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.

customers from all over the world

Working as a waitress in a restaurant you learn a lot about the eating habits, table manners and also the character of people from all over the world. Today I would like to give you a general idea of how people from different nationalities behave in a restaurant. To do so, I will have to make some generalizations. So please don't get me wrong, I know that there are always exceptions and that you can't say that all the people from one country are the same. Still, I have made some observations over the past year, which I would like to share with you.

Let me start with my absolute (non-) favourites: the Italians. First of all: I love Italy and generally I have nothing against Italians. But...having them as customers in a restaurant is a different matter. The problem with the Italians is that we usuallly get them in huge groups, like 50 or even up to 100 of them. A couple of Italians, that's fine with me. Dozens of them - that can be a real pain!! Every other week we get in huge groups of Italian tourists, sometimes we get school classes (and believe me, dealing with twelve year olds is even worse). Italians aren't only the loudest of all but also the most annoying. There are usually two waiters responsible for a group of 50 people, and dealing with such a big group of Italians can really stress you out!! They constantly cry for "acqua, acqua" and "pane, pane", even when you are busy passing out dozens of hot dishes. They can't wait, if they want something they want it right on the spot. Once - I was busy carrying heavy stacks of dirty dishes - an old lady grabbed my arm tightly and yelled: "il bagno, il bagno??". One second later and two steps further toward the door another lady held on to me with exactly the same question...Yeah, I love them!! But don't think that the work is over once you got rid of them!! The Italians are the ones who leave the worst mess behind! I don't even think they have ever heard of the term 'table manners' before. When you come back to clean up, you could as well believe you are entering a battle field: bread, fries, napkins, tooth picks and cutlery cover the floor; table cloths are coloured with tomato sauce, wine stains and with whatever they had for dessert...it usually takes you twice as long to clean up the mess.

If they don't arrive in large hordes but in small numbers, as 'normal' customers, they can be quite acceptable. They tend to eat lots... I would have enough with what they have only for a starter. Usually it's Sauerkraut and sausages, Gulasch or Verhackertbrot. As a main dish they quite often go for the mixed grill and they pretty much always have bread with everything. Oh, and don't forget the espresso!

The Japanese are just about the opposite of the Italians. They are veeeeeery quiet, polite and friendly, and they keep smiling all the time. What a lovely people!!! And so easy to handle. They usually eat Gulasch or Bauernschmaus but don't eat more than half of the portion, cause they just can't fit it in. And they love black currant juice. There's only one strange thing about the Japanese. Whenever we have a group of about 20, the whole room fills with a 'special' smell. I really don't know what it is, and maybe I don't even want to know, but they do smell rather strange...

There's not really much I can tell you about the French. But one thing is true: communicating with French people is almost impossible. Most of them refuse to use any other language than their own and they just don't get that I don't understand them in their mother tongue. There's no point in telling them "I don't speak French". They just keep talking and talking...That's why I try to avoid taking their orders, cause I usually end up serving them things they didn't order :-)

I can't think of any other nation that is as friendly as the English. Almost every single sentence contains a "thank you", "oh, that's wonderful" or "how lovely". And they definitely know how to say hello and good bye (which is something the Austrians dread to do).

Then we have the Russians. Hmm...actually, sometimes they scare me a little. I don't really know why though, probably because they seem to be very serious people who don't laugh a lot And: usually they appear in groups of only men...But Russians are very generous customers, leaving lots of money. They spend quite a lot on alcohol, especially vodka and expensive wine. The other day we had some Russians who ordered two bottles of our finest wines, but only drank about a quarter of each. Me and my two workmates had a pretty good time after closing hour... good wine can't be wasted ;-)

Last but not least: the Germans. They still manage to crack me up by ordering "ne Apfelschorle" or even better "ne Weinschorle". And quite often you have to translate Erdäpfel, Topfenknödel and Eierschwammerl into 'proper German'. One more thing you have to know about Germans as a waitress: when they order water, they usually want sparkling water. So don't get them just tap water.

Generally, Germans are pretty friendly, unlike most of the Austrians. But that's a different story... Next time I'll write about the different types of Austrian customers. Some of them make me hit the roof...

the mother tongue

A few days ago I started reading 'The Mother Tongue - English and how it got that way' by our dear old friend Bill Bryson. I have to admit 'The Lost Continent' wasn't one of my favourite books but this one seems to be quite different. It has the perfect combination to keep me reading: it's both fun and interesting.

As the title indicates, the book is all about the English language: it's history, eccentricities and the sheer fun of this language. It's not only a very uselful and informative book but also a very entertaining one. Bryson also talks about language in general and compares English to many other languages in the world.

