English Film Series begins December 3!

The 8B welcomes members of the 6th, 7th, and 8th forms to the first two movies in the English Film Series.

December 3, 4:00 pm

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

December 17, 4:00 pm

A Christmas Story

Both films will be shown in the Media Room (second floor) of BG/BRG Stainach.

An American Supermarket

One of the big differences between the United States and Austria is the CHOICE or SELECTION of things to buy. A good example is the local supermarket. This one is in my hometown of Iowa City, and is about 8 times bigger than Billa in Irdning! I have included photos of sections in this store that should blow your mind!

First up, the apple section! This is just part of the PRODUCE (fruits and vegetables) section -- the whole section is nearly half the size of Billa!

Then we have your MILK/DAIRY section. Notice that our milk comes in different fat contents (skim, 1/2%, 1%, 2%, whole, half & half, light cream, heavy cream, lactose free) and in different flavors (chocolate, strawberry, eggnog). Milk is also is sold in 1 gallon (4 liter) plastic jugs because American children grow up drinking at least three glasses of milk a day! There's also an ORGANIC (Bio) milk section, but it is much more expensive than the milk made with bovine growth hormone (BGH):

Then we've got your SNACK aisle with potato chips, tortilla chips, cheese dip and salsa. This entire aisle is chips, folks!
This is our SALAD DRESSING aisle, with at least 50 different flavors (French, ranch, Caesar, blue cheese, raspberry vinaigrette, honey mustard, green goddess, just to name a few)! Because Americans are often overweight (and who wouldn't be overweight with all the chips!?) one of the popular diet foods is salad. Of course, a bowl of lettuce (aka rabbit food) wouldn't be complete without SALAD DRESSING which is 100% fat! So much for your slim line!


This is the PHARMACEUTICAL aisle of the local supermarket. Here you can buy aspirin and other pain medications, cold medicines, antacids, and diet pills. In Austria, you would have to go to an Apotheke to obtain these things, but in the U.S. you can buy aspirin and cold medicine at every gas station!And that, my friends, is your tour of an American supermarket. I'll be interested to read your responses in the COMMENT section!

The Afghani Girl from National Geographic

ALONG AFGHANISTAN'S WAR TORN FRONTIER (original article): http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/100best/storyA_story.html
A LIFE REVEALED (story of the girl pictured above, 17 years later):
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/index-text

Improve your vocabulary! Feed the world!

Join 6C and 8A in feeding the poor this Christmas. Play Free Rice, and collect 1,000,000 grains of rice (per class) before December 24. Class with the most grains of rice per pupil wins a prize!

Where are MY kisses?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081105/ap_on_re_eu/eu_election_an_american_abroad

Yes, we can!

McCain's Concession Speech: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7710025.stm

Obama's Acceptance Speech: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7710079.stm

Funniest Sarah Palin caption yet!

Calculate your energy use!

You may have to ask your parents for help with this one (how many square meters is your house, how much do they spend for electricity and heating oil). But you will be surprised at the results!

http://www.onedidit.com/

So you want to write a novel?

If you are a budding author, National Novel Writing Month is coming up in November. Check out www.nanowrimo.org The idea is to write 1667 words every day (about 5 pages, double spaced) and at the end of the month you will have a novel-length manuscript. Of course, it will need to be edited before you publish it, but at least your ideas are on paper! You do NOT have to write in English (there's even a special section for German-Austrian authors). If you sign up, find me under pocketjoey and we can be writing buddies!

Maturaball vs. Prom

Last night at the Maturaball, I explained to some of you that prom in the United States is very different. Our prom is always at the end of the school year, just before the senior students graduate, usually in May. Prom is really a dance for the seniors, but they often invite students from other classes to be their date, so I went to prom when I was a junior and a senior.

We choose a theme for our prom, and decorate like a Maturaball. The junior class has to pay for the prom itself (through fundraising), but the parents of the junior class pay for the "Party After the Party". We don't invite the entire community, and only a few teachers and parents are there to chaperone. Of course, we don't have any alcohol because the drinking age in the US is 21.

Girls have dresses similar to the ball gowns in Austria, but the boys have to rent a tuxedo. Before the prom, the boy picks the girl up and the parents take lots of photographs. The boy gives the girl a corsage (a flower she wears on her dress or on her wrist) and the girl gives the boy a boutonniere (a flower for his jacket lapel). Then they go to an outrageously expensive restaurant. Sometimes, a group of students will rent a limousine. It's not unusual for each couple to spend $1000 in clothes, food, transportation for prom.

