Culture Days, June 16/17

A short explanation at the beginning: I study the English language as well as the culture that dominates English-speaking countries at the University of Graz, Austria. Our English teachers conceived a culture project and so every student had to prepare a presentation about a topic of his/her choice. The only restriction was to keep to your "home culture" which means to stick to the culture your teacher grew up in. As a result, I had to pick an issue concerning Ireland and decided to do research on Leprechauns. Eventually, I ended up with the topic "The popularised Leprechaun".
We all had to present the outcomes of our research on June 16 or 17, so just a few days ago. Every student additionally had to be present at seven other presentations of their home culture and only at three of a foreign culture. In the end, everyone had to choose five home culture topics on which we will be tested in the last big exam this semester: The KGP.
The two exhausting Culture Days are over now and so it's time to reflect on my impressions. All in all, I went to see thirteen presentations and I have to say that I was very impressed by the performances of many peers.

Sophie, for example, talked about great American entrepreneurs and, in my view, she did a really good job. Well prepared and motivated she stood, full of self-confidence, in front of her audience and informed us about elite universities in the USA and their influences on the foundings of huge businesses such as Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple, HP and so on.
Her presentation was followed by one about the TV series Homeland and its relation to reality. It was very interesting to see how fiction can be transferred into the real world and how similarities can actually be found easily.
The third and last presentation I watched about American culture dealt with same-sex marriage in the US, a topic that is up to date in many European countries, too. Miriam told her audience about differences of opinions between the fifty states, gave with LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) rights in California as well as in Alabama two disparate points of view and summarised the results of her research perfectly.

I was lucky and had time to go and watch the only presentation about Australian culture. "Chinese immigrants in Australia" is, at least for me, a quite boring topic but Carla presented it in a lively and likeable way, so it was a pleasure to listen to her.

C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia

But now to the most important presentations - the Irish ones. The decision on which I want to be tested on the exam is harder than I thought but eventually I chose five of the nine topics I was introduced to.
1) I went to see Marlene's presentation on "Irish influences on C.S. Lewis' work" and was impressed by her sovereignty. She caught my interest in the topic, maybe because she was very passionate about it herself. Through her way of presenting, she even convinced me to learn more about Irish mythology and landscape, C.S. Lewis' biography and especially his relation to Ireland. I would say: KGP Topic 1!

Oliver Cromwell

2) Verena talked about the life and work of Oliver Cromwell, seen from two disparate perspectives, the Irish one and the British one. Is he a cruel slaughterer or one of England's greatest sons? She didn't really need to convince me to take this topic for my KGP, I was already curious about his doings before she started to talk. KGP Topic 2!

3) The next Irish culture presentation I visited was the one of Margarita. She described the gain of women's power throughout Irish history. As far as I can remember, she did a good job and presented interesting facts, nonetheless this topic didn't make it into my KGP list.

4) Alexandra presented a very extensive topic, namely "The conspiracies about the murder of Jean McConville". I really liked her presentation but the issue she was talking about is very complicated because of the time Jean was murdered in. There were a lot of bad things going on in Ireland during the Troubles, all of them somehow related to each other. I won't pick it as an exam topic, for me it's enough to know that the IRA murdered her.

5) Dolores dealt with the Irish language, how and why it became an official EU lanuage. Honestly, I wasn't exactly captivated by the presentation. There were much more interesting topics that I prefer to take over that one.

6) Kathi had an interesting topic concerning the LGBT rights and David Norris' contribution to them. As with same-sex marriage, these rights and the whole issue of tolerance are matters of present discussions in Europe and other parts of the world. I think I didn't take this topic because I just survived the "Wurst-hype". ;)

Gaeilge -"Irish" in Irish

7) Nina asked the question "Is Irish a dying language?" and answered it directly in her presentation. I will definitely answer that question, too, while talking about it in my exam: KGP topic 3! Simply because I love languages and want to expand my knowledge about as many of them as possible.

Vikings - ready to invade

8) Simone talked about the educational system in Austria and Ireland. Sounds boring but actually it's interesting to compare the way of teaching and the quantity of time spent in school and university in different countries. The opportunity to check through polls whether the pupils of the one or the other country make more profit from their educational system rewards the research on the topic. KGP topic 4!

