Kultur 6 - Henry Warrington

One of my guilty pleasures when checking out at grocery stores is to look at the covers of all of the tabloids. I find their headlines hilarious and also ridiculously out of touch with reality. There is a level of absurdity that almost makes me believe they are satire. While this absurdity is fun for the few minutes I spend in the checkout line, I don't think I could deal with it in my everyday newspaper. The over-the-top aspect of it all would make me less likely to care when a truly large or absurd story broke. Whereas if the New York Times or Washington Post breaks a story with a seemingly absurd headline then it is most likely true and I'll pay more attention to it. It is like the boy who cried wolf; if the shock value in Bild Zeitung is always so high then in order to truly shock us you have to go way over the top and then the story is just absurd.

I'm a pretty timid person when I have to talk to anyone in a position of authority. It would be even harder if every time I had to knock on their door. Being able to look through the open doorway and make eye contact before entering makes it easier for the conversation to start but also makes it seem less like you are barging in. Also seeing a closed door as a sign of being busy also enables a certain level of privacy without the necessity of locking your door so that people don't just walk in on you and distract you or interrupt you with a client.

Finally I think that Germany's many wastebaskets is just needlessly complicated. I doubt it saves much energy recycling wise and I bet all it does it frustrate recycling workers because of all the additional sorting they have to do for people who mess up. Maybe in the US the workers do all the sorting for us and by doing it the way Germany does it we would actually be saving them work. Maybe they just do it give more people jobs and artificially lower their unemployment rate. Now that would be sneaky.

Kultur 6 Heather Bigelow

Sex, Smut, and Shock: Bild Zeitung Rules Germany 
I found it interesting to see the remnants of the feelings between East and West Germans mentioned in an article like this. The West Germans looked down on the East Germans and the East Germans loathed them at times for it. I also thought it was interesting that the Bild Zeitung has such a large fan base in Germany. I thought it was amusing to read about what the Bild Zeitung posts. 

German Privacy: Come on in, My Door is Always Closed
I thought it was interesting to learn about another facet of German culture. To me, this seems to make sense why Marie would always look at me weird when I politely knocked on a door. I also thought it was interesting that the article was basically saying to me, "Don't be a wimpy American, be a confident German!" 

Division Hell: Worshiping the Garbage Gods 
The fact that Germans have so many trash cans is not something new to me. I went to Germany in the spring, but I never quite understood the recycling system. It is very confusing. I also sympathized with the Lina about her feeling at loss with the recycling system. It also wasn't surprising to me that the Germans are so dedicated to recycling because I got to know first hand just how environmentally friendly they are. In the countryside of Germany, one may find solar panels, or wind turbines. It truly is a beautiful sight to behold.

AMD 6 Connor Laporte

For my final AMD I decided to watch Inglorious Basterds in German and only toggling English subtitles on when I felt myself to be in desperate need of them (which I found to be less than I had expected). It only seemed fitting to watch this movie in German and I admit that it was one of the few movies that didn’t seem too strange dubbed in German, probably because it is already a very multi-lingual film so they only had to dub the English parts of the film. Since I am so familiar with the plot of the film I did not have to turn the English subtitles on too much, only in the parts of the movie that were less memorable so that I couldn’t count on my meager knowledge of German along with my memory of the plot.  While most of the movie seemed relatively normal, and some did not have to be dubbed because it was already in German, hearing the person who dubbed Brad Pitt’s character say “Bonjour-no” in an odd German attempt at a poor French accent. Hearing these movies in German gives a great idea about the basic differences in pronunciation between the two languages. All together this German viewing highlighted the progress I have made this semester. At the start of this semester this would have been a very painful viewing and I would have had to keep English subtitles on but now I feel I am much more proficient so I can make it by with just the German in many cases. This made me very proud and I can’t imagine what I will be able to do after German 102.

Kultur 6 Connor Laporte

I read the article on “Bild Zeitung” and I was amazed at the fact that it was a conservatively inclined paper. For me as an American the terms “soft porn” and “conservative” are considered completely opposite but I see this is not the case in Germany. Maybe it is just America’s Christian inclination that makes the idea of a newspaper with a naked woman on the front as one of the top newspapers utterly shocking. I doubt a store in America would have sold me this paper 3 months ago when I was under 18 and yet this paper is immensely popular in Germany. I thought that its outrage over the photo of a naked Angela Merkel is quite hilarious and I am surprised (and I imagine she is a little hurt) that she didn’t make page one with that shot. If this was not odd enough the paper on door etiquette was equally strange and alarming. I first of all don’t like the idea of someone knocking just once than entering without being answered or the idea that I have to do this to almost every door I want to enter. This seems invasive for the person inside the room and exceedingly uncomfortable for the person entering but I imagine the Germans are not fazed by this, just as they phased by nudes on the front page.  To top all of these oddities off, the paper on confusing elements of German society really left me with little hope for the German people. I mean, in a world with nudes on the front page of one of the top newspapers, and awkward door related encounters, can’t a guy just throw something away in peace? Apparently not and he also can’t have his phone company install his phone hardware. Maybe this makes the Germans smarter but I imagine it also explains the staring, never smiling, German demeanor.   

Kultur 6 - Nina Muller

For Kultur Chapter 6, I read a couple different articles about life in Germany. Particularly, my two favorites were "Sex, Smut, and Shock: Bild Zeitung Rules Germany" and "German Privacy: Come On In, My Door Is Always Closed".

"Sex, Smut, and Shock" was about Germany's most popular news source--the slanderous Bild Zeitung. I found it shocking that the majority of Germans rely on a newspaper so gossip-prone that stretches even the slightest truth. I'm not sure why I thought it was shocking, because I know very little about German life, but if I had to guess before reading this article I would have assumed that Germans would want nothing but the truth and wouldn't play into gossip magazines...I have to say though, Bild Zeitung does sound intriguing. It is described as serving up "tripe, trash, tits, and, almost as an afterthought, a healthy does of hard news seven days a wee." Who's to say that I wouldn't get hooked?? The writer of the article relates this newspapers origins to those of British newspapers such as the Daily Mirror and the Sun, which of course I haven't heard of either but apparently they led the way for such a style of news reporting. I found that interesting--that Germany would take after something that the British started. 

The other article, "German Privacy", was about the unspoken rule in Germany that doors remain closed. Period. This is shocking for many Americans in Germany, as it would be for me, because open doors are always seen as a welcoming sign whereas closed doors, whether unintentionally or intentionally, communicate the opposite message. So with the doors always closed in Germany, what do you do?? Well, according to the article, you have to "stride up to that door, show it who's boss and knock ONCE with vigor, grasp that handle like there's no tomorrow and swing the door open, enter with your chin up and back straight--and assert yourself." Looks like I should start practicing!!

Kultur 6

I'm kind of disappointed that a newspaper like Bild is read throughout Germany. There's nothing I hate more than twisted propaganda that goes as far to claim "we form your opinion so you don't have to." I can't stand seeing prints like The Enquirer here in the States and I figured Germany was above that. I suppose not.

I also don't really understand the closed door policy prominent in German culture. Why do they feel the need to be so off-putting and aggressive? I think that a closed door policy limits the production and spread of new ideas because it is so difficult to express your idea with those in power.

The article about the complexity of the garbage cans restored my faith in the Germans. I really respect that they expect more out of their people than we do. I think that we simplify everything to the point that intelligence is a luxury in American culture, not a necessity. They force their citizens to understand and it seems that it works out for them. I wish we would mimic this.

