Alizée, 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherla

Marjolein Posted Aug 30, 2008, 7:57 pm	Hello everybody! I'm a little elephant and my name is Alizée. I love travelling. Marjolein got me from my previous owner thrue the Postcrossing-website. I was thrilled when she told me I was send to the Netherlands. Marjolein kept me on a shelf for some time, but the travelbugs came back and now I want to go!! I'm an easygoing elephant and won't cause any problems. I love to read, so give me a good book and you won't hear me for hours! If you want to give me a place to crash just let Marjolein know and she will makes sure I get to you savely and fast! Travellist: AbbyB (Canada) aleoliva86 (Brazil) babyamy (Germany) lilian1977 (England)
Marjolein Posted Sep 2, 2008, 10:17 pm	Hello! Today we visited the Bookmarket of Tilburg! This is the biggest bookmarket of the South of The Netherlands. It was very cool! I loved all the books! Marjolein bought these books: It's: Angels & Demons from Dan Brown, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and a book called 'Bedwelmd' from Lulu Wang.
AbbyB Posted Sep 24, 2008, 6:23 am	I arrived in Canada today!  I was greeted by Abby's other visiting ToyVoyagers, all except for Greedy, who was 'foraging'.
AbbyB Posted Sep 26, 2008, 7:13 am	A new ToyVoyager arrived today, Vladimir.
AbbyB Posted Sep 27, 2008, 3:40 am	Abby had a couple packages to pick up at the post office and so she took everyone along.  Out of one of the packages popped Hedgie Hedgehog!
AbbyB Posted Sep 27, 2008, 3:40 am	This is the famous horse clock in Maple Ridge, basically the only interesting thing in the city.  There's a legend that goes with the clock and the horse.  The horse represents a beast that fought for Mother Nature against those who were hurting the environment, but was gravely hurt in the process.  Mother Nature set up the clock as a reminder to not hurt the environment.
AbbyB Posted Oct 3, 2008, 11:52 pm	It's pouring outside, so everyone decided to see what we could do as a group to keep us amused.  I decided to show everyone some yoga poses.  Greedy opted out and decided to just watch. Here we are doing the cobra. Hey, look!  I can do the splits! After all that yoga, everyone was exhausted.
AbbyB Posted Oct 4, 2008, 12:01 am	After yoga, we made tea. The cup is actually Abby's; she found a smaller, ToyVoyager-sized cup for everyone.  Nothing beats Earl Grey on a cold, wet day
AbbyB Posted Oct 4, 2008, 12:06 am	Then, we decided to read to each other.  Shirley Sheep went first, reading us a fairy tale called Princess Abigail and the Wonderful Hat.  It was apparently Abby's favourite when she was younger, because of the name. Abby encouraged Greedy to read next.  He chose When Vegetables Go Bad. Vladimir offered to go next, and instead of choosing a nice picture book to read and look at, he chose one of Abby's textbooks, Environmental Policy. Zzzzzz...What?  Oh, right, we were reading about environmental policies...zzzzz.
AbbyB Posted Oct 11, 2008, 4:16 am	Just look at this view!  Maple Ridge, where Abby lives is on the edge of the Vancouver suburbs, so there is a lot of farmland and there are also a lot of dikes around, because it's a fairly low-lying area.  In the background, on the right, you can see the mountains called Goldenears.  Lots of wildlife lives in the marshes, including herons, muskrats and beavers, but I didn't see any.
AbbyB Posted Oct 13, 2008, 7:32 pm	Today is Canadian Thanksgiving, and that means a good, old-fashioned turkey dinner.  If you want to see the entire process, you can read Greedy's travelog, but I was just interested in the final product.  Bon appetit!
AbbyB Posted Oct 16, 2008, 2:03 am	I have been spending a lot of time attending school with Abby, so today she decided to show me around during her break.  Her school, Simon Fraser University, is on the top of Burnaby Mountain (which makes it very cold these days!) This is one of the residential areas. This is the Convocation Mall, a covered, open area where graduation ceremonies and other events are held.  Today (on the other side) was Games Day.  There was a giant gmae of Scrabble, music and snacks! This is the Academic Quadrangle, where a lot of the classrooms are.  It's a giant square, hence why it is called a quadrangle.  The ground floor is actually the 'fourth floor' and there are two floors up in the air.  In the floors below are lecture halls and places to eat and study. This is the view from the roof, looking towards the North.  The mountains you can see include Seymour, Cypress and Grouse, and they are all popular skiing and snowboarding destinations.