9) Last but not least, KGP topic 5! Verena held a presentation about the Vikings in Ireland and as with Oliver Cromwell, I already was interested in the topic before. How and where did the Vikings live? What did they do in their free time? What did they look like? What was the women's role in the Viking society? When and how did they come to Irel...............

I'm sorry to ask but - who are you?

Can you imagine or have you already experienced the feeling when a close friend or a family member of yours doesn't recognize you anymore? After years of ups and downs with that person, I will never understand how they can simply forget people those who are closest to them.

The Alzheimer disease: What is it? How does it evolve? How does it end? How can I avoid getting this disease?

The illness commonly known as Alzheimer's is actually just one of many forms dementia can take, but it's the most spread one.
You start to forget things occasionally, misplace items, virtually lose your short-term memory and of course don't admit that you forgot to do something because you forgot about it. You are becoming more and more absent-minded, already forget important appointments and are often confused. That's  the advanced stage of the disease but not yet the final one.
You continue by having real difficulties remembering anything recently learned, speaking gets harder and harder and you repeat the same stories, sentences and words over and over again. You become either more aggressive or apathetic, depending on the character of the person, lose your self-awareness and forget about the existence of even your closest friends and family members.
Eventually, patients don't die because of the illness itself, but because of external factors they are prone to when confused and not being themselves actually.

But now to the most important question: How can I avoid getting this disease?
Doing sports, reading, learning languages, playing musical instruments, solving puzzles, regular social interaction and a balanced diet contribute to your mind's and body's well-being and therefore also help you to stay healthy. People who smoke tend to contract Alzheimer's more likely than those who don't. However, drinking alcohol in a moderate amount as well as beverages containing caffeine or cocoa is said to reduce the risk of getting this disease. High blood pressure and a high cholesterol level should be treated as soon as possible in order to avoid unwanted effects on the brain.

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that avoiding Alzheimer's through keeping a healthy lifestyle works out. Therefore, scientists and medics currently work on a vaccination but unfortunately they are still far away from a breakthrough.

The main problem with Alzheimer's is that the patient's relatives and friends suffer when trying to look after him/her. That's why I hope that there is going to be a reliable way of avoiding the disease or at least alleviate Alzheimer's. 

Everyone who suffers this disease has "light moments", though. A relative of mine was already in the terminal stage, remembering nothing at all, not any person close to her, actually she just awaited death. But on Christmas Eve just one month before she eventually died, she suddenly started to sing "Silent Night, Holy Night", all three stanzas, word by word. You know, I am not a religious person at all, but that was pretty awesome, just thinking that her brain was actually totally destroyed but somehow the part where she saved the lyrics of this song remained healthy.

Sources: http://www.alz.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzheimer%27s_disease
my own

Correction: The best cook I know

ORIGINAL

The best cook I know

My brother Philipp is such an amazing cook that anyone who tries one of his dishes immediately falls in love with their taste. Eating one of his creations can be compared with a culinary roller coaster ride for two reasons. Firstly, once you have finished the plate you want to have the next one. Secondly, as Philipp combines the techniques and ingredients of diverse cuisines, your taste buds experience sensations they never met before. Impressing with exotic ingredients and enviable cooking skills, not even the most convinced meat lover would miss animal products in these vegan dishes. However, there is one secret ingredient that probably is most important: Fun. Philipp loves to prepare dishes and this, together with his know-how, is what makes him a superb, I dare to say the best cook I know.

[135 words]

CORRECTION

The best cook I know

My brother Philipp is such an amazing cook that anyone who tries one of his dishes immediately falls in love. Eating one of his creations can be compared with a culinary roller coaster ride for two reasons. Firstly, once you have finished the plate, you immediately want to have the next one. Secondly, as Philipp combines techniques and ingredients from different parts of the world, your taste buds experience sensations they have never encountered before. With such exotic ingredients and his enviable cooking skills, not even the most convinced meat lover would miss animal products in these vegan dishes. Apart from using unusual ingredients, there is a secret one that probably leads to success in cooking: Fun. Philipp loves to prepare dishes and this, together with his know-how, is what makes him a superb, I dare to say the best cook I know.

[143 words]

Correction: House Swap Letter

ORIGINAL

Dear Hamish¹,

Thank you for your letter with all the details about your home and life. By now, I do not have any more questions, so I would like to introduce you to my world.

