a warm day in Paris

Me with my new beret on the way to the Eiffel Tower

2/3 of the way up the Eiffel Tower...we chickened out & didn't go to the third level...very windy...and the loads of people on it just didn't feel all that safe...did I mention this native Whitefish mountain girl is a bit afraid of heights!

in Parc Monceau...I told my mom as I was dancing, "I'm glad we're not back in Montana yet...I love Paris!"

crystal staircase along the Champs-Elysees

& we saw more breakdancers below the Eiffel Tower...they are so cool.  & I ate two crepes today, tomorrow I'm going for three.  we walked from the 17th arrondisement to the 8th to the 1st to the 7th & now I'm settling in for some French tele, my stuffed animals, some french bread & chocolat...ah, c'est bon!

Crepes, fondue, ballet, & breakdancing

Breakdancer on the way to the ballet in Paris tonight

My mom and I are in Paris!  We both liked the other places we've been in the last 10 days, but realized today that this is all we really wanted to do.  So it feels good to finally be in this cool, beautiful city.

Tonight we got dressed up and took the metro to the Paris opera house (Palais Garnier) to watch a ballet.  When we came out of the metro right in front of the opera house were these three guys dancing like....well like I've never seen before.  Watch the video from above that my mom took of one of them & I think you'll see what I mean (the video is sideways because my mom doesn't know how to fix that yet).

Then we had a little time before the ballet began, so we went to a cafe nearby that we had gone to two years ago--and I had chocolat fondue with fruits & cakes to dip into it & my mom had a crepe avec sucre (with sugar) and the tiniest coffee I've ever seen it made me laugh.

Here's a picture of us in our seats at the Palais Garnier:

& the view from our seats before the ballet began:

Then we took the metro home & found a crepe stand near our hotel & bought two more crepes for a late night snack....mmmmm!

More soon.  Love, Naya

Spring vacation

I'm officially on vacation with my maman!  She is trying to get me to do 2 hours of homework each day...but that sometimes involves painting on a bridge in Venice.  Here are some of my spring break photos so far.  Today we went to Eurodisney.  It's about 20 miles outside of Paris & when you see a sign for Snow White it will say instead Blanche Neige.   I went on my first upside down rollercoaster today...on accident!  The Paris version of Space Mountain is a bit more extreme than the US version...yikes!  Not going to do that again, ever.

 Now, we're lounging in our hotel watching some tv shows (they are in English, French, and German) &  I hope my mom has the energy to take me to the pool downstairs after she posts these pictures---it has a waterslide where you fly out of a dragon's mouth!  Oh, and everyone speaks French here...so after practicing German and Italian this last week on our travels now we'll be speaking French for about three weeks.  But I do still have a few British quirks according to my maman.

Gondola ride through the canals of Venice

a mask I bought made in Venice--this year we are going to skip our Annual Clue party and go instead for a masquerade ball at Halloween.

Me in a square in Venice while my mom meets with her favorite art history professor from Whitefish...they are talking about art and looking at ceilings in churches and I'm much more interested in the birds that will eat out of my hand...see below.

a sparrow who also likes a pain au chocolat (croissant with chunks of chocolate in it)

me, today, on my first ride, "It's a small world"

Me and Mickey

Below the Sleeping Beauty castle

Running through the maze of Alice's Wonderland

Around and about England

on a street in Oxford

at "the North Pole" in the hundred aker wood (from Pooh)

looking for Piglet in the hundred aker wood (Sussex area, south from London)

going into Shakespeare's house

me at the biggest, coolest candy store ever.

surely there's a golden ticket in here somewhere, oxford.

hanging with wilbur at a farm near brighton, england

me feeding a lamb whose mama perhaps had triplets or quads and couldn't feed it

feeding some expectant mamas, one in the background actually pushed her baby out while we were there.  so cool.  she was so calm and strong at the same time.  we got to watch her then eat all of the sac and blood off of the baby and see it go from looking like it wasn't going to make it to sitting up looking around.

my favorite ever book-poem

this is Shel Silverstein reading 'the giving tree.' Hope you enjoy this book. Love, Naya

(click on the words above)

Just a few more days in Oxford before we go for a month to Europe

Me, Freya, and Imo

My mum READING, reading, reading

some sheep near our house, if you click on this photo to blow it up and look really close you can see some babies--black and white lambs

having fun with curlers and the camera

a bridge i saw in Bath

in Bath

the fountain inside Christ Church

my mom's pigeonhole for her mail at Christ Church

the Bodleian library & Hertford college behind

mom's feet at Christ Church

cool shoes in a cool shoe store.  i took a really funny video of the shoes in this store but we can't figure out how to post it on the blog yet.

my mom's foot & my foot on a street in Oxford

This week, after my neck got better, I got to have my mom come to my school and give a presentation for science week on the Rocky Mountains and all the animals there and what it was like to be a backcountry ranger in Glacier.  It made me miss Montana and Ladybug & it made me feel smart because I know a lot about bears and wolves and that feels cool.

