Kultur 4

I found all of the readings for Kultur 4 this week very interesting. The first one I read about the "Two-Wheeled Teutons" was funny because that is similar to how I feel when I ride my bike around campus. Although I would never mow someone over, it is kind of funny that the Germans do not care. After all, pedestrians in the way of bicyclists would be annoying after a while and the pedestrians should not be intruding on the bicyclists' riding area. It would be pretty interesting if not a little funny, too, to be walking down the street and see a man in a suit headed to work riding a bike or a mother bringing her child to school on a bike. It is so rare if not nonexistent to see those things in America, I would probably laugh to myself if I saw that in Germany. I really do like the idea though, it saves a lot of money and gas and is very healthy. I wish I rode my bike more places, and I wish I could ride in any type of clothing I wanted to any occasion without getting weird looks.

Next, I really liked the Red Dictator article and the Street Pong video. I think I really liked this article because it is also so similar to life here in Ann Arbor, especially on campus. Thankfully the rules are not so strict about crossing the road here or I'm sure many people would be unhappy. I know that even if the crosswalk says not to go but there are no cars around or cars a ways down the road I will still cross just to save time waiting. Although its probably not the safest, I will definitely be sure not to do that in Germany. I would hate to risk losing a leg or being scolded by a 5-year-old. Using crosswalks correctly and appropriately is something I will have to remember to do practically anywhere outside Ann Arbor, but especially in Germany. When waiting though, I love the idea of the street pong game. It would definitely save time and make the wait more fun. I think it's neat and a good idea.

I found the other readings interesting and somewhat funny as well, like usual. But because these two articles seemed to relate in a way to life on campus I was most drawn to these two.There is so much to learn and remember before going to Germany!

Willkommen!!

Welcome to our class blog!

We will be using this blog throughout the semester for two kinds of assignments:

1. Once per chapter, the homework plan will direct you to post a response to the culture readings for the chapter on the blog.

2. Roughly every other week, the homework plan will direct you to post here for your Abenteuer mit Deutsch (AMD) assignment. First you do a fun activity that involves German, then you post about it. You should spend an hour total on this (maybe 45-55 minutes doing something, 5-15 minutes posting about it). See Was ist ein AMD, AMD Ideen and Beispiele for ideas. This should get you excited about the kinds of things you can do!

Whenever you post something, please include your name and the name of the assignment (e.g. AMD2, Kultur5) as labels. See "Blog: How To" for more details!