Kultur 3

Hallo!

Entschuldigung, das ist ein bisschen spat.

Reading this collection of articles about brought to light many things I had never known. I was astonished by how diverse the country of Germany is within itself. I had always thought of German culture being generally homogeneous because its geographic size is small relative to the notoriously diverse USA. Through reading I learned that this is not at all the case.

Each region of Germany has many different characteristics. Everything from the beer the locals drink to their sense of humor changes from place to place. It seems to me that the southern part of Germany (Bavaria, Munich area) is very different from northern regions.

On a different note, I had a strong reaction to Kimberly Bradley's article about German pessimism. Although her claims may be true in a general case, she made a lot of sweeping implications that all Germans were the same mopey, negative grumps. I kept waiting for her to qualify her case by saying that not all Germans are this way, but she never did. Most of the Bavarians that I have met are very cheery, positive people.

Türkischen Essen

In the summer of 2008 I traveled alone to Germany, mooching some of my dad's old frequent flier miles on the verge of expiration. I was lucky enough to have a local guide in Aachen, a city in northern Germany less than an hour from Maastricht in the Netherlands. (And I love the sound of the word. Aachen.) This guide is the same au pair I keep mentioning. Birgit.

At the time, she introduced me to a fair amount of food I did not realize was quintessentially German. The Kultur articles had the virtue of making that explicit for me.

We spent a weekend in Paris and Chartres, where I learned the wonders of the European McDonald's. While I generally prefer sampling local cuisine rather than sticking to international chain restaurants, it is 100% worth experiencing how much better McDonald's is in Europa. (That, and how much space is at a premium. It is cheaper to build upward than outward. Two of us JUST barely fit into the elevator at our hotel, perched conveniently atop the aforementioned McDonald's.)



Birgits Mann, Serdar, ist Türkischer. On one of my first evenings in Aachen, Birgit took me to ein Imbiss to try a Döner.

Put it this way - I am not in a position to appreciate decent meat. Ich habe zu Hause nur eine Tüte gefrorene (frozen) Händchenbrust von bevor das Semester began. Ich liebe Gemüse. But I do appreciate good food, thanks to mein Papa und Ann Arbor. (In Ann Arbor wohne ich, und ich esse, wie in Ann Arbor wohne ich.) So, even having zero history of lamb consumption, I would venture to say the Döner was pretty good. Definitely weniger beängstigend (less scary) als amerikanischen Fast-Food. Pretty nice spices. And spectacle goes with it - the servers slice it off a giant vertical skewer mit sehr langen Messer (knives). I ate it mit Salat komplett, natürlich.

Und dann... dann gibt es Ayran. Der Joghurt mixed mit Wasser. It is hugely popular in Turkey. Pretty sure I made it about a third of the way through the bottle before giving up.



It is probably an acquired taste.

The German Chef, "PORK PORK PORK"

One of my favorite television shows, is "No Reservations, with Anthony Bourdain".  It tells about his no nonsense travels around the world, and his staying away from the tourist traps and other clean places of the different cultures he visits.  Anthony Bourdain is a man after my own heart, he is cynical, has a love for travel, and most of all loves pork.  I am a fan of the bacon, being the salty, crunchy, beautiful part of life.  Although he is French (I know that puts some major points against him), his love for all things pork levels him out in my eyes. 

When reading "German Fast Food", I realized that both he and I were born into the wrong culture.  The word "pork" appears in almost every fast food named in the article.  HEAVEN!!!!  How could a country be so good?  When looking at American food culture, it is often seen that Fast-Food need only be one of those two words... fast.  It seems that Americans have forgotten the big picture when in comes to the culinary ideal.  Food should not only be fast, but should contain both the heart and soul of the chef, and the history given through food culture.  What the Germans have done with even their fast cuisine should be reciprocated around the world. 

Oh and just in case you didn't know what the title came from... it is a little play off the Swedish Chef of the Muppets.

Kultur 3

For my Kultur post I read "An Obsession Explained: Beer, Brewskies and Liquid Bread", "Capping the Bottle: Germany Looks to Tighten Up Public Drinking Rules", "German Fast Food: Forget the "Mett," Try a "Frikadelle", "The Dark Side: Optimists are Idiots" and "Teutonic Humor: Vee Have Vays of Making You Laugh". After reading all of this literature I gained a new understanding of German culture.

The first two articles gave insight to what is thought to be a very important part of German culture, BEER. They both played off the idea that German's like beer, which is very true. The first article listed off many different types of German beer, it rated them on quality, taste, and also gave input on the potential for a hangover to result by consuming too much of it. The next article took a look at a widely unsupported idea that the public drinking laws should be tightened up in Germany. This prompted many people to reassess how they value their beer.

This gave me a new outlook on beer in it's entirety. Obviously since I am only 18 years old and the legal drinking age here is 21 in the states, I do not know how beer tastes but I have heard varying responses to the quality of German beer. The details of the first article leave little to the imagination and make me look forward to legally being able to try out some of these beverages.

