Not Just for Kids

March 3, 1998

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from Antarctica! We've just arrived on this vast expanse of snow and ice. Brrrr! It's very cold and windy here. Thank goodness we packed our thermal undies! Did you know there are no land animals here - only penguins and seals? We did, however, meet a friendly scientist, Andrew, who's showing us around and helping us do experiments.

For the past four weeks, we've been traveling across three continents! After celebrating the Chinese New Year we took a short visit to Vietnam with Mr. Nguyen (Katie's Dad). He told us he could put his fishing pole out the window of his house and fish during the rainy season! We listened to him as he counted in Vietnamese. It was interesting to hear about being a little boy in Vietnam.

Our next stop was Russia. The children thought our guest, Lynne Wilson, was a Russian Princess! She brought Russian Matroshka dolls, a Babushka (grandmother) doll, hats, lacquered eggs painted with fairy tale scenes and a big gray teapot called a samovar. The domes on the buildings kind of look like hats! She sang a song in Russian and taught us the actions to go with it. It reminded us of a song we sing called Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes! Raquel's mom, Amenda, showed us a huge flag from Russia plus military medals and hats. Plus, Georjann brought in her favorite baby dolls and carved wooden toys from Russia.

The train that took us to Poland was very fast. The weather there is a lot like it is here. We sampled beets, cabbage, kielbosa, horseraddish sauce and rye bread! Most people there live in apartment buildings. We liked the music and danced around in a circle while our expert guide Matthew and his sister Valerie showed us how to polka. Matthew's Mom came as a special helper and that was great!

Jacob's Mom, Karen, and her Aunt June shared treasures from France, Holland, Scotland, Sweden and Spain. We liked the little dolls that were wearing native costumes from each country. Plus they brought coin purses and money from each country! We arrived in Paris in time for lunch at a sidewalk cafe near the Eiffel Tower that served baguettes, cheese, grapes and crepe suzettes! We listened to Madeline and Babar stories and visited the art museum. Some of my friends were inspired by the paintings and are trying to become famous painters, too.

We found a friendly gondolier to escort us on a relaxing tour of the canals in Italy. We made pictures with uncooked pasta and then sampled cooked pasta with Italian sauce! No one wanted to leave the snack table then or the day we made our own muffin pizzas! We even met Mona Lisa!

We arrived in England just in time for a Valentine Tea Party! Such royalty with beautiful crowns everywhere! They gave us a golden box of jewels and we are still busy counting and sorting them. You should have seen our fine manners and raised pinkies drinking tea from fine china cups! We also ate fancy tea sandwiches and cookies. Thank goodness we have currency from many countries to help pay for these treats as we travel! Carrie Doyle and Amenda Brown shared their foreign currency! No expense is being spared on this trip!

For the past week we've been roughing it in Tanzania but our African adventure started when our ship docked in Morocco. Our guide Alexis greeted us in traditional Moroccan dress complete with necklace and bracelet. She served us mint tea, dates and plantains. Then she took us on a safari! We used our binoculars and couldn't believe our luck spotting hippos, giraffes, wildebeest, zebras you name it, we saw it! Mt. Kilimanjaro was spectacular! We followed the safari with a cruise up the White Nile into the Nile Valley. We spent some time exploring the Pyramids. We bumped into a sphinx, too!

Anyway, must dash-don't want to miss my connecting flight from here to South America, and then on to Australia. We'll be home in time for spring!

Love, The Tidewater Travelers

Pre-K and Kindergarten classes

P.S. Don't worry, we are remembering to do our school work!

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Volume VI Number 12
March 26 - April 1, 1998
New Bay Times

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