Nigel &Kate's journeys to Hungary, Italy, Spain, Greece, Poland, Ukraine, Romania and Türkiye.

Let's know more about these countries....

Preview audio:

storyj.mp/aftaibrg2v5u

Christmas story

Once upon a time two exchange students Nigel and Kate decided to visit several countries at

Christmas time and on New Year’s Day. Their first journey started on 11th December and

their plane took off at Brussels airport and landed at Budapest airport after two-hour flight.

The Hungarian friends Bence and Alíz are waiting for Nigel and Kate at Liszt Ferenc Airport.

Hello Nigel and Kate and welcome to our beautiful country!

Hi Bence and Alíz, we are glad to spend some pleasant days in your beautiful country!

source: https://kormany.hu/hirek/strategiai-jelentosege-van-a-liszt-ferenc-repuloter-magyar-kezbe-kerulesenek

-OK, but first you should have a rest after your flight at Hilton Hotel which is in Castle District

of Budapest. It is a famous historical place and the view is very nice from the room of the

hotel-says Alíz

-Oh, yes we are really tired- says Nigel.

-Tomorrow we are visiting the Vörösmarthy Christmas Market. It is amazing place and you can taste the Hungarian cuisine there- says Alíz.

source: https://www.mtaudulok.hu/a-budai-varnegyed-vilagorokseg/

-Wow, the Christmas Market is beautiful and the food is delicious, especially stuffed cabbage.- says Kate.

- I think chimney cake is the best.- says Nigel.

- We agree with you- answer Bence and Alíz.

- Look at these pictures we have taken.

https://www.vg.hu/vilaggazdasag-magyar-gazdasag/2022/11/korabban-indul-az-advent-ma-nyitnak-a-karacsonyi-vasarok

The chimney cake is one of the best sweets in Hungary. It’s very tasty.

In Hungary fish soup is one of the most cultural food. It is pretty simple but with some hot sauce I love it.

Hmmm...Lángos. It’s truly delicious I can’t imagine a much tastier food than this. It looks like a pizza but the outside is crispy and the inside is fluffy.

Stuffed cabbage. It may look weird but don’t judge a book by it’s cover it is what it sounds like a cabbage stuffed with meat.

Thank you for everything. We enjoyed staying in your beautiful country but it’s time for us to travel to Italy.

Goodbye and have a safe flight to Italy.

NIGEL AND KATE HAVE COME TO ITALY.

They have some friends in a school in Verona, a town in the North-East of Italy, so they decide to spend some time with them. They go to their school and talk about the way they celebrate Christmas.

The students are divided into 3 groups; now Nigel and Kate are meeting the first group.

Mahnoor: Welcome to Italy, to our class 1D. Most of us were born in Italy, but our families are from different countries. Not everybody celebrates Christmas, but we all spend our time with our families and friends. Now we’re going to present you some ethnic food that is from our own countries.

Maria: The first country is Romania. My favourite food is Sarmalele. It’s a typical Romanian food that we eat at Christmas.

Mahnoor: I’m from Pakistan and my typical food is Samosa. It's a typical Arabian food.

Hashini Senaliya: I’m from Sri Lanka and my typical dishes are cokis and kiribat.

Marianah: I’m from Madagascar and my favourite food is Salad de Fruit. It's a typical French food.

Everybody: Hello! We are Sara, Zoe, Amy, Sofia, Chiara and Alessandro.

Nigel: Hello! We are Nigel and Kate.

Sara: At Christmas we eat BOLLITO with PEARA’, LASAGNE with RAGU’ and as dessert we eat PANDORO or PANETTONE.

Nigel: Really?! And what’s that?

Zoe: BOLLITO is boiled meat and PEARA’ is made of bread crumbles with pepper and it is very similar to mashed potatoes and polenta.

Amy: LASAGNE is very similar to pasta, but there is also ragu’ and bechamel on it.

Sofia: Our dessert is PANDORO, it looks like sweet bread with powdered sugar……IT’S REALLY GOOD!!!!

Chiara: instead of Pandoro, we sometimes eat PANETTONE. It's similar to pandoro, but with candied fruit in it.

Alessandro: And you, what do you eat for Christmas?

Kate: We eat… this year we’d like to try your Pandoro!

Yummy!

Everybody: WELCOME TO ITALY!

We are Jerome, Liam, Joshua, Taym and Roberto. We’d like to show you some Christmas Italian food.

Nigel: We’re ready to see and try the Christmas Italian food.

Kate: I know that the Italian food is fantastic!

