The Memories of Daniel: A Long Winter in Berlin

It is Monday, around midday, a workday. Well, a workday for most people, but not for everyone. Daniel is sitting at home, writing yet another job application and passing the day re-living the memories of what he has gone through in the last almost one-and-a-half years: a nightmare. Daniel is young, only 32 years old. He lives in the city of Berlin, where he was born and raised. This city is where he feels at home and where he is at home. When circumstances force him to seek new employment, Daniel is at first calm and confident about his chances, as he has been successful so far in his international career. But the apparently simple task of finding a new job soon becomes first daunting as he is forced to accept social welfare benefits and then very, very depressing, as even these end. He is left without an income and propped up only by his girlfriend, who now works to keep them both going. He tries to seek a job through connections, tries to enlist the help of the German Employment Agency, but without success. And Daniel learns the hard way that in Berlin the seemingly simple task of finding a job can break you. Winter makes way for spring and then summer, but Daniel’s own long and painfully dark winter continues with no end in sight.