Lady Sirina, Kellinghusen, Germany

RockVixen07 consider_me0101@yahoo.com Posted Oct 22, 2008, 6:20 pm	Lady Sirina is ready to travel and see many interesting places! She's still awaiting her FIRST host and is hopeful. Anyone wanting to host gets a little surprise that Sirina will be holding for you! She's excited to meet her first host =)
RockVixen07 consider_me0101@yahoo.com Posted Oct 22, 2008, 8:25 pm	Today I received my first host! I'm excited to be heading out to Germany. Me and my friend, Aroyle the Fox (soon to be a TV) are relaxing at home until I live for my first trip. Here we are eating some Wendy's! xoxo
RockVixen07 consider_me0101@yahoo.com Posted Oct 23, 2008, 10:30 pm	I'm getting ready to head out! My mom is packing me but I'm only traveling alone with something for my host. This is me going into my packaging. Me all set and ready to be wrapped! xoxo Lady Sirina
Apperveilchen Posted Nov 10, 2008, 10:46 am	After a delay at customs, where I got an x-ray done to prove that I am a perfectly healthy plushy, no funny fillings (I could have told them that, btu I think they didn't understand my language.), I finally arrived at my destination, a mail box in Germany. I got freed shortly after I was placed there and promptly taken out of my envelope, only to immediately be packed up in a bag again. Funny idea of hospitality! After all I am a lady! At least I met Curio, who's apparently going to be my travel companion for a short while. Let's see where we'll land.
Apperveilchen Posted Nov 10, 2008, 11:20 am	We made a trip north and took a very long walk there in the sun. It was warm in the sun, nearly t-shirt weather in November. The colors were beautiful with late autumn forest, green grass and the sun. We saw a few horses. One of them tried to eat us, so we took flight. We walked by some old farm houses with the whitewash and black beams. The leaves look lumescent like this. All these ups and downs are exhausting, esp with my really short legs. This photo turnes out funny but we like it.
Apperveilchen Posted Nov 10, 2008, 5:47 pm	This is the Colloseum. It used to be an factory but is now a musical theatre. This modification of former industrial buildings is esp. common in the Ruhrarea, because it used to live off coal mining and the steel industry. Right next to it is the Weststadthalle. It contains cultural facilities, e.g. the Folkwang school of arts uses it for dance and music lessons. The towers behind it house a big movie theatre with 18 different show rooms, a few bars, a bowling alley and offices. Here's the view out of the shopping center Limbecker Platz unto one of the two mainshopping streets in the inner city. You can't see it wel in the picture, but there are arches of lights from house to house. Essen was the first city to initiate 'light weeks' in winter. This is the side of the Grillo Theatre and some more light decorations.
Apperveilchen Posted Nov 14, 2008, 12:27 pm	Tonight we had a beautiful rising of the moon.
Apperveilchen Posted Nov 14, 2008, 12:31 pm	We got to go long with our host to class this morning. We had to go into the bag with all the notes and school stuff. It was very cold and foggy. I could see my breath in front of me, whih added to the fog, I'm sure. Here we are in front of the school yard. And here at the bus stop in front of the school.
Apperveilchen Posted Nov 14, 2008, 3:11 pm	Let's take a look around the place we live in: Here's our hang out place between a souvenir from Paris and a picture of our host's great-grandmother. The day has actually turned sunny and the windows faces the southwest, so the blinds have to be closed against the sun unless you want to wear sunglasses for the summery atmosphere. Books, CDs and postcard chaos: Curio and I are in the "girly vitrine". I can't decide on my favourite scent. The little white bear is awfully cutes, though, don't you think so?! And the kitchen. It's really small.
Apperveilchen Posted Nov 22, 2008, 3:54 pm	It's time for some Christmas decorating! My hosts says she usually uses the colorful glass ornaments. The sparkly stars seemed nice in the store but make a lot of dirt with the glitter falling off and she's not quite sure what to do with them anyway. Curio really wanted the sparkly stuff, though. We took some yarn and Curio cut off long pieces of it, threaded it through a safety pin and the hangers of the stars and had my host fasten them through the curtain rollers. We also arranged some candles.
Apperveilchen Posted Nov 22, 2008, 8:45 pm	I decided to be a good guest and to make muffins for everyone. I put flour, sugar in a mixing bowl added water and oil 2 eggs beat it all creamy, then added some chocolate splits put the dough in little forms, put more chocolate on top and put them all in the oven for 25 min. Yummy!