Then the next day I got to go to London without my mom with my whole class to a big science museum all day.  

I only have three days left now at New Hinksey-my school here.  Today my mom is picking me up early from school and we are going to see a play by Shakespeare in the town he was born and lived--Stratford-upon-Avon.  The play is Romeo & Juliet--my mom's favorite one.  My favorite one is A Midsummer Night's Dream.  I'm excited to go see Anne Hathaway's house, Shakespeare's wife.

Last night we ate for the last time in the Harry Potter dining hall.  We will both miss that a lot.  It was really really cool to go there every night the last three months.  I have learned quite a lot about manners.  (& not all the Oxford students have them!)

Next week my mom and I are going to go visit a sheep farm that is in lambing time.  That means lambs are being born every day and they let kids pet them and help them with bottle feeding.  We are also going to go visit the 100 acre wood, the woods that the Pooh stories were invented from.  So check back for some new photos from these adventures.  And send me some emails soon telling me about your life:  naya.ladybug@yahoo.co.uk

Bye!

Lord of the Dance & learning to sew

Here is a video of a cute old man singing a song that we are practicing at New Hinksey right now for Easter:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pRfNLW_K6Q

Also I learned how to sew and embroider yesterday from Helen, a nice friend we made in Oxford.  She is friends with Kirk and Harriet from the Unitarian church.  I know how to do the back stitch now, and also how to make little dresses out of felt for a wooden doll Helen gave me.

I am almost done in Oxford.  Soon we are going to Eurodisney and other places in Europe.  And then soon I'll get to see all of you again in Montana!

Love, Naya

Horrible Histories & Scary Swans

me outside the Bodleian library

I have a lot of videos to share of my life in Oxford, but we can't figure out how to put them on this blog yet.  Soon.  I had a good week this week.  My school got first place at a sport event we competed in with other schools.  I had to run really fast and jump the short jump and high jump.  My legs are still sore.  I had a really great sleepover at Imo's house, and then a whole bunch of us went to a place called Snakes & Ladders in Oxford that is like being in the game Chutes & Ladders with loads of slides, tubes, climbing, and fun.  Last night I went to my first opera.  It was really good, part of it was really funny, and the main singer was so pretty.  I still like being here but I do miss everyone in Whitefish and I miss my cat and dog a lot.  We are half way through our trip. 

 the swan at Christ Church meadows came a little too close the other day

 Just one more month in Oxford.  Then we'll travel around in France, Germany, Austria...for the whole month of April.  I'm excited to have a long break from school and to be with my mum.  She's been so busy with reading, but in two weeks she will be done with her degree.  I'm excited to take some trips here.  I don't like my school as much as I did at first here.  Some of the kids don't listen very much and our teacher has been very cross lately.  But I do really like my friends and I will miss them when we go.  I am going to send a package soon to my classmates at Muldown--thank you for my great Valentine!  You are all so nice.  One more thing--kids & Mrs. Argabright--I don't know if it will work from the US, but I watch some really cool British TV shows at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/categories/childrens/tv  One of my favorites is Horrible Histories.  They tell you all about history by acting it out and it is smart and also really funny.  My mom and I watched the one about the Romans, the Victorians, and the Egyptians this morning--it is gross and funny.  I hope you'll be able to watch it.

Bye, Naya

Me leaving the dining hall at Christ Church--where Harry Potter was filmed--We only get to eat here for two more weeks before they close for spring break and we will miss this so so much.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ALL MY FRIENDS HAVE A GREAT DAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More British vs. American stuff

In England:                                   In America:
crisps                                               chips
going to the toilet                            going to the bathroom
what's your bit in the play?             what's your part in the play?
are you alright?                               hi, how are you?
cheers                                              bye
G.P. (general practitioner)               doctor
on the phone--please press hash      on the phone--please press pound
the States                                         America, US, USA
the Continent                                   Europe
coach                                               bus
pavement                                         sidewalk

& here when you dial the phone it rings like "rrrr..rrrr.    rrrr..rrrr.   rrrr..rrrr" while in the US it is just "ring.  ring.  ring."

& if there is an emergency you have to dial 999 here, instead of 911.

