You might not remember this-it's been so long! RL has a way of sweeping you along with it.
We have a few questions ready. Some were contributed from my oldest son and some were ones I thought we needed. You can answer here or copy and paste and send directly to my email.
Where do you live? City/State/country?
Prominent language spoken? Other languages/dialects?
Is this rural or urban? Rough size?
What do you like most/least about where you live?
Most historically significant points about your town/country?
Climate?
Type of government? Name of current leader?
What are the major industries?
Major religion?
Diversity of education? Do most people graduate high school? College?
Most popular sport?
Most popular trend at the moment?
Most popular food?
What do you feel is the most interesting/exciting thing about where you live?
Are there any urban legends associated with your town/state/country? (My son's enquiring mind wants to know!)
If you feel like I didn't include something, please feel free to add it. Any links to pictures would be great. I'd love for them to have a picture of every place mentioned to add to their collage.
ooo OOooo answer here! That way some of us can use it for FF research as well . Dunno if you want info about the Ozarks but let me know if you do . Carol
Some of these q's are really hard! The diversity in my country complicates matters significantly - people's experiences there are incredibly different. This will require thought and, embarrassingly, research on my part, but I'll give it my best go. I'm answering as a South African about SA, not someone who lives in the UK, which I presume is what you want. Maybe if I'm really short of anything else to do I could do a comparison between the two...
Wait and see.
When Life Gives You Green Velvet Curtains, Make a Green Velvet Dress.
Okay, I should be working on schoolwork or packing for the likely trip to the hospital - or at the very least brainstorming Missy's brand new NANO with her - but I did this instead .
Where do you live? City/State/country? Republic, Missouri – just outside Springfield
Prominent language spoken? Other languages/dialects? English
Is this rural or urban? Rough size? We live in a fairly rural area [there's a farm not 300 yards from us and another smaller one that our subdivision has grown around]. Republic has about 12,000 people but Springfield where we work and go to church, etc. is about 150,000.
What do you like most/least about where you live? Most: Our street in particular – it's safe for the kids to play on and we have .5 acre so room to run here too. Our area – it's smallish, community oriented, not big city… Least: Lack of good public transportation, but that's a side effect of living in a small community...
Most historically significant points about your town/country? There was a Civil War battle less than a mile from where I live [Wilson's Creek]. My alma mater [Drury University] still has berms soldiers hid behind during the Battle of Springfield.
Climate? Overall, pretty moderate. It doesn't get TOO hot in the summer [mostly upper 90s is the high with a few 100 days but not very many]. Winter is also fairly mild. Snow doesn't stick around too long. Today it's going to be 70* which is unusual for November. We also live in Tornado Alley. Every 2-3 years, Republic or Battlefield [about 3 miles away with 600-1000 people, half the town goes to school in Republic, half in Springfield] get hit by a tornado. Wilson's Creek Battlefield got hit a few years ago and it tore up the church with all the really old Bibles in it . Some were found miles away...
Type of government? Name of current leader? I'm going to go with local/state since I'm sure you know who the president is . Our governor is Matt Blunt – his dad, Roy Blunt, is our local US Representative. From the Republic website [ http://www.republicmo.com/local/index.php ]: The City of Republic is a first class chartered city under Missouri law with a Mayor-City Council form of government. The City Council consists of ten members, two Councilmen from each of five wards. The Mayor and Councilmen serve two year terms, with five Councilmen being elected each year. The City Administrator is the chief administrative officer of the City and is responsible to the Mayor and Council for the administration of all city affairs placed in the City Administrator's charge under the City Charter. The mayor is Jim Collins. The City Councilmen are: Ron Oswalt, Wes Carfourek, Gerry Pool, Garry E. Wilson, Steve Ward, Brian Buckner, Jim Huntsinger, Shane Grooms, Dennis Robbins and Keith Roberts. I'm ashamed to say I have no idea what Ward we're in…
What are the major industries? Here in Republic I'd have to say the farming industry is probably the biggest. There's no plants or anything but a few service type places [a few restaurants, stores, auto repair shops, stuff like that]. Springfield does have a few manufacturing plants, but I'd say it's also mostly service industry.
Major religion? Assemblies of God and Baptists have their world headquarters in Springfield. The vast majority of people in the region at least claim to be some Protestant denomination.
Diversity of education? Do most people graduate high school? College? I think most people graduate high school. There are... 3 universities in Springfield [one major state uni, one Assemblies of God, one small liberal arts where I and Bob Barker both graduated from], at least 2 Bible colleges, one major community college [where DH and I both went and now teach]. There's also at least two more semi-major colleges within 30 minutes or so.
Most popular sport? Baseball – the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals have many loyal fans, but probably more STL fans. We also have the AA team for the STL Cardinals locally. Kansas City Chiefs football is also very popular.
Most popular trend at the moment? Um… not a clue.
Most popular food? Springfield Chinese. This is not to be confused with actual Chinese. It's slightly different [don't ask me how, I don't eat Oriental food as a rule] but I do know that in Chicago, cashew chicken is known as Springfield Cashew Chicken because it was invented here *shrug*. We also have more restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the country [or at least we did 10 years ago].
What do you feel is the most interesting/exciting thing about where you live? Most people want to go to Bass Pro Shops when they're here – a hunting and fishing store. Not quite as big a deal as it used to be since they've opened franchises around the country, but still a pretty big deal. As for me... I don't know. I live here .
Are there any urban legends associated with your town/state/country? (My son's enquiring mind wants to know!) I know there is something about a woman wandering around a bridge... but that's the extent of my knowledge about it... I didn't grow up here so I didn't learn all those things as kids...
Where do you live? A city close to Cologne, North-Rhine- Westfalia ( I belief that's the official English name), Germany or as I would say: Köln, Nordrheinwestfalen, Deutschland.
If you want to know how to pronounce Köln right and since their is no such letter as ö in English, please check this link: Pronounciation of Köln
Prominent language spoken? German Other languages/dialects? There are many dialects in Germany, the local dialect would be Kölsch or something pretty similiar to that one.
Is this rural or urban? Rough size? Cologne is pretty urban and has about a million inhabitants. If you chose the right direction you can go from one city to another without seeing rural environment. I live at the more rural side of Cologne, but that doesn't mean much. This western part of Germany is densely settled and there is no place you could actually call rural. At least not compared to the USA. After all Germany is pretty small.
