Another Normal Day

Posted on July 8, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

Edvard Munch. Spring Plowing. 1916. Oil on canvas. 84 x 109 cm. Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway.

Night and I continued grazing silently. Finally, she looked at me and asked, “How’d you sleep? Fine?”

I looked back at her and said, “No dreams. How ‘bout you.”

She replied, saying the same, then our softhoof (human) came and fetched us. It was time to walk around so that herbs could grow so softhooves to eat. It was another simple, peaceful day. In the distance, we heard the sharpteeth (dogs) chase around the sheep. After the trail had been walked, we settled down in the stable to have a midday nap. I relaxed to the sound of horses munching on there food. A few softhooves came in with strange items dangling around their necks. The softhooves would grab their strange items. Whenever the softhooves wanted, their strange items would shoot out a dazzling light; then the softhooves would point their massive, bulky light-guns (cameras) at a different horse. I didn’t want to get shot by those evil-looking things! My breath was getting heavy. I flinched away, crashing into the wall. The stable shook. I kicked the wall and it started crashing to the ground! My haunches were pinned down. The softhooves screamed in pain, agony, fear, and distress. The lucky horses clippity-clopped away, leave the stable in dust.

“This is the end,” I thought.

Before I could moan my thoughts, the boards shifted. I was free! I dashed into the woods, one of the softhooves yelling at me. The woods were a scary, barren place at this time, but they were the only place to refuge. Here, I would lie safe from the strange, light-gun-carrying softhooves. As I walked through the forest, sprouts and late snow crunched under my hooves. I heard a growl and stopped dead in my trackes, breathing heavily. I heard the sound of sharptooth-like animals fighting. My heart stopped. Then I heard…another scared horse! I ran straight to the sound, it was Night!

She cried for joy, and yelled my name. “Spring!” she cried.

I cried for her and we nuzzled eachother. Then, all of a sudden, the vicious beasts that looked skeptically like wolves ran at us – and they were not happy. Silently, Night and I ran to safety. We ran and ran – straight in to the arms of our owners. They hugged us. We were given a new home and a good meal.

It was another normal day.

Information:

This was an assignment included in RTWkid’s Art History curriculum in which Edvard Munch was studied:

Pick one of the paintings other than The Scream or The Storm and write a short story, ideally 2 pages, definitely no more than 4 pages. The painting becomes the illustration and/or book cover of the story.

Georgia Gaming

Posted on July 6, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

Fun with Guy, Coco, Gavin, and Hadyn! — Fun with Guy, Coco, Gavin, and Hayden!

The taxi stopped, and we got out. The Guven family was at their front door, waiting for us. How nice it was to see old friends again! I had such a fun time with Guy and his little sister, Coco! We played Minecraft and with toy cars. The cars would have tournaments on two different tracks – the stairs and the special track. On the track, two cars would be launched out like complete bosses into a cell of their own. Then, they would spin to a second piece of track. It was very easy to tell the winner because the loser was flung to the side. About once a day, the Horn siblings, Gavin and his little sister, Hayden, would come over. While they were over we stuck to some rules. For the first hour, we would refrain from playing video games. For the next hour, however, we could play video games, and were all over Minecraft. We started building a Minecraft wipeout map. We built a creeper face next to a little bit of parkour. Some blocks on the creeper face were in front of sticky pistons, and if you hit their levers once, the blocks shot out. If you hit them again, they went back to their former positions, waiting to strike. Somehow, we split into boys and girls. Guy was not allowed onto the girls’ world, because they thought he would grief them. So I joined, and did exactly what they feared: blew up their house! Then I joined their other world, and burned down the heart they had built! Later, when Coco joined my world, I disconnected her. Other than that, we had an amazing time.

Our time in Peachtree City was also amazing. Kayli and I played Minecraft, too, where we made an even better wipeout map. We made two creeper faces and added redstone, making them almost automatic. We also added a maze of paintings and a boat race. We added a jumper, ladder parkour, and a dropper. We’re not even done yet! We went on several golf cart rides. On the last one, I spilled melted ice-cream all over myself and the golf cart. Now I know: golf carts and melted ice-cream DO NOT mix. They ruin each other.

Honestly, some of the most fun I had was at my pool party in Atlanta. The Hellengas, Jack and Parker, were there. So were the Guvens and the Horns. James Hester III (aka. Tripp) and his mom were also there. We had pizza for lunch. After we had pizza, we played a game where we had to push everyone else into the pool. A girl that lived in the building was swimming around, and Gavin pushed me in backwards. When I resurfaced, she was crying, and said her earring was missing. My theory is that when I fell in, my foot smacked her face and her earring flew away. Everyone looked for it. Turns out, it was at the edge of the pool. That girl never got back in the pool. Then, we decided to play chicken. It was Jack and I versus Gavin and Guy. Tripp kept interfering. I splashed him in the face and it proved to be too much. He never got back in the pool. Later, Dad and Mr. Horn were throwing all of the kids into the air. Flying was so fun! However, Dad threw Coco a little too hard. She bonked her head on the bottom of the pool. That proved my doubts about the pool being deep enough. She was fine, though. She was back in the pool swimming her heart out in a few minutes. Weren’t we all?

In Savannah, we stayed with our friends, the Parish family. I made a zombie movie with Brownyn and Ivy. Click here to see the trailer for our movie! We also had a tour of the city. We went to Leopold’s Ice-Cream. The line was insane! No wonder! They’d been around since 1919! Also, they are the official inventors of the Tutti-Frutti ice-cream flavor. I ordered a triple chocolate ice-cream. Oh, BOY it was good. It was really chocolatey. There’s nothing more a boy would want.

The making of “The Accident”

Hanging out with Pancake (the pet bearded lizard)

Leopolds is GOOOOOD!

Enjoying some beach time

Playing Chicken!

Enjoying some Yeah! Burger…mmmmmmmm

Texas Times

Posted on June 27, 2016June 26, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

James Splashtown

James and Victoria — Working on a science project with Victoria

“Pawpaw!” I yelled, hugging him. He greeted me, mom and dad. Then we drove to Aunt Brenda’s house. She’s not actually my aunt. She’s my dad’s aunt. We stayed a little past lunch time. Then we said our farewells, and then drove to Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Keren’s house. We greeted them in the same manner we’d greeted Mita, Aunt Brenda, and Uncle Rick. Of course, I gave Andy, the family puppy (who is now 2), lots of love and attention. When I got tired of that, I played board games with Victoria, my slightly younger cousin. Later, I played Catan with Victoria and Pawpaw, a game which Pawpaw won. Victoria and I also played Dungeon and Munchkin. It was very fun. Also, for once in my life, I felt normal. Stuffed Animal Play However, nothing was better than Stuffed Animal Wars! It was epic. Victoria and I split the stuffed animals with our other cousin, Kirsten. We used pillow pets as shields, and other stuffed animals, preferably round and fat, as swords. Others, which were too oddly shaped or to small to be used as swords, were projectiles, which we threw at each other. Sultan was one of the projectiles, for two reasons. We had tons and tons of fun.

Splashtown Cousins — Splashtown with Kyla and Elia

The tube fell away, and I went flying over the humps on the slide. No, not in midair. At the bottom, I slid past Aunt Colleen and my cousin Elia! I knew I’d won. However, not five seconds later, my other cousin, Kyla, came down next to me and barely got ahead. There went my victory! I later learned that the winner was the one who reached the bottom first. My favorite ride had a long drop. I remember Uncle David yelling a cuss word, and when it was my turn, I screamed, “God, dang it!” three times. Elia had to push us, because we’d stopped. Aunt Colleen and Kyla came down fine. At Splash Town, I had the time of my life.

Houston Birthday — Celebrating birthdays together!

I also played Minecraft and swam with my cousins. During mine and Elia’s joint birthday pool party, I was playing by myself when my dad said that everybody had ganged up on him and he needed my help. As he was saying it, Uncle David, Kyla, Elia, and my other two cousins, Cooper and Lilly, were shooting Dad with water guns. I told him that I was busy and he shouldn’t have been so aggressive towards them. Later, when I was simply minding my own business, he came, picked me up, and used me as a shield against my own will. Now who sounds mean?! I said that if he put me down, I would fight for him. (Spoiler alert: I always win). I found a water gun, and shot at Dad! I joined my cousins instead. We shot him till he got out of the pool. There was still a problem, though. One of the adults was still attacking us, with three two-year-olds as his comrades. On his side were Harper, Carson, and William, the triplets. They are Lilly’s siblings. It was a vicious battle, with water and toys flying all over the pool. We sprayed each other until cake time. After that, the triplets left. Also, Cooper’s little sister, Lexi, joined us. We had so much fun, with custom missions designed by Uncle David. It was enough fun to last a week!

Celebrated my birthday in Dallas

Enjoyed some Chick-Fil-A

Fun with Kirsten, David, and Victoria in Dallas

Finding Dory with Kyla and Elia

Houston Cousins

More birthday celebrations

Playning Chess with Grandpa Bill

Birthday Pool Party

Coins, Coins, Coins

Posted on June 24, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

Travel Coins

As you may know, I have been collecting coins during the trip. I have African coins, European coins, Asian coins, and Latin American coins. I’m pretty sure my collection is worth at least $5. I enjoy collecting coins. They are like souvenirs to me. I do have some special souvenir coins that are simply priceless. My favorite coin is an old Bolivian coin. It’s massive, and still squeaky clean. It’s also very shiny. It has a great, big 5 in the middle. It was made in 1899. When we were in Bolivia, a nice man named Jorge gave it to me. I also have a golden one from the Acropolis, and a silver medallion from Italy. I love coins. Coins, coins, coins.

Island Hop

Posted on June 10, 2016June 8, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

Snorkle

The bus stopped, and we got out. During the walk to the place where we were staying, I noticed that the coastal town of Nueva Armenia felt very Caribbean because everyone was very dark-skinned and spoke Spanish. When we reached the hotel, we were shown around. It was a pretty rough place. A bucket was needed to flush the toilet, and the shower was a cold bucket shower (but it was so warm, it didn’t really matter). I still had a good time. I played cards with a couple kids, and we shared a delicious fried chicken (No, not a Chicken Fried, a fried chicken*). It was a perfect night.

When we woke up, we took a boat to Chachahuate, a teeny tiny island completely covered in huts, with barely any breathing space. That village belonged to the Garifuna people, a mix between a group of West Africans who had never been enslaved and the Carib indigenous tribe. On the first day, I had some fun. I swam a little, and found a conch shell. However, we didn’t exactly feel very comfortable there, so we left early.

We really hit a home run with our plan B. No, not the band**. We had an amazing time on Roatan. We went to a village called Punta Gorda – which translates to “Fat Point”. This village was also Garifuna. There, they have a festival every Sunday. At the festival, they dance a very unique dance called the Punta. It’s basically just a ton of butt shaking. It’s also very, very fast. I tried but in less than a minute, I had to stop because my abdomen was killing me.

We also snorkeled. My favorite fish was a long and skinny fish that was a about three to five feet long and possibly half a foot around.

Finally, we watched the sunset on the beach. It was so beautiful, I called it “The Tropical Lights”. A spectacular way to end RTW1!***

*Say “Loolz” in he comments below if you laughed. Say “Wacka Wacka Wacka” if you didn’t get the joke
**Read the following if you didn’t get the joke: Shabadadoo!
***If you don’t know yet, we’ll be going around the world again. The second trip will consist of Europe, Southern (not just South) Africa, and South America

The boat to the islands

Drummer in Punta Gorda

Hangin’ in the hammock

Watching a movie on the beach at sunset

Snorkling in the clear water

Nueva Armenia hotel

The island viallage of Chachahuate

I got to hold a starfish!

Crazy Copan

Posted on June 8, 2016June 6, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

A recreation of what one of the temples looked like

I scrambled onto the old rock wall and looked down. There, right in front of me, was the residential zone, where the Kings of Copan had lived. We were in the ruins of Copan, and the majority of the ancient city was probably still hidden by jungle and earth.

Copan is an ancient Maya city. It was very important – especially during its peak in the early 9th century, when it contained about 20,000 people. Along with Palenque in Mexico and Tikal in Guatemala, Copan was one of the most important Maya settlements to have ever existed.

