Hello. Hello, everyone. This is another episode of the BigAppleSchool podcast with the goal of this show is to help you improve your English listening skills. My name is Benjamin. I'm from London and I work here at the BigAppleSchool and today we had three participants. Our first participant is...
And last but not least...
So welcome, welcome, guys. So it's another chilly day in Novosibirsk. What's new in your lives? What's going on today?
It's getting warmer this week, so...
It's nice for taking some walks.
Exactly. And what else is new? We have three black shirts today. So for those of you who are watching the video portion of this podcast, you can see our wonderful fashion choices. Exactly. Well... Yeah.
Yeah. Nothing new I guess.
Nothing new. New Year is coming.
Yeah. New Year's around the corner. Christmas is soon.
New hopes and everything. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. In our previous podcast, I believe, we talked about the lights in the center of the city of Novosibirsk. Have you seen them, Maria?
Yeah, I guess, yeah. Yeah, looks pretty good.
It's like small Moscow in the center of Siberia.
Mini-Moscow, yeah, that's cool.
Well, we mentioned in our previous podcast that Novosibirsk this year is the Russian New Year Capital.
I went through the list of activities. Well, actually I didn't find anything particularly interesting for me, so. Okay.
Well, what do the activities include?
Some workshops, I guess. And also parade and something which is called like the passing of a snowflake.
Oh, passing of a snowflake.
Yeah. Because well, the I guess the symbol of this New Year's capital is a snowflake made of something, I don't know, maybe wooden or and they pass it like to a different city every year.
By the way, speaking of the logo with a snowflake, have you noticed the logo of Tolmachevo airport which is the...
Yeah, it's the snowflake. But have you looked closely at the logo? It's absolutely amazing. The snowflake is made up of planes.
Have you seen? It's so cool.
Of course it's cool for you.
Yeah, man, it's your thing. Yeah.
For those of you who are not familiar, Tolmachevo airport is the main airport here in Novosibirsk. And they have a pretty genius graphic designer who designed the logo for the airport. So type it in on Google and let us know your thoughts in the comments section, what you think of the logo.
Or if you know of any other cool logos that you want to share with us. Well, just some housekeeping to do for the podcast. I need to mention that you can find our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Yandex Podcasts, VK, and you can find the video version on YouTube. So you can see our beautiful, beautiful selves speaking.
And black t-shirts and a wonderful sweater that you're wearing.
And I just want to say thank you to Valeriy Davydovskiy. So thank you very much, Valeriy, for the nice long comment. And he suggested having a podcast about sleep. Coincidentally, we just had a podcast about sleep. So Valeriy definitely recommend you check that out, but thank you very much for the long comment and we very much appreciate it.
And also, yeah, keep sharing your thoughts, Valeriy. And, yeah, try your speaking skills in the telegram chat with us. Also want to say thank you to another commenter who has a rather difficult to pronounce username as user-nfre6oh7i.
I'm not sure what your name is, but thank you very much for saying, I adore to listen to your podcasts in Apple Podcasts but it's so interesting to see your emotions while you're speaking. Thank you for helping in studying English. Well, thank you very much user-nfre6oh7i.
So maybe he's under cover or something.
It sounds like Elon Musk's son, you know.
Elon Musk's son, yeah, an automated comment, but thank you very much. So we appreciate that. Also, I want to just mention that we have a private chat for those of you who are not familiar on Telegram. And there you can get access to the aftershow portion of this podcast with a very useful list of vocabulary which you can use to improve your English skills. It's really useful.
Also, you can discuss your your thoughts and you can practice your English skills in the private chat itself on Telegram. And we've recently just had a podcast about sounds, which is really interesting given that we were talking about learning through listening. So definitely try out the Private Chat on Telegram.
Also other things to mention which are really cool. We have a new kind of little podcast coming out - English Idioms in 30 seconds where you can see me discussing the various English idioms and the very short little podcast, but you can find them on Apple Podcasts and you can, yeah, you can improve your knowledge of idioms while you're brushing your teeth or while you're driving, or something.
The very short podcast. But they will give you a new idiom every now and then, so be sure to check that out on the Apple Podcasts Channel. Also this week, we had a new format of Speaking Club, which was an online speaking club which was hosted on Telegram and Katya, who's another teacher here at BigAppleSchool, she hosted a podcast about myths and misconceptions about second language learning.
