Hummel Posted Jun 26, 2010, 8:49 pm |
Hello,
my name is Bussi. I lived in the garden of Hummel – and build wonderful molehills. Here is me in one of my nicest hills. One day I saw a friendly bunny next to it. We talked to each other – and he told me about ToyVoyagers. This sounds interesting. I thought a moment – then I asked how I could become one. Dicker Kumpel invited me to find out about the life as a TV and come on a trip with him. Maybe it is time to leave my hill and see the world. I hope I will have a nice time – otherwise I can always come back to my molehill. yours Bussi |
RikeH Posted Jun 26, 2010, 9:18 pm |
Hello Mum,
I am a ToyVoyager now – and will travel through the world. Please be careful with my Hills in your garden! I will go on a cruise on the Danube River – how amazing! Today we started our trip. We drove with a really fast train called ICE to Passau. Here you see us having lunch. This is inside the train – we drove really fast sometimes – about 200 km/h. I looked out of the window. It was really interesting. I won't be online for many days now. But don't worry, I am safe on the ship. Love Bussi |
RikeH Posted Jul 16, 2010, 10:21 pm |
Hello from Passau,
we will start our trip in the afternoon – and decided to made a walk in Passau in the morning. It was really hot. There are three rivers in Passau – here is one of it. I was so happy because I found this hill! Here is the place where the rivers flow together. We enjoyed the view and relaxed in the sun. This it the way we will go in the afternoon. There was a photo of the place – I wanted to show you. Look at these wonderful flowers. There is a big castle in Passau. and a colorful town hall. It was so hot – I needed more water – fortunately there was a fountain. Later we went onto the ship – I will show photos of it later. But look what happened when RikeH opened the luggage. We found Topple and Captain Caramel. We were really happy that they come with us!!! (not sure about RikeH...) I will tell you more later. Greetings Bussi |
RikeH Posted Jul 17, 2010, 2:11 pm |
Hi Mum,
great News – we went to the Zoo today. First we saw this beautiful buildung. There were really big hippos – lying lazy in the sun. The rhino was really big, too. huh – really big birds – all animals are big in this Zoo. We saw apolar bear ... and some swimming penguins. They came out of the water – so we made this photo with all of us. The last animal we saw was this one – a Panda!! He was so cute – but RikeH had problems to make a good photo of us together. After visiting the Zoo, we met a trip in a small train around the Castle Schönbrunn. Here is a view from far away. Here we stood next to it. We had so much fun together. We went back to our ship – there were two sister ships next to it. This is my Ship – the Arosa Mia! Love Bussi |
RikeH Posted Jul 17, 2010, 4:35 pm |
Hello Mum,
we made a sightseeing tour in Vienna today. This is the famous Stephansdom. The Vienna Opera. Two interesting museums – and a nice Statue between both of them – showing Maria-Theresia. Two other beautiful buildings – I was not able to remember all of the names. But we made nice photos. I know the names of this buildings – the Townhall and the Burgtheater. This is the Statue of a famous musician. He is called Richard Strauß, who wrote the song 'An der schönen blauen Donau'. Bye Bussi |
RikeH Posted Jul 18, 2010, 8:19 pm |
Hi Mum,
today we had to get up early – because we will arrive in Budapest- and this should be a nice. You see me on the Ship. Here is one of the biggest buildings – the Parliament. The view to the other side. This was the Castle. A big place – for the heroes. I don't know for which heroes – maybe for the brave ToyVoyager-Heroes? Budapest is famous for his baths – this is one of it. We went onto a hill and had a great view over Budapest – what a beautiful city. We saw our ship from the hill – far away! Back home I relaxed in the sun. You can see the hill, where we took the last photos. And the last photo of the day shows the view out of our cabin – in the night – really great! Love Bussi |
RikeH Posted Jul 18, 2010, 10:53 pm |
Hello Mum,
we made a trip called paprika and Wine today. We started with this beautiful old house. Inside were very colorful drawings on the walls. Here is the red paprika – a nice red – I liked it. One of the machines in the museum. We played together in the Paprika. Later we went to another village. There are houses like this full of Wine. In this barrels they have the Wine. We bought some wine and drank it at home. Prost yours Bussi |
RikeH Posted Jul 19, 2010, 8:20 pm |
Hello from Serbia,
we reached a new country – Serbia – and visited a nice Abbey and the Town Novi Sad. We started with the Abbey of Krusedal. Inside it was really interesting! Later we went to Novi Sad – a nice little town with beautiful buildings. I loved this Square with many old buildings. Greetings Bussi |
RikeH Posted Jul 22, 2010, 8:55 pm |
Hello from the Capital of Serbia,
we started our trip in Serbia with this beautiful church. They are not ready with building it inside. But we can imagine how it will look like, when it is ready. In the old city of Belgrad. an important monument with a big horse. After the city we wisited the Fortress. We had a great view from the hill. Bye Bussi |
RikeH Posted Jul 24, 2010, 9:42 pm |
Hello from the Danube,
we had a nice route today – this Part of the Danube is a Gorge near to the Iron Gate – and was really beautiful. Here you see me on the ship. I enjoyed the sun with Dicker Kumpel, my friend. We drove through a very big lock: A cruise is really interesting. Yours Bussi |
RikeH Posted Jul 25, 2010, 4:53 pm |
Hello Mum,
we visited a very big house today – it is the Parliament now – and called the Palace of the Parliament. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Palace is the world's largest civilian administrative building, most expensive administrative building, and heaviest building. And you can see me in front of it. We were not allowed to take photos inside, but here is a look, when we stand on the balcony. A very nice street with many fountains and flowers. Then we made a tour through the city. We had a great place – in the first row. And two big boxes with food, water and wine. Our last stop was next to this beautiful church. Bye yours Bussi |
RikeH Posted Jul 25, 2010, 5:06 pm |
Hello from the Ukraine,
we went by a little boat to the Danube Delta today. It was great weather – as always on this trip. The typical view from the boat: And then we did it – we sailed the Danube. Behind me, you can see the big 0 (really small on the photo). It is the kilometer 0 of the River Danube. We celebrated it with fish and a wodka! In the afternoon we made a walk through the village Vilkovo. There are nice Churches... ...and Momuments. Now we will travel back to Passau – with some stops, of course. Love Bussi |
RikeH Posted Jul 25, 2010, 5:59 pm |
Hello from Bulgaria,
we started out trip visiting a Monastery. The rock monastery “St Dimitrii of Basarbovo” is situated in the picturesque valley of the Rusenski Lom River amidst a number of rock cloisters. It lies about 10km away from the town of Rousse and carries the name of a near-by village. First a look out of the garden – and some nice flowers. More views of the Monastery. Then we went to Ivanovo. The village is famous for the Rock-hewn Church, a Unesco World Heritage Site. Inside there were wonderful paintings... and we had a nice view over the Valley. Bye Bussi |
RikeH Posted Jul 25, 2010, 6:01 pm |
Hello Mum,
we had a day on the River without stops, so I want to show you some views here. It was nice to sit on the deck and watch the nature around. We had fun with the Shuffleboard... ...and played Chess. Can you see me in the life belt? What a nice day on the Ship. Ahoi Bussi |
RikeH Posted Jul 25, 2010, 6:06 pm |
Hi Mum,
today we visited our last country in this holiday – there were a lot of it – did you count them? Well – it is Slovakia. We made a walk in Bratislava, a nice town with beautiful buildings. This guy was really funny. But back to sightseeing. I loved this tower – it is so beautiful. Back on the ship it was time to say good-bye to our cabin. RikeH had to pack the bags, we ToyVoyagers sat together and talked and talked and talked – as always, when we sit together. Mum, I really loved this cruise! Greetings Bussi |
RikeH Posted Jul 26, 2010, 6:00 pm |
Hi Mum,
I will travel to my next host now – she lives in another part of Germany. Before I leave, we ToyVoyagers have a small party together. Then I said good-bye to Dicker Kumpel. He was such a great host – I will miss him. On the way to the post-office I saw some nice parts of Sülfeld. First the beautiful church. On the other side of the street is the pharmacy. This is the old school… …the mayor works here. I relaxed near to a small lake before I jumped into my envelope. Katja - I am on the way. Bye Bussi |
olgamaus Posted Jul 30, 2010, 8:43 pm |
Hi Mummy,
today finally someone came to pick me up at the post office. I was hanging around there in my envelope for more than a whole day! I was welcomed by two turtles, camilla and Squirt and my host Katja. Camilla and Squirt took the sweets that I brought with me and Katja was delighted about the postcard from Budapest. She told me that she visited Budapest about a hundred years ago. In the late afternoon Katja took me with her on a short walk. Katja told me that Remscheid is an industrial town, so you can find old industrial sites everywhere. Most of them are still in use. We decided to walk to the municipal park. I enjoyed to sit in the sun for a moment. In the background you can see the outskirts of the neighbour city Wuppertal. It was time to go home than. I think I'll like it here in North Rhine-Westphalia. Bye Bussi |
