SEDA students have Olympic fun in London

The Olympic Games in London last month attracted millions of people and among them were

dozens of SEDA students who took advan-tage of Dublin’s proximity to the host city and travelled to Britain to see the Games. For most of the students it was an exciting holiday, but at least one had a very different experience – Denis Miranda took the time out of his studies at SEDA to work at the Olympics as a cameraman.

Denis was employed in the crew of TV Record – a Brazilian TV network which had exclusive rights to broadcast this year’s Games. The SEDA student covered train-ing sessions of Brazil’s national team in the Crystal Palace and also witnessed the visit of

Dilma Rousseff, the President of Brazil, to London.

“I had worked with Record before I came to Ireland, and they asked me to join their crew in London,” Denis said. “I think they picked me because of my English skills. My course in SEDA helped me a lot. I could eas-ily communicate with everyone in London and I was one of the few people in my TV crew who spoke English well so I often acted as an interpreter for the rest of the guys”.

“A big party”

But for most SEDA students the Olym-pics was a fun-filled holiday. Among the

many students who enjoyed the games was Rafael Fradique.

“The trip to the Olympics was amazing, though quite tiring because we travelled a lot between the different cities,” he told SEDA News. “Me and my friends only went to football matches, although I wish I had seen other sports like swimming and athlet-ics”.

Rafael said he travelled along with three more SEDA students and another friend. They visited Manchester, Cardiff and also watched a game of football at London’s Wembley stadium.

Continued on page 4

Issue 10, September 2012. Copyright: Skills & Enterprise Development Academy

Teacher Rosa’s class in Dublin Castle. Check out more pictures sent in by SEDA students on pages 10-11.

OLYMPICSHow did Ireland

fare at the London Olympics?

Page 2

LIVINGDon’t get fleeced: scams and how to

avoid them

Page 7

FESTIVALSOktoberfest, Arthur’s

Day, Culture Night, GAA final and more!

Pages 8 & 9

EVENTSSEDA students turn

into frightening zombies!

Page 3

STAFFMeet SEDA’s

multilingual genius - teacher Jane Brennan

Page 5

Dozens of SEDA students travelled to Britain last month to enjoy the London Olympics. Some of them have shared their stories with SEDA News.

2 NEWS

Welcome to the September issue of SEDA News!

This month marks the end of summer in Ireland, so get ready for longer nights and cold-er weather. But then if you’ve experienced Irish summer, chances are, you won’t even notice much of a difference, at least not for a while. It may be November or December before you’ll start feeling seriously colder, so there’s no need to worry just yet!

Our main story is last month’s London Olympics, or more precisely SEDA students’ adventures there. Many of our readers enjoyed the Games, but a special thanks goes out to Ra-fael Fradique, Carlos Akiyama and Denis Mi-randa who shared their stories and photos.

Also last month a number of SEDA stu-dents were spotted walking around the cen-tre of Dublin covered in blood and with their entrails sticking out, acting like a bunch of zombies. Now this wouldn’t be a story at all if it happened on a Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, right after last orders in Dicey’s, but, funny enough, they were doing it on a sunny Saturday afternoon... We couldn’t let this one pass and covered the “zombie apocalypse” – a big cheers to Carolina Danieletto who supplied the gory photos!

In this month’s paper we also interview the ever-smiling SEDA teacher Jane Brennan. Have you ever wondered why Jane smiles so much? It could be because she knows so many languages – ten and counting! Check out the article about SEDA’s multilingual genius on page 5.

As part of our series on SEDA students from different countries and backgrounds we interview one of the school’s mature students, 68-year-old Luis Fernando Salazar. Luis only stayed in SEDA for a month, but is fondly re-membered by students and staff alike. It is hard to believe that the trip to Ireland was Luis’ first time away from home in nearly 20 years. He told SEDA News that he greatly enjoyed this experience, especially learning together with so many young people.

Another story we cover this month is the nasty business of scams which many foreign students in Ireland fall victims to. In this issue you can read about fake job offers and fake (or stolen) bank cheques which some SEDA stu-dents have got in their post. More scams will be exposed next month.

As usual on pages 8 and 9 we have the low down on all the interesting shows and events (mostly beer festivals) that are happening in Dublin this month and next. And on page 12 you’ll get another dose of essential Irish slang that will get you talking like a native. And if you’re feeling competitive then you can try and answer questions on Irish food and drink on the same page. The winner will get a cool prize!

I wish you a very pleasant read and, re-member, if you have any photos, food recipes, essays, ideas, comments or criticism you can always get in touch on news@seda.ie.

SEDA News editorViktor Posudnevsky

A word from the editor

SEDA News, copyright: Skills & Enterprise Development Academy (SEDA). EDITOR AND LAYOUT: Viktor Posudnevsky. FINAL REVIEW: Carol Cregg. CIRCULATION: 1000 copies. ADVERTISING & EDITORIAL: news@seda.ie

New visa for students who came to Ireland before 2005

Non-EU students who have been living and studying in Ireland since before 2005 can now get a special extension visa for up to 2 years. The new rule was announced by Ireland’s Naturalisation and Immigra-tion Service (INIS) last month. According to regulations adopted by INIS in January 2011, non-EU students can only stay in Ire-land for a maximum of 7 years if they are doing a degree course and 3 years if they are learning English. But INIS has made special provisions for those who exceeded the 7 year timeframe on the date of introduction.

To be eligible for the special extension visa the student has to show that they reg-istered their residence and began studies in Ireland on or before 31 December 2004. The student must also prove that he or she lived in Ireland continuously since 2005 and show one P60 certificate that has been acquired within the previous three years. Those granted the Student Probationary Ex-tension will get a stamp 2 and their status will continue to be that of a student. But the following residency conditions will apply to the probationary period:

• The eligible student will not be required to be registered or enrolled in an academic

course of study.

