Apartment wanted - Moving stories - 30 years in Cologne, but never quite arrived: Birgit would like to move back to her birthplace when she retires
Birgit W., 61, actually only wanted to live in the one-bedroom apartment in Cologne for three years. She had moved there for a job. She has now lived there for 30 years, but she still doesn't really feel at home in the city on the Rhine. She can't shake the feeling that she's in the wrong place, that she doesn't belong there, and she hasn't for years.
In the beginning, she tried to take part in the carnival, but it didn't suit her. Now she prefers to hide away in her apartment when everyone is partying again. She also misses nature, the green belt and the city forest are too crowded for her in summer.
The clerk's moments of happiness are when she hears people on the phone who speak her native dialect. That makes her smile. Hessian means home to her.
And that's why Birgit has made a decision: She wants to return to the Wetterau district. Where her younger sister also lives. She doesn't want to wait the three years until she retires. That's why she's already looking for a shared flat where she can live from Friday to Monday. As a trial. Birgit wants to find out whether the Wetterau district really feels like home to her. Whether it is what she wants. To do this, she wants to become a commuter. Three hours each way on the regional express. If all the connections work out.
She would also give up something in Cologne. Her friendships. Her choir, in which she loves to sing. Her doctors, who have monitored and supported her health over the last few decades.
She doesn't have any of that in the Wetterau district. At least not yet. Apart from her sister, she still has contact with former school friends. But they now have their own families and circles of friends.
Birgit would like to have more personal contact with her neighbors. In a big city like Cologne, it's often too anonymous for her, everyone lives for themselves, she says.
She would prefer to stay with a woman who has outgrown her apartment. As a subtenant or flatmate. But - and this is a disadvantage of living in the country - the choice of shared flats in small towns is much smaller than in Cologne. So Birgit has to keep looking - for the time being.
Are you also looking for a new apartment and want to tell your moving story, anonymously if you like? Do you have any criticism, suggestions or requests for the series? Write an e-mail to the author at: [email protected]
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Birgit has a relocation history, with her latest move bringing her to Cologne 30 years ago for a job. Despite her extended stay, she still feels like an apartment searcher, never fully settling in the city on the Rhine. The housing market in Cologne has been affected by a housing shortage, just like many other parts of Hesse, where Birgit considers her place of birth. During Carnival, an annual event in Cologne, she often prefers to isolate herself in her apartment instead of joining the festivities. With retirement approaching, Birgit wants to move back to the Wetterau district, the region where her younger sister resides, in search of a closer-knit community that she misses in the big city. The housing market in smaller towns like the Wetterau district has fewer shared flats, making her apartment search even more challenging.
Source: www.stern.de