We learned a ton. One of the most interesting things we learned is about human sacrifice. People would play a soccer-like game. They were organized into two teams. The goal was to hit macaw heads that were carved in various places around the pit. This scored a point; the number may vary. Whichever team had the most points at the end of the match was the winner. The captain of the winning team would be taken away and never seen again.

He laid on his back on an altar carved like a turtle. Then his head was cut off. His heart was placed in a ditch made for hearts, still beating. The blood would pour out of the cracks in the rock and was collected in seashells. Then it was poured on a piece of paper that was then burned. This was an offering to the gods – to bring rain during a drought, to bring a good harvest, etc.It was considered an honor to be sacrificed to the gods. I, though, would try to lose to spare my life.

On top of that, the Mayans thought that after death, the soul would begin a dangerous journey through the underworld to paradise, thus being reborn. So they buried their kings and nobles in fetal position.

In the tunnel, next to the original wall of one of the temples

One of my favorite parts was the tunnels. From the heart of the ruins, they ran three miles into the countryside. They hadn’t been dug by the Mayans. Archaeologists had built them to show the underground parts of various temples. We could only go in a small fraction of the tunnels, but they were still amazing. We saw the mask of the sun god, the detailed, colorful carving of a macaw head, and much, much more.

After we got out of the tunnels, we were shown the true ground level, which was 25 feet below the ground level in the city of Copan, and five feet above the water table. There, it was easy to see the five layers of the ruins. However, there had been 16 kings. Why weren’t there 16 layers? Well, because only some of the kings built whole new layers. During king #14’s rule, he decided that he wouldn’t build on top of the previous king’s work, which was normally how the city developed. Everyone else after him followed his example, leaving king #13’s work shown to the world.

Copan was gorgeous. If you ever get a chance to go, you should.

The carvings are amazing!

Carvings showing the dynasty of the kingdom

Stairway that tells the history of the Mayan people

View of the ball court

Maquette of the ruins

Mayo Papaquayo

Posted on June 6, 2016June 5, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

Macaw

The beautiful, green birds were very noisy. The males, unlike the females, had a little bit of red on their wings. We were at Macaw Mountain, a place where birds were rehabilitated and possibly released back into the wild . Right afterwards, we saw the macaws. They were beautiful! They were majestic. One of them even dropped a feather. It would be perfect to make a pen out of it.

Next, we saw the green macaws. One, previously abused, wanted to attack us. Another one was curious. We also saw toucans. The difference between males and females was obvious: the males had massive beaks, while the females’ beaks were much smaller. We also saw some owls. One cage contained some Great Horned Owls. Disappointingly, they were a smaller subspecies than the ones that we were used to. Another five very small, brown owls.

Near the cage, on a post and chained in place, was a baby owl, even smaller. His huge pupils took up most of his eyes. He was chained up so that he could get some exercise while not walking off to dangerous places. His wings had been clipped by the previous owners. However, his wings had only been clipped once. We saw some macaws that had been separated from the others. These former pets had been kept outside, but the previous owners had clipped their wings over and over again. Well, by the time they’d escaped, having clipped wings was natural to them. The mutilated their own wings. They would also chase around other birds and try to mutilate their wings. If their victim was caught, it wouldn’t fly.

Lastly, we saw the showcase birds. I got to take pictures with macaws. What a way to end our time at Macaw Mountain Rehab Center!

I got a feather!

So cute!

Parrots

Honduran Adventures

Posted on June 2, 2016June 1, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

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Left, right, left, right. It was very hard kayaking up the river, because the current was so strong. I simply couldn’t do it. I had to strap my kayak to mom’s. Once we got to the lake, however, I was kayaking around and swimming. We had to race back to the docking point, because it got dark very fast. I liked that trip.

Lizard Also around Lake Yojoa, we hiked to a mountain with two humps. It was called “Cerro Las Nalgas”, which translates to “The Butt Cheek Mountain”. That’s funny! It was a long and tough hike that was very steep. Your legs would collapse on the way up and you would fly off the mountain on the way down. We, of course, were way too overpowered for that. Hahaha. I do have to admit, though, that I nearly fell off the mountain several times. The other hike we did was much easier. It was in a protected coffee plantation/nature reserve . There was a hotel in the middle of the reserve, which had a swimming pool. The reserve also had the remnants of ruins of the stadium where they played a game like soccer hidden below the earth. While exploring, we saw some really funny lizards with thin crests above their heads. They ran on two legs, with the other two flailing about in midair. I found them hilarious. Who couldn’t?

Don’t assume we didn’t have anything to do at the hotel. I swam in the pool, but it was icy cold, so I couldn’t stay in very long. Dad taught us a new game. In this game, there were no jokers. We each got 17 cards. Whoever started could play whatever card they wanted, as long as it wasn’t a spade. The other players had to play a card in the matching suit. Whoever had the highest card won the book. Then they put down a card from their hand. Pretty simple. Although, if someone was to run out of a suit, they had to put down a spade. If there was a king and queen of hearts with a two of spades, the player who had put down the spade would win. How is that possible? Well, spades are like jokers. The only thing that can beat a spade is a higher spade. Thus, the ace of spades is unstoppable. We played for hours. What a way to end our time at Lake Yojoa!

DCIM100GOPROG0485613. — A great time with part of our family!

Honduras is full of magical, memorable experiences. One of these experiences was when we had a vacation with Tío Alberto, or “Uncle Beto”. We were going to a town called Amapala, on an island called Isla del Tigre. We were going because Tío Beto’s son, Albertito, had to run in a marathon on the island. Things didn’t go as planned, though. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get the place that Beto normally stayed at. Although, we did get a nice hotel with a swimming pool. We did explore the island. The short trip was really more like a road trip – an enjoyable one, though.

GReat Sunsets in the South Coast!

I got to go tubin’!

Climbing that mountain was hard work!

The beautiful reserve

River in the reserve

Tegus Togetherness

Posted on May 25, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

Three Generations – My Dad, Great Grandfather, and myself

We didn’t do much in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. It was mainly about being together with family. One day, though, we went to a beautiful village close to Tegus called Santa Lucia. We’d been there before, when I was a baby. My parents talked about how much it had changed. We also saw a church there. It was beautiful.

Another day, the whole family got together, and my great-grandfather was talking about his grandparents, his parents, and his childhood. About 75 years ago, my great-grandpa’s aunt’s dog was used to carry messages . Sometimes, the messenger dogs would travel very long distances. But there was something very special about that dog. The family would crank on the music, and that dog – and only that dog – would dance like a human. Also, the aunt could talk to lots of animals, even snakes. It is very funny to imagine.

On almost our last day in Tegucigalpa, we saw an art museum. It wasn’t just an art museum, because it also contained a fascinating history of the country. Like all other Latin American countries in the Cold War, it had a terrible dictatorship supported by the U.S, just because it wasn’t Communist. Also, there was a horrible display to educate the public of a local problem that was simply terrible: the killing of women for simply being women. It was a series of sculptures of women that had hands instead of heads. Basically, they had no voice. Each woman had a sign in Sign Language on the hand on their neck. There were lots of paintings, too my favorite painting was a replica of graffiti. It looked like something I would have drawn. It was an animation of a DJ in a spacesuit. Nothing cooler than a DJ astronaut!

Chillin’ with Zeus.

Resting while overlooking Tegus

Fun House Mirror – I got shorter!

Lazy in Lima

Posted on May 17, 2016May 16, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

We didn’t do much in Lima, but we did walk around and see some amazing fountains.

The walk was special. We saw many, many dogs, some of which had twins. Below us, in the ocean, we saw lots of people surfing. Most where still paddling out, but some where riding waves. When we reached the mall, we found a place to eat and had our meal. The mall was open air and really cool. We got ice cream and walked around. I was amazed.

Also we saw some colorful fountains and a laser light show. During the day, a couple of fountains were free for kids to play in, but we didn’t have my bathing suit, so I couldn’t play with them. There was also a tunnel made purely of water in the park. There was also a statue of Sucre, one of the South American men who had helped defeat the Spanish, in the park. The park was amazing. It was so beautiful.

We just happened to walk around town at about the time when the presidential guards would switch at the presidential palace. They had a big ceremony, and I was kind of bored. It was still kinda cool, though.

Eat, Sleep, Hop, Repeat

Posted on May 13, 2016May 12, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

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A small percentage of the Nazca Lines. Most can only be seen from a plane.

We got out of the bus, crossed the street, and climbed the tower. The Nazca Lines were amazing! The lines were very shallow, very thin. They were shaped into animals we know of. More or less. They were created about 2,000 years ago. But why? No one knows. They could have been made as a calendar. They could have been made to honor the local gods. But they were too perfect too have been made using a regular garden shovel or anything similar. I personally believe that aliens created them using their little lasers. They were trying to depict the creatures they’d seen during their travels around Earth. The pictures did look like animals found on Earth. A monkey, an ant, a condor, a shark, a frog… however mysterious they were, they were amazing.

Next, we were in Huacachina, a village built around an oasis near the city of Ica. My favorite activity was sand boarding. Imagine flying down a dune at a speed that feels like 100 mph. Would you scream your head off? Of course you would. We did, too, for the first few times. But after we got used to it, it was freakin’ addictive. We had two races. A young woman from our group won both races. Both times, I was ahead of Dad, who was last. As we took a fun, roller coaster-like ride back to Huacachina, the four women screamed their heads off as if a lion had jumped in the dune buggy. I closed my eyes tight, and one young man yelled, “Please! No! Make it stop! Make it stop! Please!”. Then, after watching the sunset, we took pictures of the village below. It was great.

In Paracas, we took a tour to some smelly islands off the coast. It was flourishing with life. Thousands, perhaps millions, of birds were either flying around the island or resting on it. Though most of these birds were seagulls, there also were some tiny penguins and pelicans. Also, the islands were home to sea lions. The guide told us about the bird poop, which was so plentiful that it formed thick rocks, was harvested for fertilizer. Years ago, they used yo harvest 10 feet of the poop every year. Now, they still harvest about the same amount of the poop, but because there are fewer birds, they don’t harvest as often. Now, they harvest the poop every 5 – 8 years. Enough talk about poop. But, man, talk about birds! There were more than you’d ever seen in your life here! There were even some small, black ones I didn’t know the name of. What a sight!

Hacienda de San José in Chincha was a huge mansion with lots of rooms. Today, it is a hotel with a small museum. One part of the museum were tunnels. The family had a business in agriculture, but the indigenous workers weren’t quite strong enough for the jobs. So they imported slaves from Africa. 70% had to be male, while the other 30% had to be female. Once they got there, they were hidden in the tunnels and waited. They didn’t have any candles, so the ones who tried to escape simply hit their heads on the ceiling. Down there, it was pitch-black and very dusty. Some slaves even died.The doctor would come and pick out the strongest and healthiest slaves, keeping in mind how many should be male and how many should be female. The rest would be sent on their way. We were in the tunnels in a group of about 10 and still a little cramped, but many groups of slaves were 4 or 5 times the amount. When the other South America people came to free Peru from Spanish control, they told the slaves that if they fought on their side, they would be freed. The slaves agreed to help. When Peru was free from Spanish control, the South Americans didn’t keep their promise. However, slavery ended 33 years later in Peru. Without a civil war. But the owners of the Hacienda de San José house didn’t want to free their slaves. So they kept them completely hidden from the outside world. No one from the mansion could go to the city, and no one from the city could go to the mansion. If anyone knew about the slaves hidden in the tunnels, they would lose their tongue. However, the slaves learned, after 2 years, that they were free. So then, they killed the son of the owners, and ran off, feeling free as birds.

So many birds!!!

Checkin out the red sand beach

Ready to ride in the dune buggie!

These dunes are in the driest desert in the world!

Oasis town of Ica

Ice Cream break at the beach!

More mysterious lines

Pelicans

Lazy Sea Lions

Colca Canyon

Posted on May 11, 2016May 7, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

Horse

Friends During our time in Colca Canyon, we did lots of things. I played with four kids. Two were Peruvian. Their names were Diego and Santiago. The other two were German. All of the kids lived in Lima. The German kids had moved there two years ago. We played a lot (i) of foosball. The Germans had a special trick: to pass the ball back, then kick it even harder. Once, I was playing with Santiago against the two German kids. The older of our two opponents, the German boy, kicked the ball from the defense to the back offense. In the middle of pass, I gave it a good whack. The ball curved and went straight into the goal. The boy stopped with that trick after the costly interception.

