Dec Update: Flat Robot in Hanham, United Kingdom

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Tuesday 20/12/2024.

Dear Otter class, I am sorry that I have not written to you sooner. We have been getting ready for Christmas. We have been shopping for presents, writing Christmas cards and baking. On Sunday it was dry so we walked along a country lane to church. The church is very old. It was built in 1380. There is a big house next to the church, they were both originally part of a monastery but now a family live in the house. The church was not very warm, I am glad I had my scarf on. The minister was very friendly. He wears special clothes when he takes a service. When we got home after church I helped grandma London make some cakes called flapjacks. They were yummy! I hope that you are all having fun getting ready for Christmas. I will write again soon J-robot

Tuesday 3/12/2024.

Dear Otter class,

Today grandad London suggested that we go to the Bath Christmas market.  I ran upstairs to the bathroom but I could not find a Christmas market in the bath!

Grandad London explained that Bath is a very special city.  It is 18 kilometres (11 miles) from Bristol.  It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is called Bath because there is a hot water spring there.

The Romans liked the hot water so much that they built some large baths and a temple there in 60 A.D.  The baths are still there today.  I took a quick swim when no one was looking.

More people moved to Bath. In the 12th century they built an Abbey which is still standing today.

In the 18th century Bath became a very fashionable place to live, so lots of grand houses were built. Some famous people lived there including the author Jane Austin.

The Christmas market was very busy. There were lots of nice things to buy. There were also small shops with Christmas window displays to look at. I found a shop with a yellow horse in the window.

Grandad London said that he would like fish and chips for lunch. I was surprised to learn that French fries are called chips here and chips are called crisps (it is like learning a whole new language!).  I was brave and tried the fish and chips.  I liked them!

After lunch I spotted an open top double decker bus. I ran upstairs but it was rather cold up there. Grandad London told me to get off the bus.  I think I was a bit naughty today but I did have lots of fun.

I will write again soon

J-robot

Hanham Hall,

Hanham,

Bristol,

United Kingdom. Saturday 30/11/2024.

Dear Otter class,

It has rained a lot here this week so I have not been out much. I did not want my joints to get rusty.

Yesterday it was dry so we decided to get a double decker bus into Bristol. We walked a short way along the sidewalk to get to the bus stop (except a sidewalk is called a pavement here).  When we got on the bus I realised that the bus driver was sitting on the wrong side and that she was driving on the wrong side of the road. I then realised that EVERYONE was driving on the wrong side of the road.  I was a bit frightened but grandad London explained that in the United Kingdom (U.K.) everyone drives on the left.

Bristol was very busy. Lots of people were doing their Christmas shopping.  There are lots of hills in Bristol and lots of old buildings. Parts of Bristol cathedral were built in 1140 A.D.  I was a very young robot back then.

We went to a concert in a concert hall that had been previously been a church. The church was built in 1823. A.D.

We got the bus back home. This time we decided to sit upstairs. We had a very good view from the front seat.

I hope that you have all enjoyed Thanksgiving. They do not celebrate Thanksgiving in the U.K. Grandma says that we will have turkey and lots of other good things to eat at Christmas.

I will write again soon

J-robot

Hanham Hall,

Hanham,

Bristol,

United Kingdom.

Saturday 23/11/2024.

Dear Otter class,

I have just arrived at my host family’s house in Hanham, England. I am told that you pronounce Hanham as “Hanam”. I have traveled over 4,850 miles to get here.

I am staying with Jasper and Finn’s grandparents. They are called grandma and grandad London because the capital of England and the United Kingdom is called London. The United Kingdom is made up of 4 countries, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Hanham is in the south west of England. It is a small town near the city of Bristol.

It has rained a lot since I arrived here so I have not been able to go out and explore yet.

Grandad and grandma London are looking after me well. Grandma London gave me some batteries for breakfast but she says that I should try some different food for a change. I think that would be good. I have had lots of free electricity to drink because there are 15 solar panels on the roof of the house where I am staying.

Lots of things are the same in England as they are in America but English people have different words for some things. Grandma London has a small yard but she calls it her garden, she also calls the first floor the ground floor. It is a bit confusing.

I will write again soon

J-robot

Tens, Twenties, Thirties in Hawaii

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Hi Caleb, Roman, and Juliette, 

Tens Twenties Thirties went to Honolulu and had an amazing time! 

