For my AMD I watched the German film Wings of Desire. It is about an angel in Berlin who chooses to give up his immortality to become a human after falling in love with a trapeze artist.

Throughout the film, there is a theme of seeing life through the eyes of a child. The beginning opens with someone writing "Als das Kind Kind war, wusste es nicht, dass es Kind war." (When the child was a child, the child didn't know that he/she was a child.) This sentence uses a lot of what we've been learning- als for a specific time, dass as a subordinating conjunction, and war as the past tense.
There is a song that comes up a few times, about what children start to wonder:
"Warum bin ich ich
and warum nicht du?
Warum bin ich hier
und warum nicht dort?"

I also noticed some of our new body part vocabulary- die Ohren und die Augen.

Although I liked the premise that there is joy to being human and not being all-knowing (at the end the now human angel writes, "Ich weiss jetzt, was kein Engel weiss."), the film is fairly boring.

For this chapter's AMD I continued reading Einstein's German world. Here are some German terms that were in the text, examplary of the German adherance to logic in creating words.

Nurpersoenliches - the merely personal (something Einstein tried to escape)

Vernunftsrepublikaner - prudential republican
Vernunftreligion - this was associated with a Jew's conversion to Protestantism. Vernunft means reason, so there's some sense of religion by choice or for a purpose (those who converted had more opportunity for professional advancement)

Dunkelmaenner - thug (literally dark man)

Autoritaetsdusel - foolish faith in authority. Einstein called this "the worst enemy of truth." "Im Dusel" in Switzerland (where Einstein had citizenship) can mean in a daze, drowsy, or tipsy.

Stammesgenossen - members of the tribe (think the German department's "Stammtisch"). Einstein used this term for his fellow German Jews rather than the usual Glaubensgenossen, which means co-religionists (Glauben = belief, genossen = comrade), because he considered himself without religion. Stammesgenossen was much less common, and was almost strange sounding.

Spiessbuerger - conformist, Philistene. Literally something like citizen on a skewer.

Sonderweg - own path (recall we learned sondern is something like but rather, and weg=path)

Spaetzle

Last week I made Spaetzle, a small, dense egg noodle. The literal translation of Spaetzle, strangely enough, is "little sparrow." I merely cooked a box of pre-made noodles; traditionally Spaetzle are made by scraping dough off a wooden chopping board ("Spaetzlebrett") into boiling salt water. The dough principally consists of eggs, flour, and salt. Spaetzle may be used in a variety of dishes.

I found the Illogical Logic article interesting- it is indeed illogical to me to use perfect logic as an end rather than as a means for a certain correctness in response, which in the example the article gave would be to help someone get the ticket they need. In a similar way I think it's somewhat nonsensical to speed up in a car to scare a pedestrian breaking a rule, when the rules exist to keep pedestrians safe. I do respect the level of accountability that exists, for example in the transportation system's honor code, and the expectation for honesty.

Einstein's German World

For my third AMD I began reading the historical text Einstein's German World by Fritz Stern. The introduction addresses how in the decades leading up to WWI, Germany was on the ascent to preeminence in Europe. "The only other country at the time growing with similar dynamic energy was the United States...the American century began as the German one ended." The late eighteenth century saw a cultural renaissance in Germany, especially in scientific achievement. 1770-1830 is termed the "Age of Genius" or "Geniezeit." I found this particularly interesting about the word "genie":

"The word “genius” in German has a special overtone, even a tinge of the demonic, a mysterious power and energy; a genius - whether artist or scientist - is considered to have a special vulnerability, a precariousness, a life of constant risk and often close to troubled turmoil."

It's always interesting to learn about the unique connotations of words in other languages, when there can be no precisely equivalent translation.

Thedor Fontane wrote:

Gaben, wer hӓtte sie nicht?

Talente – Spielzeug für Kinder.

Erst der Ernst macht den Mann, erst der Fleiss das Genie.

or

Gifts, who is without them?

Talents - mere toys for children.

Seriousness makes the man, application the genius.

I liked reading the article about the German sense of humor. It's interesting that the style of humor varies in different areas of the country. I most prefer understated/witty humor, like the Hamburger. I also found the Mealtimes in German-speaking countries article interesting, as it touches more on what an average German would eat in a day. (I quickly bore of hearing about Bier). I'm curious as to what der Quark tastes like, a unique German dairy spread. I didn't know that on special occasions or weekends many Germans enjoy coffee and cake around mid-afternoon. I was also a little surprised that the Germans are organic-food obsessed. I guess it makes sense if their selection of fruits and vegetables is as bad is the article makes it sound.

