Education
Everybody has a right to education in Lithuania. The secondary education is compulsory. Nowadays the life in our country is very difficult and a lot of young people don't go to school, they haven't even got secondary education. There are a lot of young people, children especially in big town's streets. Some of them work washing cars, selling papers, some beg and some have nothing to do. These youngsters very often commit crimes. It is very important that every youngster would attend secondary school. They would be busier and couldn't commit crimes.
Some years ago secondary schools taught the same subjects, had the same organization of education. Today they are very different: some of them teach humanitarian subjects, some - science. The school curriculum, the organization of the lessons, the timing of the holidays, dressing vary from school to school. Subjects can be taught in three levels even at one school. You can take your examinations in three different levels too. Lithuanian children start attending secondary school when they are six or seven years old. They go to the primary schools which are in the kindergartens mostly. When they are ten or eleven years old they go to a secondary school. Pupils can stay at a secondary school for twelve years, but some of them leave secondary school at the end of the ninth form. They go to vocational junior colleges or manual training schools, where they can get both secondary education and the qualifications necessary for a job. Before that these pupils must take the examinations for the General Certificate of Secondary Education. But not only these, all pupils must take examinations. Everybody can go to a university after graduating from a secondary school, vocational junior college or manual training school. The brightest students have a chance of studying abroad.
Pupils can transfer freely from one school to another. Secondary education is free. Pupils get their textbooks free, too. But some of higher schools and universities are not free. Students who have not very good marks in their Certificates of Secondary Education can study there too. But they have to pay money. Those pupils who are not very good at learning can go to evening school. It is easier to study there.
As for me I attended secondary school No.5 in Marijampol . I start attending my school when I was six years old. I have been going to this school for twelve years now. Our school is 24 years old. It is no 12412m1213m t very large: there are about 1000 schoolchildren and about 5 teachers in it. I like my school because there are my friends in it, because my school is famous for skilled teachers. I am on a good footing with them. Some teachers are not very tolerant to schoolchildren who don't agree with them, but most of them are very generous and nice people; I can go if I have a problem to them. So I am sad at the thought of leaving my school, teachers and class friends. It is definitely our last year at school so I have to do my best.
We have a canteen, a library, some cloak rooms, a big sport hall, a school hall in our school. We have a large playing field near our school. Inside the school building we have a lot of special classrooms where different subjects are taught. The biology room is my favourite because there are many dummies in it. My favourite subjects are English, Biology and Literature. There are some clubs at our school. We have got basketball and football teams. There are some singers and a lot of dancers at our school. On Saturdays we often have dances. We always celebrate various celebrations: The Day of Valentines, The Day of liars, The Day of teachers. We have a nice egg exhibitions in spring. But the most impressive is our New Year carnival.
My parents want me to be a doctor. It is their ambition, and I am planning to study medicine in Kaunas. I want to become a midwife. It's a very responsible and significant profession. I hate having to ask my mum and dad for money. So I must study. But I don't want to leave my family and friends. Anyway, I'm scared of living on my own in a big town. I must continue learning for the rest of my life.
Education is very important in person's life. The years when we attend at school are the happiest. Educated people are intelligent.
The school year begins on the first of September and finishes in June. The school year is divided into three terms.
Free time, entertainment
To my mind entertainment is very important in our life. We are very busy every day & we need to have a rest, to relax almost every person with any spare time has a hobby, & it's almost impossible to guess from his appearance his personal interest. I can't say I have a hobby. I like to do many things, but I can't call them hobby. One of my favourite thing is poetry which helps me to understand the outside world, brings to my mind the strength of the human spirit, the beauty of man. Poetry helps me to educate myself. When I have some spare time I create poems too. I'm going to publish my creative work in the future. But I know I must work very hard if I want to charm my readers. I wont to appeal to people's hearts & minds of people, to their feeling & ideals. I'm also interested in architecture so I like to visit the places where I can see how people lived in the past, old buildings, castles. I like Gediminas castle, which foundation is guarded by the "Iron wolf" legend, in Vilnius. The vaults Of Vilnius cathedral attract me too. The castle of Grand Duke K stutis in Trakai admires me very much. If you want to visit the places of interest you have to travel. And I like travelling with my family during our holidays & on weekends. We visit a lot of places in the countryside by our bikes. I think biking is even better than riding in a car because you can follow narrow trails in the fields & in the woods where there are no roads. I like ride a bike because I can hear birds sing, listen to the sounds of nature & enjoy the fresh air then. I'm interested in photography too. I always take my camera with me when I'm on holiday. I keep a photograph record of family events. I like to correspond. I have a lot of pen-friends in all over the world. I have a pen-friend in Greece & I have been corresponding for 3 years. I like listen to the radio. My favourite radio station is "Radio centras" . In my opinion this station is for people of all ages, interests & tastes. I like listening comments & discussions on current affairs, interviews with various people. I like different kind of music. The programs of "Radio centras" are followed by music, & that's why it interests me. TV is very popular in my life. I like to watch TV in the evenings. Entertainment programs are my favourite. I like : "Sou bulvaras", "Dvira io Sou", "Taip & Ne". Very often I watch films too. I don't go to the cinema because today we can see a lot of interesting films at home. Today cinema attendance fall because many people have video recorders at home. But I like to go to the theatre because it helps me to get back my energy. It's one of the ways of getting out of depression. In my opinion entertainment makes our life more beautiful.
