Oh Happy Day! / Heartbreak of the Day

Well, that was quick...I have a visa!!!

Lesson learned, folks: if I ever need to live in Germany again (and therefore need to pacify the immigration office), I will either be
1) married;
2) already under contract for employment in Germany;
or 3) signed up to study something somewhere within the country's borders.

No messin' around. By becoming a student, I clearly became what they wanted...one more person willing to learn their ridiculously difficult language that no one needs to know anymore! But instead of cursing myself for taking German from 6th to 10th grade and then again in college, I will just be grateful that I'm not beginning in German, but rather improving my skills. Hey, maybe by the time we come back home, I'll be at the level necessary to study in a German university! What's that you say? Pointless? Yeaahhhh, I know. But hey! You never know. What makes me the happiest, of course, is that I get to stay here with the love of my life and support him in his decision to become a brewer. If I didn't do what I needed to stay here with Jack, I'm not sure I'd ever forgive myself--not because I'd be a horrible person, but because I know I'd always regret it.

In other news, I've made a fairly distressing observation: many homeless people around Berlin seem to be using dogs as bait for money. I've seen this at home, but not to the extent I have here. Now, I know this may seem a little controversial, but let me explain. 

At home, in Chicago, there were a couple different kinds of street people you might run into--the guy asking for change in the same spot on the same corner next to the same coffee shop you run into every day before work who might actually have a place to go home to; the worn-down, sun-spotted veteran asking for change at the highway off-ramp where underneath he most likely seeks shelter; or the more-than-likely mentally ill homeless person, pushing a cart full of garbage, muttering to herself. But here, in Berlin, you don't see a lot of older, ragged homeless people who clearly need psychiatric intervention or shelter. What one can readily observe is the presence of street kids--people anywhere from their late teens to late twenties, pierced and tough-looking, yet broken and lost--who often sit out in groups in public places, drinking (or doing drugs) and sometimes in a quite confrontational way, ask you for your change. When they don't feel like getting up to ask you for coin, they'll hang out on the ground. Many of them camp out on the street with dogs in tow. 


What is most dismaying about a scene with a dog (or more than one) is that usually, the dogs look more sad than the wasted youth do. These dogs stare at you more longingly than I've ever seen Athena (as pathetic as she may be!) look when she wants your love and attention. There is nothing better--or worse--to describe these dogs than heartbreaking. It's as if their eyes are saying, "Won't you take me with you? Can you give me a better life?" 

Although dogs make great companions, as I'm sure they do to these kids, dogs are also dependent on people for their livelihood. And as these kids go, I'm not sure that any of them are fit to provide the conditions a dog would need to survive and thrive, especially while living in the squalid, unstable conditions of homelessness.


I have so many questions about this particular condition. First of all, where did all these young people come from? What are their stories? Do they want to live on the street? If not, why won't they at least admit defeat to give their pets a better life? And if they choose this street life, why doesn't the public react? Isn't there some kind of anti-cruelty society or animal care and control that can pick up these dogs and place them with adoptive families? Why, Berlin, do you let this continue?  

As a responsible and caring (new) citizen, what do you do?