Lola rennt

For my AMD for Kapitel Drei, I chose to watch the rest of the Lola rennt movie that we watched the beginning of for a homework assignment. Ich höre gern der Musik in der film. It was very catchy. I noticed too that the lyrics for most of the Musik in the film are in Englisch. Like Elizabeth, I too recognized Franka Potente from the Bourne Trilogy with Matt Damon. I feel like this movie was very similar to that trilogy. It is a very fast paced action film with lots of plot twists. The fast pace is definitely enhanced by the Musik, which has a techno feel to it in the running scenes, and even the transitions between camera shots adds to the effect. I like the creative use of cartoons and the snapshot effect of various characters that Lola encounters in the film. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and would recommend it to mein Freunds.

Kapitel 2 - Emily Seidel

Reading the articles really gave me an insight into German culture. I found the article "The Germanic Stare Down" particularly interesting. It was neat to learn about some of the history of Germany as well. It made sense that a lot of the older citizens in Germany wouldn't have been able to break the habit of "spying" on their neighbors.

In response to the first article, "The German National Pastime", I felt like it was pretty much describing any culture. In most places, you will find people who complain about everything. Perhaps Germans do complain more than most, but I feel like this could be rather hard to prove.

I also really enjoyed reading the article "Brutally Honest". I think it would be interesting to live in a culture that was that honest all the time. The way that they describe how many cultures will question an offer is quite true and it is also accurate as to how annoying it can be. But when I think about it, I find myself doing the same thing rather often.

The last article, "By the Numbers", also gave an interesting perspective. Being rather obsessed with statistics myself, it is amusing to know that others also are able to tell a lot about a person simply by knowing some statistics about where they are from. It's also good to know that Germans watch a lot of documentaries. I like to know that there are people that keep up on current events and information.

Kapitel Zwei Kultur

Guten Abend!

After reading all of the articles, I must admit that I am less than surprised about how German culture operates. I have always been aware of the fact that most Americans are rather sensitive, which causes most people to "sugar-coat" certain statements and questions. Also, many Americans seem to "beat around the bush" when it comes to a more unpleasant topic. However most people in Europe, it seems to be Germans especially, are more direct. They say what they want to say and don't pull any punches. Ultimately, this seems like a better way to communicate, because in doing this, many common misunderstandings can be avoided.

Along with the German bluntness, the unrestrained questions about your decisions and opinions are also not surprising. If you're going to ask the awkward questions, why not get the reasoning behind the answers? Again, this seems to be a much more effective way to communicate. The frequent debates would surely get old, however; but communicating like this doesn't seem like it would be that bad to me. The only issue I would have would be when discussing something I do or do not like; there may not be a specific reason why I like or dislike that particular thing, sometimes the answer is "just because". It seems like this answer would not suffice to most German people, that they might think you're just unwilling to tell them the real reason for your opinion.

I can't say that I wasn't surprised by at least some of the things I read about. The Germanic "stare down" for example, seems super awkward and somewhat unpleasant. I myself am the type of person that thinks there is something on my face, or that I look particularly weird when I catch someone looking at me for an extended period of time. I understand if you are simply having a staring fit, but if everyone is doing it for a long time, I will most likely go to the nearest bathroom to see what is drawing everyone's attention.

As far as the whining goes, I have to admit that I have a slight tendency to do more whining than I should. I most likely wouldn't even notice it when in Germany. Most of the whining I would do in Germany would stem from the German peoples excessive knowledge of statistics. One of the few things I have absolutely no interest in is population. I will of course notice that there are more people around me in areas with a greater population that in the small towns I am accustomed to, but that doesn't mean I want to know exactly how many people are present in a city. Information of any kind about my current city, state, etc, is not something I go out of my way to learn. For the most part, I find things of that sort unimportant.

Even though these articles were meant to illuminate the less appealing side of Germany, I still think that it would be a very nice place to visit, vacation in, or even live. Most of the cultural differences would surely be less noticeable with time, especially in a country as interesting as Germany.

Well, Auf Wiederschreiben!

Kapitel 2 Kultur-Texte

Germans are like your weird uncle who lives in your basement.
After reading the articles (and the note explaining the fact that most of them were written just prior to the World Cup to enlighten foreigners), my initial thought was that it seemed that all of the articles were seemingly, albeit in a humorous way, "preparing" new people to some oddities of their country, alike to the way you would tell a new friend coming to your home about what to expect from your odd family.

All-around, though, I found these all very interesting. I occasionally will stare at someone for fun just to make the situation awkward, but apparently that's just my German heritage showing (although I most likely won't rat you out for parking illegally). I really enjoyed the part that said that Germans tend to stereotype Americans as always eating hamburgers and carrying around guns because it's so true that we do just the same thing to every other country. Germans wear lederhosen, Canadians only play hockey, English have tea every day, period. It's funny to think about the tables being turned and having other people think those kind of things about us.

Germans are quirky. Kind of like Americans.
Have you gained weight?