The Metamorphosis

For my second AMD assignment I read The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Gregor, a travelling salesman supporting his parents and sister, awakes one morning to find that he has been transformed (verwandelt) into a giant insect. (The original word is Ungeziefer, which in Middle German literally means "unclean animal not suitable for sacrifice.") Further descriptions imply a sort of beetle. The short story follows the family's changing opinion of Gregor's humanity and growth of their disdain and repulsion, as well as Gregor's internal struggle between human and insect desires. By the end, the family has transformed into three self-sufficient individuals. Gregor's sister specifically undergoes a transformation into womanhood, and at the end "sprang to her feet first and stretched her young body," connoting a metamorphosis.

I enjoyed reading this week's culture assignment. On the Whining, Bitching, and Moaning article - it is probably the German's constant dissatisfaction with the current state of things that drives the country to be the "positive, clean, efficient, functioning country that visitors see." I like the Brutally Honest article, and wish American culture would be more comfortable with honesty and meaning what you say and less concerned with "politeness." Perhaps the "Germanic staredown" on the subway also has something to do with their honesty - if they want to observe someone, I guess they just don't feel a need to hide that, just like they wouldn't hide their opinion. Overall it seems the Germans constantly seek knowledge- what their neighbor is doing, what the person on the subway is doing, what someone's opinion is, what the state of their country is and how it could be better, what the statistics are where someone else comes from, or what can they learn from a documentary. The quest for knowledge is certainly a noble one.

Schultze Gets the Blues

Today I watched Schultze Get the Blues, a quirky and heartwarming story about a recently retired miner in Germany who plays the accordion (Akkordeon), but replaces his polka tunes with a snappier style after hearing Zydeco music on the radio. His newfound fascination takes him to Louisiana, though he doesn't know a word of English.

I recognized many words and phrases, and picked up on some new ones. I noticed that "schoen" was used to say "nice." It also sounded like a phrase using "dunkel" mean "Don't let it get you down," so perhaps dunkel can connote darkness in another way? We recently learned phrases with "zu," and I heard the phrase "zu alt" for "too old" for something. I paid attention to when "kein" or "nicht" was used. I learned that "Herbst" means Autumn, and that "Gruppenfoto" is used for "group photo."

Here's a trailer for the movie! It's very endearing.

How German is American?

As you can guess from my last name (Steigleder), my ancestry is German in origin. Apparently, more Americans claim German ancestry than any other. But my family has never demonstrated any kind of connection to German culture, and I have been envious at times of people I know with ties to, say, Greek or Italian ethnicities that feel very rooted in that identity. It was therefore interesting for me to read "How German is American," not only to learn why the German-American identity has been "submerged," but also to connect to some of the cultural imprints Germans have left on America.

While external pressures like WWI and WWII contributed to the submergence of German-American subculture, I learned that a high degree of heterogeneity stemming from differences in regional and linguistic origins created a lack of a unified and clearly definable German-American community. (The article was right - I indeed have no idea when Steuben Day or German-American Day falls.) In addition, in the twentieth century there was a move away from ethnic pride and a move towards identifying with class, race, and American popular culture.

I was able to connect some of the things I learned in the article to my family. I did not realize that the Upper Midwest was considered the "German Belt." On the map in the article, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin showed high densities of German populations, which are where my relatives are from. The article also talked about how German immigrants, unlike "rootless Americans", felt tied to their land. I thought of my dad's (Karl) family in Iowa, and how his family has stayed in Iowa, and the farm he grew up on is the same land that his brother now lives on and will likely pass on to my cousin. The traditional German virtues that the German-Americans wanted to pass on to America also resonated. This is the quote from Unser Adoptiv-Vaterland in English: "May German diligence, steadfastness, and loyalty continue to be the hallmarks of the German element in the United States and imprint themselves ever more indelibly upon the American national character." I think these qualities have been passed down in my family. And finally, it was cool to learn that early-childhood education, higher education for girls, structured teacher training and certification, and the research university are German concepts, as I value education and am currently a girl at a research university.