Austrian economy suffers throwback

I read an article on austriantimes.at the other day and it talks about that the Austrian economy.

Basically what it says is that the Austrian gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 0.3 per cent in the first three months of 2010. It is also said that soaring mineral oil prices would not only keep investments low but also lead to declining spendings by Austrians.

The WIFO meanwhile stressed the Austrian economy would continue to recover from the impact of the economic crisis, but added that this process would occur slower than initially inspected.

What shocked me most was the fact that the Austrian gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 0.3 per cent in the first three months of 2010. It also shocked me that the process of recovering of the economic crisis would occur slower than initially inspected.

Let's go green

I have just heard a presentation and the name of it was "Let's go green". It talked about the environment, pollution and the climate change. It was a very interesting presentation because it concerns all of us.



Climate change is already happening and represents one of the greatest environmental, social and economic threats by facing the planet. There exist two types of climate changes. Natural causes, which are: earth's orbit, drifting continents, volcanic eruptions and sun's output.

And there are also human causes for example: Greenhouse gases.


It also talked about environmental pollution. There are three kinds of pollutions.

air pollution: noise pollution, tobacco smoke, etc.
water pollution: industrial pollution, farming wastes, etc.
land pollution: soil pollution, waste pollution, etc.

If you want to help saving life on Earth you can find some suggestions on the websites of WWF or Greenpeace.


To my mind we all should help saving life on earth, because it isn't difficult to help. I will help by recycling different kinds of materials and i will compost things which can be composted.

My comment about the presentation "tourism"

To my mind the blog was very good. The speakers were good prepared and they spoke fluently and the eye contact was also fine. And for me the content was very interesting

What i liked most was the explanation of the homepage. It was very interesting because they teached us how to manage to make a perfect holiday.

I also liked the pictures at the end of the presentation. So we could imagine how these buildings look like.

Well done girls!!

Press review

I read an article the other day on austriantimes.at and it talks about the fact that almost two thirds of skiers in Austria, Germany and the german-speaking part of Switzerland would be willing to use rental skis.

I thought you might be interested because skiing is a very popular sport in Austria.

Basically what it says is that in a study almost two thirds of responds said that they would use rental skis if the price was good and the skis were adapted to their individual needs.

It is also said that a whide choice of brands at rental shops were cited as an important factor in deciding to rent skis, but a quarter said that the high price of ski rentals put them off renting skis.

What surprised me most was the fact that two thirds of the german-speaking countrys would rent skis.

Christmas traditions

I have just read an article on share-christmas.com and it talks about the different Christmas traditions.

It talks about that in China Christians decorate their homes with colourful paper lanterns and that the people there go to work or school on Christmas day.
It's also said that most of the chinese people are Buddhists and that Christmas festivities are becoming more and more.

It also talks about the Spain traditions. After the Christmas Mass people sing and dance on the streets. The Christmas dinner is eaten after midnight and there they eat "Pavo Trufado de Navidad". It's also said that instead of Father Christmas the Three Wise Men bring the presents.

I also read an article about the traditions in Hungary. It is said that the children became a visit by Mikulas on December 6th. On Christmas eve the children are allowed to see the tree for the first time, then when a bell is rung they go into the room, where the tree is and they see the presents there. They have been put there by the angels.

KTM on loss-making off-road trip

I read an article the other day in the online version of "austriantimes.at" and it talks about the Upper Austrian motorcycle and off-road vehicle maker KTM.


I thought you might be interested because KTM is an Upper Austrian company.

Basically what it says is that the turnover of the company fell by 24.9 per cent from 605.7 million euros to 454.6 million euros. It said that business in North America, KTM's biggest market shrank by 44 per cent and the european market contracted by a fifth.

I also said that the Mattighofen-based company dismissed 450 employees while 773 staff were put into a part-time scheme and that KTM planned to keep the part-time model running longer, but they ended it as orders grew faster.

What surprised me most was the fact that the company dismissed 450 employees and that the market in Europe contracted by a fifth and that the turnover fell by 24.9 per cent.


If you want to see the original text click here.



words:

to shrink (sinken): If something is getting lower it shrinks.
to contract (verkleinern): It's a synonym for shrink.
to dismiss (entlassen): If you don't need an employe you dismiss him.
staff (Mitarbeiter): People, who work in a company.
part-time scheme (Kurzarbeit): If the staff works shorter than usual than they are in a part-time scheme.

Flora's Interview

I have recently heard an interview of Flora and it talks about her visit to Austria.

She met friendly people. Flora said that the more she learned about the Austrian way of life, the more she learned about the Ireland culture. She added that there is a big difference between Austria and Ireland. For example in Ireland it isn't allowed to smoke on public places. She said it will be hard for her to accept the smoke law in Ireland again. Flora enjoyed her stay in Austria.