Progress of my Academic Paper

Hey Guys!

So, how are you doing with your academic paper so far? Did you do a lot already? Any finished paragraphs? No? Well, frankly speaking I also didn't do a lot by now – I just couldn't find the time. However, I have a nice plan on how I'm gonna structure my paper and I already handed in an introduction last week. Writing the introduction really helped me putting together all the main ideas I want to deal with in the paper.

One thing I struggle a bit is finding the right sources. I had a couple of them at the beginning of the semester, when we were first told to think about our topic. Well, I should have bookmarked them, because I can't find some of the anymore. However, I think this shouldn't be too much of a problem, because I will do some more research as I'm writing the paper anyway.

What I found really useful was an exercise we did in class last week. Hendrik told us to write an elevator pitch about our topic. What's that? The idea is simply: pretend you meet someone in an elevator, you don't know when he/she will leave – all you got are some seconds or say a minute to persuade this person to read your academic paper. I found the idea really interesting, you might want to read mine...

Elevator Pitch

LGBT rights in the EU / on the Balkans

Hey! You know, you look like a very open-minded person and… well, I just wrote an academic paper about LGBT rights in the EU, also with emphasis on some Balkan countries. Did you know that Belgium, Denmark and Sweden are actually considered the most “gay friendly” countries? There’s no restriction on marrying the person you love, no matter what sex and same-sex couples can adopt children and so on. Isn’t that amazing?!

Gosh, have you read the newspaper recently? It’s unbelievable what’s goin’ on in the FYR Macedonia? There’s almost no protection for LGBT people. There’s  high violence against LGBT human rights defenders. But the worst thing of all that are those “honor killings” of gays in Turkey. Have you heard of that? No? Well, I really think you have to take a look in my paper!

Pronunciation Diary #1

Apart from dealing with EU as the main topic of this semester, we should also dedicate ourselves to start thinking about which English pronunciation each and everyone of us wants to acquire. I've been keen on doing this for a long time and thinking about this a lot, but there are two things always coming in my way: 1 to little time/energy to actually sit down and start doing something 2 can't decide on a accent

Primarily, I want to start working on a standard American English pronunciation, with a focus on the accent spoken in New York, since I totally love that city and want to spent some time there. Besides, I think the New York accent is quite distinctive to accents spoken in other parts of North America and I like to listen to it. I was pretty glad when I found Rachel's English on the Pronunciation Practice Page Frank and Hendrik put together – it's exactly what I was looking for.

Rachel Smith (I can't help thinking she looks a bit like Piper Halliwell from Charmed) does a good job with the videos she uploads and... she's from New York, yaaay! I already watched some of them and I was speaking along with her trying to imitate her accent and practice pronunciation. I can warmly recommend this page to you. The videos are really good as she explains everything with examples taken from everyday life, like doing a road trip with her friends and being filmed while driving or when she's cooking.

"Fill 'er up!"

She's also quite profound at what she does – have a look at the 'About' section if you are interest in what she's been doing.

Apart from doing exercises from Rachel's English I while also watch some Accent Tag videos to hear some other accents. We did that in class two weeks ago and it was hilarious listening to the different accents from the English speaking world. Two other accents I really like are the Scottish and Australian one. They have some very distinctive features I really like listening to. Some words are pronounced so different to the "standard version" you know that they sound like entire new words.

Well, enough for now. I will keep you up-to-date on my process in learning English pronunciation.

Comment on Summary by Anonymous Author

deflation grave_120612.docx

SUMMARY OF Europe already has one foot in ‘Japanese’ deflation grave

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, in The Telegraph of October 23, 2013 analyses the slippery slope of the EMU’s policy errors. (1)

The author stated that the EMU is facing a serious risk of lethal deflation as debt of many western European countries is over 300pc of their GDP. Additionally, inflation deteriorates the debt crisis. Albeit the ECB targeted an inflation of 2pc, which would improve the situation, the status quo is at 0.9pc and lower advancing debt growth. Given these circumstances, increasing sovereign and private debt is the custom for EMU members, especially for Italy and Spain. (2)

At the example of Italy, the author stated the outcomes of such errors. The EMU, dictating drastic austerity measures, causes an increase in national dept with no hope of monetary stimuli in Italy. As a result of these actions, populist parties are on the rise and youth unemployment is alarmingly high. (3)

Evans-Pritchard proposed a solution, where the Club Med and their allies should force the ECB to facilitate the so desperately needed reflation, instead of waiting for global growth to retrieve Europe’s economic strength. (4)

The conclusion Evans-Pritchard draws is that the EMU needs to take action if it does not want to be interred like Japan. (5)

200 WORDS, NOT INCLUDING TITLE

---

My comment on the summary

1. Good introductory sentence. Mentioned everything – author, publisher, date, what's it about. Really cool that he/she used "slippery slope". We learnt that expression last year and I haven't used it since then. I think it works pretty good in that context.
2. I would write "Western European countries". He/She used "deteriorate", a very formal and strong word, which works perfect here. Personally, to me "targeted" sounds a bit strange, but you could simply change it to "Albeit the target of the ECB was ..." Oh, and please look up the word "albeit" – you used it wrong and it shouldn't be at the beginning of a sentence. Comma missing after 2pc. I'm not very happy with "lower advancing debt growth" – "increasing" would be a better choice for "advancing", but it still sounds a bit strange to me. Not sure if "sovereign debt" exists. Be careful with "custom" it has different meanings and here I would rather write "is the case for EMU members" (I hope that's what you meant)
3. "At the example of Italy"?? Spelling mistake: "dept" instead of "debt"
4. Good use of formal vocab, but "so" is not the right register. ("desperately needed reflation" is strong enough, making "so" obsolete)
5. Good concluding sentence but... Well, what happened to Japan? I mean, we dealt with that text (Europe already has one foot in 'Japanese' deflation grave) and we know what happened but he/she mentioned that in the concluding sentence of his/her summary – it's new information that was never mentioned in the summary before.