olgamaus Posted Aug 1, 2010, 10:18 am |
Hi Mummy,
today we took a short walk with Katja's parents. The weather was not really nice. First we had a short stop in a beer garden. We enjoyed a delicious large beer. We were sitting here so long that we decided to take only a really short walk. I saw adorable flowers in the gardens. We reached a small hammock with traditional old houses, I escecially liked this skew-whiff half-timbered house. Katja told me that those houses were probably built in 18th century. Aren't those roses wonderful? We walked back to the car than. As soon as we reached it, it started to rain. Bye Bussi |
olgamaus Posted Aug 7, 2010, 9:25 am |
Hi Mummy,
we took a walk today in one of Remscheid's suburbs. We started our trip in Hohenhagen which is surrounded by woodland and also farmland. It is one of the highest-located districts in the municipal area of Remscheid. We had a great overview from here. We rested in the soft moss for a while. We reached a nice valley than. What a lovely place to live! Bye Bussi |
olgamaus Posted Aug 11, 2010, 11:28 pm |
Hi Mummy,
we met Katja's friend Erika today to take a walk together. We picked up Erika at her house. Erika is living in the district "Hasten", one of the oldest districts in the municipal area. You can find lots of typical "Bergische Häuser" here, usually half-timbered houses or those which are covered with slate. We walked through a garden area, I saw blackberries here, not ripe yet. I have a new furry friend now, his name is "Lumpi". We walked towards the forest than. In the garden of this house I found parts of historic machines. We reached the forest than. I saw some trail markings here. Katja explained that the encircled "R" and "W" mean hiking routes around the cities of Remscheid and Wuppertal, about 59 and 110 km long. The other marks are marking shorter hiking trails, usually between 5 and 15 km long. This is a fish pond. We rested on this pile of tree trunks for a while. We decided to walk back home than. This did not mean that we would be home within a few minutes. First we had to walk back to the bottom of the valley and than walk back uphill to the city centre, we would still need at least 45 minutes to get home. We saw old factory buildings when we crossed the road in the valley. We walked through a hamlet where I found beautiful flowers. What a lovely old house! When we walked towards the city centre we had to walk uphill for ages, like it seemed to me. This is a small park, situated in front of the police headquarter. This column in the park is dedicated to the town twinning with Quimper in France. When we walked home Katja told me that she will visit the ferret shelter tomorrow and maybe she will bring a third ferret home. I will show you the ferrets soon although I am a little bit afraid of them. I know that ferrets love to eat small prey animals. Bye Bussi |
olgamaus Posted Aug 13, 2010, 10:17 pm |
Hi Mummy,
we took a walk today on a pilgrimage trail, the Way of St. James. We had planned to walk to Altenberg Abbey, but it was too far away. So we followed the trail for about an hour and than we walked back to the car. We followed this lovely valley most of the time. Close to a restaurant in a small hamlet I saw this barn, it was decorated really nice. Next stop was a place called "Markusmuehle". We played "Hide and Seek" in this stack of wood Bye Bussi |
olgamaus Posted Aug 14, 2010, 7:30 am |
Hi Mummy,
we went to Duesseldorf today to take a walk with three dogs along River Rhine. We parked the car in Duesseldorf-Niederkassel. The Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, about 1,232 km long. The Rhine is divided into sections, here in Duesseldorf it is called "Lower Rhine" (Niederrhein). We saw transport ships. We played in the sand, we even found shells! I took a look to the dike. Duesseldorf airport is on the opposite site of the river, we saw lots of planes starting. This is a look behind, towards the city centre. White willows are growing here, really close to the waterside. We reached a marina. We left the strand and walked to the dike to return to the car than. Bye Bussi |
olgamaus Posted Aug 22, 2010, 9:46 am |
Hi Mummy,
I received your pm in the morning, reminding me of my birthday Thank you very much for your birthday wishes! When I came into the kitchen all my friends were already waiting for me to sind "Happy Birthday ..." What a nice suprprise Katja invited me to dinner, we would have sushi. Bussi |
olgamaus Posted Aug 22, 2010, 10:03 am |
Hi Mummy,
after a week with horrible weather we went to Katja's friend Kerstin to take a walk in one of the rural districts of Remscheid, close to the Wupper dam. On our way to Kerstin's house we took a short walk in the district Luettringhausen's pretty old town. We saw this historic mail box which is still in use. Later in the afternoon we took another walk with dog Pepe. Finally I found a molehill! Nobody seemed to be home here .... We walked along a really narrow path between some fields. We reached Wupper dam than. Katja told us that there was not much water in it. Usually cou cannot see this "bridge" between the water in the foreground and the background. We soon left the dam area and walked back to the car, again along harvested fields. This corn is not ready yet. |
olgamaus Posted Aug 22, 2010, 10:16 am |
It's dinner time!
We had a delicious soup with salmon as a starter. A Bavarian beer and sushi?! Anything goes! Cheers That'l looking great! We ordered sushi with salmon, fried king prawn, tuna, eel and crabstick. Yummy! As dessert I had ice cream with green tea, also delicious. This was a fantastic birthday dinner. Bye Bussi |
olgamaus Posted Aug 25, 2010, 9:57 pm |
Hi Mummy,
we visited an arboretum today. An arboretum is a collection of trees, sort of a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study. We went to "Staatsforst Burgholz", a woodland area which is situated in both urban area of Wuppertal and also the urban area of Solingen, but only a small part of it. When World War II was over, there were nearly all trees felled for rebuilding of destroyed city areas and also as firewood. Searching for fast-growing forest species trees from foreign counties were planted than in this area to study their growth in local weather conditions. Plants from North America, South America, Asia and Europe were planted. There are several walking paths through the arboretum, of course we chose the longest of them, about 6 km long, displaying a variety of trees from Europe, America and Asia. We went to Wuppertal by bus and had to walk for about 15 minutes to reach the starting point of today's walk. I saw this lovely painted house. We saw an information board, showing some facts about this district of Wuppertal, Cronenberg. We reached the forest than and also the starting point of our walking-tour. We had to follow the yellow marking, showing a pine cone. We saw lots of interesting trees, this one showing cork tissue instead of the usual bark. From here you can see the L 74, a highway, feeder road to the motorway A 46. We rested here for a while. Due to the really bad weather during the last week we also saw lots of mushroom. Katja said that these were looking really funny. I don't know why, I t hink they look they an average mushroom. This tree is a coast Douglas fir, usually growing at the West coast of North America ... ... and its cone. We walked to a section of the forest where trees from Asia were growing. This "false cypress" is originally growing in Japan. This is a beech, usually growing in South America. You can see this tree growin in German gardens sometimes, it is called "Monkey-Puzzle", growing in Chile and Argentina. We were sitting in the middle of our walking path here, it is completely covered with grass. Do you know Katsura trees? They are called "Kuchenbäume" in German (cake trees), because in autumn their withering leafes smell like gingerbread. This was a really interesting trip today Bye Bussi |
olgamaus Posted Sep 2, 2010, 8:58 pm |
Hi Mummy,
we went to town today because the sun was shining - at least a little bit First Katja showed us the city hall. Its tower is 48 m high. The city hall was nearly destroyed in World War II, it was rebuilt in a more modern style than it originally was. On a pillar on the place in front of the city hall a lion is sitting - the lion is the heraldic animal of Remscheid. On Thurday evenings they are playing music here. Some beverage carts are already here. ... Inside the shopping mall ... ... and the exit. Here you can see the company building of the local newspaper "Remscheider General-Anzeiger" ... ... nearby the central bus station. The Volkshochschule (adult evening classes) is situated in this modern building. Here you can see all at once: the city hall, the newspaper building and the Volkshochschule. In the background you can see "Hohenhagen", a housing area. Here you can see one of the churches in the city centre. You can also find a funny fountain here. We went along the shopping street than. This is the main entrance of the shopping mall. In the afternoon it started to rain again Bye Bussi |
olgamaus Posted Sep 3, 2010, 8:25 pm |
Hi Mummy,
it is raining cats and dogs outside - for several days now. Bye Bussi |
