Virtual Culture Trip by Hien Le

Virtual culture trip

Improve language skills and exchange cultures

VIRTUAL CULTURE TRIP - 2020

Virtual culture trip

This project gives students the chance to apply their language knowledge about the above some topics; and their language skills and other soft skills in talking about themselves, their life and their culture and sharing it with their international partners through weekly speaking activities on Flipgrid, writing activities on Padlet and video-conference on Zoom. For the two months, each student participant is expected to have about 8 videos uploaded to Flipgrid, 8 writing pieces posted on Padlet and 8 chats conducted on Zoom and Microsoft Teams with international friends. Moreover, they are encouraged to interact with their international counterparts by replying to each other’s Flipgrid response and Padlet post. At the end of this project, they all are required to work in groups to complete multi-media products in different forms such as video, postcard, photobook, infographic summarizing their experience joining this project or introducing typical features of their culture based on their sharing throughout the project. This project is implemented by more than 100 students and teachers from 16 countries and territories around the world (Vietnam, Poland, Brazil, Taiwan, USA, Mongolia, Norway, India, Russia, Bahrain, Turkey, Belarus, India, Kenya, Japan, Egypt).

TopicS

culture

Daily life amid Covid-19 Pandemic

Hobbies, leisure and entertainment

Food

Travel and Holidays

Family and Friends

Jobs/ Work/Study

virtual culture trip

topic

Daily life amid Covid-19 Pandemic 6

Taiwan The serious virus is spreading all over in the world now. People are often afraid of getting the fatal disease. This way, the government put a lot of effort in keeping it spread. Schools and libraries were closed to avoid people to gather. To some students who like sports or want to study, that is a cruel policy.

Alan Taiwwan 8

Daily life amid Covid-19 Pandemic

Actually, most of the people are law-abiding, but there’s still a little disgusting people fight against the law deliberately. Many people don’t really understand the seriousness of COVID-19. That may make the epidemic more serious. Last, we must thank the toilsome doctors, nurses, and everyone who dedicated themselves to provide us from the virus. We should pay more gratitude and respect to them. Hope the whole word can restore to the peace and prosperous one like it was before.

Turkey Even though such a crisis has started globally, Covid-19 made us realize so many things, both socially and personally. For me, it actually taught me how important it is to spend quality time. Thanks to this, I usually prepare a to-do-list before going to bed. My sleep schedule is broken, so I wake up at 11 a.m. I get up, change my clothes, prepare my breakfast and make a coffee and sometimes play video games. Most of the time I study until 1-2 p.m and then read a book for 3-4 hours or do some research. At 6 p.m I have dinner. I finish all the tasks I have until 10 p.m. And I spend time with my friends online until 2 a.m. If I haven’t prepared a list, I usually play games, draw or read all day long. I don’t know my limits without a to-do-list, sadly.

Daily life amid Covid-19 Pandemic

After the pandemic, I believe that my bonds with my friends will be even stronger, like everybody else’s. I was about to go mad due to lack of communication. Yet I had time to care about my inner-self and peace, so I am sure that after this breakout I will be much happier than normal. I hope everybody will be happy.

Edanur Toprak Turkey 10

W i k t o r i a

Poland

Now I can’t hang out with my friends like we used to do. Additionally, in Poland, teenagers under the age of 18 cannot leave home alone even to go for a walk or to buy necessary stuff. People can’t travel, or sometimes they can’t go to work, which is so sad. I’m miss my normal life however it was boring as well as tiring.

My life has changed extremely since Coronavirus pandemic started. I was going to school from Monday to Friday and most of my life was about learning. I was spending about 8 hours at school. Then I used to come back home, eat dinner and start doing homework and studying for next day. Now I have classes online and I have to work by myself. It’s quite hard but I enjoy it, because it is less stressful for me. Also, I have more time for me. I have started workout in home, reading more books. Moreover, I’m spending so much time in my garden now. However, this situation is horrible! Covid_19 is very dangerous for us, especially for our parents and grandparents.

We have to respect all the restrictions however difficult it may be. Now the future depends on us. Take care.

Poland

Daily life amid Covid-19 Pandemic

Wiktoria Poland 13

Vietnam

Daily life amid Covid-19 Pandemic

Hi! I’m Chau from Vietnam. I’m 20 years old and I’m a second-year student at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh city. I often go to school at 6:30 am for my class starts at 7:00 am. In the evenings, I work as a teaching assistant at an English center. However, I have stayed at home for about 3 months because of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic. Nowadays, I see many young people like going to the shopping mall, eating out and traveling around in their free time, though I find these places are too noisy and unsuitable for me. Therefore, I always get back home after finishing all my work. I want to spend time on my parents as much as possible. After an occupied day, I always look forward to relaxing in a peaceful place, and my family is the best choice for me. I rarely go out, so my life is not be altered much when I have to stay at home for the pandemic. Notwithstanding not going to school, I can still learn at home by myself.

