YOUPOST 4, WS13, SUK1, Group5, Melissa

Welcome to Tralee

Tralee is the county town of Count Kerry in the southwest of Ireland and I was so impressed by the town when reading about it, that I have decided to make a holiday there.

The first and most important question is- How do you get to Tralee? 

Well, I would fly to Dublin Airport first and than take the train to Tralee. A flight from Graz to Dublin and back is about 263.51 Euros per flight if you fly with Lufthansa and I think that`s a real bargain. The train from Dublin to Tralee is about 39 euros and will take you 4 hours. 

Where to stay in Tralee? 

As we are students and need cheap accomodation, I`d suggest staying in a B&B. After looking through several B&Bs in the internet, I decided that The Sheridan Lodge B&B is the best, as it is just 250 Euros for one week and you`ll have a beautiful view of the Dingle Mountains when looking out of your windown. It also offers free wifi, a slap-up breakfast and it`s just 5 minutes from the B&B to the town of Tralee. 

What to do in Tralee?

If you are in Tralee in August you should definitely visit the Rose of Tale, which is an international festival celebrated among Irish communities all over the world. In this festival a young woman is chosen to be crowned the Rose. The winning Rose is the woman considered to be the best match. The winning woman has to be beautiful, in possesion of a good personality and be a role model. The fesitval is celebrated for the Irish heritage of modern young Irish women. 

Tralle has it all: mountains, woodland, lakes and rivers, so everyone will enjoy it. As I love being outside, I have decided to visit the Ballyseedy Wood, as it is just stunning and you can run, cycle or juast take a walk (and it is for free :)). After strolling you might also relax with a cup of tea in the Ballyseedy Home&Garden. Another place that is for sure worth a visit is The Town Park, especially in summer when the whole flowers are blooming. If you are interested in Irish culture visite Original Kerry. They promote a network of fine craft makers in County Kerry. The best thing about it is that you can participate in workshops making fine craft. Don`t miss it! 

Well, as I love pubs and partying I have also informed myself about the pubs in Tralee and found two you should not miss: Jess McCarthy`s and An Teach Beag. 

An Teach Beag has reasonable prices and live music 7 nights a week from 9.30 pm. Jess McCarthy`s isn´t that cheap, but has really nice owners and you feel relaxed immediately. 

After drinking comes eating :). But where to go? I can turely recommend going to Rays Loaded Lunches, as you`ll be served Irish and home-cooked food. The meals are really delicious and you`ll for sure leave it with a full belly. 

If you have the feeling that you have enough of Tralee, why not visit Killarney? It is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Ireland. Especially the Lake of Killarney is worth a visit. 

Well, I hope you like your holiday in Tralee. I hope the hotel and the flight are in our budget, how much you spend on the rest in Tralle is up to you. Enjoy it! 

Sense and Sensibility

As I am a real bookworm and a real Jane Austen addict I decided to tell you a bit about my favourite novel from Miss Austen, "Sense and Sensibility", which is her fist novel and was published in 1810.

The titel of the story refers to the characters of the two sisters Elinor Dashwood, who is quite severe and cool (Sense) and her sister Marianne, who is full of passion (Sensibility). The story begins in the year 1792 when Mr Henry Dashwood, father of Elioner and Marianne, their younger sister Magreth and their half-brother John Dashwood, dies and their fortune is suddenly reduced to 500 pounds, since John Dashwood, persuaded by his spiteful wife Fanny, will not give them more. They now have to live in a small cottage, which is provided by their cousin Sir John Middelton, and reduce their living standard rapidly.

One day, Mr John Dashwood invites his stepmother and her three daughters to Norland. Fanny suddenly realises that her brother Edward Ferrars is slowly falling in love with Elinor Dashwood. This makes her furious, so the Dashwood ladies have to leave Norland although they soon find new friends, like the retired officer Colonel Brandon, who is exactly what a man ought to be. For Marianne, however, her new home Barton Park does not seem that bad, since she soon gets acquainted to the handsome John Willoughby, as he saves her when she is running down the hill in the rain and twists her ankle. Marianne is in love with him form the first moment on, when he suddenly has to go to London and leaves Marianne at home, lovesick. Only little later relatives from Mrs Jennings, Anne and Lucy Steele, come to visit Barton Park, when Elinor finds out that Lucy Steele is secretly engaged to her beloved Edward Ferrars, but his mother does not allow the marriage, so they have to wait unitl he finally earns enough money to support a family. Elinor is deeply shocked when she hears it, since she thought that Mr Ferrars was in love with her.