I'm only into chapter three, but I would like to share some interesting and amusing facts with you, which you might have not heard about before. So here we go:

• English has far more words in common use (200,000) than German (184,000) and French (only 100,000). So what sets English apart from other languages is the richness of its vocabulary.
• The Gaelic speakers of Scotland have a word for the itchiness that overcomes the upper lip just before taking a sip of whiskey (it's sgriob).
• The Arabs are said to have 6,000 words for camels and camel equipment.
• Try to pronouce this: "beaudhchais" (Gaelic for 'thank you'). - It's simply "bekkas".
• In Japanese, the word for foreigner means "stinking of foreign hair"
• What is a 'Mexican carwash'? - Leaving your car out in the rain.
• A Korean has to choose between one of siy verb suffixes to accord with the status of the person addressed.
• A Welsh speaker must choose between five ways of saying than: na, n', nag, nwy, or yn fwy.
• Irish Gaelic possesses no equivalent for yes and no.
• The Japanese do not distinguish between singular and plural.

David Duke - How could you possibly agree with this guy?

Have you ever heard of David Duke? Well I hadn't until Oli, my flatmate, told me about a couple of shocking CNN interviews on youtube where he claims that the US media is controlled by Zionists who are trying to manipulate Americans and that the US government is riddled with Jewish extremists. He actually denies, even if indirectly, that the Holocaust has ever happened and calls Wolf Blitzer an agent of Zionism working for AIPAC.

I wanted to write about this, because I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. There are actually thousands, if not millions of people who still believe that the Holocaust has never happened but that it was all made up by Jews. How can you possibly believe that? There are facts, numbers, contemporary witnesses etc..It's evident!!

David Duke is a former leader of the KKK who, 30 years later, was elected into the House of Representatives in Louisiana. He participated in the Holocaust conference which took place last year in December in Tehran, Iran. In his speech he claimed that the conference was dedicated to freedom of speech. He said that Europeans were suppressed and imprisoned for simply voicing their opinion. Anyone could freely question and deny Jesus Christ, but would be locked up if they were in doubt about a tiny part of the Holocaust. Duke argues that the only way to discuss what happened in the past is freedom of speech. On Duke's website you can read and listen to even more bullshit. In his welcome video he states that the Iraq war is not a war for Americans or American security but plainly a war for Israel. Let me quote David Duke: "If you are truly open-minded, if you are not afraid to go wherever the truth will lead you, if you like to think for yourself, you will love this website."

For me it's rather shocking how many people believe in what this guy says. If you read the comments about Duke on youtube you'll find hundreds of anti-semitists who argue with the most ridiculous and pathetic statements.

Ant invasions and other troubles

Oli, my flat mate, just came into my room: "Astrid, Astrid my room's invaded...by ants! How can I possibly get rid of them? They are crawling in from the window and now they are like everywhere!!" So I followed him into his room to check out the situation and help him fight the evil. But you know, as hard as I tried, I just couldn't make out any ants. "Right there at the window, can't you see?" After examining his window closely, I could find indeed a couple of ants, two or three at the most.. "There were loads of them, really!!" Yeah right...but I nodded and tried to take his problem seriously. I told him to get an anti-ants spray or suchlike and with that the problem was solved.

But we've already had to deal with worse problems than ants: A few weeks ago, it was Faschingsdienstag (is there a translation for that??), I was woken early in the morning by loud voices in the hallway . "What the hell's going on", I thought ,"can't they be quiet?!" I was really annoyed since I hadn't had much sleep but I got even more annoyed when someone knocked, no not knocked, hammered against my door. Martin barged in: "Astrid, get up we have a problem!!" Still half asleep I staggered into the hallway to see what kind of problem we had. And damn, we DID have a problem! The bathroom was flooded, the toilet was flooded and Martin and Oli were desperately trying to stopp the water from running into the hall by piling up towles at the doors. Martin explained: "I was having a shower when I suddenly noticed that instead of draining off, water was actually coming out of the sink. And there's also something wrong with the toilet...it's rather disgusting, and it smells... " More and more water kept coming out of the drain and we had no idea how to stop it.

So next thing we did was waking Anna: "Emergency!! Anna get up!" (she wasn't pleased either..) and then we went down to our landlady to ask for help. She told us to call a plumber and gave us a number. "Well, I'm sorry, we don't have enough men at the moment. It's gonna take about two hours till we get there.." was the plumber's response, but no way, I wasn't gonna put up with that!! "Listen, in an hour our entire flat will be flooded and that's gonna cost us a whole lot of money! Our floor, our furniture, everything will be ruined, so we need someone to get here right now!!"...ten minutes later they were here. We told them exactly what had happened and then they started dismounting the toilet and let me tell you something: Being a plumber must be the worst job ever!!!..I do not want to go into detail...

After about an hour everything was fixed. Well...not quite. The mess that was left behind was incredible. The whole bathroom and toilet was covered with a brownish, stinky liquid...DISGUSTING!!!!!! Martin, who actually caused the whole trouble, was off to work- so it was up to us to clean the whole mess... First thing we did was going to DM to buy plastic gloves, all sorts of cleaning products and most importantly: a huge bottle of disinfection spray!! I don't know how long it took us to clean everything up and I dearly hope our drain won't ever be clogged again...Seriousy, I hope none of you will ever experience a thing like that! Believe me, it's not how you want to be spending your Faschingsdienstag...