My Weekend Routine

Hello guys :)

Due to the fact that I am currently studying in Graz and my family is living in Carinthia I have to commute for the weekends to Klagenfurt. Therefore my dad, who is working in Vienna during the week, picks me up with his car  and takes us to our hometown. Since my mother retired last year she stays in our hometown during the week and we get reunited as a family on the weekends. Funnily enough, we developed a kind of weekend routine. I don’t mean that every weekend is the same, but some things are never changing. First, when we arrive at our house on fridays, we put our luggage in the first floor and do the washing. Afterwards, at dinnertime, we are sitting together, talking about the last week happenings and enjoy our company. Fridays are very calm and normally nobody has any programme on that day. On saturdays we have long breakfasts and discuss our plans for the next two days. Usually we do the shopping around 3 pm. Thereafter my mother and I start to cook the meal. For my family it is very important to have the meals together. However, afterwards everybody is free and I can do whatever I want. If I don’t have to learn for university I am going out on saturday evenings to meet some friends. Sundays are our lazy days. We sleep long and on nearly every sunday we have a brunch. If there are some sporting events on television we will watch them. However, we like sporting events, we don’t like football. In particular we are only watching the skiing events and during summer the Formula One. While watching television we do the ironing. My mother once made the rule that the one who is ironing has the force about the remote control and the television programme. As a result my father started to iron his shirts and I started ironing as well. Well played mum. :) However, we don’t like ironing very much, but the fact that the ironing board is in the living room makes better. So it is still a communicative work. As we have finished to iron our laundry we might go for a walk. It really depends on the weather outside. Afterwards I am doing the rest of my homework. Sundays are smooth and relaxed days. In the evenings we tend to watch a movie together or play a family game.  Because of the fact that our weekends are so short, it is really important for us to spend our time together and share our quality time. In the early monday mornings at around 6 am my dad and I are commuting back to Graz and Vienna. To summarise, during the last years we developed a kind of weekend routine which is very important for our family-relationship.

Do you also have a weekend routine?

A Great Poem

Hello :)

Today I want to show you a great poem. It is about war and the ‘curiosity’ why people keep killing each other just because someone else said that they have to.

The Man He Killed

BY THOMAS HARDY

Thomas Hardy

"Had he and I but met

           By some old ancient inn,

We should have sat us down to wet

           Right many a nipperkin!

           "But ranged as infantry,

           And staring face to face,

I shot at him as he at me,

           And killed him in his place.

           "I shot him dead because —

           Because he was my foe,

Just so: my foe of course he was;

           That's clear enough; although

           "He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,

           Off-hand like — just as I —

Was out of work — had sold his traps —

           No other reason why.

           "Yes; quaint and curious war is!

           You shoot a fellow down

You'd treat if met where any bar is,

           Or help to half-a-crown."

This poem was written in 1902 by the English poet Thomas Hardy. In this poem Hardy talks about the stupidity of war. This poem is written in the view of a soldier who has killed an enemy on the battlefield. However, the soldier asks himself if there were other reasons for killing the man, than the fact that the foreign man was ‘only’ an enemy. And because of this line: I shot him dead because —Because he was my foe,Just so: my foe of course he was; That's clear enough; although - you can see that there are no other reasons for killing each other in the war. On the contrary, the soldier of the poem says, that if there was no war and that they may have met each other somewhere else, that they even could have helped each other. Not only I think that this poem is worth reading it, but also I think it is very important to understand it. Even though this poem was written more than hundred years from now,it sadly still suits the current situation on earth.

However, war is a stupid thing. And as Hardy wrote in his poem, it is also curious. Because why on earth keep people killing each other? Because they have their orders? Is it possible to FIGHT FOR PEACE? I do not think so, it does not even make any sense to me.

Available; what a funny word?!

Hey :)

Do you remember having problems about learning a special word? I am not talking about the translation of it, on the contrary, I mean to know the right spelling AND pronunciation of it. Was it maybe a word you have never heard before and suddenly it appeared in a text? How did you manage to learn it? Did you ignore it? Just overflew it? Or did you do some research about that word? Can you still remember the word and do you know how to use it right?