I just have a disadvantage in shopping. Because of the government’s decree, most shops and stores are closed, so I cannot go to the supermarket for things that I want to buy. I can purchase online, though, I’m further interested in traditionally buying goods as I used to. What I hope the most at this time is that the pandemic will be significantly abated soon so that people may come back to their daily life. In a word, my daily life is not to be negatively confused at all. I think we should stay at home amidst the COVID-19 pandemic because this is the best way to prevent our health from the virus, also protect other people’s health. I hope you have a good time at home.

Ho Gia Bao Chau Vietnam 14

virtual culture trip

topic

and entertainment

Hobbies, leisure

Poland

Hobbies, leisure and entertainment

I really enjoy watching series and films in my free time. If I have any opportunity, I do it. Sometimes I turn on the movie that I know by heart without any subtitles to check If I could understand it. The these are not the only interests I have. I’m also keen on piano practicing, but currently it’s difficult 18

to make progress alone. I think that it is crucial to have a teacher beside you - messages are not enough. I usually spend not so much time online because of the lack of time for that, but today’s situation requires me to work on computers so anyway I can spend

all day online (which I also use social media such as Facebook, Messenger, Snapchat, Instagram (my favorite one) ant YouTube. There I listen to some English native speakers - they are mostly the actors from movies and series I have watched.

While talking about sleeping in free time, in my opinion it’s healthy to take a nap occasionally, especially when we need to sleep more, but we can’t sleep all the time because then it starts to harm our health, and we are wasting the time. In Poland, it is popular to go to the gym, which is quite expensive, but people like it. Maybe it is the only way to move the body because of

working in an office or commuting. Another costly and attractive entertainment is cinema - people often go there on a date or with their friends and it is suitable both for adults and children. But generally, adults will rather spend their free time in clubs and restaurants while children like to have fun on playgrounds (this option is totally for free). A lot of women,

particularly the younger ones enjoy doing the shopping, sitting in cafeterias and talking with other girls, and boys rather ride a bike, skateboards, meet on skate parks or play computer games. Frankly, I can’t imagine my life without any interests or hobbies because it relieves it and makes less boring at the same time.

I believe that students should have more time for themselves because every day we have a lot of knowledge to learn and little time to do it. Working in this way is ineffective so that’s why I think that’s not necessary to learn less, but only spread in time our studying.

Hobbies, leisure and entertainment

Kamila Poland 19

Turkey

Hobbies, leisure and entertainment

In my spare time I like to do drawings, listening to music (especially the voice competitions), travelling and I even like doing the housework but I really hate answering my math, chemistry and physics tests. Because it’s really boring. I’m spending more than 5 hours with my phone because I’m at home all day and my favorite website is Instagram. I also practice English and German (especially German). I really love learning new languages and I’m trying to learn some different words from different languages (for ex. Norwegian, Spanish, Russian). In my country, people usually like doing sport, cooking, fishing, watching series and going outside. All the hobbies are cheap actually but fishing is the expensive one in these hobbies. In Turkey children loves playing games. And i think we all should have hobbies because they make our lives better. They always help us to improve ourselves. And also, some Turkish students work so hard and some Turkish students don’t work at all. I think they couldn’t catch the average time they need to work.

Ahsen Turkey 20

Vietnam Hanna Vietnam

Hobbies, leisure and entertainment

Hello everyone! I'm Hanna and I am from Vietnam. I don't have lots of hobbies. In my free time, I usually read books, watch films, listen to music and sometimes I draw to relax and now I'm following the “chibi” style and it's quite easy. I usually play guitar, too but I just broke 2 strings of my guitar. I don't really like the noise when I watch films or read books in my free time because I want to concentrate when I do these things. About the website that I often use, I like "grammarly. com" or "ted.com" and both of these are useful. I don't practice lots of English in my free time but I sometimes practice, too because I am interested in Math and Chemistry more. Some people like sleeping in their free time and when I was young, I spent my free time sleeping, too. But now, I'm not doing this in my free time because I want to spend more time doing more meaningful things. In Vietnam, the popular activities people do in the free time are watching films and listening to music. And for women, in their free time, they watch romantic films. Men spend their free time sleeping or playing games. For children around 12 years old, they spend their free time playing with friends and for the older children, they spend their free time surfing the Net, playing games or chatting with their friends. Some people say that they do not have hobbies but I believe that every person has more than a hobby, and they can find the hobby in the future. They should balance between learning and playing to have a good life.

Vietnam

Hobbies, leisure and entertainment

Nguyen Van Dai Vietnam

I do quite a lot of sports actually. I go to the gym 3 to 5 times a week. I also play badminton on Sunday afternoon with a local team. Moreover, I love reading books in the morning. Reading can brighten your day and books can bring joy to your life on a daily basis. The act of reading is a great benefit both to mental and physical health. 24

In my view, being grateful is the cheapest hobby. Your life will definitely be more meaningful when you live with gratefulness in your heart. Say thank you when people help you. Take care of your family, spend more time to gather with your family. A little gratitude can go a long way...