A lot of people participated in that, which was really good. And we saw people practicing their English with on camera, and it was very good to build their confidence of speaking. Also, I had a speaking club on Telegram as well, which was on the topic of how to boost your English skills. And we can have some more speaking clubs on Telegram, so definitely stay tuned to our telegram chat and you can find out more information.
So you can be part of the conversation and you can get some chances to practice your English skills with us. And it's a supportive environment so you can make mistakes and not worry about what other people think. We have another comment here from Саня Саня, who participated in the speaking club with me.
He said, Thank you very much. It was my first speaking club with the BigAppleSchool. It was so cool. Now I'm studying a pre-intermediate level, but I understood almost everything. But I don't have enough confidence to speak to the audience who has a higher level than I. So I want to suppose you to make one speaking club for pre-intermediate level. You guys do great work. I listen to your podcast almost every day.
Саня Саня, thank you very much. Do not be scared to participate. It's the best way to boost your confidence level. No one cares if you make a mistake. No one's going to point their fingers at you and get angry at you. Even if the level is higher in the speaking club, do not feel shy. Nobody's going to judge you for practicing your English.
But thank you very much, Саня Саня, for being there. Also Olga Sviridova who participated in Katya's speaking club, said, Let's speak about food next time. And Katya was very excited to respond to that by saying, I'm all in!!! My favorite topic!!! So, yeah, thank you, Olga, for participating and for showing your face on the chat.
And if you missed the speaking club, you can download, not download. You can listen to the recording of the speaking club in our private telegram chat and there you can stay up to date with everything that we've said. So that's a lot of housekeeping. But definitely check out our telegram chat for more information. So I've been walking today, got a long old walk, and I saw the buildings around me. Do you like the buildings here in Novosibirsk?
I like the shape of churches here.
There are quite a few nice little churches here. Well, we're going to talk about architecture today, as you might have guessed by the introduction to this conversation. Yes. There's a church in the center of the town. Is that the one you mean?
There is one like next to, like not so far from here. It's, you take the metro one station and it's an orthodox church.
Next to the park where there are some squirrels there.
Oh, squirrels. Do you feed these squirrels?
Squirrels are everywhere.
Yeah, I feed them. I usually go and feed them there.
Yes. Yeah. There's a few good churches here. So, Maria, do you go to the churches ever?
Well, from time to time. I mean if I'm in a new city, I would probably consider entering a church or cathedral especially if it is a historical one, like if it has some historical value, because well, I like the interior and the exterior also.
But, yeah, I mean, orthodox churches are more or less similar, but some of them are very different. For example, once have been in Kronstadt, if you know.
It's near St Petersburg. And there they have a very interesting Marine Cathedral. It looks very different from typical Russian churches because it has this navy, well, I don't know, interior. It's interesting.
Yeah. Well, I know you recently went to Kaliningrad. How different is the architecture there from the rest of Russia?
I guess it is more similar to the European architecture because, well, they still have some. Well, the city was pretty much destroyed by the end of the Second World War, but they still have some villas, for example, built by I guess Germans and their cathedral was restored, it was destroyed but then it was restored. It looks pretty impressive. I think probably it's the gothic style but I'm not sure.
Yeah. Because there's supposed to. Does it have like a feeling... Do you feel like you're in old Germany or in the Weimar Republic?
I could imagine that. I haven't been to any type of Germany either old or new, but I, yeah, I can imagine that it's something like this. It feels like a very interesting combination of Soviet Union plus modern Russia, plus old European city. So...
Yeah. Because I recently went to Derbent if you know in Dagestan. It's right next to the Azerbaijan border and Russia. It's so amazing. The architecture there is like Persian I would say I can't really describe it and it didn't feel like I was in Russia. It's so amazing.
And, yeah, everyone spoke Russian and Russian signs everywhere and it was so cool. I felt like in a different world from Novosibirsk. Well, what do you like the architecture here, Ayoub, in Novosibirsk, generally speaking?
Like you can say no, because it's not only about Novosibirsk. I don't like the buildings in big cities, like just cubes, and you build them off. You know, I don't like such things, but I am more into old stuff.
Yeah, old style architecture. Yeah.
What about you, Ugur? Are you more of an old?
I guess I like the Soviet buildings, like the classical Soviet buildings, like I don't know the name of it, but this specific kind of ninth floor building or eighth floor buildings, what's the name of it...
