Dear Marina

Gosh - you have been busy this weekend, haven't you? Thanks very much for both of your posts. It was certainly interesting to read about the different religions that co-exist in Kazakhstan (a nice word to use by the way - although you don't need to add 'together' too).

Thanks for putting up the photos of the various places of worship - the Orthodox temple is beautiful. I had never heard about the 'temple of all religions' - the Pyramid of Peace. I just looked online and have seen that it was designed by the UK architect Norman Foster, and that it has an opera house underground - have you ever been inside?

If you go to bigger cities or towns in the UK you will find, as in Kazahkstan, places of worship for many different religions. Some people who live in this part of the country need to travel to Bristol, our nearest big city, where there are mosques, a Buddhist centre, a Hindu temple, a synagogue and a Greek Orthodox church among others.

You might find this BBC podcast interesting - it is about faith in Britain, and the first broadcast is about people 'mixing and matching' beliefs from different religions.
https://bbcstreaming.pages.dev/podcasts/series/faith

Thanks also for your second post, and your thoughts about working long hours to be able to buy material goods. We have an expression 'money rich, time poor' to describe the people that you are talking about - people who have a large disposable income but little time to enjoy it, or the things that money can't buy. The expression 'time poverty' is also used for this phenomenon. Many people are now thinking more about their work-life balance, and some people are downsizing - that is, working less, earning less money, and moving to smaller homes and leading simpler lifestyles. It sounds like you have done something similar. But as we know there are many people around the world who don't have a lot of choice - who have to work long hours, but at the end of it don't have a lot of money either. We are in a lucky position if we can choose to work less.

You mention that you used to work long hours, and now work an eight hour day (I agree that that is enough!). What do you do? You say that you used to work in an office. Do you still work in one?

I was also working longer hours, but happily now work less, and have a lot more time to spend with family - and on my allotment growing our fruit and veg! It feels like such a privilege to be able to spend some time outdoors each day instead of at a computer. And now I don't even mind when it rains because it means I don't have to do the watering!

Anyway, let's look at the language you have used in your last two posts. As usual, your posts are well-written and easy to read and understand - and you use some expressions really naturally, for example 'for goodness sake' and 'our nearest and dearest'.

There are some mistakes in your posts, and I thought that today perhaps you could correct them if I highlight them. So...here is your first task today. The following phrases have mistakes. Can you correct them?

There is an only Krishna's temple in Central Asia as I know
It might be sounds odd
There is one Almaty legend that connected with that time
Later they were founded
Every three years the leaders of word confessions (about 200) will be gather in this palace
Those "twenty-something" probably should have enjoy their lives

Now here's the second task. The sentences below all have problems with articles. Can you correct them too?

Some of them are the Buddhists and others are the Christians
The fact is that Islam and Christianity have majority of followers
Moreover we have "temple of all religions" in capital city Astana
People call it "pyramid"
In my opinion majority of people in Kazakhstan
The leader will gather in this palace to take a part in Forum
instead they are trying to earn all money on the Earth
There is kind of "showing-off-competition" among them
But what the price they pay working all those long hours
I'm sure we should catch every moment and live it for ourselves not for "job",
There are plenty of things that we just can't buy - the light of the day :), smile of our nearest and dearest
we live ones and the life is too short (note the spelling of 'once'!)

Well, that's it for now. I look forward to hearing more about your life - and seeing more great photos. And I am wondering what the story is behind the latest photo of you that you have put up? Where are you? Why are you surrounded by stuffed animals?!

Best wishes,
Kim

Vocabulary
Gosh! = an exclamation you can use to express surprise
co-exist = live or exist together in the same place and at the same time
place of worship = a place where there are religious ceremonies, or where people can go to show respect to a god
architect = a person who designs buildings
mix and match = take elements of different things
disposable income = money you can spend how you like and not on things that you have to buy (taxes, food, bills, rent etc)
material goods = things you can buy
work-life balance = the amount of time you spend doing your job compared with the amount of time spend doing enjoyable things outside work
allotment = a piece of ground people can rent to grow fruit, vegetables or flowers
veg = an abbreviation for 'vegetables'
privilege = chance to do something special or enjoyable
for goodness sake! = an expression people might say when they are a little angry or impatient
our nearest and dearest = our family and close friends
stuffed animal = animal that is preserved

Thanks for doing your homework so quickly, and for your latest post too. I think I can echo everyone's comments here and say how lucky you are to be able to celebrate so many different festivals, including three New Year celebrations!

