eMag 24 by eMAG magazine

Dear reader What would you really like to do in your life before you ‘kick the bucket’? If you think this question sounds macabre, think again. The world is so big and full of fun ideas and things to do, so why not grab a few, and do something really fun that’ll change your life? In the end, routine is just as lethal as adventure, and nothing can substitute experience (yes, I’m quoting Paolo Coelho). As you may have guessed, this edition of eMAG is supposed to make you think. What’s the meaning of life? What happens after life? What do you hope to leave behind? But most of all, what would you like to experience while you’re here? As a topic for a magazine, ‘bucket list’ is both specific and vague. For example, have you ever heard of the 27 Club? We report on such topics as tips for creating your own bucket list, all the little personal goals you may have and weird customs around life after death. So have a look, if you dare. Of course, we haven’t forgotten the usual sections, so if you want to read about Augsburg or abroad, have a look at our ‘Keep it local’ and ‘Whole wide world’ sections. You may also enjoy our quiz, and if you don’t know which movies to watch, books to read or if you’re bored with your music playlist, peep a cheek at Watch.Read.Listen. And to round up, let me say that the spirit we want to convey is that life is great, and it’s worth living it to the fullest! And I hope we all do. Mira

Bucket list: A number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime (Oxford Dictionary) eMAG is an independent non-profit magazine published twice a year, by students, for students. It is part of a University of Augsburg Language Center course, as well as the Begleitstudium Problemlösekompetenz. Everything related to the production of the magazine is conducted in English. The aim of eMAG is to entertain and inform the university community about international, intercultural and local topics in the English language. As part of its philosophy, every semester eMAG donates a full-page advertisement to a local charity. We also regularly publish articles on our website www.eMAG-augsburg.de. The content of individual articles does not necessarily reflect the team‘s view and opinions. print run: 1,500 price: for free published: July 7, 2014 printed at: Senser Druck GmbH copyright: 2014 eMAG. All rights reserved. www.eMAG-augsburg.de Author & layout: Mirà Kanehl Kanehl; Pictures: Luisa Possi, Uwe H. Friese/commons.wikimedia.org

BUCKET LIST

KEEP IT LOCAL

Table of contents

It’s the little things that make life big

A semester abroad in Pittsburgh

Don’t ever give up on your dreams!

Gimme the horns!

‘Becoming Jane’ — or in my case, Susi

Gandalf, Frodo and Co are coming to UniA — and they’ve got

Just do it!

the ring

Rock around the clock

Random poems

What do pictures of dead people, Vikings, a chicken-shaped

I bet you haven’t heard about this one...

coffin and a reef have in common? 16

Is death the end?

Coastline craze, catching waves and sunny days

Mama, just killed a man...

SAME PROCEDURE

WHOLE WIDE WORLD

Young. Famous. Dead.

Mission ‘Randomness’

Staying in the Dominican Republic

Watch.Read.Listen.

Cultural misunderstandings

Slavery in Augsburg today — how cheap can a life be?

Vive la Picardie!

Staff’s favorites

Finding your way in a labyrinth of hieroglyphs

Photo contest: the most spectacular thing I’ve done in my life

Croeso I Gymru

BUCKET LIST

The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it. (W. M. Lewis)

Don’t waste time on wasting Many of the things most people want to achieve in life include huge changes, like travelling to a distant country, quitting a dreadful job, or doing both all at once – taking a year off living off savings and out of a backpack. What means the most though, is what you do about the little things affecting your everyday life. Carpe diem I can get so frustrated when I catch myself being too lazy to do something I really would like to do. The same goes for not doing anything at all, just because it’s so much better than doing what you really need to do, like studying. Procrastination can be a lot of work in that sense, sitting around and fiercely refusing to get up and get started with something. It’s quite remarkable when you think about it – how much time you spend on not doing anything, because you want to do something else. I’m convinced that many students, like me, are battling the same problem every day. So, what to do? Taking time when you don’t have it… I have to admit; sometimes I could just gag when I hear extremely cheerful, beyond enthusiastic expressions like carpe diem and the like. But hey, seizing the day, or rather catching yourself in the midst of procrastinating, can be a really good idea. After all, there’s a huge difference between wasting time, and using time wisely, obviously. With that said, procrastinating isn’t all just bad. However, when it’s occupying your time in a negative way, you may have to consider doing some carpe dieming.

… is when you need it the most Stop wasting your time on doing nothing, and start planning, and using it thoughtfully. I’ve always admired people who get up early in the morning using the time to do something just for themselves, before the day starts. That could be things like making yourself a great breakfast, or doing some yoga or meditation. I know, getting up even earlier than necessary is a scary thought, but not too scary if you decide to do it once a week. The time you take for yourself, by taking a break and having a coffee outside on a bench reading a good book, will make you more productive later on during the day – hopefully putting your procrastination to a stop. I don’t want to recite things people should change in their everyday life, as I’m sure you’ll know that far better yourselves. My hope though is that you’ll feel inspired to do some carpe dieming, after all. As we all know – it’s ridiculously easy to take those 15 minutes, two hours or however long it might be to just drop everything and for example call a good friend, before continuing your task. Just do something and don’t do nothing with your time, we all can spare in our day to day life! Author, layout & pictures: Tina Myllyniemi

Don’t ever give up on your dreams! From time-out in a monastery to the Seven Wonders of the World

What’s a “bucket list”, actually? We often heard this question while we were strolling around campus in order to ask you what was on YOUR list! Now for all of you: A so-called “bucket list” is a mental or written list including your wishes, desires and aims you want to achieve before passing away. In the beginning, most of you were not even sure about the term “bucket list” but the majority agreed on the fact that such a list is influenced by people’s environment, social status and age. As people get older, their wishes become more and more important, especially because particular dreams may only be fulfilled if they’re in a certain physical shape. Time’s running out! So, here are the answers! You may be curious! Name: Flo Age: 25 → Teaching “Mittelschule” Oh, I’ve never thought about such a list. Also, the term “bucket list” is completely new to me. I would describe myself as very spontaneous. Maybe that’s why I don’t make any future plans. In my opinion, it’s impossible to plan ahead. Things simply happen! Although, I’ve got one big wish: owning a house. Where? At the “Chiemsee” — with my girlfriend. Name: Annika Age: 22 → IBWL (international business studies) My personal dream is to have a driving license for motorbikes. When I was younger, my friend used to take me out on his motorbike and I enjoyed it a lot. It was an incredible — ultimate adrenaline rush! For me personally, riding a motorcycle is like a drug — it’s addictive! Other wishes I have in life are to start a family and to achieve financial independence. Name: Marlene Age: 22 → IBWL (international business studies) Like Annika I have some “typical” aims in life: a family, a house and financial independence. A special goal I set myself is to run a marathon. I know that this is a difficult task which requires time but I’m optimistic about it as I’ve already run a half-marathon. Why do I want to do this? Because I love sports and exercise.

Name: Simone Age: 19 → Pedagogy Umm.. I’ve never heard about the bucket list but it’s a good idea and I’ll definitely think about starting one. There would be one thing I really want to do in my life which is to travel to Australia to get to know its people and its culture — preferably with a friend. Name: Thomas Age: 24 → ANIS (applied intercultural linguistics) I don’t like the idea of a bucket list: I don’t believe it’s necessary! It’s like the proverb “live every day as if it were your last”, which I don’t like either. To me, that’s stupid. What counts in life are family, friends, and health! Name: Janina Age: 23 → Law Well, I’ve never really thought about things like that because I’m actually not planning to kick the bucket any time soon! If there was something, then it would be to get married and to have two pretty, intelligent children! (laughs) Name: Johannes Age: 22 → Business studies That’s a good idea! I think a list like this is awesome, because it may direct your wishes and goals in life and could therefore have a motivating side effect. In my case, I have skydiving and various other extreme sports on my list — I need the adrenaline rush! It’s amazing!

Name: Tobi Age: 21 → Economics I share the opinion. It motivates you and pushes you forward. I’d love to go to the U.S. or Australia for at least a year. Friends and family of mine have already been there and so I heard many interesting stories about the countries. Name: Sonja Age: 20 → Law I haven’t really thought about it but I reckon it’s actually a good idea. It may help people to live their lives and to fulfil their wishes and dreams. The only thing I would want for my life is to be happy — being happy all the time every day probably won’t be possible! I just want to be at peace with myself.

Name: Teresa Age: 24 → Teaching “Mittelschule” Well, I don’t have a bucket list but I have some thoughts about future plans: I’d like to live abroad for at least one year, preferably as a social worker in Africa. I always wanted to live abroad, I used to travel a lot with my family when I was younger; I always have wanderlust! But I worry that people might blame themselves for goals they couldn’t achieve, which might make them unhappy. Ah, one more thing I want to do is to live in a monastery — just for the peace and quiet as a sort of vacation!

Name: Constanze Age: 20 → Law Oh, I definitely have a bucket list! My first wish is to be happy and always stay true to myself. And one thing I really want to achieve in life is to see all the Seven Wonders of the World! Why? Because I’d just like to know why they were given the name. Name: Alexander Age: 23 → IBWL (international business studies) First of all, I want to graduate with a B.A., but I don’t really have a list. One thing would be to go and visit the Caribbean islands! Name: Felix Age: 20 → IBWL (international business studies) It’s pretty much the same for me: First my B.A. and later a Master’s Degree. If I had to say what’s on my list, I’d say to go on a trip round Europe with friends, simply to travel around and to get to know Europe a little better. Authors: Isabelle Wiedemann, Sandra Keller; Layout: Sandra Keller Pictures: Sandra Keller, Isabelle Wiedemann

‘Becoming Jane’ - or in my case, Susi Honing writing skills

… Than k f u l , sh e l o o k e d back t o w hat s he e xperie nc ed, t he g o o d an d t he bad t hin g s t hat h ap p ene d t hr o u g ho u t he r l i fe — and thi s i s how t he s t o r y r e al l y be gan ... First steps Growing up I always loved reading, most of all novels, because of their enthusiasm, life, colorful and new perspectives on certain things and because of the beauty and love they contain. Some people might start writing their own poems and stories which unfold to become more than just stories — longer, more beautiful adventures of protagonists, their happy and sad moments — if you’re so much into literature. This is why I started doing exactly that. Starting the process of expressing myself When I started writing, I mostly focused on easy-toread, funny stories. The amazing thing I experienced with writing these stories was as follows: During our school breaks we were sitting on the stairs in the courtyard — which looked like a line of 5 or more people — and I wrote page after page wor king by hand. My friends were just waiting for me on a stor to finish the next page as they handed the y pages further on to the person sitting on the left. Changing directions Starting writing while you’re still developing your skills definitely means a lot of changes throughout the years. This being said, I didn’t

really have a writing style in the beginning; nor did I have the point of view that I had a few years later — when I realized that the stories I wrote when I was about 16 years old were just a bunch of nonsense with character. I have changed all of that quite a lot throughout the years. Compared to my teenage stories, the stories I wrote later were rather grown-up sounding. The longest story I have written so far was one I started when I was 16 years old and tried to continue. This turned out to be slightly difficult. The sentence structure, language, and writing style didn’t fit with what I wrote later on. Basically, I had to go over the whole first part of the novel again to make it go well with the style, euphemisms, metaphors that I used then. My taste of setting, names and adventures has changed as well. Today I love great, iconic novelists like Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters as well as more contemporary authors like Nicholas Sparks and George R. R. Martin. These influences can be seen in my writing. I’d say it’s almost time to try publishing — but no. I still have one big problem: whilst developing my creative side, writing style and changing from teeny nonsense to an adult perspective, I still haven’t had the chance to finally finish one of my longer stories. This leads to one of my big goals in life — publishing a novel.

collection of novels

Bucket list Just imagining finishing the last few lines of a novel and feeling the rush of it being a little masterpiece — at least for myself — fills me with joy. I always imagined myself writing novels when I retire. I see myself sitting outdoors in a meadow, surrounded by all the riches of nature, writing. Unfortunately, this dream is still hanging in the clouds.

