May 2 - 6, 2016

We are in Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan. This country actually dominates South Asian subcontinent and is near the Indian Ocean trade routes. This country is also home of the third largest mountains in the world (Kanchenjunga) lies on the border with Nepal.


This country has a vast variety of languages spoken. The most important language for national, political and commercial communication is Hindi. 41% of this country's population speaks Hindi. There are 14 other official languages and they are Bengali,Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sandskrit. Hindustani is a combination of Hindi and Urdu and widely spoken throughout this country's northern area but it is not an official language. 
English is this country's sub-official language. 

Population: 1, 251, 695, 584 (July 2015 est.)

By the 19th century, Great Britain had become the dominant political power on the subcontinent. The British Indian Army played a vital role in both World Wars. Years of nonviolent resistance to British rule, led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU, eventually resulted in this country's independence, which was granted in 1947.

It's terrain is upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in the south, 
flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in the north.

It's climate varies from tropical monsoon in the south to temperate in the north

This country's administrative divisions are 29 states and 7 union territories*; Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh*, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli*, Daman and Diu*, Delhi*, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep*, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Puducherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal

Legal System: common law system based on the English model; separate personal law codes apply to Muslims, Christians, and Hindus; judicial review of legislative acts.

What else can you find out about this county we have landing in week? Give us your clues.

April 25-April 29, 2016

Welcome back from Spring Break 2016. 

We're back on the VES Flying Bus. This week we've traveled to a rugged, landlocked country split by the Great Rift Valley. With archaeological finds dating back more than 3 million years, it’s a place of ancient culture. Among its important sites are Lalibela and its 12th-13th century rock-cut Christian churches, and Aksum, the ruins of an ancient city with obelisks, tombs, castles and Our Lady Mary of Zion church. 

This country is considered the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world (may be traced to the Aksumite Kingdom, merged in the first century B.C.)

Official language: is Amharic
Eastern Africa, west of Somalia

Geographic coordinates: 8 00 N, 38 00 E and is slightly less than twice the size of Texas

Climate: tropical monsoon with wide topographic-induced variation

etymology: the country name derives from the Greek word "Aethiopia," which in classical times referred to lands south of Egypt in the Upper Nile region

Agriculture - products: cereals, coffee, oilseed, cotton, sugarcane, vegetables, khat, cut flowers; hides, cattle, sheep, goats; fish

Imports - commodities: food and live animals, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, machinery, motor vehicles, cereals, textiles

Imports - partners: China 19.2%, US 11.4%, Saudi Arabia 6.7%, India 5% (2014)

Enjoy more information from our 5th graders!

APRIL 11TH OUR NEW COUNTRY

 Whew, one more country
before school vacation! 

Kevin shares this country's population.

This week we've landed in a mountainous Central European country, home to numerous lakes, villages and the high peaks of the Alps.

The country is also a destination for its ski resorts and hiking trails. Banking and finance are key industries, and is famous for watches and chocolates 

Do you recognize
the flag?

This county has several official languages Grace shares
one with us but others are German, Italian, and Romansh.

Exports: machinery, chemicals, metals, watches, agricultural products

Imports: machinery, chemicals, vehicles, metals; agricultural products, textiles

To call this Country you need the Country Code.

The Climate and more...

Brooke shares the terrain.

This country is completely landlocked, meaning it is surrounded by land and has no coastlines.

This country is east of France and north of Italy. Geographic coordinates: 47 00 N, 8 00 E

Bordering countries (5): Austria 158 km, France 525 km, Italy 698 km, Liechtenstein 41 km, Germany 348 km 

Climate is temperate, but varies with altitude. It can be cold, cloudy, rainy/snowy winters; cool to warm, cloudy, humid summers with occasional showers

Many of the Old Towns within its cities contain medieval landmarks like capital Bern’s Zytglogge clock tower and Cathedral of Bern. 

Food

There are many regional dishes. One example is Zürcher Geschnetzeltes, thin strips of veal with mushrooms in a cream sauce served with rösti. Italian cuisine is popular, particularly pasta and pizza. Foods often associated with this country include cheese and chocolate. 

Breakfast typically includes bread, butter or margarine, marmalade or honey, maybe some cheese or cereals, plus milk, cold or hot chocolate, tea or coffee.

Lunch may be as simple as a sandwich or a birchermüesli or it could be a complete meal.
Depending on what people had for lunch, dinner can be a full main course or just some bread, cheese, maybe some dried meat or any other light meal.

Drinks range from plain water, over different types of soft drinks including most internationally well known brands. Hot drinks include many different flavors of tea and coffee.

There is a great deal of bread eating in this country! The local people do not only love good food, they also appreciate a beautiful decorated table during the holidays like Christmas.

The Country for April 4th

We've landed on another primarily French speaking country this week. This new country is slightly smaller than the state of West Virginia.  If we were to stand in the middle of this country and look North we would see the country of Burkina Faso, to our East we would see Benin, to our South is the Gulf of Guinea and our VES student, Brooke shares what country is to the West.  
















We have learned that the country has 56 km of coastline, and that it is divided into five administrative regions—Maritime, Plateaux, Centrale, Kara, and Savanes—each supervised by an inspector. Can you find more information on these regions? 

What is 56 km converted to miles? 
The USA use the Empirical and/or America Standard form of weights and measures, and the country we are visiting uses the Metric system. 

Sam shares the continent that we're on. 

The largest wildlife has been exterminated in the southern area but in the north area of this country we may find elephants and lions. There are 196 species of mammals, 117 species of birds, and over 3,000 species of plants throughout the entire country. Common animals are Hippopotamus, Crocodiles, Snakes and Monkeys.

The main exports are coffee, cotton, gold, cement and cocoa. Do they import anything?

Their Monetary Unit:  The Communauté Financière Africaine franc (CFA Franc) is a paper currency of 100 centimes.

There are coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100,
and 500 CFA francs and notes of 50, 100, 500, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 CFA francs. 

($100 CFA Franc equals $17 US Dollars)

The national sports teams are National Football Team, National Rugby Union Team, Davis Cup Team

Peter gives us the longitude and latitude.