Arrival

The first and probably most important step after your arrival is, of course, getting to my flat. That should not be that difficult because both the airport and Graz itself are fairly small. After disembarking, take bus number 630 to “Graz Jakominiplatz”. Regarding the bus fare, you are probably best taking a day ticket, in case you want to explore Graz by tram and bus on your first day here. However, at “Graz Jakominiplatz” change to tram number 6 and go on until “Plüddemanngasse”. Alight the bus and walk approximately fifty meters uphill, then turn left into the courtyard of a big housing complex. You cannot miss it. My/Your house is the second on the left. Ring the bell of apartment three and one of my flatmates will let you in.

Flatmates

There are two of them and their names are Benjamin and Bianca. I asked them to give you your keys by the time you arrive and as I know them, they will surely help you through the first days.

Apartment

I assume my flatmates will tell you everything that is not self-explanatory. In case they do not, there are only two things worth mentioning. Firstly, the oven is not working properly, so I would recommend using the microwave if you want to heat something. Secondly, the washing machine is a bit temperamental. I would keep an eye on it when doing your laundry.

What to do in Graz

As you already know, the tram stop is near our apartment but also the bus stop is just across the street. Additionally, almost every attraction Graz has to offer is within walking distance. You can also borrow my bike, if you want to. The only thing I should warn you about is that police is very strict here when it comes to riding the bicycle without the lights on.

As you are into sports, I would recommend going up the “Schlossberg” on a sunny day or for a run along the river “Mur”. If the weather gets the better of you, though, you may want to have a look at “Schloss Eggenberg” in the North-West of Graz. I will leave a few brochures on my desk that may give you inspiration on leisure time activities.

Shops

You will soon discover that our apartment is surrounded by various supermarkets and drugstores. You will not have any problems concerning shopping facilities.

Other than that, it seems everything is said. Obviously, if there is anything else you need to know, just get in touch.

Linda

1 What I know about Hamish: He is an athletic, young Scot who loves to explore new places. Living in a cottage located in a remote Scottish village, Graz is a nice change of scene for him. Hamish looks forward to absorbing and analyzing the Austrian culture.

CORRECTION

Dear Hamish¹,

Thank you for your letter with all the details about your home. By now, I think you've answered all my questions, so I would like to introduce you to my world.

Arrival

The first and probably most important step after your arrival is, of course, getting to my flat. That should not be too difficult because both the airport and Graz itself are fairly small.

After disembarking, take bus number 630 to Jakominiplatz. Regarding the bus fare, you are probably best buying a day ticket from the bus driver, in case you want to explore Graz by tram and bus on your first day here. However, at Jakominiplatz change to tram number 6 and go until “Plüddemanngasse”. Get off the bus and walk approximately fifty meters uphill, then walk towards the big housing complex that comes up on your left side. You cannot miss it. Once you enter the courtyard you will find my/your home is the second on the left. Ring the bell for apartment three and one of my flatmates will let you in.

Flatmates

There are two of them and their names are Benjamin and Bianca. I asked them to give you your keys when you arrive. I am sure that you will get on well with them.

Apartment

My flatmates will explain everything that is not self-explanatory. In case they do not, there is only one thing worth mentioning. The oven is not working properly, so I would recommend using the microwave if you want to heat something.

What to do in Graz

As you already know, the tram stop is near our apartment but there is also a bus stop just across the street. Additionally, almost every attraction Graz has to offer is within walking distance, or you can borrow my bike if you want to. The only thing I should warn you about is that police are very strict here when it comes to riding a bicycle at night without the lights on.

As you are into sports, I would recommend going up the “Schlossberg” on a sunny day or for a run along the river “Mur”. If the weather gets the better of you, though, you may want to have a look at “Eggenberg Palace” in the North-West of Graz. I will leave a few brochures on my desk to give you inspiration on leisure time activities.

You will soon discover that our apartment is surrounded by various supermarkets and drugstores, so you shouldn't have any problems concerning shopping facilities.

Other than that, it seems there is nothing left to say for me. Obviously, if there is anything else you need to know, just get in touch.

Linda

1 What I know about Hamish: He is an athletic, young Scot who loves to explore new places. Living in a cottage located in a remote Scottish village, Graz is a nice change of scene for him. Hamish looks forward to absorbing and analyzing the Austrian culture.

Traveling: Into The Wild

There are different types of travelers, among them:


1) The We-rather-stay-at-a-resort-than-getting-to-know-the-local-people-ones. They go on vacation, simply to eat, drink and sleep all day. Mostly, these people do not even leave the hotel area and I actually don't understand why they drive or fly far away just to relax at the pool or the beach because there are a lot of beautiful lakes in Austria where you can sleep all day.