My favorite thing in Colca Canyon was the observatory. It was a place where we looked at stars and planets. We peeked at Jupiter. The gas giant looked about the size of the tip of my pointer finger in the microscope. Below it were four dots of bright light in perfect sequence. Each were a little smaller than my pinky nail through the telescope. They were Jupiter’s largest moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. They were a spectacular sight.

Also in Colca Canyon, we rode horses. My horse was a little naughty, but she was very gentle. Once, the reins got tied around her front leg. I didn’t notice. Instead of doing what other horses would have done, which would be to buck me of, she laid down. Thankfully, I hadn’t been balanced, but neither had I noticed, so only the flap of my shoe got stuck underneath her. If I had been properly balanced, my whole leg would have been stuck beneath her. I think that I would rather keep my leg.

CondorFB

We also saw condors while overlooking the canyon. There were so many of the majestic birds. They put on a spectacular show I will never forget. What an amazing creature.

Baby Alpaca…AAAWWW!

Condor

Condors

Condor Cross. I did not want to get up there!

Met some nice old ladies at a festival

Got to feed a baby Llama!!!

Out for a walk in the town

Arequipa Awesomeness

Posted on May 9, 2016May 7, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

James

Market Sq One of our first days in Arequipa, we saw the Santa Catalina convent. We learned a lot. We learned about how the second children of a family had to become nuns or priests. We learned about how, for the first four years, the nuns, sent to the convent around age 13, saw no one but their teachers. We learned about how they lived and much more. We were informed about an important nun named Ana de los Angeles. She’d been sent to the convent for education at age 3, but permanently pulled out 10 years later, to be forcibly married to a man who was much older than she was. She ended up running away and permanently joining the convent. Her parents refused to give her the donation she needed, but her brother helped. She died at age 80. Centuries later, in the 1900s, a woman very sick with cancer mixed tiny portion of the ash of Ana de los Angeles with her medicine. In only a few days, she was completely cured.

Birds After seeing the convent, we head a nice lunch overlooking a plaza with music in the background. Later, I fed the birds. So many! So aggressive! It seemed as if a literal sea of pigeons was swarming me. It was amazing.

The next day, we had a delicious lunch with the family we were staying with. I had cuy. It came with the claws, bones, head and all. It was actually kinda disgusting, but it was good. I liked it!

Bull Heads Also, we saw bulls fighting. This was not the Spanish style, where the man with the cape kills the bull with a spear. Instead, in this Peruvian style, bulls head butted each other, and when one was too hurt to continue and ran, the other won. During the last fight we saw, one bull pushed another into the barrier. There was an explosion of people as everyone rushed to avoid the danger. It was a little scary. Eventually, the bull with the bloodiest wounds, the one obviously losing, chased away the other and won the match. Woo!

We also stayed with a wonderful family in a beautiful house with lots of space. They were family of a friend of ours. Their names were Carmen Sr., Pepé Sr, and Carmen Jr. Pepé Jr, my parents’ friend, got in touch with us, and he wanted us to stay with his family.They were so nice and so welcoming! Hospitable, too!

Arches inside the convent

Convent Courtyard

Convent Kitchen

Convent Room

Convent Laundry

The winning bull

The bulls didn’t always want to fight…

One of the apartments inside the convent

Ollantaytambo – More Like “Oh Man”Taytambo

Posted on April 29, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

I took another bite of the meat. It was tender, and was easy to cut and chew. I looked at the remaining meat on my plate. It was round and flat. It was long and skinny. I was suddenly suspicious. I flipped it over, saw the tiny bumps, and my suspicions were confirmed – the meat was tongue.

That’s not the only crazy food we had in Ollantaytambo. On our first day, we had an assortment of vegetables. I found one vegetable that felt fatty. It tasted like meat. Later, after we were done eating, my parents surprised me. They told me the truth: that the tasty vegetable wasn’t a vegetable at all. It was cow stomach.

Inside the store house or Inca “refrigerator”.

We entered the ruins. We got a guide for an hour. She told us many different things. For example, at the Princess Baths, she explained to us that once a year, every June 21, the sun would rise up over the the mountain and a single dot of sunlight would appear where water trickled in from a hole in the wall. Another fact was that for palaces and other important buildings, they would use giant stones made of granite. They would be cut with high precision, niches and notches connecting, and stuck together like LEGOs, no mortar needed. Also, the windows and doors were shaped like trapezoids. In an earthquake, the building would shake, but remain standing. We loved our tour. It was amazing.

The family we stayed with was amazing, too. They were so nice. They greeted us like family. I played with their niece a lot, and it was simply amazing.

We also loved the old town. It was full of beautiful Spanish colonial and original Inca architecture. Beautiful. Beautifully mysterious.

There were more Alpaca int he ruins

Many narrow, stone streets

The artisan market

Around town

The Bath of the Princesses

View or the town from the ruins

Inside the ruins

Our wonderful host family!

Trapezoidal shaped niches

Machu Picchu – Super Machu, Super Picchu

Posted on April 25, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

James at Machu Picchu

The sun burst above the mountains, and bathed everything in beautiful morning sunshine. The early morning rays washed everything in golden sunlight, including the ancient city below the mountain on which we were standing. In the midst of all the foundations of all the unused buildings was a giant field… with llamas in it! We spent lots of time at the lookout before finding the Inca bridge. It was a bridge across the valley, connected to the side of a mountain. It was made of stone and wood.

Macchu Picchu Iconic FB

When we got back, we went nuts exploring Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu means “Old Mountain” in Quechua, the language of the Incas. Machu Picchu was built around 1450, at the height of the Inca empire, because the Incas needed a outpost in the holy area considered to be the border between the Andes mountain range and the Amazon jungle. It was abandoned around 1570, shortly after the Spanish conquest. We saw every room, making our way to the giant field, and noticed small ditches in the rock where clean water would flow. There were two different areas, the urban area, which we were in, and the agricultural area, which was behind us. We continued onward. Soon, we reached the field. We were standing on the edge of the field, watching the llamas as they grazed and grazed and grazed. We kept on going. Not long after that, we passed the way to Wayna Picchu which means “Young Mountain”, a neighboring mountains with a couple of little sights on it. We passed through a long building, with lots of neat cuts in the walls, perfect for storing things. The whole rest of the time, I thought up a story. We were all wearing out, and fast. It seemed like only seconds before we were walking out the door, ready for the mysteries of life to overcome us once again.

Wayna Picchu

Lots of rooms to explore!

Llamas grazing the field in front of Wayna Picchu

Enjoying the view

Guinea Pigs, Cuy, Sightseeing, and a Tour

Posted on April 22, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

Alpacas

I reached out to the smallest guinea, which was also the closest. It was the size of a pet guinea pig you would find in the States. Only it was a baby. The guinea pigs all scattered. Some of them were absolutely huge, maybe even more than a foot long. The were so cute, but they weren’t pets. They were food.

Girl with lamb — Miriam, me, and a lamb – Pisac

Soon after our visit to the guinea pigs, we strolled around the Písac market. The square was full of fruit stands. It was a very colorful market. They also had a arts and crafts section. We bought a strip of natural powder-like colors for some friends. As we made our way to the shared taxi station, we saw a girl about my age with an adorable lamb. I loved on it and got a photo. But, as I’d said earlier, guinea pigs were food. And soon, they would be food for us.

For my parents’ anniversary, we had a special order of Cuy (guinea pig) in Cusco. Mom was feeling adventurous, so she decided to take it as her meal. She let me have a bite. It tasted like duck. I should have eaten it instead. Mom was crying as if a family member had died. Apparently, all she’d been thinking was, Poor Linny! Linny is a guinea pig in Wonder Pets, an American TV show for little kids. Eventually, after eating most of it, she let the waiter take it. But no one could take the Inca like they had taken Mom’s cuy.

The museum of sites of the Qoricancha talked about Pre-Inca settlements as well as their technology. Then they talked about the Inca, going into a lot of depth about their empire’s holdings, including the cities, and then the Spanish conquest. The Spanish conquistadors came and crushed everything in the Incas’ society. Terrible. Just terrible. Chinchero was just up the road.

We went to Chinchero, a village near Moray. We soon got a brief demonstration of the different things used for cleaning and dying wool. Then they died the wool, pointed out a couple of nearby women who were spinning the wool into thread, and lastly wove the thread into a beautiful blanket. Soon, we’d visit the site that Chinchero was very close to.

Moray was a very interesting Inca site. It was made up of 21 different terraces, going down instead of up, used to make 3 different ecosystems. It was also used to experiment with crops. The bottom terrace was the wettest and hottest. This system of terraces was dedicated mainly towards potatoes. At least in this place. What’s Pre-Inca and involves salt water? You’re about to find out.

Next, we saw the salt mines. In was an intriguing, Pre-Inca site with loads and loads of pools. They were filled with salt water, and when the time came, after the pool turned from brown to yellow to white, all water entries were blocked off. After the water evaporated, they had a pool full of salt. What a spectacular process! Read on to find out about the spectacular gift I got in Cusco.

As we were about to leave Cusco, I got an adorable stuffed guinea pig for a present from the owners of our AirBnb apartment. I played with two really little kids, before leaving. What a great gift!

Colorful Stains for painting and dying

Colorful yarn with the natural material the colors are made from

Salt Pans de Maras

Poor Cuy

Plaza de Armas, Cusco

Archbishop’s Palace

Island Hop

Posted on April 18, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

Rowing

The boat stopped, and we got out on the floating island of Uros in Lake Titicaca, Perú. The ground, made of reeds, was very peaty. The ground gave way a little when you stepped in it, but bounced back up. A couple of locals explained how the village was built from blocks of reed and compost. Then our guide told us of the activities in the village, which included fishing for food. Our group didn’t get to fish, though. We also dressed up and got our pictures taken. I was put in a shirt and hat against my own will that made me look like I was five years old. We took a local boat to the next floating island, which was empty. Then we got back on the tour company’s boat, went to the next island, bought some snacks, and headed to a real island.

The climb up to the plaza was exhausting, and during, when I had something to say, it was barely audible. Though, the Snickers bar I’d had gave me a boost, but not for long. We bought a few bracelets, and by the time we started walking again, we couldn’t even see the back of the group. When we finally reached the lunch place, I was ready to pass out from exhaustion and take a nap. The food gave me renewed strength, and we bought a bracelet for a friend.

We passed a sheep surrounded on one side by the spikiest bushes you’ve ever seen, and on the other was a steep climb. With it was the tiniest black lamb you’ve ever seen, which had to have been newborn. It was black as night, with a white splotch on its head. We tried to get a little bit closer, but the mom made a horrible noise. The message was clear: Stay away from my baby! We took some pictures, and when we got back down, we headed off towards Puno, watching the waves lapping on the side of the boat.

A belt made from alpaca and women’s hair

Suma Pacha Village

The president of the village, Walter, showing us how the islands are made.

We saw a natural soap demonstration

I called this funny-looking chicken over

One of the villager’s kitchens

Beautiful Lake Titicaca

A ride in a Traditional Boat made from reeds

La Paz: Cable Cars and Cholita Wrestling

Posted on April 14, 2016April 11, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

_DSC8938 — Riding the “teleferico” (cable car)

The cable cars rode up, up, up, but finally stopped as we reached the station in El Alto. I could have easily renamed it “El Altura”, because even without doing anything, we were all panting hard. Dad asked if we wanted to walk around town, but because of the altitude, we didn’t want anything to do except get back down. We ended up taking the line all the way down, then had a snack at the bottom, then took it to up to the station we’d gotten on at. It was amazing! The views were astounding! Also, it wasn’t a cheesy tourist thing. Most people riding it were locals, getting to their workplaces. Awesome!

In La Paz, we also saw Bolivian Cholita wrestling, where traditionally-dressed women get in a ring together and beat each other up. My favorite match was when Margarita, a small, 17-year-old girl, who we had met on the bus to the stadium, faced a big woman, and won multiple times. It was obvious that they were fighting their hardest. Oh, how wonderful! I’d never had a better time in my life.

Also, fed some pigeons… of course!

Met this cholita on the street in La Paz

So much fun watching wrestling!