All in all, the summary by this anonymous author was good. He/She used some very high register words, which is nice, but then I found some structures that he/she was a bit insecure with. There are also some mistakes in spelling and formulation that could have been avoided, by having the summary proofread by someone.

Revised Version of EU paragraph

Follow the link to see the EU paragraph about the Schengen Agreement we had to revise:
http://annazoechbauer.blogspot.co.at/2013/11/revised-version-of-eu-paragraph.html

What I learned

First of all it has to be said that I was quite happy when I got back my homework from Hendrik. The homework task was to write a "Letter to Mr. Bower" in which I inform him about my present level in English and my experience with that language so far. I had a couple of mistakes in it but Hendrik‘s feedback was really helpful to me. So this is what he marked on the homework: I had a strong introduction, but I was a bit redundant in the first paragraph. I know that this happens to me very often, but I am going to work on that. I have to compare "rise" and "raise", because in the letter I wrote "she rose my interest for ..." which was wrong. (It should be "she raised my interest".) I did some punctuation mistakes as well, such as commas and using the wrong quotation marks (Let‘s check the region setting on my Mac again.) Last but not least a tense mistake. I wrote "I am looking up words on the ...", which means I am doing it right now. As I meant that I do it in general, it should have been "I look up words".

I really appreciated that Hendrik gave me a short personal note on my homework. He wrote that I largely use idiomatic expressions but he would like to see me use even more idioms and high-level vocab. Further he wrote that I seem to have a "feel" for natural English so he has every confidence that could pull it off. That made me really happy and gave me motivation to work on becoming better.

Surprising Europe - Running Out of Luck

Surprising Europe

Running out of luck

This episode titled  “Running out of luck” shows the people’s destinies while struggling for luck. When African migrants come to Europe they face a variety of obstacles and problems. Not only do they find themselves in completely new and unfamiliar atmosphere but they are treated as criminals and kept in detention centres. Some even need to marry Europeans to be able to stay in the EU. They have to go to medical centres run by volunteers, because they do not have enough money. Although they live under great physical and emotional pressure and, often, do not see any hope for the future, people still help each other and fight to stay in Europe hoping for a better future.

In the first part of this chapter three different immigrants from Senegal tell us that living in the EU is not as easy as they thought it would be. In order to legalize their stay in the EU they have to either be married to a European citizen or have a child. In both cases a lot of bureaucracy is involved in the process. Almost at the end of the chapter, Samuel – one of the interviewees – comments that this Europe was not the one he expected and the one he knew from television, filled with possibilities to succeed.

The second part of this episode is focused on displaying immigrant’s difficulties obtaining medical coverage. It is said that medical care is a human right, but if they do not have the necessary documents they cannot get help. In Amsterdam, for instance, there is a clinic run by doctors and nurses who volunteer and anyone can get consultations for a low price. Most  immigrants are in difficult situations because they cannot pay for the treatments they need. Therefore doctors suggest them to go to specialists they know. Even though this is not the best solution, it is at least a place to receive basic medical care.

The last part of the documentary deals with African immigrants that came to the Netherlands and are held prison in the  Zeist Detention Center until their legal status is regulated or they are sent back to their home countries. They are not criminals, but are treated as such. When they need to go to the hospital, they are brought handcuffed. Back at the prison, doctors do not come when they are needed and hygienic conditions are rather poor. The immigrants describe that they are treated like animals and it gets worse when they are put in isolation. They are forced to get naked and beaten up with sticks, held to ground and tied up. Some of the men are married to Dutch women, who are pregnant or have children with the inmates. Still, this would not help them change the difficult situation they are in. One of the inmates said that human rights should apply everywhere and that this is a Europe he never believed would exist.

EU individual paragraph

Intro

One topic in last week‘s class was the difference between the different institutions of the EU or the European institutions. There were some examples given, like the European Commission or the European Parliament. I did some research on the different institutions and it took out three of them to write in my paragraph:

Paragraph brainstorming

• three European Institutions
• The Council of Europe
• not an EU institution --> international
• 47 member states
• human rights, democratic development, ...
• The Council of the European Union
• short name: "Council"
• passes on laws
• "decision-maker" --> for EU citizens
• works with the European Parliament
• The European Council
• heads of state/government of EU member states
• sensitive issues --> influence on politics within the EU
• cannot pass on laws
• easy to get confused with the names
• What to do?
• do research
• look up differences and make notes
• What are the main differences/functions of each body?
• clearly structure the paragraph to understand the differences

Original paragraph

The EU consists of institutions and bodies which are all responsible for certain aims. Some of these institutions are difficult to distinguish from each. A good example for this would be The Council of Europe, The Council of the European Union and The European Council. The last one named, is made up of the heads of state or government of the EU member states and deals with complex or sensitive issues. This means it has an influence on the general political agenda of the EU. However, the European Council has no powers to pass on laws. That is what the Council of the EU, which is often only called by its short name „Council“, does (together with the European Parliament). Therefor it is an indispensable decision-maker, acting for the lives of the EU citizens. Not only for the 500 million EU citizens, but for some 800 million citizens acts the Council of Europe, which is an entirely separate body from the European Union. It is an international organization with 47 member states and it deals with important subjects, such as human rights and democratic development.

[186 words]

Feedback summary 1

My colleagues told me that I should take some attention to the spelling of the word "therefore" as I tend to forget the "e" at the end. This is one of my very common mistakes... My concluding sentence does not conclude the paragraph, it can rather be seen as the last sentence of one sub-point. They also told me that the paragraph was too complicated to read and they thought that mentioning the "500 million EU citizens" was an irrelevant information.

Revised paragraph

The EU consists of institutions and bodies which are all responsible for certain aims. Some of these institutions are difficult to distinguish from each. A good example for this would be The Council of Europe, The Council of the European Union and The European Council. The last one named, is made up of the heads of state or government of the EU member states and deals with complex or sensitive issues. This means it has an influence on the general political agenda of the EU. However, the European Council has no powers to pass on laws. That is what the Council of the EU, which is often only called by its short name in short „Council“, does (together with the European Parliament). Therefore it is an indispensable decision-maker, acting for the lives of the EU citizens. Not only for the 500 million EU citizens, but f For some 800 million citizens acts the Council of Europe, which is an entirely separate body from the European Union. It is an international organization with 47 member states and it deals with important subjects, such as human rights and democratic development. Keeping in mind all those main differences makes it easier to differentiate these three important bodies. 