AbbyB Posted Oct 26, 2008, 8:53 am	Today we went to the Apple Festival at the botanical gardens at the University of British Columbia. The main event was the apple tasting and Abby bought everyone tickets. We had a while to wait, so we bought hot apple cider (with cinnamon and nutmeg, yum!) and wandered around the grounds. There is a garden below.  I decided to get a closer look. It is full of vegetables!  These gardens are maintained year-round with different, seasonal vegetables.  There was swiss chard, squash, pumpkins and a lot of other vegetables, and, of course, apple trees around the perimeter of the garden. Then, we got in line for the apple tasting.  While we were waiting, we listened to some people play the fiddle. I don't have any pictures to show you of the tasting itself, because it was very hectic in there, but I got to try quite a few different kinds of apples before I was full and made myself comfortable in Abby's bag.  Some people were troopers, though.  Abby, her sister and Greedy managed to try all sixty types of apple! UBC is on the west end of Vancouver and we paused at a lookout.  Unfortunately it was a little grey and foggy and you couldn't see much, but this is the mouth of the Fraser River, the largest river in Western Canada. The plaque reads:  Exploration of the Fraser River - Although Spanish seamen had noted the Fraser estuary in 1791, when Alexander Mackenzie reached the upper Fraser in 1793 on his way to the Pacific, he thought he was on the columbia.  Simon Fraser and John Stuart of the North West Company explored the river under the same misapprehension in 1808, realizing only when they reached the sea that two great river systems drained the north Pacific slope.  Although the Fraser was not throughout its course a practical canoe route, the Hudson's Bay Company integrated it into a new supply system when forced in 1848 to abandon the Columbia.
AbbyB Posted Oct 26, 2008, 9:03 am	Twice a week a Hare Krishna guy cooks lots of vegetarian food and gives a large plateful to anyone for a small donation.  The story is that he feels that it is his mission to provide hungry university students with nutritious, vegetarian food.  It's a good mission, I think, and his cooking is wonderful.  Unfortunately, I only got a few bites in before Greedy took over my plate, but I'd rather he do that, than chew off my arm, or something...
AbbyB Posted Oct 26, 2008, 9:59 pm	Today we went to the local pumpkin patch! We didn't spend a lot of time there, unfortunately, because Abby and her sister had homework, but we still walked around the entire pumpkin patch looking for the right pumpkin! I think I see one! Watch this space, because I get to help carve it in a few days!
AbbyB Posted Nov 2, 2008, 3:06 am	Today we are carving the pumpkin that we picked out!  Sorry for the picture quality; we were outside and it was dark... I helped Abby scoop out the inside of the pumpkin. Then, Abby attached her stencil to the pumpkin and started to poke holes along the lines. All ready to carve!  Abby did this because she didn't want to have to explain to any of our mentors that one of us had an 'accident.' Here's the finished pumpkin!  It's a duck! And here it is with the other carved pumpkins (Abby's sister was more ambitious; she carved the horse from Guernica). After the carving we took the seeds and roasted them.  Yum!
AbbyB Posted Nov 2, 2008, 3:26 am	Happy Halloween!  I am at Abby's best friend's house to watch Rocky Horror Picture Show.
AbbyB Posted Nov 3, 2008, 5:24 am	What a beautiful view!  This photo doesn't quite capture how colourful everything is here.  This is in the countryside of Aggasiz (pronounced Ay-gah-see) and right after a torrential rainfall.  Unfortunately there were some other places that were slightly more scenic, but Abby couldn't take any pictures because she was too busy driving through the torrential rain (and she isn't the most experienced driver in the world).
AbbyB Posted Nov 3, 2008, 5:41 am	There's a small cafe in a small airport that claims to have the best pie in the world.  People literally fly here to eat a slice of pie. Unfortunately, sharing a host with Greedy means that one doesn't get to eat very much, so I only recieved a bite of pie before he took over.
AbbyB Posted Nov 4, 2008, 7:20 am	As you probably know, the presidential election for the United States is tomorrow and even though I'm not in America, I'm in the closest country to the United States, and so everyone has been paying close attention.  Tonight I am watching Saturday Night Live's Presidential Bash.
AbbyB Posted Nov 5, 2008, 6:10 am	I'm watching the American election tonight. President Elect Obama is making his victory speech!
