Thursday, December 30, 2010

A nice day in Oklahoma

We saw the National Weather Center on the University of Oklahoma campus. The National Weather Center is where all official government weather forecasts and warnings come from. We learned a little about Oklahoma weather and got a little nervous thinking there might be a tornado. But we were assured that December is not tornado season.
We took ride through the country side. We saw a funny combinations of animals. A llama, donkeys, steers and buffalos. It was such an odd combinations that we had to stop and take photos.
We also made quick trip to a toy store for Christmas shopping, where Hans found some fellow Playmobil friends :)

Friday, December 24, 2010

We arrived at Danika in Oklahoma

We arrived in Oklahoma safe and sound. It was a nice trip but very cold. But Oklahoma is warm, 57 Fahrenheit that's about 14 Celsius. Our host Danika said it was unusually warm for this time of year, just wait a few days and the weather will get cold again. When we arrived, our host family was making a holiday candy with chocolate and peppermint, called Peppermint Bark. We thought there was some kind of wood product involved but it only looks like birch bark. Hans was pretty hungry and enjoyed the pretzels dipped in white chocolate and peppermint. We got the recipe and hope to make it for our friends back in Germany. We spent most of our day getting to know our host family and resting. After our long rest we decided to get a closer look at the family's Christmas tree and took a long climb to the top. Hans was the first to make it to the top. We are pretty excited about Christmas and can't wait to see what things are in store. Our host Danika keeps talking about running "errands". We like hiking and backpacking but are willing to go "running" with our host if that is what the family is doing.
P.S. Found out "running errands" means, going in and out of stores and family members houses very quickly with a long list of things to do. It looks like a lot of preparations are being made for the Christmas holiday and meals.







Sunday, December 19, 2010

Our last day with Tina

Seasons Greetings from Snowy Michigan,
This past week we Decked the Halls with Christmas joy. We helped to decorate
the house for the holiday, and spent some time in the snow. It got very cold
and icy here...which delayed our travels. Tina made us matching sleeping bags
to help us stay warm in our trip to Oklahoma.

Sincerely,
Hans and Paul








Friday, December 10, 2010

We visit Frankenmuth MI

Tina and her fiance' took us to a wonderful little town called Frankenmuth MI. This town is known as little Bavaria. It was really neat. We went shopping and saw some really neat things. We met a dragon, played chess with knights, had tea in a fairy tree house, took a dip in a butterfly pool, tried to cross a model of the Bavarian bridge, and even met SANTA. Before we left they wanted to show us a couple of the things Frankenmuth is know for, which is CHICKEN. They have two restaurants that serve huge family style fried chicken dinner. We also stopped at a store that celebrates Christmas year round. They have decorations and lights on every night no matter the time of year. The store was huge and had tons of Christmas decorations for sale. We even found a sign that shows how far away Berlin is to where we were. Hans is really excited to get to help decorate the Christmas tree next weekend, before we have to move on in our travels.
Talk to you soon,
Paul

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Thanksgiving in the USA

Wow Thanksgiving in America was fun. Thanksgiving is a day where they celebrate all the things they are thankful for throughout the year. They spend time with loved ones and have a great feast. In Michigan where we are staying it is a big day to watch American football. Before dinner we watched the Detroit Lions play football on the television. It was a good game, but they lost :( Dinner was delicious, we sat with the family at a large table, and were the first to have stuffing (or dressing). It was yummy. We also had turkey, potatoes, and other wonderful scrumptious things. We both agree our favorite dish was the yummy sweet potatoes. We can't wait to see what the Christmas preparation are :)

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Our day in an American Middle School

Wow we are sorry we haven't not written sooner, this last week has been a whirlwind. First we need to tell you about our day at an American middle school. We spent the day with seventh graders in their social studies class. We spent the Wednesday before Thanksgiving with them, and we were able to have a lot of fun. We met all of Mr. Miettinen's classes and were surprised by the warm welcome we received. We took a bunch of photos, but we are pretty sure only some can make it on this blog. We told them about our travels, and they shared the days lesson on the big screen with us. We saw their treasure chest of coins from around the world. Hans is pretty sure he recognized a few. We showed them all the different places we have been on the globe, and we got to spend time looking at the bridges they made in class. Paul was worried though because he thought they seemed to small for the big humans, so I reassured him they were models. We got to go into the school office, the staff was very welcoming and let us take our picture by their window. We so many pictures to
share with you (the students wanted to share so much with you too), and we hope you enjoy them all.
Sincerely, Hans and Paul