Kultur 6 - Scott Aldworth

I found these readings pretty interesting. I drew similarities between satirical shows like "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Show" and Germany's "Bild Zeitung". In both of these forms of media, politicians and other important cultural figures are heavily criticized. It seems as though Bild Zeitung is a little more straightforwardly offensive and mean than it is funny. Either way, both have millions of devout followers. German Privacy: Come On in, My Door is Always Closed was also an interesting read. Small cultural norms like this one - that it is appropriate to knock loudly on a door and barge in - are helpful for someone like me to know as I want to study abroad in Germany next year. Division Hell: Worshipping the Garbage God was frustrating to read. I would be very confused as was the person that the author mentioned in the article described it. When my Oma, who is from Germany, was still alive, she had similarly over-complicating tendencies. I never really noticed it as a little kid, but my parents still complain about how complicated she made everything.

Kultur 6

Sex, Smut and Shock was interesting article. No magazine here in America would ever be allowed to do that without a lot of controversy. Europe is just so laid back and chill, especially Germany. I like how the magazine also draws a line. That's good. The article "German Privacy" was also interesting. I'm someone who would be quite tentative and be afraid to disturb them. These articles are all really great advice for if I visit Germany. "Division Hell" was amusing to me. Like the idea of someone trying to install there own telephone software is hilarious. I'm pretty sure no one could do it. Four different receptacles for waste seems slightly like overkill but I guess it's not. But like the example of the wrapper smeared in ketchup? What bin does it go in? German universities don't assume responsibility for housing? That really sucks. You have to share an apartment with people you don't know and they probably will kill you. I wish Bursley had a communal kitchen. The pictures of Tübingen are really pretty in the book. It would be cool to study with at Tübingen. It seems like a very historical city.

Kultur 6 Blog

The article that I thought was the most interesting was the one about the magazine/tabloid. What made me interested in it was the crime of libel and how strictly it is enforced in Germany. It says they got reprimanded many times in one year but is there some type of punishment that goes with it. I know they are very strict in England about it and if you say something that is true to intentionally harm someone or someone's career it is libel. Are the laws in Germany that loose, because if they are than it seems ridiculous and that tabloids must thrive there. Imagine if magazines were able to publish absurd things like "Barack Obama has affair with Miley Cyrus."

Kultur sechs Zech

The first article wasn't much of a surprise to me. Sex is popular in Germany. After learning about how sex shops are so common, I was wasn't surprised to see that porn is something popular. The second article, however, was more interesting to me. It talked about German "Privacy". I was astonished to find that if a door is closed a German wouldn't just leave, but he/she will knock loudly indicating that they are they. I find that to be so disrespectful. In America it's perfect; if the door is open we can knock lightly and ask if they are available, and if it is closed we might either knock lightly to see if anyone is there or available, or just come back later. What if someone was stressed out and closed their door to avoid even more disturbance, and then suddenly they jump to the sound of banging on the door. Exactly why the respect of privacy with doors is better in America.

Kultur 6

Sex, Smut, and Shock: Bild Zeitung Rules Germany: 

It was very intriguing to me that the Germans combine gossip and true events. I was not surprised that their 'tabloid' consists of "celebrity-bashing, populism, and scandal" as well as half-naked attractive women. You can't take away the Germans' sexuality, that's for sure. I thought it was fascinating how the Bild reacted when the British Sun published nude photos of Chancellor Angela Merkel. It's as if only the Bild is able to criticize itself.

German Privacy: Come On In, My Door is Always Closed:

In Germany, doors are always closed. The proper etiquette is to knock loudly once and then proceed to enter the room. This is a large reprieve from the guessing game here in America. It's always awkward because I never know if it's okay just to walk in if the door is open. At least if the door is closed and I can knock I'm able to announce myself before being present in the room. Also, being able to keep your door closed and not being considered antisocial would be cool. It would save from many distractions.

Division Hell: Worshipping the Garbage Gods:

This article made me feel embarrassed that we, here in America, don't try harder to keep it clean and orderly. In Germany, they have separate bins for any type of trash that you may have. I assume it's done for proper recycling, since Germany is all about environmentalism. Which I hold in a very high respect. There's nothing wrong with trying to keep it green. Thumbs up to Deutschland.

Wo Studenten wohnen

I thought it was really strange that universities don't have enough dormitories for all of their freshman students. I feel like that would be very stressful to be a freshman and to live on your own, paying rent and what not. Although, being lucky and getting into a dorm with a kitchen and private bathroom would be prime.  

Tübingen

First off, I had no idea that the city of Tübingen and Ann Arbor have a partnership. That is super awesome. Also, Tübingen seems like a beautiful place and I'd really like to visit there. I didn't know Johannes Kepler studied at the university; so cool.

Kultur 6- Dylan Koschtial

In the first article it describes how the magazines and news articles hype up their stories for the readers to give them the mindset that is is crucial and important around the world. Sex is also heavily featured to the reader having a beautiful blonde on the cover of the readings for the reader. It is not written by the government as much is in America but by others so that the news may be partly true but way over exaggerated.
In the second article it explains that when a door is closed it is not custom to come back later, but to knock loudly and enter with a smile to show that you are there. This is very uncommon in America and will be very unreal to their lifestyle but in Germany you knock once loud and go in.
In the final article it explains how dedicated to the environment Germans are with their mass ways of sorting garbage which can be very confusing to an outsider. They not only separate their recyclables, but also the color of the bottles and cans. However, interestingly you can not use the recycle on sundays. This was very odd but who can argue with the country leading the way for the environment.

Kultur 6 -Gabrielle Spickard

     As is usual with these articles about German culture, I found the readings for this chapter very interesting! For the first article, "Sex, Smut and Shock: Bild Zeitung Rules Germany," I was very surprised to learn that a tabloid magazine is regarded as the primary source of news for many Germans: for me this seems like the equivalent of Americans using the National Enquirer or other gossip magazines as their primary news sources. Considering some of the ridiculous stories that I've seen passed off as news from these publications, I really couldn't imagine a sizable portion of the population taking those stories as news.
     I found the second article, "German Privacy: Come On In, My Door Is Always Closed," to be a good read as well. I imagine that it would be strange or awkward at first for someone non-German to adjust to this different cultural practice. However, the article offers up some good advice for people of all cultures: knock and walk in confidently, and go about your business. I feel like this advice could be applied to much more than navigating the various cultural tropes of closed doors, and could be taken as advice for everyday life.
     The third article, "Division Hell: Worshipping the Garbage Gods," reaffirmed my continued fear that I would be completely lost, confused, and completely stick out as a foreigner were I to ever visit Germany. However, I applaud Germany for their commitment to environmentalism and recycling (except on Sunday, apparently). It's also interesting that the article mentioned Germany's commitment to renewable energy sources, which upon further research is very impressive! Other countries need to step up their game.
     I also found the Vorsprung reading to be interesting. I find the German student housing system to have both similarities and differences than that of American universities. It seems like at Michigan students are basically left to find their own housing after their freshman year (although dorms are still an option), however in Germany most students seem to opt out of dormitories/student residence halls all together. I couldn't really have imagined not living in a dorm my freshman year of college and just getting an off-campus apartment, but I guess that student culture is also different in Germany than it is in America.

Kultur6

The articles for were interesting. I liked the article about the newspaper the Bild Zeitung. What I like is how the newspaper doesn't promote its own opinion and bashes everyone else. It bashes everyone's opinion. It turns the littlest thing into and international incident. The article on German privacy was short but did have good advice. When in doubt, knock loudly and barge into the room with your head held high. From the text book I discovered that most students in German live in off campus housing since doesn't prove many room. Most students rent apartments near campus. Many university work together to help students study abroad. Because of cooperation such as this, cities have also created partnerships. For example the city of Tübingen has a partnership with the city of Ann Arbor.

kultur 6 Luyi Chen

Finally it comes to the last culture blog! I have learnt a lot of German culture from reading those interesting articles which reveal the unusal part of German life. I would like to travel to German sometime in the future, and therefore learning these useful tips of German culture definitely prepare me well for my future exciting journey.

