Konrad-Adenauer-Platz

Coming out of the Hbf viy Konrad´s Platz i started my hunt for the place to get a hair cut, upon finding it i shocked to find it closed, on Mondays... but just another cultural distinction between Americas almost ´fast-food-esqu´ hair and nail salons that are so prevaltent and the more formal salons here, which i still have yet to find one that i can get a hair cut at. So on the train ride this weekend on the way to Swityerland i had a very interesting conversation with a man concerning all sorts of things. He happened to be the great grand son of Jan Mikulicz-Radecki who he told me was a famous polish surgeon and was very innovative, this all came about because i told him i was a medical student. I later looked up the name that he gave me and Mikulicz was truly an influential surgeon in his time pushing the use of antiseptics and developing many techniques including a pyloric reconstruction. He is also thought of as one of the first surgeons to wear gloves and use gauze extensively. So we had a good conversation about that as well as dicussing may things about German history and politics. Most interesting to me was the fact that he was married to a Russian woman and so he was very involved and informed on Russian politics. He told me that many things told about Russian politics in European papers are fabricated and unrealistic. Because of Europes desires to maintain a higher position than Russia and a slight jealousy of their increasing worldwide economic importance. This was reiterated by a Russian investment banker who I met while white water rafting who independantly stated this fact. So I will be sure to double check all information i hear of Russian politics, even though they both said that the truth on Russia is hard to find in any English speaking paper. Other than that we talked about, as he called it, the population being "unwilling to discuss or face the past." after hearing this i was shocked since all i have seen and faced is a complete and utter desire to come to terms with the past. So i asked him of what social standing were these people who didnt want to face it and he told me the comprised the less educated less affluent, historically ´prolitariate´ class. His position on this comes as a TV producer who faces the demands and interests of the general populace, not the educated and politically minded group that i am used to coming into contact with here in Germany ( AIB staff, Host Family, Tour Guides, etc.) He claimed that it was from this working class, as well as the older generation, that has rejected the validity of the past and the problems that have faced this country. This is a dangerous as we must confront the past to change the future so we dont fall into the patterns that humanity is prone to. I am so interested in the social dicotomy of this country and how it is strangely similar to America and the southern provinces are notoriously conservative and the North is more industrial and moderate. Its dinner time for this family and i am off to eat. Cheers.