Kultur 11 Amanda Victory

Before reading "Breaking Down the Wall" I  would have thought that all Germans supported the wall coming down and would have been happy about the reunification, but for some that is not the case. From what the article said some westerners felt that the wall being down forced them to be less outspoken when it came to issues other than the government. One example was the man who said he used to be able to tell his boss when he didn't like something, now if he did that he would fear losing his job. Unless Germans from the east came in and became his new boss I'm not sure I understand this, if he had the same boss and his boss felt the same way I'm not sure why that would change. What I didn't find surprising was the stereotypes each side placed on one another, the east assuming the west was rich and snobby and the west assuming the east was lazy and unmotivated. I think anytime a country bounces back from large issues like this, like America with the revolutionary war, you are going to get continued arguments. Just like how here some northerners call the south dumb and some southerners think the north is nothing but corrupt rich people.
On that note, almost that exact assumption is stated in "Backward Southerners, Frigid Northerners," in that the German south is perceived as dumb, and I guess they don't speak high German. The north is stereotyped as boring snobs. This is no shock because it happens everywhere, but I did think it was funny that they don't trust each others food or dialect.

AMD 6, Amanda Victory

Für meine AMD 6 habe ich 365 Dinge gelesen. Ich lese über Erdbeern pflücken. Die Erdbeeren waren satt und groβ. Ich habe über Bonbonmacherei lesen auch. Bonbonmacherei sind kleine süβen Drops dass besonders gut schmecken. Ich lese über viele Essen, ich hatte Hunger. Ich wurde „Tatto-Unikate von einem Pionier besuchen. Ich habe keine Tätowierung, aber ich denke sie interessant sind.  Letztes habe ich mich für Flaeming-Skate interessieren. Ich bin sehr sehr ungeschickt aber ich liebe drauβen sein.  Das Buch sagt es ist spaβ, besonders für einen sonnig Tag.  

Kultur 10, Amanda Victory

The first article I read was Booze Brothers and at first I didn't find it that surprising. Besides the religious differences that are tied with the holiday in German I kind of expected there to be beer involved as well. One thing I did find interesting was that it is purely just for fathers (or middle aged men) rather than their family as well. In America you typically spend the day with your father, do nice things for him or something, but in Germany it seems to be a day for them to let loose and not be bothered by women or kids.
The next article I read was "Dinner for Who?" that is a British skit that is very popular in Germany and at least heard of in Australia. On New Years Eve it is a tradition for families to watch it and I was surprised to learn that most Brits don't even know what it is. I figured it was just a bad movie to them that they maybe didn't want to take credit for but not completely unheard of. Here it is tradition to kiss someone when the ball drops or just get really drunk on New Year, which I don't know if that is also true in Germany, but I expected their New Years Eve rituals to be more along the lines of drinking and going out not watching a skit that they find extremely amusing.
The article I found most useful was Sorry We're Closed. I knew that in the past places like stores and what not were closed on Sundays and there really wasn't much to do besides go to church but I assumed that since that trend has almost completely faded in America the same has happened in other countries. However I learned in Germany it is almost impossible to buy anything on a Sunday. It did mention that they are becoming more relaxed with that law and moving towards just having short open hours on Sundays. Not being able to go grocery shopping one day a week wouldn't be so bad, it seems completely manageable but having banks and stores close early on weekdays as well would be a huge inconvenience. If you had a family and both you and your husband worked how would you ever be able to get errands done? I also wonder if this rule affects other things we take for granted as being open whenever we need them like hospitals. Of course I assume that hospitals don't close, but I wouldn't be shocked if the staff was really low or if they had no patients since most people would be in their homes.

