WOZA SA 2010 WOZA

DAY 1-KRUGER NATIONAL PARK


Hi Sorry for the late post I had mt wisdom teeth removed and well I guess things happen. Anyways let me continue in my expedition toward the Kruger National Park. As we awoke and made our out of our camp toward the Kruger National Park, excitement raced through my body like tiny bolts. The Anxiety was killing me. I mean we were finally on our way. And there was no better feeling than fresh bushveld air at 5:30 in the morning and the crimson sun rising in the East amidst dense vegetation and winding lakes. I tell you seeing is believing. The four of us in a 4x4 munching Biltong (A dried form of meat in the shape of sticks.a SA Custom)and eagerly awaiting our adventure. We arrived at the Paul Kruger Gate. A gate name after a faous South African Historian Paul Kruger who was a renouned figure in the Boer War.

We reached the Kruger Gate which is at the South End of this Gigantic Wildlife Park with the intention of exiting in the North in a weeks time, A journey likely to last about 1000km. Imagine that 1000 km of Wildlife and diferent scenery

We confirmed our reservations which is of divine importance considering the influx of foreign tourists. You can t quite possibly just pitch up and expect accomodation during peak times.


With that all taken care of we made our way into the park and made ourselves available to th elements. We were now at the mouth of the Kruger National Park. We could now see anything from a Rock Python to the most prized and endangered species, the Cheetah. We just had to look for them now in the Bush.





There are roads though for tourists that Navigate itself along Bush Trails, Rivers and YES ONE CARDINAL GOLDEN RULE. DONOT LEAVE YOUR VEHICLE.


We headed on to our Camp Skukuza which was an hour away from the gate.When we reached there we were engulfed by a huts and bungalo's overlooking a passing river. All secured of course with 5m electric fencing in case any of the Wild Animals decide of a change in Dinner Menu, which is possible. Rules and Regulations emphasise Danger and the precautions one could take. Remember it is in the Wild and there are snakes and al sorts that can linger around.


We checked into our bungalo which was a luxury hut(much cheaper for tourists but expensive for us). This Hut had a view of a Watehole. Imagine that. Having a smoke on your balcony at night and having bright eyes and the sounds of nature at your doorstep. Talk about the Maldives and dipping your legs into the ocean off your balcony. There is no comparison.


We then Set off for our afternoon drive, which will bear more detail in my next post.

Small Culture is Good ?

We are good at developing small products.
Some of them are all known to the world.
They are for example Digital Cameras(Nikon,Canon),Walkman(a bit outdated?),Nintendo DS,small batteries,electric parts..

Last week, I saw this product on TV program.
They said it is poplular among us..

This is a small tomb stone which is set in our house.
We don't need to go to grave praying for our lost family..

I reflected for a moment.
Is this a good product,a bit excessive?

The company says that this product is for the people
- who has difficulty in visiting grave far away from home
- who'd like to visit grave everyday
- who don't have anyone to maintain family tomb stone
- who don't settle in one place

Indian Movie in Nepal: My Impression of Dhoom 2

I am talking about Dhoom 2. I had no plan to write this blog on the movie but the comment I got from Sudeep Shrestha, my colleague in the business bureau of Kantipur daily where I work as a reporter, this morning propelled me type these words. I wanted to write what I felt and I did just that in Kantipur. That was more of my personal impression of the film then a standard review. My opinion is that the film isn't as good as everybody is portraying it to be.

Everybody is praising about Dhoom 2, including Sudeep, a great fan of Hindi movies and a keen follower Nepali film industry. He put the Dhoom 2 in the list of top three movies in the year: Rang De Basanti, Lage Raho Munna Bhai and Dhoom 2. So far I have trusted his criticism of the movies and found him accurate in judging films. Be it in the technical aspect or the directorial perspective. This time I couldn't. I enjoyed Dhoom 2 but didn't find it to be one of the best movies of the year, definitely not one of the top three movies of the year. I think I am going against the tide by criticizing Dhoom 2. Let it be.

By taking the cop to Brazil following the thief the film poorly tries to expose the Indian ambition of wanting to become a global player. We know Indian economy is growing phenomenally and with that the Indian aspirating of becoming a global player is growing in the same rate. But the time hasn't arrived yet that they can send their investigators around the world and run an operation. We have seen in Hollywood movies the American FBI running international missions in countries thousands of miles away from home. They are perfect and seem convincing given the widespread American influence around the world. But I found some flaws in the execution of that part in Dhoom 2. It doesn't seem suitable.

Sudeep wrote in a Short Text Message: "Disagree. Who cares suhaunchha ki suhaunna [suits or not as long as] it entertains. [I am] not talking about bike chasing [which was better] in first part [but] Mr. A is high-tech thief who does miracles. Bollywood is doing great whether in RDB or D2. Do not expect realism in film."

My other complain about the movie was lack of originality. The star cast lineup is great. The pair of blue eyed Hritik and Ash is superb. The dancing skill of Hritik Roshan is awesome. But the 'originality' ends here. For those who have seen Mission Impossible series, XXX or any Bond movies, Dhoom 2 constantly reminds them various scenes from the previously mentioned movies. That's what I felt. Even Aishworya Rai's much talked about blue bikini, I read in this website this morning, is copied from "the one worn by a popular UK model Keeley Hazell and featured in her official calendar". How can you put this movie in the same list where Rang De Basanti and Lage Raho Munna Bhai are featured? RDB and LRMB are original stories or presentation from the Indian perspective. Nevertheless, the film is a total fun and a great time pass. I must admit I enjoyed watching it.

Okay, I have praised the Ash outlook through a quote in my Kantipur write up. "Ash is definitely hot in the movie," I wrote, "and she herself feels that in a scene when she asks 'don't you feel hot?' to her 'partner in crime' while taking off clothes after stealing a sword from a museum." I know Sunahari of Dhoom 2 isn't the Paroo of Devdas. Aishworya Rai's glamour, which used to be hidden in long saris and make ups in the movies like Devdas or Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam is now exposed in Dhoom 2 where she wears short clothes and appears hip. The talk of her new outlook is the only thing that I feel is attracting audiences to theaters.

[The blogger is a Nepali journalist who founded the first blog site of Nepal. His personal web site is: Wagle Street Journal.]

Singapore Idol

A few months ago, Singapore had Singapore Idol. Many hopefuls went for the audition, many were rejected and few were chosen. Like all competitions, the process was trying and tough. People got eliminated halfway and tears were shed. In the end, one emerged from the rest. His name? Hady Mirza.

Below is one of his songs featured in the Final Showdown of Singapore Idol.

Just listen to the fans scream! It's quite obvious that he has the crowd controlled. According to the judges, he has good voice control and range, which is very helpful for a singer. Well, it is no surprise as he used to sing for a club. The experience, exposure and practice gained helped him to ace this competition. Of course some would say that he has talent which upped him against the others.

You like it? You hate it? Feel free to share your comments.