At prom we don't have a Polonaise or a Mitternachtseinlage. It's really just a lot of dancing with a DJ. The Party after the Party is in a safe location where the students can go to play ping pong, billiards, laser tag, basketball, or just chill. Once the students go the PAP, they are locked in until about 6:00 am so they can't go out and drink and get in trouble.

If you want to hear more about MY proms (themes, my dates, my dresses, my flowers, the restaurants we went to) just ask!


P.S. Thank you, thank you, students of the 8A for including me in the Maturazeitung, for arranging my date ;-), and for the dances! I had SOOOOO much fun!!

Public Property

Public Property has been called the "blackest white reggae band in the world" and the guitarist is a good friend of Joey's! If they get enough downloads from Austria, the band will consider a European tour. So check out Public Property at: http://www.publicprop.com/index.asp?show=yes or on MySpace www.myspace.com/publicprop. Remember to download some of their music!

Interest in Cribbage Club?

Cribbage is a British card game, and Joey is an expert! If you would like to learn how to play this game, please email me at pocketjoey@gmail.com and we'll set up a tutorial!

I'm baaaa-aack!

Hey y'all! Thank you for welcoming me back to BG/BRG Stainach and BBAKIP Liezen. I missed you over the summer. I've tidied up the blog, and hope to make it easier to use this year. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment or send me an email: pocketjoey@gmail.com You can also find me on Skype (pocketjoey). At school, come and visit me in the conference room between classes.

Kite Runner - Character List

Amir, the main character and narrator. He is a Pashtun (Sunni)
Hassan, Amir’s friend and Hazara (Shi’a) servant
Baba, Amir’s father
Ali, Hassan’s father
Rahim Khan, a friend of Amir’s family
Assef, a neighborhood bully who turns to the Taliban
Kamal, friend of Assef
Soraya, Amir’s wife
General Sahib (Taheri), Soraya’s father
Sohrab, Hassan’s son
Sanaubar, Ali’s wife and mother of Hassan
Farid, Amir’s driver in Afghanistan

A little about Iowa

Yesterday my family and I went on a trip from Iowa City to Keosauqua, the little town where we have a summer house on the Des Moines River (you can check out these place on GoogleEarth). There was an ice jam a couple of weeks ago, and you can see how badly it damaged the trees right in front of our cabin (look how high the water was - higher than the flood of 1993!).

Then we drove past the Pearson House, which was a stop on the Underground Railroad:

We ate lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, the Riverbend Pizza and Steakhouse:

There I had a bacon cheeseburger with fries for $3.95 (about 2,63 Euros):

Then we drove around looking for things to photograph, including the flat, fertile, black Iowa farmland:

and Amish buggies:

We finally made it to Riverside, Iowa, the FUTURE birthplace of Captain James Tiberius Kirk, of the STAR TREK Enterprise (yes, really!):

Safe at home in Iowa!

Hi everyone! I made it safely to Iowa, where my Dad and Mom met me at the airport. The flight from Munich to Atlanta was 10.5 hours, then I spent 4 hours at the airport before my next flight to Iowa. It was a long trip, and it was nice to sleep in my own bed!

The weather here is typical for spring. When I arrived, there was quite a bit of snow, but it's melted little by little (as you can see from my parents' backyard from Tuesday to Friday).

Today we're expecting a "wintry mix" today, which means combined snow and rain. But that's o.k., because there's plenty to do at home: watch CourtTV, the NCAA Basketball Tournament, read the local newspaper and novels, and snack. This is the corner of temptation at my house:

There are at least four different types of chips (crisps) and I take a handful every time I walk through the kitchen. There are also cookies of all kinds, nuts, olives, pickles, sweets, etc. A very dangerous place!

I'm collecting photos for different essays, including food, supermarkets, birds, and anything else you request. So send me an email: pocketjoey@gmail.com!

Vocabulary for U.S. Elections

PARTIES (Two-party system)
Democrat (liberal)
Republican (conservative)

(other parties are: Constitution, Green, Libertarian, Socialist, etc. but they don't count)

CANDIDATES
Barack Obama/Joe Biden- D
John McCain/Sarah Palin - R

CURRENT ADMINISTRATION
George W. ("Dubya") Bush, President
Dick Cheney, Vice President

In the event that George Bush were assassinated, and Dick Cheney had a heart attack, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, would become president).

VOCABULARY
Assassination
Ballot
Citizen
Congress
-- Senate (50 senators)
-- House of Representatives (435 representatives)
Corruption
Election
Felon/felony
Platform/ideology/Issues
Primary elections (primaries)
-- Iowa
-- New Hampshire
-- "Super Tuesday" (Feb. 5)
Voter Registration

Electoral College
Direct Election
Straight Ticket voting

Separation of Church and state