Traveling with Annie and Blue

Gung hi fat choy! Happy Chinese New Year

2012-01-21T03:42:00.009-05:00

Chinese New Year is like our Christmas, New Year, and birthday celebrations all rolled into one. Even though the people in Hong Kong use our western calendar, everyone knows that January 23 is the start of the Year of the Dragon, 4710! Also, people in Hong Kong, which is part of China, know their birth sign. People born in the Year of the Dragon are thought to be interested in the world around them and are said to be brave and love life. A lot of the decorations for Chinese New Year are red because red is a symbol of happiness and good luck.

In Chinese culture things often have more than one meaning. In the Marriott Hotel where we stayed there were no numbers with “4” in them so there is no 4th floor, no 14th floor! The number four in the Chinese language sounds very similar to the word for “death” so they don’t like the number four. However, the Marriott is an American chain hotel so there is no Floor 13 because Americans think 13 is an unlucky number.

Several islands make up Hong Kong. Most parts are very crowded. They have many high-rise apartment buildings with 40 stories high or more. But one of Hong Kong’s islands, Lantau Island, is called “The Lung of Hong Kong” because it is mainly tree covered. There are some huge high-rise buildings in one area but mostly it is covered with trees. One of the reasons we stayed on the island was to visit the largest sitting bronze Buddha. The Buddha with the lotus flower base upon which he is sitting is over 100 feet high. Buddha is holding one hand out to give the blessing of fearlessness. His other hand points down giving the blessing of wisdom. The Buddha is on top of a hill and many people take a trail up the hill. It takes about three hours. However, they have a cable car that has a great view when it is not cloudy and it only takes 25 minutes. We took the cable car. From the hilltop there are 240 steps up the Buddha. Near the Buddha is the Po Lin Monastery. Many people in Asia belong to the Buddhist religion based on the teachings of Buddha. The monastery is very colorful. People bring offerings of flowers and fruit that they put in front of the statue. While we were there a young girl was saying her prayers but first she had lit an incense stick as an offering. It smelled very nice. In some religions people light candles.

We also visited the Tai O fishing village which is similar to the way people lived on Hong Kong a couple hundred years ago. Today Hong Kong is very modern except for a few traditional fishing villages. In the fishing village we walked through the fish market where people were buying fresh fish. There was also a lot of dried fish. Before people had electricity and refrigerators drying fish was the best way to save it. All they had to do was to add water to the fish and they could make soup or other meals from the fish. We like to try new foods. At our hotel they had a special soup on the menu - Seahorse Soup. The broth was very light tasting but it was a bit strange to see the seahorse floating in our soup! There are so many new things to see and to experience when we travel.

Looking for Nessie and Exploring Castles

2012-01-09T18:54:00.011-05:00

Do you think the Loch Ness Monster is real? Some people do. Regardless, Nessie draws a lot of tourists to the north of Scotland. Scotland is a country in the northern part of the United Kingdom, which also includes England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Can you find it on a map? We took a bus tour to northern Scotland that included a boat ride on Loch Ness, a loch is the Scottish word for lake. We learned that the story of a giant sea creature in the lake goes back to the seventh century! There have been reports of sightings throughout the years including one in June 2011. Many scientists have searched for Nessie and while they were never ever to prove that Nessie lives in the deep lake some agree that there may be something “interesting” in the lake. Photographs that claim to show Nessie are considered fakes. Believers in the existence of Nessie think it is from the family of plesiosaurs. We didn’t see Nessie on the boat ride, which also stops at the ruins of a castle so tourists have something to see. The only Nessie we saw was a statue outside the gift shop. Regardless, it was a great day trip because we learned more about Scottish history. Loch Ness is in an area called the Scottish Highlands. We thought we would see high mountains but the highest peak, Ben Nevis, is only 4,406 feet high. We were lucky because it was a beautiful sunny day so we saw Ben Nevis. We also tried Scotland’s most famous food – haggis. Haggis is a large sausage made of sheep’s heart, liver and lungs with onion, oatmeal, and spices boiled in the lamb’s stomach. Our haggis was served on a baked potato with a side salad and tasted a lot like turkey dressing. We were surprised it was so tasty.

We also visited another part of the United Kingdom – Wales. We loved all the castles. Today the castles are interesting and fun places to visit but they were built to protect people from the enemy. Beaumaris Castle, begun in 1295, was the largest of the castles built by the English when they conquered Wales. Even though the castle was never finished it is considered to be one of the most perfect castles with an inner ring of walls surrounded by an outer ring making it nearly impossible to capture. Above the huge wooden gates there are "murder holes." If attackers made it through the rain of heavy crossfire of arrows they would have been welcomed at the gate by being doused with boiling oil from the “murder holes.” War is never nice. Today swans and ducks serenely glide along the waters of the moat.

The entire city of Conwy is inside walls built during the 1200s. The English king, Edward I, brought in English to settle in the city and showed no respect for Welsh culture. Welsh people were forbidden to enter the castle walls except to deliver goods or to work even though it was their country. One of the houses in Conwy is Plas Mawr, an Elizabethan Town House built between 1500s. We were surprised by the bold colors decorating the main room where they had great parties. People with a lot of money and power live well regardless of the time period.

One night we stayed in a castle. Ruthin Castle started out as a Welsh wooden fort in 1277 and over the years it was added to until it become a large red fort then a castle, and now a hotel. According to legend, King Arthur stayed here along with many other famous people – including us!

Cead mile Failte from Ireland

2011-09-02T13:23:00.010-04:00

Cead mile Failte means “A thousand welcomes” in Gaelic. In Ireland everyone speaks English but many signs and some people speak Gaelic, the traditional language. The capital of Ireland is Dublin, which was settled by the Vikings settled in the 800s. Most of Ireland is rolling, green hills with lots and lots of sheep and cows. The harp, three-leaf clover, leprechauns, and St. Patrick’s Day are things associated with Ireland.

Do you like leprechauns and castles? We do. When we were in Ireland we didn’t see any leprechauns but we did see castles. However, in Dublin there is a Leprechaun Museum where they tell the tales of Leprechauns. One famous castle in the south of Ireland is Blarney Castle. It is said those who kiss the Blarney Stone get the “gift of gab.” They don’t make it easy. First we had to climb a long flight of stairs, then while on our back, we had to bend way over backwards, hanging on tight to some rails, to kiss the Blarney Stone. Why that stone has special power we wondered but didn’t get an answer. Actually our favorite castle was Roscommon Castle, mainly because we were the only ones there and could wander around as we wished. It was built in 1269 but changed hands over the years and each owner added to it until it was finally burned down in 1690. So the history of Roscommon Castle was over about the same time American history was just getting started.

We stayed at the Abbey Hotel in Roscommon where each morning at breakfast we could look out the window and see the ruins of an Abbey. Again it was another place we were free to wander about. We think it would be cool to live in a place with ruins of castles and abbeys. However, I don’t think the people think having castles in their town is so unusual. I guess we don’t think having forts in our area is unique, but it is. The children were more interested in playing games with their friends. They taught us a new game called hurling. It was fun and lot like hockey but on the grass. There was a lot of running.

Do you have any ancestors who came from Ireland? We were surprised to learn that 44 million American’s claim Irish ancestry. In total, over 80 million people worldwide can claim Irish ancestry. A lot of Irish people came to America to help build the Eire Canal. Many more came to America between 1845 and 1850, when a disease ruined the potato crop, about one-quarter of the entire population of Ireland either died or emigrated. For most of the people in Ireland the potato was the only source of food. The average 15-year-old ate 15 potatoes a day usually mixed with a little milk. The problem was they only had potatoes to eat so when the disease made the potatoes uneatable there was no other food source. Many places in Ireland have very sad statues of starving families so people will remember the sad times. We went to the Famine Museum in Stroketown, near Roscommon. At the end there was a display of many places in the world where people are starving. Today there are more than 12 million people in Africa who are starving. It is hard to believe when we have so much food here in America and we are concerned about American eating too much plus we waste a lot of food. Slán go fóill (Bye for now)

Konichiwa (hello) from Japan

2011-07-09T20:02:00.010-04:00

Greetings from Tokyo, the capital of Japan. We arrived in Tokyo after the big 9.0 earthquake but we were there for the 7.2 one. In fact, there were several small (4.0 to 5.0) earthquakes everyday while we were in Japan. There is a web site called “Latest Earthquakes in the World – Past 7 Days” that we would often check. We were surprised how many quakes there are worldwide. Japan has built their buildings to withstand most earthquakes. We would feel them but mostly is was a shutter with nothing knocked over. In the recent big earthquake it was the tsunami, a huge wave, that caused the greatest problem.

People were very glad to see us because most of the tourists stayed away and it was one of their most important tourists’ season – cherry blossom time. Tokyo was beautiful will thousands of cherry trees in full bloom.

The United States and Japan have an interesting cherry tree relationship. In 1912 the Japanese government sent about 3,000 cherry trees as a gift of friendship to Washington where Cherry Blossom Time is a big deal, too. Much of Japan was destroyed by the bombings during World War II including the cherry trees. So, the United States sent cuttings from the ones in Washington to Japan to replace the destroyed ones. And, in the 1960s, more were sent to replace trees destroyed in a flood.

Each day we enjoyed walking around one of the parks. We like to visit parks. In Ueno Park we watched people feed the birds, ride pedal boats on the pond and enjoying a picnic under the trees. We visited a beautiful pagoda and the Shitamachi Museum. The museum is small but showed what the villages looked like years ago when many people lived in Shop Houses. In the front was a shop and behind the shop was the living area. We liked the candy shop but the coppersmith was also interesting. We like to see how people lived long ago.

Tokyo and all of Japan is extremely modern with high speed “bullet” trains so we were surprised to see some of the ladies dressed in kimonos, the traditional dress of Japan. One day we were in another park and saw a couple dressed in their wedding attire having their pictures taken. People are very polite and respectful in Japan so we bowed slightly (bowing to show respect is very important in Japan) and asked if we could take their picture. They agreed and we bowed again and said, “Arigato” (thank you).

We visited one of the most important temple complexes in Narita, just outside of Tokyo. It was founded in AD 949 and there were many beautiful and colorful Buddhist temples. In the biggest temple they have ceremonies throughout the day where they burn wooden offerings and say prayers. We think a lot of people were praying for the people who died in the tsunami and earthquake.

One night we went to a traditional theatrical Japanese theatrical performance. It is called Kabuki. The actors are all men. They even play the female parts. We were glad we rented headphones. The narration explained everything and it was very interesting. Even some of the Japanese had headphones because the actors sometimes used an old form of the language. The show lasted four hours but there were three different performances. After the first presentation most people took out their dinner that they had preordered and ate it. We wished we had done that. They have wonderful takeout prepared meals in lacquer ware boxes with compartments. They are called bento boxes. One day on a tour we had a bento box lunch. It was great. We always learn so much when we travel but we have so much more to learn.

Hafa Adai from Saipan

2011-05-02T15:29:00.009-04:00

Hafa Adai is the Chamarro greeting. The Charmarros are the first known people on the islands of Saipan. Saipan is a small island in the Pacific Ocean with a big history. The Chamarro people are known for the large stones called lattes that were used to support their houses. Tinian has the largest latte stones. Tinian is a 10-minute flight on a 5-seater plane from Saipan. On Tinian there is a place called House of Taga where the latte stones are 20-feet high. It was built around 1500 BC and was the home of Chief Taga who was much admired and very powerful. Legend says that when the last stone falls Chief Taga will return. There are only a couple pillars left standing.

The island of Tinian is very small with about 3500 people but in 1945 during World War II the island had the world’s busiest airport, North Field. Today most of North Field is overgrown with weeds. We were the only people there the day we visited. The most interesting sites are the glass coverings over the pits where the atomic bombs were kept. The American planes that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan during World War II took off from North Field. On both Tinian and Saipan there are Japanese Air Raid Shelters. It was a safe place to go when the bomber planes attacked.

World War II was a difficult time for the people of Tinian and Saipan. The islands were controlled by the Japanese and the Americans invaded and took them over. Today the islands are part of the United States. They are not states but there are several places in the world that are part of the American family but are not states.

On Saipan we stayed at the lovely Hyatt Hotel where they have a beautiful pool and beach. Today Saipan is a resort island where people come to have fun in the sun. Most of the visitors are Japanese. Just a short walk along the beach is the American Memorial Park where we learned more about World War II and the Battle for Saipan. We visited a sad place at the tip of Saipan. The American troops drove the Japanese army and local citizens to the tip of the island. There was no place to go and as the American army moved closer and it was obvious the Americans were going to win so hundreds of people including families jumped to their death. They were told that it was a disgrace to surrender and that the Americans would torture them. The American servicemen tried to stop them and tell them that they would be treated fairly but most did not believe them.

Today the island is a happy place with people swimming, wind surfing, and generally enjoying themselves. Near the Hyatt there is a weekly street market with Chamorro dancers entertaining the crowds. We visited three schools while on Saipan: Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School, Brilliant Star Montesorri School, and Whispering Palms School. It was great fun because everyone speaks English and they use the same textbook. After all it is American. We showed them pictures of other places and schools around the world. They especially liked our pictures of snow. They all want to experience snow! We told them we thought it was amazing that they could look out their classroom window and see the beautiful ocean and palm trees. We had an exciting time another day because the Hyatt Hotel brought in students from a high school and we did the same Schools Around the World program. It is fun sharing and learning.

Hafa Adai from Guam

2011-04-08T21:59:00.019-04:00

Hafa Adai is the way we greet people in Guam. Guam is an American island in the Pacific. Our Guam friend, Cindy Hanson, has a radio show and she invited us to be on her program. It was exciting. She asked us what we liked about Guam. We told her that the weather and beaches are wonderful plus the Chamarro culture is fascinating. On our first trip Cindy showed us many historical and cultural places including where Magellan landed in the 1500s. Cindy asked if we had seen any latte stones. Latte stones are huge stones from prehistoric times. It is thought that they were the pillars upon which the Chamarro built their houses. We replied that we did not see any latte stones. Then a wonderful thing happened! Franklin Arturo called into the show and invited us to his country place to see the latte stones on his property. It was an incredible experience. His stones are some of the largest on the Island. Even more amazing was the story Mr. Arturo told us about George Tweed, the Robinson Crusoe of the US Navy. Tweed was the radioman who escaped capture by the Japanese during WW II by hiding for nearly three years in caves on Guam. He was the only American to survive the Japanese occupation of Guam. The Japanese searched for him every day while he was in hiding. During most of that time the Arturo family brought him supplies and kept the fact that they were hiding him a tight secret. When the Marines landed in Guam, Tweed signaled the American ships with flags he had made and a pocket mirror. He warned the military about the Japanese gun placements and asked to be rescued. Within five minutes of receiving his message rescue was on the way. He was rescued on July 10, 1944. While in hiding Tweed figured the government owed him $6000 in back pay. That was enough to buy a house in the 1940s. Tweed asked Mr. Arturo what he would if he had that much money. Arturo said he’d buy a four-door Chevy. Tweed returned to Guam in 1945, bringing a Chevrolet to Mr. Arturo as a gift from the president of General Motors. Franklin Arturo shared his Tweed scrapbook with us. Truly an amazing day. There are a lot of caves on Guam. When the American army won the island from the Japanese some Japanese soldiers refused to surrender and hid in the caves. Some hid for years. We had lunch with Cindy and her son, Ezequiel at Jeff’s Pirate Cove and learned another amazing story. The restaurant is located where the last WW II Japanese soldier on Guam, Shoichi Yokoi, surrendered in 1972. He had lived in a cave in a remote part of the island for 28 years. He said he knew the war was over because he heard American music but remained hiding because he was afraid the Americans would kill him. The story along with news articles are posted on the wall of the restaurant. Every place has amazing stories. We also visited the fourth grade in Tamuning Elementary School. It is the same school we visited two years ago. We showed them a power point about schools around the world. Because Guam is an American territory they follow the same curriculum as students in the rest of the United States. They drew pictures for us and gave us some local food. We love to visit schools. Some days we just enjoyed the pool and beach at the Hyatt Hotel.

Exploring the Malaysian part of Borneo

2011-03-22T16:52:00.010-04:00

Borneo is the world’s third largest island after Greenland and New Guinea. Can you find all three on a map? Three countries call Borneo home: Brunei, two states of Malaysia, and a state of Indonesia. We visited the Malaysian state of Sarawak.

