Share cool facts about your country

[daveb]

1 minute ago, Calliers said:

Vikings

At L'Anse aux Meadows.

(of course, there were other people there before them)  

[Calliers]

3 minutes ago, daveb said:

At L'Anse aux Meadows.

(of course, there were other people there before them)  

Of course...

 

But the Vikings and L'Anse aux Meadows is the first known record of Europeans in the Americas....

[uniQChick]

12 hours ago, daveb said:

... my confusion is with the phrase "exclusive home". Both caribou and domestic reindeer live in other countries around the Arctic Circle, too, not exclusively in Canada for either.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting your statement

Maybe that is I who got confused... 
From ‘unwanted’ relics to tourist attractions: Can travelers help save Canada’s only reindeer herd?

 

Some subspecies are rare and two have already become extinct: the Queen Charlotte Islands caribou of Canada and the East Greenland caribou from East Greenland.

[daveb]

1 minute ago, uniQChick said:

Maybe that is I who got confused... 
From ‘unwanted’ relics to tourist attractions: Can travelers help save Canada’s only reindeer herd?

 

Some subspecies are rare and two have already become extinct: the Queen Charlotte Islands caribou of Canada and the East Greenland caribou from East Greenland.

Still cool though. Interesting critters.  

[Calliers]

The coldest temperature recorded here was -63 degrees Celsius in Snag, Yukon and when I tell people it gets cold here they don't believe me, actually we have people moving into Saskatoon (which gets on the colder side of things during the winters which last forever) and then leaving right after or during their first winter. Usually for somewhere warmer within Canada like BC or back home to their home countries lol. Yup winter here ain't a joke.

[Piotrek]

1 hour ago, Calliers said:

The coldest temperature recorded here was -63 degrees Celsius in Snag, Yukon and when I tell people it gets cold here they don't believe me, actually we have people moving into Saskatoon (which gets on the colder side of things during the winters which last forever) and then leaving right after or during their first winter. Usually for somewhere warmer within Canada like BC or back home to their home countries lol. Yup winter here ain't a joke.

I remember listening to a reading of a creepypasta set in Saskatoon, it started with a suggestive description of what -40C feels like.

[J. van Deijck]

School days in Belgium are always shorter on Wednesdays.

[Calliers]

7 hours ago, alsjeblieft said:

School days in Belgium are always shorter on Wednesdays.

Now that is cool! 

 

Quebec is the only walled city in North America....

[J. van Deijck]

4 hours ago, Calliers said:

Now that is cool! 

It is, but why Wednesday and not Friday  it's like, on average school day you're finished at 4pm or 5pm, and on Wednesday it's before noon. Strange as it is

 

4 hours ago, Calliers said:

Quebec is the only walled city in North America....

Tried to look it up, but apparently the search results are not this one

[Calliers]

They speak a lot of languages in The Northwest Territories, 11 official languages to be exact.

[uniQChick]

Canada is the most educated country in the world... look at @Calliers! What more proof do you need?

[Calliers]

1 hour ago, uniQChick said:

Canada is the most educated country in the world... look at @Calliers! What more proof do you need?

Ha! Thank you very much! That is such a nice thing to say @uniQChick. 😊

[J. van Deijck]

Some more things about the waffleland of the world:

 

1. It's nicknamed "Battlefield of Europe" for so many battles have happened there.
2. It's 4x smaller than New York.
3. Belgium is one of six countries that founded the European Union.
4. It's also a capital of the EU.
5. It hosts NATO, among other organisations.
6. Small amounts of weed are legal here as long as you don't sell them.
7. If you come from abroad to live here, it's easy to fall into a loop: you're not going to get a job contract if you have no registered place to live, and you're not gonna find a place to live if you don't have a job contract.
8. If you move to a new place here, you may expect the police visiting you to check if you really live there, and it's a standard procedure. They always do it.
9. It has ranked on 9th place for racial equality.
10. Most Belgian waffles don't taste like "Belgian" waffles you can find in the US.
11. Our national symbol is the statue of a peeing boy. Really.
12. Every Belgian beer has a matching glass.
13. Belgians hate Heineken and they even refuse to call it beer.
14. Smurfs come from Belgium, so does Tintin, Lucky Luke and Marsupilami, although this last one is probably not well-known.
15. Our motorways have lights that work at night.
16. Belgians like to talk about weather, probably as much as the British
17. We don't like to talk about money (it's one of these 'forbidden' topics here), but you can hear us complain about taxes quite often.
18. Actually, our tax rate is 40% to 50%, which probably makes it one of the highest in the world. Literally, we give half of our monthly salary to the government.
19. Blue collar jobs here are paid twice a month, every two weeks.
20. One of the co-inventors of the WWW was a Belgian.
21. You have to pay here for using a public toilet, but the fee is small, about 50 cents.
22. Saxophone was invented by a Belgian.
23. Our product labels in grocery stores are bilingual.
24. Belgian cities have double names. One is French and one is Dutch. Here are a few examples:

• Antwerpen/Anvers (Flanders)
• Gent/Gand (Flanders)
• Luik/Liège (Wallonia)
• Brugge/Bruges (Flanders)
• Namen/Namur (Wallonia)
• Leuven/Louvain (Flanders)
• Bergen/Mons (Wallonia)
• Mechelen/Malines (Flanders)
• Aalst/Alost (Flanders)
• Sint-Niklaas/Saint-Nicolas (Flanders)

 

[Calliers]

Lacrosse is actually our national sport, not ice hockey as most would expect.

 

Ice hockey is the official winter sport.