What do you like most/least about where you live? The history is something I both like and dislike. I don't think I need to say something about Germany's role in history. But I love how much history is visible throughout Cologne. The Romans, the Middleage, whatever you like. The oldest parts of the church I was christianed in were build in 800 AD.
Most historically significant points about your town/country? The most famous place in Cologne is certainly the cathedrale or as we call it the "Kölner Dom".
But there are also parts of roman buildings and many other interesting things.
Climate? Hard to tell. You could say it's pretty wet, at least where I live. But I guess that's not what you want to know. In most parts of my country we have pretty mild winters- seldom below 0°C, hardly ever snow. The summers are warm, about 30°C. We don't usually deal with tornados, though lately we had a few. In the eastern and southern parts of the country the winters are less mild and the climate is more like continental.
Type of government? Name of current leader?
Federal Republic. We have a chancellor, her name is Angela Merkel - she is the head of government at the moment. People can only elect the parliament for the whole federation - called Bundestag, and the parliaments of the federal state they live in. The Bundestag elects the chancellor. There is also a formal head of state, a president. His name is Horst Köhler.
What are the major industries? Well, the most famous are automobiles I belief. VW, BMW, Mercedes... Other than this - Pharmaceutics (Bayer), steel
Major religion? Christian, one half catholic, the other half protestant. After all, it's our fault they're seperated
Diversity of education? Do most people graduate high school? College? School's a strange thing around here. You go to primary school at the age of 7 until you're ten. After this you need to choose. If you're not that well at school you can go to the "Hauptschule". Better pupils can go to "Realschule". They both are from fith grade to tenth. The graduation basically is the same, but people who come from "Realschule" can get more different types of jobs. The third possibility is "Gymnasium". It used to be from fith grade to 13th, but lately that changed and now it's 12th grade. The graduation from "Gymnasium" enables you to go to University. We call that graduation "Abitur".
As far as I know about 50% of the German students finish school with an Abitur. But the major problem around here is that children with better financial, educational background have better chances to get a good education. Mostly children of immigrants have problems at school. Since Germany has a relatively high rate of unemployed people, children with low educational level easily end up unemployed. That's a great topic of the politicians these days.
Most popular sport? Without a doubt - football, or as some call it: soccer. There is little else people here pay any attention to.
Most popular trend at the moment?I can't think of anything right now.
Most popular food?Definitely not sourkraut I guess that "Currywurst" is very popular at least when it comes to fastfood. I'm not sure certain fastfood restaurants really stand a chance. Other than that... I guess most German meals consist of potatos, vegetables and meat.
What do you feel is the most interesting/exciting thing about where you live? I'm pretty interested in history, so... Cologne became a city in 51 AD. I still think that's almost unbelievable. Before that it was a little village, called Oppidum Ubiorum. When Agrippina became the wife of a Roman emperor (I think it was Claudius. And they were Nero's parents) the village had to become a city, because someone that famous couldn't be born in a village. The new name of Cologne was - Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium. That's why Cologne is called Cologne.
Oh and there is also something I find pretty funny. Throughout the whole Middleage nobody thought about street numbers. It wasn't before Napoleon occupied the city (and the French almost went crazy because they didn't find anything in the city) that the houses got numbers. Maybe you know the most famous: 4711. Eau de Cologne
Are there any urban legends associated with your town/state/country? (My son's enquiring mind wants to know!)The most famous legend is about the "Heinzelmännchen" They are some kind of dwarfs who used to come each night to do all the work the people hadn't finished. They made bread, they sewed coats - and the people of Cologne had a nice and lazy life. But the tailor's wife was curious and she wanted to know who did all the work. One night she put peas all over the stairs and waited for the "Heinzelmännchen" to come. When they came they stumbled over the peas and fell down the staircase. They fled and were never seen again ever since that night. Thus we need to do our work all on our own.
Prominent language spoken? Other languages/dialects?
Most Swedes speak Swedish, of course, but Swedish is not "officially" the language of Sweden. A few languages are granted special protection because they have long been spoken by well-established minorities in Sweden. Two such languages are Finnish and Romani.
Most Swedes are able to speak English.
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Is this rural or urban? Rough size?
Malmö is the third largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm (our capital) and Gothenburg (Göteborg). Population 280,000. (The total population of Sweden is about 9 million. The total land area of Sweden is 449,964 km² (173,720 square miles), which makes it slightly bigger than California.)
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What do you like most/least about where you live?
Pildammsparken, The Willow Pond Park, is situated in Malmö right next to where I live, and it's really nice.
There are other nice parks, too. And we have a quite beautiful main library, which won first prize in an architeture competion some years ago.
We have a nice main theater house from 1944, Malmö Stadsteater. Famous film director Ingmar Bergman, who died a few months ago, directed the first play ever at Malmö Stadsteater, A Midsummer Night's Dream. I had found a nice picture of it, but suddenly the link shut down!
Both the library and the theater are close to where I live. There are sports stadiums nearby, too.
Downtown, people gather at Lilla Torg (Little Square), where there are all sorts of restaurants, cafés and bars.
In August the Malmö Festival is held, when Stortorget (The Big Square) looks like this:
A popular new landmark in Malmö is our new skyscraper, Turning Torso.
Turning Torso is situated in Västra hamnen (West harbour), the newest district in Malmö where everybody in Malmö comes to swim in the summer.
We actually have a quite nice sandy beach in Malmö too, Ribersborg, but these days people prefer to lie down on the clean wooden construction that you can see in the picture above. And there are such nice cafes right nearby in Västra hamnen, too.)
And let me mention one of my own favorites in Malmö, too. It's Katrinetorps Gård, a lovely old mansion from the year 1800, situated in the southernmost part of Malmö. The place is still quite rural, although the trains bound for Copenhagen pass nearby, and a lot of new shopping centers and the like have sprung up not far from the railway. Katrinetorps Gård has got a lovely restaurant, and I quite often cycle there on a Saturday or a Sunday to eat a delicious weekend meal!
Most historically significant points about your town/country?
This is Malmöhus slott, an important castle or fort from the 16th century.
We also have a church from the 13th century, Sankt Petri kyrka (Saint Peter's Church).
