American Gun Culture

Last lesson Farrah told us some facts about America and their rights to bear arms and now I'm going to summarize this information for you.

There are three reasons why the Americans wear weapons:
- One of them struggle against the British. People have guns to make sure that the government doesn't go bad.
- Another reason is the frontier life. People who live in at the frontier have to protect them of their own because there is no police quite close.
- They also need the guns for hunting.

We also talked about a group of guys who are called "Redneck". They wear old jeans, caps, drink beer and they also have a beer belly. They are uneducated and they don't care about what other people think.

At the end, we watched a short video on "Youtube" and it was about the shooting in Arizona. A young republican man wanted to kill the congress woman. He shot the woman into her head, but unfortunately the woman lives. The doctor mentioned that she is in good condition for someone who is shot in head.

I'm glad that in Austria people need a licence to wear guns.

Thanksgiving !

In our last lesson Farrah told us some facts about Thanksgiving.

So what is Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November every year. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in the year 1621, in those days the pilgrims wanted to celebrate their first harvest. When the pilgrims arrived in the new country they had nothing to eat and so the native Americans taught the pilgrims how to grow corn. Without this help they weren't able to survive.

When and how is Thanksgiving celebrated?
Thanksgiving is celebrated every 4th Thursday of November. This celebration is very common in Canada and in the USA.
Thanksgiving is normally celebrated with the whole family, so on this day you meet everybody in your family and you spend some time together. Popular dishes for the meal are: turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn pudding, green beans, pumpkin pie, ...

The day after Thanksgiving is called "Black Friday". It's the beginning of the Christmas shopping time. On this day shops open very early in the morning or even at midnight. Some shops have great discount offers and it's like a "happy hour". So all people stand in front of closed doors, they don't queue up and this is called "doorbusters".

I think that I would stay at home on this "Black Friday" because I prefer comfortable shopping. You have to know that I hate stress.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is a shortened form of All Hallows' Eve.
Hallowed 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 evils 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 sweet.

Here is a short video of Halloween:


I chose this video because it tells a lot about Halloween's history.

Farrah

Farrah, a young student from the USA, visited our class.

Farrah is 22 years old and lives with her parents and her boyfriend in Maryland. Maryland is close to Washington D.C.
First she lived in Pergkirchen for a while but now she is living in Linz until May.

In her free time she likes listening to music, watching television and movies, going out with friends and she also likes travelling.
In Austria Farrah visited some places like Vienna, Salzburg, Linz, Perg and Saalbach. She also travelled to Germany, France, UK, Belgium, Greece and Switzerland.

Farrah told us some differences between Austria and the USA. So in the USA everything is much bigger than in Austria, but she really likes Austria.

In Maryland Farrah has a parrot, which is able to speak, a dog, a cat and a turtle.

All in all it was a very interesting lesson.
I am looking forward to seeing her again.

Advertising

I read an article the other day in the online version of „economist.com“ and it talks about advertising.

Basically what it talks about is that media and advertising executives began to ask worrying questions. Would marketing money return to all media, or just a few? For example but the answers are becoming clear. Sir Martin Sorrell, chief of WPP world’s biggest ad agency, mentioned that there are two surprises. First the health of the American advertising market and the second is the recovery of old media.

It is also said that advertising is still moving out of newspapers and it’s returning slowly to magazines. At the moment the greatest old-media winner is television – in most countries the main advertising medium.

There was a rebound effect at work: car dealers and banks stopped advertising in the year 2008 but they decided that they can’t stay out forever. Television is recovering stronger than other media.

A lot of newspaper readers have moved online because they are worth less to advertisers. An American statistic shows that in the first quarter of 2010 the average American spent 158 hours per month in front of the box. That is two hours more than in the year before.

The danger from friends

Many companies work with social networks, for example Facebook. At the moment companies are beginning to see social networks as an alternative means of building brands.

It is also mentioned that Silicon Valley has not just created strong competitors for advertising money, such as Google. Facebook will turn out to be a potent combination of Craisglist and Google.