On the other hand, sleeping is the most expensive hobby. Time is the most expensive thing; you cannot buy time at any cost. If you sleep more than 8 hours per day, you will lose 1/3 of your life. So, save your time, do positive activities in your free time like reading books, learning a new language, playing sports. 25

Mongolia

These days, I am quite close with my phone. It is maybe because I have more free time in this lockdown. I usually spend at least 3 hours surfing the internet daily. I'm actually finding it more efficient learning new vocabularies and phrases from various articles and news in English. So, these days, I'm focusing on learning English alternatives on Instagram and it's really benefiting me! I don't think it's a good idea to spend our free times sleeping because at first, sleeping can steal the time that we are most active and energetic. In my opinion, instead of sleeping, at least listening to music is good for our brain. There are various kinds of hobbies among people in Mongolia. The hobbies actually depend on the age groups. For example, most teenagers, especially girls like doing bullet journals; it makes them look more independent and tidier.

In my free time, I like watching Disney animations, especially the ones with princesses. And among those, my most favorite one is Beauty and the Beast. First time I watched this cartoon is when I was 8 years old. I really loved Belle's dresses and her hair. And I used to wish that if I had a hairstyle like her.

I think singing or dancing and that kind of hobbies will cost nothing at all. After all, everybody's hobbies are different depending on their interests and opinions. But having your own hobby is really important-with hobbies you can be relaxed and happy because it's the one thing that you're really obsessed with.

Hobbies, leisure and entertainment

Haguwa Mongolia

MONGOLIA

The one thing that I hate about free time is probably the household chores. It is because every time when my mother sees me lying around the room, she always forces me to do lots of things like dish washing, mopping and laundry. Although I know that it is my responsibility to those home chores because I am so big now, sometimes I just want to give up on cleanings. (But don't get me wrong. I am good at it and I clean my home every day).

Perhaps the most expensive hobby in my country is collecting figures from anime-figures are so expensive because they are broken so easily. In contrast, maybe hiking or climbing the mountain is the cheapest hobby. Despite the transportation fees and other costs of clothing safety tools, hiking can be available anytime of the year.

Vietnam I do not have a certain routine of doing things in my spare time. I just try to take advantage of the interesting things around me to satisfy my fleeting apathy. I prefer to watch movies when I have free time. I'm really into romantic films, and my favorite one is Five Feet Apart, which really touched my heart at the first time I watched it. My heart sank after I knew both of the main characters had cystic fibrosis, and it's really dangerous and sometimes fatal if they are close to each other more than 5 Feet. It really tore my heart out, especially the sad ending of the movie when the male character decided to leave his lover to let her safe and a completion of his pictures drawing her. I cried a lot more than his lover when he left. I highly recommend you this film though it's a little sad. I 28

extremely detest doing housework and running errands for my family members. It makes me annoyed and feel offputting when I have stopped my unfinished business to help them do the trivial things. I think I spend at least 5 hours per day to go online. I need to know the news of the Covid-19 situation in my country. I also have to learn online classes and learn other subjects as well since the internet has various resources for information.I'd like to consider my favorite

I don't think it's always good to sleep in your free time. In my opinion, you should do more meaningful activities rather than falling into your dreams (of being the princess waiting for your prince to kiss you to make you awake by

website as the one that I usually visit. It is Facebook since it's the most popular media platform where people share information' and connect with each other. I always avail my free time to practice my English-speaking skill, especially this selfquarantine time since I have much time staying at home and do not have much to do. Though I do not have a partner to practice with, I see my way clear to speaking to myself as an autistic girl

true love, I just assume). Maybe while this long time of being bored because you have to stay home and not being able to go outside, so you find sleeping is actually your good friend (it will make you fat by the way). You can branch out into

many things such as new recipe for food, learning a new foreign language,... (or speaking with the biggest ant stealing your sweets, counting the amount of rice in the bag. I'm just kidding but it'll be fun if you do so).

I think to point out the popular hobby, it depends on the age, because people from different ages have different preferences towards things. For instance, the kids like playing with toys and eating sweets, but the youngsters like playing sports or video games as well as their enthusiasm towards fashion, the elderly probably are more keen on talking since they are alone and need someone to talk to. I think it's necessary to have a hobby. When you feel unhappy, you can do your hobby in order to make yourself better. And I think students should have the balance between their studying and their free time. Because they cannot totally focus on their study all the time, or they will have intense stress and maybe it will badly affect their mind in terms of psychology. Having said that, they cannot have too much free time either, because it will make them "addicted" and be used to being lazy and forget about their study.

Hobbies, leisure and entertainment

LiLy Vietnam 29

virtual culture trip

Food topic

FOOD

Belarus Sasha Romanovich Belarus

My parents and I were on vacation and visited an excellent restaurant Georgian restaurant. Their dishes are very different from ours. The portions are big enough, they also add a lot of seasoning and I like that. And the most delicious dish was Khachaturian. It was really tasty! I usually try to eat more often, but I like to walk with friends or I have to go anywhere. Therefore, I don’t have enough time and I eat 2-3 times a day. I think breakfast is the most important meal because we should start the day with healthy and more carbohydrate food. And I usually have breakfast before school at 7 o’clock. Lunch is after school at 2 or 3 o’clock. And I try to have dinner at 7-8 o’clock. 32