olgamaus Posted Sep 5, 2010, 8:23 pm |
Hi Mummy,
today it was time to say good-bye to all my friends and Katja. Although we had a lot of rain this week I did not manage to find some earthworms, instead I bought some delicious neon-coloured glowworms. All ToyVoyagers liked them. Honesty from Canada arrived just a few days before. Camilla is also going to leave, she will travel to Arizona in the USA. Australia, I'm coming !! Bye Bussi |
emo_kid natashafiebig@yahoo.com.au Posted Sep 21, 2010, 12:40 am |
Hi Mummy
After much bumping and jumping, everything went quiet... And then i heard people talking funny... I started to get scared, as i thought pirates had kidnapped me... Then the envelope started getting cut into and i said "be careful" but i dont think they heard me... When i realised i wasn't being cut up, i looked up and there were all these faces looking at me... I thought, for sure ive been kidnapped by pirates, But then this human hand reached in and gently pulled me out, and i knew i was ok. I got introduced to Bruno Synapse Lenny Nursy and Rosario who are all staying with emo_kid So i guess im ok, here is Australia - Where it's raining... The other tv's have some awesome stories to tell, like how they saw a giant snail last night, but were too scared to go near him... They said he was bigger than ME!!! Bye for now Mummy, talk soon, Love Bussi xox |
emo_kid natashafiebig@yahoo.com.au Posted Sep 24, 2010, 2:24 am |
Hi Mum
Later that day, i went looking for earthworms... No Luck This is where emo_kid works. this is where we were hiding When we went home, i met Atila Maximus and Itci (Cat) I think Maximus wanted to eat me, but neither Icti or emo_kid would let him Love Bussi |
emo_kid natashafiebig@yahoo.com.au Posted Sep 24, 2010, 2:28 am |
Hi Mum
Today i helped emo_kid do some filing by printing labels Then we had coffee And then some lunch. emo_kid had a chicken and salad roll but she doesn't like the grated carrott, so we got it. YUM!!! In the afternoon we stumbled across this WWII monument and while waiting for punk_boi to finish work, we checked out the fake Eiffel Tower on Park rd We're going into the city tomorrow... Love Bussi |
emo_kid natashafiebig@yahoo.com.au Posted Sep 27, 2010, 4:19 am |
Hi Mum
OMG, we finally got to go into the city... So exciting. Here's me on the bus going in We walked around for a bit and found this cool looking church. There are heaps of churches in the city. This is city hall. We weren't allowed to go inside, but here's some interesting information about it. "City hall was erected between 1920 and 1930 and is heritage listed. The sandstone-faced building features a finely detailed main entrance topped by a 92 metre clock tower. It is currently undergoing renovations." This is the Treasury Building, formerly the Queensland Government Treasury Building, but now it is the Treasury Casino. It was built between 1886 and 1928 in three stages. It is Located at the end of Queen st Mall. There’s accommodation and of course, gambling, so naturally we weren’t allowed in. Next we found some Kangaroo’s… They’re not real kangaroos though; they’re made out of scrap metal. Then we met Adrian Burragubba, a native aboriginal, who busks in the Queen st mall. He’s been doing it for the past 16 years, and has even fought the government over aboriginal wages. He comes from a community in central Queensland. We didn’t want to disturb his music, so we had a group photo with him. He sits on genuine Kangaroo skin and plays the didgeridoo and clapsticks. He is dressed in traditional aboriginal dress and body paint. We were all nervous, but it was so interesting and unlike anything ive heard before. Next we stumbled across “The Drovers”. They were originally created as part of Expo ’88, and were part of a series of 80 sculptures displaying people in everyday situations in Australia. In 1989 they were purchased by Department if Primary Industries and installed in there present location, out the front of the Department if Primary Industries building on Ann st. In 2005, they were re-created in cast aluminium to preserve them for generations to come. The drovers represent the old swagmen around a camp fire. We found this really interesting statue of a man on horseback, giving a lady water and food, with lots of children standing around. I’m not sure what it all means, but they look cool. Next we saw this, it’s an old Servants home, which was built in 1865 and bought in 1873 by the Brisbane School of Arts. Here’s some information about it. Although it wasn’t very interesting inside, as it’s being used as an art gallery / coffee shop now, we got to sign the guest book. Sadly it was then time to go back to work. Here we are on the train. Im exhausted now, so im going to sleep. Love Bussi xox |
emo_kid natashafiebig@yahoo.com.au Posted Sep 29, 2010, 3:54 am |
Hi Mum
Bruno had to go home today, to ensure he arrived in time for his mums birthday... We had a little treat of m&m's YUM!!! and then said goodbye, he looks comfortable in there... After the rain stopped today i found a snail Not a killer man eating snail, His name is Mr Cuddles How cute is he? He's not an earthworm, but he said hi and we're now friends Did you hear about the Roller Derby on the 16th Oct??? Im a bit excited... Love Bussi xox |
emo_kid natashafiebig@yahoo.com.au Posted Oct 19, 2010, 5:41 am |
Hi Mum
Well the following are bits and pieces from over the last few days. The rain just wont go away, so we haven't been out much. I met not one, not 2, but 3 different Earthworms... On the way home the other day, we found a rat. He wasn't to healthy so we gave him some water. He survived And I had to have my photo taken with this Ferrari we spotted On Sunday was emo_kids birthday. She only has punk_boi here, so not many presents, and we just had a quiet one at home. Today there were 2 packages waiting for us. The first was Sweet Mimi And the next was Miguel This is Miguel's first trip Well bye for now, Love Bussi |
emo_kid natashafiebig@yahoo.com.au Posted Oct 20, 2010, 5:48 am |
Hi Mum
Well im off to the next stop on the WTVT! Canada emo_kid and the other TV's threw a going away party for me, Lenny and Nursy as we're all leaving today. Lenny, Nursy and i shared a cookie Sadly then it was time to say goodbye and hop in our envelopes Bye emo_kid and Australia, hello Canada Love Buss PS emo_kid didn't want to tick off my life mission of meeting an earthworm, as she believes earthworms are different in different countries and she wants me to met HEAPS |
AbbyB Posted Nov 4, 2010, 3:06 am |
I have arrived at AbbyB's house in Canada!
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AbbyB Posted Nov 8, 2010, 9:37 am |
Today we are going for a drive to see some of the local scenery.
We drove to Grant Narrows Regional Park. We went for a walk down this dike. We didn't walk all of the way, but we did go to this look-out tower. The views are really pretty. |
AbbyB Posted Nov 26, 2010, 7:34 am |
Maple Ridge's first snow.
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AbbyB Posted Dec 2, 2010, 4:17 am |
It is time for both Charlie Bear and Ollie Kikabeer to move on to their next hosts. Everyone gathered to say goodbye.
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AbbyB Posted Dec 25, 2010, 7:55 am |
Marty the Moose arrived today.
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AbbyB Posted Dec 25, 2010, 8:20 am |
I am sorry that I have not updated in a while. Christmas is almost here and Abby has kept everyone very busy. For example, it took two days to get the tree decorated:
All of the presents are wrapped... See the small stocking at the end? That one is for ToyVoyagers! I hope Santa brings me something nice. Abby baked cookies for Santa. Because they are in the kitchen, we left a sign on the tree so Santa knows where to look. Lastly, we checked the NORAD Santa tracker. Looks like he is almost here! |
AbbyB Posted Dec 25, 2010, 11:34 pm |
Merry Christmas!
Good news! Santa visited last night! The stocking has something in it! Look at all the treats! I hope you are having a good Christmas at home. |
AbbyB Posted Jan 2, 2011, 9:23 pm |
Everyone was invited to Christmas dinner, which consisted of turkey, potatoes, stuffing (made with quinoa), brussel sprouts, candied yams, Grand Marnier cranberry sauce and gravy.
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AbbyB Posted Jan 2, 2011, 9:24 pm |
Today is Boxing Day, which is the day where Canadians go shopping for sales, but I was not interested in the crowds, so we only went to one unique store, which had a lot of discounted Christmas ornaments.
The outside display is worth noting, because if you come in the evening and tune your radio to a specific station, there is a coordinating light show on the outside of the building. Unfortunately, we got there too early. The African elephant from Night at the Museum was waiting just inside the entrance. Lastly, we went to look at one of the Christmas displays while everyone else went shopping. |
AbbyB Posted Feb 22, 2011, 2:11 am |
Today we are making ice cream.
First you whisk two eggs. Next you whisk in the sugar. For fun, we used brown sugar instead of white. Next you pour in cream, milk, and scrape the inside of a vanilla bean... ...until it is all mixed together. Did I mention that Little Lou was helping? Next, pour the mixture into the ice cream mixer. This looks really good, but it has to freeze for a while longer. We'll enjoy it tomorrow. |
AbbyB Posted Feb 22, 2011, 2:13 am |
Happy New Year!
