Kultur 4

I almost got mowed down by a biker multiple times in my travels in Germany! Especially at the beginning, I thought the nice red brick path was just a pretty strip of the sidewalk that nobody was walking on. So I would just stroll down the red brick path unknowingly until one of my friends would yell watch out! After a few occurrences, I learned my lesson! I ended up buying a bike for the second half of the summer to bike to work. It was really nice exercise in the morning. If I would do my trip again in Germany, I would have rented a bike in Berlin and Cologne.

Whether or not people stopped at red lights varied greatly by person. I had some friends that no matter what they would stop at the red light. I biked to work with a friend like this and I thought it was really stupid sometimes because there would be no cars in sight so I would just bike right through the red light, while he would be stop and wait for it to change. I do respect his loyalty to the law! His claim was that the fine for crossing is so steep that it wouldn't be worth risking a ticket. Some of my other friends would cross illegally all the time! I think it was very personality based. My more rebellious friends didn't care about the light, but my more introverted friends would follow the rules of the road.
As far as the streetpong, that is a great idea! We need that in American cities.

I really did not notice that the bahn representatives ever gave me wrong information. They were always very helpful! I do see their point about Germans thinking very logically, but I think in the scenario given in the article, the rep would have pointed out that the ticket was not valid for the next train. However, even if they didn't mention it, you must be more specific in the questions you ask!

So I may have been an extremely lucky traveler, but I rode black a LOT. I had a student pas in Berlin, so I could travel for free. I used the trains all the time, and I only got my pass checked once. I would have been really disappointed if they never checked my ticket. So when my pass expired, I never got any day tickets when I was in a city because I figured based on the percentages I wouldn't get caught. However, I did have a close call once because a man was checking tickets further up the train, and I spotted him so I hopped off at the next stop. Also, at the end of my trip, I started buying tickets just for peace of mind and because I had gotten away with it so many times that I thought my streak would end.

Since I never drove in Germany, I didn't have to worry about what einbahnstraße meant but now I'm glad I know :)

I am heavily considering studying abroad for a year after graduation in Germany to perfect my German (and enjoy German culture), so I will take a look at the Goethe Institutes.

I did not know that German kids need a license to bike unsupervised between 10-13! Very interesting and probably a good decision to ensure they are safe.

I was surprised that Montana is the same size of Germany. There is practically nothing in Montana so we should just turn it into our own American version of Germany. Have high speed trains, allow drinking in the streets, and well, speak German.

Why would anyone not carpool with paying $9.00/gallon! It's a 1000 Euros to go to Fahrschule, no wonder some of my German friends don't have licenses! I think 18 is the right age to be allowed to drive a passenger vehicle.

I didn't realize Frankfurt had the busiest international airport. Next time I will check into flights going into Frankfurt Flughafen to see if it is cheaper than Berlin! Only reason Europe is staying alive is the Eurpopean Central Bank in Frankfurt. I didn't realize how multiculture Frankfurt was with over 40% coming from immigrant backgrounds.

Kultur 4

Isn't it funny how Americans distinguish Germans as structured and by rules going like it'd be something completely new to them? :D I very miss certain European habits. One of them is the biking etiquette and also the pedestrian etiquette! I totally remember the times I stopped at a red light only and only because there was a young kid waiting and decided not to turn him for worse. But hey this is Ann Arbor and sometimes it feels safer to cross whenever instead of a dedicated crosswalk! I enjoyed the Streetpong except this is Michigan and our fingers would definitely fall off in the winter if we tried to play!

I also remember when I posted on Facebook in Czech how I was "riding on black" and my American girlfriend didn't understand what Bing meant :D There should be mentioned that for people who attend school there are passes much more profitable than what a tourist could get which might be a big part of the reason why all the kids have them. Also doesn't it sound like Germans are quite trolls when they answer your question without even including what you think is implied? :D

And just to make it clear, even though I am European and at many aqua centers it is ok to be naked to get a full tan. I do NOT share that feeling of it being ok nor wish to do anything like it ever.

