REPORT ABOUT OUR POSTER PRESENTATIONS (VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS)

For those who don’t know, our task was to report about the poster-presentation session on voluntary organisations around the globe. Even though I had two weeks to prepare the report (two weeks because we had Easter holidays), I did it like all “diligent” students the night before I was due to submit it. Maybe this accounts for the fact that it wasn’t quite well-written. Besides, I didn’t fulfil the task. Uuuuups!
What I did this time is that I didn’t write in plain English, but used long-winded and too complex sentences (real snakes). “A simple sentence is also fine and just as effective sometimes” says my lecturer. (Usually I use too basic grammar as well as vocabulary.) Want to have a look at one of this snakes? For example:
1) They lead you through all the steppes you have to go through I order to get there, and above all, you even get paid, so at the end you wont be in the red financially, let alone experience-wise. Oh goodness, where was I thinking? I don’t even understand the sentence now.
2) Candidate for MISS INAPPROPRIATE ENGLISH is also: However, many a time financial circumstances are that keep you getting to know all four walls of your precious room. Better is: ... financial circumstances keep you from leaving your precious room.
3) Here you can see English influenced by my mother tongue or so called CROANGLISH: ...get yourself checked at the doctor. Correct and only version: get yourself checked by a doctor.

These are some of my mistakes. After all, my homework isn’t that bad but in the future I shouldn’t write it the night before, let alone write such long-winded sentences.

WOULDN’T IT BE GREAT TO HAVE NO MISTAKES IN YOUR HOMEWORK?

I’m asking you again: WOULDN’T IT BE GREAT? We all might hold that it so. However, if you consider it more carefully, you will come to the conclusion that it is not at all like that. We have to be honest and admit once and for all that we learn from our mistakes (although, it is much more pleasing to learn from other people’s mistakes :)). It is the way we improve our skills, bring them up to date. And after all, is this no what we are longing for? It is not all doom and gloom, although, after having been given the “best” marks for a longer period of time, it seems so.

And suddenly the lights go on! You did quite a good piece of writing. “What’s wrong with ME?” you ask. Well, at least it is what I asked myself. I have serious problems with writing. I am just not a (let me say so) writing person. To have an idea, put it on paper and make it interesting, besides use your best vocab and grammar. Uuuh, an arduous task. I prefer giving presentations instead.

Be that as it may, let me get to the point. Some time ago our homework was to write an essay about Austrians/Croatians or any other nation we are familiar with. I wrote a piece about my fellow Croatians and depicted them as outgoing and stubborn. The examples given might be exaggerated, for they are given by an insider. However, they perfectly exemplify our everyday life and are additionally part of our identity.

Now to the mistakes:
1) Engaged in an energetic debate they get while working on a field. – this sentence is considered incomplete. It should be: They become engaged in an energetic debate while working on a field.
2) BEEEE CAREFUL – intent on is a verb, intent to do sth is a noun – They are intent on (v) putting the issue centre stage. It is my intent (n) to ...
3) CORRECT SENTENCE: In return, we hold out open arms to embrace our brothers and sisters.
4) AND MY FAVOURITE MISTAKE – it is not regardless but regardless OF: ..., regardless of the strenuous efforts to convey that both are on the wrong track.

I hopefully will remember these mistakes and get rid of them.

