2014 - JEFFREY AT JKG

24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans is for most parts of the year a quiet little town west of Paris in the beautiful French countryside. Quiet – yes, but only for 51 weeks, because since 1913 and for one week every year Le Mans is turned into an El Dorado for motorsport enthusiast from all around the world. Le Mans is the home to one of the world’s greatest race tracks – the ‘Cirquit de la Sarthe’. The track is 13,7 km long and includes normal country roads. This race is one of the toughest if not the toughest endurance races and takes place in the first weeks of the summer – it is the fabulous, the spectacular, the mind boggling 24hours of Le Mans.
And I, Jeffrey, right in the middle of it all! A dream come true.

The race started at 3 o´clock on a Saturday afternoon and ended 24 hours later on Sunday afternoon. Between the waiving of the ‘Tricolore’ the French Flag that starts the race and the checkered flag that ends it, there is a big battle going on between the world’s finest car manufacturers and the elite of the international racing drivers. Just imagine, the teams, most of them with three drivers that take turns every 3-4 hours and the large supporting crews of Mechanics, Mechatronics and Engineers – let´s not forget the Catering. They are all fully focused on keeping their cars running for those 24 hours for driver and machine. Can you imagine the noise!

The race stretches through the night on badly lit roads and the weather can really impact on the finish of the race. Heavy rainclouds from the nearby Atlantic can turn within minutes, a perfectly fine sunny race day, into a slip sliding race with many accidents. It was great to learn all about the history of this race and as usual I met some really friendly people from around the world who just couldn’t stop picking me up – but I wasn’t complaining

Don’t forget to leave a comment if you’ve been to the Le Mans 24 hours race or just ask me a question.

My trip to Cuba

Let me tell you about my latest exciting trip to Cuba during the autumn holidays with one of my friends and her parents.

Cuba is an island in the Caribbean Sea not more than 100 km south of Florida. After a long flight of more than 10 hours we arrived in Varadero where we took a taxi to our first hotel. We stayed here for the first three nights. Wow, it was really hot, 33°C, perfect to enjoy the beach and the fantastic sea.

After these three days we had a rental car as we wanted to see more about that country. This is what I learned: Official language is Spanish and not many people outside the hotels speak English. Cuba is a socialist communist country.

The idea of that political system is that nobody is rich and nobody is poor. And everybody earns the same amount of money. Although nobody dies of hunger, life is very hard for the population as most goods are missing. There are no supermarkets, no shops for all the goods you can buy everywhere in Europe. There are two currencies: The Cuban Peso for the population and the convertible Peso, called CUC, for the tourists. For CUC you get almost everything but the Cuban population does not get CUC’s, only if they work in hotels and get some tips. As this system is so unfair and frustrating, many Cubans try to get out of Cuba which, however, is difficult so that some of them even try to escape to Florida by using rafts. I think it is really sad that the world is so unfair.
Anyway, on our round trip we saw Havanna, the capital of Cuba which is very popular because of the many colourful houses and old American cars. 80% of the cars you seen there are Oldtimers. Havanna used to be a fantastic city with beautiful buildings, theatres, museums etc. Today most of the houses are very damaged as no repair jobs were done. I can hardly believe that people still live in such ruins. But the government is starting to restore famous buildings like the Capitol. Cubans love music and you hear their music with drums and other instruments, called Salza, Rumba, Merengue etc. at every corner. They are also very good dancers and I have also moved my hips from time to time.

In Cuba they have a revolution hero called ‘Che Guevara’. He helped to free Cuba from the American occupation but was killed some years later. You can see his face on many house walls and every Cuban child knows him. Tourists can buy T-shirts and other gifts with his face. I am very proud of that picture with Che in the background making me I feel like a hero, too.

