Learning German: der Ampelmann

Picture this: You've just been dropped onto a street corner in the middle of some world-class city at three in the morning. You're standing outside some trendy club, and various artsy / "anti-establishment" people are milling around, speaking various languages with various accents. Other than that, the city is quiet -- no cars are to be seen or heard. You could be anywhere. But you will know within 60 seconds whether or not you're in a German-speaking country. Just wait and see whether anyone crosses the street.

Bäck tsu School

"WIR WOLLEN KEINE WANDERKLASSE" screams the sign in large letters, surrounded by more personal messages from individual students. It's a protest against the decision of the school where I'm teaching to force one group of seniors to move classes each period, rather than giving them a room of their own, which is normal. To my students, it's a constant source of irritation, a reminder that they attend a "ghetto school," as several of them have complained to me. (I can't really comment, as I've only ever been to one Austrian school, but my students are really engaged and the building is not lacking in facilities in the least.) To me, however, it's a daily reminder of the ways that Austrian schools differ from the ones I attended in the United States.

The Past is Never Dead

Last night was Lange Nacht der Museen, when all of the museums in Austria stay open until 1am and are free to enter with the purchase of a 13-Euro ticket (11-Euro if you're a student like me). It's a Pflichttermin, as the Austrians say, an event you absolutely must attend. Even if, like the friends I went with, you're not really a Museumsmensch and this is your one Kulturabend of the year.

My favorite collection was at Oberes Belvedere. There was quite a bit of Austrian art from the turn of the twentieth century (including many works by Gustav Klimt, pretty much the only Austrian artist of wide international acclaim, and also the favorite artist of my friend Tatenda from last summer, who invited me to accompany her and some friends on their Lange Nacht adventure.)

Der Stephansdom

Oktoberfest: The German Version

There are certain words that come to mind when you think of Oktoberfest: Gemütlich. Feuchtfröhlich. Prost. There are other words, though, equally German, that you do not think of when you think of Oktoberfest: Effizient. Durchgeplant. Anstrengend.

Somehow, even though everyone knows that Germans love to sing cheesy yet awesome Schlager songs (click the links!) and drink beer for hours on end, and everyone knows that Germans are rigid, efficient beings who lead a society best described as "well-managed," I had never really thought about how those stereotypes conflict.

Or rather, how they mix with one another. Because while Oktoberfest might indeed be a sloppy, happy mess of singing, beer drinking, and Dirndl wearing, it is also an exercise in regulated consumption, of finding the perfect balance of Hendl, Brezn, and Wurst that will allow you to keep drinking for an entire day. It is Germany, in both the ways I expected and the ways that surprised me.

German Movies That are Not About Nazis (or the Stasi!)

When people in the US ask me whether they should learn German, I respond with another question: "How much do you want to learn about World War II?" Because my German-learning experience felt in many respects like a six-year seminar on the Holocaust (with some Wiedervereinigung thrown in).

I'm not sure of the reasons for that--maybe they want to make sure that we never forget how sucky Germans were/are, and continue to be loyal to America--but I know that it's not the case in other countries. At the Goethe-Institut in Schwäbisch Hall, for example, one of the classes mentioned the various Nazification laws in the 1930s. Of couse, my American friend in the class, having taken five years of German class in the States, was ready to roll: she began ticking off dates, laws, and penalties as the French, Japanese, and Romanian students in the class, who had been taking German just as long, looked on in bewilderment. 

And some people really enjoy that. They study German because they're interested in the Holocaust, or in music, or in nineteenth-century philosophers, or in Romantic literature. But I'm not one of those people. I'm still not quite sure why I love studying German so much, or why I am so enthralled with Austria, but it has nothing to do with music, mountains, or Nazis. I enjoy experiencing the ways more global cultural elements take on a German / Austrian spin: for example, I read a feminist blog auf Deutsch, and I love German hip-hop.

I also love watching German movies. Unfortunately, the German movies that are well-known in America always seem to discuss the same themes. (Even the most famous "Austrian" movie of all time is half-cheerful frolic through the mountains, half-"Oh shit, the Nazis!") Some of these films are even great. But there's a lot more to German-speaking cinema than Downfall, Goodbye Lenin, and Das Leben der Anderen. Here are some of my favorites.

Learning German: die Stempelgesellschaft

The largest employer in the United States (and the world, incidentally), depending on whether you include public-sector work, is either the Department of Defense or Walmart.* The largest employer in Austria, by contrast, is the City of Vienna. This size is indeed appropriate, as Vienna accounts for 1/4 of the entire population of the country, and the city provides a vast number of services that Americans could only dream of, like a dense network of free youth centers, an on-point public transit system, and a really cool new initiative that aims to bring people together to create community charters.

But it also means that you can have experiences with bureaucracy that are quite frustrating / funny, depending on your outlook. Like, for example, registering for university. Even before I arrived in Austria, I had filled out an online registration form and submitted various documents to the Fulbright Commission, who would visit the admissions office in person to submit them. And so, I thought, with all my paperwork turned in, my matriculation papers and student ID would be waiting for me when I arrived in-country.

False.

Orientation Live Blog*

Oh, the joys of Fulbright Orientation. You wake up at an ungodly hour, traipse to the Fulbright office in Museumsquartier, and sit down to listen to nuggets of wisdom like this:

"This is Jürgen. He's one of the five nice people in Vienna."

"All in all, being occupied by the United States was a really good thing for Austria. That's really the start of the Austrian political system."

"You might not notice that many cultural differences between the US and Austria--not as many as you would if you were going to spend a year among the cannibals in Papua New Guinea who run around naked."

"Austria totally defies everything we know about neoliberalism. You'll be here for a year, so in your interactions with 'The Natives,' try to figure out if you can why Austria is so prosperous despite having high taxes and a redistributive [rolls eyes] welfare state. It makes no sense."