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typewriter

… The fi r st day o f my l i f e i n t hi s n e w, e x citing c o u nt r y s t ar t e d with a ro ug h w ake-u p c al l f r o m my mo t he r . S he w an te d me to f i t i n p e r f e ct l y i n t hi s l i t t l e s uburb an t own sh e c ho s e f o r u s . T hat me an t…

Author & layout: Susi Vogel Pictures: Susi Vogel, pixelio.de

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Just do it! A guide to fulfill your big dreams

Do you have a bucket list? You do? Great! You don’t? Then you should compile one right away. Why? Because the sooner you get started ticking off the items on the list, the sooner you can enjoy the excitement of this whole bucket list thing. What if you don’t know how to start and you doubt that you’ll have the time or the impetus to ever fulfill your dreams? Well, this is what this article is for. Read on to see just how easily you can start accomplishing everything you ever wanted. Let’s get started! Here are five things to think about:

2) The flow

ms a , e dr you r e u yo scar big f I “ n‘t en‘t do y ar ” e th ough us en mo

The flow is a person’s mental state when fully immersed in performing an activity. This means having focus, being completely involved and enjoying the process. In other words, it’s y the state of mind in which you totally on An forget time and everything around you. Usually you get this kind of feeling when you do something you really enjoy. These are the things that make you happy, the things that are worth living for. Of course, not everything you do makes you 100% happy, but if you wake up every day and wish the day was already over, you should question whether you’re doing the right thing in life. Thinking about the things that get you into the flow might help you.

1) Find out what you really want and focus on it What do you want? It’s such an easy question and yet so difficult to answer. Do you know what you want? And if you do, is it really what you want? As much as I hated mind maps at school, I have to admit that they can help you figure out what you want in life, what you can achieve and what you better leave up to others. Once written down, you just have to focus on your goals. Former American basketball player Michael Jordan describes e ar l this perfectly, “I visualized where I s e cl htfu wanted to be, what kind of player a t s g see i b I wanted to become. I knew exr “O se f ou ke actly where I wanted to go, and I y o a th ngs u t focused on getting there.” o f i

3) The example of John Goddard Read through John Goddard’s bucket list and you won’t believe what you’ve just read. When he was fifteen years old, he wrote down 127 aims he wanted to achieve during his lifetime. By 1996, he had accomplished 108 of them. But if you think that the aims on his bucket list were easy, you’re way off the mark. He traveled to nearly every country in the world, read the whole Encyclopedia Britannica and the works of Shakespeare, Plato, Dickens, Poe, Rousseau, and Hemingway amongst others. He also learned how to operate planes, motorcycles, surfboards, guns, canoes, microscopes, a bow and “Figh arrow, lassoes, boomerangs and tf learned French, Spanish and dream or your Arabic. If he managed to do all s and your this, why can’t you? There must d r be a hidden secret to his sucwill fi eams cess. I can only guess that John gh

th en y es of wh r ey al.” u yo r go d u r Fo yo ry

t for

you.” Paulo

Coelh

Goddard could do it because he wanted to achieve his dreams so badly. It’s like Vergil once said, “You can because you think you can”. 4) The three-million-dollar challenge The three-million-dollar challenge is quite easy: imagine you’re given three million dollars in cash on the spot. The only restriction is that you have to keep working full time. What would you do? Would you do the same thing you do currenty or would you change your life? Sometimes we’re afraid to fulfill our dreams because we don’t want to lose the security we have. But if you had three million dollars, you wouldn’t need to be afraid; you could just do whatever makes you happy. Of course, I can’t give you three million dollars, but this challenge might help you figure out what life you would lead if you didn’t have to be afraid of anything. Maybe you can already tick off a couple of the items on your bucket list? 5) Did you know that … - Thomas Edison’s teacher said he was too stupid to do anything? - Halle Berry ran out of money and found herself living in a homeless shelter? - Albert Einstein couldn’t speak until he was four and couldn’t read until he was seven? - Beethoven was so clumsy at playing the violin, he decided to only play the tunes he came up with? - Henry Ford went bankrupt five times before he was successful? - Daniel Craig was found sleeping on a park bench in London in 2005, mere months before becoming a movie star after being cast as James Bond? - Leo Tolstoy failed his degree?

All these celebrities were successful in achieving their dreams even though their life wasn’t always so easy. What more motivation do you need? Whenever I feel like giving up on my dreams, I watch the movie ‘The Bucket List’ with Jack Nicholson und Morgan Freeman. Another great movie is ‘Veronica Decides to Die’ based on the novel by Paolo Coelho. It’s one of the saddest movies I know and at the same time the most inspiring one I’ve ever seen. If you prefer reading, I can entrust you to read the book ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. There are 89 short stories in the book and once you’ve started, you’ll have to stop yourself from binge-reading the whole book in one go. Other great books on how to fulfill your dreams and find out what you really want are Barbara Sheer’s ‘Whishcraft’ and ‘The Big Five for Life’ by John Strelecky. Now, there’s only one thing left to say: Go for it! Why wait?

“Yo u disc r work wor over yo is to l wit d and ur ha the ll hea n, rt, g your you rsel ive f to it” Bud d ha

Author & layout: Leila Vaziri Pictures: Leila Vaziri, Sofi/flickr.com, Ladymay/flickr.com

Rock around the clock Lost & rare tracks for your bucket list

Throughout the years well-known bands and artists have released previously lost and rare tracks from their studio sessions. Dug up from the dusty vaults and long forgotten archives, I’ve collected a top-five list for you to discover and explore tunes you should have listened to before you pass.

It has proven to be a very hot collectible, supposedly fetching as much as $400 on eBay. The only official reference to the album appears on the Beastie Boys compilation The Sounds of Science, which also includes two songs, ‘Railroad Blues’ and ‘Country Mike’s Theme’. # 4 – The Doors – I’m Your Doctor Released on: Backstage and Dangerous – The Private Rehearsal

# 5 – Beastie Boys – Country Mike’s Theme Released on: Country Mike’s Greatest Hits At the end of the Nineties, the Beasties worked together with director Spike Jonze on a film called ‘We Can Do This.’ Michael ‘Mike D’ Diamond was supposed to play a country singer called Country Mike whose career goes downhill. Unfortunately, the film was never produced, but the Beastie Boys still wrote some tracks for Country Mike. Country Mike’s Greatest Hits is the legendary full-length country album recorded by Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch, Michael ‘Mike D’ Diamond and Adam ‘Ad-Rock’ Horovitz. Never officially released, it was originally only given out to family and friends of the Beasties as a Christmas gift back in 1999. Bootlegs started showing up a few years later.

The Doors played two concerts on 21/22 July 1969 at the Aquarius Theatre in Hollywood, though the second date was only behind closed doors and without a public. In 2002, the double live album Backstage and Dangerous: The Private Rehearsal was released. On ‘I’m Your Doctor’ we hear the Doors’ organ player and founding member Ray Manzarek sing, while Jim sings along some backing vocals. At the end of the song, we hear the two of them talking and joking around together. It’s a very private and wonderful moment of two lost and gone souls captured on tape.

# 3 – Oasis – Snakebite Released on: The Lost Tapes

# 1 – Jimi Hendrix – Somewhere Released on: People, Hell and Angels

This 1992 demo impressively shows that even the Gallagher brothers started off young and innocent. The The Lost Tapes bootleg, released in 1996, includes demos of the very early days of the band with Liam trying to imitate Stone Roses lead singer Ian Brown in his parental garage. Brit-Pop and Indie fans surely won’t be able to hide a grin, as these demos usually lack the instrumental genius and the typical natural coolness that became an Oasis trademark. Still, the instrumental ‘Snakebite’ is a timeless and groovy Oasis classic, in which they show off their natural skills and talent. The bootleg as a whole gives listeners an insight into the progress that later resulted in their debut Definitely Maybe, which was released only two years later. In May 2014, this masterpiece was re-issued, and provides Oasis fans with fresh bootlegs and absolutely wonderful live recordings.

On March 13, 1968 Jimi Hendrix recorded his song ‘Somewhere’, but it wasn’t released until 2013 when People, Hell and Angel stormed the charts all around the world. ‘Unbelievable, but true: Jimi Hendrix releases a new album!’ Those were the words that echoed through the press, every TV channel and radio station. People, Hell and Angels is a posthumous album packed with 13 Hendrix tunes at their best. Listening to Jimi’s ‘new’ songs brings tears of joy to music enthusiasts who have always lost themselves in his guitar solos on ‘All Along the Watchtower’ or on other Hendrix classics.

# 2 – Stuart Sutcliffe – Love Me Tender Released on: digital download via Amazon I was lucky enough to be one of the first listeners to this hauntingly beautiful recording of former Beatles bass player Stuart Sutcliffe covering Elvis Presley’s ‘Love Me Tender’. One of Stuart’s relatives from Liverpool, a dear friend of mine, let me have a listen in October 2011, the minute it was released. Stuart Sutcliffe died very young in 1962 in Hamburg, where the Beatles spent a few months playing in the Kaiserkeller and Star-Club before Beatlemania broke out. Every night, covering this Elvis song was a highlight for the crowd. More than fifty years later, Stuart’s family decided to release this very private and beautiful recording. This is the only existsting tape of Stuart.

