Barcelona by Mia

After our disastrous trip to Morocco we drove all the way back to Churriana, arriving at 4 the next morning. We slept until 10 (which was not late enough) and then had some breakfast before hopping back into the car to drive east. The plan was to stop at Valencia for one night on the way to Barcelona, where we would stay for two nights. The reason we had so much time to do all of this was that we had Monday and Tuesday off from school because of International Party Day

It took pretty much all day to get to Valencia, do we only had a little bit of time to look around before dinner. We checked out the Ciudad de Arte y Ciencia, which was a really cool complex of awesome modern buildings. In the middle of a shallow 'lake' thing. There were three big buildings in the lake, and an awesome bridge that was in the video course we took on Great Structures. We walked around there for a while and then we went back to the hotel. The hotel daddy got us a room at was a nice big four star... big enough for all us kids to sneak into the double room daddy got us. Wonderful....

The next morning we looked around in Valencia. First we went to the Cathedral (its important enough to just be called "the Cathedral") which was nice, but it looked like all the other really cool Gothic cathedrals we had seen. What made it special was the fact that the Holy Grail was inside it. So we saw that, and, despite what anyone saw in Indiana Jones, the Grail is NOT wooden! It is golden, of course. Next we went to the Plaza del Mercado which is a square with a few cool buildings on it, including a few markets and a church. There was also a bunch of old guys selling coins, movies, and books on either side of the sidewalk in front of the Silk Market. We saw a fat old guy in a wheel chair with a big stack of porn movies there, which was kind of funny in a sad way (if you know what I mean). After all that we got in the car and headed for Barcelona.

The drive to Barcelona was a bit shorter than the one to Valencia gad been, so we had plenty of time to get a hotel room and knock a few sights off our list. We parked the car by a big monument to that idiot, Christopher Columbus (sure, he found America, but he was aiming for India! And he didn't even realize he wasn't actually in India when he got there! That takes a certain amount of stupidity.) and walked along the waterfront. We walked out across a bridge to a mall they had in the harbor, around the mall, and then along Las Ramblas, Barça's famous street. That was really cool because the traffic space was mostly for people and all the cafes along the road had all their seating in the middle of the wide promenade that was in between the two dinky little lanes that were for the cars. There was also trees and stands selling jewelry and fake bags (you know, the kind of things people sell to tourists) along the promenade. Here and there there was a giant statue, too. One of them was a really gigantic metal cat, that Kayley and Sarah climbed on top of. After we walked down that street for a while someone had the stupid idea of walking down a dingy side street to get to our next destination. It looked crowded enough not to be dangerous, but it turned out that most of the people out on the street were guys looking messed up/bored. Some idiot tried to pick dadda's pocket (he did a pretty bad job, it was as far from subtle as it goes) so he tackled the scumbag and put him in a headlock. He didn't escalate it beyond that though because he had friends. Pretty much mommy got in between them and we all ran for it.

That was really exciting, especially because the guy didn't get the wallet or the phone! Also, some other guy who was watching told dadda 'good job' when we were walking away. Apparently they were either impressed, or were glad that the kids got tough a lesson. Either way I thought that was funny! After that adventure we got off that street as fast as we could and walked over to the 'Magic Fountain' which was what we wanted to see next. I wasn't just a fountain, but a whole complex of awesome stuff including a giant art museum, lots of columns and statues and the actual fountain which was off. It was just our luck that the fountain was off because we were there on the one day that it was off. Without the waterworks the fountain was just a big round pool with little jets where the water would normally come out of. Because there was more to see than jut the fountain, it wasn't that bad that it was off. We sat down at a cafe with some ice creams and drinks, to wait for the fountain to turn on (it was supposed to come on at 9, and we were a little early. We didn't know that it wouldn't come on at all, and apparently no one else got the memo either because there was a whole crowd waiting for it). Eventually the crowd trickled off when everyone realized that it wasn't going to turn on after all, and we joined them.

We took a different, safer route back to the car (Zander analyzing the previous event, speaking knowledgeably about the proper technique and etiquette of street fighting and pickpocketing, and asking Daddy all sorts of questions he already knew the answer to for the entire walk back) and when we got there we headed back to the hotel. (Our hotel situation was exactly the same as it was in Valencia, so Sarah and Zander got the floor and the other four squeezed onto the two twin beds that were next to each other. Its a good thing not to have weird sleeping habits! The only weird thing Kayley does some times is to try and climb you, and I am, of course, a perfect sleeper, so we usually get the bed if there is one. ) Back at the hotel we ate some salad and bread n cheese, and then went to sleep.

The Games I've Learned in Spain by Sarah

I play games that I've never played before with my new friends in Spain. The games my friends and I play at school get very violent and active. The games get violent and active by playing long with lots of emotion.

The games I play play with my friends are called Pilla Pilla and Conejito de la Suete. Pilla Pilla is a spanish game that we would pronouce "Peeya Peeya. There are two types of Pilla Pilla. We play the game in a patio with two squares that are different sizes and colors than the rest of the patio at school. The two squares are called the casa(house) and the prison.

