Where are you from?

[RyanNope]

Tell us where your from, a little history of your town, county, state or country that maybe others don't know.

I'm from Columbus, MS. It was used as a hospital town during the Civil War. Many of the casualties from the Battle of Shiloh were brought here, and thousands were buried in the town's Friendship Cemetery.

The US Federal Holiday, Memorial day is said to have started here on May 29, 1886 following the Civil War. A group of women got together to decorate the Union and Confederate graves with flowers.

[linkman8]

Cool history facts, there.
I live in a small town in Wisconsin, but I won't tell you which one. :P Here, there's really no historical significance, and it's really not all that exciting. Sometimes I call it a "bump on the highway." And needless to say, it's in the US.

[serotonin_wraith]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cwmbran

I'm in Cwmbran, South Wales, UK.
I like it here because I'm not too far from whatever I fancy.
The town centre is undercover and vehicle-free. Half hour away is the capital city of Wales, an hour away you're at the beach, and 10 minutes in the other direction you're up in the middle of the hills with no humans around at all.

[Cartoons]

I'm from Medina, Ohio like the site staff page says. Something about where I live... Well, there are some large companies found only here like Westfield Group and the AI Root candle factory. I work at a candy factory which ships all across the United States. That's all I'm saying.

P.S. RyanNope, thank you for creating a topic. It might encourage other Hylian Heroes, Webmasters, or others of higher groups to create a few too.

[Bahamut]

I reside in a small town in the US. I can't think of anything for history in this tiny little town, but the school district here covers three towns including mine. That's how unimaginably small the area I live in is.

[linkman8]

I know the feeling, Bahamut, our school covers two to three small towns as well. Our school has about 500 or so kids. The only thing that's really happened to our school before is that one time my fourth grade teacher won the Golden Apple Award. That's about it.

[silent lion]

Well, living 'round the corner from SW, I guess all I have to say is this...

I'm in Cwmbran, South Wales, UK.
I like it here because I'm not too far from whatever I fancy.
The town centre is undercover and vehicle-free. Half hour away is the capital city of Wales, an hour away you're at the beach, and 10 minutes in the other direction you're up in the middle of the hills with no humans around at all.

It's not a bad old place at all.

[xandar]

I live in Colorado in a larger city called Arvada. We had craploads of KKK activity in the twenties. Arvada has a whole lot of history, actually. I work a few blocks away from where gold was first found in Colorado which is kind of neat. If you go around the center of town, you have all sorts of buildings that range from twenty to a hundred twenty years old. My place of employment is an old house, even. I think a hundred or so. Something like that. Anyways, it's old.

[linkman8]

Isn't Arvada a city right near Denver, Colorado? If I'm not mistaken...

[Rheks]

Well I'm from England UK I dont really know much about Bradfords history but It's a nice place to leave.

[silent lion]

My place of employment is an old house, even. I think a hundred or so. Something like that. Anyways, it's old.

America's a very new place.

There's a church 'round the corner from my school that's a thousand years old :P so there

... Bradford...

I've never been any further north than Birmingham. I should, I wanna see that part of the UK.

[linkman8]

Xandar, I just saw the news, and they said there was some sort of shooting in Arvada, Colorado. What happened there?

[silent lion]

Maybe he fired something out of his bagpipes lol

A shooting? There's shootings everywhere all the time. Must've been something worse than usual to make it to the news.

[linkman8]

Check it out on CNN.com, I think it's like the top news article. I was standing in the kitchen waiting for the bus to come this morning, and they said there was a shooting, so I looked at the TV, and they said Arvada, Colorado. Needless to say, I came immediately on here.

[Onilink89]

let see, i live in holland/the netherlands in the city rotteram, its a super small country. there are too many paperwork if you live in holland and there is too many freedom.

lets see about history, ow yeah if i remember correctly they wanted to claim indonesia, well they claimed it but it did not last forever. anyway the city rotterdam, that was the only city in holland that was completly devastaded by adolf hitler during the second world war. so there isn't old monuments in rotterdam.

[linkman8]

Aw, I wish I lived near anything even remotely historically important. I live in a frozen forest up here... I think it would be cool living over in Europe.
Oh, and something else I've been curious about. What are the driving and drinking ages where you, who live in Europe, are? I heard the Drinking age in Germany is 16, while the driving age is 18. In America, it's Drinking: 21 Driving: 16.

[Onilink89]

here it is:
Driving: 18
Drinking: 16
Smoking: 16
Weed: 18

[linkman8]

So Holland is just like Germany.
Does what you said mean that drugs are legalized in Holland?

[silent lion]

If Xandar doesn't post here by Friday I'll start getting worried...

The ages in UK:

Drinking: 18
Smoking: 16
Driving: 17
Weed: ~ lol

[Onilink89]

So Holland is just like Germany.
Does what you said mean that drugs are legalized in Holland?


yes softdrugs is legal, weed, hasj, even mushrooms(the not health ones). the most coffeeshops not a shop to buy and drink coffee) are in amsterdam. lets just say the goverment profiting huge from this.

anyway one other annoying thing in holland is taxes.
for every product you buy in a store it has a 21% (at least) tax on it.

[linkman8]

I don't really believe in the illegal drugs, so I'm happy that America banned them.
A 21% tax on all items? That's crazy! That would make the cheapest of items expensive, while more expensive items would be outrageous. It's all around 5% or something like that here.

[Abyss Master]

I am from Norway, which lies in Northern Europe for those who doesn't know. I wouldn't live any other place. Well... maybe New Zealand :P

[linkman8]

Norway, huh? That's where my mom's family line goes back to, while the rest of my family lines go back to Germany and Britain.
Like I said before, I think it would be so cool living in Europe...

[silent lion]

Yeah... lol

You ever come to UK, I will track you down and... say hi.

[linkman8]

The UK is one of the three places I want to go to before I die. The others are Germany and Japan.
SL, I would totally go to UK to seek you out, and when I've found you, I'll.... say hi. lol

[-The Person-]

I from Ontario, Canada. It's pretty laid-back here, but I like it.

[silent lion]

The UK is one of the three places I want to go to before I die. The others are Germany and Japan.
SL, I would totally go to UK to seek you out, and when I've found you, I'll.... say hi. lol


Japan and Canda are two of the places I want to go before I die. So, Person, watch out lol cool name btw

I was thinking of maybe actually moving to Japan at some point in the future. Well Linkman, if you ever do come, let me know ^^

[linkman8]

Right, I will.
And, uh, Xandar hasn't replied yet, I'm getting worried about him. O.o
Oh, and I might upload a picture displaying what our area kind of looks like. If I can find one.

[silent lion]

Google Earth, my friend =]

The probability that Xandar was involved is neglegable. He's fine.

But... I get paranoid about friends too.

[linkman8]

Well, I meant I was going to take a picture of the area around my house, but I can't seem to do it. Once I get one, I'll try to get it up.

[Cartoons]

The probability that Xandar was involved is neglegable. He's fine.


He's dead.

[linkman8]

He is not. I'd be too sad if he was.

[RyanNope]

Aren't you guys getting a little off topic?

I plan on moving to Japan after college in about 3 years to seek a career as an Electritian.

[Xizor]

Orange County, California. It's not a part of Los Angeles, hence why it's its own county. Haha. I've lived here my entire life, but I've traveled a fair bit.

[linkman8]

Basically what sums up our area the most is the fact that we have:
9 inches of snow, and expecting more.
Millions of trees.
Population of 500.

That pretty much sums up our area. :lol:

[silent lion]

The probability that Xandar was involved is neglegable. He's fine.


He's dead.


lmao
Mr. Chillax for a reason huh?