I’m pretty picky about food and I can’t eat something weird or strange, but the most interesting dish was lobsters, sweet meat with something else, delicious! Belarus is famous for its dran iki (potato pancakes), I can’t say it’s tasty, but of course it depends on people’s preferences. 33

Mongolia Food is absolutely the most essential part of our life. I usually have three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. My family usually eat the breakfast at 9AM, the lunch at 1PM and the dinner at 6PM or 7PM every day. I think breakfast is the most important meal of the day because breakfast provide the body and brain with fuel after an overnight fast. Also, breakfast increases memory and students who properly eat breakfast are likely to do better at school than the students who do not eat breakfast. This morning, I ate scrambled eggs, some vegetables, and bread for breakfast. But some days, I have cereals or oat meals or even onigiris for breakfast. I try to eat healthy food for breakfast as much as I can. When I was in Japan, my family always used to go to an Indian restaurant called “Butter Chicken” and this was my most favorite restaurant there. Because their butter chicken curry was so delicious and yummy with a sweet taste of butter. In Mongolia, we don’t often eat seafoods because we live in a landlocked country. The strangest food that I’ve ever eaten was probably a brain of an octopus. To tell the truth, I never liked it but it tasted good. 34

Eastern foods are different from Asian foods because their climate is not the same as western. I think pasta, wine, olive, bread and seafoods are the staple food of people in Europe while most of the people in Asia enjoy eating lots of different kinds of fermented and sauced vegetables, seafoods, rice, and meat. Asian people who live near the ocean love eating spicier food than people in Europe. However, when it comes to Mongolia or Russia, people eat completely different kinds of food depending on the climate. I would recommend my foreign friend to try “Khorkhog” if he or she comes to Mongolia. “Khorkhog” is a barbecue dish in Mongolian cuisine and it is made by cooking pieces of meat inside a container which also contains hot stones and water, and is often also heated from the outside. In addition, we usually eat “Khorkhog” in summer because it gets cold very easily. According to many studies, human digestive system is actually designed for vegetables, so I think vegetarian diet is the most beneficial kind of food. However, going vegetarian without knowing from which vegetables and foods to take essential nutrition, it can actually make us ill. So, studying and doing research before trying a vegetarian diet would be a healthier choice. Food allergy is the worst thing ever because it makes people unable to eat their favorite foods and snacks. My friend has a food allergy from candy and it is so sad to see her not eating anything when all of us have our favorite snacks such as Snickers and Twix. She suffers an itchiness if she eats any kind of candy and juices. Even though we have no allergies currently, eating healthy and nutritious food would definitely help us be aside from allergies. At the end, I want to say let’s take care of ourselves because no one would always pay attention to us as we do.

FOOD

Haguwa Mongolia 35

Turkey We eat 3 meals a day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’m kinda crazy about foods, so I always eat more than 3 meals... In Turkey, breakfast is really important to us because we believe that breakfast keeps you full for a long time so you don’t eat harmful snacks and you don’t gain much weight. Classic Turkish breakfast has Eggs, Turkish style sausages, olives, cheese (about 2-3 different type), breads, bagels, jam (especially strawberry jam), tomatoes, cucumbers and sometimes mermen (Turkish style scrambled eggs and tomatoes) and of course Turkish black tea. We drink this black tea all the time. According to 2014 data, Turkey is the country that consumes most tea to per person (7.5 kg). I also eat smoked turkey and cream cheese with eggs in the morning. Develi and Nusr-et were the best restaurants I went to. Both are in İstanbul and meat restaurants. I think sushi is the strangest food I have ever eaten. And you should definitely try Mantı(dumpling), Sarma and Döner if you come to Turkey.

Ahsen Turkey 36

FOOD 37

Poland

It's obvious that food is very crucial part of our life. It's important that it is healthy and provides us with energy for the rest of the day and the necessary ingredients for good functioning. I usually eat 3 the main dishes: breakfast, dinner and supper and also I eat some snacks between the meals like yoghurt or fruits and etc. I don't go to the restaurants very often but I remember when I was in Chicago I went to one (I can't remind the name) and I ate there a sandwich called BLT. It's definitely the best sandwich I've ever had. Another very splendid but not so healthy was CHALUPA in Taco Bell. So yummy!! When it comes to the strangest food I've ever eaten it may be the prawns. I ate them once and I will never eat them again. I just don't like them. I definitely would recommend a foreign friend to taste PIEROGI.

To my mind the best meal in Poland. Pierogi ( in English DUMPLINGS ) are stuffed with different stuffing like country cheese, mushrooms, spinach and fruits. It is excellent! Vegetarian diet may as well be good as bad for health, it depends. Good prepared and balanced vegetarian diet doesn't affect to health negativity. Contrary, it provides increased amount of fiber, potassium, magnesium and unsaturated fatty acids which can improve health. It can be bad in vegetarian diet when you eat not as you should, because then you may be at risk for protein and vitamin B12 deficiencies.

