Mystery Skype, The Country is.... QATAR!

QATAR! Qatar is hours ahead of the USA. The main language is Arabic. One of their traditions is to celebrate Ramadan for Muslims. Some attractions they have are Souq Waquif, Pearl Qatar (a beach), and Museum Islamic. The main transportation is taxi, buses, and cars, but parking is difficult. Their currency is Qatar Ryuai. They have an constitutional monarchy. Their leader is Sheik Tamim bin Hamaba bin Khalifa Al-Thai. These are some of the interesting things we learned in this skype experience.

UK

 In this Skype, we interviewd Vivina Sardo!  She skyped with us last year!  She was born in Italy but she lives in the UK. She celebrates the holidays of Christmas, New Year's, Easter, and many other that we also celebrate. The transportation is very different because there is always a bus or a tram or train accessible, which is different from her own town. The heads of political parties are who actually has the most power, not the president. She likes badminton, but she is no longer as big a fan of sports. She loves to spend free time with her friends and family and the currency she uses is the euro. She enjoys learning new languages and she loves to do that. Where she lives the climate is cool and cloudy, and she is near the western part of Italy. Also, her time where she lives, is 6 hours ahead of where we are in the world. The main industries in the UK include books, supermarkets, and a few others. She feels that her life has changed significantly due to her moving.

Honduras

We are now making a skype call to Honduras. It was to a group of fifth graders.  Their teacher is friends with Mrs. Rhoades and Mrs. Collinsworth, so they were happy to see each other.  They started off by asking questions about us. They told us all about their dog and parrot. They live in a small town away from the city. They Love to visit the big cities. We figured out that they have the same time zone as us. They love chicken and playing soccer.  They like to spend quality time with their pets, one also loves reading. We saw that we had a couple things in common, it gets really hot! They are the second best country with the best coffee. Then Coach Inwood and Mrs. Gordon started dancing around on camera dressed as a banana, and a piece of bacon, they laughed really loud and happily. Instead of having spring break like us, they have summer break for a week. To get around they use mostly cars and the bus. They were very sweet and super kind. Thank You Honduras!

New Delhi, India

We are skyping with Mannya, from New Delhi, India! She is one of our fellow skypathoner's friend. She is explaining to us about her school and her school day. She also told us she is doing her annual exams and how she is under some pressure. Her favorite Indian dish is Chicken Biryani, and the time difference is quite odd. Now she is explaning how India gained independence, and some interesting facts about the British rule in India. Some of the traditions in her state Punjabi are Diwali ( the festival of lights), and Holy (festival of colors.) She apparently learned English from her childhood unlike other children who learn it in school. Most children in India play hockey, swimming, chess, tennis, and cricket. Her school has a uniform and are not EVER allowed to wear their home clothes. One of the most famous monuments in India is the Taj Mahal. She does western dance and does some other traditional Indian dances.

Mystery Skype -

          Pancakes for breakfast have never tasted better after a night on living off of caffeine and sugar!

Mystery Skype - Nigeria

           After cleaning up the entire library, and walking the final lap in the empty school, sitting down to work on a skype suddenly seems like the best idea ever!  This mystery skype with Hammed Abdulazeez turned out to take place in Lagos, Nigeria near the Atlantic Coast. Hammed likes to watch football and taught us that the official language in Nigeria is actually English, but over 520 languages are spoken in just that country alone. Hammad has always been in Africa, but tomorrow he is flying to  Singapore. Amala is Hammad's favorite Nigerian food.  Hammed Abdulazeez shows his opinions, but also some facts on his home country of Nigeria.  It is 88 degrees Fahrenheit, and Hammad tells us that it rarely gets cold in Nigeria.

