Newgrounds Cultural Exchange Club

[Narusegawa]

Welcome to NGCX!

As many of you are aware - most Newgrounders hail from the US, but the interest for Newgrounds and its contents is shared by people from all over the world. In fact, Newgrounds is a very international site considering the vast variety of nationalities present on this site.

This club is dedicated to the promotion of international cultural understanding. Here any Newgrounds members can share information, photos and other media digitally that tell of our cultures and countries - what kind of animals inhabits the backyard of a South African house? What does a McDonald's restaurant look like in Poland? What does a Brazilian high school classroom look like?

Anyone is free to ask questions and request photos from different countries and cultures but also freely share information and photos from their own cultures even if it hasn't been requested.

No membership is required as this thread is for everyone who is interested. However, it is possible to volunteer to go on a list and become associated to your country. This list is then accessible by request for finding users from a specific country.

Let's go!
- NGCX

[Narusegawa]

This world map shows which countries has Newgrounds members active in NGCX. If you volunteer to represent your country, the country will be filled with a yellow color on this map. Post what country you live in if you want to be a part of the map.

[Narusegawa]

At 6/9/10 04:30 PM, speeling wrote: I think I want to join this club. I plan to visit parts of Russia, and any other people who want to ask about the US Midwest I'm here to help.

Welcome to the club, you have been added as the first representative of USA. Regarding Russia - I have never been there myself, but I have a friend who is from Russia who is actually going there in the summer. If there is anything you want to know feel free to ask :-)

[Statwhore]

Canadian of 19 years here. Feel free to ask anything.

Also what country do you hail from OP?

[Narusegawa]

At 6/9/10 04:39 PM, Statwhore wrote: Canadian of 19 years here. Feel free to ask anything.

Also what country do you hail from OP?

North America is getting yellow, hehe. Welcome to the club. Although I consider myself a international citizen, I am currently assigned in Japan. My membership does not add much color to the map, unlike yours. If you want information from me, ask anytime - if you want photos, you have to wait until next week when I get ahold of my camera.

Updated world NGCX map below.

Three members from a total of three countries.
The countries together make up for roughly 13.5% of world land surface area and contains around 6% of the world human population.

[SpiffyMasta]

I am from the Pacific Northwest of the US, but I lived 18 years in Quebec, Canada. That makes me international a bit, I do have dual citizenship.

[Zakkles]

This looks really cool, so I'm gonna join. I am as of now representing the Southern US, but I lived in Wales until I was 15. May I join?

[Narusegawa]

At 6/9/10 04:55 PM, SpiffyMasta wrote: I am from the Pacific Northwest of the US, but I lived 18 years in Quebec, Canada. That makes me international a bit, I do have dual citizenship.

Interesting, how came you moved that far?

At 6/9/10 05:12 PM, Zakkles wrote: This looks really cool, so I'm gonna join. I am as of now representing the Southern US, but I lived in Wales until I was 15. May I join?

Anyone can join :-) You have been added as a representative of USA. What's the weather like now? I imagine it should be getting pretty hot.

[RogerBK]

Awesome idea, girl...

I'm Brazilian, and I live in Brazil, but I plan to travel to the USA when I finish school, and to go to Japan, when I reach Karate's Black Belt...

Feel free to ask anything about Brazil... Also, may I join??

[Narusegawa]

At 6/9/10 06:18 PM, RogerBK wrote: Awesome idea, girl...

Thank you!

At 6/9/10 06:18 PM, RogerBK wrote: I'm Brazilian, and I live in Brazil, but I plan to travel to the USA when I finish school, and to go to Japan, when I reach Karate's Black Belt...

I have been to Brazil, it's a wonderful country. Nice people, culture and nature. I also know someone who was born in Japan and later lived in Brazil, there are quite some Japanese immigrants in Brazil I believe.. Maybe you know that.

At 6/9/10 06:18 PM, RogerBK wrote: Feel free to ask anything about Brazil... Also, may I join??

Absolutely, you have been assigned as the first Brazilian and also first South American representative. Welcome!

[Lost-Chances]

This is England.

[TheThinWhale]

This seems like a cool club, I'm from western Canada. Vancouver, British Columbia to be exact. Damn, it really makes me feel unoriginal being in a country thats already yellow on the map.

[deadlaw117]

Put Philippines up there! I shall represent my fellow pinoys and pinays.

Unless someone else wants to

[Narusegawa]

Konbanwa .. (Good evening) as you could say in Japanese.

At 6/9/10 06:59 PM, Lost-Chances wrote: This is England.

I love when the sky looks nice like that, ruvery stuff!

