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Hi Friends,We are in Norway.  The last couple days in Sweden we spent on rocky islands with lighthouses.  On those days we studied the plant life, made books describing it and drew pictures of it.

On our first day in Norway we went to a sandy beach, went wading, saw lots of jellyfish, and swam off the boat.  In the Oslo Fjord there are more sandy beaches and more trees on the shoreline, though it is still rocky. Now we are in Oslo, the capitol of Norway.  On our first day in Oslo it was very hot.  We went to a Norwegian bookstore and got a few books.  Then we played in a fountain!The next day we went to a festival in a castle courtyard.  There was a small tent with hula hoops, jump ropes, balls and other toys.  Then we went to a medieval section.  We made wool balls by putting wool in soapy water, squeezing it out and rolling it between our hands.  The longer you roll the harder they get.  You should try making them.  We were told that if you don’t have the special soap they used, then you can use shampoo.  Then we shaped dough into bread, cooked it over a fire, and ate it with honey.  There was also a jester and a man on stilts.  Then we went to the circus tent with an acrobat and even elephants.   The last thing we did at the festival was go on a moon bounce.

Today we went to three museums.  The first one was about Viking ships.  The second one was about a man who had sailed a raft with his crew from Peru to Polynesia.  One adventure he and his friends had was when a whale shark swam underneath their raft.  He was trying to prove that South Americans were the ones who discovered Polynesia and how they could get there. The third one was about a North and South Pole explorer.  His name was Roald Amundson.

I hope you all have a great rest of the school year and summer vacation.

See you in fifth grade!

From, Karla Geagan

Hi Friends,

Thank you so much for your letters.

We are in Lysekil.  Since the last time I wrote to you, we have made lots of new friends, been to a ship museum where we could look at and walk around on the ships, and gone to a petting zoo and an aquarium.  We have gone rock climbing, hiking, and swimming.  We have collected mussels, gone on a cable ferry, and seen lots of fortresses.  I’m also trying to build a fishing rod.

I hope you are all having fun and am sad to hear that Oliver and Olivia are leaving.  I hope your new schools are very fun and that you make lots of new friends.

Here are the answers to your questions:

1.  I really like living in Sweden.
2.  The cities are all very clean and the islands are rocky.
3.  The little mermaid in Copenhagen is kneeling on a rock facing the harbor entrance.  She has her hair in a braid.
4.  I am learning vocabulary, math, grammar, computers, science, social studies, art and gym.
5.  In Sweden people speak Swedish but know a lot of English.
6.  In Swedish both Hei and Hallo mean “Hello”
7.  In Germany people use different names but your names would stay the same.
8.  When you share a cabin, it is really nice to talk to each other late at night.

Adjø

Karla

Route log since 5/15 (all in Sweden):

5/15-16/08      Kungsö
5/17-20/08      Göteborg (Gothenborg)
5/21/08            Högö
5/22/08            Marstrand ->Koön Island
5/23/08            Kölkerön Island
5/24/08            Tjällsö
5/25/08            Lysekil

Hi Friends,How was the spring fair?  Did you take any more field trips?  Are you still getting ready for field day?After we left Copenhagen, we stopped once more in Denmark and then went to Sweden.  While we were sailing we could see both Denmark and Sweden.  The next day, our first full day in Sweden, we climbed up and down cliffs and visited a lighthouse.  To climb down one cliff we used a rope.  At the bottom of that cliff we explored a cave which the Vikings probably used.  The next day was really fun.  We went swimming, kayaking, and saw ponies that were on the beach.   That day we also took a long hike on the island.  On May 11th, while we were sailing, we saw porpoises in our wake.  We could hear them breath out when they surfaced.  That evening we rowed and kayaked to an island where seagulls were nesting.  Because they were nesting we had to leave quickly.  Instead we rowed and kayaked to a different beach where we built huge sand castles.  On that beach there were a lot of mosquito larvae.  The next morning we woke up to waves rocking our boat from side to side.  We had to sail out of the cove and to another harbor.  In Varberg we have visited an old castle and museum.  In the castle there was still a moat and we could climb up stairs and see the whole town.  I hope you are having a great time.From, KarlaP.S.  Here is our route log so far:4/18                 Schleimunde, Germany
4/19-20            Bagenkop, Denmark
4/21                 Enehøje, Denmark
4/22                 Onsevig, Denmark
4/23 – 4/24      Vejrø, Denmark
4/25                 Vordingborg, Denmark
4/26                 Kalvehave, Denmark
4/27                 Rødvig, Denmark
4/28 – 4/29      Mosede, Denmark
4/30                 Dragør, Denmark
5/1-5/6            Copenhagen (København), Denmark
5/7                   Humlebæk,Denmark
5/8                   Hoganäs, Sweden
5/9-10              Hallands Vederö, Sweden
5/11                 Stensjö, Sweden
5/12 – 5/13      Varberg, Sweden 

Godday (Hi) Friends, 

We are in Copenhagen.  We have seen the changing of the guard at the Queen’s Palace, the Botanical Gardens, and the statue of the Little Mermaid.  One different thing about Copenhagen is that it has canals along many roads.  We went to a museum that showed amber from over a million years ago.  Amber is made by trees when they got a cut and resin poured out.  Then water covered the forest and the amber hardened.  The weather has been warm and sunny.  Many of the streets are cobblestone.  Everybody rides bicycles instead of using cars.  In another few days we will be in Sweden! 

We have not been fishing yet and there are no man eating sharks in the Baltic because it is not salty enough.  The only wild animals we have seen are birds but we have seen lots of them.  There are ducks and seagulls in the canals and there are a lot of pigeons in the street.  When you live on a boat it is very hard you have to go up stairs to get outside.  The floor space in cabins with berths is about five square feet.  I am sharing a berth with my sister Maria right now.  Since there are three cabins on the boat, my sisters and I will take turns having our own cabins.  We have school at the same table at which we eat.  I have been learning a lot of German in school.  I am also doing a typing program called KAZ.  One scary thing is when there are huge waves and the boat tips over 20 degrees.  I have not touched anything slimy. Figure out the message written in runes.  They were the type of writing the Vikings used. 

Fra (from) Karla 

Dear Friends, 
Here are the answers to your questions: 

1. We are in Denmark.  Today we visited an old Viking castle. 
2. I am on the boat.  We began sailing April 18^th.
3. I am having fun sailing.
4. The shipping container came on April 15^th.  It took us three days to unpack it and stow everything.
5. In Germany and Denmark you see soccer balls everywhere. They also have a lot of bakeries with very yummy breads and cakes.
6. My favorite food is dumplings.
7. The bridges were very interesting because it looked like we couldn’t go under them but we always could (the mast is 18 meters high with two sets of spreaders).
8. The Rickmer Rickmers is a famous ship in the Hamburg Harbor.  We visited it.
9. We have climbed to the top of the tower of Michaelskirche in Hamburg.

I really miss you. 

From, Karla

Dear Friends, 
I hope you are having fun. We had a very bumpy sail today.  We sailed 25 miles at a ten-degree angle. Today I’m going to climb up the mast.  I can’t wait to see you! 
From Karla