Inauguration (what a wonderful word) was this week and Barack Obama is now president of the United States Of America!
Okay, I have to admitt that these are probably not the giggest new for you, but you can relax I don´t want to write what he nice man he is or from waht historial importance he is. I want to write about my experience of the whole story.
I was in Spanish class, when the inauguration started and we took a test, while watching TV. I was more watching TV than concentrating on the test. My Spanish teacher realized that it is anyway better to watch this and we just had to finish our test. I don´t know, if you saw it, when they showed, how the whole world was looking at the US to welcome their new president (oh ja, you are sooo important). They also showed an Indonesian elementary school class watching the inaugaration. I felt bad. We -in High School, in class, in the USA- were not primary watching it, but a elemtary school class in a far away counrty watched it?!?!?!?!
That´s why the American school system is so bad! Teacher make not even their own students, people who should care about that, watch an inauguration (and I mean any inauguration, not just because of Obama).
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Language
Everybody has a few words they can´t say. You know your word, but you still make the same mistake over and over again. my friend says for example always teléphone (stress on the second e), she knows it, but says it still, just out of habbit. We all (my other friends) know it and tease her with it. Not in a rude way. I mean everyone has those words or not?
I know that I have a lot. In my mother language it´s bad, but in english (a forgein language for me) it´s even worse. Like every German I have extremely difficulties saying "th" and "v". The "v" sound is every once in a while a big problem, because people just don´t understand me, if I try to tell the that I play volleyball or go on vacation.
Also difficult is saying Barack Obama (why isn´t is name John Wood or something easy?!) I just keep saying the president, as if I wouldn´t know his name. A little odd side of me.
It was really funny for me, when I had a French exchange student for the summer living with me. It was soooo cute, that she couldn´t sa "ha"! I taught her some German sayings with a lot of "ha" in it and she and I couldn´t stop laughing, because it was just too hilarious!
This experience helped me a lot to understand how people feel, if they don´t understand me, because of mispronunciation. I wonder how it sounds for you when I speak, just accents wise. I would say (without being egoistic) that my English is pretty advanced (okay, you can make-up your own mind, since you read my text and you can tell, how god my English is), but everyone and still tell right way, that I´m definitely not American. I think it´s is kind of good, since I´m really not American and I like to present my own culture. I just wonder why they can tell right away.
Maybe I am wrong and my English is not that good?!
I know that I have a lot. In my mother language it´s bad, but in english (a forgein language for me) it´s even worse. Like every German I have extremely difficulties saying "th" and "v". The "v" sound is every once in a while a big problem, because people just don´t understand me, if I try to tell the that I play volleyball or go on vacation.
Also difficult is saying Barack Obama (why isn´t is name John Wood or something easy?!) I just keep saying the president, as if I wouldn´t know his name. A little odd side of me.
It was really funny for me, when I had a French exchange student for the summer living with me. It was soooo cute, that she couldn´t sa "ha"! I taught her some German sayings with a lot of "ha" in it and she and I couldn´t stop laughing, because it was just too hilarious!
This experience helped me a lot to understand how people feel, if they don´t understand me, because of mispronunciation. I wonder how it sounds for you when I speak, just accents wise. I would say (without being egoistic) that my English is pretty advanced (okay, you can make-up your own mind, since you read my text and you can tell, how god my English is), but everyone and still tell right way, that I´m definitely not American. I think it´s is kind of good, since I´m really not American and I like to present my own culture. I just wonder why they can tell right away.
Maybe I am wrong and my English is not that good?!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Wind Chill
Okay, my research about "how we feel the cold" is not very successful so far, but I found something else really interesting: WIND CHILL !!!
I mean everyone knows at least kind of what wind chill is, but who knows how they measure it? So read what I copied from CBC news (the Canadians should know what they're talking about).
The wind chill factor is the method used by weather forecasters to tell us how much colder the wind makes unprotected skin feel. So why do meteorologists say it's -10 with a wind chill factor that will make it feel more like -18? Why don't they just say it's -18?
