Teddy Bears Around the World

Hola from Spain. I’ve been a busy bear lately! The kids have been taking me on field trips with them and I marched in a costume parade last week! I’ve been ice-skating, to a botanical garden and to lunch at a Chinese restaurant! Read on to hear more about my recent adventures!

There is no outdoor ice-skating in Madrid because it rarely gets very cold, but I went ice-skating with the kindergarten kids indoors! The best part was that a bunch of us couldn’t skate when we went there but we kept trying and skated without holding on to the side after awhile. I had a really good time and we want to go again.

In pre-school and kindergarten, we celebrated Carnaval, which is the name for Mardi Gras in Spain! We dressed up in costumes and made stunning masks to disguise ourselves. Lance loved seeing all the costumes and participating in the parade! To learn more about Carnaval as celebrated all over the world, click here.

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Lunch at the Chinese restaurant was delicious! I had a difficult time using the chopsticks but the kids helped me. I liked sitting up on this statue so I could see everyone.

I have my own travel song!!!

Thank you to Mrs. Menger, a 6th grade teacher, who wrote a travel theme song for ME!!!! She wrote the words and composed the melody. Isn’t it great? I feel so honored that her 6th grade students recorded it for me.

Come along and sing along…

The Jose Travel Bear Song

Come along with me

Come along with me

There’s a great big wonderful world to see

Come along with me

Come along with me

We’ll travel over mountains, deserts, and seas

We’ll meet lots of friends and see lots of sights

Our big wonderful world is full of delights

We’ll see the Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal

The Great Pyramids and Angel Falls

The Colliseum and Big Ben

Macchu Pichu and the Grand Canyon

Come along with me

Come along with me

There’s a great big wonderful world to see

Come along with me

Come along with me

We’ll travel over mountains, deserts, and seas

We’ll learn lots of new ways to say hello

And taste exotic foods on every shore

New holidays to celebrate will be found

We might find the world is flat instead of round

Hello-Hallo-Hola-Ni Hao- Alo-Jambo, Al salaam a’alaykum

Come along with me

Come along with me

There’s a great big wonderful world to see

Come along with me

Come along with me

We’ll travel over mountains, deserts, and seas

I am so excited! I have just returned from my awesome trip to celebrate Thanksgiving in Alabama and now I am invited to celebrate Hanukkah with one of our families from school. I loved their beautiful Menorahs, which are special candle holders with nine branches. Eight are for each candle of the eight days of Hanukkah and one is for the candle “helper”, the Shamash, which lights all the other candles.

Hanukkah has come early this year. I was told that it is celebrated on every 25th of the month of Kislev, which is a month in the Hebrew calendar. It is different than our Gregorian calendar. Hanukkah usually falls around the month of our December.That is why a lot of people think, that it is the Jewish Christmas, but it is not.

I learned tonight that this Jewish holiday lasts for eight days. For each of the eight days a candle on the Menorah is lit after sundown. That is why Hanukkah is also known as the festival of lights. The celebration serves as a memory of the triumph of the Maccabees over the Greek rule, the re-dedication of the Holy Temple and the miracle of the oil lasting for eight days.

The story sounded so interesting that I wanted to find out more.

Hanukkah is the story of standing up for what you believe in. It reminds us not to remain silent in the face of oppression, and not to surrender our rights and identities…

I liked the story a lot. If you want to hear more about it too, just listen to the story by clicking on the play button.

Teddy Bears Around the World,

There seem to be different traditions in different countries on how to decorate Christmas trees. I wonder how other Christmas trees around the world look like? Please send us a picture of you in front of your Christmas tree and let us know a little bit about your Christmas tradition. Can’t wait to see these photos.

In my short life, I have seen a beautifully decorated tree in Alabama.

Last year, when I traveled to China and visited a German-Swiss school in Hong Kong, I saw their decorated tree in the school’s library.

Everyone stayed really busy in the kitchen the evening before Thanksgiving and the morning of Thanksgiving, preparing all kinds of great food. In the afternoon friends and relatives began to arrive. Everyone was really looking forward to having a delicious meal. Everyone was so happy I had come for Thanksgiving and they were very interested to hear about all the places I have traveled. There were lots of cousins for me to play with.

Finally the meal was ready to eat. Before eating everyone bowed their heads for a prayer of thanks. Thanks was giving for all our bounty, for family, for living in a land of plenty and a land of opportunity. Then it was time to dig in. We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, macaroni and cheese, squash casserole, cheese grits, Brussels sprouts, strawberry congealed salad, collard greens, home made yeast rolls, roast beef, red velvet cake, coconut cake, pecan pie, pumpkin pound cake, poppy seed cake, pumpkin gooey cake, apple pineapple dump cake, banana bread pudding, and hazelnut fluff.

What a great meal! That night I went to sleep and dreamed sweet teddy bear dreams.