Manufacturing Dissent

Did you know that there was a documentary that shows Michael Moore in a pretty bad light? My flat mate Oli just told me about “Manufacturing Dissent”, a documentary that aims to expose the allegedly misleading tactics of filmmaker Michael Moore. It is written, produced and directed by Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine who, in the first place, wanted to make a biography of Moore since they admired him a lot for what he had done for the documentary genre. But during the course of their research they realized that they didn’t agree with Moore’s tactics any longer and decided to turn the tide.

I haven't seen the film, but I did a little research to find out about what kind of discoveries Melnyk and Caine made.

I’m sure you all remember “Roger and Me”, in which Moore claims that he never got the opportunity to talk to Roger Smith, the chairman of General Motors. In fact, he got to talk to him twice, but never mentioned it in the film since this wouldn’t have suited Moore’s central premise of the film that corporate CEOs exploit lower class workers and refuse to answer questions or acknowledge any wrongdoing.

In “Bowling for Columbine” Moore goes door-to-door in Ontario to prove that Canadians leave their front doors unlocked. He wants to describe the safety Canadians feel in their homes because guns are more regulated in their country than in the US. However, due to Moore’s producers, only 40 % of the homes he visited had unlocked doors…

In “Manufacturing Dissent” Melnyk and Caine also blame Moore for having taken quotes from President Bush out of the context to suit his purposes in “Fahrenheit 9/11”.

Moore vehemently rejected all these allegations and claimed that if he had really landed an interview with Roger Smith that General Motors would almost certainly have publicized the event to discredit him. Melnyk and Caine maintained that they never got to talk to Moore about their discoveries and that Moore had previously remained quiet on the matter.

So it’s up to us what and whom we want to believe and what and whom not…

Why computers are NOT my friends (right now...)

Yes, dear Mr. Newman, at the moment I am at war with all computers in the world. But let me tell you my tale of woe.

After my very best electronic friend (my dear old Gericom laptop from Hofer) had unexpectedly deceased by simply crashing down while I was working on a very important assignment, I was completely devastated. I have to admit that, yes, it was rather old with its seven years, but it had always been working perfectly fine without causing me any trouble at all. We got along so well. I really loved it despite all my friends laughing at my not-hyper-modern laptop (they didn’t believe that it was actually still working). I never had any problems with it. It always did what I wanted it to do and despite its advanced age, it was still working rather fast. I loved it that much that I even entrusted it my most personal thoughts by writing my diary. Until…it just wouldn’t work anymore.

So I went to that particular computer store (trip number 1) in hope they might be able to fix it. My Dad told me that this was the place where my laptop had already been repaired once, so I was pretty confident that they would get it working again. No such luck: “There’s absolutely nothing we can do, sorry. There are no spare parts available and it wouldn't even be worth repairing”. Oh no, and what about the hard drive? I was starting to panic since there was soooo much important stuff on that computer that I hadn’t saved anywhere else, stupid me. “Don’t worry, the hard disk is still intact.” I sighed in relief…even the thought of having lost all my files made me shiver. I told that computer guy that I would come and get it since my uncle could do the job of restoring my files as well.

I went to computer store (trip number 2), picked up my laptop and delivered it at my uncle’s place. A couple of hours later my uncle called: “Well…I’ve got your computer, but where exactly is the hard disk gone?” Are you kidding me? Where is it supposed to be? Is it not inside the computer? What the…??

Trip number 3 to the computer store: “Is it possible, by any chance, that you still have my hard disk? It’s not in laptop, you know.” They were terribly sorry and explained that it was just a big misunderstanding since the guy who handed it back to me didn’t know that it wasn’t finished yet and blablabla…Anyway, my uncle told me it’d be better if I let that computer guy put my files onto an external hard disk since this would be a very useful thing to have. A bad mistake which I was soon to regret bitterly…
With the external hard disk in my bag I went back home to plug the beautiful little thing into my brand new laptop (which, by the way, took me quite some time to get used to with its new windows vista and I had lots of troubles installing certain programmes.). Anyway, I tried to open my folder but: “Access denied. You do not have the rights to open this folder.” Awesome!! I fiddled around with it for while, asked my flatmates for help, but it just wouldn't work.

What else could I do than go back to the store (trip number 4) and tell that bloody computer guy to get the hard disk working. “Oh, that’s really no big deal. Just a few clicks here and there and you can take it home with you.”
Went home, plugged it in, opened the folder - everything went fine until...I tried to open one of the files: “Access denied. You do not have the rights to open this file.” You can imagine that at this stage I was already getting pretty grumpy. I am by all means not a very patient person, so this was really driving me mad! It is the end of the semester, I have plenty and plenty to do and I really, REALLY do not have the time to concern myself with such unnecessary stuff.
After calming down I decided to call the computer guy. “Well that’s strange” he goes, “but don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. Just drop by and I’ll fix it!”

So I ‘dropped by’ once more (trip number 5) and left my external hard disk at the store since 'my' computer guy was busy elsewhere. The next day I got up as usual and turned on my new laptop. And now check this out: I couldn’t turn it on! I might sound like a stupid little something now, who doesn’t know anything about computers at all. But no, seriously, it didn’t work. Black. No signal. No lights. Nothing. With energy, without energy - with battery, without battery: whatever I did, I could not get the damn thing working. I felt like crying, believe me, I did. Desperately I called my Dad who told me he would bring the laptop back to Cosmos. Diagnosis: manufacturing error. They gave me a new one in the end, the same model, but thank God it’s still working (after spending another few hours setting it up and installing everything all over again...).
So what a about my external hard disk? The computer guy called me that same afternoon: “I just checked out your hard disk and actually, it’s working perfectly fine.” What?? He must be kidding me! That’s simply not possible! I tried it on my new laptop as well as on two of my flatmate’s computers. It did NOT work and this guy wants to explain that it’s working ‘perfectly fine’?? Right. He then told me to come by with my own laptop so that we could figure out what the problem was. I would come on Friday, I asked, if that suited him. “That’s fine, you can come any time. I don’t even have to be there, any one here can help you.”

Whether I wanted or not, I had to pay my dear computer friend another visit (trip number 6). A nice young lady welcomed me: “No, he isn’t here anymore” - “No, I have no idea what you are talking about” – “No, I can’t help you” – “We never have mechanics here Friday afternoons, didn’t you know that??” I think it’s needless to say that at this stage I felt like this:

If I didn’t know that, she asks me. I mean how should I?? If he says I can come any time, well then I assume I can come ANY time - including afternoons.

I was told to come back on Monday (trip number 7) which leaves the story to be continued…

Is gingerism as bad as racism?

Carrot-top, ginger-nut, Ronald McDonald, Queen Elisabeth…there are many names you can call a read-haired. But is calling redheaded people names really as serious as racism?
I just read an article by Finlo Rohrer in the online BBC News Magazine which discusses that topic. Let me first sum up the main points before putting in my two cents.

Especially in the UK, the phenomenon of bullying red-haired seems to be a big issue. Red-haired children face taunting and even grim persecution. While in other countries the teasing stops when they become adults, in Britain women get stereotyped and red-haired man take much of the worst abuse.

Photographer Charlotte Rushton claims that only two out of the 300 red-haired people she snapped for a book (called “Ginger Snaps”) haven’t been bullied of their hair. Even worse, they reported a serious anti-red hair hate crime in the UK: a 20-year-old got stabbed in the back in 2003.

Red-haired journalist Sharon Jaffa, suffering anti-red hair abuse herself, claims that “attacking someone on the basis of their hair color can be every bit as damaging as persecuting someone for their race or religion, and therefore, in some cases, needs to be taken just as seriously”.

Whereas in most countries red-headed women are considered fiery, alluring and glamorous, red is also the color of heat, danger and warnings. In ancient Egypt, readheads were sacrificed - in Europe they were associated with witches and vampires. Lilith, Adam’s lover, was a redhead (which indicates red hair was bad) and Shakespeare made all his most menacing characters wear red wigs.

