Travelog for: Blinchick

Hello Mum,

it was really early today, when RikeH came and invited us to come with her.

We get up and took a train. It was very dark outside.





So I decided to take another nap.





RikeH worked a lot – then we had the lunch break and walked around the Alster -a nice lake in the centre of Hamburg. There are small boats on it, they are beautiful.



There were some geese.



Two photos with all of us.





We found a funny monument with angels.



Another boat on the Alster.



Here I am on the other side of the lake.



This is the townhall – it is beautiful.



RikeH had to work in the afternoon – after the work we drove back to Sülfeld and had a stop in the train station.



Look – it is decorated for Christmas – Christmas seems to be wonderful.



Back in the train I looked out of the window – it is dark again. Working seems to be hard. I prefer to be a ToyVoyager.



Love
Blinchick

Hello Mum

we went to Hamburg today, because the weather was lovely. We went to the port with the tube.
We didn't see many big ships, but had  nice looks over the port.





Can you see the church in the background – it is called Michel – and it is very famous here in Hamburg.



Then we visited Bismarck – he was an important politician many years ago.





From this place we could see the Michel again. It is a beautiful church.



Another nice view over the port. It was such a sunny day!



On our way back we had a nice snack in the train.



And we went to a great restaurant and had delicious icecream. What a great day!



Greetings
Blinchick

Hello Mum

Today was my last day in Germany. I was a little sad,  but Dicker Kumpel told me that it is great to travel
through the world – and that I will find new friends in Canada.



Then I said good-bye to the others – and they gave me a big hug.



Now I am on my way to Canada – will see you soon.
Love Blinchick

Howdy mom! I have arrived in FREEZING cold Calgary and yesterday it was -29C here! It is very very cold and I am glad I had my sweater on. I have met my host Lisa and she told me I would have a great time here during the Christmas holidays with her family. I want to go play in all the snow but only when it warms up a bit. Lisa said it should be warmer by the weekend. YAY!

It's almost Christmas!! Today I got to help Lisa and her mom decorate thier Christmas tree. i have never done this before so I thought it was quite fun!




It was the prettiest tree ever. It was a real pine tree too! Can you see me?



Then Lisa took me outside to play in the snow. It had been falling all morning and the snowflakes were big and white and fluffy.




It got dark very fast so Lisa took one photo of me playing on a huge snowdrift.

Happy New Year mom!
I'm a little late on this but better late than never!
I have had a good time here in Calgary. It's still very cold though.
Christmas with Lisa was fun and I ate a lot of turkey for dinner on the 25th! Lisa's family was very nice and pretty funny too!
On Christmas morning we all got up early and opened gifts, I even got one too!




Then later in the evening, Lisa's family came over for the big dinner.
Can you believe I ate all this??

Then it was time to open the Christmas crackers!!These are very fun because they have toys inside and jokes and even paper crowns! Here is me trying to open my cracker, it was a little hard.

And I got a miniture deck of playing cards as my prize!

Well, unfortunatley Lisa was sick on New Year's Eve so she was not able to celebrate the night. She wishes you and everyone a Happy and very prosperous New Year 2010!

Hi Mommy,

I have arrived in a new country!  I am now in Miami, Florida, USA!!!  The weather here is quite a bit warmer, and I think I will have a good time here.  I am sleepy now but hopefully in a few days I can show you some pictures!

Love, Blinchick

Today we go with our host to a park.

Look at all the palm trees!  Even thoug the weather is still a bit chilly, the trees make me feel warm.



Someone is here to feed the ducks.



I say hi to the seagull friends.



Our host is here to practise dragon boat.  Here the boats have arrived on a trailer.  It's a very long boat, and during races and festivals they put on a dragon head and tail, but today for practice they don't put the decoration on.



They unload the boats into the water.



The boat can seat 20 paddlers, though in the picture there are only two people on board.



There are some people jetskiing as well.



We also have fun in the playground.

Today we go with our host to a hotel.  It's called Foutainbleau and it's on Miami Beach!



She has some classes in the hotel.  It's wine tasting and olive oil tasting.  Here we are sitting in front of the olive oil samples.  We learn how to do a tasting.  You have to first warm the oil in the little cup in your hands first.  Then you sniff it and taste it.  You may taste fresh mowed grass, green tomato, artichoke, and other flavors.



They talk about the different types of oil and what are the different tastes. 



Unfortunately, I cannot sit in the wine class because my host says I am too young.  But she promises she will take me to somewhere special.  So I stay quiet while she drinks her wine. 

Okay so where is she taking us?



I see something blue!



Oh it's the ocean!  This is the Atlantic, and on the other side is Europe!!



It's quiet since the weather is a little cold.



We decide to take a walk down the broadwalk.



Wow that's a lot of palm trees!



