Kultur 11

For once our kultur readings have a common theme! Sadly, it's of divide and hardships throughout the 20th century.
I was certainly familiar with the cultural divides between the North and South, and the East and the West of Germany, but I supposed I never thought of them collectively. And reading about these strifes between regions, it seems unfortunate and excessive, but I suppose when one thinks about the US, we have the same sort of regional and cultural divides. However, I certainly wouldn't wish to have a dividing wall rebuilt.
The numbers of those that supported the Berlin wall kind of surprised me, 1 in 5 is quite high. But, I was happy to read about the Ostalgie, and that some remnants of the old East Germany remained.

The remaining readings were also quite interesting, but sad none-the-less. Germany has clearly had a rocky history, from wars, to bombings, to natural disasters, to economic hardships - rough, but and interestingly tragic recent history.

AMD 6

Für mein AMD sechs, habe ich mit Cole auf deutsch gesprochen. Unsere Gespräch war ein bisschen einfach. Aber es war alles auf deutsch! Wir sprechen über Beleidigungen, aber wir waren sehr nett eigentlich. Hier ist ein Stück unsere Gespräch:

....

Kayla:, ich weiß nicht, wie sagt man "Projects" auf Deutsch

Cole: Ah! "Projeckte"

Kayla: Ah, danke, du bist so klug

Cole: Oder, vorhaben.. auf Pons.eu

Kayla: Ahh - Beolingus.de ist am besten

Cole: ich bin am besten...

Kayla: Haha, "fool" auf deutch ist Torfkopf, "Saphead," oder Narr, oder Dummkopf - Du bist ein Dummkpf...für Pons benutzen

Cole: Du bist ein Dummkopf für Rechtschreibung Dummkopf falsch.

.....

Me: Was machst du heute?

Cole: Mich? Ich kaufte ein paar Gartenmöbeln, Neue Lieblinswort.
Kayla: Ooh, sehr nett! Weil du nächste Jahr hier wohnen wirst!

Cole: Bist du ein Roman geschrieben...? Ah, gibt es ist. Stimmt.

Kayla: Und nein, ich habe nie ein Roman geschrieben - un du? Hast du ein Roman geschrieben?

Cole: Nein, ich war sarkastischen sein.

Kayla: Ah, boo - warum? Weiß du, dass ich night gut schreiben kann?

Cole: über dein langsam Facebook schreiben. Ja, ich weiß, dass du kann nicht gut schrieben.

Wir sprechen über mehr Dinge, aber unsere Gespräch ist zu lang zu schreiben.
Cole ist sehr komisch und seltsam. Das ist alles!

AMD 5

Für mein AMD 5, habe ich „Münchhausen“ angesehen. Es war so fantastisch und toll! Es hat mir eingeprägt! In 1943 in Berlin habe es erst gespielt. Die Nazis hat es gemacht, weil sie das nazistische Ideal zeigen wollen. Sehr, sehr interessant.
In diese Film, Münchhausen ist nie gestorben. Er kann viele dinge tun, und er verliebt sich viele Frau. Am ende, er hat sterben beschlossen, weil weine Frau sehr alt ist. Er möchte sterben, weil er hat sehr lang gelebt, und er möchte mit seiner Frau sterben. Und das ist alles.

It was a very fantastical film, and was very interesting to see. From what I know, this was a very good example of what the Nazi’s considered to be good German film. I did watch it with subtitles, but tried for the most part to go without, and it wasn’t too bad!
They used very simple language and spoke pretty clearly through most of it. My favorite scene may have been when they were on the moon, where “Ein tag auf dem Mond ist ein Jahre auf der Erde”… or something like that!

Movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvRxYZK5DSA

Kapitel Kultur 10

As I'm looking out the window at a 60 degree day in Ann Arbor, a few of these articles seemed a little out of season.
I did watch the clip of "Dinner for One," and it was indeed, very British. And it was pretty funny too! I don't know if I would want to watch it more than 3 times in my life though. I did find it interesting in the article that the clip had never been shown in the UK.
The Christmas article also just made me sad that I couldn't go to Ann Arbor's Christmas Market this year. I love Germany's love of festivals (which was also interesting to read about in the book), something that isn't really as present in the US, and this one in particular seemed especially pleasant...and profitable!

