Sweden Post Card

Dear Mom,

We are in Sweden now, and we are on our way back to the hotel from Djurgården! More officially, Kungliga Djurgården, which means The Royal Game Park in Swedish. It is an island in central Stolkholm, the capital of Sweden. Djurgården is one of people’s favourite recreation area, attracting more than 10 million visitors each year. It is the home of any historical buildings, museums, monuments, and galleries such as the open-air museum Skansen. Skansen is a museum and zoo. It was opened on October 11th, 1891 to show people the different ways of life in Sweden. An amusement park called Gröna Lund (The Green Grove in English) is often used to hold concerts during Summer. Djurgården also has a small residential area called Djurgårdsstaden that contain meadows and forests. We have arrived at the hotel now, and we will be ready to go back to Taiwan by tomorrow morning!

See you soon,

Bella and Tiffany

Image credit : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Djurgarden.jpg

Sweden Journal Entry

Sweden, Day One

And… here we are, in the land of the midnight sun! After suffering from horrible airplane food, we are so glad to eat real food again. Here in Sweden, when we think of delicacies, the first thing that pops up in our minds are… Swedish meatballs! This familiar Ikea dish contains ground beef, pork, eggs, cream, milk and onions drizzled in gravy made of butter, beef broth and sour cream. Though we love Swedish meatballs, we didn’t fly all the way just to eat something we can have in Taiwan! There are so many more tasty choices! One of them is the Kanelbulle. If Sweden had a national food, it’d be those delicious cinnamon buns. Almost all of the cafes or restaurants serve them, because it is so easy to make and so popular. They are made from a dough called vetebröd, or wheat bread, and then flavoured with cardamom, saffron, or vanilla. Since Swedes are the second largest dairy consumers in the world, we certainly will not miss trying out the filmjölk! It looks like yogurt and tastes slightly acidic. It is full of healthy bacteria, and is perfect with cereal.

Sweden, Day Two

We are exhausted from a full day of touring, and we are so happy to be back at the hotel room. We turned on the television and we were shocked by the overwhelming amount of sports channels. We came to a conclusion: Swedes LOVE physical activity. Handball, football, gymnastics, golf, tennis, basketball, and table tennis are a handful of the most popular sports in Sweden. Out of all the favorite sports of the Swedes, bandy is the most extraordinary. At first, we didn’t even know what bandy was! After doing some research, we found out that bandy was a cousin of ice hockey; it involves players using a stick to push a ball into the opposing team’s goal. Bandy was first played by the Swedish royal family back in 1895, and there are competitions for male players ever since 1907. Soon, it evolved into a middle-class sport and in the 1920s, students started to enjoy bandy. In 1934, Workers in small towns and villages joined in. Today, bandy is not just a sport, it is considered a special culture of Sweden.

Image credit: http://travel-wonders.com/wp-content/uploads/Bandy-Match-Scene.jpg

Sweden, Day Three

It is winter vacation right now for us, but students are still going to school in Sweden. This is because the two semesters are divided by the Christmas Break between mid December and early January (so it is over already). Education is mandatory for all children between the age of seven and sixteen in Sweden. Children can start attending pre-school at the age of one, it helps children understand/ get used to school. In 2008, statistics showed that of all Swedes aged 25 to 64, 15% only completed compulsory education, 46% only completed upper secondary education, 14% only post-secondary education of less than three years, and 22% post-secondary education of three years or more. Research also showed that women are more educated than men, with 26% of women vs. 19% of men have post-secondary education of three years or more.

Sweden News

“Divorce Refunds” Offered by Swedish Hotels

March 24th 2017

Divorce refunds are offered by Countryside Hotels group. The Anna Madsen, the marketing officer of this group, says that the purpose of this “radical approach” is to show “how beneficial it can be to get away for a while and devote time to each other.” This may seem like a joke, but the hotel chain has confirmed the legitimacy of the offer. Couples who divorced within a year of their stay at the hotel will receive a refund of a two-day stay. Many wonder if this offer will financially harm the hotel chain. To solve this problem, there is a fine print to this refund. The married couple MUST stay in the same room. Furthermore, they need to provide a relationship guarantee when booking a room.   

