Christmas in Germany

In Germany, the Christmas season begins with Advent. A wreath of evergreens with four red candles is hung in the home. One candle is lit on each Sunday before Christmas.

Decorating the tree is an important part of the Christmas celebration. Besides using ornaments, lights, and tinsel, the German people also hang cookies on the branches. The cookies are shaped like people, animals, hearts, or stars.

St. Nicholas visits the children on Dec.6th and leaves candy and other sweets. Children leave notes with St. Nicholas, telling him what they want. Children believe gifts are brought by the Christ Child (called Christkindl). The gifts are opened on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve families go to church, then feast on a large dinner of roast goose or duck (stuffed with apples), "stollen" (Christmas bread) and marzipan candy. After dinner, the children are allowed to eat the candies and the cookies that are hung on the tree. Some families also have a gingerbread house covered with candies, cookies and tiny decorations

Sufi Music

Sufi Music is a genre of music inspired by Sufism. Sufism or also called tasawwuf is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a Sufi or Dervish.

Therefore, Sufi music is also central to the whirling dervishes and the ceremony of Sema, who use a slow, sedate form of music featuring the Turkish flute, the ney. The Video shows a performance of a Dervish with sufi music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ke7WDrmqpA&feature=related

Love Masnavies

In love masnavies fiction is set by tradition. In this fiction, the love adventure of heroes was generally directed by spiritual guides, sheikhs, prophets, friends, or by a divine sense of sound that is manipulative and powerful. The effect of this power often serves to shape the ideal world. In these masnavies the power of guidance creates a sense of direction in truth and relationship. Ideal elements are created through understanding traditional fiction. These elements are; love, perfect human beings, good-evil conflicts, advice, morally-Islamic, outside world, helpful and supportive friends and prayers.

German Education System

The German education system is different in many ways from the ones in Anglo-Saxon countries, but it produces high-performing students. Although education is a function of the federal states, and there are differences from state to state, some generalizations are possible.

Children aged three to six may attend kindergarten. After that school is compulsory for nine or ten years. From grades 1 through 4 children attend elementary school(Grundschule), where the subjects taught are the same for all. Then, after the 4th grade, they are separated according to their academic ability and the wishes of their families, and attend one of three different kinds of schools:Hauptschule, Realschule or Gymnasium.

The Hauptschule (grades 5-9 in most German states) teaches the same subjects as theRealschule and Gymnasium, but at a slower pace and with some vocational-oriented courses. It leads to part-time enrollment in a vocational school combined with apprenticeship training until the age of 18.

The Realschule (grades 5-10 in most states) leads to part-time vocational schools and higher vocational schools. It is now possible for students with high academic achievement at theRealschule to switch to a Gymnasium on graduation.

The Gymnasium (grades 5-13 in most states) leads to a diploma called the Abitur and prepares students for university study or for a dual academic and vocational credential. The most common education tracks offered by the standard Gymnasium are classical language, modern language, and mathematics-natural science.

Grundschule teachers recommend their students to a particular school based on such things as academic achievement, self confidence and ability to work independently. However, in most states, parents have the final say as to which school their child attends following the fourth grade.

The Gesamtschule, or comprehensive school, is a more recent development and is only found in some of the states. It takes the place of both the Hauptschule and Realschule and arose out of the egalitarian movements in the 1960s. It enrolls students of all ability levels in the 5th through the 10th grades. Students who satisfactorily complete the Gesamtschulethrough the 9th grade receive the Hauptschule certificate, while those who satisfactorily complete schooling through the 10th grade receive the Realschule certificate.

No matter what kind of school a student attends, he/she must complete at least nine years of education. A student dropping out of a Gymnasium, for example, must enroll in a Realschuleor Hauptschule until nine years have been completed.

Beyond the Haupschule and Realschule lies the Berufsschule, combining part-time academic study and apprenticeship. The successful completion of an apprenticeship program leads to certification in a particular trade or field of work. These schools differ from the other ones mentioned in that control rests not with the local and regional school authorities, but with the federal government, industry and the trade unions.