EDIT: Yay, Xandar's alive lol

[Smitie]

i live in the netherlands like onilink, but not in rotterdam. I live in a small town in Noord-Brabant. I like living in holland except the public transport which is the worst in europe (too small trains every morning)

[BlueLink57]

I live in the east coast of USA, in the middle of the nation's capital, DC.

[linkman8]

This question is directly at those of you who live in the Netherlands. Is it true that you have to learn fluent Dutch to be allowed there? That's what I heard.

[Onilink89]

This question is directly at those of you who live in the Netherlands. Is it true that you have to learn fluent Dutch to be allowed there? That's what I heard.


i can explain it, i study law and order here.
well most of the part you are correct.
hopefully i can explain it in english. so no complaining if i make mistakes :P

the goverment is still debating over it. because the reason is there are too many outsiders that don 't even know the language even when the goverment is offering to learn it without any cost.

most of the ZD members knows i'm turkisch, i'm not dutch. i'm born in holland so i got a passpoort and ID of holland. my family came here a long time ago when holland was short of workers. most of my family didn 't even bother to learn the language and personnaly it pisses me off. they only complain and rely 2 much on the goverment, at least my mom learned the language and got a good job.

the second main reason is there is a system called "sociale zekerheid"to translate it litterly it means "social certainty"
the system goes like this, when you got no job the goverment tries to help you to find you a fitting job, meanwhile the goverment gives you a minimum amount of money to live on (of course every family is different but there is a formula for that, too complacated to explain)

for example:
there is also a law if you got fired against your will and your boss fired you without a decent reason you get the WW. in other word it means, if you worked for the past 36 weeks and you did you job 26 weeks in tha last 36 weeks, you get 75% of you last paycheck. you only recieve it like 3 months until you found a job. there are many laws like this just to help the people that they have the primary needs. and of course those people rely 2 much on that. holland spend tons of money just to help this kind of people and its getting strict. holland isn 't that rich.

so in other words, the goverment is trying to help people to get a job and even offers money in the meantime. but most of the people abuse it and thats why it became strict. i mean how can you get a job here if you don 't know the language.
like 50% of holland is only dutch people, the other 50% are people from:
turkkey
marroko
chinese
indonesia
suriname
ect... you can go on like that forever, its like one culture mix.
and of course that also gives conflict.

and the goverment is like "enough, if you are living in this country you at least have to adjust yourself to our rules, we are helping so much just to help people to have a good life and you abuse it. from now on there are some strict rules and demands before we are willing to help you, if you don't co-operate then the coverment won 't help you"
LOL GET MY POINT?



but people that come from USA or England, that have to do their job here doesn 't have to know the dutch language. in holland, english is like a second language, in every school you have to teach english. but of course there are many people who suck in english here.

[Smitie]

I can't explain it better ;). but don't worry, if you are a tourist you don't have to know Dutch to come here

[linkman8]

Ah, I see now. Thank you for that explanation. I'd been curious for a while, so I thought I'd ask.
English is like a second language to Holland, huh? I'd kind of figured, I mean you two speak English pretty well.

[Alder Dragon]

I'm from Pennsylvania, nothing really special about my whereabouts. I've been here all my life, living in the same house, with the same people. I'm an only-child as well.

[linkman8]

I have four siblings in my family. That's right. Five kids in our family. Well, I'm not a kid, I'm a teenager. :)

[BlueLink57]

1 kid, err pre-teen in my family

[silent lion]

I don't see why people would complain so much about having to learn languages. An opportunity to learn a new language is worthwhile anyway, and if you're living in the country of the language then there's no excuse not to learn it.

I have three half-brothers. One of them some of you might remember as seretonin_wraith, he's a bit closed off to most people but we're very close. I have another one who lives in Cyprus and another who lives on the dole near where I live.

[BlueLink57]

its wasnt hard to learn my first language, when i was a baby my mom taught me turkish.

[linkman8]

I don't see why people would complain so much about having to learn languages. An opportunity to learn a new language is worthwhile anyway, and if you're living in the country of the language then there's no excuse not to learn it.


To be honest, I'd totally embrace the challenge of learning a new language when going to another country. As of now, I'm trying to learn German and Japanese. No reason, really, but it could come in handy.

[BlueLink57]

I don't see why people would complain so much about having to learn languages. An opportunity to learn a new language is worthwhile anyway, and if you're living in the country of the language then there's no excuse not to learn it.


To be honest, I'd totally embrace the challenge of learning a new language when going to another country. As of now, I'm trying to learn German and Japanese. No reason, really, but it could come in handy.


Now I'm trying to learn French.

[Onilink89]

i totally sucked in german and french back in high school. and about japanese, well i can understand it (most of the part) but thats because i watched too many anime with english subtitles.

the way i learned english was first all thnx to cartoon network when i was little, back in the old times they were english with dutch subtitles here. later it became ducth dubbed (man that sucked) and then cartoonnetwork became digital, so its not on the local channels anymore here.

and when i registerd in ZD in the past, never would i have guessed that i would register on a english forum. (well english forum american forum whathever you call it, we speak english here right?) it tottaly improved my english grammar (well sometimes i still suck but i don 't mind).

[Smitie]

i can only speak dutch and english. the four years i had to learn french and german didn't help a lot (i only know about twenty words:dry:)
it maybe sounds weird, but the way i learned english was because of all the videogames with english text and english talking i played during the years. and of course this forum improved my english grammar a lot^^

[linkman8]

Cool, so that means, through several accounts, that this forum actually helps people speak English. That's interesting. :lol:

[BlueLink57]

what teachers would call an "educational forum"

[zeypherlink]

I was born in Texas...but then when I was 2 months old we moved to Colorado...and here I am :D

[silent lion]

^ I'll have to see America some day.

It's intruiging to know what sounds other people worldwide have decided to use to refer to things.

And yay to this forum! Yeah, you in particular Oni, I remember the day when all your posts looked like they'd been through a crappy free online translator. Now half the time you make more sense than I do. Not that that's hard, but still.

[linkman8]

I have another question, this is for those of you in the UK.
What kind of sports do you watch in the UK? I've never been a big fan of sports, but I'm curious.

[BlueLink57]

i know cricket is 1

[zeypherlink]

They like Cricket and Rugby.

[silent lion]

It depends. There's a complex jigsaw of different cultures in the UK, there's not a lot of unity. In Wales where I live, Rugby's a big one as far as sports go. Over most of UK, especially England, football's huge as well (soccer, not American football). Cricket's more of a South Engand thing. Horse racing's quite big as well, but it has more of a cult following than being mainstream. The only other major sport is snooker.

Games you might be familiar with like American football and baseball are practically non-existant over here. Myself I don't tend to watch a lot of sport anyway.

Hope that helps.

[linkman8]

That helps alot, thanks. :)
And I know what you mean when you say you're not into sports, I'm not either.

[Lenora Dragon]

Sadly, a dinky little town in Pennsylvania. I'd gladly leave, and I'm hoping I can someday.

[silent lion]

If you want to leave you will, if you're 16 already it won't be too long.

[Kybyrian]

Some place in Indiana. Out in the country I guess you could call it.

[linkman8]

I'm moving to a new house about 7-9 miles away that is literally in the middle of scenice nowhere. It's like in a field in the middle of the woods on a back road 10 miles from civilization.

[Rheks]

England! United Kingdom, It's awesome where I live I guess, It's quite cold here currently infact we had a little bit of snow yesterday. Yay. ;D

[Brooklyn]

Born in Alabama then moved to Indiana and I am now stuck in the Southwest Corner of Tennessee, The place of which snow can't fall >:(

[linkman8]

Ah don't feel bad that you don't get any snow. You could be like me and get snow AND -30 degree weather.

