Every now and then, a woman in a newspaper hat walks around our neighborhood in Augsburg's Jakobervorstadt and wails. She moans, "Owa, owa, owa!", (German for "ouch") and after what we think was a suicide attempt (jumping?), was even strapped down in an ambulance once and whisked off to probably a hospital. I saw her at our tram stop, complaining and crying to the postman while smoking a cigarette, which she threw far behind her in frustration as she got on the train. I've also seen her talking to passerby's (not sure if they're familiar to her) who often have dull, meth-abused-looking eyes, and nod passively with no vocal response.
Last night, a couple of Africans speaking in a loud and brash language woke us with their fighting at the bordello across the street. A group of teenage girls boosted each other so that their heads reached over the fence separating our street and the "Red Light District" (yes, it has red lights - my mother mistook them for seasonal Christmas lighting, admiring the festivity of my neighborhood), and they ogled and giggled the German equivalent of "OMG! WTF!".
I don't feel unsafe here nor uneasy, but rather, sorry for all of these people, who are locked into the monotony of their problems and struggles and can't hold back, even in public. Maybe we need a nice community garden here.