At 6/9/10 09:48 PM, TheThinWhale wrote: This seems like a cool club, I'm from western Canada. Vancouver, British Columbia to be exact. Damn, it really makes me feel unoriginal being in a country thats already yellow on the map.

No, that's really nice. To people who live around here Canada is pretty much a exotic place far away .. Welcome to NGCX!

At 6/10/10 02:11 AM, deadlaw117 wrote: Put Philippines up there! I shall represent my fellow pinoys and pinays.

Unless someone else wants to

Welcome to the club :-) The Philippines seem really nice, I have never been there. Do you have any pictures of the environment? Is the Philippines home to the flying fox?

NGCX map -

Nine members from a total of six countries. The countries together make up for approximately 19.5% of the world land surface area. The population of these countries together consist of almost 12.5%, 1/8 of the world human population,

[Lost-Chances]

The only problem with my current photos are they're mainly of my bed-room view. Plus, at least half of them are sunrises (as pictured above) or sunsets (pictured below).

Also, they're actually A LOT bigger, they're just made smaller by the Newgrounds thing.

[deadlaw117]

I never been to Philippines but im still full filipino. Im hoping to go there soon as well. Theres alot of different enviroments like some parts its tropical then some parts are like grassy hillsides.

Heres a pic of the grassy hillsides.

[RogerBK]

At 6/9/10 06:24 PM, Narusegawa wrote:

At 6/9/10 06:18 PM, RogerBK wrote: Awesome idea, girl...

Thank you!

No Problem.

At 6/9/10 06:18 PM, RogerBK wrote: I'm Brazilian, and I live in Brazil, but I plan to travel to the USA when I finish school, and to go to Japan, when I reach Karate's Black Belt...

I have been to Brazil, it's a wonderful country. Nice people, culture and nature. I also know someone who was born in Japan and later lived in Brazil, there are quite some Japanese immigrants in Brazil I believe.. Maybe you know that.

Yeah, I know, and, I live in the same state where the Japanese came to Brazil 100 years ago... There are Japanese and Ucranian monuments in my state's capital, I never visited them, but I wanna...

At 6/9/10 06:18 PM, RogerBK wrote: Feel free to ask anything about Brazil... Also, may I join??

Absolutely, you have been assigned as the first Brazilian and also first South American representative. Welcome!

I'm pretty sure other South Americans are going to join the club, I know a lot of Brazilian friends here in NG...

Also, what do you eat in Japan?? Sushi, sashimi, and other delicious foods?? (I LOVE SUSHI!!)

Konichiwa. (Did I spell the word correctly?)

[thenewbies]

Hey, I'll call for Canada. Count another Canadian.

[Will]

I like this idea. I'm from southern England. I've been to tokyo it is really strange, completely different culture. One question - what is it about boys trading cards with real girls on them? And why do the girls queue up for the photo booths? I stayed in a capsule hotel, it was cool, although didn't like the public baths.

If anyone wants to know anything about SE Asia I've recently been travelling there, I love it.

[Armissea]

At 6/9/10 04:39 PM, Statwhore wrote: Canadian of 19 years here. Feel free to ask anything.

Also what country do you hail from OP?

Loads of NGers are from Canada too

do you ever think of moving to the

United states?

[Sir-Nuts]

At 6/10/10 06:45 PM, RogerBK wrote: I'm pretty sure other South Americans are going to join the club, I know a lot of Brazilian friends here in NG...

INDEED YOU DO. :P

I'd like to join this club. I'm 16 and I live in Brasília, the capital of Brazil. Some claim that it's a boring city, that there's nowhere to go to at night and only a few places to hang out at. It might be true, but since I don't go out that often, I'm happy in here.

We have almost the same problems every other big city does - traffic, violence, maybe pollution... And, being the capital, we are infamous to be corrupt, although it's been proved that the "regular" people are more honest than some other big countries around Brazil.

I'll post some pictures later that I'll take with my camera, but that wiki article pretty much shows what we have in here. :)

[Arctic-Zone]

I'm a 17 year old Canadian living in southwest Ontario. Count me.

[Sispri]

At 6/13/10 03:11 PM, FunnyDudeInSchool wrote: I think this is an interesting idea for a club.

However, though, what if I wanted to learn about another's state in the US? I live in California and a lot of other states out there are different in terms of weather, people, etc and I'd like to learn about what it's like living there too, as well as other countries.

I agree with this. Surely in a such diverse country there are different regions with different cultural values. I'm currently residing in New England - Greater Boston metropolitan area to be more precise. Everything here is go, go, go. Most people are liberal and we have a deep history of art and education. What is California like? I hear it is different out there, more laid back. Is this true?

[Centurion-Ryan]

Ireland, here. Antrim, to be precise.