Due to the fact, that I am learning English as a foreign language I have come across many difficult words in the past. But there is one word I have learned, I will never forget in my life. It is: AVAILABLE :) I know, it is not a very interesting word and there might be more difficult ones out there, but the story of how I learned this word might be quite interesting for you.

In the year 2006 Viki (a classmate in grammar school) and I had to prepare a presentation about Empress Maria Theresa for our history class. Due to a lack of time management, Viki and I had to work on this speech in the night before the history class in which we should present it. We drank a lot of coffee and read through our documents.Even though we had to held the speech in English, at that time we first wrote the speech in German and translated it into English afterwards. I know that this was not a very good strategy, but we didn’t knew it better. However, I needed a translation for the German word ‘verfügbar’ and searched in an online dictionary for it. I found the translation ‘available’ but I was not satisfied. On the contrary, I had big troubles of pronouncing it right. I knew this was the right translation and all the other synonyms I have found were not close enough. So I asked Viki if she could help me with the pronunciation of ‘available’. Because of her funny tries we decided to search in the online dictionary for help. We found a dictionary which offered an audio file. We were both very excited about the true pronunciation of the word and pressed play. As the voice said this word, both, Viki and I started to laugh out loud. We didn’t expect the word to be so easy and because it was a very funny ‘dictionary-voice’ we clicked on the ‘play-button’ over and over again. I will never forget this voice and the way it pronounced ‘available’. Even though we just had fun with the pronunciation, I also remembered the right spelling of it. While listening to ‘available’ I divided it into two parts: into ‘avai’ and ‘lable’. I tried to say it a few times and then I tried it without reading. After a few minutes I remembered the word and the right spelling of it. All in all, I learned how easy it gets to remember an odd word when something funny or unexpected happens at the same time. However, when I come across the word ‘available’ nowadays, it still gives me the giggles. :)

Absolutely English! Language Learning Game

Hey guys :)

Today I want to talk about the family game: ‘Absolutely English’. This card game is made for learning and improving your English and offers you a lot of fun. :)

Because of the fact that I am learning English, I received this generous game as a gift from my boyfriend. At first I thought this game would be absolutely childish and awful because I always thought that learning games are boring. However, I gave it a try and now I think this game is very cool, makes a lot of fun and is for any age and any English level.

Absolutely English is an English language revision quiz. The object of the game is to collect all the cards which are set out on the Challenge card and then successfully answer a Grand Finale question (which is a very tough one). There are 5 categories of Question cards, each category has a different colour. The categories are ‘General Knowledge’, ‘Vocabulary’, ‘Phrases’, ‘Grammar’ and ‘This&That’. Each Question card has 5 levels of questions which start with the lowest level 1 (basic) until level 5 (advanced). At the beginning of the game everyone says on which level he/she wants to play. Then you start to dice with a special die. It has 5 different colours and a star. The colour the die lands on determines the category of the card you get. If the die lands on the star, you can choose whichever category you need or want to answer. If you have the right answer to your task you can keep the Question card. You should try and collect the categories you need for your Challenge card. If you have all your cards together, you reach the Grand Final. There, someone else is going to ask you any question form any category they want. If this question is answered right, you will win the game, hooray! However, it is not that easy at all. Not only there are tough questions which can include writing tasks, there are also Pot Luck Cards. These cards are the bearers of good or bad luck. When a Pot Luck Card is picked up the task which is on this card must be done. This could be singing some children’s song, doing some funny exercises or reading out tongue twisters 3 times without making a mistake. And because they are so funny, I am going to show you these tongue twisters:

Give yourself a try :)

A big bug bit the little beetle

but the little beetle bit

the big bug back.

She sells seashells on the seashore.

The shells she sells are seashells,

I’m sure.

Freshly-fried flying fish.

If two witches were watching two watches,

which witch would watch which watch?  (This is my favourite one)

Red lorry, yellow lorry.

Red lorry, yellow lorry.

Which one was your favourite? Did you have some problems with the pronunciation? Admittedly I have to say, that I am still having some problems with the ‘Red lorry’ and ‘Seashells’ tongue twister and that I have to practice a lot more to say them right. :)

Nevertheless tongue twisters are funny, but I am also going to show you some questions from  different categories so you can get the impression that there are also ‘serious’ tasks on this game.

Vocabulary: Which word is the right one, A or B?