In a comment below the article, I read that redheads are feared because they are believed in folklore to be the devil’s children and have red hair because they were conceived during their mother’s menstruation. A welsh proverb say “if he’s red-haired then he is of the devil”. So yesterday’s superstition has become today’s teasing. Nevertheless, sociologists claim that perpetrators could be habitual bullies, which means that if they are engaging in one kind of harassment they are engaging in others as well. They are simply looking for something to pick on. Bullies have a problem and need a victim.


To my mind, bullying red-haired is not much different than teasing people who are fat, wear glasses, have stupid names, a funny accent and so on. One of those commenting on the article said that “racism is something completely different, historically and socially” and I fully agree with this statement. Redheads have not suffered centuries of systematic abuse ranging from slavery to institutional racism. I mean of course it is wrong to judge and bully people because of certain features that distinguish them from others, but on the other hand, it often isn’t that serious and sometimes even ‘funny’. Just think about all the jokes about Burgenländer or Carinthians, and what about the “dumb blonde” jokes? Do these people seriously feel offended by such jokes? That would be too ridiculous if you asked me. There are jokes about all kinds of people and if you don’t like someone you’ll always find something to pick on. Especially children tend to mock others because of their appearance and only a few unfortunate adults don’t grow out of this habit.

International Adoption

There are a lot of interesting programmes to listen to on ‘Here on Earth’, so I thought why not telling you about another one. This time I chose a programme in which Jean Feraca discusses the issue of international adoption. Her guest is Dawn Davenport, the author of ‘The Complete Book of International Adoption’. Dawn is a mother of four children, one of whom she has adopted.

Many celebrities, such as Madonna or Angelina Jolie, are known for having adopted toddlers from countries like Vietnam, China or Russia in order to enable them to grow up in a safe environment and have a good life far away from famine, poverty or war. Nevertheless, International Adoption is a controversial topic, that has both supporters and opponents.

At the beginning of the programme, Jean Feraca refers to Madonna, who has just recently adopted a child – she called him David - from Malawi. This adoption was in the news for quite some times since many people were arguing whether it was done legally and whether it was really the child’s good fortune to be taken from its family and home land. But what other options did David have? His three older siblings and his mother had died, he was going to be raised in an orphanage and his father didn’t seem to take care of him. Dawn Davenport argues that now he has very functioning and loving parents who can offer him a decent life. She also mentions that through her adoption Madonna hasn’t only helped one single child but that she is also supporting African children through funds and has even set up an orphanage called ‘Raising Malawi’.

Next, Jean Feraca talks about an Ethiopian poet, Lemn Sissay, who was raised by a white family in the north of England. Even though emotionally he believed his foster parents to be his own, he still felt like he was growing up in an alien environment. Davenport explains that it is very important for adoptive parents to learn what it means to be Ethiopian, Chinese, or whatever and that they have to be aware of the fact that their family becomes a trans-racial family. The children, as well, have to learn what it means to be multicultural and also to be proud of that fact. These parents are not only adopting a child, but they are adopting a whole culture. Davenport also points out that when the kids, are small everyone knows who they belong to, but as soon as they leave home and go to college people will look at them and assume they are, for example, Chinese-American having Chinese parents. Thus they assume a certain knowledge of Chinese culture and it is important for these kids to have that knowledge.

Many opponents of international adoption claim that money is not everything and that you can’t buy love. They don’t believe that people are adopting children from Africa to give them a better life, but simply for themselves. They also maintain that parents should adopt children from their own country instead, since international adoption effects domestic adoption. Dawn Davenport explains that there are two types of domestic adoption, private and public adoption. The former allows birth mothers to select the new parents of their newborn themselves, while the latter is an adoption from the foster care system. The disadvantages here are that adoptive parents usually only get school age children and that they also have the risk that their child might be taken from them by a member of its extended family or birth-family. Davenport claims that it is much easier to get a newborn or toddler from overseas.

At the end of the program, the so called post-traumatic stress disorder is discussed, which is among only a few mental disorders that are triggered by a disturbing outside event. Adoptive children who have been abused in their early childhood tend to suffer from PTSD, consequently, it is necessary that parents are educated to deal with this disorder before the adoption takes place.

Life of a Modern Nomad

Our Final is only two weeks away and since there's going to be a listening comprehension on the exam I thought it might not be a bad idea to get some practice. I decided to listen to one of the programmes on Here on Earth, which was titled “Life of a Modern Nomad”.

Jean Feraca’s guest is Stephanie Elizondo Griest who is a world traveller, journalist, activist and author (her latest book is “100 Places Every Woman Should Go”). Stephanie describes herself as modern nomad who is constantly moving from one country to the other. What distinguishes her from a traveller though, is that she doesn’t travel for landscape, food or museums but for human interaction. Nomads travel out of necessity and are constantly searching for better hunting, planting and feeding grounds - Stephanie is likewise constantly searching for material for her writing and her art. She is a nomad out of choice, which also entails making a lot of sacrifices, even if it just means that she can’t be part of any club or, just to give an example, attend a dancing course. She also couldn’t live the way she does if she was in any committed relationship, had a child or a sick person to take care off.

Right now, Stephanie is staying at a writer’s retreat in Nebraska where she working on her new book. There are hundreds of such artist residences in the US and around the world, which are set up by wealthy people who are dedicating their life to art. Artists go to these retreats in order to get inspiration and some uninterrupted time to work. Most of these residences are free or only charge a small amount of money.

One of the best experiences Stephanie’s ever had, was the time she spend as a ‘trekker’ traveling across the United States, documenting history that is generally overlooked in classroom textbooks for a non-profit educational website called The Odyssey. Stephanie was part of a very diverse team, including, among others, an African American, Native American, Asian, Iranian and a Chicano (herself). It was their job to write about history of the perspective of the people they represented. What made it even more adventurous for them was that they only had 15 dollars a day at their disposal, so they mainly had to depend on the kindness of strangers. During that time, Stephanie learned that Americans are much more hospital than she had imagined, since she spent many great nights with people who offered to take her team in without even hesitating.

Stephanie also tells us about a website called “Let me stay for a day”. It’s set up by a guy who decided to travel around the world for two years without any money in his pocket. On his website he would write where he was going next and that he was looking for places to stay. People were even fighting to have him for a day since in exchange for their hospitality he would put a little story about them online.

During her life, Stephanie had the opportunity to spend some time with different groups of Mongolian nomads. 30% of all Mongolians are fully or semi nomadic, travelling by horseback from one place to the other. One important thing she learned from these nomads is to pack and live extremely lightly. But just like the Mongolian nomads, there are a few devotional and nostalgic items that she constantly carries with her no matter where she goes. These special items give her a little bit of grounding wherever she is. Mongolians see their entire homeland (Mongolia) as their home – Stephanie feels at home in the whole world. For her, ‘home’ is a deep little place inside of us.

US vs. Middle East

Today I would like to focus on the blog that I have been reading for quite some time now. It’s about the American girl, Ruth, who is living and studying in Syria. First she spent four months in Amman, Jordan before moving on to Aleppo, Syria. In both places she stayed with a native host family in order to get the full cultural experience. Her blog is awesome, I really do love it! She describes her experiences so accurately and she writes with so much devotion about her life in Syria that it really makes me want to go there myself. If you’re not interested in the Middle East it might not be the right blog for you, but to anyone else, and not only those studying Arabic, I can only recommend this blog.

