Religion in America

Today I'll write about the religion in America. To get insights, we went to the Crossroads Community Church and to the Cincinnati Mosque.

The Crossroads Community Church is completely different from churches in Germany. In this church were no crosses and Chrisitan sights like in a traditional church. There is also a kids club and some working groups are offered. The service took place in a hall, that seems to be a concert hall with a stage, huge displays, cameras, a band, free coffee, free wifi and so on. It was like religious entertainment. They introduced with a song and everybody was invited to sing this song with the band. After that, we should greet our neighbors to have a little smalltalk to them. The show goes on with an interview and a speech of the prayer, and a finishing song.
I think this church is for people, who aren't so conservative like other Christians. There's a light atmosphere in the hall and the speech of the prayer, who was also a very good speaker, isn't starchy like in other churches. He take one phrase out of the Bible, analyze the structure and give examples to his interpretation. The songs are compatible to the program the prayer mentioned.
The church invokes people help people, who are in trouble, for instance the church gave manpower to the people in New Orleans to built up some new houses for the homeless people, or went to India to prevent childrens from prostitution and slavery.

The Cincinnati Mosque is an another religous place in Cincinnati, but in my opinion it is not like an traditional mosque. You can find there an educational and sports building next to the mosque and they also offer courses, where you can meet new people or study a new language. I think the community of the mosque is well accepted in Cincinnati, because they're open minded to everybody.
The religious service at the mosque is little bit different than Crossroad's. In Islam, praying is a component of the daily life, so you should pray five times a day. At certain the times the so called Imam prays in the mosque each day. On fridays is an extra service, where a prayer speak in the mosque.

There are some special events in the Cincinnati Mosque, for instance a basketball tournament, where other Islamic communities from the U.S. are invited to enjoy a good time with like-minded persons.

I think, both communities are well accepted in the larger Cincinnati community and unite the this community, because they are open-minded. Everybody can get there and listen to the speeches of the prayers. Furthermore, you can sign up in different courses or working groups to get involved to these communities.

Medical Care in America

Today we went into a general purpose pharmacy and a high tech genetics laboratory in Cincinnati.

The high tech genetics laboratory determine your genotype on genetic diseases, so they find out out, if you have a genetic defect like the Down's syndrome or something else. There are different tests for each genetic defect, for example the test called FISH. With different color schemata they find out, which illness you have. These methods are very expensive. If you need the full program of research, you usually have to pay up to 3500$. That's the problem for the lower-paid-jobs. Those people cannot use this option to fight against the disease they have.

In the Walgreen's pharmacy you can self-medicate yourself by choosing the drug you need. This is very dangerous, because you can pick up the wrong drug for your illness. You can get there everything what you need for your personal health care, for example toothpaste, shampoos, bands and so one, but they also offer fragrances, Make-Up, Snacks, and drinks.
The drugs are offered in huge shelves, so you can loose the survey very easy, for instance there are more than 70 pain relievers and more than 60 so called "Cold and Flu" medicines. They also offer generics. That are duplicates of official drugs, which are cheaper than the original remedy. This store is for the poorer people, who have to help themselves without professional research.

In my opinion, everyone should get an insurance like in Germany. On the one hand it's better for the health of the people and on the other hand it's better for the social welfare, because everybody have the right on health care, but this can cause economic problems in terms of the insurance fee and so one.

The Wall

Today our destination was the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

We saw an exhibition about the fall of the Berlin Wall there. This theme is often discussed in Germany, so I learned nothing new about the fall of the Wall, but the exhibition was very interesting, especially the way the theme was brought to you. It was a photographic exhibition. The students, that designed this exhibit, searched the famous scenes at this time and took photos from this time at the present time to see whats changed in the last years.

In Germany the exhibits about the fall of the Berlin Wall would be a little bit different. There would be some pieces of the wall and some pictures of the fall with a text at the exhibit.

I think, that the Wall in some mind still exists, but this depends on the person, their experience, and the houshold, where the person comes from. Some students in Ilmenau also speak evil about the eastern citizens and the eastern states, but when you don't react to these people, they would stop this speaking.

The people, who was born in the western part of Germany, possibly would worsen the East, because they think, that the West is much better than the East.

The people, who was born in the East, may say, that the western men are perfidous.

I don't have such prejudices about the people. I make my own decision about the people, wherever they come from.

Feel like a child

Today we went to the Cincinnati Children's Museum. This museum is not a normal museum - it's an interactive one. For instance, the children can learn several things about technology, nature, other cultures, and physics through learning by doing there.

The whole museum is a huge playground that combines activities with seperate themes with special designs, so the kids can imagine, that they are in a cave, because it looks like a cave. There are also special stages for the different ages of the children, e.g. some climbing activities in the cave are especially designed for children, who are in the preschool age. This section was for older and younger kids.
A station for older kids of the age from 6 until 9 was the cultural section. The kids there could inform the different clutlures, fit the clothes from native americans, or playing with some instruments from other cultures.

In my opinion, the water stage was the best stage at the museum. This was a huge watercycle, where the kids could follow boats they set into the water and do some other activities.
These boats passed different passage: a rain passage, the watergate, the fan station, and so on. On each stage the children had to do some activities. For instance, on the watergate they had to put boards into the feature, if they want to sunk the boat.
The other activities were a simple kind of a watermill and the opportunity to design a pipelinesystem. Most of the kids stayed beneath the pipelinesystem and played at this stage with the boats and the fountains. That's a pity, because they could learn more on this watercycle, especially at the pipelinestation.
This also depends on the parents. Some of them took a walkthrough with the kids at these station and some just sit on the bench near the station and watched the children playing.