The Fathers day celebrations, however, were a little confusing. To me, going out and drinking all day (and avoiding the children and family) seems a little counter intuitive, as men are hardly celebrating with their children or setting a good example. Though, celebrating in such a way may be the example they want to set, or time away could possibly be seen as their reward for being a father. Who knows! But I thought that was a pretty funny difference between American and German Father's Days. You'd think days of celebration like those would also push for stores that stayed open as well...
I also looked into Interlaken, which looked quite wonderful. Their top list of things to do there were shopping, paragliding, white water rafting, and hiking Harder Kulm. Basically, that's on my list of places to go now.
Lastly, I was happy to read about the Brothers Grimm's history, as I've read a lot of the fairy tales they've collected, but heard different things about the stories origins.
Back to places I want to go too, Switzerland sounds completely charming. I was unaware that they had so many national languages, which astounds me. And I thought it was interesting that Canadians spoke both english and french! Switzerland wins.

AMD 4 - Katze und Maus

Ich habe "Katze und Maus in Gesellschaft" gelesen, aus das gewesen das Buch "Kinder - und Hausmärchen" ist. Es war ein bisschen schwer, aber ich habe die meisten Gesichte verstanden.

In die Gesichte kennen der Maus und der Katze lernen. Sie haben ein Hause zusammen, aber sie mussen ausziehen. Am ende der Maus und der Katze sind gut Freunden, aber der Katze hat der Maus gefressen. Der Schriftsteller sagt,"Siehst du, so gehts in der Welt."

The general sentence structure and a good chunk of the vocabulary were pretty easy to follow, however the author used a lot of words that were hard to understand just from context. For example, the first paragraph has the words: Gesellschaft, Bekanntschaft, Wirtschaft, and gemeinschaftliche. But, a good read that wasn't too hard or too easy!

Kultur 9

In my experience with Germans, all of the readings seemed appropriate.

My first response to the document article was, "WHAT IF I HAVE A HOUSE FIRE?!" It terrifies me that everything is kept in paper format, with the requirement of a signature or two, otherwise you're out of luck. Even our class's talk of Scheins terrified me, I would never rely on one piece paper to prove the classes that I've taken or the grade that I'd gotten. Although this system would solve my ever present wonder of "I wonder how many people lie on their resumes...."
I don't think that would be very possible, or wise, in Germany.

The articles on neighbors though seems appropriate though. My take away from Germany and Germans was that they are clean, clean people. And I suppose noise can be just as much as a disturbance as waste on the ground to some. It was funny to read about the frog being a nuisance, because I high school teacher was called in for jury duty over a case about a dog barking too loud. So it can happen here too.

And noting lastly on the online texts, I think that it is appropriate, or at least understandable that Germans have never developed a strong, loud, bursting display of German pride. What happened around WWII would cause anyone to be wary of getting too politically proud or roused up. There should be nothing to criticize there but to respect their decisions to keep flags to a minimum.

As for the book material, Vienna/ Wien sounds beautiful. Vienna has always intrigued me, so it was nice to read a bit about it.

However the next article reiterated my (sort of) fear of German schooling set ups. What if you don't know what you want to be when you're 13 or 14 when you choose your "high school" path? As good as it sounds to have a straight path, I would be that kid that changes his/her mind halfway through technical school, ruining my own self directed path. Terrifying.

Lastly, Österreich sounds lovely as well, but thats may just be because I'm a sucker for any place on water, and the Danube also sounds beautiful.
Quite the mix of material (per usual) but very interesting!

AMD 3

Für AMD 3 habe ich eine imaginär Speisekarte gemacht. Ich habe http://www.huettenhilfe.de/ gelesen, damit ich die Rezepte können gefunden habe.

Erst, Lammnacken mit Honig ( Lamb neck with honey).

Das Rezept benutz Lammfleisch, Honig, Karotten, Butter, Sonnenblumenöl (Sunflower oil), Sherryessig (Sherry Vinegar), Salz, Pfepper, und Hühnerbrühe (Chicken broth). Hmm, Lamm schmeckt mir gut.

http://www.huettenhilfe.de/rezept-lammnacken-mit-honig_6567.html

Wir würden ein Cosmopolitan (oder Bier) zu trinken. Ein Cosmo hat Wodka, Orangenlikör, Limettensaft (lime juice), und Cranberrysaft. Man braucht auch ein Martinischale (Martini bowl?), Shaker, Eiswürfel (Ice cubes), und Barsieb (strainer).

http://www.huettenhilfe.de/rezept-cocktail-cosmopolitan_14667.html

zuletzt haben wir Waldbeeren-dessert. Ich erinnere mich an der Kleines Bär und der Kleines Tiger. Warum? Waldbeeren schmecken sie sehr gut! Für Waldbeeren-dessert braucht man Joghurt, Becher Sahne (a cup of cream), 1 Päckchen Vanillezucker nach Geschmack (a packet of sugar to taste), 1 Packung tiefgefrorene Waldbeeren alternativ Himbeeren (a packet of frozen wildberries, or raspberries as an alternative), und Brauner Zucker.

http://www.huettenhilfe.de/rezept-waldbeeren-dessert_5305.html

Alles klingen sehr gut! Ein mal werde ich alles kochen!