Shopping
We go shopping practically every day when we need to buy some foodstuffs or some household articles. Very often we don't know what to buy and advertisements help us to decide. We live in the age of advertising. People are influenced by publicity everywhere - in newspapers, on the train or on the bus, on television, in the shops. While we are shopping we are attracted by colourful packets, by signs of reductions and free gifts. I think advertisements are very useful for sellers and for buyers. They give the public information. If we want to buy something important, we go to a large department store. These stores are very useful places, people enjoy shopping there because all kinds of things are on sale there and they can buy everything they need. All the things for sale are displayed and can be easily seen. "Gulb " is the biggest department store in our town. You can get almost everything there. The store is divided into sections: the women clothes, the men clothes, the shoes, the toys, the sports goods, radios and so on. Some of these departments can be called 'self-service departments' because customers walk round and choose what they want there. On the ground floor there is the haberdashery section, where you can buy various ribbons, buttons, zippers, needles and other trifles. Then the stationary section, the baby goods section, the fruit section, where you can always buy fresh fruit or vegetables. If you need a gift or a souvenir you can go to the souvenir section. You can buy cameras, televisions, radio or video recorders on the ground floor too. We can buy some nice dishes, wonderful jars, saucers, glasses there. There is a mini bar where you can have tea or a cup of coffee and a cake or sandwich. On the first floor you can get everything in the way of clothes wanted by men or women. You can get footwear there too. If you need you can try clothes you want in the fitting rooms. In the perfume section there is a wide assortment of perfume. So in "Gulb " you can find lots of tiny and large things that you may want for you or for your house. On the each floor in "Gulb " there are some checkouts where you pay money for your goods.
I go to "Gulb " too. But usually I go shopping near my house. This shop isn't large but I can get almost everything there. Sometimes I go to bigger shops. "Mokolai" is my favourite shop where I buy
Health and body care
Health is the most important thing in a person's life. It is the biggest personal property. Every person should think more about his health because when health is lost, everything is lost. Good health is better than the best medicine. And if your health is good, you are always in a good mood. But sickness in the body brings sickness to the mind. Taking medicines is an unpleasant thing, and if we want to avoid it, we should go in for sports, eat various food, be in the fresh air, do exercises. We shouldn't wait when health comes like a bolt from the blue, we should do something ourselves.
As for me I take care of my health. I do morning exercises in the morning. It doesn't take much time and I can feel bright, I can get back my energy, I can feel as strong as a lion. I try to take long walks in the open air as often as I can. But when the weather is not very bad I sleep with my window open.
Sport is very important in our life. It is a way leading you to the healthy life. There are many kinds of sport but I don't like tennis, football or basketball. I like biking very much and I visit a lot of places in the countryside by my bike. Biking you can hear birds sing, listen to the sound of nature and enjoy the fresh air. It's very useful for my health I think.
I have the strict day's routine. I never do my homework very late in the evening. Evening is my rest time. All my lime is planned. I plan everything ahead so I don't have to hurry.
I eat six times a day. I never overfeed. I eat a lot of vegetables and fresh fruit, drink fruit juice. I don't eat sugar and fat. I use a little meat and salt.
I keep my body clean, wear clean clothes. Looking at a person who is clean and orderly dressed you can feel better too. Hairbrushes, toothbrushes are not lent. Every person should use only his personal things.
If a person doesn't keep to these rules he can easily catch an illness. People who don't do exercises, who don't do morning exercises are not tempered so they can catch cold very often.