Kultur4

I really enjoyed reading these articles, particularly the ones on German transportation. I found the article on bicycling and bicyclists most intriguing. I had the opportunity to visit Amsterdam two summers ago, and I was struck between the similarities in German and Dutch bike-riding etiquette. If you heard a bell ring in Amsterdam, you learned quickly to launch yourself off of the sidewalk as quickly as possible, or at least to plaster yourself as close to the edge as possible. Not doing so could result in serious injury. I was also amazed by the prevalence of bicycling in Amsterdam. Cyclists were much more common than drivers, and in fact, it was often much quicker to traverse the city on a bike than it was in a car. I am always excited to hear of cities, like Berlin and Amsterdam, that are so bicycle friendly. Not only is it great for the environment, it also hits quite close to home for me, coming from the Toronto area, where there has been a huge controversy in the past few years over the rising number of cyclist deaths. My town, London, has made a huge push in the last five years to increase the number of designated bike paths and improve cyclist safety, but it is very different riding a bike in London than it is in Europe. Respect for cyclists and bicycles seems to be ingrained into some senses of European culture, whereas where I come from, cyclists are often yelled at to get off the road and out of the way of drivers.
I was quite taken aback when I moved to Ann Arbor by the cyclist culture that exists here. There seems to be a large number of people to ride bikes here, but none of them wear helmets, and I have seen one person to date with a bell on their bike. As someone who owns neither a car nor a bike, I am a frequent pedestrian here in Ann Arbor, and I am nearly knocked over by silent bicyclists on the sidewalk at least once a week. I do wish that cyclists here would put bells on their bikes!

Kultur 4

All five of these articles give great insight into German culture. The first article, "Two-Wheeled Teutons," talks about how German tend to ride bicycles and how cyclist abuse their right of way on bicycle paths. German cyclists tend to abuse their right of way as they frequently mow down pedestrians that are on their bike path. Personally, I think that it is appropriate for these cyclists to run over people if they are in the way. As long as cyclists don't go out of their way to hit a pedestrian, I find it perfectly fair. I mean, it is a bike path after all. The cyclists should be able to ride without being slowed down by a pedestrian.

The second article, "The Red Dictator," is about how Germans view crossing a street. When crossing the street in Germany, it is only appropriate to cross when the crossing light indicates to. Crossing at any other time is frowned upon. If you cross at the wrong time, you might face some daunting consequences. "First, never ever cross against red in front of an impressionable child. At best, you'll get a nasty look from most of the adults present -- visually incriminating you for tempting little Heidi or little Franz into certain violent death next time he or she attempts to cross the street alone. An apparently uninvolved bystander may take it upon him or herself to launch into an indignant tirade at your expense. At worst, you could even get a stern talking to from a morally superior five-year-old." In Germany, if you happen to cross on red when a car is far away, they may try to speed up just to hit you. I personally think that this aspect of the culture is quite irrational. Why would one not cross the street if it were completely open? You are just wasting time if you don't.

The next articles talk about how Germans are very illogical. Not only do they waste their time waiting at crossing lights, but they have no logic for anything else. For example, a person selling a train ticket may answer all of your questions correctly and logically, but they won't make logical jumps for you, which is very illogical in my opinion. These articles also tell us about how the Germans are very trustworthy, as they still buy train tickets even though they do not collect tickets when entering the train. They do randomly check for tickets though, but this doesn't make much sense to me as they should just check tickets every time. The article also mentions how Germans are very organized, and that they have a support group for those who aren't. In my opinion this is pointless because there is nothing wrong with being disorganized.

Kultur 4

Die Artikle "Two-Wheeled Teutons: Stay Off the Bike Path" über Deutsche Bahn war. It is said that bike riding is very popular in German, more so than driving a car. People ride bikes to and from work, school, and the supermarket. They say when walking on sidewalks to be careful because people on bikes in Germany ALWAYS have the right away. I find this funny because here in campus, you can find people who ride their bikes who also think they always have the right away and feel that you should always move out of their way instead of going around. That is also the same thing over in Germany. They recommend that you call to rent a bike and save yourself the trouble!