In the second volume, Elinor and Marianne travel to London, accompanied by Mrs Jennings. Shortly after their arrival Colonel brandon infroms them that whole London is talking about the engagement of Marianne and Willoughby, although it is not true. When Marianne finally meets Willoughby again at a ball, he seems to ignore her. She is deeply hurt, and these feelings increase when she little later finds out that Willoughby is engaged to the rich heiress Miss Grey.

In volume three they visit some relatives in Cleveland, when the sad Marianne catches a cold and falls deadly sick. When he hears it, Willoughby rapidly visits her to apologise and Marianne finally realises that she could never have been happy with him. Shortly afterwards Mrs Dashwood and Colonel Brandon arrive in Cleveland and are relieved to find Mariann in a state of improving health.

At home in Barton Park, a servant tells the Dashwoods the latest news: Mr Ferrars and Lucy Steel are engaged. As Marianne is quite prepared for this informations it shocks her even more to find out that Lucy is apparently engaged with Robert Ferrars, Edward`s younger brother, since he has more money and Lucy is obssesed with money.

For Edward this is quite a relief, since he is finally free to make a proposal to his most beloved Elinor and as this happy end is not happy enough, Marianne shorty afterwards gets engaged with Colonel Brandon, who is, not like Willoughby, a gentleman for real. The couples stay together at Delaford happily ever after.

Well, "Sense and Sensibility" is my favourite novel, because it makes it so easy to identify with Elinor and Marianne and because it shows how complex human relationships are. It is also great that Elinor refelcts those of us who think to much about everything and always hide their feelings, while Marianne reflects those who are too impulsive and act without thinking at all. In the end, both of them, however, learn from their mistakes and hopefully die happily.

Working as a volunteer

This year in November I decided to work as a volunteer and without thinking about it very much I visited the Vinzidorf in Graz. This a place in Graz where homeless men find a shelter and a place to live. There they can sleep, eat and live in old containers. Living in a container might sound a bit strange to us, for them it is a home.

Vinzidorf was founded in 1993 by Wolfgang Pucher and is part of the VinziWerke. Apart form the Vinzidorf there are many other organizations such as the VinziNest, VinziBus, VinziLife and so on. This organziations are part of the Vinzenz community that has it`s headquaters in Paris. Their main aim is, in general, to help those who need help, especially people living under unbearable conditions and not having what makes life worth living, such a home, enough food or clothes. The organziation gets money mainly from donation. 

As I have already said, I decided to spend my Saturdays in Vinzidorf. It offers about 32 containers where men can sleep and make themselves a home. Not only do they get a place to sleep, but also food and a shower. In each container you can find a bed, a cupboard and radiator. Some decorate their walls, have plants, flowers and curtains, while others like it more simple, but if you ask them they would tell you it is not a container bur their home.

You may ask youself now: What is she doing there? Well, I suppose the most significant thing you have to learn when working there is listening. Each man has his own story of life, his one fate and his own background and it is important that those stories are told. Every man has his reason for living there and each story touches me in it`s own way. Another thing they really love is playing cards and this was a real problem for me as I did not know most card games at the beginnig. :) They are also really keen on their pets ( 3 cats and 1 rabbit) and caringly look after them.

I am looking forward to each Saturday morning that I can spend there. When I arrive in the morning and everyone is greeting me warmly I know it is going to be a good day. Whenever I leave I feel like they taught me another lesson for my life, as they know what life is about for real. For me they are not men living in Vinzidorf, they are friends. 

http://www.kleinezeitung.at/allgemein/video/multimedia.do?action=showEntry_VideoDetail&project=462&id=368467

YOUPOST 3, SUK1, Group 5, Melissa

The City of Cambridge

In summer 2012, when I was 16 years old, my class and I went to the stunning City of Cambridge in England. 

