What's your country like

[HOBBIT]

NZ is an island....

[jerseydevil]

Yeah - actually I have been to Alabama several times. We almost moved outside Birmingham Alabama - but instead we moved to Indiana.

We used to go on vacation to Gulf Shores Alabama when we lived in Seymour. I know very typical of people that live in Indiana.

[Khamûl]

That's cool. I'm actually going to Gulf Shores in a couple of weeks. I haven't been to too many states in my life. Let's see, there's Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, North Carolina, and that's about it. I hope to really get out and see it all one day.

[BeardofPants]

I rescind. HOBBIT has just informed me that New Zealand is in fact an island. I consider myself duly enlightened.

[jerseydevil]

I'll tell you which states I haven't been to - that'll be easier. By the way - these do not include just flying into the airport - otherwise I'd have several more states that could include as being to.

States left to see -
Alaska
Hawaii
Monatana
Nevada
North Dakota
South Dakota
Colorado
Kansas
Minnesota
Wisconsin

I've lived in 6 states -
New Jersey (Bricktown, Kendall Park, Plainsboro)
West Virginia (Salem)
Indiana (Seymour)
Illinois (Chicago)
Oregon (Portland)
California (San Diego)

[emplynx]

Originally posted by jerseydevil

I've lived in 6 states -

I have never moved out of my house in my own little corner of West Virginia. How sad.

[Andúril]

Oh, and Charlize Theron.

[Elvellon]

First we have the post card things:

Sun, beaches (ah yes the ocean), Fado (a local traditional musical style, the name means Destiny), and a hospitable people.

But then, that’s less then nothing compared with what is to be seen and experienced.

If you are not just into Sun worshiping and actually want to see how’s life in the most western country of continental Europe you’ll have a lot to see.

Geography:
For a small country there are remarkable geographical differences inside our borders. From mountains ranges to endless plains, from old misty mountain forests to dry Mediterranean plains, we’ve got it.

Some places, as in Sintra “county”(once known before Roman times as Mountain of the Moon, are truly magical. Byron once described it as a “glorious Eden.” And the legend claim it to be the place were the Grail is hidden. If you ever see it’s magical forests and wondrous castles and palaces you will know why. Yet, this is just one of such places, if the most well known).

Architecture:
You can find numerous examples of all European styles but most interesting is what you can find only here.

The Manuelino is a local variant of late Gothic. Buildings in this style were usually built in pure white limestone. It is a soft stone so it allowed the builders to create wondrous decorations upon it. The motifs used in decoration are also unique; the sea and nautical objects were frequently used, as were exotic themes from distant places, for Portugal was foremost in the European exploration drive during the XIV and XV centuries.

The Mozarabe is not unique to us, but you can’t find it in many other places neither. This style incorporates muslin and European style decoration. The result is something that makes one dream of the 1001 nights tales.

And if you are into really outrageous demonstrations of wealth in the form of architecture just don’t forget to see our Baroque buildings (specially the Mafra Monastery).

Poetry:
We like to call ourselves a nation of poets.

Native Languages:
Portuguese, and Mirandês.

Commonly Spoken Foreign Languages:
English and French.

Nightlife

Well here nightlife means ALL NIGHTLife. Yep, when many others are closing for the rest of the night things are just starting to warm up here. But you have to know where too look for.


Food
With so many cultural influences as we have had in our long history, and so many geographical differentiation to be found in so small a place, we have a plethora of national, regional and local dishes. Impossible to know all, but that doesn’t mean one cannot try, specially because they are delicious.

Whine
ok, now we are speaking of some of the finest whines in the world, period. France can be proud of its whines but so are we of ours. Especially good are the “Porto”, (sometimes known as “Oporto” outside our country). The “Madeira” and “Vinho Verde,” the name of this last whine means Green Whine. (Of course it is not green, the name only indicates that it have a very low alcohol percentage. It is reminiscent of champagne but is distinct from it. )
We have many other excellent wines but, since production is low, they are not usually sold outside our country. That means you’ll have to come here if you are into good and rare whines.

Beer
Since the European football cup of 2004 is going to be organized by us I’ll add this:
If you come from countries were beer is usually light, be careful. Here beer is usually strong.


Coffee
Well, if you ask for one you should know that coffee here means an espresso (and they are usually good and inexpensive), and is always black (unless you specifically ask for milk in it).

[Elvellon]

BoP, NZ seems a very interesting place to visit, for the images I’ve seen of it on TV.

[Andúril]

Elvellon:
Well here nightlife means ALL NIGHTLife

Same here. I remember, on many occasions, exiting a club at 8am just to stand in the queue at another one that was just opening....

...hmmm those were the days...

[Lizra]

I'm still interested in NZ, BoP. What do the New Zealanders look like, not the native ones, but the descendants of the immigrants. Is there a "New Zealand look". (I'm of Armenian descent myself and can usually spot other Armenians, too much brown hair, the eyebrow thing, and this really friendly smile, there's more, but hard to explain!). From what I saw of your little pix, you are blond with high cheekbones? What country are most New Zealanders descended from, or is it a big melting pot like the USA?

[Renille]

Originally posted by jerseydevil


Sounds like Indiana and the majority of the midwest. Wisconsin is actually one of the states I still have to see. But you did forget - you are the"Cheese State"

Happy 4th of July everyone.

