Picture of the Week: Welcome To China!

Ni hao, Mrs. Daml's class! I am in China now, on the other side of the world from you. "Ni hao" is how we say hello to each other in China. It actually means "you, good?" in English.
Not only do they speak a different language in China, they have a different alphabet too! In China, instead of writing with ABCs, they use "characters" to represent their words. Here is an example of the sign for a restaurant:
You can see how this new alphabet might be very confusing for me! I am taking a Chinese class right now to try to understand it a little bit better. This is what we learn in class:
China is most famously known for The Great Wall of China, which was built many thousands of years ago and stretches across most of the northern boarder of China. You can see below that the wall is very very long. It is estimated that The Great Wall is more than 5000 miles long!
Some people believe that The Great Wall of China can be seen from outer-space, but I don't think that is true. You can see it from an airplane, though! But it is much better to see The Great Wall in person, like I did:
That is it for now. I will tell you more about China later. Zaijian! (That means goodbye).

Picture of the Week: Christmas on the Beach!

Hello, Mrs. Daml's class! Hope you all had a very nice Christmas break from school. Now, you must get back to class and study hard again. Although it is the middle of winter for you in Minnesota, it is the middle of summer here in Australia! We are in the southern hemisphere in the world, so the seasons are the opposite of Minnesota. So for this week's picture, I am going to show you how Australians spend Christmas. Where else would they go but the beach!


I must admit, I was very worried that Santa might not be able to find me this year because I am so far away from home, but Santa is a very smart man. Not only did he find me all the way in Australia, he brought his elves with him to the beach!

Merry Christmas, everyone! And Happy New Year!

Amy