Sun Valley Idaho

Hello everybody!

I stumbled upon a great homepage the other day which shows many different ski resorts all around the world and I thought you might be interested because most of us love winter sports and everybody loves at least the beautiful winter landscape. I decided to tell you something about the Sun Valley in Idaho because it impressed me a lot and it will impress you too.

First of all, I want to give you a little idea of what the Sun Valley looks like:

Pretty beautiful, isn’t it?

Additional to the offer of great views, there are a lot more particular reasons to visit this place. Basically what the article says is that it finds the perfect balance between being low-key[1] and up-market[2]. It has European influence mixed in with the cowboy Wild West. Roughing it in style is what attracts Hollywood royalty to hang out in Sun Valley.

Sun Valley has a lot of experience when it comes to operating a ski resort. What surprised me most was that it even invented the first chairlift and is known as the first modern ski resort in the USA.

There are two distinct ski mountains. Bald Mountain, or “Baldy” as some like to call it, has mixed terrain and is considered the main ski area of Sun Valley. It has a modern lift infrastructure with 19 chairlifts. There are plenty of great wide cruisers[3] that seem endless.

On the map below you can see where Idaho is located:

I would definitely visit this place, what about you?

Link to the article: http://powderhounds.com/USA/Idaho/SunValley.aspx

Regards,

Katja

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[1] dezent, zurückhaltend

[2] exklusiv

[3] Pisten

International Teams

Hello everybody and welcome to my press review!

I was reading an article the other day named "Building an Effective Global Business Team" in the online edition of MIT-Sloan. I thought you might be interested because international business is important to all of us and some of you may even become a part of an international team in the future.

First of all, what is an international team?

Basically what it says is that those teams are cross-border teams of individuals of different nationalities, working in different cultures, businesses and functions, who come together to coordinate some aspects of the multinational operation on a global basis. They are myriad organizational mechanisms that global corporations can use to integrate widespread operations. Those teams play an important part for every global company's competitive advantage because it depends on its ability to coordinate critical resources and information that are spread across the whole world.

It is also mentioned that it is nearly impossible to manage a multinational corporation successful without a sovereign global team. Creating a capable international team is, however, easier said than done. The article references to one of their studies, where they discovered that only 18 % considered their performance "highly successful" and the remaining 82 % fell short of their intended goals. What shocked me most was that in fact, fully one-third of the teams in their sample rated their performance as largely unsuccessful. The corporations have to understand the obstacles to success that global business teams confront. Then they can take concrete steps to avoid those mistakes and build effective and efficient teams.

Further the article talks about why global business teams fail.

International teams and global teams are plagued by many of the same problems - a shortage of the necessary knowledge and skills, a lack of clarity regarding team objectives, to name a few. But global business teams face additional challenges resulting from differences in geography, language and culture. It's important that the teams break down the communication barriers and solve the other difficulties. Those challenges tend to exacerbate the more common problems all teams face.

What do you think about this topic?

Here is the link to the original article:
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/building-an-effective-global-business-team/

Wordbank:
multinational = multinational
myriad = vielzählig
corporations = Unternehmen
widespread = verstreute
intended = beabsichtigten
competitive advantage = Wettbewerbsvorteil
plagued = geplagt
shortage = Mangel
exacerbate = verdrängen

Regards,
Katja :)

the Millstone Worker's House

Welcome everybody!

In our last english lesson we were talking about the main sights of Perg. Now we decided to start a research about them to inform our new English-Assitent about our district.

Today, I am going to tell you a little bit about the Millstone Workers' House. It's an open-air museum since 30th of November 2006 and back in the beginning of the 19th century it was a residence for working man. It reflects the habitat conditions of easy people and was renovated in 2007 to keep the atmosphere from the 19th century real. People lived there since the mediaeval times.

It is a landmarked building and obtained the upperaustria folk-culture-award and it's a station of the nature-experience-rooms of Perg.

Regards,

Katja :-)

Burning Man

Hello everybody!

In our latest English lesson we were talking about two different celebrations in two completely different cultures. I want to tell you something about the Burning Man Festival in the Black Rock Desert in the Werstern USA. Maybe you have already heard about it too.

It lasts one week and culminates with the burning of a 12 m (40-foot-tall) wooden man. It's like a different dimension filled with art installations and crazy dressed or even completely naked people which is a fun-fact because being naked is normally strictly forbidden in the USA.

The huge art event has some important principles which the orangisers ask the visiters to consider. Everyone must bring their own food and supplies. Cars are only allowed when they have been transformed into art cars. As a result transportation is made by foot or by bicycle.

Another important thing, actually the meaning of it all, is that everyone is encouraged to perform, to exhibit artwork and to organise activities. That's how Burning Man is so diversified. It has no sponsors, that's why money is forbidden, but some exceptions exist.

