Potato

Hello there!

I’m back again. :)

The today’s post is going to be about my second language I study since October; Russian. For a long time I had no idea what I’m going to do after taking the A-levels. First I thought that I’m going to be a confectioner but then I realized that baking is just a hobby. Due to the fact that I wasn’t that bad at learning languages (at least at school) I decided to study languages. The choice wasn’t that hard and so I’ve chosen English and Russian.

Maybe you’re wondering why Russian.

Well, I’ve always been crazy about learning Russian and fortunately it was offered as an optional subject at my school but there’ve been just a few participants so the course wasn’t set up. This was one more reason why I’ve chosen Russian as my second language. Thirdly, Russian is gaining more and more importance in the economy and as I’m going to be a translator I'll probably have better chances finding a job.

As you may know, we are expected to study abroad or to do a traineeship abroad. So I’m going to stay in Russia for at least a semester which is going to be amazing. I’ve already read about some experiences of one of my colleagues about her stay in Russia on her blog. She also wrote about her host family and that her host father offered some homemade vodka (like many of you already know - a beverage made of fermented grains or potatoes). Too bad I don’t like vodka but maybe my host family won’t have their own, homemade vodka (I really hope so) :D haha...

Up to now I made a really good experience with my Russian language course. We are proceeding very rapidly and so we will finish the units by end of January. The only thing which takes me really long is writing. Sometimes I need two hours to finish two pages. But it will get better for sure.  ;)  

Well, the post was not as long as my other posts but it gave you an insight in my personal life, but take this potato as excuse. :D

 пока́ :) 

(this means "see you later" in Russian)

What’s that noise?

Like many others I was forced to play the recorder as a child.

No, just kidding :D It was not my decision to play an instrument but I actually really liked it. I wasn’t just playing the recorder but also the dulcimer (mus.). Later on I started to play the c flute. After many impressions, competitions, concerts and a membership in a traditional band I gave up making music after only 6 years.

Even if I’ve quit I still believe that music is very important for education. It is similar to sport. Children need an activity and music is a great possibility to spend their free time wisely. If you are a member in a traditional band or any other kind of band you have a sensation for camaraderie and a sense of duty. So an activity like this really strengthens your character and has a high, positive influence on your personality.

Travelling is also a part of an active membership in a band. We’ve been to Königsbronn in Germany, which is our partner community and some Austrian cities like Linz where we took part in the Austrian Youth Wind Orchestra competition. You see, playing an instrument isn’t really just a free time activity. You have to practice every day if you want to improve your skills. If you’re a member of a band, you are also expected to participate in musical competitions and to take exams where you can show your constant progress. The funniest part though is the so called “Beszirksmusikertreffen” where all the traditional bands meet in a municipality. At first there is the official part where every band plays some military marches while marching to a meeting place where all the bands are waiting to play one military march together. The fun part comes afterwards. Celebrating in a beer tent, drinking beer and Schnaps, singing songs and dancing in front of the stage or of course on the table is “very important” to get to know your colleagues. :D

Classical Music compared to Pop Music

In former times music was very important and had a meaning to the audience and the musicians. Today every song has a video which seems to be more important than the song itself.  Another characteristic of pop music I noticed is the length of the song. The average length is about 4 minutes whereas the average length of a metal song is about 7 minutes. This should have been a hint – I really prefer metal music.

Axis of Awesome is a band who made a funny account, which shows that many of the new songs/pop songs consist only of 4 chords! Sad, isn’t it?

Watch it in this video below:

The very opposite to pop music is metal music. I listen to bands like Hammerfall, Manowar but also to Rammstein. I’ve already been at a Hammerfall concert in 2011 at the Grazer Orpheum. 

I don’t really have a favourite song but I really like the song “Black Wind, Fire and Steel” from Manowar.

Link:

Stay tuned!

Red wine, white wine or coffee?

What is the today’s post going to be about? Christmas? Christmas food or maybe Christmas traditions in Austria/in Croatia (I’m Croatian)?