I have always been addicted to British culture and lifestyle and this is why this trip was that special for me. My best friend Melanie and I stayed with a host family and I really think that it is better than staying in a hotel as you really get to know the daily life of British people. Our host mum, whose name was Mrs Maynard, was a really warm-hearted person and we felt pretty comfortable staying at her house. 

Apart from going to school in Cambridge, which was admittedly quite a dull sometimes, we had an amazing time in Cambridge. 

Cambridge is a university town and lies on the river Cam(the name might predict that:)), so thing every person should do when in Cambridge is punting on the River Cam. It`s that much fun and you have time to enjoy the beautiful sights along the river when you are in the boat. Cambridge is quite an ancient city and therefore it has a number of churches too. Visiting churches? Well, I know that sounds a bit boring, but actually the churches are really impressive. One church I can turely recommend visiting is the Great St.Mary`s Church, which is known to be the "University Church" and marks the centre of Cambridge. 

If you want hit off the beaten track you can take the train to Ely Cathedral. This cathedral is giant and the movie "The King`s Speech" takes place there, so even have the possibility to sit in Collin Firth`s throne. 

Cambridge is, as I´ve already mentioned, a university town, so one thing you should not miss are the numerous universities :). We have been to Peterhouse, for instance, as this was the first college to be founded in the University of Cambridge and it is worth a visit. You will realise that universities in Cambridge are quite different from those in Austria, as everything looks that perfect that it feels like the universities and their surroundings are painted. 

If you fancy British culture, don`t miss the Orchard Tea Garden! A nice trekking route gives you the opportunity to admire the landscape in Cambridge and then have a cup of tea, relax among the apple trees in a deck chair and simply enjoy yourself in the Orchard Tea Garden.

Cambridge is a city that reflects British culture at it`s best, steeps in history and is simply charming. This is why I think that everyone should visit this incredible city once in his/her life. You won`t regret. 

Birth Tourism

"Birth Tourism" is an expression that might sound quite odd when you first hear it, but it has become a trend in the past year. 

"Birth Tourism" it travel to another country, to get your baby there (weird!). 

Usually people go to the United States as the 14th Amendment says: "Every person born in the US is a full citizen of the US." The USA is one of the few countries in the world where being born there means that you are automatically a citizen- and mothers want to secure an American passport for their children.

"Birth Tourism" has become popular especially among women in Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. 

It sounds a bit odd-going to another country to give birth to your baby, but mothers believe that their childern have a special adavantage by having a double citizenship or, if from China, mothers try to avoid the strict one-child-only policy by going to the US,getting their baby there and buy thousands and thousands of dollars for the journey and the stay. At least 10000 Chinese babies are born in the USA each year. These children can enjoy the educational system in the USA and later on the universties and many other privileges.

In California also so called "baby care centres" exits. They are mostly Chinese-owned and offer expectant mothers a place to give birth to their babies for a fee of $14,750, which includes shopping and sightseeing trips(isn`t that nice?). Turkish women which have gone to the US in order to give birth to their children even report that a company in Austin (Texas) offered them a special package holiday to get their baby in the USA.

The Tucson Medical Center (TMC) in Arizona offers a "birth package" to expectant mothers, and actively recruits in Mexico. Pregnant women simply have to arrive there a few weeks before the child`s birth. The cost ranges from $2,300 to $4,600, and includes a hospital stay and a massage and other special services.
The Nigerian media is also focused on birth tourism in the United States and has recently published an article which is called "American Agitations Threaten a Nigerian Practice." The practice referred to is that of Nigerians traveling to the United States to have a child — a practice that is spreading very fast and close to become an obsession. Travel agencies even offer "Birth Tourism" packages to the USA.I really wanted to find a website where I can book such a holiday, but I couldn`t. Sorry.

If you don`t want to read the blog, just watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1VysJg6uvU

Westboro Baptist Church

 

"God hates America"

The Westboro Baptist Church is a Baptist church which is know for its extreme ideologie, especially towards gay people. 