Orangutans live on Borneo. They are the largest of the arboreal mammals. Arboreal means they live in the trees. We went to visit the Semmenggoh Orang Utan Rehabilitation Center. The Center is a safe haven for injured and orphaned Orangutans that were rescued and are now learning how to live in the wild. The orangutans are free to move about the rainforest. They are fed each morning but not all of them show up because some have learned how to survive in the wild. Most of the ones who showed up have babies. The mothers grabbed the food, stuffed it in their mouth and then climbed higher and ate it. The staff has named them. One is called “Hot Mama” because the hair around her face is fancier than the others so she thinks she is more beautiful. Before she was rescued she had been mistreated; sometimes she gets angry and bites but not very often. Our guides, Azihari and David, told us that one of the abused orangutans became very attached to a volunteer helper from Europe. When it was time for the helper to return to Europe the orangutan must have sensed she was leaving because he became angry with the volunteer and then very sad. Orangutan’s emotions are a lot like ours.

The area has more than 40 different groups of people with their own language and lifestyle. We visited the Sarawak Cultural Village where they have built samples of seven typical native houses. When we arrived at the Village we got a passport. It was stamped in each of the homes we visited. We had already visited a real Bidayuh longhouse village near the orangutan center. The village is built on stilts with the houses connected by a walkway which is like a long, wide porch. Today in the Bidayuh longhouse they have TVs and other modern conveniences. One boy was playing with his Game Boy.

We visited several different homes in the cultural village. We had to climb a notched log to the get into the Iban house where women were making rice treats. At the Orang Ulu house the women were deep frying slices of tapioca root. They tasted like potato chips. There were macaques climbing on and around the house. In the Malay home we had to wait on the steps until we were invited in. Each house was different and very interesting.

At the Village they have a wonderful show of dances from the various groups. The dances tell the stories about their culture. The Iban dance showed the strength of the warrior as he lifts a large wooden board with his teeth. We were very impressed with the Penan boy’s skill with a blowpipe. Most impressive was the man of the Melanau tribe who balanced atop a bamboo pole while it is turned around and around. Our visit to the village was a wonderful way to learn about the people of Borneo.

We also visited the Cat Museum. The capital of Sarawak is Kuching, which means cat. It seems when the first foreigners arrived in the area they saw cats under a tree so now the city mascot is the cat. The museum had all sorts of cat books, statues and other information about cats.

Salamat Pagi from Bangladesh

2011-02-15T17:32:00.002-05:00

Salamat Pagi is how we say “good morning” in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a new country with a very old history. They got their independence from Pakistan in 1971. Before that it was part of India. However, people have been living in the area for thousands of year.

Dhaka is very, very busy. Every workday the roads are unbelievably crowded with cars, trucks, colorful bicycle rickshaws, and motorcycle taxis. The men wear a longhi – a wraparound, full length cloth like they do in Myanmar but the women wear a sari. Some saris are over 20 feet in length but they wrapped around their body and head very beautifully. Most of the saris are colorful with a lot of sparkles.

When we visited the historical sites in Dhaka young people came up to us to greet us in English. One boy about eight dressed in a black suit extended his hand and said in perfect English, “It is a pleasure to meet you.” Other children greeted us in English but seemed very shy. Many people had cell phones that they could use as a camera to take our picture. Still others wanted us to pose with their children so they could take our picture. They were not use to seeing people from the Western Hemisphere so we were the main attraction. They were interested in us but not rude.

Bangladesh is a country of rivers. The rivers come out of the Himalayas and form a huge delta. One day we spent on the Meghna River on a traditional wooded boat. There are many different kinds of boats to ferry people and goods on the river. Our boat was quite big with a covered area where we could sit. One of our guides was Catherine, she has a Christian name because she is a Christian, but most of the people in Bangladesh are Moslem. Our other guide was Ferdous. His wife, Nipa, and their baby, Noel, also came along mainly because Nipa wanted to meet Americans.

We like river travel. We stopped at a village on a sandy island. During the rainy season the river is many, many feet higher so a lot of the islands in the river are covered in water. If it gets too high the people have to move to a higher location.

Water hyacinths float on the rivers. The people rake it onto the beach, dry it and use it for fuel. When we arrived the villagers met us and gave us a tour of their village. They were very friendly and even invited us into their homes. They grow rice and have fish farms along the shore. The river is very important to the people. It is where they bathe, wash their clothes, clean their dishes, water their crops, and fish. The school on the island only goes to 6th grade. School was over when we arrived so we didn’t visit the school but we brought pencils with us. We only had a couple dozen pencils so there was not enough for each child so we gave them to the head man so he could hand them out in the best manner.
Ferdous cooked a delicious lunch of curry chicken, fried fish, mixed vegetables and rice. Most people in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan eat with their fingers. We were glad they brought forks for us because we find it hard to eat with our fingers with out spilling the rice all over. Remember: one-third of the world eats with a fork, one-third eats with chopsticks, and one-third eats with their fingers and they are all doing it correctly according to their culture and tradition.

Minglabar from Myanmar

2011-02-10T21:33:00.011-05:00

Minglarbar is how we greet people in Myanmar. When Myanmar was a colony of the English it was called Burma. People often ask us, “How many languages do you speak?” We are very lucky that we speak English because it is the most common second language in the world. In Myanmar some people speak English very well while others only know enough words to do their jobs. Many signs and products in Myanmar are in English. Each day at Amazing Resorts in Ngapali we got a free bag of potato chips made in Myanmar. They are called Texan Barbecue Style and everything was written in English. The European guests at the hotel have to know some English so they can order their meals and make other arrangements. With English it is possible to go anywhere in the world.

Another question people frequently ask us is about the food. Most hotels in Asia serve food that appeals to all nationalities. At Amazing Resort we can order spaghetti, steak, and chicken, along with some Myanmar food. We think it is easier to find American food in most places in the world than it is for people from Myanmar, Indian, Malaysia and other countries to find their favorite food while traveling in the United States.

At night we love to watch the sun set on the Bay of Bengal. When it gets dark, on the horizon where the sea and sky meet, there are nearly 100 twinkling lights. Ms. Nilar, our waitress, explained that they are the lights from fishing boats. The fishermen from the many nearby villages fish at night because the lights from the boats attract the fish. Then one night there were no lights. We asked Ms. Nilar what happened and she said that it was full moon. The moon light is so bright on the water that the fish are all spread out so the fishing is not good. Full Moon Days are important in the Buddhist religion because many important events in the life of Buddha happened on Full Moon Days. On Full Moon Day there is no school.

We were in Myanmar in January. The sea was warm and during the day it was 75 to 85. However, the local people think it is cold. Foreigners are in bathing suits while the local people have coats on. We told them “If you think 80 is cold then you will not like snow.” “Oh, no,” they say, “We dream that one day we can see snow.” Another interesting thing is the foreigners try to get a tan while the local people cover up because they don’t want their skin to get darker. In fact, they even sell “skin-whitening” cream. We like to say, “As a rule man’s a fool. When it’s hot he likes it cool. When it is cool he wants it hot. Always wanting what is not!”

One day we went to visit a small Buddhist monastery across from our hotel. There were two boys studying with the teachers. The boys, Ein Da Thor Mi and Jei Wa Ta were learning Buddhist prayers. Buddhists live a very simple life spending most of their time praying and studying. They did not know many words in English but they had an English-Myanmar dictionary so we could communicate a little.

There are many interesting things to see. Myanmar does not trade with many countries so most things are made in Myanmar. Imagine a country with no fast food chains. Most of the vehicles are very old. The hotel van started out as a Chevrolet during World War II and today it is a mix of parts from many vehicles and is still running. The world is very interesting.

Cleveland's Museums are Fun Places to Learn

2011-01-31T06:10:00.011-05:00

We love to visit Cleveland because they have wonderful museums. Did you watch “Christmas Story” during the holidays? The house shown in the movie is in Cleveland and is now a museum. It is a fun place to visit. The leg lamp is in the window and the Red Ryder BB gun is in the corner by the tree. The house looks just like it did in the movie and it is open all year long.

Three of Cleveland’s museums are located around a circle so we could walk from one to the other in a couple of minutes. Our first stop was the Museum of Art. We were with three of our friends: Nick, Matt and Vinny. Nick quickly identified one of Monet’s lily paintings. The museum had a Treasure Hunt book that was fun. One search was called “It’s a Zoo in There” and we had to find certain animals in the paintings. We found a painting of a beautiful lady and beside her we found the green parrot we were looking for. The guide explained when it was painted in 1828 there were no cameras so the lady had things she saw in foreign countries included in her portrait so she would remember them. We went into another room that reminded us of Harry Potter. It was filled with weapons and armor. We wondered how the rider got on the horse with all that armor. The armor alone weighed 114 pounds.

From the Museum of Art we walked across the circle to the Natural History Museum where we learned about stars in the planetarium. The guide told us how to find different stars. We found one tight group of stars called The Pleiades. The Japanese call it Subaru and named their car after it. Later that day we saw a Subaru car and saw their star cluster logo. The museum’s exhibit on Extreme Mammals was incredible. We saw the biggest, smallest and most amazing mammals of all time. We learned that the Batodonoides was smallest mammal that ever lived. It looked like a mouse with a pointed noise and weighted less than a dollar bill. We always like to look at the dinosaur exhibit and wonder what it must have been like when they were roaming the earth.

Next to the Museum of Natural History is the Botanical Garden. They have a huge glass enclosed garden area divided into two areas. One area is Madagascar. Vinny was the first to notice, “Look, these are Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches.” We thought the baobab tree was interesting. It is called the Upside Down Tree because the branches look more like roots. The next section was a Costa Rican cloud forest. When we entered each section we picked up cards that told us what plants and animals to look for. The elevated canopy walk was cool.

We also went to the Great Lakes Science Museum. We especially like the exhibit called “Strange Matter.” The sign told us to “Touch it. Twist it. Smash it!” We did try to break a window with a bowling ball but we could not even crack the glass but it was fun trying. In the NASA Glenn Visitor Center,Matt liked sitting in the command center of a space ship.

There was so much to do at each museum that we could not do everything so will have to go back. Going to a museum is a fun way to learn. Don’t you think so?

Learning About California's history at San Juan Capistrano

2010-12-07T20:18:00.014-05:00

When we were in California we visited the Mission San Juan Capistrano. The Native Americans were the first people in what is today California, then the Spanish arrived from the country of Mexico. Even today the influence of the Spanish culture is obvious in California. New York State and the East Coast were mainly settled and influenced by the English and their culture.

While Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and other famous Americans were writing the Declaration of Independence and fighting for freedom from England the Spanish were creating missions in California. The Spanish sent missionaries and soldiers to California to Christianize the Native Americans.

The Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded in 1776. The Serra’s Chapel, the mission church was built in 1782. It is the oldest building still in use in California. Our tour guide, Tony, started with a history of the Acjachemen, the Native Americans who had lived for more than 10,000 years in the area. Basically, they were hunter-gathers who lived in dome-shaped houses called kiicha made of natural material. Tony pointed to a rock with holes in it and explained, “This is where the Achachemen would grind shelled acorns into a flour used to make breads. They would eat all animals from mice to bear.”

When the Spanish arrived everything changed for Native Americans. Each mission started with five or six soldiers and two missionaries. The Acjachemen were fascinated by the glass, cloth, horses, guns, and other new items the Spanish had with them so many of them moved to the mission. They were baptized into the Christian religion.

The mission grew into a busy town. There were very few trees so the people made adobe bricks to make their buildings. At one time there were so many people living in the mission they had to kill 100 cattle a week for food but they used everything. The fat was boiled down to make candles, soap and creams. Even the manure was mixed with the clay to make the adobe bricks. Today the mission has beautiful gardens and is a quiet place so it was hard for us to imagine all the activity that must have been part of the everyday life at the mission. Many of the rooms were set up the exact way they were in the 1800s.

The church was important part of the mission. Each mission had bells just like churches do today. The bells were necessary because most people did not have clocks or watches so the bells were a way to let everyone know when it was time to get up, eat, and go to church. Gold was discovered in 1848 and in 1849 people from all over the world rushed to California hoping to strike it rich. California joined the United States in 1850.

The Mission San Juan Capistrano is famous for the swallows that return to the mission on March 19, the mission’s saint day. Today the swallows still return but not in the large numbers that they did in the past. The area around the mission is now a city so the birds have found quieter places to build their nests. On March 19 many people visit the mission to see the birds that do show up.

We really enjoyed our tour especially because we made a new friend, Cody Groom. He is in the fourth grade. In California all fourth graders have to visit one of California’s 21 missions. He had a list of questions to answer and when he returned home he had to write a report. It was fun learning about the Mission San Juan Capistrano with Cody. This is our report.

Visiting Kingston, Canada

2010-10-22T16:00:00.009-04:00

We didn’t have to travel far to visit a foreign country. We are lucky we are such good friends with Canada. Canada is our closest foreign country. Kingston was the first capital of a united Canada.

During the warm months it is fun to drive to Kingston from Central New York. In Cape Vincent we drove our car onto a small ferryboat to Wolfe Island. Adults need to have a passport or an Enhanced Driver’s License in order to enter Canada. Wolfe Island is part of Canada. Children traveling with both parents do not need a passport but if they are traveling with one parent or someone else they should have a letter of permission from their parent.

When we arrived on Wolfe Island we only needed to answer a couple questions from the border patrol people before we drove across the island and caught another ferry to Kingston. We thought the ferry was fun. We could see Fort Henry from the ferry and understood why it was a good place for a fort. The fort is high on a hill where the St. Lawrence and Cataraqui Rivers meet Lake Ontario. Rivers were a fast and easy way to travel in the 1800s – especially for invading troops.

During the War of 1812 when the United States was at war with England. Canada was part of England. Fort Henry was never attacked but other areas were. The fort was interesting because some of the soldiers had their families living at the fort with them so they had a school for the children. We think it would be fun to live in a fort as long as there was no fighting.

Our guide, Sergeant Cybulski, pointed out the Commander’s Room explaining that it was one of the haunted rooms. It seems that one of the ghosts of Fort Henry is Nils Von Schultz. In the 1830s Von Schultz with a small group of Americans led an attack on Canada in an attempt to free Canada from English rule. He was captured by the British near Fort Henry and kept in the Commander’s Room during his trial. Von Schultz said that he would plead guilty to all crimes as long as none of his men were hanged. Even though many supported him including John A. MacDonald it did not sway the court and he was hanged along with five of his men.

John A. MacDonald helped unite Canada in 1867 and was the first Prime Minister of Canada. He could be considered the George Washington of Canada. We thought it would be a good idea to visit Bellevue, MacDonald’s home during the 1840s. The house is decorated and furnished the way it was when MacDonald, his wife and son lived there. There are always a lot of interesting things to see in an historic house. We thought the bathtub was especially interesting because it was shaped like a shoe and had padding on the outside. They had to get the water from a well, heat it on a stove and then pour it into the tub. The padding and shape helped to keep the water warm. Getting the bath ready was a lot of work and usually the whole family took turns using the same water.

We also visited a prison museum. There were beautiful art objects created by the prisoners and some scary handmade weapons - if only the prisoners had used their creativity to stay out of prison.

Greetings from Door County, Wisconsin!

2010-07-26T21:46:00.010-04:00

We think that food is one of the best and most delicious ways to share one’s culture. When we travel we like to take cooking lessons because we get to learn about different cultures, sample new foods, and it is fun.

Door County, Wisconsin is the little pinkie-like peninsula that sticks out into Lake Michigan. Can you find it on a map? We took a cooking lesson at the Savory Spoon where Janice, the teacher, taught us how to make two Asian dishes. One was Asian Dumplings with Chile Ginger Sauce. Dumplings are found in nearly all cultures. In Italy they are called gnocchi and made with potatoes. The Russian version are meat-filled piroshkis. Each culture has some version of a dumpling that they make it their special way. The same is true of soup. Every culture makes soup but they use local ingredients so there are many kinds of soups worldwide. Janice taught us how to make Coconut Soup with Shrimp, another popular Asian recipe. People who live where there are coconut trees often make soup out of coconut milk and if they live near the sea they put fish in their soup.