Nah, today I’m going to write about my language week in Italy. Yeah, I know. Italy and Germany are probably the most “favourite” countries for Austrian people to travel to. Anyway... we visited some really nice places where you won’t see many tourists. So one year ago we travelled to Italy, more precisely to Umbria. After a horrible, 8 hours lasting bus ride (the bus driver wasn’t the friendliest one) on an awful curvy road but a nice stopover in San Marino we arrived in Urbania where our host has already been waiting for us to take us “home”. I‘ve planned to hand over a bottle of “Zirbenschnaps” but somehow the whole Schnaps leaked out in my backpack during the bus ride :D hahaha... wurscht... after our stay I thought that this ”holy beverage” would have been too precious to hand it to my host anyway. You will see why...

But first I’d like to write about all the beautiful places we have been to.

1^st stop: City of San Marino

A small city with their own laws where you can find weapons like knifes, swords or crossbows in every corner which really surprised me in a bad way. As it is common in Italy there have been bottles with portrays of Hitler, Mussolini and Tito on the labels too.

2^nd stop: Perugia

There are two possibilities to enter the city Perugia, either by stairway or by a cable car. This town impressed me the most because of its simplicity and beauty. Like in every Italian city, the fountain is the “centre” of the town. It’s not the geographic centre but it’s the point where people meet when they set up an appointment. It is comparable to the Weikhard clock on the Grazer main square. Unfortunately we’ve been there just for two hours or so and I was searching for a keychain but I haven’t found one. This is important to me because every time a travel to a city I buy a keychain. Anyway, the city was breathtaking and somehow it remembered me of Graz. I really liked the architecture and the people.

3^rd stop: Assisi

Assisi is famous for the Basilica named after Saint Francis of Assisi. If you want to enter this church, you have to cover your shoulder and you are not allowed to wear short pants or skirts. One of our classmates had to wait outside because he had some clam diggers on. No one told us to dress properly and so he really had to wait outside. Well, the architecture inside the Basilica is really fascinating. I still admire the work the people did hundreds and hundreds of years ago with less tools than we have nowadays. It’s simply impressive. 

4^th stop: Frasassi

Frasassi is famous for its caves. And I have to agree, they are really amazing. We do have similar caves here in Austria like the “Obir Tropfsteinhöhlen” but they are way smaller than the caves in Frasassi. I have no words to describe that place. It was like entering another world because you know that the climate is very different, the humidity is higher, the temperature lower. What great conditions for women, especially for those who styled their hair like they are heading to a prom. ;D Anyhow, I liked the place but more important, I found a keychain!!!!!

5^th stop: Urbania

Urbania was the town we actually lived in for 7 days. The only place we explored on our own on the very first day was the “Sunrise Bar”. The waiter was friendly, the atmosphere was great and so we decided to nominate it as our new meeting place during our stay in Urbania. The only thing that annoyed me a bit was the fact that a large beer was only 0.4 litres whereas in Austria a large beer is 0.5 litres. Of course the price for a large beer in Urbania was about 4 euro and Italian beer tastes like piss compared to Austrian beer. Discriminating conditions for those people who only drink beer (or water) ;) On the third day of our language week we finally visited some places in Urbania like the theatre or the museum of the mummies. 

church of the Dead

6^th stop: Fiorini

The trip to Fiorini was short but boring. We visited a vineyard and I think it’s enough when I say that I’m not really interested in wine. Although here are some pictures:

what a wineglass :D

7^th stop: Fano

Fano was not part of the initially organised language trip but due to the fact that Umbria is not one of the coastal regions our teachers wanted to surprise us by taking us to the city Fano, where we stayed for about two hours and enjoyed the sun while laying on the pebble beach.

8^th stop: Urbino – our last stop

Urbino was kind of a challenge. I don’t know what those people who planned and constructed this city were thinking...maybe nothing. Honestly, the city is situated on a hill which means you have to cope with a really steep climb. Urbino is also known as a university town but we haven’t noticed any students strolling around.

Why I haven’t liked my host family: 

First of all, their flat was on the 5th floor and our luggage was really, really heavy so our host decided to pull it up with a rope. Yes, you have read correctly!!!!  At first we were standing there and watched it all happen ‘cause it was really risky to haul the luggage up this way. Luckily everything went well.

