Tian Tour of Oman

                           
               Yesterday, we went to the sinkhole to swim and see the beginning of the tour of Oman. We piled into the car with 2 more people than usual and drove off. The drive was a hour and ten minutes and it was really squishy with nine people instead of the usual seven. Finally after the drive, we arrived at the sinkhole, frazzled but excited.
               It was really weird when we got there because there were a bunch of big, neon yellow, stinky, dump trucks. It turns out they were what the bikers carried their bikes in! I thought it was funny-- 5,000 rial bikes in dump trucks. :-) Anyhow, when we got out of the car, there were all of these teams, just standing around, chatting. We interviewed a few people and found out the bikers had massagests and phisical therapists!
                Suddently, the bikers arrived along with a huge helecopter from the press which had a camera on the front of it. They came in cars, no limos like I thought they would. All of the cars had little stickers on them to show who sponsored them. Later, after the bikers parked, they started to get dressed and drink special energy drinks. I got the autograph of Chris Froome and he was the winner of the race! Yay! But the funny part was that Zara and Jensen were walking around, asking questions and asking for autographs, when they saw a biker changing next to his car. They squealed their heads off and yelled, " AWKWARD! " in the middle of the parking lot.  Everyone stared at them. It was so funny. Also, my friend Amy, wanted to get the team Argos to sign something, but they had driven across a field in their car. So we started off across the field but about half way across, there was a biker peeing against a tree. I was pretty sure if Amy or Jensen saw they would flip so we decided to turn around. Amy never got her autograph.
           
             Finally, the bikers were going to start racing! We scurried to the start line to watch. We found a good place to watch from and got ready. There was a guy from the Tour of Oman website that took a picture of me and it is now online. I have Chris Froom's autograph in one hand and the water bottle in the other hand. While we were waiting we watched the Omani drummers sing and dance. Suddenly, the bikers started, they rode so fast that I got a huge blast of wind in my face. Then all of the sponsor cars drove after them, then an ambulance, a few more cars, and another ambulance. At the end of the parade there was one more sponsor car that drove up and dumped 2 water bottles at us that the bikers had used! It was a mad scramble to get them, but I got one! We watched the bikers go and they took about 30 seconds to get out of our view. They were speedy!

              We went into the sinkhole and ate lunch, swam and explored. Then we left. While we drove back there were all of the bikers water bottles on the side of the road. We stopped and picked them up. I can't believe that I have a water bottle that a famous biker actually used! I really liked this field trip! Look at our pictures, I think Zara is doing a picture blog.

- Tian            
                

The Tour of Oman 2013 by Silas

On Saturday, we went to see stage six of Tour of Oman. It was really cool! I got a hat from a guy that was giving them out and a bottle from one of the bikers. We saw the bikers start and a news helicopter land! If you are wondering what the Tour of Oman looked like, here are some images.

This is the news helicopter. You will see it in two of the pictures. 

This is me, standing in the parking lot where everybody is unloading stuff. 

                 

These are some of the bikers starting from the starting line. If you look in the sky, you can see a tiny dot, which is the news helicopter.

More bikers. I'd say this is the best shot of them. If you look up into the top left corner and go down, you will see the helicopter again.


So, there are some images. The winner overall of Tour of Oman was Chris Froome. The winner of the stage six was a dude from the French team who was wearing a red, white and blue striped biking suit. I didn't see him at the starting line, though. 

Zara's Photo Blog\Tour of Oman

 The bikers bikes arrive first so that the bikes are ready for the races.

The news helicopter arrived minutes before the bikers so that they would be there for the arrival.

The bikers amazingly came in ordinary cars. We all thought that they would have nice sports cars. LOL.

Tehva flattered the bikers with her youth. She was the only successful one to get the autographs for me.

The bikers started with great energy. It was a cool sight.

The old Omani men and women came to sing the bikers off. 

Cady and the Tour of Oman

It took us about one hour and ten minutes to drive to the Tour of Oman race.Once we got out of the car, our teacher, Ms.Rachel, assigned us to interview two people with at least four questions or more. The whole place was crowded, not just with bikers, but also with assistants who supported them. Each assistant had a different job, and there were so many jobs altogether, it would take me an hour to type them all down! So, that was a ton of assistants for each team. I was super nervous and overwhelmed, but I found two assistants to interview and you can read the interviews down below.

Interview #1

Q 1:What is your job?

A 1:I'm a massuse.

(Ooohhh, a massuse.)

Q 2:Which team do you support?

A 2:The Saxo-bank Thinkoff team.

Interview #2

Q 1:How many countries have you been to?

A 1: So many, I lost count! 30?
Q 2: How long have you been a mechanic?
A 1: For about twenty-five years.

The whole class at the Tour of Oman (top)

Let the race begin! Ready? On your marks... Get set...

