Travelog for: Sam White

Sam is leaving us today and headed for Scotland. We will miss him very much, but know that he is going to have a lot of fun on his world adventures!

~Bye for now Sam,
Johnny & Abbi

Hello! I've just arrived in Scotland after a week's journey from Ohio. Boy, am I glad to be out in the fresh air again after being stuck in that bag and thrown about all over the place from aeroplanes to trucks to vans.

It's the school holidays at the moment and there are three very excited children here who are keen to play with me and take me lots of different places so I can see what life is like in Scotland.

This is me with the children who are excited about me being here. Rory is 7 and a bit and has a wobbly tooth right at the front. Iona is almost 5 and will be starting school in a couple of weeks. Euan is 2 and loves fire engines.

What an exciting day! We have had a lovely day out at the Falkirk Wheel which is about 40 minutes' drive from where I'm staying.

http://www.thefalkirkwheel.co.uk/

It is a massive wheel built to link up two canals, one at the top of the hill and one at the bottom. Boats go into either the top of the wheel or the bottom, and then it revolves through 180 degrees to lift or lower the boats. It's the only wheel of its kind in the whole world so it's a pretty special place to be able to see. While on the boat we watched a film about the history of the canals and how the huge wheel was built. After our boat trip we all needed a rest and some ice cream! We also played for a while in the playarea and after that watched some birds of prey flying - one of the hawks flew right over Iona's head and she got quite a fright!!

I have heard my hosts talking about a special trip on Tuesday... maybe I'll get to tick off something on my missions list?

I have met another Travelling Toy!! My hosts' children have decided that it's been such great fun having me to stay that they will send their own toy out there in the big world. Here's a photo of me and baaarnaby together.

This is going to be a busy week. It's the last week before the children go back to school, so we will be doing lots of exciting stuff and I promise to update often.

Today's weather is just shocking. Really wet and dreich - there's a good Scottish word for you. It means wet, miserable and horrible. We get a lot of days like that.....  So because it wasn't nice enough to get out and about we decided to bake instead.

You can see us propping up the recipe book, we were a great help. Then the raw batter before it went into the oven, and finally the baked muffins. YUM!

Today I completed the first of my life missions - I saw the sea!!! 

We went to visit a castle which is about 20 minutes away from where I am staying. It is right on the banks of the Firth of Clyde so I was able to get close enough to smell the sea. It stopped raining for a short while so we watched the boats and sea birds diving for fish. I liked it a lot. Inside the castle there were a lot of very twisty and tight spiral staircases, but we made it up to the roof and got some wonderful views.

What an exciting day I had yesterday! We went on a day out to Stirling Castle. It is a very old castle built on a massive rock in the middle of the city. There has been some sort of fort there for 1,200 years so it is very ancient. We went on a tour and the guide pointed out all the important places in the castle like the Royal Chapel and the Palace where the Scottish kings and queens lived in the 15th and 16th centuries. The best part of the visit was the Great Hall as there was a lady dressed up in historical costume who told us all about her life in the Castle. We also saw the gardens, castle kitchens and the prison cells.

Having a lovely trip!

Today I have been a very helpful little bear. The daughter of the family I am staying with is 5 today and this afternoon she is having a party for some of her friends. It's a mermaid / under the sea theme. I have been REALLY busy inspecting the party bags, blowing up balloons and making sure the birthday cake is just as it should be.

It will be very noisy and busy here this afternoon with lots of little girls running about and playing games, but it will be very exciting too!

It has been such a beautiful sunny day today! It was quite cold when I woke up this morning but by lunchtime the skies were bright blue and the sun was shining. The kids are at school today, except for the little one, so I had a lot of fun playing with him in the garden. I went down the slide so many times, then played in the little playhouse, made some castles in the sandpit and went up and down and round and round on the see saw until I was dizzy! It was fantastic.

It's definitely feeling more autumnal now, even though last week was gloriously sunny and warm. Days are getting shorter and the air is much more chilly.

We have been very busy harvesting fruit. My hosts moved into this house 3 years ago, and 2 years ago planted a little apple tree. It's only 4 feet tall and last year didn't produce any fruit at all. Even though this year's crop is small, it's a start and they are delighted to have any fruit at all. I think making apple pies is definitely on the agenda for later in the week.

We also went into the fields at the back of the house to pick brambles. In England they call them "blackberries", but here they're definitely brambles. We filled bags and bags with them to put in the freezer and use through the year. We also made several jars of jam which is absolutely delicious!

Well this is my last update from Scotland as today I'm moving on to my next host in Germany. Not as long a trip as last time when I travelled here all the way from the US.

The weather is starting to turn very autumnal and it's starting to get chilly. Looking forward to seeing Germany very much. I wonder if there'll be prezels and wurst?

I have been practising my German. My current host has friends in Germany and has been a few times, so she has taught me to say "Ich verstehe nicht" which means I don't understand and some really important words like "shokolade" for chocolate and "kaffee und kuchen" for coffee and cake. Should be absolutely fine with that extensive vocabulary!!

See you soon!

Hallo my dear Family in the USA ... i arrived in Germany. Tomorrow picture will follow.
I met a new friend called Kurt. He is a donkey.
I really enjoy my new home and everybody is really nice to me.
Sleep well ... we have to sleep now
Greetings and kisses
Sam

Hello my dear family

I enjoyed my first day in Germany and I ll show you some nice pictures. This week the weather should be the last summer before starting the autumn. I was in the garden and it was really great. I also met a new friend. He is called Kurt and he is really friendly. I like him and I hope we´ll have a great time here. The photo of us will follow... he is shy.
The host mom had to work a lot ... and I tried to help her.
More about my german trip later

WOWWWW , I was on an geocaching event in Kaldenkirchen. It was so much fun. And my host mom let me drink a little bit beer. Wow... but dont be angry about it. I just tried a little bit and it taste not good. Now I know a little bit of this hobby. I like all this geocoins and travelbugs. They are also travelling like me. But take a look, i hosted all this treasures for the evening.