[Lenora Dragon]

Chances are I will leave when I can. I hope to go to college, so that'll get me away for a while.

[silent lion]

England! United Kingdom, It's awesome where I live I guess, It's quite cold here currently infact we had a little bit of snow yesterday. Yay. ;D

Dam ye, we were one of the only places in the UK not to get hit by any snow at all :( Oh well at least I didn't freeze this year.

Chances are I will leave when I can. I hope to go to college, so that'll get me away for a while.

What are you thinking of studying?

[Lenora Dragon]

Computer Science, Video Game Design, not 100% sure on anything yet though. :D

[Link-san]

I'm from Izmir, Turkey. Belive it.

[silent lion]

Cool place, Turkey. For tourists, anyway, I don't know what it's like to live there.

computer technology, game design...
Cool. Kind of thing I wish I could do.

[small link]

I come from pleasant Hill Ohio. it's a small little town out in the middle of nowhere, ummm yah it used to be like four cities combined but now the only thing there is the school a gas station and a pizza place.

i live in troy now (except on weekends i still live in pleasant Hill)

[linkman8]

Basically where I live is just like the Pleasant Hill place you described, except minus the pizza place. And it only has like 500 people. :)

[silent lion]

Basically where I live is just like the Pleasant Hill place you described, except minus the pizza place. And it only has like 500 people. :)

Where would we be without games, the internet and beer?

[linkman8]

So true. :D

Oh, and by the way, I looked on Google Maps and found Cwmbran in Wales. Nice sized town.

[silent lion]

Hollybush to be precise :)

I like it here. There's some beautiful green areas around the corner from us, if you like that kind of thing. And stupidly good views from the mountain next to us. If you like that kind of thing.

Great thing Google Map. If you like that kind of thing. One fault I found though was that it doesn't always give you road directions when you try and get them. It couldn't direct me to the South Pole via road, for example. Then again, why would you want to go there? Unless you like that kind of thing.

[Smitie]

my town isn't very large (search for Hoeven on google maps), but when i read some of the post it seems like most of the americans here live in the middle of nowhere. In holland it is almost impossible to live in the middle of nowhere, the next town or city is just 5 miles away.

[linkman8]

but when i read some of the post it seems like most of the americans here live in the middle of nowhere. In holland it is almost impossible to live in the middle of nowhere, the next town or city is just 5 miles away.
A couple states are like that, mostly over on the east side, but most states are pretty sparse when it comes to huge cities. Of course, we've got a lot of states that are bigger than some European countries.

[silent lion]

Texas is bigger than every European country.

[Smitie]

Texas is bigger than every European country.

Bigger isn't always better ;)

I know most states are bigger than where I live and have less people per square mile, but it caught my eye that almost every american here lives in a small town.

[linkman8]

'Cuz we'z is all cuntry boys.
No, just kidding. No offense meant to anyone. ;)
Now that I think about it though, Wisconsin is about the size as a few countries over in Europe. How does it compare to the size of the Netherlands?

[silent lion]

Bigger isn't always better ;).

Indeed :)

I want to see the netherlands...

[Smitie]

'Cuz we'z is all cuntry boys.
No, just kidding. No offense meant to anyone. ;)
Now that I think about it though, Wisconsin is about the size as a few countries over in Europe. How does it compare to the size of the Netherlands?

I looked it up and Wisconsin is 169.790 km² and the Netherlands 41.528 km², so Wisconsin is about 4 times larger.

And your welcome to visit Holland SL, if you want a place to stay give me a call ;)

[firebunnies123]

I feel like an outsider. I live in new jersey which as pretty much all large towns. Where I live is next to a farm though. Kind of ironic huh? I can't think of many historical or important things about nj though. Its a boring place.

[Onilink89]

i'm happy that holland is small.
its easy to get everywhere.

and it has one major advantage
why do you think in holland there is social certainty(don 't know how to call it in english).
because the country can afford it. and why can holland afford it?
because the country is small and got less people.
ok the economie isn 't always good but at least every law is well balanced and you can never become poor and live on the streets lol.

[silent lion]

The Netherlands have been one of the best places to live in Europe for centuries. I'm doing 15-17th century history in school, and it was the most advanced place back then as well. Dam you guys!

We still have the Magna Carta :cool:

And your welcome to visit Holland SL, if you want a place to stay give me a call ;)

Hmm..... *starts saving*

[linkman8]

We still have the Magna Carta :cool:

Hey, I just learned about that in history class! Talk about coincidental.

I would love to vacation to the UK or to the Netherlands. Somewhere outside of the USA. And Canada. Ok, out of North America in general.

Wisconsin is 4 times greater than the Netherlands? And I thought we were a small state. :D

[Onilink89]

well england did a good thing to not participate with the euro
because most of the europe countries economie went down.

but i can 't understand 1 thing about enlish people.
how can they drive a car when the steering wheel is on the right side?
its impossible for me.

one time on the high way. there was a dude sleeping on the left side.
so i was like "OMG that man fell asleep, he 's gonna die!, and we are driving next to it, no he will hit us..."

later i noticed it was a car from england.

[linkman8]

You drive on the right in the Netherlands? I didn't know that, I thought all places in Europe and Asia drove on the left.

[Mehplep]

Hah, as I know it, Great Britain is the only place in Europe with right-traffic.

[Onilink89]

You drive on the right in the Netherlands? I didn't know that, I thought all places in Europe and Asia drove on the left.

no we also drive on the left side.
i don 't know how an english car came here in holland but it was a rare sight.
read my post carefully :)

[Smitie]

no we also drive on the left side.
i don 't know how an english car came here in holland but it was a rare sight.
read my post carefully :)

we don't drive on the left side. when we drive in a car we sit on the left side. A fun thing is that the English call it the wrong side of the road, because we drive on the right, but right means also good :)

I have driving lessons now. It's quite hard to steer and to change gear and watch out for traffic at the same time.

[linkman8]

no we also drive on the left side.
i don 't know how an english car came here in holland but it was a rare sight.
read my post carefully :)
Oh, my bad. I got confused.

I'm taking driving lessons right now as well, and I hope to get my driver's license on May 22, 2 days after my 16th birthday.

[Smitie]

Oh, my bad. I got confused.

I'm taking driving lessons right now as well, and I hope to get my driver's license on May 22, 2 days after my 16th birthday.

I have my driving exam on May 16, but I had to wait till my 18th birthday :(

[linkman8]

Oh right, I forgot that in some countries you have to be 18 to drive. We get to drive here at 16, but we don't get to legally drink alcohol until 21. To be honest though, I'm not sure where I'd go when I do get my license, considering I'm in the middle of nowhere.

[Onilink89]

Oh right, I forgot that in some countries you have to be 18 to drive. We get to drive here at 16, but we don't get to legally drink alcohol until 21. To be honest though, I'm not sure where I'd go when I do get my license, considering I'm in the middle of nowhere.

hahahahahaha, sorry that had to come out...
ok so you guys can get your drivers licence on 16 but legaly you can 't drink until you are 21. thats sounds really unlogical to me. :)

here in holland it goes like this:
smoking - 16
alcohol - 16
weed - 18
drivers licence - 18

[linkman8]

ok so you guys can get your drivers licence on 16 but legaly you can 't drink until you are 21. thats sounds really unlogical to me. :)

Tell me about it. It doesn't make any sense for people to be able to drive at 16 and fight in Iraq at 18, but you can't drink until 21. Holland's pretty much got it right, minus the weed.

[Avenged]

Minus the weed? Alcohol is worse for you than weed. And huh...

Left is right, right is wrong.

Im from a certain place called Calatia.