In the article of 'Division Hell: Worshipping the Garbage Gods', the author makes the statement that Germans seem to be proud of their complicated systems. Their public transportation system, for example, has dozens of different travel options with various colorful buttons and payment options to choose from. A traveller like me will be confused by the complicated operations and annoyed by the pages of instructions. Maybe going out with my German friends is a better choice. Another interesting example from the article is the garbage containers. I actually respect the fact that Germans take their gabage seriously. German has advanced waste recycling system. There are five or six gabage containers. One for brown glass. One for white glass. One for paper. One for packaging. One for organic waste. One for metal and one for leftovers. It can be a little difficult to decide which gabage I should throw the waste to, but this action will help recycle the waste more easily and make the environment better. Germans are motivated to seperate trash on their own initiatives.

I learnt another interesting opinion of German privacy. Doors stay closed in a simple axiom of German life. If you want to get inside, you have to knock on the door heavily and you may not be welcomed warmly. The person you wnat something from maybe irritated or even more peeved. They will just sit there and stare poker-faced. If you see the door closed in Germany, you must think seriously before interrupting the person inside. Otherwise, the situation may turn to be embarrassing.

Kultur 6- Amanda Knop

I can't believe that Bild Zeitung is the primary source of news for millions of Germans. In America, I  we have tabloids (which most people understand to be fake), and real news magazines. It seems really weird to me that a magazine would try and combine both. A lot of the topics that they cover are really inappropriate for a source that so many people look to for news.

I think it would be really awkward trying to visit an official in their office in Germany. In America, doors tend to be left open when you are allowed in the room. In Germany, the door is always closed.

In Germany, it is difficult to just throw away trash. They have many different trash receptacles. Although this would be really confusing, I think its a good idea. This way, Germans get rid of their trash in an environmentally friendly way.

I think its interesting that German universities do not provide a lot of dorm rooms for students. I feel like that is a part of the college experience here in America. However, I think its really cool that the dorm rooms they do have have a kitchen for students to use. I would love to be able to cook my own meals in the dorms. It's also cool that they offer a free-housing service for students.

Tübingen seems like a city I would like to visit. I would love to see the Schloss Hohentübingen. I've never seen a castle before. I think its so cool that the city of Tübingen has a partnership with Ann Arbor.

Kultur 6

When it comes to reading leaked secrets of the celebrities or 'hot topics' of things that I really shouldn't care much for, there's no surprise if I hardly believe a word in that particular article or even the entire journal/magazine. To me, Germany's Bild Zeitung seems to be a gossiping joint with, of course, news coverage that is blown out of proportions. However, that last part with Angela Merkel made it look like only Bild can bash on its own stories and news. 

Normally when I see a closed door, there is probably something going on behind it. And by following societal etiquette, I'll politely knock. But I was surprised to find that it's fine to loudly knock and afterwards intrude upon what's behind closed doors in Germany. Yet at the same time, I feel that the confident assertiveness is a part of German culture, so maybe it isn't that shocking. 

In America, I really think we need to take care of our waste disposal more seriously. I try to read the labels on product or material carefully before throwing it into waste or recycling since sometimes you may find in something that seems recyclable actually is not. Looking at the system in Germany makes me a little ashamed at the way I and many other Americans organize our trash. Hopefully in the future, we can use colors to code for specific trash. 

Student housing in Germany sounds quite similar to the standards here in Michigan. But, the fact that there is free housing for international students in Germany seems like a dream come true. It makes me want to go study abroad there even more. Perhaps I can visit Tübingen, since it has a lot of educational history as well as its position being a university town like Ann Arbor. 

Kultur 6: Callie Chappell

Sex, Smut and Shock: Bild Zeitung Rules Germany: I thought it was interesting how the Bild hyperbolizes actual events, rather than just inventing sensational stories. Personally, this seems better than publishing outright fiction. I also thought it was hilarious that the motto is "we form your opinion so you don't have to."
German Privacy: Come On In, My Door Is Always Closed: This aspect of German culture encapsulates many aspects of the culture in general. In line with what we've learned about German privacy. Here  in the US, people seem to rarely keep their doors closed. It's good to understand the cultural norms in a world where door-knocking is actually a valuable skill.
Division Hell: Worshipping the Garbage Gods: I definitely noticed this when I was in Germany. Even my host families had up to 4 different waste bins under their sinks for different kinds of waste. It was rather overwhelming. Everything had its exact place, and way to dispose of it.

AMD 6 - Scott Aldworth

Für mein AMD 6, I had a conversation with a german international student for thirty minutes in mostly German. We exchanged the typical, simple conversation that I've learned in class for the first fifteen minutes or so. She corrected me on some of my pronunciation and it ended up being very helpful studying for the oral exam this week. I used the helpful cheat cards that we're allowed to use in the exam to keep the conversation flowing and to practice the type of conversation I'll have during my oral exam. After a while though I asked her to teach me German phrases and other funny sayings that a fluent German speaker would say. She is from Bavaria so she said that not all of these phrases make sense everywhere in Germany. "Was geht ab?" is an informal way of asking "Wie gehts?" - it translates to roughly "what's up?" I also learned that "end geil" and "sau witzig" mean awesome and super funny, respectively. I also learned a couple of swear words that are pretty obvious to translate: "scheiße, verdammt, und kacke" (I hope that these aren't too offensive as I'm posting them publicly!)

She said that because she is from Bavaria people will often say "Bayern gehört night zu Deutschland" - Bavaria is not part of Germany. It's interesting to know that there are such large cultural differences from Bavaria and the rest of Germany. I also asked for her some funny German phrases but she explained that Germans have no sense of humor.

Talking with a German native was a very fun experience and it's rewarding to know that my first semester of German has already given me a decent grasp on the language.

AMD 6

For AMD 6 I read an entry of the Ich Werde Ein Berliner blog called "The Kanye West Analogy". Of course a title like that caught my interest, and I had to read further. Basically, the blogger is comparing Berlin, which she describes as "the single most exciting and nonconformist conglomeration of buildings, streets, people, and dirt that ever graced the surface of this world", which Kanye West. Intrigued? So was I. Skeptical? So was I. But I have to say, she puts up a good argument for this abstract comparison. My two favorite comparisons are: 

1. Kanye is famous for stating he "wants to win every award" and is known to throw temper tantrums whenever anyone else is awarded instead. From which can only be deducted that he a) is the only person left on this planet who still gives a damn about awards and b) he is such a deeply insecure person that he constantly needs affirmation from external entities in order to feel any self worth.

Enter Berlin: Once you mention even the slightest matter which you think isn't absolutely perfect about it, or god forbid, some tiny thing that you liked better in another place, then be prepared for the conversation to rapidly turn into an awkward, passive-agressive pissing contest during which the Berlin fiend will, without fail, launch into a pedantic diatribe to shoot down the unthinkable thought that any other place in the world could be in any way better than Berlin. Just like Kanye's egomaniac approach to awards, anytime Berlin loses, it is never its own fault but always some hater holding Berlin down. 

2. Kayne started out as a promising hip hop artist and talented producer who was able to land a few hit records in the musical genre call Hip-Hop. But after having barely survived a car accident, something in Kanye's brain snapped, and since that day he opted to continue his career as the autotune-abusing cyberpop muppet we know him as today, or in his own words, "the voice of this generation."

