Austria Meets Australia “Trüb” is the word our Australian visitor, Mr T. from Sydney most associates with Austria. He did, however, not come in person: As it befits a school with the latest classroom technology, our communication – entirely in English of course - took place via Skype. The contact was established by English teacher Mr G. and so, on this dark and dreary Austrian October morning, the students of class 11B enjoyed an unusual and exciting English lesson on and from sunny Australia. The differences in the climatic conditions were our first topic. We were amazed to hear that - partly due to global warming – Australia had even had to add a new colour to its temperature maps: the hottest day Mr T. himself remembers was 48°C. In Austria, we are often quite squeamish about all kinds of insects or rodents. In contrast to this, it is quite common in Australia even in big cities to come across dangerous animals like snakes or poisonous spiders. Actually, just a few days before two people had died after being bitten by venomenous snakes. Since it has been forbidden to shoot crocodiles, they are everywhere – even at tourist beaches. Australians, however, are very relaxed about dangerous creatures: Taking a selfie next to a shark warning sign at the beach has turned into quite a sport. Austria is currently battling with the impact of the refugee crisis. In comparison, Australia has always welcomed refugees and immigrants from all over the world. As Mr T. put it, ‘everybody comes from somewhere’. He himself lives in an almost exclusively Chinese neighbourhood with many Chinese restaurants and shops close by. Since 1945, almost six million migrants and refugees have settled in the country. Most of us did not know much about the Aborigines and their history which goes back thousands of years. We learned that indigenous people passed down oral traditions from generation to generation through art, dances and songs conveying important information that helped them survive. An Aboriginal song, for example, can be used to direct people to certain places, like a map. According to Mr T., Australia’s public apology 2008 to its indigenous people for destroying their lives and their culture is considered to be one of the most important historical events of the recent past. We could have listened to our our guest much longer, but before we knew it our time was up. We thanked him with big applause and returned to a classroom reality that was not as “trüb” any more as it had been.