computer is back in action

Hi everybody!!!!

I´m so sorry that I haven´t been able to post anything recently, but my computer crashed and I have to wait for ten days for my little brother to fix it. I really appreciate my little brother´s work because he is a real wizz kid when it comes to computers.
I coudn´t even imageine how hard life without a computer is, it is unbelievable.
Thank god, I printed out the Jayalking glossary beforehand so I could study the vocabulary.

A lot happened the last weeks, but nothing really interesting. I had to atudy a lot for my classes and didn´t have much time for socializing. Except last saturday, when I met this American and this Swedish guy which means that I always had to speak in English. The American bloke was quite impressed by my skills. (I´m now wondering if I should have a little sip of alcohol before every oral exam, because it makes me more talkative).

I promise that I wiill write some more before the end of the semester.

See you

I´m singing in the rain

Hi everybody!!





Today´s a bank holiday and instead of being outdoors, I´m sitting in my room, freezing and pouring hot liquid down my throat. I wish it would be April again. I miss the sunny weather. Alas, I can´t change the weather, so I´ve spent the afternoon reading in our beloved JWI book (chapter 22, hurray!!) and the rest of the time idling away, listening to music (I can really recommend "Arcade Fire - Neon Bible" as it is the perfect background music for such a day).

It´s evening now and I think I´m going to reread another book by Douglas Coupland: Eleanor Rigby, which is a fantastic novel. I really love Coupland´s style of writing. Especially this book. It´s about a quite lonely woman in her mid-thirties who suddenly gets to know her son which she had at the tender age of sixteen. But only for a short time, because her son is suffering from MS (multiple sclerosis) and dies after a few months. Nevertheless her short-term encounter with her son leads to further events (there is a very funny episode in a German jail involving a radioactive chunk) in her life, resulting in (of course) a happy end. Although it´s sometimes rather sad Coupland never loses his great sense of humor and therefore this book is wonderful to read.

Our famous bliki/wiki

Hi everybody!!

I´m sitting in class right now and we have to work on our little bliki/wiki. For all of you who are reading my blog and don´t know what our bliki/wiki is, here is a little description:

It´s some sort of a homepage where we (Mr. Newman´s SUKFour Students) can write anything interesting into it. you can create new pages (but we try to shorten the main categories, otherwise it will be a little bit too confusing). But you can create as many subpages as you want.
Right now our main categories are books, movies, culture, expat interviews, videos and fun stuff. You can contribute anything that fits into one of these categories by copy/paste from your blog but if you feel the urge to write something new it´s even better. It´s as easy as pie to contribute.

I know that we all have an awful lot to do this semester but it doesn´t take a lot of time and the more the merrier. So if you want to apply to be a writer just send an e-mail to Mr. Newman.

Have a little look at our bliki/wiki and enjoy reading!!!

http://suk4.wetpaint.com

A Year in Provence vs. JWI

vs.

Hi everybody!!!

In this semester´s class we have to read two books about expatriates, one of which we could choose ourselves. I have chosen Peter Mayle´s “A Year in Provence” and I must admit that I like it much better than the compulsory one by David Monagan “Jaywalking with the Irish”.

Although both authors have to deal with the problems they came across when moving to a different country for a certain period of time, Peter Mayle does a better job describing them than David Monagan. I would not go so far and call Monagan´s book bad because it certainly has its moments but on the whole Peter Mayle´s style of writing is wittier and more captivating. I think that he is a better author than Monagan because despite being an educated man he does not use such complicated vocabulary, thus making his book more enjoyable to read (for us students at least). Although his book is not packed with polysyllabic words Mayle´s is a fantastic and not in the least bit shallow read and it makes you want to move to Provence instantly. Monagan on the other hand, is trying too hard to convince the readers that his story is the wittiest and funniest one they have ever read. As a result his book can sometimes be quite exhausting to read.

