Die Mauer hat 25 jahre voher gefallen, aber ist Osst und West ganz einig?

Die Berliner Mauer hat fünf und zwansig jahre voher gefallen. Heute, die Mauer verbotet keine, aber die Unterschieden zwischen Osstdeutschland und Westdeutschland sind viel.

1.   1.    Der Arbeitslosigkeit

Der Arbeitslosenquote in alle Duetschland sind sehr tief, aber im Vergliech zu Westdeutschland, Osstdeutschland hat eine hocher Arbeitslosenquote.

2.     2.  Die Jungendlichen

Westdeutschland hat mehr Jungendlichen als Osstdeutschland. Warum? Ich weiss nicht. Ausser dem,  viele Jungendlichen geht nach Westdeutchlandstadten fur die Arbeit.

3.     3.  Die Kinderbetreuung

Kommunistisches Kultur, in 1980s, sagte die Mutter muss arbeiten. So, die Kinder muss in Kiingetreuung, oder Schule bleiben. Heute Osstdeutschland is nicht Kommunist, aber der Kultur ist ein Arbeitskultur. In Westdeutschland, der Kulture war eine Mutter wer arbeitet ist eine „Rabensmutter“ und viele  Muttern bleiben in der Haus fur Kinder. Heute, mehr Muttern in Osstdeutchland arbeitet als Muttern in Westdeutschland.

Die Mauer fiel fünf und zwansig jahre voher, und Duetschland ist offizielle einig, aber heute es gibt kleine Unterschieden in die Kulturn von „Osstdeutschland“ und „Westdeutschland“. 

Anlass: (hier) 

Deutschland: Freie Universität!

Hast du gewusst? Deutshland hat freie Universität!

Letzte Woche, Deutschuniversitäten haben ganze freie geworden. Mann kann aus Universität ohne Schulgeld gehen! Das is phantastich! Die Universitäten sind sehr weitwert und intelligent. Du kannst eine tollen Ausbildung ohne Geld bezahlen haben.

Hier, aus Amerika, Universitäten sind sehr teuer. Sie brauchen mehr Schulgend als Deutschland—40K in eine Jahr! Das ist schwer. Mit eine phantasticher Ausbildung und keine Schulgeld, sind Deustcheruni am besten? Ich weiss nicht. 

Oktoberfest

Hallo, alles!

September ist fast fertig; Oktober kommt. In Deutschland, Oktober had ein sehr important Festival: Oktoberfest!

Oktoberfest ist in München, in Bavaria, und jeder Jahr, millionen kommen. Das Festival ist in eine Platz heist Theresienwiese, und es ist am erste Sonntag von Oktober.

Oktoberfest had viele guten essen; Schweinebraten, Steckerlfisch,  Brezen und wursten (Weisswurst, vor allem),  Knödel, Sauerkraut und Blaukraut. Deutschessen ist sehr lecker und München hat die beste Bier--diese Sommer, ein Junge mir sprach die Beste Bier ist Hofbrauhaus in München. 

Es ist eine glücklich zeit for Deutschland!

(Ich habe Hunger...ich wunsche ich wohne in München.) 

Code Name Verity

There are some books that you like. There are books that you love. There are books that, sometimes, on the rare occasion, you cry over.

And then--once in five blue moons--there's the books that gut you so hard that you can't cry, that you sit facing the wall, rendered completely speechless. The characters still gouge deep in you, and you. Simply. Can't.

This is a WWII book and it isn't. It's a war book and it isn't. It, however, is 100% a friendship story.

Here's a book called Code Name Verity.

Here's the jacket cover summary of the book:

"I have two weeks. You’ll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.

That’s what you do to enemy agents. It’s what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine — and I will do anything, anything, to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again.

He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort. And I’m going to. But the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France — an Allied Invasion of Two.

We are a sensational team"

There is a girl. A Scottish spy named Verity, who escaped the night the plane her friend was flying crashed into France. She is caught by the Gestapo. Given a choice: confess everything about the British War Effort, and be given time to write the confession, or be tortured.

She confesses--with the story of how she ended up in the wreckage, the story of Verity and her best friend, the pilot of that plane--Maddie Brodatt.

And what a confession it is. But she's tortured anyway.

What caught me was how beautifully the novel was constructed. The author could have made it dark, depressing, terrifying. She could have emphasized torture and Nazism. And she didn't. Her German interrogators spared her no mercy, but they were far from inhuman, almost comparable to the characters from The Book Thief. But while it spared the reader details, it also managed not to mitigate the darkness of the book. And I have no idea how she did that.

It was also funny. Of course, I'd get asked, "It's a WWII book where a girl gets tortured--how is it funny?" But the main character is Scottish and foul-mouthed, and her Hitler jokes, wrangled into her confession, are simply fabulous. Bonus--I understood every German sentence in that book.

In the end, it wasn't just a WWII story--it was a story of friendship, of a painstakingly-crafted confessions with devastating endings.

German Updates: Kick-Butt songs

People. People, people.

