Who Do Berliners Live With? | Easy German 601

Hello people. Berlin is known for its colourful diversity and that is reflected in the way people live. Some live in huge flats, others live alone and some have unusual roommates. Like me for example. I live together with an 80 year old lady. And today I want to know from the people who they live with and would they rather live alone or with someone else. Let's go. Who do you live with? With my husband. How long have you been living together? 60 years. Wow that's a long time. Do you prefer to live with someone or alone? I have always lived with someone so I can't really judge. Oh wow. I would rather live together. Who do you live with? With my girlfriend. How long have you been living together? Since September. And what's better? Living alone or with someone else? What do you prefer? I think with someone else. Because then you're not alone. Otherwise it gets too lonely. I live in a house project with 30 people. Wow. What's a house project? A house project is a community where we live together and share everything. As much as possible. For example our washing machine. We only have two in the house for 30 people. And that's how we save resources. Who do you live with? Alone. Alone. Very nice. Do you prefer to live alone or with someone else? Oh. It just happened in my life that I live alone at the moment. There is no preference. Who do you live with? With my family of course. Who belongs to your family? For example Alfred, Merle, Wanda and my dad. His name is Ralf. Do you prefer to live alone or with someone else? That's a very honest question to answer. I really enjoyed living alone. And you get used to it quickly. So it would be weird to suddenly have to live alone again. So to your answer. Sometimes like this, sometimes like that. Who do you live with? I live with myself. Alone. That's nice. How long have you been living alone? I've been living in this apartment for 12 years. Wow, that's a long time. Do you prefer to live alone or with someone else? It depends. I like to be here alone. To make everything more flexible. Sometimes I would like to be with someone else. But I'm constantly visiting. Or I rent the apartment and travel by myself. It's a bit more flexible. I live with my brother Kate. He is two years older than me. And is probably temporary. So he won't stay that long either. But it's very nice so far. And I live in Bamberg. Or we live in Bamberg. At the moment we actually live alone, together. We live alone as a married couple. We have a 26-year-old son. But he moved out nine years ago. So we've been living alone at home since then. Who do you live with? I live with my roommate. She's from Bulgaria. Her name is Elena. How long have you been living together? Seven months. Not that long. Do you prefer to live alone or with someone else? I prefer to live with someone else. What are the advantages of living with someone else? In general, in everyday life. In the case of my girlfriend, we can share the household. We can go shopping alternately. We can share who does the cleaning and who does the cleaning. Or we can take off work from each other. And live well together. And in the sense of ... I've already lived in flats. That's where things come into being. Things that wouldn't otherwise come into being. You sit in the kitchen longer in the evening and have an interesting conversation. What are the advantages of living with a large family? The advantages ... You can distribute tasks. Of course, you have to communicate that well. And that requires some practice. Then you have a little less work, if you just share it. You can play games. You can't do that well alone. What else can you do? Together ... Do you have one? You can cook well together. With the family. And what would you say are the advantages of living alone? I can always read when I want to. I don't necessarily have to do the dishes right away. I can furnish the apartment just as I want it. Are there any advantages if you were to live alone? What would that be? Well, of course. You are then in charge of your own daily routine. Partnership always means compromise. Ask the other person what he wants. And then make decisions together that are best reflected in the middle. That's why living alone always has the advantage that you can then follow your own plans. You live alone and you are bored or you just need a break from your roommates. Then we can recommend our partner app Seatlang. With Seatlang, you can improve your German with various interactive exercises. For example with the trivia game. Among other things, Kari or I host the show and you can guess directly understand the sentences and choose the right answers. Take a look. How do you call the opposition in politics? That's correct. The opposition in politics is called the opposition. Try it out. You can enter Seatlang.com or download the app directly in the App Store or Google Play Store. What are the challenges when you live with someone? Communication and bringing together different lifestyles. For example, my room was right next to the kitchen and a roommate was always awake at 7 o'clock and I had a different sleeping rhythm. And then I always woke up when he made a coffee or clapped the dishes. And then to say, hey, I live right next to the kitchen, please be a little quieter in the morning and don't try to knock on the door when I wake up. But I went to bed much later than you not to be so loud in the evening when he is already sleeping. So to bring together different lifestyles and expectations of life in the apartment and to communicate that well without getting angry and emotional. I think that in my apartment there can sometimes be many challenges because we are an intergenerational house project with different generations. And of course that sometimes leads to that, for example, there are people who need greater peace and quiet, which can sometimes lead to a conflict that there are many smaller children in the house, who are sometimes loud in the morning. And you have to organize that a bit that people have rooms where their standards for peace and quiet are somehow adapted. What is the youngest person and the oldest? The youngest person is, I think, two years old and the oldest person is around 51, early 60. Really nice! In any case, that you are in order, that you come to an agreement, that you somehow make sure that both feel comfortable. With my old roommate the style question was also a very big topic. We had very different styles and then whether you want to hang up the poster or not was a bit difficult. And that's also a well-being factor. But I think above all orderliness, that you somehow clean up behind you. I think that's the most important thing. What disadvantages are there when you live with someone? You have to be considerate. Everyone has their quirks and of course their preferences. You always have to be willing to compromise. But basically there are no real disadvantages except if you understand each other. The communication. You have to agree on everything. Of course, if you live with several people, you have a bigger apartment with more costs. But that's actually something that works, if everyone joins in. At least if everyone earns two. Disadvantages? In any case, if people have different ideas of order. That's one of the main problems. If you live in a small apartment, you may not have a retreat that you would like to have. If you don't get along so well, you may get on your nerves. But otherwise ... It's hard if you can't really get away. And what are the disadvantages of living alone? It's colder at night. It's more expensive. And if you feel like exchanging ideas spontaneously, you have to hope that someone will answer the phone. What would you say are the challenges of living alone? Recently I was sick with a fever in bed. I thought it would be nice if someone was there. But my neighbors ... We are friends and someone always comes and brings something. Do you remember a moment when you were really happy to live with someone? I think because I'm living with my girlfriend right now and we cook for each other. That's a stupid example. But then you come home and you know that no one has cooked and I can eat something now. I had an exhausting day and that's nice. And you have company. Otherwise I would have had to cook or go shopping. Or I am always happy when such things arise. I am grateful in every moment when I need human proximity. We are social beings. I assume that we are always part of the principle and wish for a social environment. I started breakfast and I am grateful for every other moment when I have my wife around me. It goes from morning to evening until I sleep. I am glad that someone is there. Even if you stay in separate rooms, you know that the other person is close to you. You can have your peace and retreat if you want. There are many small moments when I am grateful. For example when after a long day food is on the stove and you can take something from it. That's always great. Or when something great happened to me after the election. A person organized a meeting in our community to look at the election results so that we are not all alone. This afternoon I had to repair my bike. I was glad that I had someone who repaired the bike and not only helped. For example when I was very sick she bought medicine for me in the pharmacy. It's always nice when someone takes care of you. Was there a moment when you were grateful that you live alone? Yes, in the morning. Sometimes my ritual takes two hours. That I can have my space or receive visitors as I want. You don't have to agree. I enjoy that. As expected we got to know many different types of living. Now we want to know how you live. Do you prefer to live alone or with someone? Let us know in the comments. If you want to improve your German become an EasyGerman member. More information is in the description. See you next time.