The first and most complex game of Pilla Pilla needs the whole patio for running, being in prison, and being in casa (house). You play the game by having two equal teams. The first team is called police (Taggers). The other team is the runners. The first team (police) tag the runners when they are out of the house and take them to the prison. The runners have the house, so when they are tired, they can rest in a safe zone.

The other version of Pilla Pilla is more simple and like tag. The game is more like tag because instead of two equal teams, there is one big team and only one tagger. In this game, you don't need the prison, because the game can never end. The one man team has the job of tagging the big team. When the tagger tag's someone, that someone becomes the tagger and the old tagger becomes a runner.?


Conejito de la Suerté is a game that you can play anywhere. It is a game that you need more than two people to play. You get in a circle and put your first hand on top of the person next to you's hand and the other hand under the other persons hand on your other side. In the order of the people, when your top hand gets slapped return the slap to the person on the other side of you. When the game starts, my friends and I sing a Spanish chant that I have not memorized fully, but it ends "chica asta, chico ti te guste mas!" Who ever the slap lands on at the end of the song has to kiss someone of their choosing on the cheek or give them a hug. Conejito de la Suerte in my opinion is better than Pilla Pilla because it shows your love!!!!


SARAH!!!!!

Miscommunications by Kayley

I've had two miscommunications in Spain. The first one was just a small misunderstanding. The other one was much bigger and more confusing.

On the first day of school my teacher and I had a funny miscommunication. My teacher said in really fast Spanish, " Do you want to know my name? ". I thought she had said "Do you know my name?" and I said, " No" because I forgot her name. Then the whole class laughed; and I was confused because I didn't know why they were laughing. Then my teacher told me my mistake and I started to laugh too.

On my second day of school, two of my friends, Rosa and Brenda gave me a hand written invitation to a pajama party about two weeks from then. When the day arrived, I asked Xiomara ( another friend of mine) what we needed to bring to the party. I told her that I won't be able to walk to Rosa's house right after school like I thought everyone else that was going to the party. Later, when mommy, Zander and I got to Rosa's house, it was empty and Rosa asked about how I knew where she lived. I was surprised,
because I thought there was going to be a party because that's what it said on the invitation.

I thought it was really nice of Rosa's parents to let me stay the night anyway. Although, I was really uncomfortable in Rosa's house. I thought that Rosa's house was really smokey and small,but she has two cute little sisters that were climbing all over the couch. Even though I didn't stay the night I felt like I got closer to Rosa. I was really surprised when I got the invitation on my second day of school, because I never went to any parties or got invited to parties anywhere else besides in California.

After about an hour, Brenda came over to Rosa's house. Earlier I had told Rosa that Xiomara was coming and that Brenda wasn't coming because that was what I thought was happening. I was confused that Xiomara wasn't there already. Rosa told Brenda that there wouldn't be room for her, Brenda, Xiomara and me in her bed. As a result, Brenda left.

At school on Monday, Rosa yelled at Xiomara for not coming to her party. They were talking too fast for me to follow what they were saying. What I think happened was that Xiomara went to a different party and had thought I was going to the one she was going to. That was quite a confusing series of miscommunications.

Misunderstandings in Spain by Zander

Photo#1 us standing out side Santiago de Compostello!! There are not any photos of us with the ink sorry

Living in Spain is not an easy thing to do, mostly because of the language difference.
My parents tried to do their own finger prints for some documents for the US, but to do that they needed an ink pad. The supply shop had just opened after siesta, and we had been out running errands, so my mom wasn't in a good mood. When my parents went to the small office supply shop by the square that morning, they were sent to a post shop on the main street. When mom went to the post shop, they said that they didn't have what she wanted.The guy who was in the office supply shop must have thought that they wanted a postage stamp. She was telling me the story while we were coming back from the grocery store. So all day, my parents had been trying to get the ink pad, and my parents had failed.

When she noticed that the office supply shop was right in front of us, we decided to try again. The shop was really small, has lots of magazines, pens, and note books. They even had a porn section, but that is normal in Spain. The shop is usually packed. Partly because it is so small and it does not take many people to fill it. There is a counter with two guys behind it and they take photocopies and work as the cashiers. When we walked in, the shop keeper recognized my mom at once from the morning. My mom and I didn't take very long to explain what we wanted, because he had a pretty good idea from this morning and mom is really good a Charades.

One of the shop keepers brought out the ink pad from under his desk. It was black and exactly what we needed. When we went home, my mom and dad used it to get their finger prints. My mom was flustered because she had been there about 3 times that day and she had not gotten it until then. Also because she had just been sent from office to office trying to get an ink pad. With all the trouble my parents and I went through and finally getting the ink pad, I was pretty happy with myself, and happy because my parents were a lot less stressed.

SPAIN UPDATE by Mia

Lately we have fallen into a nice routine. We have school, sport, and activities all figured out, and we do it all without the car. A typical day is school, eat, laze around, get some exercise, eat again, sleep. We eat a lot.... We have been getting fondue chocolate and strawberries from the grocery store and eating them after 'siesta meal' which is kind of like a really late lunch.

