Law

Hallo und willkommen!

On account of me having back-to-back exams this week I'll have alot less German in this post than i'd prefer- Es tut mir leid.

The first article is titled "The German Certificate Fetish" which, like the standard Spiegel article, has it's own particular brand of humor and exaggeration while getting the idea across. I find myself hoping that there is more exaggeration than normal, because Bureaucracy and paperwork are both things that I do not like. On the other hand, having a solid record of one's own dealings is something I can approve of- just not the need to constantly share it with strangers when most of it is entirely irrelevant to the matters at hand.

The second article "Love Thy Neighbor- German Law Tells You How" talks about things that appear to be somewhat unnecessary in my book- just be courteous to your neighbors and you shouldn't have a problem. Though the article talks about the German Civil Code's rules, which are fairly similar to Ordinances in the smaller districts and counties in the United States, which are also supposed to govern certain behaviors. Albeit some of the rules seemed a little ridiculous to me (arbitrarily limiting the amount of barbeques per month seems like a fairly useless law to me personally, but... happens...) Most of the rules however (like having to shovel the sidewalk infront of your lawn) were things that, at least where I lived, were expected as well, so not much of a difference.

The final article is on Germany's Patriotism Problem, which is about how the after-effects and impact of World War II still significantly influences how comfortable Germany feels with expressing patriotism. As the article said, it is a "taboo". It's an understandable reaction, even if it does bring up about as much awkwardness as it attempts to avoid.

Well, thats about all I got this week. Jetzt ich Physik lernen.

Tschüss!