There are many cultures in the United States. When people moved here from other countries they brought they recipes with them. We are lucky because we can try many different kinds of food without traveling very far. There are Italian, Mexican, Chinese, and Thai restaurants close by. Some places have their own local specialties. Did you know that salt potatoes are only found in Central New York? They were “invented” when the Irish workers at the salt works in Syracuse area cooked their lunch of potatoes in the vats where the boiled the salt water until the water was gone and only the salt was left.

In Door County they have their own local specialty cooked in a special way. It is called a Fish Boil. Many fishermen from Norway, Iceland, and Sweden settled in Door County and they brought with them the idea of a Fish Boil. Our Fish Boil dinner started outdoors behind the Old Post Office Restaurant where we sat around an open fire. Earl, the Boil Master, explained, “A basket containing potatoes and onions has been cooking in the kettle and it is now about time to add the fish.” Earl displayed the whitefish steaks in a wire basket and then it is placed in the pot. It takes 10-11 minutes for the fish to cook during which Earl, the Boil Master, told jokes which even he said, “smelt.”

Earl asked us, “ What song do fish sing at Christmastime?” Do you know? The answer is “Salmon Enchanted Evening.” And, “How much does a pirate pay to get his ears pierced? A buck-an-ear!” When he finished with the jokes Earl threw kerosene on the fire, which caused the fire to blaze up and water to boil over. When the water boils over it takes the fish oils with it which is one reason even those who say they don’t like fish love the fish from a fish boil. The fish is light, delicate and fresh.

Dinner was great and ended with cherry pie. Door County is an important cherry growing area. We visited several cherry orchards and learned about the many tasty food items they make from cherries including salsa and they even added it to mustard for a cherry-mustard pretzel dip. The White Gull Inn serves Cherry Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast. It is so good that it won the Great American Breakfast Challenge on Good Morning America TV show! Food is fun and interesting – don’t you think so?

Hello from the Netherlands

2010-06-19T20:50:00.011-04:00

Netherlands, the official name of Holland, means lowlands. Nearly half of the land in the Netherlands is below sea level so there are many dikes. A dike is a wall of earth that holds back the water. Have you ever heard of Hans Brinker? Over a hundred years ago Mary Elizabeth Mapes Dodge wrote a book called “Hans Brinker” that became very popular. The book included a story about a brave Dutch boy who put his finger in a dike to prevent a flood. When we were in Amsterdam, Yvonne, our guide for one day told us, “The story of Hans Brinker is not a true story. In fact the author never even visited the Netherlands.” But we think is a good story because it shows is that one person can make a difference.

There are many miles of canals throughout the country. We rented a small boat for a week. At night we tied up along side the canal and slept on the boat. We had a small stove so we prepared our meals onboard. The canals are busy with all kinds of boats. There were many bridges and some were so low that the bridge keeper had to raise the bridge so we could continue. We saw many windmills.

After we left the boat we went to Amsterdam where we visited the Anne Frank House. Anne Frank was a Jewish girl. During World War II the Germans were trying to get rid of all the Jewish people so it wasn’t safe for her in Amsterdam. Some very brave people agreed to hide Anne, her family and another family in a secret part of a building where Mr. Frank worked. In July 1942 the Frank family went into hiding. During the day they had to be quiet and could not even walk around for fear the people would hear them. Anna wrote in her diary, “A voice in me screams: Go out, breathe air, have fun…” But, of course she couldn’t. Someone, they don’t know who, told the Germans where they were hiding and they were arrested on August 4, 1944. The Franks were sent to prison. Only Anne’s father survived. When he returned to Amsterdam he was given Anne’s diary which had been saved by one of the people who had helped them when they were in hiding. Anne’s diary has been translated into many languages.

Not far from the Anne Frank house is the another secret place. It is called “Our Lord in the Attic.” This time it was the Catholics who were not allowed to worship freely. During the 16th and 17th centuries the Catholic were forbidden to hold public services so they held secret services in several places in Amsterdam. Yvonne told us that many people knew about the secret churches but turned a blind eye. Today the Dutch people are very tolerant of all religions. We think that is a good thing.

There are many interesting places to visit in Amsterdam including art and science museums. We especially liked the Vincent van Gogh Museum where we saw his famous sunflower paintings.

Not only does the Netherlands have a lot of canals and boats but bicycles are a common means of transportation. It is good exercise and doesn’t pollute the environment. The country is also noted for wooden shoes, which are not commonly worn today, and tulips, which are everywhere when in season.

At the end of our day tour, Yvonne suggested, “Let’s have hot chocolate.” We went to the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky where the hot chocolate was grand. The hot milk came with a lollipop of chocolate, which we swirled in the hot milk turning it into chocolate milk. Yummy.

Merhaba from Turkey

2010-05-09T07:54:00.008-04:00

Did you know that St. Nicholas was from the town of Myra, Turkey? In the 4th century a bishop who became St. Nicholas gave anonymous gifts to people by dropping bags of coins down the chimney. The people called them “gifts from heaven.” St. Nicholas became the patron saint of children. When the Dutch came to America they called him Sint Klaes or Santa Claus. Over the years Turkey was controlled by the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians and other powerful groups so there are ruins of temples, theaters, city walls, tombs, and many other buildings that are 2000 years old.

Ephesus, Turkey is where the Virgin Mary lived out her last days. It is also where Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, spent her honeymoon. When we were walking down the street of Ephesus we realized we were walking on the same stones that Mary, St. John, St. Paul, Cleopatra, and many other famous people walked on. No one lives in Ephesus now but two thousand years ago it was the second largest city in the world after Rome, Italy. They had water and sewer systems, several theaters, public baths with hot water, and a very beautiful library. The theaters were built in a semicircle making it possible for everyone to see and hear. There were no microphones.

Turkey’s largest city is Istanbul. It is on an important waterway that connects the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Can you find Istanbul on your map? Most of the Turkish people are Muslim. There are over 2500 mosques in Istanbul. Muslims are suppose to pray five times a day. To remind people of prayer time there is an announcement from the tall minarets of each mosque five times a day. It is similar to church bells used in Christian churches. One of the most beautiful mosques is called the Blue Mosque built in the 1600s. The name comes from the blue tiles decorating the interior. When we visited the mosque we had to take off our shoes. We were given slippers and a bag to carry our shoes in. The floor of the mosque is covered with rugs. There are no chairs or pews. We sat on the floor and admired the beautiful decorations and stained glass windows.

Some people think shopping malls are a new idea. The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest malls in the world with 58 covered streets and thousands of shops. It was built in the 1400s. It is easy to get lost! Almost as big and old is the Spice Market. They sell many things but mainly a variety of colorful spices. Spices are the things that make food taste different – and good. Before refrigeration, if food started to spoil they would just add spices. Did you ever notice that foods from the hottest climates are the spiciest? Most desired were the spices that came from Africa and Asia. Istanbul was the perfect meeting place for traders to buy and sell spices. One of the things Columbus was looking for was an easier and cheaper route to where the spices were grown.

When they dig to make a foundation for a new building they find important ruins. We visited one that was fascinating. Under the buildings in the center of the city is a huge cistern built in the 500s where they stored water for the city. It is about 500 by 215 feet with a ceiling supported by 336 huge marble pillars. The world is full of interesting places.

Minglabar from Myanmar.

2010-04-20T15:39:00.006-04:00

Minglarbar is how we greet people in Myanmar. When Myanmar was a colony of the English it was called Burma. Myanmar has many interesting sites and some beautiful beaches. We love Amazing Resort Ngapali Beach where there is a long wide sandy beach on the Bay of Bengal. Can you find the Bay of Bengal on a map? We liked walking along the beach. As we were walking tiny crabs – we could hardly see them – would scurry into a hole. We noticed that they would throw the sand out of the hole making beautiful patterns in the sand. The closer we looked the more crabs and designs we could see. We wondered what else lives in the sand. As the tide went out more designs were formed on the sand. Some looked like tunnels under the sand. As the tide went out the sand would dry out so we think the critters were trying to go deeper where the sand was wet. It was interesting to watch them.

While we were relaxing on the beach we saw children going to school. Some were walking and others rode their bikes on the beach. Many carried their books in backpacks. We told Ms. Win Win, the hotel’s receptionist, we would like to visit a school. Along with Ms. Mi Mi, the hotel manager, they arranged for us to visit the Government High School of Ngapali which was not far from our hotel. The principal, U Tun Oo Khine, told us, “We have 800 students in grades 5 to 12. The government schools are free and compulsory.” There were several one-story buildings on the hillside where there was a nice breeze which is important in a country like Myanmar where it is very hot most of the time. Each building had several classrooms that opened out onto a covered porch which is also perfect for the hot climate. Some students brought their lunch to school but there was also food they could buy. It looked very healthy with plenty of veggies and fruit.

The principal sent someone up the hill to the topmost building and asked them to have the students in Grades 5 and 6 to come down to meet us. They ran down the hill like they were excited to meet us but very quickly formed a long orderly line. The school colors are green and white. Some of the students were wearing longyis, the traditional wraparound “skirt” worn by both males and females. It is perfect for the hot weather because it creates a cooling breeze on one’s legs while walking. Also, like many people in Myanmar, some students had yellowish power on their face called thanaka. It comes from the bark of the thanaka tree common in Myanmar. It protects their face from the hot sun.

There are so many interesting things to learn in every country. In Myanmar people do not have family names or last names. Traditionally people are given a name according to the day of the week they were born and then a name with a special meaning. It is often repeated. Most have four words to their name but are normally called by their double name. Ms. Htay Htay’s name means rich rich. We met Ms. Thien Thien, Mr. Ko Ko, and Ms. Phu Phu. Think about the names of some of the people you know. How do you think the names Johnson, Thomson, Smith, Woods, and French came about? The world is very interesting. Don’t you think so?

Sawadee from Thailand,

2010-03-07T12:06:00.013-05:00

There are always so many interesting things to learn everywhere we go. In Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, the Chao Phraya River runs though the city. It is a very busy river with river taxis, barges carrying goods, and long-tail boats that are a favorite with tourists. It is called a long-tail because the propeller is at the end of a long rod connected to the very large engine. A long-tail boat can go very fast. There are many canals off the Chao Phraya.

We love the Peninsula Hotel because it is on the river and we love to watch the river. The Peninsula Hotel arranged a tour for us to help us learn a little more of Thai history. We climbed into a long-tail and went up the river to the Temple of Dawn. It was built by King Rama VI. All the kings have the title of Rama. Some say it is called the Temple of Dawn because the temple faces the sunrise but our guide, Chakie, told us it is because King Rama VI landed at that site at dawn and decided that was where the temple should be. The designs on the temple are very beautiful and interesting. They are made out of pieces of China dishes that broke when being shipped from China to Thailand. We looked closely and could see that that the flowers were made from plates and in other places we could see the bottoms of cups. We thought it was a clever idea.

There are many canals off the Chao Phraya and our guide took us through one of the main canals. There are gates on the canal to control flooding so we had to wait for the gate to open. Many people live along the canal and use boats to get around. Chakie said, “Notice the houses of rich people are next to houses of poor people. It is the same with places of worship.” We saw Christian churches near Buddhist Temples near Moslem Mosques. Later he pointed to a boat, “Look that is the noodle delivery man. Everything thing they need is delivered by boat. Over there is the person delivering the meat. Even the mail comes by boat.” We thought it would be fun to live on the canal.

We also visited the Museum of the Royal Barges. The long narrow barges are very beautiful and only used on very special occasions. The museum has eight beautiful Royal Barges. Each is carved from huge pieces of teak with mythical creatures on the front. The barges are rowed by up to 50 specially trained oarsmen. It was an interesting tour.

South of Bangkok we visited the beautiful Royal Summer Palace. It was built in 1923 by King Rama VI. A series of open halls connects the various rooms. A long covered walkway led to the king’s beach where, at 5 in the morning surrounded by 40 servants to make sure nothing happened to him, he took his morning swim. A similar walkway led to a swimming area for his wife. King Rama VI was the great-grandfather of the current King. King Rama IX became king in 1950. He is much loved. People like to wear yellow clothes in honor of the king. In Thailand each day of the week has a special color. The servants in the Royal Palace all dress in the color of the day. What is your color? The colors are: Sunday-red, Monday-yellow, Tuesday-pink, Wednesday-green, Thursday-orange, Friday-blue, and Saturday’s color is purple.

Suor sdei from Cambodia

2010-02-23T02:40:00.010-05:00

Suor sdei is a traditional greeting in Cambodia. Can you find Cambodia on a map? Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos were once part of an area called IndoChina because they are located midway between India and China. Long before it was IndoChina it was the Khmer Empire centered around Angkor Wat. Do you ever wonder what the United States will look like in a thousand years? We do when we visit archeological ruins. Today Angkok Wat is a huge archeological site made up of many temples. The oldest was built a thousand years ago. About seven hundred years ago the area was invaded. Many of the temples were destroyed and slowly most of the people moved away and the jungle covered everything. When foreigners visited the area in the 1800s and saw how impressive the area must have been they began to remove the trees and open it up to visitors. Our favorite temple area is Ta Prohm because they have left some of the tree roots in place so people can see how the jungle took over. They say the jungle is a “destroyer and creator.” It destroyed many of the temples as the huge roots pushed the stones apart but then created a beautiful natural area. Much of the history was destroyed by the people who invaded but one stone was discovered that had writing on it. It said the Ta Prohm was surrounded by 3,140 villages and it took 79,365 people to maintain the temple, including 18 high priests, 2740 officials, 2202 assistant and 615 royal dancers. When Angkor Wat was a large city London was a small town and New York City didn’t exist. It makes us wonder what our area will be like in a thousand years. Will global warming make the oceans rise and cover London and New York?

After we explored the temples – it takes many days to see everything and much of it is still covered by trees – we walked down a path to a small village. In the village we saw people weaving baskets that they sell to visitors. In some ways they are living much like people did hundreds of years ago. Some of their houses are built on stilts and are very basic. They get their water from wells and do their cooking outdoors over an open fire. In some ways they are modern because they have televisions and cell phones. The children were just coming home from school. Many of them were on bikes.

We visited a small orphanage. At the orphanage the children looked very well cared for. All the boys sleep in one room and the girls in another. They go to the local school but also get classes in English at the orphanage. The children are learning the music and dances of their Khmer culture. They performed traditional dances and sang for us. We really enjoyed watching them. Tourists love to see the dances so some of the children may be able to get jobs when they are older at one of the many hotels singing and dancing for the guests.

From the Angkor Wat area we took a boat for six hours through a lake that was so big we could not see the shore and then down Tonle Sap River to the capital, Phnom Penh. Many people live along the river so it was very interesting to see their villages. In Phnom Penh people live a modern lifestyle. Cambodia has suffered through many wars but now there is peace and life is improving.

Singapore: The Lion City

2010-02-03T23:40:00.010-05:00

In Singapore many people speak English because years ago, like the United States, Singapore was ruled by the English. Singapore is called the Lion City. According to a local legend in the 14th century a Malay prince landed safely on the island of Singapore after a thunderstorm and saw a beast on the shore. His chief minister said it was a lion. However, lions never lived in the area so they think what they saw was really a tiger.

Today Singapore is a model city. It is extremely clean. Chewing gum is illegal. We asked why? A guide told us. “When the new transportation system was first built people were sticking gum in the doors to keep them from closing. Since gum isn’t necessary and people were not using it properly they outlawed it.” The city has so many trees that another name for Singapore is “The Garden City.”

After World War II Singapore was not a beautiful place. It has taken many years to turn it from a dirty war-torn country into a model one. Singapore has always been an important trading port because it is in the middle of the trade routes between Asia and the rest of the world. We took a ride on the Singapore River which runs through the city and has been a busy river for years. Now it is mainly used for tourist boat rides. The guide on the boat ride told us, “It took 10 years to clean up the river. They removed 15 feet of sludge from the bottom of the river.” People often used the rivers as a place to throw their garbage and in many places they still do.

Singapore has no natural resources so they depend on tourism to earn money. They are always thinking of wonderful things for tourists to do. The Singapore Zoo was the first to have night safaris where open buses take visitors from one part of the zoo to see the animals at night. Many wild animals are more active at night. They even have trails people can walk. They must have a special way to keep the animals in their own area but we didn’t see any fences.