School has been pretty interesting, but manageable. There have been a few weird instances when I realized that when my math teacher kept saying "pee" he actually meant "pi", and things like that. It makes sense because Spanish is a really phonetic language so they say wifi "weefee" and sound out the name of the singer LMFAO (its an anagram). They say "limfow" instead.

The school takes us on tons of field trips! Zander had two this week and I have one tomorrow. They are usually small, but I'm going to Granada tomorrow and there is a trip to Portugal later. I'm to late to sign up for that one, but I'll get a few days off from school anyway. Zander went all the way to Cordoba last week for a night. He came home with some interesting stories that I am not allowed to tell you....

For exercise, we play padel at the sport center. Padel is like a mix between squash and tennis because it is a smaller court and you can use the walls, but you use tennis balls and the court is like a mini tennis court. Sometimes I think we get more exercise laughing at each other and ourselves than from the actual game, but racket sports have always been that way for me! We go there almost every day, so we are really familiar with the lady at the desk at the sports center. We don't even really have to ask to book a court anymore, she knows us! She is really nice and she's the only one who ever works the desk, so we know her really well.

Kayley and Sarah are doing a flamenco dancing class at the cultural center
on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so that's when we play padel. Most of the other days we play soccer on our street or in the plaza, depending upon if we have a ball or not. We have already lost one over our neighbor's fence and we can't get it back because no one lives in that house. We got a cheap new ball at the mini bazar off the square, and then lost it over another locked fence at the sport center. We just got it back today, and hopefully nothing else will happen to it!

Its really weird to live in such a small town, though! Every time I go outside the house I see someone I know. The smallness is also nice because it means we can walk absolutely everywhere, so we only need to rent a car for the weekend trips around Spain, and to Morocco. Its really weird to live in Spain and I am starting to realize how difficult it is to do anything if you can't communicate easily! I really hope I become fluent after all of this, and I will never take my language for granted again!

So in summary, here is my day:
Get up at 7 am, get ready, leave for school at 8am sharp (I refuse to go earlier, it takes exactly 15 min to get to school and I don't like being early), school starts at 8:15 and ends at 2:45, after school Zander and I walk home (sometimes via the bakery for some fried fat covered in chocolate, but only on a bad day ;)), get home, eat like starving people, then eat some more, laze around and do homework if necessary, exercise, come home (sometimes via the grocery store, you would be surprised how fast we go through food), eat dinner, laze around (watch one of the Godfather movies daddy downloaded on to the iPad. The first or the second are the best, never the third. You know a movie is bad when you are laughing at the tragic ending because of horrible acting), and, finally, get to sleep by 10 or 11. SLEEP AND REPEAT :)

Up Date Sense Our Computer Got Stolen in Italy by Sarah

Our computer got stolen at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. So, we couldn't put pictures on our blogs so here they are:

Latest things that have happened to us by Zander

1#photo: On the beach in Portugal. We have been taking a lot of weekend trips. It was really nice to see
a beach again. It was like actually having a vacation. The whole world tour was suppose to be a vacation. But it has been even more stress then normal life because we are traveling.

2, and3# photo: My parents have found a really long walk called Cahorras near Granada, Spain. So they have been making us walk it for about 5 times. But it is a pretty nice walk. Most of the Trail is by the river and we get to climb rocks to stay on the river. There are lots of bridges that we have to cross, because some times there are canyons that we have to cross.

4#photo: Finally getting to Spain. It was really exciting because we knew that we would be there for the next few months. So we would do anything for my mom, the camera girl. But it was pretty cool seeing the bronze man siting there. At first, I thought that it was a person that was trying to get a tip. Coming from Egypt, I got suspicious. But when I got closer, I saw that it was a statue. So I sat next to it.

5#photo: My dad at peace in Pisa, not knowing that at that moment, our computer and a lot of important documents and pictures are leaving his car. And that he would be worrying about it for along time afterward. But also glad, because we wanted to get a different lap top.

Pictures Update by Mia

Pic #1: A big palace in Portugal. No one really knows what it's called cause we've seen so many! It was really cool though because there were about a hundred little rooms decorated really nicely. There were about five belonging to one queen and all the kings only had one each! It was also built pretty much on top of an old monastery which was mostly destroyed in the earthquake. Only the chapel is left of the monastery.

Pic #2: The huge cathedral at the end of the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage. It reminded me a bit of Angkor Wat because it had moss on it, and the spires look like Angkor Wat's spires.

Pic #3: There were random statues like this scattered around Cordoba. There was an old man in the airport that mommy thought was real! He was made of metal, and didn't look real at all. I think she needs stronger glasses.

Pic #4: Daddy's artistic picture on the waterfront in Lisbon, Portugal. We walked a long way in the thunder, lightning, and rain for that picture, so appreciate it!!!

Pic #5: The big botanical gardens in Madrid. We were aiming to go to the Museo del Prado that day, but it was closed.

Pic #6: One of the many courtyards in Alhambra Palace, the big Moorish palace in Granada, Spain.

Wild Life in the Countries We Have Been by Kayley

The wildlife in most countries we went to on our world tour was different. In some places, there was not many animals you can see on the streets, and other countries had tons of wild life every where.

