Travelog for: Jadzia Tam

Hello!  My name is Jadzia Tam and I live in Miami, Florida.  I am so happy to be apart of Toy Voyagers and I hope I will find someone that will help me travel the world!

I have found some hosts!  Here is my itinerary:

1. Puny&Bumblebee - Nebraska, USA
2. Charda - Netherlands
3. MrsC - South Africa
4. Olgamaus - Germany
6. magicwoman - Netherlands

I went to downtown Miami today with Decker, Jimbo Elephant, and Ossa.

We stopped at Bayfront Park and I saw lots of big buildings:


And a statue of Christopher Columbus:


And I enjoyed the sunshine and the view with my friends:

Tonight I wanted to try out a recipe called Picadillo and rice.  I found a recipe online for Cuban-style Picadillo, but it was for 6 people, and I only wanted to make enough for 2 people.  Plus, I didn't have all the ingredients for that recipe, so I asked my host how she makes it.  Here is the recipe she gave me:

10 oz. lean ground beef
3 oz.  chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
20 green olives with pimentos, sliced
2 oz. raisins
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Preparation:
Spray pan with oil or use olive oil and sauté onions and garlic on medium-high heat for  2-3 minutes.  Add ground beef and sauté until beef is cooked (about 5 minutes).  Add remaining ingredients and cook for about 8 more minutes.  Serve picadillo over white rice.  For the rice, I followed the directions on the bag of rice, but my host told me to also add a small bay leaf to the rice while it is cooking, then remove it when rice is done.

I also had a mixed salad which came in a package with blue cheese salad dressing.  The meal was delicious!

I found a quick and easy recipe for peanut butter cookies that I would like to share with you.  Since my Mommy is trying to watch her weight, I came up with this recipe:

1 cup reduced fat peanut butter
1 cup Splenda
1 whole egg


Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl until well blended.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Press each cookie with a fork (this adds a pretty design to cookies).

Bake at 350°F for about 12-15 minutes until golden brown at the bottom.  Immediately remove cookies from cookie sheet and let cool on a paper towel.

Makes about 12 cookies.  Serve cookies with a glass of milk.

If you are not watching your weight, you can use regular peanut butter, and sugar instead of Splenda.

I am on my way to Nebraska!  I wonder what it's like there? I'm sure it will be nice!  Anyway, I am on USPS.com Flight # 0306 3030 0002 2803 2558.

Hi everyone!!!!  I made it to Nebraska!!!!  I met Skrappy!!!  We went to Norfolk today, so Skrappy and I got to talk...A LOT.  He says we are going to rescue at least 6 tv's today!  YAY!!  After they get a bath, we will meet.  Just wanted to let ya know that I made it safely here.  Lookin' forward to havin' LOTS of fun here!

Hello there!!  Here are the new tv's that Puny/+/Bumblebee rescued today!  They are wanting to have people here help name all these.  The one on the far left of the pic is Skrappy.  All the other ones need names.  Well, all except me, and I am in the middle. LOL.  If you would like to help name these rescued tv's, then please pm my hosts.  Here is a table of sorts to help you with placement of them.
Beginning on the far left:
1. This is Skrappy, and he does not need a new name.
2. The goldfish will be named Small Fry.  Thanks Threadbear!!
3. The bear with the "H" on the sweater- nevermind...going to Threadbear
4. The pink little bear in front of me - nevermind...going to Threadbear
5. The rat will be named Fester -  Thanks olgamaus
6. The bear with NCU on the front of the sweater - nevermind, going to Threadbear
7. The giraffe
I sure hope this update makes sense......it sure is fun here!!!

I am still here!!!  We just got back from one **AMAZING** trip!  I have pictures!!!  I am about to take a wee nap, then I will be back soon to update y'all on my most recent adventures!!!  Hang onto your seat...it's gonna be W~I~L~D!!!!

Ok, so I arrived here in Nebraska. My oh my, was I ever glad to get out of that cardboard box! I had no idea that Melissa, the girl who opened the box, would hug and squeeze me so much! It was really quite good timing she said, as she and her fiancé, (is that an Italian sports car?), were driving to a town in Northeast Nebraska called Norfolk. There we rescued some more fellow future Toy Voyagers.