Kultur 2 - Kapitel 8

Again I find my self very split in the agreement with the Germans in the Kultur texts that we read.
Like the Germans, I completely understand the phenomenon of "Draftophobia." I love being outdoors, I love fresh air, and I love a good breeze, but never when I'm indoors. Why? I'm not really sure. But when I'm indoors, I want to be indoors, so I do not want any cold air blowing over me (especially if I'm sitting). I have also been known to be somewhat of a hypochondriac at times, so if I were familiar with common (and somewhat extreme) illnesses, I would probably come down with circulatory collapse every once and a while too.
I'm probably less inclined to be comfortable sitting naked and sweating next to coworkers, however. I also would not want to be in College for 10 years either (although, once I'm a real person, and out of college, I'm certainly planning on continuing my education with the occasional college course).

Additionally, "die Vorlesung" also seems very similar to many University courses here in the US, though, I much prefer some interaction with the professor to simply listening to a lecture. The deutsche Universitätssystem is also very similar it seems to the US; enrollment numbers here are also limited and different universities offer different majors. Unlike in the US though, I would certainly welcome government subsidized cafeterias and dorms!

AMD 2

Ich habe ein Video für Kinder gesehen. Es ist nennt "Wissen macht Ah! - Kochen mit Shary und Ralph." Es war sehr doof. Sie haben ein Koch gesehen, wenn er hat Essen gekocht. Denn haben Shary und Ralph Schokolade Fondue gemacht. Der Koch hat später ein Pickel an ihrem Nase. Warum? Ich weiß nicht. Er denkt "Oh Got, oh Got, Hilf mir," weil ein Frau ist zu Hause gekommen. Aber hat sie ein Pickel auf gehabt.

Although it was a television show for children, I was happy I understood a lot. They did speak quite quickly at moments, though, and then I lost ability to translate. It looked very similar to some children's programs we have here in the US, mostly for older children since it has a lot of real life humor, mixed with explanations of science and other subject. Like during this episode, when the cook got a "Pickel," they explored why - it was because he had eaten chocolate. And they looked at the ingredients and nutrients in chocolate that are both healthy and unhealthy. Which kind of explains the connection between cooking, chocolate fondue, pimples, and the science of chocolate. Still a little odd!

AMD 1

For my AMD I decided to continue to watch Bella Martha. It was a very good movie, but very slow and sad for the majority! I watched it with a friend that has a german minor, and he said that is pretty much how all German movies go: slow, somber, and with breaks in dialog for music. It reminded me of the other movie we watched a clip of in German 101 (which I unfortunately cannot remember the name of), just in that both had very slow, sad parts where children had to face the death of a parent. But, I was very glad it came around to a happy (and abrupt) ending! I was also happy with how much I could understand. Further, most of the actors/actresses were very good at enunciating so it was interesting and helpful to hear how they would form sentences to express certain things. I cannot remember any quotes in particular that stuck out at me, but I know that I certainly understood Lina the best! All in all, though, it was a good movie.

Kultur 1

So many things to read and report upon! I suppose I'll start with the Vorsprung texts first..
I really enjoyed reading about Munich and Stuttgart; I've been very interested in the various cities and regions of Germany lately as I make plans to study abroad in the spring. I've heard that the glockenspiel is definitely something to see and the beer at the Hofbräuhaus is definitely a must. As for the article on soccer... well, lets just say I need to learn the rules and how to play the sport.
And on the lines of food, the USA Kulinarisch page cracked me up. I loved the "American" desktop images that were all of food! Very stereotypical, and kind of comical in my opinion. The grocery store article also worried me if I ever spend time in Germany. I HATE inefficient grocery shopping. Finding my way through their description of a bargain store does not sound fun! But, I do agree with their approach to plastic bags and various ways of going "green." I also wish that life in America was compact enough that walking to a grocery store was an option. Sadly, Meijer is just a little far.
And for the driving and line articles, I accept the German's decisions to be aggressive. It's efficient and if you're being inattentive or foolish, your spot in line is rightly revoked in my opinion. I might need to work on my driving skills a bit though before I would hop on the autobahn though...

Test Post!

Mein Lieblingswort ist bedeutet.