I thought you might be interested because Facebook is a social network which is used by everyone and at the moment advertising is a topic of our English lesson.


Vocabulary:
WPP - Wire and Plastic Products Plc
Craigslist – social network

The development of advertising

I’ve just read an article called "The development of advertising" and it talks about the history of advertising.

The beginning of advertising was during the Industrial Revolution, in the 19th century. Advertising was a very important form to promote novelties and fringe products. After some time brand-naming was the next important step because a lot of companies produced the same goods.

From 1873 to 1894 there was the economic depression. At that time the goods stayed unsold and prices and profits fell. The small industrial firms took this situation and combined with other small businesses and widened the range of goods. This period is called “monopoly capitalism”, so after the crisis the larger manufacturing used mass advertising to promote their new range of products.

Some examples of the changes to manufacturing and distribution can be found in the soap trade. From about the 1850s a lot of anonymous bars of soap on the market, they were produced by small manufacturers and distributed by wholesalers and door-to-door-sellers. So there was the new idea of using more aggressive selling methods. Lord Leverhulme decided to ‘brand’ his soap by selling it in distinctive packages, for example.

A lot of other companies followed his example (Lord Leverhulme’s idea). So the following new advertisings should contain ‘logical and considered’ as well as eye-catching and witty slogans.
At the end smaller firms who were not able to advertise were squeezed or bought by the larger companies.

My favourite spot - Ariel washing powder advertising

My favourite advertising spot is from Ariel (washing powder), because it's very funny and I really like the "move" of the two women.
The spot takes place on a house corner. Two women crash together and one of them is carrying a flowering plant. After the crash both of the women are dirty and one of the women start to shake the dirt away. She shakes and shakes and the dirt flies away.

Unfortunately I haven't found the clip!

WM Republic South Africa - Group C

England

- inhabitants: a Britain/Brit

- language: English

- clichés: white people; tea time; can't cook; breakfast is too unhealthy



USA

- inhabitants: Americans

- language: English

- clichés: school system is easier as in Austria; people are fat; cars are "pimped"; everything is bigger


Algeria

- inhabitants: Algerians

- language: Arabic, Berber, French, English

- clichés: poverty; violence


Slovenia

- inhabitants: a Slovene/Slovenian

- language: Slovene/Slovenian

- clichés: careful and punctual


As we have already seen Slovenia plays very good football at the moment as well the USA and England. I hope England will win the group phase.

Our Trip To Italy

From May 17th till May 21st we went to Italy on a Sports- and Culture week. I really liked our short journey because we had a lot of sun and fun. :)

Monday, May 17th:
We started our travel at 8 o'clock. After an 8-hours-travel we arrived in Udine, there we made a little tour and of course we ate some ice cream. We also tried to chase away the doves. Later we went to our “new home” called “Villagio Touristico”.
Later we visited the beach and some girls jumped into the big blue sea. It was really refreshing. ;)
In the evening we went with our teachers into town.

Tuesday, May 18th:
On Tuesday we went to see Venice. Venice is a nice city centre and consists of 118 little islands. These islands are connected with over 400 bridges.
We got a little questionnaire from our teachers and so we ran through Venice. After 2,5 hours we met again and we gave the teachers our results. Our teachers analysed our results and then they told us the winner. My group, Magdalena, Bianca, Katrin und Angelika won the questionnaire.

On Wednesday we were split into two groups and we had an archery course as well as a little bicycle tour. At our destination we made a little picnic and we enjoyed the nice view.

On Thursday we went to an old fishing village. The village was very small so we weren’t able to take a lot of pictures or anything else. In the afternoon we could chose between beach soccer, beach volleyball and boccia. We also had some time to relax in the sun and swim in the sea or in the pool.

On Friday we went back home. It was a very long but funny bus trip. :D



the winner team ;)

Family’s voodoo terror

I read an article the other day in the online edition of “austriantimes.at” and it talks about voodoo terror in Austria.