Unlike other expats, Ruth writes in a very positive way about her new home and you can tell that she is really fond of Syria and especially the people living there who seem to filled with great hospitality and kindness. Of course she also points out what goes wrong in this country and that there are things she can’t get used to and things she can’t accept or put up with. But she is not like many other expats who are quite intolerant and criticise certain customs or habits only because they are ‘different’. Some expats compare the two countries and when they come across any differences they usually prefer or even only accept the way it is handled in their home country. I know of experience that it takes some time to tolerate certain cultural difference and not to consider them as better or worse but simply as different, and also to actually understand why they are different. But I have the feeling that some people never get this far…

Reading Ruth’s blog you can learn a LOT about Arabic culture, customs, traditions, people etc. If you want to get a taste of her blog and a little insight into Syrian culture check out these entries:

Welcome to Syria (Ruth gives tips and advice for anyone who wants to visit Syria)

Orientation (at the beginning of her stay, Ruth is told about culture shock, security and everyday living)

Bus (we are told how to behave on the bus)

About the boys…and more I suppose (Ruth describes what it’s like to be a foreigner in Jordan and how to deal with Arabic men)

(mis)perceptions (Ruth talks about American and Arabic views, misperceptions and prejudices)

At first glance (we hear about the habit of male Arabs holding hands)

More writing (Ruth lets us know what it’s like to get back home)

Ruth’s year has just come to end and she’s gone back to the States. I’m not sure whether she’ll continue her blog, but I do hope that she’s going to write something on culture shock or how she feels having just returned to a completely different world.

UK vs. US

This weekend I spent quite some time checking out various expat blogs, particularly looking for someone who has moved to an English-speaking country. Actually, there are not a lot of good blogs out there, but I found one that might be worth mentioning. It is called ‘An American woman in London’ and as you can tell from the title, the writer is an American woman who moved to London. She grew up in Southern California (I guess it’s L.A.) and got a job offer when she was 20 which made her move to England. The blogger, unfortunately she doesn’t reveal her name, and her husband (I suppose he is also American) have already been living in London for three years now.

Not all of her entries are that interesting to me (she’s very much into theater..) and she also doesn’t write very frequently, maybe two or three entries a month. But the reason why I still want to present her blog is that she’s got one category, namely US vs. UK, which I thought worth reading. In these entries she compares different aspects of British life with the American way of life. She also writes about the language and provides the reader with a glossary of ‘BritSpeak’. Here are some of the funniest or most interesting excerpts of this entry:

Brit to US:

Take Away = To Go

When you order your food, you'll be asked if you want "take away." Some London Starbucks baristas will ask if you want your coffee to go, but then the Starbucks chain prides itself on worldwide consistency. Don't even start to confuse your food server by asking for "carry out."

Fairy lights = Christmas lights

Fairy cakes = cupcakes

The British seem very fond of fairies with gossamer wings and flower wands. Whereas little American girls dress up as princesses (usually of the Disney variety), here fairy costumes seem more prevalent. Unfortunately, I can't see these names ever catching on in the US...

knackered = tired

minibreak = weekend holiday or long weekend

dangling bits = male "private parts"

bank holiday = national holiday

The British seem to have a lot of different terms for clothes and food. To name just a few:

pants = underwear (pants is also another way to say crappy - "It's pants.")
cossie (short for costume) = outfit
Vest = tank top
polo neck = turtleneck

salad (on a sandwich) = lettuce, tomato and cucumber

granary loaf = whole wheat bread

tuna mayonnaise = tuna salad

They also prefer the French words aubergine and courgette to eggplant and zucchini.

Another very interesting entry of hers was called ‘You know you’ve been out of the US too long when…’
In this entry she writes about her visit to US where she realized that she had become British in some ways. She points out the main cultural differences between US and UK. These are only a few of them:

You know you’ve been out of the States far too long when…

… you automatically eat with a fork in your left hand and a knife in your right, and you never put down either utensil.

… cold beer - that's just WRONG.

…you don't even realize you just asked "Where's the loo?" until your parents give you a strange look.

… you giggle at how cheap petrol- I mean, gas, is.

… you grumble at having to tip.

… you constantly come up short at the cash register, because you forget sales tax isn't already included in the price.

One of the main cultural differences she points out is that in Britain “you don’t speak unless spoken to” whereas in the States it’s perfectly fine to talk to strangers and even start a conversation with someone sitting next to you on the bus. The blogger mentions one particular incidence in the US: She was shopping at Macy’s when a random woman came up to her holding up a blouse and saying “This would be cute on you”. Never ever would a thing like that happen in Britain and I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t anywhere in Europe, let alone Austria.

Just another ordinary day at work

Today I had one of the most charming customers ever. Let me tell you about that nice old fellow: Right when he got in I knew that he was to be treated in a ‘special’ way. He didn’t greet nor did he ask if there was a table available for him. Instead, he just went straight to one of our biggest tables which we usually reserve for groups of five or six. He wasn't even sitting yet when he ordered some white wine. “Ok” I said and off I went to pass on the order to our barmaid. A second later when I walked past the man’s table he already grunted: “I ordered some wine!” – “Yes, I know” I replied (still smiling) “it’s on the way”. But he goes “So where is it?” At this stage I felt like becoming very rude, but then decided not to and calmed him down by repeating that his wine was just on the way.

I knew that this guy would cause some more trouble and I was quite right about that. And I really don’t know why, but I always tend to mess up things when I really shouldn’t. He ordered a small Wienerschnitzel. It was a rather busy day, so I forgot the ‘small’-part and simply typed Wienerschnitzel into the computer, which I started to regret as soon as I brought him his Schnitzel. “Is that a small one?” he snarled at me. Bummer! No, it’s normal size. So I just told him that “never mind, you’ll certainly pay for a small one”. As if he hadn’t understood me correctly he went on “I ordered a small one! Is that a small one? No? Well take this away and bring me a small one then!!” – “No, you’ll just have that one. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to eat the whole thing, ok? I’m very sorry, it was my mistake. But as I said, you’ll only pay for a small Wiener!” Believe me, that old man really gave me a hard time! He shut up eventually but not before asking me to bring him another plate so he could put half of the Schnitzel away. No, I’m not kidding…But hey, wouldn’t it be boring without customers like that? There are always new challenges waiting for me at work ;)

How honest are you really?

Are you one of those who think they are very honest and rarely lie to anyone? Well that’s what I also thought about myslef before taking Reader’s Digest online “honesty survey”. But as I learned after reading a related article by Nancy Kalish, the 2,624 people who took the survey thought the same way as I did.

The 13 questions of the survey ask whether you’ve ever…

1. Called in sick at work when not ill?

I’m pretty sure that, especially in Austria, this is a common thing to do. Tell me one person who hasn’t ever ‘pretended’ to be sick. It already starts at school where many kid are even encouraged by their mothers to stay home in some cases…
63 % of those taking the survey said they have lied in this respect and taken a sick day even though they were feeling perfectly fine. Some swore they only did it to take care of an ill child or loved one, but the majority thought it was kind of their right to take a day off from time to time. Interestingly, this practice costs corporations (in the US) an average of $ 645 per employee each year.

2. Taken office supplies from your company for personal use?

71 % of men and 61 % of women have already committed such a crime, but don’t really feel guilty about it since they don’t see it so much as stealing but as a way of getting even.

3. Taken anything valuable from your company for personal use?

Still, even 16 % of all participants confessed to taking something valuable from their employer, which causes an annual loss of $ 15 billion. A study in 2002 showed that retailers credited 48 % of losses to employee theft, and only 32 % to shoplifters.

4. Misstated facts on a résumé/job application?

Everyone of us wants to present him-/herself in the best possible way. To do so, we sometimes exaggerate a little when describing ourselves or talking about our skills, abilities or experience in various fields. We don’t really consider it as cheating since everyone seems to be doing it. Well that’s what I thought anyway…in fact, only 18 % lied on their résumé or job application. But then I think that Americans are more honest in general, they don’t like to cheat as much as we do. It would be interesting to have survey like that in Austria. I’m sure there would be some differences in the results of certain questions.

5. Shifted blame to a co-worker for something you did?

To my mind, that’s really not a very nice thing to do. But honestly, I’ve actually done it myself, even a couple of times…And still I’m not really a bad person since I’ve never blamed anything on a particular co-worker. As you might know I work in a restaurant and it’s a rather big one, so we have a lot of staff. I get along very well with all of them but one single head waitress who is constantly picking on the younger ones and complaining about stupid little mistakes. The easiest way to avoid unnecessary stress is to say “It wasn’t me”. Everyone says it and no one gets the blame. Interestingly enough, we only lie to her, not to any of the other waitresses…
The survey revealed that only 13 % of respondents have ever shifted blame to a co-worker for something they did.

