Egypt's euphoria

I read an article the other day in the online-version of economist.com and it talks about the resignation of Hosni Mubarak. I thought you might be interested, because the protests in Egypt are in the newspaper all over the world for the last few weeks.

Basically what it says is that Egypt’s president Hosni Mubarak notified, that he is going to resign from his function. A correspondent from Alexandria described Egypt’s collective elation as the release of 30 years of bottled-up emotion. He said that he had seen birth and he had seen marriage, but he had never seen happiness like this. Another reporter described the rise of Egypt’s people and the fall of Egypt’s dictator as “everything I’ve ever hoped for”.

What surprised me most was the fact that Mr Mubarak was Egypt’s president for more than 30 years!

As for me I think it is good that Mubarak resigns from his function, because he is quite old and he was president for a very long time.

Vocabulary:

resignation – Rücktritt

The people in Egypt are happy with Mr Mubaraks resignation.

bottled-up – aufgestaut

A cause of this is the 30 years bottled-up emotion.

elation – Hochstimmung

Egypt’s collective elation is breathtaking.

American Gun Culture

In our last English lesson Farrah told us something about the American gun culture. Basically what she talked about was that in America everyone is allowed to bear arms. This means that everyone is allowed to carry weapons with him or her.

Why do Americans want to protect their right to bear arms?

The Americans are used to their guns and they might feel strong against the government and burglars. They also need guns for hunting. In former times the cowboys had to fight against animals and other people who wanted America to be their country.

Farrah also told us something about the Redneck stereotype. Rednecks drive very old cars, they drink beer all day long, they are uneducated, they all wear guns and they don’t care about what other people say about them. Rednecks wear very old clothes.

At the end of the lesson Farrah showed as a video on youtube about the congresswoman Garbielle Giffords who was shot in the head by a young man last week. This happened in shopping-center in Tucson (Arizona).

Thanksgiving

On Wednesday 24^th November, Farrah told us something about Thanksgiving.

This year, Thanksgiving was on 25^th of November. For me, it was very interesting, because I didn’t know anything about Thanksgiving.

Food:

Things what people in America eat on Thanksgiving are: a turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, fried onion and green beans, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, corn pudding, a pumpkin pie, pecan pie and some more things.

History:

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621. In the first year, the Pilgrims were in America they didn’t know how to get food, to build houses and some more things. So Squanto helped the Pilgrims and he told them very useful things. Because of this, the Pilgrims organized a little party to thank Squanto.

The day after Thanksgiving:

The Americans call the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday”. It is the traditional start of shopping Christmas-presents. Very popular presents are toys and electronics. The shops open very early in the morning to get all the people in.

Halloween October 31st

Halloween is a shortened form of All Hallow's Eve.

Halloween means holy - Eve is the day before a holy day.

Halloween was an ancient British Celtic festival.
At Halloween the souls of the dead returned. People lit bonfires to frighten evil spirits.

Now bonfires are only burnt on November 5th - Bonfire Night.

• masks
• costumes
• ghosts
• witches on broomsticks with black cats
• skeletons
• bats and spiders
• and Halloween lanterns

...have all become part of Halloween

Children play trick-or-treat. They ask for a treat hoping to get sweets.

I found a very funny video about Halloween on Youtube. I like it very much because the song is very nice. :)

To watch the video click here.

Farrah

Farrah is 22 years old and she lives in Maryland, which is about 30 minutes away from - the capital city of the US - Washington DC. She has no brothers and sisters and she likes it, because she gets everything she wants from her parents. Farrah's hobbies are reading, listening to music, watching TV, travelling and spending time with friends.
Farrah is going to stay in Austria till the end of May 2011. In Austria, she lives in Linz which she likes a lot. She also told us that she likes Austria a lot because of the old buildings, the beautiful cities and the mountains.

The development of advertising

First paragraph:

In the 19^th century, during the Industrial Revolution, advertising became popular for new and fringe products. Later, more and more factories produced the same products and so, brand-naming became necessary.

Second paragraph:

The economic depression was a turning point for the economy. Before the depression the production had permanently expanded, but after it there was a crisis because the factories produced too much and the customers did not buy enough and so the prices fell. And so the small firms combined with other small firms to raisetheir profits.

Third paragraph:

An example of the changes is a case in the soap industry. Small factories flooded the market with anonymous soap bars and so the competition grew very fast. The leading companies started more aggressive selling methods to . . ..

Fourth paragraph:

Lord Leverhulme was the first industrialist who realized that advertisement is an important part of selling methods. Nowadays, advertising is important and those firms who can’t pay for advertising are out.