I thought you might be interested because it is a very bad joke!

Basically what it talks about is that a Styrian family has spoken of their terror after being subjected to a two-week hate campaign when they were sent blood-smeared pictures of themselves. They also found bloody-wooden stakes and slaughtered animals in their garden.

The family told the police that they had had photos of family members covered in blood and pierced by needles put into their mail box. They don’t have any ideas who may be behind the sick campaign. What the family shocked most was the bloody wooden stake driven into the ground surrounded with candles with a photo of the 52-years-old father with a needle through his heart!

What surprised me most was the fact that there are such silly people out there who think that is funny!

Christmas traditions all over the world

I recently read an article on the online version of "whychristmas.com" and it talks about different traditions in other countries.

I thought you might be interested because it's christmas time ...

First of all I am telling you something about the canadian traditions.

They send their biggest fir or pine to Boston because the Boston people helped them some time ago. A very common tradition is the "Mummering", people dress up and knock on somebody's door and ask if they are allowed to come in. Then they eat the christmas cake and celebrate together.

In Spain most people go to the "Midnight Mass" and after the meal people go through the streets playing guitars, beating on tambourines and drums. The children get their presents not on Christmas Day, but on Epiphany.

The Italian children get their presents from La Befana, she is a old witch who visits every household in the night of Janurary 5th. Cannons are fired from Castel St. Angelo in Rome to announce the beginning of Christmas time.

Merry Christmas to everyone!!

FlyNiki to offer Bulgaria link

I read an article the other day in the online edition of “austriantimes.at” and it talks about the new Austrian budget airline of FlyNiki.

I thought you might be interested because FlyNiki is an Austrian airline.

Basically what it talks about is that FlyNiki run a flight from Vienna to Bulgaria, because there isn’t a link at the moment. It is also said that there was a competition with four other European low-cost airlines who already offered a connection to Sofia.

Sofia will not be the only addiction to FlyNiki’s destinations.

What surprised me most was the fact that they are starting new routes although we are in the financial crises.

Vocabulary:

link (Verbindung): If something is linked with an other thing, there is a link between them.

original link:

http://www.austriantimes.at/news/Business/2009-12-16/18920/FlyNiki_to_offer_Bulgaria_link

Flora Reported Speech

I have recently heard an interview about Flora's stay in Austria.

Flora said that she had met a lot of interesting people. She also told us that she had learned a lot of her own traditions in Ireland when she was in Austria.
Flora said that take smoking in public places is unbelievable in Ireland. So she mentioned that the smoking law in Austria isn't strict.
She mentioned that she had known some cliches of Austria but not all of them are true.

Borealis helps in Italy

I've just read an article on "austriantimes.at" and it talks about the earthquake in Italy.

I thought you might be interested because the austrian plastic producer company Borealis is the capital of our federal state Upper Austria.

Basically what it says is that the austrian company Borealis helps building shelters for people, who got homeless by the L'Aquila earthquake this year. Borealis, a subsidiary of the Austrian oil and gas producer OMV, is to supply the polyethylene for the water pipes made by the italian firm Centraltubi.

The Austrian foreign-trade office in Padua will supply stuff for 1.3 kilometres of waterpipes in a 13-building appartment for about 1,200 persons.

According to Veronica Ettinger are the polyethylene pipes for water and gas are very resistant to earthquakes. So they try to give a lot of polyetlyene pipes to these people in L'Aquila.
There are still about 11,000 homeless people in the L'Aquila region and about 299 people died cause of this earthquake.

On my opinion, I really like the idea of the company Borealis because I think everybody should help other persons.

http://www.austriantimes.at/news/Business/2009-09-18/16515/Borealis_to_help_Italian_earthquake_victims

The Sound of Music

I have just read an article on "austriantimes.at" and it talks about a musical.

I thought you might be interested because I love musicals and so maybe there are some of you who also share this passion.

