Today I decided to watch some South Park in German. Only this time, I added the subtitles to help. Surprisingly, I didn't need them for most of the episode. Since the last time I've watched SP in German, back in Chapter 1--I've learned so much more vocabulary that I actually knew what they were saying. Some things I've learned: Kenny sounds like a girl and they don't use subtitles for him, they pronounce the word "Jesus" really weird--I was watching the episode where they form a Christian Rock band, I highly recommend you watch it--and, although they don't bleep it out, they do censor the subtitles for the show, but only for the f-bomb.
Being able to understand and translate most of the episode actually made it a lot funnier. I hope that soon I can watch it without subtitles completely and know exactly what they are saying.
Donnerstag, 31. Oktober 2013
Kultur 4
Like the author in "Fare-Dodgers Beware: There's No Such Thing As a Free Ride," I was also shocked this summer when I learned that the U-Bahn is completely honor system. Now, we did buy day passes, so I didn't try to test it, but my brother did while he was studying abroad. Luckily, he wasn't caught since his stop was the next station, but he and his friend became experts in spotting who they called "the U-Bahn Police." And they were also able to escape some close calls. One time, while at a station, my brother pointed out to my parents and I one of these "U-Bahn Police" and explained to us what they did. Though I was terrified at first, I couldn't help but think how brilliant of a system it was.
Now that's not the only scary thing on the U-Bahn. One time, while traveling from the East side, there was a homeless man asking every passenger for change. The man was visibly unstable--my dad assumed some form of drugs in his system--and he was approaching anyone who made eye contact with him. An interesting ride to say the least, instead of absorbing the sights that were zooming past outside, I concentrated on my tennis shoes to avoid eye contact with the bum.
This article about the U-Bahn also reminded me of the beginning of "Run Lola Run" in which Manni leaves the U-Bahn because he didn't get a ticket--don't you think he could have bought one with all the money he was toting?--although the author said that these "U-Bahn Police" were hard to spot, yet Manni was able to spot them and so was my brother. Regardless, if you plan on taking the subway, buy a ticket, it's cheaper than a fine and humiliation.
Now that's not the only scary thing on the U-Bahn. One time, while traveling from the East side, there was a homeless man asking every passenger for change. The man was visibly unstable--my dad assumed some form of drugs in his system--and he was approaching anyone who made eye contact with him. An interesting ride to say the least, instead of absorbing the sights that were zooming past outside, I concentrated on my tennis shoes to avoid eye contact with the bum.
This article about the U-Bahn also reminded me of the beginning of "Run Lola Run" in which Manni leaves the U-Bahn because he didn't get a ticket--don't you think he could have bought one with all the money he was toting?--although the author said that these "U-Bahn Police" were hard to spot, yet Manni was able to spot them and so was my brother. Regardless, if you plan on taking the subway, buy a ticket, it's cheaper than a fine and humiliation.
Mittwoch, 30. Oktober 2013
AMD 4
For AMD 4 I watched episode 2 of Extr@ auf Deutsch. Like the previous one, this episode was very cheesy but entertaining. I like watching these because they seem to align well with what we are learning in class. Episode 1 was introductions, common phrases and talking about your family and where you are from. This episode was about common shopping phrases. It also had a fair amount of food and clothing vocabulary.
ABOVE: Sam (Left, the American) is depicted as out of touch with whats "cool"
BELOW: Sam then makes a rookie mistake and orders 10 kg of oranges instead of the 10 apples! To then make matters worse he orders 12 DOZEN eggs! Is this dude running an omelet bar?! Someone obviously didn't read Brennpunkt Kultur on page 97 of Vorsprung (3rd ed). Dumm Amerikanische!
Another nice thing about this series is that even if there is a verb or noun I am not familiar with, the actors are so over animated that it is very easy to figure out what is going on/said. Extr@ auf Deutsch is slowly overtaking The Office as my favorite show.
Kultur 4
My favorite article was "The Red Dictator: Crossing the Strasse". I especially enjoyed the subtle humor in the article. "While drivers in Germany all think they are Michael Schumacher," made me laugh as I could imagine many German motorist imitating the Formula One star. Or the thought of someone disobeying the pedestrian crossing signal and getting a "stern talking to from a morally superior five-year-old".
I also found the final paragraph about pedestrian's right of way in Germany to be entertaining. "Step blithely into the zebra stripe confident in the belief that 999 out of 1,000 German drivers will slam on the brakes well in advance." In America, I too love knowing that if am signaled to cross a busy intersection I am fully protected by the law in case of an accident, but I also hate how pedestrians abuse this power. Especially on UofM campus. Buses are typically hung up for 1-5 minutes by the pedestrian crossing in front of CC Little because students realize they have the right of way, and there is no reason to stop. So frustrating!
I also found the final paragraph about pedestrian's right of way in Germany to be entertaining. "Step blithely into the zebra stripe confident in the belief that 999 out of 1,000 German drivers will slam on the brakes well in advance." In America, I too love knowing that if am signaled to cross a busy intersection I am fully protected by the law in case of an accident, but I also hate how pedestrians abuse this power. Especially on UofM campus. Buses are typically hung up for 1-5 minutes by the pedestrian crossing in front of CC Little because students realize they have the right of way, and there is no reason to stop. So frustrating!
AMD 4
For my AMD 4 I watched three trailers in German: Monsters University, Thor, and the Hobbit. Monsters University was a little easier than the other two because the audience was for little kids so the vocabulary and sentence complexity was more understandable. Words and phrases I was able to understand while watching were; wie kommen, Bibliothek, ich kanst, horen meine Muzik. I watched the German version twice, but after watching it the first time, I watched the English version to get a better sense of what they are saying.
I then watched Thor, which I found to be a little more difficult because I didn't understand a lot of the vocabulary and a lot of the verbs were in the past tense or the future, which I don't recognize yet. But overall I was able to pick up a few phrases.
The last trailer I watched was The Hobbit, which I found the most difficult because of the langue and names Tolkien made up. However, I have watched the English version so many times that I know what they would be saying in English so I wasn't so hard to understand.
I really enjoying watching the trailers in German because it makes the language so exciting with the background music and cinematic voices. The Trailers also make it an interesting language to listen to because I hear all the different types of pronunciation of words and how they sound spoken in a more normal way.
Emma Guarino Kultur 4
For my culture 4, I read the article "The Red Dictator: Crossing the Strasse." I found it very curious how abiding the Germans are off the "little red Dictator," in most other countries people just take into account the cross-walk sign and if no cars are coming they will cross. But in Germany they will wait for the sign to walk, which is fascinating because I would not think Germans as being very impatient people. Another unexpected topic that the author points out is German Driver will not slow down if you cross against the "little red Dictator," but in fact they will speed up "to play a game of chicken." In most cases a lot of drivers would slow down, even if the pedestrian is crossing illegally, but in Germany they want to prove a point and scare the daylights out of the crosser. The idea of a "BMW driver" pushing the pedal to the floor, is the typical behavior I would associate with Germans and I find kind of funny. Another interesting aspect of the article was that if you were to cross a street without permission from the "little red Dictator" and a child saw you, you could get nasty looks or even, "stern talking to from a morally superior five-year-old." Which is very interesting because in America hardly no children would scold a stranger for incorrectly crossing a street, or doing anything wrong. It just shows how culturally different American and German children are.
AMD4
Surprise! I watched another South Park episode for AMD4. The episode I watched this time was titled "Le Petit Tourette."This episode was much easier to follow along with than the previous one I watched, mostly due to the fact that the episode was composed of much simpler vocabulary. Also, a lot of the modal verbs we are going over currently were in the episode as well.
Some specific things I caught during the episode were phrases like "Er kann nicht," "Konnen Sie," "Du hast können nicht?" "Sieh!" "Setzen Sie sich," "Ich will," "Warum nicht?" and "Antwort mich!" I recognized a lot of new vocabulary as well, such as "glücklich" and "Apfelsaft."
Since this episode was mostly based off of curse words (yes, more so than usual), I was able to see how close some of the curse words are in German to the curse words in English. For obvious reasons I'm not going to share what the exact words are, but feel free to watch the episode and see what I mean!
To me it seems that the characters in South Park speak a little faster than the speakers we hear for our tests and homework assignments, which I think really helps me to be able to identify what people are saying as well as keeping up with the general speaking pace.
Some specific things I caught during the episode were phrases like "Er kann nicht," "Konnen Sie," "Du hast können nicht?" "Sieh!" "Setzen Sie sich," "Ich will," "Warum nicht?" and "Antwort mich!" I recognized a lot of new vocabulary as well, such as "glücklich" and "Apfelsaft."
Since this episode was mostly based off of curse words (yes, more so than usual), I was able to see how close some of the curse words are in German to the curse words in English. For obvious reasons I'm not going to share what the exact words are, but feel free to watch the episode and see what I mean!
To me it seems that the characters in South Park speak a little faster than the speakers we hear for our tests and homework assignments, which I think really helps me to be able to identify what people are saying as well as keeping up with the general speaking pace.
Kultur4
While I usually enjoy the majority of the articles we're told to read for our Kultur assignments, I particularly enjoyed the bunch assigned for Kapitel 4. The majority of them actually had me laughing out loud.
My favorite article was "The Red Dictator: Crossing the Strasse." It is odd to think that in Germany people actually obey the crosswalk signals, while in most places in America they are nothing but a suggestion, really. Especially in Ann Arbor where people practically forget that they exist, crossing the street in front of cars like its their job.
I also enjoyed the article "Two-Wheeled Teutons: Stay Off the Bike Path!" Bikers here, like cars, usually do not have the right-of-way when it comes to pedestrians. It was funny to envision someone in Germany having to dodge bikers versus the other way around. I also never knew that such a large majority of people rode bikes in Germany, whereas it is not commonplace here, except maybe on University campuses.
My favorite article was "The Red Dictator: Crossing the Strasse." It is odd to think that in Germany people actually obey the crosswalk signals, while in most places in America they are nothing but a suggestion, really. Especially in Ann Arbor where people practically forget that they exist, crossing the street in front of cars like its their job.
