Kellinghusen, Germany - 1st August 2009
By: babyamy
Have you ever heard of Wacken? When you look it up at a map, you'll find out that Wacken is a small village in Schleswig-Holstein, the state in the north of Germany. But the people in the area where I am now have something else in mind when they hear the word Wacken. They think of people dressed in black, loud music liters of bear and a village in the state of emergency.
Why?
Well, every first weekend in August about 70.000 people come to Wacken to visit the world's largest Heavy Metal festival, the Wacken Open Air. It started 20 years ago with 6 bands and 800 visitors on a paddock outside of Wacken. Today the people come from all over the world and the tickets for the festival next year are already nearly sold out now.
Here is a photo from the whole festival area, in the upper left corner you can see the village Wacken:
Wacken
The local newspaper published a special about "Wacken" and we decided to read it. You can see the German Rockstar Doro Pesch who is singing the official festival hymn "We are the metalheads".
Katrin has never been to the festival, but knows a lot of people who are there nearly every year. She prefers reading the articles in the newspaper.
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Posted Aug 1, 2009, 7:04 pm
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Kellinghusen, Germany - 4th August 2009
By: babyamy
Today is my last day here in Germany, but before I leave, Schweinchen and I decided to spend some time in the garden. At first we had a look at the blackberries and Katrin decided that she has to pick the black ones later today and freeze them. When she has enough, she will turn them into nice marmelade.
Then we walked over to the apple tree. But instead of apples we discovered a new TV. Mr Bananas had already arrived yesterday, but he has decided to spend the night in the apple tree. He told us about his adventures in Canada.
Then it was finally time to say goodbye. I've been here for quite a while and now it's time to go home and tell everyone about my adventures in Europe.
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Posted Aug 4, 2009, 12:25 pm
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Home, Japan - 14th August 2009
By: JaymeC
Whew! I'm safely home to tell my family about my adventures. Thank you for everyone who hosted me!
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Posted Aug 13, 2009, 11:40 pm
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Kane, Pennsylvania, USA - 26th November 2009
By: SamanthaMittelmeier
Hello Mom!
I arrived in Pennsylvania at just the right time! When I got out of my travel bag in my new host's house, it smelled wonderful! I met a new friend named Ebba and learned that it was November 25th - the day before Thanksgiving. The lovely smell was the dessert my new host Sam and Ebba were baking for Thanksgiving dinner the next day. Sam hosted the dinner at her home, and Ebba and I were invited. I'm very thankful for my new friends and that I arrived in time to celebrate the holiday!
Before dinner, Sam's Mom and Step-Father came to visit and play Nintendo Wii with Sam and her husband.
The most important part of the dinner was the turkey. It cooked all day in a smoker. When it was done it looked a little burned, but thats just because the smoke darkened the skin. It was really yummy! I'm glad they eat turkeys and not Big Birds!
We had lots of food! Sam made the turkey for the main dish of course, but there were also mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, broccoli, crescent rolls, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.
The food was all so good!
Dessert was my favorite part! Sam and Ebba baked a homemade pumpkin swirl cheesecake with graham cracker crust.
When the day was over, we were all stuffed! We spent the rest of the evening relaxing. It was a very fun day, and I think I'm going to enjoy my time here in Pennsylvania!
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Posted Nov 28, 2009, 3:53 pm
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Warren, Pennsylvania, USA - 27th November 2009
By: SamanthaMittelmeier
*Yawn* Good morning!
My host and her husband work me up very early this morning. In fact, we were awake by 3 am! I was confused, but she explained to me that the day after Thanksgiving is a BIG shopping day known as Black Friday. A lot of stores have really big sales, and they open really early. Lots of shoppers go out today to buy gifts for their loved ones for Christmas. For Sam, its a tradition to go out shopping with her family today.
We managed to leave at about 4 am. Sorry this picture is a bit blurry. The camera didn't want to work very well in the dark.