Me getting hugged

But I digress. First we had a car ride. Everything is pretty far away from where these people live, so they spend a lot of time in their cars. I heard a lot of grumbling about the price of gasoline from the humans, but mainly I met one of my new bestestest friends, Desi. He lives on the dashboard. He and I watched the rain and the windshield wiper go back and forth almost all of the way there.

Me with Desi

Desi says he feels sleepy a lot of the time, as it is hypnotizing to watch the windshield wiper all day. I must admit, after my time in the cardboard box, I nodded off for a few minutes.

feeling sleeeeeepy

Melissa likes to read books a lot, and I told her about how I love collecting recipes. She said she likes the romance books, and there aren’t many recipes in them. But at the next library we go to, she will help me find the recipe book section. Then Desi told me he had some good recipes for bugs, but I don’t like eating bugs like he does.

non-recipe type book

So you all know about the other prospective Toy Voyagers we found,  and if you want you can help name them. Please see my previous log update to see what the heck I am talking about.

    Then the big people went to work and did other stuff for a few days. I stayed on the table next to the lamp, and found some stuff called Crunch n Munch. Its like popcorn, with some type of sticky stuff on it, and peanuts glued in there also. It is very good.

    Ok, so before I knew it, the big people and me got in the motorized conveyance again, and left for a thing they called a vay-kaa-shun. At least I think that’s what they called it, they were so happy to be taking 3 days off.

    We crossed from the hilly Northeast part of their state, onto the vast central plain. It kinda looks a lot like Florida, except the trees are different, and there is no ocean, and way less people, um....ok, its not like Florida at all.  We kept going and going, and then after about 3 hours, we came to bigger towns, and turned onto a thing called the Interstate.

    Holy Molly! We went sooooo fast! Then we turned again, and went slower. We were headed to see a museum, called Harold Warps Pioneer Village.Harold Warp Pioneer Village
    When we got there, I was amazed. Kind of the main theory behind this place, is that for literally 10s of Thousands of years, Mankind didn’t progress much in the way of technology, and then in the past 150 years or so, things changed a LOT. From staring at the back end of an ox all day, to staring at a computer screen all day. Ok, that’s not quite fair, but you know what I mean. There’s lots more gizmos and stuff than there used to be.

    We stayed there 2 days, and it took that long to see all of the stuff. Here are those pictures I told you about!

First you gotta go in and get your ticket


In the olden days, Pioneers would come across Nebraska on their way out west. Sometimes they would stay and homestead here, sometimes they would keep going, maybe all the way to Oregon. They used oxen and mules and horses.

They were lucky to make a few miles every day, it depended on the weather and how sore their feet were.


Here’s a nice team of horses, about my size. They’re pulling a Threshing machine, but those came way later, after all of Nebraska was settled and farmers had grain that needed threshing.


Here’s a covered wagon that carried all of their stuff.


Talk about your adventure! Can you imagine? Heading into unknown territory. If you could stake out a place, and stay for 5 years, the land was yours! Only about 1/4 of the pioneers managed the full 5 years, it was hard.


Later on, these Stage Coaches would take you out West. But the ride was soooooooo bumpy........


When the homesteaders got to their place, there were hardly any trees on the prairie. But the sod was so tough, because it had never been plowed, that you could cut pieces of it, and build a house with it.

It was kinda weird having the lawn and garden on the roof.


By the 1860’s and 70’s or so, you could go all the way across the country on one of these. I woulda loved to be an steam locomotive engineer. Can ya see me on this massive beast???  WOOT! WOOT!!


The covered wagon routes, and especially the railroads used to follow the river sorta. It was flatter that way. Plus the critters could get a drink. Here’s me by some of the type of ducks that live near the Platte river. Some of the Pioneers called the Platte “A mile wide and an inch deep.” And, “Too thick to drink, too thin to plow.” Nebraska is an Ote Native American word, meaning “Fat Water”.

Ok, moving on to the later time exhibits! Here’s the way telephones used to work.


Time for lunch! Melissa said that her Fiancé would probably be dead within a week, his cholesterol is so high.


