The Last Supper: Bier!

Haaaaaalllllllloooooo!!!

How is everyone doing? This will be the last blog for German Food & Culture. So, naturally I saved the best for last: German Beer. The Germans have perfected the tasty drink and Germany is constantly associated with great beer. The Germans even have a 16 day festival dedicated to drinking beer and socializing. This famous festival is known as Oktoberfest.

Oktoberfest is a 16 day festival held from late September to the first week of October. It is a celebration of beer and the coming of Fall. It is held in Bavaria in the major city of Munich.  Historically, it started as a festival to celebrate the marriage of Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese. Oktoberfest has very strict rules regarding the Beer. The beer MUST be brewed within the city limits of Munich. The beer must be brewed to certain and very specific expectations.
These are the breweries that can produce Oktoberfest Beer:

-Hacker-Pschorr-Bräu
-Augustiner-Bräu
-Löwenbräu 
-Paulaner-Bräu
-Spatenbräu
-Staatliches Hofbräu-München

However, these breweries and delicious beer can only be found in Munich. But you can still get delicious imported beer here in Seattle! Located in Pike Place right next to the original Starbucks, is a wonderful Bavarian market. This market is appropriately called "Bavarian Meat Delicatessen". There are great Hefeweizen's, Weissbeir, Pilsner, Dunkles, and Altbier!

So check it out!!

The world is obsessed with German beer, especially the United States. I mean, being able to drink at 16 in Germany?!! What?!?! That's awesome!! So in many parts of the world, one can find a nice German beer and one sip will make you feel like you're on top of the mountain tops overlooking Munich, or maybe laughing and talking with some strangers you just met at Oktoberfest.

Overall, there is one thing that is constantly true about beer:

Beer makes the world go 'round!

The UW Germanics Department: A Brief History on Denny Hall

The very first thing people learn on their freshman campus tour at University of Washington in Seattle is that Denny Hall is the oldest building on UW soil.

Denny Hall is my favorite building on the university's campus; and I'm not just saying that because I am a Germanics major. When I first set foot on UW ground, Denny Hall was the first building that caught my eye. I marveled at its bavarian style architecture. During the three years I have attended UW, Denny has been like a miniature portal to my old German world. When I am around it or in it, I feel like I am back in Oldenburg. Denny Hall has become a significant part of my college experience.

Construction on Denny Hall began on the fourth of July of 1894 when a crowd of 1000 people gathered at the University of Washington's new campus for the cornerstone laying of the site's first structure.

With the help of architect Charles W. Saunders, the four stories of Denny hall were constructed within a year. It was  made ouf of Enumclaw cornerstone and pressed brick with terra cotta details.

By September 1895, its 35 rooms were opened to student body of little more than 200 people. It was first called the Administration building and housed six of the university's laboratories, a library with 50 chairs, a museum, and faculty rooms.

Today this building hosts the Germanics and Anthropology department at the University of Washington.

Hilary

Germans in your own home?

For those travelers who wish to see the world on a budget and meet locals along the way couchsurfing remains a very promising option.  If you're not familiar http://www.couchsurfing.org/ is a website that enables hosts and travelers to find people they feel they'd get along with to stay with for a period of time on travels in almost any country and any major city on earth.  While this may sound sketchy to the unknown the website has had very few issues regarding safety, feedback left by other surfers allows people to have an idea of what staying with someone might be like and if they seem trustworthy.  If you would like to meet travelers and make new friends offering up your couch to surfers is a great way to do so.  In my time of offering my couch up on couchsurfing I have met many interesting and friendly people, a majority of which were Germans.


Germans are known for their love of travel and general respect for the countries they visit, and every German person I have hosted has been respectable and a joy to hang out with.  Many German visitors I have had wished to spend time with me and my friends doing what we normally do for fun, and have been great company and provided a great outlet for me to practice my German with a native speaker.  Lots of these German travelers came from work and travel adventures in Canada to see the United States, some of them spent their first day in the US with me and I was always very happy to show them around and provide them with a great experience in Seattle.




















Germans are not the only people you will meet if you offer up your couch of course.  I have hosted all sorts of travelers, from Hong Kong to Uzbekistan I have met and made great friends from all over the world.  If you are trusting in the general good of human beings and want to meet fellow world explorers than I cannot think of a better outlet than offering up your couch for them.
Steven

What is it like to be a German-American?

Since my primary focus is on German Heritage in the United States,  I wanted to go deeper with the topic by getting a little more personal with my research. What does that entail? Conversing with German-Americans of course! So I sat down at Café Allegro in the University District of Seattle with Jan and my friend Victoria. From what I have observed, many of the teachers and TAs in the Germanics department congregate in this hipster-esue café in the afternoon. I had a set of interview questions for both of them and they were both very eager to provide me with answers. Next week I will talk about Victoria, but this week's focus will be on the life of a German-American in Jan's perspective.

Jan (top left)  is a Graduate Student in the Germanics Department at the University of Washington. He taught a German Play production class that I took last year. He moved from Germany to the United States when he was eleven years old. After the class was over, I continued to keep in contact with him and the other students who took the class.

Me: Was the immersion into American culture difficult for you?

Jan:  It was very difficult because I had basically no knowledge of English. It was also difficult because my parents put me into an American school immediately. I remember not being able to understand anything. But I picked up the language rather quickly—within a year or so.

Me: Did your diet change when you moved to the United States?

Jan: (Laughs) No, my mom continued to cook traditional, German meals. We definitely retained the German cuisine so my diet didn’t really change significantly.

Me: What was the most extreme change that you experienced when coming to the USA?

Jan: Something that still affects me ‘til this day is American television. I was exposed to American television before I could speak English. I remember understanding the violence. I think it affected me in a really profound way. Reality TV shows scared me the most because we didn’t have those in Germany at the time.

  

Me: Tell me a little about your family and your way of life while growing up.  Did you have siblings? What languages did you speak with your family?

Jan: With my sister and my mom I always spoke German. My half siblings understood German, but they weren’t forced to speak it. When we talk with one another, we go back and forth between English and German--“Denglisch” so to speak.

Me: What was unique about your household when compared to average American families?

Jan: I remember eating together almost every night. I feel like it's not part of American culture to do that. 

Me: Did your family celebrate typical German traditions while living in the United States?

Jan: We celebrated most of the typical American holidays, but it was Christmas that was different for us. My mom definitely preserved the German Christmas traditions in our household.  We would always celebrate it on the 24^th .  On Christmas Eve, My mom would always have a bell that rang when it was time to go into the room and open presents.
 And St. Nikolaus tag—now that was SCARY. When I was young and still living in Germany, a man in our town dressed up as St. Niklaus and would visit all the houses in the neighborhood. If you were good, he would give you candy. If you were bad, however, he would stuff you in a sack. I remember crying because the thought of being stuffed in a sack scared me!

Me: What do you miss the most about living in Germany?

Jan: What I miss the most is the freedom to do certain things. In Germany it is legal to drink outside in the park or at a festival. You can’t do stuff like that in the United States. I also miss having the freedom to explore. There are a lot of rules placed on teenagers here. Like, unrealistic expectations. In Germany you are able to explore more of your own way of life because there are less restrictions.

Oh! And I also miss gemötlichkeit. I miss being able to sit down in the middle of the day and have tea and cake. I don’t think Americans value gemötlichkeit as much as Europeans do.

Me: What was your opinion on Americans before moving to the USA? Has your opinion changed since then?

Honestly, I was too young to have a strong opinion. The USA was always kind of a fog to me when I was living in Germany. What you understood about America is what you saw on television. I have really done a lot to break down stereotypes of both (German and American) cultures.  My dad thinks that Americans put their feet on the table and have no table manners. I, on the other hand, don’t think that all Americans act like that. America is so vast that you can’t categorize it in one way.

Me: In my blog last week, I talked about the definition of Heimat (home).  I asked numerous people what home is for them. Was ist Heimat für dich?