AbbyB Posted Nov 8, 2008, 4:39 am	Can you see the crowd behind me?  There's an event on winter preparedness in the Convo Mall at Abby's school.  Nobody was particularly interested (living in Canada means that you should know about winter preparedness), but they were giving out snacks inside reusable shopping bags! I heard a rustling from the inside the bag, which startled me, but it was only Greedy, who had discovered the snacks.
AbbyB Posted Nov 19, 2008, 6:09 am	Today Gina Giraffe arrived.
AbbyB Posted Nov 19, 2008, 6:14 am	I visited a craft fair at the Scandinavian Cultural Centre. They have a boat and a dala horse outside. It was very crowded inside, so Abby couldn't get any photos.  There were many interesting booths and live music.  Unfortunately we had other things to do, so I did't even have time to sit down with a cup of glogg.  Oh well.
AbbyB Posted Nov 19, 2008, 6:18 am	I got to attend the Grande Finale concert of the CBC Radio Orchestra.  It was the last remaining radio orchestra in North America, but due to budget cuts, the CBC cannot afford the one million dollars it takes to fund the orchestra each year.  It's sad, because everyone was really talented and it was such a good concert. The concert was held at the Chan Centre at the University of British Columbia.  You can't tell, but the theatre is designed to look like a cello. Abby snapped this photo of the stage at the beginning of intermission.
AbbyB Posted Nov 23, 2008, 2:12 am	There was a windstorm and Abby and her sister were afraid that the power was going to go out, so everyone turned off computers and tvs and moved into the kitchen.  While Greedy ate all the pistachio pudding, everyone else played cribbage.
AbbyB Posted Nov 24, 2008, 8:54 pm	Today I saw an adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac at the Stanley Theatre in Vancouver. Any photos inside were strictly prohibited, but there was some information on the theatre outside that you can read.
AbbyB Posted Dec 5, 2008, 3:41 am	Today I did something extra special.  Once a year a local radio station called Jack FM and a TV station called Global host the The Pan Pacific Christmas Wish Breakfast.  To participate you have to bring an unwrapped gift to the Pan Pacific hotel in downtown Vancouver before 9AM, and once you donate it you get a free breakfast.  The gifts go towards children who live in families that cannot afford to give them gifts for Christmas. Here are the gifts that we were donating.  Abby's family made sure that all of us had at least one toy to donate. There was a huge lineup of people inside, so Abby too everyone outside to see a few sites.  This building will be the media centre during the 2010 Olympics.  It looks like it is finished, but the other side is still under construction. In the distance is Stanley Park, the largest park in Vancouver. The Pan Pacific Hotel is attached to Canada Place, which is full of large rooms, generally used for various conventions.  It's a very iconic place on the waterfront; in many postcards of Vancouver you can see the sails. There was some information on the sea wall. Back inside, Abby put everyone away for the time being because she didn't want anyone to accidentally be donated.  The Langley Ukulele Ensemble was performing and I peeked out to see. Look at all of those toys!  There were many firefighters and police helping out with the collection. Then, it was time for breakfast.  Unfortunately Greedy only came along for the breakfast... Oh well, I still left feeling warm and fuzzy (though not warm and buzzy because there was only decaf left!).
AbbyB Posted Dec 11, 2008, 2:58 am	Tonight there was an event called Christmas in the Park in Abby's town.  We only caught the tail end of it because certain people were working, but I did get to see the end of parade (most unenthusiastic Santa ever). There was a band playing Christmas songs in the park and I stopped to watch. Along the walkway leading to the gazebo there were decorated trees, each one decorated by a different elementary school in the area. After, we went for gelato.  I decided to stay in the Christmas mood and order candy cane gelato.
AbbyB Posted Dec 14, 2008, 4:46 am	It snowed yesterday, so today Abby took me onto the roof of her school to look at the mountains. If I look a little blurry, that's because I was shivering.  It was cold up there! Look, the pond in the Academic Quadrangle is partially frozen! Brr!  Time to get inside.
AbbyB Posted Dec 17, 2008, 9:45 pm	Today I went for a walk, despite it being -15 degrees celcius (5 degrees fahrenheit). Today's walk was to the mouth of Kanaka Creek.  The area around Kanaka Creek is a protected wetland habitat, home to many different organisms.  It is also a very historical place, which I learned about as I walked. Kanaka Creek meets up with the Fraser River, the largest River in Western Canada. This is looking straight across the river: To the east: To the west: What a beautiful view! Walking along the path in the Dense Deciduous Forest, I saw a woodpecker. Erin came along because she was geocaching.  This is her at the first one we found: We came to a lookout with lots of information. This is the view down the Fraser, And here is the mouth of Kanaka Creek. Here you can see the log booms that were mentioned in the information plaques. Then, it was time to walk back.