[zeypherlink]

Minus the weed? Alcohol is worse for you than weed. And huh...

Left is right, right is wrong.

Im from a certain place called Calatia.
orly! I'm pretty sure weed is worse than alcohol ;)
I may be wrong though.

I hail from a place called Colorado, in the US region.

[Avenged]

You can't overdose and die from smoking marijuana.

[Mehplep]

Guys, this is going pretty Off-Topic. The thread was about witch country you where from, now were discussing witch of drugs and alcohol are worst... Make a new thread if you want to clear it out.

[Onilink89]

no actually avenged is right, alcohol is worse then weed.
just cause weed is "softdrugs" doesn 't mean that its so lethal or something.

in fact smoking is also worse then weed.
with smoking your own body actually wants nicotine, with weed its not like that. but there are some people who smoke weed everyday just to run from reality. so you can call it mentally addiction in stead of phisical addiction.
and alcohol, being drunk is much worse and dangerous then being high.

but back on topic:
so we may have legaly weed, but USA, if i'm not mistaken has legaly guns.
so what age can you buy a gun there?

[silent lion]

Linkman wants to go to the Netherlands too? Smitie, how big's your house? j/k

I'll be getting my own place soon, so that's a place to stay in the UK for anyone too.

the driving age here is 17, which is a little strange. Smoking's 16, alcohol's 18 (should be the other way around methinks, there is no passive drinking), marriage is 16, guns are... never, weed is illegal too. Although they're right, normal smoking is worse. What else is there? I think that's about it...

[linkman8]

Compared to European countries, 21 for alcohol seems pretty outrageous. I wonder why they raised it so high. They probably did so after the Prohibition period in America.

[Mehplep]

Compared to European countries, 21 for alcohol seems pretty outrageous. I wonder why they raised it so high. They probably did so after the Prohibition period in America.

In Sweden, it's 21 for alcohol. You can drink alcohol in bars from 18, but you can't buy it elsewhere until you're 21.

[Smitie]

In Sweden, it's 21 for alcohol. You can drink alcohol in bars from 18, but you can't buy it elsewhere until you're 21.

I heard alcohol in Sweden and Norway is very expensive compared to other countries, how much costs a beer there?

In Holland you can drink all alcoholic drinks with less than 16% alcohol in it when you're 16, but for drinks with more than 16% you have to be 18. Still i think 21 is a bit on the high side for alcohol.

[Mehplep]

I heard alcohol in Sweden and Norway is very expensive compared to other countries, how much costs a beer there?

Hah, can't really say, since I can't buy beer here yet :p But it's indeed way more expensive than other countires, many people here buy alcohol in Denmark instead.

[zeypherlink]

so we may have legaly weed, but USA, if i'm not mistaken has legaly guns.
so what age can you buy a gun there?
I think you have to be 21 years old to buy a gun here. You also have to have a gun lisence iirc.

[Onilink89]

Linkman wants to go to the Netherlands too? Smitie, how big's your house? j/k

I'll be getting my own place soon, so that's a place to stay in the UK for anyone too.

the driving age here is 17, which is a little strange. Smoking's 16, alcohol's 18 (should be the other way around methinks, there is no passive drinking), marriage is 16, guns are... never, weed is illegal too. Although they're right, normal smoking is worse. What else is there? I think that's about it...

one day i will come to england, really want to do that one time ;)
hahaha but i will be staying in a hotel or something because i don 't want to bother you :)
but give me a grand tour will ya ;) and i always wanted to go in a pub (thats how you call it right?) in england. lol, and if you want can bring some weed fo ya xD.

well i only need to figure out how to go there.
i can go with a airplane but i also heard a you can go with a bullettrain in a tunnel under the sea.

[Smitie]

Linkman wants to go to the Netherlands too? Smitie, how big's your house? j/k...

I have my own place in Nijmegen in september or so. (Well, that's what I hope ;)) I live with my parents now and I don't know if they want two people I know from a forum in their house if you know what I mean.

[linkman8]

lol I get what you mean.
If I were to go on a vacation to Netherlands or England, chances are I'd probably stay at a hotel. And chances are I'd be playing the act of a tourist, asking you to show me around to all the big places and all that. :D

[Avenged]

The drinking age is 21 because that is actually the average age for people when all the organs in the human body fully develop. Drinking before that age can be quite harmful.

[linkman8]

That makes sense. Although I wonder why the drinking age in Wisconsin and, I think, Minnesota was 18 quite a few years back.

[zeypherlink]

In my state the age you're able to have a non-sibling in the car with you if you're driving is 17, and they're trying to raise it to 21 because everybody is getting drunk and getting killed in car accidents.

[pieking]

Wesley Chapel, Florida. It is in the US and they're is no real historical significance except it runs into Zephyrhills where the spring is located for Zephyrhills spring water.

[Sitruc31]

I am from wales my nan got me into zelda when i was 3!;)

[Gunner]

:):)I was born in New Jersy but i moved to NC when i was like 2 or 3

[BetaZeldaman]

Born and raised here in the state of Louisiana :)

[Mike Pothier]

My current location is Southern California (Los Angeles county).

I was born and raised in Washington State, and grew up in Yakima Washington. Yakima is known for its apples and its wine.

[silent lion]

I am from wales my nan got me into zelda when i was 3!;)

Oh, awesome! What part? I'm from Cwmbran.

[linkman8]

Oh, I don't know if you guys in the Netherlands know who Matt Lauer is, but he hosts the Morning show here in America, and he has this thing called "Where in the world is Matt Lauer". This morning he went to Amsterdam and some places outside Amsterdam. Netherlands have a beautiful countryside.

[Smitie]

Oh, I don't know if you guys in the Netherlands know who Matt Lauer is, but he hosts the Morning show here in America, and he has this thing called "Where in the world is Matt Lauer". This morning he went to Amsterdam and some places outside Amsterdam. Netherlands have a beautiful countryside.

Matt Lauer doesn't ring a bell, but hopefully he didn't go to the tulip fields or wind mills ;).

[linkman8]

Heh heh, funny you should mention that... The tulips and wind mills were the first thing they showed us on TV. They also mentioned that the flower industry in the Netherlands were a big part of their economy.

[Smitie]

Heh heh, funny you should mention that... The tulips and wind mills were the first thing they showed us on TV. They also mentioned that the flower industry in the Netherlands were a big part of their economy.

How surpising... I don't know about the flower stuff, but I read on a site that in 2007, 6,4 million roses were exported every day.

[PrinceofDarkness]

city of Dallas, Texas in the united states.

[Onilink89]

How surpising... I don't know about the flower stuff, but I read on a site that in 2007, 6,4 million roses were exported every day.

lol the stuff about the tulips are quite funny
if i remember correctly the dutch people exported large amounts of tulips from turkey (around 1600)
now the dutch people were thinking it was food like onions or garlic.
well it is edible, there no harm eating it but much later they found out that thet were beautifull flowers.

anyway the dutch people experimented with the flowerd to create new collors.
for those who know there bioligy good, you know the process of cross fertilization (i think thats the right word for it)

there are two ways about fertilization with plants
one is with bugs like bees and the other with the wind
with the wind there is high chance that some plants cross with different types and there comes a new flower. well holland succesfully crossed tulips to create different collors.
and somehow it became a huge factor of dutch culture.

[Smitie]

lol the stuff about the tulips are quite funny
if i remember correctly the dutch people exported large amounts of tulips from turkey (around 1600)
now the dutch people were thinking it was food like onions or garlic.
well it is edible, there no harm eating it but much later they found out that thet were beautifull flowers.

anyway the dutch people experimented with the flowerd to create new collors.
for those who know there bioligy good, you know the process of cross fertilization (i think thats the right word for it)

there are two ways about fertilization with plants
one is with bugs like bees and the other with the wind
with the wind there is high chance that some plants cross with different types and there comes a new flower. well holland succesfully crossed tulips to create different collors.
and somehow it became a huge factor of dutch culture.