In New Zealand, most of the animals were different from anywhere else in the world. New Zealand has at least two unique animals: the Kea bird and the Kiwi bird. The Kea is the only alpine parrot in the world and is really smart. The Kiwi bird is nocturnal and wingless. Because it has no natural predators, it didn't need to fly. Instead of feathers the kiwi birds have long grey hair. So when dogs, cats, ferrets, and foxes came to New Zealand, they started killing the kiwi birds. Now, Scientists are poisoning and trapping ferrets, cats, rats and rabbits to save the kiwi birds from extinction. On the farms in New Zealand, there are lots of sheep, cows, goats, deer, and horses. I really liked the animals in New Zealand because they are really unique.

Australia also has unique animals that are no where else in the world. The most famous animals are the Kangaroos and Koalas and, maybe, Wombats. The Kangaroos that we saw were shorter than I expected but were reddish grey and brown. We only saw koalas in a zoo by Sydney harbor. The koalas were sleeping when we were there but they were really really cute. Wombats are really cute and small. There are also Wallabies and Echidnas. Echidnas are like a cross between a kiwi bird and a porcupine because the spines are like really long hair. Wallabies are like miniature kangaroos but grey with longer ears.

In India, there were lots of wild or ferrel animals on the sides of the roads, especially in Delhi. There where pigs, cows, and donkeys on the side of the road sniffing around in the trash heaps and the dirt. The pigs were there in the middle of a huge city because it was against the Islam and Hindu religion to kill pig or cow. There were also elephants and camels. In the big tourist destinations, people are offering elephant or camel rides and, some times, horse rides. Also, in India, there were dogs that slept on trash heaps and were very dirty and probably smelly. There were people selling donkey rides and people riding around Delhi on donkeys. Oxen, donkey, and horse drawn carts were common in big city traffic. I also saw monkeys, impalas, and cool birds in India. The animals in India were very dirty and abundant.

In Egypt, there weren't many animals that were not in the big cities or at the big tourists traps. At the Great Pyramids of Giza, there were lots of people selling camel rides and horse drawn carriage rides. The people selling the camel rides were kind of annoying and wouldn't stop telling us that we need to take a camel ride of horse ride. The horses that were pulling the carriages didn't look very healthy or very happy. That didn't improve my opinion of the people selling animal rides. In the big cities dogs act a lot like the dogs in India except a lot dirtier. I felt sorry for the animals in Egypt because they were so mistreated.

The animals in Bali and Cambodia were about the same. We saw monkeys at some of the temples in both countries. In Cambodia, we saw water buffalo on Monkey Island. Also we saw some really cute squirrels on the trees in Cambodia. I liked the the animals in Cambodia and Bali because most of the animals were cute and I don't remember ever seeing a water buffalo before monkey island.

In Turkey and Italy, we didn't see many wild animals, that I can remember. But the dogs on the streets were quite fat and looked really healthy because the people living in Turkey and Italy feed the dogs and cats. In Athens,Greece the Athenian dogs were well taken care of and some guard people. Ron told us some dogs walk with the girls at his school and bark when a guy comes to close. At the ruins of the Roman temple there was this weird man trying to walk past the ticket office. But a big dog started barking when ever he tried to get into the ruins. I really like how the dogs in Turkey, Italy and Athens are treated nicely and protect the people.

Alaska by far has the most wild life out of all the places we've been. There were deer and moose in the parks in the middle of Anchorage. There was a Black bear at the archery range where Sarah,mommy and I were taking a class. Also there was a Grizzly bears on the side of the road in Denali. There was so much smelt in the river that we were literally scooping them out. Also there were Bald eagles swooping over the highway and the ocean. Alaska was a nice place to see the wildlife at.

Almost all of the animals in the places we've been have been different, and almost all of the species of animals were different and very interesting. My favorite animals were in New Zealand, Australia, and Alaska.

By Kayley

My First Week in School by Zander

In Granada, Spain, I started going to the local high school in Churianna de la Vega. Here, like New Zealand, most young people smoke cigarettes and or weed. One of my friends from school is addicted to cigarettes. When he hasn't had a cigarette in a while, his hands shake. He smokes in the bath room during recess. There is also a lot of cheating in homework and tests. In almost all my classes, people do not do their homework at home. They copy off one of their friends completed work in school. In my sister's science class, she had a test on the periodic table. Everyone in the class was cheating and looking at note cards or they had written down the periodic table on their desk in pencil. It is hard to not cheat, because the people that cheat get better grades then the good kids. So, it is really tempting to cheat because it will get you good grades. Mia said that she did not cheat.School in Spain is really difficult, not only because it is in a different language, but because it is so different then what I am used to in America.

The teachers are still using the old chalk boards instead of white boards. In America, the teachers use smart boards and white boards. It is really annoying in my school, because if you in the front of the room, then the chalk dust always gets in your eyes. All the students are issued their own lap top computer that they can bring home. I think that that would be pretty sweet and I hope that I will get one soon. It is also much harder to memorize the schedule here because of all the differences in every days classes. Every day, there are different classes and I haven't gotten used to them yet. My first week of school in Spain has been really hard to get used to, because of the language and curriculum differences. I hope that it will get better.