Even though temperatures were below freezing, it was such a nice day out that everyone decided to go for a walk across the Pitt River Bridge. Isn't the view spectacular? If you look carefully, toward the center of the photo, you can see Mount Baker, which is in Washington State. We walked across as the sun was starting to set. This is what is on the other side of the bridge. The other bridge you can see is for trains. On the way back I watched the last of the sun on the mountains. They are called Golden Ears, and you can see why. |
AbbyB Posted Feb 22, 2011, 2:14 am |
Today we are going to Whistler! It is where many of the events of the Olympics were held last year.
It is a fairly nice drive...when the weather is nice. Aha! Snow! We must be close. There are many places to ski and snowboard in Whistler, but Blackcomb is accessible right from Whistler Village. Here is the village. No visit to Whistler is complete without going to the Cows store. Everything is cow-themed here. Here are the Olympic Rings. The tour being complete, I went to David's Tea to warm up. We also got some lunch. Mmmmm, crepes. |
annix Posted Mar 10, 2011, 10:27 am |
Hi mum,
I'm in Italy! My host is so happy to have me here and she likes so much my present. Now I'm quite tired so... goodbye until next time! Bussi |
annix Posted Mar 16, 2011, 9:07 am |
Hi mum,
these are quite special days here, Italy celebrates 150 years of unity on March 17th!!! I'm reading the newspapers to know something more about what happened 150 years ago and now I'm ready for celebrations too! Love, Bussi |
annix Posted Mar 21, 2011, 3:47 pm |
Hi mum,
spring seems to be finally arrived and I love to go to the park for a walk, it's nice to look for the first flowers... Love, Bussi |
annix Posted Mar 22, 2011, 11:22 am |
Hi mum,
today is arrived an envelope and I am so curious to see what it contains... oh, well, it seems to be a TV!!! He says his name is Regit Brown, he's funny, isn't he? |
annix Posted Mar 30, 2011, 9:24 am |
Hi mum,
today the weather is not so good and I think it's going to rain soon, anyway I decided to go for a walk in Milan. This is the Sforzesco Castle, which was built in Medieval times, he's placed in the center of Milan and inside there are a lot of museums (paintings, prehistory, antique furniture, armours and swords and so on). Hope it'll be sunny again soon! Bye |
annix Posted Apr 13, 2011, 1:12 pm |
Hi mum,
yesterday there was a storm but today it's sunny again and I'm visiting this park which is placed in the center of Milan. Also the grass is dried so I can lie down and relax! Bye |
annix Posted Apr 18, 2011, 11:51 am |
Hi mum,
today Regit Brown and I are looking on a map where is Italy and where we are at the moment. Now I know everything about geography! While we were studying a new TV arrived: he's Charlie Mouse and I immediately went to welcome him in Italy! Love, Bussi |
annix Posted Apr 23, 2011, 6:19 pm |
Happy Easter mummy!!! |
annix Posted Apr 26, 2011, 1:38 pm |
Hi mum,
Regit Brown and I have learnt how to prepare a typical Italian pasta! This is the recipe: - weight pasta (spaghetti) and add salt - prepare tomato sauce taking tomatoes, oil, salt, onion, a bit of garlic and pepper - put tomato sauce cooking for a few minutes - put the pasta into a potful of boiling water - drain the pasta and add tomato sauce don't you think I am a very good chef? Love, Bussi |
hanachan Posted May 22, 2011, 3:51 am |
Hi mum,
I arrived in Japan yesterday. Takamatsu-city is the capital of Kagawa which is the smallest prefecture in Japan. Once Osaka was the smallest, but became larger because of the reclamation of the Kansai International Airport The first photo is the one with hanachan. |
hanachan Posted Jun 2, 2011, 7:33 pm |
Hi mum,
Today we drove around Shonai Peninsula in the west part of Kagawa prefecture. The weather was not so nice The small island over there is Tsutajima. Many people come to the island during summer for fishing and swimming. Bussi |
hanachan Posted Jun 12, 2011, 12:19 pm |
Hi, how have you been, mum?
Chinese food is always delicious. I love it! |
hanachan Posted Jun 12, 2011, 5:21 pm |
Green Tea Liquere
This cocktail is beautiful deep green. The dark color is from the essence of “matcha” (powdered green tea), which is used tea ceremony. I tried it with tonic. It was pretty good. Sweet and aromatic. |
hanachan Posted Jul 9, 2011, 6:34 am |
Hi mum
This old plane is YS-11, the first and only commercial aircraft to have been manufactured by a Japanese firm after World War II. This one is exhibited in the park overlooking the airport of Takamatsu. From outside of the runway I looked at the Jet plane landing. (though Kyoko missed the chance for my picture) I will leave for the next place in a few days. See you again, soon! Bussi |
TaisAfinskaia maria.forletters@gmail.com Posted Sep 13, 2011, 7:59 pm |
Hello dear mummy!
I`m in the village with Maria and my new friend Clyde. There are many apples this year and we helped Maria collect small part of them |
TaisAfinskaia maria.forletters@gmail.com Posted Oct 12, 2011, 3:47 am |
Hello mummy!
Many TVs are leaving Maria`s place now and she has more time for me and Mi Go Lat week-end we visited the exhibition of Sponge Bob. There were many children there and it was fun! You`ll have to search me at every photo becaue everything is o bright and I`m so small. |
TaisAfinskaia maria.forletters@gmail.com Posted Oct 30, 2011, 6:35 pm |
Hello dear mummy!
I`m spending my autumn 2011 in Russia and I like this autumn. It is not so cold and sunny. I have many new friends here and we like walking in the forest and having fun together |
TaisAfinskaia maria.forletters@gmail.com Posted Oct 30, 2011, 6:40 pm |
Mummy!
Today we walked in Gorkiy park. It was very popular place during Soviet Union times, then it was forgotten and now government renewed it and it is popular again |
TaisAfinskaia maria.forletters@gmail.com Posted Oct 30, 2011, 6:42 pm |
Today Maria`s husband went to the forest to search for mushrooms and took me with him. I found berries and mushroom! |
TaisAfinskaia maria.forletters@gmail.com Posted Dec 11, 2011, 5:33 pm |
Dear mummy!
Today we were at Kuskovo park. It is not only park, but it was the summer country house and estate of the Sheremetev family. Built in the mid-18th century, it was originally situated several miles to the east of Moscow but now is part of the East District of the city. It was one of the first great summer country estates of the Russian nobility, and one of the few near Moscow still preserved. |
TaisAfinskaia maria.forletters@gmail.com Posted Dec 27, 2011, 9:07 am |
Hello mummy!
Today we finaly decorated Christmas tree at Maria`s flat. And next friday we are going to the country-house to spend New Year holidays there. Did you know that Russian people celebrate Christmas on 7th of January? That`s why New Year is the first winter holiday here. |
TaisAfinskaia maria.forletters@gmail.com Posted Jan 1, 2012, 6:49 pm |
Hello mum!
We are expecting New Year night! We are at Maria`s country-house. We have decorated everything and cooked some party-dinner Happy New Year, mummy! |
TaisAfinskaia maria.forletters@gmail.com Posted Jan 9, 2012, 7:51 pm |
The 1st of January was like winter miracle! Everything was covered with snow! My friends and went to the walk.
And we found special snow-boots named "felt boots"! |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted Apr 17, 2012, 8:29 pm |
Hey Mum,
I finally arrived in Dortmund, Germany today!! I'm so happy to be out of the envelope because it was a quite long journey. Two other TV's, Marawarpina and Brownbeard, welcomed me here After this long journey I needed some time to relax and to have a good time. The good news is that my new host has a pool and a sauna in her house!! That's the best news for me today, it's exactly what I needed. So here I am, spending some time at the pool I played some water polo with the other TV's, it was great fun!! After swimming and kidding around in the pool, I headed to the sauna to take a rest Here you can see Brownbeard (on the left), Marawarpina (on the right) and me Well, I'm really tired now, the last few weeks were quite exhausting and I really need some sleep now. Good night!! Bussi |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted Apr 23, 2012, 7:48 pm |
Hello Mum,
today was a beautiful day Bright sunshine and blue sky. Well, at least most of the time Our crew decided to enjoy the weather in a park in Bochum, called "Harpener Teiche". It's a big park with many ponds. My host told me that the mine drainage water of a nearby mine flows into the Harpener Teiche. The Ruhr Area is popular for its former mining and the mines which are out of service fill up with mine drainage water. This water has to be pumped out because otherwise it would mix up with the groundwater and would make it useless. It's kinda complicated to explain, anyway this process has to be conducted to all eternity. A molehill This is an underpass which leads to an residential area. I know, it doesn't look that nice.. Can you find me? This is one of the inflows of the mine drainage water. I think it looks very nice!! Well yeah, that was my day All in all it was a very nice day and a very welcome change after some rainy days... Kisses, Bussi |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted Apr 26, 2012, 1:06 pm |
Hi Mum,
the weather today is quite strange. It's typical April weather, in one moment there's blue sky and in the other moment there are grey clouds.. Well, I visited the university of my host today, it's called "TU Dortmund". This university exists since 1968 and has 2 campuses. The northern campus is much bigger than the southern campus, but the southern one is more familiar. At the northern campus are the natural sciences, the humane discipline and everything related to music. At the southern campus is the whole constructing stuff, like architecture, spatial planning and civil engineering. We just visited the southern campus today, because my host studies only there. The building on the right is the building of my hosts faculty for spatial planning: The campuses are connected by overhead-tracks, called "H-Bahn" (Hängebahn or Hochbahn). I couldn't take a picture with the H-Bahn but maybe I'll be able to do it another time. But here you can see the tracks: Later this day, we drove back home and passed a lovely field: Alright, there's nothing more to tell about at the moment Read you next time!! Bussi |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted Apr 29, 2012, 12:50 pm |
Hey Mummy!!
