Archive for 'Culture'
German movies: Good-Bye Lenin! Posted by jan on Dec 20, 2011
Today I want to introduce a German movie to you that satirizes some aspects of the German Wiedervereinigung (reunion). The film is called Good-Bye Lenin and the story goes something like this: In 1989, Alex Kerner and his mother Christiane are living in East Berlin. Shortly before the Mauer (wall) falls, Alex`s Mother, who is…
Der Weihnachtsstollen – German Christmas cake Posted by Sandra Rösner on Dec 18, 2011
This post is part of my Advent calendar on Facebook where I publish a post every day that shows a particular German Christmas candy or decoration. I realized that I have much more to say about the “Stollen” than just a few words, thus, I decided to dedicate myself to this topic. The “Stollen” is…
A visit to one of Berlin’s Christmas markets Posted by anja on Dec 11, 2011
Although snow hasn’t reached Berlin yet, when you are out in the city you cannot miss that it’s Christmas time. People may have decorated the trees in their front yards with Christmas balls or electric lights. The city itself has also done some spectacular decoration with the help of its electricity supplier: The linden trees…
German Christmas markets and Advent season Posted by Sandra Rösner on Dec 4, 2011
Today is the zweite Advent (second Sunday in Advent) and there are about only three weeks left to Christmas. So, it is höchste Zeit (hight time) to tell you how Germans spend the Vorweihnachtszeit (pre-Christmas season). In Germany, the official pre-Christmas season starts on the ersten Advent (first Sunday in Advent). Germans render homage to…
German characters: Alexander von Humboldt Posted by jan on Dec 1, 2011
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt was a German Naturwissenschaftler (naturaly scientist) and his fields reached far over European borders. With his complete works, that took more than seven Jahrzehnte (decades), he created a new level of knowledge and reflection regarding the whole world and became a cofounder of geography as a empiric science. Alexander…
German tradition: The Abitur – More than just taking annoying examinations (pt. 2) Posted by Sandra Rösner on Nov 30, 2011
The Abizeitung and Abi-Shirts In order to remember the time of the Abitur, German students usually make a journal and T-shirts. My schoolfellows and I made an Abi-journal under the motto “imprisonment”. We treated each student as an inmate of a prison (our school) and drew up ‘psychological profiles’ which revealed the particular characteristics and interests of students as…
German tradition: The Abitur – More than just taking annoying examinations (pt. 1) Posted by Sandra Rösner on Nov 28, 2011
I’m quite sure that you cover the topic “German school system” at an early stage when you learn German as a foreign language in school. Thus, you may already know that the Abitur is the secondary school leaving examination in Germany, which allows you to apply for university. But I’m not sure if any of…