AMD 6

For my AMD, I looked up German drinking games, to find that most of them are not too different from ours. For instance, they have a very similar version of kings, or waterfall, or whatever you may call it. They as well have a similar game to "never have I ever". On interesting game to me, mostly because I don't see how this is a drinking game, is that there would be about 4 guys and 4 girls making 4 groups of the opposite gender. The girls would sit in chairs and the guys would study their girl's appearance  Then the guys would be blindfolded and sit in the chair, and the girls would go around and the guys would grab the girls' butts until someone was able to correctly guess their partner's butt. It sounds interesting, but where does the drinking come into play? Another came consisted of getting an ice cube and forming a line with opposite genders around you. An ice cube would then be passed down the line via kissing. This game seems kind of pointless to me unless you have a lot of ice cubes with high alcohol content, and a guarantee that nobody has mono. It seems that most games are the same, except when it comes to games involving the opposite gender, because sex is more accepted in everyday life and conversation over there.

http://eurokulture.missouri.edu/?p=4173
I could not watch the video at the bottom with sound because I share an office, but it seems like it might be funny and you may enjoy it, or it might be really stupid. 

Kulture 6

These articles did not seem as surprising and attention grabbing as those in the past have. I did find it interesting that many Germans get there news from a magazine that for the most part makes fun of the news. I would think that the Germans would be very strict about who they hear it from, and try to get the most unbiased story. However, it appears they would rather hear a knock off the what is really happening in order to have a good laugh in the process. This is quite different than here in the US where people tend not to use tabloids or magazines that either make up their own news or alter what is actually happening. I at least have never seen anybody buy something like the National Inquirer, and the only satirical outlets I have seen people use are comedy shows and The Onion, which are more comedic than news.

As for the trash, I really liked how the Europeans recycled most everything and how environmentally conscious they are. This is exemplified by Sweden, where they burn trash for energy and since they are so efficient at recycling, they actually have to import trash from Norway for their power plants because they do not produce enough unrecycled waste. I as well was a little confused about where to through my trash, when it had some combination of different things, but in the end the learning curve is quite steep.

Kulture 5

I remember when I was in Germany and wherever I went I always asked how to say sorry, however when they told me about entshuldigun I gave up fairly quickly and resorted to pardon with a french accent, that way they would think I'm french instead of american.  One thing that I did really like about Europe in general was how friendly and open the people were, and how it is not awkward to have so many sex stores, or to go to them. Whereas over here we are a lot more conservative. I also liked how it was much easier to talk about sex and it was not an awkward conversation to have with people you didn't know terribly well. However, even with people you know well talking about sex can be and awkward conversation. While I was in Europe I looked at a few sex shops, one of which was three levels, and I always found it really interesting to see what the Europeans were into. I personally still do no understand the candy bras or panties because the candy will just get wet from trying to eat it and then make everything sticky. Also, who has the patience in that scenario to eat all the candy. There is lingerie that does a much better job. Anyway, I appreciated the Europeans openness. I also experienced how forthcoming the women can be, and in some cases I felt like I had to be the conservative one and that the girls were the ones making most the moves. Not to say it was just me, I think it was just because of the culture, and possibly because I was foreign. 

AMD 5

Apart from pretzels and bratwurst, I was curious about other German food. Some German folk tales are even about food, like Hansel and Gretel, and after WWI and WWII there were huge food shortages where many people were starving. In the north, there are a few traditional soups, such as eel or vegetable stew. In the center there are a lot of bread and cereal made from Buckwheat and Rye, one favorite dish is pears, green beans, and bacon. I at least do not understand how pears and bacon can go together, in a meal. The middle of the country is famous for its white asparagus and its pumpernickel bread. However, it seems that the Germans like their pork, for instance there is a mustard ham that is famous all over Germany. Additionally, Germans love their sausages. This disappoints me a little bit because I do not eat pork, and it's a little saddening when most of a countries signature dishes involve pork because then I cannot try them out.

However, they do have a Black Forest cherry cake and a cherry brandy from the Black Forest area. I would really like to try these because cherries are very big here in Michigan since Michigan is the largest cherry exporter in the world. This could be due to Germans who came over here because there is a large German population in Michigan.


http://www.foodbycountry.com/Germany-to-Japan/Germany.html#b

AMD 4

Today I read a few articles on how Germans feel about having the best performing economy in the eurozone, and how they feel about bailing out other countries, most notably Greece. The first article I read said that only 53% of Germans seemed to be against the bailout, which to me was very surprising because I expected there to be many more Germans. However, the last article I read, which was not dated, quoted a German man saying that about two thirds of the people in Germany oppose the bailout, which to me makes more sense. I am curious however if they know how much they rely on these other countries, mostly like Spain and Italy, and if that plays a large roll in their decision. Because, if all the other major economies are not doing well, then Germany will most likely follow because they rely heavily on exports. Another interesting thing was that A.M. was starting to lose favor within her own party over the bailout issue, and there are almost enough people in her party that are voting against the bailout, that she will possibly have to start relying on the opposing party to keep bailing out Greece.