• The eligible student will be permitted to work for a maximum period of 40 hours per week without being required to hold a work permit.

• The eligible student will be required to maintain private medical insurance.

• The eligible student will be required to reside in the State without drawing on pub-licly funded social assistance programmes (e.g. supplementary welfare allowances, medical card, jobseeker supports etc.)

• The eligible student will not be permit-ted to apply for reunification with family members who are resident outside the State.

• The eligible student must be of good character and must demonstrate that they are law abiding.

At the conclusion of the two year pro-bationary period the eligible students can apply for a Stamp 4 permission to reside in Ireland. Questions on the Student Proba-tionary Extension can be addressed by e-mail to 2004timedoutstudent@justice.ie.

Ireland’s Olympic team won five medals at last month’s Olympic Games in London, four of them in boxing.

The country’s biggest triumph came

when 26-year-old boxer Katie Taylor from Bray, co Wicklow, beat her opponent, the Russian Sofia Ochigava, to gain a gold medal. Irish boxer John Joe Nevin won silver, while boxers Paddy Barnes and Mi-

chael Colgan got bronze. Another bronze medal was achieved by the Irish equestrian Cian O’Connor in showjumping.

The Irish Paralympic team did even better than the country’s Olympians, winning eight gold, three silver and three bronze med-als. This year’s Paralympic squad became the most successful Irish Paralympic team in the last 25 years, with cyclist Mark Rohan winning the gold medal twice.

Ireland has participated in every single paralympics since the first one in Rome in 1960. Its most successful year was 1984 when the team brought home an impressive 66 medals.

Irish athletes win five medals at London Olympics

Ulster Bank to pay €25 for customers’

troublesUlster Bank has announced a compensa-

tion scheme for its customers who were af-fected by a month-long IT crash during the summer.

Because of the technical difficulties at the bank some 600 000 clients could not access their accounts online or use the ATM and had to queue outside bank branches. The bank has vowed to compensate them for the inconvenience by a scheme which consists of:

• A €25 payout to personal current account holders forced to use branch bank-ing more often than normal during the crash;

• Ulster Bank vowed to waive fees, charges and surcharge interest for three months;

• It will also cover out-of-pocket ex-penses incurred during the period, topped up by 20pc extra (but the maximum top-up is €120);

• Savers will get some extra interest on their deposits.

But the offer was criticized by many cli-ents, consumer groups and even politicians. Labour Party senator Lorraine Higgins said the compensation scheme was “insulting and derisory”.

3NEWS

3,800 people from 115 countries were granted Irish citizenship during a special ceremony at the Dublin Convention Centre on August 30. Because of the large number of “new Irish” the ceremony had to be held in three separate time slots. The participants had to pledge their loyalty to the Irish State after which they were given their certificates of naturalisation. Ireland’s Minister for Justice Alan Shatter presided over the ceremony and welcomed the new citizens to “the Irish fam-ily”.

Pieces of flesh sticking out, gaping wounds, sliced eyeballs and blood everywhere... Around 10 000 people dressed as zombies walked from St Stephen’s Green Park to Temple Bar in Dub-lin last month, and some of these living dead were SEDA students! You can try and recog-nize someone you know in the pictures sent to us by Carolina Danieletto who was also a zom-bie on the day.

The Dublin Zombie Walk is an annual flashmob-style event which attempts to raise money for charity. The Walk was announced on Facebook and this year it was held on Au-gust 4. The day was warm and sunny and a good crowd turned up for the parade. Organis-ers say they started the Walks in order to at-tract young people and get them fundraising, but the event is now popular with people of all ages – there was even a 70-year-old zombie taking part! Many people also brought their

kids and even pets along. The parade was fol-lowed by a team of cleaners who tidied up the streets and mopped up the blood left by the zombies.

The event was hugely popular, with thou-sands of photos uploaded on Facebook and virtually all of Ireland’s media covering it. There was an after party in The Button Fac-tory and all the zombies had a great time. The parade also raised money for the Irish Cancer Society and Barnardos. It is only the second time the zombie parade was held in Dublin, but the earliest Zombie Walk ever took place in 2001 in Sacramento, California.

If you missed the event last month don’t worry as Halloween is just around the corner (it is celebrated on October 31) and there will be plenty of zombies, ghosts, witches, vam-pires and other frightening creatures walking around the streets of Dublin fairly soon!

Aline Barros needs your help

The living dead are coming to get you!

Blood-soaked SEDA students took part in the Dublin Zombie Walk last month

3800 people get Irish citizenship

Gas and electricity

prices on the riseBills for electricity and gas are set to rise

as Ireland’s energy regulator approved new hikes in tariffs. The Commission for Energy Regulation granted Bord Gais, the country’s biggest gas provider, permission to raise pric-es by 8.5%. The new rates will be implement-ed next month and will be the third price rise for residential gas customers in a year. Bord Gais says it had to raise rates for households because of the increase in wholesale gas pric-es. Ireland imports 99% of its gas from the UK. Electricity will also get more expensive as ESB/Electric Ireland, the biggest electric-ity provider in Ireland, has announced an increase of 5.9%. The new rates will also be implemented from next month. Other gas and electricity providers, such as Airtricity or Flogas, are expected to follow suit soon.

Zombie apocalypse hits Dublin!

