Hi! We just came back from a long vacation in Germany and France. It lasted 2 weeks and we did it over holiday break so Laurel and I wouldn't miss any school.
In Germany, we stayed at a friend's house while they were away and we got to look after their cat! That was probably one of the best parts (for me) since my dad is highly allergic. Anyway, we went out to explore Germany, not fuss over a cat all day, so we decided to take a tour around Berlin (the city in Germany that we were staying in). Here are some pictures -->
I don't know what this is called because I wasn't really paying attention to most of the tour, I was more focused on the fact that I couldn't feel my hands or feet anymore because they were numb with cold!
There was one place that we stopped at was the Holocoust Memorial, where thousands of cement blocks were built to remember those who died.
If you can tell, Laurel and I aren't smiling in this picture because the temperature seemed to have dropped so low, the light rain that was coming down, turned to ice drops before it hit the ground!
Laurel and I standing outside one of the Christmas markets.
I never knew that m&m's spoke German!
Schmuck! It means jewelery but in German it sounds so strange!
After spending a few days in Berlin, we went off to Bremen where we stayed with my uncle's brother, his wife and best of all, their dog, Mona.
Isn't she adorable?!
There were some very tall Christmas trees there.
After a great trip in Bremen, we got back to Berlin where we were greeted by Lucy, the cat, and her litter box which was waiting eagerly to be cleaned out. And guess who got the opportunity of doing that? Me.
On top of the couch was Lucy's favorite spot.
Whenever Lucy lay on my lap, she would flex her claws and dig them into my legs. It hurt!
That's all for now! Bye!
Ariel ;)
Hiya! I just came back from India. It was very interesting. We saw lots of temples and animals. Since cows are holy, they're everywhere, even walking right across the street! We also saw tons of dogs. It was so sad to see them just lying there with their eyes shut and their fur filthy with dust and dirt and fleas. Anyway, we also saw lots of camels. Camel-carts were a popular way of transportation, so were these little yellow cars that sort of looked like taxis. Well, here are some pictures -->
- I forgot the name of this temple already, but it's pretty!
- I remember the name of this temple. The Taj Mahal.
- Me picking up the Taj Mahal. Always a classic.
- I'm not sure what this temple is called either, but then again, India has a lot of temples!
- Me inside a camel-cart. It was a very bumpy ride!
- Me riding a camel. This was even more bumpy! And even more terrifying!
- Cows!
- More cows!
- We also saw a snake charmer!
- Dogs!
That's all for now!
;) Ariel
This is me at platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station in London.
This is me flying into a wall.
This is me.
This is me with the one and only (back from the dead) Babe Ruth at Disneyland Paris.
That's all. Bye.
-Ariel
Just some exciting school news to catch you up on:
1. There are 4 houses in my school. Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow. There are about 100 or so people in each house. Every house has 2 captains; a boy and a girl. I bet you can already guess the rest of my story before I write it but in case you don't I'll tell you. I got to be girl captain!
2. My school decided that because there's so much rain maybe we should get astroturf (fake grass) so the real grass doesn't get all mucky. They decided to make this a really big thing and have a contest for a logo that would be displayed on T-shirts, bags, the website, flyers, water bottles etc. Originally I wasn't going to enter a logo, but on the last day it could be turned in I decided I would. At my school's autumn fair, or fayre, as they spell it here, they announced the winner and it was me!
3. The Jack FM Breakfast show came to our school and interviewed each of the classrooms on what they had been working on through the past months. The teachers chose 2 or 3 people to speak for their classroom. I wasn't one of the people but I got to say "Good morning!" with about 13 other people who sneaked in with the speakers right before the recording.
That's all for now!
-Ariel
These are just a few picture of Laurel and I in our school uniforms. Enjoy!
Well, that's all!
Bye for now!
Ariel
Hi! I haven't written for a while but I'm back! Since we couldn't connect to the blog in Taiwan, I have a lot to write about!
First of all, the weather is extremely humid! Which on some days was okay, because sometimes it got really cold in our hotel room. Speaking of our hotel room, we originally were put in a hotel that was still under construction! The hotel room was extremely small and stuffy which didn't help at all since it was so humid outside. The breakfast was okay but it didn't offer much. One time, when we were waiting for the elevator to come the one that came was nothing but a rough wooden box. no mirrors, no wallpaper, (or walls!), no railings, nothing. My mom said to get in but my sister said that she was definitely not going in an elevator that looked like the real Hollywood Tower of Terror! On our second day at the hotel, we got upgraded to a hotel that was much better than the other one. It was called the Dandy Hotel and it was really nice! The breakfast selection had a lot of food to choose from and most of it was pretty good. The rooms were amazing though! Each one had 2 twin size beds and a flat screen TV! Next to each bed was a nightstand built into the wall and a touch screen control panel that operated over 5 different lights in the hotel room! The toilet was one of those fancy ones that had a bunch of cool features you could pick from with the touch of a button. The experience we had in Taiwan was even better though. On one day we went to the 2nd tallest building in the world! Up until about 2 years ago it was the tallest building in the world! It is called Taipei 101 because it is 101 stories off the ground. Another day, we went to the Taipei Zoo and saw one of the world's most endangered animals. The Giant Panda. We also went into a nocturnal exhibit and it was really funny when a chinchilla would come down from his corner and jump around at the bottom but whenever Laurel came around to look at it, it would run back into his corner and stay still. Laurel was convinced that it wasn't moving from its corner, but whenever she left it would come down again! After we went to the zoo, we took a gondola ride up a mountain and got off at the top. We walked along the road for a bit (totally lost) but having walked 1 1/2 miles, found ourselves on an abandoned street. we realized that the only way to get back to our hotel was to walk 1 1/2 more miles back down the road and take the gondola back down the mountain where hopefully a shuttle would pick us up and take us to the city. Thankfully we got back to our hotel, but our feet were so sore that a few days later my mom, Laurel, and I all got foot massages! Laurel and I both got a shoulder rub and a foot spa but it was actually really painful because they pressed really hard on your back and my back was even more sore after it than before! My dad couldn't join us because he had to teach that day though. Speaking of which, my sister and I got to spend a day at the school but it was really weird because everybody was surprised that I was only staying for 1 day. I didn't even get to eat my lunch because I had brought a peanut butter sandwich and of course I had to be assigned to sit next to Sophia, who had to be allergic to peanuts, so I had to throw half my lunch away! While we were in Taiwan we also got to go to an awesome water park! One of the rides was really scary but really fun! You had to hold on to a rope and swing on it and then drop 50 feet when you were right above the pool! Another one of the rides was really painful though. It was also 50 feet above the pool but it was a slide. You were supposed to sit down with your hands behind your head and then slide down. What I didn't see the first time I went on was that at the end of the slide the water pushes you really harshly and if you were sitting up straight (like I was) it would send you flying into a 50-foot drop and landing in a belly flop. That's exactly what happened to me. Ouch! Well, I've written quite a lot now and you're probably getting bored of reading it all (if you're even still reading it) so I'll write more soon!
Bye for now,
Ariel