AMD 4 Amanda Victory

Für AMD 4 habe ich ein Deutsch Restaurant im Maryland gegessen. Das Restaurant heiβt Biergarten Haus, und war eigentlich in D.C. Die Speisekarte war lange, es hat Vorspeisen, Wurstplatten, Schnitzelgerichte, Vegetarisches, Hauptgerichte, Sandwiches, und Suesse Nachspeise. Ich hatte Bratwurst denn ich bin nicht abenteuerlich. Meine Schwester hatte Weinerschnitzel und sagt es war sehr ekelhaft. Sie hat Kalbfleisch nicht gemocht. Das Restaurant war groß und beschäftigt aber der Kellnerinnen war nett und freundlich! Das Essen hat nicht echt geschienen, denn niemand war da Deutsch. Insgesamt war es spaß, und denke ich Deutsch Essen mögen.   

The restaurant has a website; http://biergartenhaus.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1

Kultur 9 Amanda Victory

The first article listed for kultur 9 was Bureaucracy Gone Awry: The German Certificate Fetish, which went on to explain the excessive amounts of paperwork Germans require for just about anything. I was surprised to read this because a previous kultur talked about how environmentally friendly Germany ones and that they were in fact global leaders in environmental preservation. To spend so many resources on meaningless and countless pieces of paper seemed strange in this case. The article continued to talk about how in depth the paperwork was, stating that it pretty covered ones entire life and was required for all jobs. Growing up in America I couldn't imagine making a 16 year old do so much work just to get their first job at McDonalds. I could also see the rate of teenage employment decrease in America if we adopted this German tendency mainly because some high school kids complain about filling out the one maybe two pieces of paper that make up an application as it is, force them to fill out about ten and they'd give up (or make their parents do it). One positive thing about being so reliant on tons of paperwork is that Germans are incredibly organized because of it. Especially right now as we are in "tax season" many Americans are running around looking for lost receipts and such, something that a German person probably knows its exact location. Personally I like this kind of annoying tendency mainly because it would force me to be much more organized and pays off in the end.
The second article was Love Thy Neighbor: German Law Tells You How and this one reminded me why I like being an American. It talked about the laws stating how much noise you could make and when you could make. Basically, anytime during the early afternoon and Sundays/holidays is to be quiet and peaceful. I don't see anything wrong with that statement; however I don't see how a government can decide which hours of the day you're allowed to mow your lawn or things like that. I guess it's the American in me showing, but as long as you are not harming someone else what you do on your personal property should not be dictated. Of course if you do decide to be obnoxious and cut your grass at 5am I'd probably hate having you as a neighbor as well, but you'd just suffer the consequence of living in a neighborhood full of people who dislike you.
Lastly I read Germany's Patriotism Problem: Just Don't Fly the Flag. I wasn't too shocked when I read that most, if not all, Germans don't fly their nation's flag everywhere like we do mainly because they've had a much darker past than America. In my opinion I don't think they choose to not display the flag because they are not patriotic rather what could possibly be implied by saying they love their country based on its history.

AMD 3 Amanda

Für AMD 3 habe ich 365 Dinge gelesen. Ich denke dass “Im  Sommer rodeln” spaβ wӓre. Es ist 600 Meter lange und sehr billig. Es ist eine Sommerrodelbahn und für Kinder besonders spaβ.

Ich will der Schokoladenrausch auch versuchen. In kleine Confiserie, die Idee ist von franzӧsischen Films entführt (entführt meaning abducted). Gibt es einem vielfalt von Schokolade.

Tandemsprung wӓre anregend, aber besonders anregend in Fehrbellin! Du würde vor sieben Minuten fallen. Du fliegst auf Flugzueg, es ist ein 30 Minuten reisen.

Zuletzt würde ich “relaxen in der grӧβten Sauna.” Saunas sind sehr gemainsam in Deutschland und dieser Sauna ist Berlins grӧβte, schӧnste, und ӓlteste. Da ist ein Schwimmenbad und es ist 32 Grad. Du kannst deinen ganzen Tag da verbringen!

