vailian

We went to pick up Cousin Elias at his house in the Prenzlauer district of Berlin. We had been told to advise him in advance of our coming, that we should "tell him to hang the bell out". He lives in one of the numerous "Besetzte Häuser" (illegally occupied houses) in Berlin. When we pulled up, I rang his bell, which was a length of string coming down from his window. The string was attached Rube Goldberg fashion to a rocking chair in his room, on the chair an empty beer bottle. A primitive but effective doorbell.

He sleeps on these boards, his "bedroom" accessible via an ancient ladder.

He is in Berlin studying electrical engineering. I didn't see any books in the room, which is anyhow very difficult to navigate due to myriad found objects.
Electricity is available in his room (but not in most rooms in the house) but I was afraid to ask him where it was coming from. Heating is effected with a tiny coal burning oven in the corner.
He lives here to save money, but also by choice... his parents are both working professionals, and the tuition fees in German universities is roughly$700 per year.
I asked him how he came to be accepted into the house (it has 50 occupants, who share a single kitchen). He said he had to be recommended by a resident, and then had to cook a meal for the entire community; this was a kind of entrance exam.