Win Two Tickets for British Shorts Film Festival Berlin

I’m very happy to announce that I can give away two free tickets for the Festival Screening next Sunday evening at Sputnik Kino. No catch – no information collected, no email addresses harvested, no re-tweets necessary. Just send an email to till@nuberlin.com before 5pm Berlin time Friday January 22nd 2016 with “British Shorts” in the subject line.

And this is what you can expect:

Sun 24.01. 22:00 / Sputnik Kino

  • The Hedgehog (Drama), R.: Chris Lee, Paul Storrie, 6:47 Min.
  • Rickshaw Rick (Drama), R.: Robert Manson, 10:00 Min.
  • Role Play (Drama), R.: Brynach Day, 16:00 Min.
  • The Macaron Man (Comedy/ Mockumentary), R.: Ben Garfield, 19:00 Min.
  • Holding The Strings (Music Video), R.: Benjamin Cowie, 3:34 Min.
  • Last Night In Edinburgh (Drama), R.: Bita Shafipour, 21:00 Min.
  • Oh-Be-Joyful (Comedy/ Drama), R.: Susan Jacobson, 14:00 Min.
  • Princess For A Day (Black Comedy, Drama), R.: Tom Fergus Arnott, 10:00 Min.

For further information about the screening please feel free to visit the festival website: http://www.britishshorts.de/programmEN.html?id=392006930982179000

Average Salary in Berlin

Berlin average salary report 2015

What is the average salary in Berlin? View to the Berlin TV Tower - Photo: T.Bortels/nuBerlin.com

The Berlin office for statistics Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg have just released numbers about the Average Salary in Berlin (2015 Q3). And I must admit I am a little bit surprised about some of the details.

Monthly Average Salary in Berlin in 2015: 2.953 Euro

If you add all the number up – the average salary for full time employed, part time employed and marginally employed employees (men and women) the total gross salary would have been 2.953 Euro in the third quarter of 2015. That would equal a yearly gross salary of 35.436 Euro – about 1,9% more than in the third quarter of 2014.

Depending on what you are used to this average salary of 35.436 Euro per year may or may not sound like a lot of money. As far as I know the cost of living in Berlin is still rather ‘affordable’ if you compare it to other larger cities like London, Paris or New York. However please keep in mind that these numbers are before tax, so some 30% – 40% may still be going off to the German tax authorities. So the above average salary may turn into some 24k Euro before it even arrives on your bank account.

However, when you take a look at the details of the salary report, there are actually some small ‘surprises’ hidden. Or at least to me it was a bit surprising to learn that also in Berlin men and women are still not equal – female and male employees are not paid equally. And while the average salary for both men and women has risen, it has actually risen just a bit more for male employees – and a bit less for female employees. So the inequality in payment of male and female employees seems to continue for now – the gap widens.

But let’s have a look at the bare numbers. I won’t go too much into detail, since the report is just a bit too detailed for my taste – so here are at least some of the ‘key figures’ numbers from the Berlin office for statistics:

Average Salary in Berlin 2015

average monthly gross salary in Berlin
change compared to Q3 2014
Full time, part time and minor employment
total 2.953 Euro + 1,9 %
men 3.325 Euro + 3,0 %
women 2.588 Euro + 1,1 %
Full time employment
total 3.656 Euro + 3,8 %
men 3.858 Euro + 3,9 %
women 3.357 Euro + 3,4 %
Part time employment
total 1.957 Euro + 2,5 %
men 1.798 Euro + 4,1 %
women 2.014 Euro + 2,0 %
Marginal employment
total 335 Euro + 6,2%
men 340 Euro + 6,5 %
women 331 Euro + 6,0 %

Please feel free to download the full statistics report here:
www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/pms/2016/16-01-15.pdf

see also:

Bye Bye Bowie…

It’s sad – very sad – but it is like it is: last Sunday David Bowie past away.

Berlin and Bowie had a rather special relationship. One could probably say that the city had at least changed, if not saved him – and that he had also somehow shaped and maybe even saved the city.

> Berlin 101 > David Bowie and Berlin

Happy nuBerlin! Happy New Year!

It’s the time of the year, when the turn of the year won’t get much closer. So I finally wrapped up some info page about things that might be worth knowing about New Year’s Eve in Berlin. But please don’t expect too much – it’s just some basic rants about Berlin New Year’s Eve traditions and rituals: What do people do on New Year’s Eve? What do they eat? How do they behave? etc…

Berlin 101 > New Year’s Eve / New Year’s Day

Frohes Neues Jahr! Guten Rutsch!! Happy New Year!!!

Berlin Weather in November: something of everything

Yes, we also had some serious November rain – but also sunshine, blue skies, stormy weather – and the first snow. There was basically something of everything.

If you look at the average temperature for Germany, this November was the warmest for the past 130 years – even though temperatures dropped in the second half of the month and the first snow even made it to Berlin. And there was also a 30% ‘bonus’ of sunshine, compared to the average November. In Berlin however we had 4% less sunshine than on an average November. For most people November is probably always too dark and grey anyways.

With over 60 liters per square meter this November was more than 30% more rainy, than an average Berlin November. And if you ask me: I could have skipped last Sunday’s evening rain easily. That was just a bit too much.

Now jet’s see what December will bring along. Usually the temperatures should drop a bit further towards the 0°C mark. And if the rainfall continues at the November scale, we should have lots of snow – sooner or later.

Look in the Mirror: 3 best Berlin Christmas markets?!