I also enjoyed the article "Two-Wheeled Teutons: Stay Off the Bike Path!" Bikers here, like cars, usually do not have the right-of-way when it comes to pedestrians. It was funny to envision someone in Germany having to dodge bikers versus the other way around. I also never knew that such a large majority of people rode bikes in Germany, whereas it is not commonplace here, except maybe on University campuses.
Dienstag, 29. Oktober 2013
"Siebene auf einen Streich!"
Ich lese Das tapfere Schneiderlein für mein AMD4. Ich kenne diese Geschichte von meinen Vater, aber er spracht sie auf Englisch. Die Geschichte ist about das tapfere Schneiderlein (the brave Tailor) wer tot sieben Fliegen mit ein Streich (he killed seven flies with one blow). Er sagt, "Siebene auf einen Streich!". Er hat viele Abenteuers, denn er lügt nach Menschen. Er sagt nicht er sieben Fliegen toten. Die Menschen denken er sieben Menschen toten. Er ist sehr sehr klug und gescheit. Ich finde die beste Teil wann er täuscht der Riese. Der Riese will ihn testen. Er will wie stark er sein sehen (he wants to see how strong he is), aber das Schneiderlein ist klug, und täuscht der Riese. Dann die Riesen haben viel Angst, denn sie denken das Schneiderlein sie werden toten (Then the giants are afraid because they think the tailor will kill them). Das Schneiderlein hat viele mehr Abenteuers, und wirt ein König vorbei die Ende von die Geschichte.
Order, Logic, and the German Way
Von alle die Kultur lesen wir habe, ich finde ich möchte Deutschland wohnen. Ich finde die Kultur interessant sein. Die Einwohners I would be amused by, and find their use of strict logic funny, its kind of like "you get what you ask for" even if that wasn't what you thought you were asking. The strict order to things I would enjoy, because I'm a control freak, so I think I have that in common with the Germans who get annoyed when people try to take free rides on the trains or cross the street in front of cars. They would be horrified at Ann Arbor Fußgangers for the amount of J-walking we do. I also love biking, but don't do it a lot because bikes don't really have a place to go in a lot of American cities unless you want to share the road with cars that want to run you over or risk running people over yourself on the sidewalk. The bike paths are definitely a good idea.
It really is too bad that American's don't ride bikes more or have better public transportation, but I think because of how our culture developed (inventing the automobile in Detroit) we can't let go of our cars. Also, since our country is much more spread out, it seems so much better to fly places, and trains aren't seen as a good investment. Wann ich gehe nach Chicago, New York, und Washington D.C., ich nehme die Bahn. I've never heard of the different cultural centers mentioned in the Kultur texts, but I think the education about other cultures is very important to being a well rounded person.
Freitag, 25. Oktober 2013
AMD3 - Yaakov
For this AMD I watched Claude Lanzmann's film Shoah. This 9.5 hour film consists of interviews with Holocaust survivors as well as witnesses and perpetrators. The interviews were conducted in several langues, always according to that of the interviewee: English, Hebrew, Yiddish, Polish, French and German. I wanted to watch the film as it is, but focused on the German language interviews. I was happy to see that I can understand them without the subtitles. Not every word was clear but the concepts and the interview as a whole were well understood even without the subtitles.
this is a wonderful and distressing film and i would recommend it to all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pwqHdNlNDk
this is a wonderful and distressing film and i would recommend it to all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pwqHdNlNDk
Dienstag, 22. Oktober 2013
Emma Guarino; AMD 3
For my AMD 3, I watched "Best of Family Guy" in German. I found it interesting because they use other voices to get the characters to speak German. At first, I couldn't figure out what anyone was saying because they spoke so quickly, but after I watched it a couple of times I started to pick up some words I knew and could piece some sentences together together; or at least the general idea of what they were saying. However, I found it hard to follow three or more sentences in a row, because it takes me such a long time to understand the previous sentences. However, I enjoyed watching the program in German, I found myself laughing at the same parts I would if it were in English.
Montag, 21. Oktober 2013
Youtube in German
For this AMD, I browsed Youtube and only watched German videos. This was sehr spass fur mich because I actually knew some of what the people were saying. It is incredible to learn another language because when it is understood for the most part, a person feels so accomplished, and that is what happened to me. Now, I will admit that german speakers talk really really really fast, but I could pick up the main point that they were trying to convey. Another thing that I did was read some of the comments. Again I felt a breeze of accomplishment over take my body. As i read most of the comments under each video, I understood what the person was trying to say. I feel like German is definitely a fun language to learn, and hopefully I can be fluent and understand everything that people are saying and writing.
Kultur 3
I find these article to be very interesting. The German stereotypes were very crazy and I can see why a German would be offended. The whole drinking casually all of the time is funny, but I would have to visit the country myself to actually believe that a person would drink a bottle of beer any and everywhere that they go. Also, the article said that construction workers will take a quick break to drink beer, and that was really shocking to me. As far as the fast food goes, German cuisine look delicious. Whenever I visit the country, I would probably be in heaven for my duration there. That currwurst and brotwurst all sound great and based off of their description, they most likely are. Something that I am afraid of however are the opinions of the Germans. Where I come from, specifically, Detroit, if someone blatantly said something extremely negative, let's just say that arms will no longer be down by each persons' side. I cannot imagine a world where people just say whatever they think, Which is even more of a reason for me to visit Germany. I love the fact that Germans are going green. It is very admirable of citizens of a country to express their love for mother nature.
The Cup
For Amd 3, I decided to look into the fact that German hosted the 2006 world cup for soccer. This seemed like a good topic to elaborate on due to the fact that I played soccer for thirteen years before ending that hobby when I started college. The idea of writing about a sport that consumed so much of my life seemed natural.
When looking through several articles on the hosting of the 2006 world cup, I found that tickets were sold from anywhere between 35 to 600 Euros. This didn't shock me in the slightest due to the fact that there are so man different categories of people that attend these events. There needs to be seating to accommodate all types of spectators, and this would make pricing very competitive.
I also think it is worth mentioning that due to the fact that they were hosting the cup, Germany was automatically entered into the qualifying matches. With this said, I do not believe that they need this advantage due to the fact that Germany seems to do well almost always throughout the soccer season. They have been to qualifying matches many years prior and continued to do well for years after.
When the matches finally did begin, Germany hosted them in their newly renovated Berlin historic Olympic Stadium. The renovations cost Germany 291 million dollars and the spectacle that it created was well worth the money in my mind. This stadium was also host to other Olympic games and Germany was no stranger to participation in those as well.
AMD 3
Rammstein - Ich will
For those of you who thought there was a mix of German and English (I will) I have some bad news for you! Wollen (ich will) in German means WANT. Just this information connected with what we already learned lets you understand pretty much 50% of the song! If any of you have a problem with pronouns I'd think this might be a fun way to "practice" them. If I were you though I'd rather watch an official video than some lyrics one because I consider this video one of the best there ever was. So here's the link for the real thing:
Sorry still don't feel like singing for you :D
Sonntag, 20. Oktober 2013
AMD 3
Does our language shape the way we think? After reading the article "How does our language shape the way we think?" by Lera Boroditsky, I am now convinced that each particular language affects the way we think in its own unique way. The article provides experimental evidence that proves that the structure of languages can influence our manner of thinking. For instance, the Kuuk Thaayorre, an aboriginal community located in norther Australia, talk about space using the cardinal directions (north, east, south, west) rather than "right", "left", "back", and "forward" that a traditional English speaking person may use. This minuscule, yet distinct difference forces the Kuuk Thaayorre people to be more spatially knowledgeable, which causes a change in their entire thinking process. To prove this fact, an experiment was conducted:
In this experiment, the experimenter simply asked participants to order several pictures in chronological order. Those who spoke English ordered the pictures from left to right and those who spoke Hebrew ordered the pictures right to left. When asking a participant from Kuuk Thaayorre, they all ordered the pictures from east to west (That is, when they were seated facing south, the cards went left to right. When they faced north, the cards went from right to left. When they faced east, the cards came toward the body and so on.).
"Because space is such a fundamental domain of thought, differences in how people think about space don't end there. People rely on their spatial knowledge to build other, more complex, more abstract representations. Representations of such things as time, number, musical pitch, kinship relations, morality, and emotions have been shown to depend on how we think about space. So if the Kuuk Thaayorre think differently about space, do they also think differently about other things, like time?"
*To relate this to German. The cases of the nouns (feminine, masculine, neuter) can also influence the way we perceive an object. For instance, a masculine noun will be described using masculine traits/adjectives and vice versa for feminine nouns. "For example, when asked to describe a "key" — a word that is masculine in German and feminine in Spanish — the German speakers were more likely to use words like "hard," "heavy," "jagged," "metal," "serrated," and "useful," whereas Spanish speakers were more likely to say "golden," "intricate," "little," "lovely," "shiny," and "tiny." To describe a "bridge," which is feminine in German and masculine in Spanish, the German speakers said "beautiful," "elegant," "fragile," "peaceful," "pretty," and "slender," and the Spanish speakers said "big," "dangerous," "long," "strong," "sturdy," and "towering.""
In this experiment, the experimenter simply asked participants to order several pictures in chronological order. Those who spoke English ordered the pictures from left to right and those who spoke Hebrew ordered the pictures right to left. When asking a participant from Kuuk Thaayorre, they all ordered the pictures from east to west (That is, when they were seated facing south, the cards went left to right. When they faced north, the cards went from right to left. When they faced east, the cards came toward the body and so on.).
"Because space is such a fundamental domain of thought, differences in how people think about space don't end there. People rely on their spatial knowledge to build other, more complex, more abstract representations. Representations of such things as time, number, musical pitch, kinship relations, morality, and emotions have been shown to depend on how we think about space. So if the Kuuk Thaayorre think differently about space, do they also think differently about other things, like time?"
*To relate this to German. The cases of the nouns (feminine, masculine, neuter) can also influence the way we perceive an object. For instance, a masculine noun will be described using masculine traits/adjectives and vice versa for feminine nouns. "For example, when asked to describe a "key" — a word that is masculine in German and feminine in Spanish — the German speakers were more likely to use words like "hard," "heavy," "jagged," "metal," "serrated," and "useful," whereas Spanish speakers were more likely to say "golden," "intricate," "little," "lovely," "shiny," and "tiny." To describe a "bridge," which is feminine in German and masculine in Spanish, the German speakers said "beautiful," "elegant," "fragile," "peaceful," "pretty," and "slender," and the Spanish speakers said "big," "dangerous," "long," "strong," "sturdy," and "towering.""