Get it? Berlin and its people had the reputation to be a promising, if a bit unambitious new player on the circuit of world capitals, until one day, by accident, the Berlin wall came down, and Berlin's elite, an a lazy pose of self-gradeur, felt that their city could now be whatever it wants to be and decided that the result of this awkward, forced epiphany was to proclaim that Berlin is now the "new New York" and the best place for young people to follow their dreams at. 

The way she writes is really humorous, but even beyond that, people living in Berlin are supposed to recognize the validity of these associations. What prompted her rant on the Kanye West Analogy was her promise that anyone who went to Berlin for an extended period of time would automatically turn into a travel agency for friends and family back home. I'm assuming she's speaking from experience. She brings up a good point--when you have people asking you what exactly makes a place great, and what you recommend them to do while they're there...you involuntarily but definitely become at least somewhat responsible for the quality of their trip. And you in no way want to have that kind of pressure on you. So what do you do? Explain to them the Kanye Analogy. 

AMD 6 - Gaby Spickard

     For my AMD 6, I decided to change the language settings on my computer, internet browser, programs that I use frequently, and the websites that I used frequently (e-mail, CTools, Netflix, etc.) to German. This was a very interesting change from my normal English language-formatted computer. It was kind of overwhelming at first, since I wasn't exactly sure what some of the words on the tabs and everything meant, but I was actually able to get used to it pretty quickly and was also able to recognize some of the words and phrases. It also wasn't as overwhelming when I was able to remember where certain tabs and functions were on the toolbars for the programs that I used frequently, but I'd like to think that it was mostly my improved German language skills that helped me navigate my newly formatted computer. I also noticed that when I use the German version of certain websites that they were formatted much differently sometimes, and some even had different content than their American counterparts (e.g. Wikipedia). I found this to be interesting. I tried reading some articles on Wikipedia in German. I didn't get very far, but I was still able to comprehend bits and pieces of the articles and on some I was even able to get a clear idea of what the article was talking about and understand most of it. I consider my German internet adventure to be a valuable learning experience for me.

AMD 6 - Henry Warrington

For my sixth AMD, I watched the movie Sommersturm. The movie is about two best friends, Tobi and Achim, during a summer crew competition. Before the competition, Tobi and Achim's team are disappointed when the Berlin Women's team is replaced by another German team where all the members are gay. Tobi's team spends a lot of the movie coming to terms with being around and becoming friends with the gay team. At first they worry about the other team coming into their tents at night and ends with the two teams being friends. Also Tobi and Achim grow apart during this trip because Achim becomes closer with his girlfriend while Tobi realizes that his feelings toward Achim are more than just that of good friends. One of the Berlin rowers helps Tobi deal with those feelings and helps him be more confident about who he is. By the end Tobi admits his sexuality to Achim and that helps to repair their friendship.

I found myself relying on the subtitles a lot since they were talking so quickly and there weren't too many phrases that were repeated for me to catch but there were still times when I would pick out words and phrases. At the beginning of the race they did a countdown "Drei, zwei, eins!". Also whenever the team was at a table and somebody said something they liked, they all knocked on the table and I realized that I got really excited for knowing why they were doing that.

AMD 6

For this AMD, I read an article form Exberliner.com. It was about a young refugee from Russia who raps to describe the horrible conditions faced by refugees in Germany. He and his family fled Russia when he was nine because of political turmoil and war. When he came to Germany, he was put in a refugee camp with four showers for 100 people, and only 1 of them really worked. He said that everything was always dirty. His family lived in a small room for a while, then moved up to two small rooms. They were constantly harassed by German police and were discouraged from protesting their conditions.

This is crazy to me because this occurred in the past ten years. As a progressive nation, you would think that Germany would empathize with the refugees and provide decent living conditions. I respect him for writing music about the turmoil so Germans really understand what so many people in their country have to go through.

I also watched his music video. The song translated into English is "If you are Caught." In the song, he says that it is better to be in jail than to be a refugee because prisoners know when they will be free. I couldn't understand most of the video because he talks too fast, but a lot of the images evoked in the video got through to me, regardless of the language barrier.

If you're interested in reading the article, here's the link: http://www.exberliner.com/features/people/refugee-rap/

AMD6

For my AMD 6 I chose to enter an all German speaking server on one of my xbox games. It was a very new experience than simply changing the language written, because now I was actually listening to true Germans talk and communicate with one another in this game. It gave me a new way to look at how much I still have to learn, because even though I know basics in the language, there is such a vast amount that I still need to know to communicate, especially about a game and the objectives in it. I was, however, able to talk to a German that spoke English and it was very fun and interesting to have him communicate to the others for me while also attempting to communicate myself. It was a very fun and interesting couple of hours playing with them and it was an experience that gave me a deeper understanding of how much there is still to learn.

Leah Mattfield AMD 6

This week I had to research Tarzan the musical (yes a stage version of Tarzan exists) to learn about if for an upcoming audition. When researching it, I ran into a lot of videos in German which lead me to episodes from a reality t.v. show. It was a search for the next Tarzan and Jane for Hamburg's production of Tarzan. Basically American Idol for Broadway (we have shows like this here, there was one for Legally Blonde the musical - yes, this also exists . . . - and the latest revival of Grease) or whatever the equivalent to Broadway is in Germany. Anyway, for my AMD, I watched a few episodes from this t.v. show "Ich Tarzan, Du Jane" and since it was about something I needed to learn about for a job and something I really care about, I listened very carefully and was able to pick out a lot of German. I also found it interesting that all the background music as well as some of the actor's audition songs were American songs.

AMD 6

For this AMD, I read an article about cafes in Germany on the Ich Werde Ein Berliner blog. It was very humorous in explaining how Germans feel about their cafe choices. The author claimed that within three days of being in Germany, one should already have a favorite cafe. It is not uncommon for people to spend half of their day, or more, in a cafe. They pretty much make it like it is their own home. I guess you might as well be comfortable if you're going to be there for twelve hours. Also, one must know about coffee and you must have a certain way that you like to ingest your caffeine. "Good" cafes are supposed to be little hole-in-the-wall places with creaky wooden floorboards and old furniture. Very hipster-esque, to say. It is bad etiquette to sit and chat with a friend for however long and then get up and leave. It would make the Germans around you feel uncomfortable. So plan to set up house in your favorite cafe, because nothing less of you would be expected in Germany.

http://www.ichwerdeeinberliner.com/post/17372057373/6-cafes

AMD 6

For AMD 6 I watched the Simpsons in German. I have watched the Simpsons for a long time and absolutely love the show. Watching them in German is very different that what I am used to. Sometimes, they spoke very, very fast. Other times they spoke at a normal conversational pace that I could somewhat comprehend. Some words I easily picked up were when Homer said, "Ich liebe Bier" and when he says, "Ich bin denn mal Moes." While I didn't understand everything I knew what was going on in the episodes from what I saw, the words I understood, and the fact that I had seen the episodes before. I really like the episode, Trilogie derselben Geschichte (Trilogy of Error) because it has a scene with Lisa running just like Lola did. There was also a scene making fun of students in a French class.

AMD 6 Andrea Rousseau

For the Abenteur mit Deutsch 6, I decided to take Harmut's suggestion of watching the Simpsons. I could not find the "Simpsons Trilogie derselben Geschichte," but instead watched "Die Simpsons- The Fight Before Christmas." At first, I was hard for me to understand anything that they said because they always speak at such a rapid pace. After awhile I became more used to it and could pick up on certain words and phrases, such as "Football spiel," "es tut mir lied" before eating the gingerbread man, "Weihnachtman" referring to Santa, "wir fleigen," "ich habe vergessen," "Es ist ein Weihnachtswunder," and "Fruhstuck im Bett." From watching and picking out words that I could understand, I got a pretty good jist of the storyline. I now know a lot of phrases relating to Christmas (Weihnachten) which will come in handy this time of year, such as Weihnachtman (Santa), Tannembaum (Christmas tree), Weihnachtsgrüße (Christmas greetings), and Reintier (Reindeer). Though I was not expecting this to be a combination of the 'Polar Express,' 'Inglorius Bastards,' the Muppets, Katy Perry and Martha Stewart, it was still pretty entertaining for the limited amount of the German that I could understand.

