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- 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!

Kultur 5

Rule of the Street: No Blood, No Entschuldigung
For me, it was not at all surprising to read that Germans don't apologize after they bump into each other. While in Berlin, l was bumped into multiple times and not a single person apologized. However, I knew to expect this because Marie warned me that people almost never apologize for bumping into people.  I found it not surprising that young men get up for an elderly person.

German Erotica: The Land of Beer, Sausage, and Sex Shops
I thought it was interesting how this article compared yet another facet of German culture to American culture to show just how different the Germans are from Americans. In America, it's severely frowned upon to go to these stores while in Germany, it's completely normal to go to them. For me, this articles explains the question I had while in Germany as to while a sex store was in the middle of a shopping district in Berlin.

The Loneliness of the Klofrau: Toilet Training for Visitors 
I thought it was interesting to learn about the people who work as sanitary assistants. This article was right when they said you would be frowned at if you didn't put some change in the little white bowl. In Germany, they may make fun of the sanitary assistants, but all of the Germans make sure to give some spare change upon entering the bathroom.

Scoring a German: Flirting with Fräuleins, Hunting for Herren
I thought it was interesting to see how yet another aspect of German culture is different from American culture (even from the rest of the wordl!), and how unique this aspect is. I thought the German way of flirting was slightly amusing because when I see someone staring at me, I think "What? Is something wrong with my hair?" It would also make sense why so many guys turned Bailey, a friend of mine, down because she flirted with them in the good ole American way. 

Excerpts from "Women in Germany"
Personally, I found all of these statistics to be fascinating because they show how women are increasingly developing a larger role in the workforce of Germany. I also find it interesting that they allowed women to serve voluntarily in the army after previously only allowing them to serve in restricted positions. 

AMD 5

For my assignment, I decided to watch four episodes of the TV show Castle in German with and without English subtitles. Instead of pausing the show every few seconds to write down something that I understood, I tried instead to see what I could understand just from watching the episodes. In the 2 episodes I watched with English subtitles, I obviously understood a lot more because they were there to help me. Instead of constantly looking at the subtitles, I tried to understand what they were saying, and then looked to them in guidance if I got a little confused. In the 2 episodes I watched without English subtitles, I was able to understand the gist of what was happening, and was able to pick out a couple of phrases that I understood.

AMD 4

For my AMD 4 assignment, I decided to watch some German music videos. First, I watched through the video a couple of times, trying to understand whatever I could. Then, I looked up a translation, and played the song again. The first song I chose was "Das zweite Geischt" by Peter Fox because of the beautiful violins that were playing in the background.This song translates to "The Second Face." This song seems to be about the dark side of one self. A particular lyric I found interesting is "Ein Biest lebt in deinem Haus (A beast lives in your house)." This gets at the idea of the darker side of oneself. On a lighter note, the second song I chose to listen to was "Haus am See." This song translates to House by the Lake. It's all about Peter having a wife, many children, and living by a lake. I also listened to live versions of the songs to contrast them with the radio version of the song. Peter Fox seems to have an obsession with monkeys. Also, I think that Peter Fox performs very well live.

Kultur 4

   One thing I found interesting in the "Two-Wheeled Teutons: Stay off the Bike Path" article was that people actually get run over by people on bikes. The number of people that ride bikes in Germany is huge. At the Goethe-Gymnasium in Ludwigslust, there is a tiny parking lot with maybe 15 spaces for etachers and students. However, I only witnessed 2 students driving home in a car. Most of them either walked or rode a bike if they lived in Ludwigslust, or not far from it. The next article I read was "The Red Dictator: Crossing the Strasse." The idea that I would get run over for jaywalking when the car is far off is terrifying. Now it makes sense that Marie would always pull me back from jaywalking. The next article I read was "Illogical Logic: The Right Answer in Germany May Be the Wrong One." I thought it was interesting how if you aren't specific that the German attendant could lead you astray. Now I know if I go to Germany that I need to specific. I would hate to get on the wrong train, and be in the wrong part of the country. The next article I introduced was "Fare-Dodgers Beware: There's No Such Thing as a Free Ride." I thought it was interesting that the Germans run on an honor system. I feel like quite a few tourists would abuse this system so they didn't have to pay for a ticket. The cool thing about German transportation is that you can buy a day pass, which is especially useful on trains. This is useful because using a train or subway you can get anywhere in he city or country. The last article was "Disorderly Germans: Playing Chicken on the Einbahnstrasse." I thought it was amusing that there is a support group for messy people, which is called Anonyme Unordentliche (Slobs Anonymous), equivalent to America's Alcoholics Anonymous.

