I might be a genious;)

OK, the semester is over at last. I'm so happy to finally enjoy my free time... Today I got to know that I passed both maths exams (for two Bs) in the economics that I took on Monday and Tuesday. This means..., yeah, what does this actually mean? That I'm a multi talent or have universal skills? Let's be modest... Well, I've always been into both fields - maths and foreign languages, and I can tell you - it makes so much fun to combine them instead of just sticking to one and getting bored soon. Some of my friends studying translation are shaking their heads when I tell them what I'm doing. Economists are regarded by linguists as boring and vice versa. But it's still wonderful to explain maths in a foreign language, don't you think so?;-) (I don't mind if you call me crazy;-)

The European circus continues

I can’t help it; it will be about my mother country once again. Honestly, I was trying very hard to find an interesting article, first on the Economist’s site, then on www.euronews.net. And what were the results of my efforts? Poland is in every top headline. That’s because we’re currently the biggest troublemakers in the EU;). Nevertheless, I found it hilarious once again to watch my favourite Polish president of all times – Lech Kaczynski in action(well, maybe only Walesa can contend with him for the prize for the most ridiculous key public figure). What I watched was a clip on www.euronews.net - “Sarkozy woos Poles over EU charter”. It showed the new French president visiting Warsaw. What struck me most were Sarkozy’s hand gestures during the press conference. He just confirmed a well know stereotype that Frenchmen have a strong body language. What is more, the Frenchman was making such funny faces while Kaczynski was speaking that I couldn’t help laughing. His face expression said it all: “What kind of f…… crap are you talking about?”

The main issue is Poland’s threat not to sign the new EU reform. Sarkozy was persuading the Polish president not to do so. By the way, which country was among three ones that didn’t sign the previous draft of the EU constitution? Poland? A wrong answer! France? Bull's-eye! Unfortunately under the present conservative government we have a slim chance to reach an agreement with the EU, which I thoroughly despair of. However, one week from now an important EU summit is taking place and the EU countries' representatives will try to make progress on the future EU constitution. Good luck!

Intimate, poetic, touching

I have to admit that my boyfriend’s film taste is outstanding. No matter what he borrows from the video shop, it’s always a good choice. This time he picked out a British film “Dear Frankie”, a beautiful tale of mother’s and child’s love taking place in magical surroundings of the Scottish coast.

Frankie, a nine year old death-mute boy, his mother Lizzy and grandmother are changing addresses every few months in order to escape Lizzy’s husband. The boy doesn’t know this and so he believes that his father works on a ship and is on the sea the whole year round. That’s why he has never seen him. To keep in touch with his father Frankie writes to him frequently. In reply his father sends him letters with descriptions of his adventures. However, this is Frankie’s mother who writes those letters in order to bring some joy in the boy’s life and to maintain a positive picture of the father’s figure in his life. The problem occurs when the ship “Accra” which Frankie’s father apparently sails with is supposed to arrive to their town. Lizzy suddenly has to find somebody who would imitate her son’s father for a day. She wants to protect him in this way. Finally she makes a deal with a Stranger who is gradually getting closer to Frankie and herself. After all he doesn’t accept any money for his favour.

Why do I like this film? It’s a modest, but a charming story. My personal best is Jack McElhone in Frankie’s role giving a very touching performance as a very sensitive, loving and talented child. We often see in the film how he struggles with his handicap trying to express his feelings through his drawings and written words. Furthermore, there’s his loving mother who is trying to do everything to protect him from an inconvenient truth about his father. “Dear Frankie” is a simple story of love and devotion that keeps your breath away till the very last moment. And this unbelievable Scottish accent!

Emigrant's reflections on the state of his motherland

http://www.drakkart.com/eire2/

Let me quote some of the entries of my fellow countryman in Ireland:
“Poland as a state is a monster of taxation, so having own business in Łódź is really hard, especially facing ruling corruption. Population is decreasing, and every plane heading Dublin or Shannon is full of passengers.”
“Today our city authorities are proud of decreasing unemployment rate, but there is no point to be proud of massive emigration to Ireland and UK.”
“I predict Polish emigration to the Western Europe is going to intensify. This time it won’t be mostly economical emigration, but also political one. Poland is changing into sea of absurd“

Dear Mr Newman, first of all I have to say that this guy’s English is getting better and better.
That’s why I think that it’s not a bad idea to read his blog now and then. It’s clear to me that I have some more interest in what he writes about as I’m Polish, I don’t love my mother country unconditionally and I’ve been to Ireland already. Nevertheless, this guy makes some important cultural observations which describe both Polish and Irish society in a very accurate way.

What I’d like to write about today is his feelings about visiting Poland recently. In his blog he uploaded some pictures of his declining home place. Łódź, the 2^nd biggest city in Poland (although I can’t believe this is true), used to be one of the industrial pumps of my nation, especially with its textile industry. Unfortunately, after the fall of communism Łódź faced plant closings and progressing economic crisis. This run-down city is a remain of the communist epoch, an ugly creature like most of the industrial cities in Poland. I don’t want to say that there aren’t any nice places in Poland, because there are some if fact, but industrial centres have a special kind of the space planning in general, so that they might shock people who are used to picturesque architecture and big park areas. However, what I’m getting at is MacKozer’s remark on the city authorities being proud of the falling unemployment rate. Right, but why is it falling? This is a country-wide phenomenon that people are just leaving Poland and that’s why the unemployment rate is falling. If it’s positive for our national economy – a matter of taste;) No people employed in Poland means no taxes for the government which means no pensions for us in a few years. This would be one of the absurd sides of our Polish reality – the government praising itself for reducing unemployment…;)
The other side of this parody is our usual political theatre. Austria is actually not far away from becoming as ridiculous as we are when it comes to the politics, but… have you ever thought of banning “Teletubbies” due to the fact that they might promote homosexuality? This is not a joke. A spokesman for children rights, Ewa Sowinska, came to the conclusion that Tinky Winky might be homosexual since he wears a lady’s purse. Now a group of psychologists is researching into potential negative influence of this programme on children!!! In an extreme case the authorities will really ban it. That’s why MacKozer’s predicts increased emigration from political reasons;) I sometimes can’t help laughing at our national ridiculousness although I feel that I should keep a perfect composure and try to promote my dear country even if it’s not always easy…

It's tea time!

