Emsdetten, Germany; San Rafael, Argentina; Maplewood, Minnesota, USA, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada

 From Flat Alexa and Sara in Germany:

 

Hi, my name is Sara and I’m 15 years old. I come from Poland but I live in Germany since late 2015. I’m going to show you where I live , what Germans eat and what they do in their free time.

1. (The picture of flat Alexa and a world map)

Germany is a Western European country. It’s capital is Berlin. There are 16 states in Germany and I live in one of them called : North Rhine-Westphalia

2. ( the picture of flat Alexa in front of the yellow town sign & the one with river and forest.) I live in a small town called Emsdetten. We have a lot of farms , fields and forests here. As well as a river called “ Ems”. That’s also why our town is called Ems-Detten. But there is also a place where people meet to go shopping or to eat in a restaurant.( the picture of people in front of a restaurant and the church & the picture of flat Alexa with a town fountain) 

Germans like to sit down after a long day and chat with their friends and family while eating and drinking. 

3. (The picture of Flat Alexa and a road)

Germans love to do sports in their free time. Especially going on walks with their dogs or biking ! There are a lot of bike lane’s and beautiful land scapes! 

4.  ( picture of flat Alexa with food ) German Food is basically meat and potatoes. They eat a lot of sausages, mayonnaise, potatoes.. But their favourite meal is .. Curry - Wurst! It’s sausages in a Curry sause. Germans often eat it with bread.  PART 2 coming soon.

 

From Flat Ms Moore, made by Emilia, in France with Stella.

Bonjour !

 My name is Stella and I am 9 years old. I live in France. I have a younger sister and a younger brother.  I have received the Flat Ms Moore.   

From July 6 to August 31 it was the summer break. Last week I was by the seaside in Normandy with my family and my dog and we took Ms Moore along ! J

Normandy is a beautiful region with very nice beaches and buildings/houses with a typical architecture, as you can see on the pictures.

 Here my sister and I are standing in front of the city hall of Deauville.

 

There are lots of marinas with sailing boats and fishing harbors. Normandy is famous for pancakes, apple juices and ciders, and dairy products because there are lots of cows J

« Les Planches » in Deauville is a famous boardwalk along the beach where names of famous actresses/actors and film makers are displayed in front of beach huts. Every year the American Film Festival takes place in Deauville at the beginning of September.

Do you think we could add Ms Moore’s name on the boardwalk? J

 

Architecture in Normandy

We went to an ‘old-fashioned’ market where some people were dressed like in the old times (except for the masks which are the ‘2020’ style J)

We bought fresh bread and pastries, some goat cheese and apple juice!

Bon appétit ! (Enjoy your meal!)

 

This week we went back to school but I will tell you more about that and the place where I live in a few days…

We hope you are all safe in Australia and that you can go back to school soon.

Au revoir! (Goodbye!)

From Marisa and Flat Emily in Mendoza, Argentina

Well Emily we send you a big virtual hug! We hope we keep in touch!!! We wish the best of life for you and your family! Take care! I loved writing you and letting you know how you’ve been with us these days! Hope you can come to Argentina one day and visit us in San Rafael! Bye!!! Marisa

 UPDATE IN SEPTEMBER:

You know what? Today 11th September we celebrate “The teacher’s day” in Argentina, so today, it’s a very special day! As I told you in the letter I sent you last week, my husband Marcos and I are teachers, so we have a day off work. Last Tuesday, I told my students about you, and one of them, Belermina, wanted to send you a written message to you. She is learning English in High School. She attends a Technical School (oriented in Chemistry). She is a very nice girl, and she lives in the countryside, and sometimes she does not have internet connectivity. She is very enthusiastic and very responsible. (it’s got some mistakes because she’s learning)

Finally, I want to tell you about my children! You know, Matías loves drawing comics. This is a drawing that was chosen by some authorities here in our city. As it was “Inclusion Week”, this drawing became a mural. You can see some children playing on a tree, and that tree has the form of a pencil, because it represents “learning together”, and that in that tree, there ‘s a place for everyone: “aquí cabemos todos” (it means: we all suit here/there’s room enough for everyone here). The most important thing about this, is that many children from 1st grade painted it with the help of their teachers.

Brian, my eldest son, loves football, he is a very good player and he is part of a popular club here in San Rafael, it’s called El Porvenir. He wants to study to become a teacher, a PE teacher. Lockdown is very hard for him, because he loves sports and workout in the open air. Anyways, he stays home and takes care as everyone here. 

Brian sends you these pictures we have from last holidays. We went to Patagonia, a region in the South of Argentina. In this picture, we are visiting the Penguin reservation, it’s called Punta Tombo, and it is the largest colony of Magalleanic Penguins in South America. 