Die Artikle "The Red Dictator: Crossing the Strasse" über illegally crossing the street. Here in America, especially since I've been here on campus, it is very common for people to cross the street when they’re not suppose to, also known as J-Walking. However after reading this article, I found out that in Germany that is not the best thing to do. People will look at you funny, sometimes even confront you about it and it’s easier to almost get ran over as well because drivers take J-Walkers as a challenge and will purposely speed up if they see you crossing when you’re not suppose to. I have attached a YouTube video showing a town where J-Walking is actually quite normal. J-Walking

Ich lese auch "Illogical Logic: The Right Answer in Germany May Be the Wrong One." This article talked about how Germans always answer questions logically, but not always to the full extent. This means, they’ll only answer your question up to the point of which you asked, nothing more. So it’s always important to ask every question so there isn't any confusion. This happens quite often here in America as well.

"Fare-Dodgers Beware: There's No Such Thing as a Free Ride" was about how there is no such thing as a free ride in Germany. Their subways and trains all have a ticket or fee however they won’t ask for it initially, and that’s where it becomes tricky. And also, they don’t take excuses lightly so it’s always best to be well informed of the rules.

"Disorderly Germans: Playing Chicken on the Einbahnstrasse" was about how Germans tend to be what Americans would call "Neat freaks." Germans like things to be in order and it’s a very big thing to them. However, here in America, it is the complete opposite.

Kultur 4

The article, "Illogical Logic" seemed very in character with the German culture.  It totally seems like something a german would do, say the cheapest ticket is X amount and the next train leaves in so many minutes and not bother to tell you the ticket you have just purchased is not right for the train you are boarding.

I enjoyed reading, "Fare-Dodgers Beware".  I think its really funny that the public transportation system runs on the "trust system" but for those who abuse this, they are bound to get caught by the normal looking people who ask for tickets as soon as the doors close and there is no escape.

I also thought the "Baring It All" article was very entertaining.  It's always interesting to read how different cultures view things us Americans think are inappropriate.  We view the Germans as mean up tight people but they share Europe's relaxed view of nudity.

Kultur 4- Graham Techler

Kultur 4
I always thought that the American view of German's as obsessively, compulsively organized was a dated stereotype. A layover from World War II propaganda that wanted to make anything German look bad. But reading this Chapter's Kultur readings it seems like modern Germany IS obsessed with order (in regards to ticket taking, specificity of orders, bike path etiquette, street crossings etc.). But, according to these readings, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Obviously, Germany is a country where you need to learn the rules ahead of time, but still, clearly the pedestrian clockwork is running smoothly. In Boston, the only people on bikes on the street or sidewalk are people who REALLY know what they're doing, since there is no space on the street or sidewalk dedicated to cyclists. Conversely, I think that even a casual cyclist who learned the basic etiquette in Germany could use the bike paths safely. It almost seems like the bike lanes in Germany are more stressful for pedestrians then they are for cyclists.
The orderly German custom that I did not find that helpful was learning about the specificity of buying a train ticket in "Illogical Logic." Imagine of TSA agents were patently unhelpful and vague, instead of just passively unhelpful. The Deutsche Bahn ticket counter worker's tendency to only SPECIFICALLY answer the SPECIFIC parts of the questions you asked seems really frustrating and counter intuitive. It speaks to the German emphasis on logical thinking, but when you take that so far conversation becomes impossible. You have to take leaps and fill in gaps. Although I guess if this makes you more self-reliant and direct in a foreign country, it can't really hurt.  
-Graham Techler