AMD3
For AMD3, I watched an Episode of South Park. This episode was called "Stupid Spoiled Whore," a rather funny title. In this episode all the girls in South Park were obsessed with Paris Hilton and began to act just like her; spoiled and began dressing very provocatively. However there was one girl who was against it but because she became an outcast, tried to become like all her friends. I thought this to be interesting because there are many girls who try to emulate the celebrities in the world when really they aren't the best role models to have.
Also in this episode Paris Hilton's dog Tinkerbell killed herself (which was hilarious to see a dog shoot itself) and she spotted Butters while driving by and wanted to keep him. She even paid his parents 250 million dollars for him. At the end, everyone realized that Paris Hilton isn't the best role model.
Also in this episode Paris Hilton's dog Tinkerbell killed herself (which was hilarious to see a dog shoot itself) and she spotted Butters while driving by and wanted to keep him. She even paid his parents 250 million dollars for him. At the end, everyone realized that Paris Hilton isn't the best role model.
AMD 3
Tag meine fruenden,
für AMD drei ich habe 'The Simpsons' auf Deutsch gesehen. Es gibt keine übersetzen, noch aber sehr lustig! Es ist leicht zu Ralph verstehen. Du kanst die Kommantare lesen, und übersetzen machen. Mein lieblingslustigscezen wovon Homer ist mit seinen Bauch Pizza aß.
Klicken Sie hieren und genießen!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxcyTWr31ZI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfgFbu34NP0
für AMD drei ich habe 'The Simpsons' auf Deutsch gesehen. Es gibt keine übersetzen, noch aber sehr lustig! Es ist leicht zu Ralph verstehen. Du kanst die Kommantare lesen, und übersetzen machen. Mein lieblingslustigscezen wovon Homer ist mit seinen Bauch Pizza aß.
Klicken Sie hieren und genießen!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxcyTWr31ZI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfgFbu34NP0
AMD3 Graham Techler
When I visited Italy as part of a school trip as a sophomore, my roommates and I spent a lot of late nights hanging out in our hotel rooms and flipping through Italian TV. To our surprise, some of the best options ended up being German children's programming that was aired late at night in Montecatini. These were entertaining especially because while some of us spoke Italian, none of us spoke German, and so the shows were both increasingly unintelligible and surreal.
In one, a Zoboomafoo-like cartoon about a monkey in a rainforest, the monkey seemed to get radiation poisoning, which was depicted graphically for a children's cartoon. In another, the host showed children the effects of alcohol by drinking heavy amounts of vodka and attempting everyday activities as he stumbled around a television production office.
But our favorite was a children's game show called "1, 2 oder 3," hosted by an Elton John lookalike (who I later learned was a German TV host called 'Elton' because of the resemblance), with someone in a giant seal costume as a mascot, and teams of children in different colored uniforms. The host would show a brief clip describing something relating to a certain theme, then the host would play a short song and the children would have to jump on three different colored panels to confuse the other team, each panel corresponding to one of the three choices. At the end of the song, whichever team had the most members on the correct panel won. This seems simple when you read it on Wikipedia but in the moment it was hilariously confusing.
For my third AMD, I decided to revisit an 2003 episode of '1, 2, oder 3,' and see if I understood it better with an elementary understanding of German. First I did a little online research to find out more about it, and found out that its based on an American show called Runaround, and, when it was adapted in 1977, was considered the first true German childrens television show.
And as it turns out, I did understand more of the show. The episode I watched started off with a sketch featuring one of the shows mascots ordering large amounts of take out food (pommes, Pizza, hamburger), and the host telling viewers at home to press the rot, blau, oder gelb buttons to vote on answers during the show. They also introduced us to todays "kamerakind" Patrick, a kid who was operating one of the cameras that day (the show is big on having kids do almost everything, with the audience completely comprised of children). Something from the show that I didnt remember was all of the sketches, musical performances, clowns, and Carson-esque guests (one woman comes on the show to show us ein Igel [a hedgehog]) that the show uses to pad out its 26 minute running time. During the game show segment, the clip was shown and the kids had to decide if the mole like animal shown was either eins: Vorrat (a hoarder), zwei: Delikatesse (a delicacy) oder drei: Shadlinge (a pest). In the end, all teams chose Drei when the correct answer was Eins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX8sxdcITOA
-Graham Techler, AMD3
In one, a Zoboomafoo-like cartoon about a monkey in a rainforest, the monkey seemed to get radiation poisoning, which was depicted graphically for a children's cartoon. In another, the host showed children the effects of alcohol by drinking heavy amounts of vodka and attempting everyday activities as he stumbled around a television production office.
But our favorite was a children's game show called "1, 2 oder 3," hosted by an Elton John lookalike (who I later learned was a German TV host called 'Elton' because of the resemblance), with someone in a giant seal costume as a mascot, and teams of children in different colored uniforms. The host would show a brief clip describing something relating to a certain theme, then the host would play a short song and the children would have to jump on three different colored panels to confuse the other team, each panel corresponding to one of the three choices. At the end of the song, whichever team had the most members on the correct panel won. This seems simple when you read it on Wikipedia but in the moment it was hilariously confusing.
For my third AMD, I decided to revisit an 2003 episode of '1, 2, oder 3,' and see if I understood it better with an elementary understanding of German. First I did a little online research to find out more about it, and found out that its based on an American show called Runaround, and, when it was adapted in 1977, was considered the first true German childrens television show.
And as it turns out, I did understand more of the show. The episode I watched started off with a sketch featuring one of the shows mascots ordering large amounts of take out food (pommes, Pizza, hamburger), and the host telling viewers at home to press the rot, blau, oder gelb buttons to vote on answers during the show. They also introduced us to todays "kamerakind" Patrick, a kid who was operating one of the cameras that day (the show is big on having kids do almost everything, with the audience completely comprised of children). Something from the show that I didnt remember was all of the sketches, musical performances, clowns, and Carson-esque guests (one woman comes on the show to show us ein Igel [a hedgehog]) that the show uses to pad out its 26 minute running time. During the game show segment, the clip was shown and the kids had to decide if the mole like animal shown was either eins: Vorrat (a hoarder), zwei: Delikatesse (a delicacy) oder drei: Shadlinge (a pest). In the end, all teams chose Drei when the correct answer was Eins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX8sxdcITOA
-Graham Techler, AMD3
AMD 3 Sarah van der Walde
For my AMD 3 I talked to my German friend in German. He was a foreign exchange student at my high school when we were in 11th grade. We've stayed in touch since he went back to Germany and so I asked him to Skype with me so I could practice my conversation skills.
It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Max laughed at me a few times because of how "american" I sounded when I pronounced things but we had fun talking and it was really good to catch up!
After we (I) ran out of things I could say in German we talked about Germany and its differences and similarities and what it was like to come here for a year. I told him how I wanted to study abroad and he assured me it was a great experience and I had to do it! Skyping with him was really fun and a great way to practice my German. His laughing at me showed me that I still have a long way to go with pronunciation but he was impressed that I knew as much as I did!
It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Max laughed at me a few times because of how "american" I sounded when I pronounced things but we had fun talking and it was really good to catch up!
After we (I) ran out of things I could say in German we talked about Germany and its differences and similarities and what it was like to come here for a year. I told him how I wanted to study abroad and he assured me it was a great experience and I had to do it! Skyping with him was really fun and a great way to practice my German. His laughing at me showed me that I still have a long way to go with pronunciation but he was impressed that I knew as much as I did!
AMD3
For this weeks German project I decided to take the advice of the "AMD Ideen" and browse one of Deutschland's more prominent sports websites. I'm a frequent follower of ESPN here in America and thought it would be interesting to see how www.sportschau.de compared to it.
From the home page, I could definitely tell it was a sports website by all the pictures of "soccer" players running around and what not. I could already tell it was similar to ESPN in some ways. At the top of the page there was a ticker that organized tabs for all the sports, photos and videos. I could click around and read articles on the various "Fußall" games taking place around the country. From what I could interpret on my own, it seemed as if the writer would talk about the game and what it meant in the grand scheme of the season, as well as who scored and when. There were also some quotes by the players talking about their performance. Mostly your typical run of the mill stuff.
While many of the groundworks to the website follow a similar format to that of its American counter-part, the selection of sports covered is VASTLY different. If I had no prior knowledge of Deutschland's sports culture, it would only take me a matter of seconds to be able to notice that "Fußball" is by far the most popular sport in the country. Other sports covered were "Eishockey, Tennis, Boxen and DTM" (Hockey, Tennis, Boxing, and racing). I can tell that many sports we find popular over here are a mere afterthought in Deutschland. I searched everywhere on the website and was only able to find a couple places where there were articles on Basketball, and could only find a schedule for American Football.
Overall the site seems well laid out and useful for a typical German sports fan. However, I'm a big football and basketball fan, so I'll stick to ESPN.
http://www.sportschau.de/index.html
From the home page, I could definitely tell it was a sports website by all the pictures of "soccer" players running around and what not. I could already tell it was similar to ESPN in some ways. At the top of the page there was a ticker that organized tabs for all the sports, photos and videos. I could click around and read articles on the various "Fußall" games taking place around the country. From what I could interpret on my own, it seemed as if the writer would talk about the game and what it meant in the grand scheme of the season, as well as who scored and when. There were also some quotes by the players talking about their performance. Mostly your typical run of the mill stuff.
While many of the groundworks to the website follow a similar format to that of its American counter-part, the selection of sports covered is VASTLY different. If I had no prior knowledge of Deutschland's sports culture, it would only take me a matter of seconds to be able to notice that "Fußball" is by far the most popular sport in the country. Other sports covered were "Eishockey, Tennis, Boxen and DTM" (Hockey, Tennis, Boxing, and racing). I can tell that many sports we find popular over here are a mere afterthought in Deutschland. I searched everywhere on the website and was only able to find a couple places where there were articles on Basketball, and could only find a schedule for American Football.