In our house we do have a traditional meal for New Year - it's a dish called 'Scouse' and is from the North West of England. Traditionally, it is a stew made of lamb, carrots, onions - and lots of potatoes - and it is eaten with pickled red cabbage. At home we eat 'blind scouse' which is made without the meat as my husband and family are vegetarians.

I've celebrated New Year in a few places around the world, in Scotland where it is called Hogmanay, in Spain, where 12 grapes are eaten at each strike of midnight, and once I was in Beijing for the Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year. It was a number of years ago, but I remember standing in a freezing park looking at the wonderful decorations, and watching the lions dance.

I love the photos you included in your last post, especially the photo of the women in national costume (by the way we tend to say national costume, rather than national outfit). I am looking forward to hearing more about 'Nauryz'.

I like that way that you take the best bits of your family's cultures, and mix things up. I particularly like the way your dad cooks traditional Kazakh food adding Korean touches! I've tried Korean food a couple of times, and love it, especially Kimchi...Mmmm, my mouth is watering!

Anyway, let's look at the language you used in your last post. As I said before, you have a really nice chatty style, and you use some good expressions - such as 'I must confess...' That sounds very natural.

I just wanted to write something about a couple of the words that you use. You talk about 'feasts' that you celebrate in your family.

A 'feast' is usually a special meal, often a large meal, with lots of people. A 'feast' can also be a celebration, but when it is used as a celebration it usually refers to a day when a religious person or event is remembered, for example, the feast of St James. You probably mean festivals, holidays or celebrations.

You also say: "We do it every year like common people". 'Common people' often has a certain meaning - it tends to mean people of a lower social class. If you call people 'common' then it can sometimes come across as a little offensive - that you are disapproving! It is better to say 'other people' here.

There are a couple of errors in the text too:

Instead of: As Korean we allowed to celebrate birthday only twice in our lives
You should say: As Koreans we are allowed to celebrate birthday only twice in our lives

Instead of: More excited was to hear from....
You should say: More exciting was to hear from...

And also: That's so unexpected to meet my countrymen here.
Here it would be best to use 'It's...' rather than 'That's...' as you are not referring to anything specific that you have already mentioned. You are introducing a new idea.

In your first post you also said: That story is not about my height, weight, and color of my eyes or whatever. That's about my nationality.
Again, you shouldn't use 'that' here - better to say 'This story is not about my height, weight, and color of my eyes or whatever. It's about my nationality.'

Next time you write, notice when you use 'that' at the beginning of the sentence, and think about whether it is the right word or not.

The final comment today is about this phrase: Like most of people around the world...
Here you should say 'Like most people around the world...'

Most versus most of

Here is your task today. What is the difference between most people and most of the people?

Can you explain the difference and write a sentence using each phrase to illustrate the difference?

Well, I will finish here. I look forward to hearing more about your life Marina,
Best wishes,
Kim

Vocabulary

echo = repeat
raise a toast = hold your glasses up at the same time and drink from them, in order to give good wishes - this usually happens at formal occasions
stew = a dish of meat and vegetables cooked slowly in liquid
pickled = preserved in vinegar
strike = ring (of a clock)
roughly = approximately
fitting = appropriate or right
my mouth is watering = when your mouth waters, it produces saliva, because you can see, smell or are thinking of something nice to eat

Hello Pocahontas - oops, I mean Marina!

Welcome to the BBC Learning English student blog. Thank you very much for introducing yourself to us - I am really looking forward to hearing more about your life and your country.

You have a really interesting heritage - Korean, Polish, Ukrainian and Belorussian. How did your grandparents come to meet in the settlement that became 'Zhezkazgan'? Anyway, I see that you are planning to tell us about the town so I won't ask any more questions about it. I am sure we will be hearing more about Almaty too.

This photo is looking across the River Mersey to Runcorn. I was wondering if this looks anything like Zhezkazgan but the photo you have put in your post looks more beautiful! My husband doesn't live there now. Now he lives with me in Taunton, a town in South West England.