There are many, many more bootlegs and tapes that deserve your attention. To name only a few, on Bob Dylan’s The Basement Tapes you get to listen to authentic studio recordings from the late 60s, Johnny Cash’s Out Among the Stars includes 80s recordings that show that even at that difficult time, he still proves to be a musical legend, and Neil Young’s Homegrown also reveals a very personal and private side of the artist. But for now… lean back and enjoy fine tunes of legendary bands and artists that have written and are still writing musical history.

Author: Julia Gehrlein; Layout: Hai Nhu Nguyen Pictures: dannypigart/flickr.com; epiclectic/flickr.com

Lia

lla

What do pictures of dead people, Vikings, a chicken-shaped coffin and a reef have in common? Burial customs throughout centuries and over continents Having a bucket list is fair enough, but what to do if you have an extravagant wish for your own customized funeral? What if speakers blaring “Highway to Hell” next to your black leather-clad coffin just aren’t enough? Let’s look into past and contemporary ways of dealing with death and the deceased. Who knows, maybe you’ll get inspired. Death suits you well: Victorian postmortem pictures In the 1840s, the early years of photography, the daguerreotype allowed the middle class to have their portraits taken. Painted portraits were a luxury that almost no one could afford, but photographed portraits were affordable for some. But often a family portrait would only be taken after a loved one’s death — including the cherished deceased in the picture. While photographs of deceased public figures still make appearances in contemporary media, and taking a picture of a corpse on its deathbed might still seem fairly normal, propping up Victorian family with their the body of your late deceased daughter grandma, sibling or child against your chest and calling for a photographer is the part where it gets spooky. Even spookier: once rigor mortis had set in and the eyes of the deceased could no longer be opened, Victorian mortitians painted eyes on the eyelids of the body before the photo was taken.

Take me to Valhalla: Viking funerals Royal Viking burials with burning longboats drifting off to the horizon are more of a romanticized Hollywood myth, based on the 10th-century writer Ahmad Ibn Fadlan’s account of a Scandinavian funeral. More common was the practice of burying venerated leaders or warriors inside a longboat together with food and weapons as grave offerings, nowadays providing archaeologists with insights into Norse naval craftsmanship.

In the near future, Viking burials might become an option for the modern Viking enthusiasts of Denmark and Norway, where the idea is pursued again. Understandably, it’s not legal to set fire to a corpse on a boat and let it float out onto the sea since the firewood and body alone don’t even come close to the necessary 800°C for a proper cremation and body parts could drift ashore. Therefore, the city of Oslo is exploring the possibility of building a huge concrete replica of a Viking ship on one of its cemeteries. On this concrete boat, a pyre cremation (reaching up to 1400°C) can take place under the open sky. The ashes of the deceased will then be collected in an urn which again will be either placed inside the concrete ship or an urn wall closeby. In the UK, where it’s legal to scatter cremated remains, a crafty mortitian designed a wooden, 80cm long Viking longboat urn in which ashes can be placed and burned at sea for a Viking send-off.

Tell me who you are and I’ll customize your coffin: Ghanaian fantasy coffins Coffins in Germany may vary in color and material, but there aren’t that many shapes to choose from. In Ghana, you can order coffins that are just that tiny bit different. A mother hen, fish, airplane, luxury car, brand name soda bottle, cow, shoe, cell phone, even a pineapple — there’s virtually no design that the coffin makers cannot deliver. A customized coffin is created with the character, job and status of the deceased person in mind.

Fantasy coffin creator Daniel Mensah

Life in death underwater: Eternal Reefs The wish to help along nature even in death isn’t an uncommon idea. In Germany, tree-burials are gaining popularity. Now picture a similar idea — only underwater! This is what Eternal Reefs in the USA offers. The ashes of the deceased are mixed with concrete, which are then formed into “reef balls” that family members and friends can customize with messages, shells and hand prints. Even the ashes of pets can be included. The reefs are then placed in the ocean, in Florida or even Mexico, while family and friends can attend on a boat. In perhaps a typically US-American manner, a part of a speech by John F. Kennedy is read during the ceremony. The sea as an eternal resting ground, the creation of a reef and home for marine life and hands-on involvement of even the smallest family members is quite a beautiful idea, isn’t it?

However, the coffin makers’ work isn’t cheap and their businesses have even become tourist attractions. Often, relatives and friends have to pool their resources to be able to afford their loved ones’ final colorful appearance. The message, however, of these coffins is clear: the deceased’s life and achievements are celebrated one more time. After all, who could be overwhelmed by grief when confronted with a pineapple-shaped coffin?

Authors & layout: Sybille Ehing, Lena Schwarz Pictures: commons.wikimedia.org, Cellbock/pixelio.de, Reugla Tschumi/commons.wikimedia.org, Thomas Klauer/pixelio.de

Chicken coffin by Kudjoe Affutu

Young. Famous. Dead. The tragic history of the 27 Club “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.“ Line of Neil Young’s song „Hey Hey, My My“; written on Kurt Cobain’s suicide note

The origin Although most of the 27 Club members had died many years before, the myth around the club came about after the death of grunge idol Kurt Cobain in 1994. Before then, several other famous rock and blues musicians had died at the age of 27, and the circumstances of these deaths led to the idea that premature deaths at this age were unusually common. The most obvious common factor among the members, besides, of course, the same age of death, was the drug and alcohol abuse. The club’s name presumably originated in an interview with Kurt’s mother, who told the interviewer: “Now he’s gone and joined that stupid club. I told him not to join that stupid club.” Soon after the term spread, a cult grew around the 27 Club. Fans dedicated websites, blogs and songs to the musicians; the music industry also sold T-shirts and other merchandise. In the meantime, even life insurance is promoted through the club. The theories When famous people die, the circumstances are often embellished and complicated until mysteries are created. Many people have tried to explain the surprisingly long list of rock stars that died at the age of 27. One explanation could be the life crisis and depressions many young people face at this age: the person’s youth is well and truly over, and the transition to adult life anything but easy. And suicide or drug and alcohol abuse could be attempts to rebel against the inevitability of aging. Jimi Hendrix The legendary guitarist and singer was famous for his amazing technique, his experimental sounds and his thrilling live performances, including burning guitars and solos played with his teeth. But the pressure on him was so big that he escaped into drugs and alcohol, which led to his death in 1970. Even now, Jimi is regarded as one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time.

Jim Morrison The self-proclaimed ‘King of Orgasmic Rock’ embodied hippie counter-culture rebellion like few others. He was the lead singer of the L.A. rock band The Doors and well known for his wild personality, his Nietzsche-influenced lyrics and improvised spoken word poetry passages during concerts. Morrison developed an alcohol dependency which probably led to his death on July 3, 1971 in Paris. Because no autopsy was performed, the exact cause of his death is still controversial. According to rumors, he just faked his death to be able to write poetry undisturbed. Of course, there are many other theories; some of them are even a bit odd. The Astrological Lodge of London, for example, put the blame on the planet Saturn, and claim that it comes near the earth every 28 years, resulting in depressions and crises for those born in the year of its appearance (though scientists haven’t been able to find any proof!). A study published in the British Medical Journal in 2011 concluded that there was no statistical evidence related to musicians dying at the age of 27, but there is evidence that rock stars die earlier than the rest of the population. Needless to say, this must have something to do with their excessive life-style! The Rolling Stone magazine has repeatedly speculated that 27 is just the age at which popular musicians decide if they’re going to carry their excesses to an extreme and die from the consequences, or if they’re going to turn

their back on their previous lifestyle and try to lead a healthier life. But it’s likely that a ‘club’ of musicians who died at the same age could be produced for every age under 30 anyhow. Hence, the 27 Club would just be a term which was dreamed up by the media. The members Apart from Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, there were several more famous rock or blues musicians that died at the age of 27. Brian Jones, the founder and guitarist of The Rolling Stones drowned on July 3, 1969 in his swimming pool in Hartfield, Sussex. Some weeks beforehand, he had been asked to leave the Stones because of his booze and drug consumption. He probably took the motto ‘sex, drugs & rock’n’roll’ too literally — sometimes it was so bad he wasn’t even able to play gigs. Because he also had a lot of private problems, persistent rumors about a murder survive. The iconic figure of the hippie era, Janis Joplin, died only a few weeks after Jimi Hendrix. She was a celebrated blues singer on stage, but her loneliness and the lifelong psychological effects of bullying in her childhood led to excessive alcohol and drug use. The singer died of a heroin overdose in a motel while she was recording an LP in Los Angeles. This posthumously released album, ‘Pearl’, was a huge success and peaked #1 on the Billboard 200, holding the spot for three weeks. After the 60s and 70s musicians, grunge idol Kurt Cobain was the club’s next member. The lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of Nirvana had difficulty coping with his fame and public image, as he believed what he had to say had been misinterpreted by the public. In March 1994, Courtney Love arranged a counseling intervention with friends, and Cobain agreed to undergo a detox program, but fled the facility shortly after. A few days later, on April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead at his home, after a heroin overdose, having shot himself with a shotgun. For some people, those five musicians are the only ‘original’ 27 Amy Winehouse Club members, but of course The British soul singer and songwriter is the newest there were several other immember of the 27 Club. She was found dead on July portant musicians who died at 23, 2011 in her flat, after excessive years of abusing the age of 27, e.g. the famous drugs, then alcohol. She had her international breakblues musician Robert Johnson, through with her 2006 album ‘Back to Black’, which Canned Heat’s Alan Wilson or led to five Grammys. During her career, she sold more Amy Winehouse. than 25 million albums, and helped her trademark ‘beehive’ hairdo to a comeback. Myth or fact? So all in all, the 27 Club seems to be the product of coincidence and media hype rather than a mysterious curse. But just to play safe, if you’re planning to become a rock star, you’d better wait until you’re 28. Author & layout: Manuel Wassermann Pictures: e r j k p r u n c z y k/flickr.com, J9qw/deviantart.com Rama/commons.wikimedia.org

Is death the end? A Vietnamese perspective

Death seems to be one of our deepest fears. We live in a society where people are so afraid of it that they hurry to live, but death is a part of life. We have to die, whether we want to or not. So we have to learn about life and death in order to live without fears and to die without regrets.

Where did my grandfather go? When my grandfather passed away, all these beautiful things came to an end. It was no longer possible to see him whenever I wanted. It was as if the whole world had lost its wonders. Where did my grandfather go?

