Isa
Administrator
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Post by Isa on Nov 6, 2006 22:01:48 GMT -5
Bookaddict's "Where are you from?" poll was the inspiration for this thread: I'm sure there are lots of things we do differently depending on where we come from and I'd be curious to learn more about what goes on in other countries.
So let's start with the topic of marriage for example: over here, not a lot of people get married nowadays, it's more often than not perceived as a waste of money. Most people who are in a serious relationship we'll have kids together instead of getting married. Is it the same/different where you live?
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zeldafitzgerald
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
ancora imparo
Posts: 1,948
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Post by zeldafitzgerald on Nov 6, 2006 23:06:55 GMT -5
From what I've observed from my friends and coworkers in the US, it's sort of a mix. I know a lot of people who have gotten married, especially people I knew in Michigan. Since moving to New York, it seems the people I've met have waited MUCH longer to get married in terms of age, or still have not gotten married at all after dating for an extremely long time.
So I think the culture is a lot different even within the US, especially in regards to ages people get married.
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Post by bookaddict on Nov 6, 2006 23:32:06 GMT -5
I also live in Quebec, but come from a small town. A lot of people have been getting married lately but they do it later on. In the city's it's different, people tend not to get married so much anymore.
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Post by Dominique on Nov 6, 2006 23:40:26 GMT -5
Most people here don't seem to get married in Australia until they're over 25, but it's sort of a bit of both, a mix of defacto couples and married couples who have children.
one thing I've noticed is different here is we don't really have a focus on learning other languages here as much as what a lot of you guys do, because we aren't connected to any other countries in the physical sense. We usually only get a smattering of language unless we decide to study it later, which few people do in high school because it's considered more difficult to get a good enough mark to get into whatever university course you want to do. Where as a lot of you guys speak like two or three different languages. I know dorothyparker speaks English, German, French and maybe Dutch too? not sure?
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Kristie
Novel turned into BBC miniseries
"If a book is well written, I always find it too short."
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Post by Kristie on Nov 7, 2006 8:42:15 GMT -5
well, i'm only from ohio and there is a large republican/conservative population here (unfortunately) and most people get married. i don't think i have ever met anyone that had a family that wasn't married. of course there are children out of wedlock, especially growing numbers in teens (also unfortunate) but most people get married. i guess with a country as big as the us or canada it's hard to say because they're rather large countries. i want to get married before i have my kids with my guy. not to say premarital sex hasn't happened, but no babies until after we're married a couple years.
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Bina
First novel published
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Post by Bina on Nov 7, 2006 10:01:09 GMT -5
Very ambiguous title ;D I think people here are getting married when they´re about thirty mostly. We have this whole population shrinkage issue. Apparently there are too few babies born and women wait till they´re nearing forty to have a baby because of their careers and they get married late in life,too. There´s a huge debate going on about this.
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Bina
First novel published
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Post by Bina on Nov 7, 2006 10:09:15 GMT -5
I know dorothyparker speaks English, German, French and maybe Dutch too? not sure? I speak Dutch but I´m not great with French. Trying to improve it by watching French dvds. I think if you lived near the border like I did you´ll really want to learn the language and travelling does that too. Being in a foreign country and not speaking the language at least a little bit sucks.
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Isa
Administrator
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Post by Isa on Nov 7, 2006 17:28:39 GMT -5
I wanted to make sure people would read it!! Quebec is pretty much an island of French in a sea of English so most of us need to learn some English to get by, but not everyone is bilingual, and very few of my English Canadian friends speak French. I think speaking many languages is something we see more often in Europe. Which brings another question: how does your school system work? In Quebec, we get elementary school Grade 1-6, then high school Grade 7-11 (we call it secondary 1-5), then you can choose between a professional college diploma (that usually takes 3 years) or going to college (we call them Cegeps) for two years to prep for university.
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czarval
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
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Post by czarval on Nov 7, 2006 18:04:17 GMT -5
In Alberta, at least the parts where I've lived, there's elementary school 1-5, then middle school/junior high, the name depends on where you are, which goes from 6-9, then high school, 10-12. Then it's technical college, or university, or college, or the big wide open world.
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katiaisme
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
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Post by katiaisme on Nov 7, 2006 20:44:39 GMT -5
I have a diffrent school all the grades are in one big school.Elementary is from kindergarden to 5,the junior high is from 6 to 8 and the then high school is from 9 to 12.Then you do whaterver it is you want to do University, or College or nothing.
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Post by bookaddict on Nov 7, 2006 22:18:26 GMT -5
This may seem like a stupid question... In other countries around Christmas do you decorate a tree, if so what kind?
I just seems wierd that places with no snow..and not pine trees would decorate a pine tree.
lol I'm just wondering.
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Post by Dominique on Nov 8, 2006 3:39:22 GMT -5
In our system we have an extra year, we have kindergarten, then year one to six, called primary school. High school is 7-12, sometimes years 11-12 are in a seperate school because they're the senior years but it depends what school you go to, most schools combine them now.
We usually decorate a plastic tree, lol. Occassionally my dad also decorates his palm tree pot plants.
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Post by bookaddict on Nov 8, 2006 10:12:40 GMT -5
but it's a plastic pine tree?
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Kristie
Novel turned into BBC miniseries
"If a book is well written, I always find it too short."
Posts: 7,214
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Post by Kristie on Nov 8, 2006 14:46:34 GMT -5
i'd often wondered what other countries in a warm climate did for christmas. i live where it's snowy and we have pine trees around. but i always wondered what they did in hawaii for christmas haha
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holliday
First poem written for Mother’s Day
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Post by holliday on Nov 8, 2006 15:10:52 GMT -5
Well I live in Florida, most people here use fake Christmas trees, but I do know some who use real ones. There are Christmas tree farms in Florida and in Hawaii. Though I've never heard anyone say they were pine trees, I think they're mostly firs. Maybe we don't have that species of pine tree here.
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