Kultur 11

The article "Breaking Down the Wall in the Head" was very interesting. I didn't realize that there were so many stereotypes between West and East Germans and that there are many people who want the wall back "a quarter of West Germans wished the Berlin Wall could be rebuilt, while 12 percent of East Germans said they didn't want to live in a united Germany". I'm a little surprised that East Germans have 'Ostalgie'. I thought life under Soviet/DDR was pretty bad although I kinda can see how if you lived most if not all of your life under communism, once its gone, you would miss it.

The article on Southern and Northern Germans reminded me a lot of America. Northerners and Southerners here have a lot of similiar stereotypes that Germans do. 'People in the cool, practical, intellectual, industrialized, liberal north of Germany think the lazy hick farmers in the south are backward and racist, and they talk funny too.'& 'People in the warm, hospitable, easygoing, earthy, rural south, for their part, figure the calculating northerners are just boring snobs. They are also sometimes called "flat-landers."'

AMD 6

Für diese AMD, sah ich Deutsch TV. Ich habe nicht fangen den Namen des der Show. Es wurde gezeigt, das Alltagsleben eines Verkehrspolizist in Köln und Zoll-Agenten in Frankfurt. Ein Mann versucht 50 Schachteln Zigaretten im Flugzeug zu schmuggeln. Die meisten der Menschen sprachen viel zu schnell für mich zu verstehen, was sie sagten, aber ich konnte eine gute Idee bekommen. Glücklicherweise hatten sie Untertiteln (auf Deutsch) für einige der Menschen, die zu ruhig oder zu schnell sprach.

AMD 5

Für dieses AMD habe ich beschlossen, mein Telefon die Sprache zu Deutsch wechseln. Es wurde sehr ärgerlich, da, wenn ich versuchte, Text, die automatische Korrektur änderte sich alles ins Deutsche. Unnötig zu sagen, dass meine Freunde nicht verstehen, was ich möchte Text. Die meisten der Worte waren einfach zu folgern, was sie bedeuteten. Wie Telefon, Kontakte und Kamera. Ich war überrascht, wie viele Wörter in Englisch wie Bluetooth, GPS und Anzeige. Aus irgendeinem Grund, die blieben in englischer Sprache. Ich konnte verstehen, die meisten Wörter wie Mobilfunkdaten ist mobil Daten oder Flugmodus ist Flugmodus. Es war leicht, die Sprache wieder auf Deutsch so das war gut.

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.

AMD 4

Seit ich zu Hause war für die Woche war ich kann einige der meines Vaters Welt Krieg II Filme anzusehen. Ich sah "The Longest Day", wo jede Nationalität sprachen ihre Sprache (Deutschen sprachen Deutsch, Französisch sprachen französisch, etc). Es hätte Untertitel in Englisch, damit ich noch verstehen können, was die Charaktere sagen. Offensichtlich ist die französisch ging direkt über meinem Kopf, aber ich schaffte herausgreifen einige Worte auf Deutsch, die ich gekonnt. Ich vielleicht nur 15-20% des Deutsch in dem Film verstanden. Ich verstand die grundlegenden Worte. Das meiste, was sie sagte, war Vokabeln wir nicht gelernt haben, noch.

Kultur 9

I really found the German patriotism article interesting. I never knew they didn't fly flags or say they loved their country. I understand the reasons but the war was over 60 years ago. Germany has always been a strong economic and military power in the world and Germans should be proud of that.
Reading the bureaucracy article, I start to wonder why Germans are sooooooo obsessed of details and paperwork. Its crazy all the papers you have to keep track of like the "Meldebescheinigung" (which is stupid, in my opinion).
The general rules to live by in the "Love Thy Neighbor" aren't that unreasonable, surprisingly. I was expecting worse form how the article started off. It would suck though if your neighbors were grouchy.

AMD 3

Ich habe "Viennese for Americans" gelesen. Die Einleitung war interessant. E.A. Powidl ist SEHR arrogant wenn er sagt, "Everything in the realm of languages," Powidl says, "has merely been a cobblestone in the road toward the perfect language. Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Yiddish--all of these languages were mere building blocks. Unfortunately, the world has taken a step backward in the last century by accepting the language of Great Britain, but that is all changing now. People are finally realizing that there is no language more expressive, more full of wit and charm, more perfectly suited to the Age of Communication, than the language of Vienna. And where language leads the way, culture is sure to follow". Weanerisch ist nicht das besondere.
Da war sehr viel Sprichal. Ich habe nicht alle lesen gekonnt. Bespiele:
Whoa! Bummer.=Total beschissen
Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.= Jetzt fia di net so auf, nua weu i scheh bin und du net!
Hey! Taxi!=Taxiiiiiiiiii!
Are we there yet?= Sama schau do?
I think my battery is dead.= I glaub mei Battari is im Oasch.
I would like two Big Macs please.=
I mog zwa Schlabbaloppn mit Salod und an faschiatn Labal! An big mekk hoid!

Kultur 2

I don't understand draftophobia. You need to open windows, especially in summer to cool rooms down. Though, I am curious to see if what these "scholars" say about drafts are true. I've never really heard of that before. That article ties in nicely with the article on Germans and their strange diseases. What is circulatory collapse? I've never heard of it but it sounds pretty serious, although I'm no doctor. I was surprised that even though Germans don't like medicine, that the amount of work days missed from illness has gone down.
I didn't know Germany loved saunas so much (and that Finns have saunas in their nuclear power plants); learn something new everyday. I see why people stay in college for so long in Germany, it seems like that is way easier and more enjoyable than getting a job somewhere (not to mention students get a lot of discounts).

AMD 2

Für diese AMD, habe ich Deutsch Radio Musik gehört. Ich habe http://www.last.fm/listen/globaltags/german genützt. Da war sehr viel Musik und ich war überrascht, dass Deutsch Musik sehr ähnlich zu Amerikanischen Musik. Ich habe ein paar Bands gemocht. Die Ärtze und die Fantastischen Vier war gut. Farin Urlaub und Fettes Brot was gut auch. Ich mag wirklich In Extremo und Rammstein. Ich werde einige ihrer Musik auf meinem iPod zu.

Kultur 1

I was surprised to see that Germans like a considerable amount of American food. I feel bad for Jan in the "Wo kann ich Twinkies herbekommen?" since he won't be getting an more Twinkies from America (for the record I feel his pain, I love Hostess food too). It seems like there was a considerable amount of articles (including German 101) on driving/traffic in Germany. I'm curious why you aren't allowed to pass on the right side on the Autobahn. Though passing at 100+km/hr no matter what side is dangerous. The driving article has a lot of "or you'll die"'s. Germany sounds like a dangerous place now. I believe they weren't bluffing on this, "Don't give anyone "the finger." Germans are 100 times more likely to call the police or they will go completely crazy and hunt you down until you start crying.".

AMD 1

I decided to change the language for one of the computer games (RUSE) I play from English to Deutsch. There were a lot of the words we haven't learned like: Kampagne = campaign, Kämpfe = battles, and Mehrspieler = multiplayer. There were some that we have learned like zurück. There is a mission called Colditz Castle, and in Deutsch its Schloss Colditz. The characters that are American and British sounded weird speaking Deutsch but it sounded much more natural to hear Germans speaking German. It was still fun to play but was hard to understand since most of the words they said we haven't learned yet.

Test

Mein Lieblingswort ist Pfeffer.