Anyway, let's turn now to the language you used in your post. You have a really nice friendly style, very easy to read I think. I note that you use the expression 'look like' twice:

"I don't look like Korean at all."
"I look like Kazakh or Tatar."

In these examples you would in fact say:

"I don't look Korean at all."
"I look Kazakh or Tatar."

This is because Korean, Kazakh, Tatar are all used as adjectives here. If you are using an adjective, then you don't need the word like, for example:

"He looks angry."
"They look so cute!"
"It looks Spanish."

When you use 'look like' you should follow it with a noun (or a name), for example:

"I look like Pocahontas."
"It looks like a rabbit!"

To recap:

Look like + a noun
Look + an adjective

So Marina, here is your first task - just a short one as it's the first time. Here are six sentences - would you use 'look' or 'look like'?

1. It looks like rain OR It looks rain.
2. He looks like a nice person OR He looks like nice person.
3. That looks like really difficult OR That looks really difficult.
4. Does it look like cold? OR Does it look cold?
5. People say I look like my mother OR People say I look my mother.
6. He looked like Italian OR He looked Italian.

Just tell me which version you think is correct.

By the way, there are some notes related to this aspect of English on the LearnEnglish website that you might like to look at:
https://bbcstreaming.pages.dev/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1445_gramchallenge21/

Finally, I think you do look a bit like the picture of Pocahontas that you have on your post. But what a great Disney character to look like! It could be worse! Do any readers look like a famous character? Or a famous person? Do tell us!

Marina, I hope to hear from you again soon,
Best wishes,
Kim

Vocabulary

heritage = cultural background
settlement = a place where people live
fascinating = very interesting
ancestor = a relative who lived a long time ago
delve into = examine something very carefully
immigrant = a person who has come to live in another country
recap = summarise, give a summary

Dear Enayat

Thank you very much for your posts over this month. It's been fascinating reading about aspects of life in Afghanistan. I've enjoyed reading all of your posts, and have learned something about your country and what it can be like to live there. You've raised many questions which have created a lot of interesting discussion. I'm glad that you feel that you have learned something too.

1. Learn something in the school of hard knocks > Learn something after difficult or unhappy experiences

2. Learn something off by heart > Repeat something from memory (and perhaps not understanding it)

3. Teach one's grandmother to suck eggs > Give advice to somebody about something when they already know more than you

4. Live and learn > You say this when you discover something very surprising

5. Tell tales out of school > Tell secrets or spread rumours

6. University of life > All the experiences that you have in your life

7. School of thought > A set of ideas which a group of people have about a subject

8. Learn your lesson > Not do something again after a bad experience

9. Teach somebody a lesson > Make somebody experience something bad so that they will improve their behaviour in future

10. School run > When parents drive children to and from school

11. Learn the ropes > Discover how to do an activity or a job

12. You can't teach an old dog new tricks > You say this when it is very difficult for somebody to change habits or learn something new

13. From the old school > Traditional and old-fashioned

And already we are at the end of another month. July has been a busy month for me. Apart from working, I've been lucky enough to have a couple of trips, including a short jaunt to London to visit friends this week. London is of course famous for its double-decker buses, and its cabs, but there is another less well-known way to travel around the city and that is via its waterways.

We took a trip in a narrow boat along Regent's canal from Camden Lock to a place called Little Venice, passing Regent's Park and London Zoo along the way.

In the photo above you can see a canal lock. A canal lock is a means of raising or lowering a narrow boat between the different levels of a canal. As the canal follows the contour of the land it will be higher in some places than in others and if there were no locks then all the water would collect in the low places. A canal lock ensures that the depth of the canal is the same along its whole length. At Caen Hill in Devizes in the South West of England (not too far from where I live) there is a sequence of 29 locks to raise a narrow boat over the hill (http://www.luphen.org.uk/public/2004/2004caenhill.htm). It's quite a sight as you can imagine.

And now I have digressed. Enayat, I wish you all the best for the future, and for the work that you are doing as a member of the Afghanistan Youth High Council. Like you I hope the day soon comes when you will all be living in peace and prosperity.

