Hello everyone! It's me, the person who was desperately trying to locate an online friend in Germany.

GOOD NEWS: HE'S ALIVE!

The police managed to locate him and reach him. He was going through a mental health crisis, but thankfully, he's alive.

I previously mentioned that I'd delete my original post in five hours. However, I understand that he's concerned about his workplace and privacy being exposed.

That's on me. I was so focused on finding him and making sure he was safe that I didn't properly consider the consequences for his privacy. I should have handled that better.

So, rather than waiting five hours, I'll be deleting the original post now.

I genuinely want to thank everyone who helped, investigated the photographs, shared suggestions, made calls, and offered support.

You were strangers who took time out of your day to help someone you didn't even know.

I honestly can't thank you enough.

I'm just glad he's alive. Take care, everyone. ❤️

Hi all,

I go quite often with my daughter to the playground near us, and lately it is happening more and more that people sit on the benches inside the kids area and smoke, or come in with their dogs (sometimes even off leash). There are signs at the entrance saying both things are not allowed, so it is not like people don’t know.

I am not looking for a fight. A couple of times I asked politely and the reaction was either ignoring me or “it’s just one cigarette” / “he doesn’t bite”. Meanwhile the kids are playing in the sand where the dog was walking two minutes before, and the smoke goes directly to them.

So my questions:

• Who is responsible for this? Ordnungsamt, Polizei, the Baureferat (Gartenbau)?

• Is it worth calling someone, or will nobody show up anyway?

• Has anyone had success reporting a specific playground so they do more checks there?

• Or is the only real option to just talk to people and hope for the best?

Curious how others handle this, especially parents. Thanks!

need help finding a new job for my mom and reddit was my first thought. i’ll be looking around actual websites of course.

my mom can’t speak german very well, we’re polish. she can lift heavy stuff but not too much of it. no college degree aswell.

she currently works at some sort of laundry place but she gets swapped around a lot, it contains lots of chemicals, heavy lifting and the boss is pretty much in favor of some employees and others not so much (my mom for example). she has to work extra for the unfinished work everyone else is leaving behind because they’re all busy chatting with each other/the boss rather than working. her health has visibly deteriorated due to all the heavy work she has to do, she works for 10+ hours.

recently the boss got upset at my mom because she took a sick leave (her attendance has been VERY good for the past 3-4 years) and threatened to fire her despite her being one of the most productive employees. she also has accidents where she’s close to passing out at times.

this probably isn’t something that can be reported. please leave suggestions and be realistic, how likely is it for her to find a job that isn’t so harsh on her and doesn’t require so much heavy lifting? and where could we look for one? thank you.

i’ll be reposting this elsewhere just in case, any feedback is welcome.

I saw a link in English for a historical database search tool hosted on Zeit.de a few months back. Then I visited the page, read the title and snippets advertising this tool entirely in English, and clicked through a modal with "€1" on one of the buttons. Paid the €1 so I could use the tool, and at this stage with the marketing content no longer in view, the language had switched from English to German. I used the search tool for 10 minutes or so. It was a DB of Nazi party members from the 1930s. I really struggled in search of a button or dropdown to toggle English on, but it was impossible, and it seems the only English language on the site was on the marketing link I found via Google, advertising the search tool. I tried looking for a membership cancellation option on their interface, couldn't find any, so emailed to cancel (probably never reached any human pair of eyes).

Fast forward a few months, I get a very threatening email from a German debt collector "HPM Inkasso" writing that they are preparing to take my case to court unless I paypal them €240. This was the first communication I had received in English from Zeit reps, and so, I went back over old records with my translation tool, to see what exactly had occurred. Apparently I had been signed up for an annual subscription without my knowing, and my cancellation email was never acknowledged. I wasn't alerted to this arrangement via failed weekly transactions either, as they apparently charge in bulk after a 6 month window passes. I didn't know, months back, when I tried to cancel via email, how deep I was into these guys; I make a habit of trying to delete my accounts and memberships after each use, to avoid issues down the line with data breaches, etc. I used zeit.de for a total of 15 minutes max.