Then, the race was about to start, so my whole class and I followed the bikers to the start line as the race began. So, in summary, we had a one-hour-and-ten-minute ride to the Tour of Oman, interviewed two assistants, and followed the bikers to the start line. And after that, the next day, we saw a YouTube video about the race. It turned out one of the guys who Zara interviewed shook her hand and won the race. Awww! :)

Lithuania and Latvia Interview

On January 8, Zara and I went to interview a lady called Ms. Monique about Lithuania and Latvia.  

Questions about Latvia
Zara: What are people from Latvia called?
Ms.Monique: People from Latvia are called Latvians.

Zara: What language do people speak in Latvia?
Ms. Monique: In Latvia some people speak Latvian, but mostly people speak Russian.

Zara: Is there a traditional food in Latvia?
Ms. Monique: There's no proper one but most people make these thin pancakes which you can put things like vegetables, meat etc. on.

Zara: What do the houses in Latvia look like?
Ms. Monique: I'm not sure.

Zara: Are there any special celebrations in Latvia?
Ms. Monique: Yes there are celebrations, but there's also loads of saint days.

Zara: What are the main religions in Latvia?
Ms. Monique: Most people are either atheists or Catholics.

Zara: What's the climate like in Latvia?
Ms. Monique: In the summer, the hottest it can get is thirty five degrees, and the sun would come up about 04:00 a.m and end at about 18:00. In winter it would be really cold. I can't remember how cold it was but the winter months would feel very long and the days would be quite short.

Zara: What are Latvians famous for?
Ms. Monique: I guess Latvians would be famous for their dancing, as it's really good.

Questions about Lithuania
Zara: What are people called in Lithuania?
Ms. Monique: In Lithuania people are called Lithuanians.

Zara: Is there any famous food in Lithuania?
Ms. Monique: Lithuanians' famous food is zeppelini. You take potatoes. Mash them and boil some water. You take a chunk of meat and some vegetables to make a sort of meat biscuit. It has very high calories though.

Zara: Are there any special traditions?
Ms. Monique: There's a tradition that if two people were to get married and in the way of getting to the church there is a bridge, the groom will have to pick up the bride and carry her over it.

Zara: Are there any unique things about Lithuania?
Ms. Monique: Lithuania, is along the Baltic Sea and has a port. It's unique because it has a port that doesn't freeze, even in winter, which is great for trading.

Zara: Are there any interesting stories you can tell us?
Ms. Monique: There's a legend about a wolf. It's about a Iron wolf and it's supposed to be about the king. But considering I don't know all the details about the story, I don't want to tell you the story, so I won't. Sorry.
Jensen: Awww, boo.

Zara: What do the houses look like?
Ms. Monique: To get into the houses, well the houses are quite high, because when it snows in Lithuania, it snows a lot. So when you get to someone's house you would probably have to go up a couple of  stairs to get in the house. And so then you would probably see inside the house, on the first floor there is the kitchen and the family living room. Then you would go up the stairs to see the bedrooms. Some houses are different from others, but most of them are Communist buildings so mostly you see a lot of houses which look the same.

Zara: Jensen has been dying for me to ask this question, so are there any famous people from Lithuania?
Ms. Monique:  Lithuanians are actually quite good at basketball. Lithuanians are really tall, so they're quite good at the game. So there are famous basketball players.

Zara: What is the main religion in Lithuania?
Ms. Monique: Lithuanians are either Christians, Catholic, Russian Orthodox, or Atheists.

Zara: What did you do in Lithuania?
Ms. Monique: I was an English teacher at a university.

Zara: What does the traditional outfit in Lithuania look like?
Ms. Monique: *shows us a doll* So women who were married would cover their hair with a cloth, while girls will wear a hat, and they can show some hair. Girls also wear colourful patterned skirts and a plaid shirt. Older women will usually wear a plainer skirt and and a long sleeve blouse.
Jensen: Ooooh, how interesting!

Zara: What are Lithuanians famous for?
Ms. Monique: I'd say they're really good at wood carvings *shows three different spoon/forks*
Jensen: That's so cool
Ms. Monique: Yeah, and they're also good because they can last for a long time.

Zara: Okay, well thank you for letting us interview you.
Jensen: Thank you very much
Ms. Monique: You're welcome, thank you for coming.

(Left to right:) Jensen, Zara, Ms. Monique

The Mohenjo-Daro Interview with Lata

Mohenjo-Daro is in Pakistan, which is one of the Stan countries.
(We are studying the Stan Countries. They are very interesting.) The Indus Valley was an ancient civilization from about 4,000 years ago. The Indus part was where India got its name. Mohenjo-Daro disappeared over mysterious circumstances. No one is sure what happened to it, although some people have said that it might have disappeared because of climate change, or maybe aliens. To make things more confusing, archaeologists found 44 ancient skeletons in Mohenjo-Daro in the 20th century AD. No one has been able to figure out why they didn't decompose over the years!

We interviewed Mrs. Lata. She knows about Mohenjo Daro and has even been there! She has a very interesting story about having been there when she lived in Pakistan. So, here is the interview.

Cady: Were there any tar pits where the 44 skeletons were found?

Lata: No, there weren't any.

Cady: What is the climate like in Mohenjo Daro?