AMD 3

     For my AMD 3 assignment, I chose to watch Titanic for an hour auf Deutsch. I have to admit it was a little challenging to get what they were saying, but I got the gist of what was going on as I've seen the movie a few times. In the part I watched, I recognized some terms, and learned some new words and phrases. I chose to watch this movie in German because this is my favorite movie, and I wanted to watch it in another language.
     Among the terms that were familiar are the following:
         Entschuldigung- Excuse me
         Sechtzig- 60
         Oh, vergiss es mein Freund.- Oh, forget it my friend.
         Komm Sie- Come here.
         Ich fliege!- I'm flying!
     Some new words/phrases I learned:
         Einsundzwanzig Knoten, Sir!- 21 knots, sir!
         Ich bin der König of der Welt!- I'm the king of the world!
         Geben Sie Ihre Hand- Give me your hand
         Unfall-accident

     

Kultur 3

Eco-Centric Germans: Organic Food Obsessions

• First of all, this article is very true. When I was in Germany, I went to a mall in Schwerin that has three floors, and a large part of the first floor was dedicated to an organic food place. Also, some organic vegetable (mainly tomatoes or cucumbers) would be a part of dinner. Furthermore, this article brings back memories of how Marie was always talking about harmful pesticides, and how organic foods were so much better. 
• "Germans spend a lot of time thinking about the environment and their health." This quote pretty much sums up the whole point of the article. 
• On this note, I also find it interesting that Angela Merkel announced a plan for Germany to go 50% renewable by 2050. 

German Fast Food: Forget the "Mett," Try a "Frikadelle" 

• First things first, fast food in Germany is absolutely amazing! To be honest, it is a lot better than the US. I have to agree with the article's title: forget the mett! Every day for lunch, I would go into the Platz, and they would always have that ready to go. However, the Schnitzel, pommes, and bratwurst are pretty good, depending on where you get them.

Yo Dude, What about the Turks? An Introduction to Germany's Real Fast Food Joints

• The fact that Turkish fast food places are very popular is true. Döner is a very popular sandwich in Germany. In Ludwigslust alone, which is a city of about 13,000 people, there were at least 3 places that sold this sandwich. I recommend that if anyone ever goes to Germany they try döner because they are delicious. 

Teutonic Humor: Vee Have Vays of Making You Laugh

• One thing I found interesting about this article was how the culture in Germany is reflected through the humor of different regions. 
• I think that how Bavarian humor is dead-on because I remember my friend Marie telling me about her cousins that live in Bavaria, and how she said she never understood their sense of humor, let alone what they were saying because of their dialect is so much different than hers. 
• I think this quote is very interesting: "Berliners are also famous for being highly disrespectful of pretty much everyone and every thing and most major buildings or monuments in Berlin have a less-than-flattering nickname." 
• I think it's interesting because this is exactly what I experienced in Berlin.
• I also found it interesting that this article mentioned that more and more World War II jokes are being made. To be honest, I still think this is a very sensitive subject that hardly anybody is comfortable talking about. I have been able to get Marie to talk about that once, and not one time after that. In fact, when my friend Elizabeth asked the German she was hosting about WWII, Nessa avoided the question, and brought up a completely new subject. 

The Dark Side: Optimists are Idiots 

• One aspect of this article that I found interesting is how the so-called "pessimism" is another facet of Germans' tendency to be brutally honest. 
• However, in my experience, I don't think this is true. Not all Germans are pessimistic, and a great majority of the Germans I met were very optimistic.