Kultur 8 Amanda Victory

I normally enjoy reading the kultur articles because they are useful if you planned to visit Germany. However, it is usually obvious that they exaggerate, sometimes more than others. In the first article titled Draftophobia they talked about how Germans hate feeling a draft from the window being open. In fact they fear them because they are convinced drafts cause serious illness, and some not so serious. This sounds absolutely absurd until you continue reading into the next article called You Have What? Mysterious Illness in Germany and learn that it is common for Germans to suffer from circulatory collapse. This is especially odd because any other person in another country would die from this, which is why I am not sure whether or not this kultur text is exaggerating or not. It was also said that Germans tend to be diagnosed with illnesses that don't exist anywhere else. Considering Germany is not North Korea and interacts with the rest of the world, I'm not entirely convinced that this isn't just paranoia.
The last article was about their obsession with saunas. I find this ironic because they think that a breeze will give them pneumonia but when it comes to sitting naked in a sweaty room full of strangers and their germs they are all for it. I guess that's just my germophobic-american side showing. On the contrary I do agree that saunas offer stress relief to some extent. The fact that Finland culture so strongly influenced this trend is sehr interessant to me! A lot of my classes this semester focus on cultural influences so to see an example were it is so apparent is useful. After reading these articles I'm very curious to experience this for myself and see just how popular the phrase "Es zieht" really is.

Amanda, AMD 2

Für AMD 2, Ich habe Rebecca’s blog gelesen. I will studiere im Freiburg, damit ich denke es war interessant. Sie hatte Angst, aber hatte spaβ. Sie hat Heimweh auch, und war krank manchmal. Sie hat eine Freundin im Freiburg, wer war nett und nicht Amerikanisch. Rebecca hat über Oktoberfest, Munich, und Berlin geschrieben. Der blog ist alt, aber sie sagt die Uni war frei! Ich wünschte die Uni hier war L. Ich weiβ es ist nicht frei in Deutschland jetzt. Sie hat viele Stadt besuchen und Referat gehalten. Die Klassen scheine schwer denn sie sind auf Deutsch. Rebecca’s reise war eine Jahre, oder zwei Semester. Ich hoffe nӓchst Jahre Freiburg besuchen!

Kultur 7

Hallo Klasse,
The first article I read was USA Kulinarisch which listed German recipes for Americans to use. Most of them were seasonal and a majority of them were sweets. This made me wonder about German culture in terms of food. In some places they are known for certain eating or cooking habits, for example everyone seems to think Americans deep fry everything and eat hamburgers all the time. Perhaps Germans are traditionally good at baking?
The second article What Discipline? of German Lines and Pythons was actually really interesting to me because I just recently learned that the American idea of a line is not the same as other countries. My Anthropology professor told us about the line behavior of citizens in Poland and so before reading the article I predicted it to be the same. However, it is quite different from both the USA and Poland. In Germany (at least how the article made it sound) people tend to get impatient waiting in line and slowly end up next to you rather than behind, a strategy for cutting I assume. I thought this was unusual because based on the past articles we've read in German 101 I got the impression that Germans were straightforward people, not rude but not likely to beat around the bush. Knowing this I expected to hear, or read, that Germans would wait in line like Americans but given the opportunity they would gladly take your spot.
The first thing listed in 365 Dinge is Neujahrslauf and since I ran cross country in high school that's something i'd be interested in doing. Also listed as number 25 were Knofel, which looked like they'd be worth a try. It was hard to find something in the book that i'd want to try more than the other, especially because there's so much. It's hard to believe that there could possibly be 365 things, a variety of things too, in just two cities. If I ever get the chance to go to Germany, I will definitely bring this book with me and be sure to try a few things out!
Guten Abend!

AMD 1

Für AMD 1 ich used my Freund help. Er heißt Tony und er wohnt in Deutchland. He's only lived da for about zwei Wochen so I decided to "interview" him about the differences he has noticed and places er besucht. Er ist Munich gegangen. Er sagt dass the zuerst Dinge he noticed about the clubs in Munich was that the behavior of guys and girls was opposite that of America. By that he meant girls were not afraid to approach the guys first. Er hat Glyptothek auch besucht. Er sagt that it was much larger in person and was a memorable experience. I also asked him about the people he's encountered the short while he's been there and he said most are friendly and approachable but quick to correct you on something. He also made it a point to say how much cleaner the public bathrooms are and how "creative." Here is what I mean by that:

Here is a picture of the Glyptothek too!

Guten Abend Klasse!