I can't explain it better ;)

[Seamusmaximus]

I'm from Scotland and From my experience, when most people hear about Scotland they think of kilts, bagpieps, haggis etc., which is fine, but sometimes I think it leads to people missing the smaller things about this country, that make it so unique. Oh, and am I the only one here that can speack gaelic?

[linkman8]

Oh, and am I the only one here that can speack gaelic?

I know I can't. Where does Gaelic originate, again?

[Y2K3]

Oh, and am I the only one here that can speack gaelic?I know most of my name in Gaelic, actually. And my mother knows a couple of swear words in it I think. lol

I'm from Atlantic Canada; not near the Gaelic College though.

[BlueLink57]

I know I can't. Where does Gaelic originate, again?

ireland is where it originated

[linkman8]

I figured it was somewhere around there. Majority of the names I look up on a common basis are Gaelic in origin, so I figured I'd ask where it came from.

[silent lion]

Gaelic is a form of Celtic, it shares a common root with Welsh but has long since split off. They speak a form of Gaelic on Scotland too, in some of the more remote parts.

[Seamusmaximus]

Which is why I know it. The government here are actually making a big push to reintroduce the language and most if not all of the primary/elementry schools in my area have a gaelic medium class, which works through completely surrounding you in the language, which is how I learnt it, and I'm currently taking it at my high school, as we can take it as an alternative to French/German.

[zant jr.]

my town has two names its birth name westwood and its present day form rathdrum and it use to be the county seat of my county but now its cour d' alene
:hmph:

[Smitie]

my town doesn't have a cool name. I mean what is exiting about the name Hoeven :s

[linkman8]

my town doesn't have a cool name. I mean what is exiting about the name Hoeven :s

I wish I had a town with a name like that. We have a lot of towns around here that are boring or are of Native American etymology.

[Smitie]

I wish I had a town with a name like that. We have a lot of towns around here that are boring or are of Native American etymology.

not all America's townnames are bad. 9 towns in the US have the name Holland ;)

[linkman8]

Speaking of which, here in the US, some states have really weird names for their towns sometimes. For example, I've found cities called Mars, Atlantis, etc.

[Smitie]

Speaking of which, here in the US, some states have really weird names for their towns sometimes. For example, I've found cities called Mars, Atlantis, etc.

every country has their weird names.

I have final exames now :(. I think/hope I scored good marks

[PrinceofDarkness]

Speaking of which, here in the US, some states have really weird names for their towns sometimes. For example, I've found cities called Mars, Atlantis, etc.

Yeah here in texas one of the counties is called paris and theres a city called Texas City (founders must have been really lazy).

[linkman8]

Yeah here in texas one of the counties is called paris and theres a city called Texas City (founders must have been really lazy).
Unoriginal lot , us Americans. :D
Of course I've also heard that the Canadians are very unoriginal too, because they copy everything our people have. That's what I heard, I think on the TV.

[Smitie]

Unoriginal lot , us Americans. :D
Of course I've also heard that the Canadians are very unoriginal too, because they copy everything our people have. That's what I heard, I think on the TV.

Dutch townnames are very original. I looked on google maps and I found some funny townnames. I know there is a town called Amerika, but most names of countries and cities are in the streetnames.

It's almost the EK soccer here. Every shop has orange-coloured hats and other junk and I got a free cd with the most horrible netherlands songs ;)

[Josh]

I be from Menomonee Falls Wisconsin, as you can see just about on any forum. Not that interesting of a place, kind of dwarfed by Milwaukee.

[bushnut]

Hi i am new to the forum so I thought I would post here, have been playing zelda games for a while but mostly handheld ones and my fav zelda game is both of the oracle games.
and I am from the UK

[silent lion]

Hey, nice to meet you. I'm from the UK, I used to be a regular here until my school blocked this site. Now I'm not around much, but look forward to chattin to you anyway.

Whereabouts in the UK are you? I'm from sheep land (Wales). Cwmbran to be exact.

[Smitie]

Hey, nice to meet you. I'm from the UK, I used to be a regular here until my school blocked this site. Now I'm not around much, but look forward to chattin to you anyway.

Whereabouts in the UK are you? I'm from sheep land (Wales). Cwmbran to be exact.

I thought Holland has a football match tomorrow against Wales. For some reason I hope Wales wins, i don't like the dutch team and most of the time they loose from smaller countries because they think it will be an easy match, but we'll see.

[PrinceofDarkness]

I thought Holland has a football match tomorrow against Wales. For some reason I hope Wales wins, i don't like the dutch team and most of the time they loose from smaller countries because they think it will be an easy match, but we'll see.

You mean Soccer? ;)

[linkman8]

You mean Soccer? ;)
Same sport, mate. They call it football, we call it soccer.

[Smitie]

Same sport, mate. They call it football, we call it soccer.

true, i know it's called soccer, but i thought you would understand what i meant

[silent lion]

Who knows? The Welsh team have a bit of a reputation for being... er... crap. But we'll see lol

[Onilink89]

Dutch townnames are very original. I looked on google maps and I found some funny townnames. I know there is a town called Amerika, but most names of countries and cities are in the streetnames.

It's almost the EK soccer here. Every shop has orange-coloured hats and other junk and I got a free cd with the most horrible netherlands songs ;)

personaly i think its rather annoying they started the whole orange thing a little 2 soon.

but hey, 3-0 for Holland against Italy
never expected that holland would tottaly defeat them, especialy a great team like italy.
everyone here is super happy. now lets wait how holland can handle France. lets hope for the best.

[linkman8]

I take it that Europeans really like their football. :)
Isn't France like the second-best team in Europe? But hey, if you beat Italy, you shouldn't have much problem, right?

[Avenged]

Amsterdam, a place called home.

[m00s30fst331]

Richland, WA....the only historical thing from that area is the Hanford Site...in constructing the A-Bomb. Hence why my H.S. has a mascot of the Mushroom Cloud/ The A-Bomb itself/ or a B-52.

Then again, it's another reason people ask us if we glow in the dark....:hmm:

[Avenged]

That sucks, so you got radiation poisoning eh.

[Smitie]

Woohoo, I graduated!!! (finaly) Now i can go to university

[Onilink89]

Gefeliciteerd. good going, exams arn 't easy this year.
did you say university, did you finished VWO?
so you are the smart type huh :)

[linkman8]

Woohoo, I graduated!!! (finaly) Now i can go to university
Congratulations, and well done!
I read up a bit on the VWO. Sounds tough, and quite complicated.

[Onilink89]

yeah i don 't know how the system works in USA or Canada.

but here in holland after elementry school you have 3 kind of middle school based on the score you gain on the final exam on elementry school

those 3 are:
VMBO - 4 years of education
HAVO - 5 years of education
VWO - 6 years of education

there are 2 types of high schools:
MBO - depends on the education you chose, its max 4 years, after you finished VMBO
HBO - also depends on thew education you chose, also max 4 years. after you finished HAVO or MBO

and then there is university.

you can also gain the VWO diploma in HBO in your second or third year and go strait to university

and the studend who finished MBO and they want to do HBO, can already gain it in like 2 or 3 years because they already build up lot of experience in MBO.

its really a strange system most countries i know have only one strait line in stead of multiply roads.


