Kultur 1

The last time I went back to my hometown, my mother and sister took me to Aldi to grab some groceries. At first I was not sure of the store, but with the incredibly low prices (I got two loaves of good bread for 20 cents each) and adequate quality, I was satisfied. When I read "Bargain Buys," I was reminded of this experience and I could relate to it very well. Now, the only thing that was different was that there were not any rotten fruit in the American Aldi and fewer people.

As far as American foods that Germans enjoyed, I was surprised to find Jerky on the list, but not twinkies. Jerky was common where I grew up because there were a lot of hunters and it was common to eat venison jerky. I have not seen as much jerky in Ann Arbor, so I figured it was only a rural thing. I was not surprised about the twinkies because of there prevalence in media and recently in news with the bankruptcy of Hostess.

I've always been warned about driving dangerously, and that rule seems to apply very much so in Germany according to "Take it from a German." Although the driving is by nature dangerous there, every move is regulated. Fortunately, turn signals are required, which would be nice to have in the United States. There also seemed to be a tension in the article between aggressive driving (don't go too slow on the Autobahn, competitive parking) and a sense of calmness (don't give anybody "the finger," be respectful to the environment).

With the articles in the book, "Einkaufen" seemed to complement "Bargain Buys" very well because it showed what caused the rise of these low cost markets and the alternatives. The popularity of soccer was not surprising, although the concept of no interscholastic competition seems very strange to me. The ability of anybody of any age or level to find a league to play in is really cool, though, as America does not have quite that system for any sport.