AbbyB Posted Dec 22, 2008, 8:46 pm	This is the view down Abby's street.  If it wasn't snowing you would see mountains in the distance.  It snowed all day and it is supposed to snow two more times this week.
AbbyB Posted Dec 22, 2008, 9:00 pm	Abby's family went to see Santa today!  There was a lineup, else Abby would have asked Santa to pose with me.
AbbyB Posted Dec 25, 2008, 6:41 am	Things are nearly ready for Christmas at Abby's household; all we need now is Santa to come visit.  Abby's family didn't have room for a real tree this year, but they had this nice toyvoyager-sized one! Christmas isn't here yet, but it is back home, so Merry Christmas!
AbbyB Posted Jan 5, 2009, 7:23 am	It's Christmas!  We got chocolate as a gift! I also listened to the Queen's message at noon.
AbbyB Posted Jan 7, 2009, 12:45 am	Today Alizée started her journey home to The Netherlands with the help of a very nice man at the post office.  Bye Alizée, we'll miss you!
Marjolein Posted Jan 10, 2009, 4:09 pm	I got home today! It's good to be here and also cold!
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 10, 2009, 9:36 pm	Hi Mommy! I just arrived in Brazil! Everything is great here, tomorrow my host will upload some pictures!
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 11, 2009, 5:30 pm	Look at the view from my host's window. I met Raul, the fish. He has such a nice color! Then I met Tomás, the jealous puppy! Then I was telling my host about my home country before she went to bed.
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 12, 2009, 3:26 pm	Yesterday Stanley arrived! We walked the dog together. My host took me to school with her. She was a little embarassed to take my pics, so she tried to do so while nobody was looking. I also went to my hosts job, and took pictures in the way back home.
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 14, 2009, 5:15 pm	Today we went to the park, and to the mall. When we got home, the dog needed a shower, so I  asked Alessandra if I could watch her do it. She was like "oh sure!!" She will upload the other pictures on monday.
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 14, 2009, 8:23 pm	Hi, We just came back from the supermarket and gosh, I cant believe how lucky we are. They had just brought in a Pirarucu, a huge fish only found in the Amazon river, Australia and Africa. Many legends try to explain the origins of this fish. My host told me one that is told by one indian tribe in the Amazon. It tells about a man, called Pirarucu an indian from a local tribe. He was a brave warrior, but was very mean. Tupã, the god of the gods, then punished him by turning him into this big fish.
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 15, 2009, 5:30 pm	Today was such a funny day. We went to the museum!! But I will tell you about it in a few days, my host is still managing the pictures. The other day we ate tuna  and cheese pizza! ummm yummy, my host loves it! After the museum, we went to a very cool bakery to get a pie. This bakery is very famous here. Some people laughed at my host because she was taking my pic, can you believe that? She was a little embarassed, but thats fine! She shouted "he is not from here!!" !!! hahahaha! The next picture features me and Stanley about to taste a "goiaba" (the sliced one). It is a very popular fruit here, I dont know if other countries have it too. It was delicious!
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 16, 2009, 5:14 pm	Hi mom Yesterday was such a busy day. We went to a new mall and to Ale's godson's house. On saturday we went to the mall ( a different one). She will update the pics later this week. Ah and we went to a park too... and to the museum as I mentioned! Oh my, what a busy weekend that was! At night, Ale showed my some books she loves. 1- First, we read poems of Fernando Pessoa. He is definetly the most important poet in Portugal and Brazil (but he is from Portugal). Anyone with a high school diploma in these countries know him. My host really loves this heteronim (a poet he created) called Alberto Caeiro. In this picture I was reading this poem: When spring comes, if Im already dead, the flowers will bloom the same way and the trees will not be less green than they were last spring. reality doesnt need me. I feel so much happiness thinking that my death doesnt have any importance at all. If I knew tomorrow I would die and spring was the day after tomorrow, I would die happy, because it would be the day after tomorrow. If thats the time, when else would it come, if not on its time? I like that everything is real and everything is right. and I like it because thats the way it would be, even if I didnt like it. Therefore, if i die now, i will die happy, because everything is real and is right. You can pray in latin over my coffin if you want to, or you can dance and sing around it. I have no preferences for when i could not have preferences. what it is, when it is, it will be what it is. 2- This is Hamlet. Ale loves it too! in this page you can read Hamlet: "what is that? Treat them better. If we would treat everone the way they deserved, none would escape the beating" 3. Here is King Oedipus. Thats so nice! in the left page you can read Oedipus: " Expel me from this country, hurry up, to a place where anyone could ever talk to me again"
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 17, 2009, 5:35 pm	Hi! Today I will show the pictures of the park. The day was very cloudy and gray, but it was fun anyway!