In yesterday’s article ” 3 best Berlin Christmas markets – and our favourite deals to visit on a budget ” the online edition of the Mirror (mirror.co.uk) got something totally wrong. How is this even possible? Let’s have a look in the Mirror:

“Berlin’s Harz region is home to a number of festive-themed markets around Christmas”

Sorry, but the Harz region is not even close to Berlin. According to reliable sources, the Harz region is about 300km west / south-west of Berlin and it takes a good three hour ride by car to get there!

“…one of Berlin’s famous Christmas markets dotted around its mountainous Harz region.”

This leaves me speechless. But it goes on:

“Villages within the Harz Mountains such as Leipzig, Magdeburg and Goslar…”

First of all: yes, Goslar is actually located in the Harz region – but with a population of over 40.000 it can hardly be called a village. Or can it? Anyways. After my honest opinion at least neither Magdeburg (population > 200.000) nor Leipzig (population > 500.000) can be called ‘Village’. Or am I missing something? Do you have villages with airports and universities in the UK? But nevertheless: both cities (villages?!) are approximately half way between Berlin and the Harz region – none of them closer than 100km to Goslar.

Then the article feature three photos. The first one seems to actually show the Leipzig Christmas Market. The other two are – interesting – at least when you look at them within the surrounding context: both showing Berlin Christmas Markets, but with confusing headlines: the picture headlined “Berlin, Magdeburg” shows the Christmas Market at Berlin’s Alexanderplatz – you can clearly see the Berlin TV Tower in the back. The other photo, headlined “Berlin, Goslar” shows the Christmas Market at Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz – the Memorial Church can be seen in the background.

So – what did we learn today? All four cities Leipzig, Magdeburg, Goslar and Berlin do have beautiful Christmas Markets. And so do some Villages within the Harz Mountains. Merry Christmas!

Feel free to read the original article over here:

See also:

Even more Hotels built in Berlin

Berlin tourism seems to be an ever increasing business. As the number of tourists is still increasing, the number of hotels is also. At the moment Berlin has already over 500 hotels, providing over 136.000 beds to tired travelers. That is a relatively high number – at least according to media reports in 2012 Berlin had already some 30.000 more Hotel beds than New York City.

For the next couple of years another 15.000 hotels beds can be added to that number. The German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) mentions another 31 hotels to be built in the near future.

Booming Berlin Hotel Business

But the boom in hotel business is does not have a positive effect on all hotels. Smaller, often older houses are facing difficult times since large hotels chains are building massive hotels, beeing able to offer lower rates, basically ‘next door’. Competition is high, even though one should thing there would be a slice of the pie for everybody.

At Berlin-Charlottenburg’s Breitscheidplatz for example the 118 meter high rise “Upper West” is currently under construction. The budget hotel chain Motel One will probably open their doors to some 580 rooms in summer 2017.

On the other hand, the rather small and ‘old’ Hotel President just had to close down in September some 10 – 20 minute walk further down the road. The reasons remain unclear – but charging around 170 Euro per night the Hotel was comparably expensive. And with ‘only’ 180 rooms rather small. Next door another Motel One hotel had just opened – about twice the size, charging half the price. And where prices are low, competition is high.

See also: “Schon 800 Hotels – und 31 sind noch geplant” (tagesspiegel.de)

Checking CNN’s Insider Guide: Best of Berlin

From time to time I enjoy reading what others have to say about Berlin – especially when it’s CNN and especially when the headline reads “Insider Guide: Best of Berlin”. Then I really want to know, what others are recommending, what to do and what to see when visiting Berlin  – and what masses of readers are probably reading.

And then, confronted with an article claiming to offer tips on ‘Best of Berlin’ I also like to check the facts, the details, the recommendations. And sometimes I actually do find minor mistakes. Sometimes a name is misspelled, but sometime things are just wrong. And sometimes the whole article is just questionable, like the list of ‘10 things you can do in Berlin’ I recently had a deeper look at I recently enjoyed reading and commenting.

I know, everybody makes mistakes – but when you claim to ‘know where to look’ you should probably be extra careful about what you’re actually writing. I anyways just have to stare at those mistakes anyways – And since some mistakes are rather cute, or at least ‘interesting’, I’d like to share them with you.

Berlin Fast Food: Currywurst

A minor mistake can be found in the recommendations for food. Yes, Currywurst is a big thing in Berlin – and Konnopke’s Imbiss is probably one of the best known places in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg to get one. But even though the food is really fast food, you should at least take your time to fully spell the name “Konnopke” – not “Knopke” – otherwise your readers might be a bit confused when the search engine tries to suggest the correct name. Anyways.

Shopping: Mulackstrasse boutiques

Yes, the Mulackstrasse does offer a variety of different small shops and fashion boutiques. But where again is it located?

Mitte’s Schönenviertel (it means “beautiful quarter”)

I’m awfully sorry to say, but while Berlin probably actually does have some “beautiful quarters”, the quarter that Mulackstrasse is situated in is officially named “Scheunenviertel“. This may or may not look and sound similar to “Schönenviertel” – it has does however have a completely different meaning: “Scheune” means “barn” – in medieval Berlin the “Scheunenviertel” was the ‘Barn Quarter’. See also: Berlin Sightseeing > Scheunenviertel.

Attractions: Pergamon – Museum on an island

The Pergamon is definitely a museum to visit – no doubt about that. The only problem one should probably mention is that large parts of the museum are currently closed. Since September the museum has been under renovation and will probably still be for the next four to five years. If everything goes well, the museum should re-open in 2019.

Enough nit-picking for now. Please feel free to check out CNN’s “Insider Guide: Best of Berlin” yourself. Have a nice stay!