| 0s | |
| 3s | Noah Telson, I'm a comedian and |
| 6s | improviser and I run and own my own |
| 8s | theatre here in Berlin. I was born in |
| 14s | Germany but raised in Woodstock, New York. |
| 16s | My wife is also an artist. She's a dancer. |
| 19s | Between her income and my income from |
| 22s | the theater, we're able to make enough |
| 24s | |
| 27s | |
| 28s | Berlin is a very artistic city. A lot of |
| 31s | people move here to sort of explore |
| 33s | their creative sides. I think the "poor |
| 35s | but sexy" description of Berlin is more |
| 38s | or less true. Here the concern is less |
| 40s | about paying the rent and more about, how |
| 43s | can I pursue some of my dreams and |
| 45s | actually make a career out of it? Rents |
| 48s | are relatively low, although that's |
| 50s | changing now. Berlin was just named the |
| 52s | number one increase in property values |
| 55s | |
| 57s | |
| 61s | |
| 65s | with my wife eight years ago. This |
| 67s | apartment is €980 a month. It's 94 |
| 71s | |
| 72s | has two bedrooms, a dining room, a |
| 76s | kitchen and a bathroom. Large, spacious |
| 78s | apartments in Berlin are actually quite |
| 80s | common, especially if you have an old |
| 82s | house like this. In the morning, we have |
| 91s | breakfast which usually consists of |
| 94s | |
| 96s | probably an avocado on top of that. We make |
| 103s | most of our food here at home. We're able |
| 105s | to cut down on a lot of costs by- by |
| 108s | cooking here and then eating leftovers. |
| 110s | |
| 115s | For lunch, sometimes we'll go to a small |
| 119s | restaurant here in the neighborhood that |
| 121s | we usually take to go and we'll eat it |
| 123s | either at the park or here at the apartment. |
| 125s | We'll do that maybe once or twice a week. |
| 129s | Public transportation in Berlin is |
| 132s | actually quite expensive and it's quite |
| 133s | good. It's 24 hours, you can get pretty |
| 136s | much anywhere in about 30 minutes I'd say. |
| 138s | There is definitely infrastructure |
| 145s | for biking in Berlin and I bike |
| 147s | |
| 148s | I have public health insurance. Probably |
| 151s | a majority of the population has public |
| 153s | health insurance. I pay €150 a month |
| 156s | for my health insurance and that is the |
| 158s | lowest here for someone who's earning a |
| 161s | living wage. Because of the nature of the |
| 170s | work that I do, my night life and my |
| 173s | social life is pretty much confined to a |
| 176s | Comedy Cafe Berlin which is the theatre |
| 179s | |
| 183s | Fridays we have improv comedy |
| 186s | performed with a group that I'm with for over |
| 190s | five years now, so yeah, I do drink there |
| 192s | and I do hang out there and I do have |
| 194s | fun there. The cost of drinking in Berlin |
| 197s | is still quite low. For like a standard |
| 200s | German beer, it'll be anywhere between |
| 203s | |
| 208s | I don't think I could have started |
| 214s | something like this really anywhere else |
| 217s | for 100k just to start a business from |
| 219s | the ground up and have it still running |
| 221s | two and a half years later. I would |
| 223s | attribute that to being here in Berlin. I |
| 225s | do see myself staying in Berlin for |
| 227s | quite a while. Having a business is |
| 230s | kind of like having a baby and I can't |
| 231s | take that baby with me so we will be |
| 234s | here as long as Comedy Cafe Berlin still |
| 236s | exists. I don't really see myself wanting |
| 239s | |
| 241s | |
