Geography Lesson

My fantastic job of teaching English online has connected me to students in (so far):

• China
• Argentina
• Italy
• Germany
• Brazil
• Mexico
• Spain

It have come to realize that I don't know shit about a lot of stuff in these countries. Like these countries' states or provinces. Often, my students - all adults - know the U.S. states.

An Ethiopian friend told me that when he was a child, all the kids learned about the U.S. states. In fact, there was a common phrase for when something got lost, "Where it'd go, Arkansas?" ... (if it was believed something was stolen, the question was, "it must have gone to Baghdad.") 

So I'm undertaking a project to learn the provinces of my students' countries.

China

Here's China in a reader-friendly visual:

Credit: SACU

Once I found a provincial map of China, my mind turned to land mass as compared to the U.S. Below is a nice graphic - note that it shows the comparison and also minds the latitudinal information. Note also that neither Hawaii nor Alaska appear.

Credit: Flora of China

One of my students told me that the area around Chengdu is particularly beautiful. Home of the pandas, too. And the five-color lakes.  It's in Sichuan province. Famous for its cuisine.


Argentina

Argentina has several states known for their regional wines.

Credit: La Vida Es Hermosa

If I compare China's size to the U.S., I guess I should do the same for Argentina.

Credit: Rand McNally

Mexico

Since I'll relocating to Mexico next year, I definitely need to get a handle on its states. Do you see the state of Michoacán? Yeah, that's where I was thinking of going, but maybe I've got to rethink that.

And the comparison between Mexico and U.S. land area:

Credit: Rand McNally

Below is a graph of expats who live in Mexico. I'm surprised the Canadian number is so low. Where do they go?
 

Place	Country	2010	2000	1990
1	United States	738,103	343,591	194,619
2	Guatemala	35,322	23,597	46,005
3	Spain	18,873	21,024	24,783
4	Colombia	13,922	6,465	4,635
5	Argentina	13,696	6,215	4,964
6	Cuba	12,108	5,537	5,217
7	Honduras	10,991	3,722	1,997
8	Venezuela	10,063	2,823	1,533
9	El Salvador	8,088	6,647	2,979
10	Canada	7,943	5,768	3,011
11	France	7,163	5,723	4,195
12	China	6,655	2,100	1,161
13	Germany	6,214	5,595	4,499
14	Peru	5,886	3,749	1,633
15	Chile	5,267	3,848	2,501
16	Italy	4,964	3,904	2,397
17	Brazil	4,532	2,320	1,293
18	South Korea	3,960	2,079	1,161
19	Nicaragua	3,572	2,522	1,521
	Other countries	43,799	37,126	32,487
TOTAL		961,121	492,617	340,246
Source: INEGI (2000),[20] CONAPO (1990)[21][22] and INEGI (2010)[23]

Italy

Back in the day, the first words that would come to my mind about Italy would be beautiful scenery, wine, good eating, rich history, and a people with a joie-de-vivre world view. Based on reports from recent travelers, the images that stick out most for me about Italy are crowds, heat, and high prices.

If you agree, then may I recommend a fine country for you to visit - Caucasus Georgia.

I'm kind of bored with the size comparison thing, so I'm going to stop on that.


Germany

One of my former (Caucausus) Georgian students is visiting Germany right now with a friend - they look to be having a fantastic time!

German provinces. Credit: Maps of Germany.

Do you see that pointy area in France below Saarland and to the left of Baden-Wirttemberg? That's Alsace-Lorraine.

Alsace-Lorraine. Credit: Travels in Europe With a VW Camper

My matrilineal and patrilineal ancestors passed through this area in centuries past, the maternal line being French Catholic, and the other Swiss Mennonite, aka Anabaptist (German-speaking), before their descendants, in different immigrant streams, in different centuries, ended up in North America. 

My maternal grandfather saw battle in Alsace-Lorraine during World War I.

Gee, what a detour I made.

So back to Germany. Because of my economic stratum, I tend not to think much about Western Europe as a travel destination - I can't afford to go, so it's just not on my radar.




Spain

Spain. Credit: Property net.

Jeez louise, the time it took to find a decent provincial map that also showed the almost-adjoining countries of Morocco and Algeria to the south of Spain (in English). Oh, you see they aren't there. Right. So anyway, see that land with the little airplane on it, south of Cadiz, practically touching? That's Morocco. If you look to the right along Morocco's coastline til you see the other little airplane? And then the yellow squiggly line? To the right of the squiggly line is Algeria.

The economic crisis in Spain right now is crushing. Recently, a British man bought an entire Spanish village (abandoned) for 60k euros. (There are villages like this in Caucasus Georgia, too.)


Brazil

Brazil provinces. Credit: emaps world

I always think of Brazil as being very big. Let's compare it with the U.S.

Brazil - US size comparison. Credit: Rand McNally

 Woo, yeah, it's big.
 
Although Brazil can boast tremendous advances in many areas economically, technologically, etc. it's also  suffering now in many areas. People don't feel safe. The government is perceived to be corrupt and ineffectual. There are some who believe the public school system is in awful shape, as there is no investment in bringing along new teachers for the public system, i.e. low pay and miserable working conditions. (Sounds like Caucasus Georgia, although there is ongoing reform.)

According to the World Atlas, Brazil's Sao Paolo is the ninth most populous city in the world at 20 million (just under NYC's 21.4 million and just over Mexico City's 19.4 million).


 

Istanbul: I Paid a Bribe or, The Girl From Milan

Well, no, I didn't.

But while in Istanbul, I ran into an Italian girl from Milan. Our conversation reminded me of this website, I Paid A Bribe, which I first read about in the New York Times some months back.

Which reminded me of the economic situation in Greece, not unconnected with corruption there, which there is no political will to rectify. And makes me think of Phil in the Blank's post here about Mali.

Which contrasts with the story of Georgia in 2003.

So according to the Milanese girl, average Italian wages per month are roughly 1580 euros (confirmed here), while the average monthly earnings of the Italian lawmakers are more than $20,000 USD. Yup, per month.

The girl from Milan also said there were 665 lawmakers (though this article reports about 1000). This is for a population of 60 million. In contrast, the U.S. has 535 legislators for its population of 310 million. 

On top of this, Italy still requires its citizens to go hither and thither - physically - to get this or that stamped or fee paid or otherwise handled by government employees to get the simplest tasks done, such as license renewals or tax paying. Compare this to Georgia's current online system for many functions, operating not only from the desire for efficiency but in the belief that the fewer humans who touch an item, the fewer chances there are for corruption.

The Milanese girl told me about her two trips to the U.S. - one to New York and one, some years ago, on a family RV trip to some of America's national parks in the west.

She was so surprised at the differences between New York City and Milan. The rush, rush, rush! Work, work, work! The rudeness! The abruptness! The difficulty in meeting people.

Yes, she said, Milan could learn many lessons from the New Yorkers who were so kind and helpful to her when she was a tourist there. She can't wait to go back some day.