Jan: What is home?  I feel very torn between two countries. So, I have to tell you, defining Heimat is very difficult for me. In a philosophical sense, I would define Heimat as an imaginative sense of loss. In other words, it is something that only exists as a loss and not as an object.

Definitions:

Gemötlichkeit—  N. relaxation, comfortableness 

St. Nikolaus Tag— is a holiday that is celebrated on the 6th of December. In Germany, children put a boot called a Niklolaus-Stiefel (Nikolaus boot) outside the front door on the night of December 5th. If the child is good, St. Nikolaus will fill the boot with gifts and sweets overnight. If the child is bad, they will have a tree branch root or a lump of coal in their boot instead.

Denglisch— N. is slang used to describe the incorrect usage of English by Germans and vice-versa. Can also be used to describe a mixture of German and English.

Bis Montag!
Hilary

Hast du Hunger?? Come to Schultzy's!!

Hallo!

So today I took a nice little walk to the restaurant Shultzy's! This restaurant is located on the Ave in University District! The big double doors and great lighting make this restaurant a cozy, friendly, and great place to eat!

There was great decoration of flags and wonderful beer steins all around! The big wooden seating made it feel more like an authentic Bavarian restaurant. The menu itself offered a diverse set of beer, food, and lots of vegetarian options. I ordered a bratwurst sandwich. It was one of Shultzy's number one sellers! It came with delicious grilled sauerkraut and onions on a nice sausage roll! The sides included awesome french fries (which didn't need any ketchup!) and a nice house made coleslaw! Overall I would rate this restaurant 5 bratwurst out of 5!

Now, you may be wondering what do German restaurants in Seattle have to do with anything? Well, this blog will be about German culture in Seattle and general info on German culture. It can be used as a resource for anyone wanting to travel to Germany someday! If you're not sure about what German food is or if you like it or not, you can use my blog as a guide and help you get a feel for what German food is and how it differs from America!

In our German class we have been talking about multicultural Germany and how it works in today's times. From our discussions we have found out that there have been many fads in Germany that came from elsewhere. For example, Currywurst is a German Bratwurst with curry on it that started out from the Turkish people. And if you ever travel to Berlin you will have to try Donners. Delicious meat sandwiches that are also from Turkey but popularized in Germany.

So what does this have to do with Shultzy's? Well some German food has become very popularized in America. The Hamburger is probably something Americans make on a daily basis and originally started off from Hamburg, Germany. So with this blog I hope to show the transatlantic connection between Germany and America not only through the hearts of the people, but more importantly, the stomach!

Danke und bis bald!
Randy

Beer, Brats, und BRATZ!

Guten Tag!

Hey everyone! So my name is Randy Siebert and I will be blogging every Wednesday about great German restaurants in the Seattle area! Many Americans share a connection with Germany. Many of us have a heritage that includes German decent. And with my food adventures I hope to show you the delicious connection between the U.S.A and Germany. We might be an ocean away from each other, but we all enjoy great food!

So the plan is to go and try a new German restaurant every Wednesday! And hopefully by the last post, I will be able to rank all of the restaurants I tried from best to not so good.

This week I decided to choose something a little more local to the University of Washington. I had heard good things about "Bratz" German restaurant and thought now was the time to try! Located on 50th & Brooklyn, Bratz was a little far and not in the best location. But what it lacked in location, it made up for in food! I ordered a delicious Curry Wurst with Pommes (French Fries). The sausage was cooked perfectly and there was just the right amount of curry! It brought me back to the delightful afternoons in Berlin stopping by the little Curry Wurst stands and enjoying a nice Berlin Curry Wurst. Bratz had a nice and very authentic seating available. Petite German flags on every table with a colorful poster of Pilsner Beer and a wide selection of different German music playing in the background. I would give Bratz 3.5 Bratwurst out of 5! Great German food with a wonderful atmostphere. Go check it out!





*The rating system consists of Bratwurst in place of stars. The best a restaurant can get is 5 Bratwursts, while the worst would be zero.

Tchüß!
Randy