Kultur 4

I found all of the articles interesting. However the thing that shocked me the most and made me think about how cool it would be to visit a big city in Germany was the street pong. It is a ingenious idea to get people to not jay walk. I mean who doesn't want to sit there and play a video game basically while they are waiting for the traffic to switch directions. I also found it interesting that cars in Germany will speed up if they see someone jay walking. I also found it kind of weird that they have the "honor system" when it comes to using the buses and whatnot. In the US you have to pay because most people wouldn't even think about paying if we had an honor system. I want to go to Germany and see how what it is like to ride on the ICE trains. All the trains where I come from go like 20mph and i usually are carrying freight. Also I have never ridden on a passenger train so i think it would be a good experience.

Kultur 4

In the second reading, I would be really caught into an embarrasing situation if  I bought a wrong ticket for the wrong train... I would never understand why their logic is so unusual. How come people would tell you to buy a ticket for a wrong train? That's really confusing! Wish I would ask enough information before I do everything so that I won't get stuck in those awkward situations.

In the third reading :There's No Such Thing as a Free Ride", it's good to know that we soll nicht assume to be able to abuse Teutonic trust in German. Although there's a so-called honor system in Berlin and most cities in Germany, you will be caught if they found that you were out of ticket or even not a right ticket. They might take you as performing Schwarzfahren and charge you penalties (€40) or even heavier. That's not a small amount money for anyone! And the author must have tried to explain but failed since he wrote in the passage that we soll nicht think about acting like an innocent foreigner to avoid penalties, because people in Germany are not likely to accept excuses.

Kultur 4

I found the article "Illogical Logic" quite funny.  The example with the customer and the ticket agent made me laugh.  The writer claims that the reason for incidents like this is that Germans are "too" logical.  It was explained that Iain did not specify if the "next train" was necessarily the "next train to his destination."  If I didn't know any better, I would say that the ticket agent was being extremely sarcastic, or making a joke.  If this were to happen in the states, I would say the ticket agent was a smart aleck.  This is only one example of how a German could be "too logical" which leaves me wondering when else an incident like this could occur.  The article tells us not to assume that a person in Germany will make any logical jumps for you.  I probably take a lot of these for granted in the states, which would probably leave me in uncomfortable, if not precarious situations in Germany.

Kultur 4

I found reading about the different laws and cultural aspects of Germany very interesting. Growing up close to NYC, I traveled there often, and there would be, and still are, many times where I would cross the street while the stop sign was still up. Had I traveled to Germany without reading this article, I most certainly would have done the same thing. As for the bike lane article, I find it awesome how 'green' German cities are. I know in most of the cities I've been to if you travel by bicycle, you either get out of the cars' ways or you get run over, which seems to be quite the opposite of how things work in German cities. It really just surprises me how different things are in German cities than cities like New York or Chicago. In order to even get through to the trains in New York, you have to buy a Metro Card and swipe it, and thats for every time you enter a new subway station! I guess though it's like that in New York because people would not be as honorable about traveling as in German cities. I never really considered the issue of logical answers not always being the right ones either. Being around a German family a lot, I never ran into issues like that, but it is definitely a good thing to know about before visiting Germany and asking for help. Finally, I was unaware it is a stereotype for some Germans to be unorganized/messy. I found that article too short to really understand what it was talking about.

Kultur 4

I thought the articles were interesting because of how they highlighted the contrast between daily life in Germany and in America.  The jaywalking thing in particular stuck out to me.  After all, in Ann Arbor jaywalking is a simple fact of life--in fact, I've been yelled at more times for NOT jaywalking than not.  The other articles also pointed out some differences.  For example, the bicycle lane one also showed an essential difference: in America, the pedestrian always has the right of way, but in German bike lanes it's the cyclist who has it.

I think a lot of these differences point to the fundamental mind-sets of the citizens.  Germans seem to have more faith in the system--the laws are there and must be there for a reason.  Americans, however, tend to think that they are "smarter" than the laws, and that they don't have to follow them for that reason.  It seems as if Germans view the rules in black and white, whereas Americans see the gray in every situation and try to work it to their advantage.

Kultur 4

     The Kaptiel 4 articles made me even more fond of Germany. I'm horrible at jaywalking, and I can't stand the guilt I feel with it. It's so risky, right? Not really I guess, but it's just one of those things my parents discouraged in my youth. I still haven't gotten used to it here in Ann Arbor, I always wait for the red hand to go away. Anyhow, it'd be comforting for me to be in a place with like-minded people who don't mind waiting just a moment to cross the street. I really don't think jaywalking is that bad, I'm just not a fan. I find it humorous that Germans will speed up if you disobey. I guess I did experience that when I was in Germany a couple years ago. My friends and I waited for what seemed like several minutes to cross the street because every time we put a foot in the road it seemed a car zoomed out of nowhere. We were all flabbergasted, especially since we were standing very close to a 40 km/hour sign. It's kind of strange to think that was one of the first culture shocks we had. I suppose pedestrian life really is quite different there.

Kultur 4

I found the article about the German's obedience to the crosswalk light to be pretty funny. I usually never actually pay attention to those lights so it is comical that a whole nation obeys the little red man as though he were a dictator. I guess that it does make sense though that in Germany the people would have this attitude towards how to cross the street since the German people are obsessed with structure and law. It is especially funny that not only will you receive dirty looks if you cross the street illegally, but if a young child is present, you are in a lot of trouble. Not only will the mothers yell at you, but the child might even try to teach you a lesson about the law and safety. I found the article fascinating that a whole nation would adhere to and put so much importance on something that is so trivial to us.
I did find the pong game that you can play while waiting for the light to change colors pretty cool. It's awesome that the city would pay extra money so that people will be entertained while waiting for a light to change. That would never happen in the states. The pong game would definitely help my habit of crossing the street illegally.