Different cultures

inkspot said:
LOL, right. Cats are smart enough to have a cush life.
But a poodle is a smart dog -- they always do well in the agility contests. I thought Alsatians were the ones that brought down criminals ...

And I think Moonshadow was kidding you about the snake charmers. In big cities in India, it looks about like any other big city except people drive crazy and there is a lot religious art, architecture and shrines.
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lol yeah I was kidding back ;)
 
hey sunnyromance.. u should take a leaf outta ur aunt's book and visit India- it's really nice 4 foreigners. The locals are totally fascinated with foreigners... A "phirang" talking to them totally makes their day, and phirangs really get the royal treatment!!
Infact, down town, which is the posh part of our city- frequented by dollar-converting phirangs, (btw, phirang means other-coloured -rang=colour), we have a couple of restobars where the waiters pretty much ignore you if your Indian!!! Can you BELieve that?! We find it almost amusing..

Thanks inkspot, but I've seen some of Doffen's other posts n I figured he's quite mad!! But nice-mad..lol. (Doffen- ;)).
Hey doffen, don't act all modest! if you're a tae kwondo trainer, that means you must know ur stuff.
And let me tell you doff, that dogs don't co-operate because they're stupid, but because of their inbuilt wish to please. They do anything you ask because they love you unconditionally. (I hope my fair-weather dog is listening!! Sometimes I think, she'd happily ditch me for a handful of Pedigree!!........nahhh.)
 
Moonshadow said:
Thanks inkspot, but I've seen some of Doffen's other posts n I figured he's quite mad!! But nice-mad..lol. (Doffen- ;)).
Hey doffen, don't act all modest! if you're a tae kwondo trainer, that means you must know ur stuff.
And let me tell you doff, that dogs don't co-operate because they're stupid, but because of their inbuilt wish to please. They do anything you ask because they love you unconditionally. (I hope my fair-weather dog is listening!! Sometimes I think, she'd happily ditch me for a handful of Pedigree!!........nahhh.)
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No no no. I'm a kickboxing trainer, not a tae-kwondo trainer. And I train young people from the age 9-13 somewhere. So it's not a very big thing.

Wish to please? pffh; what a weakness ;) :p



MORE ABOUT MY COUNTRY (I INVITE EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO TO SHOW MORE ABOUT YOUR COUNTRY. THERE ARE ENDLESS THINGS TO SEE)

I wanned to share more about the vikings, who was basicly great sea travelers, tradesmen and barbarians. The vikings was pirates, in a way, and had the lightest and fastest ships created on that time, referred to as the "longships". The longships had a design which made them very agile in the water, with that, it was the best combat machine ever created on the water (especially when it was full of Vikings).

Some rumours about the vikings:
- It's said that the Vikings ate poisonous mushrooms to get a drug effect when entering combat.
- Their fiercest warriors was from Northern Denmark and Southern Norway. They had a special name among the English people; "Berzerkers". The Berzerkers was known to have no fear and no feeling of pain.
- Vikings discovered America before anyone else (This is actually proven, not a rumour, oh well).


Weaponry:
The ordinary warrior had no armour. The normal equipment was a helmet, a axe and a wooden shield. The more richer you got, the better equipment. You would have to be very rich to get sufficient armor and a sword. The viking swords was short but broad.

For pictures of the Longships and of their weapons, visit this link: Clickedy click!
 
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Doffen said:
No no no. I'm a kickboxing trainer, not a tae-kwondo trainer. And I train young people from the age 9-13 somewhere. So it's not a very big thing.

Wish to please? pffh; what a weakness ;) :p



MORE ABOUT MY COUNTRY (I INVITE EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO TO SHOW MORE ABOUT YOUR COUNTRY. THERE ARE ENDLESS THINGS TO SEE)

I wanned to share more about the vikings, who was basicly great sea travelers, tradesmen and barbarians. The vikings was pirates, in a way, and had the lightest and fastest ships created on that time, referred to as the "longships". The longships had a design which made them very agile in the water, with that, it was the best combat machine ever created on the water (especially when it was full of Vikings).

Some rumours about the vikings:
- It's said that the Vikings ate poisonous mushrooms to get a drug effect when entering combat.
- Their fiercest warriors was from Northern Denmark and Southern Norway. They had a special name among the English people; "Berzerkers". The Berzerkers was known to have no fear and no feeling of pain.
- Vikings discovered America before anyone else (This is actually proven, not a rumour, oh well).


Weaponry:
The ordinary warrior had no armour. The normal equipment was a helmet, a axe and a wooden shield. The more richer you got, the better equipment. You would have to be very rich to get sufficient armor and a sword. The viking swords was short but broad.