Almost 4000 are homeless in Ireland

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary called a 35-year-old mother-of-two an “idiot” after the woman complained that she had to pay the Irish airline 300 euro for print-ing her family’s boarding passes. Suzy McLeod from Britain paid the charge for herself, her husband and their two chil-dren after she had failed to print their boarding passes. The woman later made a complaint on Ryanair’s Facebook page:

“When flying from Alicante to Bristol yes-terday, I had previously checked in on-line but because I hadn’t printed out the Board-ing Passes, Ryanair charged me €60 per per-son!!! Meaning I had to pay €300 for them to print out a piece of paper! Please ‘like’ if you think that’s unfair.” The post got over half a million “likes” in just two weeks. But com-menting on McLeod’s complaint at a press conference Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary

said: “Mother pays £200 for being an idiot and failing to comply with her agreement at the time of booking... Thank you Mrs McLeod but it was your f***-up”. Ryanair’s terms and conditions, to which every cus-tomer has to agree before booking a flight, state that there is a penalty charge of 60 euro if the passenger does not print their own boarding pass.

Ryanair boss calls passenger an “idiot”

Almost 4000 people were homeless in Ire-land and 59 men and women were sleeping in the streets when the last Census was car-ried out in 2011. The Census also found that 503 children under the age of 18 were with-out a permanent home on the night. Four out of ten homeless people were in emergency shelters, with nearly 1,000 in long-term ac-commodation. Others were in transitional or mixed accommodation. Almost three-quar-ters were male and more than 60pc were in the Dublin region.This zombie came all the way from Alcatraz

All the pictures were taken by Carolina Danieletto. Check out more photos on page 11.

4 NEWS

Jobs and careers events in Dublin this month

Two career and employment fairs will take place in Dublin at the end of Septem-ber. Career Zoo is coming to The Conven-tion Centre (Docklands, Dublin 1) on Sat-urday, 22nd September (10 am to 6 pm) and Jobs Expo will take place in Croke Park Stadium (The Hogan Suite) on Friday and Saturday, September 28 and 29. Admission to both events is free, but online registration is required on www.careerzoo.ie and www.jobsexpo.ie.

Career Zoo, a regular event in Dublin, is one of Ireland’s biggest fairs for profession-als and graduates looking to advance their careers. Visitors will be able to speak to lead-ing employers who are hiring for jobs in Ire-land now, talk to course providers and find out about various upskilling and conversion

programmes. There will also be information on starting your own business in Ireland as well as career workshops and seminars.

Visitors to the Jobs Expo will get the op-portunity to meet employers recruiting for roles both in Ireland and abroad (the Work Abroad Village). There will also be emigra-tion and visa advice providers, start your own business experts, free CV, careers and interview skills guidance at the event’s Ca-reer Clinic as well as post-graduate and p r o f e s s i o n a l qua l i f icat ion providers and a host of semi-nars.

SEDA students have Olympic fun in London

From this month course books for all levels are available in SEDA. Students have the option of either buying or renting the books for the duration of their course. Rent-ing a book costs just five euro, and the stu-dent can have the book for as long as they like. But those wishing to rent are also re-quired to pay a deposit of 25 euro. The de-posit will be given back once the book is re-

turned to the school (provided the book is in good condition). Books are available to buy or rent from the reception.

“Since January this year we have been trying to implement a system of mandatory books for every student,” said SEDA’s direc-tor of studies Carol Cregg.

“It’s better for students as it is very easy to lose photocopies, while the book stays with you for the duration of the course and you can take it home with you when you fin-ish your studies”.

“It is also better for the environment as less paper and ink is wasted on photocop-ies. In order to make the system work better we now have books available in SEDA, and if you cannot afford to pay for a book then you can rent one. Great news!”

Now you can buy or rent your books in SEDA

From page 1“The atmosphere at the venues was

awesome, like a big party,” Rafael contin-ued. “Everybody was celebrating, doing the “wave” even if their team was losing. Outside the venues it was even better. Af-ter the matches, there would always be a big celebration with music. The games were very well-organized and safe. The British definitely know how to hold a big event. The queues weren’t too long and all the staff were very friendly. Even the London Un-derground, which was supposed to be over-loaded, didn’t have long delays. In the streets we could see policemen everywhere and the volunteers were very helpful”.

Bumping into Sir Bobby Charlton

But Rafael’s most lasting memory was a chance encounter with the legendary

English footballer Sir Bobby Charlton: “In Manchester while everybody was celebrat-ing after the match, I saw Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United manager, and Sir Bobby Charlton, the legendary England and Man-chester United player, leaving the stadium surrounded by security. They passed right in front of me and I almost bumped with Sir Bobby Charlton. I am a Manchester United fan, and it was completely out of this world! I’ll never forget it!”

Amazing organisation

Carlos Akiyama is another SEDA stu-dent who had a great time at the Games. Carlos’ cousin lives in London and when he was planning his trip he found out that three of his friends would be in Britain during the Games. “I got to London by ferry and train and succeeded in getting tickets to see two

competitions: Greco-Roman wrestling, and women’s foot-ball, which was taking place in Coventry,” Carlos said. “The organisation of the Olympics was amazing, with so many people welcoming visitors and showing them around. I was

also impressed with po-lice officers who were very friendly and gladly posed for pictures. I was really happy to have visited the Games and I brought back many photos and even more wonderful memories of the British capital”.

Work experience

But another SEDA student Denis Miranda didn’t have much time to see the actual Games as he worked as a camer-aman for the Brazilian TV network Record. Denis said he was based in the Crystal Pal-ace where his country’s national team was training.

“If somebody got injured or if something else happened I had to be there to film it,” Denis said. “So I couldn’t leave to see the games, but I got to shoot interviews with the greatest Brazilian athletes.. I also got to work with some of my country’s most famous TV

presenters. It was a great experience and it will look amazing on my CV”.

Denis said he now plans to apply for camera jobs at the 2014 football World Cup which will take place in his native Brazil. With his English skills and experience of working in London behind his belt, getting a job at the World Cup shouldn’t be a dif-ficult task!

