Blogrimage Tag 16: Liechtenstein

Yesterday I feel asleep before I had a chance to blog...there is something about that hour drive to and from Pueblo to school, that will make one super sleepy, not to mention all the papers and projects that are now due. Well, enough with the excuses...today, Wednesday, is day 16 and it brings me to the nation of Liechtenstein.

I pick Liechtenstein primarily because I like the way it sounds, and it reminds of the movie "A Knights Tale" (Sir Ulrich van Liechtenstein)

Liechtenstein is the smallest, yest richest German speaking nations.Liechtenstein is sandwiched between Switzerland and Austria, near the Swiss Alps. Because it is mostly mountainous, it is a huge destination for winter sports activities.

Vaduz is the capital of this German speaking country, however, Vaduz is not the largest city. The castle to the right is the Vaduz castle...doesn't it look a whole lot like the castle in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"? Well, either way, this is a beautiful castle, one that I would like to add to my list! When I was living in Western Ukraine, I used to go to various castles around the area with several of my friends. It became our Mondays of Adventure, in which we would visit a castle and finish the day with some coffee and homemade food!!

Sonya, want to come with me to see this one?!

As for the flag: the Liechtenstein flag of red and blue have been a part of Liechtenstein since the Holy Roman Empire, and represent that part of their heritage, while the gold crown represents its independence and principality.

That is all I have for tonight, but since I am on the theme of movies in this blog i will leave you with a line from a movie whose title is tomorrow's country: "I like to move it, move it"

Blogrimage Day 14

Welcome Home Team Guatemala!!! After spending 8 days ministering in schools and taking food to starving families in the mountains of Guatemala, the team came home today. I can't wait to hear all the stories!!!

However, after sitting in a 5 hour research class tonight, the last thing I really want to do is any research...so, I am not going to be blogging about a new coutry tonight as my heart would not be in.

See you all tomorrow, good night!

BLogrimage Day 13: Kenya

I had a wonderful time in Estes Park, Colorado. It is amazing what some fresh mountain air can do to the body! I loved snowshoeing and playing games at night with my parents and best friend Lori. It was a perfect ending to Springs Break, which went by way to fast!

I am honestly so excited about today's country. I have dreamt of going to Kenya, Africa for years! There is something about African Villages, filled with little black children, that makes my heart smile. I pray that maybe next summer, will be there year that I can finally go to Kenya! Plus, how cool would it be to learn some Swahili

I have been watching video's on youtube about Kenya for a while now...my heart is yearning to go. Here is one of the video's I watched. It is just video clips of children in Kenya put together to music.

Kenya is a land of diversity. It consists of coastal towns, to large cities, to flatlands, to snow-capped mountains. In the picture seen above, it is the National Park of Nairobi with the Nairobi skyline in the background.

The capital of Kenya is Nairobi, with a population over 3 million. This city has thousands of street kids, left to fend for themselves, many of whom are addicted to sniffing glue. The video below is about 11 minutes, but it is fascinating because it shows how young adults in Kenya, who used to live on the streets, are now helping those who are on the streets. They offer things for the kids to get involved in, like playing music, a soccer team, and other stuff, by bringing it all to the streets. If you have a few minutes, I encourage you to watch it.Kenya Street Kids - Africa

After watching all those videos, the only thing I hve left to say, is that my heart is burning, now more than ever, for the nation of Kenya.

Blogrimage Day 11 and 12

I am heading up to Estes Park for 2 days to enjoy the mountains of Colorado and to get some rest before diving into the rest of the semester. So, I decided to join today's blog and tomorrow's by sharing a video about the nations. I am sure most of you has seen this video before, but if not, watch and enjoy seeing a glimpse of many countries around the world:

Where in the world is Matt?

Well, I will see you all on Sunday as we explore the nation of Kenya!

Blogriamge Day 10: Jordan

I went up to Denver to hang out with my girl, Lori Farmer. We got busy watching Madea's family reunion, so I did not have time to blog for day 10. So, here is a short version:

We now will be leaving the cold snow behind and going to the desert of Jordan. The middle eastern, predominately Muslim nation is rich in History.

The capital is Ammon and can be seen on the right, and The official name of Jordan is the ‘Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’

Below are some interesting facts about Jordan:

• The national dish of Jordan is Mansaf, a large tray of rice with chunks of stewed lamb and jameed, a yogurt sauce
• In Jordan, it is usually polite to decline the offer of a meal 3 times, before accepting.
• Moses was bruied in Jordan

What things do you know about Jordan?