6. Been undercharged/ received too much change from a cashier and not told him?

50 % confessed to being undercharged or receiving too much change without mentioning it. One said “If a store makes an error in undercharging me, I somehow feel that it’s because of their lack of efficiency – and I just caught a break.”

7. Downloaded music from an Internet site without paying for it?

I don’t know any person of ‘my generation’ who doesn’t own a burned CD or who hasn’t downloaded music illegally. 37 % % of respondents have already committed such a crime, many without second thought. Most people think that CDs are way too expensive and that it is much more convenient to just get their favourite songs from the Internet. The Recording Industry Association of America though, claims that CD shipments have dropped 15 % in four years, primarily due to online piracy.

8. "Cheated" on your tax return (not declared income or over-reported deductions)?

Only 17 % of the online survey-takers admitted to fudging a tax return. Most people dread tax audits and don’t want to risk anything.

9. Switched price tags to get a lower price for something you wanted to buy?

It surprised me that one in eight respondents have already swapped price tags to get a lower price. I would be way too cowardly to do a thing like that. Just imagining that there might be a hidden video camera in the store makes my stomach turn. For me, switching price tags is almost like stealing.

10. Lied to friends or family members about their appearance, to avoid hurting their feelings?

Most people say they would never ever lie to their friends and family. But then they don’t even realize how often they actually do so. When we lie to our loved ones, it’s often to protect feelings and the relationship. Sometimes you just really can’t be honest with someone, because if you were, that person might not like you anymore. Just imagine being asked “Does this outfit make me look fat?” 71 % admitted to being dishonest when being asked a question like that.

11. Knowing you had little chance of getting caught, driven more than 20 m.p.h. over the speed limit or gone through a red light?

71 % have no qualms when it comes to speeding or even running a red light. One of the people asked said “Speed limits are guidelines” - I'm sure he is not the only one who thinks like that.

12. Lied to your spouse or partner about the cost of a recent purchase?

That question I couldn’t answer since I haven’t been married yet or shared any money with my partner. I remember though, when I was a child I used to do a similar thing and lie to my Mum about certain purchases. I knew she would start complaining and say something like: “Don’t you waste your pocket money on such unnecessary and expensive things!!”
In order to keep the peace 32 % admitted to deceiving their partner about the price of a recent purchase.

13. Lied to your spouse or partner about your relationship with another person?

28 % believe that some things are better left unsaid. It’s important to stay honest, but sometimes there are things that you partner shouldn’t or might not even want to know about any past or present relationships…


Only 39 people out of the 2,624 who took the survey claimed they have never committed any of the 13 acts on the list (yeah, right…) and just one respondent said he had done them all. On average, people have committed 5 of these 13 ‘crimes’.

What is also interesting, is that men and women seem to be lying differently, which I read in another article by Cynthia Dermody.
Men start lying when it comes to taking office supplies, fudging tax returns and illegally downloading music, which is due to men being more risk-taking.
Women on the other hand, are more likely to be dishonest in their personal lives and relationships in order to avoid conflicts. They also lie more often to the boss about a sick day.

Bubba and the Gun

When I was skimming the newspaper this morning a tiny little article caught my eyes. It pictured a baby holding a FOID card. FOID card? Well that’s a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card and believe it or not but it was the baby’s very own FOID. Bubba Ludwig (his full name is Howard David Ludwig) is a 10-month-old baby from Chicago who can’t walk or talk but is already a fully paid-up member of America's firearms fraternity, with a 12-gauge Beretta shotgun and a gun permit to his name. Now you might be wondering how a baby could possibly be the owner of a shotgun plus gun permit. Well after he was given the weapon from his grandfather, Bubba’s father, also named Howard Ludwig, applied for a FOID by filling in the form saying he was 2 feet, 3 inches, 20 pounds and including a photo of his son. He never thought that he would actually get the permit and was only waiting to get a letter back telling him he was an idiot. Ludwig was rather shocked when he received the card, which, by the way, carries the baby’s signature (they put a pen in his hands, letting him ‘write’ a squiggle on the paper). In Illinois there are no age restrictions on applicants, although anyone under 21 has to get the written consent of a parent of legal guardian, according to the Illinois State Police website. Even so, why would you give a child a gun and what is even more absurd: a gun permit?? No wonder that this has even made headlines in US newspapers…

Bubba won’t get the gun until he is 14, at which point he’ll go trap hunting with his father.

If only...

Today I would like to write about something that’s been in the news for days and hitting the headlines all around Europe. I’m sure you’ve all read about the four-year-old British girl, Madeleine McCann, who was apparently abducted during a vacation in southern Portugal. Madeleine disappeared on Thursday, May 3, from a hotel in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve while her parents were having dinner in a nearby restaurant, regularly checking on her and their two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie. Robert Murat, a 33-year-old Briton (who describes himself as half-Portuguese) has been suspected of abducting Madeleine. He was questioned by the police and his villa, which is close to the hotel resort from which the girl has been taken, was searched, but no evidence could be found. Mr Murat has become well known to journalists during the search for Madeleine since he had been helping police with translation work during the investigation. Murat’s behaviour has been described as very strange and suspicious.

The reason why I’m writing about this, is that there is something that I just can’t understand and that really annoys me. For me it is unbelievable what a big deal they make out of this story. I mean yes, of course it is shocking that things like that happen and of course I do feel sorry for Madeleine’s family! But why do they draw so much attention to that particular case? The family’s lawyers have set up a “fighting fund” to which members of the public can donate to help in the search for Madeleine. Contributions to the fund total some 3.7 million Euros, including donations from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and other celebrities such as David Beckham. What a good deed, but to my mind this money could be used for much more important things. Thousands of African children could be helped with this vast amount of money, not only one single child whose parents are wealthy doctors anyway. I’m sure they wouldn’t have made such a fuss about the abduction if it had been a local child. In the UK, they are even passing text messages that urge mothers to pray (!) for Madeleine’s safe return to her family. Posters have been distributed and many have joined an e-mail campaign. It’s amazing what our (or rather the British) society is capable of achieving if they are moved by such a tragic incidence. If only they would act the same way when it comes to child poverty, famine or even environmental pollution…

A Good Year

Last night I felt like watching a movie, so I went to the video store to check out what’s new. I found a movie which I remembered was the film version of Peter Mayle’s bestseller ‘A Good Year’. So I thought I might as well watch it:

‘A Good Year’, directed by Ridley Scott, stares Russell Crowe in the role of Max Skinner, a British investment broker who is very successful in his job and believes he has all the things one needs to have a good life. He doesn’t do weekends and he doesn’t take holidays: Max Skinner makes money. His motto is: “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing!”
Everything begins to change though, when Max learns that his beloved Uncle Henry (Albert Finney) has died without a last will and testament. Being his closest blood relative, Max inherits his uncle’s chateau and vineyard in Provence, where he used to spend his summers as a child. Initially, Max is only interested in making money with it, but after some time he begins to recall the wonderful summers he spent with his eccentric Uncle Henry in Provence. There was a great bond between Max and his uncle, who shared all his wisdom and knowledge with him and taught him a lot about life.
Max is busy renovating the chateau and slowly becoming friends with Francis Duflot, who is still tending the vines after three decades, when California girl Christie turns up claiming to be an illegitimate daughter of the deceased uncle and therefore rightful owner of the chateau and vineyard. Max, suspecting her to be a fraud, invites her to stay in order to find out more about her.
There’s another woman though, Fanny Chenal (Marion Cotillard), to whom Max has become totally smitten. Reluctant at first, Fanny soon gives in and goes on a date with Max and surprise, surprise…they fall in love with each other. The end is quite obvious: Max turns into a warm-hearted man able to appreciate life in Provence and after having lost his job he decides to go back to France and reunite with Funny Chenal. He makes Christie the rightful owner of the vineyard and they all live happily together until the end of times…

I thought the ending of the film was obvious right from the beginning and the storyline was rather unrealistic. I just can’t imagine that someone like Max Skinner, who is so terribly in love with his job and only thinks about making money, would change his lifestyle completely and decide to move to Provence after having lived there for one (!) week. Then he has only one single date with this woman, Funny Chenal, and immediately realizes that she is his great love and that he wants to spend the rest of his life with that woman. I mean come on, it doesn’t work like that!!! But despite all these unrealistic facts, I still liked the movie. It makes you aware of the things that really matter in life and it also gives you a very good idea of what it’s like to live in Provence. I loved the whole setting of film and the scenery was just stunning. So especially for those reading ‘A year in Provence’ I would recommend this film - you’ve got to be into romantic movies though :-)

Interview with Lena, a girl from the States

This is Lena, a 17 year old exchange student from Oregon, USA. She’s already been living in Graz for nine months so she knows what it’s like to adapt to a new culture, family, school and environment. Even though she is not a real expat, she’s had similar experiences which she would like to share with us.