Overall the site seems well laid out and useful for a typical German sports fan. However, I'm a big football and basketball fan, so I'll stick to ESPN.
http://www.sportschau.de/index.html
AMD 3
A couple of days ago I found the subreddit "easy German". It contains many links to videos and movies that contain beginner level German with subtitles. One of the links was to a German learning sitcom series called "Extr@ auf Deutsch". I watched the first episode and was thoroughly amused.
The first episode, titled "Sams Ankunft", introduces us to the main characters Anna and Sasha (roommates) and Nik (the neighbor). Nik ist in Sasha verliebt. Sasha recently broke up with her boyfriend Jo but she finds Nik annoying. Anna ist in Nik verliebt. To make matters more complicated, Sasha receives a brief from her old brieffreund, Sam. He is an American and is coming to visit that day. The girls instantly fantasize about American men and this causes Nik to be jealous.
The brieffreund turns out to be weird and not what the girls expected. He also is not very good at speaking German.
But when Nik comes over, he sees that Sasha gave Sam a heart shaped pillow to sleep on (This was a gift that Sasha's old boyfriend gave her). Nik feels more threatened and jealous so he offers to help Sam with his German skills. Nik then teaches Sam nonsensical German, trying to make him seem like an idiot.
Anyway, the episode only had German subtitles but the German that was used was pretty simple. I had to look up a few phrases but I felt the difficulty was perfect. I will probably watch more of these in the future as they are very cheesy and entertaining.
The first episode, titled "Sams Ankunft", introduces us to the main characters Anna and Sasha (roommates) and Nik (the neighbor). Nik ist in Sasha verliebt. Sasha recently broke up with her boyfriend Jo but she finds Nik annoying. Anna ist in Nik verliebt. To make matters more complicated, Sasha receives a brief from her old brieffreund, Sam. He is an American and is coming to visit that day. The girls instantly fantasize about American men and this causes Nik to be jealous.
The brieffreund turns out to be weird and not what the girls expected. He also is not very good at speaking German.
But when Nik comes over, he sees that Sasha gave Sam a heart shaped pillow to sleep on (This was a gift that Sasha's old boyfriend gave her). Nik feels more threatened and jealous so he offers to help Sam with his German skills. Nik then teaches Sam nonsensical German, trying to make him seem like an idiot.
Anyway, the episode only had German subtitles but the German that was used was pretty simple. I had to look up a few phrases but I felt the difficulty was perfect. I will probably watch more of these in the future as they are very cheesy and entertaining.
Freitag, 18. Oktober 2013
AMD3: Sehen Deutsch YouTube Videos
Für das AMD, ich sehe der Videos zum Spaß für Kapitel 3. Ich habe viel spaß sehen der videos. Ich lieber Stefan Raab bei McDonalds. Das Video war sehr lustig! ich viel gelacht. Also, ich sehe mehr Videos auf Stefan Raab. In ein Video, er trage Perücken und spricht mit Leute.
I am struggling with past tense, and using too much google translate, so I will write the rest of my AMD in Denglish. I enjoyed the song "Es gibt kein Beir auf Hawaii." I posted the video on one of my German friends walls. Wann ich wohne in Deutshland, I stayed in the equivalent of a frat house there. Es heißt ein studentverbindung. They would sing many german drinking songs, so hopefully they will add this to their collection!
One video that I didn't quite understand was Imbissbude-Deutsch. I think there was a lot of German word play that ich nicht verstehen.
I found the videos to be very helpful at cementing my learning and understanding of german. I found the vidoes that involved comedy to be the most enjoyable and the ones that I learned the most from. So I will continue watching more German youtube videos that involve comedy. I think they pretty basic language in these types of videos so it is easier to follow.
I am struggling with past tense, and using too much google translate, so I will write the rest of my AMD in Denglish. I enjoyed the song "Es gibt kein Beir auf Hawaii." I posted the video on one of my German friends walls. Wann ich wohne in Deutshland, I stayed in the equivalent of a frat house there. Es heißt ein studentverbindung. They would sing many german drinking songs, so hopefully they will add this to their collection!
One video that I didn't quite understand was Imbissbude-Deutsch. I think there was a lot of German word play that ich nicht verstehen.
I found the videos to be very helpful at cementing my learning and understanding of german. I found the vidoes that involved comedy to be the most enjoyable and the ones that I learned the most from. So I will continue watching more German youtube videos that involve comedy. I think they pretty basic language in these types of videos so it is easier to follow.
Donnerstag, 17. Oktober 2013
AMD3
For my
AMD I cooked German foods. I made
flamkuchen first, which is a little like a pizza. It has a dough base, but instead of tomato
sauce, it has a sour cream-esque sauce.
Then it has onions and bacon bits on top of that. Other variants of course are possible, like
with honey or different vegetables or meats.
This is very easy to make and is quite filling and can be used for either
a quick snack or for a meal. I was first
introduced to this when I lived with a host family in Ludwigshafen a few years
ago.
Here is
a link of different types of flamkuchens http://www.chefkoch.de/rs/s0/flammkuchen/Rezepte.html
The
second dish I tried was Rouladen. This is absolutely
delicious, but wow, is it the most stereotypical German dish: almost entirely
meat and very few vegetables. You take a
thin cutlet of meat, like steak, and spread mustard on it. Then you place some bacon, pickles, or onions
or whatever vegetables you desire. You
roll up the meat and hold it together with a toothpick and brown it on a
skillet. You can then add any spices or
herbs to it and cook it in water with a bouillon cube for an hour or so. It tastes so good, but it is so unhealthy.
Food or Foe?
When reading through the most recent "kultur" articles, I was very happy to find that a majority of the subjects examined involved some of my favorite activities. These activities consist of eating and drinking... Although I do not consider myself an expert in cooking or even eating/ drinking, I was still very interested in the subject of sustenance in another society.
The first thing that came across as important in these articles was the idea of casually drinking. This is such a slap in the face for a society like ours, and I was very pleased to see such a contrast in viewpoints. I believe that when the article talks about beer as if it were nothing more then a daily thirst quencher for many in Germany, it gives the realization that not all countries look down on drinking. Here, we tend to look at public drinking with some stigma, while in Germany, they do it on a daily basis, and in very public places. This showed much understanding on their part and it is something that I hope will someday be reflected here in the U.S.
Another aspect of drinking that this article talked about was the idea that they are trying to rid their society of its public drinking "problem". While I completely disagree with the idea of ridding public drinking, I do agree that there needs to be some limitations. The part of the article that had me somewhat concerned was where it mentioned drinking on the job. This is something that could not only be dangerous to the person consuming alcohol, but also those around him/her. For this reason, I do feel that any job designating heavy labor should not allow alcohol to be consumed during the work hours.
Lastly, these articles caught my attention when they covered the organic food that people tend to enjoy so much in Germany. This was very interesting to me due to the fact that I have always enjoyed fresh and organic food when compared to processed goods. I believe that it is amazing that they have so many shops where you are just able to go at any time and pick up all of the fresh produce and other goods that you need. This would be especially nice to have here seeing as the healthy alternative in America tends to cost more then it is worth, leading many down the lesser of the healthy choices.
The first thing that came across as important in these articles was the idea of casually drinking. This is such a slap in the face for a society like ours, and I was very pleased to see such a contrast in viewpoints. I believe that when the article talks about beer as if it were nothing more then a daily thirst quencher for many in Germany, it gives the realization that not all countries look down on drinking. Here, we tend to look at public drinking with some stigma, while in Germany, they do it on a daily basis, and in very public places. This showed much understanding on their part and it is something that I hope will someday be reflected here in the U.S.
Another aspect of drinking that this article talked about was the idea that they are trying to rid their society of its public drinking "problem". While I completely disagree with the idea of ridding public drinking, I do agree that there needs to be some limitations. The part of the article that had me somewhat concerned was where it mentioned drinking on the job. This is something that could not only be dangerous to the person consuming alcohol, but also those around him/her. For this reason, I do feel that any job designating heavy labor should not allow alcohol to be consumed during the work hours.
Lastly, these articles caught my attention when they covered the organic food that people tend to enjoy so much in Germany. This was very interesting to me due to the fact that I have always enjoyed fresh and organic food when compared to processed goods. I believe that it is amazing that they have so many shops where you are just able to go at any time and pick up all of the fresh produce and other goods that you need. This would be especially nice to have here seeing as the healthy alternative in America tends to cost more then it is worth, leading many down the lesser of the healthy choices.
AMD 3
Once every year, my brother and I stake out a spot in our kitchen, open up our laptops, and watch the European phenomenon that is EuroVision.
For those of you who do not know what EuroVision is, it's this singing competition involving all of the European Union members. Each country picks and sends a contestant to represent them at the competition, and then they vote and give points to their favorite acts. The country with the most points wins glory, fame, and most importantly, bragging rights. They also get to host the next EuroVision.
EuroVision has loads of traditions, including: Cyprus giving Greece it's 12 points (12 points is the most you can give a country. There is actually a video compilation of Cyprus giving Greece 12 points at every EuroVision) and everyone hating on Ireland and Britain. Also, there are some countries that haven't won EuroVision in so long that they send the strangest act they can find because they know they're not going to win. It's quite funny.
Germany used to be one of those countries that didn't take EuroVision seriously until 2010. That year, they decided to hold a nationwide search for the act that they were going to send for EuroVision. What they found was Lena, a 20-year-old girl with a killer voice. They then sent her to EuroVision, where she performed the song "Satellite" and won. Lena went on to become a German-sensation. You can listen to the song that made her famous here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QSgNM9yNjo
And next May, try watching an online broadcast of EuroVision.
-Carolyn
AMD3
Continuing my AMD trend, I watched another South Park episode titled "The List." This episode was another that I had not previously seen, and it sounded interesting enough.
At first, I tried to watch the episode without subtitles since I could understand the majority of what was being said during the last two that I have watched. After a few minutes, I ended up having to turn the subtitles back on due to the fact that the words used in "The List" were mostly ones that we haven't covered yet.
However, I was able to identity some words and phrases that we have gone over. Such as "Leute," "aber," "arbeiten," "Mädchen," "Wie geht's?" and "Aussehen." Being able to identify at least one word in a sentence really helps to identify where you are within the subtitle. It also allows for you to hear a sentence, figure out where you are, and connect the words being said to the English meaning.
South Park continues to assist me in understanding German that is being spoken at a normal pace, while also teaching me new words that we have not studied yet (and of course, curse words).
