Travelog for: Charles

Hello Guys,

My name is Charles and I `m a brown bear. I live close to Stuttgart. Stuttgart is in the south of Germany.

Last weekend I decided to go on a big world tour, to meet new friends all over the world. Last night I told Mum. We talked the whole night about this, but now she agreed. I always have to care about myself, but that is easy - I guess.

I hope I will find nice hosts and we can have some fun, especially the holiday season is near!

Bye for now,
Charles

Hi,

I am very excited because today it will be the day....

Later on, Mommy will bring me to the post office and then I will start my travel into the USA. I hope I will arrive safely. I am so excited about my host and her family and I guess we will have a great time together.

Now I am eating my last German breakfast for a while. I schould eat  a bit more because the travel takes soooo long. 

Bye for now Mommy, I promise I will be ok there.
Love
Charles

I arrived in Oklahoma City late in the night, along with Myka the panda. We received a very warm welcome from Amelia (our host), and TV's Toki, Masataku, and Paul.

Early Friday morning, we are traveling to Kansas for the Emerald City Steampunk Expo for the weekend.

My host, Amelia, loved my letter. She said it was sweet. We cut it out in a lovely pattern and put it in the memory book. Amelia keeps a book that is filled with memories, such as concert tickets, convention fliers, stickers, CD's and other things. I felt special having my own spot in her book. I even helped add some other things into the book with the other TV's.

Also, I met Toki's friends Mully (Mulvane the lion), and Fleece (a pez dispensing sheep). They don't travel. They stay here at home and keep  visiting TV's company. They are like a welcoming couple and extra hosts to have fun with!

The Emerald City Steampunk Expo was fantastic! There are several digital camera pictures of me and my friends at the convention, but my favorite is the professional photos I got to take part in.

Cpt. Cedric Greyhawk Whittaker of Airship Isabella and Ambassador Mordecai Hale posed in a professional photo with me and the other Toyvoyagers who went to the Expo with me. Airship Isabella are wonderful people! They make and sell really awesome Steampunk items. Not only that, but they share resources! They are more than happy to answer questions, give you advice in making your own stuff, and love seeing what you can make. They take commissions on a lot of various Steampunk related things.

I highly recommend checking out their website and forums. They were such a highlight to meet!

My hosts are going to be having a Steampunk Christmas this year, both in decoration and in presents under the tree. It'll be very interesting and I can't wait! We've only just started making the xmas ornaments and they are turning out quite lovely.

Today, my host made me a Christmas hat, vest, and tie. I must say that I feel very distinguished right now! 

I helped wrap a Christmas present for my host's husband. Ta da!

My host told me about Thanksgiving Day. A long time ago, Pilgrims came to America, from England, to get away from religious persecution and the Native Americans helped them survive on the land and taught them many things. Religious persecution is the mistreatment of people because of their religious beliefs. The Pilgrims actually thought that this was India, which is why they called the Native Americans "Indians". There was a big feast that the Pilgrims and "Indians" had together in late November, but no one knows exactly when, so now Thanksgiving Day is on the fourth Thursday in November.

There was more history in this time including the Native Americans being forced off their land. Oklahoma is part of the Trail of Tears where Native Americans were marched into reservations and many of them died. This part of the history is quite terrible and sad. However, they still celebrate Thanksgiving Day in America and it's all about giving thanks for what you have and being with your family.

I got to enjoy Thanksgiving with my Host Amelia and several other TV's and we all helped out with making dinner...

Jinny's Masataku
Mischa's Paul
MamiTig's Myka
Ina's Schnattchen
Xadrian's Drashuven
Mellialida's Mr.Shawn
GubbL's Kalso
Klubwerks (my host) Toki, Mulvane (Mully), Fleece, and Chico

We've decided that a white Christmas tree will make it easier to see the details on all of the beautiful Steampunk ornaments. So my host agreed to get one. We had fun dorecating the tree, but now we're going to have un-decorate it and mvoe all the ornaments to the new tree! Twice the fun if you ask me.

Also, I met Chico. He's my host's oldest toy. He's a pretty cool mouse. He's quiet, patient, and very nice. He and I are becoming very good friends.

Things are pretty relaxed around here. We're working a lot on making xmas stuff and just enjoying ourselves.

Amelia, my host, introduced me to several of her toys today, and a few of her holiday toys. I met Starshine (smaller snowman), Holiday (bigger snowman), and Caboose the moose. Then there was Benton (xmas bear in blue), North 9smaller polar bear), Derren (black xmas bear), and James (brown bear). James was named after the Bible verse that was on his tag. My host isn't religious like that, but she felt the name suited him well.

I, also, met some carebears from a 1980's cartoon. There was Tannen Bedtime Bear (the small blue xmas bear), Friendbear (the glow int he dark orange bear), Ruby Love-A-Lot (the shiny pink one), Cheerbear (the one with a stain on her muzzle), and Slumber Cheerbear (the giant pink bear). Many of the carebears ended up with special names prefixing their original cartoon names, because Amelia wanted them to not all have the same names. I say it adds individuality to them!

While in the middle of taking photos, my host's husband came in with gifts. He had bought two xmas outfits for two of her toys - Robin the bear and Spangles the cat. They looked dashing in their clothing! Robin and Spangles are restuarant vending machine toys.

And then there was Charlie. He's a "dead bear" (the multicolored bear). They are made for a rock band called the Grateful Dead. Technically, he's Amelia's husbands bear. He used to collect them when he was younger and Charlie was the only one that survived the flood. He's a special and old bear. And I like his name too ;-)

Our host let myself and Mr.Shawn open one of her presents today. We found a bath toy in the bag! We named him German after all the German TV's that are visiting.

German, Mr.Shawn, and I got to eat some Flipz chocolate covered pretzels. We played with her new socks HA HA HA! We also played with her new little guns. She's been wanting a small gun to mod (turn into something Steampunk). Now she has three!

We had fun playing in with the presents. Amelia also says that we're going to put up the new xmas tree today too!

We decorated the Christmas Tree today. My host Amelia made all the ornaments herself, with the exception of a few sentimental ornaments. Tannen the Bedtime Bear ornament is one of the toys that lives here. I got to meet all of the xmas toys that live here too.

I posed in Jane's Hat, from the tv series Firefly. Then I helped make some treats called "Puppy Food". It's not really puppy food and it's really yummy!

The household decided to open presents early this year. They wanted plenty of time to play with thier presents over the weekend. Everyone in the house caught a terrible cold, so presents made everyone feel better too.

So, we toyvoyagers decided to open presents too! I have already received several handmade presents before xmas, such as my tie, vest, and xmas hat. The present I got today just complimented my growing wardrobe. It's a very lovely deep green crocheted scarf. It makes me miss home! I miss you mom and Merry Christmas!

Oh, and it's supposed to snow this weekend. We'll see!