I'm currently in MBO, almost finished with my first year. got 2 more years to go.
i'm planning to go to HBO after i got my MBO diploma. and HBO would be 2 or 3 years for me.
i don't know if i want to do university after i finished HBO. i don 't know if i can handle that.
because university is really no piece of cake that you can 1,2,3 finished. they expected a LOT of things from you.

[silent lion]

That's pretty complicated...

Way to go Smitie! *bows* You officialy pwned school.

[linkman8]

Thanks for explaining it Oni, it makes more sense now.
Thankfully USA has a straight line type system like you said, where you really don't have many paths at all to branch off to.

[Smitie]

Thanks everybody :)

you forgot one oni, gymnasium (vwo with latin, acient greek or both). I finished gymnasium with latin
It's now party season for me, got three parties this weekend

[Onilink89]

no no no no way.
you finished gymnasium VWO. really respect for you.
its no easy goal to reach. good luck in university, but then again, i think you are smart enough to handle it.

[Smitie]

I move to Nijmegen in August, i rented a small room (8m2). And I have my driving exam tomorrow :(

[Twilight warrior]

I live in a small town in New Jersey it's nothing special really other than folklore where I live there's really nothing to say.

[linkman8]

And I have my driving exam tomorrow :(
Oh boy, I had to go through that about a month ago. Remember to stay calm and pray that you get a good driving instructor. :D I know, not funny.

[silent lion]

Oh. Not been through a driving exam myself yet, but I've heard the horror stories. Let us know how it goes

[linkman8]

It's kind of funny how those of you from Europe are saying that you're taking your driver's test at 18, and I'm 16 and already have my license. Not to make fun of anyone or anything, that's just America's laws. 'Course, you guys get to drink alcohol earlier than we do I believe.

Don't sweat the test, Smitie. I was so nervous for mine I couldn't even eat, and it turned out that there was nothing to worry about as long as you know your stuff.

[Smitie]

Woohoo I made it. I had a examinator in training and because he was in training another examinator had to go with me instead of my driving instructor. So there i was in a car driving through Roosendaal with two men i didn't know ;) poor me. Luckily I made it.

Now I have to wait a week before I can pick up my license

[linkman8]

Hey, congratulations! This is your first time testing, right? Over here, only about half of the population gets their license the first time.

[silent lion]

Same over here too.

*bows (and some complimentary pats on the back added in)*

Congrats Smitie! Enjoy (ir)responsibly lol

[hholder]

I'm in Palatka, Florida - west from St. Augustine, south from Jacksonville, east from Gainesville, north from Ocala

And I'm very happy to be here!:clap:

[Malinko]

Congrats on the driving. I'm from the mountains of West Virginia. Wild and Wonderful!!!

[Smitie]

Congrats on the driving. I'm from the mountains of West Virginia. Wild and Wonderful!!!

Thanks everybody,

I wish we had mountains here, it's completly flat in the Netherlands (exept some provinces they have hills (max 70m ;) )

[linkman8]

I wish we had mountains here, it's completly flat in the Netherlands (exept some provinces they have hills (max 70m ;) )

That's pretty much how it is here in Wisconsin too, except we have hilly country in loads of places. Other than that, we have no real mountains or anything.

[Y2K3]

Yeah, congrats on the driving as well!
There are no mountains where I'm from, but there are so many hills, your eyes will bleed.
I like hills, but this is just ridiculous. haha

[zeypherlink]

Haha, congrats.
I took my test a few months ago, but when we went to the DMV to get my permit they said we had the wrong birth certificate, so I have to retake all the tests and stuff now. It sucks.

[linkman8]

Aw man, I feel bad for you. I forgot my Social Security card when I got my license, so I almost didn't get it. I had to call my grandparents and ask them to find it. :D

[Smitie]

@zypherlink
man that's horrible. If they say that to me when I get my license tomorrow, I think I turn in a state of total aggression.
@linkman
a social security card? Is that the card you get from the insurance company if you have a social care insurance? I only have to show my passport.

[Y2K3]

I don't think I had to show anything other than my Learner's Permit. If there was anything else, it was only my Birth Certificate.
Just make sure you have your passport with you when you leave to get your licence! :P

[linkman8]

@linkman
a social security card? Is that the card you get from the insurance company if you have a social care insurance? I only have to show my passport.
I'm not sure if they have Social Security in the Netherlands or not, but here, you have to put a certain amount of your pay in Social Security for you to use when you're retired, and each person has a specific number for that account.
Basically in the USA you have to show them your Social Security number to prove it's really you, and that you're not stealing someone's identity.

[Smitie]

I get it, in the netherlands everyone has a sofi number. It's almost the same idea, but the number is not a special card, but on the passport or ID card

[silent lion]

I need a passport, I can't get served. The stupid thing is, according to the ID card UK webiste, you need a passport to get an ID. Why the hell would I need ID if I had a passport?! Meh. And on the subject of hills lol, I live in Wales. It's basically one big mountain.

There's a mountain near us called Twm Barlwm, which has stunning views. You can see for miles and miles, it's awesome.

[linkman8]

There's a mountain near us called Twm Barlwm, which has stunning views. You can see for miles and miles, it's awesome.
The Welsh language has the most interesting spelling of things. :)
The only mountain I've ever been to is Iron Mountain, Michigan. Which I'm not sure even counts as a mountain. :D

[Smitie]

The whole Netherlands doesn't have mountains at all. So every small hill is a mountain for me ;).

[silent lion]

Lucky me and my really-tiring-to-walk yet awesome mountain of a country :)

[Inflexus]

I'm from California, I know I'm kinda a new face to you all but I thought I'd throw it out there.

I don't want to be overly specific with my location yet, but as I get to know you guys I may say more.

[linkman8]

I'm from California, I know I'm kinda a new face to you all but I thought I'd throw it out there.

I don't want to be overly specific with my location yet, but as I get to know you guys I may say more.
Don't worry about withdrawing information, I won't give away any information on where I live either. (Mostly because my parents would kill me if I said anything more than Wisconsin. :D)

[Onilink89]

I need a passport, I can't get served. The stupid thing is, according to the ID card UK webiste, you need a passport to get an ID. Why the hell would I need ID if I had a passport?! Meh. And on the subject of hills lol, I live in Wales. It's basically one big mountain.

There's a mountain near us called Twm Barlwm, which has stunning views. You can see for miles and miles, it's awesome.


ow yeah, you only need 1 passport, i need two.
i have a dutch and turkisch passport.
and in turkey if a boy turns 18 they have to go to the army for a brief period of time or else they take my turkisch passport away. that sucks. uyou know why?
1. i don 't get paid, instead i have to pay
2. if i don 't do it, bye bye turkisch passport
3. if i don 't go, i'm wanted in turkey so i can 't go there anymore

[silent lion]

That really does suck. Can you declare yourself not turkish or something?

[Onilink89]

That really does suck. Can you declare yourself not turkish or something?

tecnacly, i'm born in holland so i'm by the law dutch. because my parents are turkisch, thats why i also have a turkisch passport. yes i can declare myself non-turkisch but i can 't enter turkey anymore, they would declare me as a fugitive (i think thats the word in english)

anyway, i think its just a lame excuse from turkey to gain money.
and since the euro and pounds are very valueble in turkey, they really suck you out.

you can pay 7000 euro and do you duty for one week instead of the regular two month period.

[silent lion]

So, if you're not from Turkey, you couldn't take a holiday there? Or does it just count for immigrants?

[Smitie]

Hey guys. I'm just back from Italy. Two weeks filled with sunshine, relaxing and way to much Phoenix Wright.

Anyway, that turkisch law really sucks oni. i would go though and make them sorry they forced you in the first place ;) . I don't get it anyway, it's becoming a criminal or a tourist / fugitive or spending your precious savings in a 'being a soldier for two months training'. The only one who profits from it is the govournement.