I guess so, I don't know.
Yeah, I think we call them панельная девятиэтажка.
If it is what you are talking about, you mean just grey, nine floored buildings?
Yeah, typical Soviet era kind of buildings. They're kind of cool.
They are gloomy, but they have the insides like a gem. It's like a pearl. The way people take care of their apartments, generally speaking. So it looks so brutal on the outside and harsh and...
But's it's warm inside and it's kind of right like...
Small living area for you, only for you in a way. So that's why.
Yeah, I think we also have a very typical Soviet which is called панелька or панельный дом. So it's like my think five storeys and sometimes it's made of bricks, sometimes it's made of like panels.
Panels. So you can easily assembled them in a short time.
It was in the times of Khrushchev, I guess.
Oh, хрущевки. They're always the five story ones.
I live in four floored building, which is also, maybe they just run out of bricks. I don't know, I really don't know, like all houses are five storeys and have five storeys and my house, it's like...
Well, would you prefer to live in a сталинка, which was, of course, from the Stalin age, which is more ornate but older? Or would you prefer to live in девятиэтажка?
I would prefer to live in сталинка. Yeah. Because of these houses are more interesting from the outer side and they also have better and more thoughtful planning inside. High ceilings, big windows and good bathroom, sometimes even bathroom with a window.
For example, my grandmother and grandfather in Novokuznetsk lived in a house which was built in 1937 or 1934, and now it is considered an architectural monument on the regional level.
Historical building in a way.
Yeah, yeah, it is under protection.
So in England we have these buildings called in the UK, these buildings called grade listed buildings, and you could have a grade one listed building or a grade two listed building. I can't remember which one is which, but one means that you can, you can't touch it at all.
You can't change anything, yeah, yeah, the same in Turkey.
For instance, Big Ben you can not touch it except to make repairs of course. Grade two you can't do...
It's not like Big Ben of course, the house where my grandparents lived. But you can't maybe put air conditioning on the building. Or maybe change the color.
So about even if you are the owner, you cannot touch it?
Yeah, in England, yeah, if you buy, I can't remember if it's a grade one or grade two, but if you buy the more protected version, you can't really touch anything.
I think it makes sense because one building, another building and they all form the unity of the city. And that's why, for example, Novosibirsk is quite a difficult city to look at because it consists of patches, small patches and...
Yeah. One thing I really admire about the хрущевки and the девятиэтажки is how quickly they were built and how...
And how the genius of the design is. It's amazing. And even though they might look ugly from the outside, they just, they have such a history to them. And it's amazing. Like, I've heard somewhere that the staircases were designed to be just wide enough to fit a coffin so if someone died. You can bring a coffin downstairs without problems.
Yeah. And how these buildings also have the garbage chutes, which are the garbage pipes and...
No, no. Only in these newer девятиэтажки.
Which were built. I think they are брежневки.
Yeah. From the Brezhnev era.
Because девятиэтажки it's from the Brezhnev time. Like first it was the Stalin empire architecture or like kind of Soviet neoclassicism. They were big, prominent and nice buildings. So you can see some of them, for example, in Moscow and well, they are kind of decorated.
Then after, sorry, after Stalin's death, Khrushchev took over the country and he said, like, Now we are going to fight all this ornaments and architectural abundance. We don't need it. We need simplicity, utility. We need it to be cheaper and faster.
Yeah, minimalistic. And then Brezhnev and he started, well, not he, but they started to build this девятиэтажка.
Yeah. I guess I would translate just nine story building.
But I mean, if you say брежневка, хрущевка, девятиэтажка, it is like more Russian cultural context. Yeah.
Because when we say dacha, yeah, we understand that it's not just a summer house, it's dacha.
You're right. When trying to explain these terms to English people, it's better to just keep the Russian word. For instance, if well, in Novosibirsk, we have this famous road Красный проспект, I wouldn't translate it as Red Prospekt. I would just leave it as Красный проспект.
Yeah. Especially if someone is sending you some mail or parcel. I mean, the parcel would never come to you if it was sent to Red Avenue.
Even the sound of it, it is beautiful, Красный проспект.
Yeah. Oh, yes, it is great, yes. Speaking of architecture. So have you had a walk down the whole Красный проспект?
Not the whole of it, but I saw some stuff there. But I don't remember, to be honest. Exactly.
