AMD 6

For AMD 6, I watched The Simpsons "Trilogy of error," oder "Trilogie derselbe geschichte." I've seen this episode before in english, but I thought it was a good idea to go back and re-watch in German having now seen Lola Rennt. First off, the opening theme music is raised a semitone and that's jarring, but irrelevant. In the first ending of this episode (homer's day) he says "es ist zu spat," similar to the end of Teil 1 of Lola Rennt, where she arrives to find Manni robbing the store. Lisa's interaction with linguo is similar to Lola's encounter with the doorman as is the obvious techno music parody when Lisa is running. As in Teil 3, Lisa gets into a near accident with someone whom she is familiar. Like Lola, Lisa also seeks out her father's help.


http://www.movshare.net/video/wir9r0j6takur

AMD 6

For this AMD, I changed the language for Siri on my iPhone and had it give me directions in German.  I was driving to my friends house and I hadn't been there in a long time so I thought I should use my GPS.  The directions weren't too hard to understand but it helped a lot to have the visual part of the GPS.  I kept it in German for driving back to my house and tried to get used to following commands in German.  Overall it was a fun thing to do and a good way to be thinking in German over break! Although I probably would have gotten lost if I wasn't able to see where to go.

AMD6

For my AMD this week, I decided to polish up on my German sports knowledge. I was interested to see if I could come across any articles regarding sports topics that I would like being discussed in German. Therefore I tried to look up articles on the "Michigan Wolverines". Immediately I was directed to an article/photo gallery from March/April discussing the 2013 NCAA Basketball Tournament; one in which Michigan made a run to the national championship. I was able to comprehend what was trying to be said in each caption because of my prior background knowledge of college basketball in general, as well as my basic understanding of some German. Below I listed some of the words, phrases that made sense. Overall, from reading this article, I can tell that college basketball really isn't that popular of a sport in Germany. It gives an overview of the basics of much of what an average college basketball fan would be expected to know in America.

2013 March Madness



Amerika ist verrückt nach College-Basketball. = America is crazy about college basketball.

It then talks about how many large universities pack their stadiums, sometimes as full as 20,000 people. Then it shows Syracuse University as an example.

It then discusses how the championship is played in large football stadiums and last year 60,000 people watched Kentucky defeat Kansas in New Orleans

dem Basketballteam der Universität von Kansas. = Basketball team of the University of Kansas.

Titelverteidiger = Titleholder (defending champ)

Then it discusses the University of Kentucky and their large fan base. They did not qualify for the 68 team tournament, and are the fifth team not to win the title and not qualify the next year.

The next talks about how Kentucky's rival, Louisville is the favorite to win the tournament this year. 

"Top-Favorit nimmt dieses Jahr der Erzrivale, die Universität von Louisville, ein."

In Deutschland drücken Basketball-Fans den Gonzaga Bulldogs und Nationalspieler Elias Harris die Daumen. = In Germany, basketball fans root for the Gonzaga Bulldogs and national player Elias Harris.

Ben McLemore gilt als künftiger NBA-Star. = Ben McLemore is going to be an NBA star


Letztes Jahr setzte es gleich in der zweiten Runde eine Niederlage gegen die völlig unbekannten Lehigh University. = Last season Duke lost in the second round of the tournament to Lehigh University.



For the slide regarding Michigan, I wanted to understand everything that was said, so I translated it. And laughed when we were referred to as the "Most popular team in the economically ailing state in the northern United States".

It also talks about how we've been bad in recent years but could very well compete for a title this year (which we did)


Der Erzrivale der Wolverines sind die Michigan State Spartans und ihr Trainer Tom Izzo. = The rival of the Wolverines is the Michigan State Spartans and their coach Tom Izzo.

der darf nach Atlanta reisen = to travel to Atlanta


Then it discusses the Georgia Dome, it's capacity and and how many are expected to attend

AMD 6

So for this AMD I decided to watch an episode of South Park in German.  The idea came to me over break when I saw my fish and it reminded me of the episode of SP when Jimmy and Cartman come up with the fishsticks joke and how the only person that doesn't understand the joke is Kanye West.
Per usual, I understood what they were saying most of the time and I'm still getting used to the main characters' voices, but when they brought in Kanye West I was shocked.  It sounded nothing like him at all.  I don't know, he just sounded like an old man.
Other than that, I'm getting better at understanding what they're saying.  Watching South Park is a great way to pick up German slang.  There are some things that I've noticed: they use the same word for the f-bomb as they do for sh*t, "okay" for Germans also means "alright."
Anyway, I think I'm just a couple episodes away from not having to use subtitles.