Recently, Öresundsbron, the Strait of Öresund fixed link, was built between Malmö and Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. It may not be historically significant, but it sure is important for us here in southern Sweden! It's very easy to travel to Copenhagen from Malmö these days, and Copenhagen is a large and important European capital. Trains cross the bridge every twenty minutes, and it takes only about forty minutes to go from Malmö to Copenhagen.
This is Nyhavn (New Harbour) in Copenhagen. Pretty, isn't it?
Malmö is also very close to Lund, the second most important university town in Sweden. Lund is pretty, intellectual and charming, and it is ancient and youthful at the same time.
The University of Lund. There has been a university here since, I think, the 15th century. This is the main building, which is of course much more recent. Here the all-male Student Choir, founded some 150 years ago or so, gather each year on the first of May to sing beautiful songs in honour of spring and the month of May.
The county that Malmö is situated in, Skåne (Scania), is really beautiful and varied. I can recommend Ales Stenar (the Stones of Ale). It's a monument somewhat reminiscent of Stonehenge in England. Admittedly Stonehenge is a lot more impressive as a monument, but take it from me - the landscape surrounding Ales Stenar is breathtaking, because the coastline is very steep. You can walk right up to the edge of it, and you feel as if you are almost flying over the Baltic Sea.
The Swedish poet Anders Österling wrote a poem about Ales stenar. I'll make a rough translation of parts of it:
Where land hovers between sea and sky Ale built a giant ship of stones.
....
Its stem are stones its sails are clouds It sails the stream of time unfettered.
....
Around the ship and grave the water glitters old as time and wide as the open sea. ....
Each new spring brings flowers around ancient stones the lark sings, and the summers of Skåne tumble in the wind.
Okay, let's leave Ales stenar! There are also lovely beech forests in Skåne. Many of them are unbelievably full of white wood anemones in the spring.
So what do I like the least about where I live? Uh... how about January and February in Malmö?
It's as depressing as it looks. Gaaahhhh!!!!
Well, I've posted very many pictures already. i will be back later with a bit more information about Malmö.
I'm writing this about my home town and country, even though I now live in England.
Where do you live? City/State/country? Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Prominent language spoken? Other languages/dialects? Majority of the population in this area speaks Xhosa 57%. Also English 12% and Afrikaans 30%. We have 11 official languages in SA - those three (which incidentally make up our national anthem), plus IsiNdebele, IsiZulu, Northern Sotho, Sesotho, Setswana, SiSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga. I speak Eng and Afr (and a very little bit of Xhosa).
Is this rural or urban? Rough size? Fifth largest city in SA, and third largest port - approximately 1,500,000 people live in the greater PE area - known as Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, which is the 2nd largest metropolitan area in the country area-wise - and just over 1 million in the city itself. The national population is about 48mil. I grew up about 20 min from town, in a rural suburb - big plots, but not farm land. Interesting bit of trivia: PE is sister city to Jacksonville, Florida and Palm Desert, California.
What do you like most/least about where you live? Likes: Lovely mild climate. We are rated as having the 4th best weather conditions in the world! Also, beautiful beaches. Having wildlife on your doorstep. There's a lion park just down the road from where my parents live - have had the privilege of handling lion cubs.
PS. That is not me! but that is the lion park. Note the lovely sunshine and Indian ocean in the background, Ann.
PE is known as the Windy City (and the Friendly City - locals prefer that one!), which is one downside to living on the coast. Also, it's a nice size city, but not too big - in fact small enough so you always find someone who knows someone you do! Dislikes: After having lived in the uk for the last few years, going home everything's a little bit third world to me - the appearance of the place, the services you have available to you, the occassional donkey cart in the street. Lol. You just don't have everything you take for granted here, eg I can't walk into a library and get free internet access. I'd have to go to an internet cafe, pay and then be frustrated by slow connections. Or, I can't walk into a shop and buy the dvd I want cos it's too obscure for them to stock it - things like that are v expensive relative to what people earn. Just little things like that. As far as the country is concerned, crime is a huge problem. People have razor wire on top of their walls, security systems, car alarms, etc. There's a different feeling when I go to SA. I wouldn't go for walk somewhere deserted by myself because I wouldn't feel safe, whereas in the uk I'm forever wandering around the countryside by myself with not a care in the world. It's not all bad though really, you just have to be sensible.
Most historically significant points about your town/country? The first european to come to the area was Bartolomeu Diaz in 1488. The town itself was founded in 1820 when around 4000 british settled there. It's named for the late wife of the acting governor of the Cape Colony at the time, Sir Rufane Donkin. Pictured below is the monument erected to her.
As for the country, the discovery of gold and diamonds. Apartheid (legalised system of racial segregation).
Climate? Mixed, but generally temperate. It's a world in one country as far as geography is concerned. We have montains, desert, savannah, woodland, and more. A lot of the country is very hot , the east coast is warm and humid, the south and west coasts are more temperate. My home town is on the south east coast, so the temperature ranges from low teens in winter to high 20's/low 30's in summer. That celsius btw. (50's - 90'sF I think.) Most of the rain falls in winter/early spring, and the wind blows a lot in Oct. (and nov through sept Lol!)
Type of government? Name of current leader? Govt is democratically elected every 5 years by national election. Each of the 9 provinces has a local government, separately elected, so not all represent the national ruling party. The country's leader is Thabo Mbeki, ruling party is the ANC - African National Congress.
What are the major industries? The major industry in PE is the motor vehicle industry. In SA, mining - we are the worlds leading producer of gold and platinum; diamonds; coal; agriculture; tourism
Major religion? Christian
Diversity of education? Do most people graduate high school? College? Among the white population I would say most kids finish high school and a large percentage go on to university or other forms of tertiary education. The non-white population is not so lucky. Children of different races were educated separately during Apartheid. I went to a white's only school until I was 14 - integration took place in 1991. But poverty is a huge factor in education, as in most areas of life. The 'haves' will be well educated, the 'have nots' just don't get that opportunity. I've found some stats that say a little over 60% of high school students graduate - some provinces students perform significantly better than others though. The Eastern Cape has pretty poor pass rates.
Most popular sport? Soccer, cricket and rugby.
Most popular trend at the moment? I have no idea.
