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Showing posts with label Judaism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Judaism. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Sorting Out The Caribbean, from the Bahamas, Belize and Bermuda to the US Virgin Island

 13 countries

We went on holiday from the USA to St Maarten/St Martin, the island which is half French and half Dutch. Double the experience of languages, food and culture. A chance to keep up my French. But learn another language.

I shall look at languages, food, and landmarks and religion.


LEARN LANGUAGES

Language[edit]

Spanish (64%), French (25%), English (14%), Dutch, Haitian Creole, and Papiamento are the predominant official languages of various countries in the region.

( Although a handful of unique creole languages or dialects can also be found in virtually every Caribbean country. Other languages such as Caribbean Hindustani, Chinese, Javanese, Arabic, Hmong, Amerindian languages, other African languages, other European languages, and other Indian languages can also be found.)


FAVOURITE FOOD

Favourite or national dishes[edit]

Doubles, one of the national dishes of Trinidad and Tobago
Arroz con gandules, one of the national dishes of Puerto Rico

Goat water is a goat stew.

LANDMARKS & ACTIVITIES

one.

Countries and territories[edit]

Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti) and Puerto Rico, often grouped as the Greater Antilles, are by far the largest islands in the area and the most visited by travellers. The Caribbean also includes the Lucayan Archipelago to the north, which is comprised of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Lesser Antilles, a group of much smaller islands to the east.

Countries of the Caribbean
 Bahamas
Archipelago of islands and cays surrounded by coral reefs off the coasts of Florida. One of them was the first piece of American soil Columbus put his foot on.
 Bermuda (Outside of image map, see dynamic map)
Small and wealthy British overseas territory in the Atlantic, known for a type of shorts and the supposedly mysterious triangle.
 Cayman Islands
Known for offshore banking, and a great diving destination.
 Cuba
The largest Caribbean island-nation, marked by decades of socialist government.
 Jamaica
An island of tall mountains, birthplace of reggae and a Commonwealth Realm.
 Haiti
Founded by former slaves who won their freedom and then independence against the might of revolutionary and Napoleonic France. Today, having struggled against conflicts and natural disasters, Haiti has relative political stability and security, and is again becoming attractive for those seeking a road less traveled.
 Dominican Republic
A fast-growing economy with some of the oldest colonial cities in the hemisphere.
 Puerto Rico
A United States territory with bustling nightlife, as well as great inland sceneries.
 Lesser Antilles (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Saba, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sint Eustatius, U.S. Virgin Islands, Barbados, Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago)
Small islands facing the open Atlantic. Many of them are dependencies of other countries.
 Leeward Antilles (Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire)
Also known as the ABC islands, these islands off the coast of Venezuela are associated with the Netherlands.
 Turks and Caicos Islands
Fabulous beaches and offshore banking.

Other areas include:

Mountains of St Lucia.

MUSIC

Religion[edit]

Havana Cathedral (Catholic) in Cuba completed in 1777
A Haitian Vodou altar

Christianity is the predominant religion in the Caribbean (84.7%).[76] Other religions in the region are Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Rastafari, Buddhism, Chinese folk religion (incl. Taoism and Confucianism), Baháʼí, Jainism, Sikhism, Kebatinan, Traditional African religions, Yoruba (incl. Trinidad Orisha), Afro-American religions, (incl. Santería, Palo, Umbanda, Brujería, Hoodoo, Candomblé, Quimbanda, Orisha, Xangô de Recife, Xangô do Nordeste, Comfa, Espiritismo, Santo Daime, Obeah, Candomblé, Abakuá, Kumina, Winti, Sanse, Cuban Vodú, Dominican Vudú, Louisiana Voodoo, Haitian Vodou, and Vodun).


Useful Websites

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/caribbean-countries.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Where To See Einstein Everywhere: on TV, Books and Magazines, USA, Germany, India, Israel, Taiwan and more


Einstein with Charlie Chaplin. Photo taken 1931. Public Domain. From Wikipedia.


 On a Singapore Airlines flight in January 2018 I watched an episode of a series of nine of a USA TV film series about Nobel prize winner Albert Einstein. All episodes were listed with a summary. 

The episode which I watched was about Einstein resisting attempts to get him to support the Hebrew university of Israel, before the founding of Israel. Very interesting picture of his strong second wife, Elsa. 

The film brings up all sorts of interests and controversies. Einstein and Judaism. Einstein and assimilation. Einstein and fund-raising. Einstein and communism. Einstein and Germany and being German before WWII. Einstein and America and being an American.

Einstein and the Atom Bomb
I also went to a Toastmasters meeting in Singapore where one of the speakers presented a defence of Einstein against accusation that he was the cause of the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima (presented as a bad thing in The Times magazine in the USA in the 1940s). Makes me want to read books about Einstein’s life.

TV Series
Genius (This National Geographic series on Einstein had ten Emmy nominations)

Places to visit (Alphabetically:) 

CZECH REPUBLIC
Panoptikum, Prague.

GERMANY
Germany

INDIA
Science park, Kannur, Kerala. The city of Kannur is called the crown of Kerala, land of looms and lores (stories as in folklore).

ISRAEL
Bust in Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.


English: Robert Berks (US-american, born 1922): Albert Einstein Millennial Monument, Jerusalem, Israel Academy Of Sciences And Humanities, Albert Einstein Sciences Garden. Replica of the 1979 monument located at the US National Academy of Sciences. Photo author Eftib in Wikipedia commons.


JAPAN
Hiroshima, Japan

Spain
Statue of seated Einstein at the entrance to the Science Park and Museum in Granada, southern Spain.



TAIWAN
Juming Museum. Lovely white statue of Einstein carrying a brolly and a bag.

USA - see giant statue of reclining EInstein, near Academy of Science, on Independence Avenue NW, Washington DC, USA

For photos of statues and busts, nothing in Wikitravel and nothing in the aritcle on Einstein in Wikipedia. I eventually tracked down photos of statues in commons.wikimedia.org .

Useful Websites
EINSTEIN
wikipedia
Wikiquote

TRAVEL
Spain
http://www.parqueciencias.com/parqueciencias/ Einstein statue



Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.