Yesterday I took part in an interesting project which was called „International Tea“. It was an afternoon meeting for students, alumni and members of the university staff whose purpose was to encourage cross-cultural exchange. I got to know that it's organized every semester. This was the 16th time if I'm not mistaken.
As it turned out the students who came there were only foreigners. You can imagine how colourful, how multicultural it looked like in the ballroom in the Mozartstraße. People there were just supposed to meet each other, say something about their experiences as foreign students and let it develop in a natural way… I kind of got confused at the end, because I had to speak four languages within two hours which was quite an effort for my poor brain. The best side of this project was that I finally found a conversation partner whose mother language is Russian. Honestly I didn’t have any difficulties understanding him (this isn’t the biggest achievement in the world since you know that Russian and Polish sound a bit similar), but I could hardly utter any Russian words myself (which really bothers me:( Now I can practice my Russian with him in the summer!

However, it wouldn’t be the purpose of this blog if I didn’t s mention my activities in English. Yesterday I did communicate in English as well. What is more, I gave some tips to a nice elderly American as to where he can go to meet other native speakers. He told me he didn’t really like German and missed conversations in English. Now I hope I could help him!

Another one lost in translation

Honestly I was going to take a nap since I’m dead tired, but there’s suddenly so much to write about and most of all, I feel like doing it in English again. Is this maybe influence of the piece on blogging that Mr Newman uploaded at the beginning of the semester and that I'm holding in my hands at the moment? The end sentence says: REMEMBER, your blog is reflection of you and your attitude!

Now, we all are only human beings and failure is typical of our nature. So is doubt. That’s why we all have moments of weakness when we don’t know which way to go. And then we write a bit too little… ;) Let's say this is my way of excusing inconsistency.

I’ve been pretty busy recently, but I don’t want to go into detail about my life at fast pace. However, there’s one assignment, I’ve recently got, that is worth mentioning, and namely my first official translation I’m supposed to be paid for. On the one hand, it’s pretty bad time to do something like this just before final exams, especially considering that it’s a tough nut to crack. On the other hand, I find it a perfect opportunity to check firstly – if I’m into translation at all, secondly – how good my reading comprehension is, thirdly – what my current level of written German is (the translation is from Polish into German) and finally – how well I can interpret what the author is trying to say without losing the gist of his message.

Having finished the first ten pages I can already say that you should definitely give some thought to the idea of translation. It’s clear to me that lots of people study languages because they enjoy learning new vocabulary and interacting with people other nationalities. That’s the part that makes most fun. Translation, however, is much more complicated. It needs to be dealt with in a much more general context which makes it take longer. At any rate it’s not simply putting single words in an other language, but researching the meaning behind them (since you sometimes don’t know some more sophisticated vocabulary from your mother language as I’ve experienced the last few days), trying to paraphrase in order to make the text more understandable, etc. That’s why you shouldn’t be surprised/terrified/devastated when you realize that translating is a very time-consuming, confusing and sometimes irritating activity. I’m very curious if you've had any experiences with translating more demanding texts?

By the way, the language itself is such a fast developing field! I haven’t been living in Poland for over 2,5 years now and when I get to talk to my eighteen-year-old brother it turns out that I sometimes don’t understand his “school slang”. Furthermore, I had no idea how a USB stick was called in Polish since it wasn't popular or even well known at the time I was at high school. Now, that’s ridiculous, don’t you think so?;)

That's all for now about my struggle with finding the right words.

A mummy attacks!

I sometimes wonder where screenwriters get their ideas from… „Bubba Ho-tep“ is one of such bizarre screenplays. Let’s imagine an elderly resident of a nursing home who thinks he’s Elvis Presley. He claims that he switched roles with his imitator many years ago and that’s how he landed at this place in East Texas. Together with his “best friend”, a black J.F. Kennedy, he faces a mission of rescuing the nursing home from an evil Egyptian mummy which prowls the corridors of the house in search of the residents’ souls. It’s worth mentioning that this mummy sucks souls from their bodies through their… arseholes. If you add to this that one of the residents thinks he’s actually a cowboy from the Wild West who sleeps with his toy guns and the mummy itself is a ridiculous tacky shape from E class films you can more or less get a picture what kind of a parody this film is. I couldn’t help laughing all the time, because the whole idea of this piece was utterly ridiculous. Although I’m usually not into such kinds of films, I really enjoyed this one. You just have to treat it like a kind of simple entertainment which doesn’t lack imagination and has a more sophisticated plot than typical American mainstream comedies.

Among some highlights of this film I’d mention first of all the heavy Southern accent of Mr Presley which honestly made me switch on subtitles. This made me think of us, possible future interpreters, having to be extremely flexible and prepared for hundreds of different accents (which isn’t an easy task). Furthermore, I loved the atmosphere of the dark, half-dead nursing home where people were “disposed of” and now only wait for their death, living only from meal to meal. In one scene Elvis’s roommate dies and his daughter comes after a few days to take away his belongings. Elvis asks why she hadn’t visited his father within three years of his stay in the nursing home. She answers that she had been busy. That’s in lots of cases the essence of sending elderly relatives to such institutions. Last but not least I’d like to point out a very good performance of Bruce Campbell who played “Elvis”. He managed to convince me as a tired bored guy who seeks for something that would revive his life at last.
To sum up, if you need a big laugh, just grab for „Bubba Ho-tep“.