AMD 6 Kevin Shock

Für diese AMD, ich habe "A history Channel Thanksgiving" aus South Park gesehen. Ich habe was ich verstehen in das Skript geschrieben.

Super nicht war.

Ich bin eine sechzehn Native Amerikanisch.

Bei thanksgiving ist es ein mort.

Es ist schwarz gehen.

helfe es lieber zu essen.

Auf dem Geschichte kannal laufen Thanksgivings specials.

Wo komm die "stuffing" hier.

Was genau?

Halt Maul!

Sind sie das? ... Das sind sie

you Jung sich war sehr aktiv.

ihr muss uns alles sagen was ihr wisst.

Wir sind die history channel.

das ist genick MTV für ein Tag.

It is too hard to write down an entire sentence, so I will just write down the words that I understand.

Pilger = Pilgrim

Ich verstehe denn  Professor Broflovski doch recht.

Ich gar nicht einkaufen.

Hast du Füllung?

Wo steht dir?

Wer hat das Fahrzeug zu gehört?

das konnen nicht sind

Wir mussen Professor Broflovski auftrieben.

Ihr hatte mit alle rechts. Ihr weiß was zu tun ist.

Drie hundred Jarhe lange.


ohne Cape Cod

ist unser = is ours

bis zuruch haben

ich bin kein Professor.

Du mussen wissen

Was sollen das?

___________________________________________________________

Ich verstehe nicht alles aber ich verstehe etwas.

AMD6

Ich habe South Park "Pinkeye" gesehe. Es war sher lustig. Die Leute auf SouthPark pinkeye erhaltet. People turned in to zombies and wanted to eat people's brains!

Oh mein Gott: Oh my God
arm: Poor
Hast du gesagt?: What did you say?
Sonnensystem: Solar System
Pink Aug: Pink Eye

Nachste, Ich habe South Park "Free Hat". Die Jungs wollen, um ihre Lieblingsfilme sparen. They start a group to try and prevent directors from re-releasing and changing classic movies.

geändert: modified
papier: paper
Meine Mitte: My center (Peace)
Frei Hut: Free Hat
Filmkopien: Film prints
Ich bin nicht brechen im George Lucas Haus: I am not breaking in George Lucas's House
Du gehörst zu mir: You belong to me

AMD 6 Graham Techler

For this AMD, I spent some of my Thanksgiving dinner talking casually in German with my uncle, who spent a little time in Germany and still speaks a good bit of German.
We talked mostly about different types of Thanksgiving food, and who passed which food to which person.
This gave me a good opportunity to practice both the Conversational Past tense (as I was talking about food that had just been given) and the Dative (since I was often referring to people having food given to them).

My uncle helped me out with some of this Thanksgiving vocab:
Turkey=Türkei
Gravy=Soße
Potatoes=Kartoffeln 
Ham=Schinken
Cranberry=Preiselbeere
Pumpkin=Kürbis
Pie=Kuchen
to thank=danken


     

AMD 6

I read a few articles from the website Ich werde ein Berliner.  I found the few articles I read to be very funny and satirical.  The blogs are about different topics in Berlin that are hip and mainstream there but blownup out of proportion.  For example, in the article "Going to the Movies,"  yes, I will agree that going to the movies is different in Germany than it is here in America, and that the seats in the theaters (that I've been to anyways...) are red and not all that comfortable.  But the author is pretty harsh about the conditions of the theaters and the types of movies shown.  Perhaps these are the types of places the hipsters of Berlin go to, looking for the most run down, obscure areas.

The article "Techno"  was really funny.  I am a huge fan of Techno, and the only two places to find this genre en masse is Detroit and Berlin.  The references are really funny if anyone is into the Techno scene, especially in the one upping section.  The author tries to make the people there sound like they are in a never ending battle of one upping each other.  One of the examples used was how one of the guys knowing Richie Hawtin (arguably, one of the biggest Techno DJs and producers), which I thought was funny, since I've met Richie Hawtin myself!  I could totally have one of these arguments with these Techno aficionados.  
The techno scene is indeed an old one, and the author acknowledges that by saying that Germans are always "following yesterdays trends."  I thought that was funny since the people in Germany definitely dress like they are in the 80s and 90s...