Best wishes,
Kim

Vocabulary

jaunt = a short pleasure trip
double-decker bus = a tall bus with two levels
cab = taxi
via = using
waterway = river or canal
narrow boat = a canal boat (it is not very wide)
contour = shape
ensure = make sure
digress = move away from a topic
prosperity = the state of being successful, with money

Thanks for your latest post. You've posed a good question at the end - it's certainly interesting to read others' comments about primary school education in countries such as Turkey, Poland, Russia, Brazil and Singapore.

Homework in the UK is not compulsory, but schools are encouraged to give it, including at primary school. The government's guidelines for homework are: half an hour of homework every day for 10/11 year olds, and between one and two and a half hours per day for older children.

There is a lot of discussion about the value of homework, with questions raised about how much homework really affects academic achievement. In the UK too, there is a lot of debate about the pressures on children, especially around testing. Children were formally tested at the ages of 7, 11 and 14, but the first and third tests were scrapped and now children are formally tested at the age of 11. They also take exams at the end of their compulsory education - these exams are known as GCSEs. Children who have just finished compulsory education will spend this summer nervously waiting for the results of their GCSEs, and making decisions about their future. Results day is 24th August - there will certainly be some anxious households in the UK right now!

Anyway, let's look now at the language you use in your latest post.

It's good to see that you have used 1st, 2nd, and 3rd here correctly. Instead of saying 'I think it is very difficult for a small student of grade 1st, 2nd, and 3rd' we say 'I think it is very difficult for a small student of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade'

Instead of 'students of the primary schools' we would say 'primary school students'

And for 'they are easily get suffered from divers health problems' we would say 'they can easily suffer from diverse health problems' (note the spelling of 'diverse')

There are a couple of errors around articles and plural/singular nouns.

'The small children' > 'Small children'
'These smallest human being' > 'These smallest human beings'
'such heavy load' > 'such a heavy load'

Do make sure that you revise these areas when you do a piece of writing.

Finally, 'homework' is an uncountable noun, so we can't say 'homeworks' as you know - instead you say 'pieces of homework'. So you would say 'they must do 6 pieces of homework'

As you can imagine, there are a lot of slang words and idioms around the topic of school and education - it is something that everybody has to do!

Here are thirteen phrases that use the words school, university learn and teach. Read the phrases, and what they mean. Do you know which word goes in the blank? Is it school, university, learn or teach?

1. Learn something in the ________ of hard knocks > learn something after difficult or unhappy experiences

2. ________ something off by heart > Repeat something from memory (and perhaps not understanding it)

3. _______ one's grandmother to suck eggs > give advice to somebody about something when they already know more than you

4. Live and _______ > You say this when you discover something very surprising

5. Tell tales out of ________ > tell secrets or spread rumours

6. _________ of life > all the experiences that you have in your life

7. _________ of thought > a set of ideas which a group of people have about a subject

8. ________ your lesson > Not do something again after a bad experience

9. ________ somebody a lesson > Make somebody experience something bad so that they will improve their behaviour in future

10. _________ run > when parents drive children to and from school

11. _______ the ropes > Discover how to do an activity or a job

12. You can't ________ an old dog new tricks > You say this when it is very difficult for somebody to change habits or learn something new

13. From the old _______ > traditional and old-fashioned

Now for another task: Choose five of these phrases, and make a sentence for each of them.

OK, that's it for today. This week I will be on Isle of Wight which is a very small island off the south coast of England. I shall be reading your next post from there. Looking forward to it.

Best wishes,
Kim

Vocabulary
pose a question = ask a question
compulsory = not optional, you must do it because it is the law
core subjects = most important subjects, all students must do them
citizenship = the study of being a good member of a community or country
PSHE = physical, social and health education
guidelines = advice
academic = relating to school or university, academic achievement = achievement at school
scrap = get rid of, not continue with because it is no longer wanted
anxious = nervous
slang = informal, spoken language

Thanks for your latest post - I can see that there is a lot of discussion. Your use of English is very good in your latest post too. I've noted that you use a lot of speech in your writing, quoting or reporting what other people are saying, so I thought that today I would focus on using direct and reported speech. I hope that is useful for you.

This is when we directly quote somebody's words. For this we use speech (or quotation) marks like this "...". When a reader sees these marks they know that the writer is now using somebody else's voice. If you don't use them, then it can be confusing for the reader.