Kultur 4

Kultur 4: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

    This Kultur assignment was a broad overview of transportation in Germany. It included information about bicycles, cars, and trains as well as the significance of each. It was also an interesting look into how Germany treats pedestrians and its obsession with order.
    Trains seem to be the most important mode of transportation in Germany. Germany has a national rail system, while in the US, we can't even get a rail system working in one state. It is impressive that the trains are almost always on time; I wish I could say the same about our blue busses. I remember how important taking a train was for getting to my host brother's school. I also remember that there were no turnstiles to get onto the train or the platform. If my host brother hadn't been there, I wouldn't have realized that you have to get a ticket validated by a machine. Reading the article about fare dodgers reminded me about that. We never got our tickets checked, but I'm glad that we validated them because I would not have enjoyed getting fined for not having a valid ticket.
   The dynamic between cars and bicycles and pedestrians is also very interesting. It is amazing that pedestrians follow the walk lights so carefully. It is more surprising that cars will play chicken with pedestrians. I found myself thinking about how horrible it would be to put Ann Arbor pedestrians into a German city, because we don't obey the walk lights very frequently. Ann Arbor and Germany do have similar affinities for bicyclists though. According to bicycling.com, Ann Arbor is in the top 50 most bike-friendly cities in the United States. I think that it is still backwards that pedestrians don't even have the right of way over bicyclists.

Kultur 4- Abilene Emerson

After reading "The Red Dictator: Cross the Strasse", my distaste for American pedestrians has heightened. In every city that I have lived in or visited, there are always peds tempting fate. In Ann Arbor, busy schedules and anxious students contribute to many illegal crossings. The campus is cut into neat little squares by numerous streets, and only crosswalks permit a transition from block to block. Half of them have lights, the other half doesn't. Either way, kids just DONT CARE whether they should be crossing or not. There will be a 20 foot break between cars and kids will just race across the street. Sure, you have to be at meeting in 10 minutes. But if you're lying crippled in the street, that meeting will ultimately be impossible. Or how about in my hometown, Traverse City, where families will race across the busiest road where no crosswalk exists with their entire family, kids included! There is a freeway that lines the Bay, and cars are racing down it at 50, 60 mph. These families will reenact a level of Frogger and will run into the center turn lane when a break occurs in the nearest traffic, will wait till a break occurs in the opposing traffic and risk a two year old, a newborn, or Grandma Gertrude. SERIOUSLY? Do Americans not value life? Are we not aware of the dangers associated with crossing streets illegally? Do we think we're invincible and that the thousand pound car barreling right at us will just bounce off of us like rubber? The Germans have it right! BE AFRAID OF THE STREETS! Obey the road safety rules. While children in Germany scold others for breaking the pedestrian rules, children in America are being baited into death essentially.

Way to be America, let's risk the children of the future.

Kultur 4

I really enjoyed reading these articles, especially The Red Dictator.  It reminded me of this past summer in Germany.  While I was visiting some friends in Ludwigshafen, we traveled to Spayer, a nearby city.  On our way there, we had to cross a few streets (just a few).  I'm used to crossing streets here in Ann Arbor, so naturally, when I see a cross walk with no traffic, I just proceed to go to the other side.  When I first started to cross the cross walk while the 'Red Dictator' was still shinning, my friends immediately put their arms out to stop me as if they were saving my life.  However, something that interested me later was while I was studying at TU Berlin, no one would cross the street while that 'Red Dictator' was present, however, when I started to cross anyways (I had to get to class!) everyone else would then follow me, as if they were waiting for someone to cross so they could cross as well. 

In the article There is no Such Thing as a Free Ride, I like the honor system.  It really helped the poor college students, like me, since I learned how to navigate the U-bahn system without having to pay all the time.  It wasn't too difficult to figure out who the ticket checker was.  Some of my friends were not as fortunate, having to pay rather hefty fines for not having a ticket.  However, after doing that math, if you get caught once a month and use the U-bahn all the time, you were saving money.  Besides, the ticket checker can't check during prime times of traffic (mornings, lunch, after work) since the trains are jammed pack with riders, so those are the perfect times to get where you need to go without fear of being caught!

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.

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! 

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.

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.

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.

Willkommen!!

Welcome to our class blog!

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

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

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

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