Carlos Akiyama is making friends with London po-licemen (and women) outside an Olympic venue

Rafael Fradique got to see a game of football in Man-chester and even bumped into Sir Bobby Charlton!

Denis Miranda (right) worked as a cameraman for Brazilian TV during the Games

SEDA students at the Olympic Games in London

5SEDA STAFF

Where are you from and how did you start working in SEDA?

I am from North Dublin, Dublin 5, and I started working in SEDA last February, so I’ve worked here for 18 months already – time flies when you’re having fun! Before I came to SEDA I had been teaching French privately for about 5 or 6 years, preparing Leaving Cert students who wanted help with their exams. After that I did a course to be an English teacher and started here. At the moment I teach beginners, elementary, pre-intermediate and intermediate levels.

Did you live in France to learn French?

Yes, I did. I lived in the South of France for a while which was lovely. I also have a BA in French from Trinity College Dublin. After getting my degree I went straight into Masters in Trinity again and I studied Me-dieval Languages. I did Old English, Latin, Old French, Middle English, Middle French and really loved it!

I’m actually going back for another Mas-ter’s next year! This time I will study Applied Linguistics. I am doing this course because I eventually want to write language books. My life plan is to write the next big English or French language course book for schools – that’s what I want to do!

What do you like about working in SEDA?

The best thing is the people I meet every

day. The students are fantastic and it’s such a fun place to work in! Everyone’s always real-ly happy and friendly. All the teachers work really hard and everybody works together. I’m a big people person and I’m happy that I get to meet people from all over the world. Actually after talking to some Brazilian stu-dents I have started studying Portuguese. I’m a beginner, but I can already understand a lot!

What other languages do you speak?

I speak English and French fluently and as I said I’m a beginner in Portuguese. I also have a bit of German and recently I got a di-ploma in Irish sign language for deaf people. Hopefully in future I may do some inter-preting work with the deaf. I’m also learning Russian at the moment.

I can read most European languages and understand them, but I can’t speak them all. I have a thing about languages and am a little bit obsessed with them! I know, I’m a massive nerd!

Did you travel much to learn all these languages?

I haven’t travelled to as many European countries as I would like. But I’ve been to America a few times because my sister lives there. I’ve been to France more times than I can count – it’s my favourite place in the world! I’d love to live in France my whole life, especially in Paris, which is an amazing city.

What do you like to do when you’re not working or learning lan-guages?

I love to cook and I love to bake! I spend almost every weekend baking breads, cook-ies, fudge and other stuff. And I try to cook a proper dinner every day. I’m a vegetarian, so it’s a bit difficult: I can’t just buy something in a takeaway, I usually have to make dinner myself. But it’s great fun and one of my fa-vourite things to do. I’m also obsessed with cooking programmes on TV.

What’s your favourite food?

I love Mexican food. I really like food that is really spicy!

What kind of music are you into?

I love classic rock and folk music like Neil Young – he’s my favourite. I went to Bruce Springsteen’s concert in Dublin re-cently which was amazing! He’s my idol.

Which places in Dublin would you rec-ommend students to visit?

A lovely place to go is Clontarf – it’s in Dublin 3 and you can get the DART there. There is a lovely seafront, there are also many restaurants and shops, and it’s a beau

tiful walk. But I think one of the nicest plac-es in the world is Howth because of the gor-geous scenery, seals in the harbour and so on. It’s really cold though, so I would advise to wear warm clothes! I honestly think the Irish Sea is one of the most beautiful sights in the world.

What about France? Which cities and places would you recommend to visit there?

If you have the time go to the South of France! It’s just 3 hours on the train from Paris – very easy to get to. You can go to cities like Avignon or Nice. I lived in Aix-en-Provence near Marseille, which is also a lovely place to visit. All the Provencal cities are so beautiful! The people are very friend-ly, but they generally don’t speak anything but French. So I would advise to have at least a few words in French before you go to the South of France. It’s great to visit in the summer, but it gets very very hot – about 40 degrees! So the lovely time to go would be September and October. You would get the nicest weather.

Get to know Jane: SEDA’s multilingual

phenomenonTen and counting! Seriously, that is how many languages JANE BRENNAN can understand. The friendly teacher tells SEDA News she is obsessed with linguistics and plans to write the next big English (or French) course book for schools.

When she’s not learning languages or teaching at SEDA Jane Brennan loves to cook, bake and travel.

6

Tell me a bit about yourself. What do you do in Brazil?

I am from Sao Paulo and I am an engi-neer. I graduated as a metallurgical engineer, but I have worked for insurance companies all my life. At the moment I am retired, but I still do some work for a large international company. My job is to visit the ships that dock in Santos, a big port in the state of Sao Paulo, and examine the machinery that was damaged at sea. I have a son who is also an engineer and a daughter who is a lawyer. She works for the largest bank in Brazil.

Why do you need English?

I have to speak English in order to com-municate with the crew on the ships that I visit. I learned English on my own in Brazil and I have a huge vocabulary because I read English books since I was a teenager. But I find it very hard to speak in English. That is

why I decided to do a course in Ireland.

What did you think of your course in SEDA?

I was very happy with the course and I really enjoyed the company of young people. For an older person like me it’s very good to sit in class with young people and to hear about their problems, find out what they think about various things. It’s very inter-esting! From now on I intend to take more trips and visit other places. Last time I went abroad was 19 years ago!

How did your family react when you told them you were going away to learn English?

When I told my daughter that I was go-ing to Ireland to learn English she didn’t believe me! She said: I will only believe it when you actually go there. That is because I

didn’t travel for a long time. I used to stay on my couch all the time watching TV. I rarely left the house, so my family found it hard to believe I was seri-ous about going to Ireland.

