Mysteries Squared

Yuppie!
After some looong time of procrastination I finally started reading the other blogs. Honestly, I was torn between two of them and finally alea iacta est. Since I’m an avid but peculiar Australia fan (peculiar in the way that I don’t know much about it), I found a blog about a Canadian guy (Sean) living in Australia http://www.a-reminder.org/notes/. In this for me rather opaque entry he remarks on the Australian PM, John Howard and the shadow government.
To start with, we find out that Australia, one of the well-known and most exotic “islands” of the world, is nothing short of invisible in the North America media world, a tame affair. News about Australia seldom reach the other side of the world, Vancouver. Apropos news, when watching it on TV, the thing that astounds him (Sean) is the “incompetence” to understand it. This is an unadulterated testimony to the fact that knowing a language is just a drop in the ocean. Cultural background is what we need! General knowledge is what we should long for!

Now to the political part or better to say to John Howard, the ostensibly disreputable PM. Sean’s opinion of the Pm is no that positive. I’ll now sidestep this unsettling issue since I might be in jeopardy of misinterpreting his standpoint. You rally have to read his entry yourself, http://www.a-reminder.org/notes/?p=7. However, what I’ll do is to find something about the Australian political system to at least have a clue about it. Politic is not my thing, though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Australia
Having read two or three more entries of him (I’ll report about it some other time), I am of the opinion that they are a real page-turner or should I say mouse-clicker!? I am glad that I have finally found something attention-grabbing and I’m really looking forward to reading it.
VOCAB:
spine-tingling bore
sth is afoot
alcohol-invigorated men

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 :).

Ireland from a Polish perspective

First of all, I have to stress that this Polish guy is nothing short of fabulous. He has an eagle eye for remarkable details about Irish culture, and although not being word-perfect in English, he manages to convey the message confidently.
I the following two entries: http://www.drakkart.com/eire2/2006/05/30/leaving-poland/ and http://www.drakkart.com/eire2/2006/05/28/irish-dream-my-way-to-ireland/, we find something about the time he was about to leave Poland. He is just one of the flocks of birds, who got enticed into exploring the emerald green island and its mysterious charm. Why did the Polish people spread their wings after all?

We find out that Poland has for long been “inflicted” by the Celtic Ireland, which has significantly modified the customary polish way of life. As swift rise in Irish music, Irish films… Speedy growing pubs cropped up on every corner seducing the Polish into indulging in the Irish beer. The aforementioned was for long the only way to derive pleasure from the Irish culture, for until becoming an EU-member, the opportunity to visit or work in Ireland was as rare a chance as water in a desert.

Since the labor market opened for the Polish, Ireland has been “inexorably” thronged with them, and at the present Polish community is the biggest minority. Alongside the peaceful invasion, Polish culture has begun to exert a slight influence on the Irish way of life in very many ways. These changes in the culture are, I hold, often hidden from its very own participants.

Another peculiar thing we find out according to him is that Irish people, alas, seldom answer an e-mail. He must have gotten crazy, for not knowing what to do exactly or what is at he root of the suddenly- ended connection.

I’m going back to Seattle!

http://www.nerdseyeview.com/blog/?p=160
February 23, 2005

In this entry Pam Mandel reports about her seasonal return to Seattle she is gong to take up on March 1, 2005. Having been working a lot the preceding days and weeks, she considers her return more or lass as a holiday, a weekend off. Even if it is for a month (if I am not mistaken), and eve if it is a place she is/should be used to, she has to physically and mentally prepare for it. Why is this so? It is due to the discrepancies between Austria and US. She compares them in terms of bread, yogurt, smoking, cars …

Yogurt in Seattle is to fat. A decent loaf of bread can in Austria be purchased for a song, whereas in US for the same expanses one would go hungry. If I compare Austria and Croatia, the prices of a loaf of bread in Austria are extortionate. A loaf of white bread costs in Croatia not even a Euro, and the price of other types of bread is up to E1.5.
Yogurt in Seattle is to fat.

Concerning smoking, she is looking forward to the day when no-smoking sections are going to be put into practice, since she loads to feel like a walking cigarette whenever she gets out of a pub, pizzeria or whatsoever. I personally don’t smoke and don’t mind if one smokes next - we live in a democratic world after all. However, there are people who cannot stand when one smokes next to them, which is why I am a proponent of the banning thing in public places.

Next thing she hates about Austria, in particular about Aigen, are the “far-flung” grocery stores. The one within a walking distance does not live up to her expectations. I hold that this is the charm of small towns. Either you want to live in a bustling, dreary city, or embrace such towns with their merits and demerits, allurements and “repulsions”.

There is a thing that Pam Mandel and I have in common. We both miss our friends at home. Nevertheless, these days it is actually impossible not to stay in contact with your friends due to the ubiquitous spread of mobile phones and internet. Another thing is that you are never alone. Even in a foreign country you can make friends, although it is sometimes pretty tough. All you have to do is try hard and be determined. Te opposite of the aforementioned reminds me of my boyfriend, pardon, of my ex boyfriend. He was always grumbling that we have no friends to go out with. It is patently obvious that you won’t find friends staying at home most of the weekends and glued to the TV.

INTERESTING VOCAB:

dawdle: a) be bored
b) hang around
c) work hard
confinement: a) satisfaction
b) mood
c) imprisonment

Snowshoeing perhaps?

Nerd’s eye view
http://www.nerdseyeview.com/blog/?p=127

Finally, here I am reporting about the blog I’m reading. It is not that I haven’t read some entries written by Pam Mandel yet. I did, but it sounded somehow off-putting to me, which is why I couldn’t sit down and report about it. Since I’m a bit bored now, I thought it is high time I did something useful. How about spending a day in the alm? Snowshoeing perhaps?
Do you know that Austrians are zealous hikers? And do you know that Austrians have no preference for snowshoeing? First of all, what is snowshoeing? I don’t know either! So let us have a look at our beloved http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowshoe.

Just don’t ask me if I am a hiker, snowshuer, skier or whatsoever. Unfortunately, I’m not. For this reasons I haven’t been aware that there are different routs to hike an alm. How should I know it? I have just once in my life “climbed” a mini mountain in Croatia and this was some long long time ago. I’m not that old, though. However, I am not a skier either, which is why I don’t know what a XC skier is. When I was a child I tried it hear to become acquainted with the skiing paraphernalia, as did I try hard to become friends with the skis. Unfortunately, despite my strenuous efforts, they (the skis) didn’t want my company. They rebelled against me whenever I wanted to ski in a particular direction. That was cheeky of them!

Honestly, I have to admit that I quite like Austrians for their sporty disposition. As far as I’ve noticed, there is always a sporty soul on the streets jogging or riding a bike, which is, in comparison to where I come from, an infrequent occurrence.

VOCAB
high altitude - We are flying at an altitude of 6 000 metres.
a finger-numbing minus 15 degrees - numbing cold / fear • Watching television had a numbing effect on his mind.
balmy minus 4 degrees - warm and pleasant: a balmy summer evening

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!