Signing off,
Steph

Introducing myself

THIS is my first post for Countries 192 as the Irish contributor so I thought it would be appropriate to introduce myself.

I am Red Mum and have been blogging for about a year and a half over here and am also a contributor to the Dublin Community Blog. I am 35 and mother to the Young Wan, a fourteen-year-old daughter who keeps me on my toes.

I am originally from Belfast but have been living in Dublin for the last 15 years. During that time Dublin has grown massively both in size and population. Over the last nine years the city’s population has grown by 250,000.

We have a great blogging community here in Ireland, affectionately known as the Bogosphere. I though it might be an idea when I post to direct to some interesting links or highlights of the week in the Irish blogosphere.

The first link is to the Swearing Lady who blogs at The Arse End of Ireland with her quiz How Irish are you?

The next link is to a very funny site Blogorrah which describes itself as “your daily source for Irish culture, media news, gossip - and whatever you're having yourself”. This post concerns an Irish institution, chat show The Late Late Show, which goes out every Friday night. Last Friday’s show saw a man crash the stage before telling TV presenter Pat Kenny exactly what he thinks of him.



I'll leave you for now with a shot from the main throughfare, O'Connell Street, in Dublin City showing the Christmas lights which were turned on over the weekend. The lights spell out Dublin's Irish name Baile Átha Cliath which means The Town of the Ford of the Reed Hurdles.

KNOWING VENEZUELA

Let me introduce you to Venezuela. A beautiful Latin American country that has beaches, mountains, forests and plains. Venezuela also has the "tepyes", the most ancient part of the Earth.

Venezuela is located to the north of South America. Its main economic activity is related to the oil and gas production. The most important cities of the country are Caracas, Maracaibo, Maracay, Barquisimeto, Valencia, Puerto La Cruz and Puerto Ordaz. Caracas is the capital of the Republic and its population is about 4 million people.

In the next post we will show you how some venezuelans are living.

The images has the following direction:



PS: This post is written by Dilaris from Venezuela.

Elections in the Netherlands - Part II

A few days ago I wrote an article on the Dutch elections. Somebody asked me to give some more background on the Dutch election process.

Instead of writing a complete article myself, I found a good article on Wikipedia.

But is a bit too easy for me and I will add some other interesting facts, including the latest update.

Until this year we had voting computers in every district but a group of people discovered that some of these voting machines were not safe and could be subject to hacking. With a certain electronic device, hackers could read, from 5 to 10 meters distance, what somebody voted. So in some districts people used plain old paper and red pencils to bring out their votes. In other districts we used different types of voting machines.

Interesting to know is that people who live abroad and who are not able to vote in the Netherlands, could vote over the internet. I can't imagine this being 100% safe and secure. But this is probably not something that a lot of people knew and nobody complained.

Voting is not mandatory in the Netherlands, everybody decides whether or not they bring out their vote. A few weeks before the actual voting takes place, everybody who is allowed to vote, receives a 'stembiljet', a piece of paper or certificate if you want, in their mailbox. You bring this Stem biljet with you including an identification and you can vote. You also have the possibility to vote in another district but you must go to your Townhall first to get a different type of stembiljet.

Now, for the latest update. As you have read before in another article, all party leaders adviced the queen on the next steps to be taken. The queen decided last Sunday that someone in the CDA, the party where most people voted on, will get the assignment to organize initial discussions with all political leaders.

This person, Rein Jan Hoekstra (see photo), needs a few weeks to talk to all the major political parties and he has to find out what coalitions will be possible. A hard job and we are wondering if there will be any coalitions possible. Some people, including myself, think we face new elections not to far from now.

I hope this article sheds some more light on the Dutch voting process. To be continued!

Jos
Closing the gap...from the Netherlands
http://www.josjaspers.nl

A dog's life

As you may be aware, I have a new dog. In Switzerland, that invariably involves some administrative procedures. There's a communal dog tax to be paid, for which I registered Laika today. What with the current, rather ridiculous debate about "fighting" dogs, there is more to come.

On top of that, there is a country wide pet identification system called ANIS, which involves tagging your pet subcutaneously with an RFID tag. This system has been declared mandatory for all dogs beginning this year. Seeing how there are certainly about one million dogs in this country, and assuming an average life expectancy of 10 years apiece, there are 274 database modifications from natural reasons only each and every day, and that's not counting address changes. So I was expecting to get access to an efficient online workflow. But nothing could be further from the truth. The good people at ANIS actually insist on sending paper forms to and fro! What's wrong here?!?!

"Dangdut"

... is

a genre of Indonesian popular music that is partly derived from Arabic, Indian, and Malay folk music. It developed beginning in the 1970s among working class Muslim youth, but especially since the late 1990s has reached a broader following in Indonesia.

A dangdut band usually consists of a lead singer backed by a band of four to eight musicians. The term has been expanded from the desert-like-style music, to now broadened to embrace other musical styles. Modern dangdut incorporates influences from latin, house music, hip-hop, R&B, and even Western classical music.

[ source ]

It's not my kind of music, honestly - but I have to be proud of it since it's claimed as "Indonesian Music" :) But I like the current Indonesian movie called "Mendadak Dangdut", which you can watch and listen to here:

Romania.. Life.. Music.. Seaside..

Here’s some interesting thing I’ve heard that will happen next Saturday. Romanian rock band “Kumm” will have a concert in Vama Veche, at the sea side.

Vama Veche is a very small village at the Romanian border, a place once known as the summer headquarters of unconventional, free minded artists and people. Compared to other sea side resorts in Romania, Vama Veche was and in some extent still is, the wildest, the less crowded and most original of all. There are no hotels, only some recently built villas, no noisy television contests or amusing parks. You can camp on the beach, close to the water and watch the sunrise. There are some fishermen’s shacks where people are very friendly (they gave me some sea creatures, sea shells and a strange plant, last summer). At night, some people make fires on the beach and spend the night singing, playing guitars, flutters or other instruments. Rock bands come and have concerts on the beach or in the many bars and pubs recently built.

It’s true, each year things change in Vama Veche and it begins more and more to look like the other resorts, but there are still a lot of good things you can’t have or feel elsewhere.

So, Saturday, the 2nd of December…the beginning of winter, this band (Kumm) is going to have a concert in Vama Veche at “Soni’s”, a bar close to the beach where you can also rent a room and have lunch. The thing is winters are very cold at the sea side and usually nobody would even think of going. But the view and the feeling are great. Basically, all you can see is water and sand. The sea foam remains on the shore like big, jumping, elastic pieces of ….bath foam (can’t find another word…). A cold wind blows strongly and freezes your face, the water takes the most unexpected colors and waves bring a lot of strange rocks, plants, pieces of wood and shells. The frozen sand is as hard as rock. Sometimes waves reach 6-7 meters high and they wash away everything on the beach (fortunately, I’ve never seen that, but I was told about it :P). There must be at least about one hundred seagulls flying and crying around. No people on the beach, no loud music, no tourists noises. Few villagers and homeless dogs, minding their daily business.