At first, I tried to watch the episode without subtitles since I could understand the majority of what was being said during the last two that I have watched. After a few minutes, I ended up having to turn the subtitles back on due to the fact that the words used in "The List" were mostly ones that we haven't covered yet.
However, I was able to identity some words and phrases that we have gone over. Such as "Leute," "aber," "arbeiten," "Mädchen," "Wie geht's?" and "Aussehen." Being able to identify at least one word in a sentence really helps to identify where you are within the subtitle. It also allows for you to hear a sentence, figure out where you are, and connect the words being said to the English meaning.
South Park continues to assist me in understanding German that is being spoken at a normal pace, while also teaching me new words that we have not studied yet (and of course, curse words).
Good Beer = Good Humor
Well, after reading all these articles, I can confirm that everything in these articles are true. It certainly is making me reminisce on my experience in Germany this summer.
To start, the beer was quite simply amazing. I tried all the different types of beer, and I believe their rating of the beer on a hangover basis were pretty accurate. I would get my worst hangovers from bocks, alt beers, and helles. Also, I remember one time I came back to my place with a Berliner Weisse and my roommates informed me that was what the homeless drink. However, in my house, we would drink that beer but only warm, for when we raced each other at drinking. It would start by saying "bier junge" to someone who you feel has insulted you, or you want to insult for no reason. Then if they say "hankt" then the race was on. You would pour two glasses from .2 to .3 liters then tap glasses and drink as fast as you possibly could. The first person to slam their glass on the table would win.
As far as drinking in public, it would be an absolute TRAVESTY if drinking in public was banned. Sure you have a ton of drunk idiots roaming around at night, but none more than you have in America at night. The difference is in America, we pre-game insanely hard since we know that we can't take our drink with us. I never felt in danger while taking public transportation at night to go out in Berlin or elsewhere. In addition, I loved that I could go to a nice park and drink a beer. It was extremely nice. Rather than being stuck inside drinking, I could be enjoying life outside while enjoying my beer. The fact that having an open container is banned in America truly shows that the belief that we are the land of the free is simply brainwashing. However, I can understand regional or bans in certain locations if there has been a history of crime or problems with public drunkenness.
Even though I was drinking tons of beer while in Germany, I have never been healthier than while I was in Germany. I attribute a lot of this to the quality of food (and beer) that I was eating (and drinking). Depending on how much money I had, I would buy the bio-labeled products at Aldi. As far as fruit and vegetables, I would always buy organic because the supermarkets always had fly infested fruits and vegetables. If I wanted to throw my money away, I would buy fruit at a supermarket. While in Germany, I would go to the market once or twice a week rather than making a biweekly or monthly trip to Meijer like so many Americans do. Sure, the food would go bad quicker in Germany but at least it was fresh!
The Germans I met were some of the funniest people I've met. It's not to say that every German you will meet is funny, but of the funny people I met, they always had very good sense of humors. I would agree, also, that they find a large variety of jokes funny. Ariane, who was coordinating our study abroad program in Berlin, fit perfectly into the description of the Berliner type humor. She was the first German that I met there because she picked each of us up from the airport. Immediately she wiped away the stereotype that I had in my head that Germans aren't funny. I always had to be ready with a snarky comeback when around her!
Last but not least, I would say that Germans being pessimists is partially true. I certainly met lots of Germans with that attitude. But I believe it is intelligent pessimism as mentioned in the article. Rather than quickly jumping on an idea, they would think about it critically first.
To start, the beer was quite simply amazing. I tried all the different types of beer, and I believe their rating of the beer on a hangover basis were pretty accurate. I would get my worst hangovers from bocks, alt beers, and helles. Also, I remember one time I came back to my place with a Berliner Weisse and my roommates informed me that was what the homeless drink. However, in my house, we would drink that beer but only warm, for when we raced each other at drinking. It would start by saying "bier junge" to someone who you feel has insulted you, or you want to insult for no reason. Then if they say "hankt" then the race was on. You would pour two glasses from .2 to .3 liters then tap glasses and drink as fast as you possibly could. The first person to slam their glass on the table would win.
As far as drinking in public, it would be an absolute TRAVESTY if drinking in public was banned. Sure you have a ton of drunk idiots roaming around at night, but none more than you have in America at night. The difference is in America, we pre-game insanely hard since we know that we can't take our drink with us. I never felt in danger while taking public transportation at night to go out in Berlin or elsewhere. In addition, I loved that I could go to a nice park and drink a beer. It was extremely nice. Rather than being stuck inside drinking, I could be enjoying life outside while enjoying my beer. The fact that having an open container is banned in America truly shows that the belief that we are the land of the free is simply brainwashing. However, I can understand regional or bans in certain locations if there has been a history of crime or problems with public drunkenness.
Even though I was drinking tons of beer while in Germany, I have never been healthier than while I was in Germany. I attribute a lot of this to the quality of food (and beer) that I was eating (and drinking). Depending on how much money I had, I would buy the bio-labeled products at Aldi. As far as fruit and vegetables, I would always buy organic because the supermarkets always had fly infested fruits and vegetables. If I wanted to throw my money away, I would buy fruit at a supermarket. While in Germany, I would go to the market once or twice a week rather than making a biweekly or monthly trip to Meijer like so many Americans do. Sure, the food would go bad quicker in Germany but at least it was fresh!
The Germans I met were some of the funniest people I've met. It's not to say that every German you will meet is funny, but of the funny people I met, they always had very good sense of humors. I would agree, also, that they find a large variety of jokes funny. Ariane, who was coordinating our study abroad program in Berlin, fit perfectly into the description of the Berliner type humor. She was the first German that I met there because she picked each of us up from the airport. Immediately she wiped away the stereotype that I had in my head that Germans aren't funny. I always had to be ready with a snarky comeback when around her!
Last but not least, I would say that Germans being pessimists is partially true. I certainly met lots of Germans with that attitude. But I believe it is intelligent pessimism as mentioned in the article. Rather than quickly jumping on an idea, they would think about it critically first.
Kultur 3
These articles exploit almost all of the German stereotypes and give insight on some new customs that we haven't really heard of. Beer. Lederhosen. Beer. Harsh language. More beer. Organic foods?
Although it is a common German stereotype, I never really saw Germans to be known for drinking beer (maybe because I'm a tad bit uncultured). And even if I had known, I definitely would have never guessed how much beer the average German drinks. "115 liters per head." From what I can glean, that is a lot of beer! And in addition to the massive beer consumption, Germany also houses 1,274 breweries that churn out over 5,000 different beers. Beer is such a popular beverage in Germany that even McDonald's and movie theaters carry them.
Another custom that isn't that known is that Germans love organic foods. In fact, 70% of Germans say that they would never touch gene-manipulated food. This is actually really weird. I actually never knew this about Germans. Here in American we (or at least I) don't think twice about eating food that have been grown with chemicals. In fact, I don't really even care what I eat (as long as it's edible). [I would eat McDonald's everyday if I had the luxury.] The fact that Germans care about their health really surprises me. When I think of Germans I see ruthless savages that will feast on anything and everything (or am I thinking of Germanic people). Germans eating healthy seems like such an oddity.
Although it is a common German stereotype, I never really saw Germans to be known for drinking beer (maybe because I'm a tad bit uncultured). And even if I had known, I definitely would have never guessed how much beer the average German drinks. "115 liters per head." From what I can glean, that is a lot of beer! And in addition to the massive beer consumption, Germany also houses 1,274 breweries that churn out over 5,000 different beers. Beer is such a popular beverage in Germany that even McDonald's and movie theaters carry them.
Another custom that isn't that known is that Germans love organic foods. In fact, 70% of Germans say that they would never touch gene-manipulated food. This is actually really weird. I actually never knew this about Germans. Here in American we (or at least I) don't think twice about eating food that have been grown with chemicals. In fact, I don't really even care what I eat (as long as it's edible). [I would eat McDonald's everyday if I had the luxury.] The fact that Germans care about their health really surprises me. When I think of Germans I see ruthless savages that will feast on anything and everything (or am I thinking of Germanic people). Germans eating healthy seems like such an oddity.
Zach Boucher Kultur 3
After reading all of the listed articles, I somewhat realize that they were all leading up to counteract the points that the last few readings describe. Germans have long had a reputation for being serious and some of the least funny people on the planet. They'll be straight forward with you and give you blunt answers. However, there is a funny bone in them after all, and the first few articles on beer and food in Germany illustrate this.
I especially enjoyed the article giving the rundown on each and every one of their signature beers in their country. I could really tell that they take great pride in the quality of their beer, and make our American beers look laughable in comparison. The humorous part of this article came when they would rate each beer's tendency to leave you with a nasty hangover the following day. It would grade it on a scale from low to medium to high, but would then leave a smart-ass comment after it like
"Don't plan on checking out of your hotel room until at least 3pm"......or something along those lines.
I also noticed that drinking beer is more of a prominent lifestyle in Germany than here in America. I was extremely surprised to hear that they serve beer in fast food restaurants like McDonalds as well as in movie theaters. I imagine A LOT of people would like to have that luxury here. Drinking beer is almost seen as a primary means of hydration over there apparently. It's rare to go anywhere without seeing a beer of some sort.
The food section also caught my eye. It seems much of it was messy stadium dish favorites. Coincidentally that happens to be my favorite types of food as well! I love trying local dishes whenever I go to another place, and reading this article has motivated me to head to the fridge for a midnight snack.
I especially enjoyed the article giving the rundown on each and every one of their signature beers in their country. I could really tell that they take great pride in the quality of their beer, and make our American beers look laughable in comparison. The humorous part of this article came when they would rate each beer's tendency to leave you with a nasty hangover the following day. It would grade it on a scale from low to medium to high, but would then leave a smart-ass comment after it like
"Don't plan on checking out of your hotel room until at least 3pm"......or something along those lines.
I also noticed that drinking beer is more of a prominent lifestyle in Germany than here in America. I was extremely surprised to hear that they serve beer in fast food restaurants like McDonalds as well as in movie theaters. I imagine A LOT of people would like to have that luxury here. Drinking beer is almost seen as a primary means of hydration over there apparently. It's rare to go anywhere without seeing a beer of some sort.