But I remember that I liked it very much. There was also like a big square also where I walked.
But the thing about, like I said this before, for me, when I am in a city like Novosibirsk or like a big city, okay, I don't pay attention to architecture, but whenever I see something old I get very interested in that thing.
Like I told you about the church, about these other like, old houses from this place you can read when they were, like, built. All right. So I think there is something like university here, for example, just next to BigAppleSchool.
And I thought it's a normal building. Then they told me that, No, it's a university. So that's why I said, like, such type of architecture, I don't support it because university should look like university.
You mean columns? More columns.
Make it more universitish.
Oh, there is the transport university. Have you seen that, Maria?
The Transport University here in Novosibirsk. They have beautiful big pillars.
Yes, Дуси Ковальчук Street?
I can't remember exactly.
Because I'm a bit confused. Yeah. Because I'm not a native so...
I believe it's. Oh, yeah, of course, you are from Novokuznetsk. Yeah, I believe it's more, it's north on the right side so maybe towards Заельцовский, maybe a bit further from.
Yeah, I think, I think I know what you're talking about.
Yeah. Because I remember one university looks, yeah, looks very nice and it has lots of campuses and, yeah.
A group of students last year invited me out on a walk and they took me there. It was really nice. It's a really cool building. And there was also this Дом культуры, which is like...
Exactly, well done, exactly.
Yeah, I know it, I know it.
And it had this beautiful old Stalin era architecture, which is really cool. Right next to the university.
Yeah, because Stalin wanted to show the whole world that, like, Soviet people can do things.
Yes. Yeah. And the very ornate buildings, the Stalin era buildings.
I am sorry. I remember one building. I watched the video on YouTube. The building was kind of a circular. Have you ever heard about it? It was a kind of unique Soviet era architecture, but it was kind of a project and they couldn't finish it.
So circular building, like nearly a thousand people can live in it, but they never finished that. They couldn't finish that.
Do you mean like circular like the perimeter around it?
So, do you know anything about that?
It was in a video about an Soviet Union era. So I was into it. So that was cool.
Well, they wanted to house like a hundred thousand people. It's crazy like that.
Yeah, kind of a circle and perimeter, as you said. So it was interesting.
I know in St Petersburg there's like a new residential building which houses, I think it's a few, several, ten thousands of people. It's absolutely huge.
Yeah, in the same complex. Absolutely huge. Would you guys like to live in a building that has over 20,000 people?
It's like kind of like Black Mirror in a way.
You shouldn't be able to see the sky at least once a day.
Oh, cool. Did you have experience renting this place?
Yeah, I visited Hong Kong and I visited that coffin houses, that place.
So it was kind of, It was a nightmare, you know?
Like two or three square meters. People trying to live, like, think about this room, and it's kind of divided into four or five. And everyone needs to just live into the cubicles and they have to do everything into that area, including their toilets and everything. So that was kind of oh...
Yeah, like 1500 or something for two square meter room.
How do they sleep like bulk beds?
Yes. In a way. So that if you are sleeping by yourself, you are privileged. 95% of people like sharing this like a dorm, like but like a cramped environment in a way.
I'd have a panic attack for this.
Yeah, I would definitely have something like that. Yeah.
Yeah, it's kind of getting like that in New York and London as well, where real estate is so expensive.
Yeah. Well, I love, speaking of New York, I love New York's architecture, even though it has this mix of like old or early 20th century mix or even 19th century as well mixed with.
I guess it has bits of, like, art deco style.
For example, Empire State Building or Rockefeller Center.
Yeah. The New York is absolutely amazing. If you go there, it's just overwhelming how in a good way. Like how big the buildings are. And, yeah, but living there is just outrageously expensive that you literally live in a cubicle. If you have like...
I saw some documentaries. There's like studio flat, like a small studio flat with $2,000.
$2,000 will get you, like, that place of rats maybe.
Yeah. I would love to live in New York, but it's just not viable. So, unfortunately. Yeah, well, if you could choose one city for its architecture, which city would it be?
I would like to speak about Russia, for example, Saint Petersburg.
Yeah. It's very beautiful.
No, not yet. But I will in June, I think.
Yeah. In Russia, I guess it is the most beautiful city in terms of, like, this architectural ensemble.
Like it's all put together very, very nicely.