And now, because of this concert, I expect more and more people will feel attracted of going to the sea side in winter. Things might change… (L.G)

P.S Maybe it is time to say that Romania has a climate that is transitional considered between temperate and continental. For more details I recommend you this page http://www.romaniatourism.com/climate.html

P.P.S More pictures from Vama Veche at http://iloveyouromania.blogspot.com

Casino Royale

Have you already seen the new Bond movie? It's definitely worth seeing, not just because of an altogether new Bond (more about that here), who is even better than Sean Connery. No, the actual reason for writing about it on this blog is that Switzerland features fairly prominently, much more so in fact than Bond's own home country does. Maybe that's because Bond is actually half Swiss?

But back to the movie: Some of the bits involving great alpine scenery are probably shot in southern Switzerland, and there's Mr Mendel, a somewhat featherbrained Swiss banker with his suitcased account remote control. But I shouldn't forget Mr Mendel's employer, Basle Bank! I say, may home town makes the new Bond! Too bad there is no such bank.

Nice Painting

This painting made by Teymur, from Azarbaican. I bought it from Pera Art Gallery at Istanbul in 2002. It is now in my house. I like it very much, especially different colour deepness of green. It is oil painting and size 69 x 88 cm.

"The" music from Buenos Aires

Argentina boasts on a wide variety of cultures and the one Buenos Aires (capital city of the country) holds is based on Tango
There have been some extraordinary tango musicians and I hope I will have the chance to tell you about them as time goes by. Let's begin with Astor Piazzola - some people say that he was the "creator" of the "new tango"



There is no Buenos Aires without "Tango"

"Satay"

Honestly I was quite disturbed when some of my American friends told me (and forced me to believe ) that "satay" was originally from Thailand. I only laughed and I didn't think it's worthy to be argued about since they actually could just refer to Wikipedia:

Satay (also written saté) is a dish that may have originated in Sumatra or Java, Indonesia, but which is popular in many other Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, and Thailand, as well as in The Netherlands which was influenced through its former colonies.

Understandable since there are more Thai restaurants in the world than Indonesian restaurants. I personally LOVE Thai food very much. And since they "met" satay not in Indonesian restaurants and they think it's Asian food anyway, so they assume that it must be an original Thai food. But now you know that it's seriously originally from Indonesia for real. Hehe.

For those who have never tried this original tasty Indonesian food, here is the recipe of "Chicken Satay":

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1 pinch ground cumin
• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• skewers

DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl, mix soy sauce, tomato sauce, peanut oil, garlic, black pepper, and cumin. Place chicken into the mixture, and stir to coat. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes, but not overnight. This will make the meat too dark.
2. Preheat the grill for high heat.
3. Heat vegetable oil in a saucepan over medium heat, and saute onion and garlic until lightly browned. Mix in water, peanut butter, soy sauce, and sugar. Cook and stir until well blended. Remove from heat, mix in lemon juice, and set aside.
4. Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken onto skewers, and discard marinade. Grill skewers about 5 minutes per side, until chicken juices run clear. Serve with the peanut sauce.

Happy cooking, happy trying and if someday you have a chance to travel to Indonesia, try it here :)

Have a great week end!

/gabrielle

Secret Ballot : Australian Ballot

On the topic of elections, Australians tend to take for granted their system of elections. Some of them whinge about compulsory voting. And, indeed, some conservative politicians would like to adopt an optional voting system. But, by law, voting in Australia is a must. Each citizen must be on the Electoral Roll. You may get fined if you don't vote unless, as with some religious traditions, you hold a conscientious objection to voting. [A bit different from the US system which frequently results in the US president being elected by a minority of US citizens.] Some Australians make their silent protest about this by deliberately casting an invalid vote or putting a blank ballot in the ballot box. But the informal vote is only ever a few percentage points of the total.
Australia has not introduced computerised voting (except that at the 2006 Victorian election computerised voting was available for people with vision impairment) and Miss Eagle hopes this never happens. Voting is by the good old fashioned paper and pencil method - not even a ball point pen is used.
Voting always happens on a Saturday with polling booths open from 8am to 6pm. This is convenient for most people. However, if it is not convenient, there are pre-polling booths in each electorate during the week so it is possible to vote in person if you are unable to attend the polling booth on election day. There is a system of postal voting available if you are unable to get anywhere near a polling booth. This means you have to apply by mail for a vote. The ballot material is returned to the voter and the ballot has to be posted and postmarked prior to election day. Places like hospitals, retirement villages and nursing homes, usually get a visit from a mobile booth on or before election day. In the Northern Territory, which has a large number of small remote Aboriginal communities, the week prior to election day involves a massive effort with mobile voting booths as electoral office officials fly into a community for a few hours before moving on to the next one.
So balloting is compulsory, simple, highly organised and efficient. Elections are managed by Electoral Commissions. Each state has its own electoral commission and there is a national one as well to run Federal elections: the Australian Electoral Commission.
But one unique and historic aspect of the voting system is little recognised by Australians: the secret ballot. In the United States, it is referred to as the Australian ballot. What would a democratic vote based on universal suffrage be without a secret ballot?

Elections in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is a democratic country and every 4 years we are blessed with elections. Last Wednesday it was D-Day and everybody could bring out their vote.

The last years our government was formed by three parties and consisted of a combination of the CDA, the VVD and D66, a right oriented government.

As there were some major discussions around integration where Ayaan Hirsi Ali played a major role, these discussions ended up with the fact that D66 decided that there was not enough faith and trust any longer to continue and this meant that new elections had to take place.

So, about 4 weeks ago the political campaigns started and all parties came out their ivory towers, went to us, citizens, and they tried to convince us to bring out our votes.

A lot of parties were involved in the elections 2006, from the extreme leftwing to extreme right.
Just to name a few, from left to right: SP (Socialistische partij), CU (Christen Unie), Groen Links, PVDA (Partij van de Arbeid), D66 (Democraten 66), CDA (Christen Democratisch Appel), VVD (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie) and PVDV, a new party (Partij voor de Vrijheid).
Also new is the PVDD (Partij Voor De Dieren). The PVDD has animals rights as their most important subject.

I think the Dutch are glad that the campaigns are over and that we could finally bring out our votes. The campaigns were hard and more and more 'aggressive' and ended up with mainly one-liners without politicians listening to another.

The results of our elections are dramatic. It will be very, very difficult to get either a left or right oriented government and again, a lot of dicussion will have to take place.

The highlights:

• the SP was the main winner and got 25 seats


• the 'old' governement (CDA, VVD and D66) lost heavily but CDA is still the party with most votes


• the PVDD did get 3 seats and this is really a surprise


• the PVDV did get 9 seats and this result 'shocked' a lot of people because their ideas are quite extreme, especially in the area of integration

All together we have 150 'chairs' in our parliament and the governement needs 50%+1(=76) of these seats. It will be very difficult to get a stable government as most party combinations do not end up with 76+ seats.
This means that parties really have to compromise to get to a common agreement on a plan for our country for the next 4 years.