Our second stop was in the South of Cuba, in a historic town called Trinidad. We stayed there for four days in local accommodation so we could visit the region. This was real Cuba and we could see and feel how Cubans live. We talked to some of them and learned how life is organized. The most popular drink in Cuba is ron and we enjoyed a Mojito every night (of course only without alcohol). Also cigars from Cuba are very popular. There are many factories in the West of Cuba. I have tried to hold a cigar but they were too big for my hands.

Then we got back to Varadero where we enjoyed the last five days in a nice hotel at the beach. But we were well aware that real life in Cuba is completely different and we were happy to have experienced that side of Cuba.

Friendship, learning, fun and languages with our partner school in the Netherlands

I went to the Netherlands with the wonderful pupils of grades 9 and 12. They participated in a student exchange with Revius Lyceum School our partner school in Doorn. I arrived in Doorn on Monday the 19th September. It was really amazing to see all the students getting so excited to meet their matches. I spent the rest of the day eating all the cookies which the Dutch students gave me. It was great watching the pupils getting to know each other.

On Tuesday, I got carried to the hockey field, where the Dutch pupils taught our students and me how to play hockey. At first, it was difficult but the girls helped me. We then had a real match and I tried to keep up but the play was just a little bit too quick for me – or was I just a little bit too slow!

Afterwards the students played role-plays and watched power point presentations prepared by our Dutch hosts. We even learned about debating and debated different current issues. All of this was organised by a Dutch student and we now know that debating is a great way to learn and use English.

On Wednesday, the students and I went to Utrecht by train. The boat tour was breathtaking. It went through the canals of Utrecht. After the tour ended, I took a selfie with the captain. Then I had to solve a quiz with my group, which we solved very fast. The rest of the time I used for shopping. And guess what? I found a cute t-shirt.
http://www.visit-utrecht.com/en

On Thursday, a bus took us to Amsterdam where we visited the Rijksmuseum. I took a selfie with the “Die Nachtwache” painting. The girls who took me with them arranged for me to sit on a canon, even though I was a bit scared https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en. After I had visited the museum, the students and I had a short break. Then we did a tour through Amsterdam and went shopping afterwards. In the evening, there was a party, which I could not join but the kids had a lot of fun. I thought it was best to let them let their hair down whilst I had a cosy night in eating yummy liqourice and the watching the delights of Dutch television.

On Friday, which sadly was the last day, I went to visit House Doorn http://www.huisdoorn.nl/eng/
A nice woman gave us a tour through the house and told us about the life of Emperor Wilhelm II. To end the week we all went to the pancake house and ate some delicious pancakes. I chose the one with apples on it, which was a great decision. I left the Netherlands after all the students exchanged their goodbyes.

The week in the Netherlands was great fun and we learned a lot, as usual. Speaking English became more natural and I did enjoy it, even though I was carried around in a small handbag!

Jeffrey's Summer Holidays in France

In the summer holidays I went to France by train.I didn’t travel on a normal train, but in a train with sleeping-cars. The beds were very nice and the next morning I started with a yummy breakfast.

I took the metro to a little flat in the centre of Paris. I stayed there for about one week and I found a new friend there - his name is BEO.

BEO told me that there is a good view over the city, when you walk on top of the Arc de Triomphe. So that was what I decided to do at first. After some queueing at the entrance and many stairs I finally reached the top and had a wonderful view.

My next stop was of course the Eiffel Tower. There I met a colourful friendly clown. Because the weather was very hot I needed a break and I refreshed myself at the fountains.

After that I was very hungry and bought myself a crepes, that’s typical French food.

Then I went to see “Cleopatra’s Needle” . It’s a great obelisque that came from Egypt and it is more than 3000 years old.

The next day I visited Notre Dame. Again I had to climb many, many stairs, but again it was a fantastic view.

On the towers I found some interesting, very old gargoyles and I tried to be a gargoyle myself.

I thought about the legend of Quasimodo, but I couldn’t find him, and left the towers and went down. The church with its statues and stone constructions is very beautiful, I then had a rest in front of the church - just watching.