2) The crazy sightseeing city-tourers. These people love museums, art galleries, old towns, walls, cathedrals and so on. At least they are interested in the history and culture of the country they visit.

3) The travelers. They go by bike, they hitchhike or rent a car to explore the whole country. They travel alone or with a partner and try to absorb the culture and the landscape. My prefered way of traveling.

4) The survivor. Who needs friends? Who needs family or any other social bonds? This type of traveler seeks for adventure that never ends. I have to say that it sometimes is an attracting thought to just live in the nature and distance from everyday life and routine, to show that you can survive without a smartphone, a laptop, money, a roof above one's head and other luxury. On the one hand, this way of traveling is incredibly interesting, on the other, simply stupid.





I recently watched a movie based on a true story, the story of Christopher McCandless, a true survivor. The film is called Into The Wild. Christopher was an intelligent young man who decided to leave everything behind him after his graduation. He went away and eventually ended up in the Alaskan wilderness, seeking to survive.
I don't want to tell you much about the plot, the inspiring people he met or the deep sadness of his family when he went away without saying a word. I want you and myself to understand his decision to donate his money, take his gear and set out into the wild. He had everything, from a caring family to great friends, even good grades and therefore opportunities for a reasonable future profession. The reason for his adventure was that he was sick of people, of rules, of capitalism and everything that comes with communities and social relationships. Going to extremes, he decided to live where he was sure to find the complete opposite situation than the one at home. In the Alaskan wilderness he had no one but himself and was content at first. That is what he always wanted: Living on his own, proving himself that he can survive, no one to argue with, no one to love and hurt him.
After months Christopher discovered that there is no one to laugh with either, no one to help, no one to talk with, no one who can see him surviving and be proud of him. He made the decision to go back home but the river he crossed in fall, is now way too big and raging to swim through it. He was stuck.

Although life in a community based on capitalism is harsh, everyone, without an exception, needs contact with another person at some point in their life. What is a joke worth when you are the only one who laughs? Why should you even laugh when there is no one to see and hear that you are happy? And eventually: Can you be happy when you are alone?
I don't think so.

Funny songs that cheer me up - or just stupid sense of humor?

Nobody is happy and motivated all the time. There are days on which you lay on your bed, thinking about all the stuff you need to get going with. The huge amount of homework, all the projects, the BLOG POSTS you have to write, studying for the upcoming exams.
A reasonable solution for these worries may be to actually do something but sometimes I prefer to do the exact opposite. That means listening to ridiculous, stupid but definitely funny songs. If you also want to escape daily life for a few minutes and have a good laugh (provided that we share the same sense of humor), go on and check out this post! :)

Let's start with a very dramatic song, sung by Ylvis who are two Norwegian comedians, already known for their song "What does the fox say?". I don't want to say much, you have to create your own opinion on it, but is Stonehenge now "a giant granite birthday cake or a prison far too easy to escape"? We'll never know...

The next one is made by Tobuscus, a quite successful youtube star. I simply love this song because I always have to smile at some point, no matter how often I already listened to it. "Did you know that cashews come from a fruit?"? Frankly, I didn't.

It's legitimate to be confused and irritated by the next video. Four 50-year-old men standing on stage wearing leggings, bandanas, wigs (except the singer) and make-up, singing about "The Burden of Being Wonderful". You will definitely change your opinion about Steel Panther, though, when you see them live on stage. Besides being a real good live act, all of the songs written by them are full of self-mockery and jokes about everything and everyone. They don't take themselves seriously and that's what makes them likeable.

Here they are. I guess everyone of you has heard of them: Tenacious D. Jack Black and Kyle Gass are two chubby, middle-aged men who still rock every stage mainly with their songs but a great part of their show is their enthusiasm and humor. The following video is an excerpt of their second of three albums "The Pick of Destiny" that was even made a film of. A fun fact about their albums is that there are short humorous skits in-between the songs.