Their newest tourist attraction is the Singapore Flyer. It is the world’s largest observation wheel. The Flyer is 541 feet high and takes about 30 minutes to make one complete circuit. Each capsule holds 28 people. A narration along with a map details the sites we could see from the Flyer. The Flyer is located in a new area of Singapore. The country is small but they are making it bigger by adding “reclaimed land.” They build new land but dumping rocks and dirt along the edge of the land. Many cities like New York and Boston have gotten bigger by adding more land along the waterfront. From the Flyer we saw the newest development. Sometime this year, Singapore will open the world’s largest hotel with over 2000 rooms. There will be three 55-story towers connected at the top with a unique sky garden.

We love the Flyer but we also liked the Yakult Rainforest built beneath the Flyer. We think it is very clever because it hides the foundation and supporting structure of the Flyer. The Yakult Rainforest has tropical trees, waterfalls, and pools with koi fish. Koi fish are like large gold fish. In the Asian way of thinking the area blends the basic elements of water, earth, and sky. We wonder what they will think of next.

Learning About Chinese Culture

2010-01-26T06:22:00.008-05:00

Kung hei fat choy! That is the way we wish people “Happy Chinese New Year.” Chinese New Year is like our Christmas, New Year, and birthday celebrations all rolled into one. Our calendar is based on the sun whereas the Chinese calendar is based on the cycles of the moon. Even though they use our western calendar, everyone in Hong Kong knows it is the Year of the Tiger, 4708! This year Chinese New Year is February 14, Valentine’s Day. They say it is a day of Double Happiness.

We always learn many interesting things when we are in Hong Kong. We stayed at the InterContinental Hotel and each morning we got up early – before daybreak and met Master William Ng by the outdoor swimming pool to do Tai Chi. We like doing Tai Chi. It is an exercise with slow-moving, ballet-like movements designed to promote good physical and mental health. First we would bow and greet Master William and then do breathing exercises followed by Tai Chi movements. The movements have names that are associated with nature like Flying Eagle, Parting the Clouds, and Rowing in the Middle of the Ocean. When the exercises were finished we meditated by closing our eyes and imaging a waterfalls slowly pouring down on our head washing away all our aches, pains, and troubled thoughts. We like Tai Chi better than exercises that leave us sweaty! When we were done with Tai Chi we felt cool, calm, refreshed and energized ready to enjoy Hong Kong, one of the most modern and tourist friendly cities in the world.

Even though the city is very modern there are many ways to learn about traditional Chinese culture. The Hong Kong Tourist Board offers free classes for visitors. We signed up for Chinese Cake-making Class. We went to the Wing Wah Cake Shop where Master Chiu and Master Fung taught us to make Wife Cakes. We thought that Wife Cakes were made by wives but we learned that is not the case. It seems that long ago a wife sold herself as a servant to get money to pay for medical treatments for her father-in-law. Her husband was sad but impressed by her sacrifice he created Wife Cakes and sold them in the market. They were very popular so he was able to earn enough money to buy back his wife. We think everyone lived happy ever after.

The skyscrapers of Hong Kong line both sides of Victoria Harbor. The harbor is one of the best in the world so it is very busy. About 10,000 boats use the harbor every day. While most of the boats are very modern we went for a sail on a traditional boat called a junk. The ride is also offered by the Hong Kong Tourist Board. Junks are wooden boats with colorful red sails that were used by Chinese fisherman. The boat named Duk Ling is the last authentic sailing junk in Hong Kong. On the junk we could see all the tall buildings of Hong Kong. The average tall building is 40 stories and each level has an average of ten apartments with each apartment averaging four occupants. Can you figure out how many people live in a typical apartment building?

There are so many interesting things to learn. We wish we had more time in Hong Kong so we could learn more about Chinese culture.

Florida's Oysters and Turtles

2009-12-16T21:06:00.006-05:00

Did you ever eat a raw oyster? We did! At first we didn’t want to try one but then we remembered that when we travel it is important to try new things including new food. We tried them and loved them! We were in Apalachicola, which is famous for their oysters. We went out on a boat where we learned how the fishermen have been harvesting oysters for hundreds of years. It is hard work and they have to go out in all kinds of weather. They use long poles that are hooked together. The ends look like rakes. With them they are able to scoop up clumps of oysters. They have to make sure they are the legal size. If they are too small they throw them back. Oysters like to live where fresh water from rivers meets the salt water so Apalachicola is perfect. When feeding, the oyster can pump and filter at least 25 gallons of water in 24 hours. That seems amazing because they are not very big. They are about the size an orange cut in half. It takes about six years for them to be big enough to harvest. We were surprised to learn that from 1880 to 1920, New York State was the oyster capital of the United States. There is a village on Long Island called Oyster Bay, now we understand why. We were amazed at the piles of oyster shells. Some piles were as big as a barn. We learned that the city of Crisfield, Maryland is built on a foundation of oyster shells. In Apalachicola they put most of the shells back in the water to start new oyster beds.
Turtles are another amazing animal we learned about in Franklin County, Florida. We went to hear Bruce Drye talk about turtles. He is specially trained to handle turtles. He told us that sea turtles are among the oldest creatures on earth. When the loggerhead turtle hatches it is only about two inches long but the adult loggerhead sea turtles are among the larger of the sea turtle species and weigh an average of 275 pounds. Loggerhead turtles don’t have teeth; instead they have powerful jaws enable them to crush and ingest clams, crabs and other shellfish. There are several volunteer groups that try to protect the sea turtles and their nests. "Sea turtles migrate between nesting areas and foraging areas, often traveling hundreds, even thousands of miles to reach a desired location. Some individual turtles that nest in Franklin County may travel as far as the coast of Central or South America to forage before returning to nest," Mr. Drye explained. He also said, "Turtles are not decision makers. They operate on instinct so if people leave the lights on in their house the baby turtles head toward the house instead to the sea and if there are beach chairs and other things in the way they get trapped." Our villa on the beach on St. George Island had instructions about what to do to protect the turtles during nesting time.

We found out something else interesting in Apalachicola and it had nothing to do with turtles. On an historic tour we learned that in 1837 the Orman House was built near Syracuse then unassembled for shipping. It traveled by sailing ship to Apalachicola where it was reassembled. We learn such interesting things, don’t we?

Howdy from Texas!

2009-11-30T22:48:00.007-05:00

Do you know the difference between a tenderfoot and a buckaroo? A tenderfoot is someone not use to ranch life. We are tenderfoots but wanted to learn how to be buckaroos, or cowboys, so we visited Brenham, Texas. We also wanted to learn about Texas history. For 10 years, from 1836 to 1846, Texas was an independent country. In 1846 it became a state. The history of Texas is very interesting.

In the early 1800’s, people carved G.T.T. on the door of their home so friends would know they had "Gone to Texas" in search of a better life. In 1821 Stephen Austin, led 300 families to the area around the Brazos River, which was, at that time, part of Mexico. The town of Washington-on-the-Brazos grew up and became The Birthplace of Texas.

We sat in Independence Hall where settlers met to write their Declaration of Independence from Mexico and their Constitution for the new Republic of Texas. As we listened to our guide tell the story we tried to imagine what it was like for the settlers. Signing both documents was very dangerous. They were brave but must have been afraid because the Mexican president, Santa Anna and his army of 1500 were marching on the Alamo in present-day San Antonio. They had to leave their homes because they were afraid that Santa Anna’s army would attack them after the Alamo. They returned a month later when the Mexican Army was defeated at San Jacinto.

Nearby was the Barrington Farm, the home of the last president of the Republic of Texas, Anson Jones, where we were able to step back into the 1800s. Jim Lauderdale, the guide, explained, "There is no such breed as oxen. They are steers that have been trained as oxen and were the tractors of the 1850s. The mule was like today’s SUV; it was for working and riding while the horse was the family car." He said, "The settlers arrived full of hope but soon learned how hard life was." We tried to imagine what it was like to raise all our food, wash all our clothes by hand, and pick cotton.

We visited a Cotton Gin Museum, where the guide explained that, "If you were old enough to walk you were old enough to pick cotton." Children had to fill 100-pound bags but adults had to fill 200-pound bags. Everyone worked from sunrise to sunset when the cotton was ripe filling bag after bag until the wagon was full. Then it was driven to the cotton gin where a machine took the seeds out of the cotton.

While the hard life of the settlers is in the past it is still possible to have a "real" Texas experience. We visited Texas Ranch Life, where John Elick, the owner, demonstrated the art of cutting with his horse, Rebel. Rebel and John worked as one cutting, or separating, one of the longhorns from the herd. The next day after an introductory lesson explaining everything from how to mount to how to control the horse we were off for a ride through the fields. You might say we started as tenderfoots but ended up as buckaroos. We wished we could stay longer because they also teach guests roping and other cowboys skills like participation in cattle drives and roundups.

"Zdravo" from Montenegro

2009-11-08T10:20:00.003-05:00

Montenegro is a newly independent country. The citizens voted to be independent in June 2007. But people have been living in the area for over 2000 years. Once it was part of a country called Yugoslavia that was divided into several countries and one is Montenegro. Can you break the name of Montenegro into two words and figure out what the name means?

Today the city of Ulcinj is a pretty town on the Adriatic Sea. The mountains of Montenegro become hills that end at the shore so there are a lot of steps to the beach and the walled city. The walled city is high on a cliff surrounded on three sides by water and there are a lot of little coves so the area was a favorite hideaway for pirates. Being a pirate may sound exciting but it was illegal and dangerous. From the 14th century to the 18th century pirates would attack ships on the Adriatic Sea, steal their cargo, and then sail off to their hideaways. Some of the pirates became very famous. There were large rewards for anyone who could catch the leader of more famous pirate groups. Sometimes one pirate would kill another pirate to get the reward. It is easy to see why the walled city of Ulcinj was a popular hideaway as it was possible to see in all directions in case anyone tried to sneak into the area. At one time there were as many as 400 pirates in Ulcinj. It is hard to believe that this peaceful, pretty bay and walled city was once filled with dangerous pirates. A city has grown up outside the walls. Today people enjoy the beach and strolling through the quiet walled city.

We took a bus to another area on the coast where there is another walled city. Why do you think people build a wall around their city? We liked walking around the walled city and try to imagine what it was like to live in a walled city. We visited the walled city of Budva and while we were walking down the narrow streets we heard singing. We followed the sound to a restaurant with a pretty outdoor area. There we saw a group of women in traditional costumes singing traditional Montenegro songs so we stayed and listened. We thought their songs and costumes were beautiful.

There are many lovely beaches along the coast so the area is popular with tourists who love to swim, sun bathe, and fish. In the middle of the summer it is very, very busy. Someone told us, "You can’t even see the sand on the beach – just tanned bodies sunbathing." I think he was exaggerating.

The food in this part of the world is very good because it is so fresh. There is a lot of fresh fish to eat because they are so close to the sea but also lots of vegetables. Chef Jovo Medin invited us into the kitchen so we could watch him cook some traditional foods. Our favorite dish is called muckalica, which is a mixture of meat and vegetables that makes a delicious stew. We noticed on the wall of the kitchen there were colorful pictures of each of the dishes they serve with the recipe below. Not only would everyone cooking know the exact recipe they also know what it should look like when it is served. We thought that was a great idea. When we left we said, "Hvala," which means, "thank you."

Learning about Albania

2009-10-22T07:10:00.007-04:00

Pershendetje! That is how we say "hello" in Albania? Luckily many people speak English.

Can you find Albania on a map of Europe. Find the Mediterranean Sea. Connected to the Mediterranean Sea is the Adriatic Sea and Albania is on the East Coast of the Adriatic Sea. It is about the size of the state of Maryland.

Until about 10 years ago Albania was a closed country which meant they didn’t accept visitors and Albanians could not leave the country. It was one of the poorest countries in Europe. Then the government changed and today it is easy to visit the country. There is a nice new airport. Things are changing fast. Fifteen years ago there were almost no cars and people used horses but now there are many cars and new roads being built.

The capital city of Tirana is a nice safe city. In the center of the city there is a large statue to Skanderbeg, the national hero of Tirana. He is honored in many countries for driving the Ottoman Turks out of Albania and keeping them out of the rest of Europe. That was way back in the 1400s. We had never heard of him and were surprised to learn that a huge statue of him was put up in Rochester Hills, Michigan in 2006. We seem to know very little about most people’s history while they know a lot about the United States. We have a lot to learn. We saw a sign that said "Obama We Love You" and several American flags. Many Albanians have relatives in the United States. Satellite dishes, the Internet, and cell phones are very common here so it easy to stay in touch with the world.

One of the museums we visited was in an old house that showed how people lived one hundred years ago. Albania is quite mountainous so houses were often built on the hillside. The lowest level was for the animals and where people did their work like making olive oil. There are many olive trees in this part of the world. The second level had two living rooms, one for the men and the other for the women and children. The floor above was for sleeping and cooking. It was very comfortable and they had many beautiful handmade rugs and lace curtains.

We visited the city of Berat, which is considered one of the oldest cities in Albania. People have been living in the area for 4,000 years. Berat is in a river valley, which made it an important route for transportation including invading armies so they built a walled city on top of the high hill. From there they could see if anyone was trying to attack. Today the walled city of Berat is a beautiful quiet area with cobblestone streets and lovely old buildings. In 2008 the United Nations named the city a place of special heritage so it will be preserved. Our guide’s name was Flutura, which means "butterfly." We thought it was a very pretty name. We had lunch with her and she explained, "All our food it natural. We don’t use any pesticides or chemical fertilizers because they have to be imported which makes it too expensive for the farmers. Everyone loves our tomatoes because they have so much flavor." We agreed and enjoyed our lunch of stuffed peppers, lamb in yogurt, and spinach casserole. We are glad we had the chance to visit and learn about Albania.

Exploring the culture of Detroit, Michigan

2009-08-16T15:12:00.004-04:00

There are so many interesting places to visit in the United States. Recently we were in Detroit and learned about the people who settled there.

Detroit is located across the river from Canada. It was very important in the 1800s as a stop on the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was not underground and not a railroad but a secret route used to help slaves escape to freedom in Canada. It was very dangerous and had to be kept secret because it was illegal. At The Museum of African American History we learned a lot about the slave trade. Our guide led us through displays that started with what life was like in Africa when there were many kingdoms to the awful experience of being kidnapped and to arrival in American where Africans were sold into slavery. Many died crossing the Atlantic on the slave ships. When they got to America they were branded and sold to people who wanted them as workers. Many tried to run away and were helped by people like Harriet Tubman. Harriet was an amazing woman who escaped from slavery but continued to put herself in danger by helping other slaves get to freedom. We visited the First Congregational Church where slaves were safely hidden until they could cross the river to freedom in Canada. They have a path set up in the cellar of the church to show what the trip was like for slaves who ran away from a plantation in Louisiana and traveled in the dark through swamps and woods for over 1000 miles in order to get to freedom.

We took a group tour of a neighborhood where people from Poland settled nearly 100 years ago. At the Polish Arts Center, Joan, the owner taught us how to make wycinankis. Wycinankis are similar to making paper snowflakes but much more complicated. When finished they are very delicate and colorful. Wycinanki started with shepherds who cut designs out of tree bark and leather. They were used as decoration in their homes. It takes a lot of skill and patience to make beautiful designs. Our tour was a lot of fun because we listened to Polish music played on an accordion. We also watch a dance group dressed in beautiful traditional outfits perform Polish dances. At the Polonia Restaurant the owner, Janusz Zurowski, taught us to how to make potato noodles. Grinding the cooked potatoes was fun. But the most fun was eating the Polish food, especially the stuffed cabbage and pierogies. Pierogies are small pockets of dough with a variety of stuffing.

We also learned about another group that lives in Detroit, the Arab Americans. At the Arab-American National Museum, Nadia, our guide, showed us a map of the Arab world. Nadia said, "There are 22 Arab countries. They all share a common language but may have different religions and nationalities. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all began is what is today the Arab world." We also visited a mosque where people of the Islamic religion worship. We learned there are five important parts to the Islamic religion. They must believe in God, pray five times a day, give money to the poor, not eat during daylight hours during their holy month, and try to visit the holy city of Mecca. There is always a lot to learn.

