Life in GB and USA

Official birthday - In June the Queen’s official birthday is celebrated. It is a great ceremony with a parade of the Queen’s guards and soldiers and ceremony of Trooping the colour at the gorse guards parade in London

Halloween - in Britain is celebrated only in the North of England and Scotland, but is generally celebrated in the USA and Canada. Children dress up in Halloween costumes of ghosts, witches, wizards etc. they go to the neighbours houses and they say to the people “Trick or treat.” The children are given the sweets, fruit or money. the most common trick is soaping the windows. People make a lantern from a scraped pumpkin with eyes, nose and mouth. Then a candle is lit inside.

Guy Fawkes Night - on November 5th , ther was the unsuccessful plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 – it’s called the Gunpowder plot – the consecrations were executed. It is celebrated with bonfires, fireworks and the burning of guys

St. Andrew’s day - November 30th, the patron saint of Scotland

Christmas - 25th December, is family holiday in Britain

Boxing day - 26th In the past apprentices and tradesmen collected money in boxes on that day. During Christmas time people sing carols and songs

2) The USA

The majority of population works now in some service profession (in business, at schools, in hospitals). 25 per cent of jobs are in manufacturing and construction and only 5 per cent of jobs are in agriculture, fishing and mining. E. g. Physicians and dentists are paid very well - about 100.000 USD yearly.

Housing - over 80 per cent of the population live in the cities. There are more than two hundred of metropolitan regions now. Some are so large that they have begun to merge together. This new urban network is called "megalopolis". The largest of these covers the area on the Atlantic coast from Boston, through New York south to Washington, D.C.

Social Welfare - the majority of Americans are neither rich nor poor. They belong to the economic category called "middle class". They usually pay insurance and there are many kinds of it. Other benefits for working people are provided by the companies they work for. There are also many government programmes which help people in need.

The Wall Street Journal, Daily News, USA today etc.

TV works on four major networks: CBN, NBC, ABC and CNN

Sport is very popular there. A long tradition is in school sports clubs - at high schools and colleges.

Important holidays in USA

St. Patrick’s day - 17th March, originally it was an Irish holiday. St Patrick is the patron of the Irish people. On this day everywhere is green colour. The symbol of the day is shamrock.

Easter - many homes organise “Easter egg hunt” – also the president

Memorial day - It is celebrated 4th Monday in May. The American honour the dead of all wars

Independence day 4th July, the birthday of the USA. typical of this day is the atmosphere and enjoyment, there are family beach party and the fireworks at night