I am wondering how parties as the SP will be able to satisfy the people who gave them their vote. They really want to be in the next government but it will be very difficult for them as they have been attacking the former governement quite heavily and now it seems that they have to work closely together with them.

Yesterday, all party leaders went to our queen and gave their advice on how we can best proceed. (More on this subject in a future post on our Royal family). The queen is making a decision based on these advices and her personal view.

We are now waiting for discussions between the largest parties and are curiuos if they will succeed in establishing a compromised plan for the next 4 years.

So, the elections are not over yet. To be continued...

Jos
Closing the gap...from the Netherlands
www.josjaspers.nl

Election Day in Victoria, Australia

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To-day has been Election Day in the State of Victoria. Miss Eagle has been participating in the process. A fellow member with Miss Eagle of St Thom's congregation at Upper Gully, Rex Thompson, stood as the Greens candidate in the seat of Scoresby. Now Miss Eagle does not know Rex's age but let us just say that Rex and June celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversay in August this year. So Miss Eagle figures this puts Rex at 70+. Miss Eagle reckons he needs a medal: putting up a creditable, but unwinnable, campaign for a party some would consider radical and the province of a younger generation.

Victoria has the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in government under the leadership of Premier Steve Bracks. His main opponent is the Liberal Party led by Opposition Leader Ted Baillieau. The National Party, a rural and agriculturally based party, runs in rural and regional areas and holds seats in the Victorian parliament. The Greens have no seats in the Victorian parliament but are a well known political party. Family First, a party widely supported by people in Pentecostal churches, has become known since it won a senate seat in the last Federal election with a Victorian candidate from the second largest Assembly of God church in Australia. The new kid on the block is People Power.

The real interest will focus on Victoria's upper house, the Legislative Council, where reform has been instituted in the form of election by proportional representation within multi-member electorates which will, in all likelihood, mean a more diverse membership.

As this is being written, it appears there is a possibility of the Greens winning their first seat in the Victorian Legislative Assembly in the seat of Richmond. The Greens are outpolling the Liberals to come in second which, under the preferential system of voting, means that the outcome of Liberal preferences will be of great interest.

"Nabanna" - A Rural Culture becomes National

Artists performing a dance at the Nabanna Festival

"Nabanna" is culture practiced by the agrarian society of Bangladesh. It is the festival to mark the beginning of autumn season. This is the most suitable season for cultivation. The dictionary meaning of Nabanna is the "new food". Literally it's the time when the farmer fills their granary with crops. So this period is traditionally celebrated by the rural people of Bangladesh.

Now the city dwellers have come forward to continue the age-long tradition. Although the city is not associated with agriculture, the celebration is there. So people gathered at the 'Institute of Fine Arts' of 'University of Dhaka' (my university) to mark the beginning of Autumn season and "Nabanna". Traditional recitations, dances and songs were performed during the show. Although people in the city are blamed for not upholding the tradition, this program proved that the new generation is well-aware of the true culture of Bangladesh.

Historically Bangladesh is an agricultural country. And Nabanna is a festival by which the city dwellers expressed their respect to the traditional culture and gratitude to the farmers, who are the people producing foods for the whole country.

Closing the gap...from the Netherlands

Yesterday I got a an invitation from Shinji to participate in the 192topics blog to represent the Netherlands.

Alltough I have a constant lack of free time I did not need much time to say yes to this great idea, so here is my first post. A good start would be to write a brief introduction to myself and the country I live in.

So, my name is Jos and I live in this country for about 42 years. I was my mothers and fathers fault that I am born Dutch. The Netherlands? Yep, a rather small country in Western Europe with 16+ million people. We are surrounded by Germany, Belgium and the UK. Lucky for us, we are not attached to the UK as there is a sea between us.

You may have heard of the Netherlands as we are (or better...were) famous through our national soccer team with Johan Cruijff and you have probably also heard about Amsterdam, drugs, sex, tulips, ice-skating and windmills. Well, I do not have the intention to write about these subjects as most of these subjects 'not really us'. Instead I want to write about basics subjects like politics, weather, news, economy, sports and other matters that appear in our daily newspapers.

I hope you enjoy reading about the Netherlands. More country information can be found on Wikipedia The Netherlands.

People who can read Dutch can visit my other blog at www.josjaspers.nl. You find here daily new topics on Dutch news.

So far for my introduction. More posts will follow soon. Feel free to post Comments or Questions.

Jos
Closing the gap...from the Netherlands
www.josjaspers.nl/

Travelling Sewer

Greetings from Indonesia!

I'm almost sure that this kind of thing can only be seen in Indonesia :) This guy is a travelling sewer and he passed by my house one sunny afternoon few days ago.

He doesn't make clothes, but he fixes pants, mostly those are made of jeans. That's why there's a word "Levi's" on his box as "levis" is another name for jeans here.

Indonesian people are spoiled by its nature and everything. That's why I'd think twice if I were offered to migrate to another country :) Besides this travelling sewer, we also have travelling shoe-mender, most of the family has a full-time baby sitter for each other their child, a house normally hire a maid to take care of the needs of the family. It's not that we're rich, but it's because the living cost here is very low. A maid salary normally is only US$40/month which is already considered high. A starting manager's salary is about US$150/month. So most people hire babysitters and maids because most of them have to go to work daily, husbands and wives, and they need people to take care of their kid(s) at home.

Maybe Indonesia isn't as famous as Bali as most on-line friends I have they know Bali better than Indonesia :) Just in case you don't know, Bali is just a small island in Indonesia and it's a part of our big country.

Anyway, thanks for giving me a chance to write here, Shinji. And to y'all - have a good week end!

/ gabrielle.

Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek

He is a pretty cool guy.
He has a long and successful career in politics.
He was president of Yugoslavia, Slovenian premier and now he is reigning Slovenian president.
In the last couple of years he grew spiritualy. A lot.
You can see that by the way he talks and what he does.
It is pretty cool and I like it that we have such a guy to represent Slovenia.
He published a book with his latest thoughts:
"Thoughts about life and consciencesness"
He started a "Movement for Righteousness and Growth"

Bushrangers and a blacksmith - from Oz

Hi, I am from Melbourne - the second largest city in Australia. I recently went to the Dandenong Show. Dandenong is possibly Australia's most industrialised place - or has been. Dandenong is trying to stop becoming a rust belt like so many places in a similar situation because of globalization.

The weekend before last I went to the Dandenong Show. A show is quite a tradition. Country people come to town with their animals; community organizations run food stalls, display their wares, or hand out their information. Over at sideshow alley there are rides and squeals of delight from their young riders.

I have chosen to show you the Ned Kelly Armour stall.

THE iconic figure in Oz is Ned Kelly: the Bushranger who, with the rest of the Kelly Gang, beat ploughshares into armour in an effort to protect themselves from police bullets. Miss Eagle is a great admirer of the craft of the blacksmith so it was with great joy I came across Salty and his Ned Kelly Armour stand at the Dandenong Show. For more photos of the Dandenong Show, including some wonderful animals, please go to The Trad Pad.