For pictures of the Longships and of their weapons, visit this link: Clickedy click!
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Is that where the word 'berzerk' comes from, or did they derive their name from the word?
 
Being perfectly honest

One unfortunate thing about India, is that though the caste-system has been abolished, by and large, the general mindset hasn't changed.
There isn't really any dignity of labour.
I guess this is due in part to the terrible poverty that prevails.
80% of our population lives in abject destitution.

It hurts to think of what people like Hollywood Superstars (or even Bollywood actors) could do with their infinite incomes.
I know some try, but what they do isn't one tenth of what they could.

I swear I'm going to make pot-loads some day, and when I do, I'm going to do something about our horrible situation.
 
Is that where the word 'berzerk' comes from, or did they derive their name from the word?
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I'm pretty sure the word came from berserkers.

I have some Viking blood, too. ;) My dad's side of the family is Icelandic and some of my relatives have actually traced our ancestry back to Leif the Lucky and Eric the Red. I think that's why my dad's name is Eric. :D

I was going to write some about my culture but I don't know where to begin. America has such a broad variety. I’ll think about it and write later. ;)
 
Another Icelander :D i happen to be of Viking blood also and I must say they are highly interesting and entertaining! Annd do add to what Doffen said: The vivkings did infact rule over Engæand so today there are monuments of anicent Viking towns in REngland and also in Irlenad. Dublin was f.x. originally a Viking town ;)
 
Well.....since im Latina- Latin AMerica and native here are the cultures of both. Well my mom is mexican for her culture we preety much have partys and invitet the whole family and we celebrate the Mexican holidays that are really special like-in Dec.12 is the birthday of our virgin as in Mary the Mother of Jesus. IN my dads culture which is Dominican (Diminican Republic) is preety much the same as my mom we celebrate and have partys . Also, since im native well In my moms side--my moms grandpa was an Indian from Mexico he was a Maya. Which makes him my great-grandfather!! but anyways my mom tells me storys the my gradma told her about my great-grandfather--My mom told me that they would have sacred gatherings where all the people sit down around the campfire and listen to a story teller tellign a story about the ancient times, and after the story teller is done everybody would get up and dance around the camp fire.-I think thats really cool!!
 
Hmm, did I post in here yet? Ah, I don't remember. :p

My mum's Russian, my dad's German/Irish/American. So I'm Russian/German/Irish/American. :p
The Russian culture is nothing like American or English...I'm still trying to get used to it :D
 
Nightfire said:
Hmm, did I post in here yet? Ah, I don't remember. :p

My mum's Russian, my dad's German/Irish/American. So I'm Russian/German/Irish/American. :p
The Russian culture is nothing like American or English...I'm still trying to get used to it :D
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Tell us about it. I have visited Russia several times, but always working, and I did not get into the culture too much. I know the people I met in Russie were very nice and hospitable.
 
GentlePrincess said:
Well.....since im Latina- Latin AMerica and native here are the cultures of both. Well my mom is mexican for her culture we preety much have partys and invitet the whole family and we celebrate the Mexican holidays that are really special like-in Dec.12 is the birthday of our virgin as in Mary the Mother of Jesus. IN my dads culture which is Dominican (Diminican Republic) is preety much the same as my mom we celebrate and have partys . Also, since im native well In my moms side--my moms grandpa was an Indian from Mexico he was a Maya. Which makes him my great-grandfather!! but anyways my mom tells me storys the my gradma told her about my great-grandfather--My mom told me that they would have sacred gatherings where all the people sit down around the campfire and listen to a story teller tellign a story about the ancient times, and after the story teller is done everybody would get up and dance around the camp fire.-I think thats really cool!!
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Could you explain alittle more about this? ... What kind of parties do you have? Do you dance around your campfire like your great-grandfather? ;)

Nightfire please tell us more about Russia! I always love hearing stories from our nabour in the North!
 
I know a bit about Latin culture from growing up in the southwest of the USA and going to school with Latinos and having Latino buddies. The parties are great. Lots of Latin music, dancing and good food. (Tacos, Doffen!!!) Or if it is just family, there might not be dancing -- but probably there will be.

One party which was fun growing up was when Latina girls turn 15, they have a major 15th birthday party, their Quinceanera. It is the birthday she becomes an adult, and there is almost like a wedding ceremony, only there's not a groom. But she gets a beautiful dress, a tiara, and in the most formal ones she enters the festive gathering in flat shoes, and her father presents her with her first pair of heels (supposedly) and they dance.

Then everyone dances and drinks and eats. It's a blow-out. A lot of Latino families are Catholic, so there's also a strong religious element to many of the gatherings, before the party.
 