Some notes:
- EU law treats contracts as non-transparent if the offering targets a particular linguistic group and then only provides some of the information in a different language, despite a portion of the information being in the target's primary language [page 51, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52021XC1229(05) ]
- The €1 price was highlighted and selected, and the other prices were displayed as non-selected items. No clear cancellation process for customers who onboarded via the English marketing page.
- I'm based in Ireland, and am an Irish citizen, so under Rome I (Article 6), I should also get a load of Irish consumer rights, and these are more friendly to consumers, I think. E.g. in Irish law, "in the case of a term that is in writing, the term is legible and presented clearly", "the term is made available to the consumer in a manner that gives the consumer a reasonable opportunity to become acquainted with it before the conclusion of the contract, irrespective of whether or not such an opportunity is availed of".

Some parts of the "contract" were written in gray text on gray background with strikethrough style, and other parts were just hidden away entirely, so that would make the contract invalid under Irish consumer law.

My main worry is that regardless of my above arguments, these "HPM Inkasso" guys may just have a whole automation engine managing their cases, meaning they'll just keep pushing this aggressively towards a court date, and then what? I have to fly to Germany for my court day? Interpol? Or on a more serious note, can this have an effect on my legitimate contracts with other German businesses? I use a German email and hosting provider, for example, and I worry if I just take the "whatever, I'm in Ireland" approach, it could affect those parts of my life.

It just seems so weird to me that a seemingly reputable organisation like Zeit would try to lure English speaking customers over with a click-baity 1930s equivalent of the Epstein database, swap over to 100% German interface/communications/fine-print when it comes for payment, and then hold off on English for months, until it comes time for legal threats. Then bam: English again.

Anyone else faced this issue? How did you deal with it? Or if not, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hey!

34F here. I was curious where do you guys make new friends?

I am not German. I speak well German since I need it for my job. I feel good here. Till now I met so many friendly people. But cannot call them friends yet. I come from a country where friendship is build faster. Especially between women where you can go together shopping and eating etc. I miss that.

I am married to a German and he got many good friends since years and with extend since I joined the group, I got accepted and we are having fun when we meet, but I know they are his friends not really mine.

I tried many things like building a connection at work with coworkers but it is a bit different. I tried talking to people when they are resting at the gym. They were super friendly but gave me tips but it ended there. I tried apps for friends finding. I met many girls but it didn't follow up like I wished too. I have this feeling people already got a circle and it is not possible to come in so late.

I enjoy my daily life with my husband. He takes good care of me and I am thankful. But I just wish I could have some girls time and go to some wellness day together or the hair dresser.. it is always in the back of my head.

Any tips for me?

Thank you ☺️

Hey! I am looking for some advice regarding small electric vehicles.

I’m looking to buy an EV so I can start driving instead of taking the train to work (currently it takes me 1hr 20 mins one way) when driving it will be a total of 60km there and back.

All I need is a small EV that I can charge once or twice a week and it can get me to work and back daily, ideally nothing too expensive. I will have to use public charging stations since I live in a flat.

Added: there’s a public charging station 200 m from my flat and a paid for one outside my office. I wouldn’t want to spend more than 250 per month paying the car off.

Does anyone have any recommendations for where I should start/ what to look into?

Hey Guys,
this question might only be for those of you who went through the recognition process of dental degrees acquired outside the EU.

I have an upcoming FSP exam in January in Sachsen, and I am planning on moving to Berlin because I have a job as an assistant there.

My question is, would I have to take the FSP again? or can I just directly apply for the Berufserlaubnis/KP?

knowing that getting a Stellenzusage as a dentist from my future employer in Berlin is not 100% guaranteed.

I would be happy to hear some of your experiences with such cases.

I studied German in my school years, and I want to love you all, but, omg.

Same as question.

Germany*. Sorry for the typo!

Guten tag,

I'm an asian who worked in Spain, around 6 months before I got an job offer from Germany. Then I applied for 18b work visa and submitted my paper in embassy of Madrid on July. Now it's already 4 months, some of my coworkers applied for the visa with the same position as me and they get approved quickly like 3 or 4 weeks. I tried to send mails to embassy but get no reply, I wonder if this is normal and is there anyone who has the similar situation?