Battle Against Sugar: A Swedish Mum’s Story

March 27th 2017

Anna Larsson, a Swedish mum and former physiotherapist, decided to cut down the amount of sugar. "I thought, she has real cravings for sugar. She did not want to eat the food we are making, all she wants to eat are things like sweet yoghurts." Mrs. Larsson said. After a few difficult days, results started to show. Her daughter is no longer asking for sweets like yoghurt and iced buns. Instead, she is willing to eat healthy food that she used to reject. After cutting out the sugary treats, the four-year old had better control over her temper and was sleeping better than she used to. The results later went viral on Facebook with more than 2,000 likes.  "I was in shock at the response, I really don't know why it happened,” said Anna. Her guess for the popularity of her story was the fact she wasn’t a doctor or nutritionist, but an ordinary mom like everyone else.

Maternity Care Crisis in Sweden

March 28th 2017

Women in numerous Swedish counties have complained of maternity care shortages. Countless pregnant women all around Sweden were turned down by congested hospitals or were forced to drive to far-away wards to give birth. Stina Naslund, a midwife, described the chaotic situation after a hospital in Sollefteå shut down in early February. This shutdown forced many women to drive 100 to 220 kilometres to another ward on a dangerous road that has no light and no mobile connection. Others gave birth in peculiar places such as a car, a fire engine, and a taxi. These terrible experiences aroused anger from locals, and they surrounded the ward, protesting. “Thousands of people from all political [affiliations] are supporting us," said Naslund, "Children, 80- and 85-year-old women, old men, football teams, different companies." To solve this crisis, the government set aside an extra 500 million krona for maternity care.

Austria Journal Entry

Austria, day one

Today we are visiting the Vienna State Opera. We got tickets for the both of us and can not wait to go inside! Austria’s capital city, Vienna, had been an important centre of music innovation. Famous composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Johann Strauss, Jr., among others, were associated with this city. This made Vienna the “capital of classical music” in Europe. The Vienna State Opera is one of the most important opera companies in the world. It can hold over 1000 people! Despite hosting many performances, it also serves as a venue for the Vienna Opera Ball, which is held every year after Ash Wednesday. Anyway, the performance is going to start in a minute. I’m so excited!

Austria, day two

Did you know that Austria is a pretty rich country? They said that Austria is one of the 14 richest countries in the world in terms of GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Vienna is the fifth richest NUTS-2 region within Europe with GDP reaching €38,632 per capita, just behind Inner London, Luxembourg, Brussels-Capital Region, and Hamburg. Back in 2004, Austria was the fourth richest country in the European Union. Austria has a well-developed industry, but the most important part of the national economy is international tourism.Huh. Turns out we're helping Austria with its economy just by visiting here.

Austria, day three

Austria is a federal republic, a government made up of a central government and smaller state or province governments. Though Austria has a president, the true leader of the government is the chancellor. The federal president, elected by Austrian citizens, has the power to appoint and/or dismiss the chancellor and other members of the government, while the chancellor and the Nationalrat(the National Council) is the one who writes most laws. Even though the president is able to veto laws that the chancellor and the Nationalrat created, the bill can still be passed without the president’s approval, so the president does not have much true power.

Austria Postcard

Image credit: https://x1vjb1fphhu3e9bkw164gf5n-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/bild2_08.jpg

Dear mom,

We are in Austria now! We just came back from our trip to the Eisriesenwelt Cave, the largest ice cave in the world. Laying 42 kilometres through the Alps, it’s no wonder that its name means “world of ice giants.” Inside the cave, only the first 960 metres are covered in ice, and that is how far we, and most tourists, visited. As the bus was heading towards Hochkogel Mountain in the city of Werfen, where the cave is located, our tour guide told us the history of this beautiful ice giant. According to examinations of the rocks and ice, scientists believed that the Eisriesenwelt Cave was about 50 to 100 million years old. However, the ice waterfalls and frozen figures were much younger, dating about 1000 years old. The cave was carved out by the Salzach River and its waters are still eroding and expanding the cave today. The breathtaking ice “sculptures” are the works of the icy winds and freezing temperatures all-year-round.

