Blogging Bears

FAREWELL MY ITALIAN FRIENDS!

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:39:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:12:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:46:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:25:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:21:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:09:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:00:00 +0000

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

I visited Mrs. Young's house

noreply@blogger.com (ccarmichael) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 03:23:00 +0000

Hello everyone,
I went home with the assistant principal, Mrs. Young. She was in the picture at Thanksgiving dressed like a turkey!! She is so funny and she has daughters I can play with at her house. I came to the house and found my miniature/giant Barbie house. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day so I got some roses. I took a tour of my new house, it has 9 rooms!!! I will be here for 3 days and hope to enjoy every second of it. I got here pretty late and didn't have time to do much, so now I am going to bed. I will write more tomorrow. (Later that same night) I didn't go to sleep yet, I watched TV for a little bit. Now I will go to bed.
Valentine's Day: Today I'm going to a concert. It's not a Valentine concert or a punk rock concert. It is a band concert. Honer Band to be exact. Last night I slept in my huge house. This morning I went into my kitchen and found some huge roses. I took a picture of them with my camera. Today I thought that before the concert I would take a picture of my whole house.
Feb. 15th: Today I'm going to a Mexican restaurant called Ladesmas. Hopefully their food is good. At the restaurant I ate so much. When we got home we had to clean up a little bit. The Young's had some friends over and we watched a car race "The Daytona 500". There was a lot of food there too.
Feb. 16th: Today some of the Young's friends came over. We had a lot of fun playing school and hide and seek. This is my last day here and it has been really fun!

I love you all, Bea

My visit with Alysia

noreply@blogger.com (ccarmichael) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 03:06:00 +0000

Hello,
I went home with Alysia for the weekend and we went to her father's house. I met her baby brother, he was so cute and tiny!!! We took one of Alysia's friends to eat dinner with us at a Chinese restaurant. I put my fortune from my cookie in my purse. Later we watched television. The next day we went to her mother's house and watched her brother play baseball (he is really good at it). We also went to Aysia's cousins' house, and all of them loved me! They wouldn't put me down, they liked to hold me. We also went to the movies and Alysia shared some candy and popcorn with me. It was really good. After the movie we went to eat dinner, we had Chinese food again. They must REALLY like Chinese food. On my last day with Alysia I was sad to leave because we had so much fun. I like meeting her whole family and they were really nice. We went to her cousins' house again and played games, ate tacos, played and watched television. I had such a nice time with her and her family.

Love, Bea

I went home with Ranessa

noreply@blogger.com (ccarmichael) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 02:17:00 +0000

Hi,

I went home with Ranessa on a school bus. I got to meet her mom and she is very nice. Her little brother is William and her sisters' names are Shae and Tiera they are nice too. Tiera loved me very much and wanted to hold me. She took good care of me. I liked all of them!! I went to church and met Ranessa's cousins. I liked Jordan she is also 12 and we had fun! I got to meet her hamsters. Ranessa held them and I got scared for a minute but I stopped being scared and it was alright.

I hope all of you are fine. How is the weather in Italy? It is cold here, but it will warm up here soon. I love you all, Bea

TED WITH THE STUDENTS OF "II G"

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:10:00 +0000

Hello friends,
I’ve great news! From now on I’ll have more and more friends because Mrs Andriulo let her students of “2G” take part in this project. At first I was sad because I thought I could never stay with the friends that have looked after me until now, (the students of “3G”), but I’ve been told not to worry about it because I would stay with them on alternate weeks!

Today I met a new friend, Illary, a very pretty girl aged 12. She is tall and slim, her eyes are light brown and her hair is long, straight and dark blonde. Illary and I did a lot of things together. After school she took me her home and I met her father, Massimiliano, her mother, Angela, her sister, Noemi, her aunt, Romina, and her cousin, Alexandra. They were glad to meet me and asked me a lot of questions about Kansas.
Illary also introduced me to her dog Asia. It is a very small and beautiful pincher.
Then we had lunch: we ate pasta and tomato sauce, chips and a slice of cake for dessert.
After that Illary did her homework and finally we went for a walk.
It's about eleven p.m. and the film that Illary's family and I watched on TV has just finished. It was an action movie but I didn't like it very much even because I'm sleepy!