Apperveilchen Posted Nov 23, 2008, 1:07 am	We came back late at night/early in the morning, with -2.5°C (I think that's about 28°F) outside. It was could and freezing. The road led through the forest. We scared some deer here with the headlights and luckily they ran away. It was really spooky. We were glad when we saw signs of civilization again. We did you the opportunity to play in the snow a bit when we felt save again.
Apperveilchen Posted Nov 24, 2008, 9:09 pm	It's snowing again!
Apperveilchen Posted Nov 28, 2008, 4:16 pm	One of my life misions was to meet at least 3 other TVs. Well, hat one was easy. Here I am with Aquila, Thiele, Curio and another soon to be TV.
Apperveilchen Posted Nov 29, 2008, 6:01 pm	Sorry for the bad quality of the picture (again). We were in a rush an the lighting was difficult because we couldn't use a flash. I hope you can still recognize us in a sandstome cave. It's part of one of the old houses (1700) in the town that are built directly into the rock that the castle was built one. Many of them used to be connected to the Schlossberghöhlen, the biggest manmade sandstone caves in Europe. It was a retreat and a safety measure. This one is now decorated for Christmas with a little "Krippe". If you touch the walls or ceiling they crumple a bit. Sandstone is pretty soft.
Apperveilchen Posted Dec 1, 2008, 7:49 pm	When my mentor goes home from class it's already dark this time of the year. Sill here are some pictures of our way back: This sign asks bikers to cycle slowly. This tunnel we have to take to pass under the street. The walls are full of pictures. Street lights are very bad in this city. The use kinds that are supposed to save energy, plus there are big distances between them and they are very high up. esp. old people have problems getting along without help. Only the real city center is illuminated well. This "Adventskalender" shows some palazzos along the Canal Grande of Venezia: Palazzo Dario (gothic with polychrome marble decorations, built in 1479), Palazzo Pisani (17th century), Ca' d'Oro ("Golden House" of 1440, originally it had a gilded front) and the Palazzo Contarini (from the second half of the 15th century). [color=sienna]We opened the first door today and saw... Basilica di San Marco as seen from the Piazza San Marco. The second calendar is one with little angels where one can put a tea-light inside and the light will shine through the pictures. In the first window there's a snowflake. (In reality one can see the snowflake better and the still closed pictures not as well, as in the photo.)
Apperveilchen Posted Dec 2, 2008, 9:21 pm	Another day, another picture: The Venetian winged lion from the gable of the Basilica di San Marco. A cloud in this one
Apperveilchen Posted Dec 4, 2008, 9:04 pm	First the Adventcalendar pictures from yesterday: a Murano glass vial and a cookie We went outside again today, but it rained a lot when we were out and kept raining more or less all day long. It was also very windy, so we took only one picture in the street hat leads to the market place and has a few Christmas lights. Unfortunately you can't see much, because the flash makes the rest of the picture very dark. I am glad to be back inside, though with a cup of hot tea called Ruhrgebiet's Traum, it's a blend of black tea and fruits with some herbs. It's warming me up nicely. Today's calendar pictures are: St. Mark's lion on the column and a shooting star!
Apperveilchen Posted Dec 4, 2008, 9:48 pm	Lady Sirina has just boarded her envelope to take her to her next host tomorrow.
babyamy Posted Dec 8, 2008, 9:01 pm	I'm back on fresh air! Luckily it was just a short journey, but the envelope was packed with some surprises for my new host and there wasn't much space left. A huge TV called Luddie welcomed me when I jumped out of the envelope. Here I'm with Luddie and the surprises. The little teddy will become a TV sometime next year, that was the first thing that came to Katrin's mind.
babyamy Posted Dec 10, 2008, 8:20 pm	We're in the archive of the museum where Katrin is spending her practical term for university. She is still working with old photos. They are from the 1920es and show photos taken from a zeppelin. They are already scaned and Katrin has to write entries for each photo for the database. Me and a photo from Egypt, well I'm on my way to complete one of my missions. It's lunch time and we are waiting for Katrin's boyfriend. It's his birthday today and in the bag is his present. Katrin also organised a pot of coffee for him. Look, the clementine has the same size as I have...
babyamy Posted Dec 10, 2008, 8:24 pm	Back home in Kellinghusen Katrin decided to learn a bit English for her trip to California in January. Good for her that she has two American guests, we wanted to help her, but she didn't had any questions...