Jerome: In our menu THERE IS: Pandoro, Steak, Carbonara, Lasagna, Amatriciana, Pasta ragù, Turkey, Cake, Tiramisù, Wine, etc.

Kate: There are lots of delicious dishes in Italy!

Nigel: I am hungry!

Kate: Pandoro is my favorite. Let’s try it!

After a long and delicious meal, Nigel and Kate say good bye to their new friends and go to Spain.

BYE BYE!

Here we are, Hello Spain! I'm looking forward to meeting our dear Spanish e-twinning friends.

Let's discover this amazing country and its Christmas traditions. "HOLA ESPAÑA", we are ready.

This is Madrid, the capital city, and there are Christmas markets and beautiful lights everywhere. It is stunning.

Let's go to Daimiel. Our friends from IES Juan D'Opazo are waiting for us.

Marcos: Welcome Kate and Nigel, this is the Nativity Scene. In Spain many people decorate their houses with Christmas trees, lights, ornaments and the Nativity scene.

Gonzalo: Let's go shopping, sing Christmas Carols and try some typical Christmas food!

Hamza: These are our typical sweets for Christmas. Marzipan is delicious, it's made with sugar and almonds.

Laura: There are many different types of turrón, chocolate is my favourite.

Rubén: 6th January is one of our favourite days. The Three Wise Men's festivity.

Moisés: They bring presents to everybody. You just need to be kind, honest and hardworking.

Sergio: It is time to say goodbye!

Adrián: Enjoy your next destination. We wish we could go with you!

Kate and Nigel: Thank you all, We love Spain!

Before leaving Spain, let's visit another area in this country.

Catalonia is a region where there are other traditions. Follow us!

Nigel and Kate, do you like "sopa de galets"?

What does it mean?

It's a Catalan traditional dish. It's like soup.

Ooh! Let's try. Yummy, yummy! It's so cool!

31st December we celebrate New Year time eating 12 grapes with family or friends.

We have big parties! It's funny!

Do you want to come?

After beautiful Spain, Nigel and Kate landed at Athens airport in Greece.

There they met their friends from a school in Mandra and immediately started talking about the places they should visit.

Where do you think we should go first?

At Syntagma Square, of course, in the center of Athens! It is decorated with a beautiful and tall Christmas tree.

And then? Is there a landmark we must visit?

Parthenon!! Υou should not miss this beautiful view!

Then we go to Elefsina, a city very close to our school! It is seaside and very beautiful!

After all this walking though, isn't it time to go for dinner? In Greece, on Christmas day families and friends gather and eat local food!

Wow! What foods do you usually eat?

we wait impatiently New year in Türkiye. Because we are always at home and on holidays the day after Christmas. we spend that special day by watching tv, chatting with family members. there are numerous programmes that are very exciting and fun.

we stay late this day and follow talk shows , celebrities.

of course we text our beloved friends about life. we pray God a happy, comfortable and helthy life for our relatives. Also we call and send good wishes to close friends.

surely the biggest lottery for new year is huge. So almost all lottery lovers buy tickets to gain this enormous money. for this day 31 st december night takes important night for Turkish people.

Mostly Turkish people prefer staying at home spending time together. So parents cook delicious foods and enjoy this special day. we mean 31 st december. we don't need to worry for time. Because 1st january is off. it is official holiday all around the country.

Then, Nigel and Kate boarded a plane to go to Kastamonu. It took one hour to land Kastamonu Airport.

Zeynep and Ali welcomed them at the airport. Together they visited the historical mansions, mosques, museums and Kastamonu Castle in the city center.

They visited the Nasrullah Mosque, then ate the local dish Banduma and Baklava, and drank Ayran. Nigel and Kate loved Kastamonu food.

Zeynep and Ali invited their friends to their home to celebrate New Year's Eve together.

So guys! Let's celebrate New Year at home!

Cool! Let's go

They played Tombala game at Zeynep's house, ate fruit and watched the Oses Türkiye competition, which is a New Year's classic in Türkiye.

It's a fantastic game!

Yeah! I liked it!

We'll miss you!

Greetings!

Good bye!

Don't forget to write!

Byeee!

Thanks for the trip!

We liked Kastamonu.

Thanks for garlic!

We'll write you about other places and traditions. Bye!

One day Nigel and Kate decided to meet with their friends from Ukraine.

After travelling across Turkey they stopped in Ukraine to get to know more about this country. They were impressed by the beauty of its nature and its architectural buildings. Firstly they came to an ancient town, Pyriatyn, which is situated in the central part of Ukraine, and visited old churches and the museum of history of the native town.