Jungle-and-Pampas Tour

Posted on April 11, 2016April 10, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

We got out of the boat, and I started walking around the sandbar. Soon I steeped into some mud, and started sinking. I tried to escape. However, I only sunk faster. I had fallen into quicksand! I wiggled my legs, gave them a good yank, and finally they came free. But where were my sandals? I reached down with my hands and pulled them out. They were covered in mud, but not damaged, so they were fine. I put them on. After giving myself a much-needed rinse, we headed into the little settlement. Whew, I though, that was a close one. Gotta be more careful in the jungle, James!

The settlement was full of pitifully scrawny dogs. We looked at the crops, and squeezed sugar cane into a delicious juice. Then we were off toward our lodge again.

When we got there, we had lunch, then took a hike. When we got back, we rested, then had dinner, then I, discovering Mom had brought her nook, read for a little while before going to bed.

The next morning, we got up bright and early (you can imagine how grumpy I was), hiked to the campsite, and the sky opened up. It was rain like you’d never seen before. It was as if the oceans had overturned, like someone grabbed the whole river and threw it all on us. This is what it must feel like being an ant when the lawn sprinkler points your way, I thought.

Finally we got to the campsite, and I read. Soon I was pulled off my book to do arts and crafts (not the best thing when you’re reading a good book), but one of the guides made a caiman-tooth necklace for me. I read until dinnertime, then we took a night hike through the jungle. We saw lots of bugs, including some ants that were a little more than an inch long. They were called 24-hour ants, because if one bit you at twelve o’clock noon, the pain didn’t go away until twelve o’clock noon the next day. Basically, the pain didn’t subside for 24 hours. Ow! Also, hearing the strange sounds spooked me a bit.

The next day, when we got back to the lodge after a combination of swimming and floating down the river on a raft, which we’d had to build from scratch using tree trunks, we rested for a couple of hours. Then, us and our group mates headed off to a stream that fed to the river to fish.

First, Trent, the Australian man, pulled up a silvery two-and-a-half footer. It flapped so hard it escaped the hook, and was sent flying through air. It landed with a wham! on the ground halfway up the hill. Trent tried to hold the slippery fish in place with his foot, but it slid right down into the pond. It must have told its friends, because we didn’t catch anything else in that water. Although, in another pond, we managed to catch two tiger fish, which were about a foot and a quarter each, and one catfish, which couldn’t have been bigger than a foot. We ate well, and slept well, too.

We woke up, and found ourselves heading to town for our short break before the Pampas tour. We took a long drive (stopping on the side of the road to admire a sloth), saw a massive bird, and suddenly, the road was filled with water. We got out of the car, boarded a tiny motorboat, and rode the rest of the way to the lodge via the river. At one point, we came to a spot where two rivers met, forming a large pond. As we sped by, dolphins jumped up out of the water and fell back in again. I’m not kidding! Though, unfortunately, we were so fast that we only had a few moments to cherish the beauty of the memory. After we reached the lodge, we ate and rested before going on a “short” tour.

We swam with the dolphins, which was pretty cool, then went around looking for monkeys and birds. At first, I didn’t want to get in the water. I was in the pond already, though, wishing I could be in the boat. Then Mom jumped in, and called a dolphin over. It came right up to us and made a big splash. After what seemed like ages, I headed for the boat, but stopped when I heard a dolphin heading after me. I tucked my feet below my legs, but I still felt the dolphin nosing me playfully. It was quite an experience.

DCIM100GOPROGOPR4759. — Watching the sunset

Finally we ended up floating in a flooded field watching the sunset. At about that time, we saw a caimans in a couple of different places. We were thoroughly spooked, though amazed, and went straight for the lodge. We had dinner and got a relatively ‘good’ night’s sleep.

The next morning, we had breakfast, toured around, and finally ended up in a horse ranch that had a kind of bus stop attached to it. Finally we rode off to Rurrenabaque, ending our tour of the Pampas and the Jungle.

Camping in the Jungle

Dolphins!

We caught a fish!

Hacking through the jungle with a machette.

Purple Palms

Squeezing Sugar Cane

Playing Tug-of-War with a vine

Fish Fried

Climbing a tree by vine

Hanging in the Hammock

Fishing in the jungle

In the jungle boat

Through the rocks in the jungle

Salt Tour

Posted on April 4, 2016March 31, 2016 by roundtheworldkid

I got on top of the old, useless train. Mom wanted me to get even higher, but I didn’t because it looked too dangerous. We got some awesome pictures, and soon we rode back to town to buy things like sunglasses and pick up lunch. As we drove across the salt flats, we stopped at places like the salt triangles, big piles of salt, before eating lunch.

Afterwards, we took our silly photos, messing with the perspective. We continued on to Fish Island, a small area of land in the middle of the salt flats with dirt, rock, and strangely enough, coral. Millions of years ago, the Pacific Ocean had reached even the salt flats, and the whole island had underwater, but when mountains had risen far into the ocean, gigantic, salty lakes were created. These lakes eventually dried up, creating salt flats. We explored around for a little while.

I found a cool cave and a small but awesome pit safely guarded by steep rock walls and spiky plants on almost every direction. After about an hour of driving, we escaped the salt flats and after about another hour of driving, we arrived at the salt hotel, a hostel made of entirely of salt bricks. While it was chilly outside, the salt kept us very warm.

The next day, we saw a bunch of lagoons with flamingos in them. One was even red! Our guide said it was because of the microorganisms that the flamingos ate, but one of our companions joked that it was red from blood. Human blood…

The sun just peeked over the mountains as the geysers continued their endless spraying of mist. It smelled eggy. Even though it was warm, it had a way of getting us away. Next we went to green lake. It earned its name, but because we were too early, it was not green at the time. Then we relaxed in the hot springs. By the time we ended our tour, we were ready for the next place.

Sleeping in Salt

The Red Lagoon and flamingos

Train tracks that carry train hauling minerals

Riding a Llama

Llama mama and baby

They have a James Flamingo!

Relaxing the the hot springs

Our really fun tour group!

Green Lake and view to Chile

Curious, hungry little fox

Flastinko

Fish Island or cactus island

Climbing Lava rocks

Baby Llama

Climbing to the cave

Climbing in the trains

Himachal Pradesh

Posted on November 23, 2015November 21, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

Shimla was nice. We walked through the mall, which is a big open plaza. We had delicious Indian street food. We saw crowds like never before and got honked at on the way there, which made me mad. We also experienced Diwali. It was full of fireworks. We saw a few things, too. My favorite was the Monkey Temple, which is dedicated to the Hindu god Hanuman, the monkey god. The statue was awesome. It was full monkeys, which are super cool. That was my favorite part.

After Shimla, we went to Rewalsar on the way to Mcleod Ganj. Relwasar is a cute tiny village surrounding a lake that is holy to Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs. We stayed in a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery. For two nights in a row, I would play soccer with the younger Tibetan Buddhists, then go play Minecraft with our new Dutch friends who live in Ahmedabad. That was so fun. Their names were Izerd, who was 12, Fanka, who was 10, and Freya, who was 8.

The second day was very different. We went to the caves and hiked up a steep hill. Then we walked into the forest and found a scary abandoned house. There was a big rock with sheets of metal near it. Inside the rock was the abandoned house, which was filthy. The door was broken down and in pieces, there were dirty sleeping bags all over the room, and bowls half submerged in dirt. Then we hiked back down to Rewalsar. The next day it was just me and my family. We fed the fish in the lake puffed rice. There were thousands of fish in that lake. Holy … fish? Yes, those fish were holy. Rewalsar was amazing. I recommend you to go there.

On our first day in McLeod Ganj, we saw a documentary about the modern Tibetans in China. The film used a small section to describe them being tortured, beaten, imprisoned, and executed because they deserved independence and knew it. That is not right. This made me mad. It was mainly about a small group of about 15 Tibetans’ adventure across Nepal into India to Delhi and finally to Dharmsala to meet the Dalai Lama. While we were waiting, I played a fun Indian board game called Carrom. It is a board game were there are some chips and one chip that was flatter and wider then the rest called the cue, which is white. The rest of the chips were black and white. One was red. I didn’t quite understand the goal of the game, so you can google it. Another day, we got a taxi and went to Norbulingka Institute, where they preserve Tibetan culture and crafts. We also went to Gyuto Monestary, which is known for the monks chanting. The sound was hypnotizing. Next we went to the cricket stadium, which is known for its mountain views, but the next day, we found even better mountain views at Triund. The views were awesome. You could see Paramount Mountain (which is actually called Mount Moon). We took a 4 1/2 hour hike to get there. The hike was tiring, but I liked it. McLeod Ganj was awesome.

Mount Moon

Checkin out the temple at Norbulingka

Turning prayer wheels

Watching women make bags at Norbulingka

This door is TINY!

Having a snack with a view!

Playing Carrom

Feeding lots of holy fish!

My new friends from The Netherlands

Cricket Stadium in Dharamsala

Shimla Mall

Shimla Street Food

Diwali 2015

Posted on November 21, 2015November 21, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

Diwali Sparklers!

Recently was the Hindu holiday of Diwali. It is a holiday to celebrate the return of one of their gods after being in Sri Lanka for more than a decade. His brother left his shoes on the throne so that no one could take the throne. Our experience with Diwali went well. First the Hindus gave offerings to their gods, such as flowers, cashew pastries, and money. After that, they gave me some of the cashew pastries. They were good. Next we went out back to light fireworks. We lit sparklers, bottle rockets, and special firecrackers that our hosts called “The Bomb”, because it sounded like a bomb from far away. We had a great time. I liked Diwali.

Our wonderful hosts at Hotel Springfields

Diwali Offerings

Diwali at night

Learning about Diwali from a real Maharaja!

Diwali Offering in the hotel

Diwali Hat!

Diwali Firecrackers!!

Met Benevolent Tibetans Monks

Image posted on November 18, 2015November 18, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

_DSC1663

Invincible Istanbul

Posted on November 13, 2015November 13, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

Topkapi Palace was very interesting. I liked the Harem and the weapons/armor room. My favorite armor was the horse armor. My favorite weapon was one of those awesome 15th century guns. The Harem was interesting, too. The kings’ wives had to stay in a certain area and were guarded by eunuchs. Below them were the Sultans that had previously reigned (if there were any). It was also interesting that they gathered young girls and educated them. I had fun guessing how old they were when they were taken to the palace. 5? 6? 10? 8? 9? They had to be fairly young to be educated. When they grew up, the prettiest and smartest girls became the Sultan’s wives. The others were married off to some noble. I liked Topkapi Palace.

The next day we saw the Hagia Sophia. It was very interesting how it all blended in so well… I mean, the Mihrab facing Mecca and Mosaics of Jesus. The Arabic script and the thick columns. The awesomeness… and the boredom.

We also saw the Blue Mosque. It was quick, but it was beautiful and interesting.

My favorite sight was the Grand Bazaar. I liked the alleyways… they were relaxing to me. So relaxing that I forgot about everything.

Most of what I did was play video games with my friend Kaan. We played a lot of Minecraft. Unfortunately, we were not able to play together, but we both still got lucky. Kaan spawned in a Mooshroom Biome. That is the rarest thing that ever happens in Minecraft. The chances are about 1/999 trillion of the time. I spawned in a swamp/plain/forest village. Kaan built his house with a Mushroom tree as the floor. I took a moved into a house in the village. We both added the Nether to our worlds. We did eventually join games, but not for long. We had a great time.

Blends aren’t only in art and language

It’s amazing how quickly 9 years goes!

What’s better than video games?!

Which one of us is upside down? (Hagia Sofia)

Harem at Topkapi Palace

This is one of the 7 wonders of MY world! (The Blue Mosque)

The Mountains of Transylvania

Posted on November 4, 2015November 4, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

The puppy slid down the watershed. He had been following us all this way. He was a great guide. He knew where the trail was. Sometimes he’d get offtrack. Every time we thought that he had turned around and gone home, he came back to us. We gave him a couple of names. I named him Guide. Dad named him Vlad the Inhaler, because he inhaled everything. Soooooooo cheesy! Vlad was a little black-and-white dog. A few hours in we finally got to where we wanted to go. On the way up, Vlad showed his talents. He never tired. He could also climb up steep rock blocks. Finally we could rest. We had arrived at a Cabana in the mountains with a great view. We had lunch. We gave Vlad some salami and a few peanuts. Vlad found some huge dogs and wanted to play with them. Their paws where the size of his head. I was worried about Vlad’s safety. One of the big dogs jumped at Vlad, barely missing his head. If the blow had hit, it could have been a killer. I carried Vlad out of the Cabana. I gave him some water. He was with us the whole rest of the way. We found another dog Vlad’s size on the way back. While we hiked up the hill to the village, Vlad roughhoused with the other dog. We had a great time.