Why did you decide to come to Austria?

“The main reason was that last year in October a group of Austrians came to my city and my present host sister stayed with me and we became friends. And then I always knew I wanted to go on exchange and I was like ‘well, why not Austria?’ You know, I knew I wanted to go to a non-English speaking country.”

Did you know any German before you came?

“Very, very little. I studied for about a month before and just with a private tutor and only when I had time, which was not very often. And so not really, just a little and it was really hard for me not knowing any German at all.”

Was it hard for you to learn the language?

“Yeah, really hard. It’s still very difficult at times. And I still feel like it’s such a barrier that I can’t come across. But it gets better and better, it gets easier. But you really do have to speak it to improve.”

So you think the language was one of the main difficulties when you first came to Austria?

“Yeah, for example if I went to the bank or something, the people didn’t want to speak English sometimes or they were very unfriendly when I asked them to speak English and that was hard. And also with my host family, or at school it’s very hard. Especially at school, I think school is the worst. Most people are really afraid to speak English, because I’m a native speaker.”

Do you think that Austrians are generally unfriendly towards foreigners?

“In the beginning of my stay, yeah actually, I did get that impression. It was mostly older people though. It wasn’t that the kids were unfriendly to me but maybe they didn’t know I was foreign and maybe they didn’t pay attention or try to get to know me. But mostly yeah, I did get that impression. Maybe just because I’m American.”

Do you think there are a lot of Austrians who have prejudices towards Americans?

“Yeah, sometimes I think that. I really do like most people I met here, so it’s not like I’m trying to say they are all against Americans. But I think a lot of people are just against our government, they think our country is a little bit weird…and crazy. But I can understand it. And no one ever really told me they didn’t like me because I was American.”

What other difficulties did you come across at the beginning of your stay?

“I would say nothing really big. Like I said, the language was the hard thing. But just in cultural differences…you know, there’s this thing with turning off the lights and closing the doors. That was really hard to get used to, especially the doors, ‘cause we never close the doors at my house in the States. So that was a thing I always had to remember. It’s not like you have to do it, but it just seems like you should because they are all closed. You know what I mean, that was weird. I also really had to get used to the food actually. It’s not just the food, but they the was of having it The eating habits are a lot different to me. In America we usually have a big breakfast and we really like our breakfast food. Then we have just a light lunch, maybe a sandwich or something like this. And then for dinner it’s a big meal. Breakfast at my host family is kind of independent, so you just eat what you want. And lunch is a big meal, and that was really weird for me because I was eating so much for lunch, at midday. And I was just so stuffed after that. And then at night we always eat the same thing for dinner, every night. We always eat bread, dark bread. The bread is much different also than American bread. Bread here is not very soft, but I like it now. And then we have meat and cheese, every night we have this. The other thing that shocked me about the food was in school. During almost every break, we have five minute break after every hour, the people in my class eat something. Almost every break! It’s really amazing to me, because we never eat in school. I mean we do, but we have lunch at school. But maybe it’s because we don’t have a break every hour. But here people are eating all the time, like three sandwiches. That was like ‘wow, they are eating again and again’ …That was funny to me.”

Was it hard for you to make Austrian friends?

“In my class, actually, yes. It’s really hard. For so long I didn’t know how to speak with them and I think they felt the same to me.. In my class I still don’t have really good friends. I mean I’m friends with them but we don’t hang out very much or see each other in the weekends or something like that. And so, it was hard, but then I met a few people, the right people, and I made friends easily with them.”

How would you describe Austrians in general?

“If I look at my host family I would say they are much neater. Like the household is so much cleaner, but I think that’s a personal kind of thing. But in general, maybe they are more polite in a way. It’s not that Americans are impolite but for example when eating food, if you are American they might just grab from yours to try it, maybe even without asking. And here if you do that it’s really not okay. It’s like ‘Don’t do that!’. And a little I would say Austrians kind of stay in their social circle. It seems like they all make friends at a young age and then they stay friends forever. And they don’t really let other people in their group. And that’s strange to me because I think we Americans are really social. I have a lot of friends in the States, but here it’s like I’m only in one group. So that’s also different.“

Tell me a few things that you like about Austria.

“I like the humour actually, because it is much different than American humour and it’s funny to me. And I think Austrians really like to be together with other people. They like to see each other, to meet each other. A positive thing is also that I know that everyone is really helpful. Like whenever I say I’m doing something I don’t know it’s like ‘oh, do you need help, do you need help?’…so that’s nice. And I think they are…how do I say…interested, very interested actually. It’s like ‘What are you doing?’ If I tell somebody I play the guitar it’s always like ‘oh, tell me about this and this..’ So that’s cool, that’s really cool.”

And what are the aspects that you don’t like about Austria?

“I don’t like how they are pretty stereotypical, especially about America. But maybe that’s a cultural thing. I mean Americans might not be much different. I’m sure people in America also do that all the time.!

Have you been homesick so far?

“Yeah, but not a lot. But at times, when I’m alone, I just get lonely and I think ‘Awwwe, I want my Mum and Dad!!’ , but it’s not so bad that I’m like unhappy or wanna go home. And it’s never that long ever. It’s maybe just a spell I would say, for a while, and then it’s away. It’s not too bad. I think my Mum and Dad miss me more than I miss them.”

What do you miss most about America?

“Family, friends…mainly just the comfort of home. ‘Cause there are just so many things there that aren’t here. Even just sitting in my living room, in my house. That’s what I miss. Sometimes I miss the food, my father’s food. My father cooks a lot of international food, so that’s nice ‘cause we have Mexican food sometimes, or Italian food or Chinese food. I also miss my car, being able to drive. Here I’m always late for things and I just know that if I had my car everything would be okay. That’s another thing I had to adjust to: the transportation system. Because at home I live in a pretty small town so we don’t really have a transport system like a tram or anything like that. It’s just cars. I really had to get used to using that. I was afraid at first, ‘cause maybe I'd get lost, take the wrong tram. Now I feel like I can never be on time, cause I miss the bus and then I’m late, and then I’m late again…But it’s not so bad. But yeah, I really do miss my car and being able to drive wherever I want.”

What are you going to miss about Austria?

“Well, I really like the city actually. The way that it’s set up and the way things are here. I do like that. There’s kind of a freedom when you’re in the city. At home I don’t live in a big city, so living in a big city was really different for me, you know, it was like ‘yey, exciting’. Being able to just shop whenever I want was just wow, because in the States I live in the middle of nowhere. There are things here that I think are better than in America and there are things that I think aren’t better. Here, everyone usually takes their shoes off when they go to a house, and I think that’s a good thing. And in America some people just don’t think about it or don’t care. I don’t know, but that’s a stupid thing.”

What are the things that you are surely not going to miss?