The wind doesn't actually change the temperature outside, but the temperature we feel is not the air temperature but our skin temperature. A person will sense that it's colder because the wind steals body heat by blowing away warm air that surrounds the skin. This means the wind chill factor is not a factor for inanimate objects like rocks, cars and snow – they will all maintain the same temperatures no matter how strongly the winds blow.
The new wind chill index adopted in 2001 uses a mathematical model developed at Environment Canada that approximates how skin temperature, especially on the face, changes with various air temperatures and wind conditions.
The math was put to the test in the research labs of the Department of Defence in Toronto. A group of 12 volunteers, six men and six women, went through clinical trials in a refrigerated wind tunnel to see how the model held up in a real-world situation.
Environment Canada also warns of the level of risk of frostbite associated with a wind chill factor. For example, when the wind chill is from -28 to -39, exposed skin can freeze in 10 to 30 minutes.
Before 2001, Environment Canada would calculate wind chill as how much energy (or heat) the body loses per second depending on how much skin is exposed to the wind. Wind chill was measured in watts per square metre, with values ranging from 1,000 to more than 3,000.
But because a wind chill factor of 1,500 watts/m² is meaningless to most people, the value was translated to the temperature it would have to be to cause the same degree of heat loss without any wind. This is called the wind chill equivalent temperature – what you hear when meteorologists say, "Dress warm. It's -10 but with the wind chill factor it will feel more like -18."
Different countries use different formulas to calculate the wind chill factor and the wind chill equivalent temperature. However, they are all based on research conducted by scientists Paul A. Siple and Charles F. Passel in the 1940s, later used by the U.S. army to develop warmer clothing for soldiers. The research found that the rate at which water freezes depends on three factors: how warm it was to begin with, the outside temperature and the wind speed.
Canada and other countries adopted the wind chill index as a public health tool so people could protect themselves from cold-related ailments such as hypothermia and frostbite. This is especially useful for those who are going to be outside for long periods of time, whether snowmobiling or shovelling the driveway.
Hypothermia results when body temperature falls below 35 C. Symptoms include drowsiness, impaired co-ordination and weakness. It can also be fatal.
Frostbite is the result of skin freezing. It causes swelling, redness, tingling and burning. Skin turns white and waxy as the frostbite progresses. Infection and loss of extremities can result.
Frostnip is a condition where ice crystals form under the skin. Chilblains occur when bare skin is exposed to cold water, or when wet skin cools. The skin itches and swells. Chilblains can lead to gangrene.
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Okay, read it all? Now you can tell all your friends what you just learned and everybody will be impressed!!!
If you want to know more about wind chill, you should check out the Office Of Climate, Water and Weather Service (http://www.weather.gov/os/windchill/index.shtml).
I mean everyone knows at least kind of what wind chill is, but who knows how they measure it? So read what I copied from CBC news (the Canadians should know what they're talking about).
The wind chill factor is the method used by weather forecasters to tell us how much colder the wind makes unprotected skin feel. So why do meteorologists say it's -10 with a wind chill factor that will make it feel more like -18? Why don't they just say it's -18?
The wind doesn't actually change the temperature outside, but the temperature we feel is not the air temperature but our skin temperature. A person will sense that it's colder because the wind steals body heat by blowing away warm air that surrounds the skin. This means the wind chill factor is not a factor for inanimate objects like rocks, cars and snow – they will all maintain the same temperatures no matter how strongly the winds blow.
The new wind chill index adopted in 2001 uses a mathematical model developed at Environment Canada that approximates how skin temperature, especially on the face, changes with various air temperatures and wind conditions.
The math was put to the test in the research labs of the Department of Defence in Toronto. A group of 12 volunteers, six men and six women, went through clinical trials in a refrigerated wind tunnel to see how the model held up in a real-world situation.
Environment Canada also warns of the level of risk of frostbite associated with a wind chill factor. For example, when the wind chill is from -28 to -39, exposed skin can freeze in 10 to 30 minutes.
