Kapitel 9 Kultur Texte Tamar

Bureaucracy Gone Awry:

This article made me question whether I would ever want to attempt to get a job, or do anything else, in Germany. I find that filling out paper work and doing legal stuff in the United States is bad enough. I cannot imagine living in a place where this is even worse. I'm sure that it is extremely annoying, especially for those who are not accustomed to it. It would take me a while to get used to using one of those three ring binders to collect all of my paperwork.

Love Thy Neighbor:

I find the rules of being a good neighbor in Germany very strange. It surprises me that there are rules such as how often you can barbecue and that one is not allowed to mow their own lawn on a Sunday. I believe that as long as a person is not being excessively noisy, her or she should be allowed to do whatever they want. I also think that it is a bit strange that a person is responsible for pulling at weeds on the sidewalk outside of their house. These rules for being a good neighbor seem very uptight and I would not enjoy having to walk on egg shells around all of my neighbors.

Germany's Patriotism Problem:

The information in this article was not new to me. When I was in Germany I noticed that there is not a lot of flag flying in that country. You rarely see Germany's flag anywhere but in stores selling souvenirs. It is very different from a place like the US where every single office building, school bank and even many homes has a flag flying out front. It is understandable that Germans might have a fear of patriotism considering the evens that happened years ago. If the country believes that the only way to make sure that that does not happen again is to not fly flags, it seems acceptable.

Brennpunkt Kultur:

I find it very interesting learning about Vienna and Austria. I have been to Austria for a short time many years ago and it is a very interesting country. I feel as though many German students really do not hear a lot about Austria or its largest city.