Basically what it says is that Salzburg become very famous because of the fact that there was produced the musical "Sound of Music". The visitors want to see the place where the musical was released.
We knew that the city is very interesting because of the famous birthplace of Mozart or the composer Haydn, as well as the conducter Herbert von Karajan. (Herbert von Karajan wrote symphonies and he was a very popular conducter.)

So the newest attraction is the cheesy musical steering by Julie Andrews singing about her favourite things.

It is estimated that more than 1.2 million people annually make the pilgrimage to Salzburg in order to see where movie history was made in the 1960's.

On my opinion, I am a really big fan of these musicals. I like watching musicals because the acteurs have to present their own style but it is also very hard for them to play such a part, where they have to sing and dance and to play.

http://www.austriantimes.at/?id=13498

Switchplate plant in France

I have just read an article on "austriantimes.at" and it talks about voestalpine.

I thought you might be intrested because voestalpine because maybe you live in Upper Austria and it is a very popular

Basically what it says is that the Upper Austrian steel producer voestalpine has opened a new railway switch-plate plant in France, which costs about 18 million Euros. This switch-plate was opened on June 18th 09 and it employes about 73 people.
According to Wolfgang Eder, the General Director of voestalpine, there won't be any further layoffs in autumn if the business cycle stabilises.
It also says that voestalpine's earnings has gone dramatically down.

On my opinion, it is really good that voestalpine also works in other countries and that they won't lay off more people.

http://www.austriantimes.at/index.php?id=14063

European Parliament Election

I have just read an article about "austriantimes.at" and it talks about the European Parliament Election.

Basically what it says is that the Social Democrate Party (SPÖ) was the biggest looser. They lost two mandates, in the year 2004 they got seven mandates. The so called "winner" of the election was the People's Party (ÖVP). They won six mandates and Hans-Peter Martin won three mandates. The FPÖ got two mandates, one more than in the year 2004 and the Greens made a loss, so they will get only one mandate.

What surprised me most was the fact that only 42,4 per cent voted and that Hans-Peter Martin finished third with three mandates.

As for me, I was allowed to vote but which party I have voted for is a secret.

New Post chief

I have just read an article on "www.austriantimes.at" and it talks about the new post chief.

Basically what it says is that the austrian post will get a new chief, his name is Georg Pölzl and he is also the head of the German telecommunications giant T-Mobile. He will start his work on 1 October 2009. Former long-time Post chief Anton Wais resigned for health reasons at the end of March and Jettmar became acting chief on 1 April.

Georg Pölzl has been T-Mobile’s chief since the beginning of this year. Before that, he was responsible for Deutsche Telekom’s restructuring programme and had previously had a nine year stint running T-Mobile’s Austrian operations in Vienna.

As for me, I hope that the post is able to hiring employees again and that there are more jobs available.

Red Bull sales soar after German cocaine beer

I have just read an article in "austriantimes.at".

It talks aboud "Red Bull".

Basically what it says is that the energie-drink has rocketed after authorities in five German provinces banned it after finding traces of cocaine in the drink.

It is also mentioned that "Red Bull Cola" lost its statues as a foodstuff and became subject to the German Narcotics Act.

A narcotic act is a sort of drug.

But there is no danger of becoming addicted to the drink.

On the one hand I think that the ennergie-drink tasts really good, but on the other hand it consists of a lot of coffein.

On the whole I won't stop buying this drink.

Press Review Framework

I have just read an article in Angelika Pehböck's blog "myblogpehboeck.blogspot.com" and it talks about St. Patrick's Day.

I thought you might be interested because St. Patrick's Day is very important for the Irish people. The basic information about the text is, who he was, how he lived and why he became famous.

It is very interesting how they celebrate St. Patrick's Day. They celebrate St. Patrick's Day on march 17th and they dye their food and drinks with a green food colouring, which looks very funny.

What I liked most is that the text is very nice created and I also liked the nice picture.

On my opinion we should also celebrate St. Patrick's Day, because it would be very funny.