Ni hao from Hong Kong

2009-06-14T08:53:00.008-04:00

Ni hao! That’s how we say "hello" in Hong Kong. It sounds like "knee how." Many people speak English because Hong Kong was an English colony just like the United States. In 1997 it became part of China, again. Hong Kong is a city of skyscrapers and can be expensive but there are many free things to do. One free place to visit is the Law Uk Folk Museum, which is a 200-year-old house. It gave us an idea what life was like in Hong Kong before it became one of the most modern cities in the world. The original owner, whose last name was Law, moved to the area and built the house in the 1700s when the area was farmland. They would be surprised to see all the tall buildings surrounding their house today. We thought it was interesting that they had some things similar to what we have today like a walker with wheels for toddlers and a cradle hanging from the ceiling that they could swing gently to rock the baby to sleep. There must have been a lot of mosquitoes because they had mosquito netting around the bed. Even though the city is one of tall buildings they have some very nice parks. One of our favorites is Hong Kong Park, which has an aviary, a lily pond, and several waterfalls.

To learn more about life in Hong Kong we went to the Hong Kong Museum of History. On Wednesdays most of the museums are free. We were surprised to learn that before Columbus sailed to America, a Chinese captain, Zheng He, led seven voyages that made it all the way to the Red Sea near Egypt. His ships were much bigger than any other ship at that time. They were called Treasure Ships because they brought back many interesting items. The amazing Treasure Ships were over 400 feet long and 165 feet wide. Zheng’s voyage consisted of 62 vessels and 27,800 sailors. Columbus sailed with three small ships, the largest, the Santa Maria was 90 feet long and 30 feet wide and his entire crew numbered 90. I wonder how the world would be different if the Chinese had "discovered" America. For several reasons after the death of Zheng He the Chinese stopped exploring. The museum had many interesting things to see and learn about Chinese culture. Next to the History Museum is the Science Museum where there were many children enjoying the hands on exhibits. We could have been in any science museum in the United States.

One day we took a free tour called Cantonese Opera Appreciation Class. Cantonese opera is unique Chinese art form that started more than 700 years ago. We learned that the voices are so high pitched because it made it easier for people to hear them in the time before microphones. We love the artistic face makeup on the actors and learned that it made it possible for people in the back of the crowds to see facial expressions. The opera groups would travel by boat from village to village. Thousands of people would come to see their performances.

We love Chinese food, especially dim sum, which means "little hearts." They come in such small portions so we can try many different kinds. Chef Wah at the Peninsula Hotel taught us how to make dim sum. We found making the neat little packages of dim sum more difficult than it looks. Like everything else it takes practice. Chef Wah makes 400 a day and has been doing it for many years. Hong Kong is a amazing with many skyscrapers but it is still possible to experience the heritage of the the people.

Kum de buc from Bali

2009-06-13T12:10:00.005-04:00

Kum de buc is how people say hello in Bali, Indonesia. However, we visited a school for children who can not hear so we said "hello" in sign language. The sign for "Hello" is the same in many languages. We don’t know a lot signs, however we found it easier to communicate by signing than we did in schools where we did not know the local language and the students did not know English. We carry a map of the world and the United States so we can show people where we live. The students were impressed that we traveled so far to see them.

In one of the classes the children were learning how to sew articles that they can sell. In another class they were learning to repair machines. The younger children were attending regular classes. The classes were very small. We arrived as the elementary school was getting out.

Bali is an island in the country of Indonesia. Most of the people in Bali are Hindu. The Balinese Hindu people have an interesting way of naming their children. The first child is called Wayan, the second Made (pronounced Ma-day), the third is Nyoman, and the fourth child is called Ketut. If there are more children then it starts all over again. So we met many "Wayans!" They also have a second name but they don’t have a last name like we do in America. So if we were Balinese Hindu we would be Wayan Annie and Wayan Blue, but our friends would just call us Wayan.

Our hotel offered classes to help visitors learn about Balinese arts. We went to a Balinese dance class. Here we are learning to dance Balinese-style with Mathilde. One night we went to a dance show that told a very old Hindu story called Ramayama. We saw some of the dance movements we learned in our lesson. Ramayama is a love story but also a story of good conquering evil. The music is very cool! The orchestra is made of gong-style instruments of various sizes and xylophone-type instruments called a gamelan.

We also attended a Balinese flower-arranging lesson. We made a little basket of woven coconut palm fronds and then arranged flowers in it. Even though the Balinese people are Hindu, it is practiced a little different that in other Hindu areas. The temples here are not as colorful as in other countries and they don’t have all the statues. But they make offerings to their God everyday in the form of the little baskets we made. We saw the baskets everywhere including in front of stores, under trees, and even on the dash of our taxi. Each morning the offering is put out to keep the bad spirits out and the let the good spirits in. Usually the basket contains flowers, incense, and water.

Bali is a popular tourist destination so there are many hotels with beautiful beaches and plenty of "fun-in-the-sun" things to do. It was very, very hot and humid.

Greetings from the Bahamas

2009-06-13T11:48:00.008-04:00

We are in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. Find Florida on the map and just to the east you will see the Bahamas. There are about 700 islands in the Bahamas. Just like the United States the Bahamas were once part of England so they speak English. They got their independence in 1973. Many Americans visit the Bahamas. The Caribbean Sea around the Bahamas is very beautiful with many different shades of blue, green and turquoise.

There are three old forts on the island that were built nearly 300 years ago to protect them during wartime and from pirates. Forts were the Homeland Security of the 1700s!

The ancestors of many Bahamians came to the Bahamas to work as slaves on the plantations. Slavery was abolished 1834. Before the slaves were freed they were allowed three days off and it became a celebration of their African heritage called Junkanoo.

They still celebrate Junkanoo on December 26 and January 1 with a huge parade through the streets. Groups compete for prizes so they spend months creating brilliant costumes out of cardboard decorated with colorful strips of crepe paper, glitter and beads. The music is a vibrant mix of drums, brass instruments, and cowbells. We could feel the beat and had to dance with the music. Junkanoo is colorful and exciting. They also have Junkanoo in June so tourists can experience the exciting festival.

The people of the Bahamas want visitors to learn about their culture so they have a People to People program. They match tourists with local volunteers with similar interests. We signed up for the free program and told them we wanted to meet children in a school.

We visited the Carmichael Primary School and spent the morning with Miss William’s third grade. They use the same textbooks as the students in the United States. Their classrooms had many of the same decorations and posters. In fact, they knew a lot about the United States. Many of the students have relatives in the U.S. and they fly to Miami to shop. The island is small so they have to import most things. The students thought we were cute and wanted to know all the places we had visited. They were really interested in Alaska because it is cold and has snow. It is always hot in the Bahamas and they all wanted to see and feel snow!

When class was over some of the students brought their lunch back to the classroom. Most of them had chicken with rice and peas (which look more like reddish beans). It is a traditional Bahamian dish served with most meals. It is delicious. Bahamians love conch, which lives in a huge shell - the kind that people can blow into like a horn. Johnny Cake is a favorite dessert. It was also a favorite with American Indians and early settlers because it was easy to make and lasted a long time. It was originally called Journey Cake because they took it along when they went on a journey. The American version is made with corn but they make theirs with wheat.

Native Americans in Arizona

2009-06-13T11:20:00.007-04:00

Arizona has a very large Native American population. We wanted to learn more about some of the Native Americans who lived in this desert state before the Europeans arrived so we visited Pueblo Grande just outside the city of Phoenix. Pueblo Grande is the ruins of a Hohokam Indian village that is more than one thousand years old. All that is left of a village that was home to hundreds of people are the crumbled walls of some of the buildings. The museum director, Mr. Lidman said, "Archeologists dug up the site so they could learn about the Hohokam. When they had learned all they could they buried most of the village to prevent more damage to the buildings from the wind and rain."

We could see the outlines of some of the buildings, the platform mound that was the center of the village, and the ball court. The Hohokam were expert farmers even though they lived in the barren desert because they built hundreds of miles of irrigation canals. They were able to grow corn, beans, squash, and cotton. We climbed the ruins the platform mound, which archeologist think was used for ceremonies. It was very hot and there was one else around so we tried to imagine what the village was like with children playing and people working in the fields. The archeologists built full-scale reproductions of prehistoric Hohokam homes so we tired to picture the women grinding grain or weaving and little girls learning by watching the women work.

The Hohokam abandoned their villages more than 600 years ago. Scientists are not sure why. What do you think would make people leave their village? Maybe there was not enough rain for the crops or maybe they didn’t feel safe any more. When Spanish explorers arrived in the sixteenth century, they found the Hohokam villages in ruins.

About 100 miles north of Phoenix, we visited the remains of another Native American group, the Sinagua, which means "without water." One of the places they lived is call Montezuma’s Castle but it is not a castle and Montezuma, the Aztec leader, was never there. Early settlers were so impressed with the Sinagua cliff dwellings that they thought it had to be part of the great Aztec Empire of Mexico, but it was not. It is thought that in the Sinagua may have been Hohokam people who moved north and then developed their own culture.

Montezuma’s Castle is a five-story, 20-room cliff dwelling that was like a "high-rise apartment building." It is well preserved because of its protected place in the cliff. Other Sinagua dwellings are not so well preserved. Ranger Larson told us that there were many Sinagua dwellings in the area. He said, "They are all about three miles apart located on high hills or in the side of a cliff. They were all in sight of one another. If there was a problem they could send a signal from one village to another using mica mirrors." We thought that was very cool.

We think it would be very difficult to live so high on the cliff because they would have to lug everything up to their homes. They used wooden ladders to get to their houses. If they didn’t want people to get into their village they would just pull up the ladders. They must have felt very safe. The "castle" is locate above a small river so building on the cliff left the fertile land along the river free for farming. It was cooler in the "cave" houses and they had a beautiful view. The Sinagua lived in there villages for about 250 years and then something happened because they abandoned the village just like the Hohokam did. It is thought that the Hohokam and the Sinagua may have moved in with other Native American groups but they don’t know why the villages were abandoned. Maybe they no longer felt safe, or they died of disease, or maybe their crops failed.

Today Arizona has 250,000 Native Americans who belong to 21 recognized tribes. So much of the Native American history has been forgotten that today people are trying to preserve what they do know about the first people to live in Arizona by talking to the old people and sharing what they learn with others.

Hola y Abujevete from Argentina

2009-06-12T11:28:00.005-04:00

Argentina is a Spanish-speaking country but they also have aboriginal people, the Guarani, and "Abujevete" is the way they greet each other. "Hola" is "hello" in Spanish.

It is amazing that we can stay in the luxurious Grand Hotel and drive for 30 minutes to a place where people still live much like they have for years. Our Guarani guide, Carai, said, "Our people don’t speak much and we don’t have a word for ‘no.’ If a man asks a women to marry him and she doesn’t want to, she says nothing. Saying nothing means no."
Carai is a hunter. He showed us some very clever ways to catch animals. When he wants some fish he takes a two-foot section of a thick woody vine and puts it in water like a post. It attracts the fish but something in the wood puts the fish to sleep and then he picks the fish out of the water.

He explained, "Now it is difficult to be a hunter because we do not have much land. When I was a young boy we lived in union with nature, there were no country borders, we were free, and lived to be very old. Now we know about money, we buy things to eat, and our bodies are not use to it. We buy medicines instead of using the natural ones. We are not as healthy."

Carai told us many interesting things about his way of life. He pointed to a plant and said, "When it flowers we know it is the beginning of a new year." Their houses are made out of wood, mud and reeds. They only cut the wood for their houses during the full moon. Wood that is cut during the full moon is stronger and protected from termites." When we were ready to leave the children sang some Guarnai songs. They giggled when they saw us! I think they thought we were cute!

The Guarani live very near one of the world’s most incredible waterfalls – Iguazu Falls, which is on the Brazil-Argentina border. It is about the same height as Niagara Falls but has more than 250 separate falls spread out for nearly two miles in the rainforest. On the way to see Iguazu Falls we met Oriana Rios. She is studying to be an English teacher. We complimented her on her command of English. Oriana said,

"Learning English is very difficult because there are many sounds for the same letter." We think learning Spanish is difficult.

The food in Argentina is very good. They are famous for their excellent beef. The food is similar to the food in America but they have some different items that we really love. One is empanadas, which are like turnovers filled with meat, chicken, cheese, or dulce de leche. We love dulce de leche, which means "milk candy." It is a bit like caramel. They spread on toast and use it as a filling in pastries. It is also a flavor of ice cream. Yummy! The one thing we find difficult is the time people eat their dinner in Argentina. Most people eat around ten PM so most restaurants do not open until 8 PM. But there are places like McDonald’s that are open all day and sell empanadas for about 40 cents each.

We like Argentina. The people are friendly and they have many interesting things to see and do. To get to Bariloche, Argentina we traveled over the Andes Mountains from Puerto Montt, Chile by a route they call "Sail the Andes." The trip included four bus rides and three boat rides. It was very beautiful and we saw several snow-covered volcanoes. The world is very interesting.

Xin chao from Vietnam

2009-05-24T18:09:00.008-04:00

Xin chao! That is how we say "Hi" in Vietnam. It sounds like "sin chow."
Vietnam is a fascinating country. It suffered from war for hundreds of years including the war with the United States. Now the country is at peace and a wonderful place to visit. The largest city in the south is called Ho Chi Minh City. It used to be called Saigon but when peace came they renamed the city after the first president of the country, Ho Chi Minh. At the War Remnants Museum we saw photographs that made us very sad but we liked all the pictures made by students celebrating peace. There was a whole room of peace pictures plus a peace statue.

Walking back to our hotel we saw students getting out of school. Their parents pick them up on a motorbike. A new rule required them to wear a helmet. Also people often wear a facemask if they have a cold or are riding a motorbike. They don’t like to breathe the fumes.

We love Vietnamese food so we took a cooking lesson. Our guide, Ms. Phan showed us fruits and vegetables that they have in Vietnam. Some we had never seen before. She explained that most kitchens have a special place for the Three Kitchen Gods. These gods see everything that takes place and once a year report to the Jade Emperor in Heaven. On that day the Kitchen Gods are offered the best food and are presented with gifts. We made a whole meal and liked everything but especially the Sweet Green Bean Soup with Seaweed. It is a dessert and delicious. It can be served hot or poured over crushed ice. Sometimes looks and names can be deceiving.

We visited the city of Dalat which is different than most of Vietnam’s cities. It is located at 5000 feet so it is not hot and humid like most of the cities in the southern part of the country. The higher the elevation the cooler the weather. Another interesting fact is that it was never bombed during the war. There are many interesting things to see and do in Dalat. We took a long cable car ride to a mountaintop where there is a Buddhist monastery where people enjoy dressing up like royalty of years ago. The cable car went high over the forest that looked like the evergreen forests in America. Another fun experience was getting down to see the beautiful waterfalls. We sat is something like a sled attached to rails that curved first one way then the other making for a roller coaster-like ride to the bottom. It was exciting. Luckily we could use the brakes so we didn’t scare ourselves by going to fast. The waterfalls are beautiful so it was easy to understand why a local legend says it is where the fairies from heaven came to bath. Going back up on the coaster wasn’t as exciting but it was sure better than the 15-minute climb up the steps.

Our favorite building is called The Crazy House. It looks like Dr. Seuss created it. There are unexpected twists and turns. One part looks like giant tree roots have grown over it. The creator included a huge giraffe in one area and spider in another. It is a fun place to visit and it is not finished. We would like to return to see what else the architect creates.
The world is so interesting. Don’t you think so?

Visiting Guam "Where America Meets the Day"

2009-05-04T13:24:00.002-04:00

Guam is an island in the Pacific and it is a territory of the United States so the people like to say it is where "America greets the day." Look on the map and you will see that it is near the International Date Line. The International Date Line is an imaginary line where the date changes by 24 hours. If you were standing on the line and it was 10 in the morning on Monday, then stepped over the line to the west it would be 10 in the morning on Tuesday. However, the line goes through the water so that is doesn’t go through any land. Guam is the first American property to the west of the line so it where "America greets the day." Guam looks very American with malls and fast food places.

Our friend Ezequiel and his mother, Cindy, volunteered to take us on a morning tour of the island. Along with their friend, Jackie, we set out to explore the island.

