Russia Postcard

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Russia News

Russia wants Alaska back

3-31-2017

Russian nationalists are calling for the territory, Alaska to be returned. “If Russia was in possession of Alaska today, the geopolitical situation in the world would have been different,” Sergey Aksyonov, the prime minister of Crimea said. Russians settled in Alaska in 1784. They set up trading posts and spread their religion. By the 1860s, Russia had lost the Crimean War, and was in a difficult financial position.

Murderer tells police: 'I may be one of Russia's worst serial killers, but I was a good husband'

3-29-2017

A serial killer has told police, “I may be one of Russia’s worst serial killer, but I was a good husband and father.” Mikhail Popkov, the serial killer, also said, “I performed well at work, as a police officer.” Popkov confessed to killing 82 women between 1992 and 2010. Popkov raped almost all his victims: ages 17 to 38. Popkov said, “I have a double life. In one life I was an ordinary person. In my other life, I committed murders.” His wife Elena, and his daughter, Ekaterina, refused to believe he was a serial killer. Ekaterina said, “I do not believe any of this. I always felt myself as 'Daddy's girl'. For 25 years we were together, hand in hand. We both collect model cars, so we have the same hobby. I wanted to be a criminologist, so I read a book with tips of how investigators catch serial killers and there were also basic classifications about murderers.  Daddy doesn't fit any of these classifications - he doesn't look like some maniac. I want to look into his eyes and understand if he really could be that killer.”

St.Petersburg metro explosion death toll rose to 14

4-1-2017

The death toll rose from 11 to 14, which three of them died from their injuries. 11 died on the spot where the explosion exploded,1 died on the ambulance, and 2 died in the hospital. At least 45 people were injured. A suspect has been named as a 22 years old called Akbarzhon Jalilov. The first device exploded between Sennaya Ploschad station and Tekhnologichesky Institute station. The second device was later found at Vosstaniya Square, and is made like a fire extinguisher. It was dismantled quickly. The officials believe a suicide bomber is behind the attack which lead them to radical Islam.

Russia Journal

Our final destination is Russia. We arrived at Russia the next day we left Cyprus. We went to the Orthodox Church, the main stone building of ancient Russia. It is brightly painted. The Orthodox Church is the second largest Christian church, and the oldest religious institution in the world. The church teaches that it is the one holy Catholic and Apostolic church made by Jesus. We learned from the church manager that Aristotle and other Italian architects brought the Renaissance trends into Russia. The next architecture we visited is Russia ST. Petersburg. Saint Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia, and the country’s culture heart. It has the Mariinsky Theatre that hosts opera and ballet shows, and the State Russian Museum with Russian art. Both of the buildings reminds us of onions.

We visited a Russian traditional clothing shop. All the clothing are handmade. Russian people painted the fabric themselves and sewed it with the embroidery. Traditional clothing are mostly designed for holidays or carnivals. The clothes could also be worn casually. Some Russian traditional clothing are made for theaters, dance studios, and churches. A lot of the clothing are used as costumes. We tried some Sarafan dresses, Kokoshnik tiaras, and Russian blouses. The following pictures are the clothes we bought.

After buying some traditional clothing, we went to the Lotte Hotel. There is a book in our room that introduces everything about Russia. The book is about 300 pages thick. We read through the section about Russia’s education. The book says, “Russia has the most college-level or higher graduates in terms of percentage of population in the world, at 54%. As a result of great emphasis on science and technology in education, Russian medical, mathematical, scientific, and aerospace research is generally of a high order. Since 1990, the 11-year school education has been introduced. Education in state-owned secondary schools is free. University level education is free, with exceptions. The oldest and largest Russian universities are Moscow State University and Saint Petersburg State University.” We also read the section about Russian traditional clothing. One of the pictures in the book is the same as the red sarafan dress we bought. We would be leaving Russia in five more days. We really don’t want our adventure to end, but we need to go back to Taiwan. Our next trip would be a few months later. We would be going to other countries in Europe. The trips would be longer next time. Even though we would be going to new countries, we would never forget our adventure to Luxembourg, Finland, Cyprus, and Russia.