"Die Ärzte", in English "The Doctors" are a German band playing an undefined genre.Their band history is quite long, so they crossed almost every existing genre by now. Nobody can say for sure what they actually play, but there is one sure thing: They have a lot of funny songs. "Elke" is one of them, you'll have the pleasure to listen to it. In this song Die Ärzte make fun of an overweight girl who stalked the band over months. According to reliable sources, Elke was positively surprised when she found out that a song was written "for" her by her gods.
Other songtitles such as "Meine explodierte Freundin" (My exploded girlfriend), "Geschwisterliebe" (Sibling love), "Ich bin reich" (I am rich) and "Männer sind Schweine" (Men are pigs) speak for themselves. Die Ärzte even wrote a whole album about hair - yes, about hair. It is called "Le Frisur".

I hope you enjoyed this little journey through the world I enter when I am bored and do not want to study. I am still looking for similar Russian songs, but my Russian is not that good yet, so it takes time to understand the lyrics.
By the way, listening to these songs and reading my text you spend about quarter an hour without doing anything productive, so you'd better start studying. ;) No seriously, you probably have to find something else to do now. To all the students out there, I wish you good luck for the exam season.

Easter Tradition

Still stuffed with the filling food Carinthians traditionally eat at Easter, I tiredly look back at a typical Easter weekend full of relatives visiting, drinking and eating. My mother prepared the "Osterjause", a cold dinner, for all of us, which means that there were up to twenty one persons eating at a time. Luckily, we've got a large balcony with a huge dining table that creaked under the weight of the many plates.

The traditional Carinthian Easter meal consists of ham, sausages, lots of freshly ground horseradish (even the strongest and proudest men have to cry), eggs, egg cream, red beet sauce and white, sweet bread with raisins, cinnamon and sugar in it. This bread is called “Kärntner Reindling” or in my regional dialect “Woazas”.

As Easter is the most important Catholic holiday, Catholics traditionally keep to a diet for forty days before eating as much as possible of the Easter meal. Traditions go further and so we usually eat  veggies on Maundy Thursday and fish on Good Friday. On Saturday morning there is a mass where you bless the food you are going to eat. Midday indicates the end of Lent in our family (despite the fact that we are not that strict that we would give something up for Lent) and the whole family, many relatives from all over Austria included, eat as if there was no tomorrow. In the afternoon, everyone stays for cake and coffee and in the evening we all eat the Easter meal once again, for the last time this year.
We then sit together, drink and have fun until dawn breaks. On Sunday morning all the kids, still including me ;), search for the sweets, eggs and little presents that were hidden by the parents. We all - guess what - eat and continue to drink. A cheer for Austria!

That's our family's tradition. Of course I know that it differs from family to family, village to village, from valley to valley, whatever. I definitely like it the way it is....

The endless debate: Tea versus Coffee

Are there two different kinds of people on earth? The ones who drink tea and the others who drink coffee? Does that fact actually divide whole continents?
Yes. Well, maybe I exaggerated a bit, but all in all, yes.

I bet everyone has already had a discussion on whether tea is better than coffee or the other way round. In order to inform myself and you, I did some research on both beverages and prepared a table for you with the most important and disparating factors.

	COFFEE	TEA
Origin	Legend has it that coffee was drunk for the first time in the 9th century in the Ethiopian highlands, Africa.	Tea, however, is much older. Its history dates back to 2737 BC, China.
Culture	Coffee culture can be fast paced and frantic. Just think of people waiting in lines at the drive-through talking into microphones and driving around buildings to pick up huge paper cups of the daily special.	Tea is a rather genteel beverage requiring preparation and time to sip. Tea drinkers are referred to as being calm, tranquil and balanced in general. Tea is said to be soothing.
Caffeine	A regular cup of coffee contains the double amount of caffeine found in a cup of black tea. Therefore, it's best not to drink more than one or two cups of coffee a day because of the high blood pressure and heart disease risk. Unless, of course, the coffee is decaffeinated.	There is caffeine in tea, especially in green and black tea. But: In comparison to coffee-caffeine, the one that occurrs in tea takes longer to enter the blood stream and therefore is gentler to our system. On the other hand, the effect is not that powerful.
Other important ingredients	Antioxidants: They are chemicals found in plants. In our body, they protect our healthy tissues from oxidants that try to damage our cells.	Nutrients that naturally occur in the plants the tea is made of Antioxidants Fluoride, which is good for your teeth Tea may contain pesticides. Tanin, which reduces the absorption of iron and can lead to anemia
Impact on our body	Tooth discoloration Studies have shown that drinking a reasonable amount of coffee prevents Type 2 Diabetes and reduces the risk of developing gout.	Drinking up to four cups of tea per day prevents cancer and heart diseases. Tea hydrates the body. Green and black tea can be used as an antidepressant. It is also proven that drinking tea can prevent Type 1 Diabetes.
Varieties	Coffee with a lot of beans Coffee with less beans Coffee with milk and sugar Coffee without milk but with sugar Coffee without sugar but with milk No, let's be serious: There are various types of beans that taste differently. Adding much cream and sugar, though, like coffee is sold at coffee shop chains, kills the healthy aspect.	Green Tea: made of the non-fermented leaves of the tea plant White Tea: the leaves are fermented for about quarter an hour Black Tea:the leaves are fermented for approximately two hours Oolong Tea (30 minutes fermentation), Herbal Tea, Fruit Tea and many more My favorite: Matcha! Matcha is a traditional japanese tea type, made of green tea powder and together with milk gives a delicious beverage.
Taste	Obviously a rather subjective question. For me, black coffee tastes bitter and is not drinkable without milk and sugar.	Tea's flavor isn't as strong and dominant as the one of coffee, but more watery. In the end you'll have to decide on your own about which beverage is the right one for you.