[181 words]

Feedback summary 2

"The word aims is not correct in this context."
"Topic sentence und concluding sentence are good."
"Why didn’t  you describe the Council of the European Union?" --> I actually did, but I wrote The Council of the EU meaning the same thing.
"Linking words are right in place."
"It’s a difficult paragraph cause you’ve chosen the three bodies that sound similar and that fuckin confuses people."

Final paragraph

The EU consists of institutions and bodies which all have several areas of responsibility. Some of these institutions are difficult to distinguish from each. A good example for this would be The Council of Europe, The Council of the European Union and The European Council. The last one named, is made up of the heads of state or government of the EU member states and deals with complex or sensitive issues. This means it has an influence on the general political agenda of the EU. However, the European Council has no powers to pass on laws. That is what the Council of the EU, in short „Council“, does. Therefore it is an indispensable decision-maker, acting for the lives of the EU citizens. For some 800 million citizens acts the Council of Europe, which is an entirely separate body from the European Union. It is an international organization with 47 member states and it deals with important subjects, such as human rights and democratic development. Keeping in mind all those main differences makes it easier to differentiate these three important bodies. 

[181 words]

EU topics for essay

Dear Readers,

This semester's topic in class will be the European Union and anything connected to that, such as EU & languages or finance and economy. After the Christmas holidays we are supposed to hand in an academic paper dealing with the EU. As our English teacher said, it can be literally anything that interests us and that can be somehow connected with this institution or it's member states. Our homework for this week was to make up our minds, do some research and make notes for some five topics that we would like to write about. So here's what would be my favorites:

• The Life of Gypsies within the EU and there status in – for example – Romania would be a topic that I would really like to find out more about. I was always fascinated by the life of these people. One reason could be that I have this stereotypical idea about gypsies in my head. See, as a child I always loved Esmeralda from one of my favorite Disney movies "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". But I also know that these people live tough lives as I've seen it in Albania, for example, and that's why I'd like to find out more about that.
• LGBT rights in the European Union are a very interesting topic. Especially, if you take a look at certain countries. Following the example set by Belgium, Denmark and Sweden, which can probably considered the most "gay friendly" countries, most of the other member states still need to do their homework.
• Asylum in the European Union is a topic I am very interested in. Mainly because I have a friend who is an aslylum seeker and his story has been on my mind for over half a year now.
• LGBT rights on the Balkans and how it affects EU member candidates is something I'm already taking a closer look at for some time now. I travel the Balkans a lot and know I'd like to know what has changed in Croatia – the youngest EU member – towards acceptance of LGBT people. Further I'd like to take a closer look at the FYR Macedonia where there is least protection for LGBT people. Discrimination and stigmatization of the LGBT community in this country is very high and violence against LBGT human rights defenders and inflammatory articles by journalists don't make the situation any better. Hateful expressions and attacks are also existent in Montenegro. Serbia bans the pride march again and disturbing news come from Turkey where "honor killings" of gays are reported.
• The Accession of Turkey to the European Union and the negotiation progress is particularly interesting for me as I study also Turkish language and culture. I love Turkey very much, but there are a lot of criteria that need to be met

What do you think about it? The setting of this homework also was to comment on two of our colleague student's blog posts in order to give them some advice on which topic to choose, tips or helpful resources. So I'm gonna do that now – and I would be very pleased and happy to receive some comments from you!

Thank you!

İyi geceler,

Alexander Bey

Iftar

The other week, on Saturday (August 27) to be more precisely, I was invited to Iftar. The Iftar is a special time during the Ramadan, but there is no exact date when Iftar is held – actually it's the meal you take after sunset, because during Ramadan you are not allowed to eat and drink anything but at this special time.

I am not a Muslim, but I study Turkish and I am also very interested in Islam and cultural gatherings. Hence I was invited by a dear friend of mine from my Turkish course and I don't regret going there, because it was really nice and I met many friendly people there. In fact one of them, a young men from Albania, I already met in the tram going there. I thought he was going there too, because I watched him pray. Therefore, I got out at the same stop he did, with the intention to follow him, as I didn't know the way. Well, he went in a different direction so I called my friend to guide me to "Minashalle", where the event took place. (Funny detail: the guy arrived only some minutes later and we had a nice chat after the Iftar, when we were cleaning up...)

The location wasn't that bad, because it was quite big, but it was unbelievably hot in there. There was no air condition beside two ventilators, which didn't help a lot. What helped a great deal were the fans we made by sticking together some leaflets with Scotch tape. I can barely imagine how it must have been for all the people who haven't had anything to eat or drink the whole day and then waiting in that hot room for the right time for dinner. Then, finally, the people were starting the prayer; me and some girls doing the preparations had a refreshment by having some cool Coke. Then we were serving the dinner consisting of grilled chicken, rice and salads. For dessert we had water melon, Baklava and many other home-made cakes. (Interesting detail: every household brought a little bit. If I remember correctly, seven families were responsible for the chicken. About 90 kg of chicken (thighs) were prepared. The rice was brought in in pots with a diameter of about 40 cm.)

After dinner, the some members of the MJÖ (Muslimische Jugend Österreich) – the organization which organized the event – were presenting the organization, some community projects and youth events they held. It was really interesting I have to say and I think they are doing a great job for the community.

The event was open to everyone who was interested, but of course there were mainly Muslim people. Most of them came from Egypt, Iraq, or any other Arab country. However, there were also Persian people and people from Kosovo and Albania or Turkey. For me it was great! Everyone was so nice to me and welcomed me warmly (As-salamu alaykum!). I have to thank Sarah again, at this point, for inviting me. I'm really grateful that I got the chance to meet this people and I hope I'll be invited to another event.