babyamy Posted Dec 12, 2008, 10:48 am	Today Katrin took me with her to Hamburg again. She has to go to her university today and give a presentation about her practical term. She was a bit nervous and wanted to have something that calms her a bit. She chose me, because I'm small and can be hold in one hand and be squeezed a bit. Not a great idea...but if it helps Katrin, I'm fine... This is the empty lecture room... ...but luckily Katrin got a small room for her presentation. It took her about 15 minutes to tell everything she wanted and everything went fine. After the presentation a was looking for something to eat and found some "Lebkuchen" (the ones with chocolate) und "Spekulatius", the tasted great! In the afternoon Katrin had to work. Her boss was in a good mood and told her that she has just one important thing to do today: Sending christmas cards to more than 60 firms. This is how we get startet. Katrin printed address labels that was so much better than writing all the addresses by hand. About an hour later Katrin has finished with the envelopes, the are like a mountain to me!
babyamy Posted Dec 14, 2008, 3:26 pm	Today is baking time! Katrin wanted to try to create a cake without using wheat flour. She is using flour made of     buckwheat instead. Here we have prapared the baking tray. We put some mandarines on the dough and sprinkled them with almonds. Waiting... ...but we were interrupted by the postman. He brought a little surprise letter for Christmas from Australia! Half an hour later a tasty smell filled the kitchen. The cake looked great and it tasted very good.
babyamy Posted Dec 14, 2008, 8:27 pm	Today Katrin wanted to discovers some streets of Kellinghusen where she hasn't been for quite a long time. We ended on the edge of this field...It looks very strange having this field in the middle of the city. Then Katrin remembered that she has been here to visit a circus when she was in primary school. This is the entrance of her kindergarten, it looks more colorful than she had it in mind. Well, it's been nearly 15 years when she has entered the house the last time... We had a nice walk through the town, but unfortunately the batteries of Katrin's camera didn't want to work anymore. Nice reason to spend some time around Kellinghusen again.
babyamy Posted Dec 15, 2008, 9:01 pm	Here we are preparing Katrin's breakfast for tomorrow. She has decided to eat kind of buckwheat flakes. This is her flour mill... ...and this are her "flakes". Well, it doesn't look very tasty and we mixed it with some  pumpkinseeds. Tomorrow we'll add some cream and some fruits and then it's ready to be eaten.
babyamy Posted Dec 18, 2008, 8:44 pm	Today Katrin took me to the museum again. In her office there is this poster on the wall and Katrin asked me whether I could explain her the thing with the box-office. I didn't understand what she wants to know and she looked up the words in a dictionary and then she understood. Then I met one of Santa's little helpers. The yard of the museum This is one of the famous "Tempo"- cars from the 1950ies. You could drive them without a driver's license and they had just three wheels! This is TRUDE, the drill with was used to build a tunnel under the river Elbe. In the lift, on the way back to the office. Katrin was a really happy this afternoon because her boss told her that she can go home two hours earlier than usual. Here we are on the train back home.
babyamy Posted Dec 22, 2008, 8:10 pm	Here we are in the kitchen in Schwerin, where Katrin's boyfriend lives. Katrin did some very strange things this morning. She put peppermint leaves and black tea in a bowl of hot water and put a piece of paper in it. In the afternoon, the paper got a brown color and Katrin let it dry. Now I know what she's doing: Katrin is working on a letter for a swap on swap-bot! She used ink and a quill to let it look like a very old letter.
babyamy Posted Dec 22, 2008, 8:24 pm	Today the weather was nice (at least when we left the house), but very windy. We had a nice walk around the beautiful castle of Schwerin. The gouvernment of the "Bundesland" Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is situated here. The castle is on an island, this is the view back to the city: you can see the tower of the cathedral on the left, the white building in the middle is the state theater and the building on the right is the state museum. We met some ducks, they came right next to us before we scared them away... The church of the castle. This is the view over the lake of Schwerin. One of the old lantern at the back of the castle Me with a funny guy on a sundial It's showtime: Luddie and I wanted to show our talent as actors. I got cought by a puma and Luddie is going to rescue me. We did a great job, right?
babyamy Posted Dec 22, 2008, 8:35 pm	When we arrived in Hamburg central station with the train from Schwerin, Katrin got excited when we came to the platform where the train back to Kellinghusen leaves: It's the first time that she goes home with a two-storeyed train. Katrin chose this single seat because there is enough place for her suitcase. Back home there were many letters and postcards waiting for Katrin. We could also welcome a new guest: It's Sportie, who has just arrived from the US. Unfortunately her trip to Germany was really bumpy and she lost one eye. Luddie hugged Sportie and I took a needle and a yarn and started to fix the eye which Katriin discovered in the envelope. And here we are with a smiling Sportie
babyamy Posted Dec 23, 2008, 7:55 pm	Today Katrin went to Hamburg to work. She came home later than she had planned - and her parents had already decorated the Christmas tree. This year it's classical in red with some wooden stars.  Can you see me?