The food section also caught my eye. It seems much of it was messy stadium dish favorites. Coincidentally that happens to be my favorite types of food as well! I love trying local dishes whenever I go to another place, and reading this article has motivated me to head to the fridge for a midnight snack.
Kultur 3: Essen und Humor
For this Kultur blog post, the articles were centered primarily around food and humor. While it didn't surprise me that German humor involves a lot of sarcasm, it did surprise me that Germans are very afraid of non-organic food.
I learned many interesting things about German cuisine and eating habits. German fast food (German Fast Food) seems to be centered primarily on sausages and some other meat. It surprises me that their fast food is so meat and bread focused (there is almost no mention of vegetables in this article), but they are still less obese than the US. What is even more interesting is that they are very organic food focused. The two most unusual items discussed in this article though are Mett and Pommes mit Mayo. I have never enjoyed the thought of eating raw meat (Mett) and Mayo is a condiment that I use VERY sparsely, but especially not on fries. It is cool that Germany has Turkish fast food restaurants. I couldn't help but think that this is similar to having Taco Bells and Chinese restaurants scattered throughout the US. The biggest surprise I found in this article is that patrons pay after they have eaten, which is very unusual for fast food places in America. The last thing that really intrigued me came from our textbook. I find it strange that breakfast and lunch are the big meals in Germany. My family put almost no emphasis on breakfast and lunch was almost always an after-thought. The only meal we put any thought into was dinner. But in Germany, dinner is the only meal that can be neglected.
German humor was intriguing because the fondness for sarcasm and pessimism is so stereotypical that I almost expected it to be there. It concerns me that they insult each other so much though. If I walked up to somebody in my dorm and told them that they were stupid for doing or thinking something, I would probably have to meet with our hall director. I wonder German people are too comfortable with insulting people. I was also amazed that humor changed so much. The US does have many kinds of humor, but they are not contained to states or regions, everybody is exposed to most of the different comedy used in the US by watching TV or just talking to various people.
Kultur 3 Graham Techler
"An Obsession Explained" definitely backed up the idea presented in "Teutonic Humor," that the Germans actually have a great sense of humor. This wry, self aware article did a great job of discrediting certain stereotypes surrounding German drinking culture (the old Bavarian bier and lederhosen image) while also humorously acknowledging that some stereotypes are based in truth (bier is used as a quenching refreshment to be had frequently and not necessarily at the end of the day). The hangover chart was funny, but also acknowledged how seriously Germans take drinking: so much thought is given to the alchemic process of drinking bier without being hungover the next morning.
The "Forget the Mett" guide to German fast food was also both informative and interesting. As an American with a tangential, largely stereotypical sense of famous German dishes, it was cool to see something as initially simple as "bratwurst" or "schnitzel" broken down into all the different types and variations available. The difference between schnitzel hawaii and schnitzel natur is probably as second nature to Germans as the difference between chili fries and curly fries to an American.
The "What About the Turks" rebuttal article was also interesting.
"And I would bet you dollars to döners that you're more likely to come across a Turkish kebab Imbiss in major German cities than a sausage stand. Döners are just as cheap as Würste and several times more palatable."
This kind of counter intuitive inside scoop on Turkish influence on German fast food felt like a real glimpse into German day to day society, rather than a overview aimed at tourists and students. An honest article on a similar American perspective would focus on how much Chinese food Americans eat. I'd certainly appreciate that as a German visiting the US for the first time.
I loved the article "The Dark Side" mostly because it reminded me of a book of essays by one of my favorite writers, David Rakoff, called "Half Empty," about the healthy, beneficial release in imagining the worst in a scenario and thinking pessimistically. This article was more about the German history of thinking of things pessimistically, but both basically acknowlege the Chekovian ideal that you'll feel better if you call the worst happening ahead of time.
The "Forget the Mett" guide to German fast food was also both informative and interesting. As an American with a tangential, largely stereotypical sense of famous German dishes, it was cool to see something as initially simple as "bratwurst" or "schnitzel" broken down into all the different types and variations available. The difference between schnitzel hawaii and schnitzel natur is probably as second nature to Germans as the difference between chili fries and curly fries to an American.
The "What About the Turks" rebuttal article was also interesting.
"And I would bet you dollars to döners that you're more likely to come across a Turkish kebab Imbiss in major German cities than a sausage stand. Döners are just as cheap as Würste and several times more palatable."
This kind of counter intuitive inside scoop on Turkish influence on German fast food felt like a real glimpse into German day to day society, rather than a overview aimed at tourists and students. An honest article on a similar American perspective would focus on how much Chinese food Americans eat. I'd certainly appreciate that as a German visiting the US for the first time.
I loved the article "The Dark Side" mostly because it reminded me of a book of essays by one of my favorite writers, David Rakoff, called "Half Empty," about the healthy, beneficial release in imagining the worst in a scenario and thinking pessimistically. This article was more about the German history of thinking of things pessimistically, but both basically acknowlege the Chekovian ideal that you'll feel better if you call the worst happening ahead of time.
Mittwoch, 16. Oktober 2013
Kultur 3- Sarah van der Walde
I really enjoyed reading the "An Obsession Explained: Beer, Brewskies, and Liquid Bread". The humorous take on German stereotypes showed they they are not actually always pessimistic and humorless. I enjoyed reading about all the different types of beers and thought it was really funny how they were judged by the "hangover risk". Radler and Russn sound so good!!
I thought it was really interesting that Germany is putting policies in place to fix the public drinking and the problems that come with it. The way they are putting the laws in place seem like a really good idea; to let cities and towns put bans on public drinking in certain places. That way each town can have its own rules which suit it according to its own wants and needs. The idea of a drinking room was really funny to me. I don't know why, maybe it is my American point of view, but it seemed kind of crazy to have a room dedicated to alcoholics.
I also read the article about Germans' obsession with naturally grown food. I thought it was really interesting as most of our food is genetically modified somehow. I think it's great that Germans are so conscientious of the environment and their own health. I think America is following in Germany's foot steps with organic food becoming more normal.
"All of which means that organic foods in Germany are no longer associated exclusively with Birkenstock-wearing hippies or overly protective mothers. Organic has gone mainstream. "
The article, "The Dark Side: Optimists are idiots" was really funny. I think it is great how frank and to the point Germans are. They say exactly what they are thinking without worrying about offending someone which is just about the complete opposite of Americans. It reminded me of what we were talking about in class how most romance language have a work for the positive of something but German has a noch for the negative of stuff.
I thought it was really interesting that Germany is putting policies in place to fix the public drinking and the problems that come with it. The way they are putting the laws in place seem like a really good idea; to let cities and towns put bans on public drinking in certain places. That way each town can have its own rules which suit it according to its own wants and needs. The idea of a drinking room was really funny to me. I don't know why, maybe it is my American point of view, but it seemed kind of crazy to have a room dedicated to alcoholics.
I also read the article about Germans' obsession with naturally grown food. I thought it was really interesting as most of our food is genetically modified somehow. I think it's great that Germans are so conscientious of the environment and their own health. I think America is following in Germany's foot steps with organic food becoming more normal.
"All of which means that organic foods in Germany are no longer associated exclusively with Birkenstock-wearing hippies or overly protective mothers. Organic has gone mainstream. "
The article, "The Dark Side: Optimists are idiots" was really funny. I think it is great how frank and to the point Germans are. They say exactly what they are thinking without worrying about offending someone which is just about the complete opposite of Americans. It reminded me of what we were talking about in class how most romance language have a work for the positive of something but German has a noch for the negative of stuff.
Abilene Emerson, Kultur3
Thank you Germany for not risking the lives of your Einwohner with chemically saturated foods! Here in America, I too often hear "Don't forget to wash your fruit. The pesticides might rally together in your stomach and cause you many illnesses". I worry constantly about how many chemicals I am consuming and what I am doing to my body. Quite often I will do some research on what foods are the worst. During one of my cyber-ventures, I found this website. It details the "Dirty Dozen" and "Clean 15" in America- the dirtiest and the cleanest produce. Apples, celery, grapes, peaches, and cucumbers are only a few of the most toxic delicacies. Comparing this website to one centered around German produce (http://www.freshplaza.com/article/39732/Only-2.7-procent-of-German-fruit-and-vegetables-contain-pesticides), I found that the spoiled produce varies. In Germany, green cabbage, rocket, eggplants, tea, and herbs are some of the dirtiest. I find it quite ironic though that the article provided on organic obsessions in Germany came out in 2006. Because, two years later an article was released targeting Germany for using dozens of illegal pesticides on food and failing to properly regulate the use. http://www.dw.de/illegal-pesticides-found-in-germanys-produce/a-3586212. I might retract my appreciation for German produce.
What is with the failure to regulate pesticides? Who keeps letting the deadly chemicals slip by our watch and into our mouths?
What is with the failure to regulate pesticides? Who keeps letting the deadly chemicals slip by our watch and into our mouths?
Kultur3
It interesting to note that even though Germans are stereotypical seen as not funny or not getting jokes that they have actually have a good sense of humor. This is indicated by both the article from Spiegel online and the informal poll taken by laugh lab. While I don't know how scientific the laugh lab poll is it is neat to see Germans on the top of a list of who is the funniest.
The article on optimism and Germans or rather their pessimistic nature touches on things that we read while doing the Kultur2. I think this ties into the whining, bitching and moaning as well as the brutally honest attitude that Germans seem to have. I think this article on "Optimist are Idiots" and the articles from chapter two show a willingness to speak what is on ones mind in German culture. This can be seen as rude by people outside the culture but I think is more about just stating the facts as the person sees them.
There are a wide variety of food choices in Germany. It would seem that most of these choices are most likely of non-GMO origin as Germans do not like their food monkeyed with, outside the normal course of mother nature that is. Common German staples made at home or available at a restaurant include as Bratwurst, Hähnchen and Schnitzel as well as many others. The likely choice for someone looking for fast food though is most likely döner kebabs, a Turkish dish.
The article on optimism and Germans or rather their pessimistic nature touches on things that we read while doing the Kultur2. I think this ties into the whining, bitching and moaning as well as the brutally honest attitude that Germans seem to have. I think this article on "Optimist are Idiots" and the articles from chapter two show a willingness to speak what is on ones mind in German culture. This can be seen as rude by people outside the culture but I think is more about just stating the facts as the person sees them.