Our School in Spain By SARAH

Our school in Churriana, Spain is very different then the schools in California. In Spain the kids are so loud and obnoxious they would get detention every day in California and New Zealand. Our school in Spain is called San Roque in the town that we live in Churriana De La Vega. In school the kids are exited and loud, and every day I come home with a head ache not because the kids, because it's a over load of spanish. Or like I have had the last couple of days, 6 teachers for 5 classes. When a teacher leaves classroom unsupervised, the whole class is there it's an explosion of people yelling so the whole 3 story building can hear. SARAH!!! Colejio San Roque in Churriana de la Vega, a village near Granada in Andulucia, Spain, is the small school that I go to now. Here is a poem about it. In Spain a Poem by Sarah The Spanish kids are always loud no matter in the class or in their house. They are excited and never exhausted. The Spanish teachers are use to kids yelling in school And kids screaming at the top of their lungs, making their ear drums ring like a bell in your head. The bell that sounds to mark the end of break gets confused with the yells and screams, At the end of school, I'm almost deaf in the ears. Sarah!!!

The Police - By Zander

To enforce the law there has to be the police. My family and I have been traveling around the world. Some times the police are regulated and some times they are corrupt. In a perfect world the police would catch all the, criminals and the cops wouldn't oppress the people. I think that police should be approachable but still do their job.

Singapore is a really small country but it's police force is much bigger in comparison. Singapore has policemen that are dressed as regular people. If you break a rule in front of under cover cops then you get a fine. Newell ( our cousin from france) j walked across a street. Then an undercover cop gave her a ticket which had a fine. She did that at least 2 times before we came because she is in a rush to get places. When we were in the metro there were about 10 soldiers walking through the metro carrying M16, they were only about 16 years old. It made me feel kind of scarred because if I were them I would want to shoot my big gun in the metro. They were young because Singapore has mandatory military service. In Singapore, since there is a big police presence there isn't much law breaking. There are other country's like Singapore that like to show off how strong they are like India.

India has a big military presence so there are solders with guns on street corner. In India there isn't a different between police and the military. On our first night in Deli we went to dinner and there was about 4 guards standing around the entrance to the mall that we were eating at. When we were in Shimla there were big military parades. There were about 1,000 men, woman, horses, and camels participating in the parade. They even had there own ski army. The parade happens every day, at the same time. All the advertisements that we saw on buildings had missiles, tanks, and fighter jets on them. People that are running for office, have pictures of themselves posing with the countries weapons. India's police and armed forces eat up a lot of the country's budget, but the people seem okay with it because it makes there country powerful.

Italy is known for its corruption. I did not see any of the police doing much, but making the regular trip to the donut shop. I should say to pizzeria because we are in Italy. The police are driving Lamborghini's, and the country is in a debt crises. The police I saw when we were driving around and the police were standing in big groups not talking to anyone but each other. When we were in Italy we got our lap top stolen. We went to the police in Pisa. We went to the police station and they sent us to the next station. When we got to the right police station the Italian police man was distresses in helping us. The Italian police didn't even want our contact information. So if they some how got the lap top they wouldn't even be able to return it. In America when we tell the police that something was stolen, they come. The US police take a look around and fill out the forms with us. When we were on our first drive, we found out that the police do not enforce the traffic rules. It is obvious that the locals know that the police do not care, so they don't follow the traffic rules. I think that driving in Italy is more dangerous then anywhere else, because they drive fast and they do not follow the rules. When my dad wanted to get his fingerprints, my dad got sent from office to office because nobody wanted to help him. All the police men we saw were siting and doing nothing. They were more content telling us to go to a different police station then helping us. The Italian police have gotten so corrupted that the police men are content siting and doing nothing rather than doing there job.

Spain has been having lots of protests because the government is laying off their workers so the police are working really hard. At our hotel at 10 in the morning there was some government meeting and there were about 100 old people who were banging there pots and waving there signs around right out side our hotel. My dad was really exited because he always is happy when there is a protest. I think that it makes him think that people are being rebellious. The police didn't interfere but they made sure that the people that were staying at the hotel could come and go as they pleased, and that the protest didn't get out of hand. When we were driving from Madrid to Granada my dad got his first speeding ticket since New Zealand. He was really surprised at how efficiently it was done. There was a gray car in the bush, my dad mistakes it for a wreck but it had a radar gun. The radar gun in the gray car sent a picture of our car with the speed, another cop car was there to chase us down. When they caught us they gave us a printed ticket and made us pay cash. They were even willing to drive with us to the bank if we didn't have enough money. During our stay in Spain my parents needed to get there finger prints for some documents for the USA. I took a day off from school to translate for them. The police sent us from office to office assuring us that they can't help us it the next office could. Finally when we said that we have been to all the police stations in Granada someone was honest enough to tell us that we could go to 50 or 100 police stations in Spain and they wouldn't do it. Tempers were running high because we had spent whole day trying to get my parents finger print and with out results. Out of all police men I think the one that was being honest was the best. All the other police men didn't want to help us but they didn't want to tell us that nobody could help us either. I think that they knew that if they told us that nobody could help us then we would take all of our anger out on them. I think that Spain's police did a good job at what they are suppose to do but once you go out side that then they can't help you.