Russians make awesome food :D LOL. And at every meal they have many toasts to different topics, and really, dinner is the main part of the day where the whole family sits down and talks about everything (also it's when most of the good series begins so we're all talking about what's happening there... :rolleyes: )

inkspot, like you said, they are really hospitable. When one goes to another's house, they normally get a little dressed-up and the host/hostess gets the house in tip-top condition.

I haven't met a Christian or Catholic Russian here. Most are 'Provonslavi' but I don't remember how to say that in English *oops*.

Also, Christmas for them is on the 7th of January, and for them, New Years is Christmas (in holidayish and gift-giving terms).

Uh...yeah... basically that's it, but there's prolly a lot that I left out. :p
 
Nightfire said:
Russians make awesome food :D LOL. And at every meal they have many toasts to different topics, and really, dinner is the main part of the day where the whole family sits down and talks about everything (also it's when most of the good series begins so we're all talking about what's happening there... :rolleyes: )
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Ah yeah, I've heard of the famous russian meals. It reminds me of those old italian gangster movies where all the mob is sitting down with their mom and eating dinner :p

In a few months, I'm going to meet some Russians at the Norwegian/Russian border. I hope they're as hospitable as you say. And from my own experience they are.

Where in Russia are you from? I absolutely love to hear Russians speak. Number 1 language to learn when I've got a good grip on English.
 
Nightfire, I absolutely love the Russian culture (everything I know about it anyway.) It's closely related to my heritage-Armenian. I basically fell in love with Russian culture by reading Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy (and Chekov, and Turgenov, and...) Have you read any of these authors?

Nightfire said:
I haven't met a Christian or Catholic Russian here. Most are 'Provonslavi' but I don't remember how to say that in English *oops*.
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I'm pretty sure it's Orthodox, or Eastern Orthodox.

Doffen, I totally know what you mean. One of my professors at school is Russian and whenever he talks on the phone to his family, I always eavesdrop intently. :)
 
I was working when I visited Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, just before and just after the fall of the USSR, so this is 16, 18 years ago. It was kind of chaotic, and I remember how little food there was, in the grocery store, just not enough bread and meat and stuff. But the people who invited us into their homes were so friendly, and so generous. I was directing video shoots on each occasion, so we were dressed for work and probably broke all kinds of conventions, but the people were so sweet to us. I remember thinking, you know, in all our travels, they were the most "like us."
 
Doffen said:
Where in Russia are you from? I absolutely love to hear Russians speak. Number 1 language to learn when I've got a good grip on English.
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Western Russia. From my city, it's 4 1/2 hours from Moscow. About the hospitality: I'm sure they'll be kind to you. From what I've experienced, Russians are very hospitable. And if you've had experience yourself I suppose you know how it's like=]


Charn_Tim said:
Nightfire, I absolutely love the Russian culture (everything I know about it anyway.) It's closely related to my heritage-Armenian. I basically fell in love with Russian culture by reading Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy (and Chekov, and Turgenov, and...) Have you read any of these authors?
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Yes! We're actually reading Turgenev right now. And we've also read some stories by Gogol' and Pushkin (we = my class). I've found that many Russian writers (and composers) write and play beautiful stories and music!

inkspot said:
I was working when I visited Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, just before and just after the fall of the USSR, so this is 16, 18 years ago. It was kind of chaotic, and I remember how little food there was, in the grocery store, just not enough bread and meat and stuff. But the people who invited us into their homes were so friendly, and so generous. I was directing video shoots on each occasion, so we were dressed for work and probably broke all kinds of conventions, but the people were so sweet to us. I remember thinking, you know, in all our travels, they were the most "like us."
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Yes, Gorbachev really did some...work...to Russia and the USSR... it's quite sad. I've visited many families and they would much rather have Russia be in the USSR instead of just a separate country. And I can't blame them: more land and more places to travel around in your own country.
And yes, there were many shortages of food and supplies back then. Right now, Russia's in a much better condition than it was back then.
 
Doffen said:
Could you explain alittle more about this? ... What kind of parties do you have? Do you dance around your campfire like your great-grandfather? ;)

Nightfire please tell us more about Russia! I always love hearing stories from our nabour in the North!
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Well Yes we Have amjor Partys in both Cluttures-Latins American alwasy celebrate brithday party have the family around. Also like i think Inkspot said we have many birthdaya but the #1 is a grils because they have a quienceanera like a sweet 16 but its really a a sweet 15. In the dominican republic is the same only Baptisms is more important to them-There also music--Lastin everybody would have to pick a partener and star dancing until your tied or just dont wanna dance again but yes its really fun. And no i dont dance around a campfire like my great=grandather did but i would love to!! The Mayan culture is very intresting but at the smae time very hard-There are many rules to follow i think the women -they have more work to do but i think there are barley any Mayans around but decendent of the Mayas i think so!
 
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