Tractors! Nebraska has lots of ‘em! John Deere are my favorite, the old 2 cylinder type. They are simple, reliable, and they make the nicest sound. One old timer told me his first John Deere worked in the field for 14 years before he had to do any repairs to it.
    John Deere was an actual man, he got his start by using an old steel sawmill blade to invent a type of plow that would “self scour” itself clean, meaning it would cut through the dirt easily, where the older all wood one’s would stick.

Here’s a cutaway of the engine block on a 2 cylinder ‘Deere. I got a little too close during my inspection, and fell in.

This is an International tractor. I think it dates to about the 1920’s and 30’s.


This tractor is actually from the 1910’s. I was getting a little tired by this time, and had to relax for a while.



In the old time school, it was hard to relax, because the seats were SO hard!


This is a “one lung” one cylinder engine. They were used for running various machinery around the farm. I’m hanging onto the top of the cooling tank, kinda like a radiator on a modern engine. There wasn’t any water in it, I kinda hoped there would be, as it was hot, and I would have liked to go for a swim.


Here’s and old time fire truck.


An old time Mack truck! Melissa’s fiancé, John, is a mechanic. He says that Mack trucks all have a distinctive bulldog hood ornament nowadays. This super early one had a Jadzia monkey ornament. Heeheehee.


Old time jail. I coulda escaped easily.


Did you know that during World War 2, Nebraska played a big role in building bomber type airplanes? And they trained a lot of pilots here too. I’m looking up into the cylinder of a Wright R2800 radial engine.


I’m frowning here, because one of the sparkplugs is poking my butt.


An old Allison V12. This is one of John’s favorites, he said it used to power P51 fighter planes, and just sounds awesome when it runs.


By this time, I was getting kinda tired of John setting me on top of engine after engine and taking my picture, I think Melissa was looking at some dresses or quilts or something.
Here I am inside the combustion chamber of a jet turbine engine. John says its kinda similar to what will probably power the plane that takes me to the Netherlands in July. I wonder if he’s just making all of this up?


I was exhausted! I crawled further inside, and took a little nap.


John and Melissa said it was time for them to get their noses back to the grindstone. I tried it, and I didn’t like it at all!


When we got home from the trip, there was some mail for Melissa! Here is me and some other Voyagers. We were kinda scared, not knowing what would come out of that envelope! It was Sully Monster, and he turned out to be an all right guy.


I guess pretty soon I’ll have to be moving on, but not quite yet. Soon I’m going to the library, and having more adventures! Now I gotta lay down and recover, and soak my achy feet.

Thank y'all for going down memory lane with me.  I sure wish everyone could see Pioneer Village!!!

Well, we finally got to go the library in Omaha.  It is one of the biggest in our state.  LOADS of books there.  I went the first day, and just as we were about to go in, a very nice lady said that they were closing.    So, I got some pictures taken in front of the library in front of one of the famous statues in the region.  It was rather a work of art, instead of a statue.  We sent Sully Monster on his way today. It was sad to see him go.  John and Melissa said to apologize for taking on so many of us....it has been overwhelming to have five of us at a time.  LOL.  Perhaps at some point, she can host us all again.  Well, it is getting late (4:00am) and this little monkey needs her shut eye!  So, goodnight to all!  Sweet dreams!
~Jadzia[img]null[/img]
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Well, the time has come for me to travel on.  I am going to be visiting Charda in the Netherlands!  I hope it is cooler than here.  Yesterday it was 105 F...and that was in the shade!  I am going to be glad to get to some cooler temps.  I wonder if Charda has cooler temps there in the Netherlands....hehehe.  It has been fun here.  We went to so many neat-o-rific places, and some of the most bizarre things.  Don't forget to check me out riding the Wells Fargo bank buggy!  WOW!  What a ride!
Well, I am off to the post office either today or Monday...John is not sure whether this post office is open on Saturdays or not.  Til then.....take care, stay out of trouble, and watch out for poo!

Today I arrived in the Netherlands! It was a bit strange, since no one was at home today. I was a bit worried if I had been sent to the right place, but then Charda and the TVs came home. They gave me a very warm welcome.

Though I had only just met him, I already had to say goodbye to Moony. That was a bit weird.

