AMD 5 & 6

AMD 5
For AMD 5, ich bin am Ariadne auf Naxos gegangen. Die Aufführung war sehr interessant, aber die Schauspieleren haben sehr schnell gesungen. They were difficult to understand without looking at the subtitles. However, there were some phrases which I could understand, which made it really cool to try to figure out what was being said without referencing the subtitles.


AMD 6
For AMD 6, I visited the website reddit.com, a social media website. Specifically, I visited the subreddit /r/de (reddit.com/r/de), a section of the site "Für alle Deutschsprachler". I intended to look for an interesting article title and try to read the article, but in the dozens of articles posted the majority of them appeared to be about something going on with a "Telekom". I chose one, and tried to figure out what was going on based on the article at: http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/internet-tarife-roesler-moniert-datenbremse-der-telekom-12161118.html. The article presents an advanced level of German, but I understood enough of several sentences to grasp what the article is reporting. "Die von der Deutschen Telekom geplanten neuen Internet-Tarife" appears to indicate that a German telecom or telecoms are planning to introduce new Internet-tariffs. The word "Netzneutralität" appears twice, which suggests that there is an issue over how Net-Neutrality will be affected by this new tariff.

It is interesting to see how large the reaction on this particular site was to this new tariff, but it is comforting at least to know that the American telecoms do not have a monopoly on squeezing as much money as possible from consumers.

AMD 4

As I prepare for my summer internship with the Ohio Light Opera, I get the enormous honor of performing a rarely produced Viennese opperetta by famed Austrian composer Johann Strauss Jr. The opera is titled Der Zigeunerbaron and is a delightful show permeated with toe tapping melodies and sweeping Viennese walzes. In the opera I will be playing Baron Kalman Zsupan, a rich Hungarian pig farmer whos daughter being pursued by a rich German. In this opera Strauss really delved into the exoticism that Austria found with its new found partner Hungary. It often over exaggerates the gypsy melodies and absurd Hungarian red-neck qualities. But its really a great show and I can definitely see why the citizens of Vienna where singing in the streets when it premiered in 1885. What a delightful show. If you have the chance, stop by Wooster Ohio this summer. I'll be there.

Kulture Text 4

In my own weird way, I can relate to German cyclists. As a native Detroiter, if one is brave enough to go out without a car, the sidewalks are basically yours. When I was growing up I would ride my bike everywhere in my neighborhood. Who needed a car, when the streets and sidewalks were constantly deserted and there was little risk of being hit. That all changed when I took my bike to Chicago for a weekend. I had almost no room and after a day of almost being killed every which way I looked I decided to get a subway pass. I understand being pampered, wanting to take over the road with the bike. Next time I head to Germany I definitely intend to rent, or bring a bike if I can.

AMD 3

For my third AMD I decided to write about the Schubert Lieder that I'm currently working on. Its called "Nacht und Traume" and is a hauntingly beautiful setting of a text by Matthaus von Collin. It speaks of the holy and mystical night, consuming the man's mind as the sun sinks down. It talks about how the twilight stars inspire beauty and sadness, always making man ponder his own existence. Personally it is such a theraputic song. The melody is gorgeous, and every time I sing it, I meditate on every word and what it means. Its a great excercise for learning some obscure, poetry worthy german words. But most of all its a pleasure to re-live Schubert through his music.

Kulture Text 5

I have so many memories of pushy Germans during my travels in Europe. It was funny reading the article because, I had no idea that these stereotypes were deep enough to be blatantly put in print as though they were a tourist guide. Anyway, when my friends Chealsea, Sam and I were heading to our Hostel we of course were being dopey American tourists with our luggage. I only had a backpack though. Chealsea was way over bagged and Sam had an extra bag. Anyway the first day we were in Berlin, we were getting on the subway to head to our Hostel and oh my god did we get shoved around on that Subway. People didn't even let us walk on to the Subway they rather shoved us on and then ran for the open seats. We ended up taking the subway for 20 min standing up in a packed Subway with people feeling all up on us. I thought it was just a crazy day for the Subway, or maybe it was just Berlin. But no, apparently it was just Germany.

