40 shades of green

Ireland, as I remember it 

 A couple of years ago my dad took me on a business trip to his favourite country - Ireland. He had appointments in Dublin, Cork and Belfast and so we rent a car and just started driving across the Island. 

He had been here many times and he told me a lot about the country and it´s incredibly awesome people. 

Here are some things I particularly remember: 

Bloomsday

We arrived in Dublin about a week before bloomsday and everywhere you could see posters that announced the 16th of July, and as a foreigner you might have got the impression of a national holiday coming up - well, not exactly. 

The Irish love their many famous writers, especially James Joyce. Actually they love him THAT much, they dedicated this certain day to the main character of Joyces novel Ulysses, Leopold Bloom. In his veeeeery weighty tome Joyce describes just one day, the 16th of July. (it is said that noone ever has read the entire novel and so far I haven´t met anyone who has ;)

Here is a picture of me in 2011

 Colorful doors 

Did you ever walk through Dublins streets? If so you might have recognised the colorful  doors. Here's the story my dad told me: I cannot guarantee it is true, since he is a pretty good storyteller ;)

When Queen Victoria died in 1900 England ordered to paint all front doors visible black, as a sign of sorrow. The rebellous Irish, however, who wanted to do everything possible to enclose themselves from England, did the exact opposite - they painted their doors colorful. 

Another  version of this story is,  that the doors were painted in different colors to help drunk people find their homes more easily ;) 

B&B

During our trip we  stayed at so called Bed & Breakfasts (B&B). This is a pretty popular thing in Ireland. Houses offer a room and Breakfast for people who stay a few nights in their town. I was amazed by the hospitality and kindness of all this people at whose houses we were staying. Staying at B&Bs is  really cheap and a great way to get to know some of the really nice people there and to get to hear their storys. (My impression was that they were all really talkative ;)

Gaelic

Even though not many Irish people do still speak Gaelic, it is Irelands official language (with English being a second official language). Road signs and signs in general are bilingual. Also, while in Dublin you will come across this phrase quite often, if you look around in gift shops. (Kiss my ass)

40 shades of green

If you come to Ireland there will be one dominating colour- green. Green, green and even more green. Beautiful landscapes, fresh, grassy meadows everywhere. Thats why it is said Ireland  got forty shades of green ;)  Johnny Cash adapted the term and made it a title of his song referring to Ireland.

Photoshocked!!

A couple of weeks ago I came across this Photoshop video on YouTube. It shows how the image of a model is optimized on the computer.  I was shocked how much they changed, besides  exposure and contrast, because the model was a perfectly beautiful woman before. But obviously not perfect enough. However what was wrong with her? According to this clip, her eyes were too small, her nose was not tiny enough,  her neck was to short, her body to massive. In the end she looks like the fragile Barbie doll we all know - but far from a natural beauty!

Almost every released photo of a celebrity is altered in one or the other way. So are all the pictures commercial uses. Retouching photos in magazines has become a completely must. We have to ask ourselves: Is nothing real anymore?

We are confronted with images of perfectly beautiful (and not real) people wherever we go. This is creating an unrealistic standard of beauty, which, an average citizen can never fulfil. I don´t think every woman and every girl is aware of the extent to which photos get retouched. Many of them may start to feel uncomfortable with their own bodies, even though there is nothing to worry about. If a woman had the measures of a Barbie doll she wouldn´t be able to breathe!!!

Still many girls desire a perfect body and face as seen in the media. As a result the business of plastic surgery flourishes. More and more women get their breasts done, their teeth bleached, a little nose job...  In Hollywood you barely meet anyone who is a "plastic surgery virgin". Isn´t it shocking?

Well I understand, some people are born attractive, some were less fortunate and in some cases I can actually understand why plastic surgery is used. It may improve the person’s every-day life and lift up his or her self-esteem. In other cases plastic surgery goes way too far. I mean, who thinks Double E cups are beautiful? And don´t underestimate the dangers of such a surgery. In the worst case something may go wrong that can´t be fixed any more. 

Also in the world of photoshop mistakes happen (even though the consequenses are not that fatal ). Last I made a collection of photos for you. Find the mistake and enjoy. In the end they are not that perfect ! ;)

Photoshop Gone Wrong

WOW! How is she even balancing with one leg?

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Creepy!!!!!!!!

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                                        Wait! Where did this arm go?

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.... must be some kind of alien ....

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And last but not least...

Come on! Who do you think you are fooling? ;)

No kangaroos in Austria !

In 2009 I spend a couple of weeks with a host family in Philadelphia.  It was a great experience and I learned a lot about the American country and the American  way of life.
I remember one evening when my host sister had some friends over.  Everyone was pretty curious about me and my country and I was asked a lot of questions. It started out really well but the more they wanted to know, the more I realised how little they knew about Austria and that they had a really stereotypical point of view.  One boy actually asked me if I had bought my clothes here in America because he thought in Austria, everyone walks around wearing traditional costumes. Another question was if in Austria we already had braces.   It seemed like "The sound of music" was their most obvious cultural reference!

Remembering my trip and all these question I was asked, I got curious. Is Austria really that unknown? So I searched the web for the most common stereotypes.

AUSTRIAN STEREOTYPES

#1 There are Kangaroos in Austria

Snow-covered hills, snowflakes softly falling on houses, trees and narrow streets, and near the forest, if you look closely, you can see some kangaroos busily searching for something to eat ... what a nice December day in Austria!

No? Austrians might laugh, but Austria gets confused with Australia way too often, simply because of the similar names of the countries. The reaction of the Austrian tourism industry was a t-shirt with a well-known yellow sign and the stroke "No kangaroos in Austria" ;)

#2 All Austrians wear Lederhosn and Dirndl

Many Austrians have traditional clothes at home and wear them for example at special occassons - but Dirdl and Lederhosen are far from being worn every day. Anyhow the "typical" Austrian in Lederhosen is often seen in Austria related commercials.
For example this stiegl commercial -->

#3 Austrians love classic music and ski all the time

Many Austrians love to ski - simply because we have so many opportunities to practice it. Especially people in the western and south regions (Vorarlberg, Tirol, Salzburg, Kärnten...), which are very mountainous, are passionate winter- sportsmen. Children are taught how to ski early. I learned to it in kindergarten and so did many of my friends. 

I´m sure many Austrians enjoy listening to classic music as well ;)

I guess every country has to deal with stereotypes. There are good ones as well as really bad ones. People don't like to overthink their first impression and that's how prejudice is created.

Why the Simpsons predicted a scandal and a dictator explains democracy ;)

The NSA affairs are on everybody’s lips. Lately rumours came up that even the German chancellors mobile phone was spied. But the idea of the government spying on people is really not new. Do you remember the Simpsons movie back in 2007?

I found a video clip on the internet that shows the allegedly exaggerated scene ;)   --> the Simpsons knew it 

Meanwhile the NSA´s top managers are defending their spying program. They claim that it is vital for the battle against terror organisations. Further, as attack is said to the best form of defence, they counter: “Europe is spying on us!”

Which of all this is true and which is not, we might never know. 

I guess this is just a litte aspect of what governments and their secret services are keeping from the populance. 

Have you seen the film `The Dictator´ ? I found a video of the (very ironical) final speech in which ´the Dictator´ lists the advantages of a dictatorship to the American. Watch it and think about it ;) Is America still a democracy?