Language in Ohio and Illinois

After spending one Weekend in Chicago, I"m writing about the language, that is used in Ohio and Illinois.



The usage of the language is very different in the U.S. Some citizens speak in slang, so they have their own words and spelling. They"re sometimes difficult to understand, If you're new in this states you have to acclimate for a few days.
But some are also don"t speak slang, their language spelling is quite clear and easily to understand.
I noticed, that one phrase stuck out when I was in Chicago at the weekend. They often use "take care" instead of "see you" for saying good bye.

In Germany are also some language differences between the regions. You can divide them in four big groups: southern, eastern, western and northern accent. For my personal opinion, the southern accent like the Bavarian slang, is most difficult to understand. The Bavarian slang has its own words and spelling. Even a native can't understand this slang. The simplest slang for me is the western slang, for instance the Rhenish accent. They may have its own words and its own spelling, but is easily to understand them.

I think you must divide the situations. When the people are in formal conversations they may use the formal language for speaking. But when they are at a barbecue aso, they use slang.

My English also changed a little bit. At school I learned British English. So I have to adjust my spelling a little bit to the American English.

I need food and drinks!

Our today's topic treatened th culture of food in the U.S.

There are three types of stores in the United States of America: conservative, processed and organic food stores.

An example for a conservative store is Kroger's or Enki. It's an every day store, you can get the goods in normal packages(family size) and you can see there nearly every social group. The prices are low, the food usually comes from foreign countries like chile aso. Every kind of food has its own rack, so the market is well arranged.

In a processed store you get the goods in large packages. Examples for this stores are Jungle Jim's and METRO in Germany. This stores are also import - export - stores, which import food from almost every country of the world. In Germany, you need to be self-employed or you running a business to get access to a processed store. The prizes are higher as in a conservative store, because of the costs for import. You can see there the mid-class, that buy the goods.

The organic food markets or Farmers Markets like Pipkins are localvore-markets, that sells vegetables, fruits and other goods from Farmers, which are 100 miles around the store. This products aren't genmodified and the prices are little higher than in processed stores, but the sold products are very fresh. You' ll see there the health-conscious mid- and upper class of the society.

master and servant

Dear reader,

today we were at the Freedom Center in Cincinnati to inform us about slavery in the U.S.

The part of the museum, which impressed me most, was an animated film about slavery. This animation was divided into three shortfilms. Each film has a different style and theme. The first film was about the difference between freedom in unfreedom, the second film describe the slavery in the U.S. and the third treated the underground railroad.
The second film was the most impressive film for me. It shown the living in a slave pen and the treating of the slaves of the masters. For instance, when a female servant, which worked in the household, broke down a cup of tea, she gets a clab from the master. It was directed in a very shocking way, I could really look inside the slave.

I wasn"t in a WWII concentration camp yet, so I can not compare with this. But I think the way the theme is tret is a different. In the Freedom Center they bring this theme to you by using ne medias, e.g. showing films, where you have to interact. In a concentration camp like you would more "read" the history, so it won"t be so impressive.

I think it"s necessary to keep the history alive. Mostly the people remind to the good things in past, but also the cruel deeds must staying in the heads of the people. So historical museums or monuments are necessary.
These museums are also bringing the impportance of human rights to the persons.

So see you later,
Thommy

Back in childhood

Dear Buckeyes,

Yesterday we went into the public library of Blue Ash to borrow some books for children.

The library of Blue Ash is divided in different sections like in Germany too. The section for kids is adapted for children. In other words the size of the racks is downsized so the kids can reach everey book. There are also playgrounds for the children, where they can paint and so on.

We should take two books from the kids section. I've taken "Planes" and "Grandfather's Shape Story".

"Planes" was directed to children, which want to inform about planes themselves. I estimate to children in the age of 8 until 10. It is written in an explaining style, easy to read and understand. In my childhood I read those books in german, so "Planes" was similar to them with lots of pics and drawings. I think not all kind of children would rese those books, only these kids, which interested in aviation and technology.

"Grandfather's Shape Story" is a creative tangram story. It's about a rooster, which is scared cause he would be eaten by a fox. So the rooster asks a man, if he coul help him. The man helped the rooster to escape from the fox, as consideration the man has one wish free and the man thought about the different wishes he have. But the story has an open end, so that the children themself could determine the end of the story. The text is written in a simple style and was quite easily to understand. Beside the text are pictures build up with the tangram shapes, so the children could get creative impressions about abstract thinking. I don't have read such a combination yet, so I have no compare to such a book. The book is written for all kind of children at the age of 3 up to 5.

So see you soon,

Thommy

buildings and landscapes

Today is my first day in the summer school. The first post is about the buildings and landscapes around Cincinnati.

In comparison to Ilmenau - the town where I'm studying - Cincinnati is much greater. Here some figures: Cincinnati has 300000 so called buckeyes(the habitants of Ohio) - Ilmenau hast 30000 habitants. So Cincinnati is 10 times greater than Ilmenau.

For my point of view the buildings are typical american. Downtown Cincinnati you have also scyscrapers and a nice skyline like other big cities in the U.S.

On the one hand the Campus has an very nice architecture, but when you leave the campus and walk some streets towards downtown, you will see some shabby buildings - the other side of a big city like Cincinnati.

The Campus of Cincinnati

is quite bigger than in Ilmenau. Understandable, there are 30000 Students signed up. The architecture of the campus-buildings can be devided in two styles. In the one hand you have the old buildings like McMicken Hall with its "old" - but timeless - architecture and on the other hand you have the Recreation Center with it's modern design. In my personal opinion i like these mixture of these different styles. The complete campus is very ample, there are big green fields where you can chill a litlle bit.