The next time we hiked was to go to a cave. It was a long, boring hike through a couple villages, and there was not much to see in the cave. I still liked the cave, anyway. We got into the opening, and I explored a small passageway just barely big enough for me. It really opened up. My parents joined me. We explored the cave pretty far. It was so muddy. There was one part where the mud was halfway up our shoes. We had no choice but to turn back. Then we had lunch. As we headed back to our village, a big scaredy dog followed us. We kept telling him to go home, but he wouldn’t listen.

On our way to Bran, we saw the citadel of Râșnov. We also saw the Dino Parc. It was so awesome. It was mainly one giant playground beyond my dreams. Of course, it also had a walkway with prehistoric reptiles (not ALL prehistoric reptiles are dinosaurs) . There I tried my first ropes course. It was scary but awesome. Unfortunately you could only do it twice. I still had fun, though.

Our next big adventure was on Halloween night. We toured the Dracula Castle – I still got some candy – and met some nice people. We came dressed up, so everyone wanted to take our picture. Then we did a haunted house. I tried to shoo away the monsters that jumped out at us. Good thing they weren’t real monsters!

Râșnov – Enjoying some cocoa

Râșnov – Epic DinoParc!

Râșnov – Slingin’ a sword around!

Râșnov – Learning to throw axes

Râșnov – View from the citadel

King of the world! – Piatra Craiului National Park

Râșnov – my first ropes course!

Exploring caves – Piatra Craiului National Park

The view of Piatra Craiului National Park

Râșnov – my first ropes course

Rock pile – Piatra Craiului National Park

BIG. DOG. – Piatra Craiului National Park

The forest of Piatra Craiului National Park

Squating tree in Piatra Craiului National Park

Epic cave in Piatra Craiului National Park

Giant gorge in Piatra Craiului National Park

Sighișoara – Visted Dracula’s place of birth

Sighișoara – The only crypt in Transylvania

Sighișoara – The crypt

Sighișoara – To Dracula’s place of birth!

The view of Brașov

Creepy tunnel in Sighișoara

Meet Vlad

Story of La Traviata Music Project

Posted on November 1, 2015November 5, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

I was assigned a music project. I had to pick an opera to tell the story about. I picked La Traviata out of a short selection because it had nice arias that I liked. I picked to do a computer programming presentation because I like computer programming and I am good at it.

Click here to see my La Traviata Animation.

_________________________________________

Project Research:

_Step 1: LISTEN: Choose an Opera Aria to listen to many times. Write down the elements while you are listening. If you are not sure about the details of your piece you may find it online or ask Mrs. Mom for help. Listen to the music several times so you become familiar with the different sections. Listen deeply and with a musical mind. __________________________ Aria/Opera chosen: Brindisi in the opera La Traviata
1. Tempo: Vivace	Other things to consider or ponder: _What inspired the composer to write this piece? _Did_ _s_/_he_ _h_a_v_e_ _a_ _s_t_o_r_y_ _i_n_ _m_i_n_d_?_ _ _H_o_w_ _d_o_e_s_ _t_h_i_s_ _m_u_s_i_c_ _m_a_k_e_ _y_o_u_ _f_e_e_l_?_ _ _W_h_a_t_ _d_o_e_s_ _t_h_i_s_ _m_u_s_i_c_ _m_a_k_e_ _y_o_u_ _t_h_i_n_k_ _o_f_?_ _ Critical Thinking in Music (CTM) strategies Make a “mind movie” while you listen. _W_h_a_t_ _i_s_ _g_o_i_n_g_ _o_n_ _i_n_ _t_h_e_ _m_u_s_i_c_?_ _ _What do you hear that makes you say that? _W_h_a_t_ _m_o_r_e_ _c_a_n_ _y_o_u_ _f_i_n_d_?_ _
2. Dynamics: Always changing, ranging from mezzopiano to fortissimo
3. Tonality (major, minor, or something else?): major
4. Meter/Time Signature: 3/4
5. timbre/instrumentation (full orchestra, string quartet, concerto, solo, duet, chorus, soprano, alto, tenor, bass, adult, child, families of instruments…): full orchestra duet, chorus
6. Form (5th grade only): ABA
7. My reflections on this music: It makes me want to sway. It makes me thing of the ocean for some really really strange reason. Maybe because the volume rises up and down like the waves in the ocean.
S_t_e_p_ _2_:_ _A_b_o_u_t_ _t_h_e_ _C_o_m_p_o_s_e_r_ _
Cite your sources and Fill in the Facts Third Graders: 3 or more sources, Fourth Graders: 4 or more sources, Fifth Graders: 5 or more sources Use classicsforkids.com, sfskids.com, links from springdaleparkmusic.blogspot.com, an encyclopedia, Nettrekker, Google, Bing, yahooligans, Squidoo, previous ASO Study Guides, Media Center sources, and other (books, biographies, magazine articles…) to find sources for your research. Don’t use “internet”, Wikipedia, Ask.com, Mrs. Mom, youtube, etc. At least one non-internet resource is preferred. Ask Mrs. Mom if you need help!
Required Facts
Nationality: Italy
Dates—birth and death dates: October 9^th, 1813 – January 27, 1901
Era (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, or 20th century/Modern) Romantic
Important works—specific pieces for which s/he is known besides this piece: Aida, Oberto, Un giorno di regno, Nabucco, I Lombardi, Rigoletto, II trovatore, Don Carlos, Requiem.
What types of music did s/he compose besides operas (symphonies, ballet music…)? Requiem

Other important/interesting facts

-Did you know that two of Verdi’s operas, Rigoletto and Aida are constantly among the most performed operas in the entire world, and both are performed 300 – 400 times a year worldwide.

-Legend has it that when Verdi was finishing up his opera ‘Il Trovatore’, a famous critic stopped by. Verdi sat at the piano and played a few excerpts for him.

“What do you think?” Verdi asked.

“That’s terrible,” the critic replied

“Well, what about this?” Verdi asked as he played another fragment.

“Rubbish” came the response.

“And this?” At which point Verdi played the now-famous “Di quella pira”

“Absolutely horrible!” said the great critic as he covered his ears.

Verdi jumped up from the piano and thanked the critic, saying ,”I’ve been writing an opera for the people of Italy not for purists like you. If you hate it, that means the whole world will whistle and play it all over Italy!”

Verdi was right! *

*Craciun, L. (October 10, 2014). 10 Most Interesting Facts About Giuseppe Verdi

[Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://www.cmuse.org/most-interesting-facts-about-giuseppe-verdi/2/

– He liked Shakespeare (a very famous English playwright). The operas Macbeth, Otello and Falstaff are all based on Shakespeare plays.

– He is a national hero in Italy! This is partly due to his Va, Pensiero (Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves) which became a song to help bring Italy together at the time it was written.

– His funeral was attended by more people than any other event in the entire history of Italy!

– Verdi is buried with his second wife in a house he founded for retired musicians.

S_t_e_p_ _3_:_ _A_b_o_u_t_ _t_h_e_ _Opera
Cite your sources and Fill in the Facts Third Graders: 3 or more sources, Fourth Graders: 4 or more sources, Fifth Graders: 5 or more sources Use classicsforkids.com, sfskids.com, links from springdaleparkmusic.blogspot.com, an encyclopedia, Nettrekker, Google, Bing, yahooligans, Squidoo, previous ASO Study Guides, Media Center sources, and other (books, biographies, magazine articles…) to find sources for your research. Don’t use “internet”, Wikipedia, Ask.com, “my mom”, youtube, etc. At least one non-internet resource is preferred. Ask Mr. Jackson if you need help!
What is Opera (definition)?
1. Nationality (what language is it in): Italian	4. What type of Opera is it: Buffa
2. Date composed: 1853 Date Premiered: March 6, 1853	5. What type of singers are featured in this opera: Every kind of singer. 5a. Write the definition of these types.
3. Era (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, or 20th century/Modern): Romantic	6. What is the form (structure) of Opera: ABA form

Opera Definitions:

Opera: Form of theatrical music performance in which the story is told entirely through instruments and singing.

Aria: Lyrical style of singing in an opera.

Tenor: Male lead in an opera

Soprano: Highest role in the Fach system; usually cast as the leading female role.

Fach System: General association of specific roles with a vocal range to help with casting or writing the piece.

Types of Opera (name and define):

Opera Seria: ‘Serious Opera’ is an opera with a cane and an emphasis on very ornamented arias rather than a plot line.

Opera Buffa: This comedic opera style evolved from the funny scenes of Opera Seria. People wanted more, so it became its own genre. This style of opera is mainly about everyday people in everyday situations, often comedic situations.

Write a summary of the overall story, include: Main Characters, Where does it take place, When does it take place, What is the plot (main problem/resolution of the story).

La traviata is a tragic love story that takes place in and around Paris, sometime near 1850.

Violleta, a French courtesan with tuberculosis, goes to a friend’s party, and meets Alfredo Germont, who would later be the love of her life. They’re forced to part by Alfredo’s father, but reunite as Violleta dies.

Write a summary of what is going on in this particular aria:

Brindisi is a lively drinking song about celebrating the happiness of love.

Interesting facts about THIS OPERA:

‘La traviata’ means ‘The Fallen Woman’. Brindisi is one of the most famous opera melodies of all time. La Traviata is based on the successful French Novel ‘The Lady of the Camellias’ written by Alexandre Dumas. La traviata’s subject and setting were novel for opera in the middle of the 19th century. The scale is intimate and bourgeois, not heroic or noble. The opera features some of the most challenging and revered music in the entire soprano repertoire; the aria “Sempre libera” at the end of Act I is especially well known.

Sources:

http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=311

http://www.classicsforkids.com/

https://study.com

http://www.biography.com/people/giuseppe-verdi-9517249

http://www.cmuse.org/most-interesting-facts-about-giuseppe-verdi/

http://kidsmusiccorner.co.uk/composers/classical/verdi/

http://www.britannica.com/topic/La-traviata

Happy Halloween from Drac’s Castle

Gallery posted on November 1, 2015November 1, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

OUR Drac Pack!

Yes, you SHOULD be here!

Grrrrrrr!

And yes, the Drac Pack IS back!

My Budapost

Posted on October 29, 2015October 29, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

I found myself relaxing in a Széchenyi Bath at 38°c (100°f). The hot water came from hot springs. Soon Dad dared me to jump into another pool that was 20°c (68°f). I was so cold! The water in that pool felt like ice water from Antartica. I got out as soon as possible.

When I got back in the other pool, I staggered back, saying, “Ow, ow, ow! Hot, hot hot!”

I got used to it soon, though. Not long after we grabbed our stuff and started to head towards the big attraction. Dad got in a sauna that was 45-50°c (113°-122°f). He only lasted about five minutes before he got out. Five long minutes. After that I pointed to a pool that was 18°c (64°f) and told Dad that after going into the sauna, people cool off in that pool. Dad didn’t jump in, but I did. I became an ice cube. It was that cold. I climbed out shivering as we went out into the open air. We got into a big pool that was not much cooler than the one we had got into in the first place. I watched some old guys playing chess for a little while. They were pretty good. Next to that pool was a lap pool. We checked out what was on the other side of the lap pool. I’m glad we did. It was a pool similar to what we were just in. It was a little bit colder and it had a lazy river. Inside the lazy river was a small relax pool. I had a great time in the lazy river. The current was so strong that if you tried to held onto the side, you couldn’t last more than a minute. Also, if you tried as hard as you could to swim against the current, you went nowhere. It was really hard to exit, too. Before I was ready, though, we got up and left.

We also did an escape room, which is where you are locked in a room and you have to get out. How fun! We figured out puzzles, which led to the next puzzle, which eventually led out. Sometimes we even had streaks. My favorite streak was when I found a key in a post, which opened a cage, which gave us a man with a key. The key that the man was holding opened a chest, which held lots of fur hats and a box. We didn’t opened the box until much later, then it gave us a ball. I had lots of fun. I wish we could do an escape room everywhere we went!

