The International Cultural Exchange (quote, Khol)

Ma Cherie · 10-26-2005, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ladyluckrules

Well i didn't really understand this post, but I didn't mean to offend.
I was just curious about the range of things you studied in Japanese culture, because there's a lot to cover.

i'm not offended at all its just i'm saying some things in the culture are hard if you come for places like America and Europe

a friend of mine who speaks japanese over heard someone fussing at her thinking she didn't understand what she said, but found out quick it was not so. thats all i was getting at.

shandapanda · 10-26-2005, 02:23 PM

Wow...that was...okay
i don't really know where i prefer to be cuz the two places both have their downsides. i love Namibia definately but couldn't consider living there permanantly.....well Sweden's okay and all, easier access to concerts, etc....but i'm definatlely not gonna live here either....so i do prefer Namibia even though i couldn't really live in any of the countries on a long term basis.

Yep there's a desert, the Namib, which Namibia was named after. Jennifer Lopez's scene from the movie the cell was filmed in the Namib. It's right next to the cost so you can ride a dune buggy and walk across the road and have a dip(be warned, the Atlantic can be freezing for those who are used to warmer waters). Namibia is very dry and could be considered a desert country, but it kind of isn't....There's also the Kalahari desert which is like a dry plateu that stretches for miles..the bushmen somehow have survived living there with their roots and nomadic lifestyle.
yes, we were colonialised by the germans and 'boers'. it actually means farmer and is used to describe the white people.
We do mine semi-precious stones, but also diamonds which are mined in a highly protected area.You need your passport and you have to be invited sometimes, and searched..there isn't a straight road there and you have to go through South Africa and back to get there...

Well the climate in the north especially is good for growing maize, a traditional staple food there. My grandparents support themselves by growing selling and using the maize and cattle. the people tend to be very self reliant. however, if you go further north and to the multiple borders to Botswana and other countries(Zimbabwe is one), the vegetation is quite tropical and they grow grapes, bananas and other fruits.
The country is indeed diverse and one place is not like the other, this includes the climate...we have the highest population of cheetahs(still, i hope) and have our own special kind of beef jerky.We have i think the oldest plant which should be like at least 1000 years old! it's called the Welwitschia mirabilis. the people are really nice and unfortuantely there's a lot of problems like aids and teenage pregnancy...we are influenced a lot by South Africa, we share certain languages like Afrikaans, but we also have our own cultures and languages.

I used to live in the capital,Windhoek, and i love it there. it's very developed and there are many different sights, museums and forts in the city. There are also hot springs a little outside the city where the city was founded. They've now taken the hot springs and turned them to a giant hot tub-like pool which makes you soo relaxed, it takes a lot of energy to swin across! There are animals around like Meerkats...which is like a squirrel that lives underground, instead of trees. I have family spread out across the country so i get to go to the coast and desert, the random tropical parts. It truly is pretty and we have reserves which can be exciting!

My story's just a tad weird, my parents(very influential in namibia's history i think! they did a lot) went around Europe and Africa to get support for independance and settled as political immigrants(is that the term?) in Norway. My siblings and I were born there. Moved to Namibia, parents divorced, mom moves to Sweden, then children move to Sweden after living with dad for a while.

Sweden is cold and noone seems to get used to it(sometimes even the swedes!) It is expensive, we pay lots of tax but school and university and college are all free, kids get a monthly allowance from the government. healthcare for people 0-21 is free. Noone lives in the north and the ones that do, use all the taxes for hottubs,etc in their small town centre

....
Swedish is the clearest of the nordic languages and danish is the hardest to understand. The swedes and the rest of scandinavia are always battling on reality tv! There are a few good rock bands, but more bad ones, in my opinion, they do make good musicians, when they're for real. ABBA and grease songs are forced into the mind of every Swedish child, the Eurovision song contest is a BIG DEAL! and there's a lot of freedom and responsabilitites for the kids which is good, if you can take it. the kids get drunk as frequently as possible even though the laws are very strict, they tend to smuggle alchohol, on boats, from Denmark where it's cheaper. The govt cares a lot about the welfare of the people, but they can go a little overboard. and there are feuds between Stockholm and Göteborg(another big city), but Stockholm's better! there are lots of immigrants around, but rasism can still be an issue(both sides)....The girls speak in high pitch voices and guys can be highly metrosexual...Sweden is also very beautiful and the festivals are great, even though i haven't been to one, they're really cool and usually have great lineups.

Hope it's not too long and boring.....

DontRunMeOver · 10-26-2005, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shandapanda

Hope it's not too long and boring.....

It wasn't at all. In fact, I think I'll re-read it tomorrow!

So (on a point of geekiness) is most of the eastern part of Namibia the Kalahari desert? There was a mini-documentary on last year which I think was set in the Kalahari in Namibia, with these tiny little tribal guys who walked for hours and hours after a single animal (a wildebeest I think) until finally the animal collapsed. They ate these little berries which contained chemicals that could diminish their hunger pangs, so that they could keep tracking the animal without feeling hungry.