In summertime the people of Paris have some special summer attractions, like little beaches along the river Seine and a floating swimming pool on the Seine.

And do you know where I am now? Right - on the Eiffel Tower. On one of the platforms you can look down through a bottom made of glass - and you can see all the people waiting to go on the Eiffel Tower. On the top of “la tour Eiffel” you can see the whole city. The platform is small but you can go around and look in each direction. The Eiffel Tower is 324 m high and the highest platform is 280m - I was at 281m and here I am! On the way down I took the lift. During the night the Eiffel Tower is illuminated and sometimes there are flashing lights that looks beautiful.

After that I went to visit the famous church of Sacre Coeur which is on top of the hill Montmartre. This church is made of limestone (Kalkstein), which has been taken from Paris, from under the ground. Montmartre is famous because it is a place where many artists live. I felt hungry and I found a nice place to eat another yummy crepes.

One day I met my old friend “Asterix” who invited me to visit him at Parc Asterix, which is an adventure park north of Paris. At the entrance there were many “legionares”, they didn’t want to let me go in, but Asterix gave me a little bottle of his “Magic-Water” and that did the trick!

In the following days I travelled south of Paris to visit a castle and a palace. In the small town of St. Fargeau I was guided through the beautiful palace of St. Fargeau during the night. Everything was illuminated with candles and the people were wearing historical clothes. I was impressed by the big swords and I was afraid of the pillory, but the French were very friendly to me.

The next day was very good. In the evening there was a historical spectacle at the palace’s garden. 800 actors put on a show about the entire French history. The show was very exciting, interesting and I learned a lot!

The last and most amazing highlight of my journey to France was my visit to Guedelon. This is a castle, but not a normal one. Guedelon castle has been under construction since 1997, only using tools and material from the Middle Ages. The construction site is an archeological experiment. Near the castle is a little medieval village, where you can see how people lived and worked in the Middle Ages.

Here you see me and my castle.

That was my journey to meet the friendly people of France and the Thalys (TGV) brought me back home very fast.

If you’ve been to France or like France, send a comment to me and share your thoughts. There may be some words from my adventure you haven’t heard before, so look them up and enjoy learning new things.

Jeffrey's Trip to Majorca

I had a lot of fun in Majorca, which is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is the largest island of the Balearic Islands. I was very excited about the weather and the beach. I was at an all-inclusive hotel which had 4 stars. So if I was hungry, I only had to go to one of those all-inclusive bars and take something to eat.

Majorca is a Spanish island and you can speak Spanish or Catalan, the two official languages, or English for the tourists. This European island also has very good weather, at least in summer. The beaches are sandy and there’s very clean water. I had a lot of fun trying to swim in the salty water – unfortunately I can’t swim, but I’m learning to swim – a very important life skill!

But the price of ice-cream wasn’t very cheap and for one ice-cream scoop I paid 1 Euro 50 cents. So it was good that I didn’t eat too much. In the plane back to Germany I thought about all the friends I met and the fun I had in Majorca and that I can’t wait for next time.

Jeffrey's Exchange Visit to France

I had the great opportunity to travel to France with some of our boys and girls of the JKG.
I went to a school in Sable sur Sarthe.

I discovered several interesting things there. At that school there were many opportunities to sit down! But we couldn't really use them all because we all had to go to the playground. When the break ended, all the students had to form groups and the teachers picked us up for the next lesson.

In the lunch break we always got a 3 course menu in the canteen. I learnt that people from France usually eat their main meal in the evening and that it starts with an appetizer (e.g. salad or sausages etc.). Next comes the main course which is usually meat and vegetables. After that I was able to taste the dessert which was sometimes cheese or sweet things like pudding or cake. I was also able to fly a bit through the school while everybody was working on really good projects.

