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| September 2003 Newsletter |
| GERMAN LANGUAGE CLASSES |
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This year the German-Maltese Circle has invested a lot in advertising its courses and soon a mail shot will be posted to all households in Malta and Gozo. Moreover, besides classified advertisements in all daily newspapers, direct marketing messages via email were sent to thousands of subscribers. As from this scholastic year, a new textbook, DELFIN (Max Hueber Verlag), will be introduced in our Grundstufe Beginners Classes. This new textbook is very user-friendly and will be used by our students up to the Zertifikat Deutsch class. This new textbook together with a fresh reschedule of our course contents will make it possible for our students to be able to sit for their SEC examination in German only after two years. Conversation sessions will as from this scholastic year form an integral part of all our courses. It is to be remarked that students who were following the STUFEN textbook last year will this year continue with that book even this year. This applies to those students who last year were in their First and Second Years. Another interesting development is the re-introduction after a number of years of the possibility of preparing our students for the MATSEC Advanced Level in German (University of Malta). Students who would have completed the Zertifikat Deutsch course or the First Year German at the Junior College (Sixth Form) would be able to join our Mittelstufe Course through which together with a special class held for them every fortnight they would be able to sit for the Advanced level in May 2004. Following the big success of our Summer Revision Classes for schoolchildren, the German-Maltese Circle will be holding lessons for schoolchildren who have German in their school also during the forthcoming scholastic year. These classes will be held on Saturday morning (Form 1 to Form 4) and on Wednesday evening for those preparing for their SEC German May 2004 (Form 5). As from this year, the German-Maltese Circle will be launching a brand new course for those schoolchildren who do not have German at school. These students will therefore have the opportunity of learning German as well at the German-Maltese Circle. These will be trained over five years to sit for the SEC German. There
are other new and revised changes in our courses for the coming
year all aimed at making our courses more attractive and productive.
SO HURRY UP AND ENROL TODAY!! |
All
members have by now received the full prospectus containing detailed
information on the new German language courses which the German-Maltese
Circle will be launching as from the first week of October. We encourage
all those interested in joining one or the other class to enrol
at the office as soon as possible. Don’t leave it until the
last week because there would be the chance that your particular
class would be full up by then!
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The St. John Rescue Corps in Malta |
The Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Chivalric Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, more commonly known as the Johanniterorden, is the German Protestant Order of St John, which together with the three other recognised Protestant Orders of St John, forms part of The Alliance of Orders of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem. In conjunction with the Roman Catholic Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, the Alliance brings together the five Orders of St John, which although in confessional diversity, are united under one ideal. In Germany the Johanniterorden is concerned with a number of humanitarian scopes, called ‘Werke’, which are mainly hospitals, homes for the aged, and the Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe (Johanniter Rescue Corps). The Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe is known and seen in most German cities, easily recognisable by their ambulance cars in white, with the eight tongued cross on a red background. Here in Malta, Marquis Buttigieg De Piro is the founding commanding officer and the Corps Commander of the St John Rescue Corps, a unique paramilitary fully volunteer corps which operates in Malta under the auspices of The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, the British Order of St John. The St John Rescue Corps was raised to meet the need in Malta of a support civil defence unit consisting of adult volunteers fully trained in rescue and first aid. The St. John Rescue Corps is part of St John Ambulance Malta, but is a separate organisation from the St John Ambulance Brigade (First Aid and Nursing). Unlike the St. John Ambulance Brigade, whose task is also to give first aid at public functions, football matches and so forth, the mission statement of the St. John Rescue Corps is “to provide a uniformed voluntary Corps of organised and fully trained adults, able to carry out rescue operations and first aid efficiently. They are to be prepared to go into action as an individual unit, in support of the constituted authorities of the Maltese Islands, when officially called upon by them, in case of major national calamities such as earthquakes, war, major air-crashes, floods and so forth”. The Corps is based at Fort Madalena, an early nineteenth century British fort which has been loaned to it by the Government of Malta. It is an organization run on military lines and is divided into a number of Divisions. Each Division consists of fifty-two volunteers headed by a Divisional Commander, two Divisional Officers and a Senior Section Leader. A Division is composed of six Rescue Sections with eight volunteers in each section, including the Section Leader and his Deputy. Volunteers are trained in basic first aid and rescue skills. Many volunteers take further advanced courses in the more specialised and demanding fields of heavy rescue, cliff (high-angle) rescue and fire fighting. The scuba divers’ division is also fully trained in land rescue and first aid. Most of the equipment and vehicles used by the Rescue Corps for training and operations are the private property of the volunteers themselves, who also carry out maintenance and provide for any running costs, at their own expense. Most of the Officers of the Corps, as well as some of the senior leaders, qualified in Special Rescue Training at the Katastrophenschutzschule des Bundes (Federal Civil Defence Staff Training College) in Ahrweiler, Germany. The St John Rescue Corps Malta is only part of the very large network of aid and rescue organisations that operate under the mantle of the British Order of St John, an international entity with some thirty thousand members worldwide. St John Ambulance has a global membership of nearly three hundred thousand in forty one countries. Its activities include first aid provision and training, ambulance, community care, mountain, cliff and other rescue services, a therapy dog programme and youth activities. The Order has Priories in England, Scotland, Wales, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, Australia and the United States of America, two Commanderies in Northern Ireland and Western Australia, and thirty St John National Councils in Commonwealth countries and territories, including Malta, and two associated bodies in Hong Kong and Ireland. This
