Kultur 1

For Kultur 1, I first read over the Spiegel article, "What Discipline? Of German Lines and Pythons." The German attitude toward standing in lines was very surprising given their strict and ordly reputation here in the States. Reading over the article I was taken back to a conversation I had with a German student who was fascinated with Americans' tendency to form lines for everything. According to him, because punctuality is valued so highly in Germany, it takes precedent over any orderly ways to wait for something. In other words, if a group of Germans were waiting at a bus stop, most would take an "every man for himself" attitude toward boarding the bus, even if the frenzy would probably slow the bus down. I found the suggestions the article gave to those trying to avoid Germans "cutting" them to be very general, but also strange to the point of  being comedic. I am sure just as few people would appreciate me wearing garlic at a bus stop in the United States as in Germany, and I'd wager just as few would try to get ahead of me if I stared at them malevolently.

Next up, I explored the USA Kulinarisch website and was pleasantly surprised with their opinions of American food and holidays. One article I read described how Americans celebrate the Fourth of July and it was very interesting to see the Germans fascination with family grilling parties. The author also seemed to find the idea of a potluck very intriguing saying "Aus allen Speisen entsteht dann ein bunt gemischtes Buffet." As far as I understand, this means the grouping of different kinds of foods creates a colorful buffett, which actually symbolizes the American cuisine as a whole very well.

The most humorous thing I found in 365 Dinge was that Berlin hosts an air guitar tournament. After researching it a bit more, I found some pretty hilarious videos from the Deutsche Luftgitarrenmeisterschaft.