The Jordan flag is based entirely off of Islam. The black, white and green stripes represent different parts of Islam, while the red triangle represents the Great Arab Revolt of 1916. The 7 pointed white star is for the seven verse of Islamic belief.

Jordan is inundated with Muslim culture, and a nation that could use much prayer!

Blogrimage: Dagur 9: Ísland

Before talking about the nation of Iceland, I have a small confession to make. One night i was flipping channels and the Bachelorette was on and they were in Iceland, so I stopped and watched part of the episode, just to see the scenery of Iceland. From what was shown on TV, Iceland is really a beautiful country, and is not just a winter wasteland, but a winter wonderland. In fact, it is not covered with snow all year round, but does experience some warm weather that melts the snow and ice and turns the land into a lush environment with grand waterfalls.

The entire population of Iceland is 320,000. That is smaller then the city i live in! I actually could not imagine having such few people around. Also, Iceland is the Northern most place with habitation.

The capital city is: Reykjavik. Now, don't ask me to pronounce it, because I would probably butcher it :)

A couple interesting things about Iceland. They are considered to have one of the most free press in the world, and they also have no standing army. I guess they don't need an army because the country is so far away from everyone else, that it would take a lot of effort to attack it.

Iceland has a wide range of natural occurrences The land has several large volcanoes, as well as many geysers, lakes, waterfalls and 3 national parks. 

Just looking at the pictures shows the creativity and awesome of God!

Blogrimage Nyolc napon: Magyarország (Hungary)

So, today takes us to the nation of Hungary, not to be confused with the word hungry...as i typed just a second ago :)

Hungary is one of the top 30 tourist destination averaging about 8.6 million visitors a year. One of the great draws to Hungary is the old architecture and the thermal water cave system. In fact, Hungary has the second largest thermal lake in the world. This lake is called Lake Heviz, and it believed that the water is replenished entirely each day by the strong water flow. This is quite remarkable seeing as the lake is 511,000 square feet. (At least I think the lake is big, I am not to good with square measurements.)

Just an fyi, a thermal lake is similar to a hot spring, like the ones found in Colorado.

Ok, so the Capital of Hungary is Budapest, and from what I have heard from some of my friends, it is one of the most gorgeous cities. There is so much to do there, from visiting historical sites to watching a current American movie. This city supposedly "has it all," which is why so many people visit it.

Budapest, Hungary is one city that I would love to go to. When I lived in Ukraine, it was one of those places that I wanted to visit, but never got around to it. However, one day i will!

Well, that is all for tonight...tomorrow we will be going someplace cold. Can you guess where to?

Blogrimage Jour Sept : Guadeloupe

Day seven's country is Guadeloupe. If many of you are like me, you might be asking...where in the world is this country?! Well, if you look to the map on the left, you will see that it is located off the coast of Venezuela, in the Lesser Antilles Islands.

The reason I chose to research this country, is not just because "g" is the 7th letter in the alphabet, but because I had never heard of it, so I wanted to know more.

Seeing as this country is also an island, you can just imagine the beautiful sandy beaches and aqua blue water that surrounds this Nation. However, despite being located in the Caribbean sea, Guadeloupe is actually owned by France, and is considered the "overseas region of France" What is more interesting is that this island was discovered by Christopher Columbus, so I would have thought that if any nation was going to own this country, it would have been Spain. Nevertheless, that is a history lesson I don't really want to get into :)  

As I was searching for the flag of Guadeloupe I discovered they they have 3 different flags. One is french tricolored, the other is one proposed by the Union for the Liberation of Guadeloupe, and the third is the unofficial flag. I personally would vote for the unofficial flag, as it is very unique.

Well that is all for right now, I will be posting day 8 later today and then I will be caught up!

Blogrimage Day 6: Faroe Islands

I can't find an online translations for Faroese...lame! Well, anyways, today's country takes us to the Faroe Islands located in the gulf stream off the coast of Denmark.

