Money withdrawal in only 9 steps

Cash/ATM machines usually don't have highly sophisticated procedures and are generally quite easy to grasp. Three steps include entering your pin, choosing the amount and getting a receipt for it, when needed. This might be true for the big majority machines which differ merely in whether you enter PIN first or choose the amount first and then enter the PIN.

But not DEXIA machines. They are special. In fact they are so special that they manage to confuse you with completely arbitrary order, weird questions and additional request for even weirder confirmation. Kinda makes you wonder if this might be one of the reasons why DEXIA bank is now in so much trouble. The procedure to withdraw money from their machines is already quite long but I took extra few minutes to take photos of  what happens after you insert your card.

Screen #1 is of asking for your patience the one that appears at the beginning and after each time you confirm or type something.

Screen #2 is kindly informing you that you shouldn't leave your card after you took the money. You of course need to confirm you understood this by either pressing STOP on the left or OK on the right.

Screen #3 first shows machine's appreciation of your understanding and will to continue and brings you to the actually possibility of choosing the amount of money, you would like to withdraw.

Screen #4 Confirms the amount of money you want to withdraw

Screen #5 again informs you in big red letter what you should do if you happen to forget your card after the whole process is over. You might think this is all but you would of course be wrong. It is actually asking you for your PIN in a significantly less noticeable sign above the ugly one. Since the stars below appear to be there for merely decorative reasons and there are no PIN number longer than 6 digits, it is quite possible the whole procedure will be interrupted before you manage to do it.

Screen #7 is just letting you know the machine registered you entering PIN. It gives however no indication whether it has/will also accept it.

Screen #8 is again reminding you not to forget your card and at this point crossing the line from being thoughtful to implying DEXIA thinks their customers are complete idiots.

Screen #9 is the last one that gives you an opportunity to get your card back and avoid further messages. Unlike other machines this one doesn't simply spit out the card but makes you press very logical STOP button, to get it back. Otherwise you might, you know, forget it :)

Brussels public transport - masochists paradise

Living in Brussels and having to use the public transport every day makes me wonder. Mostly whether the people who invented reality shows based on survival got the idea from spending a week using Brussels public transport. Sadly "driving a sack of potatoes" attitude is actually the least annoying one.

First painful realisation is that Brussels doesn't actually have the  underground, despite all the signs indicating it. What Brussels has is trams pretending to be metros and buses occasionally posing as trams. 

There's many different kinds of problems and technical ones vary from big screens, telling you how often any mean of transport will make its appearance at the station but not also which one and when exactly. Trams are very often equipped with modern displays used to show the final destination or in case of buses, the commercial for the company logo. The ones that display actual stations and time are said to be experimental. Even the official map gives up at some point and stops showing names of stops. I guess if you got that far, you'll probably be OK in any case.

If you manage to catch the late tram/bus and at therefore don't have to resolve the occurring mystery of where and when the night buses drive and where to, you should consider yourself to be very lucky. The worst thing that can happen now is the tram will change its mind just before the last station and change the direction after short announcement in French. The display will however continue showing the actual destination where tram will of course not go.

But things go also the other way around and busses occasionally show other direction than the one they are actually going to. Which is confusing mostly for non-natives who don't know that the drivers failed attempt to push the button will now take another 2 - 3 hours of their life.

So what's the alternative? Cycling in Brussels unfortunately classifies as suicide attempt and walking is a bit too optimistic for such distances. I'm currently thinking of either learning to fly or getting a horse. What's your solution?

Slovenia says yes to pedophilia and misogyny..

...but only if done by priests. In this case also sexual harassment will pass, probably along with almost anything else.

At least this are the conclusions drawn from the Slovenian High Court decision in the case the priest Slavko Štefko who was touching several female minors on different occasions and different body party, including their genitals. He was already found guilty on the first level but the appealed and was despite witnesses of harassment and experts opinion now magically found not guilty due to lack of evidence. Their bright conclusion was that the touches weren't of sexual nature.

I see. So if I randomly go an grab someone's crutch, ass or any other body parts this is actually an act of affection, friendship and appreciation? I suppose in this case black eyes, rape and murder are then the ultimate proof of love.

This is simply way beyond sick.

Ist das Kunst oder kann das weg?

To me art is a manifestation of life, very often presenting itself as a product that reflects the artistic process. So when seeing art,  I always want to connect it to life.

This was however not very easy with some art pieces at Berlin's emerging art fair at Preview Gallery.  I'm not going to criticise it from artistic point of view as I didn't study art, I did however wonder how did they end up there. These for example:

I'm sure there must be someone who was absolutely thrilled with this pieces and wouldn't hesitate to spend ridiculously a lot of money to buy them just to be able to admire them in their living room every single day. I find them, well quite frankly very boring.

