Life in the Former DDR

As to be expected, life in East Germany is a bit different than in the West. Take for example Barbara, Thomas' mother. Having been born in 1952, she was raised in an environment that is the complete opposite of mine. She claims that 'Socialism' is her religion, and romanticizes the era where people had to line up for days for their yearly supply of potatoes every September.

Just to be clear, not everybody here in the East is very fond of the former German Democratic Republic. The young people, in particular, don't care. Like those old Marcos loyalists, the people who want the DDR back are those who think that things were better back then. The point is, that time is not going to tick back into the past.

Old habits really die hard. She still buys 'Rot Weiß' toothpaste ("This was the brand of toothpaste we had in the DDR!"). She eats potatoes that have tubers growing out of them ("We can only get them every Spetember in the DDR. They are still Ok!"), and is very proud of her crockery ("Made in the DDR!"). East Germans then had to line up and hoard whatever was available back then. Carrots, flour, you name it. Suplies are only available while it lasts. STaples like vegetables were available maybe only three or four times a year.

The modern day East German, instead of hoarding whatever is available from the state grocery stores, is on the prowl for discounts. Everytime Barbara and I go grocey shopping, she buys whatever she sees is on sale. Regardless of whether or not she needs it, regardless of whether or not she actually knows what she is actually buying, it goes in the basket.

One time I was rummaging through her cupboards for something to eat, I chanced onto an unopened bottle of Wasabi.

"Hey cool, Wasabi!"
"You know what it is?"
"Yeah, it tastes great with fish. It's Japanese."
"Oh."
"You don't know what it is? Why did you buy it?"
"It was on sale."

Old cloth, unnecessary flower pots, and unknown spices. We have so much junk in our house just because "You never know when you're gonna need them. You never know when they will go on sale again."

I once asked her if she prefers Socialist East Germany or today's united Germany. She chewed on my question and answered, "We do have a lot of freedoms now. But one needs money to buy it. We had the best schools and everybody had a job. Everybody was really equal."

I was silent after that. I thought about Darwanism. She would never survive evolution. She knows that not everything was great back then. Power failures and heating interruptions were frequent. She once had to spend three days curled up fetal position in bed, while taking care of three children, during a particularly bitter German winter.

I guess the DDR represents to her a time when everybody was happy, she had a husband, a job, and a family. In the present, she was not able to find a job, he left her and her children are grown.

Barbara and I get along very well. It's just that sometimes, I wish she would stop living in the past.