What did you do outside of classes?

Every weekend I visited different places in Ireland and Europe. I went to France and England, visited London. Since I was a teen-ager my dream was to see the British Mu-seum and I am happy I finally fulfilled it.

What did you think about Ireland?I loved Ireland! I feel that Irish people

are more kind and attentive than the Eng-lish. The English are way more reserved. I

was also surprised by the good will that the Irish people have to help foreigners.

What are your plans for the future?

I want to continue improving my Eng-lish, but I would like to go to another coun-try – maybe Britain or USA. It’s been 19 years since I went to USA. I want to visit New York and San Francisco again. I know a language school in San Francisco and I’m planning to spend a month there. It’s never too late to learn English!

It’s never too late to learn, says 68-year-old SEDA student LuisLuis Fernando Salazar (68) and his friend Maria da Graca Balsanti Camargo (62) came to Ireland from Brazil to do a course in English. Luis is a retired en-gineer and the journey to Dublin was his first foreign trip in almost 20 years. He tells SEDA News about his experience and the enjoyment of studying with younger course mates.

YOUR STORY

Our student writing competition continues!

Young at heart: Luis and Maria in Dublin

SEDA News publishes some of the entries we got for our student writing competition. The competi-tion is now in its final round! To enter just write about your first impressions of Ireland and send you text to news@seda.ie.

7LIVING IN IRELAND

Many scammers offer fake jobs to students in an attempt to obtain money from them. This summer SEDA student Mayara Montanari uploaded her CV on a website for au pair opportunities and soon got an e-mail from a London-based couple who introduced them-selves as Dr Justin and Amanda Adams. The e-mail read: “My wife and I work with the World Health Organization. We are posted over here from the USA after series of training. We are originally from Queensland, Aus-tralia. I am a Medical Doctor by profession and my wife one of the Executive secretary [sic] of the World Health Organization”.

“The Adams family” said they liked Ma-yara’s CV and offered her a monthly salary of 1,800 GBP and 200 GBP a week on top of that as pocket money to look after their two children. She would also be provided with live-in accommodation, a laptop com-puter and internet connection, the e-mail said. In return she would have to work just 30 hours a week. Mayara was thrilled with the proposal and replied to the e-mail, say-ing she would be happy to move to Lon-don. The next day she got another e-mail from the family which read:

“Dear Mayara, Hope you are doing great today. We are

so happy to read from you again. I trust you don’t know how much your mail means to our family. We shall be looking forward to welcome you to your new home... We love you and will do anything within our reach to make sure that you come and work for our family. Feel free to call me on the num-ber below anytime okay [sic].

Have a blissful day over there”.

The e-mail contained a British phone number which Mayara could ring in case she wanted to speak to the family in per-son. But the e-mail also said that Mayara

would have to pay for her flight and travel expenses. “Dr Justin Adams” wrote that the payment would have to be made directly to the UK Home Office which would then process the girl’s travel documents and visa. He asked Mayara to contact the Office by sending an e-mail to: ukba-homeoffice-gov.uk@london.com.

At this stage the SEDA student began to have doubts about the job and sought advice. She spoke to Tiago Mascarenhas at SEDA student support. “You could see straight away that it was a scam,” Tiago told SEDA News. “The offer was too good to be true and the e-mail and phone number were obviously fake”.

According to him, the number was not a proper British phone number, but instead a “redirect” number, which would redirect all calls to Nigeria, where the scammer was obviously based. The e-mail of the “UK Home Office” was also fake as it was reg-istered on the free webmail server london.com. All the real Home Office e-mails end with @homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.

“We get many reports from our stu-dents about scams like this one,” said Tiago Mascarenhas. “We advise them not to enter into correspondence with these people and delete their e-mails”.

Fake job offer scams are exposed on many websites, one of them is www.scamwarners.com.

Don’t get fleeced!

There are many scams that target foreign students in Ireland and SEDA News explains some of the most common ones. In this issue we will talk about fake job offers and stolen cheques, while more scams will be exposed in next month’s newspaper.

Irish breakfastIngredients:

6 thick slices bacon 2 tablespoons butter or margarine 4 eggs 2 small tomatoes, sliced 1 1/2 cups whole mushrooms 4 slices prepared soda bread

Directions: Lay the bacon slices in a single layer in a large frying pan. Fry over medium heat until they be-

gin to get tinged with brown. Fry on both sides. Remove from pan, but save grease.

Melt butter in pan. Crack eggs into pan, being careful not to break yolks. Place tomato slices, mushrooms, and bread in pan. Fry gently, stir-ring mushrooms and tomatoes occasionally. Keep everything separate. Turn bread over to brown on both sides.

When egg whites are set, but yolks are still runny, divide everything between two plates and serve immediately.

Share your recipes! E-mail: news@seda.ie

Fraudsters often send fake or stolen bank cheques to unsuspecting students

The €5 recipeEvery month SEDA News brings you recipes of tasty dishes which you can cook for as little as 5 euro (or even less!)

Scams and how to avoid them

A type of scam that often affects foreign students in Ireland involves fake or stolen bank cheques. Students get an envelope which contains a signed cheque, sometimes for several thousand euro, and a letter offer-ing them a job as an au-pair or a housekeep-er. The letter says the student can cash the cheque at a bank and keep part of the mon-ey for themselves as an “advance payment”. The student then has to meet the sender and give them the rest of the money, after which they can start the job.

But this unusual way of offering some-one a job is just another scam, says SEDA student support worker Netania Gomes. “I’ve dealt with several stories like this in-volving cheque for two or three thousand euro,” said Netania. “One of our students thought he was smart so he decided to cash the cheque and keep all the money to him-self. But the next day the bank called him and said his account was frozen until he paid the money back. The reason was that the cheque was not valid”.