I'll definitely be checking out this blog more often!

AMD6

To get into the holiday spirit, I watched a South Park Episode titled "A History Channel Thanksgiving." My inner nerd was pleasantly surprised to find out that the episode was more of a parody of Thor than anything else.

During this episode, I tried to focus on finding the direct objects within the dialogue. Hearing the same order of words within a sentence (subject, verb, dativ, D.O.) repeated throughout the episode helped me memorize how words should be placed within a sentence.

There were a lot of example for the Conversational Past tense that furthered my understanding of them, even though that was the grammar topic for the last chapter.

Some vocabulary I recognized was leider, oder, fressen, brauchen, geschrieben, gesagt, Herbst, keinen, einen, wo, wir, Tag, sein, gesehen, ihren, gemacht, ganz nichts, doch, besucht, warum, mir, and Augen.

I will now have a relaxing break after being exposed to more German and knowing that there will not be a shortage of stuffing this Thanksgiving (you must watch the episode to understand).

Not your typical Cinderella Story

I decided to read der Brüder Grimm story of Aschenputtel, or Cinderella. It was very different then the Disney version…in this version the father does not die after remarrying leaving Aschenputtel to her fate, instead it seems that he completely allows and approves of the mean treatment of Aschenputtel by his new wife and step daughters. There's no fairy godmother, but instead it seems the spirit of her own dead mother watching over her helps Aschenputtel through the actions of different birds that live in a tree that grew on her mother's grave. Also, there's actually 3 balls in this one; so Aschenputtel und der Prinze hat drei getanzt. There's no "it all goes away at midnight" clause in the story as well, but Aschenputtel for some reason rushes off each time. The first two times Aschenputtel escaped from the Prince and by time her family got home she was back in her rags, but the third time he knew she would run away so put pith on the stairs to try to catch her, but got her shoe. This is where another twist in the story comes in; the step-sisters did each try to fit in the shoe, but instead of the comic and child friendly shoving of huge feet in the shoes to no avail, in this version the stepmother took each girl in another room and when their feet wouldn't fit, had the one cut off her big toes to get in the shoe, and the other had to cut off part of her heel. Each time the prince nearly fell for "the one", but the birds in the tree on the mother's grave told him each time to look in the shoe and he'd find blood, and that they weren't his true bride. So he went back to the house for the third time, and I'm hoping after washing out the shoe, put it on Aschenputtel, and it fit. The story ends with the stepsisters eyes being pecked out by the birds. Pretty violent/graphic, so I think I like the Disney version better.

It was kind of convienent to have read this today though since we just started the body vocabulary, in this story they had a lot of that vocab. For example, the stepsister's were black of heart (schwarz von Herzen). The other vocab used were Ferse (heel), Zehe (toes), Erbsen (Peas, which the sisters made Cinderella pick out of the ashes to eat), Pferd (Horse), Mädchen (Maiden), and a few phrases I recognized easily like "Am nächsten Morgen", the next morning. 

Kultur 5

This article selection was very funny. This writer knows how to add a comical outlook on situations which makes the scenarios even funnier. These article however, somewhat scare me a bit about ever visiting Germany. The author is always making a negative generalization about German's and how they "typically" act. From what he stated, based on the way that I grew up, Germans are very rude and harsh. And I refuse to make a silly statement like that and believe it. As far as the women go, based off of the article, I would love to have a Deutsch girlfriend. I love a girl that makes me work for her affection. The articles also make Germans seem very blunt. The fact that they just blatantly have sex shops for display really proves this. Also, as far as the toilet lady goes, I believe that that is the same thing as a janitor over here. I honestly do bot see the purpose of the tip, unless the pay is ridiculously low. These articles are sehr interesting and I cannot ait to read more