So if you really want to be healthy you should eat well-balanced meals, need extra vitamins, give up smoking and drinking.
Physically inactive people get old earlier than those who have plenty of exercises. So if you want to look younger you should look after your health.
Language
Every one should know his native language very well. We start learning it in our childhood. Native language helps us to understand what others say and to talk. But it is very important to know foreign languages too. They can help us to associate with people from other countries.
I can speak and write English and Russian - two foreign languages. My native language is Lithuanian. It is one of two languages in the Baltic branch of Indo-European languages, the other one being Latvian. Lithuanian is the one of the oldest surviving languages in the world. It is distantly related to Sanskrit. Because Lithuanian language has changed less than other languages over the centuries, it's important linguistic link to the past and has an important place in the study of how languages have evolved. Lithuanian is difficult for a foreigner to learn because it has a countless number of grammar rules. But there are a lot of foreigners who are eager to learn it. It's very strange that some Lithuanian people are unable to speak their native language very well. They don't try. But I like my native language because it makes me a real Lithuanian. I can't say that I know it very well but I try to learn it more & more.
Every language has its history. Many years ago our native language was banned. Lithuanian books were secretly brought to Lithuania. This history makes our language more valuable.
I learn my native language at school. I also learn Russian & English too. I understand Russian better than English because I have been learning Russian it since the fifth form. I began to study English much later, so I can't speak it as I speak my own language or as Russian. Today schoolchildren can begin learning English since their first form, so they'll speak much better than we do. When I had to choose which foreign language I'll study I have chosen English because it's more popular then German, I think. English has become a world language, it's spoken in all over the world. I like English language and I try to study regularly.
I hope that soon I'll learn to speak it well. Other languages are very useful too. If you can speak in many languages you are happy person because you can associate with various people from various countries.
You can understand them and they can understand you. My English language helps me too. I can communicate with my friends from Denmark, Greece, the USA and so on. When I went to France I could speak to other people English as well.
Services
All people use various services: postal services, telephone, telegraph, bank, police, diplomatic services, car maintenance services, petrol stations and personal services. Personal service establishments are very useful and many people visit them every day. Sometimes I visit them too. When I am going to go to a party I go to hairdresser's establishment. Sometimes I take my little brother to a barber's shop. If my shoes need mending, I go to the repair shop. When they are rather worn, I take them to the shoemaker's and say that my shoes need repairing. Sometimes I need have my photos taken. I go to the photographer's then. But I have a camera at home too so I can take photos myself. But I can't to make photographs, so I have to go to the photographer's and have them made. I go there very often because I like to have my photos taken.
I use the postal service too. I like to communicate with people. I have some friends in Lithuania and Denmark, and I communicate with them. I send letters to Denmark by air mail. It costs more but it is faster. At the post office you can send telegrams too. I can send parcels with gifts to my friends when they celebrate their birthdays.
The telephone is widespread nowadays, and more and more people would like to have that instrument in their homes. The telephone is of great importance in business, in administrative relations and in the national economy. I have the telephone at home too and I like to talk over it. When necessary, the police, the fire brigade, the first aid and ambulance service can be called by anybody from any telephone. You have to dial only two digits. Once my brother had pneumonia. He became worse at night. We didn't know what to do and we called the first aid and ambulance service. They came and helped my brother. We use police services too. Some month ago we heard a strange noise at night. I looked through the window and saw a car in our yard. Our fence was broken to pieces. Then we rang the police and told them everything. They came immediately. The road was very slippery so this man brake our fence accidentally. He paid his fine and everything was over. But two years ago more serious event happened. We came home and found our house in a mess. We could hardly believe our eyes because there was no sight of our jewelry. It was difficult to see what else had been stolen as the place was in such a mess. We rang the police. They told us to leave everything as it was until they had a chance to have a look what had happened and to look for fingerprints. They didn't catch the thieves. Criminals are getting better organized today and the police aren't always able to help us.
Sometimes I use medical services. If I am not ill very seriously I treat myself. But sometimes I go to see the doctors. I go to the dentist very often.
I like to listen to the radio very often, M1 is my favorite radio station. I like listening comments and discussions on current affairs, interviews with various people. The programs are followed by music and that's why it interests me. I like watching TV too. When my radio or TV set isn't working I go to the radio and TV repair and service shop. I drive a car. Sometimes I go to the petrol station for petrol.
And when I was going to go to Germany I used the diplomatic services. I for my visa went to Vilnius embassy.
So all services are very useful. They make our life easier.
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