Sunday, August 30, 2009

Getting started

Okay. I haven't even started and already I am running into problems. This weekend was supposed to be the big kick-off for our Eat Planet blog. I had planned that on Saturday afternoon, after John's football practice, we would drive to Toronto and eat Afghan food from a restaurant called Kabul Express - apparently a fast food joint. I originally wanted to go to a place called The Afghan Village which got great reviews on the internet. But it's in North York, an hour and a half away. Kevin suggested that we wait to go there when John's football team plays North York, but who knows when that's going to be (??) That wasn't going to work for me. Call me crazy but I am biting at the bit to get started.
Then Kevin gets sick. He came home early from work Friday, threw-up and went straight to bed. He hardly ate a thing yesterday and today the only thing he's had is a dry bagel. Driving into the city to eat Afghan fast food was not high on his list of things he wanted to do this weekend. He suggested we wait until next weekend (I don't think he understands the seriousness of this project). I thought about waiting but I've decided that the show must go on. Tomorrow the kids and I will trek into the city and we will go to Kabul Express! Tune in tomorrow when I write about it.

Problem number 2: I wrote that there are 257 countries. Well, after investigating it a bit further when I couldn't find the country Akrotiri in the dictionary (!!) I discovered that I had included about 60 territories, colonies, dependents of independent countries, etc. No wonder I hadn't heard of so many of them! Apparently there are 195 countries in the world, and I also learned that "How many countries are in the world?" is a frequent question because different sources often give you different answers. I wondered then if I should include the territories, colonies, and what not, but then I thought I should keep it simple. So 195 it is - unless another source tells me the number is all wrong! Perhaps the next project can be eating foods from the territories, the colonies, and the like - if I survive this one, that is.

Trivia: The United States has more territories than any other country (there are 14). The United Kingdom has 12.

Definition of an Independent Country -

1.) Has land that is internationally recognized.
2.) People live there.
3.) Has an organized economy.
4.) Has the power of social engineering, such as education.
5.) Has a transportation system for moving goods and people.
6.) Has sovereignty.
7.) Other countries recognize it as a country.

No comments:

Post a Comment