Letter #37 from Texas

This wonderful package arrived from Maria in Jasper,Texas.We used to visit Houston quite a bit when we lived in Louisiana since it was only about  2 1/2 hours away from us (I don't remember how far that is from Jasper).We never really looked around like I wish we had,but oh well.We usually would visit the Galleria Mall (I think that was the name of it) and eat out and really that was it,it was just a quick trip just to get out of town for a while.So it's really nice to get this package about Houston and Jasper.

She sent us a pretty long letter,which we love.She says Jasper is a small town close to the Angelina National Forest.They also live near a lake and she says there are many camgrounds and that the town holds fishing tournaments.

She moved to Jasper with her husband after being born and raised in Houston and so before they moved,she was interested in researching the city.She found out that the town was names after William Jasper in 1835,before that it was known as Snow River or Bevil's Settlement.I think I would have preferred them keep it as Snow River...sounds so beautiful!

She said her birthday is coming up in May...I wonder what day,mine is May 4th,so we are 3 years apart...I won't be telling my age. ;) Her and her husband have 3 small dogs and two cats,one of the cats is named Ginger,but they almost named her Pumpkin since she was found close to Halloween.I love both names. :)

Marie loves to watch cary movies...I used to enjoy scary movies as a kid...I was a kid when movies like Nightmare on Elm street & Chucky came out.My mom and I loved to watch them late at night and be scared to death.

She told us about how she has a younger sister living in Houston that she is really close to but can't see her as often since they have moved out of town.I hope Marie has seen her recently.She gave my daughters some great advice,to stay close and be there for each other.I think it will be sad for us when our daughters leave home because chances are they could all move away and not be as close because of the distance and I feel that it's so important to always have your sister there for you because she knows you better than any of your friends will ever know you and she will always want the best for you and be totally honest with you.

Marie works at a local health agency where she helps get supplies to the elderly and handicapped clients they have.She loves her job very much.She really enjoys talking to her clients.She said most of them are so lonely,their families rarely visit them and sometimes she's the only person some have to talk to.It is really sad when we see that happening in our great country.We should look at the other countries that treat their elderly with the respect that they deserve.They are so wise and have so many great things to share and have great advice,but we dump them off at nursing homes and never look back.Please don't think that I feel this way about every family.I do not mean that all people who bring their families to nursing homes are bad people or neglect their elderly relatives,but there are many that do and that's what I feel is really sad.We must have more compassion for them,we must all remember that we will be old one day,too and how would we feel if we were ignored or abused just because of our age?

Marie mentioned that she was always a city girl but living in the country is slowly starting to make her a country girl.She had just touched a cow the day before she wrote our letter.She said her husband told her that they love to be rubbed on the back of their head where it comes to a bump,so you all remember that when you come close to a cow. ;) But she did stop real quick when he tried to lick her....I think Marie is still mostly a city girl,but maybe after a few more years,she won't mind being licked by a cow. :)

Marie included a lot of wonderful items-a praline recipe (I did not know Texans made pralines,we make pralines a lot since I'm from Louisiana),a postcard with Texas Chilie Recipe,some business cards (she makes tutu's to sell...am I too big for one?),rhinestone accents,ponytails (you can't imagine how many we lose,now these should not get lost since they have long ribbons),cute foot shaped paper clips (I have never seen such a thing...too cute! ) and  great book called 147 Fun Things to do in Houston.Just a note,she says many people say that Houston is becoming the New York City of Houston...I know it is a huge city!

Thanks Marie for everything!We loved your letter and all the fun goodies!Maybe one day we'll visit Houston again and spend more time sightseeing and maybe see you! :) Thanks so much for your kindness!Here is a picture below.Enjoy!

Letter #36 from Germany

This letter comes from Marie in Germany.She was actually born the day before my sister.She has been to the US before as an exchange student in North Carolina.She said it was sometimes hard being here since it's so different than Germany.She remembers her host family would eat from paperplates,which in Germany,they only use paperplates for eating outside or at parties.Also,in her country,school lets out at 1pm and you eat at home as opposed to eating lunch at school.She also noticed that people over here never walk to their destination and that everything was bigger here,including the streets. :)

Another difference she notes is that in Germany,not many people go to the University,but enter  career training to become nurses,mechanics,etc.She says the Univeristy is a lot cheaper there,about $650 per semester,but not everybody can afford it and it's not common for people to take loans.