Most popular food? Again, because there are so many different cultural groups in South Africa, everyone has there own types of food. eg. There is a large Indian community in SA; the Afrikaner diet is more 'meat and potatoes'; the poor black population has maize meal as a staple in their diet. The wealthy might eat something else. The answer is, I don't really know. I grew up in an english household eating what I would describe as traditional western type food. Probably much the same as what you all eat. We have KFC, MacDonalds, etc which might surprise you. It always surprises me to know things like that, which is ridiculous since I've lived there, but when I think of Africa the pictures you see on the news of starving children and animals wandering down dirt streets is what comes to mind. Sure that's a part of it, but the cities are pretty first world.
What do you feel is the most interesting/exciting thing about where you live? Probably the cultural and ethnic diversity of my country, and the changes that have taken place politically and socially in the last 20 years or so. (unfortunately those are also a great source of frustration for a lot of people, but we're getting there slowly.)
We have one of the only three horse memorials worldwide, erected in recognition of the animals that died during the Anglo-Boer War(1899 - 1902).
Hosting the soccer world cup in 2010. Winning the Rugby world cup last month. Springbok captain John Smit, pictured with Mr Pres, Thabo Mbeki.
Couldn't resist adding that!
Are there any urban legends associated with your town/state/country? (My son's enquiring mind wants to know!) The tokoloshe is all I can think of - it's a little evil spirit of sorts that will get you at night if you're not careful, so people who believe in this sleep with their beds on bricks so it can't reach them and they'll be safe! Not really an urban legend, but thought he might like it. There are some alarming ideas about HIV and Aids, it's causes and how to cure it, which are prepetuated by the govt so they don't need to provide medication on a large scale. But I'm not going to go there.
If you feel like I didn't include something, please feel free to add it. Any links to pictures would be great. I'd love for them to have a picture of every place mentioned to add to their collage.
I've had enough for the moment, but I'll probably come back and edit this later. I've learned a few things filling this in too, so thanks. And if you want me to elaborate on anything SQD, just ask.
When Life Gives You Green Velvet Curtains, Make a Green Velvet Dress.
Okay, this is my second post about Malmö and Sweden, and I will not include so many pictures here, I think!
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Climate?
Sweden is really a very northerly country, but the climate is relatively mild. Canada and Russia, which are situated at the same latitudes, are so much colder. The Gulf Stream keeps us warm, I suppose.
This is the average temperature in Malmö in degrees Celcius - you will have to convert it into Fahrenheit yourselves, I'm afraid (but remember that water freezes at zero degrees Celsius and boils at a hundred degrees Celsius):
January: average daytime temperature, +2, average nighttime temperature, -3. February: +2, -3. March: +5, -1. April: +10, +2. May: +16, +7. June: +20, +11. July: +21, +13. August: +21, +12. September: +17, +10. October: +12, +7. November: +7, +3. December: +4, -1. We get an average of 604 millimeters of precipitation each year.
Most of the rest of Sweden is colder than Malmö, particularly in the winter. 15% of Sweden is north of the Arctic Circle, where the sun never sets during parts of the summer, and never rises during mid-winter.
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Type of government? Name of current leader?
Sweden is a constitutional monarchy, but the king is a mere figurehead.
The king and queen of Sweden on the right, and their three children on the left:
The government, always dominated by the largest political party, has the executive power. The Parliament, where each party is represented according to how many votes they got in the latest election, has the legislative power. Elections are held in Sweden every four years.
Since 1930, the left-wing Social Democratic Party has usually been the largest party by far, and they have usually dominated the government. However, in the latest election of 2006, an alliance of four right-wing political parties won, and they now form the government. So far the Swedes have been relatively unhappy with their new government. According to the latest polls, a left-wing alliance would get 55% of the votes if there was an election today, and the right-wing alliance would get only 40%.
The Prime Minister of Sweden is just the leader of the dominant party. The current Prime Minister of Sweden is Fredrik Reinfeldt.
Of course, Fredrik Reinfeldt is the (right-wing) Prime Minister of Sweden. Sweden is also divided into municipalities, and they have their own "governments", although they are not as independent of the government of Sweden as the individial states are independent of the federal government of the United States. Nevertheless, the municipality of Malmö is governed by a left-wing, Social Democratic "city council". There is an election for the city council every four years, at the same time as there is an election for the government of Sweden.
This is the top man in Malmö, Ilmar Reepalu. You can hear from his name that he, like many other people in Malmö, has immigrant roots. His parents are from Estonia.
Malmö is a fairly expansive town right now, and many new things are being built. I'd like to show you this picture, too. Ilmar Reepalu on the left has grabbed the shovel to start off yet another building project, a city tunnel. But the reason that I wanted to show this image is that the woman in the picture, one of the bosses for the city tunnel project, is an astronomy friend of mine, Pia Kinhult.
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What are the major industries?
I'd better quote Wikipedia here:
Sweden is an export oriented market economy featuring a modern distribution system, excellent internal and external communications, and a skilled labour force. Timber, hydropower, and iron ore constitute the resource base of an economy heavily oriented toward foreign trade. Sweden's engineering sector accounts for 50% of output and exports. Telecommunications, the automotive industry and the pharmaceutical industries are also of great importance. Agriculture accounts for 2% of GDP and employment.
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Major religion?
It is obviously Christianity, but Sweden is not a very religious country at all. We have had a Prime Minister - not the current one, admittedly - who was an avowed atheist. Such things are not important to most Swedes, who think that a person's religious faith is his or her own business. Credibility and personal morality are not seen as having much to do with a person's religious faith.
There was recently an article in Dagens Nyheter, Sweden's most influential daily newspaper, which claimed that Swedes are the second most secularized people in the world. Only the Japanese are more secularized. These figures are from Wikipedia:
According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005,[70] 23% of Swedish citizens responded that "they believe there is a god", whereas 53% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 23% that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force".
There is only one openly religious political party, kristdemokraterna (the Christian Democrats). In the latest election, the Christian Democrats got 6.59% of the votes. In the latest polls they have been down to about 4%.
Most Swedes regard churches as some sort of museums - beautiful to look at, but sort of boring too, and irritating to visit if there is a person inside lecturing you about God. The average Swede goes to church mostly or only to attend events like weddings, christenings and funerals. Marriage is really optional in Sweden, and we have a word, "sambo" - "live-together" - which is used about couples who openly live together without getting married. Huge numbers of Swedes are sambos, and that is never an impediment to life in Sweden unless, perhaps, you want to be a bishop or a diplomat in a country where non-married partnerships would be most severely frowned upon. But if you do get married in Sweden - and very many do, of course - then the huge majority want to get married in church, because that is much prettier than getting married in the court house.