I could also go on trips with the students from the school and their exchange partners. So I could see Saint Malo, a very nice city with a beach from the Middle Ages on the Atlantic coast. The difference between ebb and flood is up to 14m and we could really see that! As well we saw some small islands which are located near the coast. They were very important and from the 15 -18 century. They are there to protect the harbour. They used heavy cannons for that during an earlier time.

At that time the city became rich because of seafaring pirates. On my way through the city I found a pirate stock! I could take a look at their treasure chamber, because the captain liked me.

One day, my guest family took me to a city called “Anger”. There I could fly through a huge castle. First I went up one of the 17 towers which have a height of 40m. From there I had a great view over the city and the river Maine. I could see the terraced area of the castle and the high walls too. I went to the chapel and looked at a middle age plan of the castle.

In France there are many beautiful historical cities. One of them is called Saint-Suzanne which won the title of “Most beautiful town in France”. It's a city from the Middle Ages with a hill from where you get a good view of the Erve valley which is protected with some good looking walls around it.

I was also able to visit an old ruin from the 11th century. It was the only one which hadn't been captured by William the Conquer.

When I went through the city I talked to some cool people from a tiny store. I found some new friends!

Unfortunately we didn't have more time there and we had to go back by train. Luckily we stopped in Paris.

Of course I went to the world famous Eiffel Tower. It was a very tall, built from metal from the bottom to the top. It was built because of the 100th anniversary of the French revolution and it was named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.

Please let me know what you liked about my trip with JKG students to France and leave a comment!

London Through My Eyes

I arrived in London in a rucksack, like on a backpacker’s back and like all good vultures I had done my research on where I ‘land’. London, capital city of England and capital of the United Kingdom is an awesome city guys. It was founded by the Romans (they called it Londinium) and now it’s a global city of nine to twenty-one million people – that’s more people than in the Netherlands!

Now forget the way vultures like me usually travel because there are far more exciting ways of getting around this city. You could try walking and you’ll do a lot of this if you visit London or you could travel by river - more about rivers later. But because I like red (I wonder why?) and especially the red of London buses, I hopped straight on one.

Here’s a picture of me on an old ‘Routemaster’ bus and lucky for me it wasn’t moving (photo: Routemaster). The old Routemasters disappeared from London’s roads in 2005 but since 2013 new Routemaster buses have been running people around. Each one costs as much as an average house in Germany but if I can still ‘hop on’ and ‘hop off’ them, then they’re worth every penny.

But the best way, some would say only way to travel around this huge city, is on the underground. This is a selfie I took in the underground or ‘Tube’.

It’s called the tube because of the tube shaped tunnels and stations, just like in the photo. Opened in 1863, it was the first underground railway in the world, has two hundred and seventy stations, eleven lines, four hundred and two kilometres of track and carries over a billion people a year! The Tube is a place where you sometimes have to ‘mind the gap’, the space between the train doors and the platform and it can also be a windy place with all that wind being pushed along by the trains. It’s no place to fly and certainly having short legs isn’t an advantage when being faced with the infamous ‘gap’.

Vultures like me love heights and there’s one place in London where all lovers of heights go and yes, you’ve guessed it, it’s the London Eye on the South Bank of a river.

‘Love to see the giant bike it was stolen from’ I said to the ticket person but they told me it was a giant ‘ferris wheel’ instead and giant it truly was. One hundred and 20 metres in diameter, it was built in 1999 and has 32 capsules (those oval things you go in). Each ‘oval thing’ represents a London borough and no other London sight has so many paying customers – that’s the attraction of height and us vultures normally get it for free. After about thirty minutes, that’s the time it takes the ferris wheel to rotate once around, I got off and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw London Carrot trees for the first time. So that’s where carrots come from!

If you like shopping, then London’s your town. Vultures as well as humans can really ‘shop until they drop’. Oxford Street is a world famous street packed full of shops and tourists. On the way you’ll pass Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster and come across Nelson’s Column. This is a monument built in 1844 to remember Admiral Horatio Nelson, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Other cousins of mine have made Trafalgar Square their home and although many people can’t see their beauty, I can and with nearly a million pigeons living in London, I feel at home.