Westboro Baptist Church fist gainde notoriety in 1998, when they picketed at the funeral of Matthew Shepherd. Matthew Shepherd was murdered because he was gay. From that moment on, they kept on protesting at funerals of public figures such as Elizabeth Edwards and soldiers killed in war. Members of this church want God to punish Americans for homosexuality and for tolerating homosexuality. They protest at funerals to make people angry. 

Apart from protesting at funerals and being intolerant towards gay people, members of the Westboro Baptist Church also protest against jewish institutions. In 1996 Fred Phelps, who is the head of the church, led a protest at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. On May 8, 2009, members of the church protested at three Jewish sites in Washington, D.C., including the ADL offices, the United States Holocaust Museum and the city's largest synagogue. Margie Phelps, daughter of Fred Phelps, led the protest, holding signs stating that "God Hates Isreal", "Jews Killed Jesus" and so on.

On the top of all that, they also believe that Barack Obama is the Antichrist and that he will definitely go to hell.  

Even though they have extremly weird views when it comes to homosexuality and other religions, Fred Phelps is a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement and the churchs disapproves of racism. They say that all Nazis are fags. 

Fred Phelps:

Fred Phelps, who was born in 1929, is a pastor and the head of the Westboro Baptist Church, in Topeka, Kansas. Phelps earned a law degree from Washborn University in 1964, and founded the Phelps Chartered law firm.

 Besides his extremly homophobe and antisemitic views, Fred Phelps describes himself to be a Democrat and even supported Al Gore in the elections in 1988, as Gore opposed a "gay bill of rights" (Gores opion, however, changed in 2000).

Fred Phelps has five children, and two of his sons, Nathan and Mark, oppose their fahters views and do not want a relationship to their father. Since 2004, 20 family members of Fred Phelps, left the church.

To Kill a Mocking Bird

„Kill all the bluejays if you can hit em, but remember it is a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

Scout Finch lives together with her father Atticus Scout and her brother Jem Scout, who is four years her senior, in a sleepy town in Alabama called Maycomb. The story takes place in the 1930`s. The favourite hobby of the whole family is reading, besides this, Scout , her brother Jem and a friend of them called Dill are also very interested in their mysterious neighbour Boo Radley who hasn`t left his house for ages. The make out some very funny plans to see him, but without success.

To the consternation of Maycomb’s racist white community, Atticus agrees to defend a black man named Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping a white woman. Because of this his children are often abused in school as their father is known as a “nigger-lover”. At the trail, Scout and Jem are in the court with their father to watch it. It is clear that Tom Robinson did not rape Mayella , in fact she was trying to seduce him and was caught by her father, so she accused him of raping her. The wounds on her face are her fathers fault, as her father Mr. Ewell is an alcoholic and very aggressiv when he dirnks. All the evidences show that Tom is innocent, but he is coloured and so the jury decides that he is guilty. Despite the verdict, Bob Ewell feels that Atticus and the judge have made a fool out of him, and he vows revenge. One day, when Scout and Jem are walking home from a Halloween party Mr.Ewell attacks them, but one man helps them and kills Mr.Ewell with a kitchen knife: the mysterious Boo Radley.

Finally Scout has seen him, the mysterious Boo Radley, but after a while in their house he disappears again. It is the first and the last time Scout has seen Boo, but at last she recognized that Mr. Arthur Radlley (his full name) is just a human being.

Harper Lee:

Born: 1926 in Alabama

Historical Background:

The book`s head figure, Scout Finch, has a biography very similar to the authors, Harper Lee. So they both grew up in the 1930`s and their fathers worked as attorneys. Harper Lee was also very fond of reading and like Scout, she has also been six years old when the case of Scottsboro took place.