Let's look at some examples from your posts:

One of my friends nodded and said, "I am sure the team of miracles will win."

My friend looked around and said loudly, "I don't care who has invited me, I cannot wait any longer."

Note the punctuation here. There is a comma (,) after said and before the speech marks. I like the way that you don't just use said too, but you also use other verbs like whispered and add adverbs like said loudly. This makes your writing more interesting for the reader.

Here is your first task:

Can you think of other verbs you could use instead of said? It would be good for other readers to add their suggestions below too!

Reported speech

We can also report what people have said. In this case we don't use speech marks. Here is an example from one of your posts:

They said the Minister and his deputy must present an effective mechanism.

Note the punctuation here - there is no comma after said.

In reported speech the tenses, pronouns and word order may be different from the original sentence. Look at how these sentences change when you report them:

One of my friends nodded and said he was sure the team of miracles would win.

My friend said loudly that he didn't care who had invited him and that he could not wait any longer.

Look at the changes in these sentences:

• the pronoun I has changed to he
• verbs in the present tense have changed to the past tense (for example want has changed to wanted)
• verbs in the present perfect tense have changed to the past perfect (has invited has changed to had invited)
• can has changed to could
• will has changed to would
• that has been inserted into the sentence - this is optional

Here is a summary of how the tenses usually change when you are reporting speech:

Present simple changes to past simple: "I am hungry" > She said she was hungry
Present continuous changes to past continuous: "I am eating" > She said she was eating
Note that people sometimes keep the present tenses when reporting if the fact is still true, for example:
"I am a journalist" > She said she was a journalist OR She said she is a journalist

Past simple changes to past perfect: "I lived there six years ago" > She said she had lived there six years ago.
Past continuous changes to past perfect continuous: "I was watching them" > She said she had been watching them.
Note that people sometimes keep the past tenses when reporting, especially when they are speaking, so it also possible to say: She said she lived there six years ago. OR She said she was watching them.

Present perfect changes to past perfect: "I've hurt my finger" > She said she had hurt her finger.
Past perfect does not change: "I'd cleaned that" > She said she had cleaned that.

Modal verbs:
Can changes to could
Will changes to would
Other modal verbs (for example, must) do not change.

Making reported speech interesting!

When are reporting speech you don't have to write down every word.

Imagine that somebody says: "I will help you."

When you are writing this you could say:

He said, "I will help you."

OR

He said that he would help me.

OR....you could report the speech in a different way:
He promised to help me.

By using verbs like promise, you can report speech in a more interesting way.

So...here is your second task:

What other verbs can you use to report speech in a more interesting way? Other readers - please feel free to suggest some too!

You can find out more about reported speech in the Ask about English section on BBC Learning English:
https://bbcstreaming.pages.dev/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/ask_about_english/reported_speech.shtml

Vocabulary

quote - repeat somebody else's words
nod - move your head up and down to agree with somebody
miracle - a surprising event that people think has been caused by a god
live music - music that you are watching as it is happening
whisper - speak very quietly

I enjoyed reading your last post, and was reminded by your solution to the selection problem that the best ideas are the simple ones. You developed a fair and unbiased method of selecting council members that was acceptable to all because it was neutral, it didn't favour anyone.

I was told many years ago of a very clever example of brainstorming. There was a tall building in America that had a problem with people waiting for the lift. People wanted to get to work but the lifts were slow and so they complained. The owners of the building were concerned that the companies renting the offices would move out as there was no way they could make the lifts any faster. So they brainstormed solutions. They didn't evaluate any of them until they had a very long list. One solution was to employ a clown to entertain the people while they waited. This one didn't win. But the winning solution was to put full length mirrors in front of the lift doors. This worked because the people waiting had something to occupy them while they waited - looking at themselves. This was a simple and inexpensive solution. The simple ones are always the best.

Has anyone got any examples of when they have thought of as effective a solution as Enayat? It would be great to hear about them. Also, Enayat - could you tell us more about the Youth High Council? What will the Council be doing? Oh, and congratulations on becoming a member too!

Anyway, now to look at some of the language of your post. As usual, you are showing your skill at narrating an event - and you are using articles well in this post on the whole. There are some nouns which you are using in the singular rather than the plural form. Here are the examples - I have made the forms plural by using bold text - I've also added articles where they are needed:

'...to participate in a gathering where representatives from several other youth organization were also invited...'