& in my school lots of kids speak French for their first language, and English for their second.  And some of the kids speak Hindi and Arabic, and some of their moms wear burqas.  And the school bully is really small and no one is really afraid of her, but she is mean.

Yesterday I stayed afterschool and helped with a fundraiser for Haiti by buying cakes and sharing them with my friends, Connor and Freya, at board games club.  Then Freya came over and played for hours and ate dinner with my mom and I, then we walked her home.  Today, my mom was in the town where Shakespeare was born, so I went home afterschool with Imo and got to go to dance class with her, and play with her little brother and sister who are twins.  Tomorrow night I get to have my second sleepover at Freya's house & I'm really excited.  Then Saturday, my Opa Duz is coming to Oxford for a week.

Still don't have a working camera, but soon.

Love, Naya

Mr. Bean

Does anyone else like Mr. Bean as much as my mom and I?  If you haven't seen an episode yet, try to watch one.  He's so funny.  We rented some Mr Bean episodes today from the library and are now going to watch one.  We have really full bellies from eating in Harry Potter's dining hall tonight.  Wish you were all here doing these fun things with me.

Love, Naya

P.S. a new word--at the grocery store here it is called Strip Cheese instead of String Cheese.

The Beatles at New Hinksey

Today we had "Singing" at school, which is what they say instead of going to "Music" (like we do with Ms. Hashley.  We worked on a Beatles song to help us learn how to work out problems with our friends.  My mum and I just found the song and video on youtube if you want to see what the Beatles looked like & sound like.  They were really famous and from England.  We like this video because they are laughing a lot, especially Paul McCartney (my mum told me his name), the cute one.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59NNupminV8 

Do you fancy Naya?

In England at my school if somebody has a crush on you they call it 'a fancy' instead of 'a crush.'  So, yesterday when I walked into school there were about five boys singing, "Connor fancies Naya!  Connor fancies Naya!"  I am a little embarrassed to write this for all of you, but it is very cute when your friend says to you in his British accent when we were doing art, "Naya, do you fancy Connor?"  Even though I really do like Connor and think he's smart and nice (and cute) I didn't want them to sing songs about me so I said, "No, I don't fancy Connor."  But I do.  And I'll just be nice to him and be his friend and hope that they stop teasing soon.

Now, I'm going to watch an episode of Charlie & Lola before school because I woke up way too early today since my mom was up reading with the light on in our room.

Bye,
Naya

Going to build a telescope in the History of Science Museum today

I get to go learn about Galileo today in a big, fancy museum that has some of Einstein's work in it, and many other scientists.  We are going to build our own telescope during a Saturday workshop for 9 year olds.  My mum and I just looked up Galileo and found this:

Galileo was born in Italy in 1564 and helped the world understand and finally believe that the earth moved around the sun and not the other way around (Copernicus' theory) with his own telescopes that let him see Venus, and also Jupiter's moons.

This is the building I'll be in.  It is right next to the Bodleian library, and also next to our favorite bookstore in Oxford, Blackwell's, that has a winding staircase and goes up four floors.  The children's section is on the ground floor and has lots of books that the Whitefish bookstore has and lots of books that it doesn't.  We'll probably get some cocoa there and an almond croissant after my workshop.

This is a picture of Einstein's blackboard from a lecture he gave in Oxford in 1931.

I hope you have a fun Saturday too.

Love, Naya

Some things that are different in England

Mrs. Argabright asked me what words are different in England and since we got here my mom and I have been trying to keep a list of words that are different than in the US.  These are some of them:

US                                           England

hot lunch                               school dinner
garbage                                 rubbish
sled                                       sledge
my dear, honey, sweetie       my love
sweets or treats                     sweeties
snowplow/sand truck           gritters
erasers                                  rubbers
tennis shoes/sneakers           trainers
head to toe                            top to toe
trash can                               bin
bye                                       cheers
jello                                      jelly
jelly/jam                               jam
cream/half & half          clotted cream
mom, mommy                     mum
roundtrip ticket                    return trip
one way ticket                     single trip


I also have a weekly spelling test every Tuesday and have to spell things differently like

color    is    colour
favorite is   favourite
analyze is   analyse

And here they use feet and inches, but they also sometimes use the metric system like meters, cm, mm.  They use miles/hour though and not km/hour.  They use centigrade instead of fahrenheit for temperature.

And they drive on the opposite side of the road.  And the driver sits where our front passenger sits.

We went swimming yesterday and got to drive there in a really fancy bus.  I had to do a test to show how I swim and I got put in the higher level.  Which was hard because I had to learn to swim with my face in the water and then just lift my face to take a breath.  And I got to wear my new pink swim cap, but not my goggles, since they don't allow that.