Today was a festival in Bochum, called "Maiabend Fest" (May evening festival). It's an old traditional festival which is several hundreds of years old. The background of this festival is that back then - a few hundred years ago - young people cut down a tree in a district in Bochum called "Harpen" and they carried it to the city center. Since this time, this procedure is beeing held every year. There is a big parade every year where the Maischützen (there's no english word for it) walk from Harpen to the city center, drinking lots of alcohol and making music. In the city center is a big festival with many beer stalls, food stands, a medieval market and a stage with live music. It's quite nice Here you can see some people of the parade: Well, due to the fact that it's a big festival there's some police which keep an eye on everything. Here you can see me and the others on a police car The "STOP" is mirror-inverted due to the fact that the car drivers can read it when they look in their rearview mirror when the police is behind them. The policeman turned it on especially for us TV's!! So, besides it was time to say goodbye to Tucker and Lexie. They will leave us today and start their first adventures. Tucker will go to Remscheid (here in Germany) and Lexie will go to Australia. It was kinda sad to say goodbye but maybe I'm gonna see them again one day. Yeah, that's it so far. I hope you have a nice weekend!! Bussi |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted May 3, 2012, 7:53 pm |
Hey there,
today I helped my host to learn for her exam on monday. It's about landscape gardening & urban planning in the different epochs (antiquity, renaissance, baroque etc.) and traffic planning. I helped her to produce a short timeline with the most important facts about the landscape gardening. And this is the result: At evening, a friend of Kate came into her room and gave her a small package. I wondered what it was and couldn't wait to see what's inside. It was a new TV!! His name is Billy and he is from South Africa. He told me and the others about the adventures that he experienced and showed us some pictures. It was very interesting!! Yeah, that was my day. Kate has an important exam on monday so we probably won't spend so much time outdoors until then, but after this exam I'll see more of Bochum and Dortmund. I can't wait!! Lots of Love, Bussi |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted May 5, 2012, 12:14 am |
Hey Mum
I have been in Bochum tonight and I went bowling! It was so much fun!! It's disco-bowling every friday night, that means that there's loud music, it's darker than usual and there's a lightshow. Another cool highlight is: you can win something if there's a bright orange bowling pin in the front row and you bowl a strike then. Before you bowl, you have to take a card out of 5 cards, on each one is a prize written. It doesn't happen that often but my host was one of the lucky ones who actually won something, even though it was just a cocktail It was hard to take good pictures because of the darkness and the fast movements everywhere, but I tried my very best. The bowling balls were very heavy and big!! Yay, that was my night. I hope you have a great weekend!! Lots of Love, Bussi |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted May 9, 2012, 3:16 pm |
Hey Mum!!
The weather was great today so I went for a stroll The park where I was is called "Grummer Teiche". "Grumme" is the district where I live here in Bochum (host's second home). Back in the 12th century, it was called Grumhem, later on it was called Grommen and now it's called Grumme. The waters here in the district were named "Grume", that's why the area was called Grumhem, it means something like "Home of the Grume". There's a park which goes through the whole district - disconnected by some streets - called "Grummer Teiche" (Grummer ponds) with the waters. It's a nice place!! I passed some Egyptian Geese with their chicks and 2 Canada Geese The chicks were so cute!! It was very warm today so I stopped at a drinking fountain Later that day I spent some time at the balcony from where I had a view on a part of the park Well, that's it for now. I'm so looking forward to the weekend!! I'm gonna spend some time in London with my host and a few friends which are hosts as well. I can't wait!! Bye, Bussi |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted May 14, 2012, 5:35 pm |
Hi Mum
My holiday in London started this evening, yaaay!! We are sooo many TV's on this journey.. Well, what else could you think when you hear that there are 4 girls and 3 of them are hosts We are 7 TV's, it's so cool to go on vacation with so many great guys!! The departure was at 08:05 pm but there was a little delay so we flew a little bit later. We were sooo high This is our TV group... The plane was so small that we had to sit on the tray table.. They're all so nice! From left to right: Brownbeard, Billy, me, Marawarpina, two TV's of which I don't know the names at the moment (whoops, I'll tell you later!!) and Leif E As we arrived in London, we headed straight to the hotel and went to bed. It was such a strenuous day!! Good night!! Bussi |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted May 14, 2012, 6:25 pm |
Hello Mum,
today was a great day!! We did some sightseeing and the weather was awesome!! No rain, bright sunshine and it was warm. We started at the "King's Cross" station. There is the platform 9 3/4, maybe you know it from the Harry Potter movies. It's the platform where the ride of the Hogwarts Express starts. Here you can see me in front of the Tower Bridge and the Thames The bridge was built from 1886 til 1894 and it's near the Tower of London. Alright, this is the London City Hall. It's very new and modern, it opened in 2002. Here you can see the Tower of London. It is a historic castle near the Thames. Hahaha, this is such a typical tourist-picture A red telephone box. A guard with his horse.. Here you can see Big Ben, it belongs to the Houses of Parliament. Most people think that it's the name of the tower, but actually it's just the name of the bell of the clock. And finally, this is the Buckingham Palace. It's the residence of the British monarch - The Queen. At evening we went to Wimbledon to see the musical "Starlight Express", it's currently on UK Tour. The show here in London is a bit different to the show in Bochum. The stages in Great Britain are much smaller than in Bochum, so the "races" aren't live but shown on a screen in 3D. Some of the costumes look very different, some choreographies are new and some songs have a different beat or are new or are missing in the show. Most of the performers in London were already a part of the german production, so my host and her friends knew almost everyone who was on stage this evening. And you won't believe what I tell you now... Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber himself was with us in the audience!! Oh my god, exciting times!! Yeah, that was my day here in London. I think I won't take any pictures tomorrow because we just fly back tomorrow. Hugs and kisses, Bussi |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted May 17, 2012, 3:27 pm |
Hello Mum,
I'm sending you many greetings from Bochum. I loved London but it's good to be back in a real home and not just in a hotel room. Well, the weather was quite bad today and it started raining while I was on tour, that's why the photos are a bit dark. Kate showed me the stadium of the VFL Bochum, the local football team. It's currently in the German second league, the team is not really good However, the stadium is called "Rewirpowerstadion". Until 2006 it was called "Ruhrstadion" and most of the fans still call it that name. Afterwards Kate showed me the planetarium here in Bochum. It's called "Zeiss Planetarium Bochum" and it's one of the most modern planetariums worldwide at the moment. I didn't visit more places today because of the heavy rain.. Byebye, Bussi |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted May 21, 2012, 7:30 pm |
Hey Mum!!
The weather today was loooovely!! I spent the whole day outdoors and went to the theatre at evening I met some of Kates friends at the "Halle" at noon. The Halle is the nickname of the theatre of the musical "Starlight Express" that we visited at eve. Well, we met there because all the guys came from different cities and that was the best place to meet. The theatre is near Kate's house so we could walk to the theatre. On our way we passed some road works. After we met Kate's friends at the Halle, we headed to the city centre to go for an ice cream. It was so delicious!! Kate and me shared a kiwifruit sundae. Yummy!!! Well, we spent some hours downtown, ate some pizza later and went back to the theatre afterwards. As I already said, we watched the musical "Starlight Express", composed by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber. It's a musical about the world championship of some trains. Engines from all over the world try to win the championship, the maincharacters are Greaseball - the Diesel engine, Electra - the electric engine and Rusty - the steam engine. Besides it's about finding some self-confidence and the true love. I also watched it in London last weekend, do you remember? But the show in London is kinda different to the show here in Bochum. It will celebrate its 25th anniversary in Germany next year!! It's the musical with the longest repertory season in Germany (it opened in Germany in 1988) and there's a world record for the most visitors to a musical in a single theatre. In London it already opened in 1984, so the musical itself will be about 29 years old next year! That's it for today. I hope you had a great weekend!! Bussi |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted May 21, 2012, 7:38 pm |
Hey there
It is the birthday of my hosts brother today and we will visit him tomorrow. Kate bought a comic book for him and we gift-wrapped it today We needed some wrapping paper, scissors and cellotape to wrap it up At first, I needed to cut the paper to the right size: Afterwards I had to stick the paper: And voilà, this is the result Have a nice weekend!! Bussi |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted May 22, 2012, 3:46 pm |
Heeey Mummy
I went to the city centre of Dortmund today because Kate had to buy some presents for her mums birthday next week. We found some presents at the "Thier-Galerie", it's a new shoppingcenter that opened last year. There's a BVB Fanshop. I guess you know the BVB Borussia Dortmund, it's the local football team which won the german championship this year and last year After spending some time at the shoppingcenter, Kate showed me the opera house of Dortmund. This is the street cattycorner the theatre. Afterwards we headed to Bochum, but I'll tell you more about it in the next Update Hugs and kisses, Bussi |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted May 22, 2012, 3:54 pm |
Alright, same day - different city.