Polish - British --> multicultural

I’ve been trying to upload an interview with an American Melanie Tong that I and Astrid made. It took some time first to arrange a meeting with her, then to record the interview and edit the mp3 file, and finally to cut it in smaller chunks in order to make it work in the Internet. However, we haven’t had much success in uploading it so far and I honestly don’t know how it’ll going to end up. Anyway, I suddenly recalled that Melanie was talking about children in Austria sometimes staring at her because of her Asian = different appearance. Yes, it still happens although the country must have got used to Asian and African refugees that have been coming for some 30 years now (that’s my random estimate). Still, what I want to write about is an article on my fellow countrymen (I can’t help writing about Poalnd) being confused by multicultural Britain.
First of all, I have to explain that lots of Polish people moved to Great Britain or Ireland immediately after we joined the EU. That’s because they saw better work opportunities in those wealthier countries. It’s hard to give up-to-date figures on how many Poles are currently working in Great Britain, but according to a highly-respected Polish publication Polityka there were supposed to be already 1 million Poles in 2006 residing there. You can see how well represented we are (we let 1/38 of our population immigrate though ;).
But let’s get to the point. The problem is that my nation isn’t used to multiculturalism. In the best case you can come across some black students or Chinese cooks in the biggest cities like Warsaw. In fact there are, I believe, lots of Poles who haven’t seen a person with a different skin colour even once, since they spent their whole life in a small village in the north-east. That’s why I don’t blame them for experiencing a shock in multicultural Britain, but…
Polish children in British schools turn away from children of other races or workers-to-be apply already in Poland for jobs in areas where there are fewer black people. Some argue that this behaviour isn’t a matter of racism, but intolerance towards the new. Others claim that it’s a matter of time when they’ll get accustomed to new conditions. Knowing my nation I’m pretty confident that they can get on with everybody after some time (you wouldn’t find more flexible characters than ours ;).
Yet, what I personally find the most disappointing is the attitude of children. I assume that they usually don’t pay attention to race and if they do, their parents are responsible for it. The most relevant thing to do would be therefore to change adults’ philosophy of life. The article mentions that some religious societies pass this task to priests who are supposed to prepare future expats to behave properly in new surroundings (religion has a decisive influence on a big part of the society).
Leaving the problem on one side I consider immigration in this context a terrific opportunity to develop your character and become more flexible and tolerant toward other cultures and lifestyles. That’s why I hope that this “Britain experience” will have a positive impact on tolerance in my homeland when the people that are currently staying in England will come back one day and teach others the lessons they learned themselves.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/immigration/story/0,,2057571,00.html

An apple, hot cocoa and Beirut - my idea of a pleasant evening

It's definitely going to be a small essay on music and how it influenced my life. Participating in today's bliki-class I came to the conclusion that we write far too little about music that accompanies us in our lives. And I bet you all let inspire yourselves by sounds now and then...

When I was at high school, music used to be the most important part of my life, my escape from reality. Listening to my favourite bands on the way to school, at school, on my way back home and in the evenings was a strong habit. The best part was imagining how the artists would perform live. It was obvious you wouldn't be able to fly to Berlin during the week to watch Björk on scene, but the sheer vision was satisfying enough. Anyway, I unfortunately grew up, left my parents' protective wings, which didn't allow me earlier to follow my romantic music fantasies (summer festivals and gypsy travels through Europe), and started to live my own life. That suddenly meant that I became responsible for my actions and could even go to Vienna on foot to a concert if I wanted. As a matter of fact, I did make use of this unlimited freedom, in acceptable limits of course;) That's when I went to Radiohead concert in Dublin, one of my biggest and most painful disappointments. Having made a kind of spiritual mentors of those five Oxford guys I suffered severely from their far too forced and alienated performance in overcrowded Marley Park. Being almost trampled on and squashed by the violent crowd (don't mess up with the enthusiastic Irish!) I couldn't enjoy "the most anticipated event in my life". It maybe wasn’t a bad concert after all, but the venue just wasn’t suitable. Anyway, that's when music suddenly started loosing its place in my everyday life. Studying, working part-time, pursuing my hobbies and devoting enough time to my boyfriend and best friends was pretty time consuming and didn't leave much space for me to take my time and seriously deal with music. I reduced myself to sporadic concerts of bands who somebody somewhere recommended and started listening to the radio passively like a good night story.

Yet, an awakening came one day unexpectedly. That's what I originally wanted to write about, namely a band called Beirut. Just imagine a typical "alternative star life story": a high school dropout going to Europe, doing crummy jobs, but letting himself be inspired by exotic (meaning European) art (in this case music). That's exactly what Zac Condon from New Mexico did. This resulted in an outstanding creation of Balkan-like, played with over ten different instruments, music. These sounds are something refreshing, something completely untypical for the American new wave. It's like watching Kosturica's films and anticipating surprising turning points, with one small difference - the soothing voice of the vocalist in the background. The funniest detail of this whole music project is that Z. Condon apparently recorded almost the whole album in his... bedroom. Not a bad outcome for such modest conditions.