I headed for Regent Street nearby because one little birdie told me about Hamleys and it didn’t disappoint this birdie. It’s the oldest and largest toy shop in the world. Plenty of room to spread my wings over seven floors of back to back toys, in fact fifty thousand toys and I was one of the five million visitors a year but there was only one Jeffrey from the JKG and that Jeffrey was me. And guess who was waiting for me with her corgi dog, one ultra VIP that lives in London – the Queen.

She was a little hard and cold but then the shop assistant told me I was sitting on the lego Queen of England and that if I wanted to be near the real queen I’d better visit her home. So off I went to Buckingham Palace, the Queen’s home.

So many people want to see where she lives as well as her guards in red uniforms with egg shaped hats. Perching on shoulders tired me as I watched ‘Changing the Guard’ and a kind palace policeman allowed me to have a quick nap in his hand.

I learned that when the Union Jack flag is flying above the palace the Queen isn’t there and guess what, it was flying. So I decided to take a great selfie with the palace in the background instead.

Even the lego Queen has a crown, even though it’s made of plastic but I was told that if I wanted to see the real Crown Jewels I had to go to the Tower of London.

It was founded about 1066 and the Crown Jewels have been kept there since 1303. This is a really important place because it’s been a home for royalty, a jail and a place of execution. Also there’s a cool story about the ravens that live there. This interests me big time as these birds are like cold climate cousins of mine and like the same healthy diet. The story goes that if the ravens fly away, the Queen and the country will fall and be no more. Now as you can imagine that’s a big no-no and therefore a special person (the raven Beefeater) looks after the ravens. These raven cousins of mine are called: Hardey, Thor, Odin, Gwyllum, Cedric, Hugine and Munin and they told me that they are treated like royalty and are paid by the British government – how cool is that!

Over the years the Kings and Queens lost most of their powers and now other people run the country. I wanted to find out where these people hung out and I came across a magnificent palace called the Palace of Westminster and the Houses of Parliament which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A lot of important business happens here, especially in the House of Commons and House of Lords and again I heard the chimes of Big Ben, that’s the famous bell you can hear when you come to London.

It was so high up it made me, Jeffrey the ‘vulture’, feel dizzy. But this is not the only place in London where decisions are made.

Downing Street is where the British Prime Minister lives and works. I asked the very friendly policemen guarding the street if they would hold me in their arms for a good camera shot. Unfortunately they weren’t allowed to do this but said I could sit on the fence for a picture.

As you know, I love being cuddled and I wasn’t really that happy about sitting on a cold fence. So off I went to the Cabinet Office a little bit further down Whitehall (A long street). Then I saw my chance to be cuddled because a very nice police lady from the Metropolitan Police took me in her arms!

Now to the river I have mentioned and what a river it is. Although it’s a mighty three hundred and forty three kilometres long, the River Thames isn’t the longest river in the United Kingdom, that’s the River Severn. No one’s really sure where its name comes from but it’s still the heart and soul of this city and everything seems to have a connection with it. I then fluttered up to something that was built over the river – Tower Bridge (Now don’t mix this up with London Bridge a little further along).

Tower Bridge was built between 1886 and 1894 and is very special because it’s a ‘drawbridge’ or ‘a ‘Bascule’ bridge. When you walk along it, and forty-four thousand do this every day, you can see where the roads and pavements join and when a big ship comes down the river, the whole bridge splits into two and the two sides lift up into the air – wow!

From the bridge I fluttered down to the river and opposite I could see ‘the City’ or the ‘Square Mile’ which is a world famous business and financial centre. In the background you can see skyscrapers, some with cool names such as ‘the Gherkin’, 'the Walkie-Talkie' or ‘the Cheesegrater’. Look at their shapes and see if you can spot them.