December 4-5, 2024

Today, we took a long flight across the Pacific Ocean and landed on the island of Oahu. When we landed, we immediately felt the air change; it was warm and humid. As soon as we left the plane, we could see the beautiful green plants and colorful flowers everywhere. You'll see Tens Twenties Thirties loved the flowers and took pictures with them. There are even plants in the middle of our hotel! We had amazing sandwiches for breakfast with fresh fruit smoothies. Then, we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, which is a protected area for the coral, plants, turtles, fish, and everything else in the ocean and onshore. We had Poke Nachos for dinner; Poke is a traditional Hawaiian food made of marinated raw tuna.

December 6

Tens Twenties Thirties went to a conference with me at the University of Hawaii. It was the International Conference on Education and Justice. Pacific University student Jason Inglish and I presented, and Tens Twenties Thirties thought it was very interesting. After the conference, we went to the beach area and had nachos again for dinner. Tens Twenties Thirties and my daughter August Lily had delicious ice cream for dessert, which came with a Hawaiian flower! Then we went for a walk on the beach and saw a statue of a surfer and a seal with leis. Leis are a traditional Hawaiian necklace made out of special flowers. When we got home there was a teeny tiny gecko on the wall at our hotel!

December 7th, 2024

Right next to our hotel at the University of Hawai'i, there is a beautiful place called "The Royal Sala Thai."  Tens Twenties Thirties and I had a rest and a chat while we waited for a ride to breakfast. We had a yummy cheese, Portuguese sausage, and and egg quesadilla at a local Hawaiian breakfast spot. Everyone was really nice, and there was a sign that said, "The Aloha spirit required here, if you can't share it today, please visit us another time." The aloha spirit is amazing! We saw a Christmas tree that night decorated with dolphins and sea stars. Tens Twenties Thirties snuggled right into the tree. We saw another gecko when we came home; this one was bigger! 

December 8-9, 2024

The last few days we spent relaxing on the beach, watching the sunset, looking at more flowers, and going to the Honolulu Aquarium. Tens Twenties Thirties took a lot of pictures at the aquarium! They are a little blurry because it is dark in the aquarium for the fish. Some of the favorites are the different kinds of jellies, sea horses, and sharks. The last aquarium picture is the humuhumunukuapua'a, Hawaii's State Fish. We finished off our last night with a visit to the famous Hawaiian surfer statue of Duke, another Hawaiian Christmas tree, pepperoni pizza, sunset, gelato, and some Hawaiian Santas. We had so much fun! 

Happy almost winter solstice. Thanks for sharing Tens Twenties Thirties with me for an amazing trip! 

Carrie 

Flat Ella in Scotland

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Hi there,

Ella has been having a tour around my local area in Angus, which is in the North East of Scotland.

She visited the Bon Scott monument in Kirriemuir.  Bon Scott was a band member of the famous rock band AC DC.  There is a photo attached providing lots of interesting information about him.  He is sculpted with bagpipes, which are a nod to his Scottish heritage.  Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument with reed pipes that make a sound when the wind is squeezed out of the bag. Bagpipes are known as the musical instrument of Scotland.

 Ella also visited Glamis Castle which has been in the Lyon family since the 14th century.   Glamis Castle was the childhood home of the late Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.  Her second daughter, Princess Margaret, was born there on 21 August 1930.  Glamis Castle is open to the public for visiting and was even mentioned in Shakespear’s play, Macbeth.

Ella went to meet the Peter Pan statue which stands in Kirriemuir town centre to commemorate JM Barrie who wrote Peter Pan. JM Barrie was the creator of Peter Pan and lived in a small whitewashed cottage in Kirriemuir.  There is also a play park commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of JM Barrie.  The equipment is themed on Peter Pan, Captain Hook and a crocodile.

Ella also visited a golf course but it was very cold for her.  She got her first taste of snow in Scotland.  Golf is very popular in Scotland with over 550 golf courses.

 I hope to take her to see more of Scotland, so will write again with an update.

 Janet

Tens, Twenties, and Thirties in Chicago

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Hi Aja, 

I wanted to update Caleb, Roman, and Juliette about Tens Twenties Thirties. 

Tens Twenties Thirties has been busy! We went to Chicago in November and saw the homeland of their Michael Jordan jersey! We traveled overnight to Chicago on an airplane to see one of my friends from college, Beth. Chicago is 2 hours ahead of Oregon, so we arrived at 6 AM and went to my friend's condo. Then we left at 8 AM. To leave the condo, we had to ride in an elevator. We went down two floors and walked about ten minutes to an exercise class called "Orange Theory." Tens Twenties Thirties ran on a treadmill, rowed on a rowing machine, and lifted weights with a leader pushing them to work harder. It was so fun! We also went to a grocery store with a cow- Tens Twenties Thirties liked looking out the window at the cow. 