So here I am experiencing music again at its full extent, biting into a delicious apple, drinking my good night cocoa and melting listening to gypsy music made in America. If you like experimenting, I definitely recommend Beirut. One more suggestion or even a request – write something about music…

"Still separate after all these years" - the race matter in American schools

I've just read an interesting article on racial segregation in contemporary Americal schools. You can find it here: http://economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9079930 . And below I wrote a summary.

1954 the Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. Board of Education case segregation in American public schools unlawful. However, although years have passed since the practice of racial segregation was outlawed, black and white children still learn in different worlds.

The authorities have been trying to keep the racially integrated school district system ever since Brown vs. Board of Education ruling, considering it a part of the affirmative action. In fact, black students have to make up a certain percentage of the student mix in every school. Nevertheless, some white parents complain about this quota system and accuse school boards of unfair treatment towards their children. Depriving white children of school places for the sake of the racial mix is their major reproach. One question arises: is it sensible to fight for this racially integrated school system even if this means sacrificing the quality of education? We slowly get to the core of the matter…

The main problem dividing blacks and whites is their income and their home. The former tend to earn less and live in city centres. By contrast, the latter can afford to move into suburbs and send their children to suburban private schools the poor blacks have no access to. This is how racial segregation is being fuelled nowadays – by financial means. By quitting the public school system affluent families contribute to the decline of inner-city schools attended mainly by poor non-whites.

School boards are drawing a conclusion from the simple connection between low income (which in most cases concerns the blacks) and students’ poor performance at school. That’s why they want to concentrate on this issue and take measures against it. For instance, instead of mixing them by race, the Wake County school district in North Carolina began to integrate students from different economic backgrounds. It offers free or price-reduced lunches for the struggling students. Besides, it’s been trying to put more of them in one school so that they don’t feel alienated. The results of this policy are striking: well-off white families are enrolling their children in those public schools. The integrated school models are working well.

Although the main educational goal in contemporary America is to support slow learners from low-income families, the politicians ignore this unpopular issue. Instead, they are trying to win support of the middle class. This is the class with more influence and financial means after all and that’s what it is all about in politics. In the end the poor are neglected as always and the gap between the blacks and whites is growing.

Russian Blog

My favourite American expat in Russia (actually the only interesting one the blog of whom I tracked down) tends to write a lot about current affairs:Putin expressing his indignation over American plans of missile defences in Poland and Czech Republic, Putin threatening NATO to suspend Russia’s compliance with a treaty on conventional arms in Europe, the government brutally putting down the opposition march in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. And finally the Russian-Estonian dispute over a monument to Red Army soldiers. An American somehow doesn't fit in this almost authocratic country. That’s why I utterly admire Aaron Hale-Dorrell who works in Russia as an English teacher.Let's face it - comparing Russia and the USA is like drawing an analogy between night and day. I honestly don’t see much these countries have in common. The former haunted by the past burden of communism and the latter boasting about its ideas of democracy, freedom and equality. Funnily enough, a coincidence made me study both Russian and English;)

How good are we really?

http://www.economist.com/index.html

“The Economist” is definitely a newspaper you should have a look at. Don’t feel discourage by the world “economist”- the articles are not all about banks, mergers, stock markets, etc. I came across this title reading an article in “Uni Kleine Zietung” about bilingualism of many international students and their good chances on the international job markets. Unfortunately I couldn’t read the whole version in the Internet, because you have to subscribe to gain access to older articles, but it doesn’t apply for the more recent ones. Anyway, below you can find a kind of summary of what I read in “Kleine Zeitung” and my reflections upon it.

It’s becoming more and more common nowadays that university graduates from non-English speaking countries have a perfect command of this language in addition to their impeccable qualifications. This fact makes them become strong competitors for the best jobs against native English speakers. What the others don’t have is knowledge of a foreign language. A survey made last year by the European Commission that just 30% of Britons can converse in a language other than their own which is rather a meagre score. Non-natives are in contrast often competent bilinguals, people with open minds who are used to travelling abroad and facing challenges.

However, English in the language of science. You read and write in English if you want to be acknowledged by the international scene. In this context English speaking scientists have nothing to fear, but what about managers, doctors, architects, etc.?

This topic made me consider my own future job perspectives. Is two (let’s say three in my case) foreign languages enough for us, translators, to get a decent job? Honestly, I don’t believe that each of us will work in their profession. To my mind only the best ones or the ones with the most luck will become “real” translators. The others will have to settle for some more “universal” jobs they’ll have to combine more skills in. That’s why I’m already uneasy about what will happen after graduation. Maybe it’ll be sensible to study something else in addition? As an example I’d like to tell you a story of my cousin who had not so long ago a job interview at one of the most reputable banks in Poland. She, a law graduate with a good command of both English and German and four (or five – I can’t exactly remember) years of work experience, was told that I’d desirable I she could speak Russian as well. After I got to know it I just thought to myself: are you kidding? When are you supposed to manage it all? After all she didn’t get this job…

Fascinated by a peg; dreaming of a perfect day

This is the last night before our progress test. I know I should be studying for tomorrow, but a strong need to write suddenly totally overwhelmed me. Reading Pam Mandel’s blog I came across a collocation I’ve really taken to, namely “a square peg (in a round hole)”. According to Longman Dictionary the above describes “someone who is in a job or situation that is not suitable for them”. I can’t exactly explain my liking for a square peg. On the one hand I just often feel like one and on the other hand it sounds so bizarre to my Polish ears that I just have to memorize it. Do you know in what other meanings the word “peg” can be used

Clothes peg (UK)

Tent pegTuning pegCoat peg (UK)

Bettina, you really deserve the highest score for your idea with adding pictures to words. It definitely helps.