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Thanksgiving in Israel

As an American-expat, I used to celebrate Thanksgiving in Israel for many years. Thanksgiving is essentially the only major holiday in America that has no overtones of Christianity or Paganism; it's about general thankfulness and eating a turkey. And Jews can get into that.

Anyway, when we were twentysomething or low-thirtysomething our gang of expats would get together for a Thanksgiving meal in Jerusalem. It came with its own traditions.

First, we had to have the traditional foods, of course. That is not as easy as it sounds. Until the 1990s, it was hard to find American food products in Israel, aside from Carvel ice cream. During the nineties that changed, and you can now find almost anything other than good root beer (I'll give you my address if you want to send me a few cases).

A turkey has to be ordered at the supermarket two weeks in advance, and it's expensive. And then you have to have an oven that can cook it, because Israeli ovens generally come from Europe, and European ovens are smaller than their American counterparts and are not always large enough to cook a turkey.

Then you have to find cranberry sauce (now it's easy, but a decade ago ... not) and the other foods, cook a pumpkin pie - without milk of course, because it's being served after a meat meal. And so on.

The next tradition was to dedicate that one evening a year remembering all of the things about America that we actually had to give up to move to Israel; these lists were sometimes funny, of course. Like, "Remember streets that are wide enough for two cars to pass, and also two cars to park? And on the side of the street is a strip of lawn, and then a paved sidewalk, and then a front yard, and only then a house?" Or "How about an entire department in a store whose purpose is to give you your money back, in cash and not in store credit?" Or "Bank tellers that smile at you and ask if they can help you, rather then tell you to shut up while they talk to their babysitter on their cell?" And so on. Gales of laughter all around.

Then we all sat down and played Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie, singing along to the chorus.

After too many of us had babies and moved away, we didn't keep gathering together for this. And since a lot of the participants were actually originally from Canada, Australia, or the U.K., they were never really part of it to begin with. They were just there for the companionship and the turkey.

But maybe I will try again next year. I haven't heard Alice's Restaurant in a while.

Yehuda

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving is an official American holiday, established to remember the feast held by the Pilgrims in 1621.

For most Americans, it is a day of food (a large dinner featuring roast turkey), family, and football. And a day to be thankful for what we have- family, health, friends, freedoms. A day to pause and reflect before the very busy Xmas season.


On the flip side: Some Native Americans participate in a Day of Mourning, remembering the violence and discrimination suffered by the native populations of the Americas.

Young Professional Drummer

This is my first post here in 192 Countries. I guess it will be a good idea to have a short introduction for myself. After all, it's always good to know the blogger behind that post.

First of all, you can call me Steph. I am from Singapore which is actually quite a small country compared to her neighbours. Small we maybe but there are some interesting stuff we have.

For starters, we have the world's youngest professional drummer. His name is Ethan Ong. Here's one of his videos from YouTube.

Impressive huh? Just look at the crowd he attracted. Even walking around the plaza wearing your pyjamas won't attract that much attention other than worried looks and the police. Well personally, I was impressed when I saw this. As a drummer myself, it's surprising to see someone so young play the drums, and playing well at it.

Well I guess this video is enough for my first post introducing Singapore to you guys.

Signing off,
Steph

When a name became a word

Or Should we say when a city became a term..."Bangalored" is a term used of late, when a company offshores their work that is not part of their core competencies to a company that is located in far shores (most often India or China). Bangalore is mostly where the companies which engage the work in India have their headquarters. The climate here is too good and probably that is the reason why Bangalore has got the edge over the other state in India. There is a healthy competition between the major cities in India to attract investment from the companies from the developed countries.

Bangalore is my home-town - its located down south in the Karnataka state. Though it is not part of the 4 metropolitan cities that were identified earlier in the history of India (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata), it is now the most important city in terms of the emerging growth of Information Technology in India. This city is where the action happens in the field of Information Technology and Bio-technology.

Bangalore was known earlier for public sector heavy industries—particularly aerospace, space and defence. Bangalore is referred to as the Silicon Valley of India and accounts for 35 percent of India's software exports. The city has the second-highest literacy rate among the metropolitan cities in the nation. Bangalore is India's fourth largest and fastest growing markets. Bangalore is the 3rd most populous city in India and the 27th largest city in the world by population - showing its demand for people from cities all over India.

The name has been changed recently to Bengaluru (which was its name before the British changed it long ago). But, people still refer to it as Bangalore. The picture shows Vidhana Soudha - seat of Karnataka state's Legislative assembly.

As usual, please find the link of Bangalore on Wikipedia.

Christmas too soon

I don't know how is it in your countries but here in Guatemala the celebration of the Christmas Holidays is associated to generating big profits. All the businesses start doing something related to this very special celebration for the Christians.

I love Christmas time but I hate the way businesses try to exploit this situation to sell more. I know is a strategy to boost their sales but I just hate that fact. TV programs, radios commercials, news papers all telling you that it's X-Mas time and you are invited to spend more!!!!!

Hopefully this situation will get more people think twice about what Christmas is all about.

Wii or PS3

Two Japanese companies Nintendo and Sony begin to sell new video game consoles.

Actually PS3 by Sony is now on sale,but we can hardly get it.
Some people buy it only for reselling. That makes it harder for us to buy.
They can now sell PS3 over 80000 yen by auction,while list price is 59800 yen.

Wii by Nintendo will be on sale 2nd Dec in Japan

Guess which will win ?

I think Wii.

This site compares which is popular on the internet.
http://z.fukaoi.com/wii_vs_ps3/

Milady of France

For the first time in our recent history, a woman is in a position to become President of France.
And that woman's family name is... "Royal" ! Amazing, isn't it ?

She is really someone interesting, psychologically... she comes from a very traditional family, where most of male members are military and far-right. She is officially "socialist". Don't ask me what it means... something like center-left. Anyway. She looks like right, but she is from left. She talks like right, but she is from left. etc.

So, instead of writing millions of words, I chose to SHOW YOU that even CHINESE PHOENIX TV begins to be interested about her... so... look at that video !

Ségolène Royal vue par la TV chinoise

Beirut International Marathon

"For the love of Lebanon" is the motto of this year's international marathon that will take place in Beirut on Sunday 26th November. This event started a few years ago in Lebanon and has been going on and building momentum over the years. One of the goals of this event is to raise funds for charity but the July war on Lebanon this year gives this event a new meaning as the organizers say:

The devastating war that Lebanon went through during the past summer has
been an experience of defiance, resilience and resistance for all Lebanese.
Hundreds of NGOs and Youth Groups gathered their efforts to support the urgent
needs of their community during the crucial moments. In this year's Marathon,
everyone is invited to show the world that Lebanon is still alive, vibrant and
active like never before! More than that, you are also invited to run for your
cause; promote it, raise funds for it, run for a special reason!