The Egyptian government is using there police force a lot because they are in the middle of a revolution. At all the major tourist attractions, there are at least 20 police. But when we are walking around they don't make me feel safe. There are still people that try to cheat you and give you fake money in exchange for egyptian pounds. Lastly there have been some attacks on tourist while they are traveling. When we were traveling there were army trucks at regular intervals, and we passed check points every 20 kilometers where there were armed guards. There were tanks driving along the road and stationed out side power plants and other important buildings. The Egyptians have a lot of police that do there job, but we are still in Egypt so there are people that try to rip us off.

The Americans spend a lot of money on defense, but there police force is not as showy as India's or Singapore's. The American police do not use automated speed traps like New Zealand. The Americans prefer to give out tickets personally. The American method does not apply justice uniformly. The police also teach us D.A.R.E. ( drug abuse resistance education) which teaches us about drugs, and alcohol. The police basically scare us to death with scary videos of people that took drugs and ended up dead. The other topics that they breeched was someone killing someone while they were still under the influence. My dad has gotten his tools stolen from him on multiple occasions. He reported them to the police and how the tools had his drivers license number etched into them. The police found one of the missing drills and returned it to him. Having his drill returned made my dad happy because it meant that the police were doing there job. The police in the US make me feel safe but they aren't everywhere dominating the street.

Bali is part of Indonesia. The amount of police interferences was minimal. The only action that I saw was the police pull over the scooter drivers to check if they had there driver license. Usually when you get a ticket in Bali you can negotiate with the cops for a better price.There were a few police stations but not many uniformed officers on the streets. Bali is vastly different from all the other country's because I did not see them around much except at the airport.

Greece is in a huge financial debt crises, but the police still do there job. There are lots of police out in the street of Athens were there have been recent protests. All the news says that the protesters are being violent and setting buildings on fire. But all the fires are on a different side of town from the protest and the government work buildings. Ron told me that there are protecters and the anarchists. The anarchists are burning buildings and creating havoc and the protecters are being peaceful. In Athens there is a general vandalism problem, on almost all the buildings no mater where you go the buildings have gotten tagged. When we were walking we saw the police rounding up people that looked a bit sketchy then they put them into a paddy wagon. While we were going to the airport, from the hotel I saw my first heroin addict. He was sticking himself with a dirty needle right on the street corner. In the square there were a few people that were out of there minds they were picking fights with each other. The police can not catch all of the drug addicts but they are clearly making an effort. There are just so many people taking drugs that the police can not catch all of them but they are main an effort. The police men in Greece do there job, they do not interfere with the protests, and they catch some of the people that take drugs and are hurting society.In a prefect world the police should be nice, approachable, but still do their job catching the criminals.

I think that New Zealand policed the best. They were efficient with there ticket giving, they all so seem helpful. I think that if the economy is good and most of the people are employed then it is easier to police. I have made that assumption because all the places that there were problems we're in country's that had a big un inployment rates. What I want in police is to be able to look them in the eye, to see them occasionally on patrol, and to have them interacting with society.Sorry no pictures, our Internet is really bad so I couldn't lode the pictures.

First Day in Portugal by Kayley

Last week, we walked around the coastal town of Lagos, Portugal. I really liked Lagos because it was a very cute town. Lagos is on the southern tip of Portugal and was quite warm when we were there. The small beach in Lagos was clean and had some really cool purple opal shells, white shark egg casings, and dark green sea sponges on the yellow and orange sand. There were lots of historical places and copper statues of important historical people at the water front in Lagos.

Lagos had a thick stone wall all the way around the small, old part of the town. The city walls were really old, thick and made out of gray stone. In Lagos, the narrow cobblestone streets had nice patterns in black and white stone. The streets in Lagos were like mazes and were hard to navigate around, even walking around town was hard. There weren't many people walking around the city, so it was nice and relaxing to walk around Lagos. The tall buildings made the narrow cobble stone streets made me feel a little closed in and made the streets feel like a maze. Most of the two story tall apartment buildings were white with red orange masonry tile roofs. Also the weather changes a lot. It was cloudy all day, but it turned from hot to cold all the time. It turned cold when the sun was covered by the clouds and was hot when the wind moved the clouds out of the way. Although the day was a little unpredictable, it was very relaxing to walk around Lagos .

At the waterfront, there was a copper statue of Eannes who was someone important to Lagos, I can't remember why. I can't remember Eannes' first name either. The plaque underneath the statue and at the base had spelled Eannes two different ways, Eannes and Eanes, that was kind of confusing. A long time ago, Lagos was attacked by lots of different countries like Spain and probably Britain because Britain was a big empire around that time. Everybody wanted Lagos because it was at the mouth of the mediterranean. Also, Lagos used to be a center of the slave trade. Lagos had the slave trade because the black plague was killing the workers and there was a shortage of labor in Europe, so they sold African slaves.

I really liked Lagos and thought Lagos was a really cute town. The weather was pleasant to walking around in walk on the Beach . Although the history was more Zander's type that my type I enjoyed it any way.