The art of biased writing

   When looking through the articles to be read for kultur 5, I found them very interesting as well as comical.  They were some of the most biased articles I have ever read through and carried nationalistic ideas forward that are far out of date.  Nonetheless, I found them entertaining and easy to read.
   The first article that caught my attention was about sex shops in Germany compared to the United States.  I found it hilarious that they considered the shops here as places where one would go after buying drugs.  Although I am quite sure they did not mean this literally, it was still such a slanderous assumption to make that it made me smile.  I also liked the fact that they tried to play up the shops in their society as such romantic and desirable places.  It just goes to show that no matter what culture, shops like these will always need a hand from biased journalists to seem more appealing and less embarrassing.
  The second article that I found interesting was about both how to and how not to flirt in Germany.  I found it interesting that the writer finds American flirting much more forward.  It has always been a stereotype in my head that Europeans are much more forward when it comes to confrontation.  This just goes to show that we all look at situations and personalities based on our nationality.  It is very hard to keep biased ideas from ruining our judgement.

Gerlicious (corny AMD 5)

   For AMD 5, I decided to venture into the world of German cuisine.  Although I am a terrible cook, I have always been good at eating, and German food is always an appealing aspect.  I have always been a fan of German cooking and drinks, probably due to the fact that I was raised on a wide variety of food that allowed me to try many different dishes.

   One of my favorite aspects about German food, is how rich it seems compared to what I am used to eating.  German dishes tend to have rich sauce, meaty filling, or even toppings.  An example of this richness can be seen when looking at German baking.  Many German cakes have filling or are covered in home made frosting that is both enticing as well as delicious.  

   Another aspect of German cuisine that has always been interesting to me is the idea of how similar some dishes are.  The pasta  served in Germany (examples such as spargel) are very much like pasta served here.  With this being said, the one difference that I have noticed is that it is many times served with potatoes within the German culture.

   Overall, German cooking will continue to have a place in my heart.  The rich cooking as well as the familiar taste behind these dishes compels me to give in and take that one extra bite.  I hope that everybody gets to try German cuisine at some point, and it would be a shame if stubbornness stopped this experience.

Kultur 5

I am actually very unsure whether I have heard Entshchuldigung every spoken to me while I was in Germany! I certainly used it all the time! Usually, when I would meet someone, I would start right off with Entschuldigung, sprechen Sie English? Also, whenever I bumped into someone on the street I would always use the word. I probably came off as such a tourist, looking back on it.

I had mix feelings about the Klofau in Germany. I thought that overall the bathrooms were much cleaner because somebody when somebody was attending the toilet, so I was always willing to front the 50 cents that they were looking for, but I did get uncomfortable if I was at a club and had to make multiple stops to the bathroom because then I did not want to pay multiple times. I thought once per night would be enough, but I always would feel bad so often I would pay multiple times. Also, I was usually very annoyed when I would have to pay for a bathroom at a McDonalds or train station with one of those machines. I couldn't believe that I had to actually PAY to go to the bathroom. By the end of the trip, I would just walk into random restaurants that wouldn't charge you for using the bathroom, just to use the bathroom, obviously this is frowned upon but hey I was broke!

I would say that flirting in Germany was easier than it is in America because at least in Germany, girls wouldn't play games with you. The biggest advantage I have in Germany, also, is being American. Girls are way more interested to talk to you in foreign countries because they want to learn what an American is like. In America, I am just another American, but in Germany, being American makes you different. I did notice that the German girls would sometimes play hard to get if you started flirting with them right away, but I found it was much easier to figure out German girls.

I was not surprised by much of what I read in the Women in Germany text. Women in Germany seem to be similar to women in America.

I could not agree with the  Cliquen und Kneipen article more! It was spot on! I really hate the party scene here in America compared to being in Germany. I love to just go out and have fun with my friends by partying, drinking, talking about life and the future, dancing, and just simply having a good time. Here in America, it's a big perception that if you go out and didn't pick someone up then somehow it was an unsuccessful night. It really is disappointing because I like to just go out to enjoy being with friends!

Kultur 5

Its pretty true that people in Germany are, well, I don’t want to say impolite, but they definitely more physical.  They don’t mind bumping into people and continuing as if nothing happened.  It took a bit getting used to while I was there, but after a while, I adapted just fine and became one of the same people bumping into others to get to my destination, only more polite :)

The klofrau. Such an unfortunate job.  It’s nice they keep he bathroom clean, but I definitely didn’t want to pay them since I am used to American wallets (no coin pocket); I only had larger bills, which I was not willing to part with or break for 5 euros worth of coins. 