This Sunday we are going to run for the love of Lebanon.

Update: Due to the assassination of the Lebanese Minister Pierre Gemayel the Marathon and other related activites have been postponed until further notice.

Gross National Happiness

" What is Gross National Happiness".

His Majesty the king has promoted the concept ot the 'Gross National Happiness is more

important than the Gross National Product'.The guiding philosophy of the Natinal development,GNH, is to maintain a between material progress and spiritual weel-being(Ninth plan,2002-2007).Gross National Happiness is build upon thr four pillars:

sustainable and Equitable socio-economic Development, Good Governace,

Preservation and promotion of the culture Heritage; and Environment( love and repect for Nature).

Bhutan is called the "Last Shangrila"becausewe have already acheived a certain level of GNH in the country through the pursuit of the above four goals. Gross national Hapiness refers to the happiness and peace of the Bhutanese people, even though it is not a term that ordinary people often use. His majesty recognized that economic development without spiritual wel-being would not bring happiness to the people.

Therefore, His Majesty constantly encourages us to preserve our traditions and culture values, while facing the challenges of modern development. No matter how much material a person can never truely be happy. culture Values must permeate school systems, curriculum,and pedogogy,in both the formal and non-formal sectors. Otherwise, nothing will be fully meaningful. For example, in Buddish teachings, the pure motivation of one's action is considered highly important, because no matter what we do and how small the deeds might seem, a pure motivation is what one must have behind every action. It is not what we do, but how we do the things in our daily lives that matter the most. No matter how eich and beautiful, if we do not live our values and have the right motivations,tradition will have little impact on our daily lives'.

More next post.............

LISBON - PORTUGAL

A street in Alfama, the oldest part of the city, already in existence when the Visigoths arrived.

It abounded in fine noblemen's houses during the Arab rule and got its name from the Arabic alhama (hot springs) . The churches erected by the Christians and most of the noble mansions did not survive the earthquake (1755) and Alfama became a quarter of fishermen and seamen. Today it is the best preserved popular district with cobbled, winding alleys, steps and archways. The houses are whitewashed, with wrought-iron balconies and panels of azulejos (tiles); the windows are gay with flowers and lines of washing. At night it is frequented by fado enthusiasts.

PORTUGAL

Scala Books, New York.

9th of Novemeber Remembered

On the 9th of November 2005 Amman was grieved after explosions rocked the Jordanian capital. The explosions hit three luxury hotels: Radisson SAS, Hyatt Amman, and the Days Inn. One of the scenes was actually a Jordanian wedding, normal people who could be relatives, friends or acquaintances of me or someone I know, or someone who knows someone I know.Responsibility of the terrorist attacks were claimed by Al-Qaeda, lead by Abu-Musaab Al-Zarqawi. News sources revealed that a fire was started earlier that night to divert attention from the tragedy about to take place.

One day later, on the 10th of November demonstrations of anger swept the Jordanian capital all day, thousands of Jordanians from different religions and different races marched together in solidarity, they had one enemy, and that was terrorism . King Abdullah II and his wife Queen Rania paid visits to the grieved families.

One year later, the Jordanian politics still circles around terrorism and security measures to prevent what had happened from happening again. We've witnessed the new antiterrorism law to which Jordanians reacted differently between those who encouraged such measures and those who saw it as a means to stifle people's freedom. We've also witnessed the formerly loud-enough-voices of terrorism supporters and Abu-Musaab Al-Zarqawi's sympathizers get hushed either by fear of being considered a threat to security or at least rejected socially.



More on this:


Jordanian bloggers' reaction
Flickr photos

11/9 in the memory of Jordanian bloggers:

Naseem Tarawnah: November Ninth: In Your Honor
Manal Yusuf: In Remembrance Of
Ammar’s Observations: One Year Ago (a diary entry)
Lulwa’s Logic: The Anniversary
Salam’s Reflections: Amman (a poem)
Khalidah’s Mind: Lest We Forget
Soul Blossom: In Memory
Jordan First: Remembering 9/11/2005
Lubna Taimeh: Can I have another title, but Nov, 9th?
Oula Farawati: Jordan’s 9/11. Clear and Present Danger
Dave: Amman Bombings: One Year Later
Batir Wardam: One Year After: Changing to the Better

Photo Credit: Roba Al-Assi

Romania.. A first approach :)

The brown and green country, that is Romania for me. I see it as the country of simple, natural, healthy things, a country of ground, herbs and trees. Solid ground. No use to tell about old, dark or young, light-green forests, though maybe it would make a point… I don’t want to describe an image that you could also see somewhere else, I want to describe one of my most precious sensations. I’m talking about a smell of grass and ground that I’ve enjoyed since childhood. It’s something made of fresh (not necessarily pure, but fresh) air with humid ground, grass and herbs. It’s an energizing, full of life scent. It’s the smell of freedom for me, whether I feel it inside the city in a dull, dusty, busy day or outside on a field. You can find it for sure in the mountains, where the mixture of plants and the purity of the air make it even more refreshing, at the countryside, and sometimes, as some unexpected gift and surprise, it catches you right in the middle of the street.

What happens when you feel that smell? Well…it depends. It makes some people want to scream and jump, hit drums, ride fast, sing and laugh aloud, stretch their bones and smile, take pictures or set down and sleep. They all feel a very intense, unknown SOMETHING. Peace, joy, release or power, doesn’t really matter what, the point is
It’s very intense and makes you very aware that you’re alive.

In Romania it’s a common thing to find pieces of nature jumpin’ at you from any corner. It’s not a matter of lack of civilization, but an occasion to feel “the basics” of life. It feels safe and real and very human (L.G.)

Irregular weather in Finland

November used to be in Finland time when the snow covered the country under its white shelter. Now we have both snowstorms and sudden changes in temperature. This weekend, there is suddenly very warm and rainy, and most of the snow is rapidly melting away. Finland is highly developed, industrialised country and inside our warm houses and cars it should not matter what kind of weather is outside, right? Nevertheless, people are worried. Last summer was exceptionally hot and dry, and now with all these storms, the cost of damage to both nature and infrastructure is starting to rise. There are news telling how polar bears are threatened because of the arctic polar ice melting away (no polar bears live here in Finland, though). I work as a professor in the University of Tampere, which is in the southern part of the country, and regularly we have European climate touching the south, while up in Lapland our country touches the arctic region, with its reindeer flocks and northern lights. Internet with its new communication channels is important for people like us who live in a sparsely populated countries. I wonder if Internet with its communication tools mean the same for people from big cities or from South, with more friendly climate?