My grandfather My grandfather was a very important person in my life. People told me that when I was born, I cried so much that no one could stop me, and that my grandfather was the one who took me in his arms and rocked me to sleep. When I was about six months old, my mother had to go back to work, so I was sent to my grandparents’ house, where my grandfather looked after me. Early each morning, he would wake up to take me to see the songbirds. We loved to observe them. Chim họa mi (Chinese Hwamei) had beautiful rings around their eyes and chim sơn ca (Oriental Skylark) had incredible voices. We could stand there for hours just to listen to their beautiful songs. That was our favorite place in town. When I grew older, my grandfather let me watch TV with him, and shared his fresh orange juice with me, which my grandmother made only for him, the privilege of the man in the family. That was the most delicious orange juice I’d ever had in my life. I loved it when he shared things with me. In return for his love and care, I tried my best to study well at school. As he believed that education was the most important thing in a girl’s life and future, it made him so happy to see me enjoy learning.

For Vietnamese people, when their loved ones die, their spirits fly up into the sky, where their ancestors live (it’s a kind of transformation). If they have lived their lives to the full, and if they have done all their duties, death is the completion of a life. According to the tradition, an altar for our deceased loved ones is put up in the most solemn place in our house. A candle and incense sticks are lit every day in order to keep the altar warm. Incense is a way of connecting the worlds of our deceased loved ones and us. Every year, on the anniversary of my grandfather’s death, đám giỗ, a common practice in some Asian countries like China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, we celebrate his memory. On this occasion, his favorite food, thịt heo quay (roast pork), is prepared, and arranged with fresh hoa huệ (tuberose flowers) and fruits, such as thanh long (dragonfruits), vải (lichis) or nhãn (longans). Extended family members like cousins and aunts, as well as friends all come together to prepare for the occasion. After the ceremony, we all sit together and share our stories about my late grandfather. It’s a chance for us to express our gratitude to him for all the good things he did in his life. My mother and aunts share stories with us about the good qualities which my late grandfather possessed: his caring nature and his generosity. In this way, Vietnamese children learn about their ancestors, and the spirit of the family is passed on. Is death the end in Vietnam? My mother told me when my grandfather passed away, “The ancestors are there, where their descendants are. They continue to live, love and care for their children and their children’s children.” For her, it’s very important that I keep this tradition alive. Every day, as I light some incense at the altar, I whisper softly to him and thank him for his love and protection. When I have worries, I pray to him for peace for me and for the world. In this way, my late grandfather lives now in me.

My grandfather and I

Author, layout & pictures: Hai Nhu Nguyen

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Coastline craze, catching waves and sunny days Windsurfing, a taste of heaven

As a young teenager I held a program of the ‘Stadtjugendring Augsburg’ in my hands and read: ‘Windsurfing for teenagers during the summer holidays’. I didn’t know any windsurfers. Nevertheless, the idea of windsurfing fascinated me immediately. To be honest, I was just too shy to join a course with strangers and too sheepish to ask my friends if they’d like to come with me. So I held onto the dream of windsurfing and put it on my bucket list...

So, this year my dream came true on Fuerteventura. I just grabbed my husband, and took him with me to the surf school ‘Watersports’ in Taralejo. The name of the second largest Canary Island means big adventure or strong wind. Both meanings suit perfectly, since there’s a lot of wind, and, for my part, learning to windsurf in a windy area and with big waves was a great adventure. Proudly and happily I received my windsurfing license after four days on the water!

With the sun on my skin I breathe in the salty air. I breathe out and just let go of my fear. Like thousands of diamonds, the sunlight is reflecting on the sea. I pitch and toss on the waves. The wind is moving my sail – anyway, as long as I can hold it. When I fall into the salt water, my wetsuit prevents me from freezing in the chilly Atlantic. I start again, trying to make friends with the wind and the sail. Wave by wave, I figure out how both work together, putting the theory in my head into practice without forgetting to trust my feelings. But most important is having fun on the water!!

By writing this article, I want to encourage you to live your dreams! But don’t worry: dreams are patient. After seventeen years I fulfilled my dream. Windsurfing just knocked my socks off! ;) Are you ready to windsurf? There’s a school on the Mandichosee near Augsburg that might interest you. However, Fuerteventura is a windsurfing paradise with plenty of windsurfing schools. In fact, windsurfers frequently mention Fuerteventura and Hawaii in the same breath. You can’t imagine how motivating it is to see professional windsurfers doing saltos, jumping and gliding at breathtaking speeds (of up to 80 km/h) on the René Egli surf spot in Costa Calma! In July and August the Windsurfing World Cup will take place there. Costa Calma has a few super long beaches, huge sand dunes and clear, blue water. Maybe you‘ll get the windsurfing bug?! ;) For more information, scan the QR code with your phone.

Windsurfing school Augsburg

Windsurfing world cup Fuerteventura

Author, layout & pictures: Luisa Possi

Layout: Manuel Wassermann; Photos: Luisa Possi

WHOLE WIDE WORLD

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train. (Oscar Wilde)

Mama, just killed a man... A quiz for the immortally challenged

1 3 4 6 8 9

3 U

R R 13

5 1

1. To assume ... 2. To give up the ... 3. CLUE: The title of this quiz is also performed by this band 4. D.O.A. stands for ... 5. To cash in one’s ... 7. To turn up one’s ... 8. To get into the ... 9. CLUE: A quote from “The Godfather” 10. To cross the ...

Solution: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ CLUE: The feathers and skin of this New Guinean bird are poisonous. (You can also find the solution on the Watch.Read.Listen. pages!)

Authors: Sybille Ehing, Lena Schwarz Pictures: Luisa Possi, Lena Schwarz, Inessa Podushko/pixelio.de, Rainer Sturm/ pixelio.de, openclipart.org, David Shankbone/commons.wikimedia.org, Jskvbinmv/commons.wikimedia.org Layout: Sybille Ehing

Staying in the Dominican Republic Challenge and dream?

In Germany, it’s 6 a.m. on a rainy day in February: my day starts at the check-in at Munich Airport. This time I’m really nervous, as I’m not just taking a flight to Italy or Spain or somewhere in Europe. I’ve chosen quite an exotic country: the Dominican Republic, especially the northern part, which means travelling for about eleven hours. Do you know the feeling if you planned to go abroad, but you don’t really know what’s going to happen? Although I end up watching thousands of English or German films during my comfortable flight, the long journey is quite exhausting and kind of exciting. Arrival in a completely different world But when I arrived, all was forgotten: on getting off the plane, I broke out in a sweat as it was about thirty degrees in Puerto Plata. The tropical landscape was framed by beautiful flowers, palm trees, sugar and cocoa plantations. Because of the high humidity, my body first had to adapt to the new environment and get rid of the jetlag. In the first few days, I took some diving lessons, visited the country’s capital, Santo Domingo, and other cities, and got the chance to visit English and German schools. The most fascinating experience: meeting two people who had left Germany in order to live in the Dominican Republic My diving teacher was German, and he helped me plan my tours, but the Dominicans spoke English very well (almost everybody!), which really fascinated and helped me. So, communication was no problem; I was really impressed by my diving teacher’s background. He told me that he was born in Germany, and he lived there for the first thirty years of his life. He’d always dreamed of living in the Caribbean, but kept his good job in a big company in Bavaria, and looked after his house and his family; he led a stereotypical ‘German’ life. However, one day he was so overworked that he decided to take his family and some of his property with him in order to leave Germany and start a new life in the Dominican Republic. This not only meant traveling or simply moving to another house, but also looking for a new job and adapting to a completely different lifestyle. At first he had to learn Spanish, in order to adopt the new culture and the national language. He had problems finding a job in the beginning, but then they offered him the opportunity to do his ‘Divemaster’

in order to teach English and German tourists. With the money he had brought with him, he began to help local children to get a good education, and he participated in social projects. On the last day before my journey ended, Wolfgang told me: “Even though leaving my home country was a challenge, as was starting a completely new life far from my roots, I would never regret this step, as the people in the Dominican Republic are so grateful and friendly. It’s people that count, rather than profit.” Sandra, a German girl, who was my guide on a boat trip, told me the same. She only wanted to leave Germany for about three weeks while studying, but has now been living in the Dominican Republic for about three years. She works on a ship to pay her way, and gives German and English lessons at Dominican schools. Sandra also helps disadvantaged children, giving them an opportunity for a better education and life. In a way, both Wolfgang and Sandra have fulfilled their dreams, and have done something for the community. Their message really affected me: I realized that a big challenge can often be rewarded with a ‘paradisiacal’ outcome, and that it’s not only material gain that makes you happy.

Author, layout & pictures: Katharina Sperling

Cultural misunderstandings Or how not to drop a clanger*

What do red underwear, pregnancy and unpunctuality have in common? Well, they’re all part of my experience with cultural misunderstandings during my semester abroad.

* to unknowingly say or do something extremely tactless Traditions

Our interest in learning as many languages as possible and gaining intercultural experience has increased due to globalisation and the importance that employers attach to these factors. In this way, we get to know people all over the world and, of course, we (at least try to) communicate with them. Who hasn’t yet experienced a weird situation or misunderstanding when talking to a foreigner? Not only can language be a barrier, but cultural differences can also potentially cause slight or even severe problems. I’ve collected some major faux pas from the almost infinite list of things that can go wrong while communicating with people from other cultures.

When it comes to cultural customs, it’s relatively clear that every culture has its own. So always make sure that you’re informed about them or you may either scare the person you’re interacting with (as happened in my case), or be really confused. So was I when the following thing happened to me last winter: An Italian friend of mine was asking me if I’d already bought new underwear. At first, I thought that I had misunderstood him, and was just about to get upset with him, but then he saw the expression on my face, and explained to me the common Italian tradition of wearing red underwear for New Year’s Eve. This is meant to bring good luck for the following year. We laughed a lot about it, and this year I’m definitely going to wear red underwear as well. Let’s see if it works.

Gestures

Habits

You might think that the gestures you’ve been using all your life are internationally accepted. Far from it! There are many difficulties that can occur while using your hands to talk – even if this is almost always the first step in communicating with people whose language you don’t really speak. For example, connecting thumb and forefinger to a circle and holding the other fingers in the air, understood as a sign for OK in Germany and parts or Europe, should be avoided in Brazil. Once, I met a Brazilian girl who told me that this actually meant that I wanted her to f*** off. I was so sorry because that wasn’t at all what I wanted to say!

Habits are always a good subject to talk and complain about, for example the Germans’ favourite topic, punctuality. Clichés may not always be true, but you can count this one one being true. When my flatmate and I recently organised dinner for our international friends, they were supposed to arrive at 9 pm – how naive we were! The first guests showed up an hour late, so dinner was already cold and we were almost starving. This also happened every time we were invited to their place. Even when we thought we’d already got used to coming late, we were still the first to arrive. Every single time!