German children only attend school in the morning. There is no provision for serving lunch. There is a lot more homework, heavy emphasis on the "three R's" and very few extracurricular activities.

A very low-cost or free higher education could lie beyond a German Abitur. Many of Germany's hundred or so institutions charge little or no tuition. But, students must prove through examinations that they are qualified.

There are several varieties of university-level schools. The classical universities, in the tradition of Alexander von Humboldt, provide a broad general education and students usually attend them for six and one-half years. The Technical Universities (Technische Hochschulen)are more aimed at training students for specific careers and are usually attended for four and one-half years. There are also Hochschulen for art and music.

The whole German education system, including the universities, is available to the children of bona fide expatriates. The catch, of course, is that the classes are conducted in German, which is usually all right for school beginners but becomes more and more of a problem as the children get older.

http://www.howtogermany.com/images/school_chart.jpg

language, literature and I

language, literature and I

My parents were great readers of books of all sorts. I was interested and wondered why they spent so much time with Turkish books. I read just German books, and was never interested in Turkish books. I read all the best known German literature for children. Eventually, at the age of thirteen, I started to read books from my parents’ library. All of them were in Turkish and it was a new experience for me to read in Turkish. At the same time, in school we were reading various novels of German authors. Our German teacher taught us how to interpret, to read between the lines, and to pay attention to word order and vocabulary. I naturally used this new knowledge in reading Turkish novels, and after a few pages, I could picture the physical and psychological setting of the story. It was so real; I would become deeply involved in the story, and could see the power of literature, language and grammar. Thos started my interest in literature of authors from different national backgrounds. Now, I hope to pursue this passion as a career.

I was raised in a completely bilingual and bicultural environment. My study of English has further expanded my multicultural perspective. I think that people with this kind of background tend to feel a certain creative tension, which can be resolved in various ways. For me, a deep interest in language and literature, and in both teaching and translation, are ideal ways to deal with the contradictions of my life and of the dynamically changing world we all now live in.

My hometown Neuss is a city on North Rhine- Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Dusseldorf. Neuss owes its success to its location at the crossing of historic and modern trade routes. Neuss is a small modern and wealthy town. 151,280 People live in this town. Unfortunately, Neuss has not a University, but it has a lot of schools. The first shows the City.The building is the Town Hall. It is a old historical building. The last picture presents an old church "St Qurinus" in Neuss. Neuss has 6 historical churches.

Masnavies

In classical Turkish literature masnavies are written with and composed of various language features, writing forms, writing goals, composition properties and are carried out with respect to different categories. According to Agah Sirri Levend, when examining the origin and nature of masnavies, the nature of the subject are divided into seven categories: 1. Religious issues, 2. Love, 3. Heroes from history, 4. Representation, 5. Sufism, 6. Romance, 7. Adventure. According to another researcher, Tolasa, masnavies are divided into these following seven categories: 1. Religious-mystical-moral, 2. Love, 3. History and life, 4. Adventure, 5. Beauties and wonders of a specific place, 6. Whimsical, 7. Wisdom and culture. On the other hand, Iz and Kut divide masnavies into three categories: 1. Epic, 2. Lyrical and 3. Informative. Cem Dilcin’s classification of the origin and nature of masnavies is nearly identical to those of Tolasa. According to Ismail Unver the purpose of masnavies is to 1. Provide information and educate the reader, 2. Address the reader with a sense of heroism, 3. Put forth the artistic quality of tales of love and romance, 4. Provide readers of the poets’ personal experiences in life. As you can see, one is not the same as the other, but the most important similarity between all of these classifications of masnavies is love and researchers have assessed love as a separate group on its own. Love masnavies are based on real love stories of the past, their lyrical aspect is much more dominant when compared to other masnavies, and because elements of conflict and tension that springs the factor of curiosity is present, readers are steered towards their imaginary world. Thus, when masnavies are mentioned, love masnavies constitute the first group that comes to mind.