In Irish news:
Maching Season's coming up again.

For those uneducated in Irish affairs, it's the time of year when a British Supremecist organisation stages several hundred parades all through the north of Ireland. It's basically like if the KKK had hundreds of demonstrations in New Orleans every year, were assigned police protection, blacks were arrested if they spoke out, and the president had to endorse the demonstrations or else he would lose his job.

So, with that rant that nobody cares about out of the way, I'd just like to join this club.

[Narusegawa]

Hey everyone - I'm currently out of town so to speak and have some difficulties in keeping everything updated, however the map and list of country will be updated soon.

As for the question about national requests rather than international request - those are of course fine too. In large countries one part of the country might be very much different from another part of the country. Examples of countries like these include China (People's Republic), USA, Russia, etc.

Also, I'm hoping you guys manage to watch some soccer/football because I think it's a really nice international multicultural event to see even if you're not a great fan of the sport. I do like it a bit though so if you're like me it's even better. How is your country doing in the FIFA World Cup? Did it qualify? Did it fail to qualify? Is soccer/football a big thing where you live? Where I live it is actually pretty popular along with baseball, so it's almost like a euro-american mix :-) I can tell you more about that later.

Cheers
- naru

[RogerBK]

Brazil is SOOO excited because of the Cup, we didn't start playing, but I just want it to to the second part of the Cup, since we aren't going to have classes when Brazil plays...

Also, I'm not cheering for Brazil, I wanna see Argentina (Yes, Brazil's worst enemy!) winning this World Cup...

Anyways, are you Japaneses excited with the Cup?? It must be awesome living in a beatiful country like Japan...

[Sispri]

At 6/13/10 08:41 PM, FunnyDudeInSchool wrote: Do you like living in New England? I know people from there, and it sounds like it'd be a cool place to visit at some point...

I personally like living in New England. A mild continental climate makes for a seasonal year. We're also big sports fanatics. Seafood is a cuisine unique to New England. Highly recommended if you're in town. As far as long term living is concerned, it is indeed costly to live in New England, more so in Massachusetts. Nonetheless, many young people choose to stay around here for collegiate purposes and the quality of life is high. Boston is flavorful city yet it is predominantly full of young professionals and college students.

There's plenty to see if you can appreciate it. Boston is culturally rich. Parts of the old city are still standing like the Old North Church. The North End is historically significant as well. There're plenty of museums and institutions if that peaks your interest. Maritime recreation is great if you're into the sort. See New Bedford or Cape Cod for more on that. Plenty of beaches run down our coastlines. For a more rural visit, you can go to the New Hampshire/Vermont back country. This offers hiking/biking/backpacking or just a day trip to see the fall foliage. Western Mass is mostly the same. Maine is also more rural - certainly less developed than Massachusetts, but there is still some shopping and tourism up there. I can't say much about Rhode Island or Connecticut. They're mostly suburban and part of the Boston-Washington D.C. megalopolis if you see it like that. You wouldn't have a problem getting around. The infrastructure is well laid out and several interstate highways link the Northeast.

I can say I like living in New England. Being born in New Jersey and living in Pennsylvania for the first few years of my life, I can say that. There's definitely more to do up here. I probably would have been bored in the farm countries of eastern Penn. Plus, most of my family is up here. I recommend coming out here for a visit if you can spare the time and money. Just don't get too culture shocked by some our more prevalent accents, haha.

[Sispri]

At 6/14/10 01:38 AM, FunnyDudeInSchool wrote:

At 6/14/10 12:02 AM, Sispri wrote: Just don't get too culture shocked by some our more prevalent accents, haha.

my dad is actually from Philly area in PA and moved to CA when he was like 20, and his "accent" isn't really anything different than your regular guy here, but I know of the Boston and Jersey accents. I've heard stuff like that, and hehe, they're kinda cool really, well the Jersey one that is. Wouldn't be as hard as to get used to my mom's side of the family's Chinese accents (I'm half-Chinese, half-white).

Yeah, New England/northeast US sounds like it'd be a nice place to visit, and if I could, I'd go there some day.

Any places that you'd like to visit in the west coast?

Some relatives of mine live up in Northern California so I might make a visit up there sometime. San Francisco sounds pretty cool as well. Actually I might be going out there soon. My uncle owns a vacation home in Vegas. What is worth visiting while I'm in the area?

[JoyKill]

MEXICO!!

[Sispri]

At 6/14/10 05:58 PM, FunnyDudeInSchool wrote: Hopefully whenever you'll be around these parts, you have a good time. It's definitely worth the visit.

Thanks for the input. It sounds like there's just as much to do out there. I'll be sure to check some of those places out when I travel there someday.