My favourite spot

My favourite spot is the Zalando-Onlineshoeshop-Spot because I think it is very funny, I love shoes and I like the laughing of the man at the end of the video. :D

In the spot there is a man in a room with a lot of shoes and you can see that he is very nervous about all the shoes. Suddenly the doorbell rings and he hears a loud scream from his wife. Then you can see a man with new boxes of shoes.

If you want to see the full spot just click on the picture below.

Fifa Worldcup 2010 - South Africa

Groupe B

Argentina - Argentines, Spanish
farmer, slums, no infrastructure, a lot of wood and steppe, best beef, they dance the Tango

Nigeria - Nigerians, English
poor, are hungry, are ill, thin

Korea Republic - Koreans, Korean
war, have a dictator

Greece - Greek, Greek
no money – crises


We think Argentina and Korea Republic overcame the first round and we think Argentina will come into the semi final and maybe win the worldcup!!

GRADES GRADES GRADES !!!!

These are my grades of this year

Winter term: D
2nd test: C
presentation: B
course work (participation in class, home exercises, blogs, etc.): C

I think i deserve a C because my 2nd test was a C and my (our) presentation was very good.

Our little trip to Italy

From 17th May to 21st May we went to Italy on a Sports- and Cultureweek.

Monday, May 17th:
We left from Perg at 8 o'clock in the morning. In Italy we visited the city Udine. In Udine we had some time to take photographs and to relaxe a bit.
After visiting Udine we drove to Bibione where we got the key for our mobile-home. Before dinner, we went to the sea to take some nice photographs. After dinner we went to Bibione with the teachers and we were allowed to discover the little "city" on our own.

Tuesday, May 18th:
We ♥ Venezia! On Tuesday we had our trip to Venice. We drove about 1.5 hours with the bus. On the port in Venice we waited for our "taxi". On the "Markusplatz" in Venice, Mr. Huber told us a bit about the history of the city. We got a questionnaire about Venice. We got about 3 hours to answer all questions. We discovered Venice on our own and it was very funny :)

Wednesday, May 19th:
Sportsday! :D... In the morning we had a beginners' cours in archery. It was very funny. At midday we had time for ourselve. We went to the beach and relaxed. In the afternoon we did a bicycle-tour in Bibione. We made a break at a beach and it was very nice. Wednesday night there was a disco in our village. The disco was very boring. :D

Thursday, May 20th:In the morning we went to a small fishing village. We went into a fish-restaurant and for me, it was horrible, because I hate fish and the smell of it. At midday we had again some time for ourselve. We went swimming at the sea and we made a "Sand-Man" out of Werner :D ... In the afternoon we did some beach-sport. Evelyn, Kate, Magda, Aida and me chose "Boccia", a hardcore-sport +haha+ ...At night we went to Bibione and drank a good cocktail.


Friday, May 21st:
On friday in the morning we drove home.

Presentation "Let's go green!"

I've just heard a presentation about environment and pollution. I liked the presentation very much, because I think it is very important for all of us to safe our planet and to know, what we can do for saving our planet. Of course, I am already conserving energy at home. At night, I put out all the plugs from the socket and by day, when I'm not watching TV or something like that, I'm trying not to let them run on "Stand-By-Mode".
The girls, who did the presentation, told us about two organisations: Greenpeace and WWF.
I looked at the websites of the two organisations and I am very surprised of them. There is a LOT OF information on it. At the WWF-page I found a point called "What we do". I was very surprised that there are so many things WWF is doing and what they are trying to save our planet.
At the Greenpeace-page I also found the point "What we do". For example, Greenpeace is trying to stop the climate-change.
As for me, there is that much information on the websites that it would take me more than one day to read and remember all the information!

What I learned about the presentation is, that WWF and Greenpeace are very good organisations. In the nearer future, I am trying more and more not to go anywhere by car or by bus. Of course, I am going on with conserving energy at home.

Austrian hotels make European Top 10

I read an article the other day on www.austriantimes.at and it talks about Austrian hotels.
Basically what it says is that three Austrian hotels have been named in a Top 10 ranking in winter sport hotels in Europe.
Place five became the "Interalpen Hotel Tyrol" in Telfs, the "Theresia Gartenhotel" in Saalbach-Hinterglemm became sixth and the seventh place became the "Landhaus zu Appesbach lakeside resort" in Sankt Wolfgang.
Place one became the "Hotel Intercontinental" in Germany.
What surprised me most was the fact that more than 6000 hotel ratings were considered for the listing.


see original link

FLORA

"People visiting other countries often ract in different ways. Some are curiour about what thex are going to see, others are a little nervous about the strange new world they are going to experience."