She loved travelling so much that she moved to another city to attend medical school.She lived in Auchen,which she says is very beautiful.It is a very old city with lots of history.It lies in the west of Germany at the border of the Netherlands nad Belgium.It also has a technical school there and a cathedral,which is part of UNESCO.The cathedral began construction during 792 and is a Roman Catholic Church.Charles the Great was the one who built the cathedral,he was an emperor who ruled over much of Western Europe

In March,Marie will beginning to work as a doctor in internal medicine...congrats Marie!

Marie shared some info with us about her grandmother,which she called Oma (I think that's a cool name!) She was born in 1909 and lived to be 96 years old.She said she survived World War I as a child.She also worked as medical technical assistant when not many women were allowed to work.During World War II she had to take care of her mother and work in another city.She would have to follow the train tracks to get home because the trains did not run during bomb scares.She also tol us about how her grandfather made the Nazis mad by inviting his Jewish friend over for coffee since people were not allowed to invite Jews over or be friendly with them.She says it's very important to learn from this and keep this horrible event from happening again.I agree!Marie says she is so thankful that her mother shares so much of the family history with her,she's glad to know about her relatives and how they lived.

Marie has shared a wealth of information with us,but too much to type.I hope you did enjoy the parts I did share with you all.She sent an amazing letter!Thanks Marie for the amazing letter that we really enjoyed reading!She also shared a general map of Ubersichtskarte,a postcard that shows how each city's sign looks when you enter the city and a postcard of her favorite children's author ( I would love to find a book by him) and a wonderful candy bar that we are thrilled to try!Thanks so much Marie for everything...it is really appreciated!Thanks for taking the time to share so much with us!

*Update,I did have her letter uploaded,I just had to go through tons of pictures to find it.Please enjoy her goodies below:

Letter #35 from Arizona

This letter comes from Misha in Tucson,Arizona.Misha is also homeschooled,she is currently a sophomore but will graduate next May,a year earlier.She lives in the beautiful Sonoran Desert surrounded by four mountain ranges.Most people can figure out their location by using the mountains as their guide.

In the summer she says it can get quite hot,up to 100 degrees,usually in May and June.In July they get rainstorms that they call monsoons almost every afternoon.I didn't even realize we got "monsoons", or at least that we called them monsoons in the states,so that is quite interesting to know.It can be pretty scary with thunder and lightning and since it pours down so hard for 1-2 hours,they can often get flash floods.

Misha says that in her city there are trenches called "washes" found all over that help to direct the water.She says they can be quite dangerous,so people are not allowed to play in them.

Something unique to the Sonran Desert,she writes,is the Saguaro Cactus,which can not be found anywhere else in the world.They take a long time to grow.It takes an arm of one cactus 50 years to grow and most cacti have several arms,so I guess it could take centuries for it to be fully grown.She also told us something quite sad,a few years ago they had a really bad freeze and all the saguaros froze and when they thawed out,all their "arms" drooped down because all their muscle tissue was weakened by the freeze and so it couldn't hold up its arms anymore.That is very interesting,I never would have thought that could happen.I've never seen a cactus on tv with droopy arms so I assumed that wouldn't happen.She says it's a crime to vandalize the cactus so they are protected and that their flowers are the Arizona state flower.In springtime,she tells about how the desert explodes with life.She used to live in California,so I think she felt she would miss out on nature moving to the desert,but she has been quite pleased with the natural beauty in her area.

One of the postcards she sent us is of the University Medical Center,which is she likes because she wants to work in the medical science field,either in genetics or chemistry when she is older.That is definitely a great profession to work in...I hope you are very successful with all your goals Misha!

She also enclosed a ticket from the Gaslight Theatre,which is local to her area.She says it's a small,old fashioned theatre where you are seated around a table and served complimentary popcorn and have interactive shows.It seems quite fun because she says people boo the villains and cheer the heroes!That sounds like a great theatre since you can really be involved in the show.

