That was the TV announcement headline all night long (and morning). And wählen we did!
The perspective from Göttingen was perhaps a little less exciting than what I saw in Chicago on TV--no screaming masses or even horn-honks as are quite normal for the football (soccer) season (even late at night). I debated getting dressed and going into town around 4 AM, but then remembered that I have no bike now and buses don't run late, and it didn't really seem worth it since there probably wouldn't be many people up and about. And I was very comfortable reading and working at home.
So far I have yet to meet a single person who didn't seem excited that we've chosen a new direction. Not surprising as some 80% of Germans are pro-Obama. I actually don't know who the other 20% is, but I imagine some bit of that is from psycho-neo-Nazis in the hills somewhere. Fortuntely Germany has a lot fewer of those than the US (and Tennessee in particular).
The news coverage was rather complete, but I found it very funny to be watching German commentators who are clearly not used to American-style elections. Every 5 minutes or so there was a review of the Electoral College system and shocked faces discussing the long lines and historic-yet-pathetic voter turnout. (Germany has manditory voter registration and turnout is apparently usually in the 80-90% region. The thought of long lines and voting machines is also foreign and apparently un-democratic in my critical German friends' eyes. And German elections are on Sundays--FINALLY! so this is what people here do on Sundays!)
I'm going to have to rewatch the speeches sometime as they were voiced-over so loud that I basically couldn't hear the original English. It's very odd because the German was off by a few seconds and if I started to listen to it I couldn't easily go back to the English without missing some. So eventually I gave up and just listened to the German. And they talked during the Pledge and Anthem. Not amused here!
As an aside, German elections are very boring. I think people here must have been a little relieved to have some excitement. Germans don't actually get to vote for the Chancellor, but insead vote for Bundestag (Parliment) members and for a political party. The winners of votes go to Parliment as well as about as many party-chosen officials. The entire thing seems silly and complicated to me, but the Germans like it that way apparently. It also makes the system very un-popular in the sense that German politicians have no incentive to cater directly to the general population with populist promises. Very important when you remember what happened to the Weimar Republic in the 1930's.
Also, some phrases from the night:
"Wir wollen ein bißchen vorsichtig sein..." -- that is, Germans hate risk. They refused to call it at 4 when it was clear all Obama needed was CA and WA.
"Gänsehautmoment" -- goose-skin moment. This became very boring after about five uses.
Any state name, esp. New Jersey, prounounced by the German announcers.
Showing posts with label volk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label volk. Show all posts
6.11.08
9.10.08
Zufällige Treffen
Reading about a friend's experiences have made me realize I've actually had a lot of nice interactions with random people here:
When I first arrived, I met a woman and her mother out by the apple orchard on top of the ridge above the city. She noticed my Target bag that I kept on my bike to keep the rain off my seat and asked me if I had been to the US recently. I told her I was from the US and she said she spend some time in California when she was at University. It was very brief and very simple, but it was a nice reassurance that things were ok here.
When I was in the hospital my roommate was a rather old man from far out in the country. I at first tried to ignore him, but soon we were talking about things and keeping each other company during the long hospital afternoons. He had his knee replaced and a few days before I did. He was from a totally different background and had an attitude that I probably would have found annoying if I had been with him longer, but at the time it was nice to have someone to talk to and we managed to get along in German quite well. It was one of those friendships sustained by mutual hardship, but it was nice at the time.
On the train coming home from Regensburg, I met two couples--the wives were sisters--who live in Bavaria but are from Hessen. They were in the handicapped car because one of the husbands had a broken arm. We had a lovely conversation about Germany and they made me eat some of the chocolate and crystallized ginger they had with them. I really enjoyed their company and we exchanged email addresses when I was leaving. I haven't emailed them, but next time I'm in Bavaria I might just....
The guy who cleans sometimes is from an African country and speaks both German and French. I try to talk to him whenever I see him.
I met a guy once on the bus and had a nice conversation about work and Germany. His son worked at a chemical factory and he was excited when I said I worked at the MPI. I think his son might have been there for some time. A lady who was sitting across from us chimed in several times. It so nice that people are ok talking to strangers on the bus. I wish I were more ok with initiating conversations though. Sigh.
When I first arrived, I met a woman and her mother out by the apple orchard on top of the ridge above the city. She noticed my Target bag that I kept on my bike to keep the rain off my seat and asked me if I had been to the US recently. I told her I was from the US and she said she spend some time in California when she was at University. It was very brief and very simple, but it was a nice reassurance that things were ok here.
When I was in the hospital my roommate was a rather old man from far out in the country. I at first tried to ignore him, but soon we were talking about things and keeping each other company during the long hospital afternoons. He had his knee replaced and a few days before I did. He was from a totally different background and had an attitude that I probably would have found annoying if I had been with him longer, but at the time it was nice to have someone to talk to and we managed to get along in German quite well. It was one of those friendships sustained by mutual hardship, but it was nice at the time.
On the train coming home from Regensburg, I met two couples--the wives were sisters--who live in Bavaria but are from Hessen. They were in the handicapped car because one of the husbands had a broken arm. We had a lovely conversation about Germany and they made me eat some of the chocolate and crystallized ginger they had with them. I really enjoyed their company and we exchanged email addresses when I was leaving. I haven't emailed them, but next time I'm in Bavaria I might just....