Flora said that she learnd more about the Austrian culture.
She was surprised that in Austria it is allowed to smoke in public.
Flora said that she met very interessting people.
She said that she corrected some clichés the Austrians had about the Irish.
Flora siad that she leand more about her own culture.

Press Review Austrian dollar millionaires

I read an article the other day on www.austriantimes.at and it talks about the number of Austrian dollar millionaires.

Basically what it says is that the number of Austrian dollar millionaires rose in 2008, while the number of dollar millionaires fell in most other countries.

A study said, that the USA had most millionaires, followed by Japan, China, Germany and the UK.

What surprised me most was the fact that one million dollars is the equivalent of over 680.000 Euros.

Words:
equivalent of (entspricht): It's another word for "the same as".

dollar millionaires (Dollar-Millionäre): These people would be millionaires in the USA.


If you want to read the original article click here!

Press Review Euro 2008

I have just read an article on "www.austriantimes.com" and it talks about the European Football Championships 2008. Basically what it says is that last years European Football Championships in Austria/Switzerland were a financial disaster for Innsbruck. It has been revealed that Innsbruck losses more than one million Euros for the event. In Innsbruck special fan zones were created where people could watch matches on large outdoor screens. The fan zones were not so well attended and so the losses in the zones became 1.26 million Euros. It also says that a loss of 500,000 Euros had been linked to the VIP area.

As for me I think it is their own guilt because people organized so much - only for football!! :D


See original article:
http://www.austriantimes.at/index.php?id=14060

Press Review Inflation

I have just read an article on "www.austriantimes.at" and it talks about inflation. Basically what it says is that in May inflation in Austria was just 0.3 per cent year on year. It is the smallest monthly rise since April 1999.

It also talks about a report of "Statisik Austria" which showed that prices in May were 0.3 per cent highter than in April. The May increase would have been 1.8 per cent if the prices of fuel and heating oil hat not fallen so much during the past year.
Experts say that the future inflation will depend on the prices of crude oil. It has begun to increase again.

As for me I am not very interested in economy. So I dont care the "May increase".

See original article:
http://www.austriantimes.at/index.php?id=14003

Press Review European Parliament Election

I have just read an article on "www.austriantimes.at" and it talks about the European Parliament election. Basically what it says is that the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) was the biggest looser at the election. They only won fice mandates, two less than in 2004. The "winner" at the election was the People's Party (ÖVP). They won six mandates. "EU rebel" Hans-Peter Martin came third with 3 mandates. Right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ) won two mandates and the Greens (Grünen) won 1 mandate. The Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ), the Austrian Communist Part KPÖ and the Young Liberals (JuLi) failed to enter the European Parliament.
The participation at the election was not very high. Only 42,4 % voted. Around 78 % voted in the early general elections of September 2008.

What surprised me most was the fact that Hans-Peter Martion became third with 3 mandates. I haven't known that this is such a "popular" Party.

As for me, I was not at the election because I am too young. If I were sixteen, I did not desert me wheather to go to the elections or not because I am not very interested in politics.

Press Review Flugwerkzeuge Aviation

I have just read an artivle in "www.austriantimes.at" and it talks about the software firm "Flugwerkzeuge Aviation".

Basically what it says is that the Austrian software firm Flugwerkezeuge Aviation has added Air India to its international client list. Air India is the twenty fourth airline using Flugwerkzeuge Aviatin's programes to plan flight routes. The software helps pilots to calculate the most fuel-efficient routes for flight.

What shocked me most was the fact that Flugwerkzeuge Aviation has only 50 employees.


See original article:
http://www.austriantimes.at/index.php?id=13724

Press Review Red Bull Coke

We have just read an article on the Internet site "www.austriantimes.at" and it talks about the traces of cocaine in the Red Bull coke. Basicaly what it talks about is that the Austrian agency AGES found cocaine in the Red Bull coke and so a lot of people were frightened of this news.

What shocked us most was the fact that in nightclubs the demand for Red Bull coke is increasing!!

Summing up we can say that the fears are justifiable because you can get addicted of the drink.

(c) Marlene, Katharina


See original article:
http://www.austriantimes.at/index.php?id=13617

Press Review Vampire Artist

I have just read an article in "www.austriantimes.at" and it talks about the man Marko Markovic who drank his own blood an shocked his fans. He sticked a straw straight into a vein in his arm after a nurse has punctured the skin with a needle during the show. The show was in Split, Croatia.

What shocked me most was the faxt that Marko Markovic drank his blood until his skin started to turn white from blood loss.
What surprised me most was the faxt that pupils want to see such attractions.

As for me, I would NEVER EVER drink my own blood, because I get sick when I see too much blood.

See original article:
http://www.austriantimes.at/index.php?vid=53