Commas!

I have to admit, for me commas are still a tricky matter sometimes. Although I feel like having learned it for a hundred times, there are still the same questions: is there supposed to be a comma or certainly not? Is it similar as in other languages such as German? I want to get to the bottom of the basic rules- again J

Numbers	comma: 7,009,826 NO comma:  $3.40 comma: September 1, 1998 NO comma: September 1998
Salutations	“Stephanie, can you help me please?” Dear David,
Geographic places	Machu Picchu, Peru, is one of the most famous sites in Latin America. She lives in Mariahilferstraße, Vienna, Austria.
Please	comma: “Call me, please.” NO comma: “Please call me.”
Affirmatives, Negatives and Question Tags	No, I am not. You can speak Spanish, can you? So it’s all my fault, is it?
Adjectives	It was a long, exhausting day. They served some salty, spicy snacks.
Adverbs	after nevertheless, however, moreover, etc.: However, the exam was easy for her. The exam, however, was easy for her.
Enumerations	Today I went to university, did my homework, studied and started reading a new book.
Between Main Clauses	Between two main clauses which are separated by and or but: I went home, and prepared lunch for my family. To separate parts of a sentence: I went home, locked the door, took off my shoes, put off my jacket and started preparing lunch for my family.
Conditional Sentences	comma: When I will go to Spain, I will visit my friends. NO comma: I will visit my friends when I will go to Spain.
Direct Speech	comma: She said,” I cooked dinner for you.” NO comma: “Did you cook dinner?” I asked.
Introductory Clauses	In summer, I will go on holiday. After going on a sight-seeing tour, we will go to the beach.
Additional Information	Vicky, my sister, is 6 years younger than my brother.
Opposites	Sucre, not La Paz, is the capital of Bolivia.

I guess this is pretty much it. Of course, there are always some exceptions, but my intention was to give a short overview for remembering the basic rules.

Correction of House Swap letter

Dear Agnès,

Thank you for the letter with all the information about your flat. Everything seems fine. I just have a few questions about a few things. What can you tell me about public transports? Are there any special schedules on holidays? Since we have already been in Barcelona, we have already visited the vast majority of sights and tourist attractions. Which places are worth a visit outside the city? My mother and I, we have been studying Spanish for a couple of years now and we are interested in taking a course in Catalan. Do you know any language schools nearby? If you could answer these questions as soon as possible I would be very grateful. But now, I will give you an introduction to our flat.

The First Arrival
Since the only bus line from the airport to our town does not go by our house, I recommend to take a taxi. I left a set of keys with our neighbour, a warm-hearted woman called Ramona with two kids, who are already excited about your arrival. She will let you in and you can call her anytime in case you need help. We do not have a burglar alarm, so please make sure you lock the front door. I really want you to make yourself at home here so feel free to use whatever you need. I am sure you will be hungry after the journey. Therefore, I left some chicken curry and rice in the fridge. I think all the electronic devices are quite self-explanatory and I left notes where I felt something could be unclear to you. We have a cat called Jimmy. Please make sure he always has something to eat and drink. Since the front door doesn’t have a cat flap, just take a look outside every now and then to see whether Jimmy wants to come in.

Supermarkets and restaurants
The most reasonable supermarket near our home is Billa. To get there, you just need to follow the street we live in downwards, turn right and go straight ahead until you reach a crossroad. Turn right again and continue along St.Peter-Hauptstraße. After five minutes walking you will be there. On the same crossroad as Billa, there is a small shop called Knospe which sells organic, regional produce. Mind you, it is a little pricey. Every Saturday and Tuesday there is also a market where you can buy a wide range of local produce. In St. Peter there are a couple of pretty good Chinese restaurants. Konfuzius, however, is by far the best. If you just want to go for a drink, you might like Cuba, a coffee bar with a Caribbean flair just a 10-minute walk from home. In the centre, a very popular meeting place of the “Grazer” is Don Camillo and the other small restaurants which have tables outside. In any case, Franziskaner Platz has a special ambience, almost Italian.  But steer clear of the pizzeria Gambaro Rosso. We were disappointed to see that they serve fast food instead of homemade pizzas.

Places to visit
In Graz and its surroundings there is a huge variety of things to do. The centre isn’t large. Therefore, you can easily discover all highlights by strolling around. One thing you should definitely do on a sunny day is walk up the Schlossberg, the hill in the very centre of Graz. From the top you will get a beautiful view over the entire town. If you don’t mind driving a little, go and see the wine-growing areas of Styria. Apart from the Buschenschank, typical restaurants for that area, there is the Riegersburg, an old castle on a hill which used to be a volcano, and the popular Zotter chocolate factory. By the way, there is also a chocolate shop of Zotter in town in case you want to buy some sweet souvenirs.  In any case, I left some brochures in English on the dresser. If you are coming with children, it is very nice to take a walk in the forest right beside our home. There is a park nearby which provides a table tennis spot, football pitches, skateboard grounds and volleyball courts. In the box in the balcony there is some sports equipment.  Feel free to take out what you need. Other than that, there are also many playgrounds and small lakes within in the housing estate and there are always families outside.

Alright, I think that’s about it. If there are any further questions, do not hesitate to get in touch with me. Enjoy your stay!