'...and other high ranking governmental officials were sitting among the huge number of youth in the International Media Hall...'

'...the organizer asked the youth representatives to introduce candidates for the council...'

'...some of the representatives criticized on the process of the election...' (by the way, you don't need the word 'on' in this sentence)

'...some of the representatives supported the current election system...'

Then there are two places where you have used the plural rather than the singular form:

'I proposed the system of Lottery which was welcomed by audiences...'

'...on a piece of papers ...'

Next time you are writing something, look at the nouns in the text. Are they singular? Or plural? Do you need to add an article? It is hard to review everything in a text, but a good technique is to look for something specific. You can look out for the mistakes that you typically make.

I've noticed that in your posts you often use 'few' where perhaps 'a few' would be better, so I thought we could have a quick look at the difference between the two.

Few and a few

Few and a few are quantifiers - they are words which tell us how much there is of something. Both few and a few mean the same things, that is 'not very many'.

So when do we use few and when do we use a few? It is difficult to say when we use which as they indicate a similar number. The sentences below mean the same number of people (more or less). They both mean - a small number of people came to the party:

A few people came to the party
Few people came to the party

The difference between the sentences is in the attitude of the speaker or writer.

A few people came to the party means a small number of people came to the party but it was enough. The speaker sees it in a positive way.

Few people came to the party means a small number of people came to the party, but it wasn't enough. The speaker sees it in a negative way.

Note that you use few and a few with countable nouns, for example, people, chairs, members...

If you are talking about uncountable nouns, for example, money, then you use little or a little in the same way. Look at these two sentences as an example:

I earned a little money.
I earned little money.

Here is a task:

What does the speaker mean in the two sentences above?

Well I shall leave you to ponder that question!

Best wishes,
Kim

Vocabulary
unbiased - being fair, not being influenced by your own opinions
neutral - not saying or doing anything to help one person
brainstorming - suggesting a lot of ideas very quickly
evaluate - consider the importance or value of something
factor - a fact or situation that helps you make a decision
lift - a machine like a box which taes people up and down buildings
concerned - worried
clown - an entertainer who has a painted face, wears silly clothes and makes people laugh
full length mirror - a long mirror in which you can see the whole of your body
occupy somebody - keep somebody busy
ponder - think about carefully

I've just been looking at the comments after my last post in response to Enayat. I wrote a text about weddings, including lots of vocabulary related to the topic. I asked if you could guess what the words meant and said that I would let you know in my next post, so here are the answers:

Englishlearner, you asked how long the engagement should be. That's a hard question to answer, as there is no fixed time. I think it is a year or two for most people...and of course some people don't get engaged - as mentioned before, traditions are changing.

Continuing the wedding theme, I have just come back from visiting my sister-in-law. We went to Blackpool (http://www.visitblackpool.com/), a seaside resort in the north west of England where many people go for their holidays. My sister-in-law went there for her honeymoon in 1961 and we decided to go and see how the town had changed.

Blackpool is famous for its Tower (http://www.theblackpooltower.co.uk/) which was inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, though it is only 158m high. It was opened on the 18th May 1894. The Tower is a popular landmark and can be seen from up to 30 miles away.

Blackpool is also famous for its illuminations (http://www.blackpool-illuminations.net/) which take place every year in the autumn. The illuminations are giant tableaux composed of electric lights, and other lights in the shape of animals and plants festoon the promenade. You can see some of the illuminations in this photo. The illuminations stretch along the seafront for six kilometres and attract many thousands of sightseers. They are very colourful and light up the night sky.

There are also three piers. We went on the ferris wheel which is on the Central Pier and from the top we could see the hills of the Lake District in the distance, another tourist attraction. The Lake District is where the poet William Wordsworth lived (http://www.english-lakes.com/william_wordsworth.html), and the beauty of the Lake District inspired some of Wordsworth most popular poems. Here is the view of the town from the ferris wheel:

Anyway, after some time, we found the B & B where my sister-in-law spent her honeymoon, though the name had changed. My sister-in-law said that there had been many changes since 1961, but she could still find her way about the town. I used to visit the illuminations when I was a little child, but hadn't been back for many years. It was good to see it all again, and to have such a great guide.

