S1E9 - Internship at the German Parliament

Speaking. Labern. Speaking. Sprechen. Plaudern. Speaking of Berlin. Welcome back to another episode of Speaking of Berlin. a podcast that introduces you to the city we call home while helping you learn German along the way. Berlin is a city full of stories, and today we're going to hear another one. In German, of course. I'm Ted.

your guide for this podcast i'll bring you along as we explore berlin through the eyes of someone who lives here and did you know that we've put together a transcript for you you can read along while you listen. And believe me, you'll get so much more out of the episode if you do. Not only will everything be easier to understand, but you'll also have access to other media like pictures, so you can see some of the things that we talk about. Just go to babel.com slash podcasts to find it. All set.

Then sit back and relax as my colleague Cornelia tells us what it was like for her, a small-town girl from East Germany, to move to the big city and intern at the German parliament, or Bundestag. Ich bin in Thüringen geboren und aufgewachsen. Thüringen ist ein Bundesland im Osten von Deutschland. Es ist meine Heimat. Dann vor 15 Jahren kam ich I went to Berlin for my study at the Free University. At that time I was a somewhat naive young woman from the country.

Cornelia comes from Thüringen. Or, as we'd say in English, Thuringia, one of the 16 Bundesländer, or federal states, of Germany, and one of the six so-called new states that were reintegrated into the Republic after the fall of East Germany. Although small, with only about 2.1 million inhabitants, it's beloved as das Grüne Herz Deutschlands, the green heart of Germany. It's full of beautiful forests and is home to some of Germany's most well-known hiking trails.

When she moved to Berlin, a city with one and a half times the population of her home state, Cornelia felt like a land eye. Literally, country egg. Or, as I'd say, country bumpkin. As a land eye from Wisconsin myself, I definitely understand the feeling.

This time was very exciting. Our office was very chic. It was in the Paul-Loebe-Haus, a very modern building. Von meinem Schreibtisch aus hatte ich einen wunderschönen Blick direkt auf die Spree. I went to the Bundestag, high in the famous Glaskuppel. Sometimes alone. Ich liebte diesen Ort. Cornelia's internship at the parliament was thrilling. Aufregend. She worked in the Paul-Loebe-Haus.

a beautiful glass building that juts right up against the river spray, which she had a great view of from her desk, or Schreibtisch. The Reichstag building, which houses the German Bundestag, or Parliament, is right across the street. and she used to walk over to visit one of her favorite spots, the glaskuppel, or glass dome that stands at the center of the building. This new glass dome, constructed in 1993, carries a lot of symbolism with it.

The dome itself is transparent, representing the need for transparency in government. It's also open to the public, with a walkway spiraling up the inside walls. If you look down below, you can see the floor of Parliament. This... sends the message that the people are above the government, in stark contrast to how things were during the Third Reich.

Ich habe Meetings vorbereitet, Protokolle geschrieben. Jeden Tag habe ich Politikerinnen und Politiker getroffen. Manchmal sogar Angela Merkel. Schon damals... I also organized big congresses. Or the visit of messages. The visit... Des Botschafters aus Indonesien werde ich niemals vergessen. The internship is also really varied or vielseitig, literally many-sided.

Cornelia was involved in meeting preparation and often sat in to take the minutes. She met a bunch of famous politicians, including, on a few occasions, Angela Merkel, who was Bundeskanzlerin, Chancellor, even way back in 2006. But one of her favorite memories was a visit by the Indonesian embassy staff. During their visit, Cornelia's job was to organize a lunch with the Botschafter aus Indonesien, the Ambassador from Indonesia.

Dafür habe ich ein chinesisches Restaurant ausgesucht. Ich war sehr aufgeregt. Aber alles lief gut. Und das Essen war sehr lecker. Ich kam mit vielen Leuten ins Gespräch. Das waren interessante Gespräche. Doch dann hörte ich Geräusche, schlürfen und rülpsen. War etwas mit dem Essen nicht okay? Zu scharf? Meine Kollegin sah meine Verwirrung. Sie sagte, keine Sorge, das ist in vielen Kulturen ein Kompliment. Wenn das Essen schmeckt, ist Schlürfen und Röpsen.

As you can imagine, this little land eye was completely thrown off by the slurping and burping. of the Indonesians. At first, she thought there was something wrong with the food. She was a bit worried. Maybe it was too spicy. One of her colleagues noticed her confusion and explained to her that In a lot of cultures, this is seen as a compliment. If the food tastes good, then slurping and burping is totally normal. Well, The food was really good, so she started slurping too.