We also saw two sad things. We saw the shoes on the Danube. It represented how the Nazis valued the Jews’ shoes more than their lives. They did this by making them take their shoes off, then shooting them on the banks of the Danube. This made me sad. We also saw the House of Terror, which is where the former Hungarian Secret Police were based. It is where they tortured people. It was also full of old movies about people being happy to be in a communism. In those movies, they also liked Stalin. They were a fake reality. They made me angry.

Boring.

Strudel. Delicious Strudel!

Cheese Soup…in a bread bowl. AWESOME!

Strudel, strudel, strudel!

Escape room!

I’m Ice Cream! Please don’t eat me.

National Day celebration

Chillin’ at the hostel.

Budapest

Escape room!

Budapest Baths

House of Terror

Shoes on the Danube

Cool instrument

What the heck am I doing?!

Do you mind if I borrow this awesome sword?

I’m a bird, I’m a bird! Do you see? I’m a bird!

Viennawesomeness & Bratislavcool

Posted on October 24, 2015October 24, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

On our first day in Bratislava, we went to the old town just to see it, and went to a little café where I discovered my new favorite food: Sheep Cheese Gnocchi with Bacon (Bryndzové Halušky). It is the best food I ever had in my entire life. The best cheese, too. Sheep Cheese Gnocchi a very traditional Slovak dish. We also saw the Bratislava Castle, but we could not go in because it was closed for the rest of the day. It had been originally built in the 9th century A.D. Wow, that’s super old! We did not do much more that day. We still had fun, though.

The next day we took our first trip to Vienna. We took a one – hour train from Slovakia to Austria. The first thing we did was go to Haydn’s house. Haydn is a very famous Viennese composer who lived in the 18th century. He had lived in that house for the last 12 years of his life. He had a very strict schedule, and his private life was actually very public, at least compared to nowadays. Next we saw St. Steven’s cathedral. It was massive! Then we ate lunch at Café Mozart. I had a delicious Chocolate Mousse. Many hours later, we saw a Mozart performance. I was bored to tears. I am not a big fan of Mozart.

The next day I went to a jump place with Lucas and Matúš in Bratislava. I had an amazing time. Though, when I got there, I immediately jumped on the trampoline. I did a successful summersault, though my backflip was an epic fail. I landed on the side of my neck and strained it. I still had fun, though.

The day after that we went to Vienna again. It was a really amazing day in Vienna. First we saw the Spanish riding school, which was pretty cool. We got to see horses jump with all four hooves off the ground. Next we rode the Ferris wheel, which was really cool. We got off and I convinced mom to ride a small roller coaster with me. It was called the Dizzy Mouse. Mom said she was going to kill me. It was such an itty bitty roller coaster, but it was a lot scarier than you might think. It went up, then curving down super fast, and spun around in circles. You were in this little bucket thing, and it was so scary. Next we went into the Mozart house. So boring! There was nothing cool in there. He only lived there for three years, and none of the stuff in there was actually his! It was like a big music museum. If you want me to talk positive about it, then you might as well go tame a wild lion. The Mozart statue was boring too. At least I got to call him “hot potato” and “watermelon”. That was the fun part. Then back to Bratislava we went. Our adventures in Vienna and Bratislava … were pretty much over.

Bratislava – The Grans Staircase inside Bratislava Castle

Vienna – We ate lunch at a place Haydn ate!

Vienna – Spanish Riding School

Vienna – Mozart Concert – BORING!

Vienna – The famous ferris wheel

Bratislava – Old Town Square

Vienna – I got to go inside the control booth on the train!

Vienna – Mozart Statue

Vienna – the famous Sachertorte!

Vienna – Near St. Stephen’s

Bratislava – Viewing the burial at St. Martin’s

Vienna – Goofin’ at the Mozart House

Bratislava – Doing a map puzzle of Eurpoe during WW1

Bratislava – The castle in miniature

Bratislava – The view of Austria from the castle

Bratislava – Goofin’ in the town square

Bratislava – Trying on St. Stephen’s crown

Vienna – Viewing music at Haydn House

Vienna – From the top of St. Stephen’s Cathedral

Vienna – Inside St. Stephen’s

Perfectly Pretty Prague

Posted on October 16, 2015October 16, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

On the day we got to Prague, we hung out and rested for a few hours before we actually got out and did anything. We saw the Jewish quarter of the city. We toured a few synagogues, and the holocaust memorial. It was covered with names of Jews that had lived in Bohemia and Moravia. Their last known place of their residence also accompanied their name. Along with all of that was their birth and death dates. You could see the pattern in the year they died; 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944. Their ages ranged widely, though. The youngest one I found was ten, the same age I am now. That’s heartbreaking! The oldest one I found was 87, too old to have been forced to do all that horrible stuff that the Nazis made them do. The memorial made me feel sad and helpless. The Nazis even studied American hate against the blacks and the Jim Crow laws in the segregated south of the U.S. and applied it to their own situation, magnifying the hate. I learned that anything, no matter what, can be used for bad if it falls in the wrong hands. With grief, we left and went back to our apartment.

When our friends came and left, that was a sign that it was bedtime. The next day we had breakfast with our friend Peter. After that we walked around, sightseeing with our friends. Peter has two sons named Lukas and Matúš. Lucas is 11, while Matúš is 5. We had lots of fun trying to scare each other and talking about Minecraft. We tried many Czech dishes and had a wonderful time.

The next day we went sightseeing early, but Lukas didn’t get to come because he didn’t do his homework. This time was very boring. As I got on the train to Bratislava with Lukas, Matúš, the train started moving and Prague disappeared into the horizon.

The Spanish Synogogue was very yellow!

Czech cinnamon rolls are tasty!!

The Jewish Quarter

Played with a marionette.

Fun with Lukas!

The clock was lame.

Very Venetian Venice

Posted on October 15, 2015October 15, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

“I can’t believe he didn’t even charge us,” my mom said.
The conductor of the train had just come by. He had revealed that we had gotten on the wrong train. We were surprised by his kindness to not charge us. We still had to get off on the next stop, though. When we got on the train we were supposed to get on in the first place, we realized that it was much slower than the train we had accidentally got on. We reached Venice and got off, I was so impressed and amazed. “Awesome,” I thought, “This is really, really cool.” We got to our apartment and hung out there for the rest of the day.

Holiday Celebration in The Jewish Ghetto

The next day we walked around and explored the city. We found the Jewish ghetto. It was the only place in Venice Jews could live in the 16th – 18th centuries. There were only a few bridges, and these bridges used to be guarded. Talk about strict! Tiny, too! It was so small. It was just one plaza with buildings all around it. This plaza wasn’t as big as Saint Mark’s Square. It was about 3/4 the size of Saint Mark’s Square. Not only that, but the day we went was also a Jewish holiday, Simchat Torah. We saw them sing and dance. They were really partying!

We got back to our apartment and a few hours later saw Opera Balleto performance, which is a performance of arias and short ballets from various operas by various composers. The players wore masks and the singers wore wigs. Sometimes they sung such high pitches that I covered my ears!

The next day we went to Island of Murano. There we saw a glass-making demonstration. The company had one of their best glass-makers make a small vase and a little horse. The horse took about two minutes to make. The vase took much more time to make. When the vase was done, another glass maker threw in some paper. The paper caught fire and burned to ashes!

It’s still very hot!

Shaping the vase

Next we took a vaporetto to the Island of Burano. A vaporetto is water bus and is one of the major forms of transportation in Venice. Burano is known for its colorful houses and its lace. We saw a lot of lace there. I wasn’t particularly interested. We walked around Burano, and mom popped into a lot of lace shops. We tried to find a place to eat lunch, but we were unsuccessful. We ended up skipping lunch and going back to the main island for an early dinner. We ate at Osteria Mascaron. We picked it because Anthony Bourdain ate there, too. I had cuttlefish with black sauce. It was surprisingly really, really good.

Sunrise at St. Mark's — Sunrise at St. Mark’s

We woke up early the next day. We walked around Saint Mark’s Square and took some pictures. We almost had mass in Saint Mark’s Cathedral, but when we checked inside it was really noisy from all the renovation. It was too noisy for mass. We went back to our apartment. Later we took another walk around the city. We rode a traghetto, which a gondola that takes you across canals, across the grand canal. We had a very awesome time in Venice. It is very – how do you describe it – Venetian. #PureUniqueness

Enjoyed some music!

Very Venetian Venice!

Checked out this unique bookstore

Chasing pigeons in St. Marks

The mouse left me 2 euros!

Murano Glass

Chestnuts roasting

Lost another tooth!

Cuttlefish! Yum!

Cuttlefish made my tongue black!

Osteria Mascaron

Finally tasted castagne!

Colorful Burano

Holiday Celebration in the Jewish Ghetto

The Maestro

Bergamo and Verona

Posted on October 8, 2015October 8, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

Under Juliet's Balcony — Under Juliet’s Balcony

Bergamo - Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore — Bergamo – Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

I got out of the car. My family and I saw a great big church. We went inside and saw arches, columns and vaults inside. I could tell this was Romanesque. It was very big. Very, very big. By the time we got out, we went into another church. This one was Baroque. It was made out of white marble. It had lots of pictures about stories from the bible. They used these pictures to learn bible stories, since most people at that time were illiterate. We headed out, and we started walking around. We saw a lot in the narrow alleyways. We saw a Pinocchio thing and some old buildings. When we got back, we saw a guy playing “Hotel California” by the Eagles on his guitar. His version didn’t have words. As we got on the road to Verona again, I asked Dad to put that song on the radio. I didn’t think I’d ever request that!

The next day, we woke up early to see Verona. We had already returned our rental car. We got out and starting walking around again. We climbed a hill and looked at the view. There was a castle on top of the hill, but we didn’t see it. When we got back down, we saw a big Romanesque church. This one was not half as big as the one in Bergamo. After that we found a nice café to eat “breakfast” in. The reason we couldn’t find a good place to have a decent breakfast in was because Italians don’t really have breakfast ( you may already know that ). Then we walked around and found Piazza delle Erba. There we found a small art gallery and people could bring their dogs inside! Dogs are allowed almost everywhere in Italy.

Then we walked to the arena, but on the way we had a chocolate break. The arena almost looked like a small version of the Colosseum in Rome, but they use it as a theater! Isn’t that cool?!? I love it when people do something like that. After that, we went to Juliet’s balcony. It was built in the 20th century totally as a tourist attractions. It was overcrowded with many, many, many young couples. It was not even worth going there. After that we had another chocolate break. This time it had fruit, too. Finally we went to Giardino Giusti. My favorite part was the hedge maze. I also liked the turtles. There were at least 10 of them in one fountain! Too bad they weren’t Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Verona – Watching Turtles

Verona – Turtles

Verona – Giardino Giusti

Verona – Gardens – Maze

Chocolate break!

To Bellagio and Beyond!

Posted on October 5, 2015October 4, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

One day we went hiking in the forest in San Bartolomeo, which is a tiny village in Northern Italy. We collected lots of chestnuts! Our inspiration for this was that we saw a man collecting chestnuts. We filled our pockets with them, and we ended up having eight pockets full of chestnuts. They were really tricky to get because they came in pods that were super spiky. We found lots of big ones, even two huge chestnuts. We had a great time. We ended up giving them to our friends at our AirBnB Apartment. I didn’t know that hiking could be so fun!

Hatfull of chestnuts

I was pretty tired.

The next day we went to Bellagio and it was so amazing. I thought I was in Disney Animation Studios. It is just so beautiful. You have the lake, then the mountains in the background. The water is so clear that you can see straight down to the bottom. We walked among the many narrow alleyways cutting through the town. At one time we stumbled upon a café and I had a glass of hot cocoa. My parents had some coffee. Then we kept walking among the narrow alleyways. At one point we explored some gardens. After that I had some gelato. Yum yum!

Super-clear water!

DESSERT!!

Now do you see how narrow the pathways were?

Gotta say…some GOOD hot chocolate!

As I told you, we stayed in a AirBnB Apartment. The owners of the AirBnB apartment had two kids: a 3-year-old named Jimmy and a 10-year-old named Jessie. I enjoyed playing board games with them. We played “Crazy Monopoly”, which is just like regular Monopoly, but you make up the numbers and whatever’s on the Community Chest and Chance cards. That was very fun. I also played “Guess the Code” with Jessie. Once she even guessed my code in one try!

