Top 10 Date-Producing countries, 2001

The date palm is one of the oldest fruit trees in the Arabian countries and a most important fruit for people. Date fruit is marketed all over the world as a fresh fruit .It is produced largely in the hot arid regions of the world i.e. GCC countries. The bar graph shows date production in tonnes for the world's top countries in 2001.

First, Egypt has the most of date production, with over a million tonnes, and Iran was a close second, with around 0.9 million. Third, came the UAE and Saudi Arabia, about 740,000 tonnes each. Then came Pakistan with around 620,000 tonnes and Iraq were not far behind. Other countries had less production. Algeria produced around 400,000 tonnes. Oman came next to Algeria, with 250,000 tonnes. In contrast, Libya and Sudan produced under 0.2 million each.

In conclusion, date production in the world is only confined to a small number of countries, most of them being the Arab countries. The date industry in the Arab world is not yet fully developed.

Valentines's Day Gifts

Valentine's Day is an extremely popular festival in the United States of America. People in the US observe a holiday on this day to express love. These charts show the types of gifts that US people buy for each other on Valentine’s Day.

The most popular gifts people like to buy are cards, flowers and candy. Cards are the most popular gift for both genders. Women buy flowers less than men, 11% compared to 16%; also women buy cards more than men,27% to 18%. Most amazing, more women buy candy for men 21% to 14% for men. Around 10% of both men and women buy jewelry. Over twice as many women than men buy perfume or cologne, 10% to 4%. Men spend more than women on lingerie. Also men spend more in spa/personal care than women.

Valentine's Day dinner and dance parties are organized all over the country to celebrate the occasion. Many couples hold private celebrations in homes or restaurants.

UK Budget 1996

The UK government spends in 1996 around £315 billion. The government spends the money in all ministries of the country. This pie chart shows what government spent the money on.

The largest budget goes for social security. It’s around £100 billion. This was almost triple as much as the next category, health and personal services. Next came education with £38 billion and defence with £22 billion. There was less than £20 billion spent on the next three categories, which were: first, law and order next, industry, agriculture and employment. Next came housing, heritage and environment. The smallest budget was transport, with £9 billion. Dept interest was £25 billion and other expenditure was £23 billion.

The most striking feature of the pie chart is that the government spends on social security more than an others. The second biggest budget is for health and personal services.

Reflection 1

My best teacher Mr .Hedley, teach me and explain how to write comparisons essays and help me how to write two kinds of essays, and both of these essays are talk about procedure. One of them was about how to use an ATM machine and the second one was about how to make butter by hand, and each essay must contain three paragraphs for instance, introduction, body and conclusion.

How to change a tyre

Have you ever gotten stuck on the side of the road with a flat, or do you dread someday getting trapped in that kind of scenario? Do you want to be able to change a tire without having to ask for help?  It’s important to know how to change a tyre: changing a flat tyre needn’t be complicated if you follow these handy steps.

Find a stable and safe place to work. First, loosen the wheel nuts by turning counterclockwise. The wheel must be on the ground. Next, pump the jack to lift the car off the ground. Then the nuts are removed. After that the wheel is removed and the spare tyre is put on. Then the nuts are tightened and the car is lowered. The nuts are tightened one last time for safety. Finally the tools are tidied away. You are now ready to drive on.

Small punctures can usually be repaired for less than 20 DHS. If the tire is not repairable, they can dispose of it properly and sell you a replacement.

Hedley's trip to the Niah Caves

Hedley, with his wife Mary and daughter Katie visited the Niah Caves in Sarawak thirty years ago, East Malaysia.

Then they used a boat and sailed upriver to a rest house, where they spent their night. They ate with a group of scientists who lived in a rest house and shared the drinks they had brought with them. They slept in bunk beds without AC. It was a great experience.

The next day they  followed the complete boardwalk to the Niah Caves. When they finally arrived there, Hedley was impressed. A huge cave complex appeared and once inside, it gets pretty dark. With a flashlight they saw the bats hanging from the ceiling, and the bird nests with some of the birds still on them. They also saw the tall constructions used by the locals to harvest the bird nests. These are the nests used for the Chinese bird nest soup. It is a delicacy for which the Chinese pay a lot of money.

On the other end of the caves, they arrived in another piece of jungle, where boardwalks are leading us to the caves where rock paintings are found. But they could not much of these paintings: they are very vague .On the way, they saw a hummingbird, a snake, and a flying lizard in the jungle.

At the entrance to the park is a small museum about the Niah caves. It shows the excavations made in the caves. These have shown that human life existed on Borneo for over 40.000 years, something previously considered impossible. There is also information about the different tribes in the area. Millions of years of heavy rain and the action of rivers and running water carved out the vast subterranean system that exists today.

Niah Caves national Park is a lovely place to enjoy the jungle and the caves. The facilities are good as well, and we would have spent some more nights here.

Trip to the Mexico

There are many places around the world that people choose to be thier next journey and trip. I and my friend chose Mexico to be our journey. This country is located in North America and its capital is Mexico City. We visited the volcanoes (Popocatepetl), which is 17,887 ft high and located in the southeast corner of the state and this volcano is still active.

In addition we took many beautiful pictures for the mountains region such as, the wooded mountain (Bravo) .Moreover, Mexico city is known as a historical city: we visited the archaeological sites, with pyramids dating from the 1st century. Also, Mexico city is popular with their restaurants which serve many delicious and tasty dishes. We enjoyed eating Mexican food in Aleksandra restaurant.

In conclusion, our journey to Mexico was very interesting and enjoyable. Their people were very friendly and we made good friends there. Mexico is a good country for spending the summer vacation and having trips there.