ELOQUENT SILENCE

ELOQUENT SILENCE, Sandra Brown

The other day I started reading a book, the dust jacket of which was (or still is) quite an alluring one. Not exactly knowing that it is as a heart-wrenching novel as all the classic love stories, I got my hands dirty. From the aforementioned you can slightly draw a conclusion that I am NOT AT ALL an enthusiastic reader of this love stories. I like to watch love stories, though. However, so far I have read 50 pages and I am unfortunately of the opinion that I will not continue reading it.
What it is about?
The story is about a famous soap opera star Drake Rivington, who has a hearing-impaired daughter, Jennifer. As he is quite often busy or better to say all the time busy, there is actually no tame for him to personally take care of his daughter, which is why he hires a private tutor, Lauri Parrish. Lauri is a dedicated young teacher for the deaf. The very moment she espies Drake, deep in her heart she relishes the idea to work for him. However, at the beginning it is just an instantaneous infatuation. As soon as she is scrutinized and disparaged by this FAMOUS DRAKE, transfixed with shock she changes her mind, but not for long. (I this scene Drake’s behavior, redolent not even of a wild animal, renders me speechless. (I abhor him.) And this is where/how it all begins.
What I have to stress about this book is that, as long as the life of Jennifer is concerned, it is somewhat a page-turner. In an interesting way it is depicted how a life of a deaf person looks like, how they “hear” and they learn to speak: “She’ll learn sign for a basic communication, but at the same time she’ll learn the alphabet just as every child does. And she’ll learn the sound a particular letter makes… Eventually she’ll be able to speak I want you to understand, Drake, that she’ll never hear things like we do. Her hearing aid isn’t a corrective device, it’s an amplifier.”
If you like reading love stories go one and read this one. If not, don’t even try it!:)
One more thing, on the cover it says A CLASSIC LOVE STORY and I didn’t even notice it. Don’t laugh at me. I wear glasses :).

RULE NUMBER 2: WATCH IT!!!

The weekend before the Easter break I had to stay in Austria since my visa expired on the 1st April, while most of my friends were at home. Poor me! Thanks to my friend, who let me borrow some of her DVDs, I wasn’t bored to death. The merits of my stay were that I finally cleaned up the house, or to be precise, my room, which urgently needed doing up. As well as this, I had film nights in order not to neglect my not-at–all good English. What about a cartoon? Madagascar, perhaps? If you’ve yet to watch this cartoon, it is now high time, and I guarantee you that won’t regret it.

In short, what it is about? It starts with the Central Park Zoo and the animals therein. The zoo’s star attraction is Alex (voiced by Ben Stiller), a happily captive lion. By day he wows massive crowds with his antics, at night he hangs out with his zoo friends: a zebra named Marty (voiced by Chris Rock), a hippo named Gloria (voiced by Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman (voiced by David Schwimmer) a severely hypochondriac Giraffe. Alex loves captivity and has no idea about what’s outside his zoo. In fact, he doesn’t want to know. But Marty, facing his 10th birthday and middle age, starts thinking about what it might be like in the wild. Determined to find out, Marty escapes the zoo. His friends take off after him in order to bring him back. They are caught by the humans and shipped off in a “mysterious” way to the wild. And what happens I n the wild, you should find out yourself.

Now, one of the best scenes is when the wild animals have a gathering to discuss what is to be done with the New York Giants, in precise, how to make use of them. Since the wild animals have for long been attacked and eaten by THE FOSSA, the chairman wanted to propose, that they could be protected by the Giants. So, the chairman mentions the word FOSSA upon which the whole crowd got into panic. (Thy thought the Fossas are attacking them the very instant.).

The only thing I can say is that it is extremely infectious, hilarious and perfect. I wholeheartedly recommend it to you. As I mentioned before, you won’t regret it.

Have fun!!

RULE NUMBER 1: WATCH IT!!!

After an exhaustive week (the week before Easter brake) my friend and I conjecture how we could make the most of our time and have some fun. What about an evening together, a glass of red wine and a comedy? Lovely. It is said that laughter makes younger (or something like that), so why not?
A: What is on the menu, Mister? B: Madam, may I prefer a comedy entitled “Without a paddle”? A: Of course. What are the ingredients? B: Let me see: fun, fun and joy. A: Excellent.

Lifelong friends, Dan (Seth Green), Jerry (Matthew Lillard) and Tom (Dax Shepard) come together when their buddy Billy (Anthony Starr) dies, only to hit the old spots of their youth and remember the adventures they've had together. After the funeral they find a map, apparently put into a time capsule by Billy, supposedly leading to the remnants of D.B. Cooper's missing treasure. Although Dan, who is a bit of a wimp, expresses great antagonism towards the ludicrous idea, in the end, there was no choice left but to accompany his friends on a treasure-hunting trip. And this is where the ball starts rolling. They have to endure the moods of a meticulous mother-bear, make “deals” with pot-framers, who will hunt them till they get them (if they get them) and so one and so forth. I don’t want to blab too much about the plot; otherwise you will not be enthralled to watch it.