What I liked about it is that's how it was built. You know, historically speaking, Peter the Great and how he like he did everything, you know, like... The documentary I saw if I am not wrong, it's like, he had a lot of tasks to do only by himself.
Like, he had ideas, and he put them into architecture, into art, into even, like, the style of dressing up. Okay, so the Hermitage was his, I think it was his idea, right? So, yeah, as I saw this documentary, it was like a three hour documentary.
And it's really fascinating how a human brain can build all of this. And when I saw it, it's like it attracted me, like, I really want to be there. So in June, I will have the chance.
It's definitely recommended. Peter the Great was such a boss, like how he went round Europe and brought all of it back to Russia, yeah.
And if I speak globally I would prefer Switzerland with those, you know, houses on hills, you know, wooden houses.
Yeah, chalets or cabins, yeah.
As opposed to Hong Kong, for example.
Yeah. Yeah. So you can be relaxed, in a way. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, you were in Vietnam for a while. What was the architecture like there?
Oh, it was kind of mixed. So pre-colonial era, like the French colonial era, they have lots of examples of French colonial architecture then their traditional Vietnamese architecture. So it's kind of mixed.
Plus you can also see American complexes in Saigon. So because it's kind of, it was kind of occupied by American in a way so...
Saigon was complete, a mixture of it, but Hanoi was more traditional, more kind of like Vietnamese, Vietnamese kind of.
And if you can choose one place just based on its architecture, where would you?
Anywhere. In Europe, I would say Prague.
Yeah, that's pretty cool place actually.
That's a nice, nice city to live in. And in Asia, I would go for Bangkok, I guess. Bangkok was good, yeah.
So is the architecture old school or is it kind of like Vietnam where you have a mixture of?
It's a kind of a mixture of so in the city center is complete, like high rises and everything. And you can find anything that you want in there, like in big city life, but like slum suburbs. All right. That's kind of.
I don't know too much about the history of Thai. I know the Japanese tried to colonize it. Did the French have anything to do with Thailand or they just went to Vietnam and Cambodia?
French were only in Cambodia and Vietnam.
As far as I know, but not in Thailand. In Laos too I guess, yeah.
Yeah. So it's probably just more of like a Japanese influence, maybe.
And I guess a local influence, too. Yeah. Okay.
I would love to say the Netherlands. It has my favorite architecture of the whole world.
Like the channels and everything you mean?
Yeah, the canals, the houses, the houses are made in the center of a city of beautiful materials. Some houses are made from old ships which are deconstructed, and they take the wood and they're slanted, slanted houses. And, yeah, it's just absolutely stunning.
The Netherlands, yeah, it's not just Amsterdam, it's Utrecht, Delft.
Rotterdam is more industrial, but still really cool as well.
Like a port city, I guess, right?
Yeah, exactly, exactly. But Delft, I think, has the best architecture of any place I've ever seen. Absolutely stunning.
What about the architecture in Manchester?
Is it also like industrial?
Yeah. And like a cool 19th century way. Yeah. Manchester has some pretty cool buildings, like terraced houses, which are pretty cool. Well, I believe you know about terraced houses and yeah.
Yeah. Going back to Vietnam there is a city called Damat, right? Damat.
No, it's like D-A-M-A-T something like this.
Coffee center of Vietnam.
Yeah, I've seen like long time ago, there was something called Crazy House.
Yeah, it's actually they call it the Crazy Horse, but it's an extension of a hotel. And this architecture doesn't exist on our planet. It's like, it's from another planet. Like a science fiction stuff, you know.
It's shapeless, and it's like really weird. And it's a hotel you can rent like a room there you can. It's a tourist attraction.
Oh, my... You know more than I do about Vietnam.
But, no, I just watch a lot of documentaries, and I have seen it before.
Is it some kind of a futuristic style?
More than futuristic, it looks like ancient and futuristic at the same time. It's like from another planet.
What is the name of the house?
I need to google it, yeah.
I never heard of it. Da Lat, yeah, Da Lat is kind of city like in Highlands.
The climate is completely different than the rest of the Vietnam. So you can make kind of terrace like, you can raise other products that you can't usually do it in Vietnam. So it's a kind of coffee epicenter of Vietnam, but I haven't heard that.
Yeah, it's really interesting. And it's like it was constructed in 1990 and even now they are still extending it further.
Nice new information. Thank you, Ayoub.
Yeah. What would you choose, Maria?
What was the question? Which city?
