National Character and Stereotypes. Topic for Conversation #14 / #22

National Character and Stereotypes

1. What are the daily habits of Belarusians?

2. Are there any traditions in your family that are landed down from one generation to another?

Each family has its own traditions and mine is not an exception. They depend on national features or people preferences. I think it’s important to have family traditions because they are part of the glue that holds families together.

My family also has some traditions. First of all I should say that I live in a friendly and united family. We try to be loving and caring with one another. And it’s our family tradition to say the words of love. We say “I love you” every day: before we go to bed, in the morning or even without any special occasion.

My favorite tradition is family dinner. Every day we have dinner together and discuss events of the day. I like this tradition because I can get some useful advice if I need. We also laugh a lot at the jokes of our family members. After dinner my dad and I wash the dishes. I think it’s fair because my mum cooks dinner.

Every Friday we go for a walk. It’s always interesting to go for a walk with my dad in the evening because he knows a lot about stars and it’s interesting to listen to him.

Taking vacations is a good way to build memories. In summer we travel a lot. I pick a route and we go there. I like this family tradition because it’s always interesting to discover new places and because of it I understand how beautiful and full of interesting places our country is. During one of these trips we found a small picturesque lake. And now when it’s hot we go to this lake to swim.

I also like the way how we celebrate New Year in our family. My parents invite their friends with their families and we always have fun. After midnight we give one another presents and then go all together for a walk to watch fireworks and play snowballs.

In conclusion I should say that following family traditions is very important. I like all traditions in my family and I hope that we will continue them for years and will have more funny and interesting traditions in the future. And when I have my own family, I’ll continue to follow these traditions with my children.

3. Ask you British friend how they celebrate Christmas in their family.

4. Advise a Britidh teenager on how to choose gifts for his/her Belarusian friends.

5. We can't believe all the stereotypes about different nationalities. What do you think about it?