Today, I have a few awesome songs to share. See, a few days, my German teacher played this one song that basically is playing ON REPEAT on my browser's next tab over.

It's called Pirate, by the German band Kasalla. Basically, these are five awesome dudes from Cologne, singing about....you know, pirates. Could it get any better? 

(Side note: I have the chorus down. Of course, I have close to zero idea what it means--other than "Pirate, wild und frei!"--but I'm blasting it and singing along and trying to stick a Cologne accent down my throat.) 

Which...led me to some other awesome German music. 

A) MORE KASALLA.

Immer Noch Do:

Küm mer lääve:

And after poking around Youtube a little bit, I found another band: Silbermond!

Teil Von Mir:

Here's the thing: I've heard that Germans are quite practical IRL. But when it comes to creativity and art? They're not afraid to let their party animal out. Not to mention that I LOVE their music styles. And though I still don't understand many German songs by lyrics, I still like them. Spanish songs always seemed to be about two things: fiesta, or love (count the times "corazon" is mentioned in a Spanish love song), and I liked them, but I wanted other songs, too. While American songs are dominated by redundant pop songs, German songs are quite refreshing--they're quirky, they're innovative, and they're creative. 

Southern Y'alls and New York Accents: the German Edition

We know about it here in the States. Down south are the wide Southern accents, the "y'alls" and the wide syllables. I live in Chicago, and a few months ago, at a debate tournament, people from Kentucky commented on my Chicago accent--the narrower words, the nasal tone. There's also the New York accent--the cute curl at the tip of each word, the soft, crisp edges of each sharp syllable.

It's the same in Germany, and in the German-speaking parts of Europe. One from northern Germany may not perfectly understand someone from southern Germany, and someone from east Germany may not understand another from Switzerland.

This video might offer a bit of insight into the different dialects:

Basically, there are three kinds of German spoken in Germany:

Source: Link

Source: Link

Hochdeutsch: Known as "High German", this is what is generally accepted as the standard German, and the German that is taught to foreigners. It is the language spoken in Southern Germany, around the Alps. Dialects include the Bavarian dialect and parts of the Austrian dialect. S consonants are pronounced like "sch" and Rs are rolled.

Mittledeutsch: Known as "Middle German", this is the dialect that is spoken in central German, around cities like Frankfurt, Cologne, or Dresden.

Niederdeutsch/Plattdeutsch: Known as "Low German", this dialect is usually spoken in northern Germany. (Though Berlin is included, the city is known to speak a form of Hochdeutsch or standard German). S consonants are pronounced like "ss-", instead of "sch-", and Rs may or may not be rolled. "Platt" here refers to the lowlands (which are flat), but I would assume that the dialect here also sounds slightly flatter than Hochdeutsch. Sometimes, the Plattdeutsch dialect has a connotation of being improper, but in most cases it refers to the dialect spoken in Northern Germany.


This interests me-here in the States, usually a Southern accent is noted as being "improper", while the way of speaking in the north is the standard "American English" taught to foreigners. Exactly the opposite of Germany! However, America is not very much known for its diversity of dialects--other than the prominent Southern dialects, the differences between the other American dialects are not quite noticeable. It's almost guaranteed that someone from opposite ends of the country would be able to understand each other perfectly. It also is quite interesting to see how clearly the dialect divides are lined; if only America could be so organized!

Sometimes I wish I lived in Europe

It's not really a childlike wish as much as it is a contemplative thought.

What is America, you say? Ask any coy European and they have a list to playfully strike you down.

Fat. Cheerful. Overworked burnouts. Rude. Insensitive. Ignorant. Unorganized. Bland.

It's...true. And not.

When I think of culture, I think European before anything else. I think of castles older than my country. I think of sprawling museums with relics of the past, paintings that give a window into what life was long ago. I think impressive architecture, long histories and bloody feuds that sustained between infamous families.

My country doesn't have that kind of feel. America was created to be stripped of bias and tyranny. America is production, not preservation. Individual achievements over community benefit. Making the new, and tossing the old.

Culture? If diversity were a culture...

We are a melting pot. We identify ourselves with nothing that's the same but "American"--and in the loosest sense, it means that our strongest sense of pride is in that one word that our country is named after. That's our strongest link, but by no means a close, communal one.

Europeans have nations, but they also have traditions, and cultures that transcend national barriers. Regional bonds and familial traditions are tighter than any country label they have. Europeans are fond of preservation and history, dedicated to traditions.

Americans don't have an identity; they must make one for themselves.

Yes. Americans can be greedy and materialistic. Americans can be offensive. Americans can be the sweaty, exaggerated, fanny-pack travelers that they Europeans snicker at behind their backs. They may not be graceful explorers.

But keep in mind; next time you see an American huffing and puffing up the narrow stairs to the castletop, or squinting at a Louvre painting, or taking pictures after pictures of the rustic arches of the Roman forum, know that a part of them is trying to seek and capture a beautiful, tangible culture that they long for, but don't have.