What I like most is that this principles help that the desert remains in the same state before and after thousand of people celebrate art and self expression.

Regards,

Katja 

Our Trip to France

Welcome everybody!

Our vacations is over now and the schoolyear has started again. It's our final year and things get finally pretty serious . Today I would like to tell you about our trip to France in June.

First of all, the journey started with a huge shock because our English professor was sent to the hospital because of a virus. As a result he wasn't able to join our journey. In exchange for Mr Wartner a friend of him, Mr. Perndorfer, accompanied us. It emphasized that Mrs. Klinger and Mr. Perndorfer guided us soverreignly through St. Malo and at the end of the week through Paris.

After our flight to Paris and the unbelieveable long bus ride we got to know our guest family. Kathi and I were housed at a family composed of mother, father and two daughters. They have been very friendly but we only saw them for lunch or dinner.

Serge was our guide who showed us the town and the half-island Dinard. Everything looks so stunning there and an extra benefit was the great weather on the first few days. We even got time to relax in the sun at the atlantic ocean on Sunday. As a result some of us couldn't escape a little sunburn.

During our stay in France the European Championship took place and that's why the whole class assembled in the same bar to watch the football matches every evening in St. Malo. The EC was definitly one of the highlights of our journey because we visited the match of Austria against Iceland in the Stade de France in Paris.Unfortunately Austria lost 1:2 to Iceland but we were in the honour to see the first and only goal Austria scored during the EC 2016. This experience was amazing and unforgettable.

The other day in France we visited a lot of sights in Paris. We saw the modern quarter of Paris, the l'Arc de Triumphe, Notre Dame, the Eiffel-Tour, the Louvre and many more.

All in all I am glad I attended this funny trip. It was a great experience with my school collegues.

Thank you for reading my post!

Regards,

Katja :)

Chernobyl - the most serious accident in the European history

Hello everybody!

In our latest English lesson we were talking about the Chernobyl Disaster. After watching a documentary about the blast in the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl 30 years ago I want to tell you some important facts about it. It is also known as the most-serious nuclear accident in the European history. Two people died during the night of the blast and 80 people died in the following days.

The people living in Pripyat, four kilometres near the power plant, weren't informed immediatly about the radioactive toxic air but the radioactivity was 50 000 times higher as normal. 38 hours after the accident the government evacuated the whole city. 

Michael Gorbatschow didn't inform the rest of the world until Sweden measured an unusual amount of radioactivity in the air. They informed the bureau of radioacitvity in Vienna. Finally, the Sowjetunion confirmed that there has been a serious accident in the power plant in Chernobyl. As a next step, they decided to send over 600 pilots with helicopters over the reactor, which was still burning, to erase the fire. All of them were contaminated and died because of the radioactivity. 

But there was still the cloud full of toxic radioactivity, the invisible enemy, which drifted over Europe. People were told to stay at home. Everybody was afraid of a second explosion in the power plant and 10 days after the disaster they decided to send the first expert to Chernobyl but the situation was still critical. They wanted to put the water away and this is why they built a tunnel under the power plant. All the animals there died because of the radioactivity. 

2500 dead heroes weren't mentioned in all the statistics. Even 30 years after the accident, the 43000 people who once lived in the city weren't able to return to their homes. Everything is still contaminated and you can only visit the area with special equipment. The accidents repercussions still have effects on the people living near Chernobyl. The rate of cancer increased.

I'm glad living in a country without any power plants.

Regards,

Katja :)

More or less essential public health care in Austria

Hello everybody!

I was reading an article the other day about health services. This encouraged me to write about the following two important topics. I thought you might be interested because these topics might concern you sooner or later in your life.

Not everybody agrees with some health care being called "essential" but one goes literally under the skin. Getting a tattoo is pretty common in today's modern world but many of them will be regretted after getting it. If this happens to you, there is still help left. possibleIf the tattoo gives you mental distress, there is the opportunity to get the tattoo removed. If you can prove how strong your mind is affected, in my view, you should not have to pay for the removal. On the other hand, you were (hopefully) not forced to get the tattoo, so it is your own fault and you should pay for the removal by yourself.

Another important topic is cosmetic surgery. In show-business, everything is pretty superficial. Is it justified that some actors or singers want to have a smaller nose to improve their career for free? I don't think that the public health service should pay for that. If they don't like their own skin, there are a lot of different ways to feel better about their body.

Regards,

Katja

Business-Week

Welcome everybody!

In our latest english lesson we talked about the Business-Week which every pupil of the 4th school form had to pass in many different local companies. We used the opportunity of working in a company to collect some professional experience.

I worked at the ENGEL AUSTRIA GmbH, which is a leading manufactuerer of  injection molding machines. I worked at the operativ purchasing department and did a lot of desk work.