During the Jim Crow area in 1890 in the US, the laws against black became stricter and stricter, so there were signs nearly everywhere, in schools, parks, public toilets telling you “Whites only” and “Coloured”. Especially law enforcement used to be extremely injustice when it comes to black people. Jim Crow`s laws imposed mainly three things:

•The separation of races in public places, including public schools, parks, accommodations and transportation

•The disenfranchisement (taking away the right to vote) of adult black males through polling taxes, literacy tests and other tricks

•The banning of miscegenation, or interracial marriage

 In the 30`s a quite similar case like the one from Tom Robinson took place for real, but in northern Alabama, where two black men have also been accused of raping nine white woman, and they called themselves “Scottsboro Boys” A central figure was a heroic judge, a member of the Alabama Bar who overturned a guilty jury verdict against African American man, so in the end all of the men were sentenced to death, but with the help of his attorney a twelve year old boy, who was also accused survived. In the real case we also meet a jury that ignores evidences, like the woman suffering from no injuries, like the jury in “To kill a mocking bird” ignores the fact that Tom Robinson has a useless left arm.

“Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a negro comes up, is something I don`t pretend to understand.” Atticus Finch

Another great historical event that took place in the 1930 in the US and is partly a topic of the book is the “Great Depression” in the USA, because by 1933 more than 16 million Americans were unemployed. There was a Work Program called WPA, to which Scout refers when she is talking about Mr Ewell: “ Bob Ewell was the only man I ever heard of who was fired from the WPA for laziness.”

 

YOUPOST 2, WS13, SUK1, Group 5, Melissa

GOD BLESS AMERICA

The United States of America. A country that has to deal with a lot of stereotypes, especially when it comes to obesity and the bad health care system. But is it really true that all Americans are fat and that no one can afford a health insurance? 

Well, first of all, obesity is a growing trend in the USA, compared to the 13% in 1962, in 2010 35.7 % of the Americans were suffering form obsity. Obesity costs the US 6%-12% of health care expenditures and is for sure nothing to be laughed about. While extreme obestiy increased by a factor of five, severe obesity increased from one in 200 to one in fifty (!!!). What is sad is that in particular the number of kids and teens being too fat (sorry for this word) is increasing, which means that nearly one fifth of the young people in the US suffers form obesity. You can search for many reasons why the number is increasing but acutally there are only two main reasons: too much fast food and not enough exercise. Typical American food is rich in carbonhydrates anyway, but in addition to this more and more Americans also tend to eat processed and deep fried food, as it easy to cook, but it also includes tons of sugar and fat. Modern technology such as television and computer games have also reduced the motivation to exercises since you do not have to go out to have fun.

Obesity does not only mean "being too fat to be become a model", the problem is that this trend leads to other illness such as diabetes, heart diseases, high blood pressure, heart attacks, etc. People in Austria would go to a doctor, but where should Americans go when not having a health insurance? 

In order to inform myslef about the health care system in the USA I`ve watched Sicko from Michael Moore and I am deadly shocked by this system. 

Millions of Americans have no health insurance, so when they get hurt their first thought is- " Can I afford this?". In his movie Moore tells us the story of Rick, a guy who has lost two fingers working with a machine, so going to the hospital the doctor told him that his middle finger would cost 60000 dollars, but his ring finger would just cost 12000 dollars. Today Rick is a happy man, without a middle finger and this just because he was not insured. Even those lucky 250 million Americans who have a health insurance still cannot afford medication, as it is extremly expensive. The biggest problem is that most heatlh insurance companies are not willing to pay for certain diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases and certain types of cancer, so no matter what you try they will not provide you a health insurance. People who work for a health care insurance have to have a certain number of cases they deny. In other words: Not providing a health insurance to a certain amout of people means extra money for employees. Health insurance companies even employ people whose job it is to search for reasons why they won`t give you a health insurance and even if you get one they will find a reasons why you have to pay the money back, and we do not talk about 100 dollars, we talk about thousands and thousands of dollars. The health care system does not want you to be healthy, but your money. 

But there was one woman raising her voice against it- Doctor Linda Peeno. She used to work as a medical reviewer for the health care company Humana and was brave enough to tell the whole world that denying a case pushed her career and saved a lot of money for the company, also telling others that she had to use her medical knowledge only to deny cases.

This terrible health care system goes back to 1977 when Richard Nixon introduced his "New Health Care System" that should provide health care for each American, and kills 18000 persons a year because they just cannot afford it. A lot of Americans that suffer form certain diseas search for help in other countries like Canada or England, as there health care is for free and does not mean making debts. When you cannot pay, for example staying in a hospital, the Great American Health Care System offers a simple solution: SIMPLY KICKING YOU OUT OF HOSPITAL. 