Floating on the river nearby is HMS Belfast.
This warship was launched in 1938 and was opened as a museum in 1971. I’ve even heard that school youth groups can spend nights on board! From HMS Belfast I looked up and up and up and saw another new building called ‘the Shard’ which is an eighty-seven story skyscraper. Look at its shape and material and you’ll see why it’s called ‘the Shard‘.

My journey through London took me to only some of the sights and wonders of this world city. I left in a rucksack, like on a backpacker’s back and like all good vultures I had the time of my life!

If you enjoyed reading about my journey or would like to ask me about it or leave a comment, then please do so.

Your Jeffrey

Jeffrey's adventures in Ludvika, Sweden

On Jeffery´s first day with our German class 9 ty2 he followed Matilda home, me.
We had a lovely day together. We went home to Ickorrbotten, a little village in Ludvika. When we arrived at my house we had a tasty Swedish specialty “fika”, it’s a cup of coffee, very black and a bulle. Nam nam.
We took a little walk in the garden and Jeffery explored the wild nature of Sweden. He fell in love with the beautiful flowers “snödroppar” (snowdrops). He climbed trees and took selfies with me.

He also met my cat Hedda and they liked playing with each other. Jeffrey and Hedda eventually said goodbye and we went off to a track and field practice. My training group thought Jeffrey’s protruding eyes were very gorgeous. Jeffrey and my friend Josef had a little talk about the weather on the pew. We did running and running charring and Jeffrey cheered. Then we did some strength training and after we stretched our big muscles.

Matilda

Hello! Today Jeffrey and I just chilled in my room and listened to music on my iPad. Jeffrey said he really enjoyed it and I think he liked it very much.

I want to have him at home more times but he unfortunately arrives at his home soon but I want to celebrate the fact that we had a really nice time together and I hope he had a good time with me and enjoyed my lifestyle and thought that I was a nice and a good person.

Bye!
Linus

This is a picture of my house.

Jeffrey had quite an unusual experience this morning. My mother was driving me to school on the 25km long trip on a slippery road in the forest between Ludvika and Grangärde (where I live), and then 7km from Ludvika on a long downhill the car lost it´s grip and we drove off the road and the car flipped and landed upside-down in the ditch next to the road. Fortunately for us we didn´t hurt ourselves (Jeffrey included) but the car got trashed. We´ve spoken to Jeffrey and we told him that everything´s alright, and now he´s completely fine :)

Emil Here´s a picture of the wreck.

I showed Jeffrey the school and he got the chance to talk some German with us and the teacher. It wasn’t that difficult for him because that’s his native language. But it was difficult for him to get the headset on though. He got tired after a while because the German lesson was way too easy for him.

We went to see Fredriksberg and ended up on a stone. It’s a memorial to “Sebastian Grave” who founded a small village 1000 km from Fredriksberg called “Gravendal”. Did you know that in 17th century a little bit of iron from Gravendal was used to build the Eiffel tower!

And here’s Jeffrey in front of the only school in Fredriksberg. Pupils go there from the 1th grade to the 9th.

Fredriksberg is a small village in Sweden with just about 700 people. But it’s actually a popular tourist resort and especially people from Germany come here. You can go skiing in the winter in our ski slope. In the summer you can try your fishing luck, go cycling and go for elk-safari etc. If you're lucky you might even see a wolf. The thing with Fredriksberg is that it has beautiful and peaceful nature. So if you want to get away from the big city and just relax, this is a place for you.

Elin

Here are 4 pictures of Jeffrey in Sweden when I took him over a night. I live in Västansjö, 25 kilometers from Ludvika.

As you can see Jeffrey was outside and played in the snow. He was in my lap with my guinea pig Rosa-Russin "Rorran" and with my friend Josefine in the background. It was fun to have him!

Lovisa

These pictures were taken recently by Klas showing Jeffrey spotting a magnificent moose while riding their dirt-bikes in the deep forest of Loforsen. The utter shock that Jeffery experienced startled Klas and rendered him unable to take any pictures of the amazing creature!

