East is East

Did you like the film? Find more information about it in wikipedia and in IMDb (Internet Movie Data Base).

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day  is a day celebrated on February 2.

According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early; if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks.
In southeastern Pennsylvania, Groundhog Lodges celebrate the holiday with social events in which food is served, speeches are made, and one or more g'spiel (plays or skits) are performed for entertainment. The Pennsylvania German dialect is the only language spoken at the event, and those who speak English pay a penalty, usually in the form of a nickel, dime, or quarter per word spoken, with the money put into a bowl in the center of the table. The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Groundhog Day, already a widely recognized and popular tradition, received widespread attention as a result of the 1993 film Groundhog Day.

Happy New Year!!!

Thanksgiving Day

When they see 17-year-old Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) shivering on the streets, Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) and husband Sean (Tim McGraw) offer him a place to spend the night. And while that invitation turns into something a bit more long-term, the gentle giant is never sure of his place in this family — until he decides to “join” them for a Thanksgiving dinner.

More information on Thanksgiving Day.

The People you Meet at McDonald's

MCDONALD’S RESTAURANTS IN THE U.S.:14,000

NUMBER VISITED BY NOLAN CONWAY: Nearly 150 in 22 States

PATRONS PHOTOGRAPHED: about 180

Vance Evans, a 66-year-old retiree from Bakersfield, Calif., has been eating double cheeseburgers at McDonald’s since he flipped them himself as a teenager. “I have a kindred spirit in them,” he says. “It’s the familiarity.” They don’t make the burgers as hot as they used to, he says, but he still visits once or twice a month with his wife, Nancy, who favours a fish sandwich and an iced coffee. The Evanses were among the hundreds of people photographed by Nolan Conway in a project that has taken him to dozens of McDonald’s restaurants around the country. But while the places were usually much the same, the variety of customers was a surprise. “Especially when you go to more of the rural areas, you’ll get the poor, the wealthy and everyone in between,” Conway says. “There’s nowhere else to go.”

(From the New York Times)

Choose a picture and invent a description of the person's life. 

Madame Tussauds

Madame Tussauds is a wax museum in London with branches in a number of major cities. It was founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. Madame Tussauds is a major tourist attraction in London, displaying waxworks of historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars and infamous murderers.

Marie Tussaud was born Anna Maria Grosholtz in 1761 in Strasbourg, France. Her mother worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Philippe Curtius in Bern, Switzerland, who was a physician skilled in wax modelling. Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modelling.

Tussaud created her first wax figure, of Voltaire, in 1777. Other famous people she modelled at that time include Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Benjamin Franklin. During the French Revolution she modelled many prominent victims. She searched through corpses to find the decapitated heads of executed citizens, from which she would make death masks. Her death masks were held up as revolutionary flags and paraded through the streets of Paris. Following the doctor's death in 1794, she inherited his vast collection of wax models and spent the next 33 years travelling around Europe. Her marriage to François Tussaud in 1795 lent a new name to the show: Madame Tussaud's. In 1802 she went to London to exhibit her work alongside his show at the Lyceum Theatre, London. She travelled throughout Great Britain and Ireland exhibiting her collection.

By 1835 Marie had settled down in Baker Street, London, and opened a museum.

Madame Tussauds indoor on Baker St

One of the main attractions of her museum was the Chamber of Horrors. This part of the exhibition included victims of the French Revolution and newly created figures of murderers and other criminals. 
(from Wikipedia)

Do you like reading?

Let's compare your favourite and less favourite readings with those of British teenagers.

Make you own Love reading list and Hate reading list with 10 items each.
Don't forget the title and the labels: your name, reading.

Saint George

Saint George (c. 275/281 – 23 April 303 AD) was a Greek who became an officer in the Roman army. His father was the Greek Gerondios from Cappadocia Asia Minor and his mother was from the city Lydda. Lydda was a Greek city in Palestine from the times of the conquest of Alexander the Great (333 BC). Saint George became an officer in the Roman army in the Guard of Diocletian. He is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography, Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic (Western and Eastern Rites), Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox churches. He is immortalized in the tale of Saint George and the Dragon .
Many Patronages of Saint George exist around the world, including: Georgia, England, Egypt, Bulgaria, Aragon, Catalonia, Romania, Ethiopia, Greece, India, Iraq, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Serbia, Ukraine and Russia, as well as the cities of Genoa, Amersfoort, Beirut, Botoşani, Drobeta Turnu-Severin, Timişoara, Fakiha, Bteghrine, Cáceres, Ferrara, Freiburg im Breisgau, Kragujevac, Kumanovo, Lebanon, Ljubljana, Pérouges, Pomorie, Preston, Qormi, Rio de Janeiro, Lod, Lviv, Barcelona, Moscow and Victoria, as well as of the Scout Movement and a wide range of professions, organizations and disease sufferers.
(from wikipedia)

The Christmas cracker quiz

Christmas crackers are an integral part of Christmas celebrations in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, as well as the United States of America. They are also popular in Ireland. The cracker is pulled by two people and it splits. The split is accompanied by a small bang. Crackers are typically pulled at the Christmas dinner table.

What else do you know about Christmas celebrations? Do the online quiz here and check your answers.

And here you'll find a Christmas matching activity.

Happy Christmas!!!