FOOD 38

Nicole Poland 39

Russia I remember going to the Peppers Restaurant. The service was nice and the food was delicious. The strangest food I have ever eaten was fried insects from Thailand. I liked them, though. I like all sorts of soups. And when in Vietnam or China I like to eat the traditional soup for breakfast. I notice a different way of cooking soup in Asia. In Russia, we boil meat and then add all the ingredients and cook the soup until ready. In Asia, they cook the broth and then add separate ingredients to taste. You can add anything you like. And all the ingredients preserve their natural taste.I would like a foreigner to taste the traditional Russian pies with different stuffing: fish, meat, mashed potatoes, berries, fruits, and I try to have healthy eating therefore I have 4-5 meals a day. I have breakfast in the morning. I like to have cereal or cottage cheese for breakfast. Lunch is at 1 or 2 pm. Dinner is at 6 or 7. I also have some tea breaks with a biscuit or a sandwich. I do not often eat out. 40

F O O D

jam. I would also recommend Bosch, a delicious beetroot soup. Though I am not a vegan I enjoy different fruits and vegetables. They are full of vitamins, minerals and fiber. All of them are good for healthy eating. But I believe eating meat and fish, eggs and dairy is also important. These foods contain proteins which are good for our muscles. Besides, meat and fats give us energy that is especially necessary in cold climates. So, to have a balanced diet we need to eat various foods containing carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and vitamins. As for food allergies, some of my relatives sometimes have rash and itchy skin after eating some foods, like chocolates and strawberries.

Nadezhda Ianova Russia 41

virtual culture trip

topic

Travel

And Holidays

I love travelling on holidays. I usually go abroad on a sightseeing or a beach holiday. One of the reasons is that I love discovering new countries, cultures and landmarks. I also love seaside holidays to swim in the sea, get suntanned, and relaxed from work. I sometimes travel with my daughters and grandchildren. It is exciting to spend your holiday with your family. I also like travelling with my friends as we share interests, tastes and have a good time together. 44

Travel and Holidays

Russia

I have been to some foreign countries. Among them are the USA, Italy, Spain, Turkey, VietNam, and China. I would love to visit Italy again to see Pompeii and Venice once again. I fancy travelling to Taiwan as I have been collaborating with Taiwanese teachers and students for some years and would love to learn more about the people and its culture. I have always dreamt to visit the UK to see the motherland of the English language and culture. I also fancy travelling to Australia to see its amazing wildlife.

Travel and Holidays The most beautiful city to visit in Russia is Saint Petersburg, I believe. The city has a long history and is abundant in historical cultural landmarks. As for the festivals, there are lots of them in Russia. The most popular ones are the New Year on January 1, Rozhdestvo/ Christmas on January 7, the Country Defendants/ Mens’ Day, and International Womens’ Day on March 8. We celebrate Victory Day on May 9 and Independence Day on June 12. On June 1 we celebrate Children’s Day and on November 4, we celebrate Unity Day. There are also a lot of religious and professional holidays.

Nadezhda Ianova Russia 45

Belarus

I really love travelling and, of course I want to visit all countries . Travelling with friends and travelling with parents are equally good. And if at the same time with family and friends, then this is generally wonderful. About 7 years ago I was in Russia with my mother and godmother. We walked around St. Petersburg and enjoyed the beauty of this city together. 2 years ago I went on a school trip to Germany. We visited Berlin, learned a lot about this country and its history, and of course, visited the Tropic Island. This trip changed relationships in our class. And every year I go to the sea to Ukraine with family. This is already a family tradition. I also went on two school trips to Poland. Although I often go to Poland just like that, while travelling, I learn a lot about countries and have fun.

Travel and Holidays As for me, the most interesting city in Belarus is the capital of our country. Minsk is an old city with beautiful architecture, with a lot of historical monuments and amazing atmosphere. We celebrate the main national holidays on March 15 (Constitution Day), July 3 (Independence Day of the Republic of Belarus), May 9 (Victory Day), May 1 (Labor Day) and many others.

Lera Belarus

Turkey Travel and Holidays I absolutely love travelling and holidays! We were going to go for a holiday with my family this summer but had to canceled it because of corona virus. I haven’t been to abroad but I want it to. Maybe a few years later I can go abroad by my school activity or with my family. And actually, I would rather to go on holiday with my family because holidays are the best opportunity to spend time with families. We usually go to tourist attractions like Izmir and Muğla for holidays. And they are the cities that you certainly should visit.

About the national holidays we have:

April 23 National Sovereignty and Childeren’s Day

May 19 Commemoration of Atatürk Youth and Sports Day

Dalya Çölaşan Turkey 48

Poland

Travel and Holidays I have been to a foreign country. I have been to Croatia,Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary. The most interesting for me is Italy. I like this atmosphere there. I would like to visit the most Greece, Brazil, England, Spain and Australia. Greece,because of this amazing sea,Brazil since this nature and animals, USA and England because I love English language and I love cities there. And in Australia the most I want to see these unique animals, like kangaroos and koalas. The most interesting city in my country is Cracow in my opinion. This town is full of students, even from other countries. Atmosphere there are really wonderful, we can meet a lot of famous people. There are the most popular universities and of course Wawel Castle on the Vistula. I really would like to go to Cracow to university in the future, it’s one of my dreams.

