Bringing the learning home (Australian Learning & Teaching Council)

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emran??

Hi All

Just something quick I’ve found odd about life in the UK (besides all the Queing!! -something on that to come later as soon as I can get a sneaky photo at uni..)

So people in the UK really seem to have a problem with the name Erin – that being my name. I’m not sure if this is because of the accent or the way I say my own name upon introduction,  but everyone tends to look at me like its a really odd, new and strange name, often asking me to clarify several times. Erin originates from Ireland… so being pretty close by.. you wouldn’t think it would be that odd. I have people call  me emran, ermna, enna, arna, ernie, iner etc…
the most common response seems to be a er…. followed by a trail off into nothing.

the reason I found this particularly strange was because in Australia Erin is not an uncommon name, and having derived much of our culture from the British, I assumed this would also be case over here. Its not 4 letters that are particularly difficult to put together..

Posted by  |  October 12, 2010 | Categories: 'Engrish' - funny English overseas, Don't ask me | 1 Comment

Fresher’s week at University in the UK: New Experiences

Hi all. My name is Maureen and I am on exchange at the University of Lancaster. I’m still settling in but one of the things I wanted to blog about was things that have been new to me so far. It’s been a bit of a honeymoon period for me as of now because of all the fresher’s events on in the week… quiz games, bar crawls in Lancaster, Indie clubbing in Manchester and dress ups. All this stuff is obviously new because we don’t have freshmen in Australia.

However, the extra weird/new thing for me is that all the fresher events are organised by the college you live in. It’s like Hogwart’s or something here. There’s about eight different colleges and the rivalry between each is really really intense. It’s like your whole university identity is defined by your college rather than your faculty (as it would be in Australia).


Me dressed in my College shirt for a bar crawl. Our flat decided to go for an 80’s look.

if a person is unfortunate enough not to live on campus (most people do), they get defined by the region they come from. Speaking of regions, there’s alot of rivalry between regions too. My room mates tell me the North of England is practically a whole other country to the South. There’s one guy from Birmingham in my flat and he gets insulted all the time because he’s from the ‘posh’ part of the UK.

Finally, last new thing: sharing a bathroom, shower and kitchen with thirteen other people… this? New and not so fun.

Posted by  |  October 8, 2010 | Categories: The UK | 3 Comments

Dorm life in Krakow

I’ve never lived in a dorm before. Imagine my horror when I turn up to find the sheets and towels provided are torn and stained, the bed may as well be made of rocks and – more importantly – there is not access to a fridge or a clothes dryer on the premises.

The above is our makeshift fridge and Hills Hoist. I have no idea what we’re going to do when winter rolls around and it’s -15 degrees on a good day, but for now this works.

Posted by  |  October 5, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Multi Rooms!

Hey,

Im studying in Korea and one of the best things to do with a small group of freinds is visit a multi room. Its a room where you use a Giant TV to an play computer games, nintendo wii games, watch movies, or sing some karoke all in the one place!

But the one thing that takes you by surprise in Korea is how beautiful they make some of these places.  Internet cafes desks look like works of art. This hallway for example is just at a multiroom. A bit snazzy to do some karoke or play nintendo.

Posted by  |  October 4, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Engrish

Hi

I was sent this as an email (it is attached and takes about a minute for all the images to download) and thought it would be good to pass on – – it might raise a smile! But hey – how would Australians go trying to communicate to other cultures in other languages? Or even in English – don’t let’s forget ‘where the bloody hell are you?’, which went down like a lead balloon overseas! I wonder how many enormous bloopers there are in some of the translated material we put out in Australia? Anyway, keep your eyes open for any examples of ‘Engrish’ and pass them on – with humility!

Jan
INGRISH

Posted by  |  October 4, 2010 | Categories: 'Engrish' - funny English overseas | 2 Comments

Only in Japan….

I recently went to a traditional Japanese festival in Ikebukuro, Tokyo which was naturally outdoors, displaying lots of Japanese cultural and religious history and background. I’ve been to a Japanese festival before and wasn’t surprised to see the big parade, nor the tonnes of delicious Japanese food, nor the traditional Japanese dancing and drumming.

