Kultur 6

I found the German Privacy article the most interesting and entertaining out of all the articles we had to read. I would definitley not fit in, in Germany when it came to knocking on doors. I come from a family that is very open and my parents usually did not like it when me and my brother even closed our bedroom doors. In the summer, spring, and fall my mom usually has our deck screen door open for fresh air to get in.

Even at college I live in a house with 6 people and if we are home our door is usually unlocked (which may not be the safest thing) but I enjoy people just being able to come in and visit. Since i've grown up with an open door policy in my household I have an issue with knocking as well. My housemates tend to get annoyed with me because whenever their door is closed (mine is usually open) I instead of knocking just open the door and walk right in. I think its easy to say I would make some Germans very angry.

AMD 6

For my AMD 6 I decided to google strange German laws. I always read random laws about the differet states in the USA and find them hilarious, and I feel like Germany alone is already a little strange so why not see if Germany has some as well?

After searching and finding some very funny ones I came across a website that had a list of hilarious rules here are some of my favorites:

1) It is illegal to build an office without a view of the sky.
2) It is illegal to tune pianos at midnight.
3) It is against the law to deny a chimney sweep access to your home if he demands it.
4) It is illegal to have the ashes of your loved one stored in an urn at home after cremation.
5) A pillow is classified as a "passive weapon" and hitting someone with one can lead to charges of assault.

I think the pillow being classified as a passive weapon is so funny. Leave it to the Germans to make a pillow a weapon. With all the pillow fights I had as a little kid I would be locked up for life on chargest of assault.

AMD 5

Für meine AMD ich spielte Deutsch Spiele. I googled german games online, and a bunch came up. They of course were not very challenging, but instead were more like spiele für die Kinder. I played a game where the computer flashed on words in Deutsch, and then I had to connect the word with something like a color or the body part. I know the games were not very challenging but they were definitley a fun way to refresh on vocab, which I can always be doing. I was also wondering what else I could do for this AMD and I googled funny German comic strips. I got a bunch of them that were in German, and some were hilarious, but very innapropriate for me to post on here, so I'll just leave my explanation at that. Aside from some funny comic strips most of the American ones were jokes either about Hitler or beer. Go figure right? maybe more American's should Deutsch Lernen so they can be more clever on the next go around of comic strips!

Kultur vier

I thought the Illogical Logic article was short but very funny. In America people usually know what you are talking about when asking a question even if you are not specific. I sometimes don't pay great attention to detail so I actually laughed out loud picturing myself buying a train ticket and showing up at the wrong time.
The article on public transportation and the honor system was also very interesting. I love how Germany is all about the honor code, sometimes I feel that our country lose sight of that and values a while ago. Reading this this article I feel as though it would be very embaressing to get called out infront of an entire bus of Germans. They don't seem like the most pleasant people when they are angry.
The Two-Wheeled Teutons article makes me want to live in a city in Germany because I love biking and exercising. What better way to get to work or school by riding your bike, and it will be in a nice open path. The bikers in Ann Arbor annoy me so much because they are always in the way an cutting people off. I think Ann Arbor should make a bike path just for bikers to get to class. I remember when i went to New York City there was a bike path and it was so nice to see everyone outside riding bikes without interupting traffic.

AMD 4

For my AMD4 i decided to watch a television show in German. While thinking about the possible shows I could watch I thought of one of my favorite shows, "Law and Order SVU" and decided to look up on youtube if there were any episodes in german. To my surprise I found a bunch of them. I picked and episode I had already seen before so I could have some what of an idea what was going on incase I didn't know alot of the words. First off, it is hilarious watching a American show in German becaues the voices sound nothing like the preson or the expressions. I did have a lot of trouble following the words just because they were talking so fast. I feel like i should have watched a different tv show maybe a more simple one like a childrens show, but it was still a great experience. I can't wait until I get better in German as the years go on so one day I will know all the words the characters in a show like Law and Order are saying.

Kultur 3

I found the article “Vee Have Vays of Making You Laugh” very clever and funny. The city I think I would fit the best in would definitely be Berlin. The witty comments are my favorite, and I have a very sarcastic sense of humor. Hopefully I would be able to keep up with the best of them in Berlin. I’ll have to learn how to be sarcastic in the German language first.