A just-married Swedish couple. The little boys are probably their sons. People who get married in church when they already have children often baptize their kids at the same time, because it's popular to baptize one's children in Sweden.
The people who are most religious in Sweden today tend to be immigrants, many of whom are Muslims (and in many cases refugees from Iraq).
I should probably mention that Sweden really receives huge numbers of refugees these days. People who arrive here from countries which are at war, or where there is a civil war going on, are almost always permitted to stay, and within a couple of years they are almost routinely granted Swedish citizenship, too. The net result is that Sweden alone accepts almost three times as many refugees from Iraq as the rest of the European Union put together. Very many of those refugees gravitate to Malmö once they have come to Sweden, and they often end up in a part of Malmö called Rosengård. Here is an image of immigrant children in Rosengård celebrating Swedish midsummer:
Aren't ethnic Swedes opposed to the idea that Sweden should receive so many immigrants? Actually, few are concerned. There is a nationalist party, Sverigedemokraterna (The Swedish Democrats) which is against immigration, but they have never received enough votes to be represented in the Swedish Parliament. You need 4% of the votes to be represented, but the Swedish Democrats usually gets only 2% or at most 3%.
Speaking about immigrants, I should perhaps mention Möllevångstorget, the Mill Meadow Square, which is a very well-known part of Malmö. In the daytime the square is full of people selling fruit and flowers and the like. There are also many restaurants, bars and night clubs around Möllevångstorget, and many people love it. Möllevången is described as ethnically mixed, happy and laid-back. But this is also a crime-ridden part of Malmö, and personally I never go there after dark.
Well, well. I just picked up a copy of Sweden's snottiest (and certainly Stockholm-based) daily, Dagens Nyheter, and they exhorted people to go to Malmö just so they could sample all the culinary delights in all the exotic food shops around Möllevångstorget! Okay, just so you know!
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Diversity of education? Do most people graduate high school? College?
Most people certainly graduate high school. As for how common it is to graduate college, I can't really say. Certainly many people go to college, but I think - I'm not sure, mind you - that fewer than half of all Swedes do. Going to college is free, however. It costs nothing, except that you will have to buy your own (often expensive) books.
It is certainly true that very many immigrant children and teenagers have very big problems at school, because their knowledge of Swedish is so rudimentary.
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Most popular sport?
Definitely soccer! And the second most popular sport is ice hockey.
Swedish soccer fans. They dress in blue and yellow because those are the colors of our flag. The girl on the banner would be Pippi Longstocking, the strongest girl in the world. Pippi is a fictional character created by Astrid Lindgren, Sweden's most popular children's book writer ever.
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Most popular trend at the moment?
I've been giving the trend thing some thought, and I think I can say something about some very important trends in Sweden.
Certainly since the 1950s, Sweden has been a welfare society. We expect the government to give us free health care, free education (including college), very generous child care, parental leave etcetera, sick leave and unemployment support. In return, we pay the highest taxes in the industrialized world. I was once asked about our taxes by an American woman, who was shocked and upset to hear how high or taxes are:
American woman: How can you stand it?
Me: Ummmm... because we think it's worth it?
We generally do think it's worth it, but then we also expect the government to be there for us in our hour of need.
One thing we expect from the government is paid vacations. Swedes are entitled to five weeks of paid vacation every year. After the Swedish economy was generally down in the 1980s, Swedes feel richer now, and an incredibly popular trend is to travel abroad. So many Swedes do it, and for so many reasons. The twenty-year-old son of a colleague of mine recently took a one-year break from college to go to Beijing and study Chinese. The daughter of another colleague is doing voluntary work in Ghana. The 24-year-old son of one of my best friends is currently living and working in Nicaragua. And I know a lot of other young Swedes who have travelled extensively in Asia and South America.
Huge numbers of Swedes travel abroad on vacation. They go to Mallorca, the Canary Islands, Greece and Turkey, and one of the best-loved destinations is Thailand.
On December 26, 2004, a huge tsunami hit Thailand, and almost 600 vacationing Swedes were killed. And no wonder, because almost 50,000 Swedes were in Thailand when the tsunami hit! 50,000 out of a total population of 9 million! Isn't that amazing? No other European countries had even nearly as many tourists in Thailand at the time, and no other European country had nearly as many casualities.
Seriously, how could so many Swedes be in Thailand on that day, December 26, 2004? The answer is that Sweden practically shuts down twice a year. It happens during the last week of December, between December 24 and January 1, and also during the entire month of July. That is when practically every Swede is on vacation! And so many Swedes go abroad when they are free.
By the way, please come to Sweden in July, because those who work with tourism will make your stay really nice for you. But don't come here for Christmas! That's when Swedes either go abroad or shut themselves up in their homes with their families. In 1993 my father died a few weeks before Christmas, and my neighbour Christer had also lost his father that year. Moreover, he had no other relatives left. Christer and I decided that we would go out and eat together on Christmas Eve in Malmö. Would you believe that it was impossible? Nothing was open! We decided to go to Copenhagen instead. It was hard enough to find anything that was open in Copenhagen either, but we managed to find one restaurant that would serve us. However, we were warned that they would close already at 3 p.m. This was before there was a bridge between Malmö and Copenhagen, so we had to take the hydrofoil instead. As we got on board, we realized that we were the only ethnic Scandinavian passengers there! All the other passengers were immigrants, almost certainly Muslims, who don't celebrate Christmas but used the vacation to go to Copenhagen to, probably, visit relatives there.
Okay, so Christer and I went to the restaurant and had some rather nice fish. At three o'clock we left, as the restaurant was closing. But can you imagine what Copenhagen looked like when we got outside? Remember that Copenhagen is a large and important European capital with a very nice downtown center. I'm not kidding you when I say that the place was deserted! Seriously! Christer and I walked down the large pedestrian street with all its nice shops, and there was not a single person anywhere! At three o'clock in the afternoon! It was as if a bomb had hit and vaporized all the people but left all the buildings perfectly intact. It was absolutely surreal, believe me. So take my advice, don't come to Malmö or Copenhagen for Christmas unless you have family here!