                    You can (A) make/ (B) take the exam again if you fail.                               (b)

General Knowledge: In Scotland, barley is used for distilling whisky.

                                 (A) ture, (B) false       (a)

Phrases: Does Tuesday (A) suit/ (B) fit you?                                                                   (a)

Grammar: Correct the grammar mistake.

      You needn’t to speak English if you don’t want to.                      (You needn’t speak…)

This&That: I’d like to (A) immigrate / (B) emigrate to the USA                                          (b)

All in all, this game combines having fun and learning English in a great way. Because of the fact that so many topics are included in this card game, like: punctuation, reading, pronunciation, confusing words, translation exercises,general knowledge,etc…, it is obviously that  ‘Absolutely English’ is  a very great game which definitely can help you to improve your English in your leisure time with your family and friends.

The Best Chocolate Muffin Recipe on Earth :)

Hello :)

Normally I am not a very big fan of cooking or baking. However, last november was my mothers birthday and I wanted to make something special for her. After a while I decided to bake chocolate muffins, but unfortunately I didn’t have a good recipe. Therefore I was surfing  through the net and while searching for a doable recipe, I have found the most brilliant one on earth!!! I am talking about chocolate muffins with a liquid center. Furthermore this recipe has very easy instructions and it took me only half an hour for doing it. I have found this recipe on the German cooking website ‘Chefkoch.de’. At first I was a little bit sceptic because it looked too simple, but in the end I made the best chocolate muffins I have ever done before.

And NOW I am going to share this easy, great and  brilliant recipe with you.

Ingredients:

210 g Butter

210 g Chocolate (I prefer dark chocolate ;) )

7        Eggs

270 g Sugar

120 g Flour

40   g Cocoa Powder

Preparation:

Take butter and chocolate, melt them over a hot water bath.

Add eggs and sugar, whisk them up.

Now add flour and cocoa powder and mix it all together.

Heat the oven at 210°. Put the dough into greased muffin cups and bake them for 7 minutes.

Small hint: you should eat the muffins as long as they are warm, so you can enjoy the liquid center. If you like, you can add vanilla ice cream, fruits etc…

However, you can eat them cold too, they stay fluffy for about 2 days ;)

And now, it’s your turn ;)

The Three Common Questions About Sign Language

Hello guys, did you know that I am studying Austrian Sign Language?

In this post I am going to write about the three most common

questions hearing people might have about this very different but beautiful and exciting  language.

First and foremost, there is NOT ONLY ONE sign language in the whole world. However, some signs may be equal but officially every country has its own sign language with its dialects. For example I am studying at the University of Graz, for this reason we are learning Austrian Sign Language, called ÖGS, with a Styrian influence. Due to the fact, that the signs differ from state to state, it is not easy for beginners (like me) to understand i.e. a Viennese person who signs, even though it is ÖGS. However, after some practice, I am going to be able to understand the different dialects and styles. By the way, in Austria, the ÖGS is an official language since 2005!

Second, many deaf people (not all, but quite a few) do not understand the written language, on the contrary, due to a lack in the system of education in the past, many deaf people did not receive the education a hearing person could have enjoyed. This is the reason why people from the deaf community do not always have very good ‘reading-understanding’ skills.  For deaf people it is rather difficult to understand ‘our’ complicated words and officialese. You have to imagine that deaf people are most of the time thinking in pictures. They try to describe their world in images with the help of mimik and gesture. However, it is difficult to understand words like ‘legislation’ because (in the most cases) this word is not part of their everyday life. So if they read this word they may have some understanding problems. If you want to write a letter to a deaf person keep in mind to write it clear and not too complicated and stay available for any questions they may have :)

Third, yes there are grammar rules in sign language. There are sentence structures, with verbs, question words, rheme and theme structures, tenses, etc… But they have some rules the hearing world does not have. The mimik, for example, is so important for the grammatical sense in a sentence. Why? Well, the mimik is for the deaf the same important stylistic tool as the intonation is for the hearing people. This means, a sentence without the right mimik and gesture might be totally boring, or even incorrect. Furthermore, a three dimensional room is used as well as the correct body movement and eye-contact. In conclusion, the grammatical structures from sign language differ in many ways from my mother tongue German. However, these structures are essential for the production of correct sentence structures. Additionally, while communicating with a deaf person, you should not jew a chewing gum or smoke a cigarette. This actions make your shape formed by the mouth unclearly. In fact, the deaf person might not understand you, as it is not possible to read from your lips. So keep in mind to talk slowly and clearly.

