is authentic, and, up until now, not yet as commercialised as Mitte, Prenzlauerberg (parts of Berlin), maybe, but it’s not going to be long, then it will be the exact same.
Do you see signs for this development?
Er, … yes, I mean, all the tourists who come here, now especially the area here. Five years ago there was one or two hostels here, by now it’s ten or fifteen. The more tourists are coming here, the more people it’s attracting of course. Normal people, that aren’t as alternative, bio-minded, like here on the bio market…
Where exactly are you just coming from and where are you going?
From the Bio-market, I bought my weekend food. And I came from home and now I’m going home.
Where is your home?
Around the corner.
Which street?
Kolbestrasse. So just 3 minutes walk, that is.
Eric spells the word „werden“ here – („become“). What has already become for you today – and what do you expect will „become“ today yet? So to say – what do you want to do and maybe you’ve got an idea – if you can do something with that question.
Ah, depends what you mean. For me personally, myself, or …
The way you want to answer the question.
For Friedrichshain, or … the way I want to answer it …
Both if you like, I find both aspects interesting.
Ok, for myself maybe that it doesn’t actually interest me so much what is „becoming“. One should, I mean, by now I find it much more important to live in the now and to enjoy the moment, and also when it’s raining today and when it’s shitty but … to try to still do something with the day. Without concentrating on how many written exams you still have to take, or how many career stepps you got to take on the ladder to finally reach your goal as well … that maybe isn’t such an ideal in the end.
And when it comes to the society it’s actually exactly the same. If you look too far into the future – what becomes of Germany, of Friedrichshain, the more uncomfortable you start to feel. Thinking of observation, the wheelings and dealings of the government, what they all do and deal…
Are you politically active?
I am politically active. At least in my head. Even when I stopped going to the elections and don’t want to belong to an organisation really, the organisations that are known, you know. But for myself I follow a lot of things very closely. Among them the things you don’t hear about in the TV. Or read about in the newspapers.
How do you collect your information?
From the internet. There are a lot of sources and discussion forums by people who can still think themselves really and don’t have to listen to their editor-in-chief or to some commercial partner. Er .. that is.. a great region, somehow like in Friedrichshain. The Internet I mean.
What are you going to do today and what do you expect will „become“ for you today?
Right, I go home now, then I’m going to make my strawberries for myself that I just bought for myself, for 3 Euro 3 bowls, and after that I’ll see, maybe my new girlfriend will drop by – the girl I like I mean, and maybe we undertake something together. Go out eating something, or we just spend time together and enjoy the rain, on a Saturday afternoon in Berlin-Friedrichshain.
Sounds good. Thank you.
Yes, ok.