The cultural life in Mexico

The culture is one of the areas privileged in Mexico, because the country has an history rich about traditions and ideas. The past indigenous it has not disappeared absolutely, still are groups of descending people of the Mayans, mainly, and their customs are important part of the Mexican culture because with their traditions, -they uses the typical suits or mades in many of their ceremonies-, and this always remember to us that part in the life of the country. Too exist other side, the advance of ideas, not only in Mexico, anywhere in the world; as in everywhere, each new generation is open to new things, the young people search not only in they conuntry, en all the countries. But this never changes the interest by the art. Many institutions -governement civil or deprived- supports all the art; the musical presentations, painting exhibitions, for example, announce continuously and most of those events are free. Yesterday some important writers talked about the books, because the writters have many problems by the amount of people required to make a book. knew you this? by to make a book, in addition to the author require several publishing correctors, a designer, a training one, a publishing house that guarantees the expenses soon and a distributor? The most alarming is than many of the distributors remain with more of 60% of the gains, the publishing house with a 30% and only a 10% are for the author. That is being a problem for the book edition in many countries, Mexico is one of them. In the photography they are, of right to left, Alejandro García, recognosed and awarded writter mexican, Victor Hugo Rodríguez Béquer, author of theater, Alberto Ortiz, investigator and writer, and I in the extreme left.

The Atacama desert and the Altiplano in the North of Chile

The vast and colorful Atacama Desert is said to be the driest desert in the world. In some parts of this desert, no precipitation has ever been recorded. Why here?

The Altiplano, on the other hand, receives tropical rains in January and February. Altitude, rather than aridity, is the limiting factor governing life on this airy plateau: only the hardiest and most highly specialized flora and fauna can survive the vagaries of life above 12,000 ft.

Speckled with lakes, marshes, salt flats, and geysers, crowned by 20,000 foot volcanoes, the Altiplano is Chile's link with the great civilizations of the Central Andes. Today, a traditional society of Aymara Indians wanders the Altiplano with their domesticated llamas and alpacas, congregating periodically for festivals in eerily whitewashed 'ceremonial villages'. A system of spectacular national parks -- including Lauca National Park, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve -- protects vast expanses of this singular landscape.

We call it football....

It's not what the rest of the world thinks of as football (we call that game soccer), but it's one of the most popular sports in the USA. Beginning from the game played at Rugby school in England, US football came to the colonies in the 1800s as a collegiate sport. The danger of the sport almost terminated it's play, but a rules committee was set up to civilize it, adding a scrimmage line, passing (throwing), and safety equipment. Now we have an agressive, contact sport of major proportions.

Boys can start playing on a peewee league at age 5 (no tackling allowed), progressing to tackle football at age 7, and high school teams at age 14 or 15. If he's very good, he can play on a college team, sometimes getting a full scholarship. The rare player is good enough to play professionally, making the really big bucks.

The season starts in August or September and has 6 to 10 regular games, followed by play-offs for championships on the different levels.. High schools have state-wide champions, Colleges can play in Bowl Games, with the Professionals winding up the season with the Super Bowl Championship, seen all over the world.

It is not limited to American males, there is a smaller Canadian league, an exhibition league in Europe, and a very small female league.

While I have occasionally tossed a football around in fun, I have only been a spectator at games, especially in high school and college where I participated in the marching band. I do enjoy watching a good game, rooting for the Miami Dolphins or the Tennessee Titans on occasion. I know the basics of the game enough to follow the play, but for a good explaination of the rules and play of the game look here.

prestine Environment of Bhutan.

Prestine Environment In Bhutan.

Bhutan is located in the mountain or else it is called as Himalayan Kingdom. Many stranger say that Kingdom is gift of God and the mission of the country is "Gross Happiness". it was aimed to be acheived by the Year 2020. That means people of Bhutan will enjoying happiness and on that the government is bring Democracy for the benefit of the people by the year 2008. For that the people and the nation as whole is preparing for it.

Bhutan is recorded and notice by the world for its prestine and friendly environment. All most 80% of the land is under coverage of nautre, the department too is trying to maintaence same thing throughout.

Bhutan is buliding its rapid progress in the development and the activities are taking place. Despite landscape Bhutan is under rapid development. Bhutan people has has unique personality in dealing with any one.. that was liked by the stranger. So in seeing that they feel to be one of the Bhutanse.

Thanking you.

International blogging for France 24

I am the only Italian blogger who will attend to the special preview presentation of the new alla news french channel, France 24. 12 bloggers of all the world have been contacted to fly to Paris for a special day.

December the 2nd 2006 all these bloggers will have the opportunity to meet the journalist of this new international channel - it will broadcast in french and english from december the 6th - and to take part to a special programme whose topic is blogging.

The Italian media are also becoming blog addicted. Last week I was invited to Rome to know the people behind the first news Italian site: Repubblica.it. It was a very nice experience and I think that blog and newspaper are going to become very closed in the near future.

Link: France 24.

National Day Pride

Ordinarily, in the Sultanate of Oman, we would celebrate National Day by having a get together and making trips to far off lands in our country where we could stay the night and have good barbequee and lay under the stars.

This year, marking the 36th Omani National Day, the country is all in spirit with lights accross the streets and lamposts in most of Muscat highways, and special projects with last minute touches.

Heck, we even have non-Omani organizations joining in the celebrations by setting up big Omani flags and showing how proud they are to be in a country that has come so far in the last 36 years.

Happy 36th National Day, Omanis all over the world

How to Use Chopsticks

Dinner behavior is of great importance to everybody in daily life. Knifes and forks are always used in most western countries, while chopsticks in China and some other countries in Asia. Chopsticks are a couple of sticks, which are about 10 inches long. They are usually made in wood. Some more expensive and ornamental chopsticks are made in silver, gold or ivory. I use chopsticks in my right hand, according with my handwriting habits.

Now I can show you how to use them. Firstly put one stick in your hand (ether left or right is OK), and nip it with three fingers.(thumb, forefinger and middle finger), while the other stick beside on ring finger and little finger. Details are shown in the figure. (Referring link).

Trees

Autumn has arrived. Despite its typical sadness (the end of summer, beggining of cold and rain, shorter days...) this season has got many reasons not to be worst one. One of mines is that I like woods, and autumn is the most beautiful time for woods, as you can see in the pic!
Since I have lived most of my life in the south of Spain, I'm not used to these humid and old woods which grow in the north, and now it's easier for me to enjoy these magic places. This one in the pic is located in Euskadi (a place with an awesome nature, but maybe sadly known by many of you because of the terrorist attacks... Please follow the link if you feel interested in know a little bit more about this beautiful region.)

There are these kind of woods in the south, too, but they are not the common ones. When I lived in Extremadura I liked walking by some open woods, called "dehesas". Traditional uses of farming have modelled the primary dense woods of quercus into an ondulated landscape, where you can easily see a lot of animals, overall beautiful birds...

It's said that we want all we haven't got, and that is happening to me now... When I lived in the south, I loved my "dehesas", but I desired with anxiety time to visit the amazing landscapes of the north.... Now I have plenty of time to watch cliffs, wet woods and big mountains, but what I'd like best is to come back to walk by that sunny south...

