Skepsis

Step 1: Read Kultur 6 articles 4 days in advance.

Step 2: Attempt to respond to them 4 days later.

Step 3: Reread Kultur 6 articles.

Of all the things I couldn't handle, I would not expect it to be door etiquette. But I have such a complex about respecting others' time that I would find it challenging to simply knock and enter with any kind of confidence.

Bild Zeitung is of course reminiscent of the British Star or American National Enquirer, but it surprised me that it has such a reach in Germany. I'm skeptical, considering the very same source claims Germans have an obsession with statistics. And no German I've met has ever been gossipy. Certainly not enough to accept their news from a tabloid. Overall these articles are becoming less and less appealing... possibly because the claim about Bild Zeitung is a tidbit I don't wish to believe. I'm at least as hesitant to accept that many Americans buy tabloids. SOMEONE must, yet I've never seen anybody buy one. Then again, discretion in such a venture would be advisable.

I also strongly disagree with the author of the garbage article. Come on, dude, it's not that hard to separate what you throw out and recycle. It's a shame, though, that the receptacles all look the same - all the garbage and recyclables would get mixed up in busy public places. Perhaps a different lid style would be better, forcing users to think before they threw. It frustrates me that the author treats garbage like it's no big deal. Garbage is a huge deal. The infrastructure devoted to it is vast and shockingly well-hidden considering its reach. Without government discussing garbage (which the author ridicules) we end up with accumulated trash, garbage worker strikes (yes, they are possible) (particularly in America)... and minimal recycling. Sad!

The first article for Kultur 6 was interesting, but also anticipated. It did not seem that the contents of the magazine were that radical, although I am not what the extent of the front-page nudity was. In America the media has a huge influence on political results and the development of a negative news story can spell death for a politician. In the office door article I was somewhat unsure what the significance was. Is it that the people never get up from behind their desk to greet you? The garbage gods article was somewhat intriguing. I am curious what the reason is for it. I assume that it is just saving a relatively small amount of public funds or that it could be a general attempt to set a precedent for citizen responsibility. The student housing situation in Germany was problematic. I was very surprised that rarely anyone lives in student dorms and I would like to see how that number compares to other Western European countries. The relatively subtle location of the universities was not that surprising considering the substantial difference in money, both in input and output, between German and American universities; I also think this has something to do with German cities being old, while places like Ann Arbor developed with the university.

Kultur 6

As the semester comes to a close we finish it off in the way it was started, by shocking us silly American students. We are once again shown the vast differences between our two cultures when reading the Bild Zeitung Rules Germany. The understanding here being that the tabloids we see in the U.S. use much less smut and employ many more ridiculously schemed stories. In order to gain a better understanding of this massive difference I took a look at Bild's website and the National Enquirer's website. The most significant, and probably most obvious, difference is that the National Enquirer markets itself as a source for "Celebrity news" while Bild is one of the main sources of news in Germany.

Another one of the articles Come On In, My Door Is Always Closed. Here we are once again given insight into some of the backwards logic that is used in Germany. This once again leads me to the conclusion that Germany would be a scary place to visit, since many of the cultural norms there make no sense to me.

My fear of Germany is only further reinforced when I read the article Worshipping the Garbage Gods.The garbage can mentioned in the article is shown below. Personally even though I can read what it says, it is still far too complicated and I can guarantee that I would mess up what should be a very simple process.

Kultur 6

The Bild Zeitung article didn't shock me too much; I imagine that almost every developed nation has a similar periodical. It is somewhat surprising that such a large part of the German population seems to follow it so closely, but the previous Kultur articles have prepared me pretty well for this. "Sex is no big deal in Germany" is all but burnt into my memory. I did find the Angela Merkel story pretty humorous. It's funny how defensive most people will get when somebody offends their nation. That's definitely something that every culture has in common.

I found the "Come On In, My Door is Always Closed" article to be pretty interesting. The concept, to me, is nerve-wracking. I have a tendency to knock very softly on doors, wait the minimum time necessary, and see it as an opportunity to get the heck out of dodge. I'm always afraid of intruding, and I often find open doors as little beacons of hope. That being said, I do imagine it's something that a person gets used to. If you really need something that badly, you won't be too afraid to barge in. Also, if it's the norm, I can't imagine people getting too upset with someone for storming in on something embarrassing or inconvenient, but rather being uncomfortable with the timing.

The intricate and rather intense sounding German waste program seems fitting with the rest of their society. I personally don't see much wrong with it: it's environmentally friendly and probably keeps everything a lot cleaner and more pleasant to look at. This article did, however, serve to remind me of the "Germans are always watching you" stereotype. I can't imagine what might happen if I threw something into the wrong bin or, God forbid, threw everything into the "trash" bin.

Kultur 6

OK, I absolutely don't understand why the recycle bins/trash cans have a Sunday limitation. That literally makes no sense to me. It's a place to put trash. Why would it close? It's great that Germany is so excited about environmentalism, and I love that there are more receptacles for recyclables, but that also sounds incredibly terrifying if you got it wrong...which I probably would. Reading this makes me think that there are many, many things that I would get wrong in Germany, if I can screw up throwing away my Currywurst waste.

Regarding the article about closed doors: SCARY! I really don't know how I would handle having to simply walk into someone's office after knocking once. I would be petrified of being yelled at in loud, fast German that I wouldn't know how to respond to with enough grace. It also makes me wonder what their reaction would be to an open door. Is that considered rude? What does it mean? What they be offended if I left my door open to my room while I studied? So many questions!

The article about 'Bild Zeitung' is really weird, but simultaneously uninteresting to me. I really don't care about newspapers like that, or the people that read them. The only thing that irks me about the article is that it makes it seem like all of Germany is dependent on this newspaper. I'm really not sure if I believe that. It seems like a generalization made by the author of the article, like we've seen in a few of the other articles. Even if it was true, I still wouldn't care about something so trivial as a tabloid.

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!