Will write again in Sweden,

Bella and Tiffany

Austria News

4 ISIS suspects arrested, weapons seized in Denmark

April 7th, 2016

Danish authorities arrested four people suspected of having enlisted in ISIS in Syria. The four suspects were set to appear in closed-doors hearings. They were then accused for joining ISIS “to commit terrorist acts. According to the spokesman of the police, weapons and bullets were also found. With this happening right after some terrorist attacks, the police feared that this would be another attack, but they were not sure.

Can Denmark’s Generous Childcare System Survive?a

December 3th 2016

Denmark’s childcare system is very popular, and it is really cheap compared to other countries. Stine Christianen, a mother of three children all still under the age of four, had to put all her children in a childcare system because of her job. If she was in any other country, the price would have been expensive, but in Denmark, it’s affordable. “I’m only working part time so it’s not that I earn so much extra money for us,” Stine explained. The reason that made the childcare system affordable is because Denmark has one of the highest tax rates in the world.

Man in Austria Arrested for Glorifying Nazism  

February 13th 2017

A twenty-five year old man was arrested for glorifying the nazi era, as local authorities say. Having the famous side-parted hair and mustache, he had an uncanny resemblance to Adolf Hitler. The Hitler lookalike calls himself “Harald Hitler” and had been seen taking photos of himself in front of Adolf HItler’s birthplace, Braunau am Inn. His actions, as said by David Furtner, the police spokesman, were not a joke or for performance purposes. "The young man knows exactly what he is doing," he said.

Denmark Journal Entry

Denmark, (supposedly) Day One

We are currently in the airport right now, but no, we’re not at Copenhagen airport. Due to delays, we are still stuck at Macedonia. Because we found a Danish friend of ours to pick us up at Copenhagen, this delay is going to get us into BIG TROUBLE. Danes, being part of the Scandinavian culture, are known for their strict etiquette. They try not to cause inconvenience or discomfort to others, as they value mutual respect. For example, in our friend’s eye, our tardiness is seen as a waste of her time. Danes also value humbleness and they loathe public display of one’s success. Though Denmark is a rich country, Danes do not like to brag about their wealth. Being loud and obnoxious is another pet peeve of the Danish. Anyway, we must be careful not to offend our friend again, or else her Danish instincts will tell her to give us a boring lecture about manners. Hopefully our plane will be taking off soon!  

Denmark, Day One

While walking through Denmark, we realized that most of the churches or palaces are built by bricks. Curious as though why, we asked our Danish friend, and she told us that during the Viking period, the country had little access to stones, so bricks became the construction material for architecture. She also told us that Dutch and Flemish designers were brought to Denmark to design castles in the Renaissance style. This style started spreading throughout the country. But in the 19th century, under Christian IV’s influence, the style quickly merged into the National Romantic Style. This style, however, did not last for a long time. In the 1960s, Danish architects finally “invented” their highly successful Functionalism. This had evolved into recent world-class masterpieces such as the Sydney Opera House and the Great Belt Bridge. Danish Architectures have such a great history that we could not really understand, but thanks to our friend, we got to learn some history.

Denmark, Day Two ~ Four

We are now at the streets of Denmark, just in time for Maundy Thursday! Maundy Thursday is the fifth day of the Holy Week, between Holy Wednesday and Good Friday. Easter is a BIG holiday in Denmark. Though Easter is a Christian holiday, a survey conducted in 2000 showed that about half of the population see it as an important family holiday, and only about 10% consider it as a “Christian message.” For many Danes, Easter is just a symbol of the end of winter and the start of spring. As we walked around, we saw many stores were decorated in green and yellow, with daffodils and branches with baby leaves, all symbols of springtime.

On Easter Sunday, our Danish friend invited us to join her family at Easter Lunch, a big feast consisting of eggs and spring food. We had a big meal of chicken, lamb, and veggies. Special Danish food was also served, such as little hot dishes, herrings, cheese, and sliced meat. The adults had special Easter beer, which was stronger and (according to our friend’s uncle) tastier than normal beer. We had a great time there, but sadly we had to catch a flight after the feast.

Denmark News

Can Denmark’s Generous Childcare System Survive?