AMD Sechs Zech

For this AMD I decided to catch up on my favorite German basketball player (the best German to ever play in the NBA), Dirk Nowitzki. He recently just moved up the all-time scoring list; he is now 16th in most points scored in a career. He currently has 25,422 points throughout 15 years in the NBA league. His Dallas Mavericks team is off to shaky start, with a 10-8 record. Things, however, are turning around for them because of the emergence of other good players, which removes some of the load from Dirk's shoulders. He just recently suffered a hit to the nose which made him bleed. It has been him a few years since he last won his first NBA championship; although it is impossible for them to win it because the Pistons are the best, he will still compete for it. Being the best German, as well as one of the best best European-born players, is a great milestone. I'm looking forward to seeing Dirk perform his last few seasons with the league; hopefully it goes well for him because he really had a remarkable career. Geh Dirk!

AMD 6 - Philip Picon

One of the main reasons I decided to take German besides the fact that Mary Hennessey is amazing, is that my dad took German in college and studied abroad in Össterreich. Since I was home for Thanksgiving, I decided to do my AMD by having a conversation in German with my dad. Let's just say that it was an epic failure. My dad, 31 years out of college, was unable to string even some of the most basic german phrases together. Instead of recounting the miserable conversation, I will instead bring tell you a little about the words he remembered. He remebered "ja" and "tschuss." He didn't know how to say my name is and didn't know how to answer how are you. I learned one thing important from my dad though, language is fickle and in order to remember it you need to constantly practice. For that reason, I will be sure to speak in German for at least an hour a week over break in order to not become rusty when I come back for German 102.

AMD 6 Spencer White

For this AMD I decided to go back to the Lernen to talk show to watch a few more episodes on Micky learning German. I decided to stay a little bit in the earlier episodes where he was still talking in a slower pace with more simple words. I tried to watch it without looking at the subtitles and I was surprised on how much i was able to pick up. It was really easy to understand simple greetings at the beginning and when they talked about how they were doing. I think that this is because we practice a lot of asking Wie gehts? with replying Mir geht gut. It was nice for those to come so naturally to my mind without trying to translate them in my head. I think that is when you finally know that you understand the language when you can simply speak the language without trying to decipher it in your head. I hope as i pursue German more and more that the language comes naturally to me at some point.

AMD 6

I decided to do German Crosswords for a fun thing to do. The first one is Thanksgiving themed. I couldn't find a way to get lines to show up on the pictures so that you could see I actually did them. The first word I found for this one was Brötchen it was the easiest to find. I'll give the Englisch translation for all of these words too.
 Amerika= America, Batate= sweet potatoes, Brötchen= rolls, dankbar= grateful/thankful, Erbsen= peas, Ernte= harvest, Essen= food, Familie= Family, Füllhorn= horn of plenty/ cornucopia, Füllung= stuffing, Gemüse= vegetables, Herbst= Autumn/ Fall, Indianer= Indian/ Native American, Kartoffeln= potatoes, Mais=corn, Pilger= pilgrim, Preiselbeeren= cranberry, Pute=turkey, Segen= blessing, Soße= gravy
Ich bin neunundneunzig Prozent sure Deutschen don't have Erntedankfest, only in Amerika. 
Amerika, Batate, Brötchen, dankbar, Erbsen, Ernte
Essen, Familie, Füllhorn, Füllung, Gemüse, Herbst
Indianer, Kartoffeln, Mais, Pilger, Preiselbeeren, Pute
Segen, Soße ("Sosse" in search)

After finding this Holiday word search I decided to look up Weihnachten Wörter auf Deutsch. Advent calendar is just der Adventskalender aug Deutsch. I think these calendars are a big deal in Germany because the German Club at my high school always sold these. An angel is der Engel which isn't too hard to remember. A bell is die Glocke, candles= die Kerze and Christmas carols are das Weihnachtslied which makes sense since das Lied= the song. The christ child is also really easy to remember because its just das Christkind. Christmas markets are der Weihnactsmarkt. Mein Vater ist in Deutschland im Dezember geflogen. He says the markets are really big and cool. I would love to visit one of those as well if I ever go to Deutschland. I want to study abroad in the Fall so I can experience Oktoberfest and Christmas!! The Christmas tree= der Tannenbaum. I know this is a German custom that has been added to Christmas tradition. I remember in German class in high school and we had to sing "O Tannenbaum"! I think Silent Night "Stille Nacht" was originally wrote in German. It is such a pretty song!

AMD 6

I watched another episode of South Park called "Good Times with Weapons." The whole group were at a fair and they saw a knife seller and told him their parents were dead so they couldn't bring them to give permission to buy weapons. So the knife guy gave weapons to them. They went on adventures and ended up throwing a ninja star into Butters' eye. They didn't want to get in trouble by bringing him to the hospital, so they glued patches of hair onto him and planned to bring him to the vet. He escaped and hobbled off to the hospital, but they couldn't help him because they thought he was a dog. So they went back to the fair to try to return the weapons and get rid of the evidence, but all of their parents were there at an auction. So Cartman used his "invisibility power" that he made up when they were playing to sneak past, but really he just walked across the stage naked. Butters went onto the stage too with the hair and ninja star in his eye. Everyone called a town meeting to talk about how terrible it was that Cartman was naked and no one seemed to care that Butters got stabbed. Here are some phrases I picked out from the episode:
- Warum?
- Was ist deine Ninja-name, Kenny?
- Sieh was wir haben!
- keine Zeit
- Jetzt bist du ein Huhn!
- es tut so weh
- Komm schnell
- In seinem Auge?
- Wie geht's? Schlecht.
- Ich kann nicht.
- Was hast du gedacht?

AMD 6: Callie Chappell

For this AMD, I wrote to my German pen-pal. Even though we usually write letters, I sent her a facebook message this time. I met her, Ann-Kathrin, when I visited Hecklingen, Germany. She is currently working as an apprentice at a bank in Munich and is also going to school there. She says that she dislike "special calculation subjects,"  but I'm not entirely sure what those are. I'll definitely have to ask. Ann-Kathrin has traveled a lot in the past couple of years, and she has sent me postcards from London and New York, when she was in the US. Hopefully, I'll be able to travel to Germany and see her again. Now that I'm learning German, I'll have to start writing my letters in German (even though her English is excellent...).

AMD 6

Ich liebe liebe liebe Fondue! Whether it comes in chocolate or cheese or some other variety, I love it. It's always been one of my favorite dishes. I read on article online at the Exberliner site about Fondue places in Germany. This is truly exciting for me, because I am seriously thinking of traveling to Germany perhaps to study abroad or go for a vacation trip. This article titled "Dippin' it: Fondue in Berline" described and even reviewed three different restaurants that offer the dipping style Fondue. Address and telephone listings as well as open hours were also available in the article. There was one place called Feuer und Flamme, meaning 'Fire and Flame' that apparently makes 'sludgy' cheese fondue. But I might try their chocolate fondue.  Interestingly, very few tourists frequent there, rather it is the Berliners' favorite joint. Even still, I may visit the placeThe author seemed to really like the Ars Vini franchise. Though, I personally do not think I will try their 'meat' fondue. How does that even work? The last one the article mentioned was Tian Fu, famous for the Chinese hotpot which I am eager to share. I'm glad they allow vegetarian requests or else I'd miss out big time on this great opportunity. It's great to see different cultural foods being offered in Germany. In the future, if and when I happen to be somewhere in Germany, I'm determined to go to at least one of these fondue places.