Later that night some of the boys were taking me to a room for praying near there and explained a lot of things to me. This room is actually just some container yet, because the ground is a construction site at the moment. They are building an Islamic Center with a mosque there. (After the praying we went back to "Minashalle" and helped the girls with cleaning up. There was so much food left. The rice was brought to a social facility for refugees. The rest (chicken, sweets) was free for everyone to take.)

Soup and Food... ouch!

Hey guys!

I know it's already late at night and, well, maybe I got a beer to much, but somehow I felt the urge of writing about this night. I met with Kathy at my favorite Kebab vendor. The guy working there is really nice and funny. We had a little chat – pretty nice to practice my Turkish – Kathy and I had a beer and I ate a delicious Kebab. We were really happy, because it's been ages since we were out together, having a chat about anything that's on our minds at the moment. After some time we made our way ahead to our favorite pub...

It's always nice going to that pub, because for us it feels like home there. It's comfy and the best thing of all: the bartender already knows us and always welcomes us warmly. Aaagh, that's so nice, really! When the bartender went to the bar to get our beer I noticed a tattoo on his lower leg. Curious as I am, I asked him about it. It's already some years old and it's "one of many". During that time Kathy was at the bathroom – o'course I told her about that when she came back, but then we talked about different things later. Have I already mentioned, how nice that was – we used to go there so often, having those honest conversations, but due to the stress we had at university we haven't been there for a while.

After some time – and another round of beer – I got curious again. "... one of many", he said. Hmmm. To break the ice I asked our favorite bartender about where he got his sun burn. – From his holiday in Ireland, he said.
Funny, isn't it? We talked about Ireland, cost of food and cigarettes (I even bummed a smoke off him – I was so into smoking that night) and about our summer holidays, ... It was also really interesting to hear about him, what he studied and so on. You know, although he's our favorite bartender, we never had a longer chat together and it was really cool getting to know him better and hearing a little part of his life story.

So finally, I also had to ask him about "... one of many". I won't tell you about each, since I think it would be too private, but there's one tattoo, which made us all laugh. Two Chinese characters. He told us it was supposed to mean STRENGTH and – ahm, sorry I forgot the second word. Well, one day one of his friends, who studied Chinese, asked him kinda "why the hell have you got a tattoo saying SOUP and FOOD?!" Ouch. He could laugh about anyway.

Before we left he even showed us the tattoos (because I was asking so kind)! Really, cool. I think that really got us close to our favorite bartender...


(Still there's a moral to that story: be careful if you get a tattoo in another language...)

Culture Days – great presentations about Ireland and the US

Dear readers!

Last Wednesday and Thursday our English classes presented our Culture Topics. We spent almost two months dealing with and during that time we had the opportunity to do a lot of research. In the office hours we got the chance to ask our teachers for help or corrections. So that in the end every one of us had a decent final version of the essay. About the presentations I can say that really almost every one made quite an effort to impress the audience, although we were all really nervous. For my part I have to say that I'm quite sorry that I could not put as much enthusiasm in giving my presentation as I actually had for my interesting topic ("The Integration of Islam in Ireland"). I already had the flu at presentation day, which is why I was quite distracted. In fact I'm still bound to my bed – hope I get well soon.
Underneath there's a list of the presentations I watched and comments on them.


Ireland-related topics:

• Newgrange – A Treasure of Art
• Very informative! I like Ancient sights and art.
• Psychiatry in Ireland in the past with the case of Hanna Greally
• Really good presentation. Shocking pictures – unbelievable what has been done to people.
• Beyond Riverdance – A glimpse inside the world of Irish dance
• Nice. There even was an interview with an Irishman who started dancing with the age of seven.
• Appreciating Life – Donal Walsh's Fight Against Suicide in Ireland
• Informative and makes you think about live.
• The impact of the global warming on Ireland's agriculture
• Good explanations!
• Poetry in Irish schools
• Made me smile. Really nice.
• The ambivalent influence of King James II on the Irish
• Quite interesting, since I like history.
• Witchcraft in Ireland
• What a revealing and funny presentation. I liked it very much.
• Homophobic Bullying in Irish schools
• A problem that really needed to be addressed. Thank you.

US-related topics:

• Harlem, New York City
• NYC is cool – what else can I say.
• Scientology: A Religion Made in America
• Very nice presentation!
• The Amish country
• Cool pictures! The presentation was funny and very informative, because the girl presenting has already been to an Amish village.

My choice for the KGP:
* Witchcraft in Ireland
* Homophobic Bullying in Irish schools

* Poetry in Irish schools

* Beyond Riverdance – A glimpse inside the world of Irish dance

* Newgrange – A Treasure of Art

Faravahar

Today I wanted to wanted to tell you a bit about this ancient Iranian symbol. It fascinated my for quite a while now, but I really can't remember were I saw it the first time. So I thought it's about time to do some research and write about my findings.

Faravahar

Faravahar is one of the best-known symbols of Zoroastrianism, an ancient Iranian religion and a religious philosophy, which was once the state religion of the Achaemenid Empire and Sassanid Empire. You should be familiar with this two names if you think back of your history class. (Maybe in connection with Alexander the Great you can remember...) The number of Zoroastrians today is estimated to be between 145,000 and 210,000. The ideas of Zoroastrianism has also influenced other religions including Judaism, Gnosticism, Christianity and Islam.


The following is what I found about the meaning of this ancient symbol:

Symbol of Faravahar

1. The Faravahar’s face resembles the face of human being and therefore, indicates its connection to mankind.
2. There are two wings in two sides of the picture, which have three main feathers. These main feathers indicate three symbols of good reflection, good words, and good deed, which are at the same time the motive of flight and advancement.
3. The lower part of the Faravahar consists of three parts, representing bad reflection, bad words, and bad deed which causes misery and misfortune for human beings.
4. There are two loops at the two sides of the Faravahar, which represent Sepanta Minu, and Ankareh Minu. The former is directed toward the face and the latter is located at the back. This also indicates that we have to proceed toward the good and turn away from bad.
5. There is a circle in the middle of the Faravahar’s trunk. This symbol indicates that our spirit is immortal, having neither a beginning, nor an end.
6. One hand of the Faravahar, points upwards, showing that we have to struggle to thrive.
7. The other hand holds a ring. Some interpreters consider that as the ring of covenant, representing loyalty and faithfulness which is the basis of Zarathustra’s philosophy.