I think we drove for about an hour to get where we were going. I decided to take a little nap. When we arrived, Sam told me that our first stop was Walmart. Their sale started at 5 AM, and we arrived just moments before. The parking lot was so full we could hardly find a place to park! Once we got inside we ran around and got what we needed to get. There was no time for pictures until we were waiting in line to check out.
We waiting in line for what seemed like an eternity. The lines were so long it was difficult to even walk through the front half of the store. Eventually we got checked out, and we moved on to a few other stores before going out to eat for breakfast.
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Posted Nov 28, 2009, 4:02 pm
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Bradford, Pennsylvania, USA - 2nd December 2009
By: SamanthaMittelmeier
Hello!
I was out with my host and her husband, and we came upon some beautiful Christmas decorations! They put up TONS of lights outside of a group children's home. It was so pretty.
My host also helped me take a video of all the lights. Check it out!
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Posted Dec 3, 2009, 8:05 pm
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Sharon, Pennsylvania, USA - 4th December 2009
By: SamanthaMittelmeier
Our last stop of the day was at Daffin's candy store. It is considered to be one of the world's largest candy stores! They make their own candy right here in Pennsylvania. Their factory is located just a few miles from the store we visited in Sharon. Unfortunately the factory only does large group tours, so we couldn't go see the chocolate being made.
At the candy store, we visited the Chocolate Kingdom. The Chocolate Kingdom features some GIANT animals made entirely of chocolate including a turtle that weighs over 400 pounds! There is also a smaller chocolate village, train, and castle. The room smelled soooo yummy because of all the chocolate! We even got to enjoy a free sample.
And of course... what fun would a trip to the candy store be if we didn't buy lots of goodies???
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Posted Dec 5, 2009, 10:12 pm
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Kane, Pennsylvania, USA - 13th December 2009
By: SamanthaMittelmeier
Hi Mom!
I'm having a great time helping my host family get ready for Christmas. It seems like there is so much to do. I have been doing my best to help as much as I can. In fact, I helped Sam wrap some Christmas gifts for her family and pets. Here I am with the gifts before we wrapped them up.
I'm good at holding the paper down so it stays in place until it gets taped down!
And here I am with some of the wrapped gifts. There is still more wrapping to do and a lot of other things. I don't know how we will finish it all in time for Christmas!
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Posted Dec 15, 2009, 11:11 pm
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Kane, Pennsylvania, USA - 15th December 2009
By: SamanthaMittelmeier
Guess what? I learned that my host family enjoys lots of different holiday cartoons. I got to watch one of the classics a few days ago. We watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas". Its really fun and relaxing to watch all the holiday specials! I hope I have a chance to watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" also. I've heard its really good!
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Posted Dec 15, 2009, 11:25 pm
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Kane, Pennsylvania, USA - 20th December 2009
By: SamanthaMittelmeier
Hello!
My host said to let you know that we are very sorry that this update is being posted so late! We were very busy enjoying Christmas with my host and her husband's families!
Anyway, a few days before the big day we went for a drive into town to look at Christmas lights. We saw all the ones that won prizes and honorable mentions for the town's holiday spirit contest.
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Posted Jan 7, 2010, 4:07 pm
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Kane, Pennsylvania, USA - 19th January 2010
By: SamanthaMittelmeier
Hi Mom!
I've had a good time in Pennsylvania, but its time for me to be on my way. I'm headed out tomorrow morning to visit Wisconsin. I can't wait to meet my new host!
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Posted Jan 19, 2010, 2:09 am
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Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA - 24th January 2010
By: freshwater
I've arrived in Milwaukee! It's cold and overcast, but these other TV's gave me a warm welcome. Purple Bun is visiting from England, and Albus and Odie belong to my mentor. Albus leaves tomorrow to visit Panama, and Odie is still waiting for an invitation.
I'll check in again soon!
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Posted Jan 24, 2010, 6:40 pm
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