Article: http://www.exberliner.com/food/dippin-it/

AMD 6 Luyi Chen

I found it really useful watching the episode 5 of The Lernen to Talk show because Micky used a lot of  sentence with past tense in the video. Micky discussed about the weather, the coincidence he witnessed during the class and the Swiss literature with his host father, Jean Claude. 'Wie geht's? Alles ist gut?' They started the conversation with the common greetings. He used a lot of past tense sentence in this episode. For example, 'Meine Lehrerin hat uns gelehrt, über die Worte', which means my teacher taught us with words. 'Es war unglaublich', which means it was unbelievable. Micky was shocked by a coincidence which happened during its German class. When they were discussing about a virtual accident, a car actually hit a bicycle in the corner outside, which also sounds unbelievable to me. 'Ich war schockiert', which means I was shocked. Micky also learnt how to use the dative case during the last 5 weeks. For example, 'Der Radfahrer ist in dem Ambulanz.' When they discussed about the fun they had the past summer, Jean talked about the book he read. 'Hast du viel Spaß in Sommer gemacht? Ich habe win paar Bücher gelesen'.

For the episode 6 of the show, Micky had another conversation with a beautiful lady called Jasmine Trikochi. Micky still had some problem with the simple words such as "why" and because. They first talked about their work. 'Wie lange hast du hier gearbeitet? Ich habe hier drei Wochen gearbeitet. Es ist ein Praktikum.' Micky and Jasmine were working in the same place. Jasmine worked as an internship and Micky was looking for an internship. 'Hast du ein CV in englischer gemacht?' They discussed about the CV for the internship. It is difficult for people to write a CV in another foreign language and Micky were worried about it. At last, Micky thanked Jasmine for joining in the show. 'Ich danke dir für einen Gast sein.' I definitely learnt a lot of useful common sentences from the show.

AMD 6- Heather Bigelow

For my assignment I decided to watch my favorite show "Supernatural" auf Deutsch. From the many wonderful episodes, I decided to watch "Yellow Fever" from Season 4. It was very interesting to see my favorite characters speaking German. I was able to understand the gist of the episode.

Some words I already understood:
Danke- Thank you
Guten Tag- Hello/Good day
Wie waren Freunde- We were friends
ein großen Herz- a big heart
Sie ist gestorben- She's dead.
Ich hab mit Bobby gesprochen.- I spoke with Bobby.
Hast du ein Plan B?- Do you have a Plan B?

Some new phrases/words I learned:
Ich glaube nicht.- I don't think so.
Frank hatte- Frank had...
Bin ich verfolgt?- Am I haunted?
Geisterkrankheit- ghost sickness
Du bist nicht echt!- You're not real!

AMD 6- Amanda Knop

For this AMD, I decided to watch some German newscasts. I used the website www.tagesschau.de. This is the website that we used in class when we watched the "Taggeschau in 100 Sekunden" video.

First, I watched one of these "100 Sekunden" videos. I did not understand much of it, but there were a few things that I was able to pick up. The only story that I was able to understand was that there was a protest in Portugal. I also could understand the weather portion at the end. Morgen, it is going to "regen" or rain. I was able to understand a few key words such as wilkommen, jahren, gegen, and Mittwoch. I was also able to understand every number the reporter said.


After watching the video, I decided to look at some written articles on the website. I found it kind of difficult to navigate the site, but I did find some interesting articles. The Kultur section was my favorite because it had a lot of interesting articles about movies and music. I found an article about a performance by a band named "Bastille", which is a band that is gaining in popularity here in the US. I also found an article about Detroit. The article was called "Unternehmerin gibt Obdachlosen eine Chance", which means "Businesswomen gives the homeless a chance". A young woman is working to bring the homeless off the streets, and happened to have worked in Detroit.

I thought it was kind of fun to try and navigate the German news site. Although difficult to understand, I think its a good website to look at every once and a while to improve my German.

Kultur 5

After reading the “Rules of the Street” article I was, at last, given the impression that Germany may be the place for me. I have always felt like the practice of saying “excuse me” at any possible point of contact with strangers is a bit silly. I was relieved to hear that at least one nation recognizes the fact that this practice is pointless due to the commonality of bumping into someone on the street. I am relieved to know that I am not the only one that feels no better when I am accidently jostled on the street after the person says “excuse me”.

However, the article regarding sex shops in Germany did not have this same effect. I feel as though Germany should work a little harder to attempt to conceal their sex shops, especially from the impressionable eyes of the youth. This is an instance where I am perfectly happy with the American approach of concealing these inappropriate shops from those who want to remain free from this startling window gallery.

The article about “Klofrauen” was also a deterent. I was both opposed to the idea of having to have money on hand to use the restroom, as well as having a person who lurks in the bathroom with the soul responsibility of cleaning up after people. This practice means one must always have money in their pocket and subjects patrons of the bathroom to the presence of a potentially judgmental cleaner. The idea of someone having this job is also disturbing and all-in-all I very much don’t like this practice.

The way Germans practice flirting is almost equally deterring. I feel like having flirting be indicated by a stare could lead to many mistakenly initiated flirtations. Someone could just glance at a women and that women could misconstrue this as the indication of sexual interest. This seems to add enormous social pressure and I wish Germans would just be forthcoming with their feelings, instead of being so cautious and subtle.

I was not surprised to learn that, like everywhere else in the world, women live longer than men in Germany. However, I was supersized that men are still the majority in foreign residents, because of the existence of marriage migration and foreign births. I also thought that the fact that 81% of Germans live in families but I concede I have no idea what this figure is in the US, it just seems high. Another surprising figure was how many divorces per year there were relative to the number of marriages, with almost 2/3 of those web are replaced with divorces. I was relieved to hear that equal rights are guaranteed and with the expectation of the noted figures, it seems that German women behave very similarly to American women.   

Kultur 5- Dylan Koschtial

In the first article it was expressed that Germans can be much more physical when it comes to walking, going on the subway, and everyday interaction. It was explained that they will not excuse themselves, and thy will instead plow through crowds of people to get where they want to go. It is not that they are rude, it is just that their customs show that they will go through people and expect them to be out of their way.

In the second article it describes how prevalent and acceptable sex shop are in Germany. They are not considered a bad thing as they are in America, and all German shops are open at good times as well as having advertisement on their windows. Not only this but they are located all over the place unlike in America.

In the third article it describes how bathroom cleaners are located at most touristy and visited areas. It is a common sight and to be a respectable person a 30-50 cent tip is expected by Germans after using the bathroom. It is not illegal but it is considered very disrespectful to not pay the cleaner.

In the third article it explains how flirting is much different from the way we as Americans perceive it. Going up to a German women and talking to her is considered very forward and instead you should simply catch her eye and look away to get her attention.

It can be seen from this as well as previous articles that the way Americans and Germans differ is very great. They have very different ideas about certain topics and a very different manner of behaving in public areas as well as the contents and places in certain locations.