False friends Everybody has learned about ‘false friends’ in high school. They were repeated over and over again and everybody had to remember them. Things like ‘aktuell’ not being ‘actual’. They were useful, but still very confusing. These kinds of language traps are common in many languages. For example, during my semester abroad, I was trying to tell a very friendly supermarket cashier that I was embarrassed not to know a certain word but instead I told him I was pregnant (=‘embarazada’). The poor guy was absolutely shocked and didn’t really know how to react – neither did I.

In the end... Each of these strange situations teaches us something about other people’s culture or language, so even if we do things wrong at first or talk at cross purposes, we can learn something new. I think this is the main reason to learn something about my foreign friends’ cultures. Sometimes it’s even a fun opportunity to really get to know people all over the world. Without the experience of these misunderstandings I would still be walking around Spain and tell the people I was pregnant!

Author & layout: Janina Endesfelder Pictures: Janina Endesfelder, Laura Gundlach

Vive la Picardie! Amiens — better than Paris!

Most of the students who want to go to France for one or two semesters want to go to Paris. Paris is, of course, a very charming, romantic city, but it’s one of the most expensive cities in France. So I decided to spend my Erasmus semester in Amiens. Amiens is a very nice city which is about 140km north of Paris and it’s the capital of the Picardie. With only 133,000 inhabitants it’s much smaller than Paris but no less charming! It’s situated on the River Somme and has a wonderful promenade in the city center. Next to the promenade is a huge park called “Parc St. Pierre”, the perfect location for a lovely Sunday walk. Even if Amiens is not one of France’s biggest cities, there are a lot of different tourist attractions, like the “Hortillonages”, the so-called “swimming gardens”. You can go on a boat tour through the Hortillonages and see all the tiny gardens which were meant to be orchards but the majority of which are private property now. They’re all decorated very nicely and wonderful to look at. At the end of the tour, you have the best view of the famous cathedral. The cathedral, “Notre Dame d’Amiens” is twice as big as “Notre Dame de Paris” and is the biggest French church built in the Middle Ages. Twice a year the Notre Dame is lit up every evening for a month. It’s very spectacular and impressive, because they project the original colors on the front of the church, which used to be very colorful and pretty. But, of course, one of the most important things when you’re visiting a city is the food. The best restaurants in town are on the promenade, where you can get fresh fish and mussels from the Somme. A specialty from the region is called “Galette”.

It’s like a regular crêpe but made from buckwheat flour and it’s salty. You can find it everywhere in the Picardie with all kinds of fillings, for example ham and cheese, salmon, tuna or even steack haché. It’s probably the best kind of crêpe in the whole world. To sum up, Amiens always felt like home to me. In my opinion, it’s the perfect city to go to for an exchange semester, even if it’s in the north and not in the south of France. And I’ll never forget the wonderful taste of the galette!

Galette Sarrazin Ingredients: - 250g buckwheat flour - ½ teaspoon salt - 2 big eggs (or 3 small eggs) - ½ l milk - some water Instructions: - mix the buckwheat flour carefully with the salt and the eggs - add the milk and whisk everything until it has a creamy consistency - if the batter is too thick, add some water - put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours - take the batter out of the fridge and whisk it one last time - preheat the oven to 150°C to keep the galettes warm - heat up a big frying pan and use a paper towel to coat the frying pan with oil - pour the batter in the pan and spread it around in a circle - be careful that the galette doesn’t get too thick - flip the galette when it has a nice golden color - put the fillings of your choice in the middle of the galette - fold it and put it in the oven to keep it warm - continue with the next galette

Author & layout: Katharina Bruijnen Pictures: Katharina Bruijnen, DocteurCosmos/commons.wikimedia.org

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Finding your way in a labyrinth of hieroglyphs About communicative challenges in China

“You’re learning Chinese? Wow, that must be tough!” is usually the first reaction when it comes to the question which languages I’m studying as an ANIS student. While attending the Chinese courses 1 to 4 at the University of Augsburg, I always felt people were exaggerating, but since I’ve been to China for a semester abroad, I had to face reality. Chinese is that much more complex for speakers of a Roman or Indo-Germanic language that it’s almost impossible to achieve native speaker proficiency in a relatively short time. What’s more, it takes a lot more time until you have some basic knowledge of the language. I’ll explain why… Chinese characters, pronunciation, and Pinyin Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin, is an analytic and tonal language. As you may know, it’s written in characters. As a beginner, you’re confused by all these pictures, which look awkward and complicated, but after some time of intensively studying Chinese, the complex words composing several characters tend to make sense in a way. I have a example: 口香糖 (kŏu xiāng táng) means chewing gum, whereby 口 (kŏu) means mouth, 香 (xiāng) appetizing and 糖 (táng) sugar. So it’s an appetizing piece of sugar for your mouth, and that’s just what chewing gum actually is. The words in the brackets represent the transcription of the characters, known as Pinyin. Learning how to write hundreds of different characters by heart is challenging enough, but the pronunciation is tricky as well. The Standard Chinese has four different tones and some dialects of the Southern part of China even have six or more. The chart below shows the usage of the different tones in one syllable.

Hanzi Pinyin Pitch contour 妈麻马骂吗

mā má mă mà ma

high level high rising low falling-rising high falling neutral

Meaning mother hemp horse scold question particle

It’s obvious that the incorrect intonation leads to a significant change in meaning. In English, for instance, it doesn’t matter if you accentuate the wrong syllable; the meaning can still be quite clear. In Chinese, and especially in connected speech, it’s almost impossible for us Europeans to pronounce each syllable correctly, which may lead to massive misunderstandings. In my experience, Chinese people can usually get what we want to say by context. Chinese characters – everywhere! I’ll now tell you how it feels in a city where you’re literally ‘lost in translation.’ It depends on where you are in China. I was in Jinan, which is rather ‘provincial’ compared to the huge metropolises like Shanghai or Beijing, despite several million people living here. Unfortunately, in Jinan, English is not widespread, which makes it very hard to communicate, so everyday affairs like buying food, getting your mobile phone charged, or asking for directions can prove difficult. Even cab drivers don’t usually understand ‘university’. Entering a restaurant and not being able to decipher the menu is also quite exhausting at first, especially if you’re famished.

‛‛ So you just pick any dish, hoping that it won’t be disgusting or the dreaded dog/cat meat dish (which is rather a cliché, I know). In a bakery the employees bursted out laughing while my friend and I were babbling and stuttering and couldn’t explain which muffin we wanted to buy. I often ended up in challenging situations, for example, when I was asking Chinese people for directions to the train station. They were always willing to help, but apart from the misunderstanding problem, Chinese people often give information they’re not sure about instead of admitting that they don’t know, which is a very obvious cultural difference. After a few days, I made a precious investment: An electronic dictionary! It’s like a mini-computer where you can draw the unknown characters directly on the screen and they’ll be automatically translated into German. More than useful! Although I had Chinese friends or my dictionary as a support, it was still quite hard to manage. As such, here’s some personal advice I learned while abroad: Be patient, remain friendly (if you tend to get aggressive, Chinese people feel offended; temperament and directness aren’t mostly welcomed), and keep motivated by saying to yourself: ‘In the end, everything will work out’, and with some luck, it will.

Author: Natalie Fahrenschon Layout: Luisa Possi, Natalie Fahrenschon Pictures: Natalie Fahrenschon, Dave Proffer/ commons.wikimedia.org, Dcrjsr/commons.wikimedia.org

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Croeso i Gymru* Quick guide to the Welsh language

Wales, the land of the Welsh dragon, sheep, Welsh cakes and Tom Jones, is a part of the United Kingdom, and, as everyone knows, located west of England. The country is often referred to as the ‘land of sheep’, as the number of sheep is approximately four times higher than the number of inhabitants. So when you’re driving along Welsh roads in the incessant rain, you see beautiful castles, beaches and mountains, as well as sheep running around almost everywhere. But Wales has one more thing that’s unique – the Welsh Language. Welsh Language – background The Welsh Language is an official language in Wales alongside English. All the road signs, names of cities and towns, and official letters are written in both languages. However, Welsh is a minority language, as only about 20% of the Welsh population are fluent Welsh speakers, though numerous primary and secondary schools provide education through the medium of Welsh.

Welsh pronunciation Many foreign speakers consider Welsh a difficult language to learn, because the pronunciation rules can cause some confusion. For ex-

ample: Welsh ‘u’ is pronounced as ‘i’, ‘dd’ sounds like hard ‘th’, and probably the most common, yet the most difficult one ‘ll’, which, according to my Welsh-speaking friend, is pronounced by ‘putting your tongue in the same position as you would when pronouncing the letter ‘l’ and then blowing air out’. However, the pronunciation gets even harder when all the letters are put into jawbreaking words; for example, cyfrwngddarostynedigaeth, simply means intercession, or the most popular example, the name of a Welsh railway station Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which can be translated as follows ‘St Mary’s church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the fierce whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave’. It is a 58-letter word, making it the longest place name in Europe. ENGLISH

WELSH

ROUGH PRONUNCIATION

Wales

Cymru

Cum-ree

Welcome

Croeso

Croy-so

Good morning

Bore da

Bor-eh da

Good night

Nos da

Noss da

Thanks

Diolch

Dee-olch

Please

Os gwelwch yn dda

oss gooehlooch unn thah

Good luck

Pob lwc

Pawb look

I love you

Rwy’n dy garu di

rooin duh karree dee

Wenglish Although 80% of the Welsh population doesn’t speak Welsh, they have their very own dialect of English, often referred to as Wenglish. Wenglish is influenced by Welsh grammar, vocabulary and a variety of accents that vary a little throughout Wales. These accents are often described as sing-song sounding. One of the best examples of Wenglish can be found in a popular British TV series “Gavin and Stacey”, where part of the show takes place in Barry Island, Wales. WENGLISH

MEANING

EXAMPLE

Cwtch

Cuddle or a hug

Come give me a cwtch.

Tampin(g)

Very angry

Tamping he was, after seeing how they were behaving.

Now, in a minute You‘re on your way, but not immediately

I’ll be there now in a minute.

Where to?

Where?

Where to’s she now then?

Tidy

Fine, splendid

That cake was actual tidy!

Hanging

Unattractive, nasty, disgusting

I didn’t sleep all night so I feel absolutely hanging today.

Half and half

Half portion of chips Can I have chicken curand half portion of ry half and half please? rice

Although Welsh seems a very difficult language, it’s definitely not impossible to learn. So everyone grab their pens and notebook, and get ready to learn some Welsh. Just simply scan the QR code for more Welsh words and phrases. Good luck! :)

Öffnungszeiten Mo - Do: 11:00 14:00, 17:00 - 01:0 0 Fr: 11:00 - 14:00, 17:00 - 03:00 Sa: 18:00 - 03:00 So: 18:00 - 00:00

Fuggerstr. 5-7 86150 Augsburg Tel.: 0821 51 88 27 Fax.: 0821 51 87 59 post.de e-mail: info@flannigansns-post.de/ iga nn .fla ww /w website: http:/ visit us on facebook!