The city is decorated for the holiday seasons, and Tens Twenties Thirties loved seeing all the decorations outside. Then we went to a high school football game. It was SO COLD! The game was intense and went into double overtime. Our team didn't win, but they played so hard! 

In Chicago we drove around different neighborhoods, and the houses changed colors. A lot of the buildings are made of brick and are really close together. The last night we were in Chicago, we went to Salam, my favorite Middle Eastern restaurant. We ate falafel, hummus, tabouli, baba ganouche with pita. YUMMM!!!! 

The next morning, we flew home. In the airport, Tens Twenties Thirties helped me grade students' assignments and eat a chicken salad. We flew back to Oregon and went back to Pacific University! 

Now we are in Hawai'i! Update to come soon! 
Carrie and Tens Twenties Thirties

Flat Swimmy in London & NYC

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December 3, 2024

Hello friends of Flat Swimmy, my name is Ashley and I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with your friend Flat Swimmy for the past couple of weeks.  Flat Swimmy arrived to me in early November at my home in New York City and accompanied me on a short trip to London, England.  We packed up our bags and headed to the subway to take us to the airport and across the Atlantic Ocean to gloomy London. Flat Swimmy wanted to get a picture with the Lego statue we spotted in the airport in New York. Check him out with his new friend out!  

We arrived in London where it was very cold and rainy, but Flat Swimmy said that was exactly like the weather where you all live in Oregon so he was prepared. We got into the airport at Heathrow and Flat Swimmy asked for a picture to prove he made the trip, then we hopped on the London Underground and made our way into the city. 

After we took a nap -- London is far from home and has an 8 hour time difference from Flat Swimmy’s normal home in Oregon so he was exhausted from the trip! – we headed into central London to walk around Hyde park. I even pushed Flat Swimmy around in a stroller for a little while so he could rest his tired little legs.  On the way into the park, Swimmy was excited to see a famous big red London Double Decker bus. 

Once we made it into the park, we saw a couple of signs that made Flat Swimmy laugh.  Can you guess why he thought the second sign (the picture he asked me, Ashley to join him in) was so funny?

Then we saw the Peter Pan statue…

And the Albert Statue, which Flat Swimmy thought was really impressive for it’s HUGE size and the bright gold Albert in the middle.

We also saw the Royal Albert Hall, where we sadly just missed seeing Princess Katherine and Prince William who were making a public appearance.  Did you know that they still have a Royal Family and a King and Queen in England, which is part of the United Kingdom?  They have had a Royal Family for over 1200 years!  Many of the founding fathers of the United States first arrived from the United Kingdom.  

After we left the park, we stopped by the old red telephone booth because Flat Swimmy wanted to call his friends (who he kept calling “the Otters”) but unfortunately the phone wasn’t working!  

The next day Flat Swimmy and I go on the train and rode down to Portsmouth for Flat Swimmy’s first soccer match at Portsmouth FC.  They scored 4 goals and won 4 to 0, Flat Swimmy had so much fun we forgot to take his picture! Although to be honest, he was a little afraid of how loud the fans were screaming for their team that he hid in my jacket pocket and just peeked out to see the action in the game.  

After we finished up at the game (or as they call it in England, the match), we passed a postal box that was addressed for Letters to Santa and Flat Swimmy tried to mail himself to Santa!  

The next day it was back to London for a final day with friends. We went for a walk along the canal and saw houseboats all along it that people live in.  One person had a cat on top of their houseboat, Flat Swimmy thought it was hilarious!  Along the way we stopped for a sausage sandwich, which was not like an American sausage sandwich…the sausages were round and there was no egg or cheese – very strange, Swimmy thought. 

We ended the day with a traditional English Sunday Lunch, also known as a Sunday Roast, which is usually a type of meat (most typical is roast beef), roasted potatoes and carrots, lots of gravy, and a big Yorkshire pudding on top. Flat Swimmy wondered why an eggy bread was called a pudding, but no one could explain to him why it is called a pudding when it is more like a bread… 

The next morning it was time to fly back to New York from London. Flat Swimmy slept on the whole plane ride but woke up excited to be somewhere new again when we landed. After a good night’s rest, Flat Swimmy was ready to get up and explore New York City. 

We got up and went for bagels (a must eat breakfast in NYC is a bagel with way too much cream cheese) before walking into Central Park.  A loop around the Jack Onassis Reservoir provided us with great view of the tall buildings in Manhattan (the main neighborhood in NYC).   