I'll write tomorrow,
Love, Ted

AT FEDERICA'S HOUSE

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:02:00 +0000

Dear Diary,
Today I went to Federica's.
I had a great time with her.
We played in the kitchen, we enjoyed ourselves making dinner.
I fixed boiled potatoes dressed with oil and salt, they were very yummy!!!!
After that I enjoyed myself playing with Davide (Federica's brother) until late. Then he remembered that he had some English homework to do, so I helped him with his work and I taught him some English.
Federica is a bit sad, she fears it’s the last time I’m visiting her because her teacher of English told her students that she was going to involve another class in this project. I’ve soon become sad because I’m very affectionate to these friends and I don’t want to leave them!

Now it’s late but tomorrow I’ll ask Mrs Andriulo for further details!

Good Night

TED

I LOVE ASTRONOMY

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:59:00 +0000

Dear Friends,

I’ve been with Alice for two days.
Yesterday I had a stomach-ache so I stayed in bed until late.
Then, when I got up I soon went into the kitchen and ate up three biscuits that Alice’s mother had just cooked. They were very good, filled with chocolate and marmalade.
When Alice came back from school we had lunch in a great hurry because Alice had to go back to school for her Astronomy course. She took me there with her and I enjoyed the lesson very much, I would like to study the stars!
In the evening I had dinner and then we saw a quiz show on TV and guess what? I found out that I am very good at this quiz because I could answers all the questions!!!!!!
Today was my last day with Alice. This morning I got up at 8:00 o’clock and I went to school with Alice.
The Italian teacher answered me some questions about the Holocaust Memorial Day. They are studying some poems written by the children of Terezin. I’ve been here since September and my Italian is quite good even if I practice my English when I help my friends during their English lesson. At 2 pm Alice and I left school and went to her uncle’s where we ate spaghetti with a lot of parmesan and meat. At half past four Alice and I paid a visit to her grandmother and while Alice was doing her homework I played with the playstation .
At 5:00 p.m. we came back home and enjoyed ourselves playing her musical instruments. I played the drums, while Alice played the flute. Then I played the role of the Astronomy teacher, so Alice lent me her glasses because my sight is not very good and I saw the stars. At 8:00 in the evening I ate a slice of pizza with mozzarella cheese and then Alice and I walked to the park to meet her friends.
It was a very nice evening! But I wished you were here with me!

Lots of love,
Ted

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:59:00 +0000

Hi my dear friends,

I’ve stayed with Giorgia for two days.
Today I went to school with her because all her class had to go to the theatre to see a play by Shakespeare “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. It was very funny and interesting because it was linked to all the changes that adolescents live. When the play finished I wanted Giorgia to take a photo of me with the actors, but it was too late and we had to go back to school. On our way back we went past the park where there were some rides, so Giorgia took a photo of me and Annachiara on the swing.
Giorgia and her friends love me a lot and don’t want I to stay with students of other classes. They say I’m their bosom friend!
We’ll see what Miss Andriulo decides…

By the way you know that I love you very much and I miss you a lot.

Love, Ted

A DAY WITH ALESSIA

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:35:00 +0000

Dear friends,

On the seventh January 2009 Miss Andriulo brought me to school and I could meet my friends, at last! Alessia invited me to stay with her and I accepted, of course!
When lessons were over Alessia and I went her home where I met all her family. They were fantastic and very kind to me!
After lunch Alessia did her homework and then she went to the hairdresser’s while I stayed home and watched some TV and listened to some good music.
At 5:00 p.m. Alessia came back home. She kissed me, told me something about her friends and then we decided to go to the park by her bike. It was fantastic!: Alessia and I took some photos.
When we went back home we played on the computer with her brother Samuele.
At 7:00 p.m. we went to the gymn. It was beautiful to do gymnastic with that music.
At 8:30 p.m. we went back home. Alessia was very happy because it was the first night I had to sleep with her. You should meet her: she is such a nice and pretty girl! But don’t worry: I always love you deeply!