Last night I joined a drama club and guess what!?  We get to study/practice our play each week at Magdalen College (the fancy college of Oxford University that I want to go to).  We are going to put on Shakespeare's As You Like It in ten weeks of practice.  Last night I got to be Rosaline and had to pretend I was in love with this ten year old boy.  It was embarrassing and fun.  I'm the only one with an American accent.

I'll try to think of more things that are different, and when I get a new camera I'll take more pictures again and put them on my blog.

Have a great week!

Love, Naya

Thinking about college

(I didn't take this one--this is a picture of Magdalen College of Oxford University)

I was thinking about which college I want to go to again today when I was walking past Christ Church.  So, I decided again that I really want to come here for college.  I've seen some other colleges and they seem a little junky compared to Oxford.  I really want some of my friends to come to Oxford too because the buildings are like fairy castles and because we could probably get a job anywhere in the world after and because you get to eat in fancy dining halls every night, not in a cafeteria, and because people come here from all different places of the world, and because we'd get really smart.  You might think I'm a little cuckoo in the head because I'm only 9 but I've made up my mind, I'm going to Oxford one day and I want to know who else is going to come with me?  P.S.  Maybe we should try to get into other colleges too but Oxford is going to be first choice for me.

Kisses across the ocean,
Naya

Broken camera...pause in my photo documentary until further notice

My day of independence

self-portrait

(w/ added effect)

My day was like none before as I was very brave and on my own in Oxford.  I awoke to a bit of a sore throat and so we opted that I should take a day off since the kids were going to the pool for swim class and getting wet and cold seemed ill-advised.  However, my mum had some key meetings that she couldn't miss...so I had to decide to go with her or stay at home all alone.  I chose to stay home because that meant pajamas, warm blankets, and unlimited computer time.  My mum showed me how to Skype her cell phone, and off she went for an hour.  Meanwhile I played on the kids' BBC, took pictures of myself on the laptop, and called my mum two times.

By lunchtime my throat felt better, my mum was home again, and we ate lunch together.  Then she went again for an hour to an orientation to the Oxford Union Society and I got to talk to my Oma (grandma) on video Skype and I called my mum twice.  Then she was back again.  Then my mum had to go to a fancy dinner wearing a ball gown and so I went over to my friend Freya's &, lucky me, was invited to spend the night.  So there I sleep top-to-toe (as they say) in Freya's bed next to her (even though it's a school night), while my mum kicks off her heels and types about my day on this blog.

England is brilliant!

My new swimcap

Part of the Bodleian library behind me (they have 11 million books on 117 miles of shelving).  My mom gets her membership to "the Bod" this Wednesday!

My news for the day:  Yesterday I got a new pink swimcap because I get to go swimming with my class every Monday and we have to wear caps but we can't wear goggles without a doctor's permission.  The swimcap at first smelled really bad like plastic but I washed it off and then I wore it while I was reading a book.  Today I found a toystore and it has what we call Calico Critters in it but they have way more than we do and they call them Sylvanian Families.  They have penguins, wolves, persian cats, scottie dogs, cows, panda bears...  I played with Freya again, this time at her house and she has a hundred Sylvanian Families.  Freya has a big sister named Lula.

I'm going to bed now, but you are just done eating lunch...have a good day!

Theatre & the sunset in Oxford

Freya & Naya, 10am

walking to the bus stop--the X3 or X13 to town centre, return

going to the theatre & lunch

after, walking down Abingdon Rd. to our house--naya's photo of the day

walking down Sunningwell Rd. toward Wytham St.--Naya's second photo of the day

4:44 sunset--Naya's third photo for today

sorry, forgot to take a picture today, so here's one I took the other day on our 3 mile walk

My Friday:  School was a go today!  I had a great day and am becoming good friends with Freya.  I asked her if she'd go to the theatre with me tomorrow to Jack & the Beanstalk and she said yes.  I have an extra ticket to go from my Opa.  Then she ran home after school before my mom could get her number.  But she and her mom showed up at our door a few minutes later (they live one block away) & we get to take Freya with us on the bus and to the play.  Everyone is so nice here.  I miss my friends at home but I don't feel homesick.  I wish you all could just come  here.

(Note from the mum:  And afterschool while Naya was getting her things together in the cloak room, the majority of the children either tapped Naya on the back and said, "Bye, have a good weekend." or called out "Bye Naya!"  They are very very nice here, and the manners are grand even among 8 and 9 year olds.  It seems they are all friends in a large cohesive group and not nearly so into pairing off.  I'm liking it so much for Naya.  Everything about Oxford so far has been a pleasant surprise.)