International zone

[Sue]

Good thread idea, I want to add something.

Country Germany is a republic in the middle of Europe with 82 million inhabitants. We have 16 different federal states & Germany was a founder member of the European Union. In European Union are 27 countries at the moment.
Germany has lakes, coasts with beaches, mountains & rivers. It also has lots of green nature. German currency is the Euro, the same like in 17 other countries.
Germany's capital is Berlin, head of german government is Ms Angela Merkel.

60 per cent of the Germans are registrated members of a Roman Catholic Church or Protestants. Germany also has 107 330 Jewish parishes, 4 million Muslims, 93 000 Hindu's/Hindoo's & 245 000 Buddhist's.

3 per cent of the Germans are singing in choirs. Germany has 8 per cent female choirs, 16 per cent male choirs, 31 per cent child- & youth choirs, 45 per cent mixed choirs.

More about Germany you can read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Szepilona]

I love Germany. My mom's (second/third?) cousin lives in a tiny village north of Munich and it is absolutely beautiful! The only problem is the fog...
I live in a small town about 45 minutes west of Pittsburgh...the only thing that makes it a little bit known is the University. Other than that it's a dying town; it used to be a steel and coal town but most of the mills have closed.
My family lived in Budapest my 1st and 5th Grades. It's amazing there! I would love to live there again! It's actually safer ( in Budapest (a city of ~2 million) than it is here in a town of 18,000! (That's why I take karate )

[maartendas]

Interesting facts there, Sue and Szepilona.

Sue - what about Evangelical Lutherans? I thought that was the biggest church in Germany. Do you have some numbers about that?
And where did you find the percentages of choirs? I am now curious to know what it's like in the Netherlands. I have a feeling choral singing might be more popular in the Netherlands than in Germany - recently anyway because of the success of a TV competition for the best choir, which has been going for some years now, broadcast by the Evangelical (protestant) broadcast company, and also a drama series about a choir that was on last year I think.

Szepilona - it's great that you do karate although I hope you never have to use it to keep away nasty people

What can I say about where I live... Right now the Netherlands is not the best country to live in, with a right wing government, lots of unhappy people, more violence in public places
Luckily I live in a very beautiful part of the Netherlands, in fact I just moved there two months ago, not far from Utrecht where I lived before. Utrecht is a beautiful city that you really must see. Very old, historic, with canals and bridges and many churches and parks and romantic places. I became a poet there Now I live in a very small town close to Utrecht, very near the Kromme Rijn (Crooked Rhine) river, which flows from the actual Rhine - so we're connected, Sue I like to take walks along the river and sometimes in the woods where there are some old estates. But I mainly have my life and my friends still in Utrecht. Also my parish church where I sing - and ofcourse it is my dream to invite Libera there one day