Thanks to everyone who shared pics of where they live-I love it!!!! I have been fortuate enough to travel quite a bit with all of our moves, but there are still so many places I want to see----and this is such a great way to do it, because I am sure I will never make it to all these wonderful destinations.

I would post a pic too, but I just live in a plain old house in a plain old neighborhood in the middle of nowhere in a small nondiscript town. So, there is nothing great to see here.

I am looking forward to more pics on this thread and will check back often.

Marcia,

I'm pretty sure we all feel that way. We think our life is same old same old but the people on the other side of the world think their's is same old same old.

Let's see some pictures!

Just wanted to say that, Mary! What to you is normal, to me is exotic!

K,

Lovely house ! I´d like to live in a very small town .
I´m always interested in learning other uses , the hugs and kisses thingy surprised me as I never visited that part of France.
I love the way dutch put things - straight to the point , on the other hand they can take whatever one might say :roll:
I think they have a great sense of humour, dont you think ?

This (dormant) thread is sooo interesting ! :wink:

I'm from Pittsburgh, and we even have our own lingo from others in Pa. I say" Redd up" all the time and think nothing of it. Gum band is rubber band and in others states they call it elastic.

I doubt if that is very Dutch..in our house everyone helps cooking of making tea and find the cookies to put them on the table,...maybe this is very Hans instead of very Dutch?
But you are right that there are a lot of interesting differences...yeep Dutch people are very direct, that can get us in trouble, because for other people very direct is the same as very unpolite..We don't mean it that way.. Thats why you are also right that the binding factor is communication...

And what do you think about the Dutch and Belgium culture, or the French and the German culture??? So funny to see the differences... :D

(love this topic!)

It was nice to see this thread resurrected! I had forgotten about it, but always enjoy pictures of homes and sites. Even what we think of as ordinary IS exotic to someone else! This is a great geography/social studies site!

Think she said Hans hates when friend or family who are visitng help , and if I got it right, yes, its very Dutch.

I love spending vacations in the Nederlands - :-)

Ligia, Where do you go when you are on Holiday in the Netherlands? In wich place you stay or wich places do you like to visit? Maybe I can help to give you tips about some interesting places in the Netherlands. Where do you live?

Hi, Maksi,

When in the Netherlands I´m based in Amsterdam which I explore by tram,
by bus, by foot. Pitty I do not know how to ride a bike .. :oops: :oops:
I visited most of the country but Groningen and Maastrich , people
say I wont like those. Depending on the season, I see different things every time . Last year it was Sinter Klaas - love Piet ... Isn´t it funny that he lives ... in warm Spain ? :lol:
Going south - Brussels, Gent and Brugges for the "Saint-Sang"-
do you live in Belgium ?
Being interested in History , in Europe is where I find it.
I like visiting exhibitions, museums, old towns, cathedrals but most of all learn about
daily life.
Travelling really makes me happy ! :wink:

This is the website of my home town in Germany, They just celebrated the 750 year anniversary of the town having cityhood rights. The first documented account of the town actually dates back to the year 368 A.D.

Now THAT's history.

http://www.kirchberg-feiert.de/index.php?id=7

Hi Maksi, yes I did mean visitors to the house not ppl who live her. :D And I know I shouldn't judge an entire nation based on one man. :oops:

Ligia, ah ha! More clues! OK, so you wrote Nederlands with a 'd', which leads me to believe you may be Dutch or possibly German? Luxembourgeoise? Am I warm? You also spell Brussels the Flemish way rather than the French and Gent not Gand - the plot thickens! But at least I've narrowed it down to Europe! Could you be Flemish? :)

And yes, the Dutch sense of humour is funny, at least, Hans is. :D Although even after 5 years, sometimes I still find it hard to tell if he's serious or joking sometimes! :mrgreen:

Wow Martina! Couldn't understand much with my school girl German but looks like there was a lot going on - including a Queen tribute band? Or did I completely misunderstand! :shock:

I think I found the right Kirchberg on multimap - there were a few! Is it west of Wiesbaden towards the border with Luxembourg?

