FAREWELL MY ITALIAN FRIENDS!

My dear friends,
I haven’t written to you for a long time, but it doesn’t mean that I forgot my old friends. I’ve continued to write in my diary, but unfortunately Mrs Andriulo was too busy with her school work, so she couldn’t put my news in the blog.
How are you? I hope you’re all fine!
I’ve been quite well with my friends and they are so sad that I’m going to leave Italy.
I stayed with lots of friends in April. I stayed with Gianmarco, a boy who loves sport very much. He taught me to play football well.
I was hosted by Sara and Illary and I had a great fun with them because they took me to the countryside to see some excavations that were full of raining water and I thought it was a lake. We took some photos near the graffito designs and once we came back home I played with Ettore, Sara’s dog.
I also spent more than four days with Francesco. He is very nice even because he let me play with his granddad’s old toys. I tried to fly an electric plane and it was very funny!
And I spent Easter holidays with Antonello and his young brother Alessandro. To tell the truth I was a bit sad because they told me they wanted to take me to Sicily, a beautiful island that is south of Italy where most of their relatives live. Unfortunately there was a great fire in their garage so Antonello’s father decided not to leave to Sicily. I spent Easter at the seaside with them. It was a quiet and sunny day.
Finally I had to teach Daniele some English because he has a lot of problems with English grammar… But when he was tired of studying I could play with his uncle’s dog, a wonderful Alsatian.

Yesterday all my friends had a party at school to say goodbye to me. We also took some photos with their Principal, Mrs Faggiano Semeraro and with their librarian, Mrs Lucia Maggiore. Some of my friends (Giorgia, Mattia, Annachiara and Mrs. Lucia Maggiore) gave me a surprise. They made a poster with all the most beautiful pictures of the Teddy Bear Project. When Mrs Andriulo opened the yellow box I have to travel by, everybody was moved and some of them cried because they don’t want me to leave Italy. I tried to restrain my tears because I’m a youngman, but to tell the truth it’s so sad to leave all of them. I’m leaving to Kansas tomorrow morning. I had to leave today, but Mrs Andriulo hadn’t finished to scan my diary yet: she wants to keep the copy so that everybody here will remember me forever.

I hope the flight will be OK!

I’m looking forward to hugging all of you,

Love , Ted

TED, NOEMY and KIMBERLY

7th March 2009

Dear Friends,
This morning, Noemi, a student of “3 G” took me her home. Noemi’s mum was very happy to see me again, we had first met in October so now she wanted to know something about my staying in Italy. I told her of the wonderful friends that are hosting me, of the beautiful experiences I’m living here. I’m a bit “Italian” now.
Kimberly, Noemy’s sister, soon hugged me and asked why I had taken so long to visit her again. I explained that all the students almost fight to take me their home and now there are the students of 2^ G that are also taking part in the project.
Lunch was ready so we ate together and then we took Kimberly to school at about 3:00 p.m. When we got home again I asked Noemy for the name of the yellow flowers that were in the vase on the table. She told me they are “mimosa” and they are the flowers to celebrate women on Women’s Day . On 8th march of every year men give women a bunch of “mimosa” to express his gratitude and love to them.
After that we went into Noemy’s room and she took me a lot of photos while I was playing cards, and while I was playing with Kimberly’s toys. I really had a great fun when I saw a mini motorbike: I couldn’t help riding it. How wonderful!!! I spent a great day with Noemy and her family, I like them all a lot, and I hope I’ll be again with them very soon.

I love you so much,
Ted

TED AND STEFANO

6th March 2009


Dear friends,
I spent three days with Stefano, a new friend. When we got home his parents were very pleased to meet me. Lunch wasn’t ready so Stefano took me in his bedroom and showed me all his things and the bed he had already arranged for me. I like his bedroom, it is large, colourful, comfortable and full of toys!!! I soon asked Stefano if I could play with his toys and he answered we could play after lunch. Stefano’s mother had cooked spaghetti (a kind of pasta), roast beef , vegetables and a very good cake. Yummy! I was so hungry that I ate everything at once.
After lunch Stefano did his homework while I enjoyed myself playing with Winnie the Pooh, Tigro and Pimpi. In the evening we watched a football match on TV.
The day after I woke up at 11:00 a.m. and when I got up I realized that Stefano had already gone to school.
I was glad when he came back home from school so we could play with playstation. Later in the afternoon he went to church because there was his catechism meeting. Stefano is a very busy boy! He came back at about 5 in the evening and then we went to the “Auchan”, which is the biggest shopping centre in Mesagne. Stefano bought a toy for me and a game for his playstation. Later in the evening we had a slice of pizza and a glass of orange juice. I was so glad Stefano let Winnie the Pooh sleep with me.
Yesterday Stefano’s parents and I went to Stefano’s uncle’s. The lunch was excellent. After lunch I played on the playstation with Stefano and his cousins. I won most of times! After that we watched the football match of Milan club on TV. We came back home in the evening and had dinner. Then we watched some TV, an action movie, to be precise.