“I won’t miss the school. I don’t like the school at all. To me it feels like it’s not fun. In my environment, at home, the school system is actually really fun. You know it’s kind of enthusiastic. I mean you still don’t wanna be there, but it’s not as serious as it is here. And people here they really study all the time. I feel like they don’t have time, they don’t have any fun during the week. It’s just the weekends they go ‘yeah, finally’. But during the week it’s like everybody is studying all the time. School at home, for me, is just fun. I just have fun there and laugh and here it seems like no one’s having fun and no one wants to be there. And teachers are just so serious.”

What about the relationship between teachers and students?

“Yeah, that’s also very, very different. Our teachers are kind of our friends, we can joke around with them. They like to laugh just as much as we do. Here I’ve never seen a teacher laugh, never. And teachers here, they just seem so unhappy. So yeah, the student-teacher relationship is really different.”

What have you learned during this year? What were your best experiences?

“I really learned a lot. I don’t know it’s just a lot of little things. And there were a lot of great experiences with my family, just sightseeing and stuff. And it was really funny when my brother came and I realized a lot when he came. ‘Cause he noticed things that I noticed at first, but I have just forgotten about them cause I just got used to them. He was like ‘Hey Lena, look at these toilets!’ Yeah, toilets here are different too. Oh, and the driving, the driving is also very different. The driving style is like crazy here. Everyone drives like they’re in a hurry and they just go so fast. I remember the first time I drove with my host sister. She came to pick me up from the train station. And I was like scared, actually frightened because I just wasn’t used to her style of driving. I was really nervous. But I thought maybe she’s just a new driver, you know, ‘cause she just got her licence and everything’s gonna be okay. But then, next time we went to the car, my host mum was driving and I was like ‘thank God’ but then she drove almost exactly the same way!! But I got used to it.
I also learned a lot about my own country during this year and how people see it and view it. And why they see it and view it that way. That actually really motivated me, because I was disappointed with my country and I was angry about some things. You know, when you’re there you don’t care or maybe you don’t notice it as much and you just don’t think about it. But here, I really, really learned a lot about that.
My host family really tried to make my experience good. I think we learned a lot from each other. And like I said my host sisters were really shy in the beginning, but now I think they are a little more opened-up and friendly, so that’s good!”

So you don’t regret having come to Austria?

“No, never! And I will come again. Everything is good. I’m glad that I’m here and I’m glad about everyone I met.”

A Year in Provence - Peter Mayle

Reading 'A Year in Provence' is a real pleasure after struggling through Jaywalking and mind you, I'm not even done with that book... 'A Year in Provence' is actually a book you can read comfortably lying in your bed or on the couch, without having a dictionary near by and without having to read certain paragraphs over again because you hadn't understood what was going on. I also like the way it is written, it's quite amusing to read and Mayle's descriptions make you almost feel as if you were in Provence yourself. The only thing that annoys me a little is how Peter Mayle is constantly referring to the beautiful country, the delicious food and how lovely and sweet eveything is. I just can't imagine that he and his wife haven't come across any major difficulties and that they have no big troubles adapting to a new country. Maybe that's because they had already been there several times before and they knew what to expect. But still I think that there is a huge difference between being on holiday and actually living in a foreign country. I also noticed that he doesn't write much about his wife. We don't really know how she feels about everything and how she's getting on. But then he doesn't write much about feelings in general but more about the food, the country and its people.

I wanted to know more about the author, so I did some research:

Peter Mayle (born June 14, 1939 in Brighton) spent 15 years in the advertising business, first as a copywriter and then as a reluctant executive, before leaving the business in 1975 to write educational books, including a series on sex education for children and young people. In 1987 he decided to quit his job and move to Provence where he started writing about his experiences as an expatriate and also about the country, its culture, cuisine and mentality. Mayle was very successfull with his books, which were tranlsated in over 20 languages. 'A Year in Provence' was published in 1989 and became an international bestseller. In 1997 he escaped to Long Island, USA, because in his books he had described the location of his French home so accurately that very soon he was invaded by intrusive tourists. A few years later though, he ruefully returned to his beloved France where he lives to this day.

His bestseller 'A Good Year' was filmed in 2006, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe.

Kiwis - part 2

Food - Eating habits

Oh yes, Kiwis do eat a lot. Especially a lot of junk food, that's for sure! Their national dish is fish 'n' chips: rather tasteless deep-fried lemonfish (a type of shark) with fries (Kiwis say chips). You'll get the whole thing wrapped up in several layers of newspaper which is usually drenched with grease, yummy...Okay, once in a while fish 'n' chips are quite nice, but certainly not every week! Unfortunately, in my host family every Thursday was fish 'n' chips - day. So you can imagine that I did put on some weight... ;) But it's not uncommon for Kiwis to have fish 'n' chips and other fast food like McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut more than once a week. As a result there are a lot of overweight poeple in NZ. Other than fast food, a typical meal consists of some kind of meat, potatoes (mashed, fried, cooked etc...) and pumpkin. It's pretty basic and they don't use a lot of spices (maybe that's why they put tomato sauce on everything...). The thing I missed most about Austria was definitely 'real' bread. In NZ you'll only get sandwich bread or something that might look like real bread (and might even be called 'Vienna loaf' - no, I'm not kidding) but is so squashy and soft that you can squeeze like chewing gum. Now you might think that they don't have any nice food at all over there, but that's of course not true. They have loads of yummy ice cream, cookies, pavlova (traditional NZ dessert), cakes and slices. And apart from all the nice sweet stuff you'll find a huge variety of different fruits and vegetables which look as if they were genetically manipulated but surely are not.

Like I said before, Kiwis love to eat. They even invented three addtional meal times so that they can 'officially' have some food. First they have normal breakfast, which consists of toast, cerials, weet-bix or porridge. A few hours later there's something called 'morning tea' which is usually some cookies, fruits or a small bag of chippies. Around 12 o'clock is lunch time: usually something like a sandwich. Then they have 'afternoon tea', which is about the same as morning tea, usually some cookies and a hot drink. At about six o'clock is 'tea time' - dinner. This is a decent hot meal, often followed by dessert. And since they have dinner so early, they become hungry again later in the evening. So what can we do? Let's have 'supper'!! Again you can have a little snack so you don't go to bed with a grumbling stomach.

Sports

As much as Kiwis love to eat they love sports. In NZ almost everyone is into sports and is part of one or the other team. Kiwis are very competitive, constantly taking part in all sorts of competitions. In NZ you can do any kind of sports, there's really nothing you can't do: Rugby, cricket, netball, water polo, rafting, kayaking, bungy jumping, caving and and and...

- That's a picture of the All Blacks, New Zealand's national rugby union team. If there's a big game on TV, you'll hardly find anyone not watching...It's even bigger than soccer in Austria. On this picture you can see the All Blacks doing the haka, a Maori dance that is perfomed before each international match. To get an idea of what it looks and sounds like check out my video bar!

Kiwis (no, not the fruit and not the animal) - part 1

Today I would like to talk about New Zealanders or rather Kiwis as they generally refer to themselves. At the age of sweet 16 I spent one year as an exchange student in New Zealand. Living with a Kiwi host family and going to the local school gave me a deep insight into their culture and I learned how to live and act like a real Kiwi. This post is not going to be about my ups and downs which I experienced Down Under, but rather about the cultural differences between Austria and NZ. Some of these difference you can see right when you get there - others you can't. You'll have to live there for quite some time and get to know the people in order to notice in what ways they behave differently and then the next step is to understand why they actually do it differently. I think this is going to be a loooooong entry, so I might divide up and make two or three parts. I could write pages and pages about this topic, but don't worry, I'll try to limit myself.. :)

Kiwis in general

On the very first day of my stay in NZ I already realized how unbelievably friendly and open Kiwis are. I was riding on the bus from the airport to my host family when a woman sat next to me and started talking to me. She asked me where I was from, what I was doing here and how much she had heard about Austria. Then she told me everything about the town I was travelling to. In the end she even gave me her number and address in case I wanted to come and visit her. Kiwis are generally very hospitable. It's not a big deal at all to just call in at somebody's place and stay for lunch or even the night. You'll always hear: "Just make yourself at home, will you".