There are a wide variety of food choices in Germany. It would seem that most of these choices are most likely of non-GMO origin as Germans do not like their food monkeyed with, outside the normal course of mother nature that is. Common German staples made at home or available at a restaurant include as Bratwurst, Hähnchen and Schnitzel as well as many others. The likely choice for someone looking for fast food though is most likely döner kebabs, a Turkish dish.
Kultur 3
Reading about all this beer is making my mouth water, but unfortunately I am at work, and this is America where the drinking laws are not so liberal. Why do Germans love their beer so much? It seems to me that this depressant-embracing culture could possibly correspond with their appreciation of pessimism either way. It's fascinating to me how they could be so passionate and yet so depressing at the same time. Personally, I don't know if I quite agree with the stereotyped German sentiment- of skepticism and dark rationale. They are a culture of gifted intellects, but I believe that certain aspects of intellectualism must be curbed in order to achieve solidarity.
But going back to Beer, I really want to try an authentic German Weissbier, I'm a fan of the Linenkugel's Berryweiss here in the states, but I would bet it fails in comparison. It's also really cool that the 1516 Purity Law has stayed in effect all these years to ensure only the finest ingredients. It's also cool that beer is so readily available for consumption (ie. McDonalds). I remember when I went to Austria right after I turned 16 and being able to order a beer and thinking, "Holy Fuck, I can drink this?" Of course in Germany the logic for drinking a beer is much different then that of a 16 year old American, wherein it's purpose is really to quench thirst and not just provide intoxication (as it invariably does.) Therefore, it seems to contradict established culture to try and impose bans on public drinking.
Kultur 3
For this chapter's culture readings, I read the articles "An Obsession Explained: Beer, Brewskies and Liquid Bread," "German Fast Food: Forget the Mett, Try a Frikadelle," and "Yo, Dude, What About the Turks?" I must say, I enjoy the informal tone of all of these articles from Spiegel Online. I find it refreshing to be assigned readings that speak of real cultural issues in modern cultural terms.
I must be honest when I say that I know much more about English beer than about German. Among my friends, there seems to be a strong division of preference between those who prefer German beer and those who prefer English, and there is no compromise on either side. I have always fallen squarely in the English camp, but after this article, I would be interested to try some German beer. I have always been a little disconcerted by the unfamiliar and often complex names for German beers, but the explanations in this article were most helpful. Before reading the article, I had heard of Pils, Lager and Weizenbier, but I had no idea of the difference between them. In that sense, the article was most informative. I must admit, though, I was deeply disturbed by the concept of mixing beer with soft drinks mentioned in the last few paragraphs. My English beer-drinking friends would certainly be shocked and appalled to hear of such a barbaric practice!
The other two articles were also most informative, and almost served in counterpoint to each other. The first article outlined the staples of German traditional fast food, while the second discussed Turkish fast food, which is more likely to be found and consumed by visitors to Germany. I must admit to being much more familiar with the Turkish fast food options than the German ones. Somehow, German fast food has not quite caught on in North America, or at least in Canada, while Turkish and Mediterranean fast food chains are becoming more and more popular. Given the option between a nice hot donair (or döner, as it was called in the article) and a plate of Mett, I would most definitely choose the donair, notwithstanding the appeal of regional food.
As described in the "German Fast Food" article, German fast food seems to be principally meat-centered. Aside from the side pieces of bread, there seemed to be very little discussion of vegetables of any kind. While I do enjoy Schnitzel and Würste, I also appreciate a good green salad every now and again.
I must be honest when I say that I know much more about English beer than about German. Among my friends, there seems to be a strong division of preference between those who prefer German beer and those who prefer English, and there is no compromise on either side. I have always fallen squarely in the English camp, but after this article, I would be interested to try some German beer. I have always been a little disconcerted by the unfamiliar and often complex names for German beers, but the explanations in this article were most helpful. Before reading the article, I had heard of Pils, Lager and Weizenbier, but I had no idea of the difference between them. In that sense, the article was most informative. I must admit, though, I was deeply disturbed by the concept of mixing beer with soft drinks mentioned in the last few paragraphs. My English beer-drinking friends would certainly be shocked and appalled to hear of such a barbaric practice!
The other two articles were also most informative, and almost served in counterpoint to each other. The first article outlined the staples of German traditional fast food, while the second discussed Turkish fast food, which is more likely to be found and consumed by visitors to Germany. I must admit to being much more familiar with the Turkish fast food options than the German ones. Somehow, German fast food has not quite caught on in North America, or at least in Canada, while Turkish and Mediterranean fast food chains are becoming more and more popular. Given the option between a nice hot donair (or döner, as it was called in the article) and a plate of Mett, I would most definitely choose the donair, notwithstanding the appeal of regional food.
As described in the "German Fast Food" article, German fast food seems to be principally meat-centered. Aside from the side pieces of bread, there seemed to be very little discussion of vegetables of any kind. While I do enjoy Schnitzel and Würste, I also appreciate a good green salad every now and again.
Kultur 3
Fur Kulture 3, Ich lese einen Artikle heisst "Capping the Bottle: Germany Looks to Tighten Up Public Drinking Rules." It is about the banning of public drinking in Germany. I found it interesting that drinking in pubic and on the streets in Germany was so common. The descriptive language describing the amounts of bottles and how drunk people on the streets would be was also rather interesting. I found this quote "Also, there have been complaints from storeowners that nearby drinking and drunkenness chase away customers" stated by Reinhold Gall, a state parliamentarian in Baden-Württemberg for the Social Democrats to be rather interesting because that is the same here in America. Homeless people and people drinking or selling drugs tend to drive away customers and is bad for surrounding businesses. I also found it interesting that so many people object to the thought of banning public drinking. Here in America, I believe it would be the complete opposite.
Ich lese auch "German Fast Food: Forget the "Mett," Try a "Frikadelle". It is about the different delicacies of Germany outside of the typical American fast food chains. I learned new vocabulary: "Imbiss" or "Schnellimbiss" which means fast-food shop. I found it rather interesting that most of the foods in Germany were not favorites of the Author; unless of course he discussed the typical french fries or “Pommes Frites" as they're called in Germany. I've always wondered how much of the cuisine here in the US comes from Germany and I found this article http://www.lifeintheusa.com/food/german.htm talks a little about it.
Der Artikle "Yo Dude, What About the Turks? An Introduction to Germany's Real Fast Food Joints" talks about doner kebabs; a Turkish delicacy. I thought it was interesting that so many Turkish people live in Germany and their food is more common than German food. The fact that their food stands can be found on every corner, more often than German Imbiss is interesting.
The Articles "The Dark Side: Optimists are Idiots" and "Teutonic Humor: Vee Have Vays of Making You Laugh" were interesting, but also quite funny at times. The first article basically stated that Germans are pessimistic about everything; definitely mood killers. I found it funny because if you talk to the wrong person in America, you'll also get your mood killed because not everyone here is nice. The second article also emphasizes how German people are rather dull and mean. However it expresses many celebrations and local events that prove this statement false.
Ich lese auch "German Fast Food: Forget the "Mett," Try a "Frikadelle". It is about the different delicacies of Germany outside of the typical American fast food chains. I learned new vocabulary: "Imbiss" or "Schnellimbiss" which means fast-food shop. I found it rather interesting that most of the foods in Germany were not favorites of the Author; unless of course he discussed the typical french fries or “Pommes Frites" as they're called in Germany. I've always wondered how much of the cuisine here in the US comes from Germany and I found this article http://www.lifeintheusa.com/food/german.htm talks a little about it.
Der Artikle "Yo Dude, What About the Turks? An Introduction to Germany's Real Fast Food Joints" talks about doner kebabs; a Turkish delicacy. I thought it was interesting that so many Turkish people live in Germany and their food is more common than German food. The fact that their food stands can be found on every corner, more often than German Imbiss is interesting.
The Articles "The Dark Side: Optimists are Idiots" and "Teutonic Humor: Vee Have Vays of Making You Laugh" were interesting, but also quite funny at times. The first article basically stated that Germans are pessimistic about everything; definitely mood killers. I found it funny because if you talk to the wrong person in America, you'll also get your mood killed because not everyone here is nice. The second article also emphasizes how German people are rather dull and mean. However it expresses many celebrations and local events that prove this statement false.
Kultur3
I thought it was extremely interesting to learn about the prevalence of beer drinking in Germany from the article "An Obsession Explained: Beer, Brewskies and Liquid Bread,"and then find out in the article "Capping the Bottle: Germany Looks to Tighten Up Public Drinking Rules" that, in fact, not every German citizen supports public drinking. I also enjoyed learning about the different types of beer in Germany. In the United States, I don't feel like we are exposed to many different kinds of beer, at least ones that aren't advertised during the Super Bowl (Miller, Budweiser, Bud Light).
I knew before reading these articles that drinking was a major part of the majority of German citizens' lives, but I wasn't aware of how often and in what places people were drinking. In the United States, it would be strange to see someone walking along the sidewalk drinking a beer, and even stranger, almost unsettling, to see "...construction workers downing a bottle or two on their lunch breaks." After reading the previous sentence, I somewhat supported tighter restrictions on public drinking in Germany.
One of the articles that really caught my attention was "Eco-Centric Germans: Organic Food Obsessions,"as my family and I are avid organic food freaks. The fact that there isn't a Whole Foods store within an hour of my house drives my mom insane, and I can only imagine how much happier she would be if the United States would take to organic food stores as Germany has.
The articles "The Dark Side: Optimists Are Idiots" and "Teutonic Humor: Vee Have Vays of Making You Laugh" allowed for extreme juxtapositions between American and German culture, which I found hilarious at some points. For example, the graffiti in the United States is mostly positive and inspiring, whereas the example for German graffiti was "Ist eh alles scheisse." Overall, I really enjoyed the assigned readings for Kultur 3.
I knew before reading these articles that drinking was a major part of the majority of German citizens' lives, but I wasn't aware of how often and in what places people were drinking. In the United States, it would be strange to see someone walking along the sidewalk drinking a beer, and even stranger, almost unsettling, to see "...construction workers downing a bottle or two on their lunch breaks." After reading the previous sentence, I somewhat supported tighter restrictions on public drinking in Germany.