Reading the last article about cliques was very interesting.  When I was in Ludwigshafen with my host family, we hung out in their kneipen.  It was made up of lots of guys and girls, some of whom were dating, but they all did everything together.  I really liked how that was, since it’s unfortunate to not see some friends as often because they are dating here in the US.  The concept of the bar for being a place to hang out rather than hook up or get drunk (or both) is nice.  I prefer the casual hang out with friends in a group rather than being alone in a bar.

Kulture 5

As someone who has had to deal with paying for toilets and tipping the Klofrau, I will only say that I feel bad for them given how bad some of the bathrooms are. I was actually most surprised by the article on flirting. I got some of my friends to read it, and they all want to go to Germany now. I also think that it is good that German women want an intelligent conversation; I really don't like small talk because it doesn't accomplish very much. Continuing on with the subject of women, it is clear that there is still a gender gap in Germany, but I think that it is also clear that it is being closed. It is clear in the reading that they had, in 2005, equal wages, but that other factors were involved that skewed the numbers in favor of men. Most of them, like child rearing, are social issues that can not be easily legislated.

The other article that surprised me was "Bekannte oder Freunde" from Vorsprung. I consider so many people my friends and I don't know if I could bring myself to call them just acquaintances in any context. "Acquaintance" just has such a negative stereotype in my mind.

Kultur 5

I am still amazed by how different German culture is compared to the American culture. Some parts of the German culture are quite absurd. Although some aspects to German culture seem reasonable, most are not. For instance, according to the article "Rules of the Street: No Blood, No Entschuldigung," Germans genuinely do not have any regard for others. They push and shove without even muttering "excuse me." "Walking down the street can often feel like a rugby scrum," but most Germans have just learned to come to terms with more day-to-day physical contact. In essence, do not expect an "entschuldigung" from any one in Germany unless blood is drawn.

Another absurd aspect of German culture is the Klofrau. The Klofrau is a woman that works maintenance in a public restroom, but unlike your typical maintenance man, the Klofrau collects coins in exchange for keeping the bathrooms clean. Although it is an effective way to earn extra profit in local restaurants and bars, having a Klofrau seems quite discourteous. Why would you charge your customers for using the restrooms? Allowing your customers to use the bathroom, free of charge, should be a common courtesy. In my opinion, I see the Klofrau as useless, as most do not preserve the restrooms well any ways.

Another part of German culture that I found weird is explained in the article: "German Erotica: The Land of Beer, Sausage and Sex Shops." The article explains that sex shops are all over German. In Germany, these sex shops aren't considered to be "dirty" stores, but rather, they are just stores. "In Germany sex shops are simply no big deal. They can be anywhere and nobody cares."

An aspect of German culture that is more reasonable, is the flirting. Although it is still different, it is still understandable that women do most of the flirting. In the German culture, it is the man's duty to simply stare and that's the extent of his flirting; the women does the rest. On the other hand, if a man initiates the flirting himself, he may come off as overly forward or seen as aggressively flirting. In general, "German chicks are simply wary of aggressive flirting."

AMD 5- Abilene Emerson

For this AMD I decided to listen to an album by a German band named OK KID. First, I listened to the entire album. Then I chose two songs to listen to about 5-6 times. I wrote down as many words as I could recognize. I could understand a lot more than I expected. After I listened to the songs, I looked them up on youtube (the links are included next to each song). It was a little easier to guess what the singer was saying when I watched the video. I could read his lips then.Yet, I never understood das Thema of either song. Below is the link to their website. I would highly recommend listening to them. They seem like electronic folk, but I may be wrong. The singer sings rather slow and that makes listening and comprehending much easier.

http://www.okkidmusik.com/

1)Stadt ohne Meer : City without sea

Gekommt

Gespielt

Und du mich

Alcohol getrankt

Viel still (2X)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fvxi0IKJno (video, actual performance

  

2) Allein, zu zweit, dritt:

Besse

Du bist allein, zu zweit, zu dritt - thought it was one two three: is actually alone, in twos, in threes, in fours…..