I was just wondering when I’ll have my perfect day. Honestly, I came to the conclusion I don’t need much to be happy apart from a little time to enjoy my simple activities. This is how such a day would look like…

I’d get up at 7.30 a.m. since I’m an early bird and don’t like missing much of the day. Then I’d fetch my daily newspaper, preferably Der Standard, go to the kitchen and make some fresh coffee. Taking my time I’d prepare a simple cheese sandwich and settle myself in the armchair. Then I’d skip through the news of the day and slowly eat my breakfast knowing that I still have enough time to be at the university on time. Having dressed and packed my bag I’d take my bike and head for the university with no rush. After a very involving and easily understandable lecture on the wealth of nations I’d go to the library and study for an hour or two. Next, I’d take a stroll to the cafeteria and have lunch with my best friend. Once again I’d take my time and simply devote myself to enjoying the food, preferably noodles. Still having some time in my hands I’d call in on my friend for a celebration of the dessert I got at the cafeteria. Having exchanged the most important news with her I’d go to the next lecture or, let it be, even two lectures. Afterwards I’d persuade my boyfriend to play a round of Frisbee with me in the park. At 6.00 p.m. I’d go to work, stay there for four hours, confront friendly customers and get generous tips. At the end of the day I’d go back to my claustrophobic flat and study a little bit for the next day. Then I’d take a shower, go to bed and fall asleep accompanied by heavenly sounds of Portishead.

Is it a lot I want? Just a little time, please…

How to Be an Illegal Alien

An illigal immigrant Mimi describes in an article under http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0513,york,62456,2.html how to settle in New York within two weeks. In six easy steps she gives some useful advice what to do step by step:

• Seek your opportunity to get into the USA, either by boat or with American invitation with a tourist visa or even over the fence ;)
• Once you’re in the country try to get married. This entitles you to a green card and after three years to permanent residency.
• Find a job.
• If you don’t have a Social Security number and have to live off your tips, claim someone else’s identity – let it be your friend who will cash your paycheck and give the money back to you or a deceased U.S. citizen's identity your overtake the Social Security number from. Besides, there are workplaces where you can get cash in hand at a bit lower rate.
• If you don’t know the language, look for employment at your fellow countryman’s.
• Don’t leave the USA since with some luck you might be granted legal resident status.

Furthermore Mimi argues that the illegal immigrants don’t have a harmful impact on the U.S. economy: “We're just here to live our lives the best we can”. In fact they are the ones who toil for minimum wage to be allowed to stay in the country.

Mimi claims that altogether everyone is illegal in New York. The most important point she makes is that New York City was from the beginning of its history made up of immigrants and in this way illegal aliens are more natural and legitimate residents of the Big Apple that any other residents.

It becomes clear to us that there are certain methods for those who are determined enough. The point is that immigrants are not the baddies - they just want to live decent lives which is impossible in their home countries. And to achieve it they really have hard time in the beginning. Anyway, they don't came to us to abuse our social system, etc., but to look for better opportunities.

Foreigners are welcomed as long as they’re tourists

What is the role of tourism in the country’s economy? Very relevant; in case of such countries like Austria it’s even a question of survival. That’s simple – tourists bring money with them, take some pictures, buy Mozartkugeln and leave after some time. Actually, they can even be a kind of short-term entertainment for us, natives. However, the problem arises when they decide to stay in our country forever…

I’d like to start with an Irish example. When I was in Ireland in the summer I noticed that there weren’t almost any black people to be seen. I found it pretty surprising since the Irish nation seemed to be friendly and well-off which is normally a magnet for emigration (let’s just compare the same aspect in Great Britain). Anyway, when Lisa Joyce came to our class, she just confirmed my assumptions. The Irish people, to put it in a politically correct way, don’t like foreigners who differ themselves in appearance from them. This means that they accept Polish people, because they look similar to themselves. Furthermore, I suppose that Poles will be harmless as long as they do low-skilled jobs nobody else wants to do and don’t complain about relatively low wages in comparison to what the Irish earn. To put it straight – it’s a simple rule of demand and supply; we accept you as long as we need you. I can imagine that if the Celtic Tiger suddenly ends and Poles will start to compete for jobs with the Irish (for the time being they just fill the job market hole), they won’t be welcomed any more.

What about the attitude of Austrians towards foreigners? Well, nobody wants to deal with difficult cultural issues, nobody wants to support refugees, nobody wants to have well skilled competition on the job market. Astrid mentions that some kitchen staff in the restaurant she works at have higher education, are lawyers, economists, etc., but have to do simple jobs to make a living, because they can’t get jobs in their professions. Another example is the cleaning ladies at the university. A teacher of mine told me that lots of them have higher degrees, but are made to accept cleaning jobs. Well, the brilliant “Fremdenrecht”(I’m just appaled) in Austria particularly makes me laugh. Get rid of the foreign families, children who grew up here and don’t know anything else than the Austrian reality! What counts is that we lowered the number of refugee status applications! To sup up, Austria just somehow doesn’t seem inviting. However, I have some fun thinking what will happen in a few years’ time when it will have to open its borders for workforce from the new EU countries. Suddenly Austrian will have to become competitive and start doing their best and not just enough…

We all pursue to have better lives/to survive. That’s the law of the jungle. The stronger will win. Some countries seem not to accept this law and have to “defend” themselves by writing ridiculous legislation. You’re welcomed as long as you’re tourist…

Audio books

I tried my best to find some interesting links on http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ATALL/Input. After all I’m a bit disappointed, because I hoped I’d be more successful on audio books, which was my focus. Have you ever thought of advantages of having a book read to you? You could do more things at one time, I mean e.g. both ironing or cleaning your windows and listening? Well, unfortunately I haven’t found any free rich source in the Internet. The only one with decent sound quality and some choice is http://librivox.org/ . The variety of books ranges from Plato and Nietzsche to Wilde and Tolstoy. They are divided into chapters and can be downloaded as well. Honestly, I haven’t noticed any contemporary literature, but after all I’m pleased I’ll be finally able to listen to my favourite novel, the best writing of all times, namely “The Picture of Dorian Gray”.