James, Jimmy, Jessie — Me with Jimmy and Jessie

“This church is round. Are you kidding me?” I asked.
Columns circled the inside of the building. They supported small arches that held up the building. Each level up they got smaller and smaller. It was all made of stone. I was told that the church had been built from 1150 – 1180 A.D. This was during the Romanesque period. Next we saw a complex of three churches that were built into one. The first part of the church was a Renaissance building that was built in the 1500s A.D. Its arches were much bigger than the ones inside the round church. Through a doorway we found a 9th century church. This place was more like the round church. It was rectangular, though, and had thicker columns that were the shape of the building itself. The next level contained a 7th century crypt that was much smaller and more closed than any other building we had seen. We exited and next we saw a church that was built in the 1100s A.D. Inside were many frescos that were used to teach bible stories, because reading and writing was too rare. The pews had been replaced by pop-up chairs for cleaning. A whale bone was on one of the arches. During the building of the church, workers found it in the ground.
As we left, we were given rosaries, medallions, and bracelets. We got back in the car and drove to our AirBnB apartment.

I said, ” The medallion actually warms me up. ”

The nice man that gace us our gifts at San Giorgio

I can climb a tree!

Whoa! Those are some tall arches!

Natural History Museum…all in Houston?

Posted on September 28, 2015September 27, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

Up, up up went the elevator.

“We are the Acrocanthosaurs. We’re level five.” I told Grandpa Bill.

He acknowledged me with a nod. The elevator opened. We came out right in the museum shop. The first thing we did is we skimmed past the Wiess Energy Hall. That was pretty cool. We took the new elavator up to second floor. There we saw the exhibit of the Texas wildlife and African wildlife. The exhibits mainly contained taxidermied animals in their habitats. Then we headed up to the third floor. We saw a short exhibit about the Ancient Egyptians. I learned that they even mummified cats! Then we breaked for lunch. I had a massive American cheeseburger with a side of Cheetos and apple juice. I didn’t know how big the burger would be! I almost ate it all, though. After that we checked out the prehistoric creatures, then left. We had a very good time.

Coming Home Again

Posted on September 22, 2015September 20, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

Hey readers! Last time you saw me I was in Ephesus, Turkey. But one day we got very sad news that my granny died. We had to go back to Houston as soon as possible.

Her celebration of life was so fun. All of my cousins were there. Before and after that day I went to my cousins’ house to play some video games. I played Monster Legends and Minecraft. At the celebration of life, we all shared memories for the first bit, but it was mainly a party.

Touching History

Posted on September 21, 2015September 20, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

Once upon a time, not too long ago, there was a family who had plans to travel the world. The boy had a blog, and his name was James, also known as Round the World Kid. One day they went to Ephesus, Turkey. The family knew that Ephesus was an ancient city, one of the biggest of its time, and that it had originally been a major port city, but as deposition of sediment from the Meander River increased, Ephesus became further and further from the shore. The trade went down. Ephesus was no longer a port city. Today it is at least eight miles from the coast.

The family walked on the same streets that Saint John, Saint Paul, and Saint Mary did about 2,000 years ago. The family saw the famous library and the giant theater in Ephesus. The family also knew that the library was built before Christ and it had three floors.They also knew that it used to be a university and it had been destroyed by an earthquake in the 3rd century A.D. The family saw that it was not a complete library. James though that it obviously still is important today and that it was white. James saw that only the facade was left and that it had all kinds of carvings in it. The family saw that the theater was very big. James compared its size to a building. The family saw that it was made of white marble. James said it made him feel small and insignificant.

James later said, “I enjoyed Ephesus. We didn’t have enough time to go to Saint Mary’s house, but it was still amazing”.

All good things have to end, though. As the family left Ephesus, they found four kittens and two puppies. James thought they were adorable.

Making friends at ANZ Guesthouse

Ancient Stairs in Odeion

Celsus Library

Cat and Pillars

Ephesian Cat

Playing with Pirates

Posted on September 20, 2015September 20, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

Do you like cruises? I do. Do you think the castles and museums are interesting? I do. Do you have taste buds? I do. If you said, “I do,” to every question, then you will like Bodrum, which is on the Aegean coast of Turkey.

One day we wanted to find a place to eat out. We came to a local place and got two plates of food. We don’t know what we ate, but it was so good. It was delicious. I would definitely go back there. Of course that is what we did. We went back two more times.

The next day we woke up early to go to the Crusader castle, which had been converted into a museum. There was a good mix of both Crusader castle and underwater archeology museum there. I didn’t get bored of either. One time we stumbled into a church which had a model of an ancient sunken ship! I recommend that to you, if you ever go to Bodrum. It was fun and interesting.

Another thing I recommend is the Black Pearl day cruise. About 1/2 of the ship was a sun bath, if you like that. Most of the trip was swimming. We went to one place called the aquarium, which is not actually an aquarium. It’s part of the ocean. It had lots of fish and the water was so clear that you didn’t even need to snorkel.You could throw them bread and watch them jump up from the surface.

Bodrum is very awesome. You never get bored in their underwater archeology museum. They have some pretty cool cruises. The best thing, though, is the food. Turkish food is so good!

The Black Pearl

Delicious Food!

Sunken Ship

Touching History

The Bodrum Castle of The Knights of St.John

The Dungeon

The English Tower

Looking at the moat

#Greece

Posted on September 13, 2015September 13, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

Greece is very diverse from place to place. You have very touristy things like the Acropolis in Athens and Oia in Santorini. You also have things like the refugee crisis in Kos. In Athens, you don’t hear much about the tourist crowds on the Acropolis, though.

I liked Athens because I got to play with my Greek friend Costadinos. We had lots of fun together. I am very grateful for the time we had on the playground. I also got to see the Parthenon. It was very crowded and partly covered in scaffolding, but it was still amazing. It was so old but still standing, and so tall and just simply amazing. It also had some huge statues on the roof.

As we set off for Santorini, we boarded the Blue Star Delios. We took a seat in some chairs and I did school work. We ate at a cafe around the corner. I had a sandwich. I liked the boat, but it was all over too soon. We had already arrived in Santorini.

In Santorini I swam in our hotel’s pool and in the ocean. In the pool I dived for coins. Sometimes the coins would fall deep in the bottom, where I often couldn’t reach! I would climb down Mom’s leg and grab them from the bottom. I also swam in the ocean. I flew when dad threw me. I got very high!

I did a lot more in Santorini. One day we hiked to a rock outside of Imerovigli for sunset. It was quite a trek. It was worth it for the sunset, though. One day we went to Oia. We had amazing views of the ocean. We also took lots of pictures of the famous blue domes. Later we had some ice cream. On the same day that we went to the ancient Akrotiri, we also saw a Venetian castle. It seemed to have been transformed into a museum. It contained lots of Greek bagpipes. They were made of a goat skin, a cow horn, and two reeds on Santorini. The pipe varied from island to island. One of the pipes looked like a snake head.

We tasted wine, too. I was even able to get a sip of each. My favorite was the dessert wine (of course). In Greece, people start tasting wine when they are five or six. Woah! That’s young! We just missed the barefoot grape stomping for this year. Aww man! We had a great time at the winery. We even took a bottle with us!

Sleeping on the Ferry to Kos — Had to climb to get to bed!

Soon we were back on the sea again with the Blue star 2. This time we got a cabin and slept the whole way. It felt very short. The boat left at 12:50 A.M. That’s very late! We got to sleep for about five hours before we had to wake up to get off at Kos.

When we got off at Kos, dad took a walk and when he came back he had something to show mom and I. We saw the refugees in and around their tents. This made me sad.

The ferry to Bodrum was next. This was quite boring, but it was all worth it for the next fun adventure.

The dessert wine was so good!

Boogie boarding at Red Beach, Santorini

An Ice Cream break in Oia

Pool time!

I can fly like Superman!

On the Caldera’s edge at sunset

Theatre of Dionysis

Syntagma Square, Athens

Chaos in Kos

Posted on September 9, 2015September 9, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

There are no photos in this post because I believe it’s wrong to take pictures of other people’s suffering.

Woken up abruptly in a shake, I refused to get up. The only reason I did get up was because Dad had something important to show me.

We turned the corner and next to us was three tents, which looked only big enough for two people each. We walked down the street and saw the dinghies that the Syrian refugee came on. The ones that weren’t sunk and below the surface were loaded and filled with trash. They appeared to only hold five people. Another street was filled with tents and Syrian refugees.

We explored a dock in the harbor. There was a banner talking about stray cats and dogs dying of starvation, but there are much more important issues in life. I experienced them in person, not on TV, or radio, but I actually saw it for myself. It is a trophy for the refugees just to get to Kos.

It makes me cry!

Special Santorini

Posted on September 8, 2015September 13, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

Santorini, the place where there are beautiful sunsets, also, lots of archeology, but something you don’t hear about…is local kids.

One of the reasons I like Santorini is because I got to play with local kids. There was a little basketball court close to our Air Bnb where we played. I went there many nights. I mainly played basketball with my friend Nicoleta. I had so much fun !

One day I went to the Ancient Akrotitri. It was very interesting. People had lived 7,000 years ago. The site is 1.2 hectares big. That’s huge! There were so many ancient buildings there. There were some houses made of stone. Of course these were in ruins. They had been preserved by the ash of the volcano that erupted 3,700 years ago.

We also saw sunsets. They were so beautiful! It almost looked as if there was no horizon. We saw them from many different places, a different one each night!

All in all, Santorini is a place you want to go. The sunsets, the archeology, and more. It is all worth the long flight.

Ancient Akrotiri

On the Caldera’s edge at sunset

I can fly like Superman!

Sunset from Imerovigli.

Buildings at ancient Akrotiri

Greece

Epic Athens

Posted on September 4, 2015September 4, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

We got out of the train. We barely even crossed the street when three Aussies stopped us to ask for directions. They wanted to get to the 1896 Olympics stadium that was rebuilt to look like the stadium that was already there in ancient times. There they held the 1896 Olympics, and 108 years later held the 2004 Olympics. We raced in the spot that people raced in thousands of years ago. People also raced there in the 1896 Olympics and the 2004 Olympics. People also died there in gladiator battles thousands of years ago.

After that we saw the temple of Zeus and took a few pics. It was never completed and no one knows why.

That night we went to the park by our Airbnb. There I met my Greek friend Costadinos. We played for hours in the playground. That was fun!

The next day my family and I woke up early to see the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum. The Acropolis Museum had a glass floor in parts. Through this you could see ruins of the ancient Greeks. They had a really cool LEGO Acropolis model in the Acropolis Museum. That was my favorite part of the museum.

Soon before night fell, we had our first Baklava. It was delicious!

The day after that we saw The Ancient Agora of Athens, which is an ancient public square where they talked about political issues and gathered for social events. This was built about 2,500 years ago with a sewage system! Wow! That’s crazy! We toured the actual area where democracy started. The actual area! We also got a great view of the Acropolis by the Temple to Hephaestus. It was amazing! On the way we stopped by a Greek Orthodox Church built in the 11th century A.D, over a thousand years ago. Next I fed the pigeons in Syntagma Square.

All this was after 8 A.M. Good thing it wasn’t before!

I really liked Athens because I got to play with a friend and saw a lot of things I was interested in.

The LEGO Acropolis

At the Temple of Zeus

2004 Atlanta Olympics poster and torch

Racing dad in the Olympic Stadium

mmm…Baklava

Feeding the birds in Syntagma Square

The Ancient Agora and Parthenon

At the Parthenon

The Fun of East Africa

Link posted on September 2, 2015September 2, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

East Africa VIdeo

Check out my song for East Africa…

Click Here

It’s a Small World

Video posted on August 29, 2015August 28, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

Three years ago, Dean Jacobs visited my school in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He is a wildlife photographer and also is the author of Wonderous Creatures and Wonderous Journey. And here I am in Uganda, staying in the same hotel as him.

“It’s a small world,” he said.