Nevertheless sign language is different in so many ways, I am very proud to be a sign language learner. This language opened a new world for me. It showed me how I can produce new expressions only with my hands, body and face. For me, it is a new way of communication. The great  insights in the Deaf Culture are so interesting and impressive. This is the reason why I am going to share some videos with you. Maybe you can get some new impressions about this great culture and enjoy the videos.

The following videos are in American Sign Language:

This is a very nice poem :)

A young deaf girl, explaining what it's like to be a deaf person (poem)

Maybe you know the movie Frozen ;) This is the song 'Let It Go' performed by two girls, enjoy ;)

 

My Favourite Places and Sites in Southern England

Hey guys, as I told you in my previous blog entry , this entry is about my favourite places and sites I haven seen during my language trip in England.

First there is Durdle Doore which is the most picturesque  place I have ever seen. This breathtaking sight with its white, sharp cliffs covered with the velvetiness of the fresh green grassland on top of them, gave me the best view I have ever had on a coastline. While standing on top of the cliffs I could smell the salt of the rough sea and feel the keen wind on my cheeks. The sun fought its way through the clouded sky. I was totally entranced by the fascinating limestone arch with its great hole which gave me the impression of a gate to a new adventure. After savouring this amazing outlook, I went down to the beach on very small, slippery stairs which are made out of stone. It was an overwhelming scenery. Going through the sand, searching for some mussels I totally enjoyed the sound of the forceful waves combined with the infinite view at the English Channel. All in all, standing on the cliffs and enjoying this fantastic scenic place, Durdle Doore is the most beautiful sight I have ever been to.

Another mystical place was New Forest. This national park in southern England is the most beautiful forest I have ever seen. We drove through the landscape which had a lush green grassland with small violet flowers in between. The natural colours soothed my eyes and soul. Furthermore there were free living horses which followed our car at a full gallop. Then after a while, they fall back and we drove into the forest. The trees had big, lush green leaves and with every meter we drove deeper into the forest the light got fewer and fewer.. However, it was not a scary darkness, on the contrary, it was a peaceful aura. Sometimes, the sun sparkled through the leaves and the light spots fell onto the road like spots from a disco ball. We drove very slow and carefully because we wanted to enjoy this wonderful image. Suddenly a good dozen horses crossed our road directly in front of our car. Sharon could stop the vehicle, and with our mouths wide open, we watched the horses running from the right woods over the road, into the left woods. After two hours driving through this fairytale like forest and enjoying this marvelous place  we returned home. All in all, I think this was the most beautiful and magical forest I have ever seen.

Next there is Boscombe Pier. As I was walking down the promenade from Bournemouth to Boscombe I saw this impressive pier. Actually I wanted to see the landscape from a different perspective and this is the reason why I stepped on the wooden panels of the old pier. I was totally surprised that there was an exhibition directly on it and it was for free. It showed the history of Boscombe and the importance which the Pier had in history. Also there were some music exercises. I read carefully the instructions and then I started to  drum with my hands or drumsticks onto iron bars in a certain way. After a few minutes I got an old sailor anthem out of the iron bars. It made a lot of fun. After playing music I went to the end of the pier and felt the breeze. I watched wakeboarders nearly flying over the sea. It was amazing how high a wakeboarder could jump out of the water. In conclusion, I will never forget the following image of me standing at the pier, letting my hair blowing freely in the wind, listening to other peoples music exercises and watching this brave men on their wakeboards.

Finally I am going to write about the very pretty Bournemouth Lower Gardens in the center of Bournemouth. They are typically English, with a wonderful green lawn, many colourful flowers and little streams which divide the gardens into several parts. On some places there are lovely wooden bridges where you can cross the sides. The gardens are very lively, not only there are many parents with their children, but also many students and retired people. It is a great mixture of generations which makes the atmosphere really enjoyable. Everyday there was  live music at the Pinewalk bandstand with local bands. I lent a deck chair and enjoyed with many other people this unique event. All in all the Lower Gardens offer everything I need to feel comfortable and relaxed.