All the cheques sent out to students in this fashion are fake or stolen. The bank

clerk may not see it the minute the cheque is lodged, but soon enough this becomes ap-parent and the bank goes after the person who cashed the cheque.

The scammers cannot cash the cheques themselves for fear of being caught so they use unsuspecting students to do it for them. “It may seem like a crazy scheme to make money, but it probably worked a few times if they’re still doing it,” said Netania Gomes. According to her, several students brought such cheques to SEDA after getting them in the post, and the school handed the cheques over to gardai.

The Adams family seeks an au pair Cash a cheque and get your share... before the bank gets you

Want to work as an au-pair in London earning £1800 a month plus £200 a week as pocket money? Be careful –

it’s a scam!

8SHOWS & GIGS

LEONARD COHENSeptember 11, September 12, Sep-

tember 14Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin 8

THE DOORS ALIVEThe Academy, 57 Middle Abbey

Street, Dublin 1Friday 14 September

The Doors Alive are widely regarded as the closest representation of the leg-endary 1960’s rock gods The Doors in

the world today. Tickets: €15.

LADY GAGASaturday, 15 Sep

Aviva StadiumLady Gaga will perform her concert programme The Born This Way Ball. The Darkness and Lady Starlight will open

the show. Tickets from €54.65 to €96.00.

WALKING WITH DINOSAURS - THE ARENA SPECTACULAR

The O2, DublinSeptember 16 – September 23

Watch the story of the dinosaurs’ 200 million year domination unfold as you see them walk, hear them roar and come face to face as they fight for sur-

vival and supremacy.

THE CHIPPENDALESOlympia Theatre

19 – 22 SeptemberThe biggest girls night out ever is com-

ing to Dublin. Tickets€27 / €28.

LIONEL RICHIEMonday, 24 Sep

The O2Lionel Richie returns to Europe this au-tumn with his first European tour dates since 2009, and nearly 25 years since his

first solo shows took place.

CHRIS ISAAKOlympia Theatre (Dame Street, Dub-

lin 2)Tuesday 02 October

American rock musician will play in Dublin’s Olympia theatre in support of his latest album Beyond the Sun. Tick-

ets: €44.05.

CHERYLThe O2, Dublin

Thursday October 4th.Ex-Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole will present songs from her new album. Tickets are priced from €39.05 including

booking fee.

GOING OUT

Tickets to all these shows are available from Ticketmaster outlets.

To book by phone call: 0818 719 300Online booking: www.ticketmaster.ie

The authentic Oktoberfest takes place in Munich, Germany every year for two weeks in September and October. The tradition started in 1810. Nowadays some 5 million people come to the German city to celebrate, consuming about twice as much litres of beer. But the festival is famous all over the world, with many cities holding smaller ver-sions of it. Dublin is no exception and this year the city will celebrate the festival twice! The events are being organized by rival Ger-man breweries – Paulaner and Erdinger.

The Paulaner version will take place from September 13 to September 16 from 5 pm until midnight (the closing time is 10 pm on Sunday) inside the historic Round Room of the Mansion House, which is the residence of the Lord-Mayor of Dublin. Organisers say the Round Room – a large room where Ireland’s independence was first proclaimed – will be transformed into an authentic Ba-

varian beer hall. There will be bartenders and barmaids in traditional German dress as well as some real Bavarian music and food. Should be fun!

The other festival is being organized by Erdinger, also a famous German beer-maker, and will take place inside the George’s Dock from September 20 until October 7. All the main action will be happening inside a beer

tent, modelled after the famous O k t o b e r f e s t beer tents, but much smaller (the original tents in Munich can hold up to 10 000 people!) Erdinger will bring all the bartenders and bar maids from

Germany and they will be wearing tradi-tional Bavarian clothes. Around the tent there will be stalls selling authentic German food, such as sausages, meat, pastries and delicacies like Käsespätzle (cheese noodles) or Brathendl (roast chicken). All in all there will be over 30 German speciality food pro-ducers and traders. A traditional German band Die Alpen-show will play music and provide entertainment during the festival.

The Erdinger Oktoberfest will be open from noon until 12-30 am from Monday to Saturday, but will close early on Sundays – at 8 pm. The capacity in George’s Dock is limit-ed to about 1500 people, so on busy days you may have to wait until some people leave the festival before you are allowed to get in.

Find out more on: www.oktoberfest-dublin.de (Erdinger version) and www.oktoberfestdublin.com (Paulaner).

Forget Munich, in Dublin you can celebrate the Oktoberfest twice!

Although some tourists may think that Arthur’s Day is a long standing Irish tradi-tion, the festival is actually a very recent invention of Diageo, the multinational com-pany that owns Guinness.

The original Arthur’s Day was held in 2009 to celebrate 250 years since Arthur Guinness signed the lease to the building that is now Guinness brewery. Now Arthur’s Day is celebrated every year on the last

Thursday of September.

The celebration involves raising a pint of Guinness “to Arthur” at exactly 17:59 (5:59 pm) to mark the sign-ing of the lease on the Guin-ness brewery building in the year 1759. Diageo also brings world famous musicians over and organises live shows. This year the line up includes Example, Tinie Tempah, El-lie Goulding, Mika, Fatboy Slim, Texas and Amy Mac-Donald among many others.

Over 500 music events will take place in all of Ireland’s 32 counties.

This year instead of do-ing a single show in a big concert hall like the O2 or Vicar Street, the musicians will perform in smaller venues – local pubs. All the concerts will be free! The pubs will be chosen by vote: every person can support their favourite lo-cal pub on www.guinness.com (until Sep-tember 16) and the bars that get most votes will host the shows. So if you want Exam-ple, Tinie Tempah or another international superstar to perform in the Barn House or indeed Lowes get voting...