Let's return to the tsunami of 2004. I said before that we currently have a right-wing government, which won the election of 2006. An important reason for why they won (and for why the Social Democrats lost) is that people were furious because the Swedish government had failed to save the 600 Swedes from the tsunami! Why didn't the Swedish government swoop down from the sky with helicopters to evacuate its citizens and bring them to hospitals in Sweden? So what if Thailand is tens of thousands of miles away from Sweden, and what if there was total chaos in Thailand after the tsunami? We pay taxes so that the government can save us, don't we?
So now we have a new government, and people are so disillusioned because this new government is apparently even less interested in taking care of us than the previous government was....
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Most popular food?
It could well be pizza! Hamburgers are popular too, and kebab, and Thai food. Many people love well-filled baguettes, and many others love pasta and meat sauce.
A very traditional Swedish dish is Swedish meatballs with potatoes, sauce and lingonberry jam:
Want to try Swedish meatballs? Is there an Ikea department store close to where you live? Ikea is one of the huge industrial successes of Sweden, and its founder, Ingvar Kamprad, is one of the ten richest persons in the world.
If you want to try Swedish meatballs and have an Ikea store close to where you live, go to the restaurant there! They will serve you Swedish meatballs!
An peculiarly Swedish "dish" - actually, rather something that is eaten on top of slices of bread - is Kalles Kaviar. That's cod roe with vegetable oil, sugar and salt. You squeeze it out of a tube. I love it!!
Another extremely Swedish thing is salty licorice! It's licorice candy, but it is salty as well as sweet. We and the Danes are the only ones who like it! Sometimes I bring some salty licorice with me when I go abroad. They say you shouldn't eat too much of it - it can raise your blood pressure....
There is one more thing that I just have to show you. Swedish men live an average of 76.8 years, which makes them the second-hardiest men in the world, after the men in Japan and Iceland, who are the Methuselahs of the world with an average life expectancy of 77.1 years. (Source: Globalis - an interactive world map ) I can't tell you why men in Japan and Iceland live so long, but I can tell you the secret behind Swedish men's longevity. It's "snus". Snus is wet tobacco, and the guys put it between their upper lip and their gum, as far up as it will go (although sometimes it will slip down), and then they sort of suck at it. Snus, in other words, is smokeless tobacco. Tobacco smoke is really extremely dangerous, and it contains, I think, hundreds of carcinogenic substances. Smokeless tobacco, or snus, is really much, much less dangerous. Relatively few Swedish men smoke, but many Swedish men use snus. (And just so you know, many Swedish men don't use tobacco at all!) But because Swedish men smoke less than men from other countries, they also live longer. Swedish women, however, tend to avoid snus, so if they use tobacco they will be smokers instead. So far Swedish women live longer than Swedish men - Swedish women live an average of 81.8 years, which means we tie third place in the world along with Switzerland. But we are behind Spain, Martinique and France, which tie second place in female life expectancy at 82 years. The longest-living women by far are found in Japan, where females live to an average of 83.8 years. But the life expectance gap between Swedish men and women seems to be closing. There may come a time when Swedish men, the "snusers", will outlive Swedish women, the smokers! Okay, take a look if you dare:
(These days snus also comes packaged in little bags looking like tea bags, and then it's not half as disgusting. Quite a few women use the tea bag snus.)
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What do you feel is the most interesting/exciting thing about where you live?
Don't know if it is exciting, but to me it is important that Sweden may be the best country to live in if you are looking for rights for women. For example, health care is free, and many teenage girls go to youth clinics where they can talk to gyneacologists as well as to welfare officers and get all kinds of advice. At the clinics, the girls can get help with birth control, testing for venereal diseases, and also help with abortions. Young girls who get pregnant and want to keep their babies are offered a lot of support. (Giving up one's baby for adoption is practically unheard of).
Pregnant women are given a lot of medical checkups, and child mortality as well as maternal mortality are among the absolutely lowest in the world. After giving birth, a woman gets 420 days of partly paid child leave, and her employer is forbidden to fire her for staying home with her child. Also, the child's father is entitled to 60 "parent leave" days of his own, which can't be taken over by the mother.
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Are there any urban legends associated with your town/state/country? (My son's enquiring mind wants to know!)
The only thing I can think of is that since pizza is so popular in Sweden, there have been stories circulating that some pizzerias are not to be trusted - because if they run out of meat they may catch a rat and fill your pizza with rat-atouille.... Wait, I remember something else. Do you remember Malmöhus slott which you could see in a picture in my previous post? It is surrounded by a moat, and people say that tropical turtles swim around in the moat. People who have turtles as pets are said to dump them in the moat when they get tired of them.
Oh, by the way! I just have to show you this picture. A few years ago a documentary was made about Malmö, based on ordinary people's private footage and films, Mitt hjärtas Malmö (Malmö of my heart). Volume #1 had this cover:
Guess what? The baby girl in the picture is my own best friend, Annika Ekman! She is held by her mother, Carin, now deceased. The picture is from 1957. Cool, eh?
In the background you can see the Central train station, from where I commute every day. But the tram cars are a thing of the past.
Where do you live? City/State/country? Welcome to Seattle, Washington!
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Prominent language spoken? Other languages/dialects? English, but we have a large non-English-speaking Asian population, as well.
Is this rural or urban? Rough size? Urban. Rough estimate of population: 572,600 as of 2004, and it has grown.
What do you like most/least about where you live? I love the fact that it's such a cultural melting pot. And I hate the traffic.
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Most historically significant points about your town/country? Seattle is surrounded by water on three sides. It was home to the 1962 World's Fair. Grey's Anatomy is set there.
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Climate? RAIN, RAIN, RAIN. We actually have all four seasons, but it rains a lot.
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Type of government? Name of current leader? The mayor of Seattle is Greg Nickels. The governor of Washington is Christine Gregoire, who won in the closest gubernatorial race in state history, by less than 100 votes, in 2004. The state is led by Democrats. Seattle as a city is generally very liberal. The conservatives are in the suburbs.
What are the major industries? Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, Amazon, Expedia. Lots of tech, we're getting into a lot of biotech, as well. We have the biggest children's hospital in the Northwest, and one of the leading cancer-research institutes in the world. We also have the Port of Seattle, which is one of the largest ports in the country for freight.
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Major religion? Seattle continues to grow as a city without deep religious roots. However, I would say the majority of those who are religious are Christian.