*”Croeso i Gymru” - Welcome to Wales Author & layout: Natalia Trzeciecka Pictures: Daircaregos/commons.wikimedia.org, RoyTait/commons.wikimedia.org, HenrySpencer/commons.wikimedia.org

Events

- Every Monday at 8.30 pm: English Pubquiz - Live sport (rugby, Champeons League,...) Special events - Halloween - Honky Tonk

KEEP IT LOCAL

A city is a place where there is no need to wait for next week to get the answer to a question, to taste the food of any country, to find new voices to listen to and familiar ones to listen to again. (Margaret Mead)

A semester abroad in Pittsburgh Interview with graduate student Stephan Berger

eMAG: Stephan, tell us a little bit about yourself. Stephan: I’m 25 years old and a student at Augsburg University. I finished my undergraduate studies in Business Information Systems Engineering and am currently enrolled in the Information-oriented Business Administration graduate program. In addition, I work at the FIM Research Center as a student assistant, where I design and hold lecture-accompanying practice sessions for courses like Introduction to Business Administration (EBWL). You recently spent a semester in the United States. How did that happen? I’ve always loved traveling and exploring the world. After my Abitur, I decided to go to New Zealand and Australia for a work and travel trip. I had such a great time there with so many unique experiences that I decided to go abroad during my academic studies as well. Therefore, I applied for two of our partner universities in Sydney and Pittsburgh. Luckily, I got accepted by the University of Pittsburgh for an MBA program at the Joseph M. Katz School of Business. This was a great match for me, as the school focuses primarily on finance, which is my master’s focus. Did you notice any differences to the academic life in Germany? The main difference in the United States is that there are several assignments throughout the semester that are also part of your final grade. The professors incorporate current events, newspaper articles from the Financial Times, Harvard Business Cases, and podcasts into their lectures. This made the studies much more interactive and fostered interesting class discussions. Sometimes, there were even multiple exams or oral quizzes for a single class during the course of

the semester. I think this is a good thing because then people don’t start studying only one week prior to their exams but rather participate throughout the entire semester. How was the interaction with your fellow students? The competitiveness amongst students is much higher than in Germany. People feel like they’re competing for the same jobs and internships as their colleagues. The so called “grading on a curve” system — assigning grades in order to yield a bell curve and a pre-determined course average — makes the situation even more competitive. That sometimes made it quite tough to get academic advice or support from other students. What did you do in your free time? The KATZ has a high percentage of international students (about 40%). Therefore cultural exchange was a lot of fun and pretty important to all of us. We had multicultural cooking nights where everyone brought one iconic dish from their respective home countries, with Indian, Japanese, Chinese, European, and of course, American contributions. Whenever I had free time from my studies, I tried to travel as much as possible. During my five months there, I visited New York City, Buffalo and Niagara Falls, Cleveland, Chicago, and Washington DC to learn about American culture and to see its historic landmarks and spectacular landscapes. What are your plans for the future, now that you’re back in Augsburg? I’m already in the last semester of my graduate program and am currently working on my master’s thesis with the goal of publishing my research in an academic journal. After that, I might continue working at the FIM Research Center as a research assistant in order to obtain a PhD. With my previous experience as a tutor and first insights into academic research, I feel like I’m well prepared for this next career step. Author: Manfred Schoch; Layout: Sybille Ehing Pictures: Stephan Berger

Gimme the horns! Playing in a local wind orchestra Do you play a wind instrument and are fed up with practicing on your own or only playing polkas, marches and waltzes? Ever dreamt of participating in Johan de Mej’s Lord of the Rings symphony but still worrying about the details? Then I might have a couple of useful thoughts for you. And the best is yet to come: Giving it a try is easier than you might think. There’s a huge variety of orchestras right on your doorstep. So what about joining one of the many symphonic wind orchestras in and around Augsburg? There are, however, some important points you should consider before you know whether playing in an orchestra in the city where you study is the right thing. First, music is your hobby. This means you pursue it because it’s fun, and because you have time for it. Of course, to a large extent, this depends on the amount of studying you have to do, as well as other time-consuming activities, such as any side jobs you’ve got to do in order to make a living, additional hobbies or your social life. If these factors minimize your free time to almost nothing, starting to play in an orchestra might not make you happy, unless you regard something like an evening rehearsal a week as a kind of antidote to your working day. In any case, nobody will treat you unfairly if you can’t attend each rehearsal, or play every gig that there is, because of a sometimes crowded schedule. As long as you show a good will and rehearse regularly in order to achieve and maintain a decent lipping, there’s no reason for having a bad conscience.

no matter where you go. Actually, amateur orchestras subsist on a big pool of players of each instrument, since it’s most unlikely that each single musician has time to come on a certain day, for example, when there’s the big annual concert and a complete lineup is required. All in all, joining a wind orchestra in Augsburg might not be the right thing for everyone who plays a wind instrument. However, as most problems vanish into thin air on closer inspection, giving it a try is absolutely worthwhile, especially because of the varied and lively music scene that we have here in Augsburg. And if you still end up with the feeling that all this is not exactly what or where you want to play, you could also set up a wind ensemble, or a smaller wind quintet. And if you do so, here’s a trombone player waiting to be recruited.

Second, you should know what you want. You can find several symphonic wind orchestras in and around Augsburg. Although it’s true that most of them don’t only play one genre of music, they all have their own strengths and predelictions for a special kind of music, such as e.g. symphonic pieces, jazz, swing, contemporary music or traditional. So, be clear about what kind of music the orchestra you want to join plays the most. It doesn’t hurt to ask and nobody would get offended by your refusal due to differences in musical taste. Third, don’t think the instrument you play is too widespread and therefore, not needed to support a register that is well-provided anyway. OK, there are some exotic instruments, e. g. the English horn, bassoon, bass clarinet, the baritone saxophone, etc. Conductors would do anything to make them join their orchestra. If you play such an instrument, congratulations - you’ll be everybody’s darling

Check this small selection of local wind orchestras in and around Augsburg: • Stadtkapelle Neusäß e. V. http://www.stadtkapelle-neusaess.de/ • Stadtkapelle Gersthofen e. V. http://www.stadtkapelle-gersthofen.de/ • Stadtkapelle Friedberg e. V. http://stadtkapellefriedberg.de/ • Musikverein Göggingen e. V. http://www.mvgoeggingen.com/

Author & layout: Christian Reckerth Pictures: Christian Reckerth, Glogger/commons.wikimedia.org

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Gandalf, Frodo and Co are coming to UniA – and they’ve got the ring The “Tolkien Ringvorlesung” How did it come about? Stephan Köser, a fellow student, believes that our influence on the program offered at uni is a possible and positive thing. Knowing that not all lecturers can read students’ minds, he decided to approach Dr Kirner-Ludwig and see whether his idea of having a lecture series on Tolkien could raise interest and prove that our uni values not only old-school, classic literature. And it did. Why? Because Tolkien was a lingual genius in every sense of the word. A professor of linguistics himself, he invented a language with all the complex structures that belong to one – creating an amazing book series with worlds to get lost in. Their public appeal and the fact that his books are best sellers and that the films throng the cinemas are reason enough to give the stories a closer look. What and who? Tolkien’s masterpieces will be analyzed from the specific viewpoints of different disciplines. Besides Anglophone Linguistics (Dr Monika Kirner-Ludwig, Michael Sauter, Elisabeth Fritz, Johannes Sift, Ms Vogt-William and Annika McPherson), disciplines such as Geography (Sebastian Streitberger) as well as Geographical Technology (Prof. Sabine Timpf), Communication Theory in respect to the trailers (Heike Krebs), German Linguistics (Katja Schneider, Julian Werlitz and Prof. Freimut Löser), and Catholic Theology (Prof. Georg Langenhorst and Christina Renczes) will be covered. For whom? This lecture is open to students from the UniA, but by no means restricted to them – everyone, and especially high school students who want to get a touch of uni are most welcome. That is one of the reasons why most of the lectures will be held in German. Finally, if you’re interested in what Beowulf or the Empire have to do with Tolkien, the letters Tolkien wrote to Santa, the typology and language Tolkien invented or what the Middle Ages have to do with the wizards in Tolkien’s works as well as in Harry Potter, the geography in his works or what the Catholic Church thinks about his stories, you should really attend these lectures! Students will also find information on Digicampus. When? Every Monday evening starting from October 20th. Author & layout: Mirà Kanehl; Pictures: BotMultichillT/ Darth Stabro/commons.wikimedia.org, Nemo/pixaby.com

Eine Initiative von Stephan Köser (stud. phil.) und Dr. Monika Kirner-Ludwig (Englische Sprachwissenschaften)

Einmal Tolkien und wieder Zurück – Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf J.R.R. Tolkien und sein Werk

ONE RING

[Vorlesung]

WINTERSEMESTER _2014-2015 MONTAGS _17:30-19:00 UHR www.ginocommetti.com

Random poems A romantic guest contribution that may or may not have been the result of an uneven page count Between articles about death, people who died, burial customs and all the things people feel they need to do before they die, I very keenly observed that this issue of eMAG desperately lacks romance. So let’s continue the morbid “things you have to do before you die” list… just more romantically. I think at least once in your life you need to make an ass of yourself and take the poetry you secretly write when you’re listening to Creep or Teenage Dirtback – or God forbid Chris Isaak – and do one or both of the following things with it: Actually e-mail it to the person it’s intended for and/or have it published in a magazine. Once this is printed, I will have done both (notice how I correctly used the future perfect here). While I’m happy to say that the glorious feat of e-mailing a 350-word (!) “but this is how I feel” poem to a friend did not result in a restraining order, it surprisingly enough also didn’t result in sex. Let’s see what happens when you publish poems for the world to read (yes, I just equated the couple of hundred people who read eMAG with the world).