Cyprus Postcard

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/cyprus/paphos/

Cyprus News

Illegal bird hunting

3-24-2017

A video was posted online, showing illegal capture and killing of thousands of birds in Cyprus. This video was filmed by a member of the British animal rights charity, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds(RSPB). The NGO estimated that last summer more than 1.7 millions of bird was illegally trapped. Natalie Stylianou is a member of BirdLife Cyprus, said it’s quite difficult to take photos and videos of these illegal activities because some hunters re aggressive. Birds are mostly captured in Dhekelia sovereign.

Mom claims she found woman trying to snatch her daughter from cot

3-22-2017

Siobhan Prescott said a worker was attempting to pick up one-year-old Harper. Siobhan woke up to find the woman, dressed in a maid’s outfit, standing over the bed at a five star hotel in Cyprus. Siobhan said: “I was napping when a maid sneaked into the room and tried to snatch my baby. The only reason I woke up was because Harper screamed out, otherwise she could have been the next Maddie McCann.” Maddie McCann was another girl who got kidnapped at a hotel and went missing. She was never seen again. Siobhan said: “I am lucky to have woken up, but if I hadn’t God knows what would have happened.”

Cyprus Weather

3-31-2017

Showers and storms can be expected over the weekend, and there will be a slight drop in the temperature on Saturday. Saturday and Sunday will be cloudy at times, with showers and storms. It will be  mostly at lunchtime and afternoon. The temperature will drop a little on Saturday and rise again on Sunday. There will also be a chance of fog. The weather will be clear on Monday with some clouds in the mountains. The temperature is expected to rise further during the week.

Cyprus Journal

We’re in Cyprus now! It’s really pretty. Cyprus has a long history of art. The history of art can date back to about 10,000 years. In order for us to understand the history of art better, we visited the Nicosia Municipal Art Centre. We learned a lot there: The history of art began with a painter called Vassilis Vryonides; the founding fathers of modern art are Adamantios Diamantis and Christoforos Savva. After visiting Nicosia Municipal Art Centre we went to Aegeon Tavern for lunch. It’s a nice little Greek restaurant. We ordered Moussaka, which is minced beef with eggplant and potato, topped with white sauce, and served with Greek salad garnish. Very delicious. We ordered Baklava for dessert. The Baklava is one of the most famous Greek desserts. It is a juicy filling made with crushed nuts, syrup, cinnamon, honey, and nutmeg in between layers of pastry.

After eating we went to check in at the Four Seasons Hotel. It is a five star hotel. On our way there we saw many churches. We found out that 78% of the people in Cyprus are Christians after doing some research. The room in Four Seasons is so beautiful! It has a perfect view of the ocean from the windows. We relaxed and went to the swimming pool. The temperature was warm, but we shivered when our toes touched the water. We realized that barely anyone was at the pool. We went back into our rooms and slept until dinner.

After dinner we went back to the room. We turned on the TV and watched a documentary on Cyprus. Just like we did in Finland. This time, the documentary is about the government of Cyprus. Cyprus is a presidential republic. The head of state and the government are elected for a five-year term. We fell asleep with the TV on after 30 minutes. Either that we probably ate dinner too late, or that the bed is too comfortable.

Finland Postcard

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Finland News

  

Finland News

Finland in the world press

 3.3.2017

Finland has a very big issue- wolf problems. Five and a half millions of humans lives in a country with an estimate of 235 wolves. Many parents are scared of their children getting attack by wolves. Last winter, the government authorized a cull which 43 wolves were killed, including wolves that are shot by police and road facilities. This winter Helsinki authorized another cull that killed 53 wolves.

Legalization of same-sex marriage

 3.2.2017

Same-sex marriage is now legalized in Finland, a.k.a the 12th European country to do so. According to Huffington post, same-sex couple now has the right to take each other’s surname and adopt children. Mika Niikko of the nationalist Finns party said “this is a question of the future of our children and the whole society, and such changes should not be made without thorough evaluation of their impact.” “Finland should strive to become a society where discrimination does not exist, human rights are respected and two adults can marry regardless of their sexual orientation,” said Alexander Stubb, a former member of the European Parliament. The Finnish Lutheran church is still wavering between the old rules, marriage between men and woman or the recently legalized issue, same-sex marriage. Some same-sex couples who wish to get married in church is still waiting for their answer.  