Next is a picture she enclosed of a lightning strike taken two summers ago during a monsoon.

She also mentioned a great place to go if anybody ever visits Tucson,it's called Eegee's and they sell the most amazing slushie type drink.She says it's not as sweet as a slushie and it has chunks of fruit in it.There are three regular flavors-strawberry,lemon and pina colada and also a flavor of the month that changes with each month.Seems like a great place to visit since she lives in the desert! :)

Well,Misha,thanks so much for the lovely letter,postcards,ticket,photo and a dried flower...nobody has sent in any flowers,you are the first Misha. :)

Please enjoy her letter below:

Updated:finally took the picture of her letter,postcards,picture and flower,enjoy!

Letter #34 from Michigan

We are now at letter #34,which comes from Tami in Northern Michigan.She says that they have missed out on most of the recent snowstorms....sounds like us when we lived in SE Michigan,we always missed out on most of the big storms,too.She lives in a quaint Victorian old time type of small town with about 3,500 people.They are surrounded by beautiful forest,scenic hills and abundant wildlife.Her city is also known for having 11 acres of waterfront recreation.She says that you cannot drive 1-2 miles in any direction without seeing a lake or river.

Her town has won many awards and has now been selected as a 2011 Great American Street Award Semifinalist.The National Trust for Historic Preservation will choose 5 winners in May...I hope your city wins!

Her city is filled with activities for the whole family.There is something going on every week in her community.They can also enjoy various recreational activities such as skiing,outdoor sports,waterparks,boating,fishing,bowling,4-H,family camps,nature preserves and hands on musuems.They also enjoy watching semi-pro baseball team - Traverse City Beach Bums and now football team - Traverse City Wolves and of course they enjoy watching the Red Wings hockey team.

Please enjoy Tami's letter and postcard below.Thanks so much for the lovely letter and postcard!

Letter #33 from California

Letter #33 comes from someone simply known as "The Fruid" in California.It's quite interesting when they don't say their name...makes them seem mysterious since you try to figure out who they are by the alias they pick.I do know this about her,she has amazing handwriting!It looks like she stamped each word on the letter,that's how neat it is!

Anyways,more about her letter.As stated,she lives in California in a city called Livermore.She remembers it being a small town of 25,000 people but now has around 85,000 peoople.She writes about having a few shops downtown when she was a child,but now things have really changed with even more houses and an outlet mall opening up soon.

Her favorite thing about her city is its natural beauty.She lives in a valley surrounded by hills (so are we).There are also many vineyards in her area....our backyard has a lot of vineyards,too...the previous owner used to make wine in the backyard.But we don't really care for the grapes...they are usually pretty sour.I think I have a picture of our vineyards I will post below.

She also says the Livermore is known for 2 things-their wineries and their national labs.She is really concerned about living so close to nuclear labs.

She enjoys hiking on the trails that look out over the valley.She often sees many different animals,such as deer,turkeys,coyotes,turkey vultures and hawks while hiking.There are also many warnings about mountain lions,but luckily she has not come across one of those yet.I think I agree with her,that it may be best just to see them at the zoo. :)

Livermore has a lot to do and is close to San Francisco...it's only 50 miles east of the city and 45 minutes from Six Flags and Great America and only a few hours from the city of Monterey.Seems like she lives in a great area.

Below is a picture of her lovely letter,picture of Cresta Blanca hillside which if you look carefully,you will see 2 gnomes shaped out of the crevices....do you see it...it actually shows up great here,when I was looking at the picture in my hand it took while for me to see both of them. :) 

The Fruid also made a really cute mini scrapbook which I am sharing below:

This one shows a farm in Livermore:

Below is a vineyard and some windmills on a hilltop:

Here is a lake and a sign for the rodeo:

Below is an airplane from an airplane show and a small museum:



This below is the coolest thing,a lightbulb that is 110 years old and still works!Sheesh,most of my lightbulbs don't even last 2 years! :) To the right is a picture of downtown:

And below is the end of her notebook which is so cute...it reads, "But what Livermore is really missing is YOU!" Aww,that is so sweet!

