Unruly student apartment
The owner of this apartment is called collegiumacademicum.de. It is funded by the government and provides affordable housing for students and young people. Its hardware facilities are of very high standards. CA is considered the top configuration among student apartments in central Europe. But such good facilities and conditions are squandered and ruined by many dirty people.
Top features for student apartments
Except for a very small number of wealthy children who live alone in a large villa, most students in Europe live in shared apartments, which are a single room with multiple people sharing a kitchen and toilet. Many small apartments do not have a living room, which is similar to low-rent housing in mainland China. , go in through the door and go through the corridor directly to the personal room.
The legal consumption standard for Chinese international students in Germany is about more than 800 euros per month. Before applying for admission, the living expenses for a whole year are frozen in the bank, and only more than 800 euros are released from the account every month. The monthly rent for the international student's apartment is It costs about 300-400 euros, and the room area is only about 10 square meters.
The rent of the house I lived in had reached 650 euros, and the room area was more than 20 square meters. It can be said that my living conditions at that time were probably better than most students. Even so, I was quite unhappy with this community, mainly because it was dirty. people exist in large numbers.
Fortunately, there are still a few good neighbors who can balance the health environment of the community.
Environmental activist
There are 19 people living in our 2-story apartment, divided into two groups. The group I am in has 10 people, and the other group has 9 people. Each group occupies half of the area and rooms of the apartment.
Because the layout of the rooms in our group is located at the public entrance and passage, as well as kitchen and other facilities.
Everyone can easily use the facilities and equipment of our group, but our group does not use any facilities and equipment of the other group.
At the same time, our default rule is not to include the other group in our cleaning duty schedule. They have no obligation. Therefore, our group of 10 people is responsible for the cleaning of all public areas. Of course, we do not need so many people to do the cleaning work. It's enough for our group of 10 people.
Besides me, there are 3 other environmental activists:
Ingunn, from Norway;
Cynthia, from Luxembourg;
Adelie, from France, but she did not live in the apartment regularly and moved out soon;
We take the initiative to convene community meetings, actively maintain public environmental sanitation, and are responsible for providing assistance with all public affairs, including purchasing cleaning supplies and tools. This is a voluntary act.
Cynthia posted the garbage classification standard document next to the trash can; Ingunn made classification labels for each trash can; we wrote a shared document on public affairs;
The task of maintaining public sanitation falls on a few of us. During the week when we are on duty, the apartment is obviously restored to new condition; if there are other people on the duty list for a certain week and no environmental activists are involved, then that week The sanitary condition of the apartment was very poor, and it was obviously dirty to the naked eye.
More than half of the population has poor hygiene
In our apartment group, there are a total of 10 people registered to live in it. Among them, 2 people who are good at cleaning often travel or work. Since there are 4 people who are relatively messy, this means that more than half of our neighbors have poor hygiene. Poor, must rely on others to maintain basic daily environmental hygiene.
Probability statistics:
4 people: Failure to fulfill cleaning obligations and leaving a lot of garbage;
3 people: Able to perform some duties. Due to lack of hands-on skills, they always cannot do the cleaning work well and need help from others. They can basically clean up and often leave a small amount of garbage;
3 people: able to fulfill their obligations, abide by the rules, clean up to standard, clean up completely, and help others clean up trash;
4+3 people: 70% majority of people are unqualified;
3 people: 30% of a small number of people are qualified;
Strategy changes
Many students were used to walking around indoors barefoot or wearing socks. I couldn't bear to see them walking on the dirt-filled floor, so in the first 2 months, I cleaned the floor silently three times a week, but then I got tired. There is no way I can clean up the endless stains on the floor by myself.
When people need a clean environment, I do it and lead more people to do the same. This is valuable, meaningful and sustainable.
Otherwise, what we do is in vain, because they think it is unimportant or unnecessary, and will not get recognition and support. The more we pay, the more disappointed we will be.
Proactive > Passive
I found that the characteristics of this apartment community are that most people do not follow the rules at all, are unwilling to participate in public affairs, and do not want to maintain public health.
So I changed my strategy from proactive to passive:
Remain silent: do not comment publicly on “where the environmental sanitation is not good and what is not done right”, even though there are no national regulations mandatory for “garbage classification”; We have mentioned many issues in the whatsapp group many times, and It's impossible to get feedback, and then we become silent.
Fulfill obligations: Only perform duties according to the cleaning duty schedule, that is, clean once every two weeks, do not do anything beyond the scope of responsibility, no longer help others clean up garbage, and will not do extra work;
Like-minded: I cooperate with a small number of like-minded neighbors, I fulfill my obligations passively, maintain a consistent work style, and do not reduce the level of cleanliness; everything I do is just to maintain a good relationship with these few people, and I am not responsible for others. ;
Privatization: I put my mops, brushes and other items in public areas for everyone to share, but many people don’t clean them at all after using them. They are irresponsible. The so-called communism is unreliable because they don’t To take responsibility and just want to enjoy life; then I have to privatize the items and put various items back into the room and no longer share them.
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