Trust Issues Your jokes and your grip Make me giggle and sweat Your frown and your eyes Make me twitch and tell lies Your trust issues don’t inspire me I’ll never pretend to disagree I’ll always love when I like what I see Your trust issues don’t inspire me Be cold and insane Be dismissive and vain Can’t hide I like you Just ‘cause you want me to Your trust issues don’t inspire me I’ll never pretend to disagree I’ll always love when I like what I see Your trust issues don’t inspire me I know what I say In this song and all day: You don’t inspire. Also said I’m a liar

Author & layout: Jessica Friedline Pictures: Jana Safronova

God Help God help, God bless This evil girl Got me helpless Ah. Yes. Yes. Yes. I’m always neat and polite Hold them evil thoughts tight But don’t they have a right To – ah – heat up and ignite God, I know this ain’t right But – ah – try as I might She’s a sight to excite That keeps me up at night God help, God bless This evil girl Got me helpless Ah. Yes. Yes. Yes. I need to be controlled and upright But in this golden red disco light God knows – ah – I’ll lose the fight Every inch I need to touch and bite God help, God bless This evil girl Got me helpless Ah. Yes. Yes. Yes.

I bet you haven’t heard about this one... Augsburg’s application for UNESCO world cultural heritage

Augsburg is currently applying for a World Cultural Heritage Site at UNESCO, but not because it’s one of the oldest cities in the world or because it has wonderful Renaissance buildings. No, the application is called: “Hydraulic Engineering and Hydroelectric Power, Drinking Water and Decorative Fountains in Augsburg”. But the name is not the only curious thing. What nobody knows is that Augsburg has already spent thousands of euros on the application and has set up an extra office which is responsible for the matter and the advertisement in and around Augsburg. They have even started a monthly event: the day of water. All participating buildings are open to visitors on the first Sunday of the month. But it seems as if all their efforts haven’t had a lot of success so far. In order to inform you about the topic, I’ll take you for a walk through Augsburg’s magnificent history:

every time. So the Hochablass we know today was built in 1910. It has a walkway to get to the other side, and is divided into three sections: the major one is to regulate the water level of the Lech and the amount of water rushing down, one smaller section regulates the water level of the neighboring Kuhsee and the third section, the new hydroelectric facility, was only finished in December 2013.

1) The Hochablass Our tour starts at the Hochablass. Have you ever been there before? Standing on the weir feels like you’re on vacation, you can see the water rushing down below your feet from more than five meters and the air is filled with water droplets. It’s like standing on top of a waterfall. If you come with me to the viewpoint next to the Hochablass, you can see an old sign on one of the walls which says that the construction of the weir started in 1340. It was destroyed several times by floods and war, but it was rebuilt

2) The hydroelectric facility next to the Hochablass We only need to walk around the corner to get to the next building: a hydroelectric facility. During the Industrial Revolution, in the year 1879, Augsburg built one of the first towerless waterworks. It was a technical innovation. The Hochablass dammed the Lech water up to the canal that provided the hydroelectric facility with water. The water power and the canals encouraged factories, most of all the textile and paper industries, to be built in Augsburg, which was one of the reasons for the city’s early transformation into an industrial metropolis. 3) Augsburg’s water canals As we were just talking about canals, we should take a closer look at them. But we need to go far back in time. The Romans estab-

lished Augsburg between two rivers, the Lech and the Wertach. In order to supply the city with drinking and industrial water, they started building open water canals in the early 8th century! These canals served as transport routes for firewood, building and raw materials: they powered grain and hammer mills and helped to remove waste. We can still take a look at them while we are walking through the city’s historic quarter and we can find other nice views, like an old waterwheel at the Vogeltor, right next to the City Galerie.

4) The water towers Our walk now takes us along the canals to the Rotes Tor. The first water towers were built there in 1412. At this time, they were made of wood and supplied the city with water. The city even built aqueducts to separate the industrial water from the clean, drinkable Brunnenbach water, which was fed into the water towers. The waterworks at the gate were built four years later in 1416.

5) The three Mannerist-style monumental fountains We have just arrived in Augsburg’s wonderful city center, where our tour ends. No matter which way you go, you’ll see at least one of its great fountains. But three of them are special! Hubert Gerhard and Adriaen de Vires, two of the world’s most celebrated sculptors in the 16th century, built the three monumental fountains (Augustus, Mercury and Hercules) between the years 1588 and 1600. All of them are made of bronze. The fountains were to be showpieces for the city’s water management system. If you come with me to the Maximilian Museum, you can see the original statues in the courtyard.

I hope you were able to gain a little impression of our history — concerning water — and I thank you for joining me on my walk.

Author & pictures: Mirabell Möhnle; Layout: Christian Reckerth

SAME PROCEDURE SAME PROCEDURE

James:“Same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?”– Miss Sophie:“Same procedure as every year, James!”

Mission ‘Randomness’ Random people — random questions Let me introduce myself shortly: My name is Agent 002 and I’m on a mission — Mission ‘Randomness’ — which started a few weeks ago. My task: go to a random place and ask random people random questions. First I wasn’t sure whether I was random enough to do this, but my team was quite confident about it. So I went home to make a plan. I sat at the kitchen table for hours, thinking about random questions but also about who I wanted to ask. I mean, what’s a random person like? As you can see, it was a tough case. In the end I had established two master plans: 1) go to a random place on campus, blackmail random hungry people with home-made cookies and make them answer at least one random question 2) stay at home, call random service hotlines in Augsburg and ask them the same questions (you can see this mission on our homepage — QR code!) So this is the result of master plan 1) and I want to thank all those random hungry volunteers!

Which is the first album you bought? - Anastacia, but I forgot the name of the album (Veronika, 22) - my sister had an album of the Backstreet Boys we used to listen to and sing along together (Miriam 22)

Who would you erect a memorial to? How many pairs of shoes do you have? - my mom and my grandpa (Sarah, 20) - that’s easy: four (I was actually so surprised by that small number that - Jupp Heynckes (Amelie, 21) I forgot to ask her name and age - sorry for that!) - let me count (it took her several minutes) I guess 16 (Sabine, 26) Favorite Disney Movie? - Jungle Book ( Veronika, 22) - Aladdin (Julia, 20) - The Lion King (Iris, 27) - Mulan (Jessica, 23)

What was your last concert? - Stu Larsen (Lena, 22) - Pink in Munich (Marie, 20)

Would you attend a casting show? - depending on how legitimate the show is. I guess I would go to ‘the Voice, but ‘DSDS’ is way too dubious. But I can‘t sing - so it‘s What’s the ugliest thing you ever ate? no question (Sarah, 19) - meat, that was really horrible (Daniel, 22) - no I wouldn’t (Jan, 21) - I ate a lof of ugly things in Africa, but I guess the worst was a - well, I wouldn’t, but if I had to, I would go to the ‘Super fermented avocado (Johannes, 22) talent‘ Which talent would you show? Have you ever touched something or someone that was dead? - err, I don’t know (Franziska, 21) - well yes, I worked as a paramedic (Lena, 22) - not someone, but yes... mosquitos — oh and my rabbit, but I didn’t know then that it was dead already ... (Sabine, 26) Roller Skates or Scooters? - scooters (Florian, 23) - I don’t know which one is worse, but I’ll take Roller Skates (Andrea, 21)

I really enjoyed talking to all of you and seeing your reaction to these surprisingly random questions. But I guess the ‘COOKIES’ sign did most of my work. Sharing food is still the easiest way to find friends. In the end only one thing remains to be said:

Mission ‘Randomness‘ accomplished! If you had the opportunity to plant a tree, which one would you choose? Author & pictures: Mirabell Möhnle - maple tree (Lena, 22) Layout: Christian Reckerth - frangipani (Andreas, 22)

Authors: Sybille Ehing, Julia Gehrlein, Lena Schwarz; Layout: Sybille Ehing; Pictures: Sybille Ehing, Superikonoskop/commons.wikimedia.org

Watch.Read.Listen.

WATCH “Mistaken for Strangers” (cinema release: 10 July 2014) Hailed by Michael Moore (Bowling For Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11) as ‘one of the best documentaries about a band that I’ve ever seen’, Mistaken for Strangers is a truly outstanding, wonderful and hilarious film about two brothers — Matt and Tom Berninger. Matt, lead-singer of famous Indie-rock heroes The National, invites his brother Tom to join him as a roadie on his band’s next tour around Europe. Tom is a metal fan, doesn’t really care for his brother’s music, still lives at their parents’ home in Cincinnati and spends his days making trashy horror films. Nevertheless, he’s looking forward to spending some time with his brother and decides to film the entire adventure with a hand camera. The result is a very moving, authentic, honest and unique film about two brothers and their everyday life on the road. Even if — just like Tom — you’re not a big fan of The National, you’ll certainly fall in love with the many different characters, Tom’s wit and the lovely cinematographic details the film features. “The Lovely Bones” (2009) Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is a teenager who, after being murdered, lingers in a world inbetween life and death from where she can see her family trying to deal with her demise. Her father (Mark Wahlberg) becomes restless in his attempt to find her murderer, while her mother (Rachel Weisz) becomes impassive, and is unable to take care of her other daughter. Susie has to deal with the jealousy of her younger sister, whom she sees growing up, as well as her hatred for the family’s neighbour and prime suspect, eerily portrayed by Stanley Tucci, who turns out to be a serial killer lying in wait for his next victim — Susie’s sister. Both the titles of the movie and the 2002 novel by Alice Sebold on which the film is based were taken from Susie’s conclusion about her experience of being able to relate to her family from the hereafter: “These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections — sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent — that happened after I was gone.” The director of the book adaptation, Peter Jackson, cleverly uses his predilection for special effects in order to depict Susie’s afterlife with vast, fantastic landscapes in bright colours and to show the viewer her version of paradise. Both the book and the movie offer an insight into different ways of dealing with the death of a loved one, but also create suspense in the serial killer chase, not only from the bereaved family’s perspective, but through Susie’s eyes from the beyond.