 

Mystery Skype - Germany

Mystery Skype - Germany

 The Skypathon team figured out that the class was living in Berlin, Germany by asking a series of yes and no questions. The class from Berlin had trouble finding our town. They got extremely close (Denton, Dallas,), but they never got to Flower Mound. They explained that there was a wall between east and west Berlin that was a landmark from World War II. They also noted that their school is half German and half American. Additionally, they told us that being in a city is very different from being in the suburbs, and that they had many hobbies. After that, they asked what are some tourist attractions in Dallas, and we told them the Dallas Cowboys were really popular. In Berlin, the winters are very cold. An interesting fact is that Flower Mound has 50,000 residents, but there are over 3 million people in Berlin. They asked what the weather was like, and we said that the summers were very hot.

Mystery Skype - China

            After another round of Coach Inwoods adventurous activities and a mini karaoke party, we're back with another mystery skype! We're skyping with Lauren Tininerka at an airport in China! Lauren as been living in China for around 10 years. In China right now is around the same climate as we have right now in Flower Mound (not much snow, hot humid air, etc.). China is 14 hours ahead of us, so in China it's 7:45 pm. Lauren is a kindergarten teacher and enjoys teaching the smaller children, but in her free time she likes to run and says that there are also many shops to shop at. She says that the transportation is completely different from the United States transportation; in the U.S. we mostly us cars, while in Shanghai, subways are the most popular way of getting around. Lauren tells us that the Mandarin Chinese is the most popular language, but there are many different types of dialects of that language. She also tells us that in China, almost every meal is eaten with rice, but Lauren also like our fast food and says that there are also some fast foods chains in China, such as KFC.  The Chinese celebrate holidays, such as Golden Week, Labor Day and of course, Chinese New Year. With the help of Lauren, we can compare the United States to China and learn about the different lifestyles.

 

            

Cultural Skype with Spain

We talked to a class from Maristas School in Malaga, Spain. We learned a lot about the different culture in Spain. They eat five meals a day. They eat dinner 9 pm to 10 pm. One of their most popular foods is a sandwich called a Campero. They are at school from 8 am to 2:30 pm five days a week. They do three lessons in the morning,a 30 minute lunch, and another three lessons in the afternoon. The other two days they do Athletics. Some sports at there school are basketball and handball. Handball is a mixture of basketball and football or as we know it soccer. Popular in Spain are handball, football, and basketball. Many Spanish people follow the NBA. One of the popular sport's teams is the Barcelona football.  They celebrate Easter, Halloween, and Christmas. Kids during Christmas bring lots of different foods for classmates. Their summer's are very hot. A famous museum is the Picasso Museum or in Spanish Museu Picasso. Some interesting things about their school is they celebrated their 200th birthday last year, and they go on school trips all over the world. In this Skype we learned a lot about Spain's culture and I think a lot about Texas culture.

Kenya

Our 10th Skype of the night is Kenya. In 1966 a man moved him family of 7 to Kenya then the family ended up staying there spreading religion. The weather us basically "perfect" all year long. Since the town they are in is right on the equator the weather is not to hot for an a/c but not to cold for a heater. We asked if he were to only be able to live in Kenya or the united states for the rest of his life what would he choose? He decided that America was the best fit because he misses out on his grand kids lives. His one of his grand kids attends Keller Central Middle School and he said that he is familiar with Lamar Middle School because we beat them in band every year. He lives in an apartment or compound in Kenya. They hold a pastor's meeting every year. They hold hundreds or pastors at this meeting for 5 days and 4 nights. They send 4-6 thousand bibles along with guitars, bug spray, and other things to give to the multiple different leaders. This container of goodies gets shipped out of North Richland Hills. They are holding another conference in a month they will hold 500-700 leaders. When the leaders come they give them multiple resources and counselors. They also communicate and work with a boys orphanage in east Kenya. It is 11:18 am in Kenya currently. There are these buses or vans that run through out the country called  a matatoo . Most public transportation is buses or cars. The national language is English(that's what they learn in school), there primary or "mother tongue" is Swahili. Most young people can speak 3 languages. Since your in the southern hemisphere, people drive on the left hand side of the road, sinks and toilets flush to the left, the handle for the toilet is on the wrong side, Kenya was colonized by British so everything is done on the left side. Ugali is a traditional Kenya food that is consumed everyday. It is very similar to grits or polenta . Ugali is made of corn and salt. Kenyans eat Ugali everyday they feel like if it is not consumed that they have not eaten. People pile there plates high with Ugali then top with beans, greens(spinach), goat, and chicken(rarely very expensive). People have feasts with goats since it is a very common protein. They celebrate the day they gained freedom from Britain, the ending of Ramadan is a holiday,  Christmas ,they also have a few holidays based around special people. The government can randomly make up holidays a week before it happens. The shilling is the Kenya currency 1 U.S. dollar = 100 shillings. Even though we have major differences from the way our life is we still have many similarities and similar motto's in life.