He did a video with me about it. It was short, like me. That’s funny . It is a small world, after all. Watch the YouTube video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7IEJosRyrg

On Top of the Burj Khalifa

Posted on August 28, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

Waking up early, I was tired. For 30 minutes. I got used to it soon. We took a taxi to the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. We took an elevator up 124 floors in about a minute. We came outside and took a few pictures. It was so high up that everything looked smaller. Even the other skyscrapers. It was amazing! Then we went back in. We came one floor up and I looked through some special binoculars. I saw what it looked like historically mode none of the big skyscrapers where there!

Afterwards we took pictures dressed as Arabs. Then we went to Old Dubai. That was a big mistake! It was so hot and all the air-conditioned places were closed. By the time we got a taxi we were drenched in sweat. Air-conditioning never felt better before!

The Royal Family

Old Dubai

At the Top

#MagicalKenya

Posted on August 27, 2015August 26, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

It’s about time for me to wrap up Kenya. Awwwwww! . My favorite hotel is Diani Reef Resort in Diani. It has a buffet and a pool. It was also right next to the beach. As well as all that, they had a kids’ club and kids’ activities. My favorite restaurant is Camp Carnelly’s in Naivasha. There I had the best burger in my life. I enjoy Hell’s Gate National Park. The break, the save (from crashing a bike), the hike, all of it. I especially like the rock-hyraxes. I also enjoy the beach. Snorkeling, playing in the sand, swimming in the pool, everything. I also like Ol Pejeta and the Kuku Joint and the wedding. I got to play with lots of kids about my age! I also liked our time in Nairobi. Man, we did so much there! The safari walk, Bomas, the giraffe center, and the animal orphanage were just some of the things in Nairobi. I remember from the animal orphanage that when they take young calves by the cages, the lions, cheetahs, leopards, and serval go crazy. It affects the lions the most. One lion had rolled on its back, symbolizing our playful puppy, but the next moment all the lions pace up and down, hunger and murder in their eyes, trying to get to that calf. The calf is put right next to the serval’s cage, so close that the only thing that prevents the serval from pouncing on the young calf is the side of the cage. Even though the serval only wants to play with the calf, the calf is scared to death.

In Nairobi, I also play with friends and go to the market. I played Minecraft with my new friend Taye that I had met on Jasmine’s birthday party. That day she had turned five, the biggest party of her life. Taye is a nine-year-old boy with an American mom and a Kenyan dad. Taye also has a little brother named Micah. Micah is four years old.

If you are wondering where we are staying in Nairobi, we are staying with my parents’ friends Alex and Tabitha. I have lots of fun playing with their daughters Jasmine and Njoki (jo-KI) . Njoki is three. Jasmine just turned five. My mom baked a delicious cheesecake for them. Jasmine savored it. Njoki tried to scoop it up, but she hadn’t learned yet. I fed it to her. I let her try to feed herself the last bite. When I checked her plate again it was gone! My mom gave Tabitha the recipe.

“It’s all about the Philadelphia Cream Cheese, ” mom said.

Overall, Kenya is beautiful. The open savannah, the white sand beaches, even the people. You never know what you’ll find in a country… until you go there.

Kenya

Lounging Lion

Rock Hyrax

Feeding Njoki

The Scared Calf

Jasmine turns 5!

Diani Beach

Posted on August 26, 2015August 25, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

It was late at night. The train still had not come yet. I curled up in a ball like a kitty cat and closed my eyes. Suddenly – Tu tu tu tu tu tu tu tu tu. Something had woken me up. The train had finally arrived. We ate dinner. Then I climbed back up to my bed and closed my eyes – I was asleep. Dad woke me up early the next day to have breakfast. We ate – then lazed around. The last eight hours were boring. The train had a bathroom – so we didn’t need to stop. They said it would be 14 hours. Actually it was 18 hours. The train left at midnight and they didn’t serve lunch or an extra dinner, so you can imagine how hungry we were by the time we got off the train.

We took a taxi to Diani Beach. The ferry there took forever! When we got there we stared at the hotel Diani Reef Resort. We ate dinner then went to our room. There was a leak in the ceiling, so we went to change our room. Finally we found the right room. The next day we ate breakfast then chilled for most of the day. We hung out by the beach. I had so much fun playing with my new friend Jason! Then the pool – and afterwards walked out of our resort to the Barclays . We bought a few things at the Nakumat. Next we went back to our hotel. When we came back to our room we made an amazing discovery. There was a monkey under our inside table! We had forgotten to lock our sliding glass door to our balcony! They had stolen our coffee, sugar, and cookies. They had also eaten all our bananas, leaving us just the peels.

“I was gonna eat one of those bananas, ” my dad said.

The room was a mess. Sugar was everywhere, muddy paw prints were on my parents’ bed, and banana peels could be found on the table. So while we ate dinner, our room was cleaned. When we got back, we showered and slept.

We woke up early the next morning to go snorkeling. We had a great time. We saw colorful fish in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple, pink, and black coral. There was one skinny yellow fish that was about a foot long! It was swimming above a green coral. We also saw a whole school of gray fish.

When we got back we went to the beach. I played in the water. Then, excruciating pain touched my knees and wrapped around my wrist. I looked at the jellyfish’s tentacle. It was gray with blue rings. It thought it was an octopus.

“Oh my god, I hope I don’t die,” I thought.

I knew that the Blue-Ringed Octopus was the size of one’s hand, but venomous enough to kill hundreds on people in one bite. I pinched the tentacle. The creature let go. If you want to know what it felt like, it felt like the pain of fire mixed with the pain of poison. That hurts! I didn’t even cry. Not one tear. The stings were healed with medicinal cream. By morning I was better. Even so, some of the stings were still visible a few days later! On the last day we just hung out at the beach. Luckily, there were no more stinging jellyfish!

Monkey Thief

Eating on the train

Climbing into bed on train

Long train to Mombasa

Baobab Tree

Hiking through Hell’s Gate with a Smile

Posted on August 25, 2015August 24, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

Whoosh! The wind flew past my bike. I was going downhill – and very fast, too. Bump! Then I ran over a rock the size of a soup bowl. I went all over the place. Both me and mom thought I was going to eat it. I just barely saved myself. Then Dad came on a purple school bus. Fifteen minutes ago Dad’s bike pedal had fallen off. They could not fix Dad’s bike. He had to take the bus instead. When we saw Dad next about an hour had passed. Then we had lunch.

There was a cute Vervet monkey trying to steal our food. We had to defend our food with a stick. Next we hiked through Hell’s Gate gorge. The canyon itself is actually called Hell because once, the ground opened up and people fell in. My gosh!

There we saw some caves in the rocks. Our guide said that the biggest ones belonged to the baboons. The smallest ones belonged to cheetahs. The middle ones belonged to leopards. There were also African Hunting Dogs that lived in holes. All of their holes were high up, so that when it rained, the animals were still safe. Luckily they didn’t hang around the canyon during daytime. The animals had adapted very well to their environment. They could all swim – even the cheetahs and leopards.

Our guide was a Maasai guy. He gave me a Maasai name: Olelemaya

When we got back we had three hours to bike nine miles to our camp. We had to bike at least three miles an hour. Then, we biked 1.5 miles in thirty minutes. After that, in one hour we biked 3 miles.

We stopped for about fifteen minutes at a big rock formation that looked like a really steep and bare hill. There we saw some rodents, called rock-hyraxes.They looked like big brown guinea pigs. The adults were about 2-4 pounds. There was a little baby suckling from its mother. It was about 1/2 pound. There were so cute!

We had to bike very fast without stopping to get to the rock-hyraxes, because of the numerous buffalo we were biking past. When we finally got back, we were exhausted. We slept for 11 hours. When I woke up, my butt still ached from the day before. After all, it was still worth it.

Our guide helping me

Hell’s Gate Photo Opp

#Uganda

Posted on August 24, 2015August 24, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

Hey, everyone! ! Now it’s time that I have to leave Uganda. Aww . Uganda – so far – is the ultimate paradise. It is my favorite country. Of course, Ireland and Turkey were fun. Japan and Honduras are friendly. Bali and Panama were paradises, too. Rwanda was beautiful. Still, Uganda is my favorite because I got to raft the Nile.

We spent nearly two weeks there, but we stayed at only three hotels run by just two companies. In Jinja, we stayed at Explorers Backpackers, which is run by Nile River Explorers (NRE). That place is a backpacker hostel. It has a pool table and a television. It also has a bar. We stayed there six nights total. On the last day, July 15, 2015, exactly one month after my 10th birthday and on my father’s 41st birthday, we rafted the Victoria-Nile with Nile River Explorers. It was awesome. We went down some scary rapids.
Then we headed to Red Chili Hideaway in Kampala. We stayed a total of nine nights at Red Chili Hideaway. There they had a pool table, a pool, a dart board, a volleyball pitch, a television room, dorm beds, private rooms, en suites, and camping. There I made up a game called 15 ball. I played it with Dean Jacobs’ (I called him Dr. Dean) friend Max (from Nebraska) and our new friend Gustavo (from England). I also had fun in the swimming pool.

We went to the Ndere Center in Kampala. They fed us from a buffet and showed us traditional dancing from Uganda. I also toured the National Mosque in central Kampala. That was boring.

One day we went to Red Chili Camp in Murchison Falls National Park. There, I got so close to a hippo that it was about the distance between this blog and your face. We went on a couple game drives and a boat tour. We also got to see baboons, warthogs, and hippos in our camp. Both nights we were there I helped them start a fire.

In total we ate at eight restaurants in Uganda. My favorite place was All Friends Place in Jinja. Next was The Lawns in Kampala. After that was Red Chili Hideaway in Kampala. The Sailing Club in Jinja was #4. My fifth favorite was the market place in central Kampala. I like Explorers Backpackers next.

I really liked rafting the Nile and our time in Murchison. You go Uganda.

Murchison Falls

Traditional African Dance

At the National Mosque

Rafting the Nile

Gloria the hippo

Playing the gourd drum

Epic Murchison Falls Park

Posted on August 11, 2015August 11, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

One day we left Red Chilli Kampala and took a five-hour van to Murchinson Falls National Park in Uganda. By the time we got there it was around dinner time. We ordered late and our dinner came at eight, one hour after we had scheduled.

That night a hippo walked into our camp. That was so cool! She grazed and grazed, blocking tents. When my father and I were in our tent, the hippo completely circled our tent. Then she grazed in front of our next door friends’ tent.

In the morning we were woken up early to go on a game drive. We saw hippos, warthogs, elephants, buffalo, Uganda Kobs, Jackson’s Hartebeests, and lions. When we got back, there were giant warthogs in camp! There was also a baboon on a picnic table. A couple hours later we went on a boat safari. We saw many hippos. We saw birds, too. When we got back Mom put in our orders for dinner and our packed breakfast. We stayed up late and chatted with our friends from England, Italy, Germany, and the US. The next morning, we woke up early, drove a mini game drive, then left.

Murchinson Falls Park is awesome!

Me at the top of Murchison Falls

Me at Karuna Falls

Hartebeest and Uganda Kob

Birds

Baboon and Baby

Giraffes and Hartebeests

Buffalo

African Elephant

Kingfisher

Traditional African Dancing at the Ndere Center

Posted on August 6, 2015August 6, 2015 by roundtheworldkid

Last night we went to the Ndere Center in Kampala, Uganda. They show traditional dances while you eat dinner. Before or after every single dance, they talked about the dance. Many people would dance to a song at once. It was traditional dances danced to traditional music. They also had one dance from Rwanda and drums from Burundi.

At one point they joked about Obama. They said that Obama was not a name but an acronym. They said it stood for Original Black African Managing America.

There were a lot of kids there, too. I meant three others there, but there had to be at least twenty other kids. The kids I met were ages 2, 4, 5, and 10. The four year old was named Andrew. He was from Germany, I think. He was speaking German. The ten year old was from Uganda. His name was Samuel and was one of the dancers in the show. I think the other two are from Uganda. At the end we all mixed and danced and partied and it was just fun.

They’re so cool!

Playing the gourd drum

Hello, Hello!

This one’s my favorite

She was a good dancer!

Uganda

Information:

This was an assignment included in RTWkid’s Art History curriculum in which Edvard Munch was studied:

Pick one of the paintings other than The Scream or The Storm and write a short story, ideally 2 pages, definitely no more than 4 pages. The painting becomes the illustration and/or book cover of the story.

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Click here to see my La Traviata Animation.

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There are no photos in this post because I believe it’s wrong to take pictures of other people’s suffering.

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Check out my song for East Africa…

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