summary was made possible with the kind assistance of the Senior
Divisional Officer A G de Giorgio Esq.St.J., Staff Officer Press
& Public Relations, St John Rescue Corps Malta GC. |
Snow made from potatoes |
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Films set in snow-laden winter landscapes cannot always be produced in the dead of winter. Until now, expensive artificial snow had to be imported from Hollywood to obtain the desired effects. In addition, it is always a laborious task to remove the splendid white chips made from polyethylene film after the shooting is over – almost unavoidable that some of the non-biodegradable plastic snow would remain. “With these types of artificial snow, some always ended up being blown around the set,” remarks Frithjof Bauman from the department of Materials Research and Development at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT) near Karlsruhe. German scientists offer an elegant and biodegradable artificial snow alternative made from potato- or cornstarch. The deceptive realistic product does not need to be swept up or vacuumed carefully. A lasting rain shower dissolves the residues instead. The flakes of starch are also suitable for use in shop window dressing. The window dresser only needs to ensure that the objects are slightly moist before sprinkling them with the potato snow. Thanks to the snow’s adhesive properties, it is even possible to build snowmen or form your own icicles. Add more water and the flakes simply dissolve. In another case, the ICT had previously developed low-cost artificial snow out of polyethylene foam for the State Theatre of Baden in Karlsruhe. The theatre urgently required new snow for a performance, but the existing supplier in Hollywood failed to deliver. The institute researchers came to the rescue and developed an alternative within only three weeks. “In this case, it depended less on whether each chip looked like a real snowflake and more on how the flakes behaved when falling on the ground,” reports Baumann. So that the snow looked authentic when trickling down, the researchers also recorded the amount of time that a flake needed to reach the ground. Besides having the right dimensions, density and distribution of size, it was important that the material should be non-flammable. Andreas Kosian, technical director for the principal stage at the State Theatre is a happy customer: “This artificial snow is ideal for our purposes.” The
white product can claim its most prestigious role to date with
the filming of the pilot film for the science fiction series “Ice
Planet”. For its production, members of the institute loaded
a truck with five metric tons of the starch- and polyethylene-based
artificial snowflakes.
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| Neue in der Bibliothek: |
Video: KuBus Nr. 55 Im ersten Film dieses Videos wird der Konflikt zwischen Wintersport auf der einen Seite und Umweltschutz auf der anderen Seite am Beispiel von Garmisch-Partenkirchen diskutiert. Tourismus ist der bedeutendste Wirtschaftsfaktor der Region. Um im immer härter werdenden Wettbewerb mithalten zu können, wird ständig investiert. Inwieweit dies eine nachhaltige Entwicklung der Alpen beeinflusst wird anschaulich dargestellt. Im Film “Hotel Mama” geht es nicht um Tourismus. Vielmehr wird ein neuer Trend aufgezeigt: Immer mehr junge Erwachsene bleiben heute länger bei ihren Eltern wohnen. Die Gründe und wie sich das Zusammenleben gestaltet werden anhand von zwei Familien beispielhaft aufgezeigt. Zum Video gibt es wie immer ein Begleitheft mit Hintergrundinformationen und dem Text in deutscher und englischer Sprache.
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| Anthony,
the Marquis Buttigieg De Piro Knight of the Order of St. John Member of the GMC |
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The Marquis began his story recollecting that at the age of six he was sent for one year to be trained by the Jesuits, a fact which made a strong and life-long directive impact on him. Thereafter he studied at St. Edward’s College, and finally attended The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. During his early youth he loved spending the holidays in the family house on Gozo where apart from learning how to ride and to handle guns, he also learnt how to respect the honesty and integrity of hardworking country-folk which he closely adheres to. “This has stood me in good stead all over the world for the rest of my life”, he remembers. During this time he was also accumulating a solid knowledge of the German language from his Prussian grandmother. Other ‘family languages’ were Spanish, Italian, English and Maltese. This multi-linguality equipped him with a definite advantage in his adult professional and social life. His interest in world literature was consequently early awakened, also becoming an ardent admirer of classical music, favouring especially the composers Beethoven, Wagner and Rimski-Korsakow. As for sport, his biggest passion is connected with horses and primarily a game of polo, “which”, so he says, “I consider not a sport but a religion”. He is the Life President of the Malta Polo Club, and Life President of the Malta Racing Club. After a period in the military and civil service, where his last task was that of a Bomb Disposal Officer, which his then newly-wed wife understandably disapproved of, he moved on to the private sector of industry, including advertising and management. He became a regional Sales and Marketing Manager of Hilton International, working in Rome, London, Berlin, Montreal, and was eventually appointed General Manager and Managing Director of Hilton International back home in Malta, where he worked until his retirement a few years ago. After returning to his home country, he was asked by the Venerable Order of St. John through its Commander in Malta, whether he would consider forming a Corps of Volunteers, and indeed in 1986 he started to build up the St. John Rescue Corps. In his own words “The scope of the Corps is not only to carry out normal first aid work, but be organized in disciplined units of adults, fully trained in rescue work… Our mission statement is to stand by for service in the case of major catastrophes, when the constituted authority requires help.” In recognition of his efforts and devotion Queen Elizabeth II has recently knighted Marquis Buttigieg De Piro in the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, the British Order of St. John. Ever
since the Marquis became the Commander of the St. John Rescue Corps
and the commencement of its operations in 1991, he has maintained
close relations with the German Order of St. John (Johanniterorden)
and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. For his outstanding service
and co-operation he has now been decorated with the Ehrenritterkreuz
– The Knight’s Cross of Honour – which is a rarely
awarded decoration for meritorious service to the ideals of the
Hospitaller tradition of the Orders of St. John. This took place
in a religious ceremony at the ancient Chapel of Nieder-Weisel,
Taunus, an old commandery of the Order of St John in Germany. His
Royal Highness Prince Oskar of Prussia, Herrenmeister (Master-Bailiff)
of the German Order of St John bestowed the high decoration of the
Knight’s Cross of Honour on Anthony, the Marquis Buttigieg
De Piro in the presence of many noble Knights of the Order. |
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