Sources: https://www.cbn.com/health/nutrition/reinke_coffeetea.aspx
http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/healthy-breakfast-coffee-vs-tea.html
http://visual.ly/health-benefits-coffee-vs-tea 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coffee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea

Hello, I am Linda and I would like to stay at your house for a couple of days.

I guess almost everyone of you has already heard of couchsurfing. For those who have not: It is a social network which enables travellers to find a place to stay, people to meet, activities to join in and all that in every country of the world. No cultural borders, no mistrust or prejudices.

Anyway, the aim of this post is not to introduce you to the network from an informative and statistical point of view, but with my own experience.

I couchsurfed around New Zealand and Australia and want to share some stories and memories with you that I will never forget.

Trust

I arrived in Sydney but didn't tell my host the exact time or even the day. On the off-chance, I showed up at his place, he wasn't there, so I phoned him. He told me that he was still working but I could meet him at a certain corner in the inner city. I went there, talked to him for not even five minutes, he gave me the keys to his apartment and said: “Here you go. One last thing: Could you be at home at about five p.m. and open my door for me? I don't have a second key.”

Not a place where you would give a stranger your only key, is it?

Inspiration

Thinking about the range of people I met, there is one couple that fascinated me. A Luxembourger and his thirty years younger Chinese girlfriend. Not just the cultural combination took my interest, but also their stories, especially the one's of him. He is one of the few people who climbed every one of the seven summits, only failing on the third of four camps of Mount Everest. He rode his motorcycle along the Panamericana, crossed China on a bicycle, travelled on camels through the Taklamakan Desert, was in a Syrian prison for spying, skied to the South Pole, dog sled to the North Pole, walked from Luxembourg to Santiago, ran the Iron Man on Hawaii and so on. I think I could continue with this list for a long time and it won't get boring. His girlfriend escaped China and its strict regime and found a new home in New Zealand. Despite being passionate travellers, they are both pleasant people to talk to. I did one of the Great New Zealand Walks with them and while hiking, I learned much about life, travelling and taking risks.

Couchsurfing as medicine

J. is autistic, so she struggles to let people near her, even to talk to them in a proper way. That's why she started hosting. She isn't interested in travelling; for her letting all those people stay at her apartment means a new challenge every time someone arrives. For me, it was very interesting to communicate with her because she was straightforward, without being considerate towards me at all. She couldn't tell at any point of my stay at her house how I felt.

Crazy flats

The Marlborough Sounds - nothing left to say

You meet a lot of different characters on a journey, but the list of people I met who live in crazy flats is definitely my longest one. It is hard to decide which story may be better than another but I'll give it a try: We are in the North of the South Island of New Zealand, to be more precise, in Nelson. It is six in the morning, I am, as always, trying to find places. Eventually, I arrive at my host's house, ring the bell and an about forty-year-old man opens the door with only a towel around his hip. Great first impression... His name is Pete and he invites me to a spontaneous kajak trip in the Marlborough Sounds which are a beautiful group of islands in the Cook Strait. Of course I say yes to this unique offer and paddle around a breathtaking scenery for two days. We sleep in a hut that is located in one of the many bays and at midnight get our kajaks out on the sea again, paddling along with penguins, dolphins and all kind of fish. Every animal in the sea and the sea itself glow in the light of the full moon.
Back home again, Pete's flatmate throws a party. We join in and I get to learn some fire dancing skills.