The guy who cleans sometimes is from an African country and speaks both German and French. I try to talk to him whenever I see him.
I met a guy once on the bus and had a nice conversation about work and Germany. His son worked at a chemical factory and he was excited when I said I worked at the MPI. I think his son might have been there for some time. A lady who was sitting across from us chimed in several times. It so nice that people are ok talking to strangers on the bus. I wish I were more ok with initiating conversations though. Sigh.
Im Prinzip...
Generalities ahead!
Germans are very idealistic thinkers. They think about everything as it should be were everything to proceed according to plan and schedule. This kind of thinking causes them to the use the phrase, "Im Prinzip..." or "In principle..." very often. It might be their favorite phrase after Alles klar and Alles in Ordnung. It is not uncommon at all for every few sentences from a German to begin with this phrase. And it lets other Germans know that they are well prepared and thinking logically (Logisch!) with the side benefit of providing insurance for them when something doesn't go according to the plan: Im Prinzip, es sollte geklappt haben. (In principle, it should have worked.)
Germans are very idealistic thinkers. They think about everything as it should be were everything to proceed according to plan and schedule. This kind of thinking causes them to the use the phrase, "Im Prinzip..." or "In principle..." very often. It might be their favorite phrase after Alles klar and Alles in Ordnung. It is not uncommon at all for every few sentences from a German to begin with this phrase. And it lets other Germans know that they are well prepared and thinking logically (Logisch!) with the side benefit of providing insurance for them when something doesn't go according to the plan: Im Prinzip, es sollte geklappt haben. (In principle, it should have worked.)
9.8.08
Freiheit
I've decided that Germans, and maybe Europeans in general, are a lot more concerned with matters of freedom and human rights than (as they would say) US-Americans.
This struck me as really strange at first--first of all, it was a little bit weird to be around people very vocally concerned about other nations' freedom and rights, and once I got used to it and began to appreciate it as something I should expect, I wondered just how the United States--mind, the 'land of the free and the brave' and 'give me your tired, your poor'--got flipped about so much. And not just concerning our own problems with human rights--I'm betting the nicer questioning methods in Guantanamo are worse than anything China has been doing recently--but also with respect to our ignorance and apathy of the problems being faced across the globe--problems that may or may not be directly traceable back to us and our self-absorbed ways.
A more-or-less impromptu Tibet-freedom protest in the city center. Does this look like anything that could ever happen in the United States? These are normal, middle class people! Not college kids, not angry teenagers (although, goodness knows, germany has enough of those!), not crazy liberal hippies!
I feel a little ashamed that I don't actually know that much about the China-Tibet conflict or the genocide in Darfur or any of the other major human rights issues currently raging (http://www.amnesty.org is helping with the ignorance--why wasn't i made to attend more amnesty events?! i only know half of last years board!). I don't know what the best solutions are, but I think I've started to pick up a little bit of German disgust with US-Americans' apathy though.
This struck me as really strange at first--first of all, it was a little bit weird to be around people very vocally concerned about other nations' freedom and rights, and once I got used to it and began to appreciate it as something I should expect, I wondered just how the United States--mind, the 'land of the free and the brave' and 'give me your tired, your poor'--got flipped about so much. And not just concerning our own problems with human rights--I'm betting the nicer questioning methods in Guantanamo are worse than anything China has been doing recently--but also with respect to our ignorance and apathy of the problems being faced across the globe--problems that may or may not be directly traceable back to us and our self-absorbed ways.
A more-or-less impromptu Tibet-freedom protest in the city center. Does this look like anything that could ever happen in the United States? These are normal, middle class people! Not college kids, not angry teenagers (although, goodness knows, germany has enough of those!), not crazy liberal hippies!I feel a little ashamed that I don't actually know that much about the China-Tibet conflict or the genocide in Darfur or any of the other major human rights issues currently raging (http://www.amnesty.org is helping with the ignorance--why wasn't i made to attend more amnesty events?! i only know half of last years board!). I don't know what the best solutions are, but I think I've started to pick up a little bit of German disgust with US-Americans' apathy though.
23.7.08
18.7.08
liebe tiere
ok, so germans apparently really love animals. there are animal tv shows everywhere and a lot of people have dogs or cats--there are at least three right around my apartment, that i've seen at least. i also discovered on a bike ride the other day the tierefriedhof and tiereheim that are on the outskirts of town. they have a lot of cats and i'm going to go some weekday and see if i can play with them. i've been avoiding taking random pictures of people's pets.. the leash kind anyway, but i have a few of the non-leashed variety:
eine grasessende schaf im kleingarten!
ein paar pferde. sie waren ein bißchen schüchtern als ich kame.
ein großes schwein--schlafend im schatten.
ein paar böche (?). auch ein weißer bock!
hehe, kein natürliches tier. there were quite a few of these interesting esel in one town in the northwest.
eine grasessende schaf im kleingarten!
ein paar pferde. sie waren ein bißchen schüchtern als ich kame.
ein großes schwein--schlafend im schatten.
ein paar böche (?). auch ein weißer bock!
hehe, kein natürliches tier. there were quite a few of these interesting esel in one town in the northwest.
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