[BlueLink57]

mana, am I glad im not an all-turkish, im part turkish, on mothere side, and BTW im going there on the 28 until the 14 of Augost (My spelling is crap, i know). I actually know the language a lot.

[linkman8]

or spending your precious savings in a 'being a soldier for two months training'.
Woah woah, wait. Soldier for two months training?

[El Bagu]

I am from a small town in southwestern Sweden. It is actually a bit boring but really blooms in the summer time when the germans etc. arrives! I would really love to spend a couple of years in the US. Seems to be a very beautiful country!!

[Smitie]

Woah woah, wait. Soldier for two months training?

well, duty = serving your country. oni has to be available for the army for two months, but sending a untrained person to a war-zone is not a very clever thing to do. al least that is what i thought that law was about.

[linkman8]

I would really love to spend a couple of years in the US. Seems to be a very beautiful country!!
It is, if you know where to go. ;) I'm sure Sweden's got some nice places too.

well, duty = serving your country. oni has to be available for the army for two months, but sending a untrained person to a war-zone is not a very clever thing to do. al least that is what i thought that law was about.
So that's a Turkish thing?

[Smitie]

I finally have my new place in Nijmegen. It's small (11 m2) but it's a good place to start with. I'm a bit nervous about going to university though.

[silent lion]

University shall be bowing at your feet within a week, I've no doubt.

That's about the size of my bedsit. It is small but it's not so bad once you get used to it. Do you know any of the neighbors yet?

[Smitie]

not yet. The nice thing about my room is because I live above a aquarium store. And since I want to study biology, it's the perfect place to study fish ;).

[Twili123prince]

Im from ontario canada,to tell the truth i don't think my country has any big history Im sure there is though i just don't know yet.

[linkman8]

I'm sure everyone is watching the Olympics here?
Oh, and who watched the opening ceremonies last Friday? They were incredible, the Chinese did a nice job.

[Y2K3]

Im from ontario canada,to tell the truth i don't think my country has any big history Im sure there is though i just don't know yet.I don't know much about history, but I know we burned down the White House! haha

Oh, and I don't watch the Olympics. =P

[linkman8]

I don't know much about history, but I know we burned down the White House! haha

That was the British.

[Smitie]

I don't know much about history, but I know we burned down the White House! haha

Oh, and I don't watch the Olympics. =P

Is that all, we built New York and invented the stock exchange. ;)

I watch the Olympics sometimes (only 14 medals for the Netherlands I think)

[linkman8]

I can remember the March of the Nations in the Olympics opening ceremony. I cheered for Great Britain, Netherlands, USA, Japan, and a couple others. Don't worry, I supported everyone's country. :D

[Onilink89]

i don 't watch the Olympics very often but, i love the tae kwon do matches. i don 't know if there are tae kwon do matches this year.
anyway, i rather was more interested about the whole protest that occurd before the Oylimpics started.

[Y2K3]

That was the British.

Oh darn, you're right... I guess I lied on that report... haha
Well, I learned about that like 5 years ago, I might have just misread it.

[TimeLag]

I'm from Melbourne, Australia. I never really looked into the history about it (unless you count the 1700s), however I'm pretty sure it's nothing special.

[linkman8]

I'm from Melbourne, Australia. I never really looked into the history about it (unless you count the 1700s), however I'm pretty sure it's nothing special.
Back in the 1700's, Australia was used by the British as a kind of Alcatraz. They sent a lot of their prisoners there, because there was nowhere to escape to.

[MajoraKing12]

I live in Iowa but I won't tell what town I live in. This year is the worest year for Iowa because there were tornado's and a flood that hit 80 out of 99 of the conutys in Iowa.And Iowa has alot of Tornados but i have never been through one of those. I went trough a flood.

[chrisbg99]

Fargo, North Dakota.

[Stella3000]

Indiana, USA. The town I live near is small. I don't remember much about the history. I suck at paying attention to my home towns history. But when it comes to other places I can remember. Weird hu.
I really wanted to read all of the pages for this thread but......I couldn't do it. Sounds very interesting though. I learned some things about the UK and Holland. Very interesting.
If I ever get out of here I would like to visit the UK, Japan, and the Netherlands.

[Kybyrian]

I live in Indiana in the United States of America. About an hour from Evansville.

So I live in the same state as Stella. xP

[Stella3000]

That's cool..........*looks left, right*

[linkman8]

I take it you don't like me for some reason? Or are you just being a typical boy who acts like he doesn't like someone when he actually does?
Now let's not stereotype boys here. Looks like he took whatever it was he said back anyway.

[Stella3000]

Don't worry Linkman8. Its an inside joke. But I will edit it anyway.

[blackice_cc]

Huh, something was edited out and I missed it....

Well whatever, I'm from NY, US, and I live in the middle of an Amish community. It's about 10 miles to the nearest town, but it's an awesome piece of property that we own. 50 acres, with a big forest, a nice pond, and a ton of field. So yeah, that's probably part of the reason I'm home schooled, that we live a bit away from any school. I don't know of much historically that happened in my area though.

[silent lion]

That's sweet. Over in uk our property sizes are pitiful.

[Hylian Hobbit]

I live in Kentucky. Not too sure about any history or anything. I'm related to Daniel Boone though! But who isn't.:rolleyes:

[Stella3000]

Kentucky? Hmmm.....I have actually never been. And thats weird cuz I live relatively close.
What's it like?

[Hylian Hobbit]

I like where I live because I'm close to both the city and lots of farmland and stuff. So it takes about 20 minutes to get to the city, and 15 min. out to the country. I go to Ohio and Indiana a lot because it's so close.

[Onilink89]

That's sweet. Over in uk our property sizes are pitiful.
lol in the netherland the only property you can get are homes. but land, no way, if you want land to build a building then you got to get premession from the goverment first. if they say yes, then still a large amount of money goes to the goverment. there isn 't a system here with deeds that you own land or in a other way.

as i said much earlier in this topic, the system of the Netherlands is really strange, i already explained about social certainty(page 4 of this topic).

now these days the netherlands has issues with retirement.
and thats really really bad new for our generation.

[Stella3000]

Wow........that sounds harsh. I can't imagine what it would be like to have to live with that. But thats how you live right? Hm.......As an American I'm used to having a lot more....freedom. But I wonder, looking at it from where you come from if it could actually be better the way you guys have it. I'm sure your Government has good reasons for how they do things. Reasons I'm sure I don't understand.

[Onilink89]

Wow........that sounds harsh. I can't imagine what it would be like to have to live with that. But thats how you live right? Hm.......As an American I'm used to having a lot more....freedom. But I wonder, looking at it from where you come from if it could actually be better the way you guys have it. I'm sure your Government has good reasons for how they do things. Reasons I'm sure I don't understand.

you are right, the goverment has its reasons. i don 't know how the american system is, but one thing is for sure, i'm guessing in america you only have to reply on yourself when it comes to money, home education and other basic things. if you call that freedom, then i'm not sure if you can call that freedom. but i'm curious about the sytem of america, like insurance or the basic rights of the people ect...
now i'm not going to ask all of that how it works but i'm really curious about the "retirement" system there. how does that work in america? becaue in the netherlands its beggining to be a major issue.

here in the netherland you can 't just live on the streets if you have no money. the goverment gives you a minimum amount of money to live a normal life, even if you have no job. i'm not going to explain again how this sytem works so just read my last post on page 4 of this topic.

I understand that you can 't understand the reasons of the goverment, heck i bet like 70% of this country doesn 't understand its own system. there are many protocols thats really complex. i only know this because i'm studing law and order as my education.

