Tet celebrated in New Zealand, Canada, Belgium QĐND – Monday, February 15, 2010, 21:18 (GMT+7)
The Vietnamese Embassy in New Zealand and the New Zealand-Vietnam Friendship Society jointly hosted a party on Feb. 14 for expatriates, students and friends to celebrate Vietnam ’s traditional Tet festival.
Addressing the party, Ambassador Vuong Hai Nam informed his guests about new developments in the relationship between Vietnam and New Zealand.
He especially mentioned the two countries’ agreement to lift their ties to “comprehensive partnership” during Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh’s visit to New Zealand last September.
Chairman of the New Zealand-Vietnam Friendship Society Neil Quigley showed determination and desire to join hands in furthering educational cooperation in particular and friendship in general between the two countries.
Vietnamese students performed songs and dances to entertain the guests to the party.
Earlier on February 13, Vietnamese students in Canada and Belgium gathered for Tet celebrations which encompassed singing and dancing performances, the restaging of Vietnamese traditional customs, and Vietnamese culinary.
Ops..faz tempo q nao escrevo aqui no Blog…não é por falta de vontade…e sim por falta de assunto mesmo rsrs.
Porem depois de um periodo sem novidades…agora nem sei por onde começar , tantas sao as coisas q rolaram nestes ultimos 15 dias.
Vamos começar pela odontologia q sou apaixonada….vi ontem que mudaram novamente as regras para validaçao da credencial…nao avaliei bem as mudanças…mas…acho q é pra melhor…dá uma olhada aqui neste LINK. Depois deixe teu comentario com tua opniao sobre isso ok??
A outra noticia é que estou indo pro Canada…dia 03 …para finalmente o sonho de estudar e morar no Canada possa se realizar.
Vou para aprimorar o ingles..enfrentar de uma vez por todas o bicho papao chamado IELTS…rs..e dar entrada no processo.Quero aproveitar tambem para …”reconhecer ” a area…ja q nunca estive no Canada.Espero poder conhecer amigos de sonho q só conheço virtualmente e poder reencontrar outros q ja conheci aqui no Br mesmo.
Os planos e sonhos sao muitos…todos foram entregues á vontade de Deus….eu apenas estou fazendo o meu homework!!!
There has been so much to celebrate this past weekend, Valentine’s Day, Chinese New Year, and of course, the Olympics. We live about 4 hours away from Vancouver. We were thinking about going and just joining the crowd but instead, we decided to have a quiet weekend and spend it in Summerland, BC. Some of the Olympic teams from all over the world practiced at our ski hills for the Olympics and the comments about the Okanagan were all positive. Some said that the Okanagan was the most beautiful place on earth. Here are some more pics I took this weekend:
Have you seen the photos of the “2001 September 11th attacks” on the World Trade Center towers in New York City that were recently made public?
These photos were taken by New York Police Officers who were on the scene in a police helicopter.
Here are some of the photos they took:
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The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place in Vancouver, Canada.
The opening ceremony is scheduled to begin on Friday, 2010 February 12th in the evening…Canada time. So, it’ll be Saturday, 2010 February 13th here in Japan when the ceremony begins.
The official 2010 Olympics logo.
The games will go from 2010 February 12-28 (Canada time).
Do you watch the Olympics?
I watch them…but the games go for over two weeks—I don’t watch everyday of the games. I like to watch some of the opening ceremony and some of the closing ceremony and a few games in between.
This year, Japan is sending 95 athletes to compete in the Olympics, America is sending 216, and Canada (the host country) will have 206 athletes play.
How many athletes from your country will be at the 2010 Olympics?
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Sunday, February 14th will be Valentine’s Day.
How is Valentine’s Day celebrated in your country?
In Japan, it’s done the opposite of how America celebrates it. And Japan has another holiday (called “White Day“) in March that is more similar to Western-style Valentine’s.
Click here to read my FAQ about Valentine’s Day in Japan…
and click here to read my post that explains Japanese Valentine’s (and other holidays in February) in more detail.
Also, this year on February 14 will be the Chinese New Years.
I mentioned it on my site’s “Festivals In Tokyo” page….click here> to read it.
Have you ever experienced a Chinese New Years ceremony?
If you’re in the Tokyo area this weekend, you can go to 「横浜中華街」 (“Yokohama China Town“) and see a Chinese New Years ceremony.
Olympics fans heading to Vancouver might want to visit a vanishing cultural treasure while they’re in Canada — local churches.
Canada has become a “post-Christian society” where once-dominant Anglicanism has “moved to the margins of public life,” according to a bleak study reported by Michael Valpy at the Globe and Mail.
A new assessment of the state of the church in Canada looks at the Anglican Diocese of British Columbia and then across the country and concludes that,… at the present rate of decline — a loss of 13,000 members per year — only one Anglican would be left in Canada by 2061.
… Nationally, between 1961 and 2001, the church lost 53 per cent of its membership, declining to 642,000 from 1.36 million. Between 1991 and 2001 alone, it declined by 20 per cent.
The report zeros in on Vancouver and the adjacent Gulf Islands, suggesting closing or preparing to shutter nearly two in three of its Anglican churches now that the Anglican population is… one generation away from extinction … The unchurched are not coming to us.
Only the Roman Catholic Church is holding steady and the report attributes that to immigration.
Religious studies professor David Seljak of St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ont., observes that “Canadians increasingly say they’re generically “Christian” rather than Anglican, Presbyterian or Pentecostal.”
Gee, where have we heard this before?
