Some German info

As the only German student in our class, I feel the need to share my "expertise". Some of this will be pointless. Some will (hopefully) not. I just feel the need to be more German--I haven't been German enough in class yet.

So, I know that I talked about doors in class, but another interesting thing is the German window. A typical German window has a glass pane (like ours), no screen, and a Rollladen. Many have window dressings like shutters or curtains as well.

This is what a Rollladen looks like:

This Rollladen is open, allowing some little light to go in.









This one is closed

















Rollladen translates into roll away shutter (there are three ls because German makes a lot of sense--the word for roll away is roll and the word for shutter or shop is laden so they stick the two together. I love German because even if you don't know a word you have a really good chance at figuring it out anyway). Rollladens come down externally (that is, on the outside of the house) and are frequently made of metal (if I'm remembering what I learned in 240 correctly, that is).

A little more on German architecture:
1. While they frequently have a special entryway to mark the transition from the Privatraum (private realm) and Öffentlichkeit (general public), they very rarely have hallways. Rooms transition directly into each other with no wasted space between.
2. Germany is very densely populated, so Germans tend to build up instead of out. They will have several small rooms stacked on top of each other instead of many large, spacious rooms.
3. There are very strict rules for entering a Bekannter's house (that is, someone you know but not well enough to address informally). Just showing up and bursting in is incredibly, incredibly rude.

German is beautiful and completely insane, and hopefully, my German copy of Die Verwandlung will show up early enough for me to read along.

A few of my favorite German words, just because they make me smile:
chillen (past tense : hat gechillt) --to chill or hang out
googeln (past tense : hat gegoogelt) --to google

I'm also a big fan of beobachten (to observe) and Opferbereit (willing to sacrifice, often referring to martyrs). Something about the shapes of those words is particularly appealing to me, I'm not sure why.