Travelog for: Yuma

Happy new year, mummy!!!
We had a wonderful New Year's Eve party. First we watched TV: "Dinner for one", this old and very funny sketch is sent every last day of the year on many TV channels. Oh, what a joke!
Then we had a very yummy dinner: Raclette. Mmmmhh!
After that hostparents and their friends made strange things, in German it is called "Bleigießen": In former times some lead was melted, now you use tin. They melted the tin and poured it into water. A curious thing came into being and everybody guessed what it showed (an anchor for example) and looked up in a book what it means to the future...I have to admit me and my friends couldn't identify anything...
At midnight we all went out and watched many fantastic fireworks all around. Lille, Knirrie, Konsta and me had a very big sparkler together and each of us a little one.
Back in the house a very old little bear gave us a lucky four-leaf clover.
And of course we drank sparkling wine and sat together up to the morning...
Best wishes, yours Yuma

Dear mum,
today afternoon I escorted hostmum to work. We drove to Paderborn city by bus.
Hostmum works as a social worker in an old people's home. I got to know "Mr. Adviser", the seagull, and Greta the doll. They told me about their life and jobs, very interesting. After that we made music with the old people and I helped hostmum playing the guitar    And imagine, mummy, suddenly Charly Chaplin stood there in front of me!
And look, what I wrote for you!
All the best, yours Yuma

Dear mummy,
hostmum had to go to hospital for one week and Lille went with her. So Knirrie, Konsta and me stayed at home and helped hostdad running the household: we cooked, washed up and made some food for the old dog ladies. And of course we had enough time to amuse ourselves: playing the piano, making sudoku, discussing about the television program, watching TV and dancing with Ulf, the disco-elk. So we weren't bored, but nevertheless we were glad when hostmum and Lille came back home...
all the best, yours Yuma

Dear mummy,
today afternoon I'll travel to my next host  . So it's time to say goodbye to my new friends  , especially to Knirrie, Konsta and Lille...it was a very nice time and I'll never forget you!
I'll travel to the Netherlands and I hope I don't have to sit in the cold envelope for a long time...
See you soon, mummy,
yours Yuma

Hi mummy!!
Oh, it is warm here. After a few days of traveling I finally arrived at my new hostdad. The postman was so kind that he delivered me at the door instead of leaving me in the cold mailbox.


Finally a moment to sit up, instead of being cramped in that envelope. Wait, I almost forgot, I brought something with me!


Now that's nice, surprise!! When I was in Germany me and my host bought this beautiful postcard and some sweets to surprise my new host.


Oh look! There are some others here to greet me. They told me that their friend Ginny is also a tv and she is on her first trip right now. They really miss her but they are very happy to be my friends!



Here I am looking at a google maps picture of Terschelling. That is one of the 5 Dutch islands. Me and hostdad will be visiting this island next week from friday to sunday.


Boy, it really is wintertime everywhere. Over here there is also lots and lots of snow and wouldn't you know it. I just got warmed up and now my bum is in the cold snow. But I'm a moose so I can take it.


Guess what I am making here?


It's a snowmooseangel!! It's a little hard to see because it's getting dark but I did my best.


Me and my hostdad did some shopping together. Here you see a box of sugercoated peanuts, I can't wait to taste them.


I invited my new friends to join me, because I wanted to share my sugarpeanuts with them.


We all had a long nap this evening, and we woke up and had a cup of tea. After that two of my new friends and I and hostdad decided to watch a movie. It is called 'Johnny English reborn'. After that we will go to sleep.

Love, Yuma.

Hi mummy.

Here I am on the boat to Terschelling. It is raining outside but it's warm and dry inside.


It is very quiet here on the boat, not many people go to the islands in february. I got this seat, I feel a little bit like a rodeo moose now.


We arrived safely on Terschelling, and just when we left the boat the sun drove the rain away. We went to a supermarket and there hostdad told me I could choose something nice to eat.
I chose these grapes. They look very nice and they taste even better!


This is a picture of the the village where we got of the boat, it is named West-Terschelling,
but the people who visit here often and those who live here simply call it West.
The lighthouse you see here is made completely out of brick, and it is named Brandaris. There is also a tobacco brand that is named after the lighthouse.


Here you see a satellite image of the Netherlands, Terschelling is where the hand is pointing to. As you can see the clouds have gone to the east, so I think I can finally see a sunset on a beach. I hope hostdad will hold me tight in his hands because the wind is blowing hard today.


I did it! I saw a sunset on a beach today! The wind was blowing really really hard but it wasn't very cold.
The sun went down behind the dunes, and I was on the beach. It was so beautiful!!