Family feeling

At some point of a long journey, a girl needs a family and there are a few people that gave me the opportunity to rest for a few days. David, for instance, is a dairy farmer and priest who lives outside a small town called Wanganui. He didn't mind at all that I am not a religious person, introduced me to his family and friends, gave me his spare house to live in for as long as I wanted to stay.
I had a lot of fun playing cricket and sliding along the river on a water tub. His family even invited me to a family party. All in all, I felt welcome.

Bad experiences?
The most frequently asked question I get to hear is: "Didn't you experience something you would like to not have happened?" No. There are things that weren't pleasant at all but they are, in my opinion, important for a good journey. I once got off a bus in the middle of nowhere, which means on the West Coast of the South Island, in order to meet my host family who lived in a village that consisted of three houses. The family of five I was confronted with, was - well, let's say different. For instance: I don't want to know how often they take a shower but I simply couldn't because entering their shower would have resulted in coming out dirtier than before. I slept in the "living room" where I had a small path to my mattress on the floor, surrounded by trash.
I actually intended to stay there for three days but hitchhiked away after two because I haven't had an opportunity to buy food that doesn't need cooking and rarely ate dishes from their unwashed plates.

I could probably fill a book with people I met through couchsurfing but there has to be an end at some point. By the way, I started hosting as soon as I returned home. Maybe I'll write a post about all those restless travellers that slept/sleep/will sleep at my place. :)

Whistle, click and live in the present!

In order to become an interpreter, it is necessary to choose between a small amount of our world's languages and so I ended up stydying German, English and Russian. Without a doubt, each of these languages is fascinating, but there are some others that caught my interest from the very first moment I heard of them.

Whistle!

How you do it

Whistle like you've never whistled before, so that people on the other side of the valley, the river or
even the gorge can hear you. Do it like the inhabitants of La Gomera, which is one of the smaller islands in the Canaries. They speak Silbo Gomero, a whistled language. Fine... but... how does it work?
The speakers of this language try to imitate the articulation of a Spanish dialect through whistling. They distinguish between four vowels and eight consonants and differentiate them through the pitch, the intensity, the quality, the volume and the continuity.

A short introduction into the language and its importance for the inhabitants of La Gomera from the perspective of the speakers: It is worth checking out.

Click!

Xhosa people

Let's continue our journey around the world. Next stop: South Africa. Xhosa, the language supported by click consonants, is spoken by a large amount of people living in the far south of Africa. As a member of the Bantu language family, Xhosa is a tonal language, with a few exceptions. The letters "c", "x" and "q" are clicked, each of them produced in a different part of the mouth. The letter "c" combines six dental clicks: You need to click your tonuge right behind your teeth, as if you said something like "tsk". The "x" clicks are produced on the sides of the tonuge and the "q" clicks are made at the roof of the mouth by the tip of your tongue.

Of course you can try it yourself with a little help from a native speaker. :)

Maici River, the Pirahã definitely live in paradise

Live in the present!

Last, but definitely not least, I want to introduce you to the Pirahã language which is spoken by people living along the Maici River, a tributary of the Amazon. 
Every relative of the language family Pirahã belongs to, is extinct. That's the reason for its uniqueness. I'll try to give you an overview of the most unusual features:

Phonology: The Pirahã's language consists of only three vowels. There are a few more consonants but by far not as much as in any European language. It is quite easy to imitate the sound of Pirahã because the phones are much the same as in German, there are only less of them.

Kinship terms: Pirahã do not differentiate between mother and father. They are simply parents. With kinship terms they only go as far as biological siblings, not like Europeans who are proud to be the great-great-grandson/daughter of someone.

Numbers: In my opinion, this is a very complicated topic because Pirahã do not know any number above "two". As a result, the whole system of handling them is different. To give you an example: You have ten nails and ask a Pirahã how many you have, the answer is "many". If you now took four of them away, they would of course use a different word because there are less nails. The strange thing is, though, that they use a completely different word if you had two nails and put another two down. In both situations there are four nails in the end, but for a Pirahã that would be two different "numbers". On the right, you see the resulting table of an experiment. If you understand every aspect about this table, please let me know...

Colors: There are words for "light" and "dark". If they want to name a specific color they describe it through a thing they know, for example, "like grass" for "green".