I already told you that we went to Bochum later this day. Kate showed me the "Schauspielhaus Bochum", the local theatre. It's one of the largest and most notable theatres in Germany. Many famous german actors worked there in the past. I don't know if you know any of them, but maybe you could know Peter Lohmeyer, Helge Schneider, Harald Schmidt (a talkshow host) and Herbert Grönemeyer. Then we drove through the car wash. It was quite fun! I love it when the mops pop on the windows I hope you have a nice day!! Bussi |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted May 26, 2012, 1:04 am |
Hey Mummy
Today was already my last day with my host. I enjoyed every minute because I don't know for how long I'll be stuck in my envelope. Well, I spent some time in Datteln today. Datteln is a very small city near Dortmund, it takes about 15 minutes by car from Dortmund to Datteln. You might wonder what I did there.. I went to the KATiELLi-Theatre to see the play "Nächster Stop: New York" (Next Stop: New York). It was very very funny and I laughed so much The theatre is very small, it is a former cinema with one room. There are only 140 seats so everything's very familiar and small. This is the theatre from the outside: And from the inside: This is the program for this month and next month: Afterwards I headed to Bochum to celebrate my last evening with my host. You can read about it in my next update. Love, Bussi |
La_Kate_Boheme Posted May 26, 2012, 1:20 am |
Same day, different city again.
Alright... here it was - my last evening with my host and Billy. It's time for me to continue my journey. My next destination will be Öhringen, I'm quite excited about it And Kate told me that I'm gonna spend some holidays in another country with my new host. Exciting times ahead! Whoop Whoop Well, I drank a big cocktail this evening, called "San Francisco". Don't worry, it was without alcohol When I was at home again, I finally said goodbye to Billy. He's a great guy, I hope I can meet him again some day. Afterwards I crawled into the envelope... Ouch! This position was quite uncomfortable, so I needed to turn around. Aah, much better!! I can't wait to meet my new host!! Best wishes, Bussi |
Zandy Posted Jun 9, 2012, 11:32 pm |
Hello mummy!
Sorry, that I didn't wrote earlier, but Zandy was really busy before the holidays and so I we couldn't take pictures. But now I'll write you before we will go to Tenerife. I can't belive, that I will go there. So cool! First I checked the sunglasses, if there are ok. Than we all - that are: Meav, Hessen-Leo, Ayana and I - checked the card of Tenerife which we will take with us. We study it and also the book about Tenerife. The place we will stay is called Playa de las Americas. Than we packed the luggage. Look here we are ready. And at least we all jumped into Zandys backpack. But she smiled and sayd that this is to early, this night we will sleep at home and in the morning we will fly. But we all decided that it is better to sleep in the backpack, so that she can't forget us. Good night! We will see us in 14 days. Bussi |
Zandy Posted Jul 12, 2012, 9:47 pm |
Hello mummy,
like you allready knew: We lost the SD-Card with all our TVpictures But Zandy allowed me to take her "private" pictures to show you what I see. Of course without myself at the picture, but I will show you all the fantastic things. And at the end, you will see some pictures and videos with me, because there we had another card (this one with we had to put into the cam, because the other one was full. In out last hour in Tenerife. ) But ok, it happens and we can't change it. But we can keep the nice things we saw in our mind. We flight from Frankfurt. Here you can see our airplane which reflect in an bulding. And here we are over Frankfurt. What a nice view! An here, look how great it is over the clouds. We sang the song "Über den Wolken" together. It was funny! So this are the first pictures. More will come soon after prepairing them for uploading. Yours, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Oct 22, 2012, 11:10 am |
Mommy! Mooooommmyyy!! MOMMY!!!!
Something wonderful happened! I arrived to Finland! I'm so happy to get to know this new country, but in the same time I'm really exited. But take a look at the first picture, mom. I already met so many other toys, that I'm sure I'm going to enjoy my time here. These all toys are my new friends now!!! And here is TV Kurnau-cat, hostmom's own toy, who will be my host, too. He promised to me, that he will try his best to make my visit enjoyable. I'm fine, so don't be worry about me. I will tell you everything, what I do and experience here. Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Oct 22, 2012, 11:52 am |
Hi mommy!
Today I visited to see the oldest building of Jyväskylä. The building called as Taavettilan riihi, which is in English the drying barn of Taavettila. The building has buildt somewhere in 1700's, the exact year is unknown. First, building used as a drying barn, but somewhere in 1800's it became usual barn/cabin and it got windows then. In 1900's the building started to be a cabin museum. Jyväskylän vanhin rakennus = the oldest building of Jyväskylä Riihi muutettu tuvaksi 1800-luvun alussa = a drying barn has turn to be a cabin in the beginning of 1800's Jyväskylän yliopisto = University of Jyväskylä Rakennus 3 = Building 3 The door was closed. I tried to open it, but it was locked. Because we didn't have a chance to go in, we decided to look through the window... Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Oct 26, 2012, 8:07 pm |
Hei! Hello!
Guess what? Something white thing has came here. It's all over outside. It's cold, white, and it's covering everything!!! YES!!! It's the first snow!!! Winter is just around the corner... Temperature has been about -3 degrees Celcius the hole day. Brrrrr... snow is so cold! All others came to sit on the snow, too. Brrrrrrr... Ooooops! What just happened?!? Some snow fall on us! Hih... it was only fun! Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Nov 3, 2012, 9:13 pm |
Hei! Hello!
Kurnau told me, that we all toys can travel with hostmom, when she will visit her parents in other side of Finland in this weekend. I was totally exited about it. It's so cool to see other placed in Finland, too. Kurnau showed me the map. Can you see the spots A and B in the map? Yes, that's our travel plan, it's about 320 kilometres. We are going to little village called Ilomantsi. It's in the Northern Karelia in Finland. After sitting 4 hours in the car, I was tired and I wanted to relax. So, I experienced one Finnish thing, how to relax and take a bath at the same time: I went to sauna!!! And guess what? I met saunatonttu (=the elf of sauna) there!!! This room, sauna, is a hot place. Saunas are very common in Finland (maybe because the cold and long winter seasons?!?). Finns go to sauna to wash themselves, but also to relax. They throw some water to the kiuas (it's like the "oven", and there are some stones on it), and this hot kiuas makes the hole room so warm place to be. AAAaaaaahh, I'm sooooo relaxed now!!! Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Nov 3, 2012, 9:16 pm |
Hi!
Unfortunately, the weather is awful here... it's raining a lot... So, there's no sightseeing here today... But, the bad weather is not the problem for us! We can do many fun things inside, too. At first, I want to show you the coat of arms of Ilomantsi. It looks like this: And because there's three kanteles (kantele = it's one kind of instrument) in the picture of the coat of arms, I wanted to play this instrument. And happily I can say, that I did it. I played kantele. Kantele is the national instrument of Finland, and especially in Karelia. Others played it, too. And then, we found this marvellous little building! Wow! Hi hiiiiii!!!!! Here I am! And then, I saw something, what I first couldn't believe... Look yourself! Is it cool? So many medals and pokals etc!!! ...Hih, and I'm there somewhere, too. Can you find me? Well, can you see me now? Great! You found me!!! Well done! Oh, one more photo for today... I'm dreaming: "...and the winner is....... BUSSI!!!" Hurray!!! It was fun day! Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Nov 3, 2012, 9:19 pm |
Hello!
It's last day of our visit in Ilomantsi, and the weather is still bad... Well, because outside is terrible, we decided to make nice inside this house. Yes, we are going to bake some cookies! First need to use kaulin (= a rolling pin). Then it's time to make cookies. I made bunny shaped cookies. Kurnau helped. He put the cookies to the cookie sheet. Mmmmmm... it smells so good already! Cookies are ready! Yummy!!! Now it's time to enjoy! Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Nov 5, 2012, 8:34 pm |
Hi!
