Kultur 8, Yuntao Chen

Among all the articles that I read in this week's Kultur, the article about "draftphobia" is the most interesting one to me.

I was aware of the love of German people towards nature. The German friends that I have are usually among the most adamant cyclists, who will cycle to work in rain or snow. Germans are also famous for their passion towards hiking, mountain climbing, and in general outdoor sports. Hence it surprised me a lot when I read that Germans believe that wind will bring illness and are generally afraid to be blown by a breeze. How can you avoid the flow of air when you do all these activities? And if it is safe when you are doing sports, how is it dangerous when you are in your office or home. This is one thing that I was not able to comprehend.

Another article talks about "mysterious illness in Germany". It says that German may have more names for their illness than other nations can image. This reminds me that in a Kultur article that I read in last semester, the author said that Germans are generally more likely to complain about things and are usually very skeptical about their surroundings. This may also apply to the attitude they have over their own bodies, in a way that they pay more attention so that they are able to pick up the minute details of "illness". The dislike of any medicine also falls in the same logic.

The other articles about the German educational system were also quite informative. Overall I enjoyed reading them a lot.

Kultur 8

Hallo alle!

Diese Kultur-texte war sehr interessant. In Draftophobia: Blown Away by the Fear of Air Deutschen Leute glauben dass "es zieht" krank werden sein. Manchmal mag ich es zieht, manchmal nichts.  Aber wenn ich im Auto fahren, muss ich zieht haben. Mein Bruders Auto hat keine Luft! Dass ist sehr schrecklich! Keine Luft werde ich krank...

Die Artikel You Have What?  Mysterious Illness in Germany war sehr lustig. Meine Deutscherin Freudin ist immer krank! Aber diese "Krankheit" ist kaum Krankheit. Deutschen legen sich sollen hin. Gute Besserung!

Und endlich, mag ich die Sauna! Das klingt sehr nett! Meine Tante hat eine Sauna, aber nie sie verwenden (she never uses it). Wenn gehe ich zu Berlin, muss ich die Sauna probieren.

Im Sommer klingt Berlin gut. Ich freue mich auf die Deutschland reisen. Ich will zu Ritterfest gehen, aber denke ich im Herbst ist...Ich bin eine große Museum Zuschauerin, so das Guggenheim werde ich gehen.

Das ist alles! Tschüss!

Taylor Kost

Willkommen!!

Welcome to our class blog!

We will be using this blog throughout the semester for two kinds of assignments:

1. Once per chapter, the homework plan will direct you to post a response to the culture readings for the chapter on the blog.

2. Roughly every other week, the homework plan will direct you to post here for your Abenteuer mit Deutsch (AMD) assignment. First you do a fun activity that involves German, then you post about it. You should spend an hour total on this (maybe 45-55 minutes doing something, 5-15 minutes posting about it). See Was ist ein AMD, AMD Ideen and Beispiele for ideas. This should get you excited about the kinds of things you can do!

Whenever you post something, please include your name and the name of the assignment (e.g. AMD2, Kultur5) as labels. See "Blog: How To" for more details!

Kultur 1

USA Kulinarisch: 

• Ich denke dass das ist sehr interressant! Since Thanksgiving is a markedly American holiday, I thought that the integration of Thanksgiving in Germany is very interesting. Our holidays have already been quite the diaspora--Halloween, for instance. Although Thanksgiving originated in with the European colonization of North America, the modern associations with the holiday are giving and food, both things that jive well with German culture! 

http://www.usa-kulinarisch.de/5362/tisch-dekorieren-thanksgiving/

• Additionally, I also love to cook, so when I saw this post, (see below) concerning parchment paper, I could relate. Perhaps, over winter break when I could not find parchment paper anywhere, the grocery stores in my town were merely trying to emulate Germany. 

http://www.usa-kulinarisch.de/5359/parchment-paper-kaufen/

What Discipline? Of German Lines and Pythons: 

I was very surprised by this article. As it says, "the famed German Ordnung -- that is "order" -- breaks down when it comes to waiting in line." Perhaps, as alluded to in the article, the lack of a line-standing tradition resulted in the "no-holds-barred" situation of today. I'd rather think that the German people are instead too free-thinking to be coerced into standing in line. 

365 Dinge: 

• Das Badeschiff: (13) Is this a Bath-Ship!? Mit saunas, ein Pool, und ein Lounge mit Bar, this place sounds so awesome, is has to be German. 
• 3-Muskel Tour: (22) This bike for 4 is so cool! What a great way to explore the surrounding countryside. Lets just hope a train doesn't come while you're on the tracks.... 
• Echtes Berlin-Musical: (27) This would be fun to see because I'm not quite acclimated to hearing German sung. 
• Im ältesten Restaurant Berlins essen: (36) What a great combination of 2 of my favorite things-- food and history! 

Brennpunkt Kultur: 

Einkaufen: While in Germany, I definitely noticed an emphasis on higher-quality goods. For example, fresh bread. The prevalence of small specialty shops and, for those who work the night shift, fresh bread vending machines are testament to the German dedication to good food. 

Stuttgart: I've been in Baden-Wuttemberg and in the Neckar River Valley. It's exceedingly beautiful and actually, in my opinion, resembles many areas of the American Appalachia. Besides its scenic surroundings, I especially like how Stuttgart is an opera metropolis. I love opera!! (Especially Wagner)