Before 2001, Environment Canada would calculate wind chill as how much energy (or heat) the body loses per second depending on how much skin is exposed to the wind. Wind chill was measured in watts per square metre, with values ranging from 1,000 to more than 3,000.
But because a wind chill factor of 1,500 watts/m² is meaningless to most people, the value was translated to the temperature it would have to be to cause the same degree of heat loss without any wind. This is called the wind chill equivalent temperature – what you hear when meteorologists say, "Dress warm. It's -10 but with the wind chill factor it will feel more like -18."
Different countries use different formulas to calculate the wind chill factor and the wind chill equivalent temperature. However, they are all based on research conducted by scientists Paul A. Siple and Charles F. Passel in the 1940s, later used by the U.S. army to develop warmer clothing for soldiers. The research found that the rate at which water freezes depends on three factors: how warm it was to begin with, the outside temperature and the wind speed.
Canada and other countries adopted the wind chill index as a public health tool so people could protect themselves from cold-related ailments such as hypothermia and frostbite. This is especially useful for those who are going to be outside for long periods of time, whether snowmobiling or shovelling the driveway.
Hypothermia results when body temperature falls below 35 C. Symptoms include drowsiness, impaired co-ordination and weakness. It can also be fatal.
Frostbite is the result of skin freezing. It causes swelling, redness, tingling and burning. Skin turns white and waxy as the frostbite progresses. Infection and loss of extremities can result.
Frostnip is a condition where ice crystals form under the skin. Chilblains occur when bare skin is exposed to cold water, or when wet skin cools. The skin itches and swells. Chilblains can lead to gangrene.
---------------------
Okay, read it all? Now you can tell all your friends what you just learned and everybody will be impressed!!!
If you want to know more about wind chill, you should check out the Office Of Climate, Water and Weather Service (http://www.weather.gov/os/windchill/index.shtml).
Monday, January 19, 2009
Bitterly Cold
It was cold last week. Bitterly cold. For me (I'm more used to 40 degrees and rain) was it quite an experience. But I seriously thought that negative 35 would feel worse, that you would feel, like you have problems to breath, would never ever go out and that life would kind of stop, because it's just too cold to move on.
But it wasn't like that, it was more normal. It's hard to explain, but I thought that it didn't feel cold. Maybe it was because of the shinning sun. I don't want to complain, I enjoyed the cold a lot, especially, because we didn't have school for 3 days.
So why does the cold not fell so cold or is it just me, who experienced it as not too cold?
I would say this needs some research!
Okay,I have to say, it wasn't as cold as in the picture.
But it wasn't like that, it was more normal. It's hard to explain, but I thought that it didn't feel cold. Maybe it was because of the shinning sun. I don't want to complain, I enjoyed the cold a lot, especially, because we didn't have school for 3 days.
So why does the cold not fell so cold or is it just me, who experienced it as not too cold?
I would say this needs some research!
Okay,I have to say, it wasn't as cold as in the picture.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Eating habits
Mhhh, who doesn`t like eating (I mean eating, not cooking)?
I love it and I loved it all my life. Thanks to my mum, I never became fat, but my mum is far away and I am in the worst fast food country ever … :/
Okay, fast food is not such a big problem for my, it`s more that I love cookies and (German) chocolate, I also like brownies and muffins and good pies or sandwiches.
I just don´t do a lot of sport, I am too busy to go to a gym 5 times a week. In the summertime I normally walk the dog, but in winter, I honestly don’t want to, it’s just too slippery, icy and cold. Just tell my, what are you doing to stay fit in winter?
Especially after the holidays everybody is trying to lose weight, so what is your magic tip?
Did you know that my family at home bet how much weight I would gain during this year. My family is just lovely. I think this is truly hilarious, but my goal is stay under their expectations, which that I probably need a good died right before I leave.
I love it and I loved it all my life. Thanks to my mum, I never became fat, but my mum is far away and I am in the worst fast food country ever … :/
Okay, fast food is not such a big problem for my, it`s more that I love cookies and (German) chocolate, I also like brownies and muffins and good pies or sandwiches.