I also loved the article “Beer Brewskies and Liquid Bread.” I sent it to my brother after reading it because I knew he would find it hilarious. He is minoring in German at the University of Kentucky, and his only response back was, “Ich Liebe Bier.” I’m half German (my mom’s maid name is Scheuring) so my family especially my brother prides themselves in their German. Loving beer is definitely part of that. I myself am not the biggest beer fan, but I think drinking a true German beer could definitely change my mind about it. After reading the descriptions of the types of beers in Germany I think the one that I would most likely find a fondness too would be the Helles Beer. A lighter sweeter tasting one would be a good fit for me. Except the hangover description does give me some second thoughts to that one for sure.

AMD 3

The past weekend inspired me because of the hilarious superbowl commercials that were played on television. So for my third AMD I decided to look up on YouTube 2012 German commercials. I remember when I took German my sophomore year of high school my teacher after every chapter of our book would show us some hilarious German commercials, and I was excited to see if the newer commercials were just as funny as the last ones. It was also nice that I understand a lot more German now than when I was in high school, because I paid a lot more attention now (haha). One thing that I realized when looking for commercials from Germany is that they love Heidi Klum. I found several commercials with her in it including a Coke commercial. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1s-U1Ns9Rw I also noticed that many German commercials are very cheesy and seem cheaper to be made. The German commercials have such a corny sense of humor, you can’t help but laugh at them. Here is one about a bank robber that seemed very easy to make and it very corny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn8Ngz-bSXc
Overall from this experience I have learned that I find American commercials far more entertainment and will definitely appreciate our commercials a lot more.

Kapitel 2

I found the article about Germans and their fondness to staring very humorous. I myself have a starting problem. I just enjoy watching people for some odd reason. My friends always have to tell me to stop staring. Although I may not go to the extent of peeking out my window at night, (that is just weird) I think it is safe to say I would fit in just fine in Germany when it came to a starting contest.
I Also thought the Whining article was very funny as well. This past summer the Women's World Cup took place in Germany, and all Germany did was brag about how great their team was until they lost in the quarter finals against Japan. After that the Germans had nothing good to say about the women on the team, and the coaches. I guess it's really true if things are not perfect for them they might as well whine about it.

New Age German Music

for my second post, I decided to listen to German Music. I went onto youtube and typed in "New German Music 2011." I was interested to see what people my age in Germany listened to. Basically what I discovered, is that it is the same kind of music, just in the German language instead of English.

One of the things I found very funny about what kids in Germany listen to today, is that they love American artist like Lady GaGa. I actually found a song where Lady GaGa is speaking in German. It's a typical Lady GaGa song just in a different language, needless to say it freaks me out just as much as her normal songs do. here it is....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rtOUAG_50c

I found a couple of songs that I tried to understand what they were saying because they were slow enough, but I still don't know the language well enough to be able to tell exactly what every lyrics and line of the song means. It was a good feeling though knowing a lot of the words in the song, and also being able to figure out what some of the words meant. Here is a German song I could mostly undrestand it reminds me of Mariah Carey song in German...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brNL-S968fs

Kapitel 1 Kultur-Texte

I found this article very interesting, because throughout high school and even middle school we were taught about immigration and even things such as Ellis island, but never did we go into detail about the founding and start to certain cultures. The first part of the article caught my attention because I was interested to find out why the Germans did adapt to places such as Wisconsin and Minnesota. My dad always told me that if I went to college in Minnesota I would fit in because I'm German and have blonde hair blue eyes, but I could never quite figure out the joke. It was cool to actually learn that the reason why they settled there was because there was so much more open land, and they wanted to bring their work rate and culture to our country, that had more freedom and rights then Germany at the time. The Germans taught us that farming and working hard is more then just making a "quick buck," but you can turn it into a lifetime business and home.

The "Turners" were very interesting to ready about because I did not know that a German came to America and started Gymnastics and freethinking. My favorite quote while reading about the Turners was, '"Sound Mind in a Sound Body,” expresses their vision for realizing

human potential through the integration of intellectual and physical development." This thought helped enable freethinkers and the ideas of abolishing slavery and giving women the right to vote. People coming from this country helped change our country as well.

Although most German-American community groups, religious and secular groups, were founded at least in part to preserve the German language, these groups and people helped change America as well. I also loved reading about the tradition that Germans have and the culture they enjoy sharing. Oktoberfest is, "less a celebration of German heritage—real or imagined—than it is the expression of a dynamic and culturally diverse local identity."

I enjoyed reading this article because not only did it teach me about the immigration of Germans coming to America, but it also taught me about the growth of the Germany once they were in America, and also how Germany has grown in general. It's amazing how we have learned so many things from their culture.

Mein Lieblingswort ist willkommen