Flight to Madrid

Yesterday, we were all so excited to go to Madrid the next day. We were all packing, planing what we were going to do and getting all excited. After a night of packing, we all went to bed tiredly. In the morning it turned out that it was canceled!!! Luckily, Mama's trying to get a later flight for today because the only Madrid one that was canceled was only our flight :(

The Chocolate Museum

Yesterday, we went to the chocolate museum. We got free samples of chocolate and we saw how the crack the shells of the cocoa beans, they mush it and make it like syrup, pour it into the square - templates,  (if it's a piece of chocolate) let is cool, dump the chocolate squares, go under a machine and make the picking-up vacuum and picks up the chocolate to go in a single file line so that next it goes into a wrapping machine (the leftover ones that don't get vacuum-cleaned goes into a machine that makes it warm, into syrup and through the cycle again) and last the lady puts it into the box and ships it.

Sinterklaas Day

Yesterday was Sinterklaas day. We were in Germany most of the day, but then we came home. We ate dinner, and then we heard a "Onnk" It was the Zwarte Piet and he dropped us off a huge bag of gifts, I got a tea maker, some Chamomeal leaves and a tea cup!

Religions!

In school we are studying the 6 main religions - we have had a Buddhist monk come to our school to talk to the 3d graders about how a religious Buddhist monk lives. She had said that Buddhist monks can't get married or have babies. Also, for an exciting field trip, we went to a Church. I thought the Church was beautiful, but I didn't think that the Christians did a good job of describing how a Christian lives. Next, we went on the bus and drove to a Synagogue. The men and women sat apart but I thought that the Jewish man did a great job explaining to us the Jewish way of life. He said that 'Judaism' doesn't exactly exist, only the Jewish way of life. A few weeks passed by and then we had another field trip. First, we went to a Mosque. It was amazing, the Muslim man showed us the prayer call and it was loud and beautiful. We hopped on the bus again and we drove to a Gurdwara. The Sikhs said that both genders, skin color, religions and etc should be treated the same. The Sikhs also said that anyone is welcome in the Gurdwara.
So now we are hoping that a Hindu can come to ISA and talk to us about the Hindu way of life...

Tram = Lost!!

I went to the Zoo with Mama and Zak. It was time to go home, so we went to the tram stop to take the tram home. On the tram stop waiting for the tram, Zak threw up!! But that wasn't the only tram problem. The biggest problem was we were on the tram, and it was our stop to get off. Mama told me to get off the tram, and so I did. When Mama was about to stop off, she heard a "Ma'am, ma'am, you forgot your hat!" Zak was standing next to Mama on the tram, I was right outside of the tram and Mama turned around to see what the man wanted. Zak left his hat on his seat and the guy wanted to give it to us. When Mama turned around, the doors shut and the tram started to go! So I was at the train stop all by myself! Luckily, I saw a couple waiting for their tram at that tram stop. I told them the story and they said to "Stand right here" and I did. I waited like 5 minutes and I heard a slight "Mia! Are you there?" I said joyfully to the woman "I think that's my Mom!!!" She walked me across the street and there was Mama!

Cirque Du Soleil

Today we went to the Totem Cirque Du Soliel. It was very amazing! It had lots and lots of amazing tricks and special effects. We watched mostly swinging all over bars and stuff.

Anne Frank

Today, we went to the Anne Frank House. (For the second time) but the first time, we would just peek at the videos for 4 seconds, but today, we watched the whole movie, and I really understood. It was very sad / cool. At the end, there was big posters of pretty pictures of Anne.

Sint Maarten

On November 11th, it was a Dutch holiday called Sint Maarten. At Sint Maarten, it's like Halloween but no costume and you don't say trick or treat. You sing a song. So on November 11th, Zak went to houses and sang Sint Maarten and got candy. If you comment that you want the video, I can Email it to you :-)

Fire Play

In ISA, we always do a play in Drama. This year, we're doing an African creation myth of how life was created. In the beginning, a god named Amma throws two clay balls into fire, and then into the sky to make the Sun and Moon. So one of my parts in the play is the fire that Amma throws the clay ball into. I'm also the third narrator, and one of the first human beings on the planet. The play is on December 17 and I'm so excited. I've never been in a play before, but I was always interested in Drama. I was always wondered if any of you have ever been in a play? And if so, what was your part and the name of your play?

Amsterdam

In Amsterdam, all of the buildings are brick. They all are brick, but are many different shapes. There are many, many, bikes everywhere - they bike racks are all full. The streets are small and the sidewalks are large. You have a big space to ride your bike in the cold with many other bikes, passing brick buildings. The Dutch ride bikes really fast, and so they pass you and you pass brick. It is very cold and wind, like yesterday, I felt like I was going to fly.

Paris in the Past

In September, we went to Paris. It was very amazing, and I loved the Eiffel Tower most. In Paris, we saw the Eiffel tower, The Notre Dam Cathedral, and the little T-shirt shops around the street. We looked at the amazing statues in the cathedral, we went to the 2nd to the last highest floor of the Eiffel Tower, and looked at the little street shops. Ir was amazing to see all of the coffee shops, and all of those cute kind of things. So far, Paris is my favorite place in Europe but I'm excited to see Spain...

Measuring Olympics

Today at school we practiced a sheet called Measuring Olympics where we would do Olympic - type things (such as the Long Jump) and we practiced carefully measuring the difference between the jumps. It was kind of hard, but I think measuring and doing Olympic - type things are fun. The activities we did were the Long Jump, a position of how far you can stretch your legs, a Paper Airplane throw, and a  Paper Bit blow. It was very, very fun and neat.