One of the articles that really caught my attention was "Eco-Centric Germans: Organic Food Obsessions,"as my family and I are avid organic food freaks. The fact that there isn't a Whole Foods store within an hour of my house drives my mom insane, and I can only imagine how much happier she would be if the United States would take to organic food stores as Germany has.
The articles "The Dark Side: Optimists Are Idiots" and "Teutonic Humor: Vee Have Vays of Making You Laugh" allowed for extreme juxtapositions between American and German culture, which I found hilarious at some points. For example, the graffiti in the United States is mostly positive and inspiring, whereas the example for German graffiti was "Ist eh alles scheisse." Overall, I really enjoyed the assigned readings for Kultur 3.
Kultur Blog 3
This week's Kulur Blog focused on eating, drinking, and humor. Reading "an obsession explained," I surprised at how casual the Germans are about drinking - in particular, I grimaced when I read "You'll see construction workers downing a bottle or two on their lunch breaks." This may be my American sensibilities talking, but that doesn't sound even remotely safe. And in the second article, it would appear that Germans are addressing stuff like that. Specifically, trying to regulate public drinking. I may have had a muted laugh or two when I read that crime decreased by 70% on trains that prohibited drinking.
On to "Forget the 'mett'." I don't really have much to add about this. German fast food sounds about as unhealthy as the American kind. Other than that, "mett" sounds horrifying and french fries (chips) with mayo doesn't seem much more appetizing.
I found the two articles about german humor and pessimism funny and interesting. I liked the graffiti quote, "ist eh alles scheisse." Why can't American graffiti be that dark? The exploration of different kinds of German humor was interesting, if it's accurate. America doesn't have as much "regional" humor, so it's somewhat surprising to find that Germany does.
On to "Forget the 'mett'." I don't really have much to add about this. German fast food sounds about as unhealthy as the American kind. Other than that, "mett" sounds horrifying and french fries (chips) with mayo doesn't seem much more appetizing.
I found the two articles about german humor and pessimism funny and interesting. I liked the graffiti quote, "ist eh alles scheisse." Why can't American graffiti be that dark? The exploration of different kinds of German humor was interesting, if it's accurate. America doesn't have as much "regional" humor, so it's somewhat surprising to find that Germany does.
kultur3
I was extremely happy with this chapters’ Kultur texts. Bier
und Essen- what could be better. I love getting food on the go and a beer in
the sun is a perfect companion. It sounds to me that berlin would be a great
destination for vacation- touring the city and seeing beautiful buildings while
holding some Imbiss in one hand and a wheat beer in the other. Also, I like immigrant
food and the multi-cultural display street food allows. Between Donnar and
franks the only problem seems to be that there is legislation regarding
drinking in public, like in the US. This could hinder some of the fun in the Imbiss
culture.
Speaking of which, I enjoyed the piece on bier types: seeing
as Oktoberfest has just ended it was a nice way to remember the array of German
beers among which I found my personal favorite: the German wheat beers, truly a
liquid meal.
Yששלםה
Carolyn Kodis -- Kultur 3: We're Talking Food
Ahhhhhh, German food: meat, potatoes, wurst, wienerschnitzel, and...döner?
Yes, to my surprise, Turkish food is quite popular in the land of bier and schnitzel.
Take my experience as an example:
My brother did study abroad in Berlin this summer, and after his classes finished, my parents and I decided to go visit him and do a tour of Germany and Austria. While we were in Berlin, he gave us a personal tour of the city. And since he was our tour guide for the day, he got to chose where we ate lunch. Now, I'm not super adventurous when it comes to food, especially in a foreign country. So I was thinking spaetzle--the German equivalent of mac and cheese, but better. But Sam, instead, took us to Mustafa's, a döner stand that he frequented while in school. (He claimed that he went there 4-5 times a week, even though it was far from where he was living and studying).
Döner? Aw no, I'm not into middle-eastern food, especially if we have to wait in line for it. (Average estimated wait in line for Mustafa's is 45 minutes. We showed up right as it opened, so it only took 15 minutes, thanks to a lady who ordered 12 döner kebabs, hopefully for her office). At first I was timid, why are we eating Turkish food in Germany? But one bite in and I was amazed. Though I went for the vegetarian option--wasn't really feeling adventurous that day--if I were to ever go back, I would try it with the lamb. And as the writer in "Yo Dude, What about the Turks? An Introduction to Germany's Real Fast Food Joints" recommends, go for the split bread option--although it is messy, it's totally worth it. Your tastebuds will thank you. Also, do all three sauces, they blend perfectly together and really complement the roasted vegetables.
So do yourself a favor and do döner.
Yes, to my surprise, Turkish food is quite popular in the land of bier and schnitzel.
Take my experience as an example:
My brother did study abroad in Berlin this summer, and after his classes finished, my parents and I decided to go visit him and do a tour of Germany and Austria. While we were in Berlin, he gave us a personal tour of the city. And since he was our tour guide for the day, he got to chose where we ate lunch. Now, I'm not super adventurous when it comes to food, especially in a foreign country. So I was thinking spaetzle--the German equivalent of mac and cheese, but better. But Sam, instead, took us to Mustafa's, a döner stand that he frequented while in school. (He claimed that he went there 4-5 times a week, even though it was far from where he was living and studying).
Döner? Aw no, I'm not into middle-eastern food, especially if we have to wait in line for it. (Average estimated wait in line for Mustafa's is 45 minutes. We showed up right as it opened, so it only took 15 minutes, thanks to a lady who ordered 12 döner kebabs, hopefully for her office). At first I was timid, why are we eating Turkish food in Germany? But one bite in and I was amazed. Though I went for the vegetarian option--wasn't really feeling adventurous that day--if I were to ever go back, I would try it with the lamb. And as the writer in "Yo Dude, What about the Turks? An Introduction to Germany's Real Fast Food Joints" recommends, go for the split bread option--although it is messy, it's totally worth it. Your tastebuds will thank you. Also, do all three sauces, they blend perfectly together and really complement the roasted vegetables.
So do yourself a favor and do döner.
Montag, 14. Oktober 2013
Kultur 3
The article I found most interesting was "Eco-Centric Germans: Organic Food Obsessions". I always had an idea that Europeans put much more emphasis on food quality than Americans, but I didn't know it was to this extent. The fact that 70% of Germans would never touch genetically modified food is unexpected as the EU has recently said that they believe GM food is just as safe as other foods (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=labels-for-gmo-foods-are-a-bad-idea). Nevertheless, I respect Germany's free thinking mentality, commitment to the environment and their personal health.
Most Americans will use price as the reason they don't eat organic food. Thinking that they would have to pay Whole Foods prices in order to eat higher quality food. And they do have a point. Organic food here has been marketed here as a premium good. Even at local farmers markets, you're still going to be paying a lot more for vegetables than if you went to Meier. Hopefully as more people see the advantages of eating organic, the prices will come down.
Reading about the German mealtimes was also enlightening. I think their meal times make much more sense than ours. For example, it seemed that no matter what I ate before work, I was always hungry at around 10 am. Breaking breakfast up into 2 smaller meals not only creates a nice mid-morning work break, but it also is healthier than fewer, bigger meals. Having the 3-course, hot meal during the day and a lighter dinner means that you aren't going to bed with a stomach full of food, which is also healthier.
Evan Cole
Most Americans will use price as the reason they don't eat organic food. Thinking that they would have to pay Whole Foods prices in order to eat higher quality food. And they do have a point. Organic food here has been marketed here as a premium good. Even at local farmers markets, you're still going to be paying a lot more for vegetables than if you went to Meier. Hopefully as more people see the advantages of eating organic, the prices will come down.
Reading about the German mealtimes was also enlightening. I think their meal times make much more sense than ours. For example, it seemed that no matter what I ate before work, I was always hungry at around 10 am. Breaking breakfast up into 2 smaller meals not only creates a nice mid-morning work break, but it also is healthier than fewer, bigger meals. Having the 3-course, hot meal during the day and a lighter dinner means that you aren't going to bed with a stomach full of food, which is also healthier.
Evan Cole
Kultur Kapitel 3- Emma G
The articles I read were "Eco-Centric Germans: Organic Food Obsessions" and "Capping the Bottle: Germany Looks to Tighten Up Public Drinking Rules." The first article "Eco-Centric Germans: Organic Food Obsessions" was a very interesting article, first because geneticly modified organism are not only allowed in the United States, but the food which contain GMO's are not labeled. Its an interesting juxtaposition that Germans try very hard to avoid eating modified foods while most Americans don't even know they are eating them. Also, while reading the article the line that caught my attention the most was "Organic farms are already having difficulty keeping up with the demand, and should a big supermarket chain place a large order, a shortage often takes hold elsewhere." This line is interesting because genetically modified organism are created to generate more efficient farms and more produce. To read that organic farms are not able to keep up with the demand is ironic because that's the purpose of GMO's. Also in the article, I really appreciate the Germans who if the organic version is not available will not eat the inorganic version, it's important that organic eaters do not succumb to what is available and what is easy. This article makes me wish that Americans were more concern with organic and genetically modified food.
The second article I read was "Capping the Bottle: Germany Looks to Tighten Up Public Drinking Rules" which I found an intriguing juxtaposition between the new and the traditional ways in Germany. In Germany it has always been allowed to drink beer or alcohol in public places, but now people are beginning to think it is a disturbance and unsafe. Germans are concerned with the people who drink too much and they become violent and aggressive. However, it would be very difficult, nearly impossible for the police to patrol the areas and making sure no one drinks to much. Also, it would be a waste of the police force. There does need to be some self control in order to keep civil peace and to ensure everyone's safety.
The second article I read was "Capping the Bottle: Germany Looks to Tighten Up Public Drinking Rules" which I found an intriguing juxtaposition between the new and the traditional ways in Germany. In Germany it has always been allowed to drink beer or alcohol in public places, but now people are beginning to think it is a disturbance and unsafe. Germans are concerned with the people who drink too much and they become violent and aggressive. However, it would be very difficult, nearly impossible for the police to patrol the areas and making sure no one drinks to much. Also, it would be a waste of the police force. There does need to be some self control in order to keep civil peace and to ensure everyone's safety.
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