May 05 2008
Teddy Bears Around the World-Help Needed from England
Eddy from England I would like some help please. My class are using all of my Teddy Bear friends around the world to help them with their geography this term. They are investigating the different climates in the places you all live and the activities that your children do to compare the leisure activities that are available depending on the climate and location. If any of you are able to help we would be most grateful. If my class can help you in any way for any of your studies you only have to ask and we will help all that we can. I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you all so much
From Eddy in Bideford Devon England
3 Responses to “Teddy Bears Around the World-Help Needed from England”
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Hello Eddy,
I live in Jacksonville. That is a big city with over 1 million people living here. We are located in the State of Florida in the United States of America.
Jacksonville is a really nice city, because we have a nice river flowing by called the Saint Johns river AND we are also really close to the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean. That is the ocean that is between the United States and England. Because we have so much water around us, children and adults like to play a lot of water sports. On the weekends you will see many many sailboats on the river and surfers in the ocean.
In Jacksonville it really never snows. I think someone told me once, that there were a few snowflakes coming down over 10 years ago, but I have never seen snow in Jacksonville yet. Since it does not get very cold here, we can do lots of activities outside ALL year long. Soccer (what you call football), horseback riding, baseball, American football, swimming, and running for example. Some sports, we actually like to do it inside, because it can get TOO hot in the summer to be jumping around outside.
Another favorite thing to do for a lot of the children living in Jacksonville is to go with their families to visit Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Since we only have to drive for about 2 hours to get there, we like to have fun at the many Theme Parks. Some of the older children even get to take end of the year field trips to go to Sea World or Universal Studios.
I hope you know a little bit more now about what we do for fun here in Northern Florida/USA.
Looking forward to hearing what you are doing? Do you have snow in the winter? I have seen snow once before when I traveled to New York. I LOVE snow.
beary kisses
from Jose
Hello Jose
Thank you for helping me to help my class mates. It is amazing how alike our homes are but at the same time how different! We live in a small town called Bideford in Devon UK. It has a population of only about 14 500 people, a much smaller place than you but like you we have a River running through the town call The River Torridge and we also are located approximately 4 miles from the beach at Westward Ho! that is also on the Atlantic Ocean, what a coincidence! The river is a popular place for sailing with a sailing club nearby and there are rowing clubs that train regularly. As we live close to the estuary the river is tidal so activities have to be planned around the tides. Westward Ho! is also a popular surfing beach (the only place name in England with an ! in its official name)
We don’t get much snow here in Bideford but when it snowed 2 years ago it was BAD (the roads were blocked and traffic can to a stand still but it only lasted for a few hours. It does however get very cold in the winter and sports are dependent upon the weather. Football, rugby, netball and rowing are popular and the school that I am at has a very good gym where our gymnasts train very hard but it is always fun and I have been to training and have been lucky enough to go away to competitions with some of the Gymnasts.
We look forward to hearing from you
love from
EDDY x
Hola Eddy!
We are in our motorhome and touring now, but in the winter we are in a small village in Andalusia, Spain. There are only 2200 people in our small ancient village. It is called a white village and the houses are built on a hill and look like sugar cubes!
We can walk to everything in our village and do not use our motorhome much in the winter. It is fun because we know everybody in the village and say “Hola” and “Buenas Dias” to everyone as we go about our day. We sometimes see Mozart’s teacher or the principal or the owners of the stores we go to doing their chores too.
We are also just five minutes drive from a beautiful sea, but it is not the Atlantic. It is the Mediterranean sea. They say there use to be pirates in the coves and caves near the beach. There is an old castle on top of our village and the Jews, Muslims and Christians lived here together peacefully for 800 years. It was a very sophisticated society here when most of Europe was still in the dark ages.
It is very warm in the winter in our village and there is little rain all year long. We are told that it is very, very hot in the summer, but we have never been as we do not like it when it gets too hot. The winter is more like spring weather and the sky is almost always very blue and the sun almost always shines.
The houses are built very different than the ones in California. They have no insulation and it can get cold inside at night sometimes, so we wear sweaters and slippers inside. Often it is cooler inside than it is outside. This is a good thing in the summer, but not as good in the winter.
It is a very beautiful village so we get lots of tourists from around the world. They often have shorts on and resort clothes on even in the winter, but people who live here dress differently with sweaters and jackets. The tourists come from cold climates, so it seems warm to them, but the natives are use to very hot weather, so it seems like winter to them. The contrast makes me laugh!
Our little village is surrounded by farms, rolling hills and huge mountains. In the winter the tops of some of the mountains get snow on them and we can ski just one hour away. If we wanted we could snow ski in the morning and then drive to the nearby beach and swim in the afternoon!
All sports and horseback riding are very popular here. The local school has a huge gymnasium where they play basketball and football ( soccer). There are two big parks in this village, one with a skateboard section, a big soccer field and a community center. Mozart takes her flamenco classes at the community center.
We always here horses and donkeys clomping by our windows and we like the sound. We live right by the “campo” or countryside so hear the roosters every morning and bleating goats too. Most of the streets are too narrow for cars, so the kids play a lot in the streets too…sometimes a spontaneous game of football.
There are lots of festivals in Spain as it is a very important part of the culture and everybody in the village participates which makes it lots of fun. We really love the festivals and have some cool videos but I have not figured out how to upload them yet. Bulls, horses, donkeys, flamenco, fireworks and dressing up is almost always a part of it and everyone likes to participate from the oldest to the youngest.
Our village is on a hill, so one can see the sea from almost everywhere. There are lots of fruit trees, especially citrus and avocado trees. Almost every body has a pool at their house or in their complex.
Everything closes down in Spain from about 2 o’clock until they reopen again at 5 or 6pm. The church square is the center of the life of the village and the church bells can be heard from everywhere. There are the remains of an old castle at the top of our village and lots of good hiking trails all around. The streets are cobble stone and all the houses are white. The narrow streets make more shade which is a relief in the summer heat. In the summer people rest during the heat of the day and all year they have their big meal at 2pm.
At sunset many people like to walk around the village and chat with friends. The children often stay up very late in Spain and are welcomed everywhere. Many parents pick up their kids from school on motorbikes if they live in the campo, which is not something one sees in America.
Hope that helps!
Big beary hugs!
Peppa