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 18, 2009, 4:19 pm	Dear Mommy, Here are the pictures from when we went to a new mall in here. It is across the city, Ale had never been there either. They had an ice skating rink! Bye, Alizeé
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 19, 2009, 5:10 pm	Hi Mom. Here are the pictures of when I visited Ale's godson, Cauã. I didnt exactly interact with him, because he was asleep! In the pictures you can also see his mother and grandmother.
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 20, 2009, 4:44 pm	The mall here is very nice. Many fancy stores! Here in Brazil the biggest holiday is Carnival. And it will be next week! Here we even say the year only starts after Carnival. We will definetly watch it on TV ! So the next update will be only wednesday.
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 22, 2009, 4:44 pm	Mommy, Here are the pics from our last week trip to the museum. We didnt actually enter it, we just went to the antiques fair that happens every sunday under it. It is called  MASP, and you can read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Paulo_Museum_of_Art It was really fun!
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 23, 2009, 11:07 am	Hello. The other day we went to school with Ale and the way back was so interesting. She told us there are so many motorcycles in São Paulo! They go around making food deliveries or most common,  document deliveries. The car drivers are not so found of them, because they are reckless drivers and will call  you names for very silly reasons! I will post Stanleys picture too, because it got better than mine. In the next picture, you can see, at the top of the helmet, the Copan, a very famous building in the country, just as famous as the museum! You can read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edif%C3%ADcio_Copan In the next picture, we were right in front of the entrance to the Hospital das Clinicas, which is the largest and most important Hospital complex in Latin America. Only a few more updates to go! I hope you are all enjoying looking at my adventure!
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 24, 2009, 12:10 pm	Hi. Here are some random pictures of me! First you see us going to college. Then we stopping for some gas. In the last picture you can see the flag of Brazil in the middle, the State of São Paulo to the left and the City of São Paulo to the right!
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 24, 2009, 3:41 pm	Oh, I forgot to show this picture of me telling Stanley a secret. The secret is that today Ale will do a very girly thing and will let us watch! Yay! I still dont know what is though, she wants to make it a secret...
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 26, 2009, 4:17 pm	Hello Since I have been to so many places and I will be coming home soon, Ale tought it would be nice if I was clean and good smelling, so she gave me a bath! It was very relaxing. I am such a clean girl now. Mom, dont forget to smell me when I arrive! I smell like a baby!!
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 27, 2009, 4:30 pm	Mommy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy today. Ale just gave me a present. We went to the Chinese neighborhood, and there was this man selling necklaces made with painted seeds! Seeds of Açaí, which is a very common berry, its drink is very known for being energizing. you can read about it here http://acaigogo.com/What-is-Acai.php I look so pretty dont I? But Ale said that I have to share it with you, so you can use it as a bracelet too! Only two more updates to go...
aleoliva86 Posted Feb 28, 2009, 2:38 pm	hahaha This was a beauty day, Ale passed on this grapes mask to make her skin pretty.  She sure looks funny!  Ummm it smells like grapes too!
aleoliva86 Posted Mar 1, 2009, 10:25 am	Mom, This was my last "trip" here in Brazil. We met Karla on the mall, and she brought in Willy W. He is a very nice toyvoyager. We had lunch and look at that, here in Brazil we really eat beans. In this thing every dish has beans!! Here in Brazil there is this cute little gang, they are called Turma da Mônica (or Monicas gang), they feature in a comics weekly magazine. Ale loved them when she was a child, she had over two hundred magazines of them!  Monica is the one in red. The boy in green is called Cebolinha, or "little onion". He has only 5 hairs in his head, haha! This is their own fun park, inside the mall! Ale has been there many times when she was little. see ya tomorrow!
aleoliva86 Posted Mar 2, 2009, 5:10 pm	Mom, This is it, I have to leave now. Ale put me in a cute tissue box so that I can feel like a princess on my journey back home. I loved it here, Brazil is great, beautiful country. Ale is here telling me to say that athough we went only to very nice places, she didnt try to kid me, I do know it is a poor country with many problems. I didnt see all of this country, but I sure saw a LOT !! Bye bye sunny Brazil ! ! !
