The Kraut Konspiracy

[B-Mental]

Hmm, anyone for sauerkraut...I'm craving a bratwurst with stoneground mustard. MMMMMMMMmmmmn

[SleepyWitch]

this reminds me I haven't had any sauerkraut in years it's probably because i'm a veggie and sauerkraut usually comes with bratwurst or meat. next time I go to a restaurant with hubby, I'll ask him to order some meaty dish with sauerkraut.

[B-Mental]

I just love saurkraut, its tangy goodness, the overwhelming smell of heaven that accompanies it....sigh...Love at first pickling.

[barbara0207]

this reminds me I haven't had any sauerkraut in years it's probably because i'm a veggie and sauerkraut usually comes with bratwurst or meat. next time I go to a restaurant with hubby, I'll ask him to order some meaty dish with sauerkraut.

I just love saurkraut, its tangy goodness, the overwhelming smell of heaven that accompanies it....sigh...Love at first pickling.

Why don't you cook it yourselves? It's easy and quick. Here's a northern variety:

Fried Sauerkraut
Heat some margarine in a frying pan. Cut an onion into cubes. Fry until yellowish or light brown. Add a can/glass of sauerkraut. Fry until the sauerkraut is light brown. Add some water if you like. Add a pinch of salt and some sugar (according to taste). My husband also likes it if there are cubes of bacon in it. I don't, so I fry the bacon separately.

[barbara0207]

It's carnival again, and Monday is the day of the big parades. People wear fancy costumes, there are brass bands and big wagons concerned with different subjects, often national, international or regional politics. On the picture you see part of the parade in Cologne, one of the biggest and most famous ones in Germany. However, there aren't parades in all parts of Germany.

[SleepyWitch]

hey, thanks Barbara. I almost forgot about carnival! (half of my students are gonna get boozed up today and won't turn up tomorrow, but I forgot anyway


now that I've handed in my thesis, I'll start research on my profile of Bavaria. meanwhile, here's a link about tourism in Bavaria (in English). you can read about Bavaria's most beautiful cities here, for exammple

http://www.bayern.by/en/index.html

[SleepyWitch]

mwuuaaahaaaa, all the foreign language threads have been locked and the Kraut Konspiracy is the sole surviver mwuaaaaahaaaa. it's a good thing we all learn to speak English as part of our plans to invade England and conquer the world
on a more serious seriously, I'm sorry these threads got locked but it's understandable, seeing as the mods can't be expected to learn X number of languages so as to monitor what people are saying.

I still haven't found the time to write up my profile of Bavaria
but
I'll work on a new quiz over the weekend and post it by the beginning of next week. This time there will be two quizzes, actually, a dull and difficult one with a special prize and an easier one with less extravagant (but no less breathtakingly attractive ) prizes. This time I'll give you a full month to do research, so you'll have plenty of time to figure out the answers.

[SleepyWitch]

- quiz news -
aaargh, still haven't done the quiz but I hope I can load it up tonight. I'm working on it... mentally.

- interesting link: news magazine (in English) -
meanwhile, here's a link to SPIEGEL International. DER SPIEGEL is one of Germany's leading news magazines. This site has (indepths) news about Germany, Europe and the whole world. What's more, it's in English and the online version is free. This week you can read about Kosovo, the U.S. presidential campgaign, tax fraud in Germany/Lichtenstein, Hitler's rise to power, ...and Nuremberg's one and only polar bear cub 'Snowflake'. They also do a 'pub quiz'

http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,,00.html

[Virgil]

May I ask why people outside the US have such an interest in American politics? We read very little of other nation's politics in our papers, probably because the interest is not there. It's hard enough for Americans to care about their own politics. Why are other country's interested?

[Themis]

May I ask why people outside the US have such an interest in American politics? We read very little of other nation's politics in our papers, probably because the interest is not there. It's hard enough for Americans to care about their own politics. Why are other country's interested?

Because America's powerful. What affects you, affects us.

[Virgil]

Because America's powerful. What affects you, affects us.

But you have no power to affect it. You can't vote here. What ever happens, happens.

[Themis]

But you have no power to affect it. You can't vote here. What ever happens, happens.

No, what I meant is this: how America acts in world politics affects us. If you choose to start another war or make peace somewhere or acknowledge something (Kosova for example) affects us.
We are geared to you.

[SleepyWitch]

Because America's powerful. What affects you, affects us.

yep, I suppose that's the main reason why Europeans are interested in U.S. politics.
plus, most Europeans (especially Germans) are very keen to read about what's going on in the world (not only the U.S. but everywhere), although I'm not sure why that is. Maybe it's to do with the school system, or the way the media cover international issues or both of them... I think with Germans, part of the reason is that they generally like showing off their knowledge. Also, politics is considered an appropriate topic for small talk! it's OK to discuss politics with a random stranger you've just met, just like the Brits talk about the weather!
maybe this is due to the "68ers". In the wake of the Civil Rights and hippie movements in the U.S. in the 60s, German youths became more interested in politics. They found out that their parents or grandparents had tolerated or even supported the Nazis and had hushed it up later. So the kids were really pissed of with their parents for supporting the Nazis and everyone became really interested in politics and it's still considered an integral part of people's lives to keep track of events so they can reach informed decisions and not fall prey to Nazis and other demagogues.

[Virgil]

No, what I meant is this: how America acts in world politics affects us. If you choose to start another war or make peace somewhere or acknowledge something (Kosova for example) affects us.
We are geared to you.

I can understand wanting to know the policies of our Presidents and Congress. But right now we're not even having an election yet. This is just the process of selecting the nominees for the two political parties. This is nity grity detail that I'm puzzled over why someone from another country would take interest in. Not only am I relatively oblivious to the leaders of other countries, but to go into the depth of the political parties, how they get selected/voted, and then the general contest I have had enough of that in my country let alone others.

[SleepyWitch]

I can understand wanting to know the policies of our Presidents and Congress. But right now we're not even having an election yet. This is just the process of selecting the nominees for the two political parties. This is nity grity detail that I'm puzzled over why someone from another country would take interest in. Not only am I relatively oblivious to the leaders of other countries, but to go into the depth of the political parties, how they get selected/voted, and then the general contest I have had enough of that in my country let alone others.

yeah, I can totally understand that. but as an American you don't need to be intersted in the elections in other countries, because you live in the most powerful country in the world. So other governments are likely to follow the lead of your government or, conversely, oppose your government, but the U.S. government is not very likely to model its policies on those of Panama, Lichtenstein, Germany, Austria or the Federated States of Micronesia. So what happens in other countries does not really affect your life all that much (or at least not in an obvious way), whereas what happens in the U.S. directly affects the lives of people in other places.
For example, the first thing our relatively new chancellor Angela Merkel did after she was elected was to engage in secrect talks with George Bush about attacking Iran and sending German soldiers there to fight. I don't want the Kraut Konspiracy to be locked, so I'll keep my opinion about this to myself (please do the same, Themis and Virge, OK?). But as you can see, who governs the U.S. can decide about whether German soldiers live or die. So it affects people's lives directly.