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My country - how about yours?

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psyjax:
Well, I have two countris. I have two passports.

Currently I live in the USA, but was born and raised in the Dominican Republic.

The DR is a small island nation in tha carbean west of puerto Rico, east of Cuba, and north of Jamaica. Ya, the one that Haiti is on.

Anyway, the DR has the nice half of the island  :D . Interesting story to that, the Hatians had no conservation laws and basicaly burnt down all of their rainforest for timber. Much of the fine woods that grew there were sold off to the US and Europe, as a result, today Haiti is a Destirute nation, considered the poorest in the world. The DR has very strict concervation laws to the point where one can be shot for illegal logging (or so the rumors go) ! The border between Haiti and the DR is clear cut down a river valley. On one side of the river you see nothing but brown dirt, on the other green trees and grassy fields. Guess wich side is Haiti?

Anyway, enugh Haiti bashing  :D  .... oh ya! One more tidbit, did you know that Haiti used to be the Richest country in the world? In colonial times Haiti was the economic center of the new world. But years of war, opresive governments, and europen imperialism has taken all of the resources that it once had.

The Domican Republic is a Democratic nation with a parlimentry system modeled after those in europe. The populace is very political, and everyone votes. Election days are insane, rallys everywhere, people waveing campaign propagandah etc. Pretty neat stuff. Too bad the government there tends to be pretty corupt. There is allways one scandal or another.

The DR is a poor country economicaly, life can be pretty hard for the poor in the cities. But generaly people live well, they may not have much money, but they make good use of what they have. If you go out to the country in the DR and enter a poor persons house you will notice that everything is kept orderly and clean, the family is well mannered, well fed, and well taken care of. That's allways something I admired about the people of my home country, we may not have much but we make the best of it.

Though I would be lieing if I said poverty isn't bad, cuz in some places life is hell over there.

The beaches over there are the most beutifull in the world. I have never seen clearer water. I live in Miami now, and the beaches here are horrible! If you ever get the chance to travel and want a vacation resort type thing, give the DR a look.

Dominican food is awsome! It's all we eat in our household  

In the DR we have great parties durring carnival. Here people dress up in traditional costumes and drink themselves silly while dancing in the streets. The costumes are calld Lechones, they look kind of like a cross between a harloquin and a minoraur. The mask has horns like a bull, and the suit is multi colord and adorned with mirrors and bells. The Lechon carrys a bull whip and a balloon made out of an inflated and dried cow blader (not as bad as it sounds  :D  ), anyway, his job is to seek out people in the crowds who don't seem to be having a good time and beat the crap out of them with his weapons untill they do. It's all fun and games, and it dosn't really hurt (most of the time    ).

Another wierd holiday is St. Andrews day. Here, kids get to throw flower and eggs at people. Why? I dunno. Suposedly St. Andrew was the patron saint of bakers, but most people just like throwing flower and eggs at each other  :D  

It's a really popular holiday, kinda like Halloween in the US. Kids have developed ways of rotting eggs, and will prepare their arsenal a full two weeks before the holliday. But those are only the jerks, I would never do anything like that    .

That's about it. Haven't been there in like eight years. Friends tell me alot has chaged, the economy is growing over there and because of that cities and towns are getting crowded. A double edge sword I suppose. But I will allways have fond memories of the place I grew up in. Can't wait to go visit one day.

Calum:
it's nice to hear that st andrew's day is celebrated somewhere! he is the patron saint of scotland however no bugger celebrates his day there (ask somebody when it is and they'll be stumped more often than not even!) but they'll happily slosh down the guinness on the day of St patrick patron saint of ireland. This is doubly sad since st patrick was in fact a staunch teetotaller.

preacher:
I am also from the US, but more specifically I am from Kansas. For those who have heard of Kansas they think it is a large field, which is pretty much true. However in the Northeast corner of Kansas the majority of the population lives. I have never seen a tornado. I dont live on a farm. I hate Dorothy and Toto jokes. There are no weird alien encounters here. By the way Kansas City was found to be the second most overweight large city in the US.

lazygamer:
I am not overly sure about my country. I have never spent more then 1.5 weeks outside of my town, and I don't seek knowledge about my surroundings like I should. I do not whether we are a bunch of American wannabes, or a bunch of highly advanced 1337 d00dz who only look like americans on the surface. I do not know whether we have a political system that is seriously fucked up like the US, or like was described in Britain.

So what do I know? 80+ percent of our population lives within 200KM of the US border(1970s estimate though). There is a massive amount of low populated wilderness all over, and that does not include the artic! We have 30 million people, the US has 300 million, even with 80% of us within 200km of the border, that is still a pleasant density.

What wilderness do we have though? The west coast is BC, and that has tons of forests, hills and mountains. Past that you hit a very very long stretch of plains. Still, the plains are not just all grassland, there is forest there also. What Canada is really famous for is that cold aspect BRRRR! We have a massive amount of tundra and artic land in the north. It is very sparsely populated. There is also those eskimo dudes who live there. They try to follow a combination of old and new lifestyles. There is such a sparse artic population, that they are probably the guardians and caretakers of that land.

Of special interest is Quebec. It is a large landmass in eastern Canada, with many people of a different cultural background then other Canadians(basically they speak too much french and not enough english). This has caused alot of politcal strife, with two seperation referendums and a terrorist incident in the 70's.

Oh yes, I am also from a small 80000 person town in the heart of British Columbia. There is such an abundance of nature around me, but I never use it.  ;)

This is just my pathetic attempt at telling you about my great country. I am not sure why it is great, I have seen neither lavish benefits or terrible hardships. So I hope MOR(or another proud MES Canadian) can tell you much more...

[ December 04, 2002: Message edited by: lazygamer ]

dot.this:

quote:by thePreacher:
By the way Kansas City was found to be the second most overweight large city in the US.  
--- End quote ---
I remember that study. They said Philadelphia was first. No wonder, considering that "food" in Philly means cheesesteaks, scrapple, and cheese fries.

I'm surprised at all the harsh things people have to say about the US. I think I'll put together a piece full of good things about the US. Until then, just remember that from all over the world, people are trying to get into the US. I don't see too many Americans trying to move to other countries.

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