And now the best part. To memorize everything that was going on in the movie is hard, as it is to choose the best scene. However, one I can tell you for sure, the scene I’m going to describe now is to make you laugh your sloe out of your self. I know, it won’t sound so witty now. However, it is comical, if I’m telling you. So, the three guys where running away from the pot-farmers almost naked (only in their underpants) and were to reach the “crown” of their adventure. To make things worse, it started raining and they had to spend the night in the cold forest (naked). Due to the chilliness, they somehow had to keep their bodies worm, and the only way seemed to be if they press their bodies together. “Only over my dead body!” And finally, it happened and the background music is: “My mind is telling me no, but my body, my body is telling me YES.”
You have to watch it. It is outrageous and zany!

A PEACEFUL BRITISH INVASION

An article in “Spotlight”

This article is about British people moving to Normandy, and so perfectly relates as well as to the topic covered this term as to the book I’m reading (“A year in Provence”). Families, who have spent their holidays in Normandy, fell under its spell and settled down actually in the middle of nowhere to make their wishes come true. Which wishes? To start a business from scratches since this couldn’t have been affordable (or maybe still isn’t) in Britain, inasmuch as the property market is up to five times as expensive. The trend towards heading down to France began 20 years ago.
What I found interesting is the remark that socialisation takes place not in pubs, as it is in Britain, but at people’s houses.

INTERESTING VOCAB:
- rat race – ständiger Konkurrenzkampf : to get out of the rat race

I have to say that I admire these people for summoning courage and above all for taking the plunge and go to leave somewhere else on our enticing blue globe. You might say that I did something similar, as I left Croatia, my home, to live/study abroad. Alike though it seems, it is by far not the same, since I left my country for the time being, except if I in the end marry a fetching Austrian guy and stay here.:) Be that as it may, what I want to say is that I cannot imagine living miles away from my place of birth. (Our house- the photo blow)
The story goes as it follows, since my brother and sister left the nest (they have their own family), the destiny of the house hinges somehow upon me. It is not that I crave to reside a village where neighbours green with envy don’t feel like talking to each other, but I cannot imagine putting the house up to sale. Moreover, I can’t live without my nephews. If it weren’t for these reasons, I would like to live in Africa. I’m talking rubbish!! I’m not at all like that. Well, maybe a bit.

Weekly speaking session of Dina & Ivana

A rainy day, time after lunch – a perfect time to take a nap. If only dreams could get true! If only! I have to admit that I wasn’t much into talking at the beginning, which is why I gave my words rather to Dina. But it didn’t last to long that my tongue got into gear. The question then was: Would you appreciate if your husband/boyfriend helps out with the household/children?

Who wouldn’t! I would say, gone are the days when men didn’t look for their babies. And man shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Why? Just imagine that you are taking a walk with your baby. All the women would turn back as you relaxed stroll down the street. Admirable!
And if you would after that do the washing-up it wouldn’t be that bad. Actually, it would be the icing on the cake. After all, men are not made of sugar.

Speed friending

Saturday night, 9.00 pm
I have to say that the girl who had this tremendous idea must be a genie. Never ever in my life have I talked in English like a machine. The aim of this speed friending was to meet new friends, as well as donate money, if I’m not mistaken, for the Kinder-Krebs-Hilfe. And the “game” goes like this: there were people who were staying at their “posts” and people who were moving around. For each person we had 4 min to talk to, and when the caw bell rang, we had to change partners. And that’s it!
The atmosphere was fantastic and the people were from all over the Europe: England, Italy, Check Republic and so one and so forth.
I met two Italian guys who have been working here in Austria for a year and who, to my surprise, don’t speak German. Nor did they know anything about Graz, except where the Kunsthaus is. Not even about the Murinsel. Shocking! Irresponsible people (I mean, towards the culture).
And now a funny thing. During a conversation with some English guys, Pia brought up the word unfathomable. They first didn’t quite understand and we thought that it was wrongly pronounced. But no. The word is in English rarely used(according to them) and that’s why they didn’t comprehend it.