The other articles that I found interesting were the ones on humor. It is a common belief that humor does not translate into German. The articles gave me new insight into German humor and has allowed me to discover that it can in fact be very funny.

Kultur 3

The first article I read was "Beer, Brewskies and Liquid Bread." I have witnessed first-hand the German's obsession with beer. There's beer everywhere in Germany and the article does mention all of the crazy places where beer is served, and the deep impact it has on the culture. However, Germany is not alone with their different outlook on alcohol. In my time in France, England, and Austria, I witnessed the overall European outlook on alcohol consumption. The sense I got was that Europeans don't have such an uptight view of alcohol consumption. Just as you can buy beer almost anywhere in Germany, you could buy wine almost anywhere in France or Schnapps in Austria. I also read the the article "Capping the Bottle" about attempts to ban public drinking in Germany. This is certainly a complex issue, especially for the Germans, where drinking is a much larger part of the culture. I see this as very similar to the laws that ban smoking in public places in America. I'm not sure which side of the debate I would take. On one hand, public drinking is banned in America, and I think we get along just fine, but it doesn't seem like public drinking in Germany is causing too many problems. I'm sure Germany will find a good solution that will satisfy both sides of the debate. The article "German Fast Food" discusses the different fast food option is Germany. I have to admit, German food is delicious, even the fast food. Some cities in America have hot dog stands, but in Germany you can buy things like bratwurst and schnitzel on the street. The quality of the street vendor's food in Germany is very good as well. A fast food place in Germany I went to that was not mentioned in the article is a place call Nordsee. It is a McDonald's style restaurant that serves only sea food.

The two required articles are more difficult to write about because they don't deal with a outward, easily observable action, but a behavior of the Germans. In addition, the articles seem to contradict each other, one saying Germans are cold and pessimistic, and the other claiming they have a well developed sense of humor. Of the two, I'm more inclined to believe that the majority of Germans are well humored and not as intensly pessimistic and the first article claims.

Kultur 3

For the first group of readings I read “Germany looks to tighten up drinking rules”, “Forget the Mett try a Frikadelle”, and “What about the Turks? An Introduction to Germany’s real fast food joints”. Regarding the first article, it is very understandable that a cultural tradition renders the enforcement of the law difficult and its practical benefit minimal. Yet, I was startled to see that the main argument was this opposed the drinkers’ civil rights. In America, we would say that you only have a right ‘to’ something so long as it does not conflict with an individual’s right ‘from’ something. I don’t know German law but I am assuming that to some degree intoxicated people are freed from conscious intent in the legal system. Enforced interaction with this person would then definitely violate others’ civil rights. I was very amused by the “Optimists are Idiots” article and it was a great example of German ideology. Yet, I hope that Kimberly Bradley never makes an attempt to interpret a philosopher again. Or at least next time she should say ‘according to my feeble interpretation of someone’s summary of Nietzsche’. The first claim was fine, the last three were not. I am amused that the death of a figure who banishes endless people to eternal hell for trivial sins, or per Dante, even intellectualism, could be listed next to “we’re all doomed”. Sam Engel

Kultur 3

I found the food articles to be interessant, aber nicht inspirierend. This might be because ich esse gern alles. (almost...) Nonetheless, I'll definitely make a mental note to try some of the different things discussed. In particular I'd like to try Döner mit die drei Sossen. Also, I'll try to avoid zu viel Bockbier und Helles if I'm ever in Deutschland.

The articles that I did find to be particularly interesting were the two required ones. As much as it absolutely sucks being cut down, I completely understand why Germans take a strange pride in their ability to do it well. My friends (...and I like to think myself...) have a knack for pessimism and just being down right rude to each other at times, but we always incorporate it into our sense of humor. For this reason, I thought that the second article matched really well with the first, which I'm sure was the point. In particular, "The Berliner" and "The Hamburger" humors that they discuss are qualities that I actually enjoy in people. The subtle humor or the mocking jabs might be off-putting to some, I find them particularly amusing.

Another point I found to be intriguing was the when one of the authors mentioned a native German's view on the country's stereotypical pessimism. They explained that perhaps "always looking at the dark side of life may indicate depth, critical thinking and a certain “intelligent” caution –- things that have always been very dear to the security-loving German heart and the logic-loving German head." I thought that this related well to a lot of popular literature and media, in that often cult classics and popular novels don't always have the generic "happy ending."

The articles proved to be pretty informative per usual. It seems like the more I read the more I want to spend ridiculous amounts of time and money just wandering around Germany.

Willkommen!!

Welcome to our class blog!

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

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

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

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

Throughout the semester, you will be posting here roughly every other week for your Abenteuer mit Deutsch (AMD) assignment. First you do a fun activity that involves German, then you post about it. You should spend an hour total on this (maybe 45-55 minutes doing something, 5-15 minutes posting about it). And make sure to add your name as one of the "Labels." See the links on AMD Ideen and Beispiele for ideas! This should get you excited about the kinds of things you can do!