Meat production

2.24.2017

Meat Production in Finland increased seven-kilogram last year, mostly increased in chicken wing consumption.Natural Resources Centre Luke showed that one hundred and twenty-five kilograms of chicken were raised and killed in Finland, 2016. On the other side, last year the pork production decreased to one hundred and ninety kilograms, reduction of almost one percent. Egg production was at seventy-two kilograms in 2016, which is relevantly high, meanwhile, the milk production slight fell.

Finland Journal

We finished our adventure in Luxembourg after staying for 5 days! We really want to stay longer and visit more places, but we can’t. We already bought our tickets. We’re starting our new adventure in Finland! It’s a coincidence that we arrived there at Independence Day. Today is the 6th of December. We saw shops decorated in the color blue and white and bakeries with breads that have blue and white icing on top. We went to get some of the bread and also asked the workers there if there are any important people we have to know in Independence Day. The worker was really excited to tell us some people. She said: “Veikko Hursti, the late philanthropist (a person who helps the poor), provided free food to the poor and unprivileged on every Independence Day. After Veikko Hursti’s death on 2005, the tradition is continued by his son, Heikki Hursti.” In the evening we just walked around the streets on Finland. We found out that there were candles on each of the windows, and asked some people what it’s for. They said in 1920 they put two candles on poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg's birthday which means silent protest against Russian oppression. A popular legend is that the two candles were used as a sign to tell young Finnish men that they’re on their way to Sweden and Germany to become jägers(a Finnish soldier who is trained in Germany), that the house was ready to offer shelter and keep them hidden from the Russians.

We decided to explore Finland and not to follow our itinerary after hearing the legend. We thought it was a bad idea. We didn’t know how to get to one place or another. But After walking and looking around, we realized that getting around Finland is pretty convenient. Since Finland is the 5th largest country in Western Europe, it is well connected by trains, buses, metros, and high quality roads. We somehow wandered to the train station. We stayed there for a few hours because the express only departures at night, and saw the Independence Day fireworks. We took the Santa Claus express at night from Helsinki to the south of Rovaniemi. We slept for about 10 hours and spent 5 hours looking out the window and taking pictures of the Northern Lights. We arrived there in less than 15 hours. We lived in the Santa Claus Holiday Village. The sun didn’t rise the next morning because it was winter. We visited Santa Claus Village the next day, which is part of the hotel. The whole park is quite big. We took pictures and wrote letters. We took the Santa Claus Express back to Helsinki. Helsinki is the only city in Finland to still have metros. Then we took the metro to Espoo. We went to Nuuksio National park. It is very pretty in the winter. Especially when there’s snow. We were exhausted after walking around and checked in at Hotelli Nuuksio. We got the last room in the hotel. We kept in mind that when we are going to go to Cyprus, we have to follow the itinerary.

We watched a documentary about Finland inside our room. We learned about the economy of Finland. The economy of Finland has a per capita output equal to other European economies such as France, Germany, Belgium, or the UK. The largest sector of the economy is services at 66%, followed by manufacturing and refining at 31%. Primary production is 2.9%. The key economic sector is manufacturing. The largest industries in 2007 were electronics (22%); machinery, vehicles, and other engineered metal products (21.1%); forest industry (13%); and chemicals (11%). The gross domestic product peaked in 2008. Finland has significant timber, mineral (iron, chromium, copper, nickel, and gold), and freshwater resources. The Greater Helsinki area generates around a third of GDP. Finland is ranked 40 for the GDP.

Luxembourg Post Card

The front of the postcard:

Picture credit: file:///Users/nioniolee/Desktop/5e85ea25348d2f7c2be6e52989e4d34e.jpg 
The back of the postcard:

Luxembourg news

11 year old got caught driving

Sunday, 19 February, 2017 

An eleven year old boy is reported to have jumped behind the wheel of the family car and driven one hundred and twenty kilometers into Germany because of an argument. Luxembourg police was informed by the family, then police informed Germany patrol to lookout. The eleven year old boy drove to Landstuhl,in the Rhineland Palatinate region of Germany. The German patrol saw a young boy and asked him to stop but the boy ignored him and turned into A6 motorway. Eventually the three police stopped the car on the motorway without causing any incident. At last, he was taken back to Luxembourg.