Unfortunately, the Faroe Islands has a bad reputation, because every time I typed "Faroe Islands" into the search engine, whale hunting/massacre was the first thing to come up. Whale hunting is a tradition held every spring in the Faroe Islands. Everyone who wants to participates joins in the hunt for whales, and after the hunt is complete, hundreds of whales can be seen lying dead on the shore. (I won't post pictures of that). There has been recommendation to stop eating the Pilot Whale due to all the toxins in the meat, however, this has not yet stopped the hunting. Whale hunting is part of the social culture and historical culture of the Faroe Islands, and once culture has been established, it is hard to disband.  

The Faroe Islands has a population of just over 48 thousand people. Torshavn is the capital city with about half of the countries population residing within its city limits. The other half of the population is scattered throughout the rest of the land in smaller villages.

The Faroe Islands anthem is "Tú alfagra land mítt" means "Thou, my most beauteous land"

Blogrimage day 5: Estonia

Today, is not day 5, but I since I didn't get a chance to write last night I decided to go ahead and research the country I missed. (I will catch up!) Estonia is in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. Because they are located in the Baltic region, Estonians are also known as Finnic People. The nations of Estonia only has 1.34 million people in the entire country, with about 1/3 of the people residing in the capital Tallinn.

Estonia is a mixture of old heritage and new technology. In fact, Estonia is listed as one of the top 10 digital cities of the world. A digital city is one where the community is connected via the Internet. 

There are several interesting facts that I learned about Estonia:

• it's first, public Christmas tree in Estonia was placed in the old town square in Tallinn, in the year 1441 (50 years before Columbus came to America)
• has the highest number of meteorite craters per land area.
gained independence from Soviet Union in the year 1991

Estonia looks like a beautiful country that I would one day like to visit!

Blogrimage Day 4: Djibouti (جيبوتي )

Today's blog, will take us to the nation of Djibouti, located in the horn of Africa. Because Djibouti is so close to the middle east, their native tongue is Arabic and the country is 94% Muslim. This picture below was taken of a street in the capital city: Djibouti, Djibouti.



Due to the lateness of the night, I am keeping this entry short. But, one interesting thing about Djibouti is that Henna Hand tattoos are very popular. It is believed they enhance the beauty of the person and is applied to the feet and hands for special occasions. The paste used for this non-permanent tattoos, comes for the Henna plant. The plant leaves are ground up and then used as a stain on the skin. It is applied in many different patterns and designs like the one seen:

I do find it interesting that the tattoo is on the inside of the hand, not on the outside.

Well, that is all for tonight folks...

Blogrimage Día Tres: Chile

Before I begin talking about Chile, I just need to say that Spring Break started today!!! I am looking forward to relaxing and catching up on things that have been neglected during the craziness that is this semester. In addtion, i am planning on watching LOTS of March Madness...I love March Madness! There is something about the competition and just draws me in, and I can't help but pick my teams and cheer!

Well, now that that is off my chest, I am ready to learn more about the nation of Chile. From what I have heard about Chile, it is a beautiful country, with lush lands and high mountains.  This nation stretches along over 4,000 miles of coast on one side and the beautiful Andes mountains on the other. Chile is an average of 109 miles wide. That means the width of the entire country is about the distance from Pueblo, CO to Denver, CO.

Man, just seeing this picture of Chile, takes my breath away...

When I see pictures of places like the one above, or look out my window and see the Rocky Mountains, or stand on the beach looking into the horizon with the waves crashing at my ankles, I am always amazed at the creativity of the Lord. I mean to think, that before the earth was created, everything was dark and formless, then after He spoke a word, places like one above, just burst forth into the atmosphere. The most fabulous part of it all, is that I believe that God created the things He did for our enjoyment and to show Himself in our everday world. Just think, one word, changed the earth forever, and because of it we see the sites that take our breath away. Amazing!

If I could use one word to describe Chile, is would say diverse. As mentioned about, this nation is nestled between the Andes mountains and the ocean floor. The Atacama Desert is also located there, in which it once experienced a 40 year span of no rain. Strangely enough, the nation of Chile also owns a part of Antarctica.

The capital city is Santiago de Chile, and is one place I would love to visit...i mean look at it and tell me you wouldn't want to go there:



Well, I will just leave you with a challenge to look at your surroundings with new eyes, and see the beauty that is all around you!

Until tomorrow...

Blogrimage День второй: Беларусь

Day 2 of Blogriamge takes us to Belarus....This is a country that is located directly above the country that is my second home. For those of you who do not know me very well, that is Ukraine. Ukraine is truly a place I love, and a place that is near and dear to my heart! I will being leading a team to Ukraine this summer, to which I am super excited!