CANNABIS MAY REDUCE DEPRESSION

Listen to it under http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0510/051015-cannabis-e.html

It sometimes seems that the science is on the verge of having a grand theory of everything and that science has the answer to all our problems. Moreover, we are likely to believe it since we fully trust the scientists to such an extent that we don’t think things through for our selves. Cannabis can certainly lessen the hopelessness. Just have a look of the cool guys on drugs whose motto is: “TAKE IT EASY!”

The doubt whether the results of the experiment could be applied on human beings is, I would say, futile. Of course can cannabis have a practical application on people, as did mostly all other experiments. But what we don’t find out are the consequences.

At Prince Charles Pub

Thursday night

Where should I start? What should I say? What can I remember? Hmmmmmm!
We (Dina, Pia, Tina, me, myself and I) had a pleasant night as well as the opportunity to converse with some guys from England, all ex pats. What we astoundingly found out is that, in comparison to Austria, the quality of life in Britain leaves a lot to be desired.

FEAR OF THE PAST - PTSP

FEAR OF THE PAST, an article about PTSD in SPOTLIGHT

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is, as we all know, an uncontrollable emotional reaction caused by traumatic events. But what is interesting is that scientists found a way not to delete the horrible memories, but to make these painful memories much less intense. And here we go!

It all has its roots in the way our memories are stored and actually formed. Before an event is sorted deep deep in the brain, it becomes sort of temporary unsteady memory that has to stabilize. What is more, whenever we experience those memories again, the memory returns from the stable state back to an unstable state. And it is now that the scientists have come to the idea that these memories could be blocked and somehow modified by using certain drugs before being stored again.

Isn’t it amazing how our brain functions? We “drag” this mysterious “machine” along with us every day, and are not even aware of it. Don’t think that I’m under certain drugs for bringing up this topic; the thing is that I’m actually much into biology: anatomy and genetics.

LISTENING

Well, I’m listening to radio FM4 every day especially to the news, and to be honest I DO understand the news (even if not everything, obviously), but whom I don’t understand is the main radio commentator. Don’t ask me why. Maybe his voice is too deep or he speaks to fast, I don’t know. Be that as it may, I’ll persist in listening to this radio station with hope to understand him one day. (I don’t know how he is called.) And yes, the radio station is around 101 MHz. I’ll tell you the exact MHz next time.

Besides the radio station, I save on my precious MP3 player the news from the www.breakingnewsenglish.com every Monday and listen to one every day (well, I hope that this will continue). That’s not all. I do as well the exercise to the news I’m listening to. Easy though it is, I constantly come across new vocabulary I remember more easily as I’m an audio person (well, of course, a visual person too).

This week I listened to the news entitled Half of Europe’s citizens are bilingual.
Contrary to my expectation are Hungarians those with the poorest language skills and not the Italians. Find more about it under: www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0509/050925-bilingual-e.html

READING

Is integration working?
An article in Spotlight, a magazine in English

As the headline says, the question is if integration is working in GB. Most Britons (especially racists, of course) are of the opinion that Muslim immigrants could not be trusted. To make things worse, the terror attacks are on one hand a justifiable testimony to their judgments.

How can a person who has been given chance to start a new life in a foreign country like GB (or any other country) rise their hands against their fallow citizens? What went wring? The thing is, although a clear majority of British Muslims feel loyal to Britain, they face discrimination and find it hard to blend into their culture. Why? In comparison to America, where newcomers keep their differences, while at the same time having a strong sense of being American, in Britain the emphasis is put on diversity, denying the fact that they (Muslims) are also British.

If you ask me, these days it is hard to even trust your own children, let alone a complete stranger, especially one from a different culture with distinct values. For these reasons I to a certain extent justify Briton’s reaction towards Muslims. However, if these practices persist, the gap between people of different cultural backgrounds will get wider, leading to misunderstandings as well as ignorance.