However, I really didn’t expect to see a full bar with servers dressed up in tuxedos, especially since the event was outdoors and so casual. But of course anything is possible in this country!!!

Posted by  |  September 28, 2010 | Categories: Japan, Only in... | 2 Comments

Suncheon Bay and Korean Thanksgiving

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Suncheon is small and quiet town, located approx. 5 hours south by train from Seoul.

I came down here to spend the National holiday called Korean Thanksgiving (21st Sept-23rd Sept) with a genuine Korean family. My friend has been kind enough to invite him to spend this special time with his family and it was an opportunity that doesn’t come very often.

주석 (Chuseok) is the national Korean Thanksgiving holiday celebrating the arrival of autumn. It is a time where Family takes a bigger role in this movie we call ‘Our Lives’ (at least in Korea anyways :P). Traditionally, families will gather to perform Ancestral Rites (to respect our predecessors), spend time with each other, play games, dance, sing and eat lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots. (breathe*) And lots and lots of food.

So I took the road less travelled by, and that made all the difference.

For More info: tortori.blogspot.com

Regards,

Ray K

Posted by  |  September 27, 2010 | Categories: Cultural differences, South Korea | Tags: | 3 Comments

Parking Space for Women – Korea Seoul

One of the things I found quite interesting is this Parking Spot reserved only for women. 😀
One of my friends said that it was to encourage and promote gender equality on women, since Korea is still a glass-ceiling society I think. Another said that it was courtesy.

What do you guys think? Is it necessary? It’s certainly a quite interesting idea to say the least.

Posted by  |  September 27, 2010 | Categories: Cultural differences, Don't ask me, South Korea | Tags: | 2 Comments

Tommy23’s gallery

Posted by  |  September 23, 2010 | Categories: Cultural differences, You eat what!? | 3 Comments

South Coyote Buttes

This photo is my favourite of a few thousand that my mate and I took on a week long trip through Arizona and Utah.

This was taken in the Coyote Buttes National park which straddles the Arizona/Utah border. Only ten passes are sold for the South Coyote Buttes each day on a first come first served basis, this is still a hell of a lot easier to get than the pass for the North Coyote Buttes which again only ten passes are sold each day but for these you have to arrive at the ranger station early in the morning and enter a bingo style lottery to have an opportunity to go. The reason for the lottery is that on any one day there can be up to anywhere between 50 and 100 people trying to get a pass. The popularity of the North Coyote Buttes is because they contain ‘The Wave’, an incredible sandstone hillside that has been eroded away over the ages to reveal ”waves” of different coloured stone.

On the first day we were at the ranger station our number was not picked but we were able to buy a pass into the South Coyote Buttes for the next day and then headed off to a tour of Antelope Canyon. Antelope Canyon is a very tight slot canyon that gets lit up by the midday sun to reveal the amazing shapes contained inside, it is also on a dry river bed and is inaccessible when it rains anywhere in the area due to massive flashflooding.

The next day before we headed out to the South Coyote Buttes, we decided to try the lottery again and this time we were picked first!!! The thing about this lottery is that for entry in the lottery can have any amount of people, so if a group of ten enter and get picked first it’s game over for everyone else, also if at the end there is only one place left and a group of two is picked only one person can go. On the day we were picked a middle aged American couple also got their number called and when it came down to the point where there was only one place left a group of three German tourists were picked. They were going to turn down the single pass because they wanted to go as a group, but the American couple piped up and said that the German group could have their passes as they had travelled so far and may not get a chance to come again. It was great to see this amazing act of generosity, especially after having experiences like a bloke on a Harley coming the other way on the highway forcing us into the emergency lane because he wanted to overtake.

The landscapes in this national park were like something out of a weird dream, the likes of which i had never come across anywhere in Australia and it was amazing to have the opportunity to explore them.



Posted by  |  September 8, 2010 | Categories: Offroad or outdoors, The US | 6 Comments