Kultur 10

The article "Sorry we're closed" I found to be very interesting and relatable to some extend. Many Americans are use to having huge stores such as Walmart be open 24/7, of course at times it does come in handy to have such options, but like Germany Mexico has a similar rule. Most local Mexican markets adopt what is known as siesta which is nap time. Many stores have siesta from 12-2 and do not open there doors during those hours. Fortunately, larger markets such as Sonora (the equivalence to Walmart) do not adopt such regulations.  From 12-2 you can still get Ice cream if you are craving some, the only difference is you might need a car. The second article "Dinner for Who" I found to be really cute. It is nice that a yearly tradition exist.

Bryan Mitchell, Kapitel 10

"Sorry, We're Closed" was shocking because I didn't know that they actually regulated the time in which people could do business. Immediately I thought "there would be at least a million people waiting in line to sue the government". Personally, I don't think business hours are something that need to be regulated, because certainly there are more important things that needs to be dealt with. But I do understand the reasoning behind them. Stress levels here are way to high because have ridiculous work hours, and its not that uncommon for people to spend more time at work than they do at home in any given week. Though the same could be said for Germany, if you need something done then you have to plan your whole day around doing that errand, because that place could close at any given moment. 

The Germans also have an interesting take on Fathers Day. It was refreshing, as a male and possibly a future father, to see somewhere that the holiday is taken a bit more seriously. Though the hardcore drinking might be a bit much, it's nice to see they have day where they enjoy themselves. 

Kultur 10

I think the German tradition of watching the film "Dinner for One"is a really unique way of uniting the whole country for one day out of the year. I have heard before that the film is very popular in Germany but I did not realize that it is pretty much unknown to the rest of the world. For the article on German shop hours I thought that, although at times this would be inconvenient, their laws for restricting the shop hours definitely have their benefits. I would not mind not having to work on a Sunday! I think that this type of system would not be that hard to adjust to, as long as you plan ahead when you will shop. Also, not being able to buy junk food at 3am would save people the regret in the morning. The article about Father's Day in Germany was entertaining and it seems like this holiday can be a bit crazy. I found it interesting to read the travel blog for the city of Bern in Switzerland. There seems to be a lot of different tourist attractions, along with many bear sightings. This blog has a lot of useful tips and would probably be helpful in planning a trip to Bern.

Kultur 10

I liked the article on Christmas in Germany a lot. First and foremost, I now consider Germans to be among some of the braver of the world's people. Why? For their apparent affinity for fruitcake. Here, fruitcake carries the long-standing reputation of being akin to that of a squishy brick of less than appetizing fruit-chunks. It's quite possible that fruitcake over in Germany is different (and hopefully better) than it is here, but on the off chance that it is the SAME horrendous dessert, I commend the Germans' spirit and dedication to Christmas time. The aspect of all of the wooden huts set up during this time seems pretty neat as well. I remember taking a field trip in Deutsch 2 in high school to Chicago for some German related Christmas time activities, and we visited something much like what is described in the article.

Kultur 10

I found it interesting that the Germans are so infatuated with a short film that most other countries have never even heard of, even though it's actors are British. It sounded very entertaining, but I'm sure some people, especially children or teenagers, get tired of watching it every single year.

It would take me a long time to get used to stores closing so early in Germany.  In America, most convenience stores and gas stations are open extremely late or even all night if you need a late night snack. I also enjoy getting all my errands done Sunday morning, and I doubt I could remember everything the Saturday before. It definitely increases the amount of relaxation you are able to do on Sunday, however. It was also interesting how Germans have transformed Father's Day into a national drinking holiday, sort of like we have St. Patrick's in the US. That seems like it might be a good way for a father and son to bond, but the article also mentioned that not even everyone who celebrates was a with their father or a father.

Kultur 10 - Andrew Baker

I found a couple of these articles pretty interesting.  I've also never heard of this "Dinner for One" movie, but I did get a kick out of the "Sound of Music" part at the end.  I think it was President Reagan who had that song Edelweiss played for the Austrian ambassador at some reception and the ambassador just looked at him like he was crazy, having no idea what the song was.  I also thought the Father's Day article was pretty funny considering how tame our celebrations of that holiday are in this country.  As for the "Sorry, We're Closed" article, I don't know how I'd be able to handle that.  I'm annoyed enough at the amount of businesses that close on Sunday in the US, so to deal with it to that extreme would probably drive me crazy.