Kisses and hugs,
Ted

CHRISTMAS IN ITALY

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:27:00 +0000

My dear friends,
I’m very glad to hear from you and I’m happy you had a good Christmas break.
I spent my Christmas holidays with Miss Andriulo. She lives in Oria, a beautiful medieval town near Mesagne. I was thrilled to see her house and to meet her family!
Before arriving in Oria I saw a big and wonderful building from a great distance. Miss Andriulo told me it was a medieval castle built by the German Emperor Frederic II. She added that unfortunately we couldn’t visit it because it is being restored at present. But she promised me she would buy a postcard so you can see how wonderful this castle is!
When we got her home I was surprised to see that she lives in a quite big house (a sitting room, three bedrooms, a hall, a small study, two bathrooms, a dining room, a kitchen, a laundry and a back garden full of plants, orange and lemon trees, roses). She told me that she had been very busy with her school work, so she had had no time to clean her house and to decorate it with Christmas decorations. I helped her, of course, and I’ve realized that it is not very good to have a big house because you never finish doing housework.
I also met her parents, her niece Carmen and her nephews Antonio and Lucio. Carmen is a young funny girl aged 5 who loves playing with me all the time.
On Christmas Eve night Miss Andriulo went to church with her family (they are all catholic) and when they came back home it was about midnight. She invited me to see how they celebrate Christmas in Italy: they lighted some candles, sang a Christmas song, said some prayers and then Carmen put the figurine of little Jesus in the nativity scene between Mary and St. Joseph. Finally they kissed and hugged each other wishing “Happy Christmas” and opened their Christmas presents. There were also two small parcels for me. When I opened them I was happy to find some chocolates and a new sweater. On Christmas morning we paid a visit to Miss Andriulo’s relatives and then we had lunch at home. We had ravioli (a kind of pasta filled with a mixture of mince meat and ham), gravy, steaks, green salad, fruit, cake and champagne. In the evening we went to see all the nativity scenes that had been arranged in the churches of the town.
The days before New Year’s Eve Miss Andriulo was very busy with the correction of her students’ works.
On New Year’s Eve (Italians call it “Capodanno or Notte di San Silvestro - St. Silvester’s night”) we went out to eat in a restaurant where we had some local dishes: zampone or cotechino (a kind of spiced Italian sausage) and lentils, pasta and seafood, gratiné mussels, lobster, green salad, chips, fruit and cake.
At midnight we hugged and kissed each other wishing a Happy New Year and went outside to look at the wonderful fireworks. They were cool!!!
Gosh! It’s 2009, my dear friends! I haven’t seen you for a year and I miss you a lot even though I do like Italy.
I hope your dreams come true this new Year!
Good Luck and be always in good mood
Love, Ted
P.S. I like Bea in that new coat. I think she is becoming prettier and prettier…mmm

My visit with Alicea

noreply@blogger.com (ccarmichael) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:33:00 +0000

Hi, I get to go home with Alicea today! When we got to her house, I got to meet her family along with her 2 dogs. After I met everyone we headed to her room and listened to some music. The she practiced on her clarinet. Afterwards when she was done we watched a movie called "Horton Hears A Who?" After the movie, it was late so we decided to go to sleep. On Dec. 21st we went to the mall to go shopping (I like going to the mall and shop), we had to buy some presents for her parents. It took a long time to decide what to buy. Before we left there we stopped to get a smoothie (a drink that has crushed ice and fruit). They were delicious! When we got to her house we wrapped the presents and stuck them under the tree. On Dec. 23rd we made a video for her parents. It's a video of all the pictures she's downloaded to her computer then she added some music to go along with the pictures. She even took a picture of me and her with her camera and put it on the video! Dec. 25th, it is Christmas Day! Alicea woke up to tons of presents. She went to wake up everyone so they can open presents too. When they started to open presents Alicea let her parents open the present she got for them. It was a beautiful video of their pictures over the last year. After the presents were opened we went to her room and played with them. I got to play with Alicea and it was super fun!!! Then we went to visit all of her family. Dec. 31, We are going to Alicea's grandma's house to celebrate New Years. When it came time we counted down from ten to zero and once we got to zero it was a New Year!! Jan. 1, 2009, The New Year has started out great. Now Alicea and I can't wait to get back to school so I can tell everyone how it went.
I hope all of you had a great Christmas and a nice time off from school. What did you do during your holiday? Love, Bea