In this first picture I want to show the snow that we have at this time of the year and my horse Fengur, but unfortunately, Jeffrey did not want to sit on my horse.

I took another picture on the same place but this time I wanted to show you some more landscapes in my village.

You can see the small woodland lake in the background, the name of that lake is Burtjärn. He didn’t want to be in the paddock just because he got scared of my horses, he said: “No I don’t want to be here with these creatures.”

In the third picture I just thought it was a little fun thing to show my special brick (it is called Ludvikategel and it’s pretty obvious that it came from Ludvika). I tried to show him the inside of the stable but he didn’t really want to.

I took this picture to show our typical house style here in Sweden and yes he is looking at my neighbor´s flagpole and you can see that there is some snow left but not so much.

I don’t really know why I took this picture but it’s really nice and I can show my village more.

Jeffrey sends a big thank you to all the students in Ludvika who wrote the texts and shared their photos. I now have so many new friends in Sweden 💙💛💙!

My trip to Cancun, Mexico

My travels continued in the winter when I flew to Cancun which is a city in Yucatan, a peninsula in Mexico.
I went there with one of my good friends and her family. We had a very nice time there.
At the end of December we went by car to the airport in Amsterdam. Our flight started at one o´clock and we flew eight hours to Philadelphia in the United States.

In Philadelphia we had a short stop of three hours.
Our continuing flight to Cancun took us about four hours.

As we arrived in Cancun we went by rented car to our hotel which was one hour from the airport.
After we checked-in we went to bed. We were very tired because it was 7 a.m. in Germany.
We all needed some time to get ‘into’ Mexican time. There was a time difference of 7 hours!
Our hotel was great and because it was in the jungle and near the beach too I was able to chat to all my non-human friends to see what it’s like living in Mexico.

The following days we relaxed at the beach or at the pool and swam a lot of times in the ocean.

I walked from restaurant to restaurant and there were thirteen restaurants in all. I liked most the main restaurants because of the desserts - there were crepes and tasty cakes. On the picture you can see one of my favourite chocolate cakes.

I tried a lot of different meals but sometimes I had to smile about the translation from English to German. But we’re not perfect and what a boring world it would be if we were!

One day we went to a turtle beach. The special thing about this beach is that if you swim a little bit away from the beach you can see turtles. You only have to take a little bit of time to search and snorkel. However, I can´t show you a picture because my underwater camera broke down. I´m very sorry about that but anyway I saw two very big turtles and one smaller one.
On New Years Eve there was a very big party and at 5 p.m. we celebrated Jeffrey Time at the beach – otherwise known as German time. It was a lot of fun! At 12 p.m it was also very loud and everybody shouted and celebrated. I don´t know how long the party was but I went to bed at 2 o'clock!! That is very late for a vulture especially for one called Jeffrey.

On Thursday we went to the Maya temple El Castillo or Temple of Kukulkan which is a part of Coba the, ruined city. Coba is 40 km away from the coast. It was built about 900 AD and it was one of the biggest Maya temples in Yucatan. The whole city is about 70 km² big. The temple is 42 meters high and has got 120 steps. On top is an old sacrificial altar! It was definitely a privilege to be there.

I really enjoyed the holidays with my friend but the only bad thing is that I didn't get a tan. I will never forget the wild animals near our hotel especially as they kept asking me why I needed to stay in a hotel and not with them outside. I explained to them that as I live with humans I have taken on some of their bad habits. Oh yes, I had a lot of fun with my non-human friends but was a little put off by a runny nosed iguana that kept pestering me but I suppose that’s what I miss about living in the wild!

Things to find out:

Which continent is Cancun in?

How many hours difference is there between where you live and Cancun?

What kind of climate does Cancun have compared to yours?

What different kinds of wildlife live there?

The Maya civilization.

If you’ve been to Cancun or live there or you liked my journey, please send a comment.