My 5-day trip to Lisbon

Olá, everyone! The reason why I say hello in Portuguese today is that I need to tell you about my memorable 5-day trip to Lisbon. I’ve just returned, so as you can imagine, I am still in this euphoric mood so I don’t know where to begin. But let’s take one thing at a time.
Due to my parent’s... let’s call it ironically mistake, you couldn’t see me in Graz at this year’s Easter. Instead of having a traditional Austrian Osterjause with the entire family, which I love by the way, the four of us were staying in sunny Portugal having fish and port. As I’ve only been at the coast last year with my Spanish host family for a couple of days, I had no idea what Lisbon would be like. However, I imagined it kind of similar to Spain. Now, I actually can’t explain why. Probably because both Portugal and Spain form the Iberian Peninsula and have loads in common, such as history, climate, food etc. Besides, Portugal is the smaller one and I think people tend to expect that the smaller country is the same as its larger neighbour. For example, when I was abroad telling people German is my mother tongue, I used to be automatically considered as German. I know that Austria is a dot on the world map, but it is a fact that it is not Germany… Anyway, let’s get back to Lisbon. I arrived without having any expectations so I was even more amazed by this interesting place which seemed to be a cultural meeting place.
The first thing I can remember is that I noticed many Africans and Latinos. I hadn’t been aware of the fact that people from former colonies had moved to Lisbon. And of course, they brought their music, food and language with them. A friend of mine who has a boyfriend in Lisbon told me that in his quarter there is a Brazilian hairdresser and that he loves to go to African restaurants. I particularly enjoyed listening to a group from Cape Verde playing chilly music and dancing. We were sitting nearby and taking in the wonderful view over the city accompanied by music on a warm sunny spring day.

I felt like lolloping up and down the hills of San Francisco as the trams look confusingly similar to those in Lisbon. At first, we couldn’t await to take a tour with line 28, the most famous one, but unfortunately it was stuffed with people so that we weren’t able to move, not to mention to take any photos.  Soon, we came to the conclusion that it was truly an off-putting tourist attraction and made off as fast as we could.
I have to admit that one second I thought that the river Tejo was already the Atlantic. I think I have never seen any wider estuary mouth before. But I was even more confused when I made out the Christo Rei statue on the other side of the river. Was I in Río de Janeiro then? 

Another highlight of the holidays was the trip to Sintra, a small town nearby Lisbon. As we got out of the train, we found ourselves stationed in front of imposing Arabian palaces rising above treetops.

 And because of being so close to the ocean, we wanted to see it too, of course. So, we took the bus and arrived at the coast within 20 minutes. After having reached the most western spot of European mainland, we were overwhelmed by cliffs and the deep blue sea. And guess what we found in the next town we were visiting? There were pubs everywhere!
As you can see, Lisbon and its surroundings offer so much to be discovered and I can’t remember passing one day in boredom. I learned that Portugal is definitely not even similar to Spain and I will never forget this!
I loved the days in Lisbon not only because it was another enriching experience, but also because it is so relaxing for me to spend quality time with my family. And how can you do this better than travelling abroad?
Did this post make you curious about Lisbon and what else Portugal has to offer? Have you ever been to Portugal and did you like it as much as I do? I would love to talk to someone who had already been there to share experiences. 

10 interesting facts about Latin America

Did you know..?

• ... that America could have been called Colombia due to its discoverer, Christopher Columbus? The fact that Columbus died in the belief of having discovered India, is the reason why that never occurred. In the end, the continent was named after Américo Vespuccio, an Italian explorer. He was the first one who realised that it was the New World he had explored. 
• ... that Mexico geographically belongs to the USA? North America extends to the peninsula Yucatán which is still in Mexico. Then, Belize and Guatemala form part of Central America.
• … that the continent America has all kinds of climatic zones? The largest is the tropical zone. Therefore, there is a great extension of tropical and subtropical jungles, such as the region of the Amazon. 
• … that in the Amazon Basin there are tribes that live far away from civilization and don’t even know that such thing exists?
  
• … that the Andes are the largest mountain chain on earth? It stretches from north to south through seven countries in South America.
•  … that La Paz in Bolivia is the highest seat of government on earth? However, the actual capital of Bolivia is Sucre.
• … that the Atacama Desert is the driest place on earth? Up to four years without rain has been recorded. The desert contains parts of Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. It was used as setting for Mars scenes in TV series such as Spacey Odyssey: Voyage
  To The Planets 
•  … that Tabasco not only is a sauce, but also a state in Mexico? In the language of indigenous Mexicans, tabasco means land of hot and humid terra. 
   Understandable, isn’t it? 
• … that the phrase Your are what you eat was of great significance in the Maya
  culture? The Maya thought, due to their basic food, corn, humans were made from it. By the way, nobody knows why the Maya culture disappeared… 
•  … that pre-Columbian peoples of Ancient Mexico and Central America followed the procedure of (self-)sacrifice? They believed in returning their blood to God(s), who had sacrificed theirs while creating earth. One bizarre fact is that they even played games, such as the Juego de Pelota, the ball game, in order to choose the next victim.
  

Correction of "A paragraph which explains why I love cooking"

For me, cooking is one of the best things in the world to do. I particularly enjoy spoiling my family and friends by serving them a lovely-prepared meal. In contrast to a restaurant, I have the certainty to know what my dish is made from. I prefer to play it safe and I use untreated, organic food. Nevertheless, I’m keen to experiment by trying out unusual spice blends that create contrasting flavours in exotic dishes. By using different spices and herbs, I turn bland spaghettis into a taste-tempting experience. To put it short, cooking never gets boring and I always enjoy it.