Alpine Summer

Today we started talking about "Faust". Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is one of the most important (( if not THE most important )) writer to come from Germany. I quoted him in my high school graduation speech, and one of my mice had the last name Goethe. So, it's pretty cool to finally read one of his most famous works. Tomorrow we're going to the Goethe Haus and Museum, and I'm really excited about that. Not really excited about having to use our Eurail pass on this trip, but it's either that or we can't leave Baden-Wurttenburg. And Frankfurt, where the Goethe Haus is, is not in Baden-Wurttenburg.

Since class days are slow days, I'm going to write about Harry and Toto. A week ago, Luke, Jake, and I decided to check out German television. We weren't sure if we were going to find a lot of stuff dubbed / subtitled from America, or if German television and movies are part of a big industry here. It turns out that almost everything we came across was in German and not dubbed. We wind up flipping through channels for a while, not finding much worth watching without knowing what it said. That was, until we saw a show called "24 Stunden" (( 24 hours )). As soon as we realize it's a German version of "COPS" from the US, we're interested. At this point, I can't even fathom what is to come. The Germans have a reputation for being a rigid and rule-following people, so I can only imagine that this show might be even rougher than it's American counterpart.









The show begins with them introducing us to Toto und Harry, two police officers from an unnamed German city. What kind of horrible crimes are they going to stop? Are we going to witness unspeakable police brutality? The first stop. They pull their big green polizei vehicle behind a car. They get out and explain to the man in the driver's seat that he has too many people in his car. They are mostly children and, as Toto is talking sternly with the driver, two more people hop into the car. A little girl is crying, so Harry takes her over to the polizei van and lets her play with the siren and tries to cheer her up. They give the man a ticket and leave.

Then, a call comes through on their radio. They flip on the lights and sirens and speed off. They pull up to a street and get out. An old woman has bought too many groceries and can't carry them home. They help her into the van and drive her home. At this point, we think this is TV gold. It's so ridiculous and so not what we were expecting. The most important thing to remember is that none of us know more than incredibly rudimentary German, so each of the plots had to be guessed at and surmised from the surrounding action. Context clues, you guys.

The last call of the night comes from someone whose neighbor's dog won't be quiet. It comes in while Harry and Toto have stopped to eat pizza, so they selflessly abandon their meal and run to the scene of the crime. This particular event requires back-up, so several of their polizei friends join them. The man who owns the noisy dog refuses to make him be quiet and takes him into the house. Harry and Toto go through the parking garage beside the man's house and get the dog to quiet down.

Personally, I feel much safer here in Germany knowing that Harry and Toto are patrolling the streets. This week, we checked the television schedule to find out when it comes on, and it said it would be on at 9:15 PM. Well, at 9:15, "The Last Action Hero" (( you may remember, it is a horrible movie with Arnold and some kid )) dubbed into German was on, and didn't seem to be going off anytime soon. So, we wait patiently for the return of Harry and Toto. It's 11:15 before their appearance and the episode is barely 15 minutes long, with at least half the time taken up by commercials. This is disappointing, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.