An art project we did this week as a family was to design our own cards for a game called Pit. We spent a lot of time throwing out ideas for designs, and then refining the designs. I drew a branch of cherry blossoms, a violin and a totem pole. I had to copy each design out 9 times. We have been having a great time playing the game with our neighbors.
We went to Bodiam castle it is one of the most famous and beautiful castles in Britain. The light was beautiful as it was a sunny day and we explored every corner of the castle. There was one part by the kitchen where there was a well that they used for washing clothes and cooking food as well as for making beer, even children drank beer because the water from the well could have been from the dirty mote. Above the well there lived 600 pigeons. They used the pigeons for meat and eggs, their feathers were used to stuff fluffy mattresses and cushions. The people in the castle ate off plates of stale bread or wood and they only used a knife to cut up food and then ate with their fingers. Cooks used dogs to help in the kitchen, the dog ran around inside a small treadmill linked to the spit, I wonder how they would get the dog to run? There were 33 fire places and 28 toilets. All the spiral stair cases in the castle turn clockwise some people think that this was so right-handed attackers wouldn’t be able to poke their swords and spears around the bend, but a defender coming down the stairs would find it easy. I think that point is a very good one. We had a brilliant time at Bodiam castle.
Your exploring student,
Mia
Ruben’s Week
Mia and I had our first try at a British School this week. It was pretty fun even though all the kids were younger than me. Mia and I did a presentation about our travels and our life on Cortes. Mia and I also gave a slide show with pictures of Europe and Canada. During the day we learned about springs and Newtons. You probably already know this about Newtons and that it is a way to measure force. We also learnt how to draw line graphs to show the facts that we collected.
Mom, Mia and I worked on an amusing art project this week, we drew our own Pit cards. Pit is a very fun game, it is all about trading your cards away and getting new ones. The objective of the game is to get all nine of the same cards and yelling “PIT!”. Our old game of Pit was not “eco friendly” as mom says, with oil and gas as commodities. Our version has a totem-pole a canoe and images that are meaningful to each of us. I drew an image of Sonic the Hedgehog who is one of my favorite characters from a comic series. We played pit with our new Fletching friends. I will really miss the friends I made here over the last month, and I will miss playing a “jolly good” game of football with them.
We went to an awesome castle today called Bodiam. It was really entertaining. We got to go up to the top of a tower and look at the wonderful view on a sunny day! A very smart idea is that spiral stair-cases turn clockwise in castles so that right handed attackers would have a harder time swinging their swords around the corners, where as right handed defenders would have an easier time. Another cool defense tactic is that corner towers were round so that the rocks catapults fired at them bounced off instead of just hitting straight on! Medieval genius I say.
Next report will come from Cornwall!
Till then,
Ruben.