Sabrina Walker Kultur 6

I liked the newspaper Bild Zeitung. I found it very interesting that it had news stories, sports, gossip, and drawn out gossip at that. It as though this newspaper is every magazine put together. I like that you only one paper to read everything you need to know. Germans always having the door close only goes along with other culture readings we have done this semester. In Germany everyone keeps the door close, you must knock once loudly and then enter the room. This is abnormal for Americans but very typical for Germans. Germans are very big on recycling, and organized  There are multiple bins such as, ones for white glass, one for brown glass, paper, organic waste and more. There are Germans who are religious about separating their recyclables  The new fad for young people is to rebel and mix the waste. It is nice to know the majority of Germans are eco-friendly.

AMD 2

So, the movie Downfall was put on Netflix last week and I decided to watch it with a couple of friends who were spending the night. Downfall is a German film about Hitler's last days and a precise retelling of how the third reich fell apart in its last moments. Although obviously Hitler was an evil man, it was very interesting to watch the genuine disappointment of his followers. Though their mission was aggressive, it is difficult not to be sympathetic to the people affected by this madman's ambitions  There are many awkward moments throughout the movie, and a fair deal of harsh language. But overall I felt he movie was an unbiased, honest and powerful exploration of one of Germany's darkest times.

AMD 1

So, this semester I am in an opera by German composer Richard Strauss called Ariadne auf Naxos. It will be performed in April and is completely sung in German. This is my first German opera, and to be honest it is absolutely fascinating to look at opera from a German perspective as opposed to Italian or English. Germans have a great sense of humor, and being that Ariadne is a parody of Opera Seria and Buffa, it is a great view to the German experience. Strauss and Hoffmansthall are quite critical of the Italians and their fluffyness, wanting instead to explore deep, complex emotions. Either way. It is a way to look at german that I don't think many people will ever get to experience.

Sabrina Walker AMD 1

For this AMD I found German recipes. Though I was looking  more for dinner ideas I found amazing dessert recipes. Cheesecake made with quark is very popular throughout Germany.  Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest cake, made with cherries is a well-known example of the wide varities of German tortes filled with whip cream and butter. This cake looks amazing and I am looking for the recipe.  Rote Grütze also sounds very good and interesting. It is a red fruit pudding made with almost every red fruit imaganable. It is served with cream or vanilla sauce. There are two other variations of this pudding, Grüne Grütze and Rhabarbergrütze.

Kulture Text 6

One of the things that I have found most interesting, is the German's recycling efforts as compared to ours. For some reason I always thought America was the innovator of and leader of the green revolution with its many green contributions such as solar and wind energy. But of course that was too good to be true and, thinking back to my week in Germany, I do remember being surprised at the complexity of the trash. Its amusing how proud americans feel when they recycle their bottles for cash, they think they're doing so much to save the earth. We could obviously take a leaf from Germany's book.
Another thing that I have often found difficult to deal with in America is entering doors. I almost prefer the German way of doing it. It prevents any awkwardness and establishes an instant air of professionalism if executed properly. I certainly can remember some instances when it would have been better to have just barged in rather than blubber around like an idiot. Kuddos Germany.

Sabrina Walker AMD 6

For this AMD I decided to research children's games. A popular game I found was

Topfschlagen. The object of the game is for a child to find a hidden cooking pot blindfolded. The child is blindfolded and allowed to use a spoon to try and touch objects and determine if they are the pot. Other children tell the searcher if they are "hot" or "cold". When the child finds the pot, there is candy underneath it. This was one of only a few games that differ from American childhood games.

Sabrina Walker AMD 5

For this AMD I decided to look  up German philosophers because I enjoy philosophy. I found Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz a philosopher in the 17th century. He was known for his optimism, especially for  Théodicée. In this book he explains that the imperfections in the world are just. He further explains that God could not have built a world of imperfections if a better world was known to him. The imperfections in the world we are living with today must exist in any and every other world out there because God otherwise he would have created a world without those imperfections. I really like this optimistic view on life and will continue to read some of his work. 

Sabrina Walker AMD 4

For this AMD I decided to research German authors. I love reading, it is one of my favorite hobbies. When searching google for "famous German authors" I stumbled across Patrick Süskind. He writes fiction novels and screen plays. His book "Perfume" sounds like a great read, and I would love to read it. It is about a man who was born with no scent. He follows and murders virgins to find the perfect scent. He finally finds a virgin who has the scent we has been looking for. This book sounds very interesting, but very different. 

