I already mentioned that I speak German and went to Dokomi, so my country isn't much of a secret. (desu)
AC often has a European conception of being a wasteful and expensive good for spoilt McMansion Americans (most people don't think about the fact that most of the USA has a way lower and tropical latitude than Europe). Plus, Summers used to be milder. That conception is starting to change because of the growing waves of heatstroke deaths every summer, but it's still uncommon for people to have it.
I live in a early post-war concrete apartment block from the 50s, it has loads of thermal mass so it's nice and cool during early summer, but usually turns into an oven during late summer. I coped by putting up big fly nets on my windows and leaving them open during night when the air gets cool.
I'm otherwise okay with this arrangement because it traps so much heat that I don't even use my heating in winter. (in fact, one of my radiator valves got stuck because of lack of use, I'll need to fix that eventually qwq)
sonoko
I do see gypsy beggars, but only in the immigrant areas, I guess those are probably more charitable than spoilt folx like me. Otherwise the homeless I see are nearly always very visibly deeply alcoholic and/or mentally ill, with schizophrenia being a really common sight. "Ordinary" people being homeless is quite rare because our social safety net is pretty decent; although not perfect of course, and especially homeless people who can't speak/read German are often mostly fucked. I see 2 old and (I presume by their disheveled appearance/items) homeless people in one of my university buildings pretty regularly in one of the less used lounge/study spaces and they seem to spend most of their time there practicing reading with newspapers and discussing practical things about their living situation like how they'll budget their food, money, etc.