It's pretty cold here!! ;-)

Bulgarian Roma population

Influenced by a post from our friend from Slovenia Matej Golob, today I'll write about a controversial issue in Bulgaria - the Roma people. After ethnic Bulgarians (84%) and ethnic Turks (9.3%), the Roma come third (4.7%) with 371 000 people and are officially recognized as a minority.

The main problem that the Roma here face is poverty. Among other problems are poor education, unemployment, high crime rates, etc. All of these are connected and hardly anyone can be surprised. Gypsies live in neighborhoods (ghettos) in most major cities. While the overall population growth is negative, their growth is positive. The government (under the pressure of the EU) is putting great effort to socialize them and improve their way of life.

However, there is a tendency that has become way too obvious (Note: the following does not apply to the whole Roma population): once some of them got used to living the easy way - on social aid, on mercy or crime, with cheap or free electricity, on illegal trade, and prostitution - it's difficult to start earning money with hard but honest labor. And here's the catch: if economic sanctions are enforced to make them work or study, they protest (sometimes violently), human rights organizations sound alarms and everything settles down as quickly as possible in their favor because the EU is following such issues closely. My city has seen such protest as Plovdiv has a large Roma neighborhood. So far a considerable part of them are using free electricity (tax-payers pay the cost) and some of them enjoy new free houses from the government as part of certain programs.

At the same time the first thing that crosses most Bulgarians' minds is that they have to pay their bills (as every normal citizen does). The conflict arises from the fact that some Bulgarians are not wealthier than some gypsies, but they work and pay taxes... It is simply unfair. Another fact is that most everyday crimes are committed by gypsies. It all mounts up and the social gap widens.

There are social programs that aim at educating those who desire to learn and teaching them crafts, so that they can improve their lives. Many of them choose that path and achieve much. I know we're not the only country with such problems and I believe such programs are the most important way to solve this modern injustice. In July 2006 Bulgaria took the Presidency of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 for one year. This is "a political commitment by governments in Central and Southeastern Europe to combat Roma poverty, exclusion, and discrimination".

In conclusion, my common sense tells me that people should live in harmony and understanding regardless of race, ethnic group, religion, language, gender, or any other discriminating factor. But they should also live according to the laws of their country in the name of everyone's well-being.

IJIME Problem

Everyday we hear of some sad news.
They are natural disaster,traffic accident,fire,murder and so on.

I today write about a social problem called "IJIME" in Japan.

Many students commit suicide because their classmates huff them to pieces.
I wonder if this kind of problem happens in other countries.

Classmates ignore,bash away,and even extort money.We call this "IJIME" in Japanese.
They can't tell to teachers or parents,and agonize alone.
Those who can tell to teachers but can't get the help from them,blame teachers,board of education.

Government said there are no suiside because of IJIME from 1999 to 2005,while 935 students finished their lives by themselves.
After this announcement,many people are disagreeably surprised and angry about the difference between government's perception and the reality.
Finally government decide to investigate the situation again.

This is one of the awarded poster 8 years girl depicted,which said "STOP IJIME".

Peace Through Games Night

Every Wednesday evening I host a board and card games night in my apt. I call it the Jerusalem Strategy Games Club. We play modern board games that are well known around Europe, but not well known anywhere else, games such as Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Puerto Rico, and so on. Don't ring a bell? Head over to Board Game Geek to learn about them. We also play more traditional games like Bridge and Go.

I advertise in English, but word has gotten out to various Hebrew game forums, as well. The bulk of our players are both English and Hebrew speaking Jews, religious and non-religious. However, we are open to all.

An Anglican from Australia was here for a year and played with us. And we have another semi-regular who is a Christian. Unfortunately, no Arabs/Moslems yet. Still hoping.

Board games appear to attract religious people like few other pastimes do. It is considered a wholesome, family oriented activity, unlike, say, computer games, television, dancing, and so on. A great number of my fellow enthusiasts around the world are not only religious Christians, but missionaries.

I have had trouble making contact with religious Muslims, however, which is a shame. Not a surprise, I guess, seeing as I'm Israeli. I've tried to contact the Chess federation in Lebanon without success, as well as a game/toy conference in Saudi Arabia, again without success. I just recently made friends with one Muslim player, although he doesn't live in a Muslim country.

It's a shame. Board games are probably one of the best tools we have for meeting each other without rancor and politics getting in the way.

I'll keep trying. In the meantime, we have some good neighbors in the Middle East. Many of my Israeli blogger friends made friends with their moderate neighbors around the Arab world, especially during the last conflict with Hezbollah.

They just recently got together and started a new joint blog, Good Neighbors, with contributors from Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Syria. Hope springs eternal.

Yehuda

Very Friendly and Interesting Night

It was very different and interesting night for us yesterday. Because we met (me and my wife) with Chris, from blog, in İstanbul yesterday. This is the first time we meet a person via internet. He is so nice, easy going and handsome person. We liked him very much. We discussed many different issues on Turkey and Switzerland at dinner. Chris had very delicious Turkish food and dessert. We have suggested him Hacı Abdullah restaurant. ....Hey! Bloggers! You missed dinner! Never mind, next time you can get a chance....

left(Chris) and right (atilla)

Hello from Argentina

I am Alicia. I am 37 years old and have been teaching English as a Foreign Language for about 18 years. The idea of joining a blog written by people from different countries has sounded extremely appealing, so...off I go !

To begin with, I would like to introduce my country: Argentina, my home. That's the way I feel it. I do not live in the capital of the country, Buenos Aires but in the North East.


You may be wondering what the difference is. Well there is a wide range of differences between living in a big city like the one I first mentioned and my place. In the next posts I will be dealing with some of them. There are pros and cons in both. However, there's only one pride: Living in this country .

This is just an introductory post, so please forgive me if the piece of writing length does not fulfill your expectations. But ...to be honest I wouldn't like to round off this message in an ordinary way. No. Let me end it up with a set of pics from my country and a couple of questions for all the readers of this blog.

The questions are:

1 - Would you guess what these pics represent? - If you are mistaken I will explain...but it would be great if you try to guess! ;-)

2- What's your favourite pic in the set? Why?

I would love to read your comments / queries/ speculations... I promise to answer soon.

Well , find the pics below:



Got some ideas already?

Merhaba!

As I mentioned in my last post, I am currently in Istanbul for a congress, and what a great, colourful and vibrant place it is! Don't miss the muezzin call on the panorama balcony of the Galata tower. Reading Orhan Pamuk's latest work Istanbul. Memories of a City along the way certainly helps to get a good background impression of the place.

But first of all, I need to thank Shinji (again!) for the idea to this blog, for without it, I would never have met co-blogger Atilla and his lovely wife Banu! Atilla represents Turkey on this blog, and I learnt that he was one of the very first people to have joined Shinji and thus helped to get the ball rolling. We've had very interesting discussions over excellent Turkish food at Haciabdullah's, and we found out that Turkey and Switzerland, despite of being so close on the alphabet, are very different places indeed.

So, an experience not to be missed when travelling to foreign places: Meet your Topics 192 correspondent.