Observation of Kids and Elderly!

First of all, I'm sorry that I state my blog that late but there was something wrong with my laptop and my Blog was deleted...

Kids in America!
Unfortunately my hostfamily has no kids and in general, I don't have much to do with children here in Eau Claire! I visited friends of my hostfather once and there I saw that American Kids love to watch TV. It is unbelievable that they start watchin TV already early in the morning when they are having breakfast!
When I was in New York for a weekend I saw a lot of kids playing around on playgrounds! The parents participated actively and played with the kids.
I am in Chicago right now and when I was shopping I saw the shop " American Girl". I saw a lot of girls in this shop! Parents were really passionate with them and gave them as much time as they needed. Of course, most of the girls could also persuade their parents to buy them one or more things there.

Elderly people!
Elderly people are really important in the community. They are wise and the younger generation can definitely learn something from their experiences. Therefore, elderly people are treated really friendly here in America. It doesn't matter, which public transportation you use, but everybody offers the older people their seat if no other is free. Furthermore, when you go in the street, everybody is careful not to bump into an elderly person! What is more, elderly people are really welcome to answer your questions if you have any. They take themselves time to answer your question...so if you are busy, better ask somebody else.. :-) This leads me to my next point. Elderly Americans tend to be very talkative and start talking with you all of a sudden. They are very open and are really interested in things you tell them. They also like to share their experiences!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Family in America!

According to the results of my survey, Family is really important to all Americans. The American Dream is to have a house, a car and of course, a family that consists of a father, a mother and two children. Most of the Americans that I asked stated that a woman should stay at home at least two years after having a baby while the father brings home the bacon. Furthermore, marrying is very important for Americans. Marriages should not be arranged but everybody should find its love and share it with god by getting married. Of course, it is very important to approve of the person that a family member marries. It’s important to have the affirmation from the other family members. What is more, I asked the Americans concerning the attitudes towards equality of running the household. The results to that questionn were controversial. Some of the interviewed people responded immediately that in modern times male and female are equal and that everybody should contribute one’s part in regard to household and taking care of the children. However, some were totally against that statement and ponted out that the woman should take over all the responsibilities in the house. It really surprised me that all the Americans that I have interviewed responded immediately with “No” when I came to terms of divorce. According to them marriage is an alliance forever and therefore the decision of getting married needs to be carefully considered. Eventually I'd like to say that Americas' attitude towards Family is pretty similar to Austrians because Family is also very important to people in my country.

Living in a "mosaic"!

If I had to choose where to live I would definitely choose the example of the ” mosaic”. I think it is very important to have one national identity but anyway nobody should forget who he or she is and where he or she came from. To me it is very important to have an own attitude towards topics and to be an individual. To some extent assimilation is important but your own cultural and traditional backgrounds do also count because that determines what and who you are and where you initially came from and what your ancestors have been fighting for.

Would you have a gun in your own house?

Why should I have a gun in home? I believe people should not own guns because guns are not the proper way to protect you against robbers. Guns can hurt people; guns can even kill people, so why would somebody protect himself with a gun? To me it is kind of strange that in America almost everybody can have a gun. There are so many insane people running around in the public and you`ll never know what will come to their mind one day. Maybe, again, a guy will turn crazy and start gunfire in school or anywhere else where many people get killed.

I think there should definitely be stricter rules in America concerning guns. As far as I know it is very common to own a gun because it is very easy to buy one in a shop. However, there are strict laws in Austria concerning the sale of them and to me I think the way it is in my home country is right. There are definitely other ways to protect you and to feel safe instead of having a gun, for example, installing an alarm system.

What features makes a person important!

Americans are often stereotyped as believing wealth and possessions make them important. However, I don't think that money, a big house, or a big car etc. make people important! I think the only thing that should really count is the personality of somebody. For me it is much more important that someone is friendly, nice and has its heart in the right place! Nobody should be judged by its possessions but by the way they act! Money doesn't make anybody happy...of course, money can solve a lot of problem, money might calm you down to some extent, but you can't buy real friends or love with money or any other possessions. I think money is a little bit overestimated in our culture. Having a lot of money doesn't actually mean being happy but having a lot of responsibility. Finally I would like to add that it doesn't matter how poor or rich somebody is....as long as he or she has her heart on the right place.

Do you think that people all over the world are basically the same or basically diffferent?

Well, to be honest, I think that people all over the world are basically the same. I mean, we are all humans, we all breath the same air and we all drink the same water but anyway, people act differently because everybody is an individual.

We all cry when we are sad, we all laugh when we are happy and we all work hard to achieve our goals. I know that people are different, concerning their culture and to the country they live in. However, I think that nobody is better than somebody else and vice versa. I see all human beings on the world as a big family and I believe, that in an emergency situation, (like a meteorit shower or something like that) people from all over the world would work together in order to safe our lives - our planet.

I also know that there is war on the world but I mean, you probably don't like all of your family members too... maybe there is a uncle, that you don't know, a aunt, that you don't like and a cousin, with whom you don't talk to. Do you agree?? But anyway, in emergency, you would probably fight together for your rights.

So, even though, I have experienced a lot of culturel differences so far, I have the opinion that we all are basically the same, even if we sometimes might wonder about our different cultural habits!(Having showers in the morning, or in the evening *smile*) I got to know so many lovely people in the last few weeks, some were from China, Malaysia, Japan and some from Germany, UK and some from America and I'm really glad to got to know everybody of them. Everybody was nice to me, everybody was happy to get to know each other and we all were having a good time together .... even though we have different cultures and live in different countries. Exactly these makes me believe that we are basically the same, even though we are different.... :-))))

Walking Tour through Eau Claire

The Donald "Sarge" Boyd Bandshell

The Donald "Sarge" Boyd Bandshall was constructed in 1937 to 1938. It is named after Donald "Sarge" Boyd who became the director of the Eau Claire Municipal Band Band in 1929. The bandshell was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

Eau Claire - Public Library

The Eau Claire Public Library was built in 1903. This building was a gift to the City of Eau Claire by Andrew Carnegie.

Sawdust city Matures

The Sawdust city Matures was built in 1893-1894 and this is the largest remaining commercial building from this period. It's most prominent commercial tenant was the "Chippewa Valley Bank".

Bridge over the Chippewa River

City of Rivers and Logs. The need for Bridges first arose from the fact that Eau Claire started as three villages , all separated by rivers.

The Grace Lutheran church

Grace English Lutheran Church was formed in 1909. It was dedicated by people who wanted an English speaking Lutheran Church in Eau Claire. In 1912 the building site on Grand Avenue was purchased and the cornerstone was laid on September 19th, 1915. By 1916 the church building was completed and memorial windows were installed.

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On Saturday Marion, Kristin, Sarah and I made our walking tour through Eau Claire. The sun was shining and it was so hot when we went trough the streets of Eau Claire. But even though, we enjoyed our trip and we took a lot of pictures from the several historic buildings. After finishing our tour, we stopped in a Teashop where we got delicious iced tea... (Infinitea) which was just great. :-)) It was a funny day and we definitely plan to visit some of these buidings again! :-)