Growing up in Berlin is fucking awesome! I was born in Bielefeld, spent my first 10 years there, but then moved to Berlin with my family and spent my formative years there. I grew up in the north of Neukölln, right at the border of Kreuzberg. Now, Kreuzberg and Neukölln are kind of know to be social burning points. read more
In 2004 the birth rate in Germany was 1.4 per woman, well short of the 2 per woman needed to maintain a steady population. Although not as disastrous as in countries such as Italy, Germany's birth rate of 8.3 per 10,000 population compares badly to rates of 10.8 in Britain, 12.3 in Australia and a massive 14.1 in the US. read more
After reading another traveler’s account of his brief visit to East Berlin in 1987, I thought I’d start peppering her with more questions about what it was like to grow up in the East. The below anecdotes are strictly from her memory, the way she remembered things. I didn’t want to mess that up with any research. read more