Kultur 6-Roxanne Harfmann

I found the article "Worshiping the Garbage Gods" to be really interesting. It doesn't surprise me that Germans are serious about how their garbage is separated, after learning about their culture this semester, it just seems like something they would do. This article was interesting though because I just recently learned about how our garbage/recycling programs work on campus. About a month ago I went to "I live on Planet blue" open house and learned that the university uses "stream-line recycling". This just means that all of our recyclables are mixed together and then separated, rather than separating them initially. It's more cost efficient, and they told me that it's more effective seeing that less people will take the time to separate their garbage like the Germans, and more likely to recycle if they can just recycle everything together. I guess this shows just one of the differences between our culture and Germany's. Like the article said, "Separating garbage in Germany is like a rigorous religious devotion". Germans must be more conscious on their affect on the environment than Americans are.

Kapitel 4

It was really interesting seeing the similarities and differences between Germany, Ann Arbor, and my hometown Midland when reading these articles. Like the article about bike paths. The bike paths in Germany sound more like what we have in Midland. Here in Ann Arbor, we have “bike paths”, which is really just a foot and a half wide lane that no one cares about and people walk in all the time. In Midland, we have a paved bike lane called “the railtrail”. It’s separate from the road and sidewalk and runs along the main city roads and is designated to bikers. This sounds a lot more like what Germany has. The second article that I found really interesting was about crossing the street and jaywalking. Since moving to Ann Arbor, I’ve realized how common jaywalking is here. I wasn’t used to it at first because nobody jaywalks in Midland. This is another thing it has in common with Germany. I jaywalk once and a while since I’ve lived here, but usually I like to make sure I’m at a crosswalk so I know I have the right of way.

AMD 4

For my fourth AMD, I decided to look up German proverbs and expressions to see if they are similar to those that we say here in the United States. Some of the proverbs were the same, and easily understood in their German form. Examples of this are "Übung macht den Meister" which translates to “Practice makes perfect”. Another is “Ich bin nicht von gestern”, which means “I wasn’t born yesterday.” The proverbs I likes the most though, were the ones that meant that same thing as an English proverb, but translate awkwardly into the English language. For example, “Aus einer Mücke einen Elefanten machen”, is the equivalent of “To make a mountain out of a molehill”, but it literally translates to “To make an elephant out of a mosquito”. Some others I really liked were, “Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund” which is the equivalent of “The early bird gets the worm”, but translates to “The morning hour has gold in its mouth.” And “Lieber ein Spatz in der Hand als eine Taube auf dem Dach.” Which is the equivalent of the the English proverb “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” It translates to: “Better a sparrow in the hand than the pigeon on the roof (be happy with what you have)” It’s amazing to see how the same advice and truth is given in both the American and German cultures.

AMD 3

For this AMD, I decided to go through my Oma's old recipe book and read about her German dishes. I went home over fall break, so I worked with my father, who speaks some German. All of her recipes are written in German, so he helped me go through and figure out what each recipe made. He showed me which dish had been his favorite when he was younger (my Oma's plum cake) and we talked about how much she loved to cook. It felt good to recognize many of the ingredients that she used in her recipes, like Ei (=egg), Zucker (=sugar), and Pfeffer (=pepper). Next time I visit home, I plan on trying to make one of her dishes for my dad, although I doubt it will be as good as when my Oma made it.

Kapitel 3

The three articles I read are "Eco-centric Germans: Organic Food Obsession", "German Fast Food", and "Yo Dude, What About the Turks?". All of these articles were very interesting. Out of these articles, the one that surprised me the most was "Organic Food Obsession". I guess I never thought that Germans would be one of the most organic food obsessed places on Earth. The article says that 70% of Germans say they would never touch gene manipulated food and that about a third of of all organic foods sold in the European Union go though German markets. These fact really took me aback.

I also really enjoyed reading the German Fast Food article. I've never understood the differences between foods like bockwurst, bratwurst, and schnitzel. It's always nice to know what is what, that way if someone did ask me which I prefer, I can answer them honestly. The article about turkish kebabs I enjoyed as well. At first I didn't really get a sense of what the kebabs were, especially since the picture just shows the meat on the rod. So when I googled them, I got a better sense of what they actually are. They look like they are very appetizing, and if I were ever to go to Germany, I would definitely try one.

AMD 2

For my AMD 2, I decided to read the article "The Awful German Language" written by Mark Twain. I found this article interesting and funny to read. I was expecting some boring, straight forward explaination of why the German language is the way it is, but instead, Twain incorporated his own experience and struggles with the language, which made the piece relatable. In the past month, I've had the same difficulties with German that Twain has had. One of the things that he talks about that I can really understand is how confusing definite articles can be. Not only are there the gender cases of masculine, feminine, and neutral, but then you have the nominative, accusative, and dative cases that change the article "der". I guess it wouldn't be normal if I didn't struggle with a new language, and I'm glad I can identify these struggles so I can fix them in the future.

AMD 1

For my first AMD assignment, I decided to turn my TV to the German channel (117) and just listen in. It seemed to be some type of German talk show, like the Tonight Show or Conan. It didn't surprise me that it was difficult to understand what the people were saying. Although I wasn't able to decipher full sentences, I was able to identify various words and a couple of phrases. At one point the host and one of the audience members played a question game called "Blamieren oder Kassieren", and I was able to understand things like "Frage nummer eins" or "Ja, das ist richtig". I was also able to hear nouns with definite/indefinite articles and recognize the their case; whether they were Masculine, Feminine, or Neutral. Overall, I think as the semester progresses, the German TV channel will be one way that will help me with my German listening skills.

Kultur 1

Seeing that most of my ancestry is German, the article “How German is American” was very interesting for me. It’s almost a little weird to read about the seven million German-speakers that immigrated to America in the last 200+ years, and to realize that my grandparents were two of those people. My Opa and Oma traveled to the United States in the mid 1940’s. They didn’t know each other when they lived in Europe (my Opa was from Austria and my Oma was from Romania), but met after they both settled in the Chicago area. My father was raised to speak German and English, and even though English is his dominant language, he still understands German very well. I really wish that I had been taught German when I was young too, that way I’d be able to understand my family at our reunions. Even though my Opa and Oma died when I was little, my uncles, aunts, and cousins all speak German when I see them. That's the reason why I decided to take German 101. I’m really hoping that by taking this class, I can improve my German skills so the next family reunion I go to, I can understand what my family is talking about.