I shall ask you more later!

shandapanda · 10-26-2005, 03:58 PM

yep...the bushmen....they don't like being called 'San' people cuz it means thief. The Kalahari is in Namibia, most of it, i guess that area, but it does stretch and there's some good stuff in the middle. They are one of the oldest cultures in Africa, I was once told..they totally keep out of 'modern society', but they are used in a lot of commercials, they catch and eat snakes and use the venom to put on their man made spears and arrows...they're very interesting and they have a 'clickety click' language which is crazy!

Fenixpunk · 10-26-2005, 04:46 PM

adidasss - whats your signature mean?

adidasss · 10-26-2005, 05:12 PM

haha...curious are we? ok, it's from a song you've heard by my favourite croatian hip-hop band the beat fleet called "papilova" ( the links are still there so you can hear what it sounds like in real life

):

all day long i'm looking at the teletext
i'm not interested in food or sex
i'm angry as mustard and poppin "persen"
i gotta get me some good odds
( it rhymes in croatian )
explanation: it's a song about betting on sports as you can see ( hence looking at the teletext, for the scores ), the word angry is the same as the word spicey ( a little play of words that got lost in the translation ), persen is a pill you take to calm you down ( i'm poppin it lately myself ...hence my choice of the lyrics for my signature )
thanks for askin.....

hookers with machineguns · 10-26-2005, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adidasss

i'm not interested in food or sex

So, the Beat Fleet are a bunch of robots, huh?

Fenixpunk · 10-26-2005, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adidasss

haha...curious are we? ok, it's from a song you've heard by my favourite croatian hip-hop band the beat fleet called "papilova" ( the links are still there so you can hear what it sounds like in real life

):

all day long i'm looking at the teletext
i'm not interested in food or sex
i'm angry as mustard and poppin "persen"
i gotta get me some good odds
( it rhymes in croatian )
explanation: it's a song about betting on sports as you can see ( hence looking at the teletext, for the scores ), the word angry is the same as the word spicey ( a little play of words that got lost in the translation ), persen is a pill you take to calm you down ( i'm poppin it lately myself ...hence my choice of the lyrics for my signature )
thanks for askin.....

i remember listening to that when you posted it, right on. ya, i was curious and i couldnt find a croatian to english translator online anywhere.

adidasss · 10-26-2005, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hookers with machineguns

So, the Beat Fleet are a bunch of robots, huh?

no..just typical croatian males....

IamAlejo · 10-27-2005, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban Hatemonger

Given that in my time here i`ve spoken to people from all over the world. I thought it would be good if we could ask each other questions about each others countries & also how our countries are portrayed by others.

So anyway i`ll start this off by asking any Americans here to answer the following questions........

1. Everytime there is a visiting American president in the UK there is a lot of talk about the 'special relationship' between the two countries , do you feel any closer to the UK than say for example any other country?

2. In the last Football World Cup , the USA had their best ever tournament & got to the quarter finals, do you care & did you watch any of the matches?

3. Which British band do you feel has had the most impact in the U.S. in say the last 5 or 6 years?

4. When you think of the UK , what is the first image that comes into your head?

5. David Beckham is probably the biggest British sports star around the world , are you aware of him & what he does?

I'm late to this but figured I'd like to take part.

1. I feel closer to the UK than other countries yes. A lot of cultural similarities. Either the UK or Canada for the closest.

2. Yes I cared. I remember staying up until maybe 5 a.m. watching the US beat Mexico and lose to someone else (I wanna say Germany).