In Russia, I guess. St Petersburg.
Or just anywhere in the world.
Anywhere in the world. I don't know, I just must see London, because I'm an English teacher. It's a must.
Yeah. London has pretty cool architecture.
London is good too, yeah.
It is pretty damn good, yeah. I mean, I still prefer the Netherlands because it's so homely and cozy, and everything. But London has some magnificent buildings all around town.
Do you have anything to say about the architecture in Brazil?
Oh, good points. Yeah, Brazil is quite interesting. It has especially the capital city. I've never been there, but it's called Brasilia. And it has a lot of brutalist architecture.
Is it the same like kind of Russian modernism and constructivism?
It's not too dissimilar. It's quite similar in many ways. Brutalism is just slabs of concrete in many ways, which I guess you can draw parallels between the two. I'm not an art historian, and I'm sure some art historians might get angry if you say the slightest wrong thing.
Yeah, we're not experts. But like it looks more like constructivism or modernism than, let's say, gothic or baroque.
Brutalist architecture is pretty interesting. I am personally a fan of it, but I can understand why people absolutely hate it. And it's really cold and brutal, as the name says.
And what about the inside of the houses? Are they also cold and brutal?
Well, generally speaking, I mean, it's such a hot country.
Yeah, you can deal with a bit of cold brutal. Well, Brazil has a huge range of architecture and it can be stunning, I know, towards the south of Brazil. I haven't really explored that part. But you have some more European influences and colonial influence from the Portuguese. And maybe some German, German Nazis. And maybe not actually Nazi architecture, but...
I guess it is in Argentina, right?
Well, Argentina, Brazil had a lot of Nazis flee there, but...
And do they have something, like very traditional, very..?
Well, definitely towards, not toward just towards the south. You do have some traditional architecture. I believe there are some old German buildings around the country. Brazil is a really fascinating place because you have so many different cultures from all over the world living there.
They had at one point they had the second biggest Japanese population in the world. It's not I believe it's different nowadays, but at one point they had a huge Japanese population and they definitely had some kind of influence.
Sao Paulo, the city I was born in, the Japanese completely overhauled the city's infrastructure and made it much better in many ways. But I lived there as a child, so I didn't really pay too much attention to it. But, yeah, Brazil's a pretty cool country in terms of architecture. It's some pretty wild mixtures. Yeah.
Yeah. So what about... Does architecture make you depressed if you're around depressing buildings?
Yeah or like a coffin houses in Hong Kong. So you don't want to be there, you know, you don't want to leave there.
So it gives you clinical depression.
Yeah, it's kind of depressing.
So what can you do to improve someone's mood who has no choice but to live in a coffin?
Maybe put some plants inside of the house. For some people, it works. Or like try to make the interior.
Just make it relaxing kind of smells.
Some reason I just get such adrenaline rush from the old Soviet buildings that I can't explain why I love them so much. I don't really understand that but.
I enjoy it. I mean, I'm far from an expert.
So maybe that's the reason. Like, sometimes you feel the greatness of what the people who preceded us, like, achieved, you know?
And do feel the same if you look at something like maybe more Greco-Roman classical architecture like Colosseum, do you feel this vibes?
I absolutely appreciate it. Yes, I guess so. Yeah, the Colosseum is absolutely stunning. Yeah, in Rome.
Yes, I've never been there. Have you been there?
Yes, that's quite cool. Yeah.
Awesome. Yeah, I'd love to check it out. What did it evoke? What did it make you cry?
No, no. That's a nice stone. That's cool. That's a civilization. Yeah, that's started all there. All right, let's go back.
Yeah, it was a good one. Yeah, it's a nice city. Greece. Athens is a nice city.
I love to check it out. Yeah, well, does Algeria have a lot of historical buildings?
Yeah, sure, sure. It's very rich of history from the Roman Empire, from the Spaniards, from the French, from the Ottomans. So, for example, if I speak about my city, if you walk there in one city like side by side, you can see the Ottoman construction, you can see the Spaniard constructions, you can see the French ones.
And we have also a landmark on top of a mountain. It covers that like the whole view. It's called Santa Cruz. So it is built, yeah, it's a statue, and it's built on a top of a mountain. So wherever you go in my city, you cannot get lost because it just, it lifts your head up and you can see your way, you know.