Marjolein Posted Mar 18, 2009, 4:10 pm	I arrived home today in Den Bosch which is also sunny today!! I'll be on my way to Germany soon, but first I have to rest from my long trip I had a great time aleoliva86!!!! Thank you for showing me Brazil!
babyamy Posted Apr 1, 2009, 7:40 pm	Hello Mum, I arrived at Katrin's house today...but she wasn't at home! I crawles out of my envelope and arranged all the letters and parcels nicely. Hope she'll be back soon!
babyamy Posted Apr 5, 2009, 12:29 pm	This afternoon I was sleeping for a while when a terrible noise woke me up. Katrin came back home, but her suitcase on the floor and left the room again. I opend the suitcase and a little bear came crawling out of it. Eddy Bear is from England and he has been staying with Katrin for a while. He told me that Katrin is pretty busy these days because of her first weeks of university. He showed me her most important books for this semster, they are all about marketing becuase she has some marketing classes this time.
babyamy Posted Apr 5, 2009, 12:44 pm	Today we had to get up early because Katrin wanted to show us the library of her university. She had one hour before her classes began, that means a lot of time for her. This is the area for silent work. It is devided from the reat of the library by glass. These stacks are the most important ones for Katrin. The letters BID mean "Bibliothek, Information, Dokumentation", I think you can guess the meaning, the German words are very similar to the Englisch ones. Katrin is majoring in Information and library Sciences and here she can find most of the important books. The library is on two floors (the 7th and the 8th one) and Katriin prefers working on the 8th floor. Let's go there! What looks like much fun is rolling shelf. Here ypu can find newspapers in the shelves. Behind the roling shelves is one of Katrin's secret spots. Frome here you have a beautiful view over Hamburg. Now it's time for Katrin to start working. But hey, what is she doing? That doesn't look like work for studying. No, Katrin uses the free time to write some postcards for Postcrossing and a letter to one of her pen pals. Well, it's boring to watch her writing and Eddy Bear and I decided to enjoy the sun.
babyamy Posted Apr 10, 2009, 12:44 pm	Today Katrin has to prepare her salad for lunch herself. At first she cut cauliflower in small pieces. Then she put them into this strange plastic bag to cook it. She says it's a new product which cooks the food in the microwave just with steam. It sounds a bit weird, but let's try it. Three minutes later: We opened the door aof the microwave and all the steam left the bag. Then we tried the cauliflower and yes, it tasted like normal cooked one. Then we had to cook quinoa, it's one of the cereals Katrin is alowed to eat. You cook it like rice and it tastes a bit like nuts. This is the result: a strange looking salad, but it tastes better than it looks.
babyamy Posted Apr 11, 2009, 4:43 pm	It was pretty early when Katrin woke me up today. She took us with her to Hamburg to show us some more places she sees every day. This is the central station, where our train has just arrived. It's the red one you can see in the background. Then we walked over to the subway station. This is the view back to the building of the central station. After a two minute "U-Bahn" ride, we arrived at the station Lohmühlenstraße. This is where the university campus is. This tall builduing is the part of the campus where Katrin's classes take place. Inside the builduing there are two diffrent lifts. One goes to the floors 1 to 5, the second one to the floors from 6 to 14, but this one can stop on all floors. And where are we going? Of course floor 7, the library!
babyamy Posted Apr 11, 2009, 4:50 pm	Today Katrin had some time after the lectures and she decided to show us some nice places in the city center of Hamburg. We took the subway which brought us to the river Alster. From here you can go on boat trips or just sit on the pontoon and enjoy the sun. The second photo shows the view back to the street, it is called Jungfernstieg. Here are all the famous and expensive shops like Joop and Thommy Hilfiger. This is the view over the Fleet (the water you can see here) to the town hall. There are some restaurants and cefés right next to the water. Well, this building on the left was the place Katrin really wanted to go. It is a shopping mall called Europapassage and there is a really great craft store where Katrin spent a lot of money on craft stuff.