Lata: A very hot summer. In September it is cooler than here.

Cady: What is the language that supposedly originated in Mohenjo-Daro?

Lata: It is called Sindhi. It has 52 letters. All the letters end in vowels.

Cady: Is Mohenjo Daro near the Indus River?

Lata: Yes. But the river dried up.

Cady: Do you have any interesting stories about Mohenjo Daro?

Lata: Yes. There is one story I know. It is about the excavation. When the diggers were looking for Mohenjo Daro, they found a figurine of a dancing girl. They fought over it so much, it had to be put in the museum.

Cady: Are there people living in Mohenjo Daro now?

Lata: No. People are not living in Mohenjo Daro now because it is buried under a lot of rubble. Only 30 or 33 percent is dug up.

Cady: There is a theory about a nuclear bomb hidden under Mohenjo Daro because there is a spot where rocks are fused together. Nothing can fuse rocks together except really, really hot conditions. Have you seen it?

Lata: I don't know what you are talking about.

Cady: Oh. Well, next question.

Cady: Who did the citizens of Mohenjo Daro trade with?

Lata: Arabs merchants and the Chinese.

Cady: What do you call people from Mohenjo Daro?

Lata: Sindese.

Bonus Question.

Cady: Did the people of Mohenjo-Daro have someone to look up to at ceremonies?

Lata: Yes. They had a priest. But they had no king.

Moldova Interview

Yesterday, the 8th of January, we interviewed Mr. Bill and Mrs. Kim about Moldova.

The Cast:

- Izzy: Interviewer (1)

- Tehva:  Interviewer (2)

- Tian: Secretary

- Mr. Bill: Interviewee

- Mrs. Kim: Interviewee


  Izzy: What traditional foods were in Matilda?
 
    Tian: Psst! Moldova!

    Izzy: Oh, I mean Moldova.

    Mrs. Kim: Well, a common food was Mamaliga which is a corn mush that's boiled. It's texture is like grits.

   Mr. Bill: There was also Cultinash which is Ravioli but without tomato sauce.

   Izzy:  What is the traditional outfit in Matilda---- Oh! Moldova!

   Mr. Bill: Well they did have a traditional out fit but it's really difficult to describe.

   Mrs. Kim: But the people in Moldova all wore fur hats. They were circular. What's funny is all of the class rooms had mirrors in them so in the winter when the students come in, they can fix their hair if the hat messed it up. Hey, you know, also at weddings every one dances. Everyone. But Bill and I don't dance. But you see, we went to a wedding and they forced us to dance.

Izzy: So, what's the weather like there?

Mr. Bill: Well, in Balti, where we were staying, the winters were really cold and grey and the summers were super hot. The climate there was like in Virginia in the mountains.

Tehva: What... is Moldova....famous for?

Mr. Bill: Moldova is mostly famous for its wine and champagne. When they were part of the soviet union, they would provide wine and champagne for them.

Izzy: What were you doing in Matilda? Oops, Moldova? Why were you there?

Mrs. Kim: We were teaching at the university and training teachers. We were in Moldova for about 9 months.

Tehva: We know Moldova is poor, but how poor is it?

Mr. Bill: People are not starving. The teachers were not paid for very long periods and everyone went to school because intelligence is very important.

Izzy: What is the most common religion in Moldova?

Mrs. Kim: It's mostly Orthodox Christian. Orthodox Christian is basically the same but with different holidays. Their Christmas was the 7th.

Tehva: Who does Moldova trade with.

Mr. Bill: Well, Moldova was connected to Russia economy, they traded through Russia but when they split, Moldova had no way to trade because they were so used to trading through Russia.

 Izzy: Is Moldova made up of more goat villages, small towns, or big cities like New York?

Mrs Kim: Moldova is made of mostly goat villages and small towns, some kind of big cities but nothing like New York. The country is mostly farmers so there are lots of cows. Lots of cows. Every teacher has a cow for milk.

Tehva: What is the language spoken in Moldova?

Mr. Bill:  There are 2 main languages in Moldova. One is Romanian and one is Russian. Romanian is a romantic language which means it's close to Italian.

Tehva: Do you have any stories from Moldova?

Mrs. Kim: Yeah, actually we do. Well, when we lived in Moldova we lived in an apartment and sometimes they would cut off the electricity and hot water. Now, it gets very cold in Moldova in the winter which is when this happened. So, what we did, was we bought a pickle barrel and an electric coil. Then, we got cold water out of the tap and heated it up with the coil. Finally,we took a bath, a hot bath.

Mr. Bill: Another time, we were at the market and a woman was selling chickens. She had one chicken in each hand. They were alive. She was using them as hand warmers while she sold them.


Later.....
A woman named Felicia came in and told us about Romania, her home. Then she taught us some words in Romanian. She is familiar with Moldovan since Moldova used to be part of Romania. Although Moldova is now its own country, the people there still speak a sort of dialect of Romanian.

You can click on the video link below to hear more from Felicia about Romania and Moldova.