Kultur 5

It may be worth noting that the word "Entschuldigung" is used lightly on the streets of a German city.  This will come in handy for my trip to Berlin this Winter.  Whereas I'm probably an individual who says "excuse me" for the slightest offenses, others walking past might not be so inclined.  It'll be my prerogative to simply ignore physical contact when walking on the streets.

I thought the article for "Scoring a German" was pretty funny.  When I used to live in Abu Dhabi, my sisters would often visit for holidays.  They would complain about the men sitting at coffee shops staring at them.  It's weird to think that indication of interest is brought by incessant staring.

Kultur 5

From the article, the frequency of physical contact with other pedestrians reminds me of my trips to NYC but a little more agressive. The more surprising portions of the article were those that described how people will just push through you or step on you without saying excuse me. I think residents in larger cities in America give victims at least that courtesy.

On the topic of sex shops, I believe this article has a larger connotation of what how Americans view sexuality. Even in the previous Kultur articles about public nudity in Germany it made me reflect on how conservative our culture is here in the U.S. on this topic. Talking about sex is such a crude and undignified thing to do here and I feel like Germans and Europeans in general embrace it.

Kultur 5

I found the articles for Kaptiel 5 Kultur assignment interesting choices. From what I have read before, I got the sense that Germans have different cultural behaviors than I am used to, but I think the fact that they rarely say Entschuldigung. Saying excuse me has been something that's been drilled in my mind since I could speak, and is just a concept that is so familiar to me, out of politeness if nothing else. So, I cannot think of it being acceptable not saying it. As for the article on the sex shops, I find it humorous how casual Germans are about them. It's true though, about the location of them in US cities, well from what I've seen in NYC. They aren't hidden or in bad neighborhoods, but they are not as open as German ones, as described in the article. I also think it's funny to read about flirting in Germany. I always hear about my best friend's experience with German guys, and now I wonder if they are the way the are because she grew up in America. It's also a good thing to know if I ever plan on going to Germany. The Klofrau is something I have heard of though. Many of the restaurants I've been to in New York have "sanitary assistants", but instead of tipping only 30 cents or so, they expect to be tipped at least a dollar. Granted, it depends on the quality of the restaurant. Lastly, I found the statistics and other facts about women in Germany was very interesting to read about. 

Kultur5

For the Kultur 5 I read the article No Blood No Entschuldigung, If I had gone to Germany before reading this article I would of probably felt very disrespected, and my visit would not been pleasant. Now that I know Germans do not tend to say sorry for a simple bump in the shoulder, when I go to Germany, I will understand that for them a push or any light physical contact is not a good enough reason to say "entschuldigung". I will avoid saying that word, (unless of course I see blood) just so I won't be targeted so easily as a tourist. The second article I read was Flirting with Fräuleins, Hunting for Herren.  I thought this article was really funny I can just imagine a German woman getting offended by a tourist complementing her, or a German man getting overly excited because an American girl sparks a conversation with him. I also thought it was very interesting how flirting changes in different regions of the world. Alike languages, flirting actions can be misinterpreted and misjudge easily.

Kultur 5

I think I'd like visit the German Countryside.  It seems like it would be nice.  Ich finde aggressive crowds in the city to be not a lot of fun.  I wonder if the standard personal space distance is closer to that of the US or that of Latin America, that latter makes me very uncomfortable.
I would definitely be embarrassed to be seen walking out of a shop like that.  The online equivalents of these shops that are popular in the US for this reason, I wonder if that is less true in Germany.
They make it seem like bathroom attendants are only in Germany, I've seen them in a bunch of places in the US.  They sometimes sell candy, whic always seemed weird to me, for whom does being in the bathroom make want candy?  It would not be fun to be in Germany and have to use the bathroom without any cash, do they accept major credit cards?
Flirting in Germany sounds great for guys, they don't have to do anything. Just a quick glance and then it's on her.  It sounds like a terrible time for foreign women, I wonder if that was by design by German women to prevent foreign girls from coming in and stealing their men.
They could be doing this because they are now working more.  It is encouraging to see that Germany is making such great strides towards employment equality between genders.  Perhaps that is part of the reason that their economy has weathered the European credit crises so much better than many of its EU neighbors.

Kultur 5

I thought that the article, "Street Rules: No Blood, No Entschuldigung" was pretty interesting. Up to this point in the course, I have begun to view Germans more and more as robots who are obsessed with statistics but are lacking in emotions. This article has basically concluded my hypothesis as correct. If someone were to storm through crowds, elbowing people, and not caring at all in the United States, that person would get yelled at and possibly hit for their rudeness. It is funny and fitting that Germany would be the complete opposite. People there do not care and willing shove people in order to get to where they are going on time. I can completely see this happening in Germany too after everything else that we have read about the country. It is weird to imagine a world where people walk through each other as so peaceful, but I guess that the Germans understand one another. I just hope for their sake, that Germans visiting America don't walk through New York City elbowing and shoving people to get them out of their way.