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The Faravahar is a symbol of the human spirit, which existed before birth and continues to exist after death (symbolized by ring in the trunk) and it is a symbol which embodies the two opposing indicators of good and bad. In the philosophy of Zarathustra everybody should try to promote his/her Sepanta Minu, which is the positive force, and suppress his/her negative force, Ankareh Minu.

Zoroastrians believe that after they pass away, their spirit will be elevated in a higher level in the other world. Therefore, ancient Iraniens would never mourn when their beloved ones died.

There is also a stone carved Faravahar in the ancient city of Persepolis, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Since I really like Ancient History I consider this ancient symbols quite interesting and I hope that I also caught your interest a bit.

Sources:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faravahar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faravahar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism
http://www.iransara.info/Iran%20Faravahar%20Zartosht%20Farvahar%20fravahar.htm
http://www.gatha.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=277&Itemid=62&lang=en

The Eurovision Song Contest – more than just music

Hey, my dear readers!

"I have to tell you something, it's been on my mind ..."
Well, I am totally into the Eurovision Song Contest!

I thought I could start this post by quoting from the lyrics of one of my favorite songs of this year's Song Contest. The song is called Something by Andrius Pojavis who sang for Lithuania.

Emmelie de Forest performing "Only Teardrops"

Representing the countries

The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is something I watch every year. To me it is very special because I like to see how the hosting country presents itself and it is also interesting to see how the singers represent their country. It might be some kind of stereotype, but there are always songs from which you can actually tell which country it is. Of course, this builds up stereotypes, which is why I won't give you any examples for this. People might argue about the quality of the songs performed. Yes, there always are bad performances; some, however are actually seeking for not being taken serious or try to bring across a message in a rather unconventional way. Then you may never forget those countries who are actually taking the ESC quite serious. They send the best singers they can offer and spend huge amounts of money for the stage show. Taking all this together, makes it well worth watching this special event.

Political aspects

In a way the ESC is also an occasion to show political opinions or express social criticism. For the first one there is to mention the liberal view this year's hosting country, Sweden, showed. In interval act (http://youtu.be/1J8hiN9K4ko) the country demonstrated its tolerance towards diversity in people, especially by showing that same-sex marriage is legal and tolerated in Sweden. In other political aspects the ESC might not be able to bring change, but  can at least raise awareness for serious problems or social evils. A very good example for this is Azerbaijan, last year's hosting country. Azerbaijan is, due to it's oil resources, a very rich country and spent a valuable amount of money on the ESC or rather on architecture. For example, the Baku Chrystal Hall was built and the completion of the Flame Towers was given a spotlight and the video postcards, which were played during the show, showed all the beauty Azerbaijan has to offer and they were extraordinarily inviting to visit this country. (The ESC made me actually aware of this country and I can tell that I'd really like to visit Azerbaijan soon.) However, behind this façade numerous issues found addressing in foreign media: people got deported in order to bring about building projects, journalists weren't be issued visas or got in serious trouble, activists and bloggers got imprisoned and so on. In numbers Azerbaijan is ranked "Not Free" and scored 79 out of 100 in Freedom House's annual Freedom of the Press survey.

The fun part

Nevertheless, we shouldn't forget that the ESC is also an event which brings people together and is very entertaining. Sweden took it very serious, in order to make it a very special event, and managed to not forget about the fun. The presenter, Petra Mede, did a really good job. She brought fun into the show and her accent was so adorable. Her dresses, designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, made quite an impression. Additionally, many lavish interval acts were performed and the sketches depicting the ESC's history were quite informative. The funniest person, however, was Lynda Woodruff. In some humorous sketches this hilarious character made me burst out laughing:

1. Lynda Woodruff in Jukkasjärvi – http://youtu.be/53fKKF3NF6w
2. Lynda Woodruff (2nd Semifinal) – http://youtu.be/voQrmiYIlww
3. Lynda Woodruff in Stockholm – http://youtu.be/rLSoCEHQAqU

Here are some of my favorite acts of this year's Song Contest:

• (Azerbaijan) Hold Me – Farid Mammadov
• I love ballads!
• (Georgia) Waterfall – Nodi Tatishvilie & Sophie Gelovani
• Have I mentioned that I love ballads? Oh, and this is a duet! Such a nice couple, really.
• (Denmark) Only Teardrops – Emmelie de Forest
• Well-deserved winner. Great song and the stage show was really nice.
• (Estonia) Et uus saaks alguse – Birgit
• Such a nice song, isn't it?
• (F.Y.R. Macedonia) Pred Da Se Razdeni – Esma & Lozano
• The difference in age didn't matter – they were pretty cool!
• (Malta) Tomorrow – Gianluca
• Made my smile. Feel good song!
• (Ukraine) Zlata Ognevich - Gravity
• Wow, look how her body moves in that skin-tight dress!

My new roommate

The Foreigner's Room

As many of you might know, I'm living in a dorm, were I share a flat with three other students. I've been living there for almost nine months. Since the first day I've meet a handful of quite interesting people, because the room next to mine is – as I call it – the "foreigner's room". The room is reserved by the ÖAD (Österreichischer Austausch Dienst) and due to that it is let to exchange students or students doing an internship.

Thai cooking

My first roommate was a girl from Germany, which I mentioned in one of my posts, and after her a girl from Thailand followed. Her name was Onjira. She was involved in some kind of research project at the University of Technology of Graz and a university in the UK. She's been her for a longer period of time and, to be honest, I grew fond of her, because she's been a really nice person. It's been interesting gaining an in insight into Thai cooking. She gave me some dishes to try and they were very tasty. Although I have to say that I didn't try everything since I don't it meat and even if I did some of the dishes wouldn't be my taste as they included innards. Also fish, which I usually really like, she prepared in a way that wasn't my taste either. Howsoever, she was really one-of-a-kind and I was a bit sad when she left.