Bessen freunden

Doch

Von Gestern

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV7zglgvoOA (video with just the music. its not a performance)

3) Hellwach: (awake)

Jetzt zu gehen bin ech bich leich

Denken

Der moment ven alle

Vier zu schtill

Fur

Ich fliege

Mir gute

aufgewacht

Im Lande flug

Ich schlaufe ein

Stehe auf

Stadt

Zu kussen

Zu mussen

Viel zu leicht  

http://www.lyricsmania.com/hellwach_lyrics_ok_kid.html (lyrics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNIUkCQ1tVg (video without performance or lyrics)

Another song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrxcUi0Q6po#t=62

Kultur 5, Andrew Keating

First of all, I like that we're all getting comfortable enough to talk about flirting, toilets and sex shops. Between today's readings and the "Llamas with hats" videos, I no longer doubt that the German department takes a unique approach to language learning. While this comment may sound snarky, I legitimately think it's cools that we're seeing and reading these kinds of things.

Okay, while the whole thing about sex shops being commonplace seems sort of weird, I guess it makes sense. People who own those stores are legitimate members of the business community, and it's probably only fair that they aren't relegated to shady neighborhoods. You go, Deutschland!

Okay, this next part might turn into a rant, be warned. While I think it's great that people are nice enough to tip the people who clean their bathrooms, being obligated to pay money in a lavatory just feels morally wrong. While Germany doesn't explicitly make you pay to use a bathroom (unlike Italy and some other European nations), I don't want to come out of a stall and have a tray of coins shoved in my face. But on the other hand, the Klofrau has really crappy job (no pun intended), so it probably makes sense to give her a nice tip.

Kultur 5

Once again I found that Germans and Israelis are similar in some aspects: in Israel no one will say “excuse me” when they bump into you on the street. It is even more likely that they will start a fight over it.

Yet this reading brought up more differences then similarities: Israelis hit on girls heavily and would probably have a hard time in Germany. Also, public restrooms in Israel aren't quite as clean as they seem to be in Germany.

 last but not least: though the rules of engagement seem quite strict in bars, Germans seem to be very open about sex. This is an interesting complexity that shows once again that the Germans are truly a nation ridden with contradictions.

AMD 5

For this week’s AMD I watched “Hannah Arendt” depicting the time this philosopher spent in Jerusalem covering the Eichmann trial. It was a film I was happy to watch anyway and I was even happier now that I know some German and could pick up some words here and there in the dialog. The film tells of Arendt’s coverage of the momentous trial for the “New Yorker” and of the emotions this trial evokes in her as a Jewish-German-American. The struggles she goes through and her provocative re-framing of the event are inspiring and well depicted in the film.

Here is some more about her:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt

And here is a link to the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-rnFLnu2jg

Highly recommended!

Kultur5

Rules of the Street: No Blood, No Entschuldigung ist über warum Germans don’t use the word Entschuldigung. I found it rather interesting that Germans have become accustom to physical contact where not saying Entschuldigung is a normal thing. Here in America, if you bump into someone and do not say excuse me, all hell breaks loose.

German Erotica: The Land of Beer, Sausage and Sex Shops ist über how German sex shops are no big thing in German communities. This is interesting because it isn't as popular here in America but it isn’t considered "Foreign" either. There are sex shops and stores that sell pretty provocative items, however they are looked down upon by most of society.

The Loneliness of the Klofrau: Toilet Training for Visitors Ich meist interessant Artikle gelesen war. I never knew that you had to, what can be considered as "paying" to use the restroom. When I visited Germany, I don’t remember paying a Klofrau! I don’t think something like this would pass in America. What I think was most interesting was how a company could earn almost 2,000 euro if a bathroom is busy enough!

Scoring a German: Flirting with Fräuleins, Hunting for Herren was a cute article that discussed how in German over aggressively flirting is frowned upon. I found it rather compelling that women tend to be the ones to speak first. In America it is the complete opposite. Women are so uppity here in America they could never think of making moves on a guy first. They expect a man to acknowledge them, take them, and be the first to call. And they better expect to pay on the first date too!

"Women in Germany" is article that gives basic statistical information on the women in Germany. I thought this was an interesting article to read if you wish to learn more about Germany and how women fit in to German societies.

