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Post by pitbulllady on Jul 2, 2005 11:30:50 GMT -5
There's an ice hotel in Sweden, too, and it costs a fortune to stay there! Although right now, with this summer heat and humidity, it sounds like a good waste of hard-earned money to me!
pitbulllady
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Post by pitbulllady on Jul 2, 2005 11:44:22 GMT -5
Speaking of Canada, this whole thread reminds me of one of the funniest events in my immediate family's history-that of my father helping my younger sister study for her Geography exam.
She was in the 11th grade, and her social life had taken presedence over school, much to my father's disappointment. She was actually in danger of flunking Geography, which would have meant having to take it over, and not having enough credits to graduate the following year. So, she really had to study hard to pass the final exam.
WELL, of course, "study", to my sister, meant talking on the phone to her friends even MORE, so the Geography book sorta got pushed aside. Little did she know, but my father was intending to pull a trick he'd done for years with my brother and I-make up a pop quiz of his own, based on questions in the book and older quizzes, and call out the questions to her. My sister was not happy with this, and insisted that it was a total waste of time, that she KNEW all the material front and back, and HAD studied. My father would not be swayed, though, and made her sit in the living room while he called out questions. My brother and I took ringside seats for this entertainment, knowing that she had not, after all, studied anything but the phone.
As it were, many of the questions dealt with Canada and other US neighbors. First question: "Name the Canadian Prairie Provences" My sister's bored response(rolling eyes at the absurdity of this): "Haiti, Guatamala....". You should have seen the look on my father's face; my brother and I were nearly falling out of our seats with laughter! Next question: "Who is the Prime Minister of Canada?" My sister's answer, with MORE eye-rolling at such a simple question, "*loud bored sigh* Fidel Castro..." I thought that my father was going to have a stroke or something! My brother and I both were literally crying with laughter at this one! Little "sure-I-studied" sis got sent back to her room, Geography book in tow, the phone got unplugged from its jack and taken out of the room altogether, and to make a long story short, she DID pass the exam, though barely. I still joke with my brother anytime the subject of Canada comes up, or Fidel Castro, though for some reason my sister still doesn't find it funny.
pitbulllady
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Post by RandallBoggs on Jul 2, 2005 11:46:37 GMT -5
The only thing Canada reminds me of is a very obscure film featuring some comedy central show...
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Beboots
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Post by Beboots on Jul 2, 2005 16:29:11 GMT -5
Nice story, Pitbulllady. ^_^ Reminds me of a popular show up here, "Rick Mercer's Talking to Americans". Essentially, this guy goes down to various states in the US and asks people on the street opinion questions about Canada, and listens to the responses. Only, the questions are ridiculous - fake. Like, there was one where he was asking people to sign petitions to stop the "Anual Toronto Polar Bear Hunt" and to stop the "traditional practice of placing seniors on ice flows and letting them flow out to sea". It's amazing what comments people will make, trying to seem like they're actually informed of these recent events - seeing actual Harvard students speaking about how great it was that Canadians have elected a black President (we have a Prime Minister, and the closest to being that liberal we've gotten is electing a woman, who was in office for a total of three months). There was one where he asked random Americans to sing the French version of our national anthem, which is hilarious if you speak French, and is full of phrases like "Nous sommes les têtes de merdes" and "terre des pinguins(sp?)", etc. Anyway... the ice hotel. It's essentially a hotel made entirely of ice, constructed each year in Montreal. It's only open for a few months (when the weather starts warming up it becomes a bit dangerous to go inside). Everything, even the glasses at the bar, are carved from ice. They do provide sleeping bags and stuff for the rooms, though. I've never seen it, but I caught the tail end of a documentary on it, a few months ago. It was fascinating stuff. ^_^
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ScrewyOldDame
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Post by ScrewyOldDame on Jul 2, 2005 17:28:36 GMT -5
Ah, Rick Mercer. I really have a love hate thing with him, although the show is pretty funny. Are you a Corner Gas fan, Beboots?
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Post by pitbulllady on Jul 2, 2005 20:47:21 GMT -5
I am not surprised in the least that most Americans know little about Canada, since I've found that most Americans know little about AMERICA! Jay Leno used to have this thing where he'd go out on the streets of Los Angeles, or Berkley, or to some college campus, and ask basic questions about US geography or history, many of which were gathered from like, 8th-grade textbooks. Surprisingly few people could answer them. I talking questions like, "What ocean borders the west coast of the US?", and "What foreign country lies just south of California?", or having them locate the state of Maine on a US map. It's funny, yet sad at the same time. Once, he asked a person to name the war in which the US and Japan were enemies, and the person argued and argued that the US and Japan had NEVER fought each other! When he asked them to name the countries that the US WAS at war with during WWII, the person named France! You just don't know whether to laugh or to cry, sometimes.
pitbulllady
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Post by lizardgirl on Jul 3, 2005 4:00:07 GMT -5
LOL, it's like a couple of guys got two massive pictures of famous English people- one was Prince Charles, and the other was this lady called Barbara Windsor who's famous for being in a well-known British soap, Eastenders. They held up the two pictures in the centre of London and asked the public to name them. Everyone could name Barbara Windsor, but no-one had any idea who Prince Charles was!