At Aidee's house

noreply@blogger.com (ccarmichael) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:14:00 +0000

December 11
I went to Aidee's house and saw her Christmas tree, it was so beautiful it had many kids of decorations in it like blue spheres and ribbons. We went to the mall and bought Christmas presents for her family. The mall was big (it has a lot of stores) and full of decorations. I got to meet her brother Christian (he's a trouble maker), and I saw her 9 month old sisters, she's cute. But I barely got to meet her because she was asleep most of the time. She woke up and she had me up and down and never let go of me, she loved me very much. And every time she saw me she crawled to me really fast. She was a really funny little girl.
December 13
We went to Aidee's grandmother's house because it was her uncle's birthday. It was really loud there and they all spoke Spanish but then we went back to her house and saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" movie, when it was over it was time to sleep.
December 14
Today we went to the movies and we saw "Twilight" it was a good movie. Aidee liked it a lot and when it was finished it was snowing outside and was really cold and windy. We went to eat Chinese food, the food smelled really, really good and there was a lot of people there too.
I miss all of you, Love you, Bea

My new coat and the snow

noreply@blogger.com (ccarmichael) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:56:00 +0000

Hello my friends in Italy!!

Before we left school for Christmas break I received my coat from you! Thank you for the gift, I needed it that day because it snowed here. I went outside and had my picture taken in the snow, it was very cold and wet. Snow is very pretty to look at (from inside where it is warm), and it was fun to play in. I went home with Alicea for the holiday break and will write to you about my adventures at her house and show you the pictures from her house. I have had a great time here and am thinking of staying here a little longer so I can see the spring time and write to you some more. Everyone likes to have me stay at their house and visit with them. I hope you enjoy the pictures of me in my coat and playing in the snow.
I love you all, Bea

VISITING ANNACHIARA

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:10:00 +0000

My dear friends,

I've been said that today was your last school day before Christmas break. Here Christmas holidays start next Tuesday, so I have to visit two more houses before going to Mrs Andriulo's house. She wants I to spend Christmas holidays with her and I'm glad to stay with her so I can visit Oria, the town where she lives. She has told me it's a very lovely town...we'll see!

Yesterday I stayed with Annachiara and I helped her to decorate the Nativity scene and her Christmas tree. We chose silver decorations for the tree. I also helped her to put the figurines in the Nativity scene. The result is excellent, isn't it? I think I'm becoming very good at decorating Christmas trees and Nativity scenes. When we finished I was very tired so I had a nap, but I had a terrible nightmare. I dreamt that an ugly old woman was chasing me. I was frightened so I soon woke up. Annachiara told me that the old woman was Befana and without any doubt she didn't want to chase me, she only wanted to give me a Christmas present.

Now it's time to go.

I wish all of you a great Holiday season. I miss you a lot!

Ted

P.S. I got your Christmas card today: it's a beautiful puzzle. Thank you very much, you know that I love doing puzzles a lot. I love you!!!!

A DAY WITH SERENA AND MATTEO

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:25:00 +0000

My dear friends,

Christmas is near at hand and I'm helpind my new friends to decorate their Christmas tree.

Today I stayed with Matteo and Serena. They're brother and sister and it's the third time they host me. They are wanted me to help them with their Christmas tree and the Nativity scene, and I was happy to make myself useful, of course!

I soon told them I'm an experienced bear so I asked them to sit and look at me. And open your eyes wide ... this wonderful Tree is my work. It's beautiful, isn't it?

Now I wonder, how are you doing without me?

I love you so much,

Ted

IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:24:00 +0000

Hi !!!
I’m going to spend a day with each of my Italian mates from now until the beginning of the holiday break so that I can see how they have decorated their house, their Christmas tree and the Nativity scene. Today, I’ve stayed at Chiara’s … I like her Christmas tree (I helped her to put up the card that Miranda sent her) and her Nativity scene. They are fabulous and Chiara told me that her brother Mattia and her father made the crib. They are very proud of their work!!!
Tomorrow I will go to another house were I will see some other Christmas decorations.

I’ll take photos, of course, so I can share with you this interesting experience!
I’m looking forward to Christmas!!!