Kiwis are very open, relaxed and easy-going people. Even so, I found it very hard to make real friends. I guess in this respect NZ is similar to the US. People are a bit superficial and it takes very long to make close friends. Especially at college (= high school) it's hard to become part of a group. They already have the cliques and don't need any more friends. So it's up to you to make the effort and try to make friends. The best thing to do is just go and talk to someone and when you hear about a party you'll have to invite yourself. That might sound rude to us, but in NZ it's not. It's the only way to get to know them a little better.

Housing

When it comes to housing you'll find huge differences between NZ and Austria. The first thing I noticed when I was looking out of the window during my busride were those weird looking houses. I didn't really believe that people were actually living in such 'houses' until I got to were I was to spend my next 12 months: a green, rectangular shoe box with sliding doors and windows and walls as thin as cardboard. Oh yes, I loved to hear my host brother snoring at night!! You could really compare their houses with camping trailers. Usually they don't have a second floor and pretty much always there's no central heating. Now you might think that NZ is a warm place where you don't need central heating, but believe me you do!! The climate on the South Island is about the same as in Austria and even though they don't have very cold winters on the North Island you'll often find it much colder inside than outside the house. So what you do when it's getting cold is to curl up by the fireplace in the living room with a couple of blankets and your sheep wool slippers. At night though, the tip of my nose would usually freeze as I slept right next to the window and sometimes I would even feel a chilly breeze blowing in from the closed (!) window. Some beds have electric blankets, but soon I discovered that there was not much use to it: If you forget to turn it off before you go to bed you'll wake in the middle of the night sweating heavily and if you don't, well then you'll wake early in the morning freezing to death. The mornings are actually the worst. Grudgingly you leave your warm bed (after you've heated it up again) and not later than when entering the bathroom you'll be frozen stiff. Kiwis just love to keep their windows open in any room at any time...

I have to mention though, that I can only speak of those living in the country. It might not be quite the same in the big cities such as Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.

Appearance

Kiwis love to complain about being cold, but it's really no wonder if you see how they dress. No matter which season they always wear shorts, sleeveless shirts and jandals (= sandals or flip flops). And don't be surprised when you see people walking barefoot in the middle of town (and even in the supermarkets) - they even drive their car barefoot. I haven't seen that in the cities though.

If you're in a hurry in the morning and don't have enough time to dry your hair, well no problem: In NZ it's not uncommon to leave the house with wet hair (even in winter of course).

What I thought was really interesting is how Kiwis dress when they go swimming. The common dress code for girls and boys are shorts that usually go way down to your knees. Girls wear their normal bathing suit underneath and boys like to keep their boxer shorts on. Sometimes, and his true, you would see people swimming with their t-shirts still on, even in an indoor swimming pool. Now don't ask me why they are so prude and dress like this. I've thought about it many times and I even asked some Kiwis about this matter, but somehow no one really knows the reason. Maybe it's simply because there are so many overweight girls who are ashamed of exposing their bodies. But it still doesn't explain why everyone is doing it.

expat-blog

In case you are looking for expat blogs: go to www.expat-blog.com.

It's a great web site that links you to various blogs written by expats from all over the world. It has a 'worldwide expatriate blog directory' where you'll find blogs from people living in all sorts of countries, including Haiti, Rwanda and Fiji. Almost every country is represented, so you can pick just whichever tickles your fancy. You'll also find blogs about people living in Austria (including Pam Mandel by the way). I've just started browsing through this web site and I can only say: there are lots and lots and lots of blogs to explore!!

ant invasion - episode 2

Some time ago I was making fun of Oli who was complaining about three ants in his room. Well...now it's me who's freaking out! Yesterday when I got home from work in the afternoon, I found our flat invaded by ants. No, not just a few of them, there were hundreds and hundreds of those little creatures. Their trail ran from Oli's room through our living room (even crawling on top of the couch) along the hallway right into kitchen. First thing I did was to scream out loud, which was kind of pointless since no one was home (I might have scared our neighbor though..). Why couldn't they at least spare the kitchen?? They were crawling up the refrigerator along the kitchen bench, up the toaster, into the coffee machine and down the sink...yeah, you got it: they were EVERYWHERE!! I even found some of them nibbling at my Milka chocolate bunny (I mean how dare they doing a thing like that??). I was only glad that they stayed away from my room...

My flatmates were all gone home over the weekend, so there I was, left alone with all these ants, having no one to support me in this miserable situation. Only solution: call Mum. She usually has an answer for every problem. "Go and buy some insecticide!" was her reply. Right, where would I get insecticide on a Sunday?? I was expecting some kind of 'home remedy' to deal with those ants, but no, the only thing that would help was poison. So I spend the rest of the day killing ants with the vacuum cleaner. It didn't make sense though, since more and more of them appeared every hour (and always finding new ways to enter our flat).

First thing I did this morning: I went to DM and bought not only one but three of those green little thingies that are supposed to kill my little friends and eradicate their nests. Now I might sound like a cold-blooded killer, but trust me, you would act the same way if you were in my shoes. It's not a nice thing to watch TV and have lunch with ants...

I haven't found at lot of dead ants yet, but since they don't visit us at night, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see whether it's true that "Vandal wirkt phänomenal"...

What is it that makes us happy?

I just read a very long but interesting article: The New Science of Happiness by Claudia Wallis. As you can guess from the title, it's all about happiness...

So what exactly is it that makes us happy? Is it money, good education, youth, marriage, sunny days, religion or rather friends and family? Have guess..
No, it's certainly not wealth that makes us happy. Research has shown that once your basic needs are met, additional income does little to raise your sense of satisfaction with life. Good education or a high IQ doesn't help you either and also youth doesn't bring happiness. A recent survey found that people ages 20-24 are sad for an average of 3.4 days a month, whereas people ages 65-74 are only sad for about 2.3 days a month, which shows that old people are much happier. It's also true that married people are generally happier than singles. (By the way, in a different article I read that married people have more sex than singles - and more orgasms. So that might also be a cause of happiness). What about sunny days? Sorry, the article claims that this is not a reason for happiness, although I don't really agree with that. Don't you have the feeling that people living in the warm sunny south are happier than those from the cold rainy north? I can only speak for myself, but I'm in a much better mood when the sun is shining and it's warm outside. Anyway, religious faith is said to lift the spirit, though you could argue whether it's the God part or the community aspect that makes us feel better. When you ask people what makes them happy, I'm sure most will answer with 'friends or family'. And really, studies found that people with strong ties to friends and family are less prone to depression.

The author also mentions a new tool for sizing up happiness, which has been presented only recently: the day-reconstruction method. Participants had to fill out a long diary and questionnaire each day, listing all the things they did, with whom they did it and how they felt doing it. 900 Texan women were tested in this research. Now have guess: What were the five most positive activities for these women? - It was sex, socializing, relaxing, praying or meditating and eating (in descending order). While exercising and watching TV was close behind, "taking care of my children", cooking and housework polled very badly. (And I always thought children are a mother's greatest joy...)

Now the big question: Is it possible to get happier? Scientists found out that 50% of our satisfaction with life comes from genetic programming. Even so, the article presents a few ways to improve your state of happiness:

The gratitude journal: Writing down things for which your are thankful once a week can significantly increase your overall satisfaction with life over a period of six weeks.

Gratitude exercise: Believe it or not, but exercise doesn't only improve physical health but also raises energy levels and, for patients with neuromuscular disease, relieves pain and fatigue.

Performing acts of altruism or kindness: Doing five kind acts a week, especially all in a single day ( like helping a friend or visiting a nursing home) makes you more satisfied with your life.

Making a gratitude visit: Writing a testimonial thanking to someone to whom you owe a debt of gratitude and then visiting that person to read him or her the letter of appreciation makes you measurably happier and less depressed a month later. But unfortunately your state of happiness will only last three months.