There is a well-known saying telling us that we should judge a society by the way it treats its poorest people. Well then, let`s better not judge the USA. 

Well, I am not quite sure were certain stereotypes do come from, but I picked out those two as I think they are some kind of true, as it is a fact that America is the fattest country in the world and after watching Sicko I am just glad to live in Austria as this health care system is trash.(Hell, it is trash for real.) 

Sicko Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UReMPrjMT9E

Watch and enjoy ;)

Why we still love Jane Austen



 

Jane Austen is for sure one of the most popular writers and there is hardly anyone not knowing "Pride and Prejudice" or "Emma". Apart from our desire to read something romantic that makes us feel like being a part of the late 18th and early 19th century, it is Jane Austen`s special way of writing that still makes us addicted to her books- and to Mr Darcy :-).

Austen is known for her sarcasm and the hilarious dialogs between her characters. The perfect example is the novel "Pride and Prejudice" and the dialogs between Mr Darcy and Elizabeth, as they are that different, but still think the same way. The dialogs in Austen´s books are not only sarcastic, they also point out parts of the character`s personalities. So Jane Austen does not tell us about her heros or heroins, but we discover their character by reading the dialogs.

Another thing her fans love is that she is such a well-spoken author that while reading her books it feels like she is a friend of yours. You feel like the novel has only been written for you. Especailly women love Jane since she has her own way of telling stories, a way, most of the time only women can unterstand.

What especially attracts are her heroines, which we still consider as admirable, the plots, since characters learn from their mistakes ( a skill we also want to possess) and for sure the romantic life those days. Who does not dream of getting the perfect proposal form the perfect Mr Darcy?

We can see that her perfect describtion of Mr Darcy, who is nowadays still considered to be the perfect gentleman for some women, is only one reason why we still love Jane Austen- and will always do. :-)

YOUPOST 1 , WS13, SUK1, GROUP 5, MELISSA

THIS IS HALLOWEEN

Whenever I hear someone talking about Halloween, I feel like thousands of pictures are hitting my mind at once. For example, I think of children, dressed up in cute costumes, going from door to door and asking for Sweets, or I think of all those pumpinks looking like ghosts infornt of the doors, and last but not least I think of one of my favourite movies "Nightmare before Christmas" and start singing the theme song. :-)

 

Although not really an Austrian holiday, due to the rising influence of the American lifestyle on our daily lives, Halloween becomes more and more popular and while some of us are deadly against bringing a new tradition to our counrty, I simply wish to be eight years old again and dress up as a ghost, asking for Sweets.

 

No matter if people like Halloween or not, it is a fact that only a few of us are aware of the historical background, which is also quite an interesting one.

 

While most of us consider Halloween to be an American holiday, it actually has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival, which was called "Samhain". "Samhain" was a festival where Celtic people celebrated the end of autum and believed that, on this day, the season of life meets the season of death. They wore masks or costumes in order to appease the evil spirits.

 

The Christian Church named the 1st of november " All Saints Day", also know as "All Hallows Day". On this specific day they honored their Saints and the night before was called "Hallows Eve", which is already close to Halloween.

 

When we think of the Halloween, we think of a typical American holiday, but acutally immigrants brought this tradition to the USA in the nineteenth centruy and there it developed to be Halloween as we know it now- one of the most commercial holidays, only Christmas comes first.

 

Maybe not refered to as "Halloween", but all over the world the night between the 31st of october and the 1st of november is somehow special. In Spain and Latinamerica, for example, inhabitants usually celebrate this day for 3 days and its know as " El Dia de los Muertos" (Day of the Dead). They celabrate in order to honor the souls of their dead relatives. Therefore they construct an altar and bake a tratidional bread which looks like their dead relatives and is eaten on the 3rd of november, when the whole family has a picnic together.

 

To me, Halloween is one the best holidays all over the year, apart from Christmas. Now, after being informed about the historical background, I consider it to be even a bit more interesting and worth celabrating. :-)

 

Here is the link to the theme song of "Nightmare before Christmas". Hope you enjoy. :-)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpvdAJYvofI