Bonerboard

Thanks for the great collection 🙂

Always loved Gary Sandy! Steve Sandvoss was a great addition, thanks!

thanx for your support!

You or your hubby may remember that there was a brief period between the fall of the Wall and the actual reunification when the East and West Deutschmark exchange rate was 1:1. Many people from the (former) Soviet Bloc (Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland) went to Berlin with their East German money, crossed over to West Berlin, exchanged it to West Deutschmarks and returned home to exchange it to their home currency at a much higher rate. I don't remember the exact rate, but considering that East German money was not worth the paper it was printed on, these people made a decent profit. A friend of mine studied economy at Humboldt University at that time, and he certainly made the most of this brief period. Apart from a nice tight butt? No, I was not. But I think for us here in CE Europe that piece of concrete has a more emotional or symbolic meaning. Watching the fall of the Berlin Wall was a very emotional moment - even more so than the Declaration of the Republic of Hungary or the execution of Nicolai and Elenea Ceaucescu (December 1989). We were watching the whole rotten, oppressive, stifling system crumble to so much rubble and dust.

Thank you, @Kawika! I also felt that I had to read it very carefully. Putting my entrepreneurial past into a few sentences may lead to confusion. 1) the company I co-founded in Bavaria 2) my own business - I was self-employed 3) the idea and the company of good friends I sold my shares of 1) out of dissatisfaction, invested a small part of the sale proceeds in my own business 2) and almost all I had (as well as some ideas) in 3). When customers of 2), after I had delivered equipment to them, decided not to pay their bills but to file for bankruptcy, this led to a struggle for economic survival for me. I additionally learned that banks cannot be trusted. Once this was mastered and I was back on track, 3) became successful and my stake as a silent partner was converted into a block of stocks. Suddenly I was a stockholder of an upcoming company. It was one of the best decisions in my life when I decided to sell these stocks after numerous months. Among other things, this allowed me to rescue the first company 1). What may sound like a dream come true for many was a nightmare for me for almost a decade. The fact that Thomas felt threatened by my financial independence in his self-reliance clearly showed me that he is interested in me. To feel sincere love is the best thing there is in life. That is true. Thanks to the economy of scarcity, people had sufficient money to be unable to buy anything. It also did not need a bank loan to buy a car. There was enough time to save money for it, because more than 10 years passed between order and delivery. It would have been a dream for every used car dealer in the western world to sell old cars at higher prices than new cars. LOL After more than 30 years some of the memories have faded. The ideological education began in kindergarten and continued in school. Nevertheless, life was not bad. I myself grew up in a small village. Contrary to some stories, we did not lack food or the like. I do not forget that relatives from the former FRG visited us after the fall of the wall and brought food with them, because they thought we were starving. Food was in East Germany extremely subsidised. It was cheaper in sale than it was produced. One bread roll cost 5 pfennigs. @majikthis Hungary played an important role. Are you aware that you have something in common with Jon Bon Jovi? Right. History should be history. We must not repeat history, but we must learn from it to create a better future.