We have some little national holidays. I can enumerate some: I love to travel. It is my dream to do it a lot in the future. On holiday, I usually go abroad, visit my country or our neighborhoods. I love sea and mountains, but I prefer beaches, water, sunshine, relax. I’m interested in sightseeing old towns. Until now, I always go on holiday with family, because I didn’t have enough age to do it on my own. Now, 50

I’m 18 and I’m adult according to the low. In this year I was supposed to go to Greece with my friend to the colonies if it wasn't for this pandemic. Unfortunately, that's why I won’t go on my first holiday alone with my friends. But apart from that, I went on school trips abroad, for example to Lviv, and it was really great. I want more, and I hope that as soon as

this is all over, we'll go somewhere together. In my view, traveling with friends is more fun. We can do what we want to and nobody commands us to go to bed. We can go party, have fun. But traveling with parents is really prime too. I travel with them since I was born so year by year I want more in this group.

Constitution Day - 3 may

Valentine’s Day 14 February

Labour Day - 1 may

Shrovetide 1 November

Ascension Day

Easter

Whit Sunday

All Saints’Day

Mother’s Day-26 may

St.Nicholas’Day 6 December

National Grandparents Day -21 and 22 May

Children’s Day- 1 June

Shrove Tuesday

Gabriela Poland 51

virtual culture trip

topic

Family and friends

Belarus

I have a nuclear family. It consists of 4 members. My parents, me and my younger sister. Recently in our family there is mutual understanding and I’m really happy about it. Due to coronavirus we try to stay at home most part of time, so we stay together almost all the time. Usually when we have dinner we sit together, speak on different ways or watch something and we have a great time together. In my opinion, families from my country became more loyal. For example, parents of my friends and of course mine try to be more modern. They also want to understand their children and in most cases they don’t just punish us like they would have done it before, they can give great advice and help to solve some problems.

Family and Friends

Sasha Romanovich Belarus

I like to spend time with my friends because we have a lot of fun together. Sometimes we can go to the cinema or sit in a café. Sometimes we also can go just for a walk or go to someone’s home and spend great time there. I think friendship is very important in our life. Real friends are ready to help anytime. Who knows what would happen to us if we had no friends. I think it’s possible to become real friends with people we met on the Internet. Maybe it’s even easier to become better friends online than in real life. Of course spending time with friends brings me more fun, but spending time with my family is good for the soul.

Family & Friends 54

Poland

Family and Friends

I wouldn't say my family is huge but it is not small as well. I have many cousins and aunts but I some of my friends have even more. Trust is the best thing in my family. We can talk to each other about various problems and all of us will try to help you if you had one. Unfortunately not. My family is spread all over the country and even some of the members live abroad. It is impossible to gather often but we try to do family gatherings at least one per two years. Adult couples are less and less likely to have children as it is very demanding and you need a lot of money to raise children. People prefer travelling or spending their free time on their hobby's rather than taking care of small kid. Me and my friends usually meat in some sort of fast food restaurants where we talk or we play football at the court. To me friendship is very important. It is great to have a person you can talk to about any problem you have. I prefer to meet people live rather than on the internet but I think it is possible. Some of my friends actually met their best friends on the internet, some of them met even a person they are in love with. I prefer spending my free time with my friends. With them I can talk about many things that for example my parents wouldn't understand cause of the age gap. But spending time with family is also very important to me. I think that social media may have a big influence on our relationship but not change them directly. It also depends on how strong our relationship is. However, in my opinion social media shouldn't change our relationship.

Family and Friends 56

Adrian Poland 57

Family and Friends

Mongolia

My family has 4 members my parents, my sis and me. My family members are pretty smart and we travel around the countryside during the summers. We rarely do, mostly during the holidays such as New Year's Eve, tsagaan sar (national holiday). We haven't changed a lot except me and my sister grew up a lot. We play board games like Tebutam (the Mongolian version of Monopoly), we play volleyball, basketball, we play on our phones or our PCs and consoles or we do our school projects. Friends help and improve each other and humans are a very social animals so it will help keep us sane. Yee only with a slim chance. On the internet people fake their identities to befriend people and it's called catfishing. Because of this it is almost impossible to become real friends. I prefer both. Because both of them are important to me. Social media has a chance of making distant people grow even more distant or they meet people that can relate to them. Social media apps are helping us to communicate with friends who live far away from their friends and helps to plan out plans and chat with friends and relatives who live and/or work afar from people.

Mongolia 58

Family and Friends

Haguwa

Taiwan

LuSheng Ho Taiwan

Family and Friends

There are four people in my family. My parents, my younger sister and me. We could take care of each other. We sometimes travel together. Let us have good memories. We also have a big meal in major festival. We just have family gatherings in major festival. Like Chinese New Year, Mother's Day, and Mid-Autumn Festival, etc. The lower-birth rate is an important question in Taiwan. A lot of husband and wife have only one or two children. If they have one child, then the child will support two or more people. He has been so stressed in the future. It is a big question. We had a soft drink, and talked about something about us. Sometimes we went to watch a basketball or baseball game.