I read today's local newspaper named Keskisuomalainen today. Finnish is nice language, but very difficult to learn. But my hostmommy helped me to read the newspaper. Here's the front page: There was a big article about what happened last Saturday in Jyväskylä. A huge amount of water were wasted, because the watertower crashed down suddenly. Many people had to be some times without running water in their homes. The article tried to tell what really had happened. This was one big news here. (it was lucky, that I was in Ilomantsi last weekend). And then there was some advertisements. Hi hii, these speaking bubbles look so funny, don't you think so? Well... Ice hockey (jääkiekko in Finnish) is very popular sport in Finland. And offcourse there's at least one article of it in the newspaper. I liked reading comics. They were so funny! And offcourse I watched very carefully the weather forecast. It looks quite nice. Maybe we could go outside in the next following days... Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Nov 15, 2012, 7:31 pm |
Hello!
Today I had a nice day. Hostmommy took me with her to visit in wonderful place, where is selling lots of nice postcards and other nice things. The shop's name is Harjun Paperi. Hostmommy told me, that today there's a postcrossing meeting, and we are going there. Look! Isn't this place wonderful? There's lots of nice postcards... ...many beautiful Christmas calenders... ...and some stuffed animals... (in this picture there's also another TV: Batty the bat) And then was time to start the postcrossing meeting. It was really fun to meet other nice people there, and write postcards. And offcourse we had many nice snacks to eat, and tea or coffee to drink. Hey, do you want to taste this? Many greetings from the postcrossing meeting! Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Nov 15, 2012, 8:00 pm |
Hello!
Now I want to introduce hostmommy's cat, who name is Jeppe. He is 2 years old, and so typical cat. He likes to sleep a lot. He is very kind, so you don't have to be worry about me at all. Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Nov 16, 2012, 4:17 pm |
Hei! Hello!
Today was nice weather outside, so I went there for little walk and to have some fresh air. I went to place called Harju (Jyväskylä Ridge). It's like a hill just next to city center. As you can see from the pictures, there's not snow anymore. All snow has melted away. Well, it's not a surprise, because it was the first snow. These stone stairs of Harju is very long... There's city center down there. This building is called Vesilinna. It's located in Harju. And there's the viewing tower in the building, too. I'm going there. Look, so nice views!!! Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Nov 25, 2012, 7:16 pm |
Hello!
Today I helped hostmommy to write some Christmas cards. It was really fun! I'm sooooo exited, because Christmas is coming closer and closer every day!!! Very soon I can experience Christmas in Finland, the homecountry of Santa Claus!!! Oh, do you thing I could meet Santa himself here?!? Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Nov 28, 2012, 8:16 pm |
Hello!
I was walking outside today, because it was really nice weather (-4 degrees Celcius, snowing very light). BUT, there was quite dark already outside, even thought it was only afternoon! Hostmommy told me about kaamos (the Polar night). It's the time of the year when the sun doesn't rise at all within few months!!! Can you believe it, the sun is completely below the horizon so long time in Lapland in winter? Luckily, this happens only Lapland, inside the polar circles. But the effects can be seen here in Central Finland, too. In winter light-time during days are only some hours per day, and the most of time is dark... Look!!! There's some kids playing ice hockey! Ice hockey (jääkiekko in Finnish) is very popular hobby in Finland. Very very popular! Then I continued walking, and I arrived in Harju. I have been in Harju earlier, too, but not in dark time. Look, there's so beautiful lights there! And here is the long stone steps of Harju Ridge. There's city center down there. I think this tree looks little spooky and scary!!! BOOOO!!! hihi And here are we all toys (little Sunny, Kurnau, Nyankororin, me and Phog). We are very near of the city center. Then I saw something really nice! A Christmas tree!!! Oooooh, it's so big! But really beautiful with all those lights and a star Now I'm in the city center. I'm going to see some Christmas lights... Beautiful! This big star is the most beautiful Christmas light I have seen here! Look, there's also a star on the ground... or it looks like a star. Hostmommy told me, that “the star” on the ground is a big compass!!! Yeah, when I looked it more carefully, I saw there's a biggest arrow to show the North. Cool! I saw many interesting things today. Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Dec 2, 2012, 2:52 pm |
Hello!
Today is the first day of December. It was time to start opening the Christmas/advent calender. It's so fun! Today's picture looks like this: Every day in this month we toys can see a new picture in this calender. How exiting!!! Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Dec 2, 2012, 3:22 pm |
Hello!
I want to show you the view through the hostmommy's window. Just take a look at photos... It has been snowing here the hole day! And as you can see, there's already lots of snow outside. Hostmommy promised, that tomorrow I can go out and play with snow! Great!!! Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Dec 3, 2012, 2:32 pm |
Hello mommy!
Brrrrrrr... Today was really cold day: -21 degrees Celcius!!! I went outside with other toys (Kurnau, little Sunny, Nyankororin, Phog, Misslucy). My plan was go there to play with the snow, but I couldn't be there long time, only some minutes. It was freezing! But mommy, the cold weather makes the nature looks so beautiful! Well, you will underestand what I mean when you look the pictures. Enjoy! Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Dec 6, 2012, 9:49 pm |
Hello!
Today is the independence day of Finland. It's a national public holiday held on 6th December to celebrate Finland's declaration of independence from Soviet Russia. Finland's independence started in 1917. Now I'm going to show you how we celebrate this day. Look the pictures! I went outside and hold the flag of Finland. Others were there, too. And then we decided to bake cookies. Yummy! We made cookies with the shape of Finland. MMmmmmmmm.... they smell already so good!!! After cookies came out off the owen, it's time to put jam between two cookies... ...and then we decorated cookies with the colours of Finland: blue and white. Yummy! Now the cookies are ready to eat!!! In the evening, we watched the TV show about the Presidential Independence Day Reception from the Presidential Palace. This event is Linnanjuhlat in Finnish. Famous or well-known Finns are there, dance, small talk, little snacks...etc. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, FINLAND! HYVÄÄ ITSENÄISYYSPÄIVÄÄ, SUOMI! Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Dec 22, 2012, 8:21 pm |
Hello mommy!
It's 12th December today. Hih, it's so funny date: 12.12.12 I started my day with advent calendar. Hmmm... where is number 12? Oooo, there it is! I found it! Today's picture looks like this: Look, mommy! There's the funny date again in the local newspaper! Look, there's the headline about 12.12.12 date! It says that someone has 12th birthday in 12.12.12. That must be so fun! Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Dec 22, 2012, 8:22 pm |
Hi mommy!
I was walking outside today. And I found such a beautiful place!!! Soooooo beautiful place! It's the river of Tourujoki, and the river goes through the Jyväskylä city. Mommy, do you like this view, too? Isn't it magical? Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Dec 28, 2012, 6:49 pm |
Hello!
Look, I saw Santa Claus and his elfs preparing the Christmas!!! Now I'm really looking forward to Christmas... Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Dec 28, 2012, 6:51 pm |
Hello!
We are going to visit hosmommy's parents to the Eastern Finland, and we are going to spend Christmas there. How fun!!! Look the views outside! So snowy! Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Dec 28, 2012, 6:57 pm |
Hello!
Today is very exiting day: Jouluaatto (Christmas Eve). We did some piparkakku (Christmas cookies). And then we decorated the joulukuusi (Christmas tree). Hihii, this Christmas tree is outside We went to joulusauna (Christmas sauna). And then we eat jouluruoka (Christmas food). There's for example ham, chicken, fish, different kinds of casserole, Karelian pies, cheece etc. Yummy! And in the evening we went to joulukirkko (Christmas Church). Then we eat joulupuuro (Christmas porridge). It's rice porridge, and we eat it with socker, cinnamon and milk. And very exiting thing is that there's one almond hidden in the porridge, and the person who got the almond to his plate, this person will have good luck the hole next year. (it's one kind of myth or magic thing... ) ...and we eat also some Finnish Christmas desserts: joulutorttu (sweet tart made by puff paste and plum jam on it) and piparkakku (Christmas cookies). And guess what??? Then I really met the joulupukki (Santa Claus)!!!! It was really awesome day! I'm really lucky to was able to spend Christmas in the homecountry of Santa Claus! I hope you have had a great Christmas, too! Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Dec 28, 2012, 7:01 pm |
Hello!
I think this lantern is nice, and it has Christmas feelings in it. I had little walking this evening. It's already quite dark. I went to see the Orthodox Church of Ilomantsi. It has buildt in 1892. Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Dec 28, 2012, 7:06 pm |
Hello!