Another reason for my preferring the other book is that Peter Mayle moved to Provence in the South of France and I am sure that the cultural shock he had to suffer from was much greater, because he could not even speak the same language which definitely complicated the whole process of getting accustomed to the new environment. Not having to learn a new language made things a lot easier for Monagan when it comes to things such as inviting new friends to his house.

What is more, Monagan already spent some time in Ireland when he was a young man. He also mentions his previous trips in the book, so he is not coming to Ireland totally unprepared. Of course a lot of things have changed since he as living there as a student back in the 70´s but at least he has a faint idea of what he could expect. Mayle did not have the slightest clue of what was coming his way and this making the book funnier and more interesting to read. For example, nobody told him that it could be very cold in winter due to the fierce wind, the mistral.

For these reasons and one or two others I really think that Peter Mayle´s book is superior to “Jaywalking with the Irish”. Mayle is a better writer and he can describe people, places and situations in simple, clear English. I can recommend this book to everyone who loves a good read.

Bravely bold Sir Robin

Hello everybody!!

Last week I had two exams, so I spent the weekend relaxing and for recreational purposes. I watched the fantastic Monthy Python movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" once again. I even know some dialogues by heart. I just love this movie.

It´s about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table searching for the Holy Grail. They are making fun of everything, especially the French (sorry, but I meant no offense Claire). It´s absolutely hilarious. So here are the lyrics of one song, sung in the movie by Sir Robin´s minstrel (who unfortunately was eaten later in the movie by the other knights)

Bravely bold Sir Robin rode forth from Camelot

He was not afraid to die, O brave Sir Robin

He was not at all afraid to be killed in nasty ways

Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Robin

He was not in the least bit scared to be mashed into a pulp

Or to have his eyes gouged out and his elbows broken

To have his kneecaps split and his body burned away

And all his limbs hacked and mangled, brave Sir Robin

His head smashed in and his heart cut out

And his liver removed and his his bowles unplugged

And his nostrils raped and his bottom burnt off and his penis....

Brave Sir Robin ran away

Bravely ran away... away...

When danger reared its ugly head

He bravely turned his tail and fled

Yes, Sir Robin turned about

And gallantly he chickened out

Bravely taking to his feet

He beat a very brave retreat

Bravest of the brave, Sir Robin

He is packing it in and packing it up

And sneaking away and buggering up

And chickening out and pissing off home

Yes, bravely he is throwing in the sponge

Enjoy reading

(P.S. Also have a look at my sidebar!!)

All families are psychotic

Hi everybody!!!


I´ve just finished my first Progress Test and I´m totally exhausted. I´ve written lots and lots about vocab and Jaywalking and the different handouts we were given before. I had no idea how much work it really was.

I spent the last week studying for my English and my Spanish exam so I didn´t have a lot of time for doing interesting things. This week I will certainly try out some of the tools Mr. Newman showed us last time.


Although I had a lot to study for my classes I was able to finish a book by Douglas Coupland called "All families are psychotic". It is absolutely worth reading as it has a captivating story and a lot of interesting, weird, psychotic and terminally ill characters. Three of the main characters are dying from AIDS and one is suffering from liver cancer but this doesn´t mean that the story is sad or depressing. It´s about a little family reunion and of course it all went horribly wrong with the main characters ending up in a wild pursuit for an enveleope, containing a little note from prince William (yes, the one who recently broke up with his girlfriend), for his dead mother. Apparently this envelope was stolen from Diana´s coffin at her burial. Some dubious and very rich Swiss businessman needs the envelope because of the DNA that´s on it in order to clone prince William,...Poor boy.

It´s definitely a good read.

I´m back from the dead!!

Hi everybody!!!

After two weeks of suffering a severe flu I´m back from the dead. I´m gathering all my strength in order to write an entry. I was bedridden for about ten days and I couldn´t do anything but sniffing and coughing. It was feeling really bad.

But now I am feeling much better and I hope that I can fulfill my weekly quota of blog entries. After looking through the other blogs I came across a lot of interesting topics.