I think I suddenly had a bright idea


On the right of this picture you can see the sand being blown over the beach by the wind. Thank goodness it stayed very low to the ground, because I don't want to get sand in my nose! I would rather be in the snow.


That's it for today, mummy. I really miss you but I am having a great time and hostdad is really taking good care of me.
Love you,

Yuma.

Hi mom!!!

It has been a long time, but I hope you have not forgotten me, I sure have not forgotten you! I miss you very much.

Hostdad has been very ill, he has been in hospital for months and he had to fight a fever caused by infections. The fever almost lasted 3 months in a row!
I have visited hostdad a few times, and when I was not visiting him, I was at his house, and I had a great spring and summer.
I had lots of fun with his tv's, we are very good friends, and I will miss them very much, and they will miss me also.
But hostdad is back home now and he promised to send me home next tuesday.

So I'm coming home, I was so happy I actually had to cry a little bit. Because I like it here very much, but I would love to be home again.
This is me, at the window, waiting for hostdad to come home from the hospital.

See you soon!!!

It's travel day!! I'm off to Switzerland, I'm coming home!!

Here is the envelope that hostdad got for me to travel in, it's very roomy, that's awesome!! There are a few surprises in there, but I am not going to tell you what they are, you have to see for yourself, but I will not be bored during the trip, that much I can tell you.


Saying goodbye is never fun to do, and when you have stayed somewhere for such a long time, it's even harder. We gave each other a big hug!


Here I go, inside, saying my final goodbye. See you soon, mummy.

Bye hostdad, bye friends!!

Hello,
I'm back home. After many adventures, I make a stopover to see my mom again. And I come with a surprise.





My best friends accompany me.



We have been through so much together that Stefan did not want to separate.



Now mom has company when I go traveling again.
The welcome was great. Lots of hugs











- and kisses from mom.
I'm happy to be back home.
Now we will get together - there is much to tell.



Yuma

Hello,
Sunday morning and it's still raining - or again? We do not know.
Well that Mom has found something interesting that does not require good weather.
So we went to Stein in Appenzell and visited a show dairy.
Here we could see how the famous Appenzeller cheese is made.
You know it surely from advertising: the one with the herbal brine.
A cutting-edge facility that is operated by one person, processed thousands of liters of milk into cheese.









Then, we let us explain the care and ripening of cheese.

















Very interesting.
And then - a cheese lover's paradise.





Approx. 15,000 cheeses are stored here.



Slowly but surely we were hungry.
Unfortunately, this was not for us.



Then mom found a place for us and we enjoyed cheese and other delicacies.





Still hungry
Yuma

Hi,
Today mom baked a cake for us.









She hopes that improves our mood, which has reached a low point after another week of continuous rain.





The aroma was fantastic and we could not wait to try a piece.







Stuffed full and satisfied I discovered even a little blue sky and a ray of sunshine.



There is hope.
yours, Yuma

Hello,
Mom had a lot to do yesterday. Because the weather was so beautiful we have connected the "Must" with the "Allow". So we strolled in Wattwil - the center of the Thur Valley - along the Thur.
Far away we saw the monastery of St. Mary of the Angels. (The small white houses above the center of the bridge)



On the other side of the river stands the high school. My human brother learned here before he studied chemistry in Zurich.





Because the Thur valley is so narrow, most residential areas are built on slopes.



This bridge - a pedestrian bridge - is one of many that cross the Thur.
Wattwil alone has seven bridges.



The redesigned train station place. Among them a parking garage was built.



The Post Bridge - built in 1909.



This futuristic structure is the steeple of the Protestant church.



The view from the Post Bridge



So we had circled the center of Wattwil.
Now came the "must". We ran to the bank, the post office and the supermarket.
Go for a walk was funnier.

Hugs
Yuma

Hi,
today I welcomed a new guest. A cute little girlie horse named Hanne Hü.
First time I saw her, she was still asleep.



Later we sat together in our livingroom and talked a lot.







She's very nice, I like her.
Yuma

Hi there,
Today I showed my friends Rascal the Tiger and Spotty the giraffe the surrounding area.







We went to the river Thur and playing on the shore with stones.







The view from the bridge.



In the forest, on the way to the waterfall.







Here we are sitting on a huge rock.



The waterfall.



A little break.





At the grass nests in the tree, you can sense how high the water was, during the last flood.



It was nice to see all this again, but I'm looking forward to my next trip.
I will visit Wokie in Finland. Only a few days left until departure.

Yuma

Hello,
This morning Lilo helped me to create a card.

















For my new host.



Tomorrow I will continue my journey. My path leads me to Finland. I'm curious what to expect in the far north.

Bye and see you soon
Yuma