By Kayley

The Pollution in the Places We've Been by Sarah

In the countries we've been to, the people in the country's treat their country differently and make them dirty or clean.
 In Egypt, the cities do not have trash cans. I stead they throw the trash on the ground. In the beach towns, they throw the trash into the ocean. In Alexandria, Kayley was carrying a bag of trash and a group of local boys took it from her and threw it into the ocean. The air was so dirty with dirt, exhaust, and dessert dust in Cairo that it was hard to breath. In the other cities in Egypt,the pollution was from the desert, car and boat exhaust, people's trash, and animal poop.
 In India, there were lots of animals living off the trash on the side of the road in Delhi and Agra. There were feral pigs, donkeys, cows, dogs, cats, and monkeys living off the trash. The pollution was not as bad as Egypt, but we were surprised to see the pigs on the street. India also had lots of exhaust, dust, and animal and people poop in lots of places.
 Singapore was really clean because they have lots of rules. They enforce them and have high fines and punishments for people who break them. If you do a bad crime, you can get publicly flogged. If you spit or J-walk, you get fined 500 Singapore dollars. So as a result of the rules and enforcement, Singapore is a really clean and safe country.
 New Zealand is one of cleanest country's I've ever been in, except Christchurch which just had an earth quake. The dirtiest cities we went to were parts of Auckland and Christchurch, but the rest of the country was very clean.
 In California, where I have been is cleanish. We lived in San Luis Obispo (SLO). The town that I lived all my life. I don't think it's too clean or too dirty. It's my liking. In San Luis it was the rarest thing to see someone smoking because people get educated not to smoke. Because, it is bad for you, which is true.
Spain is where I am now. When we landed, my first thought was it could be like SLO. I was right in some ways but not in others. They are both the same except that in Spain, some people smoke but not so much. Spain and the U.S.A. are so much alike in the fact that they are both clean.
In Australia, we only went to two city's. Sidney and Cairns were both like Singapore, but a bit dirtier. Australia is cleaner than some of the states in the U.S.A.
In Bali, every thing is very dirty, but every inch of the land is covered in rice farm. I think the reason Bali is so dirty is because they don't bother to make a landfill. Instead, they have lots of rice farms, so the trash all goes into the ocean. We surfed there, so it was like swimming in trash and poop water. That is why I think Bali is so dirty and so unpleasant. If Bali made a dump, I'm sure Bali would be much cleaner and more enjoyable.
 Cambodia is one of the first places we saw birth defects. It was also the first place we saw lots of beggars. Usually, if there are lots of baggers, there is lots of trash. In Cambodia, there is a lot of trash. In the Cambodian religion, Budhism, involves lots of smoking so the air is filled with smoke. In Cambodia, there is more trash then in Bali, but a lot less than India and Egypt. They smoke a lot there though.
In some countries, the government tries hard to keep the country clean like Singapore, New Zealand, the USA, and Europe. But some governments don't choose to reduce pollution and clean up, like Bali, Cambodia, Egypt, and India where there is too many people and not enough caring. Where the money is being used for something else.
                                           SARAH !!!!!!!!

