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American Oddities # 4: Is Europe a Country?

Okay, okay. After some of you have asked, no begged me to blog in English, here's a taste of my life in Fort Smith for everybody to understand (hew, not very clever for a German teacher). 

Before I came to the USA, I heard all kinds of stories, anectdotes, and stereotypes about Americans. One of them - undeniably - was that Americans don't care about the rest of the world, they hardly ever leave their country, and hardly recognize Europe as consisting of independent countries. Well, not a big surprise if you consider that the following snippet from the US TV show 'Are you smarter than a 5th grader?' is quite popular among my friends in Germany. This - admittedly - hot young lady (her name is Kellie Pickler, her fame originates from her participation in 'American Idol') gives an interesting answer to the question which European country's capital Budapest is. 

Up until today, all of the above stereotypes had proved to be wrong (yes, even after listening to Kellie's 'explanation'). Today, my German class made me think, though. I've always said (and still am of the opinion) that my students are the most awesome students in the world: they are smart and kick ass! However, in today's class they've earned an extra lesson in German politics. I will let the following dialog uncommented.

The situation: Students are all sitting, watching a PowerPoint slide with pictures and personal information of a) Angela Merkel, b) Heidi Klum, and c) Cindy aus Marzahn (a German stand- up comedian).

• J [points at the picture of Angela Merkel] : Who is it? Describe this woman.
• [Silence. Puzzled faces.]
• J [is surprized, thinks students might have not understood the question in German and tries to help with an English translation]: Who is this? Describe her, please. 
• [Silence. Puzzled faces, again.]
• Student A [innocently] : Hey Joannis, who is this? I don't know her. 
• J [thinking that Student A is just kidding, wondering if it might be possible that students here don't know Germany's chancellor, but then rejecting the idea again, jokingly asks] : Okay, who of you has never seen that woman before? Raise your arms.
• [More than a third of the students raise their arms, feeling uncomfortable.]
• J [not believing it at all] : Really? Hold on, wait a second. Who of you has never heard of Angela Merkel? 
• [Same students raise their arms, getting even more uncomfortable.]
• J [stunned, completely forgetting he should be speaking German] : Are you making fun of me? Please, tell me you're making fun of me. Ok, everybody now. Who is Angela Merkel?
• Student B [happily, calling out] : I know who she is, I know it. She is your person !
• J : What do you mean, 'your person '?
• Student B : Like Obama is for us. She is your person.
• J : Alright. Let's call her 'chancellor'. Angela Merkel is the German chancellor. I don't really like her, but seriously, you should remember her name. [Tries to calm down again. Points at the picture of Heidi Klum.] Wer ist das? Wer ist diese Frau?
• [Almost all hands up. Students smile, as if I was underchallenging them on purpose.]
• Student C [shouting the answer, not waiting to be called on by me] : That's easy Joannis. Das ist Heidi Klum!
• J : Alright. Please, let's recapitulate what's just happened. A serious number of you didn't recognize Angela Merkel, some don't even know her. But almost all of you know Heidi Klum? You should look up Merkel at Wikipedia. Really, she is one of the most famous politicians world-wide. She's been on the cover of Forbes for the last couple of years in a row as the most powerful woman in the world. 
• Student A [chiming in again] : No way!! She can't have beat Oprah ! Does she even have her own TV show? Oprah and Heidi do ... 
• J : Noooo! Chancellor, Germany, politics! She doesn't have a TV show. 
• Student D [intending to mediate] : Oh, I see. Merkel might be the most powerful , but she is not as influential ...
• J : Never mind [Pointing at Cindy's picture] Let's go on. Who is it? ...