Kultur 10

Reading "Frohe Weihnachten" makes me want to experience Christmas in Germany. There are a lot of things that I don't like about how Christmas is celebrated in America. I like the decorations that people put on their houses, but I dislike a lot of things too. I don't like the commercialization and I think small shops have way more charm than big department stores. And I absolutely hate the novelty Christmas songs that they always play on the radio. They all sound bland and cheesy to me. The overcommercialization of Christmas is a common theme in American movies about Christmas, though many of these movies are ironically cashing in on the season even as they condemn other people doing it. I wonder how Germans feel about how they celebrate Christmas, and if they feel that it's overcommercialized there as well.

It was funny to me to see the popularity of the German "stollen," or fruitcake. It's a common joke in America how terrible fruitcake is and how we always get it for Christmas, but we hate eating it. I tried fruitcake once and I have to say that I agree with this sentiment. I wonder if there are similar jokes in Germany. Maybe German fruitcake is much better than American fruitcake.

Kultur 10 - Reid Lott

The "Dinner for Who?" article struck me as slightly odd, as the actual film "Dinner for One" is in English and not shown regularly anywhere else except for Germany. Even though the skit was performed elsewhere, it seems strange that it is really only popular in Germany. Since Germans find it hilarious, it should be expected that it would be played often and transformed into the tradition that it is now. The comparison to "Sound of Music" was also interesting because I did not know that "Sound of Music" was not popular outside the States.

The "Booze Brothers" article definitely shocked me. For me, Father's day has been a day in which my father did not do much at all and as a family, we did stuff for him. In Germany, it is not so. Since this day coincides with the drinking holiday of Ascension Thursday, fathers typically go out drinking. I found it difficult to make the connection from Ascension Thursday to drinking until the article detailed the timeline, in which all religious aspects were lost by the late 19th century. This holiday reminded me of St. Patrick's Day in America, but instead of college kids drinking, it was the fathers.

"Sorry, we're closed" made me think about consumerism in the States and if we really needed to shops on Sundays. Since I am so used to being able to shop on Sundays, the idea of having Sundays off from shopping struck me as unusual. I think that I could be able to refrain from shopping on Sundays, but it would be difficult. The small window of time to shop in during the weekday would also be difficult. Due to transportation issues and my schedule, I usually go grocery shopping late at night, usually between 11 and midnight. If Meijer was not open 24 hours each day, I would not be able to do this. As such, I would have to make some major changes to my grocery shopping habits.

Kultur 10

Last semester our class watched an excerpt from "Dinner for One," the short film seems to be the German equivalent of "It's a Wonderful Life," in that it has become an annual holiday tradition. However, "It's a Wonderful Life" is more serious, but also more uplifting than the German film portraying an old lady who's friends have all died. I prefer the American film, but I suppose the German sketch is received well with the inebriated audience on New Years' Eve, anyway. The Germans also have extensive markets set up during the Christmas season. Here Germans can celebrate the spirit of the Holidays by waiting in line and buying food and gifts, not at all dissimilar to what we do here.

 In the travel blogs about Switzerland, Swiss chocolate seemed to be a common theme, not too surprising. Seeing the picture of stacks of chocolate in the shop made me want to visit Switzerland. It also seems as though the border between Germany and Switzerland is more open than the U.S. borders. An airport in Basel even has three different exits, one each for Germany, Switzerland, and France. Naturally, a smooth and relatively easy transition between countries is probably important when so many people travel across borders through mainland Europe.

Kultur 10

I found this chapter's Kultur articles especially interesting. I enjoyed learning about how the Germans emphasize certain holidays more so then Americans do. Their Father's Day is starkly different from ours. Typically my family will get a gift for my dad and we all get him cards, but that is really the extent of our celebration. It is more than likely that my dad will have a few beers on Father's Day, but Germans have turned the holiday into a celebratory drinking occasion for men on par with New Years or St. Patrick's Day.

I also really liked the article about Dinner for One, which like the Father's Day article showed some unique quirks to German holidays. The video is watched by most Germans on New Years. I ended up watching the video and found it very entertaining. It definitely got funnier as it went on, and I strongly encourage other German students to watch it if they get a chance. The ending was unexpected and very funny.

