Sand, palm trees, tropical birds & GIRL SCOUTS!

During April our Girl Scout Troop #001 (yes, the only East German Girl Scout Troop), visited an amazing place! It is called Tropical Islands and is an indoor water park, this building was where they stored Blimps, as in Goodyear, except here it was probably not Goodyear, but Augustus' Reifens! Anyway, this building is so massive you could put 8 football fields inside. The building housed 3 huge pools, slides, volleyball courts, restaurants, saunas/spa, a rainforest walk with live birds from the tropics, mini cottages and houses, and our digs, tents on the sandy beaches. We had such a blast! The place was so huge they had hot air balloon rides inside, it was just amazing.






The pools actually never close, so you can swim ALL night and yes, some people did, we tried to sleep, but probably only slept for about 4 hours, so worth it though. We had some very tired kids by the time we went home...






Fortunately our car ride home was only about an hour and 20 minutes, so it wasn't too bad. Of course, the girls are ready to go back to this place again-anyday!


One interesting thing is a couple of months ago when we visited Berlin we went to the top of the TV tower and we could see Tropical Islands from there. These pictures probably don't really show the size, it is just too enormous.

There's a whole big world to enjoy in Istanbul, Turkey

Jacoba had the privilege of going with 16 other students from Dresden International School on a trip to Istanbul, Turkey during April. She stayed with a host family that was absolutely wonderful and spoiled her rotten. The only major disappointment for her trip was the weather, it was really damp, cold and very rainy. As you'll see in the photos, the weather didn't wipe away her beautiful smile, she enjoyed every moment.

The group actually went for a Performing Arts Festival, so their activities included theatrical presentations, making pieces of artwork, viewing other students artwork and touring the International School & City.

Here are some highlights directly from Jacoba.

Best Memory: My host family-they really were super nice, some other kids host families tried to be "American" but mine showed me lots of cool Turkish stuff.

Best Food: Turkish Meatballs-they were really buttery, it's like they would melt in your mouth.

Best Drink: Turkish Tea (only with 2 sugar cubes, though!), I even bought some to bring home and they drink it in these really cool tea cups (now my Mom is trying to buy some, they are small and she thinks they must make the tea taste even better.)

Funniest Experience/Event: The weather was horrible in Istanbul itself, and the funny part is, it was the best weather Dresden had seen yet! And, we were sitting in traffic (which was really bad) and when I looked over I saw a man walking down the street selling bread in between the cars. The bread was on a big stick he carried over his shoulder.



Thoughts about my host family: Very generous, kind, and outgoing. Only one member of the family spoke English to the extent I could understand her, but it wasn't so bad. The daughter translated a lot, and at the end of each sentence was: "If you want".

For example, "We can go to the beach and have ice-cream after dinner, if you want".

Or, "We can go to a really famous mosque, and have Macaroons, if you want."

They had 2 cats, and each had a name that was really hard to remember, I apologize... On my first night there, one cat fell asleep on top of my suitcase! I was very touched, I remember my Mom telling me that my first word was, "cat", so it seems just right.



What I saw at the Istanbul International School:

1 word: ART

make it 2words by adding: GALORE

There were several art pieces hanging up on the walls, and each was unique in its own special way. I had the privilege of going to the art room, where each art piece that was a work in progress. I thoroughly enjoyed all of it, the students there seemed to be really creative and talented.





What I learned from being a part of this group/trip:

There is a whole big world to enjoy, and if you can`t enjoy it, at least try to.

Toys for all the good girls and boys...

Ruby and I went on a road trip last Saturday. We originally planned to visit the city of Seiffen, near the Czech Republic border, back in December but because of the major snow & ice and hectic schedule we decided to wait. I am really glad we did because the 2 lane road there for 65 km was so narrow and winding it would've taken 4 hours to get there instead of one and a half. Instead, we drove through beautiful rolling countryside and farms, and later scenic forests and lakes. Our first photo is of some old castle ruins that we came upon during our drive.

We made it to town and went straight to the Toy Museum. We could tell instantly that we were going to like this place. This area is known for the wooden hand carved Christmas decorations and toys. It is charming. Originally Seiffen was a mining town but because of hard times and the difficult work conditions placed on miners, they started carving wooden toys and decorations; this was convenient because of all the nearby wood. It grew into a major business and today these lovely wooden pieces are shipped all over the world. The pyramids are extremely popular here in the holiday season, in fact, Dresden claims to have the tallest wooden pyramid. The Dresden pyramid is displayed every Christmas season at the local Christmas Market and holds a Guiness World record. The museum is great for children and provided several hands-on wooden toys to play with as well as information about how they make these toys. It is good that we've been practicing our German because there were no English translations, but it was basic enough that we could figure it out. We worked up an appetite looking at the museum and opted for a local biergarten for lunch. This was no ordinary biergarten, it had a pyramid built into the exterior of the building.

All throughout town are wooden carvings (note: even the street signs are decorative). After lunch we spent a couple of hours snooping around, shopping and finding some very special items. I also recall a mandatory stop at the local bakery. On our way home we came across a really wonderful windmill on top of a hill. We just HAD to stop and get pictures. So our windmill photo has nothing to do with our little Seiffen visit, but it was too good not to share. And, now we know who Santa calls for backup when he gets just too busy, these folks can make some wonderful toys and decorations.