Tenses: Pirahã live in the present, so they do not know any words or forms to express something that happened in the future or in the past. That is, in my opinion, the most amazing feature of this unusual language.

It is necessary to say, even though most of you probably know it, that the Pirahã could use color terms, numbers and tenses if they wanted to. They just do not need them in any way, as they are happy without them.

Finally, a video, recorded by Daniel Everett who lived with the Pirahã, learned to speak their language, analysed it and translated it into English. 

Sources: 
El Silbo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Silbo
http://www.gomeralive.com/el-silbo/
http://silbo-gomero.com/silbohome.html
Xhosa: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xhosa_language
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/xhosa.htm
Pirahã: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001387.html
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/piraha.php
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirah%C3%A3_language

Can you hear me playing?

 The title might sound a bit confusing, but you may guess that this blog post will be about people who pretend to play instruments, to be more precise, the guitar. Sounds strange, but there actually is more to it than anyone, including me, would have reckoned.

To give you a short introduction, the last "Annual Air Guitar World Championship Contest" Winner,   Eric "Mean Melin" Melin:

 What do you think?

I actually play the guitar myself and I love listening to music played with guitars, maybe I even sometimes play air guitar, but why would I ever want to go up stage with my invisible skills?!

Come on, take one!

One big reason for the success of playing air guitar professionally may be that it's absolutely free. You need yourself and a lot of imagination.

And it's fun.

Anyway, obvious questions probably crossed everyone's mind when watching the video above: How and where did they qualify for a World Championship? Who judges them and how do they judge them?

To qualify for the World Championship, you have to succeed in a national one (and a lot of countries have nationals, for instance, Germany does, Austria not).
The juries usually consist of B-list musicians, comedians, music critics and so on.
The scoring system is the same as in figure skating, which means there is a maximum of 6.0 points and there are four different criteria the jury judges on.
In two rounds, each round one minute, the participants have to show what they are capable of.

I really like the criteria because they sound that serious and professional:
1) Technique: The air guitar player has to play the song correctly as if he played on a real guitar, including riffs, solos, chords, etc. That's why a lot of them actually know how to play in real.
2) Mime: The illusion that they hold a real guitar while doing all the rock moves must be kept up.
3) Stage presence: The candidates have to drive the listeners. They have to be rock stars and entertain the audience!
4) Art: The performance has to be art, not just simulating to play the guitar. That one's rather subjective...

Maybe it's best to watch the video of Melin again. With all this new knowledge you may look at it from a different perspective, observing his technique and the rock moves.

If you want to check out the official website of the World Championships or this infographic.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_guitar
http://usairguitar.com/

What good bloggers do

New semester, new challenges. One of them is, at least for me, the blogging.

In the last few days I tried to find out how I could raise my motivation when it comes to writing new posts. So I looked at various successful blogs of other students and realized that there are many ways to improve my own.

First of all, the choice of the topic seems to be very important. The right topic is one you are passionate about so that the readers get infected with the enthusiasm. It doesn't matter if it's a sad, funny, informative or maybe even crazy subject, as long as you are interested in it. And that's one of the biggest mistakes I've made. I've written about things that didn't sound bad to me, but I actually wasn't really captivated by them. Now I changed my way of picking issues to write about and my mind is exploding because it's filled with too many ideas. I look forward to making all of these ideas into hopefully good blog posts!

Another big point of blogging is that people want to read about people. They want to know what the bloggers opinion is, share their experiences and thoughts. Keyword: Authenticity. I always had the opinion that I can't write freely because the whole world is able to read my blog. That surely is true, but I write about interesting stuff and my opinion of it, not a diary.

 
That leads me to my next point. Be funny or be yourself if you are a jolly person and at least try to be funny if you are a grouch. No information is useful to readers that probably check out your blog in the middle of the night when there is nothing else to do, unless it is presented in a humorous way. Who doesn't like to have a laugh when learning something new?

There is one last thing I'd like to mention: I am terrible at organizing. I can barely manage to structure my thoughts, and spend hours in front of my computer, trying to create a logical structured text. Doesn't quite work yet, but I'm still trying.

Anyway, in the end you have to bring a bit of a writing talent with you because even the most beautiful layout, the funniest pictures and videos can't make a blog successful, as long as the texts are boring and/or confusing. I will do my best packing information, my style, humour as well as seriousness into concise, well-written texts.