Sabrina Walker AMD 3

For this AMD I decided to research German poetry. I very much enjoy reading and writing poems so I decided to explore the differences between American and German poetry. I found many poems I liked, and I apparently really like JOHANN  WOLFGANG VON GOETHE poetry. My two favorite peoms by him I will post here. In the German poems I found, even others that were not by Johann, all had a great start but the ending lines were sad. I thought the poem was going to end just like it began but it was the total opposite. I like this because most American poems are either very happy or very sad, noting in between. The German poems have a mixture of both, which is something I've never really encountered before. I like the twist at the end of these poems, they really make the reader think about the poet's thoughts.

OLD KING’S LOVE BY JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

Es war ein alter König,

Sein Herz war schwer, sein Haupt war grau;

Der arme alte König,

Er nahm eine junge Frau.

Es war ein schöner Page,                                           

Blond war sein Haupt, leicht war sein Sinn;

Er trug die seidne Schleppe

Der jungen Königin.

Kennst du das alte Liedchen?

Es klingt so süß, es klingt so trüb’!                              

Sie mußten beide sterben,

Sie hatten sich viel zu lieb.

Lovely Water Lily

Im Wasser wogt die Lilie, die blanke, hin und her,

Doch irrst du, Freund, sobald du sagst, sie schwanke hin und her:

Es wurzelt ja so fest ihr Fuß im tiefen Meeresgrund,

Ihr Haupt nur wiegt ein lieblicher Gedanke hin und her!

AMD-? Dean Chenensky

For this AMD I watched the movie Metropolis by Fritz Lang. The movie is an expressionist science fiction film published in 1927. The movie was very ahead of its time, featuring vastly advanced methods of cinematography and special effects. However, initial response was mixed. In later years, full cuts of the film were impossible to find, and many began to realize the films achievements. It was only in 2008 that a full cut of the film was found, and even then there are two small sections missing.

The film is silent, but includes German screens. If you want to see the film you can find it here, with German and English subtitles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TraX8i6a_UY

AMD-4 Dean Chenensky

For this AMD I compared news articles from German and American sources on the subjects of the Boston Bombing. I noticed that in the German article there was less assumed information. In the American articles there were many more “facts” stated that seemed more like assumptions, while in the German article there were just facts about what happened and what was currently known. 

AMD-3 Dean Chenensky

For this AMD, I looked up a few German children’s songs. The results were somewhat startling. Many of the songs seemed morbid and very scary. In comparison I believe that American children’s songs seem to be much more tame, or symbolic if they are macabre. As an example there was one German song about a criminal who killed people and sold their flesh as pork which goes like this

 Warte, warte nur ein Weilchen,

bald kommt Haarman auch zu Dir!

Mit dem kleinen Hackebeilchen

macht er Hackefleisch aus Dir!

Yes, the last line means “he will hack you into pieces.”

Kultur-text 6- Closed doors

Something I've noticed a lot in college dorms is how often doors stay open. I personally like the idea of eating my door closed. Especially when I'm working or relaxing I find it somewhat distracting to see people going by. However I do understand why people who are more extroverted want to see everyone who goes by. Unfortunately this has the adverse effect of telling the rest of the world what they are doing. It is relatively common for those with doors open to blast music and tv throughout the halls. it seems that this desire to intrude on the lives of others in the hallway also includes a desire to intrude on the lives of others in the hall.

AMD 6, Chloe Nolingberg

For my AMD I decided to look up some German movies on Netflix. I picked a movie called "Summer Storm" which was in German but provided English subtitles. However, there were a few German movies that sounded good that I'd love to come back and watch when I don't have so much other homework. I wanted to only watch about 45 minutes of the movie but I ended up liking it a lot and watching the whole thing. I thought the movie was really good. It also provided some insight into certain aspects of German culture. It was strange to see kids drinking beers alongside their sports coaches at camp, and I had to remind myself that that is normal there. Although the movie provided English subtitles and I did have to use them, I still could recognize certain vocabulary words and was even able to recognize the Perfekt tense and new aspects of grammar that we have been learning in class. I feel that although I would have struggled without the subtitles, I would have still been able to follow the plot and know what was going on for close to most of the time. I really enjoyed watching the German film and I will probably start watching more in German. I feel like it not only was enjoyable but I was learning and my listening skills will probably become better with the more I listen to German speaking as well.