So on the next day we wanted to take a shower...but guess what? No hot water...great, huh? Furthermore, our host decided to be on a diet exactly the week we were there and my classmate loves pasta more than anything else, too bad the host never cooked pasta although there have been about thousand different types of pasta in her kitchen :D haha.. So because our host mom was on a diet, we had to suffer too! So we went out to get our pizza. The restaurant/pizzeria we went to is called “La pecora near” which means “The black sheep”. 

Btw, the answer to the headline is beer. Because beer is always the answer! :D

Ordered a large beer, was not disappointed

...so that are the differences between Rome and Urbania (Urbania = 0.4 litre, Rome= 1 litre)

Some other pictures:

Stay tuned!

Outlaws on the Road...

 

source: http://rocknrollghost.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/sons_of_anarchy7.jpg

...what it is

FIRST OF ALL, IT IS MY FAVOURITE SERIES!!! AND I HAVE WATCHED A BUNCH OF SERIES BUT NONE OF THESE SUCCEEDED TO FASCINATE ME LIKE SOA DID.

Sons of Anarchy is a crime drama series on the TV channel FX where the story is about the outlaw motorcycle club living in the small and lovely town Charming, a fictional town placed in California. Sons of Anarchy is not the only motorcycle club operating in Charming. There are the Mayans, the Grim Bastards, the Calaveras and there is also the Devil's Tribe. Those clubs I will describe later on in this post.

Every club has its own business whereat dealing guns is the main business of the Sons of Anarchy MC. The show focus on protagonist Jackson Teller, often called “Jax” (played by Charlie Hunnam) who initially is the vice president of the club until he becomes the president in season 5. After finding the manuscript written by his father John Teller, founder of the club, member of the first 9 and the president of the SOA MC, Jax started questioning the club, the club business and himself.

Facts and figures:

• Start of the series:         September 3, 2008
• Seasons:                          7
• End of the series:           December 9, 2014
• Creator:                          Kurt Sutter
• Original language:         English
• Number of episodes:      92
• Running time:                38–55 minutes (in seasons 1 to 5), 52-80 minutes (in season 6 and 7)

Although the last episode was aired on December 9 this year, there is no end of the story and so the fans have no reason for being sad. Kurt Sutter said that there will be a Sons of Anarchy prequel set in the 1960s.

Kurt “the Master” Sutter

Kurt Sutter is the brain of the series, one of the writers and the directors but as if he didn’t have enough work to do, he decided to play the character of Otto Delaney. IMHO he did a great job. The series has a great audience which express its opinion and compliments on the social media platforms like facebook, twitter and instagram.

Main characters throughout the seasons

(I will describe the characters only in a few word, ‘cause otherwise it would take too long and I think it would be really boring to read such a long post....)

MEMBERS of SAMCRO

Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman) - initially the president of the Sons and one of the first 9

Piermont “Piney” Winston (William Lucking) - member and one of the first 9

Robert “Bobby Elvis” Munson (Mark Boone Junior) - Treasury Secretary (responsible for financial matters)

Filip “Chibs” Telford (Tommy Flanagan) - from soldier to president

Alexander “Tig” Trager (Kim Coates) - from Sergeant-At-Arms to Vice President

Juan Carlos “Juice” Ortiz (Theo Rossi) - member of the Sons

Harry “Opie” Winston (Ryan Hurst) - member and best friend of Jax

Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) - from Vice President to President, father of two sons, husband

Kip “Half Sack” Epps (Johnny Lewis) - prospect

George “Ratboy” Skogstrom (Nico Nikotera) - from prospect to full member

Happy Lowman (David LaBrava) - member and Sergeant-At-Arms (season 6)

Otto “Big Otto” Delaney (Kurt Sutter) - member, prisoner

Other important characters

Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal) – Clay’s Old Lady, Jax’s mother

Dr. Tara Knowles (Maggie Siff) – Jax’s wife, mother

Wayne Unser (Dayton Callie) – sheriff

David Hale (Taylor Sheridan) – Deputy Chief

Eli Roosevelt (Rockmond Dunbar) – Lieutenant of the San Joaquin Sheriff's Department

June Stahl (Ally Walker) – ATF Agent

Neron “Nero” Padilla (Jimmy Smits) – Gemma’s partner (after Clay’s death)