babyamy Posted Dec 25, 2008, 10:12 am	MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Here is Germany the people are so lucky since they get their presents already on Christmas Eve! But let me tell you about my Christmas with Katrin's family: In the morning Katrin got her last Christmas cards, but she was a bit disappointed because she was waiting for another TV but it hasn't arrived in time.  But looking at the great cards let her smile again. Then we had to wait and wait and wait... We decided to visit the small "Weihnachtsmann" in the living room. He was happy to see us and told us some Christmas stories and poems. In the evening Katrin's mum finished the Christmas dinner - goose with potatoes, green beans and red cabbage. It smelled fantastic! And finally - the presents! These are all the presents from all family members for all family members mixed up. They looked great under the Christmas tree. Katrin's family plays a kind of game when they get the presents to make it more exciting. They roll the dice and everytime when a 1 appeared, one of the presents is chosen from the cluster. It's turned round and there is a name on it. This lucky one can open his or her present. It took more than an hour to open all the presents but we had a lot of fun.
babyamy Posted Dec 29, 2008, 4:58 pm	Today is the first Christmas day, this is how the German call December 25. Katrin and her family went to visit her grandparents where they also meet some other relatives. They were talking a lot and Katrin nearly forgot to take some photos, but here we are with the rest of the cakes.
babyamy Posted Dec 30, 2008, 10:59 am	While Katrin and Sportie spent the weekend Schwerin, Lady Sirina and I opened one of Katrin's letters which arrived today. She had told us, that she is waiting for another guest coming from Austria and hey, there was a letter from Austria in the right size. But when we opened the letter, there wasn't a TV in it but bag! It was a little Christmas surprise from Greycat!
babyamy Posted Dec 30, 2008, 3:52 pm	Today Katrin and her brother decided to bring all their "small" money, just 1, 2 and 5 cents, to the bank. This is the "money-bag"... ... and here we are with all the coins! At the bank they got more than 7 Euros for  they coins and now they start to collect them again.
babyamy Posted Jan 2, 2009, 11:10 am	It's the last day of the year and it started with some bad news: Katrin got this broken envelope in a plastic bag. On the plastic bag it says that the German Post put the envelope into this bag because it was damaged. The really sad thing is, that in this envelope where some postcards and some brochures, but there should have been another TV, Leo Lion. He is now somewhere lost in the mail.  Here it's dinner time and on "Silvester", that's how New Year's Eve is called in German, Katrin's family usually eats Raclette. Everybody gets a little pan and can choose from all this great food and heat it and     scalloped it with cheese. Yummi! Later in the evening Katrin's boyfriend mixed some cocktails for us. We all ended up a little bit drunk because we wanted to try everything. Katrin stopped us and told her boyfriend to mix just some juices together. So he did, but I saw, that he always added a little bit of wodka... After midnight we went outside to welcome the new year with some fireworks. Katrin had bought some rockets and a lot of beautiful fountains. We tried to take some photos, but it didn't really work...
babyamy Posted Jan 2, 2009, 11:12 am	Happy New Year!!!
babyamy Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:30 pm	Today it is time to say godbye to Luddie. She'll travel to Austria. I wished her a short and safe journey.
babyamy Posted Jan 5, 2009, 11:24 am	Today the parents of Katrin's boyfriend invited everybody for a trip to the Baltic Sea. We are here on a small island called Pöhl and this is the harbour of Timmendorf. This is the view over the Baltic Sea and as you can see on the waves, it was very windy! This is the view along the cliffs and the beach. The wind was very strong and over the years it has made holes into the cliffs. Today some of them are homes for seagulls, but not this one. The sea again This funny waves in the ground are made by the tide. Katrin wanted to go a bit nearer to the water... ... and here we discovered tracks from birds in the sand. And the cliffs again Frozen water glittering the sun, very beautiful. This is the landscape we discovered behind the cliffs: green fields are far as you can see.
babyamy Posted Jan 6, 2009, 8:36 pm	Today Katrin took us for a quick walk around her hometown. It was very cold again and there was some snow left on the ground. Here we are in front of the church. It was built during the 15th century with huge stones. We went up the stairs and turned around: this is the townhall of Kellinghusen: These stones are standing near the church. The letters build the word "Frieden". This is "peace" in English.
babyamy Posted Jan 8, 2009, 8:20 pm	Today is my last day in Germany. Katrin is going to travel to the US on Sunday and can't take us with her. Since my mum didn't answer Katrin's messages, I'm going back home to Texas to start my next journey from there. I said goodbye to Sportie, she is going to travel to Australia.

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