I just don´t do a lot of sport, I am too busy to go to a gym 5 times a week. In the summertime I normally walk the dog, but in winter, I honestly don’t want to, it’s just too slippery, icy and cold. Just tell my, what are you doing to stay fit in winter?
Especially after the holidays everybody is trying to lose weight, so what is your magic tip?
Did you know that my family at home bet how much weight I would gain during this year. My family is just lovely. I think this is truly hilarious, but my goal is stay under their expectations, which that I probably need a good died right before I leave.
Shopping habits
I live in the US since five months and –of course- not just my eating habits (yes, I do eat a lot of junk food and yes I gained a lot of weight) also my shopping habits are getting more and more American.
Maybe it is because I have more money than I ever had, since I am far away from my parents and I use their money and I don`t know exactly why, maybe they kind or forgot that I am a horrible daughter or something, but what I wanted to say is, that they are a lot nicer to me than normally (money wise).
And I am a girl and everything is cheaper here, so it`s even a little bit good, if I buy cloths here and not in Germany. I think, I have to mention, that I arrived in the summer with just one suitcase, with just 40 pounds, which is nearly nothing. It was okay for me, I went on camping trips before with far less than that. But the US is no camping trip and it is common sense here, that you have to have a full closed if you want to be accepted. Of course in the beginning, it is not too important, but after a few weeks you should have about 20 t-shirts, 4 jeans, 4 sweaters, etc.
I never cared too much about shopping (probably because my mum never liked it) but I have to say, it is a nice feeling to do it. I am compared to most other people a good shopper, I look at the price, I don´t shop irrational and from time to time I feel bad for all the little kids in China, who made my clothing.
But one thing is sure, I will fly back with just one suitcase, but I will send at least five big packets.
Maybe it is because I have more money than I ever had, since I am far away from my parents and I use their money and I don`t know exactly why, maybe they kind or forgot that I am a horrible daughter or something, but what I wanted to say is, that they are a lot nicer to me than normally (money wise).
And I am a girl and everything is cheaper here, so it`s even a little bit good, if I buy cloths here and not in Germany. I think, I have to mention, that I arrived in the summer with just one suitcase, with just 40 pounds, which is nearly nothing. It was okay for me, I went on camping trips before with far less than that. But the US is no camping trip and it is common sense here, that you have to have a full closed if you want to be accepted. Of course in the beginning, it is not too important, but after a few weeks you should have about 20 t-shirts, 4 jeans, 4 sweaters, etc.
I never cared too much about shopping (probably because my mum never liked it) but I have to say, it is a nice feeling to do it. I am compared to most other people a good shopper, I look at the price, I don´t shop irrational and from time to time I feel bad for all the little kids in China, who made my clothing.
But one thing is sure, I will fly back with just one suitcase, but I will send at least five big packets.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
New Years Post
Hey,
another year is waiting for us.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
It may sound odd, but -like everybody- I just can't believe that 2008 is already over. I experienced New Year (and especially New Year's Eve) totally different. It seems that American mainly feel like it is a totally normal day (I mean, it is kind of), so no big pressure to find the best party to start with the next year, the year everything will get better, the year you will start to work out more, be nicer, eat healthier and just be a better person.
I am one of the person, who normally come up with some new years resolution, just because I think, it's fun. I set goals of what I want to have accomplished by the end of the year, which sounds like this:
1. Start in the summer some sport.
2. Don't fail any classes.
3. Have a wonderful summer break
4. Visit some countries.
5. Save more money.
6. Play more guitar.
...
So, as you can see, it's nothing special, but at least something, I can accomplish, so that I can say in the end of the year, I did what I wanted to do in the beginning of the year.
So, what are your new year's resolutions? Do they sound like mine?
I think, it's interesting to hear other peoples new year's resolution (I love this word new year's resolution). I mean that it shows what you think your weaknesses are, something you want to improve in. And people, who think they don't need them, are boring, because they don't feel the need to end some bad habits.
Okay, you can always end your habits without a special date to start, but if you have one, it's easier I think.
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