Then we ventured further down into the park and saw people having picnics on the Great Lawn. We also saw people playing jazz music in the park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the way out.  Flat Swimmy couldn’t believe how warm it was in NYC compared to England and Oregon. We got lunch in an Irish restaurant, where Flat Swimmy asked to try Shepherds Pie (a traditional Irish food of ground meat, peas/carrots, and mashed potato on top) and learned about an Irish sport called Hurling…Flat Swimmy wanted to take the Hurley (the stick they use to hit the ball like in hockey) home but the server said he could not have it that time, maybe next time… 

Finally, it was time for Ashley to go back to work so Flat Swimmy joined her for a day at the office.  The morning started with a commute into Union Square to get to work, where we stopped by a holiday market on the way in.  Once we arrived in the office, Flat Swimmy was happy to see a calendar from the ELC at Ashley’s desk.  After a morning of meetings and working, we went for a walk at lunch to see some of the tall buildings, like the empire state building.  

Bob and Bobby Visit Tokyo

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Aaron Big Bob in Uganda

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November 13

Dear Ms Appel and Class,

Flat Aaron Big Bob Beatty arrived safely in Kampala, Uganda after a 24 hour flight from Portland. He was very tired but he enjoyed stroopwafels and cheese during his layover in Amsterdam. Upon his arrival in Uganda, Flat Aaron Big Bob was eager to get to our home but he had a car ride from Entebbe (where the airport is) to Kampala. On the ride to Kampala, Flat Aaron had his first lesson in Kampala traffic jams! Kampala has some of the worst traffic and people can get stuck for hours just going a few miles. People affectionately call it "the Jam" here and because it's so bad, many people often take motorcycles or Boda Bodas to get around. In the photos Flat Aaron Big Bob looking out at all the bodas and Matatu (minivan taxis) going by. After the long trip from the airport we finally arrived and Roland's cousin was very excited to meet Flat Aaron Big Bob and can't wait to show him more of our home in Uganda! More of Flat Aaron Big Bob's adventures to come! 

From Rose, Daniel, Nile and Malaika 

November 18, 2024

Dear Ms Appel and the Otter Class,

Flat Aaron Big Bob had an eventful weekend in Kampala! We started off with a trip to the local market to get some fresh fruits and vegetables to prepare for a birthday party. In the pictures you can see Flat Aaron was making friends with the vendors at the market. 

Uganda is filled with so many fresh fruits and vegetables. The country is located right on the equator which means that we don't really have a summer or winter and we determine our seasons based on rain. So there are two rainy seasons and two dry seasons which means that produce grows really well all year long! Are there any fruits or vegetables in the photo that you don't recognize? One of the staple foods of Uganda is the banana but we don't just have one type of banana- there are many! Here's another photo of bananas being cut from the tree in our garden (Flat Aaron had to stand back to be safe from the knife). You can see that these bananas are much smaller than they are in America but they are also sweeter. We treated Flat Aaron to some banana pancakes for breakfast with the sweet bananas, we know he loves pancakes! Would you like the recipe for banana pancakes?

There is another type of banana that is more starchy (similar to plantains) which is steamed in banana leaves when they are still green then mashed into something called matooke (ma-toe-kay). Matooke is the most common food in Uganda and people eat it with what they call g nut paste (a type of peanut sauce). It is a must try when you are in Uganda. 

Flat Aaron then enjoyed a birthday party, just like kids in the US, Ugandan kids love cake! 

Overall, Flat Aaron Big Bob had a great weekend! We will send more updates after our next adventures! 

From Rose, Daniel, Nile and Malaika

Launching Our Flat Stanleys

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Our Flat Stanleys are ready to traverse the globe! You can find a sneak peek of our Stanleys along with their first destinations below. We will be learning from our Flat Stanleys all year long. If you have someone willing to host a Flat Stanley, please reach out to Ms. Aja at aja.appel@pacificu.edu.

Tens, Twenties, Thirties was created by Juliette, Caleb, and Roman. This winter she is headed to Hawaii and to visit king tides in Oregon.

Bob & Bobby were created by Luke, Kate, and Saylor. They are headed to Tokyo!

Bingo was created by Andrew, Natalie, Addison. She is headed to Maryland!

Swimmy was created by Wesley, Isla, and Magnus. Swimmy is headed to Europe & New York!

Aaron Big Bob Beatty was created By Roland, Hudson, and Steven. He has plans to visit Uganda, Colorado, New York, Kentucky, Louisiana!

Ella was created by Razah, Asayo, and Emersyn. She is headed to Scotland!

Sam was created by Nina, Alvi, and Brendan. First, Sam is headed to New York and Washington. Then Sam will be visiting Panama this winter!

Robot was created by Finn, Jasper, and Netan. Robot is headed to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom!