Sister city?

Despite being a major city, Seattle does not have a single sister city in Germany or Austria!  This leaves one pondering with what might be a fitting city in Germany to make a good sister city to Seattle.  Much like western Washington much of Germany is covered in green nature and gets quite chilly in the winter time.  And much like Seattle there are many cities in Germany let get a lot of rainfall, Hamburg is known as being quite rainy and also houses an active port which is important to the cities economy which has contributed to the cities high level of wealth.  While both large Hamburg has a much higher population than Seattle, and is much more spread out than Seattle with roughly twice the total area.

So for Seattleite in Europe looking for the feeling of home Hamburg may very well prove to be a great place to visit.  Aside from being a beautiful city with lots of great architecture and other historical sites there is a lot entertainment to be had.  Hamburg is rich in performing arts spectacles from classical musics to opera, as well as a vibrant local music scene with everything from folk music to heavy metal.  Being a large important city in Europe there is a good deal of cultural diversity in Hamburg which allows for many options when it comes to where one would like to eat or just enjoy the company of fellow travelers and foreigners.

Shopping opportunities are a plenty in Hamburg with unique examples such as the large Fishmarkt which is active every Sunday and dates back to 1703 in operation. Other large scale actives include the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival in late may and a variety of street parties throughout the year which contribute to the exciting atmosphere of the bustling metropolis.  There are also many universities and large companies in Hamburg that offer many academic and career opportunities to those looking for something new and exciting.  Hamburg is indeed a great city which would be a great fit if Seattle was ever to choose a sister city in Germany!

Kartoffelpuffer!

Hallo! Guten Tag!

So today I am doing something a little different. Instead of visiting a German restaurant in the Seattle area, I will attempt to make a nice German meal on my own and share with you my experience! For today I decided to make a delicious dinner for my roommates and I!

I don't know if you have heard of Potato Pancakes or Kartoffelpuffer, but it is a great and easy meal that is very filling too! So for a long time my mom would make me Perfect Potato pancakes, however, I'm up in college now and I have to conquer it on my own! I decided to google a Potato Pancake recipe and see if it would turn out ok! I used this website for my cooking: http://germanfood.about.com/od/potatoesandnoodles/r/potatopancakes.htm

This recipe called for
-1lb of potatoes
-1/2 an Onion
-1 tsp. of Salt
-Ground Pepper
-Freshly Ground Nutmeg
-1 Egg
-Oil for Frying

If you follow the link it will give a detailed account of how to cook it! So I followed the directions and I thought it turned out pretty good! I also added sour cream and applesauce on top of my finished Potato Pancakes! I really enjoyed it! And the roommates said it was much better then they were expecting! Overall, it was a great and easy recipe that turned out much more tasty then I thought I could ever cook!

Like I have mentioned in previous blogs, this blog is about the connection between Germany and Seattle. Through this blog I bring wonderful ideas for anyone to experience German culture right here in Seattle. It is about opening gates between Germany and America and bringing our cultures closer together. I hope through this blog it can open some minds and give some experience of delicious German food right in the comfort of your home!

Now, in class we have been discussing immigration and the world wide impact of immigration. I would say that it is because of immigration that we have such a variety of great delicious food in America! And I would also say that because of the large Turkish immigration in Germany, Germany now has delicious Donners that are very popular! I believe that immigration brings many great things to a country, including awesome food!


Delicous Kartoffelpuffer!

Randy

Players Taking Flight

As I've discussed in passing previously, German sports teams (with my own personal emphasis on football) are far from the homogeneous, ethniclly-German teams that they have been through out most of history.  Rather, they are a hodge-podge of many ethnicites and cultures, coming together for the love of a game.

To bring this a little closer to home, American soccer star Landon Donovan spent several seasons playing in the Bundesliga to hone his skills and learn valuable elements of the European-style of play, before returning home and continuing his stint in the MLS.

European stars, such as David Beckham and Thierry Henry, have also come across the pond and played in the MLS, although it could be argued that this was more of a pre-retirement phase than anything else but I won't get into that.

German-born Dirk Nowitzki plays (qutie well) for the Dallas Mavericks and occasionally an American-born NBA player will spend time playing in the German basketball league.

Now if you don't mind, I'd like to spend a few moments thinking over the reasons for this exchange of players & talent.

Perhaps the most obvious reason for this is that there are better opportunities in the destination country than there are at home.  But why?  More money?  Bundesliga football has a much bigger fan base, media contracts, and chances to score (financially) than your run-of-the-mill MLS team.  In Donovan's case, he spent time with German giants Bayern Munch (Ich liebe die Bayern) and I'm a firm believer that his game improved as a result of spending time immersed in the European-style of play.

Money, skill improvement, the list goes on why players move around from team to team in different countries.  The United States and Germany are both very strong in any sports that they participate in so it's only logical that there would be some swapping of talent now and then.  And at the end of the day, a player from Germany that has spent time in America (or vice versa) has played a very important role, even once they've stepped off the field for the evening.  They're cultural ambassadors responsible for showcasing their country's talent and continuing to promote the critical relationship that exists between the United States and Germany.