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Beboots
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Post by Beboots on Jul 3, 2005 11:49:58 GMT -5
Ah, Rick Mercer. I really have a love hate thing with him, although the show is pretty funny. Are you a Corner Gas fan, Beboots? Alas, I've only been able to catch a few episodes (it's mostly on when I'm at work. ), but whenever see it's on, I drop everything and watch it. ^_^ *whistles* Yep, that's pretty sad, isn't it? You've gone through/are a part of the American school system, Pitbulllady - how extensive are the geography and history courses? Even I, a Canadian who's never been to America, can at least point out the general area in which a state is, and where in the world most countries are. We also have to know pretty extensive stuff about our own country, including obscure stuff like the general idea of migration rates (extremely negative in the martime provinces, increasing more and more in Alberta and Ontario, etc.), let alone where each of the provinces is (we have to know that, at the very latest, by grade three).
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Post by pitbulllady on Jul 3, 2005 12:34:47 GMT -5
*whistles* Yep, that's pretty sad, isn't it? You've gone through/are a part of the American school system, Pitbulllady - how extensive are the geography and history courses? Even I, a Canadian who's never been to America, can at least point out the general area in which a state is, and where in the world most countries are. We also have to know pretty extensive stuff about our own country, including obscure stuff like the general idea of migration rates (extremely negative in the martime provinces, increasing more and more in Alberta and Ontario, etc.), let alone where each of the provinces is (we have to know that, at the very latest, by grade three).[/quote]
It varies from state-to-state, but sadly, in most states, Geography has had to take a back seat to Math and Language Arts(which is what they call Reading and English Grammer together), since those are the subjects that are tested in most states' standardized tests, and the one that count the most towards passing or failing. Most kids have no exposure to Geography until high school, and by then, it's an elective, not a required course. When I was in school, from the third grade on, we had Geography, US History, World History, South Carolina History or "Social Studies" every year, until graduation. There was no getting out of it. I had a really good Geography and World History teacher in high school, who made it interesting, and who really knew her subject matter. VERY few teachers are certified to even teach it today, since the schools have been clamoring for Math and Lang. Arts teachers and "Special Needs" teachers only, so the American ignorance about the world, and even our neighbors, is just going to get worse, and that can't be a good thing.
pitbulllady
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Post by lizardgirl on Jul 3, 2005 13:10:00 GMT -5
Over here, geography is pretty important- about as important as history, really, but not more important than maths, english and science. I'm taking geography for GCSE, so there's going to be a lot more work, and most usually favour geography over history.
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Post by Ranger Parsec on Jul 3, 2005 13:29:22 GMT -5
Happy (Quite Belated) Canada Day all you Canadians! ^_^ Y'know, I was actualyl able to answer all those quiz questions correctly. Pretty nice, eh? ;D The Wayne Gretzky one was probably the easiest, being I'm a hockey fan. LOL!! ;D
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Post by lizardgirl on Jul 3, 2005 13:55:50 GMT -5
Yeah, those questions are funny. ;D
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Beboots
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Post by Beboots on Jul 3, 2005 22:16:06 GMT -5
Up here, all of our classes are tested equally, and count equally. Since I'm a pretty good student, I have no real idea of what happens if you don't pass a course - I know in high school, you have to re-do the course. And to pass high school, you have to have a 30 level (that's grade twelve level) Social Studies course, as well as Language Arts, and a minimum number of credits, etc. There's also talk of making it a requirement to have a second language to graduate, to inforce the idea that we're really a "multicultural" society. I think that would be an awesome idea (I already know French and took a basic Spanish course, so...).
I believe we have one of the best educational systems around. ^_^
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Post by lizardgirl on Jul 4, 2005 10:23:24 GMT -5
And we have one of the worst! To pass, you have to...well...there's no real pass or fail. You can take some GCSEs, and pass the tests at the end of the year, and then do the same with A-levels and, depending on whether you do even go to Uni, university. You graduate no matter what, really...*shrugs*
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Beboots
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Post by Beboots on Jul 4, 2005 16:39:20 GMT -5
And we have one of the worst! To pass, you have to...well...there's no real pass or fail. You can take some GCSEs, and pass the tests at the end of the year, and then do the same with A-levels and, depending on whether you do even go to Uni, university. You graduate no matter what, really...*shrugs* So what gives you motivation to do well? Since like, kindergarten, I've been luckier than most, because of my sister. Since we're the same age (twins) and sometimes were in the same classes, we've been competing since forever, which really pushed our marks up ("Ha! I got .5 better than you on the math quiz! So there, nyeh!"). Many people are motivated to do better in highschool, if only marginally, because they don't want to stick around for longer and redo the class if they get a lower mark.
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