Our first stop was Gef Pago Chamorro Cultural Village, a living museum of thatched huts featuring activities associated with the daily lives of the Chamorro, the native people of the Mariana archipelago. There were demonstrations on cooking, rope making, and basket weaving. Tony, the guide, explained that the coconut tree is the "tree of life" and showed us how easy it is to open a coconut. Various parts of the coconut palm are used for clothing, food, shelter, beauty aids, and as fuel. He went on to explain, "Coconut milk is so pure that it was used to sterilize surgical instruments during WW II." We even got to ride a carabao, the native water buffalo.

Ferdinand Magellan was the leader of the first voyage that sailed around the world. His voyage stopped in Guam. When the voyage landed in Guam in the spring of 1521 they had not seen land for 100 day. The sailors were sick or dying and the food was gone or spoiled. The men helped themselves to food they had never seen before like coconuts, sweet potatoes and bananas (which they thought were some sort of fig). They later sailed on and reached the Philippines where Magellan was killed. Guam became part of the Spanish Empire, like the land in the Southern part of the United States from Florida to California. From the Spanish Fort, Nuestra senora de la Soledad, we had a panoramic view. Forts were always built so they could see if any enemy were coming.

Guam was became part of the United States in 1898. During WWII the Japanese occupied the country. When the war ended Guam was again part of United States. We stopped a WW II site where there is statue of several men from Guam who participated heroic acts during WW II. One of the men preserved in bronze is Jackie’s father, who after killing an enemy soldier, and donning his uniform, was able to gain entry to the enemy camp and blow it up.

One morning we visited Ezequiel’s school, Tamuning Elementary School, do a program on schools around the world. It was multi-cultural week at his school. We did a power point program on the many schools we have visited around the world. The schools buildings may be different and the students may speak different languages, but they all learn to read and write. And, they all like to play with their friends after school and enjoy holidays. After our presentations we were invited to the auditorium to see a nature presentation by Miss Cheryl from the Guam Department of Agriculture. The high point was seeing the flightless Ko’ Ko’ bird. There are only about 100 in captivity. She also showed us the brown tree snake. It is rather harmless to people but has killed nearly all of the native bird population on an island. The snake has no natural predators on the island. Before introduction of the brown tree snake, Guam had 12 species of native forest birds. We hope the students learned something from us because we learned a lot from our visit to Guam.

Alii from Palau

2009-04-20T13:59:00.002-04:00

"Alii" is the way people say "hello" in Palau. Get out a world map and see if you can find Palau. It is a group of islands east of the Philippines and west of Hawaii. Palau has over 500 islands most of which are completely covered by trees. There are only 2000 people in Palau and only nine of the islands are inhabited.

Museums are the best place to learn about an area. Years ago the people of Palau used beads and turtle shells for money. That isn’t as strange as it sounds because American money is really just paper. The men had their own special meeting house called a Bai. They would make plans for their community. The decorations on the Bai are like storyboards that tell about their history and legends.

We love to learn about local legends. The taro plant is important to the Palauan people. The root is an important source of food. One of their legends tells about the taro goddess who created taro patches on all the islands. She brought back samples from all the patches and placed them in the area where she got married. We hiked to this special place where the taro from the various island are now stones that stick up in a dry creek. To harvest the taro the women have to wade in deep mud, sometime above their waist.

One day we went kayaking in the mangroves, which grow in salt water. Our guide, Mary explained, "Look at the leaves. Almost all of them are green but every once in a while you will see a yellow one. The salt from the water is collected in a few leaves, which turn yellow and die. They allow the rest of the plant to live. The mangrove trees have many roots that are a great hiding place for baby fish. We would sit real quiet in our kayak and listen to nature. One of the birds sounds more like a monkey than a bird. Another day we went on jungle boat and saw crocodiles.

We love to snorkel. We saw so many incredibly beautiful fish including bright blue starfish and even giant clams, which are nearly three feet across. Our guide, Jefferson, said, "I have seen clams so big a person could lay down in it!" We would like to see that. But the most amazing thing was Jellyfish Lake. We took a boat to one of the Rock Islands. We had to climb a very steep trail up a hill then down to a hidden lake. The trail is covered with sharp coral so we had to be very careful. Luckily, there was a rope to help us pull ourselves up. It was worth it. We went snorkeling with a zillion pale pink jellyfish. It was like watching a jellyfish ballet. A scientist studying the jellyfish told us the lake became landlocked about seven thousand years ago. The jellyfish were trapped in the lake and had no natural enemies so they no longer need their tentacles with stingers. It was an amazing experience.

Today Palau is a nature lover’s paradise but it wasn’t always so peaceful. During World War II it was a battleground. There are ruins of Japanese forts and remains of airplanes that were shot down. In fact, one is called "George Bush Wreck" named after the first President Bush. Today Palau is a beautiful, peaceful country where people can see many of nature’s wonders.

Bon Dia from Brazil!

2009-04-06T00:17:00.002-04:00

Bon Dia is how we say "Good Day" in Portuguese! We didn’t think we would be able to visit a school on this trip. When it is winter north of the equator it is summer south of the equator so the schools in South America were on summer vacation during the greater part of our trip.

We were lucky because when Mr. Zachari, the manager of the Sonesta Hotel in Sao Paulo, Brazil met us he said, "Would you like to visit the International School here in Sao Paulo? I know the vice principal there." We were very excited and said, "Ta Bon! (Great!) We would love to!" The Graded School of Sao Paulo has a thousand students from pre-school to twelfth grade. While we were touring the school we saw a display of covered wagons made by the third grade students. They were studying the Oregon Trail. We told Mrs. Soriano, the vice-principal, "We went on a wagon trip on the Santa Fe Trail. We have a power point presentation with us that we can do for your students."

She thought that was a great idea. The next day we went to the school told the students about our trip on the Santa Fe Trail. The students had a lot of questions. Emma asked, "What was the hardest part of the trip on the Santa Fe Trail?" We said, "When the trip was over. We wished our trip was longer than two days." The students at the school come from 35 countries including America. Their parents work for American companies in Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo is one of the largest cities in the world.

We also went to Rio de Janeiro. It the most famous city in Brazil because of it’s beautiful location and Carnaval. Rio has many ocean beaches, bays, and rocky outcroppings. To get to one famous rocky peak called Sugar Loaf we had to take two cable cars. Another peak called Corcovado has a 90-foot tall statue of Christ the Redeemer on the top. Corcovado is often covered with a cloud. We could see it from our hotel room. One morning it was cloudless so we took a taxi to the top, but when we got there a cloud had moved in and covered the statue. We waited until the cloud went away. When the statue was revealed everyone clapped.

Rio is known for Carnaval, an annual celebration held before Easter. Carnaval celebrations are held all over Brazil but Rio’s is the most famous. The biggest event takes place in the Sambodromo where the Samba schools put on the most amazing parades. Samba schools are neighborhood groups that work all year to prepare for Carnaval. Rio built a special Carnaval stadium, the Sambodromo, with seats on both sides of a half-mile parade route. Seven Samba schools were in the parade. Each school’s parade is about 1 ½ mile long. They have 90 minutes to parade through the Sambodromo. Each samba school has a special song to go with their theme, which is played over and over during their parade. Everyone in Rio knew the samba songs so when the schools entered the Sambodromo all 90 thousand spectators stood up and started singing and dancing. Each school’s parade starts with fireworks, followed by several dance groups, and many floats that presents the school’s theme. Each samba school has about four thousand people marching or on the floats. The costumes and floats were amazing. The parade started at 9 at night and ended at 8 in the morning!

Our friend, Joao, told us, "Carnaval is a uniting influence. It brings rich people and poor people together. Everyone loves Carnaval!’ We agreed!

Selamat from Melaka, Malaysia

2009-03-30T09:15:00.003-04:00

Selamat is how we say "hello" in Malaysia. Malaysia is located between Thailand and Singapore. We took a bus from Singapore to Melaka, a port city in Malaysia. On the four-hour bus trip they showed a movie. We were surprised because it was an American movie in English. Melaka is a pretty city on the Straits of Melaka (also spelled Malacca). Because of its unique culture, UNESCO, which is a part of the United Nations, has declared it a place of special historical importance. The Portuguese, Dutch, British, Japanese, Indian, Arabs and Chinese traders have left their imprint on its culture.

In the center of the historic part of the city there are several brick-red buildings built by the Dutch settlers in the 1700s, including a beautiful church. A fun way to tour the city is in a brightly decorated trishaw. A trishaw is a bicycle with a sidecar where one or two people can sit. Another way to see the city is by taking a boat tour on the Melaka River. On the boat we made friends with Maddie. Just like Maddie, we liked it on the river because we saw many interesting sites and it was cooler. It is very hot and humid in Melaka.

There are many museums in Melaka including one about a Portuguese treasure ship that sank offshore and one dealing with kites but the most interesting one was The Museum of Enduring Beauty. What we saw was amazing. There were pictures of the ways people in other countries have decorated or changed their bodies to look beautiful. We saw pictures of people who had pierced their lips then inserted big objects in the hole so it looked like they had a plate on their bottom lip. Others had done the same thing with their ears. We decided it was like having pierced ears only more extreme. Others were images of people with a lot of tattoos but it didn’t seem so different because today many people have tattoos. It was very interesting even though some of the beauty treatments are no longer in practice. The objective of the museum is to help people realize that different cultures do things differently. People in different countries have different ideas of what is beautiful. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

When we went on a tour in a trishaw we stopped at several houses of worship and also at Mr. Sam’s Shoe Shop. His family has been making shoes for many generations. He showed us very tiny shoes, some only 4-inches long, made by his grandfather. Many years ago the Chinese thought that women with the smallest feet were the most beautiful so females would bind their feet to keep them small. It was painful and some ladies had feet so small they couldn’t walk. We remembered what we saw in The Museum of Enduring Beauty, and even though we are glad women don’t bind their feet any more, we understand that everyone wants to look beautiful.

When we finished sightseeing we went to the mall, which is just like the ones in America. We bought ice cream at Baskin Robbins and enjoyed watching the people. Most of the young people had on blue jeans and t-shirts but there were many different styles of dress including Indian saris, teenagers in short shorts, and others completely covered in a strict Moslem manner. People from many countries settled in Melaka and many have stayed true to their culture. We decided there are many ways to look attractive. That’s what makes the world so interesting.

Hello from Singapore

2009-03-23T22:11:00.003-04:00

Hello! That is the common greeting in Singapore. Singapore was once an English colony just like America. Singapore has been a crossroads on the trading routes for hundreds of years with people from India, Malaysia, China, Holland, Portugal, and England. There were so many different languages it made it difficult to do business. When the English came they brought their language and over the years the people developed a language called Singlish. Singlish is a combination of English and words from all the other languages. The government has promoted the Speak Good English Movement because they think that when business people arrive in Singapore and hear Singlish they don’t take the businessperson seriously.

Because so many different people came here to work and live there are interesting walking tours. We took a walking tour of the Chinese neighborhood where the traditional homes have been beautifully restored. They are called shop houses because they had their shop on the ground floor and lived in the top floors. Many of the shops have bamboo eaves above the shop because bamboo symbolizes luck and success.

One day we took a cable car to Sentosa Island. At one time there was a fort to defend it from invaders especially during World War II. After the war the island was developed as a recreation area and named Sentosa, which means "peace." It is an improvement over the former name, which meant "death from behind." We made two friends, Summer S. and Evelyn B. They are students learning to be tour guides. They told us about things to do on Sentosa. Our favorite was the Images of Singapore where we learned about life in Singapore past and present. One display showed Malay children playing hopscotch and playing with a top. Seems that all children like the same things. Our guides told us that in Singapore, "The World becomes one because it is where the four winds come together. From the East we get our strong sense of family, from India we get our idea of peace, from Malaysia our sense of community and from Europe our need for harmony."

One of the most exciting things to do in Singapore is to go on Night Safari. Many jungle animals are nocturnal. From the tram tour we saw lions, hyenas, jackals, and other night animals on the prowl. The lights are dim like it would be a full moon night and fences were so well disguised that we couldn’t see them. They also had a native group from Borneo that did an incredible fire-eating show. We could feel the heat from the flames and couldn’t figure out why they didn’t get burned.

We also went to the Science Museum with amazing optical illusions and educational displays. They even had an area called Snow City. It is very hot in Singapore and it never snows so people are fascinated by snow. They love to touch it to experience how cold it is. They can’t imagine living someplace where it snows.

Singapore has the world’s tallest Ferris wheel called The Flyer. It is 541-feet high. Each "car" can carry 28 people. The view of the city from the top is amazing. There are so many things to do in Singapore that we want to visit again. But, we must remember not to bring any gum. It is against the law to bring chewing gum into Singapore because people where spitting it on the sidewalks and sticking it places. Singapore is a very neat and clean county. Maybe this is not such a bad idea.

Mingalabar from Myanmar

2009-02-24T00:51:00.002-05:00

We are in Myanmar and Mingalabar is how we say "hello." Myanmar was once a British colony just like the United States. We have 50 states and Myanmar has 14. We visited the western state of Rakhine to learn about Mrauk U, one of Myanmar’s oldest Buddhist historical sites. Most people in Myanmar are Buddhist. We had to fly one hour from Yangon, the largest city, and then take a boat up the river for six hours. We visited a temple with over 80,000 statues of Buddha but saw many other interesting things.

We were surprised to see many American Willys Jeeps. They are left over from WW II. We thought it was amazing that vehicles more the 60 years old were still in use. Myanmar has many interesting things to see and do. We liked driving along the streets of the village in the Jeep. The children would rush out to meet us and shout, "Bye Bye." We stopped to watch people making hats and fans out of bamboo. There is always something interesting to see.

One day we took a boat up another river to Chin State. We love boat rides because the scenes along the river are so interesting. There were ladies washing their clothes in the river because they don’t have running water in their houses. Many people were fishing. Everyone stopped to wave to us. We visited two Chin villages. It is very hot in Chin State so most people live in bamboo houses built on stilts. It allows the air to flow all around making it cooler. Also it keeps the animals out. The older ladies have beautiful designs tattooed on their face. We asked, "Why do you have tattoos and the younger women do not?" They explained, "Many years ago there was a king who would take the prettiest girls to his palace so we tattooed our face so we would not look pretty. We did not want to leave our families." We wanted to know if it hurt to have the tattoos. One lady explained, "Yes, it hurt a lot and I was sick in bed for one week."

We visited a Chin school. We saw hopscotch squares drawn in the dirt. It is a game that children all over the world play. There was only one room in the school but five grades. That was all they needed because there were only 23 students. Each grade had their own table and benches plus a blackboard with their assignments on it. Notice some of them have light yellow powder on their face. It is very common and called thanaka. Men, women, and children wear it to protect them from the sun. We were surprised to see they were learning English. The children sang "Frere Jacques" in English. The French lady in our tour group, said, "It is a French song, not an English song." She tried to teach them the French words. We explained that in America children know the song in French and English. Then the students stood at attention and sang a song in their own language. It was a very nice song about how important it is to study hard and do good work in school. Notice some of them are wearing long wrap around skirts. It isw called a longyi and worn by men and women. It is perfect for the hot climate in Myanmar.

When we returned to Yangon we visited the International School of Yangon. It is like the schools in the United States. Cars were lined up outside with parents dropping off their children. The teachers are from Australia, England, and the United States. The students use all the same books as in the United States. The halls were decorated for Valentine’s Day and there were posters on the walls. One poster said "Don’t Run in the Hall." We did a power point presentation about schools around the world. When the teacher wanted everyone to be quiet she clapped her hands once then all the children joined in and together they clapped their hands in rhythm five times. All was quiet. We liked that. It seems that students in Myanmar have many things in common with students in the United States.

Many people from all over the world come to visit Myanmar. They like to see the historical sites, meet the people and to enjoy the beautiful beached. We spent five days relaxing at Amazing Resort in Ngapali Beach. Just like all it Myanmar it was amazing.