[J. van Deijck]

"Ik kom uit het land waar je door heen rijdt in 3 uurtjes
Met een ander dialect elke 10 minuutjes" 🎵🎶

 

This is a quote from the song about the Netherlands, but it's true about Belgium, too. And that by itself is a cool fact

[Calliers]

Poutine (cheese curds and gravy over fries) was invented in Canada, even though you can now find it throughout North America... (it's also one of my favorite junk foods to eat from time to time).

 

[Piotrek]

@Calliers I'd like to taste poutine, even though it looks a bit unappetizing  Also, won't fries get soggy with all that gravy? 

 

I found one day, to my surprise, that my city is the home of Poland's oldest lacrosse team (and no, Poland is NOT known for its lacrosse traditions  )

 

@alsjeblieft

25. The Belgian national anthem has 3 official language versions  

[Calliers]

1 minute ago, Piotrek said:

@Calliers I'd like to taste poutine, even though it looks a bit unappetizing  Also, won't fries get soggy with all that gravy? 

 

I found one day, to my surprise, that my city is the home of Poland's oldest lacrosse team (and no, Poland is NOT known for its lacrosse traditions  )

 

@alsjeblieft

25. The Belgian national anthem has 3 official language versions  

LOL! Yeah the fries get soggy but it still goes down... pretty good!

 

 

[J. van Deijck]

11 minutes ago, Piotrek said:

25. The Belgian national anthem has 3 official language versions  

YES!! That's a very important fact

[Piotrek]

OK, let me now post my favourite Polish street-food/junk-food.

Meet zapiekanka

 

 

The simplest variant I've had had cheese, mushrooms and ketchup (all of which I can see here, but this one also seems to have mustard (?) and I have no idea what this thing spinkled on top is). They seem to have become less common where I live, though. One of those days I have to buy one. Yummy  

[Calliers]

3 minutes ago, Piotrek said:

OK, let me now post my favourite Polish street-food/junk-food.

Meet zapiekanka

 

 

The simplest variant I've had had cheese, mushrooms and ketchup (all of which I can see here, but this one also seems to have mustard (?) and I have no idea what this thing spinkled on top is). They seem to have become less common where I live, though. One of those days I have to buy one. Yummy  

Now that looks delish!

 

Is it like a type of straight pizza or something? I absolutely looove mushrooms. What would make it perfect is if it had anchovies on it! 

[Piotrek]

@Calliers It's a toasted baguette cut in half lenghtways. An yes, mushrooms are good  

 

Also, mushroom-picking is actually a well-established tradition in Poland.

[Calliers]

@PiotrekOne day when I visit @alsjeblieftI will make a detour and pass through Poland and you'll have to introduce me to this awesome food.

[J. van Deijck]

Want more?

 

1. Together with Washington D.C., the capital of Brussels has the highest number of diplomats and foreign press correspondents in the world.
2. Belgium is the country with the most castles per square kilometer in the world.
3. The very first international football game was played in Brussels in 1904.
4. In 1990, the Belgian king Baudouin was dethroned for 36 hours. He was against the abortion law that the government wanted to pass, so they dethroned him, signed the law and made him king again.
5. Education is compulsory here until you're 18 years old. As well as in some other European countries (still, it didn't stop my spouse from dropping off at the age of 15, how on earth did he do it even )
6. Aside from Spain, Belgium is the only country in the world to have two living kings.
7. Antwerp is the world's diamond capital. (oh well, that's explains why they're so cocky lol)
8. Brussels International Airport is the world's largest chocolate selling point.
9. The Belgian coastal tram is the longest tram line in the world, being 68 km long. It opened in 1885 and operates between De Panne and Knokke-Heist, which is from the French border to the Dutch border.
10. Belgium had the first openly gay Prime Minister in Europe.
11. Belgium has the lowest salary gap between men and women in the EU.
12. The first stock exchange building was built in Bruges.
13. The music tape was invented by the Belgian department of Philips in Hasselt in 1963.
14. New York City was founded by the Belgian.
15. Belgium was the first country in the world to ban cluster bombs.
16. Belgium was the first country in the world to issue electronic passports complying with the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and, along with Italy, was the first to issue electronic ID cards in March 2003. (I have mentioned it already, our identity cards have a chip)
17. Belgium is one of the few countries in the world with compulsory voting. (wait, I think I've mentioned it already)
18. Brussels sprouts have been grown in Belgium for over 400 years.

[Calliers]

1 minute ago, alsjeblieft said:

Want more?

 

1. New York City was founded by the Belgian.

This one is interesting because Canada was claimed by an Italian for England.

[Piotrek]

4 minutes ago, alsjeblieft said:

The very first international football game was played in Brussels in 1904

Actually, Argentina played Uruguay in 1902. 

Also, interesting thing about the castles. I would never have guessed. It's not like Belgian castles are widely known abroad.

[J. van Deijck]

21 minutes ago, Piotrek said:

and I have no idea what this thing spinkled on top is

Isn't it fried onions maybe? and yeah, the Polish zapiekanka is one of the best things there

 

3 minutes ago, Piotrek said:

Actually, Argentina played Uruguay in 1902. 

Oops my bad

[Piotrek]

5 minutes ago, alsjeblieft said:

Isn't it fried onions maybe?

Yeah, this occurred to me too after I posted.

 

18 minutes ago, Calliers said:

@PiotrekOne day when I visit @alsjeblieftI will make a detour and pass through Poland and you'll have to introduce me to this awesome food.

You're the second AVENite that I know of that wants to visit Poland for culinary reasons (assuming @Muledeer still craves bigos  )

[J. van Deijck]

1 minute ago, Piotrek said:

assuming @Muledeer still craves bigos  )

Ooooh they do? that makes things interesting Polish cuisine is awesome.

[Calliers]

I bet most Americans think of America as more powerful than Canada, and when it comes to military might this is true, but in nature, I think things are different.

 

For example, the most powerful part of the Niagara Falls is in Canada.