Yes, yes. And some people, they get confused when they come to my city. They think it's European, but this was due to colonialism. So, for example, the French stayed in my country for 131 years before them, the Spaniards for some years, also the Ottomans.
But for Ottomans it was actually something different. It wasn't a colonialism, it wasn't with the war. Just, you know, protection and stuff, all right, like this. And we had also the Byzantines in the past. So Algeria wasn't like a stable place.
Like every some years we have colonialism there. Like, so we have also the cathedral, we have a synagogue and a cathedral side by side.
Yeah, the synagogue was built by Jewish people there. We had Jewish people and there was a cathedral which was built by the French people. So it's amazing if you just take a walk for half an hour, you can see all of this stuff, all of this stuff.
Yes. In half an hour. It's in the city center. And also you can see a lot of statues from the Renaissance period. Right, like angels and such stuff, yeah.
So it really is worth checking out.
Yeah. Yeah. It's really nice.
And are you talking about Algiers or are you talking about..?
For Algiers something different. You can see some stuff like this, but not so much. Yeah. And if you want to check some like Roman ruins, you have to go to the Sahara and some places there. So we have some Roman ruins. Romans were there, they settled down.
They had irrigation system, they had commerce there. They had like, we have some history about it. And if you go further into the south, they have discovered recently a city, it's called the City of Safa. It's actually from the Stone Age, something like this. And there are some not caves but some drawings on walls of these megalithic constructions.
It's a big city in the middle of the Sahara, which is very hot. So even no people, they don't live there, they cannot live there. But these people, they live there. And so you can see it's really rich.
That's so cool. I'd love to check it out. Never, never been there. I've been to Egypt. I've never been to.
Is it completely different?
It's completely different. The problem I have been discussing this with my friends all the time. Why isn't Algeria famous with this? Because of the government. So, for example, there was an American YouTuber. He found himself in Algeria by mistake. He was in Morocco, so. Yeah. And he said, this is a lost world that we have to show to the world. To the rest of the world.
It is not being kind of promoted, in a way.
Yeah, for example, I don't know, like, they have this system that they are preserving, you know, like preserve. They like to preserve themselves, you know, to corner themselves and to cut themselves off the world, you know, the government, I mean, not the people. So maybe that's why, for example, they don't support tourism.
Maybe that could be a cool thing to check out. And they like, I don't want to be around other tourists.
Yeah, sometimes tourists just spoil everything.
No, but we as Algerians, we don't support this. We want from people to see and to come and see, you know?
Yeah. The culture that everything, you know.
Yeah. The history, the culture.
It's a huge country of course. Well, I guess most of it's in the northern part. Most of the culture culturally worthy stuffs in the northern part of Algeria.
To the southern, it's just a desert, isn't it?
But there are some cultures there also tuareg we call them tuareg.
Oh, I don't know actually.
Tuareg they are tribes that move around the Sahara and they are like human GPS.
Human GPS. That's so cool.
So, for example, if you take a GPS with you in the Sahara, you would get lost because there are some places they don't have internet. Okay. We have special devices of satellite GPS, but they are used only by the army, the military personnel.
But these people, tuareg, they move around and sometimes the military asks for their help.
It's like Sherpas in Nepal, yeah?
Yeah. They are really skilled because they were, it's their ground.
I just remember there's a Volkswagen called tuareg.
Volkswagen. Yeah, it's tuareg. Right. Maybe they made that car's name after...
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's named after them actually.
Oh, that's so cool. Yeah. Algeria needs to be visited. It needs to be. Yeah. Maybe you should be the Minister of Tourism for Algeria.
That was a good presentation.
I would change everything. Yeah. Believe me. Open the doors.
Yeah, that'd be cool. Yeah, well, maybe in the aftershow, maybe we can talk a bit about Turkey and Turkey's architecture, perhaps.
Perhaps we can do that, because there's definitely a lot to say about that. So guys, thank you very much for listening to the podcast right to the end and definitely check out our website which is www.BigAppleSchool.com. And there you can find articles, more podcasts, videos and other cool stuff.
Definitely share your comments in the comments section, give us some suggestions for future podcasts or if you have questions, or you want to practice your English definitely, yeah, definitely give it a try in the comments section.
Like I said earlier also check out our private chat where you can get access to the vocabulary list of words that were discussed in this podcast. And of course, you can see the aftershow segment. So, guys, thank you very much and we'll see you next time.