OMG ... :oops: :oops: Now I do feel guilty !

I´m a South American that since very young developed interests on History, Literature and languages.
My eldest lives/ works in the Nederlands (d!) for 9 years now. So I go there as often as I can, we travel together to other countries , I travel by myself or accompany her to locations where she goes on work; she goes a lot. :wink:
I´m used to Dutch life now, feel comfortable , can understand some words and even pronounce 2 or 3 ... exception: "ui" :P

Ok, below is a pic of a winter sunrise in my home town ... 8)

Ha! I'm sorry I made you feel guilty but glad I got you to 'fess up! :D

I can't say 'ui' either - the closest I get is 'ow'!

And that's a beautiful pic of one of the new 7 wonders of the world! :wink:

Agradeço do fundo do coraçaõ!!! :D

:shock: :shock:

how come ??

I HOPE I said 'thank you from the bottom of my heart' - for the photo and for telling where you're from! But googling can be dangerous! :lol:

:shock: :shock:

how come ?? [/quote]

I HOPE I said 'thank you from the bottom of my heart' - for the photo and for telling where you're from! But googling can be dangerous! :lol: [/quote]


You did !
I was wondering how come you say that the way Potuguese do 8)
You´re welcome !

I THOUGHT that was your native language? In Lurkingdom? :mrgreen:

You are spot on. My girl friend is in the organization committee and she's got a lot of good ideas.

Yes, our language is Portuguese :lol:

By Portuguese I meant people living in Portugal.
There are several Portuguese speaking countries , based on the use of words native speakers can recognize where its from.

I believe its the same with English: the same in England, Canada, Australia, US, Scotland, etc with differences native speakers can spot even in a short sentence.

Its becoming common to find reference on textes whether it is "brazilian portuguese". I have mailed grammar books to people interested in learning "brazilian" portuguese before.

Almost every family in Brazil has relatives in Portugal and vice versa. My daughters are Brazilian and Portuguese citizens; their father´s family branch is from Portugal.

Well, this is a multi-cultural thread ... :lol:

How funny! My eldest son lived in Brasil for a few years. ( In Port Natal) He speaks Portuguese very well. I live in the Netherlands, my father is a German, did live for more than 25 years in Greece (he passed away a few years ago). My youngest brother is Greece to and my mother remarried with some one from Egypt when I was young and my best friend is Spanish..
How multiculti is that!

Yes Ligia, Sinterklaas did arrive from Spain in Holland again this year with his boat :) On 6 decembre he leave the country but before that children are every morning exiting to find some present in their shoe... Sinterklaas is on his horse when it is night, on the roof and he gives present to every good child. He has some helping hands...the called Zwarte PIet...(Black Pete). And the children love Sinterklaas so much!

http://www.dutchmarket.com/sklaas.html

Small world :D !! Where are you ?

I already new about Sinterklaas but we met only last year ... :wink:
I took this pic of a detail of Bijenkorf neat decoration.

When were you in the Bijenkorf? I was there at the end of October and saw those decorations! Maybe we passed each other. :D

Interesting what you say about Portuguese - I can tell pretty much with written English if the person is British or American. Australian/ New Zealand is harder to spot because it's closer to British English. Canadian written, I can't really distinguish, but spoken I can, although I lived in Canada for a couple of years.

I have to say that you fooled me with your written English Ligia - at first I thought you were a native speaker! :D

I do find since I joined the Board that I've picked up a lot of Americanisms though! :shock: Batting instead of wadding, for example. BUT I still write 'centre', 'metre' and 'colour' even though my spell check underlines them in red! :lol:

Was up early this morning and found this thread.

Thanks for taking me around the world. I love to travel, but cannot afford to.

Never been out of the USA...well we did go to Victoria, Canada which I loved. Best vacation (and only vacation) we ever took.

Hope to see more pics. Thanks for sharing.