Very interesting and informative videos for those who have never been to Oktoberfest, or who simply want to know more about traditions, the traditional clothing or the music in the beer tents. Or if you are simply longing for the Oktoberfest, like I am today :-)
Feli is a very likeable young lady, and her YouTube videos are fun. Born in Munich, she currently lives in Cincinnati.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcmNAGhcEEPXL3d31Zn6czXncwB_vql1
Happy Oktoberfest :-)
The clock is ticking... and the setup of the beer tents and other stuff for this year's Oktoberfest begins, as always, on June 30.
So dust off your lederhosen, iron your dirndls, and start mentally preparing. Well, at least I'm doing that :-) The videos for sure will help if you are a fan like me (sorry, that's innate).
I've been watching her feed for a while - I wonder how you feel about her portrayal of München, you and she both natives...
I wonder how you feel about her portrayal of München, you and she both natives...
Yes, that's right, we were both born in Munich, and when I look at what she tells about herself, we have some noticable overlap. However, she is significantly younger than me, and that's where the difference begins. Feli, for example, says that she speaks High German and no dialect, and I notice this in many people from her generation and the generations after her. I speak High German, of course as well, but I also speak the Munich dialect - with family, at home, with friends and whenever I notice that I am speaking to someone who also speaks the dialect. I mention this because, although I lived in Munich when I was her age (except for my time in the US), I wasn't as deeply rooted as I am today. I even always found everything my grandmother knew about Munich and told me a bit old-fashioned. Only now do I appreciate it and see the city with different eyes, and I feel much more rooted. This difference between Feli and me ultimately leads to different portrayals of Munich I think. But however she seems to love Munich as much as I do. I think so, anyway, otherwise they wouldn't be moving to Munich this fall.
She doesn't often portray Munich, or I haven't seen the videos about it. It's more the things she says about Germany and the Germans that I often agree with, but sometimes not. I attribute it to the different generations. Of course, I also attribute it to the fact that she's lived in the US for so long. In some videos, I can clearly see that she does things completely differently now than she probably would in Germany. Sometimes I thought, it's good if you come back and do one or two things differently again :-) No idea how I would have changed if I had lived in the US as long as she did?
But maybe you remember something she said about Munich or Germany, that makes you wonder if I see it the same way she does. Feel free to ask.
This only has a marginal connection to Feli and the videos, but it does say something about the Germans and the Bavarians....
I'm listening to the weekly podcast of a major German newspaper (Die Zeit) in which a Swiss, an Austrian, and a German (born in the Ruhr area and living in Berlin) discuss how issues are handled differently in the three countries – often politically, too. I often have to laugh when the Berliner says something, because then I think that I am more in agreement with what the Austrian said :-) I am only mentioning this now because I often think that what Feli says about 'that's how Germans are or that's how Germans do things' has a very Bavarian touch.
