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Trip Notes
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FundraisingThanks to all of the wonderful teachers, students, and community members who donated time and money, we have purchased Victor's plane tickets, and he is on his way to Washington D.C. (and other exciting places)! We have had bake sales, snack sales, carnation sales, a car wash, and received generous donations from the following people and organizations:
Thanks also to the teachers who have dedicated their time to our fundraisers:
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Saturday, June 9, 2007 Well, today is the first day of my trip. So far, everything's gone ok. There are a lot of things to see in every corner. It's fantastic. The hotel room is really nice. I love it. In Hollywood, I couldn't believe my eyes. There were so many exciting things everywhere. We also went to see a Broadway musical called Wicked. The musical was so cool! I loved it. So many cool characters. The musical was about the witches of Oz. My favorite character was Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West). I'm really enjoying this trip. So stick around as I tell you more of my fascinating journey. |
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Sunday, June 10, 2007 Today was really exciting. We went to Venice Beach for a while. There were really cool merchandise stands which had cool stuff. There was even a show where a man was juggling large knives while on a ladder. It was fantastic! Then we went to UCSD where we met with Amy, a student who studies biomedical sciences. She gave us a tour around the school campus. The campus was huge. There are a lot of things you can study in the university. I even got to hold a pipette, which is used to transfer liquids between containers. Today was a really cool day. |
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Monday, June 11, 2007 Well, today was my first day in Virginia. The air travel to get here was so cool. I loved flying in the plane. It was fun. We later went to eat at this really cool restaurant. They had wonderful Asian food: Mongolian, Chinese, and Japanese. Cool, huh? I ate sushi, which was really good. I loved the food. We later went to a comic book store where I bought comic books. There were so many books at first I didn't know what to choose. I bought a Japanese anime book and a American style anime book. I'm happy with my choices. Well, I can't wait until tomorrow for a new day of this exciting journey. So still stick around, for everything gets better from here. Get ready for some of our nation's history and many other stuff! |
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Tuesday, June 12, 2007 Wow! Today was awesome. Jamestown was really cool. The short movie we watched in the museum theater was really interesting. They showed how the Englishmen interacted with the Powahatan Indians, which was really cool. The trading system was really nice. It talked a lot about how the English arrived into the "New World" trying to establish a colony in 1607. The ships they used on their voyages were really neat. The two ships I got to look in were the Susan Constant (the biggest ship, which held the most colonists), and the Godspeed (a smaller ship that held twelve colonists and eight crewmembers). There was a ship we didn't take a look at from the inside, but from far away it looked amazing. Going into the fort and the little Powahatan Indian village was awesome. I really enjoyed the demonstration of the musket being fired. I enjoyed the loud boom. It was great. It was also interesting how the Powahatan Indians made their canoes. They'd use fire to burn out the core of a tree from one side and then scrape the inside with clam shells. I thought that was neat. We later went to eat at a restaurant were they served Japanese teppan food. The restaurant's name is Kyoto. They cooked right in front of you, which is awesome. I ate with training chopsticks, because I don't know how to use regular ones. When the chef tossed the shrimp to me it landed in my mouth two times in a row! Now, that was cool. The food was great. We had dinner with Mrs.Bogursky's friend Vicki. She is currently an inspirational speaker with four degrees from the College of William and Mary. She told me the story of how she came to this country from Russia as an exchange student at Jamestown High School. She talked to a lot of people to be able to afford college. She had a challenge to go to college, though it was really worth it. She really triumphed over her obstacles and succeeded in achieving her goal. Well, this day was awesome. Tomorrow, we'll be going to Washington. I can't wait! |
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Wednesday, June 13, 2007 Today was really cool. In Yorktown, I really liked the museum. It was really neat. I loved the musket and cannon demonstrations. The cannon sound was really loud. I also liked the turkeys under the barn. At first I was scared of them, but then I thought they were cool. In Washington, D.C., there was this really cool park with this huge sculpture called "The Awakening" that was basically a huge giant coming out from the ground as if just waking up. It was really cool. Later, we went to the Marine Corps Memorial where they had a statue of the historic marines raising our nation's beautiful flag. They really showed love for our country. They were true Americans. Tomorrow we will be going to more really fun cool places, including the Capitol and the Library of Congress, so stand by! |
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Thursday, June 14, 2007 Today was amazing. In the office of of our congressman, Kevin McCarthy, I was fortunate to see him and greet him. One of the congressman's aides gave us a tour around the Capitol building. I loved the Capitol. In the Capitol, they had this star on the floor that's the exact center of Washignton, D.C. I got to stand on it. The Capitol had really fascinating paintings and nicely designed tile. I thought the statues were unique. The Rotunda looked really nice. I thought that was neat. Then we went to the U.S Department of Education, which was funny because there was this liitle building that said, "No Child Left Behind." Then we took pictures in front of it, and in the photo I was left behind by Mrs. Bogursky. That was funny. The U.S Botanic Garden was just marvelous. All the plants there were incredible. I will never forget my visit there. There was a variety of incredible plants and flowers. There were giant leaves that were just so green. Uh-oh, I think I grew a green thumb. Then we went to the Library of Congress.I really liked the wonderful smell of the books. There were really colorful mosaics on the ceilings. I really