Diversity of education? Do most people graduate high school? College? We have one very large college here (the University of Washington), as well as two private colleges (Seattle Pacific University and Seattle University), and a lot of community colleges. The Seattle School District is in somewhat of a state of disarray, and the number of kids who graduate and go onto college seems to be falling. However, the graduation rates are a lot higher in the suburbs; one of the best-ranked high schools in the country is about 10 miles away across the lake.
Most popular sport? Football. We have the Seattle Seahawks and then the University of Washington Huskies. The city is still on a high from the Seahawks going to the Superbowl in 2006.
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Most popular trend at the moment? Being pissed off at our NBA team, the Seattle Sonics, for being sold to a group from Oklahoma City, which plans to break the lease with the team's arena and move the team to Oklahoma.
Most popular food? Coffee! We're Starbucks USA! (That pic is the very first one, by Pike Place Market.) We also are known for our salmon and the city has really become entrenched in the organics movement.
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What do you feel is the most interesting/exciting thing about where you live? The fabulous newspapers. No, really, it's that Washington has a little of everything. We have mountains and plains and a rainforest and urban areas and the ocean ... it's a real variety.
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Are there any urban legends associated with your town/state/country? (My son's enquiring mind wants to know!) We have had some famous killers come from here. Yeah, I know that sounds great.
Clark: "You don't even know the meaning of the word 'humility,' do you?"
Where do you live? City/State/country? London, England
Prominent language spoken? Other languages/dialects? English.
Is this rural or urban? Rough size? Urban, several million.
What do you like most/least about where you live? Likes - easy access to big city resources, shops, communications, etc. Dislikes - traffic, occasional crowding in e.g. street markets and tourist areas, seriously overloaded public transport.
Most historically significant points about your town/country? Capital of Britan, about as historic as it gets.
Climate? Very variable. Currently cold and damp.
Type of government? Representative democracy.
Name of current leader? Gordon Brown
What are the major industries? Financial services, tourism, some manufacturing but a lot less important than it was except in some specialized areas e.g. aerospace, armaments, chemicals, pharmaceuticals.
Major religion? Probably christianity, but not by much - Islam and the Indian religions are catching up, with Judaism trailing some way behind.
Diversity of education? Do most people graduate high school? Yes College? No
Most popular sport? Football (soccer, not American football)
Most popular trend at the moment? No idea
Most popular food? Indian food, possibly pizza.
What do you feel is the most interesting/exciting thing about where you live? It's a real city, sometimes the pace of change is a little daunting, but I'd hate to live in the country.
Are there any urban legends associated with your town/state/country? (My son's enquiring mind wants to know!)
Hundreds - from all the old stories about the Tower of London up to Jack the Ripper, Sprin-Heeled Jack, and beyond. The school where I work just had to dig up an entire graveyard and 1500+ bodies to make room for an underground gymn, give that a few years and someone is sure to decide it's haunted!
Marcus L. Rowland Forgotten Futures, The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game
Where do you live? City/State/country? Sydney, New South Wales Australia
Prominent language spoken? Other languages/dialects? English
Is this rural or urban? Rough size? Urban according to Wikipedia the rough size of Sydney is 12, 144.6 square kilometres
What do you like most/least about where you live? I love being within easy reach of Sydney Harbour and the beaches. There's nothing I love more than going to the Harbour or to the beach on a nice sunny day. I also love that we are the only city in the world (at least currently to my knowledge) that has a (or rather two) Lindt cafe. Mmmm... Swiss Chocolate. There's not much that I don't like about being here I guess I have to say public transport would be my main gripe, but I rarely use it anymore.
Most historically significant points about your town/country? Circular Quay is where the first settler's arrived in Sydney, Parramatta is one of the first inland suburbs or Sydney, Kurnell/Botany Bay where Captain James Cook first discovered Australia and I guess you could add Homebush Bay because that's where the 2000 Olympic Stadium is situated.
Climate? Mild to moderate in summer and winter we enjoy a rather temperate climate that on occasion will tip either way. It usually depends whether the Blue Mountains get snow for it to be really cold
Type of government? Name of current leader? If by that you mean the party in power in NSW then it's the Labor Party and the Premier is Morris Iemma (pronounced 'Yemma'). National leader is John Howard who is part of the Liberal Party, but Australia is sson to have an election so that could change.
What are the major industries? Sydney is mostly the corporate centre of Australia. In Australia wheat, wool, banannas, mangoes and mining are considered our primary industries.
Major religion? Christianity mainly Catholicism and Anglican. Sydney is where the Catholic and Anglican Archbishop reside
Diversity of education? Do most people graduate high school? College? Technical colleges and many will graduate high school either finishing in year 10 to do a trade or go onto year 12 to hopefully attend university. Sydney University my alma mater is Australia's oldest university.
Most popular sport? Cricket, Rugby League/Union, Swimming, Australian football
Most popular trend at the moment? Have no clue
Most popular food? There's so much cultural diversity in Sydney so it depends where you go. Thai, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese are popular Asian foods. At the footy or sports in general nothing does better than a meat pie, the good old barbeque never hesitates to bring people together.
What do you feel is the most interesting/exciting thing about where you live? No question either being by the Harbour.
Are there any urban legends associated with your town/state/country? Not that I know of. I have heard of a few ghost stories, but I don't remember them.
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched they must be felt with the heart
I was going to answer some of those questions but Crazy_Babe beat me to it.
But, while I'm here I just want to ask how we could not know each other IRL. I mean, I currently work in Sydney, where I could go to Circual Quay every day for lunch if I wanted to. And I went to Sydney University for three and a half years.
I was home eating chocolate—cottage cheese. Chocolate flavoured cottage cheese. It's a new flav— I was doing my laundry. —Lois Lane
I live in Jacksonville, Florida (USA), in the northeast corner of the state. The state of Georgia is immediately north and the Atlantic Ocean is immediately east.
This is the heart of our downtown. (Pic by me! I'm kind of proud of it because I took it at 7 am on a Sunday at a dead stop on the ramp to the bridge. I never could have taken it at any other time due to traffic.)
Prominent language spoken? Other languages/dialects?
English with a large minority speaking Spanish.
Is this rural or urban? Rough size?
Jacksonville is a city, but we don't have a city center like New York or London. (Our downtown absolutely dies after 5pm). We are more like the textbook definition of suburban sprawl. The metropolian Jacksonville area has about a million residents. And here's an interesting fact: we are the largest city, area-wise, in the continental United States - about 870 square miles.