How about a pint of Guinness?

Staying in Dublin you just have to visit the Guinness Museum. Spending too much time in Victorian galleries and museums or admiring Georgian doors and St Patrick’s Cathedral makes you feel dizzy after some time. Then you should head for Guinness Storehouse (which is its official name) and get yourself a three-hour tour of the highest quality. Lots of foreigners I met in Ireland were saying to me they didn’t like porter beer. But it’s not only about beer, but much more about the Irish spirit! The museum itself is situated in an industrial district, in a brewing factory. The whole point is explaining the production of Guinness from every angle. Adequately we get to know step by step how the beer is brewed, which machines and techniques are used in this process, how it’s advertised and where Irish pubs in the world are located. The exhibition takes place over 7 floors. And in the last floor we get our free pint of Guinness we are entitled to with the purchase of the ticket. I made the most of it and even poured my pint by myself and got a certificate for this crowning achievement;). What is more, the panoramic view from the 7^th floor was majestic! It’s just that you have to be able to appreciate the beauty of industrial buildings and smokestacks…;) Anyway, I can honestly say that it was one of my brightest memories from Ireland and my boyfriend even claimed that Guinness doesn’t taste the same outside of Ireland.

http://www.guinnessstorehouse.com/

The Aran Islands, September 2006

If you visit the West Ireland you must go to the Aran Islands. They are like the source of the traditional Irish way of life. An excerpt form Irish history: the Catholics were made to flee from the Green Island in the XVII century and settled the Aran Islands. They learned to be self-sufficient, to breed cattle and sheep, to grow potatoes and construct boats. The Aran Islands of today struggle for their sense of identity. One the one hand their inhabitants still speak Irish in their everyday life and are a closed community where everybody knows each other (no wonder if there live only around 180 people on the most sparsely populated island;), but on the other hand they experience a great migration of the young generation off the island and they are highly dependent on tourism which makes them a kind of sell their “traditions”. David Monagan mentions himself Aran Island hand knitted sweaters made in China;) Well, that’s probably the way it has to be in our modern commercial world…

Anyway, I spent one beautiful, unforgettable day in early September on the largest of three islands, namely Inis Mór. A comfortable ferry from Rossaveal brought me and my boyfriend there. We decided to take our time and get to know the island by bike. There are no problems with renting a bike; actually you even don’t know where to go, because the choice is sooooo wide. Right from the beginning you are surrounded by commercial stuff, from Aran Island sweaters and small tour buses to Spar grocery and to my distaste McDonagh's! McDonagh's is like the Irish version of McDonald’s which is the last thing an ambitious and at least a little culture interested tourist would like to see in the centre of indigenous Irishness. Well, but the further and the deeper we went, the better it became. To travel around the island by bike is the best and only sensible idea to my mind. In this way we were able to see the mind-blowing wild coasts, contemplate the beauty of the ruins of the ancient seven churches, climb on a strange stone elevation from which we admired the lighthouse and nearby pastures, have a close look at the old thatched cottages and take a rest on a quiet sandy beach. Even modern-style show-off concrete islands and American tourists weren’t able to spoil that sunny day. I just hope that the Aran Islands will be able to save their identity…

http://www.aranislands.ie/

I am Charlotte Simmons

I was planning to read Tom Wolfe’s „I am Charlotte Simons“ since we mentioned it once in our SUK1 course. A little Southern girl going to Dupont college being corrupted by a frat guy. It sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Actually this book is more than this; I felt absorbed from the very first page and read through 750 pages almost right away.

The storyline concentrates around Charlotte, a very talented high school graduate from a small town Sparta in North Carolina. Charlotte is admitted to one of the most prestigious universities in the country, namely the fictional Dupont University. As she comes from provincial surroundings where religion determines very strongly everyday life and people are poor and behave in a simple, honest way, she experiences a shock when she arrives at Dupont. It strikes her that other students do everything but learn, including partying, sexual activities and just spending money on clothes. At first she concentrates on her academic work, but gradually she becomes lonely and starts looking for some company. In this way she gets acquainted with two other freshman girls and gets to know the “party sides” of the academic life. As Charlotte adjusts to college life, she finds herself dealing with the sexual temptations of it, culminating in her hooking up with Hoyt, a member of the fraternity Saint Ray. There are also other characters like a basketball player Jojo Johanssen, a very average student who takes to improving his academic achievements after meeting Charlotte, and Adam Gellin, a very ambitious and intelligent student, Charlotte’s good friend who fells in love with her and helps her get out of her depression. All in all we encounter everything: love and hate, blackmail and revenge, cheat, popularity aspirations, student’s depression, etc.

Reading Tom Wolfe’s book you can’t get bored. The writer made outstanding research among students of different American universities before writing “I am Charlotte Simons”. That’s why he was able to copy students’ slang, show what is in frat boys’ mind, imagine loser’s thoughts (Adam, Charlotte) and altogether write a story that strikes as so real. Besides, he deserves a Noble Prize for illustrating the Southern accent and black basketball players’ slang.

My Irish adventure, part 1

I found it an outstanding idea to put focus on Ireland in this semester as I spent the whole last summer there. In a few entries I’ll try to write a bit about my cultural observations I made while my stay in Galway, at the west coast.