Portugals Stratigic Position in the World by Zander

To enforce the law there has to be the police. My family and I have been traveling around the world. Some times the police are regulated and some times they are corrupt. In a perfect world the police would catch all the, criminals and the cops wouldn't oppress the people. I think that police should be approachable but still do their job. Singapore is a really small country but it's police force is much bigger in comparison. Singapore has policemen that are dressed as regular people. If you break a rule in front of under cover cops then you get a fine. Newell ( our cousin from france) j walked across a street. Then an undercover cop gave her a ticket which had a fine. She did that at least 2 times before we came because she is in a rush to get places. When we were in the metro there were about 10 soldiers walking through the metro carrying M16, they were only about 16 years old. It made me feel kind of scarred because if I were them I would want to shoot my big gun in the metro. They were young because Singapore has mandatory military service. In Singapore, since there is a big police presence there isn't much law breaking. There are other country's like Singapore that like to show off how strong they are like India. India has a big military presence so there are solders with guns on street corner. In India there isn't a different between police and the military. On our first night in Deli we went to dinner and there was about 4 guards standing around the entrance to the mall that we were eating at. When we were in Shimla there were big military parades. There were about 1,000 men, woman, horses, and camels participating in the parade. They even had there own ski army. The parade happens every day, at the same time. All the advertisements that we saw on buildings had missiles, tanks, and fighter jets on them. People that are running for office, have pictures of themselves posing with the countries weapons. India's police and armed forces eat up a lot of the country's budget, but the people seem okay with it because it makes there country powerful. Italy is known for its corruption. I did not see any of the police doing much, but making the regular trip to the donut shop. I should say to pizzeria because we are in Italy. The police are driving Lamborghini's, and the country is in a debt crises. The police I saw when we were driving around and the police were standing in big groups not talking to anyone but each other. When we were in Italy we got our lap top stolen. We went to the police in Pisa. We went to the police station and they sent us to the next station. When we got to the right police station the Italian police man was distresses in helping us. The Italian police didn't even want our contact information. So if they some how got the lap top they wouldn't even be able to return it. In America when we tell the police that something was stolen, they come. The US police take a look around and fill out the forms with us. When we were on our first drive, we found out that the police do not enforce the traffic rules. It is obvious that the locals know that the police do not care, so they don't follow the traffic rules. I think that driving in Italy is more dangerous then anywhere else, because they drive fast and they do not follow the rules. When my dad wanted to get his fingerprints, my dad got sent from office to office because nobody wanted to help him. All the police men we saw were siting and doing nothing. They were more content telling us to go to a different police station then helping us. The Italian police have gotten so corrupted that the police men are content siting and doing nothing rather than doing there job. Spain has been having lots of protests because the government is laying off their workers so the police are working really hard. At our hotel at 10 in the morning there was some government meeting and there were about 100 old people who were banging there pots and waving there signs around right out side our hotel. My dad was really exited because he always is happy when there is a protest. I think that it makes him think that people are being rebellious. The police didn't interfere but they made sure that the people that were staying at the hotel could come and go as they pleased, and that the protest didn't get out of hand. When we were driving from Madrid to Granada my dad got his first speeding ticket since New Zealand. He was really surprised at how efficiently it was done. There was a gray car in the bush, my dad mistakes it for a wreck but it had a radar gun. The radar gun in the gray car sent a picture of our car with the speed, another cop car was there to chase us down. When they caught us they gave us a printed ticket and made us pay cash. They were even willing to drive with us to the bank if we didn't have enough money. During our stay in Spain my parents needed to get there finger prints for some documents for the USA. I took a day off from school to translate for them. The police sent us from office to office assuring us that they can't help us it the next office could. Finally when we said that we have been to all the police stations in Granada someone was honest enough to tell us that we could go to 50 or 100 police stations in Spain and they wouldn't do it. Tempers were running high because we had spent whole day trying to get my parents finger print and with out results. Out of all police men I think the one that was being honest was the best. All the other police men didn't want to help us but they didn't want to tell us that nobody could help us either. I think that they knew that if they told us that nobody could help us then we would take all of our anger out on them. I think that Spain's police did a good job at what they are suppose to do but once you go out side that then they can't help you. The Egyptian government is using there police force a lot because they are in the middle of a revolution. At all the major tourist attractions, there are at least 20 police. But when we are walking around they don't make me feel safe. There are still people that try to cheat you and give you fake money in exchange for egyptian pounds. Lastly there have been some attacks on tourist while they are traveling. When we were traveling there were army trucks at regular intervals, and we passed check points every 20 kilometers where there were armed guards. There were tanks driving along the road and stationed out side power plants and other important buildings. The Egyptians have a lot of police that do there job, but we are still in Egypt so there are people that try to rip us off. The Americans spend a lot of money on defense, but there police force is not as showy as India's or Singapore's. The American police do not use automated speed traps like New Zealand. The Americans prefer to give out tickets personally. The American method does not apply justice uniformly. The police also teach us D.A.R.E. ( drug abuse resistance education) which teaches us about drugs, and alcohol. The police basically scare us to death with scary videos of people that took drugs and ended up dead. The other topics that they breeched was someone killing someone while they were still under the influence. My dad has gotten his tools stolen from him on multiple occasions. He reported them to the police and how the tools had his drivers license number etched into them. The police found one of the missing drills and returned it to him. Having his drill returned made my dad happy because it meant that the police were doing there job. The police in the US make me feel safe but they aren't everywhere dominating the street. Bali is part of Indonesia. The amount of police interferences was minimal. The only action that I saw was the police pull over the scooter drivers to check if they had there driver license. Usually when you get a ticket in Bali you can negotiate with the cops for a better price.There were a few police stations but not many uniformed officers on the streets. Bali is vastly different from all the other country's because I did not see them around much except at the airport. Greece is in a huge financial debt crises, but the police still do there job. There are lots of police out in the street of Athens were there have been recent protests. All the news says that the protesters are being violent and setting buildings on fire. But all the fires are on a different side of town from the protest and the government work buildings. Ron told me that there are protecters and the anarchists. The anarchists are burning buildings and creating havoc and the protecters are being peaceful. In Athens there is a general vandalism problem, on almost all the buildings no mater where you go the buildings have gotten tagged. When we were walking we saw the police rounding up people that looked a bit sketchy then they put them into a paddy wagon. While we were going to the airport, from the hotel I saw my first heroin addict. He was sticking himself with a dirty needle right on the street corner. In the square there were a few people that were out of there minds they were picking fights with each other. The police can not catch all of the drug addicts but they are clearly making an effort. There are just so many people taking drugs that the police can not catch all of them but they are main an effort. The police men in Greece do there job, they do not interfere with the protests, and they catch some of the people that take drugs and are hurting society. In a prefect world the police should be nice, approachable, but still do their job catching the criminals. I think that New Zealand policed the best. They were efficient with there ticket giving, they all so seem helpful. I think that if the economy is good and most of the people are employed then it is easier to police. I have made that assumption because all the places that there were problems we're in country's that had a big un inployment rates. What I want in police is to be able to look them in the eye, to see them occasionally on patrol, and to have them interacting with society. Sorry no pictures, our Internet is really bad so I couldn't lode the pictures.