Anyway, looking forward to hearing more from you soon Enayat,
Kim

Vocabulary
engagement - a period of time between agreeing to marry somebody and the wedding
sister-in-law - the sister of your husband, or the wife of your brother
resort - a place where people go for a holiday
landmark - a building that is easily recognised
illuminations - coloured lights which decorate a town or building outside
tableaux - an arrangement (of lights in this case) which represents a scene - it is a French word
festoon - adorn, to cover in an attractive way
promenade - a paved public walkway by the sea
sightseers - tourists, people who go to look at an attraction, "to see the sights"
pier - a long structure which goes from the land into the sea and which people can walk along
ferris wheel - a tall wheel with seats at a fairground which goes round - it is also called a 'big wheel'
B&B - a B&B (Bed and Breakfast) is a small hotel or Guest House, that offers a room (Bed) and the first meal of the day (Breakfast)

Thanks for your latest post - it's great to get another snapshot of life in Kabul. It's fascinating to read about different traditions related to weddings. It's interesting to learn that in Afghanistan the bride's guests are traditionally supposed to remain quiet and calm, and not join in the dancing. I had to smile when I read about your friend getting up and dancing anyway! As people have commented - weddings are emotional events!

Traditionally, the husband-to-be gets down on one knee and pops the question. If his wife-to-be says 'yes' then the couple are engaged. During this time, a wedding is planned. A venue is booked for the wedding ceremony and for the reception, a guest-list is drawn up, invitations are sent, a wedding dress is chosen, flowers are ordered. On the wedding day, the bride walks down the aisle with her father, followed by bridesmaids and pageboys. She reaches the groom who is waiting for her. The couple say their wedding vows and the best man gives rings to the couple. After they have tied the knot, they leave the building and guests throw confetti over the couple. After the wedding party, the newlyweds go on honeymoon.

As in Afghanistan, traditions are changing of course, and there are many different kinds of weddings and civil ceremonies these days in the UK. It can be quite a simple affair, or a highly organised and expensive do, with everything planned down to the last detail. There is a newly-coined word - Bridezilla (a mix of bride and Godzilla) - to describe the bride-to-be who wants the perfect day, and will do anything she can to get it.

Enayat, I would have loved to hear the music from your wedding party - who were the famous musicians playing at the wedding? It would be great to learn more about them. Anyway...have a look at this page on the Learning English website which is all about costumes and celebrations and you will see a wedding costume from Mongolia:
https://bbcstreaming.pages.dev/worldservice/learningenglish/specials/2010/06/100701_costumes_jul.shtml

And here is a photo of a traditional British bride - wearing a white wedding dress, and a veil. This is my niece Abbie at her recent wedding.

You really are good at narrating, and making events come alive (and well done on using the speech marks in this post!) There is one place where you've used the wrong tense:

Most of the people have already been there when we reached

This should be 'most of the people were already there when we arrived'.

Note that you need to use the word 'arrive' here. If you use 'reach' then you need to have an object too, for example 'we reached the hotel' or 'we reached the office'. Verbs that need an object are called transitive verbs. 'Arrive' is not a transitive verb. You don't need to use an object with this verb.

Finally, in most places you use articles well, but there are some examples where you need to include an article and you haven't. I have added the article in brackets:

'...those who were invited by (the) bride's family...'
'...if one from (the) bride's side...'
'...losing (a) member of one family...'
'We were looking at (the) musicians' performance...'
'...and within (a) few seconds...'

And there is one place where you have used the article where it is not needed:

'...they started to play a very rustic music...'

Here you don't need to use 'a' as 'music' is not a countable noun. I think that this is probably a slip...when you write your next post you can watch out for how you use articles.

Anyway, I look forward to hearing more about your life in Afghanistan,
Best wishes,
Kim

vocabulary
snapshot - picture, photograph
fascinating - very interesting
italics - a style of writing where letters lean to the right for example: this is writtten in italics
civil ceremony - a non-religious wedding
affair - an event, for example, a party
a do - an event, for example, a party
newly-coined - recently invented
Godzilla - a fictional giant monster - it has appeared in films and comics
narrating - telling a story
rustic - simple, from the countryside