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Anna Claessen

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Stories from Anna Claessen

03 Iceland
After a year of financial turmoil, public support is higher, but some European Union member-states are worried
01/09/2009

Black flags put up by protestors surrounded the pillars of the Parliament building on July 16th, when after five days of grueling debates MPs voted 33 to 28 in support of an application for EU membership. This outcome also mirrors overall public opinion that according to opinion polls, is almost evenly split. According to a Capacent Gallup poll from the end of July, 41.7% of 717 respondents were for joining the EU while 58.3% were against it. Politically, however, support for the application is broad and “yes” votes came from members of all five political parties.

04 Icelanders take to the streets
In spite of major political shifts, voters want deeper changes, and they don’t care from whom
01/06/2009

It was the election of firsts, first woman to lead Iceland’s government, first time so many women have been in parliament (42.9%), and the first time in Icelandic history that there has been a leftist government.

A small island goes from being one of richest countries to one of the poorest
01/03/2009

It used to be different. Coming from Iceland used to bring responses such as “wow, how exotic” and “beautiful scenery.” Now all I get is “poor you.”

In one year Iceland went from being one of the richest countries to one of the poorest. Talk about a transformation! Families have gone from having Christmas in the Maldives to not having enough money to visit the relatives. This is what happens when a country’s banking system collapses, as Iceland’s did last year, due to billions of dollars of highly-leveraged debt accumulated over years of overseas expansion. Trade in the Icelandic króna practically ceased.

Chiefs resign after the passing of a new bill
27/02/2009
The bosses of Iceland’s central bank stepped down and said goodbye to their employees on Feb. 26 after the parliament passed a bill restructuring the bank’s senior management policy, reducing the number of chiefs from two to one.

"David Oddsson and Eirikur Gudnason, the governors of the Central Bank of Iceland, announced their resignation at a meeting earlier today, MBL reported. Eirikur Gudnason has worked in the Central Bank for 40 years and hence was an important part of Iceland’s financial history. Oddsson has been chairman since autumn 2005."
From Hip Hop to Pilates, Yoga to Jazz and Contemporary; A Dance Dream Come True at a Former Wood-Working Factory
18/02/2009

Laughter, loud music... stomping, there is no better sound to a dance teacher than hearing students giving their all and clearly having a wonderful time. Particularly when teaching comes from the heart, as it does for Valentina Mileto.

Camels and Construction
18/02/2009

Like the three wise men in the Bible, my two siblings and I were riding camels through the desert with only the stars to guide us through the darkness. Seeing my mother deeply touched, I thought there was no better way to celebrate Christmas.

After a six-hour flight from Maldives, entertaining ourselves watching one of the thirty channels offered in the Emirate plane, my family was finally in Dubai, the second largest of seven emirates of The United Arab Emirates, situated on the Persian Gulf next to Saudi Arabia, and Oman.

Film Celebrates a Controversial Austrian Band’s Forty Years of Stirring Up Trouble
18/02/2009

 

The limousine door opened and an elegant shoe stepped out onto the red carpet that led up to Gartenbaukino across from the Stadtpark in Vienna's 1st District. Photographers were everywhere, packed in among the large crowd thronging at the theater door eager to see the band….the stars of the film.

It was the Austrian premiere of the movie Weltrevolution (World Revolution) by director Klaus Hundsbichler about Stefan Weber and his rock/punk band 'Drahdiwaberl,' and their dream of worldwide revolution.

Tuxedo Clad Men Playing Air Guitar and Bejewelled Women Jumping Around Wildly - Expectation Meets Reality
18/02/2009

Young men in tuxedos playing air guitar to the thumping sounds of rock; young women in long dresses jumping wildly around in formless frenzy - this was not exactly

Not what I thought a Viennese ball would be like.

For one thing, I had expected a waltz. As a former ballroom dancer, I imagined men and women in stylish evening clothes swirling to a ¾ beat or a Latin tango. And as it turned out, I was not all wrong. It was just that some other, unexpected things have been added to the scene.

The crowd looked like a stream of ants going into the Hofburg for the Economics University Ball on Saturday Jan.12. And economists or not, the denizens of the Wirtschaftsuniversität were arriving late, just minutes before the program was to begin.

02/09/2008

ear Diary,

I was half watching the news when it dawned on me they were talking about a pure bred of dog captured and tor- tured to death. I couldn ́t help but laugh at this story. Talking about caring more about ani- mals than humans! The main Icelandic TV news channel was interviewing the owner and viewing pictures of the dog at prime time, when every Ice- lander is watching. How few real stories do you have to have if the death of a dog is worth TV coverage? Maybe if it were Paris ́ Hilton ́s dog...

The one who came out worst in this false report was the suspect accused of the deed. The man received so many threats that he could not leave his house.

Live8 Brought Millions for AIDS Victims; Can Live Earth Accomplish the Same?
02/09/2008

I turn on the TV and different images keep flashing on my screen. I feel my emotions rushing through my body. Anger, devastation and disbelief – all those images of territory lost to pollution, facts about global warming and cartoons showing the damage we are doing to our earth. Next to these images were videos of celebrities, actress Jessica Biel and American Pie actor Jason Biggs doing their part by sorting the trash. Apparently we are supposed to admire them so much that we immediately want to do the same.

“What is this,” I wonder. It isn’t until I see John Mayer singing “Waiting for the World to Change” live in concert that I realize what this is: It’s Live Earth.