How is life over there? What have you done lately? I hope everything is OK with you!

Love, Ted

CARNIVAL BREAK

My dear friends,
students didn’t go to school for four days because there was Carnival break, so I spent some wonderful days with Annachiara and her family.
They’re very nice to me. Her mother cooks very well and her sister Francesca has got lots of toys I can play with. Annachiara told me that people love dressing up and taking part to the parade of floats at Carnival and I was happy that Francesca had been invited to a fancy dress party so she could take me with her. We had a great fun trying masks and costumes on. What a wonderful afternoon! At the end Francesca chose a “princess costume” while I chose a “little devil costume”.
Unfortunately Francesca had the flu and the temperature so we couldn’t go to the party. I was so sad for Francesca, but I was so angry as well, because I was looking forward to going to the party and playing tricks on Francesca’s friends!
By the way Annachiara tried to cheer me up and we did a lot of games at home. I played with Francesca’s mini cooker. I pretended to be the chef, Francesca was the waitress while Annachiara ordered the dishes. It was very funny. After that Annachiara’s grandmother let me play with her sewing machine, then I play billiards and finally I had an exciting boxing match with Annachiara’s brother and I won. Annachiara gave me a cup! It’s wonderful, isn’t it?
Well, to tell the truth my sadness for not going to the fancy-dress party had faded away at the end of the day and I must thank Annachiara and her family for this! They’re so great and I hope I’ll visit them again.

I miss you a lot!!!

Love, Ted

ST. VALENTINE'S DAY

15th February 2009

Dear Friends,
yesterday was St. Valentine’s Day and I was sad because my friend Serena told me that St. Valentine is the Patron Saint of lovers and unfortunately I haven’t got a “girlfriend”! Perhaps… if Bea weren’t so far! She is really a beautiful bear and I miss her a lot..............sigh!!! :(
I spent all the morning playing the guitar and singing love songs! Serena tried to cheer me up saying that we could consider St. Valentine as the “Friendship day” and thank goodness, I was relieved to hear that. She kept her promise because in the afternoon we went to a bar with her friends and had a delicious cup of hot chocolate and cream. After that we went to the park and took some photos. Serena also introduced another teddy bear called Michael to me. He is very nice and made me laugh a lot with his funny jokes. As I came back home another new friend named “Qua Qua the Duck” kept me good company. She told me that she is a really good cook, that she is especially excellent at cooking pastries and she has even written a book of recipes! I thought she was teasing me but she promised she would prepare something special for me next days.

Mmmh, I’m looking forward to tasting her table delicacies!

How did you spend your St. Valentine’s Day? Did you miss me?

I love you so much, Ted

TED AND VERONICA

12th February 2009

Dear Friends,
I’m staying with a new friend, Veronica. She is a very pretty girl with long, straight brown hair and brown eyes. Unfortunately it’s a bad period for her! She has had some problems with school and her parents have punished her so we have been forbidden to go out and visit the town. She is very sad and I’m so bored! I’ve been on the bed all day long trying to cheer her up. I told her some jokes and read her a book, but she looks so unhappy! I’ve also tried to play hide and seek with her, but without any good result because after few minutes she was unhappy again…
I hope her parents will forgive her very soon and I also hope she will sort herself out and will have problems with school no longer!
Ted

MY VISIT WITH DAVIDE

3rd FEBRUARY 2009

DEAR FRIENDS,
I’VE BEEN WITH A NEW FRIEND, DAVIDE, FOR THREE DAYS.
LAST THURSDAY HE TOOK ME HIS HOME AND I MET HIS FAMILY: HIS MOTHER RITA, HIS FATHER ALBERTO AND HIS SISTER VIVIANA.
AS SOON AS VIVIANA SAW ME SHE SOON HUGGED ME AS IF I WERE A PRESENT FOR HER.
SHE IS VERY KIND TO ME AND SHOWED ME HER BEDROOM WHERE WE PLAYED WITH HER TOYS.
IN THE EVENING WE ALL HAD A STEAK AND SOME FRUIT FOR DINNER AND THEN DAVIDE TOLD ME SOME FAIRY TALES. AFTER THAT DAVIDE SHOWED ME HIS COLLECTION OF FOOTBALLERS CARDS AND FINALLY WE WENT TO BED.
YESTERDAY AFTERNOON DAVIDE BOUGHT SOME NEW PICTURE CARDS OF ITALIAN FOOTBALLERS AND LET ME STICK THEM ON HIS CARDS ALBUM.
THIS AFTERNOON DAVIDE AND I WENT FOR A WALK AND WE TOOK SOME PHOTOS.
DAVIDE INTRODUCED ME TO SOME OF HIS FRIENDS AND THEN WE WENT TO A BAR TO HAVE A HOT CHOCOLATE… VERY YUMMY!

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE LATELY?
MRS ANDRIULO TOLD ME THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY SENT YOUR BOX TO ITALY AND WE’LL PROBABLY RECEIVE IT ON ST. VALENTINE’S DAY.
I HOPE I’LL GET IT SOON!

LOVE, TED