[linkman8]

you are right, the goverment has its reasons. i don 't know how the american system is, but one thing is for sure, i'm guessing in america you only have to reply on yourself when it comes to money, home education and other basic things. if you call that freedom, then i'm not sure if you can call that freedom. but i'm curious about the sytem of america, like insurance or the basic rights of the people ect...
now i'm not going to ask all of that how it works but i'm really curious about the "retirement" system there. how does that work in america? becaue in the netherlands its beggining to be a major issue.

here in the netherland you can 't just live on the streets if you have no money. the goverment gives you a minimum amount of money to live a normal life, even if you have no job. i'm not going to explain again how this sytem works so just read my last post on page 4 of this topic.

I understand that you can 't understand the reasons of the goverment, heck i bet like 70% of this country doesn 't understand its own system. there are many protocols thats really complex. i only know this because i'm studing law and order as my education.
Here in America we have the basics rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. About the whole homeschooling thing, your parents would have to let the school board know about it, and they'd have to buy the textbooks to use.
And with the whole homeless poor people thing, they don't get much support at all, especially not from the government.
And with the retirement thing, I think it's about at 65 or something, and the age is rising. When people retire they get money from Social Security, which is now a huge issue too because it's depleting.

[Stella3000]

I've always been fascinated with law and order.
I don't study it though. And I'm not sure I will end up going to collage to do so. But it is very interesting.
(I might not be the best person to explain this but I will try. Forgive me if I'm a bit off.)
Basically in America you save up enough retirement money to live off of when you stop working so that you don't have to ever work again. (Sort of.)
With insurance you put aside some money to catch you if you get into financial trouble. (Its kind of like that. Not exactly.)
As for the rites of the people...........well read the Declaration of Independence. Because I would be really bad at trying to explain that. Sorry.
With buying a house we can buy land. Also we can buy excess land to do whatever we want with. (As long as we follow the law.)
So there you go.
I did my best.
I'm still trying to learn about this myself you know.
Btw.......I did read what you said on page four. VERY interesting.

[Onilink89]

Here in America we have the basics rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. About the whole homeschooling thing, your parents would have to let the school board know about it, and they'd have to buy the textbooks to use.
And with the whole homeless poor people thing, they don't get much support at all, especially not from the government.
And with the retirement thing, I think it's about at 65 or something, and the age is rising. When people retire they get money from Social Security, which is now a huge issue too because it's depleting.

well with education, there is no homeschooling here but education is important, so getting your diploma is really important or else you can 't find a job easly.
but after you turned 18 you will get a certain amount of money so that you can pay your school bills, books and everything related to it. but there is only one BUT about it. if you quit school, you have to pay back all the money that the goverment gave to you.


so the netherlands are not the only country with the retirment issue.
here we call the basic law of retirment AOW. now the basic thing i know is that you built up your retirement by working. well thats also a part of the AOW.

to put it simple, you automaticly start building your AOW when you are 15 years old and you retire at 65 years old. so basicly counted 50 years in total.
now the rule is that you build up each year you live in holland your AOW. so thats 2% each year. 2% mutiply by 50 years is 100%. so thats your basic retirment right plus you get a higher amount that you built up with your work.

but there are people who immigrate from other countries. those people are not getting a full AOW. example: 25 year old man comes here and lives in holland. so his right is 90% AOW. so each year that he was not in holland is minus 2%. its that simple.

Now to the issue
so how do you built up the AOW each year? simple, we pay taxes each year.
but the taxes that we pay doesn 't built up our own retirement, no... those taxes goes to the people who are already retired. the new generation pays up for the old generation. so in the future, my kids will pay for the people of our generation.

currently population is getting smaller. there are more oldies then young ones each year.
so the basic solution would be to raise up the taxes but thats impossible, we already pay high taxes. or each family must give birth to 5 children lol, but you can 't force that.

so the goverment want to up the retirment age from 65 years old to 70 years old.
and our generation is the unlucky ones if this is approved.

[Stella3000]

Wow. Good luck with that. Sounds hard.
But I have to say that it does make sense.

[Smitie]

well with education, there is no homeschooling here but education is important, so getting your diploma is really important or else you can 't find a job easly.
but after you turned 18 you will get a certain amount of money so that you can pay your school bills, books and everything related to it. but there is only one BUT about it. if you quit school, you have to pay back all the money that the goverment gave to you.


so the netherlands are not the only country with the retirment issue.
here we call the basic law of retirment AOW. now the basic thing i know is that you built up your retirement by working. well thats also a part of the AOW.

to put it simple, you automaticly start building your AOW when you are 15 years old and you retire at 65 years old. so basicly counted 50 years in total.
now the rule is that you build up each year you live in holland your AOW. so thats 2% each year. 2% mutiply by 50 years is 100%. so thats your basic retirment right plus you get a higher amount that you built up with your work.

but there are people who immigrate from other countries. those people are not getting a full AOW. example: 25 year old man comes here and lives in holland. so his right is 90% AOW. so each year that he was not in holland is minus 2%. its that simple.

Now to the issue
so how do you built up the AOW each year? simple, we pay taxes each year.
but the taxes that we pay doesn 't built up our own retirement, no... those taxes goes to the people who are already retired. the new generation pays up for the old generation. so in the future, my kids will pay for the people of our generation.

currently population is getting smaller. there are more oldies then young ones each year.
so the basic solution would be to raise up the taxes but thats impossible, we already pay high taxes. or each family must give birth to 5 children lol, but you can 't force that.

so the goverment want to up the retirment age from 65 years old to 70 years old.
and our generation is the unlucky ones if this is approved.

70 years?! I thought 67 :(.

[linkman8]

Hm, I can see the problem with the Retirement System in the Netherlands. Here, we have a similar issue, but we have a problem with the "Baby Boomers", which were an explosion of population growth back in 1946 to about 1965. Now that it's time for the huge amount of Baby Boomers retiring at the same time, we need more Social Security to give them for their retirement. Hence the problem, Social Security is in desperate shape, and no one's sure how to fix it right now.

[Onilink89]

Hm, I can see the problem with the Retirement System in the Netherlands. Here, we have a similar issue, but we have a problem with the "Baby Boomers", which were an explosion of population growth back in 1946 to about 1965. Now that it's time for the huge amount of Baby Boomers retiring at the same time, we need more Social Security to give them for their retirement. Hence the problem, Social Security is in desperate shape, and no one's sure how to fix it right now.

ow like that, yeah, holland had also a "baby boom" but that was during the second world war. not excatly a good period to have babies, i don 't know why the population decided to have babies during the second world war.

[Smitie]

ow like that, yeah, holland had also a "baby boom" but that was during the second world war. not excatly a good period to have babies, i don 't know why the population decided to have babies during the second world war.

I thought the baby-boom was after the second world war. nevertheless, the conclusion is the younger generation has to pay the price.

[Skull_Kid]

well..i'm from portugal..from a city called aveiro..well..i was born in Lisbon,but i moved here last year

[octorok74]

I'm from Joliet, Il. Not much happens around where. It keeps getting bigger and not one person takes the time to meet new neighbors, except my little brother.

[SvobodaMT]

I was born in Mount Clemens, Michigan and lived there for most of my life. I now live in Reno, Nevada.

[Y2K3]

i'm from portugalMy parents were over there in March, and they said it was really nice. My mother tried to make my sister and I jealous by saying that the coldest it got was like 15...

[Skull_Kid]

lololol...
Portugal is nice for tourists, not for people who actually live here

[LinkOwnsYou]

El Salvador the capitol San Salvador but now I'm living in the US I won't tell you where :rolleyes: but I don't know too much of the history of there tho