Now we are on Ocean Drive in South Beach.  It's a very well known tourist destination famous for the art deco style buildings, all painted in pastel colors.





And this was the house of a very famous person. 



It was Versace's home.  He was murdered right on the doorsteps some years old.  Spooky!!

Sniff and Snuff, the two Huskies also visiting here, scare this cat up the tree! Poor cat.

 

Today we help our host prepare some turnip pudding for the Chinese New Year Festival.  There are many types of cakes or puddings, the sweet ones made with ngredients such as sugar, coconut, red beans, waterchestnuts and the savory ones with yam or turnip.  For our host, her favorite is the turnip pudding.

First we prepare the ingredients.  We have sausages, shiitake mushrooms and dried shrimps.



I dice the mushrooms after soaking it in water.



Then the shrimps.



And the sausages.  It's a lot of work!



Now we season them with some cooking wine, sugar and soy sauce.



Next come the main ingredient, the turnip.  We use 6 lbs of it!!



We peel and shred it.



Now we are ready to cook!  First we stir fried the diced ingredients.



Then the turnip.



Now, we mix everything together.



We prepare a paste of rice flour and corn starch with water, which we add to the mix.



Everything is poured into a pan.



We now steam the pudding for an hour.



When it's cooked through we add some sesame for garnishing.  Our host usually uses some cilantro too but she forgot to buy some.



Now it's ready!  The pudding is enjoyed with some soy sauce and hot sauce.  It's very delicious.

Today we visit a Buddhist Temple to celebrate Chinese New Year.

There is a beautiful little Zen garden.



There is a Buddha statue.



Outside the entrance there is an incense burner.



People come here to offer their first incense of the year.  A friend of my host came on midnight to offer the first incense!



We notice some children practising for something.  I wonder what it is?



And hmm, what is this monster head?



This is the hall where people pray.



Here is a wishing tree.  And we wish you all a "Kung Hei Fat Choi", A Happy and Prosperous New Year!!



People write their wishes and tie it to te stems.  There are wishes like: "Ace the exam", "World Peace", "Health for the Family".



On the walls there is exhibition of paintings done by a monk.



I make a prayer and knock on the bell.



There are some beautiful good luck charms for sale.



As well as books, CDs, tea, incenses and other things.



After lunch we watch the performance in the hall.  Ah, this is what the kids are practising!  Our host tells us that this is called a lion dance.



The lions are very pretty, colorful and energetic!



Next is a lady in traditional Taiwanese costume playing an instrument called zither/koto.  The music is very sweet and tender.



Then we watch some children play the Chinese yo-yo.  It is quite interesting.

Today we are going to the Lake Worth Street Painting Festival.

First we go to take the train.



Here is the train!  A lot of people are getting off.







We sit on the second level so we can see the scenery.



After about an hour, we arrived in Lake Worth.



Next we take the trolley to go to the festival.





We are finally in Lake Worth!



There is a children alley where the kids can enjoy painting on the street.



We watch as the artists paint on the street.  The paintings are very beautiful!!





It must be very hard sitting on the street, bending over to paint with little chalks.  t's very hot too.  A lot of the paintings are copies of famous classics.











This one is very, very beautiful and we think it's the best one.



Some of the artists have serious tools.  This one has a nice set of pastels.



Some are more contemporary.



This is copied from a newspaper photo about Haiti earthquake.



There are some cartoon characters.





Our host is excited about this one from her favorite manga Death Note:





There are also food vendors.





We continue down the street to admire the paintings.















Hmm, this one is really nice too.



Look they paint on the wall too!



And even the children! 



A lot of people come out to this festival.  THe artists are mostly local, though some are from other cities.  Some are art students. 







We find this statue on the street.  Our host tells us that it's a real man painted gold pretending to be a statue!  Wow!!   

These few days my host has been very busy packing her lugguage.  She tells us that we will be travelling somewhere far, out of America, and we are coming along too.  We are very excited.  She won't tell us where it will be, just that it's somewhere we haven't been to.  She is not sure if she can upload pictures while travelling, so mommy, don't worry if you don't hear from me.  I am probably having too good a time! 

Wow we are at the airport!! 



We have to buckle up.  The airplane is about to take off!  I wonder where we are going? 



Our host tells us it will be a long flight.  Happily there is a TV at each seat so we can watch movies.  This one is about a piglet called McDull.



After several movies and some sleep, we are finally here!!  We are in HONG KONG!!  We are so excited as we wait for our lugguage.



Let's pick up some brochure and start exploring!!

We are staying at the house of our host's parents.  Today we greet their dogs.

This is Gigi, the pomeranian.



This is Bobo, a white poodle.



We take the dogs out for a walk.  I am walking a dog with two dogs, Sniff and Snuff!  How weird is that?



We see a lot of people waving around their swords!  We wonder if they are having a fight, but turns out they are just doing kung fu exerciise.