Kultur 10

Dinner for Who?

I'm trying to understand how a movie can be so momentous for a country. That got me thinking if there was an American alternative. The closest I could think of was Charlie Brown's Christmas. But even then, tons of people don't watch it, I know I have only seen it once. "Dinner for One" was originally a British film, so it is interesting how it gained so much momentum in Germany.

Sorry, We're Closed.

In America, the weekends are the largest shopping days. To think it isn't so in a different country, and even then, they don't stay open into the evening, makes me wonder about how how America's large consumer ideal occurred. In America, everything is open later than Germany, with everything but small shops open on Sundays. We also live in a country with heavy consumerism. It seems that Germany would be less focused on consumerism in America, as they can't get to products as easily, and the companies aren't trying to stay open later. It would be interesting to live in a country where the whole ideal on spending and buying is so vastly different.

Booze Brothers.

Männertag oder Herrentag. I liked how one did not have to be a father to participate in the festivities. It doesn't seem like a celebration of fathers more than an excuse to be crazy and have no one mind. It's almost like Welcome Week compressed into one day for men.

Book Readings:

It sure seems like the Germans like celebrating. Open air Christmas markets, two weeks for Oktoberfest. And the Karneval. There are tons of times to celebrate. I liked how Santa had an assistant. The man is old, after all.

I really like how Switzerland requires students to be bilingual. It is much easier to learn a language when one is young. I would have loved to learn a language when I was younger, or at least try. After ten months in age, one starts to lose the differences in sounds not in ones language, So, the younger one starts, the easier it is to start learning.

I really want to read all of the Grimm's stories. I first learned about them in middle school, and it astonished me how closeted I was when it came to fairy tales. I thought Disney versions were the only kind, but then to find out they were cleaned up versions of Grimm stories was depressing. I've read a fair amount of them so far, and con't wait to finish them.

Molly Range
MoRa