But, this blog is not about Ukraine, it is about Belarus. I have several friends from Belarus, and from what they tell me, it is a beautiful country! However, most American's will not have a chance to see the beauty, as it is very hard to obtain a visa to Belarus. In fact, Belarus is the only nations in Eastern Europe and Eruope, that is known as a restricted nation. According to the Voice of the Martyrs, a restricted nation is one where government policy or pracitce prevents Christians from obtaining bibles. In addition, these nations have anti-Christian laws that lead to Christians being harrassed, imprisoned or killed for being a Christian witness. So, this is one area specifically that we can be praying for, in relation to the nation of Belarus.

In the past Belarus (Беларусь) has been known as White Russia. Бела Русь (White Rus). Which is seen as a derogetory name because it connects them to Russia, instead of allowing them to be their own country. The history of the country speaks to me of identity. This nations is trying to hold firm to its new identity apart from the USSR. This can also be seen in the lives of many people. Why is alcohol, sex and drugs so prevelent in the college community? Because people are trying to create their own identity apart from their parents and ultimately the Lord.  Proverbs 29:18 says that without vision, the people perish. And I believe, that people cannot have vision, if they do not know who they truly are. Therefore, we all need to learn who we are in Christ and what our true identity is, because then and only then, will we have vision for the future.

Well, since it is almost midngiht, I will leave you with the few facts I am targeting and then call it a night:

• National language is Belarussian, which is a more poetic version of Russian.
• Capital: Minsk
• Flag: Green represents the future, red represents the blood shed in the past, and the decorative stripe to the left represents Belarus' cultural heritage and the unity of the people

                               

Hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about Belarus, until tomorrow!



Blogrimage Dia Um: Angola

Let the blogging commence! Today is day one, and I must admit that I am super stoked to be writing this blog. Even if no one reads it I know I will enjoy learning more about the nations of the earth.
So, with that said, we will being this Blogrimage with the nation of Angola. For those of you who are geographically naive, like I am sometimes. It is in the in the south-central part of Africa along the Atlantic Coast...see picture below!

The official motto of Angola is ‘Virtus Unita Fortior’- a Latin phrase that means ‘Virtue is stronger when united.’ This is an intersting motto, because for over 25 years, this nations has been in a constant civil war, and is noted to be one of the most corrupt nations in the earth. It is intersting to me how this country often reflects what many people are like. On the outside they appear to be doing well, they will even tell you they are great and happy, but on the inside, these people are rotting with offense, anger and mistrust. I often wonder why people are so afraid for you to see who they really are. I guess to answer my own question it is because they do not know their value and worth in the eyes of the Lord. This is something that I think everyone struggles with at some point in their life. However, it is important to remember that your identity is in the Lord, not in man.

Now back to Angola. The 2 facts that I am going to focus on in each country is their capital and their flag. The capital city is Luanda and is located right on the coast. The flag is very symbolic to the history of Angola. Red represents the blood of the Angolans that were shed in their nation through oppression, and the struggle for freedom. Black stands for the African Continent, while the yellow cogwheel supports the peasants and laborers and also signifies the wealth of Angola. A wealth that is found in their oil and diamond industry.

So, to sum up what I have learned about Angola, I would say that it is rich in history. If i were to meet an Angolan one day, I would love to listen to their stories of life in Africa, however, these tales would also be full of death and what it means to loose everything. I am sure there are thousands of untold stories in the nation of Angola, and many that I would love to hear.

Oh, and by the way, they speak Portuguese, which is what "Day One" is written in above!

Blogrimage 2011

Ok, so I am not one that usually blogs, but I have decided to join the 30 day challenge of Blogrimage. Over the next 30 days, starting on March 15th, I will begin the journey of learning about 30 countries from around the world. Each day will be a country whose names starts with a different letter alphabetically (Angola, Belarus, Chile, etc).

The reason I chose to blog about countries, is because I love the earth. I love to travel and explore, yet I don't know much about the world around me. In addition, one of the items on my bucket list is to know the capitals and flags of every country in the world...so this is a step in achiveing that goal! Each day, I will select a country, conduct some research on that country and then report the most intersting facts. I hope you will enjoy learning more about this great world, as much as I will!

If there is a specific country you would like to learn about, let me know, as I am taking suggestions!

So, let the blogging begin!