Der Westen und Osten

Deutschland wurde im Jahr 1945 in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und Ost-Deutschland geteilt. Dann ist die DDR baute eine Mauer um Westen Berlin, aber die Mauer wurde im Jahr 1990 abgerissen, und das wiedervereinigte Deutschland wurde. 

Germans, regardless of their regional background, got screwed by the Allies and Soviet Union. Currently, both East and West Germans are suffering. West Germans' tax being spent more toward East Germany, and East Germans are still doing poor relative to the West Germans. This suffering can be attributed to the division between the East and West Germany which was caused by the selfish interest of the USA and USSR. Both countries, in order to protect their political interest and their country from foreign influences, they divided the Germany as a buffer zone. Division of the country for 45 years and reunification caused so much disparity in the culture, politics, and economy. Even after reunification of 12 years, they still consider themselves different.

This happened the same to the Korean peninsula. They were divided into North and South due to the political interest from the USSR and USA. Currently, the peninsula is still divided, and it has been 67 years. As it still is for Germany, the disparity in culture, politics, and economy is very big in Korea. Most South Koreans actually don't want reunification; they saw the what Germany had to go through, and the South Koreans who are doing much better than North Koreans, don't want to suffer. It is quite interesting how the reunification of the Korean peninsula will go, if it's every going to happen. 

Fußball in Deutschland

Deutschland ist sehr gut im Fußball. Ihre Mann-Team haben dreimal den Weltcup (1954, 1974, 1996) und dreimal den Europa-Cup (1972, 1980, 1996) gewonnen. Ihre Frauen-Team haben zweimal den Weltcup (2003, 2007) gewonnen. Fußball is die populärste Sport in Deutschland. Deutschland hat auch Fußball-Ligen, drei Ligen: Bundesliga 1, Bundesliga 2, und  Bundesliga 3. In Bundesliga 1, es gibt berühmte Teams wie FC Bayern, Schalke, und Hamburger SV.

I've read a Kultur article about how Germans don't put their national flags out because they're afraid to show patriotism, yet they would cheer for their national soccer team hardcore. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Germans are really, and perhaps excessively, enthusiastic about soccer. They might love their country, but they're not allowed to express their love in a conventional way. So, the only way is by cheering for their soccer teams. Being the only expression of patriotism, soccer might have become a part of German culture.

In a way, sports can tell a lot of things. Each countries have their own favorite and national sport. America would be American football, basketball, and baseball. Canada would be hockey. Europe and South American countries would be soccer. Etc, etc, etc. Each country have a different national sport for a reason as it could be seen in Germany. But in the USA, it seems like everyone loves every sports. From toddler's league to the national league, there's a professional sports league for so many sports: NHL, NFL, MLB, MLS, etc. From my observation and experiences of having lived in Korea and USA, a lot more people seem to follow sports in America.

Jägermeister

Jägermeister ist meine Lieblingsgetränk. Es schmeckt gut. Ich liebe meine Jägermeister mit Red Bull. Es heißt Jägerbomb. Es gefällt mir, weil ich mir nicht schmecken order fühlen den Alkohol kann. Wenn ich trinke Jägerbomb, ich sehr glüklich bin. ich normalerweise Kotze, aber es sich lohnt. Auf St.Patty's Day, trinke ich viel Jägerbomb.

I always had fun with the "hunt-master." Through Jägerbombs, I've puked, cried, and passed out. I saw the black hole of my life, and at the same time I've seen the unicorns gliding through the Big House. I've had so much fun with Jägermeister that I'm gonna write my AMD about it.

German 70-proof digestif, an alcoholic beverage served after a meal, is made with 56 different herbs and spices. Yummmmm. The original distiller was an enthusiastic hunter, which is how the drink got its name from. How cool is that name though? Jägermeister.  Jäger-meister. Such a cool name. The drink was actually originally developed as a cough syrup and you can definitely taste it. When I first drank it, it really tasted like a cough syrup, and maybe that's why I like the drink. It goes down better and less bitter, but rather sweet.

The Cross on top of the stag refers to the stories of  St.Hubertus and St.Eustace, patron saints of hunters whom I never of. But the process of distillation is pretty cool. The ingredients are 56 herbs, fruits, roots, and spices including citrus peel, licorice, anise, poppy seeds, saffron, ginger, juniper berries and ginseng. Damn. Then these are ground then steep in water and alcohol for 2-3 days. Then the mixture is filtered and stored in oak barrels for about a year. A year! Afterwards the liqueur is filtered again and mixed with sugar, caramel, alcohol, and water. Then for the last time it is filtered and bottled. Considering that it takes at least a year to produce it, my $30 for each fifth is totally worth it.  