“Mort” by Terry Pratchett

READ “Before I Fall” by Lauren Oliver It’s a normal day for 17-year-old Sam Kingston — scratch that, it’s Cupid’s Day, and at the local high school it’s all about who receives the most roses and ranks highest on the popularity scale. Sam and her group of girlfriends are at the top of this scale. And if they send a rose to mock another girl as they do every year, it’s fun because she’s a psycho anyway, right? In short, life couldn’t be better, but Sam only begins to see its preciousness when hers ends that very day in a car crash after a party. Sam doesn’t stay dead, however: she wakes up in her bed, just to realise it’s February 12 again. Caught in a time loop reminiscent of Groundhog Day, Sam is forced to reflect on her choices and actions and goes through denial, indifference, anger, despair, and rebellion. Lauren Oliver has managed to write a powerful, emotional, and sincere novel that doesn’t feel contrived, though sometimes it does drag a bit. Sam only slowly arrives at the conclusion that “so many things become beautiful when you really look”. Faced with the consequences of her previous shallow actions, she realises that the reason why she re-experiences her last day might not be to save her own life…

Mort is a young lad who, as is custom on the Discworld, is sold into a master’s service to become an apprentice. His new boss turns out to be Death himself, who thinks that he deserves a break after being on duty since the beginning of time. On his first unsupervised day, Mort accidentally saves the life of Princess Keli that he was supposed to end. While Death, well, not really enjoys, but suffers through his vacation, since he can’t figure out why humans take pleasure in fishing or binge-drinking, Mort tries to rectify the situation with the help of Death’s adopted daughter Ysabell, who might or might not have a thing for him. As it happens, the universe itself has already decided to make sure that Princess Keli’s soul is delivered to the beyond no matter what the cost. I’ll admit that Terry Pratchett’s forth Discworld novel was published a few years ago, to be precise, in 1987. But Death is and will always be my favourite Discworld character because at first glance the reaper couldn’t be more unlike any human being, but then occasionally reveals his joie de vivre and his kind, unbeating heart. Pratchett’s Discworld is full of parables about cultural misunderstandings and prejudices, but no other character is more charming than Death himself when it comes to pointing a skeletal finger at our human shortcomings. “Grand Southern Electric” by DeWolff

LISTEN

These three cool (he-)cats from the Netherlands released their first studio album in 2008 and therefore were one of the pioneers for the retro wave that’s recently been flooding the music scene. They describe their sound as ‘psychedelichardgroovin’funkyrock’n’rollin’-hotbluesdrivin’hellhoundingsupersweetsixtiesexplosion’, which surely is the only and best way to sum up the multifaceted 11 tracks on their fourth studio album ‘Grand Southern Electric’ (May 2014, ReMusic Records). Right after its release, it hit #4 in the Dutch album charts and the album’s first single ‘Evil Mothergrabber’ instantly became a favourite amongst radio stations for the young. The three bearded hippierockersouliegroovers have made an album that’s best enjoyed in thick white smoke in your granddad’s leather chair or barefoot under the warm summer sun. DeWolff are in no way inferior to bluesrock legends such as the White Stripes or the Black Keys, and they sure are as ‘Grand’ as their album title suggests.

Solution to the quiz “Mama, just killed a man”: HOODED PITOHUI For the complete solutions see our website www.emag-augsburg.de

Slavery in Augsburg today — how cheap can a life be? Charity article about SOLWODI

Have a guess: How many prostitutes does Augsburg have? Maybe 50? Or 100? Actually, there are about 650 sex workers in and around Augsburg. Of these 650 women about 85% are foreigners, and most of them don’t speak German. Presumably, most of the women are forced into prostitution and caught up in prostitution. Shocking, isn’t it?! We were very upset when we discovered these statistics, and decided to raise our readers’ awareness of this issue. That’s why we interviewed Mrs. Soni Unterreithmeier from SOLWODI Augsburg.

Head of SOLWODI Augsburg: Soni Unterreithmeier

eMAG: In your own words, what does SOLWODI stand for? “Solwodi (SOLidarity with WOmen in DIstress) is an association that helps women in need. It’s a contact point for migrant women who have come to Germany through sex tourism, human trafficking or arranged marriages. The association is a non-partisan aid organization that works independently, has no religious affiliations, helping migrant women in Germany who are in need of support. The key areas of engagement are psycho-social support, legal aid, safe shelters, help with integration or return to their homeland.”

How did SOLWODI come into existence? “SOLWODI was founded in October 1985, when Sister Lea Ackermann was in Mombasa (Kenya) as a nun. After seeing all the poverty and the girls forced into prostitution, she felt the urge to do something. Today, SOLWODI has ten counselling centres along the Kenyan coast, and supports a widow and orphan project in Rwanda. In 1987 SOLWODI started it’s activity in Germany, and so far 15 counselling centres, one reception centre and seven shelters for foreign women and girls in distress have been founded. I went to university with Lea Ackermann, and have always been a huge fan of her work. I founded a SOLWODI Augsburg work group in 2000, and in July 2013 the first office in Augsburg was opened; this is where I work with my colleague Rita Hieble. In 2010 a new SOLWODI counselling centre in Romania was opened, and in 2012 SOLWODI was also established in Austria.” What does your work at SOLWODI look like? What is your commitment? “I do a lot of media work, such as giving interviews, writing reports and delivering speeches. Since the funding of SOLWODI is not secured, I have to ask different authorities for financial support. This is tedious, as detailed reports are required. What’s more, I try to stand up for immediate action to protect women effectively through the law. I’m fighting for a change in the German prostitution law, since we have a lot of forced prostitution in Germany. Our liberal law gives the

Did you know that you can ‘buy’ a forced prostitute for the same price as a can of Red Bull?

xty to that si e w o n th uk Did yo percent of ly or y t ual eigh re sex ed? a s e t s u prostit logically abu o psych

Did you know that one human trafficking strategy is that trained boys, so-called ‘lover boys’, make girls in Eastern Europe fall in love until they are dependent on them and afterwards force the girls to prostitute themselves?

Did y ou prost know tha t it the p utes are a most force olice f d r aid to be boys’ threa cause the go to ir ‘ te lence again n them wi lover th vio st the ir fam ilies? You can order these stickers on emma.de

pimps a lot of advantages because it makes human trafficking so easy but very tough to discover and punish. But in the ‘Nordic model’, invented by the Scandinavian countries, the punter and the pimp get punished, not the prostitute. The Nordic countries have banned human trafficking as a result of this law. Since 2014 there has also been such a law in France. This Nordic model is being hotly debated in the Council of Europe for all European nations, which means it could be introduced in Germany in the future.”

How can a student help or participate in SOLWODI? “You could help young girls who come to us, mainly from the asylumseekers’ hostel, and help them with visits to the authorities, filling in forms or finding a flat etc. They’re often the same age as students. Another way to help women and/or their children is by teaching them German. This is also a good opportunity for male students, as well. We’re also looking for somebody who maintains our facebook-page ‘Make Love, not Slavery’ because the seminar of the University of Augsburg will end in July, two students created our page.” What are your aims and visions for the future? Where do you see yourself in ten years? “In ten years, prostitution should be outlawed. I hope that this human rights abuse will be a thing of the past, and that it won’t get worse. My dream is that our society will become more aware of refugees, and that society will open its hands and heart more and more to its fellow human beings. I also hope that there’ll be more solidarity in Europe.”

Opening SOLWODI office, back l-r: Max Weinkamm (Social Affairs Attaché), Helmut Sporer (Criminal Inspector), Klaus Bayerl (Head of Criminal Investigation Department); front l-r: Rita Hieble, Sr. Lea Ackermann, Barbara Emmrich (Equal Opportunities Officer), Soni Unterreithmeier

Which successes did you already have with SOLWODI? “SOLWODI has offices in different cities in Germany, Austria, Romania and Kenya. It’s great that we’re able to help women in distress at so many places. When women become independent again, it’s a great personal achievement. Although there are few women that the help from SOLWODI, it often takes a long time until they trust us. The collaboration with the Criminal Investigation Department works very well. Our hope is a bill which has been presented to the German Bundestag and which SOLWODI Augsburg contributed to.”

Thank you for the interview, Soni Unterreithmeier! We hope that SOLWODI will be even more successful in the future. If you want to know more about the issue of forced prostitution, Soni Unterreithmeier recommends the following book Prostitution – Ein deutscher Skandal by Alice Schwarzer.

Facebook page SOLWODI Augsburg

Authors & layout: Luisa Possi, Leila Vaziri Pictures: Luisa Possi, SOLWODI Augsburg

Homepage SOLWODI Augsburg

Julie

Staff’s favorites My bucket list

Mira

insert introduction insert subheadline

1) Go on a road trip down the West Coast of the US insert text 2) Interview Paul McCartney for the Rolling Stone magazine 3) Go to an Oasis reunion concert in Manchester

Tina

1) Ride camels in the desert 2) Learn five languages 3. Go dive in the Great Barri er Reef

Christian Natalia

1) Live in Sydney for a long period of time 2) Become as fluent as possible in the languages I know/want to know 3) Do a roadtrip with my brother

1) Get married 2) Go to Fashion Week in New York and Paris 3) Have a job that I‘ll absolutely love

Katharina

1) Go on a world trip 2) Do the world‘s largest rope swing 3) Publish my own cook book

Sybille

1) Visit Chopin‘s grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and thank him for the invention of modern film music 2) Compose a piece of music everybody knows 3) Establish a Swabian fast-food chain in Australia

1. Write a dissertation in Egyptology or English Literature 2. Adopt a child 3. Become a better photographer (I‘m working on that one!)

Mirabell

1) Find my tortoise (working on that) 2) Be a background singer 3) Take mermaid swimming classes

Susi

1) Get married 2) Travel to the US 3) Get my own novel published

Lena

Natalie

Luisa

1) Go on a trip to Brazil 2) Start a family 3) Publish a book (probably with ph otos

1) Live somewhere where I can go snowboarding during the winter 2) Visit my great-aunt in Goa (India) 3) Furnish my first own apartment with an interior designer

1) Tour Iceland e in Sweden 2) Go back to liv d cat an g do a n Ow 3)

Janina

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Leila

Manuel

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ica South Amer y to work there 1) Travel to her countr ot an ssible to e 2) Mov uages as po many lang 3) Learn as

Sandra

master’s de gree in Cana 2) Go to a da Linkin Park live concer 3) Tr 1) Play guitar in the Royal Albert Hall, London avelalso t to Paris or write text. you can change the color 2) Drive a 1969 Dodge Charger of the frame or the background (carefully). 3) Go to a Rolling Stones concert

have fun.

Isabelle

Hai Nhu

Author: ; Layout: ; Pictures:

1) Run a relief agency for homeless animals 2) Get married 3) Travel around the world

1) Go on the Trans-Sibirian railway from Moscow to Beijing 2) Book a one-way ticket to Birmingham, UK 3) Buy a bloodhound or landseer

1) Take care of my parents when the y’re old 2) Become a good mother 3) Help people in Vietnam

Layout: Hai Nhu Nguyen Pictures: Noura Alswailem, Demis, LecomteB, Marcin L., Vitezslav Valka/commons.wikimedia.org; Pedro Szekely, Tiphaine Vasse/flickr.com; Pani/pixabay.com; Aline Mörrath, Pam Haire Tallmadge; others: own pictures

The most spectacular thing Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done in my life Here are the winners of our Photo Contest

For the other spectacular pictures see our website:

Ralf Linder, Michael Johler - Biking in the AllgĂ¤u

Martin Ziegler - Surfing in Sri Lanka

2. 48

http://emag-augsburg.de

Hannes Fischer - Paragliding in Columbia

Authors & layout: Janina Endesfelder, Natalie Fahrenschon, Leila Vaziri; Pictures: Michael Johler, Martin Ziegler, Hannes Fischer

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