The day of drinking Guinness

Oktoberfest beer festival:

There will be two Oktoberfests in Dublin this month – both modelled after the original beer festival in Munich, Ger-many.

Thursday, September 27th is Arthur’s Day which honours Arthur Guinness, the man who founded Guinness brewery in Dublin.

If you like beer definitely check out the Paulaner Dublin Oktoberfest (Mansion House, Dawson St, Dublin 2, September 13-16) and the Erdinger Oktoberfest

(George’s Dock, IFSC, Dublin 1, September 20 – October 7). Free entry!

September 27 - lovely day for a Guinness indeed!

British rapper Example. Want him to perform in The Barn House or Lowes? Then get voting...

9

LATIN AMERICAN CULTURAL FESTIVAL28 - 30 September 2012

Location: Kilkee

What does Che Guevara have in com-mon with the small town of Kilkee in the West of Ireland? It turns out that in 1961 the Cuban revolution-ary visited Kilkee: the

weather made him stop there while he was on his way from Havana to Prague. Che and his entourage spent one night in Kilkee’s Marine Hotel where he met the Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick. Impressed by the encoun-ter, Fitzpatrick painted the famous por-trait of the Latin American freedom fighter which you can now see on T-shirts, badges, bags and other products. But Che Guevara’s

connections with Ireland do not end here – his great grandfather was Irish and the Cuban’s complete name should read Che Guevara Lynch! In order to honour all these historic links with Che Guevara the town of Kilkee will host the Che do Bheatha Latin-American Cultural Festival which will also celebrate Latin-American music, poetry, dance, film and food.

DUBLIN THEATRE FESTIVAL27 September - 14 October 2012

Location: Various venues in Dublin City

Dublin Theatre Festival is Europe’s oldest specialist thea-tre festival - running since 1957. This year

the festival will include many different pro-gramme strands which incorporate every-thing from music to dance and from cutting edge theatre to the biggest shows on Broad-way. Check out the programme on :

www.dublintheatrefestival.com

GALWAY INTERNATIONAL OYSTER AND SEAFOOD FESTIVAL

28 - 30 September 2012Location: Galway City

Each Septem-ber Galway City comes alive with seafood and oys-ters as it celebrates the Galway Inter-

national Oyster and Seafood Festival. Some of the festivals’ events are: a seafood trail taking in Galway’s finest restaurants, a Taste of the Sea/Blas na Mara event showcasing Galway’s seafood heroes, the National Oys-ter Opening Competition and the food vil-lage at the festival marquee. There will be live bands all weekend and visitors can go on tours of Galway oyster beds and heritage workshops. The festival will conclude with a parade through the streets of Galway. To find out more log on to:

www.galwayoysterfest.com

SHOWS & GIGSJESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

The O2 Arena, Dublin12 October

The legendary rock opera written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber

comes to Dublin.

JENNIFER LOPEZThe O2 Arena, Dublin

Friday, 19 OctoberSuperstar Jennifer Lopez will play her first ever show in Ireland as part of her

‘Dance Again’ world tour.Tickets from 54.65 euro.

NICKI MINAJ The O2 Arena, DublinMonday, 5 November

The author of hit single “Starships” will present songs from her new album “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded”. Tickets

€49.65 / €54.6

ANDREA BOCELLIThe O2

Tuesday, 06 NovemberThe world’s most popular tenor will per-form with orchestra and choir at the O2

in Dublin. Tickets from €55 to €155.

WWE RAW WORLD TOURThe O2, Dublin

Thursday, November 8th.Some of the wrestling superstars com-ing to Dublin: John Cena, CM Punk, Chris Jericho, The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth, Zack Ryder, Kofi Kingston, Kelly Kelly, Beth Phoenix and many more!

Tickets from €33.50 to €76.00.

ANTHRAXThe Academy, Middle Abbey St.

Friday 16th NovemberThe American thrash metal band which was founded in 1981 and gained a cult following along with Metallica, Mega-deth and Slayer, is coming to Dublin’s

Academy. Tickets from €25.

ASLANVicar Street (Dublin 8)

December 27thThe Irish band Aslan are celebrating 30 years together this year and they will play material from their new album as well as old hits such as Crazy World.

Tickets from 25 euro.

THE DUBLINERSVicar Street (Dublin 8)

December 29th and December 30thThe legendary Irish folk band will play two dates in Dublin’s Vicar Street just before the New Year’s Eve. This year marks The Dubliner’s 50th anniversary.

Tickets from €39.50.

GOING OUT

GAA final: Mayo vs DonegalIreland vs Germany

Next month football fans will be able to see one of the world’s strongest teams in action in Dublin’s Aviva stadium. Ger-many will play against Ireland in a World Cup 2014 qualifying match on October 12. Germany is the toughest team in Ireland’s group which also includes Sweden, Aus-tria, Faroe Islands and Kazakhstan. Tickets for the Ireland-Germany match (October 12, Aviva stadium) are available from www.ticketmaster.ie and from Ticketmas-ter outlets. Prices start from 35 euro.

On Friday September 21st for one night only you can visit most museums, galleries, churches and historic sites in Ire-land for free!

Tickets to all these shows are available from Ticketmaster outlets.

To book by phone call: 0818 719 300Online booking: www.ticketmaster.ie

Every September marks the end of All Ireland senior gaelic football and hurl-ing championships. The games, which are overseen by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), are the two most popular sports in Ireland and the final matches, which take place in Dublin’s Croke Park, attract huge attention. Forget about getting a ticket to see the finals from the stadium as the 80,000-seater Croke Park is guaranteed to be com-pletely full. But you can watch the game pretty much anywhere – the atmosphere will be brilliant in any pub with a TV set.

