I like Istanbul

Istanbul is great because the people there are so nice. Because they say "Good morning" (in English) and "Good night" (in English) and "Good evening" (in English). And I like that the people also give you free stuff (like food and Evil Eyes and Turkish Delights).

[Below: Danielle with display of "Evil Eyes," which actually serve to protect you from the Evil Eye]
(Below: Freshly made rolls of Turkish Delight. Yum!)

Winterland wonder

Glitter Graphics



This picture is from my computer and I added some stuff.

Cat love

Many thanks for Maria who taught me Blingee!

Istanbul

Turkey is really fun because there are so many cats. We saw many cats. People there were very nice, so we had a lot of fun. I liked that the people who owned restaurants would come up and say "Would you like to see our menu? Would you like to eat here?" and other stuff. In Turkey we saw birds, too, and fed them.

[Above: Kittens residing in a Turkish square; Below: A contented cat living in the Istanbul bazaar][Above: Cat napping on an Islamic grave in an Istanbul cemetery; Below: Another Istanbul shop cat]
[Below: Feeding the birds outside Istanbul University]

Danielle's letter to Obama

Dear Mr. Obama,

I know it is kind of kiddish, but you should go on www.pbskids.org and then go on Eekocreature to find out how to save the world. You can make a creature out of many other creatures and you get points so you can unlock other creatures. They ask you questions about nature like "These people are drilling for oil even though it is a park-land" and you have to answer correctly if this is a good or bad idea. If you don't answer correctly and you have points, you lose some. So this way you will learn what to do to save the environment.

Love,

People who think you're good ("Thumbs ups" gesture), who have moved to Italy for a little while....like me, Danielle

Birthday Party in the Country

We went to a birthday party for three kids, Chiara, Lulu and Michele. It was in the countryside [at one of the family's weekend villas]. There was a clown who was very funny. I liked that he did funny stuff for kids. He did some funny games like the invisible ball where you have to throw it in this bag and it might hit his face or his eyes. I liked also that he did this one thing where he did "happy birthday to you" pretending that it was a horn and went "Happy birthday to you BONK."
Birthdays here are different because they don't have pinatas. They had one because they made it and it was the first time for Italians to do it so we didn't have blindfolds.

They had a sparkler on the cake that sparkled if you burnt it and the cake was really good. Mmmm! I liked that they had fun candles that were different colors and that there were three cakes, one cake for each kid. each kid had one piece of one of the cakes and we got to use a pinata.
And I liked that they had cats. They had a couple kittens and then a couple cats.


This is a gingerbread cookie. I know that you know what it is, but in Italy they taste different. So it is not an original gingerbread cookie that has kinds of candy everywhere. It is not just like that. It tastes a little bit like something that your grand-ma would bake. Or something that's really delicious because your grand-ma bakes really delicious stuff, I hope.

[the kids at the party]
[The parents relaxing at the villa while the kids enjoy the clown]
[The view from the villa]

Papier Mache

We went to the papier mache place where kids could make paper mache. It was very fun. I made a rooster and I started to make a giraffe when I had to go. [Here is the finished giraffe--completed on a subsequent visit]

More Rome cats

Can you find the cats? One of them is very hard. [This archaeological site, at Largo Argentina in the heart of Rome, is reputed to be where Julius Caesar was killed. Today it is not only an historic ruin but a cat sanctuary. -KMA]





















[The sign in this shot underscores that it is illegal to abandon cats here.-KMA]




[There is an underground, volunteer-run cat shelter in one corner of this site, where stray cats are sterilized and put up for adoption, as shown in the image below. As the volunteers explained to us, the cats are legal, the volunteers are the squatters! -KMA]

Uncle Greg's Visit

Uncle Greg visited us. He gave me a rat--he gave it a nickname "Raticus" and I gave it a name "Ratty." Doesn't it sound good to you? I took Raticus to school one day. I was allowed to play with Raticus at school. Uncle Greg's visit was a lot of fun. This is a picture of me and my Uncle Greg.

Loose tooth!

I was playing with my tooth when it suddenly fell out! and i was screaming blood! blood!
but i was going to wash my tooth when it fell down the drain but i still got a gift.

[Here is Italy there is no tooth fairy. Rather there is a little mouse--the Topolino--who comes for your baby teeth when they fall out. Children apparently leave the old baby tooth in a shoe outside their bedroom door and the mouse snatches it up and leaves a gift in its place. Danielle was concerned that the Topolino would not find her tooth in the drainpipe, so she left him a little note explaining the situation and he apparently found it, as there was a gift next to the shoe the next day.--KMA]

My first week of school

School is fun. The kids talk in Italian. They don't know a lot of English. I think they like it because I like it a lot, and they seem like they like it. Its really fun to have a lot of friends. If you are commenting, the thing you might have to talk about is your school. So, if you are commenting, please tell me about your school.

The lunch at our school is made from scratch [entirely organic food-KA]. Its not a cafeteria like home but its like a fancy restaurant because they have white tablecloths over beautiful tablecloths that are many colors. They serve us lots of kinds of food that comes from Italy.

Its not like at home where they have one teacher. This is a picture of our school. (Below)


(Below)
This is me and Astrea on the playground [the school's 1st grade only courtyard play area-KA].


(Below)
This is me coming out of the school on the first day. The person who is next to me is one of my best friends at the school. Her name is Guila [the girl in the pink shirt, whose mother turns out to be an Italian anthropologist who works in Senegal!-KMA]. There are four Guilas in my class. The lady behind me is my teacher [In glasses and a dark jacket--Danielle actually has three teachers who form her daily teaching team, but this woman is her main teacher-KMA]


(Below)
Here we are at the park [Danielle and two of the Guilas in her class on a playdate at Villa Sciarra].

Finding Animals Everywhere [In southern Umbria]

We visited some towns and we saw lots of cats. There are lots of pictures to show you what they looked like. Where do you think the cats are in some pictures?