Then of course there were pieces that weren't boring but just disturbing, not in a good way that would make you think. Eye-stabbing colours put together, allowing me approximate observing time of 2 seconds. It's like bad 80's gone completely mad.

The most ridiculous one was just a set of boring black and white paintings with a dry tree part in the middle, and lots of broken glass on the floor. Not only do I not get the connection nor the concept behind it, I also think it's fairly dangerous.

But in the end there were quite some really cool and inspirational art pieces that made all the trip there worth while. My favourite one was a actually from Slovenian Gallery Alkatraz (3rd picture below), followed closely by bizarre statues, plants in light bulb's and Arjan Pregl's witty paintings.

I don't know about others but I appreciate art for inspiration and creativeness it has and gives and definitely not for being difficult to grasp. For this I already have loads of hardcore theory books and politics with all it's dose of daily disrespect and hatred.

Eating in Berlin

Eating well is essential part of any good city experience and after 2 years in Berlin I've discovered many nice snack and food places. Unless you got your heart set strictly on Currywurst, 1000 different potato dishes or classic tourist menus, you might want to try out one of them.

Nil is an absolute must for all the snack fans. This Sudanese snack place has for sure the tastiest Falafel like snacks. Their notorious Tamiya Haloumi (Falafel and grilled cheese) is just ridiculously tasty and for sure 3 EUR well spent. You might want to try also peanut soup or buy a jar of their delicious peanut sauce. Nil is also meat and vegan friendly.

Zeus is for sure the best  pida place around and you can notice its popularity by dozens of fans notes that are popped to the wall. Now I'm not sure whether the recipe is really following Turkish cuisine, but Zeus's pidas taste much better than any of pidas I had in Istanbul. Delicious snack for about 4 euros.

Datscha is a Soviet restaurant, open also late in the evening where good food usually meats good indie music. It's not the cheapest one but has really good breakfasts and in my opinion also the best Sunday brunch buffet in Berlin. Nice place also just to take coffee.

Sadhu is a Pakistani restaurant at Falckensteinstr., not far from Metro station Schlesisches Tor and remains my favourite restaurant. The food is not only absolutely delicious but also not at all expensive. The meals cost around 6 and 7 euros and are totally worth it.

Burgermeister is a hamburger place with supposedly the best meat burgers in Berlin. I've tasted only veggie ones and those aren't really worth mentioning, but the reputation of the meaty burgers has been confirmed several times by my meat loving friends. The place is hidden below the Metro tracks and opposite to Metro station Schlesisches Tor. It's also open almost whole night so it's convenient for night stops back from/to the party.

The White Trash is somehow a tourist place but still worth visiting every now and then because of the nice burgers. They have a good selection of creative yummy burgers, all available also in very tasty and juicy vegetarian version. If you visit it in the evening, you might catch some of the nice indie concerts.

ChénChè is a Vietnamese Teahouse that also serves tasty meals and nice fruity cocktails. With the open garden it's perfect for warm weather but inviting also in winter, especially because of their delicious home made teas. You will get the meal for around 8 euros.

Mustafa's Gemüse Kebap is a small Kreuzberg miracle - situated at one of the exits of Metro station Mehringdamm, it is very close to one of the popular Currywurst place. The only difference is the cue in front of Mustafa's stand is usually at least 10 meters long. However about 15 minutes of waiting is totally worth getting the best Kebap I ever had (originally vegetarian but meat versions are possible) with grilled vegetables and really good mix of spices. I'm getting hungry just by writing about it.

There's more to be discovered - it's surely a tasty task and I don't mind doing it.

To be continued....

My last visit to the ZOO

There's something depressing about the ZOOs so I could never really convince myself to like them. All this animals, being taken from their natural environment for the sake of our own curiosity and entertainment is somehow decadent post-colonial idea of doing things without thinking about consequences.  It's like kicking someone in the back and saying you were performing a massage.

This is only the biggest, but not the only problem I have with ZOOs. The most annoying thing actually is they're full of people. This loud, nosy and unbelievably embarrassing species that is not at all aware that they are either loud, nosy or annoying.

I wonder what the animals actually want to do when people clap their hands or bang on the glass to wake them up, just to squeeze the best out of 13 euros entrance fee. It is a wonder that one of this animals hasn't actually lost it and started showering us with shit random objects.

Having to listen to a tourist screaming repeatedly kangaroo, kangaroo! for only about two dozen times, I was quite keen on doing some ass kicking myself. I am sure if kangaroos' could turn at his doorstep in the siesta time and started banging on the doors, screaming "Human, human, human!", his response would be much less decent than theirs.

So this was the last time I visited a ZOO. For my own mental health and for the sake of annoying tourist, not knowing they were not very far from being verbally harassed by one of their own species.

All the roads lead to Rome

Italy is wonderfully crazy! I need to go back soon.