Iceland Has Earned its Place as the World’s Fifth Most Productive Country, But its Citizens are too Overworked to Enjoy It.
02/09/2008

“Ladies and gentlemen... welcome to Iceland,” said the voice over the loud speakers. After two flights and a seven-hour delay in Denmark. I was finally here.... I was finally home.

I walked from the plane and through the airport to baggage reclaim. The first thing I did, after finding my luggage, was to go outside and smell the air. Fresh cold air, especially great after being in Vienna, drowning in sweat from the early summer heat.

The airport is in Keflavík, about an hour from Reykjavik, the capital. It’s a really different view from there, so deserted, barely any buildings.

Love and Goodwill Are Common to Christmas Traditions Worldwide. Its Just Those Little Differences...
18/02/2008

Christmas in Orthodox Macedonia is on Jan. 7th, 14 days later than most others celebrates. This is a mixed blessing. The upside, especially if you are a student in a foreign country, is that you get to celebrate twice. The downside is that it makes you different. But being different is not always a bad thing, because in Macedonia we don't have the shopping hype and chaos, at least not for Christmas. We value the New Year more and exchange our presents then. At our Christmas -- celebrated on what is the feast of Epiphany in the Christian West in honor of the visit of the Three Kings -- the importance is placed on the 6th of January rather than on the 7th.

Emigrés in Vienna Revive an Icelandic Tradition of Eating Sheep Heads and Lamb Testicles
03/04/2007

Burned sheep heads, rotten shark and sour lamb testicles are not nor- mally on a menu in Vienna. But for Icelanders, they consider it a treat to partake at the annual winter feast called Thorrablót, which took place this year on Mar. 3.

“Thorrablót was fantastic... or at least in the memory (referring to the drinking),” said Hulda Ros Bjarna- dottir, an Icelandic student and con- tinued: “The food was so good that although I had eaten enough I kept going to the buffet for more”

A Turkish Wedding as a Work of Theater: Staging the Hot Topics of our Time
03/04/2007

It’s hot, loud, a Turkish wedding and a work of theatre. It’s socio-experimental theatre.

Standing in front of the entrance door, we again checked the address, Ragnarhof, Grundsteingasse 12. “Situated in the 16th District, near Thaliastrasse,” the invitation said.

We followed the crowd, taking the narrow flight of stairs up to the second floor where rows of chairs were set up, men to the left, women to the right.

Live Karaoke Gives Shy Singers a Chance to Shine
03/04/2007

Singing is my passion. So I often go to karaoke bars for a little practice – a chance to sing my favorite songs into the microphone, with my friends and the rest of the bar cheering me on.

I’ve tried a number of karaoke bars in Vienna, but I was intrigued when I read in the U-Bahn newspaper Heute that there was live karaoke at the Ratpack Bar in the 8th District. I decided to use spring break to check it out..

My good friend Ligia and I arrived at nine o´clock on a Tuesday night in March, described as Luxus Karaoke night in the program. We walked down a couple of steps to the entrance to find a clean, colorful and an attractive bar area where one of the bartenders took our coats and directed us into the performing area.

Fragmented Lifestyles, the Diversions of New Technology and a Sense of Powerlessness Lead Many to Entertainment over Staying Informed
03/04/2007

As times change, so does the news. We’re now in the digital age, with 24-hour news, andmedia that seem to morph into new forms before our eyes. We can watch whatever we want, when we want, and how we want.

Before, we had little choice, so we read and watched what was offered in a handful of newspaper, newsmagazines and network channels. Today, the sources seem limitless, and the number of newspapers, TV and radio stations can be overwhelming. Since the arrival of the Internet, we have an opportunity to download or upload what we’ve missed. Today, we have a lot of to choose from. Perhaps too much.

Nigerian Culture Clash
02/03/2007

A woman is walking through the U-Bahn station at Alser Strasse when an African man approaches her. He stops to chat. What is your name, he asks? Where are you from? She doesn’t want to offend him; she answers politely… until she gets fed up and attempts to make a polite exit. She says goodbye and walks away. But the man persists, asking for her phone number. No, no, and again no. She finally swerves around him and runs away, as he yells “Racist,” at her retreating back. He could have simply said goodbye,

This seems to happen to many women in Vienna, especially along the U6 line. If they ask the persistent strangers where are they from, the answer is often the same: “From Nigeria.”

A Disagreement Over Israel Leads to Children’s Dismissal
02/03/2007

Moishe Arye Fried- man, the chief Rabbi of the Orthodox Anti-Zion- ist Community in Austria, has been heavily criticized by many both in- and out- side the Jewish community for his opinions and his ac- tions. But he had no idea that his attendance at the Holocaust conference in Teheran would later be- come grounds for his chil- dren being expelled from a Talmud-Torah school.

It was all done very im- personally with a letter ad- dressed to their house.

“Other parents do not want to have their children educated with children whose father shows such infuriating behavior,” was Viennese Talmud-Torah school of Machsike Ha- dass’s reason for why Fried- man’s four children attend- ing school there were being expelled.

After Seven Years of Talks , the UN Security Council Is Unable to Find a Solution
02/03/2007

On Feb. 2, Kosovo Albanians waited in front of their televisions to see what would become of their province. For two years Serbian and Kosovo Albanian leaders had met with other nationalities to discuss the future of the troubled Serbian province and U.N pro- tectorate, but with no resolution.

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