Package from Germany

    This past weekend I took a course for professional development. It was about film scoring in the music classroom. I was excited to take it because I knew it would be interesting, but I was apprehensive because I knew it would all be new to me. The course was Friday night and all day Saturday. When I arrived home on Friday I was greeted with this by the kids:

(Not the ink- that was a gift to myself after I received this pen from a student who brought it from Italy to me!)

     The package was from a penpal, Christina in Germany. Her son Tobi writes to Timmy. They sent him a birthday gift and note from Tobi. David even got a nice book in German. (I can read most of it Christina. I will have to look up a few words, but I read better than I write my own ideas!) Then, in addition to my letter, she sent these treats for us:

     These taste like little crackers covered in chocolate. (Like puffed rice a little). Timmy thought they were pretty good and I liked the contrast of the sweet with the ... not sweet.

 Gummy snacks. Haven't tried yet.

 Tea. Can't wait to try the Roobois.

 Black licorice. Traditionally, I don't usually like black licorice, but I like the black licorice from The Netherlands WAY more than here in the US, so I'll probably at least give it a try.

 Chocolate pudding.

 Not quite sure what these are yet. It will be a surprise.

 "Kisses" with hazelnuts. Can't wait to try these too.

We have Werther's here too. Delicious.

 I treated myself to this chocolate bar. it was sweet but light. I liked it a lot. I liked the crunchy bits too.

Cute little erasers. I like the "decision eraser." It has answers like yes, no, maybe, later, etc. in German. I would put it on my desk at work but I know some student would "accidentally" take it.

      I loved being surprised by this sweet treat! Thanks Christina and family!

Strep...again

    So, on a negative note- I have strep throat for the second time in a month and a half- which means it either 1) never went away or 2) wasn't strep the first time. Being under the weather, I haven't written much but I hope to get a few letters out this week.

Outgoing:

Soldier mail and mail to Marianne... finally. I have had these ready to go, but I couldn't find my stamps. So, they're on their way now.

Incoming:

     My friend Chrissie totally made my day. I got home from work today and saw this sitting on my dining room table!

  I was super excited to see a package waiting for me because I totally wasn't expecting one!  I had a really bad weekend and then stayed home sick from work yesterday so this was a nice surprise. :) (Check out the little card covering my address. One of Timmy's friends gave it to him as a birthday card :) So cute!)
Stamps: I really like the football (cough cough... soccer) stamp.

 

When I opened the package there were lots of goodies!

Yeah! She remembered my birthday! (October 13) Although I never expect any of my pals so send me any gifts, I am always happy to accept them :)  Isn't her writing amazingly neat? The envelope on the left was a great letter, the right was a birthday card (Nice beach.. My friend Jan sent me a card that said "This year you have nothing to worry about on your birthday." You open it and it says: "The high priestess only sacrifices much younger women." Nice.)  The gift was a stationary pad. I love stationary of all kinds. Thanks, Chrissie!
     In addition to this, there were also these goodie envelopes, sticker bags and label bags:

     I haven't traded these before. If any of my penpals are reading this, let me know if you want any of these. I will add my stuff and then pass them on. Usually I put them in the next letter I respond to, but if there is somebody who likes to trade certain items, let me know and I will send them. Actually, it would be helpful to know what kinds of things you like- FB, label bags, sticker bags, x-slips, swap sheets, etc...

Other...

    In other news, I survived Timmy's 7th birthday party.  I now know why I chose not to have 14 children.. lol.. and why I didn't have 12 kids in 1 year.   Timmy loved Blue Man Group and was pretty amusing to watch during the show. He had a great day.

     I also heard from my food swap partner. My package will be from The Netherlands (stroopwafels? mmm..). The Postcrosser who is sending it has been through a rough time lately so I hope things get better soon. It will get here eventually.

Mail time...

Incoming...
     Well, I got NOTHING in the mail today- no bills, no samples, no junk and certainly no letters or postcards. However, I did get a few things over the past week that I really enjoyed. Here they are:

     I received my first letter from a new penpal, Jodie, who is from Australia. I'm really excited to get to know her. She sent a beautiful letter, a cute cupcake card that had a recipe on the back, 2 pictures and map of her area. It was really neat to go through the thick envelope and I'm looking forward to asking her about a few places on the map she sent.  Here's a picture. Isn't the cupcake card nice?  Looks like you could eat it right off the page :)

        I also got some postcrossing cards this week. 
TW-531352
Unfortunately Kristin resent a card for me from Postcrossing and I had just registered her 1st card. (Sorry Kristin :( )  This is the beautiful bamboo bridge over University Pond at Luku Chitou.

 
FI-1486076
The more I see (and taste!) of Finland, the more interest I have in it. I don't think I've ever actually met someone from Finland before. This is Suomi, Finland. It looks very peaceful. This city must have great things to offer because I have numerous postcards of Suomi and all are very different from each other. I like that.

     Speaking of tasting Finland- I tried the cheddar and broccoli soup. The taste was good. It was a little different from the American soups I've had. It is still creamy but maybe not as buttery tasting as the cheddar broccoli soups here. It was a little thinner and tasted more peppery. Overall, it was pretty good.

Outgoing:

     I forgot to post the mail I sent out a few days ago. I sent a few swaps out and a few letters. My pal Kathy from Australia sent me a swapper sheet (I don't know if it has a formal name) and an x-slip. The swapper sheet had numerous items on it that you could send to other swappers- such as stickers, friendship books, postcards, x-slips, surprises, etc. You then cover the names of the people you sent items to with your own address. So, hopefully I will get lots of interesting surprises from this sheet. It is my first time doing this kind of a swap. My packages went to South Africa and Norway.  I also sent a few letters. The items on top of the envelopes are the first friendship books I've ever made.
      A friendship book contains paper inside and is sent from penpal to penpal. Each new person adds their address and can state if they are looking for new pals, swappers, etc. When all of the paper is used, the completed book is then sent to the person who the book was made for. Again, a new thing for me.
     An x-slip is almost like a chain letter. You send something- in this case I had to send "an envelope of goodies"- to the first person on the list. You then take their name off of the slip, move everyone up a number and add your name and address to the bottom. You then pass it on to 10 people. 

     Today seemed to be a "send mail to Germany" day! Jenny, Christina, Melanie- heads up!

     And who could this be for? You?  Don't get too excited, you're going to laugh when you open it!

The 366 project:
Received: 20
Sent: 48
     I'm finally making some progress. I love sitting down and getting all the way through a letter. I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things. School starts again in September. It's a lot easier for me to write during the summer. Feel free to flood my mailbox. If you don't want a new penpal but want to write a letter, feel free to just write to tell me about the details of your day, something about your city, blogs you like, what makes you unique, tell me about someone/something that inspires you... whatever you'd like. If you want me to write back, I will write you back.  E-mail me with your address if you'd like a letter from me first.