The Netherlands

Since our translator is still learning their language, we will mostly be writing facts. In Netherland they are more laid back and she said, "Here you can walk out in your underwear, and no one will judge you." Their favorite sports to play are soccer, field hockey (not on ice), gymnastics and basketball. They are about nine years old and we are talking to a classroom, not an individual. There are many places in their country where they can bike. Fun fact, in Amsterdam there is a "parking garage" that instead of parking places, there are places to park your bike. Did you know: On average, Dutch people are the tallest people in the world. When the kids start kindergarten, they have been with each other since the age of four.

Skyping with Japan!!!!

     This is our 1:00 A.M. Mystery Skype! Who will it be?? Our Skyper is Mr. Mark Colby and we have an inference that he could be Dubai?! They are in Asia, BUT don't consider themselves a part of Asia. He is in Japan! He works in Tokyo. He is RIGHT next to THE Tokyo Tower! On the weekends he goes to the farm he owns and takes care of it with their 2 dogs! Some of their holidays are Western New Year. He moved to Japan to study Judo when he was just our age! The Japanese currency is the Japanese Yen. It is worth $100 U.S. dollars! Japan has the lowest number of Christians! Only 0.1% of the population are Christian! We learned how to say 'hello my name is,' in Japanese.  This city is EXTREMELY SAFE compared to the U.S..  They HAVE to take a test to get into kindergarten, middle school, AND high school! There is practically NO IMMIGRATION, Japan is 99.9% Japanese humans.

Mystery Skype - Vietnam

  We're on to our next mystery skype.  We figured out they were in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We asked about their school and we learned they were an International School System, they are a private school. Some of their traditions are celebrating the Chinese and Lunar New Year.  They also celebrate Christmas and Halloween like us. Even though they don't like to wear uniforms, they do. They were friendly and taught us how to say "hello" in Vietnamese.

Mexico City

  We just finished our mystery skype to Australia, and we are on to our next Skype to Mexico City! We had a very sweet lady named Karen who we talked to. She loves to swim in her free time, and eat meat with beans and cilantro which she loves very much. She listens to a lot of mariachi bands-- the music of her home town. She celebrates El Día  De Los Muertos which is The Day of the Dead and Independence Day. On these days she doesn't have work,  and Karen and her friends throw parties and enjoy themselves. Karen has been learning English since kindergarten and was a very interesting person to talk to. we can't wait to meet our next skyper!

    

Mystery Skype - Australia Classroom

   Our next mystery skype took place with an elementary classroom in Guildford, Australia. This classroom consisted of all boys, ages eleven and twelve. These boys have to wear uniforms and they like to play basketball, tennis, water polo, and rugby. These boys go to a school located thirty minutes away from the Indian Ocean coast. Their climate is pretty close to ours except it is opposite because they live in the Southern Hemisphere, so their seasons are inverted. The boys celebrate the same holidays as we do, such as Christmas, Easter, Lent, and Halloween. They like to eat pizza and KFC.  The time difference is 14 hours ahead of us. A quick fact they told us was that Australia was founded in 1829. The boys also like to play a popular video game, Fortnight. Australia and Texas relate in many ways, like the language and climate, but they also have some differences which really show how diverse the world is!