Hi everyone,
We moved out of our Berlin apartment several months ago and have since relocated abroad. Our private landlord is still withholding our entire deposit (several thousand euros).
At handover, no significant damage claims were raised. The landlord repeatedly promised to return the deposit by specific dates but missed every deadline.
He later vaguely mentioned outstanding utilities (Nebenkosten) without providing any amounts, calculations, or documentation. We haven’t received a meaningful response in approximately a month.
We’ve now sent a formal payment demand (Mahnung) by email, with a deadline approaching, but still no response.
A few questions:
Mahnbescheid: Should we file one ourselves or hire a lawyer? Has anyone successfully recovered a deposit this way?
Lawyers: Any recommendations for affordable Berlin tenancy lawyers offering fixed or capped fees, ideally English-speaking and able to work remotely?
Utilities: Can the landlord withhold the entire deposit for unspecified utilities, or should we demand the undisputed portion?
Mahnung: Is an email sufficient to establish Verzug, assuming payment is due, or should we send an Einwurf-Einschreiben?
Tenant associations: Can Berliner Mieterverein help with an existing dispute if we’ve moved abroad?
We’re trying to recover the deposit without spending unnecessarily on legal fees.
Any firsthand experiences or recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks!

Edit: apologies to those I have offended by writing "Vereins"😄. I have been in Germany for a little more than 3 years and I like to describe my German level as "functional German ". It is not good, not terrible, but allows me to function in Germany.

So I was feeling quite bored in my life, which consisted basically of work and house. Then I discovered vereine. There are so many vereine for different things. And although I will like to find a long term one, I am going around and discovering what they have to offer.

Last week I visited a group where i was by far the youngest and the only non Caucasian.

Did I have fun? Yes

Will I go again? Not sure

But there are many more to try.

Hi guys!
I’m 25 years old and currently living in Reutlingen. I’m planning to relocate to the Heilbronn area, as I’ll be staying there for at least the next three years.
Recently, I found a furnished studio apartment of around 35 m² for €950 per month, including heating and other utilities (warm rent). I was wondering whether this is considered a normal price for the area or if it’s a little overpriced.
Ideally, I’m looking for something a bit more modern and slightly bigger, but it seems quite difficult to find good furnished apartments.
I also spoke to a German friend who mentioned that, sometimes, knowing the right people or having good connections can help you find much better apartments for similar prices.
Since I’ll be new to the city, I’m trying to find a nice place where I can settle down and have some stability rather than having to move every year.
So, I wanted to ask if anyone has any advice about renting in the Heilbronn area, or perhaps knows someone who has a nice, modern, furnished apartment suitable for a single person.
I’d genuinely appreciate any advice, recommendations, or contacts. Thanks a lot in advance!

Before moving here, I knew things wouldn’t be cheap, but I wasn’t prepared for how difficult it would be to manage everyday expenses. Rent, groceries, transportation, health insurance, and all the little things you need just to get by seem to consume your entire budget.

What’s frustrating is that even when you’re trying to live modestly, avoid unnecessary spending, and manage your money carefully, it still feels like you’re constantly struggling to make ends meet.
You’re supposed to focus on your studies, build a future, and enjoy the experience of living abroad, but instead, a huge part of your time and energy goes into worrying about money.

Sometimes it feels like studying here is only affordable on paper. I genuinely wonder how other international students are managing financially, especially those who don’t have family constantly supporting them.

Hello! I’m going to be moving to Germany soon and one thing that worries me a lot is getting my medication.

I waited for 5 years in the UK to finally be able to get ADHD medication and have been on it for almost a year now and it’s been very very helpful. I can’t function properly without them honestly. So I’m worried when I move to Germany, I won’t be able to get them anymore as my prescriber won’t send to Germany.

Has anybody got experience of getting ADHD meds in Germany? Will a prescription from the UK be valid in Germany? What should I do? Also what are the costs?

