Kulur 3

For this assignment I read the Spiegel online article "Beer, Brewskies and Liquid Bread". At first I thought that "liquid bread" was just a figure of speech refering to the commonality of beer, comparing it to bread, something that can be served at every meal. I learned by the end of the article that I was looking into it in a completely wrong way, as common as beer may be in Germany. It turns out that there are certain kinds of beer that actually have many of the same ingredients that bread has. Ingredients vary depending on what kind of beer you are making, and also depends on where it is being brewed. Nearly every region of German has a specific type of beer that is native to that part of the country. Some types of beers, like Helles, or Lager Hell, is prodominatly served in the southern Bavaria, but is so popular that it is exported all over the world, therefore you can find it almost anywhere. There are other beers however, such as Berliner Weisse, which is almost exclusively served around Berlin (hense the name, who would have thought!) which is supposed to be embarrassing to drink due to the sweet nature of the drink, low alcohol content, and the fact that it is often served with a straw doesn't help its case. I feel like it would be a great adventure going all over Germany and to taste beers from all of the different regions. There are so many different breweries and types of beer in Germany (a third of the breweries on the European Union are in Germany) that I imagine it is easy to find something you have never heard of before that is actually quite good. It has me wondering, if America had the same laws regarding beer as Germany, would we brew local quality like the Germans, or would giant corporations like Budweiser try to take over and put their vending machines everywhere? I suppose it would be a mixture of the "Wal-mart effect" and the pride in quality that many Germans feel regarding their own local breweries.

Kultur 3

After reading all of the articles for Kultur 3 what interested me was the German's aptness to negativity. The article listed a few contributors to German pessimism including Nietzsche and Goethe, but I wondered what or who else may have contributed to the German state of mind as we see it today.

The works of the prominent German poet and natural philosopher Goethe may have been a contributor to the German obsession with natural foods. Goethe wrote many works in the field of natural philosophy which celebrated the beauty and serenity of nature as it is. Goethe's obsession with nature, and especially with plants, possibly could have influenced the German mind set on the matter today. One of the articles for kultur 3 mentioned that 70% of Germans say that they would never eat genetically modified foods. It is possible that their respect for what is natural stops them from eating what they deem unnatural and synthetic. Goethe's interest in close examination and classification of the world around him shaped much of German science as it is today. I know that when I think of Germany, I think of a place where much great science is performed every day. There seems to even be a stereotype that German scientists are some of the best! This belief (actually more of a trend) has been adopted because of Germany's many great scientists through history.

Gottfried Leibniz was yet another large father figure in the German philosophy. His support of rationalist ideals led him to be considered as one of the three fathers of the rationalist movement. Now, Germans today are considered to be highly logical and rational beings. Leibniz's philosophies along with Friedrich Nietzsche's nihilism has led Germans to be deep thinkers, prone to being pessimistic. This possibly also stems from a sometimes not-so-glamorous history.

Germans have had to come to terms with their involvement in the Holocaust with time. Such a traumatic event in German history has left many Germans with a strong sense of civic duty and has allowed many Germans to think critically about other things in life. It is clear that German's rich history has shaped how Germans think and act today. German stereotypes and idiosyncrasies seem to stem from how Germany was in the past.

Kultur 3 Sarah

Of the multiple articles offered, the discussion of public drinking in Germany was particularly interesting to me. When I backpacked through France and Italy, it was very socially liberating to be able to have a beer as I strolled through a park or piazza. In my experiences, the locals would gather to have a fun, but not raucous, evening, which happened to include alcohol. The article "Capping the Bottle" implied that the party-going German youth may have more of a problem maintaining their composure while imbibing than I had previously realized. Growing up with many friends and coworkers from Europe, I was always under the impression that, due to the younger legal drinking age, Europeans were more composed in their excursions; this was certainly the case for my travels. Of course, when we were actively seeking a "party scene" we could find one; however, unlike most American bars after 10pm on a weekend night, the European bars seemed more "in control."

I thought it was amazing that a park in Berlin created a ban on drinking, and the locals just moved to the sidewalks to continue their fun...in the United States, this defiance would be serious, national news. Our solution would be very dramatic and publicized, and the German reaction was to lift the ban and create a haven where drinkers can gather, as well as receive help if they have an addiction problem. While Germans have a reputation for being very strict and formal in some circumstances, in this they seem to be beyond relaxed!

On a related note, in the Beer article, this quote made me laugh:
"Weizenbier/Weissbier is the most Bavarian of all beers, but spreading northwards. It is quite strong, with an alcohol content of 5.4 percent, but nevertheless is part of a traditional Bavarian breakfast completed with white sausage and a pretzel."


Germans know how to do breakfast!

Kultur 3 - German Fast Food

Ich mag fast-food.

Not as its own separate food group of course, but as a sometimes snack, and well because es ist schnell! Upon reading the article about fast food I was both reminded of the disgusting food trucks in the United States that I have happened across (the author doesn't exactly make everything sound appealing), and my time abroad. Well, that might be a stretch, I'm not exactly a Weltreisender. I've only been to Kanada and London. But the particular passage about french fries really rang clear! It seems that no matter where you travel everyone eats pommes frites differently.

In Kanada they have poutine, which is a lovely combination of french fries and gravy, often cheese, and I can't say that's always a regular here in the United States.

And upon my trip to London, it spread quickly through die Amerikaner that ketchup was not exactly vorherrschend. Nor was it free, at least not in the handfuls of ketchup grabbing type of society we grew up in. Perhaps in this way Europe, London and Germany both, conserve more and don't waste so much ketchup, alright that might be a bit of a stretch.

Because I wanted to know more about German fast food, I researched and found, that open face sandwiches are definitely a german thing (I just can't wrap my head around the insides not being flanked by two pieces of bread. And that Germans seem to constantly be inventing. Check out this article about a German Restaurant that is mostly automated!

Next I went to a travel guide for fastfood in specific areas, I chose Munich. It has now been set in my mind that there is, like in all places, quite a variety of "fast food" establishments in every country. They just might not all be exactly what we've come to expect!

Bis Morgen!

Chrissy

Kultur 3: Don't Forget the Organic Gummy Bears, Mama!

So for this Chapter's Kultur-Texte, I've decided to focus my attention on the article concerning organic foods in Germany. Though I found a few of the other articles interesting, the topic discussed in this one is something that I, too, feel very strongly about. So let's get those green thumbs out and talk about some Äpfel and stuff.

Being the Birkenstock-wearing hippie of an organic foods consumer that the writer speaks of and having my own predispositions concerning genetically modified food, I found this piece particularly intriguing. I'm totally with the Germans, here. This stereotype of the Germans isn't completely peculiar to me, in fact, I wish people were more like this in the states. Quite frankly, Americans need to be a bit more conscious about what they're

putting into their bodies. You're only doing yourself a favor when you eat that ruby red organic Apfel. Convenience and affordability of organic foods is a known issue for Americans today, however, the scenario would be completely different if the country was largely run on organic foods. In most cases, organic foods are actually energy savers as well. There are so many benefits to eating organic foods, I just don't see why it isn't more heavily enforced in the states, especially because we don't have an exact idea of the side effects of genetically modified food.

Basically, I think us Americans could learn a thing or two from the Germans. I mean, who wouldn't enjoy some organic gummy bears? Nonsense.

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!