babyamy Posted Apr 11, 2009, 5:03 pm	Katrin has decided to tidy up her room a bit. Specially her craft stuff has been spread all over her desk and now she wants to have a small drawer box  for all the stuff. This one is made of cardboard and you just fold it and put it together. It sounded like fun and Alizée and I wanted to help. At first we folded the whole box... ... then the drawers. This is the result: a really nice looking box. Now Katrin can put all her stuff into it, I hope, everything will fit in there...
babyamy Posted Apr 12, 2009, 7:22 pm	Happy Easter Mom! Today the weather was great and we went on a trip to a outdoor museum. Here you can see how people have lived 100-150 years ago. The museum took farm houses from all over Schleswig-Holstein (that's the name of the state Katrin is living) and rebuilt them in Molfsee. Here are two of the old farm houses... ...and here is another one Most of the houses are open for the visitors and you can see all the rooms. This is a living room and one of the beds. They were really small! In the barn we discovered an old coach:
babyamy Posted Apr 13, 2009, 5:37 pm	Today is Eddy Bear's last day in Germany. We decided to have a walk around the garden and enjoy the sun and all the beautiful flowers. Now it's time to say goodbye. Bye Eddy Bear, have a short journey home!
babyamy Posted Apr 15, 2009, 7:33 pm	Today I discovered this book on Katrin's table and started to read it. It is called "Isis' Daughters - Women in the ancient Egypt". The book was very fascinating and I got frightened when suddenly a little bat appeared next to the book. This is Wieka, a substitute of Katrin's lost voyager. He has the mission to find the "real" Wieka one day on his journey.
babyamy Posted Apr 15, 2009, 7:41 pm	This is sooo exciting! There is a letter saying "stuffed animal" on the cutoms decleration paper. Maybe it's another TV? I can't wait to open it... Look at this cute guy! It's the swap-bot envelope as a stuffie, it's so cute. Maybe Katrin will turn it into a TV but she is a  bit afraid that it might get lost somewhere. I don't mind, right now I take care of it.
babyamy Posted Apr 21, 2009, 8:28 pm	This weekend I travelled to Schwerin where we visited the beautiful castle. It is on a small island and we had to cross a bridge to go there. This is me on one of the ad rhinoceroses you can find everywhere in Schwerin. Then we walked arounfd the castle: Then I sat down and enjoyed the view over the Lake Schwerin. From here I had a nice view over the castle garden. We couldn't go there because it is closed for the "Bundesgartenschau" which starts next week. It a kind of exhibition where they have planted a lot of colorful flowers and you have to pay to go there. Maybe I'll stay long enough with Katrin and can go there one day. On the way back home I discovered this guy. His name was ConradEckhof and he was a famous German theater actor and founded the theater in Schwerin.
babyamy Posted Apr 22, 2009, 8:14 pm	Hey mum, look at all these books! Katrin came home with a big smile in her face today because of them. She got them from a librarien for one of her classes in university. She works on a project about bookcrossing and these are the first books she will release during the next weeks (after she has probably read about half of them )
babyamy Posted Apr 26, 2009, 8:53 pm	Hey mum, Katrin is still very busy but today we can show a another group shot: This is me in the middle of her four TVs Swap, Swep, Swip and Swop, who are supposed to become wild TVs during the world wide release next weekend. They got their first journal entry today but they still need their tags. Katrin will probably make them on Tuesday or Wednesday...
babyamy Posted Apr 28, 2009, 9:05 pm	Look at this, it's my favorite place to sit, because everything around me has the same colour as I have. I was a bit daydreaming, when I heard someone coming up to me. It's Darth Vader who has arrived today from the US. He asks me a lot of questions, seems like he wants to know everything about his new home...
babyamy Posted May 4, 2009, 9:18 pm	This evening something really spooky happened. Darth Vader and I were talking about aliens and suddenly there were black clouds in the sky and a thunderstorm started. It rained heavily and when we looked out of the window, the ground was white, like snow. But it wasn't snow, it was "just" hail! It was so hard, that it evenbroke three holes into the carport roof.
babyamy Posted May 6, 2009, 9:31 pm	Today is a holiday in Germany and I'm back in Schwerin - well I'm on my way back to Schwerin. We went to a outdoor museum in a village not to far away from Schwerin and decided to walk back home. This is an old outhouse (Plumpsklo in German) I discovered at the museum. On the way back we discovered the remains of a castle. It was located in the forest next to the Lake Schwerin and we had a nice view over the lake. You can even see schwerin in the backround. This tree was funny, a dandelion was growing in the hole of the trunk. I blew and it was gone. About two hours later we arrived at the castle of Schwerin. Do you like al the different and colorful tulips whichj grow in front of the castle?