I think its a little strange that the business hours in Germany are so short. I feel like it would be a difficult adjustment to make for an American, seeing as we have a lot of 24 hour places here as well as long business hours for grocery and convenience stores.

Kultur 10

The first thing I want to say is "never do the Kultur reading at night, especially several hours after dinner" because my stomach is empty again and my "human nature of seeking delicious food" starts to work. I tried to understand the meaning of Christmas market but the only thing I can think of is all kinds of food described in the text. Young generation in China celebrate Christmas but only for fun so I cannot really understand the happiness of Christmas. But I can still feel it. Again, I start to regret to to go Germany in spring instead of winter.

It is really funny that germans are so interested in "Dinner for one", which is not even known by most people in its original country. But I think the author gives some pretty good points to explain germans' fondness of this skit.  "Perhaps the skit simply fits into a kind of prejudice about the English upper class as being daft, drunk and debauched. Or maybe it allows those with only rudimentary English skills to join in the fun of that famous British humor." Well, British are famous of their humor, which is stereotypically considered to be old-class, aristocratic, just like our Miss Sophie. I think most countries have their own images in foreigners' mind, sometimes right, sometimes wrong. What is german image? Stubborn, conscientious, organized, smart? How about China? Honestly, I have no clue. Some Americans, however, did tell me that they think every Chinese is good at cooking, which is definitely a myth-some of us are even worse than British.

And again, I start to worry about my life in Germany. Working hour here already bothers me. One Sunday afternoon, around 6, I was in downtown and had some time to kill. So I decided to look around in those stores, which turned out to be a totally mistake later. I went into a store for thirty seconds, and the shop assistant told me politely that they were going to close in five minutes. So I stepped out and went into another one. Then the same thing happened again. I talked about this to some American friends and they said this is normal. People need to relax on Sunday night so they do not work. But that is not true for Chinese. Weekends and holidays are actually the busiest time for service, shopping, restaurant,etc. It really took me some time to accept the fact the mall closes at 6pm on Sunday. But it seems to be even more terrible in Germany. Fortunately, I am used to storing food for emergency.

Finally, travelpod is really useful. I am actually discussing about traveling to Switzerland with my friend right now after reading their experiences and seeing all the amazing pictures.

Kultur 10

These were pretty interesting articles. What I got from them, mostly, is that Germans sure like to relax. It's quite interesting that people drink on father's day, as drinking on this day would have a completely different connotation in any other country. This reminds me of the small towns I stayed in when I visited die Schweiz. Every morning at around 11 AM, most of the town would group up at the local diner and have a large glass of beer in what I believe was a lunch break (though that wouldn't make sense because they didn't eat). My sister would comment "wow. These people are all alcoholics", to which I would respond "Are they really? Maybe they just like enjoying themselves." And it sure seems that way, especially when you take into consideration the article about store opening times. This is a problem I encountered throughout all of Europe: stores never seem to be open. Of course, this is only really a problem for tourists in that country. Everyone else has adapted to the "get home at 5PM" lifestyle and society sort of runs on that motto. This turns out to be a problem in some countries (e.g. Spain) where people don't seem to work at all. Perhaps what keeps Germany from descending into total unemployment is their commitment to at least working in the morning.

Kultur 10

The "Dinner for Who" article was 'interesting'. Some of the questions Germans will ask are really strange, like average annual precipitation. The 'quiz' is pretty strange/random too, "For English speaking visitors, the quiz goes as follows: Why are you Americans always shooting each other? How come so many people like Bush? Why do you English love the Queen so much? Can you explain Northern Ireland in 10 sentences or less?". Germans just seem like they are asking the most random questions that they can think of. Out of curiosity, why is a film in English so popular with Germans? It seems kinda strange.
I didn't know that German stores are rarely open on Sunday. Learn something new everyday. I understand the reasoning but it would be a big inconvenience if you need to get groceries or something for the coming week.
The "Booze Brothers" article was fun to read. I found the picture pretty funny since I was trying to imagine my dad doing Fathers Day German style and getting arrested by the cops (it would be the complete opposite of his normal self). " ...the original idea being to celebrate Jesus returning to the holy Father. Traditionally men would be placed in a cart or carriage and brought to the town or village square, and the proud father who had sired the most children received a prize from the mayor, often a big piece of ham."  Looks like Germans today just missed how its supposed to be celebrated.