Many thanks to "The Fruid" for your wonderful letter and picture and the adorable scrapbook that you made....we really loved it!Thanks so much for participating and sharing about your city!

Ok,well,I found a picture of our backyard showing the grapevines but this is a winter picture,so no beautiful grapes to look at right now.It's on a big hill so that is why the picture looks like that.We also need to work on making it neater...we've just been busy with our house repairs.We have 5 rows of grapevines plus some that cover this clothesline that you see closer to yourself in the picture.

Answers to some questions...

Hello everybody!I have gotten quite a few questions lately so let me answer them really quickly.I have been asked if we will reply to all the letters,unfortunately at this time,finances prevent us from answering every letter,although we are planning to keep in touch with a few.This doesn't mean that if we don't write to you,we didn't appreciate your letter.We would love to answer every letter,but it may take us some time to reply back,so I hope you can be patient with us.I have also been asked that if we have gotten a letter from a certain country or state,do we want another letter from there.Of course we do!We wouldn't be able to reach our goal as easily if we limited ourselves.Every person has a different perspective of their area and has something different to share and chances are you may not even live in the same city,so yes,please write to us no matter if we received a letter from your state or country,that's ok.

Another question we have been asked is if a person can write more than once.Of course we are thrilled to get more letters about where you live,etc. but we are only counting letters from different individuals because we really do want to hear from as many different people as possible.Please feel free to write more letters to us and we will try our best to respond back so that we can keep in touch.I would never pass up any learning opportunity for my children.Just let us know that this is your second letter and you have more to share with us so we know that you would like to keep writing to us and I will try to have my kids reply back with any more questions they may have.It has been really fun for us all learning about so many different places.

We still have many letters to share with you all but we have been so busy with homeschooling and trying to reply to everybody that wants to join our project and reading the letters,so I hope you can all be patient with us.We decided it would be faster to read each letter then post it as opposed to trying to read all the letters first and then posting them.Just look at Saturday's mail below:

Thanks again to everybody who has or will write to us.Every day I am amazed at how many people email us asking to join and want to help us with our project!There are so many kind and generous people in the world and we have been blessed to have been contacted by them.We really do appreciate you taking time out of your day to write to us and post a letter in the mail to us!With every sign up,we get so excited about getting closer to our goal...we really believe we can reach it!Thanks to you all for making our goal a possible reality!

Letter #32 from Ukraine

This letter comes from a new friend named Irene and she lives in Ukraine.She has made a wonderful little notebook filled with information,which I will show you below and explain what she wrote in case it is hard for you to read. :) Please forgive me as I have actually uploaded them in the wrong order and it will take too much time to fix it.So here goes Irene's fabulous notebook.

This is actually the last page:

On the pages below she metions that she loves the cinema,books,music and dancing.She believes in love and friendship and enjoys looking at the stars in the sky.

On these two pages she tells us the Ukrainians are happy people who love life,laughing and having fun.They are also open-minded people who love to smile a lot and sing.They also enjoy nature and just the simple things in life. :)

Below is a picture calendar with a horse and on the left side is a bus and trolley bus ticket and subway token that she placed in the "open me" piece of paper.

On the left is a packet of Greenfield tea and on the right is a receipt from an average trip to her post office...we won't share mine. ;)

Below on these pages she writes about how low their salaries are and how things are very expensive there.It is very hard for anybody to own a house in Ukraine unless you are lucky enough to be rich.Some of the prices she shared with us are below (keep in mind that it's cheap to us, but not to people who make way less than we do):

-7 day trip to Paris- $600-$700

-3 roses $6

-1 letter mailed overseas- $.60-$1.50 (here we pay $.98)

-woman's haircut- $5-$7....this is for the cheapest place

-1 year in the university- $750 (I wish it were that cheap here,we pay about 5 times that amount per semester in the states,depending on how many classes you are taking,of course.)