St.Daddy's Day

It sounds like Father's day in Germany is St.Patty's day in America. But comparing intensity of the event, the formal win out. I've learned that through the culture texts that Germans enjoy beer and drink them daily and almost for every meal. This means that their tolerance for alcohol would be higher due to all that training. Then I can't imagine what it would be like if those Germans go all out. Not only would they drain all the alcohol in the country and do the alcohol companies good, but also might cause riots, like the one Ann Arbor had in South U.

But then I wondered, do Germans really drink that much? So I googled it and the wikipedia page indicated that Germany's actually only the 24th highest country in alcohol consumption. All countries that had a higher consumption was in Europe or was Korea, which is quite ironic since Koreans are a lightweight. But I think culture really has to do with this outlier. Korean alcohol culture is really bad in that it's almost required for one to drink outside of work. For example, if a group of colleagues went out to eat, everyone is required to drink until they're having a good time. If one refuses, one might face repercussions in work.

As the Koreans have their own alcohol culture, Germans have their own culture of simply enjoying beer on a regular basis and going crazy on Father's day, or as I call it St.Daddy's day. It's quite interesting how an exact same holiday  serves a different purpose on each culture.

Der Untergang Teil Zwei

Ich habe wieder Der Untergang gesehen. Ich habe Teil zwei des Untergangs gesehen. Hitler begeht Selbstmord mit seine Frau, Eva Braun. Alle im Film gefangen oder begehen Selbstmond. Ich denke, dass der Film gut war. Es gibt die Action, das Drama, und die Brüste. Es gibt mir.

Again, I would recommend the movie to everyone. The movie showed the emotions of the characters quite well, and I love Bruno Ganz's acting of Hitler. When Hitler founds out that all of his armies failed him, and there's no hope, he gets so pissed off at his generals.

This clip of the movie has been made into many parodies due to dramatic acting. One example, which I saw two years ago when I was taking organic chemistry.

I'm sure everyone saw different varieties of this clip in parodies. Even though the whole movie is about 140 minutes long, it was well worth watching it.

Der Untergang (Downfall, 2004)

Wow! Ich habe eine tolle Frühlingpause gehabt. Ich bin für eine Woche nach Guatemala gegangen. Ich bin letzte Nacht nach Ann Arbor gekommen. I habe der Untergang gesehen. Es ist über Traudl Junge und Nazis. Ich werde über den Film auf Englisch zu erklären.

My gosh, writing couple of sentences in perfect and future tense was so tough! I guess a week without German but instead with Spanish makes it really difficult. Anyway, I watched about an hour of the movie Downfall. The movie was originally made in German, but the one with a Youtube movie had English subtitles. It was quite entertaining, because not many World War II movies depict the side of Germany, especially among the Nazis and top German officials. This movie seems really unique because it shows the difference a couple of years of war made on Germany. If you're eating your meal and you got nothing better to do, I'd recommend this movie.

Deutsch Musik: Reiche der klassischen Musik

Ich habe Klasse über Musik gehabt. Wir haben die barock und klassischen Musik studiert. Es gibt berühmt Komponisten in die barock und klassischen Musik wie Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, und Handel. Ich habe immer gedacht, dass die Deutschen sehr gut in der Wissenschaft sind. Aber ich habe nicht gewusst, dass die Deutschen auch sehr gut in Musik sind.

Like I said, Germany/Austria produced some great musicians, and they happen to be my favorite composers too (Mozart and Beethoven). During the Baroque time period, Wien a home to the emperor and developed the atmosphere of artistic creativity, and became the music capital. Most of the composers I've mentioned at one point lived and performed at Wien. The Baroque period preceded before the Classical music era. The Baroque period slightly differs from the Classical music era in that the former is more magnificent and dramatic. Bach and Handel show this well with the former's glorious church sons and latter's dramatic orchestras. The Classical music era was ruled by the musical prodigy Mozart. Man, I love this guy. Since I was a baby to when I played Clarinet,  I always heard or played Mozart. Then the Beethoven is born, and a new era starts: Romanticism. Beethoven is so unique and prestigious that in the textbook, he gets his own chapter. Beethoven's Symphony #5 is so memorable that almost anyone can recognize it.

Deutsch Patriotismus

Germany is a very weird and interesting place. Anywhere in the world, one can observe patriotism whether it is genuine feelings from the general public or facilitated by the government. Germany on the other hand, seems to discourage displays of national pride.

It is understandable that Germans are ashamed of their past and afraid to show their national pride, which was used excessively during the Third Reich. In comparison, Japan, who also exhibited lots of national pride during WW2, is not afraid to express their patriotism today. It's quite interesting to note the difference in the attitudes from these two countries.