The Toothpaste

Only one or two days later a Chinese woman arrived, but I didn't see her very often. She told me she'd be in that room only for a month or so because the room was already reserved for someone else. Well, but then she didn't show up for a couple of weeks and somehow I was concerned something has happened to her. I mean, her toothpaste with the Chinese character was still in the wall-cupboard in the bathroom after all!!!

Someone was having a shower

Monday, June 3, almost midnight: I have quite and exhausting day behind me: Turkish class, job interview and then I helped my girls moving and carry all that stuff their staff on the forth story of their current apartment. However, it was worth the exertion and the sweat since my girls cooked a delicious meal consisting of Persian style chicken and rice and a tasty red wine! When I arrived home it was almost midnight. So, I unlock my door, put my stuff on my bed and go right to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Something's different. The floor is wet. Water sprinkles on the mirror. High humidity. Gosh, someone was having a shower! Is the Chinese woman back again? I open the wall-cupboard. The toothpaste with the Chinese character is gone!!! Other toiletries with Latin letters instead. Right in that very moment the door of the foreigner's room opens and a guy in my age smiled at me. I said "Hey!" – still with the toothbrush and foam in my mouth. I spit it out.

So we had a little chat and soon hit it off. His name's Markus. He said actually it's not, but he calls himself Markus because no one can pronounce and remember his Malaysian name. He told me his real name – can't remember it. What a cool guy. He's from Malaysia. (Soon had to check were exactly that was.) He knows English pretty well. About my age and quite a sporty person. He'll stay seven months. That's cool. I'm really looking forward to getting to know him.

What a lovely ride...

What a lovely ride...

Hey guys!

I already mentioned that traveling is one of my biggest passions. One thing I really like about traveling is going long distances by car. Most people are pretty happy when they do not have to use their car while being on holiday, as many of them already have to drive to work every day. It‘s different for me. My holiday already starts when I‘m sitting behind the steering wheel of my van and starting the engine, no matter how far the journey will take me.

Last Saturday I went to Croatia with my friends Shirin, Lisa and Julia. We hit the road from my place and it was a pleasure for me right from the start. We were all in such a good mood – also thanks to Shirin being a wonderful co-pilot and DJane – and so it didn‘t even matter that we were stuck in a traffic jam in Slovenia. In fact, our way from my home town to Opatja, Croatia – a drive which is usually done in three hours and a half – took us more than five hours. We had the windows down, a great mix of Florence and The Machine, Pink, Lady Gaga and a lot more on, the volume turned up very high, us dancing, clapping and singing loudly. I am wondering if we cheered up the people in the dozens of other cars or if they were just hoping that the jam would get moving soon. No, I am sure they liked it, if they didn‘t they probably don‘t know what‘s good!

Finally, we arrived in Opatja and spent some great time there. The hotel was nice and we even had a room with sea view. There was a buffet in the morning and in the evening plus free beer and wine (yeah). Well, the wine was free, yet undrinkable... Therefore, we bought some bottles of wine in the „Konzum“ supermarket, cookies and crisps, grabbed the wool blankets from our rooms and made our way over to the beach and stayed there until late at night.

On the third day we got in the car again and drove to picturesque Mošćenička Draga. There we had a delicious meal: a warming tomato soup, spaghetti with sea food and mussels, a nice steak for Shirin and ice cream and Baklava for dessert. Yummy!

On our last day (Tuesday) we checked out of the hotel with the intention to go to that nice little village again. As driving down the coast was so relaxing and enjoyable for our souls we spontaneously decided to go a little farther until we got to a place called Brseć. It was pretty adventurous moving our car through the narrow alleys, down a bad pathway to a romantic  bay. The water of the sea was freezing cold but we got in anyway just to say we were in the sea. Great! We spent our time reading or having a little nap. To round this experience off we went back to Mošćenička Draga to have another mouth-watering meal. At about five o‘clock we made our way home and now guess what...

...at a motorway service area – shortly before Maribor – we stopped to relax a bit and there it happened: our marvelous English teacher Fiona stood right in front of our car. What a lucky coincidence! She and her boyfriend were also on her way back from their holiday. It really is a small world! Meeting Fiona and her boyfriend was just the icing on the cake of our awesome trip to Croatia!

The Sweetest Thing

After having been to the movies watching "Deine Schönheit ist nichts wert" we were all really down because of the sad and disturbing story of Veysel. So, Lisa, Shirin and I went to a nice restaurant to have a nice and filling meal and some wine while discussing the plot of the movie. Lisa and I actually had to tell Shirin the end of the movie because she went out earlier. We were also talking about a friend of mine of whom I was afraid of maybe facing the same fate. After our dinner we went to our apartment and opened a bottle of red wine. We just wanted to drown our sorrow...

... and we wanted to cheer us up a bit. Not only with wine. Of course not. What are you thinking about us? We were also talking about other movies and we found out that one of my favorite comedy movies is actually also Shirin's favorite one: The Sweetest Thing. To be honest, I probably watch it once a year with my brothers and we are always holding our bellies down from laughing! So, we four – Lisa, Shirin,  Alex and Mustafa – were lying in bed watching The Sweetest Thing starring Cameron Diaz – my favorite – Christina Applegate and Selma Blair.