Today I was walking outside again. Now I want to show you some places of Ilomantsi. Ilomantsi is nice small village in the very Eastern Finland. This building is the City Hall of Ilomantsi. This is the main street, and there's almost all shops and groceries. I like those red street lambs. It was -17 degrees Celcius today. This is "the water tower" of Ilomantsi. I don't know, what is the current English word for it. Look this beautiful view! Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Dec 28, 2012, 7:08 pm |
Hello!
Today I want to show you the City Hall of Jyväskylä. It has buildt in 1899. On the wall of the building, there's the coat of arms of Jyväskylä. Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Jan 4, 2013, 8:47 pm |
Hello!
Here you can see me in front of the Church of Jyväskylä. This church has buildt in 1880, and the architect was L. I. Lindqvist. The building material is red brick, and it was the first stone church in Central Finland. Love, Bussi |
mmm105 Posted Jan 9, 2013, 9:35 pm |
Hello!
Today was my time to say goodbye to all my toy friends here. I'm going to travel to my next host. I'm going to miss my friends here, but maybe we see each other somewhere in the World someday... Before crowling into my envelope, I ate a cupcake. Now I won't be hungry while travelling. Hmmm... it's good! I had nice time in Finland. Love, Bussi P.S: Watch out, Germany, I'm coming!!! |
Susie's Posted Jan 16, 2013, 8:32 pm |
Hi Mommy,
it's me Bussi! Since today I am with my new host Susie's. As soon as I got there I crawled out of my envelope and gave my new host all the presents I brought. I got told to say thank you and send out a biiiiig hug to mmm105 from finland. After I arrived I did things voyagers do after traveling for a long time. I ate something, I introduced myself to the other Toyvoyagers (there is _Lilly_ she is a guest too and Betty Bear she was activated as a TV just last weekend), I refreshed myself by taking a bath and went to bed early. Good Night Mommy! I love you |
Susie's Posted Jan 19, 2013, 6:31 pm |
Good evening Mommy,
this morning I finally had the chance to discover my new host's home. You can see pictures of me in the living room, the hallway, the kitchen, the bed room, the bath room and the storage room. Later that day I helped Susie's making a cake. First we fixed the dough and baked it. After it cooled down we added (canned)tangerines and curd mixed with whipped cream. At the end we decorated the cake with some tangerines and crumbs from the baked cake. It looks very yummy. (We couldn't try it yet, because it still has to be cooled to set) Love you Bussi |
Susie's Posted Jan 20, 2013, 4:49 pm |
Hallo Mummy,
how are you? How was your weekend? this morning Susie's showed us a bit of her hometown. We walked along the river Main (the blue ferry you can see is not in service sundays ) and spent some time at even two playgrounds. On the way home we got to see lots of half-timber houses (some of them older some newer). Love you Bussi |
Susie's Posted Jan 21, 2013, 7:36 pm |
When we got up this morning we found out that it had snowed all night. What better to do that take advantage of it?
And here we got outside.Betty Bear, _Lilly_ and me played in the snow and even build a snowman. His name is Berthold. In the afternoon we said goodbye to our friend Betty Bear because she started her journey today. She is going to Barcelona/ Spain. What a great place for a very first journey. Love Bussi |
Susie's Posted Jan 27, 2013, 7:18 pm |
Hello my dear Mum,
how are you? I'm doing pretty good. Just a bit tired because Susie's made us get up pretty early this morning (too early for a sunday morning ). But therefor she took _Lilly_ and me out to Frankfurt/Main. We enjoyed a pretty good breakfast (pancakes, fruits, cereals, eggs and much more). When we were done with breakfast we didn't feel like going home yet. So hostmum made the spontaneous decision to go and visit the airport. On the way there we made a short stop over at the so called Commerzbank Areana. Which is a soccor and event stadium (it has a capacity of 55.000 people). Today there was no event or anything going on so we couldn't get very close. Once we reached the airport Susie's made another spontaneous decision and took us on a bustour to the airport forefield. We got sooooooo close to some of the planes. And even stopped right behind a A380 (which is the world largest passenger plane). Wow this thing is huge! Very impressive. And that was another great experience for me. Goodbye Mom I Love you |
Susie's Posted Jan 31, 2013, 8:52 pm |
Hi Mom,
yesterday evening hostmum took us out for dinner. We had Köttbular at a swedish furniture store. After eating we strolled around the store for quite a bit. Love ya Bussi |
Susie's Posted Feb 3, 2013, 8:48 pm |
Good evening Mommy,
as every weekend we went out again. First we had lunch at an asian restaurant with a special kind of all you can eat. You can order 6 times up to 5 different dishes. You just get small plates but that is surely enough. We ordered 3 times and were so full after that, that we had to roll out of the restaurant. In the late afternoon we drove to the theater and wachted the movie Flight with Dancel Washington. It was so long that it was already dark by the time we got out again. And now it's time to go to bed for little TV's. Good night mom. Love you |
Susie's Posted Feb 9, 2013, 4:47 pm |
Helau Mom,
today is Fasching (also called Fasnacht or Karneval) and everyone around here shouts out "Helau". Fasching is the traditional german costum fest. People start preparing for it in november, that is so long the "Faschingszeit" is even called the 5th season. The peak of it is around six weeks before easter. In lots of towns are even Faschingsparades going on. At the parades there are lots of free giveaways (usually lots of sweets). People put on there costumes, go out to the streets and sing and dance and make music and just have fun. Since hostmum had no time to buy or make costumes for us. Lilly and me got creative and decorated ourselfs with stickers and ribbions. And then went out to se the local Faschingsparade and collected tons of sweets. That was a very very fun day. Helau Helau Helau |
Susie's Posted Feb 15, 2013, 7:43 am |
Good morning Mummy,
yesterday I had to say goodbye to my new friend _Lilly_. She is now on the way back home to be with her mom again. But Susie's promised me that I won't be the only TV at her house for to long. A new TV will arrive soon. Hugs and Kisses Bussi |
Susie's Posted Feb 16, 2013, 7:26 pm |
Hey Mommy,
yesterday the new toyvoyager arrived. It's Fimbo_Fimble . After work Susie's introduced us. Togehter we hopped on a subway to downtown Frankfurt and started a sightseeing tour at the place called Römer which is a very famous sight. In the 14th century this was the place were the emperors and kings were elected. Today it is the city hall. From there we continued our tour to the roof terrace of a department store with a really great view at the illumnated skyline. Veeeeeeeery nice. At the end we got to see the building of the old opera. It was first opend in 1880, was almost completely destroyed in world war II but luckily was rebuild and then was re-opened in 1981. Later that evening we got to host's home where I showed F_F the place where we are staying. That was a pretty interesting day. Bye Mom. Love you |
Susie's Posted Feb 17, 2013, 5:07 pm |
Hallo Mama,
even if the weather wasn't the best, hostmum wanted to go for a walk. We choose the park of the baroguecastle Phillipsruh for our walk. It's right by the river Main. The building work for it started in 1701. Initiated by Lord Philipp Reinhard von Hanau. Hope you had a nice weekend too. Kussi yours Bussi PS it wasn't me! |
Susie's Posted Feb 22, 2013, 5:54 am |
Good Morning mum,
just a quick and short update. Yesterday morning there was pretty unusual. The sun was shining but it snowed at the same time.... Have a nice day |
Susie's Posted Feb 23, 2013, 6:03 pm |
Man, we were busy today!
In the morning we visited Susie's Mom. There we met two cute little fellows. After that we got gas for host mum's car and then bought groceries. Back at home we helped to vacuum, do laundry, clean the dishes, mop the floor and to make a cake. Somewhen in between we even took out the trash. Puh, and now I'm exhausted. Buuuuuut hostmum promised that the cake will be all ours. (unfortunately the bottom broke of when we took the cake ou of the baking pan. But oh well). Love yours Bussi |
Susie's Posted Feb 24, 2013, 5:05 pm |
Hey Mom,
hostmum had a surprise for us today. Since we helped her so much yesterday, she took us to Frankfurt (by train) to see a very special place. We went to the Zooooooooooooo. There were so any animals. Penguins, a Tiger, a Lion, Monkeys, Birds, fishes and lots more (there are a whole bunch of animals I can't even name). That was so cool! I send you a big hug. |
Susie's Posted Mar 3, 2013, 9:00 am |
Hey Mom,
yesterday morning I said goodbye to my friend Fimbo_Fimble and to Hostmum Susie's. Now I'm on my way back home to be with you sooooooooooon. Can't wait to see you again. Love Bussi |
Hummel Posted May 3, 2013, 11:34 am |
Hello friends,
I am home again with my brothers and sisters. It is great to be here again - my Mum has a nice orchid in her house. And I talked to a new guy living on our balcony. many greetings Bussi |