AMD 5

Für meine AMD, Ich habe “Team Fortress 2” im Deutsch gespielt. It was hard to understand the other players and directions but after around half an hour of playing I started to become acclimated to the important words (of which there were not many, other than “anfangen” und “aussteigen” because it a shooting game). However, the ability of players to communicate via text and by speaking if they had a headset, made for a great learning experience. Die Spieler sprechen Deutsch und Englisch. Some of them spoke German and English interchangeably, some with English screen names who spoke German and vise-versa and would incorporate English words in their German. Of course due to the fact that it was a video game, people were not using complex sentences in their communications (mostly “Stirb!”) but I still feel like it was good practice because occasionally people would send more complete sentences, which I was pretty much always unable to understand. Another element of the game is the countdown to the end of the game, which told me how many “Minuten” und “Sekunden” were left in the game. This was a good practice of both numbers and units of time. Overall I feel like it was a great learning experience and I may keep German as my default language.

Kultur 5 - Henry Warrington

The Kapital funf kultur texts were interesting to say the least. They were also eye opening and compellingly interesting to read. These readings continue to show the difference between the culture of America and the German culture. Most people in America apologize for the littlest of things because if they don't they get yelled at. In Germany it seems that the level that something has to be to draw out and apology is bloodshed. While I think this might a little too high of a tolerance it is definitely a refreshing thing to think about because the apology happy culture of the US is a little tiring sometimes. Along with their tolerance for physical contact and harm they also are less prudish which we already saw with the much more frequent nudity. Along with public nudity they also have sex shops in perfectly respectable parts of town and no one cares. In the US this would be ridiculous (well except in a college town like Ann Arbor where we have one on South U). It is nice to know that the entire world isn't so prudish.

I recently read a Buzzfeed list about why working retail sucks because of all the horrible things the customers expect. I whole heartedly agreed with the list but still see this job as a good thing for my character. Now a job that I really don't have any envy for is the Klofrau. Having to clean toilets and sinks all day everyday sounds miserable. Also it seems like they really do not make much money which makes the position even more depressing. I hope that should I travel to Germany I remember to bring some change to the bathroom.

Finally the flirting article was definitely interesting because the style of flirting they described that Americans do is laughable. Sure there are the obnoxious people who are as forward as some of the quotes they use but I find most people in the US are much more subtle. While that is the case, I do find Germans' method of flirting as I see it to be a refreshing break from having to work up the guts to talk to someone. Instead you just make quick eye contact and wait to see if they come to you. While offering to buy someone drinks can be a quick way to get their attention it also is hard on the wallet and self esteem, especially if you get turned down.

Kultur 5

I thought the article "Rules of the Street: No Blood, No Entschuldigung" about how Germans walk down the streets/interact with one another in public transport places was really interesting. Germans have this reputation amongst other countries for being rude, curt, and just generally unfriendly. This article provides an explanation for that interpretation--at least partly. The writer of the article says, "Walking down the street can often feel like a rugby scrum." It's part of German life, and instead of stopping to mutter the laborious 4 syllable mouthful of Entschuldigung every time they bump shoulders, Germans have simply incorporated this hustle and bustle into their social contract. It's not rude to not say anything, in fact its expected. And that is hard for other cultures to understand, but it might be kind of nice to not have to say something every single time you accidentally bump into a stranger on the street.

Another article of particular interest to me was "German Erotica: The Land of Beer, Sausage, and Sex Shops." I mean, with a title like that, it's kind of hard not to enjoy the content. Apparently the sex shops there are found in the most mundane, average of places--something not common in America, where they are few and far between and often well hidden from the rest of the community. But in Germany--right in the Marketplatz! Where all the cute German families go to buy their sausage! It seems funny to me, but I guess there it is just culture. Either way, it was fun and cool and interesting to read.

AMD 5 - Henry Warrington

For the fifth AMD, I read the Wikipedia article and the New York Times article about Denglish. If was interesting to see how German speakers use English words or even variations of English words for everyday use. The weirdest thing was how they used English in advertising and on their application pages. I assume this is so they can attract as many people as possible no matter whether they speak German or not. Only downside to that might be that hiring someone who doesn't speak German could be hard to deal with once they are hired. I wouldn't want to be in charge of their training. As the op-ed author shows, English is more often used to shorten what would otherwise be very long and complicated phrases for things such as apps or blogs. While he says that some people see it as a bastardization of German, I see it as a result of the internet age. All cultures and languages are able to mix now so they all start to share more of themselves with the other cultures leading to words and customs being shared. I would also expect to see it continue but I don't see any major language suffering irreparable damage from it.

Kultur 5 Zech

Some of the most bewildering things I came across were in the "German Erotica: The Land of Beer, Sausage and Sex Shops" article! Now I know why my mom covered my eyes whenever we cleared customs! It wasn't because my uncle was going to surprise me! It was because of how open sex shops are to the public! This article really helped me solve a mystery in my childhood more than teaching me! It's pretty shocking how they present the shops in areas where young children may be.
In the first article I learned a new way to say excuse me, other than bitte; it's Entschuldigung. That article was pretty funny. It made Germans sound like crazy shoppers on Black Friday. Haha pretty scary how polite manners only occur when blood is there to witness.
I would have never known that to pick up a German girl I would have to briefly look at her without smiling.
I learned that as of 2002 51.2% (42.2 million) of the population of the Federal Republic of Germany were women. Their life expectancy were higher than men's. Women got married at an average age of 28.8 years old. 60% of women are gainfully employed. It sounds like they really do have equal rights as men.
These Kultur articles were awkward, fascinating, shocking, and interesting.

Kultur 5 Andrew Kim

    I decided to write about the article, "No Blood, No Entschuldigung." I found it to be a very insightful piece and one that broadened my views of how politeness is measured in different communities. The article is not saying that Germans are innately rude or impolite, just that they are more used to dealing with every day physical contact that some of us are. I find myself to be a somewhat polite person, and when I bump into people while walking on the street I usually say "excuse me." However, in Germany this is usually not the case, as people accept the fact that everyone has somewhere they need to be and uttering formalities of politeness only slows both parties down. In America, even in the crowded streets of New York City, it is still commonly seen as polite to say "excuse me" if you bump into or jostle another person. This is a very contrasting scene to the German public centers. I thought it was enlightening, and if I ever go to Germany, I probably won't forget my manners, but I won't feel offended if someone knocks me over in an attempt to get to work on time... unless they draw blood. In which case, I will expect and "Entschuldigung!"

AMD5

For chapter 5 AMD I decided to listen to some more German music. I started out with Peter Fox and his song "Haus am See." I found it to be very catchy. It was definitely different from the type of music I'm used to listening to in English. It was more focused on the percussion line that was used, and there were definitely more uses of orchestral instruments rather than the typical music synthesizer/electronic type of music that is so prevalent in American music right now. I also liked the song because there were some lines I picked up from the limited Deutsch that I know, the most obvious being "Haus am See," or "house on the lake." Another good one was: "Wir grillen, die Mamas kochen und wir saufen Schnaps," which means: "We're grilling, the mamas are cooking and we're drinking Schnaps." I found this to be a very cool and laid back line and similar to some American songs. Anyways, I had a good time with this AMD. I got to expand my music taste to a more... German level.

AMD 5

Für mein AMD 5, I chose to listen to a German raido station for the second time. I find listening to german and speaking german is very helpful for a comprehensive grasp of the language. Memorizing words and structural elements can only take you so far in actual communication and comprehension. 

I listened to german radio stations via an online stream site, paying special attention to key words and structure that I already know. I also tried to learn new words by deriving from what I already knew. Some words I just had to look up though. 

The first link I clicked on took me to a site called "Antenne Bayern". Their catch phrase is "Wir Lieben Bayern. Wir Lieben die Hits!"; this was an easy translation. I had to click on the "radio hören" button to actually listen to the radio. I was pretty happy that I could navigate my way through a completely german website. This site also gave me the opportunity to hear german advertisements, which allowed me to practice my listening comprehension on normal conversation as opposed to just singing. I'm pretty sure I heard an advertisement about underwear, because I heard the word Unterwächer a couple times in one advertisement. I also heard an advertisement for IT jobs that included the catch phrase "jetzt zubeißen unter" which I looked up: "bite under now", which I'm assuming might be a german equivalent to "dig in"?

As for the music, I had to patiently wait through a few American songs that were in all english. There were also many german songs that I noticed were derived from American songs. They would have the same instrumentals with german lyrics. This made it easy to translate and taught me many German words. 

Next I went to a german news station's website and just listened to what seemed like the german equivalent to NPR. The clear, relatively slow german being spoken was the best possible thing I could find to practice my listening comprehension. I was very excited when I heard an entire paragraph or so about the German national soccer team playing an international friendly game against England on tuesday. Keys words that I head were "Deutsche Fußball," "In London," "Deinstag," und "Spielen."

AMD 5 - Leah Mattfield

I think it is so weird that Germans are so open and nonchalant about their sex stores. I would feel uncomfortable walking down the street with my family and walking by a window filled with sex toys.

I also think it's funny that the germans don't really bother excusing themselves. If you think about it, how often do you actually feel bad for bumping into someone on the street. It's really more something we all do in America by force of habit. So I don't blame them for that. The Germans seem to be very honest and frank people.

The Klofrau article was interesting. I don't know how many Americans know that those do also exist here. I have been to some Broadway theatres in NYC where they have women keep the bathrooms nice and have a plate for tips. But I think they also at least get paid minimum wages on top of that. But it is interesting that this is a fairly common job in Germany.

Hearing about the flirting technique kind of stresses me out. It seems so complicated and not to get too personal here, but I struggle with flirting in my own country and native tongue. My friends have always made fun of me for my lack of flirting skills, so I don't know if this means that German flirting might be more natural for me, or just an absolute fail. I guess I will just have to vacation to find out!

Kulter 5 - Scott Aldworth

I enjoyed reading this chapter's German culture articles. The first one, "Rules of the Street: No Blood, No Entschuldigung" really cleared up a bizarre experience I had in NYC this past summer. I witnessed a German man bump into an American woman on the sidewalk. She turned around immediately and went off on him. Initially I thought he was being rude, but I suppose he didn't read up on the differences in German and American culture. I didn't find "German Erotica: The Land of Beer, Sausage and Sex Shops" as odd as the author assumed most people would think it is. I guess that's because I'm from Ann Arbor, and have seen the Safe Sex Store, in all its shameless glory, sitting proudly on South U for my entire life. I also didn't find the article about the Klofrau very bizarre. In many big cities around the US, bathroom attendants are quite common, and it's also common to receive a dirty look if you don't tip them. However, it seems like they're common everywhere in Germany, as it mentions that rest stops off the autobahn usually have them. That's pretty interesting, and reading this has definitely saved me a dirty look upon entering my first bathroom in Germany. "Scoring a German: Flirting with Fräuleins, Hunting for Herren" was probably the most interesting cultural article I've read in this class yet. Let's just say I took notes. To be completely honest, the article "Women in Germany" was painfully boring to read, but it seems like women in Germany share similar statistics to women in America. It states that German women are going to college at an increasing rate - a statistic I know to be true in America too.

Kultur 5

The first article "Rules of Street" was interesting in that no one apologizes by saying "Entschuldigung". I guess that is kinda how Germans get the stereotype of being mean and scary between the German stare-down and how ruff they are. The article "German Erotica" was pretty funny. I didn't think people were that stingy when it came to sex shops. Of course in Hartland we don't have one but I'm pretty sure there are two here in Ann Arbor. America should have bathroom attendants. I can't handle how gross some bathrooms are so they better clean them well if I'm going to pay to use the bathroom. "Scoring a German" was an interesting article. I wonder how my Uncle got my Aunt seeing as she is German and if you didn't know her you would think she is scary and intimidating. I'm bad at flirting in general so flirting in German would probably be disastrous. In the article "Women in Germany" it mentions that women live longer than men, I thought that was a common thing. I think the life expectancy for women in the USA is higher than for men. Overall there was a lot of interesting tidbits of German women. Its sucks that women still have lower pay but I thought it was cool how Dads also get time off to help raise their kids. I did't know Hamburg was Germany's largest seaport and second largest city. When I travel to Germany someday I would love to visit Hamburg. It seems to be filled with so much history and interesting attractions. Also I now realize why a Hamburger is called so, because it originates from Hamburg! That celebration seems nice but kinda awkward, like I'm ready to take the next step in this friendship let's get a drink and use du now instead of Sie.

Kulter 5 Spencer White

For this Kulter 5 experiment i decided to read the articles provided. With the first article "Rules of the Street: No Blood, No Entschuldigung" it seemed like typical German behavior from what I have read before. Germans are known for their bluntness and this seemed like typical bluntness you would see. When i was in Germany I never bumped into to anyone but if i did, i wouldn't expect a excuse me. For the next article German Erotica: The Land of Beer, Sausage and Sex Shops it again seemed like the typical thing for Germans to do. America is always concerned about hiding and concealing our true feelings and things, but in Germany they are just honest about it. So to have a sex shop in the open is really not weird for them because it is a normal everyday thing that Germans know people sometimes need to use. There is no reason to hide it. In the next article The Loneliness of the Klofrau: Toilet Training for Visitors, i found it very interesting that they had a position for the bathroom.I never saw an actual lady who did that job when i went to the bathroom in Germany. Most times it was free for me and the one time it wasn't was at a rest stop and i just fed 1 Euro into a machine to let me in. This would be a good idea to keep bathrooms clean. I also liked how the author made sure that Germans do not think of these people in a condescending way but simply as a job that needs to be done.. Finally for the last article Scoring a German: Flirting with Fräuleins, Hunting for Herren, it was interesting the different way of flirting for people in Germany. It seems like Germans do not like to make a big show about things so direct flirting seems foreign to them. In America it is very important to be confident to aggressive to make your point. That seems like the opposite in Germany.

AMD 5: Callie Chappell

As I write this AMD, I am in the bus driving back from a debate tournament in North Carolina. Looking out my window, I am always amazed at how the geography of Appalachia reminds me of some areas in Germany. I've done this drive many times before. After traveling in Germany the summer before my junior year in high school, my school drove to this same college for a debate tournament that fall, and the fall of my senior year. I remember thinking how similar things looked, flying past. The same craggy rock faces and rolling foothills, which gently sloped down from the highway to reveal a misty panorama. This time, however, I noticed some differences. As we drove along the river, I was surprised by the abject poverty. So many homes were ramshackle, worn, and falling down. Windows were boarded up, and many homes had rusty lawnchairs and broken cars out front. This vision of Appalachia was one markedly different from the Germany I remembered. In Germany, much of the development lies in quaint villages, that together make up an urban region. But perhaps I was just romanticizing my trip, I thought, so I looked back at my pictures. Below are a few of them with comments: 

I was surprised to find this picture I found of a German "trailer park". I guess our worlds aren't that different after all! Interestingly, one of my host families (who were very financially stable) actually owned what the American equivalent of a "cabin on the lake" would be, but for them, it was a "trailer on the river."  

Some visions of Germany were very similar to what driving around Northern Michigan (wo ich komme aus) in the summer looks like. 

This is a picture of the small villages. From what I understand, collections of these villages comprise a larger urban city or town. 

I thought this image was remarkable because it could pass as a view from any American highway passing through North Carolina/Virginia/ Southern Ohio. 

Here is another image of a German village. 

This is an image of a typical German village (Eberbach) around the river (this is the Neckar River). Here, the buildings are nice and expensive. In America (and in similar terrain), many of the riverside homes were in disrepair.