This movie is the most hilarious one I know. Yet I don't see the point in giving the plot away – you just have to watch the movie. I can really recommend watching it, especially because of the hilarious scenes taking place during the protagonists' road trip. For example, there's this great scene in the men's restroom of a motorway service area or – my favorite one – when they are driving in their car and Cameron is bending of Christina to ... and then a biker sees that and ...
It's just great, really. The best, however, is "The Penis Song" they perform in a restaurant. I think most of you have already heard of it since Shirin and I kept singing it in university, in class, before the Progress Check, at the BBQ. Those who don't know it yet, here it goes and those who do know ... well, can't stop watching it over and over again:

Deine Schönheit ist nichts wert

Last Saturday I watched a pretty sad but realistic movie with my best friends Kathy, Lisa, Shirin and Gudi in the KIZ Royal cinema. I was made aware of the movie by the info-screen in the tramway. The movie is called "Deine Schönheit ist nichts wert". It is an Austrian production directed by Hüseyin Tabak. The movie is set in Vienna and depicts the difficult life of a Kurdish-Turkish immigrant family, which has to struggle with a bunch of problems: The 12-year-old Veysel is a weak student who does not know German very well, because his family has been in Austria for a couple of months only. His older brother Mazlum (18) runs away from home because he has problems accepting that his father spent years in Turkish mountains as a Kurdish freedom fighter. In addition to that, the family is about to be deported because the Austrian asylum authority rejects their application for political asylum – even though the family would suffer from persecution in case they were sent back to Turkey. Meanwhile Veysel falls in love with his school friend Ana, who he wants to charm by reciting a Turkish poem. To do so, he needs to translate it into German and learn it by heart.

At this point I stop telling you about the plot, my dear readers, because I really do not want to give to much away. The movie is absolutely worth watching as it is very well made. I usually watch movies that evoke emotions while watching – "Deine Schönheit ist nichts wert" is such a movie. My friends and I ended up crying our eyes out! (So I do recommend taking a box of Kleenex with you...) And you cannot do anything against it, because it shows the ugly truth without whitewashing anything. The actors play their roles with so much passion and honesty that you really believe the story is happening in front of you.

I am... in love with food

Hey guys!

This post will be about food. In the English class we got the homework to look for food blogs on the internet, choose a favorite one and write about it. It took me just a moment to find this really awesome one:

iamafoodblog.com

It is written by "an average girl who likes food and photography" (as you can read it in the ABOUT section). She is especially fond of noodles, bacon, potatoes and breakfast food. So, beside the bacon, she has the same preferences as I do.

When entering the blog you will be simply blown away by the awesome pictures she took of the recipes she cooked. I could not help myself but moan when flicking through the recipes. Yeah, mmmh, oh my good... , that looks so..., yummy! Yes, I have to tell you I am in love with food.

What took my interested was "The Easiest Poached Egg Recipe". Since I love eggs in every variation poached eggs are yet another idea of how to serve them. It's funny, because tried to make poached eggs just a few days ago. Making poached eggs is probably the most difficult procedure in cooking eggs. Or: "The holy grail of eggs, if you will." (as she describes it) It was a very spontaneous decision to make them for dinner. However, I tried it the traditional way: Bring water to cook. Add some vinegar. Season the water with salt (try the cubes for making soup make it more tasty). Then bring down the temperature. The water should only simmer a bit. Crack open an egg into the water and bring it together with two table spoons. The yellow of the egg should be enclosed by the white. Well...

... that's at least how it should work. You guys can be glad that I did not took pictures of my first attempt. I can't even put it in words what happened in that pot. Disgusting. Poor egg.

I didn't give not up that fast and tried it a second time. It worked! Hooray! It looked great and it was delicious! This delicious poached egg in it's oozy consistence harmonized greatly with french toast.

Beside the great things you cold do with eggs there are a lot of different recipes (also with fish or meat free) on that blog. I really can't wait to try out some more. Oh gosh, those pictures of food really turn me on. I warmly recommend this blog to you!

See you!

Nowruz – نوروز

Hey everyone out there!
Did you celebrate the New Year? You wonder why I ask this question now? Well, because I don't mean the holiday which is celebrated on December 31 / January 1. The one I mean is celebrated on the day of the astronomical Northward equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. (The fist day of spring and the beginning of the year in the Iranian calendar.) What I am talking about is Nowruz or – as many would refer to it – the Persian New Year.

Nowruz is observed by Iran, Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and other ethnic and religious groups worldwide, such as the Kurdish diaspora, Zoroastrians and many more. It is also unofficially observed by other countries, for example, Bosnia and Macedonia. Therefore, Nowruz has many different spellings, depending on the language spoken by the different ethnic groups.

In 2009, on a UN meeting held in Abu Dhabi, Nowruz was officially registered on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. With the description of a spring festival with Persian origin which has been celebrated for over 3,000 years Nowruz was recognized by the UN's General Assembly in 2009 as the International Day of Nowruz.

The reason I am writing about this special day is that on Wednesday, March 20 (this year's date of the equinox) I was invited to celebrate it with some friends. We gathered in the apartment of Shirin's aunt and had a very special Persian dinner consisting of an exquisite chicken marinated with saffron and cooked with tomatoes. Along with some tasty Persian rice and a nice tomato salad with cucumbers. The dinner was accompanied by some delicious red wine. For dessert we had some kind of cool and sweet rice, which was prepared with rose water (very refreshing and tasteful, I have to say), and I brought some Baklava with pistachios.

Not only the food was lovely, also the decoration has been very charming. Shirin's aunt arranged everything very neatly and as far as I can remember we also had almost all of the Hafta-Sin items. We had a mirror – symbolizing the sky, candles – symbolizing the fire, painted eggs – as a symbol of fertility, ...

All in all, it was such a peaceful and pleasant evening – nothing like my actual New Year's Eve – and I am really looking forward to celebrate Nowruz next year!

James Deen

James Deen

Dear Readers,

First of all: No, this is not a misspelling in the heading. Secondly, please let me first explain why and about what I am going to write about. This article is not about the famous American movie actor from the 50s called James Dean. However, the person I am going to write about is also referred to as a „famous“ actor, but the movies starring James Deen are nothing like the ones portrayed by the other guy mentioned. The movies he plays in fit the genre of adult movies. Those of you who already find themselves disgusted by this words can, of course, leave this page. The others (whose interest I might have provoked) are welcomed to keep on reading. What brought me to this topic was a video of an interview in the online version of the Guardian. I was actually reading an article about immigration to Ireland for the second progress check as I saw this interview in the section „suggested videos“ on the right-hand side. (Interesting what the Guardian suggested to me as I had never visited their site before.) It was saying „Porn star James Deen: ,I don‘t consider myself someone who objectifies women‘ “. Of course I was interested in listening to that one – tell me, wouldn‘t you have clicked on it too?