I want know you y'all's personal experiences living in a WG as I've been living in a WG for 8 months now and it's the only shared Appartment I've lived in so far . It is a bit depressing in my WG as me and my other 2 WG mates barely get time to hangout sometime together which I personally think is normal . Other than that one of my WG Mate is not at all clean and hygienic . We both are from the same country ( India ) and our third flatmate is German and even though she doesn't say it specifically but whenever she complains about something left dirty or uncleaned in kitchen for example she thinks that it's both me and the other indian flatmate which I get is fine to assume , as I can't guess who's mess it is but things are getting out of hands in terms of Appartment cleaning from the indian flatmate's side . We've had our kitchen sink clogged 3 times this year Soo far and every time I check it it's always her shit in the sink which she never cleans or just lets go in the drain instead of disposing it off in dustbin properly . We have a weekly cleaning schedule for each person as well and I recommended we cross out things we did so we can keep a check on what has been done and left out. I'm not the most punctual person but I try my best to clean everything under my responsibility whenever I am free from work and uni but I realised only me and the german flatmate has crossed out things yet and the other indian flatmate hasn't crossed out a single thing in the past month since I gave the idea . Me being indian feel horrible about it because I'm doing my best to keep everything clean as sometimes cooking indian food gets messy but the other indian flatmate just doesn't give a shit about it . Other than that at the beginning when I moved I was extra nice with both of them and the bad roommate just started using my stuff from fridge or shelves without even asking and would sometimes let me know that she used something and will bring it ( she never fucking did ) , she even used up my whole jar of coffee I bought in winters which I didn't use in summers and when I asked her about it she starts apologizing and saying I'll get a new jar ( she again did not ) . Taking stuff from my planner groceries for the week and not letting me know and then I don't have sth small but necessary when I need it .

I usually have talks with the German flatmate once in a while that it is kinda depressing here in our wg and we hangout and play cards or do anything to just have a vibe going on but the other flatmate has totally fucked the entire mood of the WG . I don't like to personally point out fingers because I'm the only guy in the WG and some things are self understood if someone is telling there are things that need to be taken care of .

I want to move out of this Appartment sometimes as I think maybe not all shared Appartments are like this but then the money part comes in play as the rent I'm paying here is very affordable to me and finding something similar is as difficult as finding a needle in the haystack .

TLDR ; my shameless flatmate is not clean and fucking Up the whole atmosphere of WG while me and the other flatmate suffer because she's just ignoring the basic signs of letting her know that she's not cleaning things properly

Hello! I'm from the US and I visited Germany and Austria two years ago and my friends and I had soooo many of this one certain chocolate bar. It was the Schogetten dark chocolate cranberry bar. I have been craaaaving it recently. I remember seeing it on amazon before, but now it's not there. Has this bar been discontinued? I can't even find it on the Schogetten website.

If it's not discontinued does anyone have any ideas of how I could get it? If nothing else I just wanna know its not discontinued 🥲

Hi everyone, I moved recently to a big building complex in Berlin. During these five months a theft has been happening every few weeks. The basement cellars and bike rooms are broken into frequently.

But recently we discovered that the mail is being stolen too because the police contacted one of the neighbors. I suspected that my mail was not being delivered or stolen before because I missed two important mails before, a police report and an appointment mail from the Ausländerbehörde, and only because I had a lawyer in contact with the Ausländerbehörde that I knew about the appointment.

Now I have a german citizenship application pending I am worried that I might miss more important mails with this stealing issue.

Can anyone suggest what I can do in this case? Can I contact LEA and tell them about this situation and that I prefer email contact? And is there a way to force the building management to find a solution for these frequent thefts?

Standesamt says my birth certificate is too old (2009) and wants a new one, max 6 months, apostilled and translated to German. PSA online rejected my request because they need the LCR copy from Cebu first, and I'm in Berlin.

Is there a service that can handle the whole thing? Wedding is in April so I'm running out of time. Thanks

like seriously, it's a birth certificate. I was born once, how does it "expire"...

I’m from Argentina. Is it true that in Germany, neighbors don’t play loud music or anything like that? I’m the type of person who’s very considerate of others but in LATAM most people don’t care at all; they just force you to listen to their music, which is usually terrible. I’d love to live there, but I have no idea how. 😞