Train Collision

Thursday, 23 February, 2017 

Rail authorities in Luxembourg said, “We hope to shed more light on last Tuesday's train collision after a second black box was recovered from the wreckage on Monday.” The two black boxes can now be examined by an expert who has come to Luxembourg from Switzerland. Last week, a freight train and a passenger train collided between Bettembourg (Luxembourg) and Thionville, France. The driver of the Luxembourg train died in the crash. The spokesman for the Prosecutor's office, Eippers, said, “I hope to learn what caused the collision within days.” While people agree the dead driver passed the main stop signal without decelerating his train, Thümmel, the president at the railway unit, said, “I don’t want to suggest at this point that the collision had been the result of human error. It is the judiciary that must determine how this happened.”

Princess Stéphanie’s Birthday

Saturday, 18 February, 2017 
Princess Stéphanie was born on February 18,1984 in Belgium, she celebrates her 33rd birthday this saturday. She was the eighth child of Count of Lannoy. Stephanie married to Prince Guillaume, heir to Grand Duke. Princess grew up in Belgium with her seven brothers and sisters.Stephanie studied in University of Louvain. The princess learned Luxembourgish quickly, which she speaks fluently know. Her mother tongue is French.

Luxembourg Journal

The first place we traveled to is Luxembourg. We arrived there at 11:37. Just in time for lunch. We ate at Restaurant Mousel’s Cantine and tried some of their famous cuisine. We ordered Judd mat Gaardebounen and Träipen. Judd mat Gaardebounen is also known as Smoked Collar of Pork with Broad Beans. We asked the chef in German on how to make it. He seemed confused. We realized that he speaks French not German. We asked it in French this time and he kindly told us how to make it. He said, “The pork collar has to be soaked overnight and cooked with leeks, carrots, celery, and cloves for 2 hours. The sauce for the beans are made from chopped onions, bacon cubes, and flour added in meat stock.” The dish is very savory and delicious. We also asked how to make Träipen. The chef said, “The sausage is made from pork, pig’s blood, cabbage, onions, spices, and honey. It is served with homemade applesauce.” We were afraid to try the Träipen at first, but we ordered it because the waitress recommended it to us. To our surprise, the flavor is excellent. Don’t judge food by what it’s made of!

After lunch we decided to go to the national stadium called Stade Josy Barthel. We arrived there at 13:00. It is about 2.7 kilometers from Restaurant Mousel’s Cantine. Stade Josy Barthel is the country’s largest stadium, located in Western Luxembourg city. We wanted to go see a game, but there weren’t any. We got some information from a worker there. The worker there told us the history on how the stadium got its name. The worker explained, “This stadium is named after Josy Barthel. The country’s only official Olympic gold medalist of men’s 1500 meter. Sports in Luxembourg aren’t focused on one, national sport. It encompasses a variety of sports. Some famous athletes are: Marc Girardelli, an alpine skier, who won World cup champion five times between 1985 to 1993, Sylvie Hülsemann, the world’s water skiing champion in 1961, Nicholas Frantz, a cyclist, winner of the 1927 and 1928 Tours de France.” After the short lecture, we went to Hôtel Le Place d'Armes and checked in. That hotel is a 4.5 star hotel. It is very luxurious.

We are at the hotel when we heard a language that we never heard before. We ask the clerk in German and he said that this language is called Luxembourgish. It is a Franconian language. Countries that lies beside them, like, Belgium, France, and Germany also use this language. The clerk also said that Luxembourgish is mainly spoken, not a written language. French is the written language, and German is usually the first language taught in school.The 3 official languages in Luxembourg are French, German, and Luxembourgish. We learned Luxembourgish quite easily. Since we already knew German, French, Finnish, Greek, Russian, English, Mandarin, and Italian, it wasn’t that hard to learn a new language.

About Us

Hi! We are Yoyo and Yu-Shin. We love to travel! We traveled to Egypt last year, and around Taiwan the year before that. This year we decided to travel to Europe. Europe is a very big continent. In order to decide where to go, we used popsicle sticks to pick four countries. We picked Luxembourg, Finland, Cyprus, and Russia. We never even heard one of the countries before. We traveled to each country in the order we picked. We searched up some tourism spots and elements of culture before we left Taiwan. Our blog is about the elements of culture (we took notes during the trip), the major current events happening, and the post card we bought to send to our friends.