Friends can help us when we need someone help us. We also can tell them what's on our mind. I think it is a slim chance, because we don't know what he or she is. There are many scam cases in Taiwan. We would be careful on the internet. I am usually with my family. Because of age, I need to focus on my family. Yes, we often use Line, Messenger or Instagram chatting. We seldom meet, so it will let our relationships be bad. But I still have some good friends.

India

Aditya Gejje

Family and Friends

India

I come from a large family. A sister/ mother/father/grandmother/ grandfather. The most important thing I like about my family is they care a lot about me. I feel more safe, secure and get to learn so many things with my family. We meet our family members regularly weekend or on holidays. India is a country rich 62

culture and has always believed in large family, with give and taking the respect with elders. In last generation families were joint families but nowadays families have become more nuclear with rapid urbanization and technological development and also transportation. Less connection with family members.

I love my friends we play together and even fight together but we console it afterwards. Make some new things using the available resources. Make trip to some places chat on social media. Friends are important because we can discuss our difficulties share, and bind together. For me it is no.

One cannot have the physical feel odd the friendship. You love to have in person. For me answer is yes. I love both family and friends. We are spending less time with our family in person. As we come across new people who are not known to us in social media. Discuss with them... Share information... Quickly 63

virtual culture trip

topic

jobs - work

Study

Belarus My dad works at the Savushkin product enterprise as a cottage cheese production operator. And mum works as an individual entrepreneur. She works in a global company of various health products. Actually, pandemic didn’t hook my parents’ job because both of these works are in demand and now. But I know that the economy is rolling down and we are pretty lucky. In our country there is such a unique work of a lamplighter. Every evening, a lamplighter goes to our famous Sovetskaya street and lights up lanterns and a lot of people gather around and everyone is watching this interesting work. Honestly, I still do not know what profession should I choose, but I know for sure that foreign languages will come in handy.

job-work-study

Belarus 66

Sasha Romanovich

Taiwan

Students have to go to school now in Taiwan, but teachers still need to learn how to teach students through distance learning on the internet. I will introduce the betel nut girls. Betel nuts can be eaten, and they can help people refresh. Betel nut shops are usually beside a road. The main customers are truck drivers, because they have to drive long distances. To earn more money, more shops hired sexy girls to assist in sales. At last, almost all betel nut shops hired sexy girls, and the betel nut girls wear less and less.

Lusheng ho

taiwan

My parents are decorators. They make the house become beautiful. But they are retired now. Some friends of my friends are also teachers. They teach in junior or high school.

There are many e-sports streamers and youtubers in Taiwan. Many students want to be a streamer or youtuber in the future. They want to play games on the internet, and they also want to work at home. I am already a math teacher in junior high school. I like to teach Math. I not only taught my students the knowledge of Math, but also taught them the conduct of life. Before I become a teacher, I need to take educational courses during the four years in college. I have to learn teaching skills, and adolescent psychology. Learning adolescent psychology let me know what the adolescents think.

LuSheng Ho Taiwan 68

Haguwa

Mongolia Hello, my father’s major is economy and he currently work as a manager in a private company. He started working in that company since I was born. (quite a long time ago) He is the only earning member in my family because my mother is a housewife. As I mentioned in my Flipgrid video, my mother had to quit her job to take care of me and my brother. I am proud of my parents very much because they both work hard and always try to make us happy and I think I am very lucky being born in this peaceful family. Well, prior to the pandemic, generally everything was very normal; my father used to work from his office and me and my brother used to go to school like every other child. However, because of the social distancing, my father is now working from home on the computer. And I feel he is finding it very uncomfortable to work from home because home is a place that is always noisy and difficult to concentrate. I would like to introduce you a very unique and amazing job of Mongolians – Уртын дуучин (It is often called Long song singer) Long song is one of the central elements of the traditional music of Mongolia. This genre is called “Long song” not only because the songs are long, but also because each syllable of text is extended for a long duration. The most amazing feature of this Mongolian traditional opera is that there is no octave! The singers can make voice from the lowest pitch to the highest because they are naturally gifted. My most favorite long song is about the beauty and the mercy of sun. (song name: Norovbanzad (artist) - Under The Sun Of Placid World).

Rapid advancement of technology brought our generation a great number of opportunities as well as developments. It is perfectly true that people’s life is consistently changing significantly because of these advancements, and therefore, many jobs are continuously being replaced with various machines such as robotics and AI software. Robots are doing the cleaning, dishwashing, serving and even they are playing a role of pet in people’s life. In recent years, there has been an increasing trend of VR gaming in where a person can experience being in a three-dimensional environment and can interact with that environment during a game and it was popular especially among the youngsters. Another business that is also highly interacting with new technology is bus service with its smart card. Before this service was installed, people used to pay by cash when they get on a bus, but now, you can just bring your smart card close to the machine installed in the bus. My dream job is actually a psychologist, but now I am more interested in digital business because of its increasing demand and persistent interaction with the new technology. To be successful in this field, I need to be good at mathematics and to be skilled at computer.

