Kultur 6

Hmm so Germans are both reading unreliable and vulgar newspaper as well as very organized and caring about order, huh? Yeah  we already read about their tendency to be very bio minded, right? But at the same time I can't get rid of the feeling that the article is way over the top since I've been to Germany and Austria and I have not seen anything dirty like that on the top of news stand or at the gas station where I'd expect it to be since it's supposed to be the main newspaper. One would almost think it's almost like specific newspaper in Czech which only retired people and dumb blondes find joy in :D Sorry didn't mean to apply stereotypes.
Germany isn't the only country with these thrash cans! And I always have a hard time with that at first but then, hey as long as it at least partly fits then you're fine. What does that guy know what you have in your bag from carry out meal at McDonalds? I never got yelled at either so I'd say it's working.
As for the last thing, I'd actually like to know where Americans and Germans split on this! Because I totally hate the opened door policy. Aren't you kind of a creeper when you walk by and see the inside of the room which belongs to a person you've never met before? I wish Americans were more open minded in other areas than whether they will have their doors opened or closed.

Oh well all I have to say now is Tchuss!

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.

AMD 4

Ohne Dich

Oh how badly I was disappointed! I thought I'd understand more since Ohne Dich means without you! But hey, nope! :D After listening to this sad song I fell into a deep depression! If I should give you a hint listen to some other songs :D I don't really understand anymore why this one is so favorite... Towards the end it didn't even really sound like Rammstein :D Well and if you add the super sad video I think you can have issues toll the end of the life! :D Oh well anyway after reading the german lyrics and then the English translation it starts making sense. For those who would get scared of rock climbing thanks to this video notice that they use ropes to secure themselves and when he falls he has none so it couldn't really happen bc the rope would catch his fall!

Ohne dich kann ich nicht sein ohne dich!

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

AMD 2

Since I got a new iPod I thought it'd be fun to have it set for German as I was just vaguely familiar with the buttons and what they mean. It was surely very pleasant knowing some parts of the messages but once some app came out with some kind of a user agreement I had to give up! :D Simply I don't know enough yet. By this I don't mean the app asking to know my contacts or know my location, in fact I understood these quite fine. But some real long messages were just too much to bear. I found it interesting that ALL apps switched into German so I got to experience Plants vs Zombies in German which was just weird! Especially since Crazy Dave is really crazy, right? So after a ton of confusion I decided to quit the game because I wanted to understand the plot/jokes just to find out later that I guessed the meanings quite well and only Crazy Dave is really crazy. Oh well next time I could trust my German a bit more, huh? The rest of the time I spent with German iPod was quite easy and certain words became very repetitive so I got quite comfortable with it.

Fun fact: even in German the iPod would say Saturday on the calendar icon.




He actually has one... (Sorry couldn't find a German one)

Kultur 2

The Germanic Stare Down

Hey, such a funny article! Wasn't it? Just imagine the old Grandma looking outside her window for the first opportunity to call the police to ticket the guy who has one wheel on the line between normal parking spot and the one for seniors/disabled people while there is another 10 of these opened! The cool thing is it really is a reality and for those of you thinking well the parking spot is big enough to fit in there I have to tell you that I could almost fit 3 European parking spots into 2 American which makes parking a bit harder if you have a pig parking next to you. We have it so similar in Czech! What are these poor bored people supposed to do? All they can do is observe the surroundings and watch the TV! So why not? You shouldn't have parked there in the first place so you can't blame them anyway.
As for the staring down contest Americans have a very weird definition of creepy and that is one of them! I just don't get why! What is the person supposed to do? Stare on the ground? Scan the people from left to right? Have his eyes closed? What is so bad about LOOKING straight in front of you? I was sitting at a lunch table just looking in front of me, not at the person, just straight forward. They are in fact minding their own business so why don't you mind your own as well? Posing such questions as if they wanna take a pic will just make you look weird. If you want foreigners to live by your rules then you have to live by theirs when you visit their country.

Rammstein - Du Hast

Hi, my name is Michal and I decided to learn, sing along, and understand one of the best songs from Rammstein - Du Hast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gZ25MYwWpM

The lyrics are as follows:
Du
du hast
du hast mich

Du
du hast
du hast mich

Du
du hast
du hast mich

Du
du hast
du hast mich

Du.
du hast
du hast mich
du hast mich
du hast mich gefragt
du hast mich gefragt
du hast mich gefragt, und ich hab nichts gesagt

Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet
treu ihr sein für alle Tage

Nein
Nein

Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet
treu ihr sein für alle Tage

Nein
Nein

Du
du hast
du hast mich

Du
du hast
du hast mich

Du
du hast
du hast mich
du hast mich
du hast mich gefragt
du hast mich gefragt
du hast mich gefragt, und ich hab nichts gesagt

Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet
treu ihr sein für alle Tage

Nein
Nein

Willst du bis zum Tod, der scheide
sie lieben auch in schlechten Tagen

Nein
Nein

Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet
treu ihr sein...

Nein
Nein
It is interesting that in German they say "Du hast mich" - "You have me" but in the English version they sing "You hate me" - which would correspond to "Du hasst mich." It is very easy to come along since the lyrics aren't too hard and they tend to sing it with very distingtive pronounciation. And it's definitelly cool to know more of the words when this song is playing on your pandora instead of just repeating Du, Du Hast, Du hast mich! At least I know for sure that after that comes gefragt! If you don't know Rammstein, give it a shot, they are worth listening.

Have fun listening!

How German is American?

My view of this whole issue where Americans say that they are 25% German and such is way different than most Americans since I myself am not from the US. The issues Americans seem to have regarding their ethnicity seem to be almost comical. Considering that US nowadays has almost 0% original inhabitants we have to understand that nationality cannot be connected to ethnicity in this case. Ever since the Americas were found by Columbus there has been constant emigration from Europe to America. Of course Germans as they were the raising nation during the industrial revolution would take the chance of emigrating to the US and achieve their dream of owning and having land since Europe was getting quite packed. Even nowadays most of our every day decisions are made based on economical basis. Whether you eat at Pizza Hut or Papa John's is often a matter of much more than just tastes (since we all know Papa John's is the best) Cheaper and more accessible Pizza Hut often wins instead. So you can't blame any Europeans for moving to Americas. But to really concentrate on the question how much German Americans are I feel like the answer could be simply zero. Americans as a nation can't define themselves based on ethnicity nor history since compared to Europe America has like no history at all. The American society intermarried so many times that the social differences are mostly gone and thanks to that huge pond the contacts with Europe were broken too. Americans since then evolved in their own direction and have nowadays pretty much nothing in common with Europeans. Just the everyday habits are different, for example wishing each other mahlzeit is unheard of in the USA whereas in Europe it's a common thing, and not only in Germany. We can find traits across nations that might suggest that they are connected, and the truth is that the differences in cultures are starting to shirng as the world is becoming more and more global.

In my opinion any American who says that is some percent German is either not proud to be American, or has a real struggle with searching for his identity. Stay Americans (one of the most hated nation in the world) instead of trying to associate with other nations to get the best of both worlds ;)

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