Well dear Emily, it has been a real pleasure to have hosted you for this time, I do hope you can come to visit us someday when all this lockdown is over. You are invited to Argentina together with your family! We send you a million hugs my dear!!!!!! They are so sweet!!! More than a million come to the colony every summer. I’m proud of having been part of this project and of course, absolutely proud of having been Emily’s host!!! Love! Marisa

From Flat Mrs Walton, made by Addison, and Karyn in Maplewood, Minnesota, USA.

Hi, Addison –

I hope you and your classmates are enjoying hearing about your Flat Traveler’s adventures around the world! 

Mrs. Walton and I have not been out much but enjoyed looking at statues of roses in a town called Roseville.  Can you find Mrs. Walton near the top of the multi-colored flower?
 

See pictures below:  

 

Other questions you had were about:

Holidays/Customs:  Our family celebrates many holidays.  New Year’s is usually a fairly quiet evening at home watching movies and eating some fancy food.  Memorial Day, 4^th of July (our independence day from Great Britain), and Labor Day are summer holidays so we usually grill and have a picnic.  Sometimes we go to parades on the 4^th of July to see floats, bands, and clowns.  Thanksgiving we spend together (my parents and I from Minnesota and my sister & nephew in Illinois in the middle state between us, Wisconsin, because it is also my sister’s birthday.  At Christmas my sister, nephew, and their cats (Caiden and Corey – see picture)  come to Minnesota for a visit for their two week school holiday.  On Christmas we go to church, eat Danish food (my parents’ families come from Denmark), open presents, and just enjoy spending time together.  We usually go to a play or movie or museum.  Other customs our family has in volunteering and we do different things to help people.  I also like to travel and read. 

Food:  We like to grill, and also like to try various international foods.  My dad and I like spicy foods, but the rest of them not so much. 

Music:  I like all kinds of music and like to go to concerts and also listen to various kinds while I work.  (I have been working from home since March due to Covid).  I like country, classical, soft rock, jazz, gospel, folk songs and swing/big band music from the 1940s. My parents particularly like a kind of jazz called Dixieland Jazz which started in New Orleans (southern city in the US) and go to a Dixieland Jazz festival every year in Florida.

Famous things:  One of the most recognized places in Minneapolis is a sculpture garden, and the  most famous statue is the cherry and the spoon.  

 

Other famous places are the state capitol building (designed by the same architect as the one in our nation’s capital of Washington DC).  It has golden horses on it and I have been up there to see them on a school field trip. 

 

Minnesota is the “land of 10,000 lakes” although there are actually more than 12,000.  I used to go fishing with my grandpa when I was a little girl at Lake Winnibigoshish and Leech Lake. Here are some typical lake pictures.  

Pets: 

  McKenzie     ZsaZsa – both cats like to sleep on pillows! 

I hope this gives you an idea of what my life is like in Minnesota.  I enjoyed writing to you, hearing about your life, and hope you liked the pictures. 

Best wishes,

Karyn Mikel

PS here is a picture of Flat Mrs Watlton helping Karyn celebrate her birthday:

From Flat Koby and Jacinda in Yellowknife, NorthWest Territories, Canada.

Hello Koby,

I live in Yellowknife, which is the capital of Northwest territories in Canada. It is a pretty remote place. In fact, Yellowknife is the only city in Noerthwest Territories. We live on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake and we are about 400km south of the Arctic Circle.  

Most pople come her to live. My husband was born in Wales, and I was born in Newfoundland in Canada. We have lived here in Yelloknife for a long time now. 

The local first nation people are called the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. They traded tools made from copper deposits. 

Gold was found here although since diamonds were found in 1991, Yellowknife is known as the Diamond Capital. 

In summer, the only way to the diamond mines and northern communities is by float plane. In winter, you can only get there by driving on ice roads. The local school in Yellowknife is also accessible by ice roads in winter and a much longer drive in summer - the long way around. 

The Folk on the Rocks festival is a great music festival held each year.  Many bands come from all over Canada and the world to play here. 

The Northern lights are quite something. At certain times of the year, the night sky is glowing in greens and blues. Thjis is from our house. 

 

This is our campsite. On the right is the same spot in winter. The picture on the left is June, our summer. In summer, there is very little darkness. Can you believe that this photo was taken just before midnight, Koby? This is me cooking the sausages and it was about 9:30pm. It doesn't get dark really. 

 

This sign means the winter road that is used to get to the mines and other places in NWT is closed due to no ice on the lake. You need to go by floatplane in summer. Yellowknife is really a winter place as it is easier to get around on ice and with winter gear. That's a bit different to Australia. 

The roads are made on permafrost. This means that there are layers of frozen ground beneath the surface. When the soil deforsts and there are still freezing temperatures, you get frost heaves. This is a side road, however, there are still frost heaves on the main highways. 

This was from our house in April... our winter is December, January and February.  We get lots of snow and it can get very cold.  Ace,our dog, loves the snow and cold. So do we. 

One question was asked if there were bears. This sign is near where I live. We also get bison. And wolves.