Salaam Alakium from Dubai

2009-02-13T23:49:00.001-05:00

Salaam Alakium is "hello" in Arabic but most of the people in Dubai speak English. Dubai is one of the seven United Arab Emirates located on the Persian Gulf. It is extremely modern because everything is quite new. The people were fishermen, traders, or nomads until oil was discovered in the 1960s. Oil made Dubai very rich. Everywhere we look we see new roads and buildings being constructed. People come from all over the world to work in Dubai. There are many amazing things in Dubai. They are building the tallest building in the world. They are running out of land to build on so they are creating new land in the ocean. The new lands are very imaginative. Three are groups of islands in the shape of huge palm trees but the biggest land-creating project is in the shape of a map of the world. Each individual island will have many homes, hotels, and be like a village. The have built the world's most expensive hotel.

Even though Dubai is in a desert it is possible to go snow skiing. One of their shopping malls has an area called Ski Dubai. It is very big with ski slopes so long skiers have to take a chair lift to get to the top. They also have two toboggan runs and places to slide on tubes. Because most of the people do not have cold weather clothes they provide coats, boots, mittens, ski outfits, and even the skis and snowboards.

Many people come to the United Arab Emirates to enjoy the beaches. We went to the beach in Furjairah, one of the other emirates. It was only two hours from Dubai where there is less tourism. There was a huge rock in the water not too far from shore called "Snoopy" because it looked like a sleeping "Snoopy." We enjoyed our relaxing stay at Sandy Beach. It was a great place to go snorkeling.

Another fun thing to do in Dubai is to go on a desert safari. It is exciting as the vehicles go dashing over the sand dunes. We went to the top of one of the largest dunes to watch the sunset, then went on a very short camel ride, followed by a BBQ in a traditonal nomad desert setting. There were many other people there.

Islam is the religion of Dubai and their house of worship is called a mosque. We visited Jumeirah Mosque where they explained many things about the Islamic religion. There are five main duties for Moslems: They should believe in one God, pray five times a day, give to the poor, fast (that means to go without eating from sunrise to sunset) during their holy month, and visit Mecca, their holy city, once during their lifetime. The lady explained how and why it is important to wash before praying and entering the mosque. When entering a mosque people remove their shoes.

Moslem females in the Dubai wear a long black, lightweight coat called an abaya over their regular clothes and a black scarf called a sheyla. Today many females have decorated their abayas and shelya with lace and sparkling sequins and crystals. Some of the women also wear a covering on their face. It is their choice. The men wear long white coats and a red checked scarf with a black band. The style of dress is traditional from the days when they were nomads in the desert. In fact, the men’s clothing looks like what the shepherds wear in our manger scenes at Christmastime.

Even though Dubai is very modern the Shiekhs (which means "leader" or "elder") want people to remember their history so their museums are very good and only cost $2 to visit. We learned many interesting things like how they were able to keep cool in the hot desert by creating wind towers on their houses. A wind tower is like a chimney with material inside designed to catch the wind. If the material is damp the wind blowing over it will cause evaporation creating cool air in their house.

One evening we went to a Heritage Village where ladies were cooking traditonal treats and making handicrafts. There were camel rides and a beautiful white Arab horse. They love their horses. We enjoyed watching the school girld doing traditional dances. There were many families there enjoying the cool evening.

With all the building going on we wonder what Dubai and the other emirates will look like in 20 years. We are sure it will be amazing.

Thailand: River Boat Cruise

2009-01-20T10:13:00.002-05:00

Sawadee is how people in Thailand say "Hello."

Thailand has many interesting things to see. In Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, the Chao Phraya River, the country’s main river, flows through the city. It is a busy and fascinating working river with small colorful tugboats pulling three to five heavily loaded barges, water taxis crisscrossing the river, and many other boats.

We drove about one hour from Bangkok to the ancient capital of Ayutthaya and boarded a rice boat on the Chao Phraya River. Boats are no longer used to transport rice down the river so some boats were converted into restaurants and houseboats. Our boat could accommodate 12 passengers; however, we were lucky because there were two other guests along with our two guides, a cook, and the boat’s pilot.

We traveled the river for two days and one night stopping to visit small villages along the way. Many people still grow rice but during the time when they are not busy in the fields some families started small businesses to make extra money. Everyone in the family works together. We saw them making bricks, drums, charcoal, and growing mushrooms. Mainly they make things that can be used by people in their community.

Most of the people in Thailand belong to the Buddhist religion. Our houseboat usually tied up by a Buddhist temple, which is the center of the community. Buddhist monks live a very simple life without any personal belongings so the people of the community give them what they need including food. One morning we got up before the sun and with food our cook had prepared waited for the monks to walk by so we could give them the food. The monks in Thailand wear saffron colored robes, sandals, and shave their heads. We had a bowl with rice and the cook had put a soup-like mixture that contained chicken and vegetables in small plastic bags. In a show of respect for the monks we took off our shoes, bowed our head, then divided the food between the four monks. After the food was distributed the monks thanked us by chanting a blessing and went on their way. Buddhists believe that if you do good then good will come back to you. If you do bad then bad will come back to you.

One day we visited an orphanage with 1400 children. It was dinner time so one group at a time chanted a prayer of thanks and then got in line for their dinner of rice and a mixture of vegetables. We saw many boy scouts helping to distribute the food.

We also visited a school. The children we so excited to see us. They all wanted to have their picture taken with us. Before we entered the classroom we took off our shoes. Thai people do not usually wear their shoes inside their homes, temples, or schools. Surprisingly the students knew how to say many words in English including how to count. We wonder how many people in America know Thai words.

When our houseboat was traveling down the river toward Bangkok we relaxed, waved to people on the shore, and watched the activity along the river. People were fishing, watering their crops, and just relaxing by the river. The barges were especially interesting because families live on little houses on the barges. They were cooking meals, doing laundry, and other daily chores. It was an amazing trip. We were sorry when it ended.

Selamat Detang from Malaysia

2008-12-28T14:15:00.002-05:00

"Hello" is the common greeting in multi-cultural Malaysia. Many signs say Selamat Detang, which means "welcome." The capital of Malaysia is Kuala Lumpur, which most people call KL. KL had the tallest buildings in the world, the Petronas Towers, until Taipei 101 was completed last year. At 1,483 feet, they are still the tallest twin towers in the world. The double-decker Skybridge connects the towers at floors 41 and 42.

From KL we drove four hours to a jetty where we got on a boat and went three hours up river to Taman Negara National Park which they say is the oldest rainforest in the world - 130 million years old. We thought we were going to be roughing it but the resort on the edge of the park has about 100 cottages with air conditioning, which was good because it is very hot and humid in Malaysia, especially in Taman Negara. Even so we like the rainforest.

We went on several hikes and saw a lot of plants and insects, plus we learned what some of the plants can be used for. The members of the cat family, the wild elephants, and other big animals of the jungle have learned to stay away from people and mainly come out at night, but the monkeys and monitor lizards come into the resort area. Taman Negara has the world’s longest canopy walk - about 1500 feet long. A canopy walk is a walkway that hangs in a net high in the trees so people can see what it is like to be at the top of the rainforest. The walk was a bit scary. You can see us trying to decide who should go first. We had to stay 15 feet apart. The canopy walk actually goes from tree to tree and even had parts where we had to climb up a ladder. It was fun being up in the treetops. At night we went to a "hide" which is a room on stilts. It overlooks a waterhole and a natural salt lick where the bigger animals come at night. We saw samba deer.

Our favorite activity at Taman Negara was visiting the aborigines, or "Orang Asli," which means "original people" in the Malay language. They were the first human occupants of the Malay Peninsula. They continue to live a nomadic, hunter-gather lifestyle. They call themselves Batek. The Batek are gentle and shy. About 1000 Batek live in the park. Nomads don’t move every day but they move many times during the year. The group we visited had been in the same location for two weeks. The Malaysian government built them a school and houses but the Batek people want to keep living their way. They hunt and fish and make a little money by letting people visit their village. Instead of a permanent house they sleep in a lean-to covered with palm fronds and plastic.

It rained while we were there so we all sat on the mats in their "home" while one of the Batek showed us how they make fire without using matches and how he makes poison darts for his blow gun. The poison they use comes from the Ipoh tree. They hunt animals with a blowgun. A blowgun is very quiet so it doesn’t scare the animals away. In the "village" there were five families and about 20 people. When we first arrived the children hid behind their mothers but when we sat on the mat near them they smiled and came closer. Once a month the government sends a doctor to check on their health and give them medicine. Many of the children had coughs. We saw bottles of cough syrup but our guide said that as after the doctor leaves their take their own traditional medicine made from plants they find in the rainforest. We wonder how long they will be able to keep their old ways.

Malaysia is very interesting. It has the world’s tallest twin towers and the one of the oldest rainforests.

Enlisting in the Civil War

2008-12-28T13:05:00.003-05:00

Hello! My name is Globee. Maybe you know my friends, Annie and Blue. Annie is from Mrs. Griffin’s class in New Haven. I am part of the Mrs. Griffin’s class, too. Annie has invited me to travel with her and Blue if I promised to write to you about our travels. What a great deal!

Annie, Blue, and I signed up for the Civil War Adventure Camp in Pamplin Historical Park, Virginia. We volunteered for the Army of the Potomac and received blue wool uniforms and others joined the Army of the Confederacy and received gray uniform. We were sworn is as privates and issued haversacks, canteens, cartridge cases, and cap pouch.

Sergeant Young barked. "Platoon Assemble! A sorry looking bunch of fresh fish if ‘er I saw one." "Fish" is the name for new soldiers. Sergeant taught us to say, "sir" when talking to him, the proper way to wear our uniforms, and instructed us in commands: "Form columns by platoons!" "Count off!" "Dress right!" "Right face!" "March! One! Two!"

We marched to our encampment where we were issued blankets and assigned our quarters (our huts). After our platoon assembled we were issued wooden muskets. Sergeant taught us to "load in nine." Following his commands we positioned our musket, took out a cartridge, tore off the paper with our teeth. He said, "All infantrymen must have at least four teeth, preferably two on the bottom and two on the top. Spit that paper out. I want to hear everyone spit!" We poured the black power into the barrel and rammed it in tight, moved the musket to our right hand, reached into the cap pouch, put a cap on the cone of the weapon, cocked the weapon, and aimed. We drilled and drilled some more. It was very hot in the open field. Then we marched to the firing range where we fired a real black powder musket and a mortar. That was very exciting. Then we marched some more.

By dinnertime we were hungry - and tired. We had a hearty dinner of beef stew, fruit, and hardtack. Hardtack is a very hard biscuit that often has bugs in it called weevils. Sergeant said, "If’n it has bugs dunk it in your hot coffee. The bugs will come to the top, then ‘em scoop off." After dinner we went on patrol. The moon was full. The only sound was an owl in the nearby woods. It was hard to stay awake because we very tired. We were happy when it was time to "hit the sack."

The morning tattoo – the bugle call to get up - sounded at 5:45. We barely had time to hike up the hill to the "sink" – military talk for toilet – before assembly. After assembly, we were issued field rations and marched off to battle. We were trying to break through General Robert E. Lee’s line near Petersburg, VA. Tension built. With a bloodcurdling rebel yell the Confederates broke out into the open. "Fire!" Using the buddy system we took turns firing and reloading. After a few scary minutes the skirmish was over. We marched back to camp where the "wounded" were treated by the company doctor.

Our 24 hours as a Civil War soldier was interesting but hot and exhausting. We gained a new respect for all soldiers.

Hola from Honduras!

2008-12-28T12:31:00.002-05:00

Can you find Honduras on a map? Here is a clue. It is in Central America. The north coast of Honduras has beautiful beaches. The climate is tropical so there are a lot of banana and pineapple plantations along the coast. There are only two seasons in the tropics – the wet season and the dry season. However, it can rain in the dry season, too. That is why it is so green.

Most people don’t realize that Christopher Columbus never set foot on what is now the American continent until his forth and last voyage. The story goes that his voyage was caught in a storm that lasted for days and days and when the storm let up and he saw the mountains of Honduras he said, "Gracias a Dios." That means, "Thank God" in Spanish. The mountains Columbus saw are now called the Gracias a Dios Mountains. Spanish is the main language of the country.

We took a small plane to Roatan, one of Honduras’ Bay Islands. The flight was only 15 minutes. We visited Roatan Nature Park, which was being built to take in rescued wild animals. They already have a jaguar, anteater and many other animals. Our friend, Ollie showed us the mark on the anteater where a rope had rubbed into the anteater’s skin leaving a scar. Most of the animals can not be set free because people took them in as pets when they were babies and they never learned to live on their own. Now they will have a nice, safe home with excellent care at Roatan Nature Park.

At Anthony’s Key Resort they have a marine research center where they try to preserve and study Roatan's natural resources including bottlenose dolphins. The resort has 20 dolphins in a large open-sea corral. If they wanted to the dolphins could jump out and swim away but it is their home. Many of them were born there. If fact, one of the researchers said, "Sometimes we take the dolphins out to the deep ocean so our guests can dive with the them. It is more difficult to get the dolphins to follow the boat out to the open sea but it is no trouble to get them to return." The resort has several programs that let people interact with the dolphins. They feel the more people learn about dolphins the more likely they are to help protect them and help to preserve their habitat. We loved watching the dolphins. They seem to have a lot of fun!

We also visited another nature park called Gumbalimba. We met Pedro, one of several free-roaming capuchin monkeys. Our guide said, "Be careful, Pedro is a thief." Sure enough he tried to take something out of the bag of our friend, Mr. Scott. The other monkeys were better behaved. At the same park we saw a Monkey La La. But it wasn’t a monkey and sure didn’t look like one. It is a lizard. No one seems to know where the name came from but the lizard has a special talent. It can walk on water – for a little ways. They stand on their hind legs and, because of the webbing between their toes, they can run about 15 feet before sinking at which point they have to resort to swimming.

Our guide pointed out many interesting plants and animals. We thought the Traveler Palm, which looks like a big fan was interesting because it always grows in an east-west direction. Also, when it rains the water runs down the leaves and collects in the stem so that when the stem is cut the water inside is good to drink. It is truly a good friend to a traveler.

There are many interesting things to learn in Honduras. I think we learned a lot on this trip don’t you?

Chinese New Year in Hong Kong

2008-12-14T23:29:00.004-05:00

Kung hei fat choy! Happy Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year is an exciting time in Hong Kong. It is like our Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year celebrations all rolled into one. Our calendar is based on the sun whereas the Chinese calendar is based on the cycles of the moon. Even though they use our western calendar, everyone in Hong Kong knows it is in the Chinese calendar. It is cool because the years have animal names. When many people consider the year to be 2006 the Chinese people know it is 4704, the Year of the Dog; February 18, 2007 will be New Year’s Day 4705 the Year of the Boar.

Hong Kong is a city of modern skyscrapers. Many of the buildings have huge neon holiday decorations on the entire side that faces the water. Some of the buildings are 30 stories high!

"Kung hei fat choy" is the traditional New Year greeting; it means, "Wishing you success and prosperity." To get ready for the New Year people go to the Flower Market. While we were shopping in the Flower Market we made friends with Vivian Tse (5 years old) and her sister Katie (3 years old). They both speak English. Like many parents in Hong Kong, they send their children to English language preschool because they feel it is necessary to know both Chinese and English. Flowers are an important part of Chinese New Year. We are standing with our new friends in front of tangerine trees. The tangerine tree can be compared with our Christmas tree. Tangerines are a symbol of good luck because the word for tangerine in Chinese has the same sound as the Chinese word for "luck." Everything has a special meaning. The most common flower for Chinese New Year’s is the narcissus. If it blossoms on New Year’s day, it is believed to indicate good fortune.

Lunar New Year’s Eve is a like our Thanksgiving. The whole family gets together for a huge meal but fish is the most important food because the Chinese word for fish sounds like the word for abundance. This is the time it is traditional to give children red envelopes with money inside. These are called lai see envelopes which means "lucky."

New Year’s morning, the Langham Hotel had a Lion Dance in the lobby to bring good luck and happiness in the New Year. The Lion (two people in a lion costume) danced around to the beat of the drums and clanging of the symbols. In the lobby pieces of lettuce were hanging from the high ceiling, lettuce sounds like money in Chinese. The dragon had to stand on his back legs and jump up to reach it. The Lion Dance was very loud, exciting, and included some acrobatic movements. The Lion Dance has been popular for over 1000 years.

