Meet the Locals

There are always a few strange people in the ‘burbs. In Prenzlauer Berg I often pass some eccentrics who always wear the same clothes, just like the Simpsons. There’s Hedgehog Woman (if you’ve ever read the Beatrix Potter story Mrs Tiggy Winkle, you’d recognise elements of it in this woman’s face). It’s like Harry Potter waved his wizard and turned a hedgehog into a human being, but left elements of the hedgehog. She wears a checked blue dress. Her face is scrunched up, with a snouty nose, and she even makes little sniffy, grunty noises as she scuffles along.
A few streets away an Englishman with a very dignified accent wanders around bugging people and speaking to them in English, regardless of whether they understand him or not. "I say, kind sir, could you possibly spare 10 cents or so? That would be just lovely." I don’t know if he’s homeless or not, but he always wears a large joker’s hat and a velvet blue coat.
There are also a few famous faces. Rammstein all live around here and can be seen from time to time lounging in one of the many cafés.
One I actually encountered was Peaches, who comes from Canada but has lived here for four years or so. She’s a singer and travels round the world, but I bumped into her at my language school enrolling for level one German. That’s right, level one German, after living here for four years. It just goes to show how easily you can wrap yourself in an English-speaking society and never bother to learn the language of the country you live in. But it’s never too late to start, I guess.
Most of the people who live here have kids and they’re everywhere. They’re especially cute when the weather gets cold and they just look like a bundle of winter clothes with a tiny face peeking out. Apparently after the Wall fell all the students lived in this district and they are now young professionals (or unemployed) or still students (people seem to stay at university for about 10-20 years in Germany). Either way, it’s baby town. Something in the water?