From Monday to Friday I arrived at 7:30 a.m. and finished working at 15:30 p.m. There were two breaks, the first one lasted from 9:00 until 9:10 a.m. and the second one started at 12:00 and ended at 12:30. During the lunchbreak my collegues and I went to the canteen to get a tasty meal and to reload our energy.

On the first day I was introduced to all of the purchasing staff and I also got to know my contact person who showed me her daily workflows. Her name is Kerstin R. and she is a very friendly, helpful, young woman. Kerstin has been working for the company for three years now and she enabled me a comprehensive view of the whole department.

She got a lot of different tasks for me, which made my experience pretty exciting. I ordered material from suppliers as well as I registered acknowledgements of orders in SAP. I also did traveling applications for the different team leaders. But excepting the desk work, Kerstin also managed for me to attend a supplier visit and a team meeting, which was something I've never been to before and it enabled me a deeper view in the working life.

I am glad I had the chance to work there for my Business-Week. The whole staff was candid and incorporated me in their team, which facilitated me to enjoy the week as well as having a lot of fun.

Regards,

Katja :)

St. Patricks Day 2016

Hello everybody!

Today is a very special day for Ireland. Their national holiday is represented in the whole world, even google changed their logo to the colour green and put a cloverleaf on top of it. I’m impressed how international St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated and it shows how strong the bound of community can be. Many people wear an item of green clothing on the day. Parties featuring Irish food and drinks that are dyed in green food colour are part of this celebration.

St Patrick is one of the patron saints of Ireland. He is said to have died on March 17 in or around the year 493. He brought the Christianity to the island.

The most common St Patrick's Day symbol is the shamrock. The shamrock is the leaf of the clover plant and a symbol of the Holy Trinity. Many people choose to wear the color green and the flag of the Republic of Ireland is often seen in St Patrick’s Day parades around the world. Irish brands of drinks are popular at St Patrick’s Day events.

Regards,

Katja

Gender pay gap: women earn £300,000 less than men over working life

Welcome everybody!

I was reading an article the other day about the gender pay gap in the online edition of the guardian. I thought you might be interested because every woman is concerned by this topic.

With reference to the world women's day today, it would be eligible to think this topic is already out of date, but new researches show the opposite. Basically what it says is that women still earn less money than men. Over their working lives women make about 300.000 $ (272,195.10 €) less money than the apparently dominant gender. Those are 2 $ less per hour. Don't you think this is very obsolete in today's modern world? Equality shouldn't be a problem anymore!

The article also mentions the fact that women are still more likely to stay at home to care for their children than men. As a consequence women's careers often stagnate or decline while men have the chance to put a lot more effort in their jobs. 

What surprised me most was the fact that equality isn't given yet. In a world full of progress and success, it should be possible to treat the genders equal and fair. Women are empowering more and more and I think in the near future the pay gap won't be a problem anymore.

What do you think about this topic?

If you want to get a quick look on the article, here is the link:

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/mar/07/gender-pay-gap-uk-women-earn-300000-less-men-lifetime

Regards,

Katja :)

Donald Trump - He has nothing to apologize for

Hello everybody!

In our latest English lesson we were watching a way more funny than political video of Stephen Colbert and Donald Trump. The video is spreading across the globe, so you may have heard of it or seen it by yourself. If this isn't the case, here is your chance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns7ocpRhDD8

Basically what it says is that Trump wants to build a huge wall with a 'big and beautiful' door, where immigrants are only allowed to pass through with their legal papers. This is how he wants to decrease the amount of illegal aliens in the United States. Colbert, the interviewer, apologized for some negativ statements he gave about Trump and asked him if he wants to apologize to anybody but Trump just said no.

What surprised me most was that Colbert teased the candidate for presidency a lot. In Austria, politic is a pretty serious topic quite contrary to the American politics!

Another embarrassing fact about Trump is that he thought of Paris being situated in Germany. You can see this in the following Tweet:















Regards,

Katja :)

Customer Service and its Importance

Hello everybody!

In our latest English lesson we were talking about how to deal with complaints of hostile costumers. So these are some tips to avoid an unsatisfied customer and create a win-win situation for both participants.

Today's market is a permanent business competition and a customer-friendly service is an essential condition to achieve a leading position in your business sector. If you know the following fundamentals it will be a simple thing for you to match your service with your customers' expectations.

Mind that feelings of anger and hostility do not come out of thin air!  A manner like this is almost always a reaction to an unsatisfied personal need. Just stay calm, let the customer finish speaking and listen attentively to what he or she says. Think about the issue, make sure you understand it and now explain your solution for the customer's problem.

As you can see now, there is no special secret about how to deal with hostile customers. Just be nice, stay calm and don't react in an emotional way.

I hope these tips will help you in the nearly future!

Regards,

Katja :)