Three blessings: Each day write down a trio of things that went well and why. Three months later you'll be less depressed and happier.

So why doing all these acts of gratitude and kindness? - Volunteering and giving makes us feel good about ourselves and it gives us a sense of purpose. So maybe you would like to try one of these exercises and let me know whether they worked or not :-)

(annoying) Austrian customers

Last time I discussed foreign customers, this time it's going to be all about Austrian customers, especially the most annoying ones. There are actually quite a few different types of them, but what usually distinguishes the Austrians from Germans or other foreigners is that Austrians tend to be more unfriendly and they somehow haven't learned how to greet. Not all of them, that's for sure, but the majority of unfriendly customers is certainly Austrian. Now I'm not too sure why that is the case. Are people from other countries generally more friendly than Austrians? Maybe, but then I also thought that the reason why tourists are so friendly might also be the fact that they are simply tourists. And tourists are usually more relaxed and happy to be on holiday. I'm not too sure about this theory but there might be some truth to it. I guess most Austrians also behave differently when they are on holiday.

Anyway, let me start with my first group: elderly people. We are a good old Styrian restaurant, so we have a lot of elderly people coming, especially at the weekends. Sometimes they come on their own, sometimes it's wife and husband, or, which is also very common, it's two old ladies coming together.

First thing to remember when dealing with old people: speak slowly, clearly and loudly, AND: don't ask any unnecessary questions like "would you like the fried chicken with or without skin?" - it just confuses them. Sometimes you would have to read the menu to them and explain all the meals in detail.

Elderly people are either rather unfriendly, frustrated and complaining all the time, or they are just the opposite: extremely friendly and kind, giving you lots of tips. But the thing with the tips also depends on whether you know how to deal with the elderly or not. Sometimes you would have to listen to the stories about their grandchildren or to these tales that start with "when I was young..." and then there are those who keep rambling on about the war. You have to be careful though and try not to get near them all too often, because one or the other tends to talk for hours.

In order to keep old people content you mustn't forget to bring them all the extras they want: more lemon for the fried chicken, a spoon for almost any kind of meal, more napkins, hot water to warm up their drinks, more milk or sugar for the coffee and at the end don't forget the aluminum foil so that they can rap up what is left. Old people never return plates with leftovers. They either finish it all off, even the last little crumbs (and it often takes them ages to do so), or they take it home. Sometimes you would have to do them an extra favour like sending their meal back into the kitchen to get it pureed (well... I only had that once so far...). Elderly men love to 'flirt' with the waitresses or tell jokes, but unfortunately you don't always understand them. So what you have to do is just pretend you understood and smile or laugh, whatever you feel is appropriate...It usually works ;-)

Let's move on to my absolute specialty: the we-are-better-than-you people (also called 'upper class'). The problem that I occasionally have with these people is that they mistake our restaurant with something like a gourmet restaurant. They always want special extras like linen napkins, which we don't usually have, they are extremely picky about the food and they always find something to complain about ("could you turn off that light, it's so bright" , "could you close that door/window, there's such a draft in here" etc...). It wouldn't be such a big deal if they treated you right, but some really look down on you and treat you with contempt. They consider you the stupid little waitress who completely lacks of education and knowledge of any kind. I really hate that. Some even go so far as to say "Could you please send a waiter to take our orders?" - I might look young, but I still do exactly the same job as the others, and definitely not worse.

Then we have our regular customers - another interesting kind. I really don't know what it is, but you could describe most of them as weirdoes...They keep telling you jokes that are not funny, talk about the strangest things in the strangest ways and sometimes they even look and smell kind of 'special'. Some of them come almost every night and just have a couple of beers, others come every weekend, usually to have lunch. In the beginning it was quite hard for me to deal with these people, since they would get rather grumpy if I didn't bring them the right thing or if I didn't know which drink they usually have and in what kind of glass they always have it (why the hell do they need special glasses?). If I dared to ask which drink they wanted, they would frown at me and say: "I'll have what I always have!" By now I know exactly who gets what, when and in which glass...It's really funny: some don't even have the same drink every week, but also the same meal every single week and most importantly: sit at the same table every time they come. And if that particular one is already taken...well, then you'd better find something immediately to make good for having forgotten to reserve their table (and don't let that happen too often!!) Some of our regular customers are particularly choosey and only want to be served by one particular waiter - some even believe to get a 'special' price by certain waiters, which, of course, is only in their imagination.

A very stressful type are also the I-know-the-owner-of-this-restaurant people, because they really think to be kind of privileged. They always order something that is not on the menu. So when you tell them that "I'm very sorry, but we don't have that" they go "well, last time I had the same thing, why wouldn't it be possible this time? You know, I'm a friend of the owner..." Yeah right, our boss probably doesn't even know that person's full name...But what can I do? It's always going to be me who has the troubles: I have to ask the chef whether he can make an exception and cook something which is not on the menu (he usually gives an annoyed 'yes', but not without complaining about how busy they were in the kitchen) and then I have to ask one of the head waiters what to type into computer concerning the name and price of this special meal...

What also annoys me about Austrian customers is when they...

- are allergic against every single ingredients you could imagine (why go to a restaurant?)

- reserve a table for twelve but only four of them show up

- reserve a table and then only order a salad or soup

- don't read the menu but ask you about all the meals that are in there

- say they are ready to give their orders but when you get there they examine the

whole menu over again

- go straight to the non smoking area, but then complain about not being allowed to smoke...

I have to say though, that there are not only unfriendly, complicated and annoying customers. If it was so, I wouldn't be working as a waitress anymore and I actually really like my job. I come across so many different kinds of people from all walks of life and various countries, which makes me learn a lot about people in general and how to deal with them.

nationmaster.com

Go to www.nationmaster.com and check out thousands of facts about any country in the world, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. You can find out about their crime rates, economy, food, lifestyle etc. and also compare the various contries with each other. I spent quite some time at this website, so I would like provide you with some interesting information:

Which do yo think is the most generous country in the world?
The most generous countries are also the richest countries, thus Luxemburg is the number one ($ 496.59 per capita), followed by all the Scandinavian countries. Austria is number 11 ($83.12) and the US are number 20 with $23.12 per capita.

The most dangerous country to live in, when it comes to murders, is Colombia where 0.617 per 1,000 people die. It's followed by South Africa (0,496) and Jamaica (0,324). The US are number 24 (0,042). Unfortunately I couldn't find Austria in this ranking.

The country that attracts the most tourists is France (67,310,000). Next goes the United States with 47,752,000 and Spain with 43,252,000 tourist. At the bottom of the list you'll find Rwanda with only 1.000.

What about the students' attitude towards school?

In Belgium 42 % of all students dislike school. In the US it's 35 % (number 5) and in Austria 29% (number 9). The Scandinavian countries have the happiest students.

The corruptest country of all is supposed to be Chad (which gets only 1.7 out of 10 points). Highly clean of corruption are Iceland (9.7), Finland and New Zealand (both 9.6). Austria, you'll find on rank 10 (8.7) and the US on rank 17 (7.6).

Unfortunately it wasn't hard to guess that the country with the highest obesity rate is the United States with 30.6% of its population being overweight. But then you hear a lot of Britons accusing Americans of obesity, but when you have a look at those statistics you'll find the UK right on number 3 with 23 % (number 2 is Mexico).

What do you think, which is the happiest nation in the world?

It's Venezuela (55%), followed by Nigeria (45%) and Ireland (42%). The US are number 8 (with 39% happy people) and Austria is only number 18 (30%).

And where will you find the most people who are unhappy?

62% of the people in Bulgaria consider themselves as unhappy. You'll find most Slavic countries among the most unhappy nations in the world. Austrians love to complain a lot, but in the end only 9% are truely unhappy. In the US it's 8% of the population.

One more thing: where will you find the oldest brides?

In Sweden a woman's age at her first marriage is on average 30.4 years. Austria is number 12 with the bride's age being about 27.9 years and most American women marry at the age of 25.