Kultur 5

I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed these Kapital 5 readings. I can confidently say I came away much more entertained than I thought I would be. I mean, where else am I going to read about Sex Shops, bathroom attendants, prostitutes, and how to flirt with German women in a 15 minute span!? For a class nonetheless!

First with the Sex shops. I feel like Germans may have misconstrued typical American sex shop protocol a tad bit. For the most part, sex shops aren't found on shady boulevards or in bad neighborhoods. I'm not sure anybody would be confident in making a purchase from such a location. They're actually relatively common. Obviously they're not flaunted in the open like in Germany. There's definitely no window shopping for that kind of stuff. In addition, they're not all called "Adult Bookstores". Also, I'm curious to know if there's an age requirement for entering such a store in Germany. It sounds pretty public as it is, so I wasn't sure. In America I'm pretty sure you have to be at least 18 years of age.

I also received an unexpected crash course on how to have a good night out on the town in Germany. I'll remember to let the women make the first move and to always tip my bathroom attendant. ;)

I pretty much skimmed through the last article with statistics until the very end where something extremely strange caught my eye. It was the section regarding social security and health benefits not being plentiful enough for PROSTITUTES? Obviously I did a double take and had to read it through a few times to make sure I was reading it correctly. I did not know prostitution was even legal in Germany (to any extent). Anyhow, I sure hope they find a solution in the near future so they no longer have to rely as heavily on their "Pimps".

Kultur 5

Germany is much more open about sex than America.  Just like how nude sunbathing is a normal thing, sex shops are not frowned upon like they are in the States.  A sex shop is just as normal as a children's toy store and they are not disguised as "adult book stores" like they are here.  They are a normal part of the marketplace and of German society.

I also read about flirting in Germany and how it differs from America.  To German women, American men are considered "very forward" and when they go up to the women to actually say hi, the german ladies consider it almost creepy and too much.  I find this very funny because in America it is expected that the guy initiates things with the girl.  Shy is considered not interested and a subtle gesture comes off as jerky or too high of an ego.  Men are expected to make the first move.  

AMD 5

For my AMD this weekend, I looked up a recipe for Apple Strudel online in German, and I made a batch of Apple Strudel. I didn't understand all of the vocabulary, but with my online dictionary handy, I was able to muddle my way through the lists of "Mehl", "Zucker" and "Zimt". The strudel was absolutely delicious. I've made apple strudel before, but never from a recipe in German, so this was a very fun adventure. Now I have to figure out what to do with the leftovers.

Kultur 5

Some of these articles were quite informative, although I'm sure that several of them made widespread use of hyperbole for the sake of drama. The first article, "Rules of the Street: No Blood, No Entshuldigung" made quite an interesting point about the rareness of apologies in German culture. Being Canadian, I am used to snide jokes and stereotypes about the Canadian obsession with apologies. While the stereotype is wildly exaggerated, I have found it true that Canadians do apologize far more than anyone else. While I'm really not sure as to the reason for this, it is interesting to observe the difference between North American and European cultures. I am reminded of a theory that one of my drama teachers had several years ago, that we in North America are raised into a culture where physical contact is rare. When I accidentally brush against someone in the street or the hallway, I always apologize, and most people I know, Americans and Canadians alike, would do the same. My teacher theorized that in North American culture, we experience little physical contact on a regular basis, hugs and kisses being reserved generally for greetings or special occasions. He mentioned, however, that in Europe, families constantly bump into each other, hug, hold hands, sometimes slap each other, and generally become much more physically close than families here. Perhaps Germans are simply less perturbed by occasional physical contact than we in the physically starved North America have become.
The article about the "Klofrau" was also quite interesting. I have never been to Germany, but during my time in Europe I noticed that public bathrooms are almost never free, whether a lady cleans them regularly or not. It is quite normal to have to pay 50 cents or more simply to unlock the stall, and in one museum in Paris, we had to buy tickets from a vendor at the door in order to step into the bathroom at all. While I find this seriously inconvenient, it is certainly an effective way of making money.
I was also intrigued by the article on flirting customs in Germany. I have often found the flirting of North American (and sometimes European men) offensively forward, so perhaps a slight hint of the German subtlety in American flirting customs would not go amiss. I know that I would appreciate such a change.