Bye bye,
Ted

My Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (ccarmichael) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:17:00 +0000

Dear Friends,

I spent Thanksgiving with Mrs. Carmichael and her family. On Wednesday there wasn't school, so we got up early and cleaned up the house to get ready for all the guests. We made rolls, made the cranberry relish, and baked the pumpkin pies for dessert. On Thursday, as you can see in the pictures I helped roast the turkey, stir green beans (from her garden this summer), and I helped slice the turkey. I was ready to eat and was glad when the food was ready, the house smelled very good with the turkey cooking. I didn't mash the potatoes since there were so many and it was too hard for me, but I ate them! I liked the bread dressing, it is made with 3 loaves of homemade bread, chicken broth, celery, onions, salt, pepper, and sage. After it is baked it is good with the gravy on it! We also had 2 turkeys, one was roasted in the oven and the other one Mr. Carmichael cooked outside on the smoker/grill. I ate a lot of food and was very full later on. I got to play Christopher and Adyn, Mrs. Carmichael's grandsons, they liked to hold me. I also showed her family our blog and they read some of the blogs, they liked looking at your pictures! They wish they could all go to Italy for a visit. On Friday, we rested and ate some of the food from our big dinner. I helped her put up some of her Christmas decorations. Every year she buys a new decoration, this year was Mary's donkey for her nativity scene.
I hope you are having a nice time, it is getting colder here. It snowed a little bit yesterday and the roads were icy coming home. It was kind of scary but we drove very slowly and made it home fine! I hope it snows more soon so I can play outside!!
I miss all of you very much! Love, Bea
P.S. I need to exercise like Ted is doing, maybe I will start soon.

A FANTASIC DAY WITH CRISTINA AND FABIO

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:53:00 +0000

Dear friends,
yesterday I met Fabio and Cristina, they are twins. We went to their grandfather’s farmhouse and I was very excited because I like the countryside very much!
The landscape was very beautiful and I could breath a wonderful fresh air even if the temperature was a little cold.
There were very tall olive trees. Cristina told me that many farmers depend on olive oil production for their living. I also saw a very strange small tree. Its fruits were yellow and looked like strange lemons, but I was said it was a quince tree. People make a very tasty marmalade with its fruits.
I also met their dogs. Two of them were huge and wanted to bite me, but Cristina and Fabio saved me!
When we got back home we ate a fantastic dish of spaghetti. It was very yummy: Cristina could hardly restrain me because I wanted to eat up spaghetti at once, (you know, the fresh air of countryside whet my appetite), while she wanted to take a photo!

I’m glad I’ve met these two fantastic friends because they’re very kind to me and I'm having a great time with them.

What about you? What’s Bea doing?
We sent our parcel last Thursday and I wrote you a Christmas card (Cristina and Fabio helped me!)

I love you very much !

Ted

TED IS A CHAMPION!

noreply@blogger.com (anna) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:33:00 +0000

Dear friends,
I’ve stayed with Serena for three days.

I’m having a great fun with her, her brother Matteo and their dog Birba. I love staying with them and I’m crazy about their mum because she is a very good cook. I’m very fond of her “FOCACCIA AL POMODORO” (it is a kind of pizza with tomato on it) . You should eat it, it’s yummy and I’m sure you would like it very much.
Every day I help Matteo with his English homework because I’m very good at English and he lets me play with his playstation. We also enjoy ourselves doing puzzles!
The most exciting experience I’ve had with Serena and Matteo was the day before yesterday when we went to the swimming pool. I enjoyed myself swimming. There was a swimming competition and Matteo won! Unfortunately I was the last one…sigh! By the way, you’re right! I’m working out very hard and I’m a very athletic bear now!
This morning I went shopping with Serena’s mother. We bought some eggplants, ham, and mozzarella cheese then we fixed “parmigiana” for lunch. Yummy, yummy!!! This afternoon I learned to play PSP (Play Station Portable) with Matteo. Later I had a snap and after that Serena saw I was sad because I miss you very much, so she made me laugh and cuddled me a lot and my homesickness was over.

What’s going on over there?
I’m looking forward to reading your comments!

I love you very much,
Ted