13-08-28 Das Kollektiv

The house is organized as an anarchist collective, which I did not even know when I first got here.
The average number of body piercings and tatoos per person is quite high, the typical dress code is black with metal accessories, and the average American would probably be scared meeting most of these people in a dark alley...
However, Roberts (of Robert´s Rules of Order) would surely be proud of them.  The house seems to be running flawlessly.  Every Monday at 7:00 they run a Plenum (Plennary Session) at amazingly orderly fashion.  I am told it is a common feature of most squaters buildings in Berlin.
I am yet to witness any inter-personal confrontation.
The Kollektiv resides in a pre-WWII building, but they have gradually upgraded it:  from a modern kitchen with state of the art Siemens dishwasher, through a big dining room with a rustic big dining table, all external doors and windows have been replaced with double paned units, central heating, running hot water...  Now they are working on insulation of the outside walls.
I wish that I could take some pics, but it is against the rules...
The rules are of course printed, and there is a bulletin board where people can post items for the Plenum agenda.
In short - an unexpected experience.
But what threw me off most then all - it turned out that one of them met me in May 2010 in Jerusalem, just days after I escaped from the US...  I did not remember him, but he remembered me,,,
A small world indeed!