Yeah. I forgot the cheese . I also forgot the lakes and our two "big cities" (Madison and Milwaukee) and ice cream. Lots of ice cream.

Seriously, though, Wisconsin isn't bad if you like cheese and forests and swamps.Plus, Marquette University in Milwaukee contains some of Tolkien's original works! (I still haven't seen them, but they're there.)

[sun-star]

I have to start travelling more. I want to visit all these countries! I don't suppose I could tell you much about Britain that you don't know already, we don't have many surprises. But please continue describing your states! This is really interesting

[Shadowfax]

I live in British Columbia, Canada (more specifically, Vancouver Island). I love it here - everything's so green. And I don't think that I could stand not living near the ocean. I love the ocean!

[BeardofPants]

Originally posted by Elvellon
BoP, NZ seems a very interesting place to visit, for the images I’ve seen of it on TV.

Yeah, it is. I tend to moan, and take it for granted, but there are so many things that are unique to New Zealand. For one thing, New Zealand has forrests like no other place in the world. The Waitakere Ranges (about 15 minutes away from where I live in the city!) were formulated with a volcanic eruption, and there are literally thousands of treks in that region alone. Just walking through them takes you millions of years back. The forrests are so ancient, and far removed from the flora of some of the more mainland places. I guess some of you saw a glimpse in FOTR, but that was nothing! And I can honestly tell you, there's nothing like trekking in our bushes, and going for a swim at the Cascade falls, and abseiling down the cliffs, and walking along our west coast beaches (my parents live on Bethells beach where Xena used to be filmed, and in Sturges road, where Hercules used to be filmed...) It's an amazing place to be.

Although it's still a baby compared to other cultures, you can still walk just about anywhere, and see history right in front of you. For instance, just around the corner from Bethells beach is Waitakere Bay (where I almost drowned! ), which is named after the maori chief that was beheaded and staked there. (head on a pike)

Originally posted by Lizra
I'm still interested in NZ, BoP. What do the New Zealanders look like, not the native ones, but the descendants of the immigrants. Is there a "New Zealand look". What country are most New Zealanders descended from, or is it a big melting pot like the USA?

It's such a melting pot! Originally France, England and some of the other colonies squabbled over NZ, but eventually England won over and sent out missionaries (to convert the maori), and ships of settlers for a "new life." New Zealand back then (circa 1840s) was a very hard life, pioneering in both gold rushes, forrestry, and the gum industry. Men far out numbered the women, and a lot of NZ development at that time was forrest clearing for land stakes. But it was nothing compared to the poverty of England - even if they did have to endure a 6 month boat trip to get here!

Yeah, so the initial wave of settlers came from England, Scottland, Ireland, and so forth. Our accent is considered more neutral and more close linguistically, to the victorian English accent, than the current English one!

Post World War II saw another wave of migrations, because of the devastation of Europe. So then we got an infusion of Dutch communities (I'm half dutch) with some German, and so forth. More recently we have been accepting refugees from Bosnia, Serbia, and other troubled regions.

If you had to define our look, well, it would be of European descent. It's strange - I wouldn't really know how to describe it. However, I could tell you what an Australian looked like generally, by just looking at hir!

[Elvellon]

Hmmm, mountains, old forests, the sea. My elvish hearth is already longing to see NZ.

[Claenoic]

Originally posted by Renille
Since "what it is like in America" could get a little boring after awhile, I'm going to bore you alot with the state I share with no one else on the moot, Wisconsin. Here's a brief tour:

Trees.
Fields.
Cows.
More trees and fields
LOOK! A city!
Aw...you missed it.
Cows.

And that's pretty much it.

Hey! You forgot about Wisconsin Dells! Pretty cheesy place, but the old mining company isn't a bad place (30 dollars in gems and jewels and still counting...)

Originally posted by jerseydevil
Minnesota

I'm going there in a week, you should come. Oh wait... I don't even know where exactly you live. Never mind.

Blog about Minnesota:
Lotsa forest. Lotsa lotsa forest. Oh yeah.

The Twin cities (St. Paul and Minneapolis) are called that because they're about equal in size and population. And of course they're pretty close together.

Minnesota is called the Land of 10,000 lakes. This is slightly incorrect, there are more than 11,000 lakes, both man made and natural. And they're quite nice to take a swim in. Minnesota is also home to the start of the Mississippi River, Lake Itasca.

It is also the birth place of Louie Anderson (the comedian and host of The Family Feud, I still watch it ) and Charles Shultz, creator of the Peanuts cartoons.

Blog about Texas:
... Actually I haven't lived long in Texas, so I don't know a lot about it. I'll get to that later then. Two things to note though:

1. We don't walk bow-legged, nor do all of us say y'all or have a drawl,

and

2. It is not all desert. Although I have seen too many snakes for my liking.

[afro-elf]

I'm of Armenian descent

i WAS very close with an armenian woman for several years

let me guess your maiden last named ended in some like -ian

[cassiopeia]

I believe that Ernest Rutherford (the guy who discovered the composition of the atom) was a New Zealander too.

In my part of Oz we are about 10 minutes from the bush and half an hour from the beach. Its fun to go bushwalking and look up in the gum trees to find koalas. The beaches here have good waves if you like surfing.

As for the food: Vegemite is yum! The secret is to put lots of butter on toast and just a little scraping of vegemite. Meat pies are very Australian too, but I don't eat them.

[Khamûl]

Vegemite? What's that?