December 3th 2016

Denmark’s childcare system is very popular, and it is really cheap compared to other countries. Stine Christianen, a mother of three children all still under the age of four, had to put all her children in a childcare system because of her job. If she was in any other country, the price would have been expensive, but in Denmark, it’s affordable. “I’m only working part time so it’s not that I earn so much extra money for us,” Stine explained. The reason that made the childcare system affordable is because Denmark has one of the highest tax rates in the world.

4 ISIS suspects arrested, weapons seized in Denmark

April 7th, 2016

Danish authorities arrested four people suspected of having enlisted in ISIS in Syria. The four suspects were set to appear in closed-doors hearings. They were then accused for joining ISIS “to commit terrorist acts. According to the spokesman of the police, weapons and bullets were also found. With this happening right after some terrorist attacks, the police feared that this would be another attack, but they were not sure.

Man Burns Quran: Fourth Blasphemy Charged in Danish History

February 23rd 2017

Qu’ran is the holy book of Islam, and harming it is greatly disrespectful to the Islamic culture. In fact, burning any religious books is a violation of a penal code about public mockery and religious scorn. A 42-year-old man was charged with blasphemy for burning the Qu’ran. On December of 2015, he posted a video showing him burning the holy book in his yard. Though in Denmark, the maximum time in prison for blasphemy is four months, this man will only be fined if he is convicted. There has not been any other charges like so in Denmark for almost half a century and is the fourth time ever in Danish history.

Denmark Postcard

Photo Credit: http://estonianexperience.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Fotolia_57057446_Subscription_XXL.jpg

Dear mom,

We have arrived at Denmark! Since we are here, of course we have to visit the world-famous Tivoli Gardens (it is actually not a garden; instead, it is an amusement park)! Did you know that Tivoli is the fourth most-visited theme park in Europe? That is pretty impressive for a park this old: opening on August 15th, 1843, it is the second oldest amusement park in the world! Anyway, our first ride in the park was a 103-year-old coaster, the Rutschebanen, one of the oldest wooden roller coasters that is still in use. The ride was exciting, but we were paranoid about breaking the coaster on the entire ride! Then we went on the Star Flyer, the second tallest carousel in the world. Spinning 80 metres in the air was a terrifying experience, yet it offered a breathtaking view of the city below. After going on some other rides, we explored the rest of Tivoli, including visiting the various concert halls and theatres. The We were exhausted by the end of the day, but we had a really good time in Tivoli Gardens!

Will see you again in Austria,

Bella and Tiffany

Macedonia Journal Entry

Macedonia, Day One

Image credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Soborna_Church_Skopje1.JPG/1200px-Soborna_Church_Skopje1.JPG

The first journal post is finally here! We are so excited to share our Macedonian “adventure” with our readers! After our plane had landed at Alexander the Great Airport, we rented a car and drove towards Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. Our first stop in Macedonia: the Church of St. Clement of Ohrid. This church is the biggest church under the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Alert! The Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC in short) is NOT an actual church. It is a really big religious organization created Macedonia that has influence both in the country and around the globe that has over 5000 churches and monasteries. Now, back to St. Clement. The reason that we chose this place as our first destination is because we saw pictures of the church online and were interested in the domed architecture that is very different from the temples in Taiwan. St. Clement started constructing at 1972 and it took twelve years to finish. The interior is decorated with frescoes, the most important one being one of Jesus that covers an area of 70 square metres. On the way back to our hotel, we saw many other orthodox churches and monasteries, so we were curious-how many Orthodox Christians are there in Macedonia and what other religions are practiced here? After some research, we found that 64.8% of Macedonians are Orthodox Christians. 33.3% are Muslims and 0.4% are Catholics. The rest are small groups of atheists and Protestants.

Macedonia, Day Two

Walking around town, people used such weird language that neither of us can understand. It sounded funny and interesting, so guess what? WE DECIDED TO DO A RESEARCH ABOUT IT! The language they used is called, surprise, surprise, Macedonian. We were kind of shocked when we saw this because Macedonia is not a big, famous country like Germany or Italy. It is spoken as a first language by about two to three million people. Even though it is mostly spoken in Macedonia, it is also recognized as a minority language in parts of Romania, Serbia, and Albania. Another shocking fact is that it is taught in many schools in Europe, Australia, and even in the United States! By the way, Macedonian is really similar to Bulgarian. In fact, it is so similar that people usually get mixed up. Well, wish we can successfully communicate here!