On these 2 pages below she shared how to write a few things in I believe Ukrainian and Russian and then in English.I think you can click on the picture to see it better.
Below is the Russian alphabet:
More Russian alphabet.Irene says that a lot of Ukrainians speak both Russian and Ukrainian easily.
Below at the top of the picture is a children's book that is so cute.Below that the notebook describes her city.Irene lives in the capital,which is Kiev.She was born in Moscow,but moved to Ukraine as an infant.She says her native town is called Mariupol,which is located on the coast of the Sea of Azov.There are about 450,000 people there.She says she has always dreamed of living in a big city because there is much more to discover...I agree. :)

In the notebook below on the left she says Ukraine has 2 beautiful seas,millions of impressive landscapes,developed infrastructures and most of all beautiful girls! ;) I may have to beg to differ with her there,right? lol! In her defense,she did continue on to say that America has beatiful girls,so don't go after her,ok?Thanks! :)

Below she mentions some of the biggest cities in the Ukraine,such as Donetsk,Khar'kov,Dnepropetrovsk.Some of the things they are known for are agriculture,light industry and ferrous metallurgy.She also mentiond how most people in Ukraine live below the poverty line.She also says that they have some of the richest soil in the world!

Below she mentions that Ukraine is a big country situated in the eastern part of Europe with 47 million people living there.Her country is a former part of the ex-USSR,so they have a close relationship with Russia and Belarus.For example,they don't need a visa to travel to those places.She also notes that Ukraine is divided into 47 regions and the Krimean peninsula is an autonomous republic.Ukraine has been an independent country for only 20 years,but has an ancient history.

Below is a wonderful picture of Irene in a tree (in the notebook). :)

Below is the beginning of the notebook.

And here is everything she sent us.Thanks Irene so very much for your wonderful and creative notebook telling us about your fabulous country!And thanks for the stickers,book and postcards...we loved it all!

Letter #31 from Holland

Sorry for the delay...we are getting many letters these days and also keeping busy repsonding to people who want to join our project. :)

Letter #31 comes from Suzzane, who lives in a small city in the south of Holland.She is a remedial teacher (has anybody noticed that we are getting a lot of letters from teachers?) at a secondary school and helps children with autism and dyslexia.That is a wonderful job.My youngest daughter has learning problems,so it is nice when there are teachers who choose to help the ones that need more help because kids in a big class never get the help they need since the teacher simply doesn't have the time needed to help each student to the best of his/her ability.Suzzane enjoys writing letters,cards and reading.She also loves postcrossing,which is our favorite site to visit.

Here are some facts about Holland that she shared with us:

-Holland lies in Europe,next to Belgium and Germany

-Holland has 16,515,000 inhabitants

-About 18% of Holland is water

-The capital of Holland is Amsterdam

-Holland has a queen named Beatrix

-In Holland people speak Dutch

She also shared some dutch words with us,these are just a few of them:

*In English* *In Dutch*

Holland - Nederland

cheese- kaas

letter -brief

write - schryven

stamps - postzegels

cat - kat

She also told us about some famous people that are from Holland that some of you may know:

Anne Frank,Vincent Van Gogh,JohanCruyff (football player) & Rutger Hauer,who is an actor in American movies,such as "Sin City","Batman Begins" & "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

She said it can get very cold in Holland and that it snows and rains a lot.When she wrote the letter is was zero degrees outside.Burr!In mid summer the temperature is around twenty-five degrees celsius.

And finally here is a recipe she shared with us for apples and yogurt (please note that you will have to convert the measurements if you are in the states like ourselves):

Ingredients:

4 apples

500 mL vanilla custard

2 spoons brown sugar

2 spoons flour

30 grams butter

Preparation:

-Preheat oven to 200 degrees

-Peel the apples,divide them into 4 pieces and remove the core.Cut all the pieces through the middle to now give you 8 pieces.

-spread the vanilla custard over the bottom of your baking dish.

-Lay the apple pieces over the custard.

-mix the sugar,flour and butter till it's a crumbly consistency.

-Place dish in oven for 15 minutes or till the apples begin to change color,then remove from oven.

Suzzane says they are best eaten warm with ice cream!

That sounds like a wonderful recipe...thanks for sharing and thanks so much for your lovely letter & all the goodies!In the picture you can see the items she shared with us-tea,postcards,dutch napkin,magnet & some stroopwafels.We have actually been wanting to try stroopwafels for so long because we hear a lot of people love them,so thanks a bunch!