I drew this for Christmas 2002.
A few months earlier, I had returned from the US after my LL.M. at Emory School of Law and after taking and (passing ๐ ) the New York Bar Exam.
My 2-year-trainee-program aka Referendariat in Berlin had just begun.
Having previously shared many flats with many different flatmates, I had moved into my very first own apartment.
Prenzlauer Berg (the very last upper right corner). 62 sqm. 2Raumwohnung. Altbau.
Kohleofen โ meaning that I lived in a charming but completely dilapidated old building where I heated with coal.
Yes, coal as in mining.
Those who lived in Berlin at the time will remember the smell of coal ovens. I had to get up early in the morning and start a fire in the tile stove if I didnโt want to freeze in the evening. The coal was kept in big storage compartments in the basement. A one person household would run on approximately 1.5 tons per winter.
The bright side: the place cost me 230 EUR a month, and I was my own master. Given the condition of the place, I had to restore pretty much everything: sand and paint windows and doors, paint the walls, refurbish the entire kitchen.
For the first time in my life, I created my own space.
I used material that I found on the street and in dump yards. I was short on money but had more time than today. I made it work.
Looking back, I realize that this little apartment taught me something that has accompanied me throughout my professional life.
The importance of creating safe spaces.
Creating a safe space in dispute resolution, both literally and figuratively, is an essential contribution to the constructive resolution of disputes.
Not because a nice environment will itself resolve the dispute for you, but because you need to have a room that holds the conflict, the discussion, the argument.
โ๏ธ Come by for a coffee and check out our offices at Hegelplatz 1. You will see what I mean.
DrawingFromThePast SafeSpace ConflictResolution Arbitration Mediation Dialogue
๐๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด:โจ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณโ๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด๐๐ฏ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ โ ๐ข๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ, ๐ข๐ณ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ โ ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.