At night we went to the parade where there were performers doing dance routines and a lot of floats, even one from Las Vegas, and one from Disney Land. The newest Disney Land will opened in 2006. The parade was very colorful and exciting. The next night we joined thousands of people along the waterfront to watch the amazing fireworks. We think New Year’s is an exciting time in everyone’s country.

Nature and Culture in Alaska

2008-11-16T17:50:00.002-05:00

We love Alaska. There are so many interesting things to learn. There are two main parts to Alaska. The larger, northern part and the narrow, lower part called the panhandle. Can you guess why it is called the panhandle? It is not possible to drive from one part to the other through Alaska. Some parts of the panhandle can be reached by road through Canada or the state of Washington. But the capital city of Juneau only has 40 miles of road and can only be reached by air or sea.

We visited several glaciers. They are huge. About 11,000 years ago glaciers covered much of North America, they melted and these glaciers are part of what has not melted. One glacial field is the size of the state of Rhode Island! The ice in the glacier is bluish because the weight of the snow has been compressed over the years making it denser causing it to look blue. We took a boat up to where the glacier meets the ocean. Pieces fall off making ice bergs so we could not go closer than ¼ of a mile. Even so it the wall of ice looks huge.

One day we went hiking on Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau. The sun was shinning so it was very warm, too warm for the way we were dressed. We had to fly up to the top of the glacier on a helicopter where we put crampons (metal things that went over our boots with spikes in the bottom so we didn’t slip on the ice) and were given an ice ax. The glacier was amazing. There are little waterfalls, streams, caves, hills and valleys. We learned how to climb up a hill by using our ice ax and sticking the toe of our crampons into the ice. It worked very well. It was an exciting day but we go very sweaty. Imagine – sweaty walking on a glacier – in Alaska.

We flew to the panhandle but took the boat back to the Anchorage area. The ferryboat took 24 hours. On the way we saw more animals – orca and humpback whales, stellar sea lions, seals, bald eagles, Dall porpoises (they look like little orca whales as they are black and white, too), and puffin birds. We loved the ferryboat. It was big and had a movie theater, a cafeteria, and small rooms for sleeping plus it carried many vehicles.

In Anchorage we visited the Alaska Native Heritage Center, where we learned about the first Alaskans. We especially liked the dance and games presentations. The dancers and players are local high school students who take classes in native culture where they can study native art, music, and/or dance. Today the Native Americans in Alaska live they same way we do so the best way for the young people to learn about their ancestors is in school. We learned that there are several different groups, only the most northern are called Eskimo. However, they call themselves Tlingit (pronounced similar to kling kit), Aleut, Inupiaq, Yup’ik, and Athabacan. They live in different areas of Alaska and have different ways of living based on the geography of the area they live in. For example the Aleuts live on the islands so their life has a lot to do with the sea, use kayaks and hunt seals.

Their songs and dances tell stories, mainly about their hunting and fishing. When they dance the females dance with their legs together, dipping at the knees and moving the hands to the rhythm while the guys dance with their feet apart, bent at the knees, stopping one foot, making stronger hand movements and making noises. They don’t move around when they dance because most of the dancing was done in the wintertime, inside. Their houses were large but often had 100 people living in it so there wasn’t much room so their dances don’t take up much room. The mother is the head of the family. It is called a matrilineal family (notice the word starts with "ma." The children take the clan name of the mother – it would be similar to a last name. We are patrilineal (starts with "pa") so we usually take the name of our father. They use a drum and some groups use a tambourine made of goat hooves. They use to use puffin beaks (a bird) but the puffin is protected, now.

No Alaskan people lived in igloos. The ones in Canada did. The Alaskans would sometime build a wall of snow to keep out the wind, though. Games are ways to train the young people the skills they will need when they get older. (Think about it… playing with dolls and trucks, etc.) They attach a ball on a string, hang it up high, then jump up and try to kick it. The skill of jumping high was used when seal hunting. During the winter, seals scratch small holes in the ice between 50 and 150 yards apart so they can breathe. The hunters station themselves near the holes. They put a feather or something in the hole, it starts to jiggle when the seal comes up for air then they try to spear it. If they get the seal they need help in preparing it and carrying it home so they jump up kicking one foot as high as they can so the other hunter can see it. If they miss getting the seal then they jump up kicking two feet as high as they can, which means "I missed and maybe the seal is coming your way so be on the lookout." They share everything with everyone in the community. They believe it is better to give than receive.

This picture is from the Native Heritage Center. We were talking to one of the guides. Looking from left to right you will see the skin of a fur seal, then a river otter, and finally a sea otter. The sea otter has 650,000 hair follicles per square inch. That is how they stays warm and can float. They roll over in the water, which traps air between the hairs and it helps them float. Some, like the Aleut, believe that when they die their spirit goes into the sea otter. That way when they are out alone in their kayak and the sea otter, who is very inquisitive, swims up to their boat, they feel a sense of comfort, like someone is watching over them. It makes them feel a home even when they are far from home. Also, when the skin of the sea otter is taken off the skeleton and internal organs are similar to humans. We have learned a lot in Alaska. It is a big, beautiful state, with many interesting things to see and do.

Nee How from Taiwan

2008-11-14T11:10:00.002-05:00

Nee How is how we say "Hello" in Taiwan. The main language here is Taiwanese (Chinese) but many people speak English. We have a new travel partner. Globee is part of a UNWTO project and he loves to travel with us.

Taiwan is very modern. The tallest building in the world is in the capital city of Taipei. It is called Taipei 101 because there are 101 floors. It is 1,674 feet high. The building is suppose to look like it is made of bamboo, which is a respected plant in Taiwan because bamboo is simple but has many uses. The big round shapes on each side of the building look like the old Chinese coins. They are lucky coins and also the symbol for one and zero, so it goes with the name 101. However, it won’t be the tallest for long because bigger buildings are going up in other countries.

One of the best places to see Taipei 101 is from National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial. On the weekends it a fun place. Dr. Sun Yat-sen is their national hero. We watched the changing of the guard in front of a statue of him that is similar to the statue of Lincoln in Washington, DC. We also listened to a musical group and watched the girls dance.

Taipei 101 is not the only modern marvel in Taiwan. They also have a High Speed Train. We took it to the countryside south of Taipei. The train reached a top speed of 180 mph! It didn’t seem fast because it was so smooth and quiet. We visited a farm area where they grow tea and coffee and made four new friends: Sandy, Alva, Jimmy, and Nick. They were studying English in school and picked "American" names. Jimmy’s grandfather lived in the United States for many years and now volunteers to teach English in their school. He thought our visit would be a good chance for them to practice their English. We did, too. We tried to learn some Taiwanese words, too. We thought it was a "hang how" idea or a "very good" idea.

The area was hit by a 7.3 earthquake of September 21, 1999. That was "boo how" or "very bad." They call it 9-21. When they rebuilt the area they decided to develop it into a tourist area so people could learn about tea and coffee production. Our new friends took us to a tea museum and a tea farm. Because tea grows best on the hillsides the leaves have to be picked by hand which is hard work. We spent the night in a small hotel called Pine House. It reminded us of the Adirondack Mountains because hotel was built out of pine logs and air was very fresh.

Sandy, Alva, Jimmy, and Nick introduced us to some new foods. Taiwan is an island so they eat a lot of fish. They also eat a lot of rice. Our favorite food was the desserts made out of sweet potatoes. We told them the sweet potatoes were "Hang How." There was a lot of food! Mr. Sam said, "Taiwan people love to eat!" We think it is because of the way they serve the food. In the center of the table is a large Lazy Susan. Many bowls and plates of food are put on the table and we can choose what we want to try. It is a fun and friendly way to eat.

Hopefully, we can return someday to see our friends and visit other parts of Taiwan.

The Revolutionary War

2008-11-07T22:24:00.003-05:00

"The British are coming! The British are coming!" That was what we heard so we went to Mexico Point to check it out. It was true! We found New York Loyalists reenacting an incident of the Revolutionary War that happen at Mexico Point more that two hundred years ago. We met Leslie who was traveling with her husband. Even their daughter, Hannah, was with them. They were cooking. Hannah said, "I like to help with the cooking. But, it is a lot of work." We were surprised that families traveled with the army. Leslie explained, "It was common. The women cooked, did the laundry, and were nurses."

In 1777 we were at war with Great Britain because America wanted to be independent. The English plan to win the war included capturing New York State. As part of the plan Col. Barry St. Leger and his army which included, Joseph Brant, a Mohawk chief and guide, other Iroquois and Loyalists. Loyalists were Americans who supported the British. They spent the night at Mexico Point.

"Be careful," said Hannah, "there may be Americans spies around." There was a spy! His name was Silas Town and he overheard the plans St. Leger and Joseph Brant. Town hurried to Fort Stanwix in Rome and warned them that, "The British are coming by way of Oswego."

We decided to visit Fort Stanwix in Rome. The new informational center was especially interesting because it explained why some people supported the British while others supported the American. The fort was very quiet. We were surprised to learn that the soldiers were often bored. When their guard duty and other chores were completed there was very little for them to do. They often played checkers. We played checkers with Diana and Sterling. They were from Houston, Texas. Diana told us, "We don’t have any cool forts like this in Texas." The fort is "cool." It has a drawbridge, sally ports, and other "cool" things.

Sterling said, "I want to be the general. They get to sleep in a room all by themselves. Other soldiers shared a room with about 20 other people. They even had to share their bed!"
The people at the fort had been warned so they were prepared so the British were not able to capture it and the big battle took place about five miles away in Oriskany. Today it is a very quiet spot. It was hard to image what it was like on August 6, 1777, when nearly 500 Americans were killed. The Americans led by General Herkimer and were able to force the British back to Oswego. Herkimer was injured during the battle and died a few days later.

Learning about our history is very interesting so we continued to Johnson Hall. Johnson Hall is a beautiful home and was very fancy for the time. Joseph Brant and his sister Molly were friends of the Sir Johnson. Johnson sided with the British so when the American army approached the Johnsons and others loyal to the British fled to Canada. A legend says that Chief Brant used his tomahawk put marks on the mahogany stair railing as a sign to the Indians not to burn the house. That may not be the complete truth but the house was not burned.

Continuing east we went to Saratoga where we met Private Spillane of the 3rd New Hampshire Regiment. He showed the items he carried with him and explained, "The British plan was to have Gen. St. Leger met Gen. Burgoyne and Gen. Howe, each conquering New York State along the way. Gen. Howe never made his way up the Hudson and St. Leger was defeated at Oriskany, so Howe did not have all the helped he planned on. The big battle between the British and the Americans took place here in Saratoga. It is called the ‘Turning Point of the Revolution’ because the big British plan to win the war was unsuccessful and France decided to help us." As everyone knows, America won the Revolutionary War and American became an independent country. We have a very exciting history.

You might say we had a Revolutionary summer. Learning is fun - even during the summer!

The Brazilian Amazon

2008-11-07T10:44:00.002-05:00

"Eaa" is the greeting in the Baraçana language, an indigenous group that lives in the Amazon in the large South American country of Brazil. "Ayutemanaçan" means "How are you?" We went to visit a Baraçana village about an hour by boat from EcoPark, the jungle lodge where we were staying. The Baraçana lifestyle is very primitive, which is amazing because their village is not far from the modern city of Manaus.

The Baraçana showed us some of their dances. The children loved us. They loved us so much they tried to run away with us. We explained that we couldn’t stay but we had a gift for them – pencils that say "Annie and Blue – Your American Friends." That made them happy because they have a school but they have a hard time getting pencils and paper.

Another day, Iury, our guide who was born in the jungle, led us on a nature hike. He explained many things about the forest. He carried a machete, which he called "his best friend." There was one big tree he called "the telephone." He hit it with his "best friend" and the sound reverberated through the forest. He used the "telephone" if he was hurt or had a big animal to take back to the village and needed help.

Another tree was leaking white, milky sap. Iury said, "We use this for many things. We boil it down and put it on our boats to make them watertight. When we put it in the fire it keeps the mosquitoes away. If we have a headache and smell it our headache goes away." Iury learned about the forest from his father who learned from his father. Pointing to a big thick vine he said, "If I need water while I am in the forest, I just cut this vine and drink the water in it. If I am hungry there is plenty to eat. This is good rule to remember. Fruit can be hairy, bitter, and/or milky. Only eat the fruit that has just one of those qualities. If it has two or three of the characteristics it is not good for you."

Most people think the rainforest has a lot of scary animals but the "scary" ones are hard to find. We didn’t even see a snake. EcoPark has a rescue program where monkeys that are taken from captivity are reintroduced into the wild. Iury explained. "For the first few months the monkeys are cared for in a cage. Then they are set free but each day they are fed 20% of their dietary needs. When they get hungry they have to learn to find food on their own." One of programs greatest successes is protecting the Red-faced Uakari. They are endangered and are unique because they do not have a prehensile tail like the other New World monkeys. Prehensile means they can use their tail like a hand. They can hang from the tree just holding on with their tail. The Uakari’s tail is thick and only about one foot long.

When we returned to Manaus we arrived at the Tropical Hotel in time to see a rescued jaguar arrive. He was taken from someone who captured it illegally. The hotel has a zoo so the jaguar was brought to their zoo because the hotel has a veterinarian who knows how to take care of wild animals. The jaguar was tranquilized for the journey. They put the box he was transported in tight to the door of the cage the Tropical Hotel built special for him. He started to wake up and stuck out his head. His new keeper got aquatinted with him – through the fence – by talking to him and rubbing his nose. After about 20 minutes the jaguar tried to charge out of the box but his legs were wobbly. He went to sleep in a corner. When we checked on him a couple of hours later he was back to normal.

There is so much to see, do and learn in the rainforest. The Amazon is huge, about the size of the United States.

For now we say "Aiyer" – good bye.

On the Santa Fe Trail

2008-11-05T12:09:00.003-05:00

Howdy! Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel west with a wagon train like the pioneers? We did, so we joined a wagon train on the Santa Fe Trail in Kansas.

We were on the trail a very short time when our new friend, Shelby, yelled, "Look! Indians!" There were two Indians on horseback silhouetted on the horizon; they had their rifles raised. At first we were afraid but they were friends who came to guide us – Naduah, a Comanche woman, and Steve, a Buffalo hunter.

Even though the prairie looks flat it is really bumpy especially when the wagon we were riding in went rumbling across the creeks. After a while we got use to it. Most of the settlers walked. We found walking was not easy because the wagon train moved faster than we could walk.

When we stopped to let the horses breathe, it was time to learn about the prairie. The prairie is beautiful. The green grass is dotted with flowers and the sky looks so big. We could see 15 miles. It is second most diverse ecosystem in the world. Only the rainforest is more diverse. Naduah said, "By the end of the summer the prairie grasses will be over five feet high." We would like to see that!

The buffalo in this part of Kansas were gone when the settlers went west but we could still see buffalo wallows – indentations where the buffalo rolled around in the mud to get rid of bugs.

Our teamster, Marvin, taught us about driving the team of horses. He explained, "The harness is designed so the horses are really pushing, not pulling." We had a hard time understanding that! That’s where the term "put your shoulder into it" comes from.

The outriders rode ahead to scout the trail; when they found the best place to cross a wet or rough area they would position their horses on either side of the trail. Then the teamsters would drive the wagons between the outriders’ horses.

In the evening while the men tended to the horses and the women made dinner. We helped grind corn and coffee. When our work was done Naduah told us her life story. She was kidnapped when she was a young girl and was raised as a Comanche. Her story was spellbinding!

After dinner we relaxed by listening to songs. One song was about the Santa Fe Trail. One line said it was "traveling through heaven but living through …" well, we can’t say the word but it is the opposite of heaven! Life on the trail was often very difficult. The cicadas and crickets were so loud we thought they were trying to compete with the singing.

The prairie is beautiful at night. There were thousands of stars and fireflies. We slept in one of the wagons and drifted off listening to nature’s chorus. We woke up early. Guess why? The Coyotes pups were yipping because they were hungry. However, we didn’t see any.

In the morning while the womenfolk were cooking breakfast we learned how to lasso and make fire with flint. There was a lot of flint because we were traveling through the Flint Hills.

By the second day we were use to the ways of the trail. We learned so much and there was so much more to learn we were sorry when we had to leave the wagon train. Going west was hard work but the scenery was beautiful, and in the evening, when all the work was done, it was fun.

Happy trails ‘til we meet again.