Porn star James Deen: 'I don't consider myself someone who objectifies women' – video

What do you think about the interview and what do you think about him? Quite funny how relaxed this guy is talking about his „profession“. What is actually interesting to me is that he does not look like the „regular porn actor“. He is nothing like this hulks you might think of when thinking of porn – he is just a normal slim guy. He has got the looks, indeed, but still he depicts an average guy that could also be the guy next door, I would say. That is why Deen seems to have a lot of female „fans“.

It is also interesting to read through some of the comments people made about the interview. Some are rather serious, some are just pseudo-feministic and not making sense. One often mentioned opinion was something like: „Were‘s the problem with men objectifying women - women are objectifying men too.“ A funny comment came from a Guardian staff member. She wrote that the whole department was making fun of her colleague who gave a nod of assent and a cautious smile when Deen explained the reasons why he was against „measure B“ (a law set up making it mandatory for porn actors to wear condoms during their „work“): an above average sized penis and it would not work to shot the scenes with condom due to lack of durability of condoms and the time span a video has, blah blah.

For further reading I do recommend to you the following article of the GQ magazine*:

The Well-Hung Boy Next Door

* from Wikipedia: GQ (originally Gentlemen's Quarterly) is an American monthly men's magazine focusing on fashion, style, and culture for men, through articles on food, movies, fitness, sex, music, travel, sports, technology, and books.

It was also recommended by the reporter who made the interview with James Deen. Here is why I consider it worth reading: It is actually a reportage of James Deen. I have never read a reportage in English before and I have to admit that I never did well on writing such a piece of text in the my German course in high school. It was fascinating how well the author did in this piece. He gives you a very close insight (sometimes even too close) in Deen‘s life. The reader is not just thrown into some weird kind of sex scene. Rather he took it slow and starts off with a portrait of him and his family conditions. Switching between interviews, facts, stories from Deen‘s past and the actual things „performed“ in front of the authors eyes makes it a lively text. The author himself, who had first been in great anticipation, was allowed to follow him on a whole „work day“. He was told Deen‘s life story and drove with him from one set to another. That actually means traveling long distances and turns out to be rather exhausting. Another funny aspect is that the author describes the sex scenes in detail at first, in the solely purpose of giving the reader a better understanding. Later on he does not want to describe the scenes any more because of pure disgust – well, he still does. Yet another fact I was surprised of was that Deen‘s parents were rocket scientists! („His father is a mechanical engineer for NASA. His mother does data analysis for the space agency.“) But I really do not want to give to much away. All in all, it is is great read, seems very neutral although there is some jargon used to describe the practices which I did not even try to look up in a dictionary (because you probably will not find it). The reportage is really worth reading.

At this point I have to say, though, that I somehow feel pity for James Deen. He emphasizes that he loves his job, but I just could not imagine that a guy like him can ever get intimate with someone anymore. After all he mentioned – if I remember correctly – that he once had sex with someone in private and did not really enjoy it, because there was no camera on. He was not feeling anything, he was just numb. Can you imagine that? That is very sad to me. However, it is his own decision what to do in with his live and if he likes it he can do whatever he wants. To put it in his words: „My life is pretty awesome!“

---

I would like to point out that I would be glad to receive some opinions from you! Feel free to start a discussion. What do you think about the interview and the reportage? What do you think about James Deen? Does his statements about measure B and „objectifying women“ make sense to you?

ARGO

Dear Readers,

As I told you in my last post I had some ideas about what I am going to write about – but just did not take myself time to really bring the words down on paper. I will start right away. On December 9 I went to my favorite cinema - the KIZ Royal - to watch the movie ARGO. Some of you might have heard of the movie. It was already on for some weeks and after I‘ve seen the trailer I knew I had to watch it on a big screen. It was only me in the last row and two other girls somewhere in the middle row in the biggest room this cinema offers.

The film is playing during the time of the Iranian Revolution (in 1979). Ben Affleck is director and leading actor of the movie which is based on a true story. A very interesting detail: It is clear that a Hollywood movie like this cannot be shot in Iran, of course. The places you see are shot in Los Angeles, Washington, DC and Istanbul. There also is a scene with Ben Affleck in Istanbul‘s Hagia Sofia.

Taken from the official movie site:

Based on real events, the dramatic thriller “Argo” chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis, focusing on the little-known role that the CIA and Hollywood played—information that was not declassified until many years after the event.

Academy Award® winner Ben Affleck (“The Town,” “Good Will Hunting”) directs and stars in the film, which is produced by Oscar® nominee Grant Heslov (“Good Night, and Good Luck.”), Affleck, and Oscar® winner George Clooney (“Syriana”).

On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, the Canadian and American governments ask the CIA to intervene. The CIA turns to their top “exfiltration” specialist, Tony Mendez, to come up with a plan to get the six Americans safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies.

I could not sit still on my seat, because I was so thrilled. I have to admit that I am not the person that is watching a lot of brutal movies so I am not „too“ used to brutal scenes in movies. However, I have to say that the movie in general is nothing for weak nerves. There are some scenes, especially in the beginning of the movie, that show a lot of brutality and the scenes of the demonstrating people or people being killed or tortured are very intense. „Argo“ really drags you in and you cannot help but sympathize with the cast. They are playing there roles passionately and with so much emotions and it just feels like you are in the plot. The excitement reaches it‘s climax every time their plan seems to be busting. In the end almost drowned in adrenaline! Concluding, I have to say that the movie is great and absolutely worth watching. It also aroused my interest for the Iranian Revolution (Why did it break out?). In short: I can really recommend that movie.

Further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argo_(2012_film)