Well, I arrived safe and sound here in the Netherlands and I think I'm gonna like my stay here

Last weekend we went to a friend of our host in a town called Almere in the middle of the country. We didn't take too many pictures there, since we mainly watched television and relaxed there, but I do have some pictures to show you

This is me on a Dutch train. The houses you see behind me are in Amsterdam.


Since it was really warm weather all weekend long, we sat outside in the garden. The mother of our host's friend had just cleaned up the garden and had taken away all the weeds, so don't you think it looks pretty?


Here we pose together with the dog that lives there. Her name is Buffie. Yes, as in the Vampire Slayer. Now, this was not a vampire slayer, she was pretty sweet, but she did look at us like she wanted to eat us. And apparently that's what she usually does to her toys

Since it was really warm all weekend long, we lay down in this comfy chair for a little while. The sun had already gone away, but it was still pretty nice like this


And because it was so warm, we got to share an icecream! It was vanilla icecream with strawberry sauce.

We met this giant Dora in the guestroom where we slept. And do you know what's so great about her? She speaks English! She teaches all the little Dutch children how to speak English. "Let's go!"

Today was another exciting day. Do we get any rest around here? We went to Leiden today. Our host had some errands to run there and we tagged along. Ceryni had already been there, but not me. We went by bus and this was the first statue we saw once we arrived. A statue of Rembrandt!

Right behind the statue of Rembrandt was this nice building. Inside the building is a secondary school.

This was at the other side of the street.

Here was yet another statue about Rembrandt.

And another painting of Rembrandt Apparently Rembrandt was born in this city. That's why there are so many statues of him everywhere.

Look! This is me with a real Dutch windmill




Here I am in front of the Pieterskerk. Unfortunately lots of construction men were working on this building, so we couldn't get a better picture than this, if we wanted a picture without scaffolding. Do you see the picture with the two keys over the door? That's the coat of arms of Leiden.


This is all of us on a cache, a real geocache. This is where we left the travelbug that was sent to our host via Postcrossing. Our host had found this cache last year, so she walked straight to it, without a GPS this time.





Just look at these houses. They're so typically Dutch.






And then there was a surprise when we got home. Two new TVs were waiting for us! Their names are Resi and Chipper.

Last weekend we went camping. Our host was a First Aid volunteer at an event called 'Castlefest'. Our host didn't have much time to take a lot of pictures, but she took some, so you can see where we've been. Since we were camping at the location, this is everything we had to bring. Luckily we went by car this time.

On the first day we met this cute thermos. It was strange. I think this penguin would prefer cold drinks, but he contained coffee!

These weapons are used in LARP, which stands for Live Action Role Play. These swords are covered in foam so that they don't hurt if you get hit by them.

This horse looks so cool!

This construction is a 'stool of witches'. Here you can be tested whether or not you are a witch.

Here you can see the main stage. This is where many bands performed during the weekend. Among the bands that performed there were 'Omnia' and 'The Transsylvanians'.

In the First Aid tent we met this nice couple. They look pretty cool, right?




He is really scary! You can't even see his face!

Girls playing the harp.

Some other girls with a large weapon.

This tree had a man in it! Or was it a treant? I don't know exactly what it was, but he had this really dark grumbly voice.

The Wickerman statue was burnt on Saturday evening. Unfortunately we weren't there at that moment, because we had to stay in the First Aid tent.

These helmets and weapons were for sale.

I think this man was hung there as a warning for others. It looked pretty frightening to me!

The polar man and this dog looked pretty good together, but the man was only posing with the dog.



People dressed in the most splendid outfits.

Here I am in the First Aid tent. There was this one place where they had this big basket with Giant Microbes. We even saw some siblings of the TV Synapse. Here I am posing with the Giant Microbes that the First Aid people bought.

Uhm, it's not that comfortable here between mange and louse.

These are the materials they worked with this weekend.

This is one of the two beds used for patients.

Suddenly we heard this loud roaring outside of the tent. What could it be? Oh no, it was a real dragon! But our host told us that this was a trained dragon and it was safe to pose with him. Well, I didn't feel too comfortable so close to him.





And now we're back home, safe in Leidschendam again, far away from knights, goblins and dragons. Phew, I think I'm gonna need some rest to recover from this weekend.