babyamy Posted May 7, 2009, 9:03 pm	When I was talking to Darth Vader about the new Star Trek movie today, I  suddenly smelled chocolate and jumped on the desk. There was a new TV, Mortimer_, who brought a chocolate bar from Finland. Katrin finally took the chocolate bar and decided that it is already time to go to bed. All of us should get some more sleep.
babyamy Posted May 9, 2009, 3:59 pm	Katrin asked us if we want to help her preapring a spread for her bread.  It should be become an olive pastry and here we are with all the ingredients: Everyone got a special task: I cut the olives with this machine Katrin called "Mulinex". Now all ingredients are mixed together and we filled it in a form before we put it in the oven. Thirty minutes later: The pastry is finished but Katrin is a bit sceptical: It is very greedy and it doesn't like like you can cut it. But it tastes good.
babyamy Posted May 13, 2009, 8:16 pm	Today Mortimer and I visited the youth library in Hamburg. While Katrin was working on her project for one of her classes, we looked around the room. We discovered the music CDs... ... and the games for the Playstation and the Nintendo Wii... ...and this guy. He is the library dragon and is from Asia. He is the one who takes care of all the mangas the library has.
babyamy Posted May 13, 2009, 8:38 pm	Katrin told me, that today is my last day with her and the other TVs. I will travel to Great Britain tomorrow, I hope, they don't have rain all the time... We shot one last group photo and I'm happy, because I've finally found another elephant in this house.
lilian1977 Posted May 18, 2009, 10:49 am	I have today arrived in Manchester, England - my host Siobhan had me delivered to her office to make sure I didn't sit on my own on a doormat all day. She told me it was raining this morning but right now it is sunny! I have had my photograph taken on her desk but you will not be able to see it until tonight as she can't connect her camera to her work computer. See you tonight!
lilian1977 Posted May 18, 2009, 9:41 pm	Hello! I have arrived home to Siobhan and Mike's flat in Manchester, we are currently eating peanut butter on toast and watching the Portsmouth vs Sunderland football match on TV. Here are some pictures from earlier today: This is me on Siobhan's desk at work, it is very messy but there were some other toys there so I felt at home. Here I am in Siobhan's office, that's her friend Simon in the background: Here, I am next to a Royal Mail van coming to collect all the letters from Siobhan's work. I hope they get to their destinations as quickly as I arrived from Germany! I am now back on my way into work again, this is the door to where Siobhan works. It is a big concert hall in Manchester, she said I could go and take a look inside the hall at the seats and the organ one day, and perhaps even go to a concert! As you can see it is raining... Here I am in front of the Beetham Tower, it is the tallest building in Manchester! I can't wait to get out into Manchester and see what there is to see! XOXO Alizée
lilian1977 Posted Jun 7, 2009, 7:51 pm	Siobhan and Mike introduced me to their own Toyvoyager Bunnerton recently as we went on holiday to the Lake District! Here we are outside Muncaster Castle. It was a very beautiful day but we were unable to get into the castle as there was a wedding, but we didn't mind as we had a picnic instead! This very kind lion was guarding the gates, he let us ride on his back for a little while. Bunnerton was a little scared but I was so brave! Well, I am an elephant after all! And here we are settling down for our picnic. Delicious! On Thursday we are off to a farm in North Yorkshire - I think Papelbon will have arrived by then
lilian1977 Posted Jun 16, 2009, 9:26 pm	Hi! Just back from visiting the farm in Northallerton with my hosts and Papelbon. Bunnerton did not come with us in the end as he has gone to North Carolina on a last minute trip! You can read about it in his travelog. Anyway, back to our holiday. We were staying in a self catering cottage on a working farm, we were very close to all the cows! They were very inquisitive! It was a lovely warm evening when we arrived so we settled down to a few drinks. At first I shared mine with Alizee but then we decided to have one each. I think having one each was a mistake....I don't remember much else about the holiday! We're back now, our next trip is to Russia next month but there might be some day trips in between!
Marjolein Posted Sep 30, 2009, 2:38 pm	I arrived home today! The weather is not to good but it's good to be back in 's-Hertogenbosch Thank you lilian1977 for hosting me!

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