Haguwa Mongolia 70

Poland My mom is a teacher of history, art, wax and technology in primary school, while my dad is a mechanic and builder. They're both working now. Mommy works online, like us, and Daddy repair if he can. There are many popular jobs in Poland. One of them is for example model. People now like to show up on Instagram and advertise products. The popular program is "top model", which I'm happy to watch. People who are interested in modeling can learn a lot of new things there and also have a chance to win money and contracts with popular fashion brands.

Another profession of the future may be a dietitian. More and more people pay attention to their diet, their figure, they want to look good. Surely, in the future, the dietitian will be very popular, because he is already today. If I had to choose, I'd like to be a computer graphic designer. I love to draw, and I've even thought about studying like this. It is a comfortable, funny and wellpaid job. I would need to train a few of my skills, e.g. drawing on the computer and familiarizing myself with the drawing program. From what I've heard, you can do it even on your computer.

Poland

Gabriela

Gabriela 72

There is a museum in Warsaw named after Copernicus, a famous Polish astronomer. There are many interesting things about modern technology. There is a well-known computer graphic designer in our country, who draws on the computer! He makes pictures for newspapers, comic books. I admire these people that they have enough patience to draw on such a device.

d a v i d

America

My father worked for a meat-packing company for 45 years. He started loading trucks in St. Louis and worked himself up to a national salesman, traveling all over the USA. During World War II, he was an Army soldier in Europe. He was in two of the biggest battles of the war: The D Day landings on Omaha Beach in Normandy France and the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium. He was an Army hero and my personal hero. My father, in later years, worked for a radio station and at Walmart as a door greeter. In 2014 he founded a War Museum in Pontiac Illinois where I work now. I have had two mothers. My birth mother Mildred died giving birth to me at age 26. Six years later, my father remarried a wonderful woman from Chicago, Betty. I called her “Betty Boop” as well as “Mom”. She raised five more children. I lost my brother and one of my four sisters. So, I have had two mothers - a birth mother and an Earth mother! My Earth mother worked in an office, then had children, then became Tourism Director in my town of Pontiac IL. She died six years ago of cancer and heart disease. So now you know about the two angels who were my mothers.

I wanted to be a teacher at age 14. I was inspired by my English teacher and. French teacher in a private school. I graduated with a teaching degree (French and Spanish) from the University of Illinois at Chicago and began teaching in a wonderful high school in suburban Chicago. Unfortunately, I had to leave after my first year because I was drafted into the United States Army. After four months of military training, I was sent to Vietnam where I was in the jungle for 10 months with the 101st Airborne Division. When I got home, I became a teacher again, but at a middle school in the St, Louis suburbs. I taught there for 34 years. When I retired, I started to work at the War Museum which my father started. I am still there, although it has been closed because I’d the virus. I hope to resume teaching at the museum in September and to continue to link our veterans with schools all over the world, especially Ngoc Dieu Nguyen’s school in Hanoi! I would choose to be a teacher again because I think it is the most important job. Although the salary is low, there is a great feeling and sense of accomplishment when you see students learn. I look forward to reading what you write and to talking to you on Saturday. Goodbye from the American Midwest in Pontiac Illinois.

David America 74

Keerthi Hiremath

India

My Parents are working in Government Department. My Father is a Panchayat Development officer. By Pandemic Situations in the world. Whole world disturbed due to Covid 19(Corona Virus). Government Employees like, Police Department, Panchayat Development, Health Department and so many Departments are Struggling for the betterment of Covid 19. Traditional Occupations it means an occupation followed in a family in which it is handed down by an ancestor to his posterity. Agriculture is the main Source of Farmers. Agriculture is the main stay of India's economy. Technology has changed our lives by increasing the speed of time. We were human. We invented and developed the technologies to change our life to its best. Now that technology is changing our lives every second. Internet communications is Connecting us to world through Social Media. Searching the web, processing customer payments, telephone services or cloud storage, internet access has become a very fundamental necessity to contemporary business for daily operations. I want to be an IAS officer because it is a challenging role, and have all the characteristics of the position I’ve always dreamt of. I can contribute my services and help in abolishing the social injustice and also reduce the social gap between the rich and the poor. I believe there are many laws and many more schemes and projects undertaken by the Government of India to reduce the poverty in our country. The Qualities to become an IAS Officer are Discipline, Leadership, Administration, Decisive in approach, Knowledge, Hardworking, Honesty, Good Communication Skill, out of the box thinking, work ethics, patriotism, Education, Social Responsibility.

Keerthi Hiremath India 76

job-work-study 77

supervisor Dieu Ngoc Nguyen Hien Ho

COntent Alan Wiktoria Kamila Haguwa Ahsen Hanna LiLy Lera Nicole Adrian David

Edanur Toprak Ho Gia Bao Chau Nguyen Van Dai Sasha Romanovich Nadezhda Ianova Dalya Çölaşan Gabriela Sasha Romanovich LuSheng Ho Aditya Gejje Keerthi Hiremath

Design VIRTUAL CULTURE TRIP - 2020 Image source: Internet This book can be distributed or used for non-commercial purposes only.

Venn Hubert Nguyen Hugh PassiON Jocelyn Le

VIRTUAL CULTURE TRIP - 2020

Virtual culture trip

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Poland