Wendy Case (Drea de Matteo) – ex-junky, Jax’s ex-wife, Abel’s mother

Chucky Marstein (Michael Ornstein) – helper in the office

Damon Pope (Harold Perrineau Jr.) – Crime Kingpin (number one boss)

August Marks (Billy Brown) – formerly Pope’s number two, after his dead number one

Galen O’Shay (Timothy V. Murphy) – Irish King

Henry Lin (Kenneth Choi) – Chinese America leader of the Lin Triad

Charles “Charlie” Barosky (Peter Weller) – corrupt cop

Other motorcycle clubs

Calaveras

source: http://img2-2.timeinc.net/ew/i/2013/10/mens-room-death.jpg

The leader of this Motorcycle Club is Hector Salazar (on the very left side) who operates in Lodi (California) and whose members are mostly like to be Hispanic.

Devil's Tribe

source: https://s1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/jCEvdYknT7VCWxAdNF6JUA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/tv/2014-10-28/43347d50-5ec1-11e4-b918-9d2ee517bd42_fx-sons-of-anarchy-708-separation-of-crows-charlie-hunam-jax-teller-michael-shamus-wiles-jury-white.jpg

Although the MC is based in Indian Hills (Nevada), the club is also active in Las Vegas. Their badge is Satan's head on fire and their President is Jury, Jax’s uncle. They receive their main income by providing protection for strip clubs. In season 7, episode 8 Jury was killed by Jax because he was sure Jury rat SAMCRO out.

Grim Bastards

 

source: https://41.media.tumblr.com/8910da6426a7eb8cb00804af566233af/tumblr_nggoimhh9Z1s0u7vwo2_500.jpg

This MC is based in Lodi, like the Calaveras MC but the membership consists exclusively of African American. The patch shows a laughing skull and a clenched fist. The Grim Bastards are in an ally with the Sons of Anarchy and in the end of season 7 the Grim Bastard MC is patched-over by the Sons. This action really set an example in getting rid of racist conventions because it was never accepted to patch in an African American to the SOA.

Mayans

source: http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0467/4773/products/sons-of-anarchy-mayans-full-vest-patches-black_grande.jpg?v=1401690104

The leader of the Oakland chapter of the Mayans Motorcycle Club is Marcus Alvarez who is also the club’s National Pres. This MC controls several parts of California and all of Nevada. The members of the Mayans mostly seem to be Hispanic (Mexican). Their patch shows a Mayan tribal. The main businesses of the Mayans are drugs (heroin) but they are also involved in prostitution.

Some terms

Ape Hangers

High handlebars on a motorcycle (majority of the Mayans and SOA Member Bobby ride these kind of motorcycle)

AB

The Aryan Brotherhood - white supremacist prison gang

Brown

Mexicans (Mayans)

Cartel/drug cartel

A criminal organization involving drug

Church

A scheduled club meeting

Chapel

The meeting room of the MC

Crow Eater

A woman who hangs around with the club or sleeps with a member prospect or a club member

'Cut -'

1) Sleeves have been "cut" off to make a vest

2) The Motorcycle Clubs back patch has been "cut" into three

3) English term for the German word “Kutte”

First Nine

These are the original first nine members of the SOA Motorcycle Club who wear a “First Nine” patch on their vests

Green

Slang for the Irish Part of SOA's racial slang

Mister Mayhem

Death

Mano

Short term for Hermano (Spanish) which means brother (Nero often said it to Jax)

Nomad

Is a club member who does not belong to a specific charter

Old Lady

Wife or steady girlfriend of a club member

One-Niners

A black street gang based in Oakland

Originals

Refers to an original member of the

Patch-In

Making someone a member of a club

Patch-Over

The action when one club takes over another

Prospect

Not a full member of the club – hoping for membership

The Reaper

SOA logo

SAMCRO

Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original

TM

Garage - Teller Morrow

White

Refers to neo-Nazi organizations

Yellow

Racial slang for Chinese people

EDIT:

Just saw this picture on the SOA facebook page and thougt I have to add it to this post (I already finished the show - if you haven't, DON'T scroll down!!!!)

I love this quote!

Stay tuned!