hello my friends, here is a new thread about the
(five characteristics you like about your country and the other five you do not)
i will start that,
i like the generosity, the helpfulness, the hospitality, the simplicity, and the strong good family ties in my society
i do not like the laziness of many people, the dependency on other nations, the misuse of authority, to be ruled by one president for all his life(more than 30 years), bribe corruption and extortion of public wealth………………… lots of other things

Great topic Abdul! :)

Things I like about my country (Romania, Europe):

1). The landscapes. Mountains, hills, plains, seaside…. we have very varied and beautiful places in this country!

2). The cuisine. Yummy, but not very healthy (our traditional plates do use a lot of fat meat, but hey, from time to time….)

3). The history – apart from Vlad the Impaler (a.k.a. Dracula), we do have some great national heroes that honour our past…..

4). The kindness of most people – we like to be proud of our hospitality….

5). We have free higher education! The state pays for the education of the best students! It’s true, we only have one Romanian university that entered the world top 500 (I happen to study there), but standards are still high and it’s great to be able to not pay anything for your training! :)

Things I don’t like about Romania:

1). The political system – 20 years after we got rid of the communist regime, we still haven’t managed to establish an efficient democracy…. :(

2). The economy – well, it’s stuggling, but we still have a long way to go to reach a level close to that of our fellow EU countries….

3). Contemporary Romanian pop culture and show bizz – with certain exceptions, bleah!

4). The many newly-rich people that you can find everywhere, exhibiting their lack of education, bad manners and the fortunes they made with illegal business….

5). Our general tendency to copy other nations – this is not necessarily a bad thing, but the problem is we only copy the outside appearance of the good things we import, the essance is left as it was….

How about you guys?

Things I like about Portugal:
1) the climate;
2) the cuisine;
3) the history;
4) the longevity has a nation;
5) the landscapes.
Things I dislike about Portugal:
1) our pessimism;
2) the economy;
3) the belief that’s better elsewhere;
4) the corruption;
5) the isolation.

Things I like about Brazil
1. The Climate, well here at São Paulo it’s never too hot or cold, we don’t have earthquakes or any bigger natural disaster (except an occasional flooding)
2. The Culture, all of it. Music, Literature, our historic culture, you name it, it’s good and I like it.
3. The “normal” people, allways with a smile even in the worst of times, trying to help
4. The nature, the Rain forest (Amazonia) it’s just one of the marvelous things about here, we have Pantanal, the Chapada dos Viadeiros, Fernando de Noronha….
5. The “brazilian way” – Jeitinho Brasileiro, we allways manage a way to get things done.

Things I dont like
1. The wealth distribution, the riches are getting richer, and the poor….
2. The old * politicians*, after the dictatorship the same guys are still running the country
3. The violence, we are not in a war, but more people were killed by a guns here then there were in Iraq or Afeganistan, I’m not kidding
4. The corruption, it’s all over the place, the people don’t pay the taxes, and the politicians allways manage a way to steal money
5. The brazilian way – Jeitinho Brasileiro, the bad thing is that we never try to do things the “right” way.

great Sandra, very similar situation to most of the third world countries
to Pedro and Paula, one day i would love to see Brazil and especially the amazon area

United States pros:
1. Bush is out of office…. for good.
2. Our film industry is pretty great.
3. The abundant availability of international (mostly Americanized, but international, nonetheless) cuisine is a plus.
4. We’re a democracy…. if that counts for anything.
5. Although they can get pricey, college courses are almost limitless.

United States cons:
1. EXPENSIVE health care
2. Lack of concern for other countries
3. Crappy economy right now
4. Unhealthy eaters—I suppose the recession isn’t helping.
5. Pompous political figures who force their beliefs of United States superiority onto other countries. I just don’t understand how a few “advantages” our country has can dictate what it stands for.

@Pedro:

"1. The wealth distribution, the riches are getting richer, and the poor…. "

The United States constantly deals with the same problem. This is where I wouldn’t mind a little bit of communism. I mean, I understand there are people who have paid/are paying pretty well for their degrees to become successful, but I also think there should be a median. A lot of wealth/poverty circumstances are pretty ridiculous, even though a good handful are deserved.

great Lauren, i agree with most of what you have said, i am happy bush is gone for ever, i adore democracy (give me liberty and freedom of speech or give me death, i literally believe it). yes, American education is the best in the world. America is an excellent example for any democratic civilized society to follow.

Canada pros:

1. The universal FREE health care system
2. The Spring season
3. The French and English cultures (even if they often collide)
4. The open-mindness and tolerance
5. The general wealth

Canada cons:

1. The Winter season (lasts much too long!)
2. The Federal Government’s refusal to withdraw its soldiers from Afghanistan
3. Our politicians’ lack of “backbone”
4. The invasion of junk food
5. I can’t find a 5th one…. I guess I live in a great country! :)

no comment lyne, great

Hong Kong pros:

1. We’re a big, bustling lively city! Malls open till 11pm and lots of nightlife in general.
   
2. We have great cuisine – a huge variety and it usually tastes close to what it would taste like were you to have it in the country of origin.
   
3. Mild winters. (10C~ is usually the lowest it gets. Although it feels colder when you’ve grown accustomed to the temperature. Actually, 10C~ warrants a ‘Cold Temperature Warning’. Funny.)
   
4. An excellent public transport system. It’s cheap, fast and gets you everywhere.
   
5. Easily accessible street food! If you ever have the chance to visit Hong Kong, you’ll find that down every street there will at least be either i) a bakery (HK-style bread is the best, btw. Pineappke buns in particular.) ii) a convenience store iii) a snack shop (takoyaki and bubbletea have become the newest craze, but the more traditional HK-street snacks are always popular and available, such as Gai Daan Jai (lit: little eggs), Curly Fish Balls, 砵仔糕 (sorry, no clue how to translate, but it’s a dough-y cake with red beans in it.))

Hong Kong cons:

1. Hot, humid and disgusting during the summer, complete with mosquitoes. Yuck.
   
2. Our public education system is a stress-cooker. The typical student spends everyday either i) studying to maintain good grades/be the top of the class ii) doing extracurricular activities (as it generally accepted that you must be doing at least three, I think at some point my brother was playing badminton, basketball, rowing and doing Olympiad maths all at the same time) iii) having tutoring sessions to maintain good grades/be the top of the class. Stress! (There’s also a huge number of other defects with the system but I won’t mention them here. :B)
   
3. A general narrow-mindedness of the people.
   
4. Our pop culture is terribly shallow. None of our singers or actors can really sing or act! (They tend to be pretty to look at though.)
   
5. Environmentally-unfriendly. Limited recycling, huge plastic bags consumption, air conditioning everywhere. It’s gotten a little bit better in recent years though.

   edit: i am verbose. :I

   posted 9 months ago

Lauren, I agree with you! Yay no more Bush! BUt the question is weather or not Obama will make it better or make it worse….. :D

dislikes
1. florida’s heat
2. holywood sucks
3. our drama’s and most tv sucks
4. nobody ever comes outside to play, everybodys inside being a couch potato
5. our weight problem in the US

likes
1. there are alot of people from different nations and cultures and backgrounds that come together
2. there is place for openmindness
3. lots of people like the US and want to come here
4. occasions when you can be proud to be an american, oh and the holidays and government assitance.