This year the gaelic football fi-nal will play out between Donegal and Mayo. Both teams will be hungry

for victory: it has been 60 years since Mayo went through to the finals and 20 years since Donegal reached this level of the competi-tion. The game should be really exciting to watch!

This year Culture Night will take place in 34 towns, cities, counties and islands around Ireland. On September 21 museums, galler-ies, churches, historic houses, artists’ studios and cultural centres will open their doors late into the evening welcoming people of all ages to taste and sample their cultural de-lights for free. So if you ever wanted to visit Dublin’s Christ Church cathedral, see the Book of Kells in Trinity College and have a

look inside the Jameson distillery you can do all that in one evening and it will cost nothing! The same goes for cultural attractions in other cit-ies such as Galway, Belfast and Cork where you can see the famous Cork City Gaol and Cork Butter Exchange for free on September 21. Be advised however that Culture Night attracts thousands of people every year so it is best to plan your pro-

gramme in advance. Information about all the cultural attractions that will be open to the public as well as all the special events in the various cities can be found on:

www.culturenight.ie

If you’re interested in Ireland’s national sports (which also hap-pen to be the most popular on the island) don’t miss out gaelic football senior final on September 23.

A one-night stand with culture

Other Events

See The Book of Kells, St Patrick’s Cathedral and Jameson distillery for free on September 21!

The Sam Maguire Cup is gaelic football’s highest trophy

10

Been to an interesting place

or a new country?

Send your photos to:newS@Seda.ie

PHOTO ALBUM

Genesis Guzman and her husband Alberto Suarez in the West of Ireland

Margaret and Judy’s class in Dublin Castle

SEDA students having fun after class

Carlos Akiyama (right) and a friend at the London Olympics

Genesis Guzman and husband Alberto Suarez were the lucky winners of 2 tickets to see Red Bull Cliff Diving competition on the Aran Islands last month

Linda Matos and a friend are celebrating after making it safely over Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge in Northern Ireland

SEDA students throw a house party

11PHOTO ALBUM

Brazilian zombies in Temple Bar! This picture was taken at Dublin Zombie Walk 2012 by Carolina Danieletto.

Mmmm... Brains! Picture was taken at Dublin Zombie Walk 2012 by Carolina Danieletto.

Baby zombie. This picture was taken at Dublin Zombie Walk 2012 by Carolina Danieletto.

The living dead on Grafton Street. This picture was taken by Carolina Danieletto.

SEDA’s Venezuelan students partying

Rafael Muniz Teixeira in Paris

Goodbye Vivian!

Congratulations Natalia Alfonso Ancelmo!

SEDA students make friends with gardai

12

Here are the answers to last month’s quiz:

1. It rained all day2. Brush your teeth after every meal3. A leap year has 366 days4. Don’t let the cat out of the bag5. Turn off the lights6. It’s too dark7. She really sounds like Mum8. He should be proud of himself9. I have been waiting for a cab10. Her twins were born last month11. No matter what he says12. My mother’s mother is my grand-

mother13. Even though I went to bed late I

could not sleep14. There are ten students in my class15. Would you like some coffee?

Your man OR your woman – any man or woman that you are talking aboutWhen an Irishman says “your man” (or woman) about someone he doesn’t mean to say that this person is “yours” or is in any way close to you. It is just an Irish phrase that can

refer to any man or woman that is being talked about:Your man over there has a nice hat. What did your woman say?My car broke down. Why don’t you bring it to your man in the garage?

Your one OR your wan – any female that is being talked aboutI was talking to your one when Joe arrived. Your wan over there is good-looking, isn’t she?

Gobshite – a person who talks a lot of nonsense (i.e. “shite” (shit) coming out of their “gob” (mouth)) or a stupid and contemptible person.That politician is a loud mouthed gobshite! Stop acting like a gobshite!

Gombeen (OR gombeen man) – a mean, underhand and corrupt person; also: moron, eejit.Historically “gombeen” referred to money lenders during the Irish Famine who exploited the starving people by selling much-needed food on credit at extortionate rates. I’m not going to vote for that politician – he’s some gombeen man.

IRELAND & THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Our next quiz is about Irish traditional food and drink – see if you can find the right answers! As ever, send in your an-swers to news@seda.ie and you could win a prize!

1. Which of the following is NOT a tradi-tional Irish food?a) Coddleb) Colcannonc) Perogi

2. A particularly delicious speciality of the northwest of Ireland is boxty. But what is it?a) A potato pancakeb) Bread made from nettlesc) An apple pie

3. Which of these is NOT a traditional fill-ing for a pie in Ireland?a) Applesb) Rhubarbc) Peaches

4. Which of these drinks is NOT a stout?a) Guinnessb) Beamishc) Murphy’sd) Kilkenny

5. Which of these foods is NOT traditional to eat at Hallowe’en?a) Colcannonb) Barm Brackc) Bacon

6. What is sometimes hidden inside a Barm Brack?

a) A ringb) Some clothc) A coind) All of the above

7. A hot whiskey is a traditional winter drink in Ireland. Which of these things do you NOT put into your hot whiskey?

a) Clovesb) Lemonc) Sugard) Cream

8. What should you say to your friends be-fore you have a drink in a pub in Dublin?

a) Cheers!b) Good luck!c) Sláinte!d) You can say any of these things

Send your answers to news@seda.ie and you can win a prize!

The Irish food and drink quiz

The Craic-tionarySEDA News guide to Irish slang words and expressions

In this section we will attempt to make your life in Ireland easier by explaining some of the most common Irish slang words and expressions.