Surveys in the USA aren’t nearly so grim — yet. But, in the American Religious Identification Survey’s three studies over two decades, there’s clear evidence of a shift from denominational ties to generic Christian ties — or out the church doors altogether. The ARIS co-author Barry Kosmin said,
More than ever before, people are just making up their own stories of who they are. They say, “I’m everything. I’m nothing. I believe in myself.”
A pastor once told me that he wanted his church’s neighbors, even if they never entered the doors, to say, “We’re glad you’re here.”
When happens if — or when — they’re not? Would you miss your neighboring churches, even if you don’t attend?
Faith and the Law Note: Our churches need to remain strong and strengthen their relationship with GOd and reach out to others with the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are going to be alot of disappointed and bitter souls if they try to find the answer to life in themselves.
The Olympics were political in Berlin, in Helsinki, in Mexico City, Moscow and Los Angeles. They were political in Beijing. And they will be political in Vancouver.
How could they be otherwise? For a few days, the entire world’s attention focuses on one city, one governing power, one culture. Why should it surprise us that an event like that will invite the crazies?
Article 51 of the Olympic Charter prohibits “political, religious or racial propaganda” in Olympic venues or other areas, but who are they trying to kid?
Protest has been an important part of the Olympics since at least the 1930s. From boycotting the entire two weeks, to getting arrested for unfurling a “Free Tibet” banner on the Great Wall, to killing Israeli athletes. Bringing politics into such a staged event can be easy with a little creativity.
In Beijing, protesters were given three zones in which they could practice ”freedom of speech.” But the zones were a long way from any of the Olympic events, and to access them for purpose of protest you had to get a permit from the government. Needless to say, such permits are hard to come by in China.
In the meantime, China silenced dissidents by jailing their leaders, including house church pastors and political organizers. They forbid visitors from bringing any printed material, film or other media that could be ”detrimental to China’s politics, economy, culture and ethics.”
Leading up to the Beijing Games, protests occurred all over the world against China’s policies regarding Tibet, Sudan, North Korea, Burma, and the country’s treatment of journalists, ministers and social activists.
In Seoul in 1987, such demonstrations led to the overthrowing of a regime and freedom for an entire people. In Beijing, the results may amount to much less.
Vancouver has found some clever ways for dealing with protest. British Columbia’s Bill 13 allows authorities to enter residences and other private property without the owner’s consent to remove or cover up signs they deem critical of the Olympics, as long as residents get 24 hours notice and enter “reasonably.” That would make for an interesting phone call:
“Excuse me, is this Jenny Smith? Hi, Jenny. This is the police. We just wanted to let you know that in 24 hours we will be breaking into your house to remove your personal property. Don’t worry, we’ll be entering your home and stealing your belongings in a reasonable manner.”
The decision has, quite obviously, been met with much criticism from civil liberties groups.
Vancouver’s Olympic Committee has named their Olympic motto “with glowing hearts,” a name taken from “O Canada,” the country’s national anthem. The lyrics are in the public domain, so unlike the usual Olympic motto, Vancouver’s can’t be trademarked. They have instead trademarked words like “winter” and “gold” in relation to the term “glowing hearts.”
This has allowed them the ability to take small businesses to court that have been around for decades for breaking trademark laws. If your grandpa’s 40-year-old shop is called Glowing Hearts Gold Jewelry, or Glowing Hearts Winter Gear, you might be visiting ole poppy in the slammer.
Other lyrics from “O Canada” include “the true North strong and free!” and “God keep our land glorious and free!”
The idea behind these measures, of course, is that we should be focusing on the sports, and not on politics. But for the men and women whose homes have been entered without their consent, and for the small family businesses facing a huge corporation in court, these measures are at their very heart a political act.
What do you think about Vancouver’s rules?
Can banning protest and propaganda at a global sports event also be a political act?
Further resources:
Bill 13 includes many other measures. The one I refer to in this article is found under the Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act, Part 9, Section 32.
Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will is the most famous political propaganda related to the Olympics. Filmed at Hitler’s behest around the Berlin Games of 1936, it is considered a landmark film with a chilling, Nazi-approved message. I found it captivating, and I’m from a Jewish family, so watch it at your own risk.
Lastly, read Wikipedia’s article on one famous Olympics protest that ended in tragedy: the Tlatelolco Massacre in Mexico City. The people there chanted what many others have since, though perhaps in spirit - “We don’t want the Olympics, we want revolution!”
ด้วยกันที่พูดภาษาอังกฤษ Toronto เป็นข้อสรุปของmulticulturalism กับชุมชนที่จัดตั้งขึ้นจากทั่วโลกที่ไม่เพียงหมายถึงอัธยาศัยของมหาศาลแต่ยังมีมากมายที่พักราคาถูกและที่นี่มีบางส่วนที่ดีที่สุดหอพัก Canada.
ไฮไลท์รวมถึงไชน่าทาวน์ในหมู่ใหญ่ที่สุดในอเมริกาเหนือ. แต่นักท่องเที่ยวไม่ควรพลาดในโบฮีเมีย Kensington Market, Queen Street West Fashion อำเภอและ Greektown.
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In Beijing, protesters were given three zones in which they could practice ”freedom of speech.” But the zones were a long way from any of the Olympic events, and to access them for purpose of protest you had to get a permit from the government. Needless to say, such permits are hard to come by in China.
In Seoul in 1987, such demonstrations led to the overthrowing of a regime and freedom for an entire people. In Beijing, the results may amount to much less.