David Monagan often mentions how much Ireland has changed since he first got there in the 1970s. The reason is the Celtic Tiger – the economic boom that suddenly caused a rapid growth. The Irish people unexpectedly found themselves having money after decades of living in poverty. The picture of the house above is actually one of the symbols of the new wealthy Irish society. That’s one of those new mansions (it’s a mansion at least in my eyes considering the size and shape) purchased on credit with high interest rates, the owners of whose will have to pay back the loan the next 30 years or more keeping working hard for every monthly instalment. The truth is, as Lisa Joyce mentioned herself when she had a class with us, that the Irish can’t deal with their sudden wealth and therefore make investments they can’t really afford in the long run. In the suburb where I lived there were only houses like that and among the owners there weren’t only executives, but also simple people from the lower middle class I’d say. The point is that they all wanted a new house, because everybody was getting one. And the price of land was getting unaffordable, so you had to make a quick decision. All in all Ireland of today is no more old-fashioned colourful postcard-like houses, but rather the kind of houses from my picture that people want to have.

Here on Earth - the rescue of the Baghdad Zoo

What I want to write about today is a program on the radio „Here on earth“. However, first I’d like to make some cultural observations which I actually make every day being a foreigner in Austria. My flatmate was going home for Easter today and to my surprise he gave me an Easter bunny when he was leaving. Why do I mention it? Because we, Poles, celebrate Easter as well, are Catholics as well, but out traditions differ so much from each other. I learned e.g. at the beginning of my stay in Austria that the people here eat their Easter meal (meat, lots of meat) already on Saturday, while we have to wait until Jesus “resurrects” the next day, on Sunday. Not that I’m religious, but you just grow up in a certain community where people try to maintain some traditions although they often don’t know what their background is. For example my parents could never explain to me why we weren’t “allowed” to eat meat on the Christmas Eve which isn’t the case in Austria. Anyway, in my region there’s no Easter bunny, so I’m kind of exaggeratedly grateful when I experience such pleasant aspects of someone other’s tradition.

One more thing: how can you recognize a middle-aged wealthy Austrian woman? The answer is: her skin is orange, because she didn’t know when to say “stop” at the solarium, she’s got gaudy makeup (especially those bright pink or cherry lips), she’s wearing a fur coat making herself the number one enemy of the Amnesty International activists and she’s driving her sporty BMW which she got from her husband for birthday. Am I wrong?

Now let’s go to the point. I listened to a radio program on the spectacular rescue of the Baghdad Zoo after the outbreak of war in 2004. Lawrence Anthony, a S African conservationist is the man interviewed. He’s the man who initiated the rescue action as he went to Baghdad is spite of danger and motivated Iraqi civilians and American soldiers to help him bring the zoo in order. After Baghdad was heavily bombarded at the beginning of the war, nobody cared for the animals. Lots of them starved to death, some birds were freed, some other animals wounded. Before war there were 650 animals in the zoo and only 35 of them survived when Anthony came. He managed to get people to upgrade the zoo, to bring animals from other locations and ship badly treated animals from a local Luna park there. Anthony praises the exemplary attitude of American soldiers helping at the zoo and one gets the impression that it’s a kind of propaganda. If you take into account that one bad night a drunk American soldier killed a Bengal tiger locked in a cage, you start reconsidering the positive opinions that Anthony expresses. After all this program aims to raise the issue of the value of animal life… One of the listeners calls the station and says that you treat animals like you treat each other. Isn’t it bitterly true in the context of the Bengal tiger story?

Living in Graz

Inspired by Astrid's story about her flatmates, I decided to describe my own experiences in Graz. First of all you have to know that I'm quite pleased of changing places which means that I could move to a new shared flat just every six months. The reason is that I like living in different districts, I like the sheer process of getting used to new surroundings where you can always explore so much and I enjoy making new friends (because I always assume that my new flatmates should become my friends;). What's more, I just adore "collecting" new addresses in Graz which might sound strange. Well, isn't it altogether just a pure expression of my affection for Graz?

Anyway, the first flat I moved in was almost perfect. At that time I even didn't know that I'd live just 5 min. by foot from our institute. Wittekweg, where it was situated, was a 100 m flower strip with quiet neighbours and a friendly caretaker. From one side the street was closed by building walls, separating it from St Leonhard Street and on the other side a narrow river was greeting you at the bend at the entrance. If you add to it that the supermarket and the bakery was opposite your house, you had two tram lines to pick from, an indoor swimming pool 200 m away, you could watch squirrels playing in the trees the first thing in the morning and your flatmate was the most friendly, communicative, reliable and motivating person in the world, you get a perfect picture of how life can go. Unfortunately I wasn't to stay there more than 6 months, because my flatmate graduated and came back to Germany, and a nice family took over our flat. Apropos Sebastian, my flatmate, I really owe him a lot. He was my most patient German teacher who could listen to me for hours, used to correct me when I was making mistakes and praise me when I was making some progress. I'll save the memory of him for my whole life... (at this point I always become sentimental)

Anyway, after leaving Wittekweg and St Leonhard I got a place in a dorm which I thought at that time could be an interesting social experience and the most affordable option. To my misfortune I didn't inform myself exactly what would expect me there. For most people who study in Graz the name of this dorm says all, namely... Hafnerriegel. Yes, the town's "skyscraper" which has become a kind of Balkan ghetto recently. I feel sorry most of all for unaware Erasmus students who are probably assigned to such locations by their exchange supervisors. Poor fellows arrive and are close to tears when they see the state of their room, mould in the bathroom and a filthy kitchen, abandoned already by the previous generation. Honestly, I felt the same. There's not much to tell apart from me living only with men once again. One of them was an Australian guy which I thought might be useful for my oral English practise, but unfortunately he turned out to be uncommunicative. Well, bad luck. After all I stayed only for 3 months (it must be a record ;) and left Graz for the summer.