One of the most interesting things I learned though, was that while all the other economies around them have been seeing declines and recessions, Germany has seen growth. The reason stated was that due to some prior reforms when the global recession began, Germany quickly turned it around by cutting some pensions, and in return has enjoyed continued growth. This growth has accelerated since many companies are now moving to Germany since they have lower taxes, and the economy has not felt the hardship as those around it.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/26/us-eurozone-germany-poll-idUSTRE81P0BW20120226
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/germans-edge-key-greek-austerity-vote-nears-829606

AMD3

I read the article about the language study and whether different languages have impacts on how one thinks. I found this pretty interesting because I have thought about this question a fair amount in the past. For instance, there are some eskimo languages that have over 50 words to describe the snow, and some tribal languages that do not have a word or adjectives for time. The two differing opinions here were that language changed the way people could think, and that everyone is capable thinking about the same information, but choose not to. However, I agree with both these ideas and consider the later view as a special case of the first statement. Firstly, I do not think that knowing a certain language will deprive someone of a specific piece of knowledge, therefore I would agree with the second school of thought. However, if my brain was trained in such a manner as to use certain senses or specific schools of thought right immediately then I would say that the way I think has been altered by my language. Therefore, I would agree that everyone can talk about a certain piece of information and understand it, but how one comes to this realization of the object or intellect is a path dictated by the constraints of the language. Thus, if my thought process to arrive at the same idea has been altered then I would say, strictly speaking by definition, that a person's thought process was altered by the language and thus his thoughts are influenced by the language. 

AMD2

After watching a few German comedians, as well as some practical joke films I realized that I did not find their sense of humor to be terribly funny. In comparison to American humor, German humor was not as up beat and the people did not seem to have the same amount of energy as American comedians. The German comedians seemed more reserved and lacked much of the body language present in American comedy that gives jokes much more emphasis. Another thing is that the German comedian talked much more about stereotypes from around the world which it seemed the audience did not entirely understand. The German jokes seemed targeted at people who travel and are decently educated, rather than the average person. American humor is based more around actions and everyday experiences that everyone can relate to, like racial stereotypes or sex, but German humor required the audience to have to think about the joke and have prior knowledge about the world, which many Americans lack. As much as I do enjoy an American comedian sweating bricks and watching him crawl all over the floor explaining how his kid acts when his diaper is full, I found the German sense of humor more interesting. Mostly because it does require that bit of intellect and when you actually have to put some energy into understanding the jokes it is much funnier and a bit more rewarding in my opinion. I am a very big fan of sarcasm and the fact that sarcasm requires one to think about what was just said, to firstly figure out if it was sarcasm and then what is meant by it, is much more enjoyable than being told jokes about something vulgar or a common experience that is often too overdone in the first place.

A couple links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=nOtyvaXKEAg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76Gw6OFFMW4

AMD1

I am very interesting in cars, and since Germany has a very good history of car engineering I watched some videos on car history in Germany, as well as cars on the autobahn. It was interesting to find out that German car companies became famous soon after WWII since they were the most developed in car manufacturing. The biggest of these early companies were VW, BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes. It was around that time that VW came out with what was nicknamed the beatle. Still today, the beatle is the most sold car in history and has a huge following of people who remake old beatles and just mess with them in general. Additionally, in the 50s BMW came out with the 3 series which today is BMW's best selling car and an enjoyable drive. Also in the 50s, Mercedes made the first production super car, which was iconic for it's gull wing doors that have been implemented in some of Mercedes newer models as a tribute to that car. Around this time Porsche as well came out with the 911 which today is one of Porsche's flagships and very popular among car enthusiasts. I am not entirely sure however about the fact that a German invented the first car because I have heard different stories about the invention and whereabouts of the invention of the first car. As for videos about the autobahn, they were not terribly interesting because it was just some cars driving around. So it appears that in order to truly experience it, one must actually go there. Below is one of the videos I watched, I skipped from video to video so I do not have them all.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKpw5YvGjEQ