What do you like most/least about where you live?
Most: The weather (see "Climate"). I also like Florida's landscape - it's really beautiful here, a lot more than just beaches. We don't have a huge influx of tourists like the southern parts of the state. And I like that this part of the state is still very much "the South"; if you go 90 minutes or two hours south of here, you start getting into snowbird/tourists areas, and it is very different.
Least: We're too big to be a town and not important or with-it enough to be a city. So we have all the downfalls of a city like horrible traffic and long distances but few of the benefits like good shopping, culture and easy access to things like natural foods. There's not much of a community feeling. And I don't like that Jax is a Republican, big business type of town. Developers are ruining our landscape putting up more and more cardboard houses, and the city council just keeps issuing those permits.
Most historically significant points about your town/country?
St. Augustine, a half hour to the south (and considered part of the metro Jax area) is the "oldest continuously occupied European-established city, and the oldest port, in the continental United States." (copied that from Wikipedia!) The coast is scattered with old Spanish and French forts - history buffs can have a field day here!
Jacksonville was the Hollywood of the 1910s and 20s, before the movie industry moved out to California. In 1916 there were 30 movie studios here.
Climate?
(I think my answer is more "weather" than "climate" but I'm not sure, I can never remember the difference!)
We have two seaons - "Summer" (late May through mid-to-late September) and "Not Summer":
Summer can be beastly: humid, temps in the high 90s, and it rains (and I mean serious rain) every day at three in the afternoon like clockwork. We also have a bit of a hurricane problem. We haven't had a direct hit since Dora in 1964, but if a storm hits down south and travels up the state, we can still have a nasty experience. That happened twice in 2004, a truly awful year for us.
Not Summer is wonderful. Today is a textbook example - sunny, clear, light breeze, mid-70s. (Makes me wonder why I'm inside on the computer instead of outside!) We have a few cold weeks in December and January, but it rarely goes below freezing even at night. I own a light leather jacket, but I don't own gloves, mittens, scarves, golashes, earmuffs, any of that. It did snow Christmas of 1989, and long-time Jax residents still talk about it. It's a "where were you when Kennedy was shot" type of touchstone.
Type of government? Name of current leader?
Our city and county are consolidated (which is why we are so big) so we only have one government. It is run by the mayor (John Peyton) and the city council.
What are the major industries?
For several decades we were a Navy town. We still have two bases, Jax NAS and Mayport, and they are still a major presence, but the city has grown so much that the overall effect has diminished. For a long time we were known as a banking and insurance center, but I can't think of industry in particular that dominates these days.
Major religion?
Christian. We do have a small Jewish population, but you don't meet Muslims or Hindus.
Diversity of education? Do most people graduate high school? College?
About one in four students graduate from high school. The public schools are struggling, especially in certain neighborhoods, and more middle class families are sending their kids to private schools unless they can get them into the magnet schools - like Stanton or Paxon, which are both in the top twenty public high schools in the United States.
I'm not sure how many go on to college, but many that do stay in town and go to Florida Community College at Jax and then on to University of North Florida. But a fair number go to Florida State in Tallahassee (3 hours west) or University of Florida in Gainesville (90 minutes south).
Most popular sport?
Football. We have an NFL team, the Jaguars, but really it's college football that everybody follows. You are either a Gator (U of FL) or a Seminole (FL State), period.
Most popular trend at the moment?
Not sure there is one!
Most popular food?
Junk. I don't know, pizza? We don't do fine dining here. Most of my friends look at me cross-eyed because I eat sushi.
What do you feel is the most interesting/exciting thing about where you live?
There's really nothing exciting about living here, unless you count the hurricanes. The most interesting thing, in my opinion, is the landscape, the sheer, breathtaking beauty of the beaches at sunrise and the old roads lined with huge live oaks. But lots of people don't think there is anything interesting at all, which is why we don't get tourists!
Are there any urban legends associated with your town/state/country? (My son's enquiring mind wants to know!)
Where do you live? City/State/country? The City of Dodgers! That's right don't care for the American League Angeles. (Los Angeles)
Prominent language spoken? Other languages/dialects? English with Spanish probably a close second.
Is this rural or urban? Rough size? Gargantuan!
What do you like most/least about where you live?LA is quite diverse and because it's cities are spread out, some can have a different feel than others. Also, it's been home most all my life. I do not care for how huge this place is and how crowded it is. Also, too many folks seem so bent on attaining fame or fortune that they forgoe basic kindness.
Most historically significant points about your town/country? I think LA is the second biggest city in the world?
Climate? It has finally gotten cooler. Okay I'll answer. Summer and some Fall/Early Spring rain.
Type of government? Name of current leader? * sigh * the governor of CA is Arnold S and the current Mayor of LA is Antonio Villaraigosa.
What are the major industries? Entertainment
Major religion? Christianity and Judiasm.
Diversity of education? Do most people graduate high school? College? Most people do tend to graduate both high school and college. However, I am shamed to say this city of mine has many an area in which residents are probably lucky to eat let alone go to school.
Most popular sport? Baseball and Basketball.
Most popular trend at the moment? I have no clue.
Most popular food? Proabbly fast food.
What do you feel is the most interesting/exciting thing about where you live? Disneyland?
Are there any urban legends associated with your town/state/country? (My son's enquiring mind wants to know!) Here's one of sorts. In nearby Beverly Hills there is an ancient house that some call "Witch's Landing." http://www.seeing-stars.com/Landmarks/WitchesHouse.shtml
I was going to answer some of those questions but Crazy_Babe beat me to it.
But, while I'm here I just want to ask how we could not know each other IRL. I mean, I currently work in Sydney, where I could go to Circual Quay every day for lunch if I wanted to. And I went to Sydney University for three and a half years.
Funny how that is I really don't know. When did you graduate? I started in 2002 so if you finished before me chances are we wouldn't have met.
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched they must be felt with the heart
. Dunno if you want info about the Ozarks but let me know if you do 
. Some were found miles away...
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No, really, it's that Washington has a little of everything. We have mountains and plains and a rainforest and urban areas and the ocean ... it's a real variety.
I really don't know. When did you graduate? I started in 2002 so if you finished before me chances are we wouldn't have met.