The last few days I was reading quite a lot of interesting articles from the New York Times. There was one that really caught my eye. It was about some insurance companies that were trying to deny the claims of their policyholders. Most of them are elderly people who payed a lot of money for the insurance in order to go into a home for elderly people. Instead they have to fight for their rights in court and in most cases they even lose the lawsuit. I really was taken aback by the cunning methods the insurance companies use in order to avoid to pay their clients. There was an example of a 92 year old man who was given a wrong form to fill out ( on purpose!!!) and when it comes to paying him they denied his claim because of invalid paperwork.

The main point of the article was that most of these insurance companies were making a lot of money by denying claims of elderly people and they wait so long until they die. I really was shocked.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/business/26care.html?ex=1177646400&en=be9a9e2ebf74c03e&ei=5070

In other news: Mr. Newman showed us some wonderful new gadgets we can use to spice up our blogs. I just try and I hope it is working. Just have a look at my side bar!!

Enjoy reading!!

Easter is over

Hi everybody!

Sorry, no entries lately but I´ve been quite occupied with work at the videostore and of course reading a lot for my English and Spanish classes.

Most of my friends spent the last weekend at home with their family. But not me. Firstly, I had to work the whole weekend and secondly as a vegetarian I´m not very fond of this feast, watching my family (all of them are carnivores) stuffing all kind of dead animals into their mouths. As I confronted my mother with the fact that I wasn´t coming home over the Easter weekend she was quite disappointed and insulted and as I told her that my life is in Graz the whole situation got a little bit tense. Nevertheless I had a great time on Saturday with a friend of mine.

I´m really sorry for this short entry but nothing interesting happend recently. I promise that I will immediately blog about if something exciting happens.

Have nice holidays

Shaken not stirred

Hi everybody!!

Yesterday I was out with the girls. We were having a great time when suddenly this bloke tried to give me a back massage ( which went horribly wrong), resulting in total paralysis of both of my shoulders. So, when reading this post, keep in mind that I am doing this under terrible pain.

I just finished watching the new Bond movie, Casino Royal. I didn´t like the idea of a blond 00 agent in the first place but I must admit that Daniel Craig did an extraordinary job. The plot was very captivating with a lot of villains, beautiful women, a lot of violence and a huge Poker play (I was very eager to watch them play Texas Hold ´Em because I like to play it every once in a while and maybe I could learn something although I´m not betting real money. I´m totally pleased with the knowledge that I would have won a lot of money if it had been real.).

I think I´m going to stop because it is quite late, my shoulders hurt and I have to work tomorrow which means that I have to get my full quota of sleep. Otherwise I won´t be as charming as the customers are used, which will lead further to bad tips which will annoy me even more,... Okay, I got a little bit carried away. Good Night

enjoy reading

Hurray!!!!

I´m soooo proud of myself. I´ve finally managed to put a picture in my profile and a link list (okay, it wasn´t complicated at all, I was just too lazy to check out the help site which offer advice for almost every problem). I think I´m beginning to undertsand how all this blog stuff really works.

Yesterday I read four more chapters of "Jaywalking with the Irish". I wouldn´t go so far to call this book bad because it has its moments. Actually it´s not as bad as I would have thought. I really love the chapter about his friend Bun. He sometimes uses a very strange way of humor which I really like. The only thing that is a little bit annoying is the huge range of sophisticated and unknown vocabulary. I can understand that it is no fun reading when you have to look up ten words per page. At first I really was shocked by the sheer volume of new and unknown words but right know I´m only looking up words in the reduced glossary and if they don´t show up there, I´ll read over them. It´s still a little boring and frustrating but it´s simplifying the whole reading process.

Enjoy reading (my blog, not the book :-) )

Gary Larson is the greatest!!

Hello folks!!!

I´m having my English class right now and we are in the computer room, so why not post something. The last few days I was looking at the different blogs of my classmates and I was quite impressed. Especially Claire´s blog is amazing: She´s a real writer. Now I´m quite ashamed of my blog. However, it will give me new inspiration for my blog and maybe I can copy some ideas??