If they're so ashamed of their past that they wouldn't fly the flag, why not just change the design of the flag itself? I don't think the original German flag was problem in the first place as the article said that the Germany had such flag colors since the middle ages, but by changing the design I think the Germans would less associate the new flag with the Nazis. Just a food for a thought.

As for Germans going crazy during World Cup, I don't think they do it because it's the only time when it's acceptable for them to cheer for their country. Any other countries' fans cheer as hard as Germany.

Sauna Cultur

I understand where the Germans' desire toward Sauna come from, and I can argue that Koreans' love toward Sauna could perhaps be greater than that of Germans. When I lived in South Korea, they had all sorts of Sauna. Each Sauna would be built from different materials: bricks, mud, wood, etc. Another characteristics of Korean Saunas is that chamber that contains different types of Saunas would also accommodate huge bath tubs, about the size of a regular house's pool. Each bath tubs would vary in temperature, ranging from a cool 60 degrees to a steaming 100s. These plays would thus provide different ways to sweat: dry in a Sauna or wet in bath tubs. Koreans usually bring a rough clothing with them into these tubs because once their skin gets exposed to hot warm water, they are easy to peel off. Then the men and women come out of the tub and rub their skin with the rough clothing, rubbing away the old skin and feeling fresh. What's more intriguing of these places is that they also sell healthy food and drinks, while providing rooms where one can literally sleep overnight. This one place even had computers that allowed you to play computer games. Of course, you couldn't be naked in all of these places. In communal areas such as food&drink bars and lodging places one had to wear a certain type of clothing that these places provide. These places have numerous names, such as Jjim-Jjim-bang which literally translates to hot and humid room or just plain sauna. They are enjoyed by all demographics, and sometimes when students kicked out of their houses or just wanna hang out with their friends, they go here. For old people, it's a place of pleasure and revival. 

Education in Germany

Wir lesen jetzt Kapitel Acht. Ich habe so viele Wortschatz über Deutsch Schulen in der Wortschatz Page gesehen. Aber ich habe nicht viel über Buildungssystem gekannt, also Ich habe über Deutsch Schulen lernen gewollt. Ich habe schon so viel Deutsch geschreiben, und jetzt ich werde in Englisch schreiben. Ich will nicht zu einem Nazi sein.

Germany continues to alienate me. While their weird culture and rules are messed up (jk. I think they're just a bit different from us), their education system also brings madness.

Egh Hello? What the heck is going on? Oh well, wikipedia is here for the rescue (thanks god wikipedia is not blacked out). States (Länder) are primarily responsible for education, meaning that depending on a region the education system will be different.

There are five types of secondary education. Gymnasium, as we learned in the chapter vocab list, is a college preparatory high school. In order to graduate from Gymnasium  and also be admitted to a German Hochschule, one must take and pass the graduation exam, Abitur. There are also other types of complicated schools that I still have a hard time comprehending, such as Hauptschule, a technical-vocational secondary school.

I think I've written enough for a post. I have gotten a glimps of Deutsch Buildungssystem, but I still have confusions. Perhaps in my next post, I can try to clear this confusion up. 

Mostly Martha

Mostly Martha (2001) is the first German film I've ever seen. I thought it was very insightful on looking into German culture as I would be watching a video that depicts Germany. I thought it was better than reading culture texts as it is hard to understand German culture by merely reading articles. 

What I tried doing for this movie was read the subtitles, and look for the German translation of the word. Many times, I've heard the translation in numerous cases in German nouns and verbs. But for the most part, with the speed of the dialog spoken fast, it was hard to understand most of the movie. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

I heard that American movie No Reservations (2007), was filmed based on Mostly Martha. So I went into Youtube and saw the trailer for No Reservations. My God, was it horrible. The plot, the characters, and even the humor (i.e. Martha's towel catching on fire when Mario forces her to make a decision whether to boot him out) were exactly the same. Hollywood, because of you millions of people had to wastes hundreds of minutes of life.

Kultur Sieben

It is quite ironic that Germans who are very obedient to rules would turn back into Bavarians when it comes to lines. We have learned that even punks will dare not to cross a street when it's red light, yet all Germans, especially the elderly, turn crazy when there's no specific law regarding some certain circumstances. I think the perfect way to make every German into a model citizen is to set a civil law regarding everything and teach basic etiquette (i.e. forming lines). Also, I was very surprised that the elderly always seemed to be the rude ones. Even from the previous Kultur texts, the old grannies always seemed to have a cane or whatever they have as old people and seemed to beat young people with it. I don't know why old people think that they have the right to do this. When I lived in Korea, where everything is extremely conservative and respectable to the elderly due to confucianism, I haven't really seen  any old people being rude and abusing the social standards. Actually, I have seen them being rude, but they were drunk when this happened, so it's understandable since almost everyone's rude when they get drunk. Bis Morgen

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