AMD2

    For my AMD2 assignment, I decided to read the article "Duden Publishes 'Words of the Decade' Volume" since I wasn't able to Skype with my German friend Marie. I chose to read this article because I love history, especially European history after World War II. For one, I thought that this article was interesting because of how two different versions of the Duden were published in Leipzig in 1951 and Mannheim in 1954. I also thought this article was interesting because of how the Ampelmännchen, the "über-cute little red and green guys from the former East Germany that signaled to pedestrians at crosswalks," were kept in their places instead of being torn down after the reunification of Germany in 1990 because of the help of fan clubs all across Germany. Additionally, I thought this article was interesting because of how Duden tries to keep track of Germany's modern history in a sense by recording the new words that have been developed in the past decade (from 2000-2010) in its 100th anniversary version of the dictionary. This new words include Hüftgold, or "hip gold, literally meaning fat stored on the hips, Gammelfleisch, rotten or unclean meat, Fremdschämen, being ashamed on the behalf of someone else, Dudelfunk, a radio that only plays German folk music, Dosenpfand, the deposit levied on drink cans, and Brötchentaste, the button on a parking meter which gives a few minutes free parking to pick up bread. I thought this was particularly interesting because I now have some terms to put with my experiences in Germany. These include Dosenpfand and Dudelfunk. I can now ask Marie's dad, who weirdly is a fan of German folk music, what's playing on the Dudelfunk station nowadays, or ask Marie how much they got back on pop bottles by using the term Dosenpfand. I thought the latter was interesting because bottles of water or Apfelsaftschlore, which means sparkling apple juice, are so expensive that the German government gives them a .25 Cents back for each bottle returned. It was always amusing to see Marie's dad come back with the money he got from returning the bottles declaring that he's a millionaire now, when it was only 10 Euros. Other words that were added in this dictionary in the last decade that have American influences include Buzzer, Hoax, Googeln, Get-together, Electronic Book, Drop-down Menü and Gangsta-rap. Some other words with influences from other countries include Caffe Latte, Latte macchiato, Pancetta, Bruschetta, El Kaida, Falafal, Manga, Shiitake and Sudoku, which are haven't been changed from Japanese, Arabic, and Italian. Overall, I thought that this was an interesting article because of how past history was incorporated into the Duden dictionary, and because of how new words being adapted every day. 

Kultur 2

     I found all of these articles to be interesting. It's very true that the Germans are to the point and honest, even a little blunt. I experienced this firsthand when I stayed in Germany for 2 weeks earlier this year in the spring. I like the fact that the article points out how Germans are so honest while speaking to a fellow American most of the time leaves one wondering what they meant, whether they are being truthful or not. Also, the idea that the Soviet influence is still there, especially among the older generation is also true. My host mother is an English teacher, and what it was like living in East Germany during that time, and how painful it was not to be able to see her sister and nieces and nephews, who lived in West Germany. Among the younger generation, as the article says, the window peeping doesn't happen. The scenario two makes sense as to why the people on the train kept staring at us, or maybe it was just the fact that there were 6 people speaking in English. However, I think that the first article, "The German National Pastime: Whining, Bitching, and Moaning," is over-exaggerated and false. I disagree with how this article paints German in such a negative light. I also thought that the last article, "By The Numbers: An Obsession With Statistics," was rather interesting. I found it to be interesting because of how in-depth the Germans can be. I saw a little bit of this before my German friend, Marie, came to my hometown. She kept asking how many people there was, how big I thought the town was, what was some of the big moments of its history, etc.
     I also thought that the Brennpunkt Kultur sections on pages 47 and 76 were interesting. First, I think the one about the types of universities is interesting because it shows how Germany evolved to fit in with the ever-growing academic needs of its people. I also find this section because of my time spent in Germany. While I was in Germany, I learned about the different emphasis that was placed on going to a college or university, and how at age 12, one decided whether they wanted to go to the Goethe-Gymnasium Ludwigslust, the school where one would study for college (and possibly go if they passed their Abitur exams), or go to the other one until 10th grade, and not go to college. From my friend Marie, I learned that universities were better than colleges, and if one was going to a university, then that was a good thing. I found the section about German immigration to North America interesting because of my German ancestry, and how much of an effect the Germans left on some parts of the US, some of which still stand today (German restaurants, bakeries, etc.).

AMD1 Heather Bigelow

For my AMD 1 assignment, I decided to watch The Simpsons auf Deutsch because I don't like South Park. I watched two episodes of the Simpsons. The first episode I watched was "Fivehundert Keys." This episode was very amusing, as many of The Simpsons episodes are. It was about how Marge emptied a sack, and found 500 keys that open every door in Springfield and how each of the Simpsons takes some keys, and uses them. Homer finds the key to the Duff brewery, and steals their zeppelin, and goes flying around town with it. Marge and Maggie find a key to a little figurine that moves, and they follow that around. Bart, being his typical self, takes the key that he thinks will cause the most mayhem by opening them (like opening the mailbox), and instead people tell him Danke, and they say "Gott sei Dank!" because they hadn't meant to send that mail. Lisa finds a key that opens a secret room in the Springfield Elementary that ends up showing how Principal Skinner and the superintendent misused the state funds for their own good, and how they tried to cover it up. The second episode that I watched was called "Politically Inept, With Homer Simpson." From what I could surmise, this episode was about how Homer becomes famous after ranting about being made to wait for the plane to take off, and how he becomes a TV show star called "Gut Check with Homer Simpson." I found it interesting to watch the shows in German because of how different the character's voices are.

Mein Lieblingswort ist Schneekugel.