I`m still figuring out how this blog really works but I am really a fan of the so called trial and error system and actually I can´t break anything. Or maybe I can use the time and ask someone with more experience how some things work.

I must admit that the blogging thing is not as bad as I have thought it would be. I´m still struggeling with the contents. I´m still not sure on what I really should blog about (or what would please the teacher). I will blog about all what I think is remotely interesting and will later ask for confirmation. I can delete some entries if they are not pleasing my teacher´s taste, anyway.

In other news: Yesterday I got my Gary Larson Farside 2007 Off-The-Wall calender delivered ( I know it sounds very strange but its a simple calendar with a cartoon per day). I spent almost the whole day laughing at his brilliant, fantastic and hilarious cartoons. My parentn started collecting his cartoons, so I know and adore him and his work for quite a long time. So everday in the morning I will read something in English ( because ít´s in English) and I´ll also start my day with a laugh.

Maybe I will write another entry when I´m at home. We will see about that.

enjoy reading

I love books

This weekend I´ve been reading quite a lot (despite an invitation to a birthday party). I read three more capters of "Jaywalking with the Irish" and I am also about to finish "A year in Provence". I really love this book by Peter Mayle. It is really funny and entertaining. His stories about the sometimes quite peculiar French people are full of wit but , despite their obvious weirdness, he describes them in such a nice and endearing way that you instantly want to move there. I can recommend this book to everyone.

In other news: Last friday I was working in the video store when a customer came in who exactly looked like Dr. Sheperd. I was holding myself back not to call him Derek.

The birthday party was very funny but I became tired quite early (due to heavy reading) so that I went home. So all in all it was a very calm weekend.

Kiss me, I´m Irish

I am very happy to see that there is already a comment on my blog.

I like to watch Desperate Housewives but I wouldn´t shed a tear if I missed an episode. Gilmore Girls are quite exhausting to watch because they are so talkative and they´re speaking on such a high speed that I´ve completely lost interest . Grey´s Anatomy is all what my little heart desires.

Yesterday we had an interesting lecture about Ireland, held by Lisa Joyce. She started with a little quiz (with a lot of tricky questions) which only a small number of students could answer. Most of us guessed than actually knew the right answer but it was very informative and educational all the same. Then we talked a lot about the severe drinking habit the Irish are into, the rise of the Celtic Tiger and how it affected the everyday life of the Irish and it turned out that not everything is as bright and shiny as most tourists believe. There was a lively discussion going on (mostly about how the Irish manage to drink so much), but time flies by and suddenly class was over. This is also the reason to end my post as there is nothing left to say.

Enjoy reading

2nd try

Well, here it is: my first entry!! (Actually, it is my second but I somehow deleted the first one. Please don´t judge me, but I am totally new to this.)

I´m not exactly sure what this blog is going to look like but I hope that it will be interesting to read. I´m planning to use this blog as some sort of diary where I put all the English-related stuff I´ve done and/or tell everyone about the interesting and exciting things that happened or will happen to me.

I was quite lazy this weekend but I had a cold and was therefore excused. One week it is perfectly mild and sunny and on the next one fierce winds are blowing and it is snowing. Honestly, these strange weather conditions are really driving me crazy.

I´ve spent nearly the whole weekend watching twelve (12!!) episodes of Grey´s Anatomy. I admit that I am addicted to this show. I also tried to read the third chapter of "Jaywalking with the Irish" but after the Grey´s Anatomy marathon my eyes hurt so much that I had to give up. So, all in all I did something for my English class. I brushed up on my medical vocabulary.

Well, I´m really looking forward to how this blog´s going to look like in the end. It is a totally new and unknown approach for me to improve my writing skills (although I strongly doubt that writing a blog entry will ever be a task on the exam). However, I´m keeping my fingers crossed that this little project will turn out to be a success.

Enjoy reading!!