Wunderbar.

Sarah

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

For those of us in Seattle Germany is quite a journey, and due to the sheer expense of getting there many are discouraged at the prospect of flying there to experience German culture first hand.  While the US certainly has influence of German culture in many aspects of our living it is very difficult to feel like you're in Germany at any given place in this country.  In the town of Leavenworth, located in the heart of the Cascade Mountains about 2 hours from Seattle the theme of a Bavarian village attracts visitors from all over the state to get a taste of life in the alps.


In Leavenworth almost all of the architecture fits with the theme of a small Bavarian village, you will find even the McDonalds and Safeway are decorated in such a way!  While there are many themed shops to entertain tourists with money burning in their pockets there are more appropriately German themed activities available for those drawn to the town.  Many restaurants and even a beer garden or two offer dishes and beverages that will make you feel as if though you yourself are in the Alps! There are plenty of outdoor activities in the area such as skiing, hiking and camping for those who love the mountains.  In addition to all of that Leavenworth is a well known venue town for a number of large festivals.


























The festivals in Leavenworth attract thousands of visitors each year and are always spectacles of wonderful decorations, excellent food and even better beer!  One of the biggest events in the town is the Leavenworth Christmas Lighting festival, where an impressive display of lights and other spectacles dazzle visitors and give them the feeling of being in one of the well decorated villages during Weihnachten in Bavaria!  Other festivals include the ever popular Oktoberfest which is perfect for lovers of beer and fun.  A list of festivals in the town can be found in the following link: http://www.leavenworth.org/modules/event/events.php





Steven

Nimm Dich in Acht vor Blonde Frauen

"Nimm dich in Acht vor blonde Frauen", those charming alarming blonde women, warns Marlene Dietrich in the 1930's film, Der Blaue Engel ( The Blue Angel) directed by Josef von Steinberg, also starring Emil Jannings and Kurt Gerron. This classic tragic film, shot simultaneously in both German and English, revolves around the downfall of the respected professor at a local Gymnasium, Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings) due to his lust, desire and jealousy for the local cabaret star, Lola Lola (Marlene Dietrich). Upon discovering that his students have been spending their nights at the local cabaret (The Blue Angel), swooning over Lola Lola, Rath ventures to The Blue Angel hoping to catch his students. Instead of catching his students he meets the seductive and uninhibited Lola Lola. Upon venturing back the next night to met her once more, he falls in love with her and forfeits his position at the college to be with and marry the beautiful Lola. The professor quickly and tragically transforms into a cabaret clown as his sanity dissolves due to his lust and jealousy over Lola's profession as a "shared woman" ( like my last post, I will not attempt to include more plot because you can easily watch this movie for yourself on Netflix.) The movie progresses slowly, charming the audience with Marlene Dietrichs breakout songs such as: Ich bin von Kopf bus Fuss auf Liebe eingestellt (Falling in Love Again), Ich bin die fesche Lola ( They Call Me Naughty Lola), and Nimm dich in Acht vor blonde Frauen (Those Charming Alarming Blonde Women).
          

The movie was originally based on Heinrich Mann's 1905 novel, Professor Unrat (Professor Garbage) and is set in Weimar, Germany. Being filmed in both German and English, the movie gained international fame, and led Dietrich into international stardom. On set Janning's grew jealous of Steinberg and Dietrich's growing closeness and frequently acted out, threatening Dietrich. Janning's was a Swiss born German actor who was the first actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor in the "lost film" The Way of All Flesh. He moved his career to Hollywood and attempted acting in sound films, but, amongst other things, his accent was too difficult to understand. He later acted in several Nazi propaganda films. He eventually retired in Austria and became a citizen in 1947.  After completing Der Blaue Engel Marlene Dietrich gained international fame and received a contract with Paramount Pictures. She became one of the highest paying actresses of the era. She became a US citizen in 1939 and was a prominent entertainer throughout WWII. Kurt Gerron, who stars as the cabaret manager was a German Jewish actor and film director, who first served in WWI after being called out of medical school to serve. Der Blaue Engel was one of his breakthrough roles. Gerron eventually fled Nazi Germany with his wife and family and fled to Paris, and then to Amsterdam and was offered to relocate to Hollywood, but refused. Once the Netherlands were occupied Gerron was sent to a few different concentration camps, and eventually boarded the final transit to Auschwitz where he soon met his death.

In this one film we are introduced to (because, lets face it, many of us didn't know about these actors before), at a bare minimum, three different actors who experienced different transatlantic and intercontinental ventures for different reasons, Germans moving to and from the US as well as other countries for jobs (Hollywood) and safety (WWII). All of these seasoned actors played a large role in crafting the cinema and stage scene of the 1920's, 30's and 40's. If you want to watch a movie with tragedy, historical intrigue and breakthrough actors of their time, you should defiantly consider watching Der Blaue Engel.

Bis später!
Dorothy 

*Oh and I would recommend watching this movie with a nice bubbly glass of champagne.... that appeared to be the drink of the movie, and if you want to get into a little "sing-along" version of the film, it could instigate a little German language practice, yay!
 

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