When I came back in October I was desperately looking for a place to stay and accepted the first offer I got. It means that I'm sitting in a tiny 9 m2 room at the moment, having a view at the grey, communist style Augarten Hotel. Without doubts it's not the most beautiful picture, but at least I can spy on hotel guests having relaxing time in the swimming pool, because this indoor swimming pool is exactly what I can see from my window. Although it's a kind of degradation to exchange Wittekweg's conveniences (among others an opportunity to go for a swim for real) for fantasies about what would be if I were one of the hotel guests, it's still better than Hafnerriegel (I always try to look for some bright sides of life ;). However, when the northern wind blows, I'll be ready to change my place once again...

From Russia with love

After long research I finally came across a very interesting blog of an American guy staying in Russia: http://my-russia-blog.blogspot.com/. Somehow I couldn't find anything for a long time, maybe apart from a crazy half Afro-American family with two sons which decided to preach the word of God in Russia;) This makes me think that Americans don't fit Russia at all. They must be either crazy, or unpatriotic (the everlasting competition between the U.S. and Russia for the control over the world), or... unimagenably romantic (to fall in love with this treasury of the BEST literature in the world).
Anyway, the guy I found teaches English in Vladimir, one of the towns of the Golden Ring, a group of the oldest and most picturesque towns around Moscow. He seems to have a lot of fun there, beeing surrounded by other American teachers. Funnily enough he doesn't mention any unpleasant events which would normally be the main topic of a conversation about Russia. Well, I have to admit I haven't read all his entries yet, but so far so good.
What is more, his blog is a mixture of describing different trips he makes with his friends and a general note on the society and the state of affairs in contemporary Russia. I'll write more on that in the near future.
By the way, I really feel poeple are sometimes ignorant, namely one girl in the English Business class claimed today that Russia's economy in controlled economy! Please, if you're not sure what you're talking about, better say nothing! Perestroika was introduced over 20 years ago! It's not true any more that you can't get essential consumer goods at shops. The companies aren't controlled by the state neither. My request to some poeple is now and then: don't be illiterate, but take a book and improve your knowledge before you express such nonsense.

DIAGONALE sounds familiar, doesn't it?

The DIAGONALE Film Festival is a very special event to me. I’ve been to it for the third time this year, which practically means that I’ve been participating in it on a frequent basis since I came to Graz. Although DIAGONALE is supposed to be a festival of the Austrian films, it’s becoming more and more international every year. Consequently I always try to pick some non-Austrian film to watch (not that I have anything against Austrians, but I’m just looking for something “exotic” staying in Austria). Three years ago I even had a stoke of luck and found a film with Polish co-production on displaced people from the East who were made to live in contemporary West Poland after our country had lost its right to this land after the Second World War. That’s e.g. how I learned something new about the history of my home land.

This year I picked a series of three documentary films telling about children in different, to some extent extreme, life situations. An important point of my choice was that they scratch the surface of our summer semester’s topic – immigration.

In the first one of the films, “being u.m.f.”, we get to know about the legal situation of minor refugees in the Austrian refugee camp in Hall, Tirol. The director focuses mainly on the African refugees, almost all of whom flee alone to Europe. While they wait for the decision about (not) granting them political asylum, they often attend school or work for the community to kill the time. The biggest issues of this piece are whether it’s moral to get refugees to work in professions nobody else wants to do while paying them only 2 € per hour and how difficult it is to be in foreign surroundings without relatives, being dependent only on yourself. You can feel only sympathy for people in such circumstances.

“Gemma Kürtelkäfig” is a story of some emigrant kids from the second generation living in Vienna. We can see that they’re somewhere in between – they belong neither totally to the Austrian nor to their parents’ cultural circle. They speak the native language of their parents at home and German everywhere else. What struck me the most was the sheer idea of the Kürtelkäfig – a kind of fenced sports fields and small park surfaces around the Viennese inner city circle. These awful, tiny, prison-like places situated between streets with heavy traffic become an everyday shelter for the characters form the documentary. It’s where you encounter a mix of different backgrounds and learn how it is to be an Ausländer.

“In den Straßen von Delhi” distinguished itself from other two films as the most professional project. This co-production of ORF and SAT1 documents everyday struggle of a young street child in Delhi. Abandoned by his uncle at the age of nine, Sumid learns fast how to take care of himself. At the time of filming he can’t be older than twelve, but we get the impression that he thinks in adult terms. In specific he works in the streets collecting paper and saves the money in a children bank. However, he doesn’t neglect his school attendance and we can see that he’s one of the more talented kids. His dream is to start his own clothes shop one day and seeing his efforts and his “adult behaviour” we start to believe that he’ll make it one day.
The only doubts I had watching this beautiful documentary were about the morality of making such a film while you know that you’re making use of the topic and there are millions of street kids in India who you can’t help.

An even number

I'm afraid I've got birthday today and the weather couldn't be worse...
There's not much to say apart from the fact that I miss celebrating this day with my parents and my brother. Although it might sound childish, we always used to buy a nice cake and a bottle of chamapgne, and clink our glasses enjoying this special time we had for each other. A friends party followed the day after.
Now it's different - your friends abroad become your family in the best case. Sometimes I wish I were at home... ;)

The first try

How about adding a picture to my blog? In my opinion words backed up by pictures are far more meaningful..., aren't they?

Happy birthday, Verena!

Happy birthday, Verena!