Macedonia, Day Three

image credit: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEG-GNKV6UKVU9Jmej-MzvfcLRE2qubIYUsKxOVoTuEDZmKLFhJqyBEOJIWGqay0vmeMJIxJOByzbqs84ctT5S-vCCcXGlJNiQTrVjVFgKGifxsCfBBM2EXRpw-O7Fag_5mj6Q1MovoOw/s1600/costumes-macedoine-Koco+Racin+Macedonian+Ensemble+of+Folk+Dances+and+Songs+from+Skopie+Macedonia.jpg

Today is our final day at Macedonia. We decided to dive back into older times and take a look at traditional Macedonian, specifically the region called Skopska Blatjia, attire. The reason why we chose that specific region is because it is a more rural area, therefore it has kept more traditions compared to the cities. The traditional clothing for Macedonia is called koshula. It is made using hemp (a plant that is grown for fiber) or heavy linen. The koshula has a T-shape cut, with wider openings and sleeves. Patterns consisting of traditional colours -red, black, gold, blue-are embroidered at the ends of sleeves and hems. The “9 flowers” pattern is very common and different variations of it can often be found on the koshulas. However, not all koshulas have complex patterns. Some only have simple patterns on the hem, collar, and sleeves.

Macedonia Postcard: Canyon Matka

Image credit: http://www.exploringmacedonia.com/content/images/Matka/large/Matka%20-%20Goran%20Anastasovski%20(5).jpg

Dear mom,

Today we went to Canyon Womb. Just kidding! We actually visited Canyon Matka, which means “womb” in Macedonian. It is located west of Macedonia’s capital city, Skopje. The canyon is HUGE: its area is around 50,000 metres squared! Hiking through the mountains, we were embraced by beautiful Mother Nature. Various plants and animals surround our trail. Looking down, we could see the Treska river snaking between the mountains. We saw many of the medieval monasteries and churches that Canyon Matka is famous for. It’s a shame we weren’t here in the summertime, or we could have went kayaking on Lake Matka, the oldest man-made lake in Macedonia. After around two hours of hiking, we arrived at a boat rental place which took us to Vrelo Cave. This cave was discovered in 1982. It is 30 metres deep and is the deepest underwater cave in the world!

Will write again soon,

Bella and Tiffany

Macedonian News

Monster Storm Brings Flood to Skopje

August 7th 2016

A monster storm wreaked destruction and death to Skopje in early August. It brought more than 93 mm of rain to Skopje, which caused water levels of several affected areas to rise dramatically, up to 1.5 meters high. The deluge cut electricity and destroyed houses. Baze Sprivoski, a victim of the flood said, “everything was a mess. Televisions, the fridge, the sofa, everything was floating… it was a nightmare.” The streets were congested; about 70 vehicles got stuck. 21 people died. Some drowned in their cars, some were swept into fields, some are still missing. Many were injured and had to receive treatment in hospital. “"This is a disaster. We have never experienced such a thing." said Koce Trajanovski, the mayor of Skopje.

Macedonian Teenagers Found to be the Source of Fake News

December 5th 2016  

Fake news was springing up on social media, and the source of it was found to be Macedonian teenagers. It was a fast way to earn cash: some owners of these fake news sites are making more than $200,000. The content of fake news is often plagiarized from other American news sites. Stories that provokes the readers’ interests, whether they are true or false, are copied and pasted, then republished with a clickbait header. Though false, some unknowing people believed these news and it influenced the presidential elections in America. When Slavco Chediev, the mayor of Veles, was asked for an opinion on this issue, he asserted, “There is no dirty money in Veles.” The mayor even feels proud of the so-called “entrepreneurs” in his town for being able to affect the US elections.  

Death of Romany Music Queen

December 11th 2016

Esma Redzepova, the “Romany music queen”, died at the age of 73 after a short illness. Though she faced racism and criticism on her way to success, her career has an impressively long span of more than fifty years. She was well known for her strong voice and traditional outfits. Other than singing, Redzepova fought prejudice during her years, including speaking out for Roma women rights. She had fostered over 47 children in her lifetime. Her community services led to the 3 Nobel Peace Prize nominations.