I got a few secret tips. For example, the restaurant Stendige Vertretung. There are many politicians and politicians. Es gibt traditionelle deutsche Küche aus dem Westen. Zum Beispiel Schweinshaxen. Und es gibt Kölsch. Das leckere Bier aus Köln. Überall hängen Porträts von Personen aus der deutschen Politik. Aber ... I learned a lot in my internship, says Cornelia. And that includes some secret tips. Geheimtips.

For example, she got to know a favorite restaurant of a lot of politicians in Berlin, Die Ständige Vertretung, or permanent representation. This restaurant specializes in cuisine from West Germany. And since the West German capital was in Bonn before reunification, this place brings a little taste of home for the politicians from the West. They've got specialties like hoxen, or pork knuckle, and of course...

Coche, a beer style from Cologne. But as Cornelia looked around at the walls of the restaurant and at the portraits of politicians hanging there, she couldn't help but notice that there were hardly any women in the pictures. In the last week of my practice, I went to my boss. Yes, please. I brought him the protocol. Als ich wieder gehen wollte, stoppte er mich. Warten Sie, eine Frage. Ich dachte, oh nein, habe ich etwas falsch gemacht?

Er fragte mich, warum studieren Sie Politik? Wollen Sie keine Kinder? Was war das für eine komische Frage? Aber er redete weiter. Frauen sollen nicht arbeiten. Frauen gehören an den Herd. Ich war geschockt. Ich konnte nicht antworten. Ich ging... Ohne Worte aus dem Büro. Cornelia was in the last week of her internship and had just brought some meeting minutes to her boss. As she was leaving, he stopped her.

Habe ich etwas falsch gemacht? Did I do something wrong? She thought. Instead, her boss asked her why she was studying politics. Wollen Sie keine Kinder? Don't you want kids? Cornelia was a bit confused, but everything became clear as he kept talking. He told her that women shouldn't work. Frauen gehören an den Herd. Women belong at the stove. Wow. Cornelia didn't know what to say to that. She was shocked and walked out of the office without a word.

Frauen sollen nicht arbeiten. Frauen gehören an den Herd. Wie konnte er so etwas sagen? Es war 2006 und wir hatten eine Bundeskanzlerin. Ich fing an, über die Rollen von Frauen in Ost und West nachzudenken. Es gab große Unterschiede. Meine Mutter hat immer gearbeitet. In the DDR was that very normal. In the West was that something different. There were many women at home. and they focused on the household. Two very different cultures. Since 30 years, Germany is again joined.

Aber einige Unterschiede gibt es immer noch. Wie schon gesagt, ich habe viel in meinem Praktikum gelernt. Cornelia just couldn't understand how her boss could say those things, especially with a woman as the leader of the country. Clearly women could work. and they could lead. This experience really opened her eyes to some huge differences between the mindsets in the West and the East. In the GDR, it was normal for women to work. Meine Mutter hat immer gearbeitet.

My mother always worked, she explains. That makes sense, as the socialist ideology encouraged everyone to work. But in West Germany, it was much more common for women to be housewives, responsible for the household and caring for the kids. So, while the country itself may have been reunified 30 years ago, it's clear that divisions still exist in the minds and attitudes of the people. Cornelia learned a lot during her internship,

not only on the subject of politics. We'll leave it there for today, listeners. But before I let you go...

Here's your language tip. Remember that German past tense, parafikt? The one where we use the helping verb habben and a past participle? Well, it's back in today's episode. This time, though... I want to focus on using this tense with the helping verb zein instead of habben. We use zein in perfect when we talk about movement or a change in state. Here are some examples from the story.

Ich bin geboren. I was born. A change in state. Ich bin aufgewachsen. I grew up. Also a change in state. And ich bin gelaufen. I walked. Why don't you give the episode another listen and see if you can start to recognize which verbs use Haben and which ones use Sein in Perfect. And of course, if you're looking to challenge yourself, check out our monolingual version with everything in German.

And finally, let us know what you think of the podcast. Tell us what you like and what you think we could improve by sending an email to podcasting at babble.com or by writing a review in your podcast app. We'd really appreciate it. Bye for now, and thanks for listening to Speaking of Berlin.