3. Eh. None.

4. Small elevators. Like the inside is tiny compared to those in the US, that's just from my hotel.

5. Yes, he plays soccer and humps a very fine piece of ass.

10-26-2005, 02:23 PM	#92 (permalink)
shandapanda Music Addict Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: bababbabababaaa Posts: 354	Wow...that was...okay i don't really know where i prefer to be cuz the two places both have their downsides. i love Namibia definately but couldn't consider living there permanantly.....well Sweden's okay and all, easier access to concerts, etc....but i'm definatlely not gonna live here either....so i do prefer Namibia even though i couldn't really live in any of the countries on a long term basis. Yep there's a desert, the Namib, which Namibia was named after. Jennifer Lopez's scene from the movie the cell was filmed in the Namib. It's right next to the cost so you can ride a dune buggy and walk across the road and have a dip(be warned, the Atlantic can be freezing for those who are used to warmer waters). Namibia is very dry and could be considered a desert country, but it kind of isn't....There's also the Kalahari desert which is like a dry plateu that stretches for miles..the bushmen somehow have survived living there with their roots and nomadic lifestyle. yes, we were colonialised by the germans and 'boers'. it actually means farmer and is used to describe the white people. We do mine semi-precious stones, but also diamonds which are mined in a highly protected area.You need your passport and you have to be invited sometimes, and searched..there isn't a straight road there and you have to go through South Africa and back to get there... Well the climate in the north especially is good for growing maize, a traditional staple food there. My grandparents support themselves by growing selling and using the maize and cattle. the people tend to be very self reliant. however, if you go further north and to the multiple borders to Botswana and other countries(Zimbabwe is one), the vegetation is quite tropical and they grow grapes, bananas and other fruits. The country is indeed diverse and one place is not like the other, this includes the climate...we have the highest population of cheetahs(still, i hope) and have our own special kind of beef jerky.We have i think the oldest plant which should be like at least 1000 years old! it's called the Welwitschia mirabilis. the people are really nice and unfortuantely there's a lot of problems like aids and teenage pregnancy...we are influenced a lot by South Africa, we share certain languages like Afrikaans, but we also have our own cultures and languages. I used to live in the capital,Windhoek, and i love it there. it's very developed and there are many different sights, museums and forts in the city. There are also hot springs a little outside the city where the city was founded. They've now taken the hot springs and turned them to a giant hot tub-like pool which makes you soo relaxed, it takes a lot of energy to swin across! There are animals around like Meerkats...which is like a squirrel that lives underground, instead of trees. I have family spread out across the country so i get to go to the coast and desert, the random tropical parts. It truly is pretty and we have reserves which can be exciting! My story's just a tad weird, my parents(very influential in namibia's history i think! they did a lot) went around Europe and Africa to get support for independance and settled as political immigrants(is that the term?) in Norway. My siblings and I were born there. Moved to Namibia, parents divorced, mom moves to Sweden, then children move to Sweden after living with dad for a while. Sweden is cold and noone seems to get used to it(sometimes even the swedes!) It is expensive, we pay lots of tax but school and university and college are all free, kids get a monthly allowance from the government. healthcare for people 0-21 is free. Noone lives in the north and the ones that do, use all the taxes for hottubs,etc in their small town centre.... Swedish is the clearest of the nordic languages and danish is the hardest to understand. The swedes and the rest of scandinavia are always battling on reality tv! There are a few good rock bands, but more bad ones, in my opinion, they do make good musicians, when they're for real. ABBA and grease songs are forced into the mind of every Swedish child, the Eurovision song contest is a BIG DEAL! and there's a lot of freedom and responsabilitites for the kids which is good, if you can take it. the kids get drunk as frequently as possible even though the laws are very strict, they tend to smuggle alchohol, on boats, from Denmark where it's cheaper. The govt cares a lot about the welfare of the people, but they can go a little overboard. and there are feuds between Stockholm and Göteborg(another big city), but Stockholm's better! there are lots of immigrants around, but rasism can still be an issue(both sides)....The girls speak in high pitch voices and guys can be highly metrosexual...Sweden is also very beautiful and the festivals are great, even though i haven't been to one, they're really cool and usually have great lineups. Hope it's not too long and boring..... __________________ The Law of Awesome states: Those who are more awesome will cast down those less awesome than themselves, thus climbing the Hierarchy of Awesome and maintaining a balance in the world of Awesome Me poo you

10-26-2005, 03:58 PM	#94 (permalink)
shandapanda Music Addict Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: bababbabababaaa Posts: 354	yep...the bushmen....they don't like being called 'San' people cuz it means thief. The Kalahari is in Namibia, most of it, i guess that area, but it does stretch and there's some good stuff in the middle. They are one of the oldest cultures in Africa, I was once told..they totally keep out of 'modern society', but they are used in a lot of commercials, they catch and eat snakes and use the venom to put on their man made spears and arrows...they're very interesting and they have a 'clickety click' language which is crazy! __________________ The Law of Awesome states: Those who are more awesome will cast down those less awesome than themselves, thus climbing the Hierarchy of Awesome and maintaining a balance in the world of Awesome Me poo you

10-26-2005, 04:46 PM	#95 (permalink)
Fenixpunk The Erroneous Hoodlum Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: West Side Phoenix Posts: 2,057	adidasss - whats your signature mean? __________________ This message has been approved by Shawn Erroneous - The Declaimed

10-26-2005, 05:12 PM	#96 (permalink)
adidasss Slavic gay sauce Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Abu Dhabi Posts: 7,993	haha...curious are we? ok, it's from a song you've heard by my favourite croatian hip-hop band the beat fleet called "papilova" ( the links are still there so you can hear what it sounds like in real life): all day long i'm looking at the teletext i'm not interested in food or sex i'm angry as mustard and poppin "persen" i gotta get me some good odds ( it rhymes in croatian ) explanation: it's a song about betting on sports as you can see ( hence looking at the teletext, for the scores ), the word angry is the same as the word spicey ( a little play of words that got lost in the translation ), persen is a pill you take to calm you down ( i'm poppin it lately myself ...hence my choice of the lyrics for my signature ) thanks for askin..... __________________ “Think of what a paradise this world would be if men were kind and wise.” - Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle. Last.fm