enjoyed my visit to the Library of Congress. After that,we went to the Albert Einstein Memorial, where there was this giant sculpture of him doing some math problems. It was a very artistic sculpture. Then we went to the Vietnam War Memorial, where there were a couple of things. There was this large wall where it had the names of all the heroes who died in the Vietnam war. And then there was a statue of three women helping a soilder. That was very nice. There was also this statue of three soilders who were seperated from their unit. We later went to the Korean War Memorial, where they had this area where there were a lot of statues of soldiers. They looked like they were getting ready to attack. I thought that was neat. After that, we went to the Lincoln Memorial, which was awesome. There was this huge statue of President Lincoln sitting on a chair. Off to the left, there was a wall with writing. That was neat. Around the building there was a great view of the Memorial Bridge. For dinner, we ate at the Uno Chicago Grill in Union Station. The pizza I ate was yummy Bacon Cheeseburger deep-dish pizza. Mmmmm. Our drive back to Williamsburg, Virginia, was funny because Mrs. Bogursky took the wrong highway and then we got lost in Maryland. So we had a little detour of Maryland. Eventually we found our way to our inn. So basically, today was an exciting day. I saw alot today. Tomorrow, we'll be going to Colonial Williamsburg, which I can't wait for. |
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Friday, June 15, 2007 Huzzah! Well, today was really fun. The first thing we did in Colonial Williamsburg was the tour of the Geddy House. That house was very intersting. The family who lived there was a middle class family. The man of the house was a merchant. He sold silverware for a living. Then we went to see Patrick Henry. He was funny. He apologized to the women because he was talking about politics in their presence, and they wouldn't comprehend. He was a real good actor. I went to get myself lost in the Governor's Palace Maze. That maze was a lot of fun. After I finally managed to find my way out of the maze, we went to the Magazine where they stored all the weapons. They had really neat stuff in there like swords and mini cannons. We had lunch at the Garden Fare at Chowning's Tavern. I ate a colonial cheeseburger and some colonial chips. They were good. After lunch, we went to the brickyard, where I learned how they made bricks back in colonial times. The whole process took about half a year or more which would create a oven. That was intersting. Down the pathway we went to the cabinetmaker's shop, where they made really incredible stuff. The man from the shop was currently working on a harpsichord, which is kind of like a piano, but different. We also went to the bindery, where they bind pages together to create a book. I thought that was neat, too. After a while, we went to the blacksmith's shop. There they were currently working on a small ax. One of the smiths was camera shy. I stopped by the wigmaker, and I was amazed at how they made the wigs. You had to shave your head to take measurements so the wig would be your size. The last thing we did during the day was take a tour of the jail. The jail cells didn't look so comfortable. The original cells were underground. Can you imagine being a male prisioner during colonial times and have to be down there? It must have been awfully hot down there. At 8:45pm, we took took a ghost tour around Williamsburg, and we heard some ghost stories of some of the buildings there that are haunted, as said by some people. The stories were kind of scary, I have to admit. But are there really ghosts? Who knows, those stories might actually be real. Well, I really enjoyed today. |
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Saturday, June 16, 2007 There wasn't much to do today. We just did some laundry and some shopping. I am looking forward to tomorrow. We'll be going to New York. I just can't wait! |
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Sunday, June 17, 2007 Today we flew on a tiny plane to New York which was delayed for two hours. This flight was better than the others, though. When we got to New York, we went to the 1964 World's Fair site where we saw the giant globe featured in the movie Men in Black. It was bigger than it looked in the movie. We saw the flying saucers from the movie as well. That was cool. Then we went to see a Panorama of New York City. It was so creative. It took three years to complete. More than 100 people worked on the job. It's like a big 3-D model. That was a terrific masterpiece. Then we drove to the American Museum of Natural History. The museum had amazing stuff. In one of the exhibits there were dinosaur skeletons. There was the T-Rex that was featured in the movie Night at the Museum. I really liked the this one particular place where they had the biggest flower in the world which I'm familiar with. It's called Rafflesia and smells like rotten meat. It only grows in the rainforest. I really enjoyed my visit to the American Museum of Natural History. We are staying at Mr. Bogursky's brother's house in Connecticut. Mr. Bogursky's nephews are really fun to play with. They gave me some of their toys as a gift. This day was nice. |
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Monday, June 18, 2007 Today was just a "hang around the house" day. I played with Mr. Bogursky's nephews all day. They're fun to play with. We rode bikes, which was really fun, and we played baseball. They're good, but I still beat them. The best part of today was dancing to trance music just a little while ago. The boys, Mrs. and Mr. Bogursky's daughter Kismet, and I were dancing and having a great time. But soon, the boys' bedtime came up. Well, there's always tomorrow. |
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Tuesday, June 19, 2007 Today I mostly spent playing the online game Runescape. I can't wait for tomorrow. We're going to go to exciting places. I can't wait. |
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Wednesday, June 20, 2007 Today we finally did something. In the morning we went to Dunkin Donuts, where I ate a sugar-powdered jelly donut. It was really good. Too bad they don't have Dunkin Donuts shops in California. Then we went to the Barnum Museum, where we saw the smallest people in their time. They were tiny. Smaller than my waist. We also saw a really old Egyptian mummy. It was wicked. We also saw models of the Barnum circus in the past. That must have been a huge circus. I enjoyed my visit to the Barnum Museum. Then we went to the Discovery Museum, where I learned how electricity works. I rode this bike that powered up two light bulbs and a radio. Almost 75 watts of power. We also went to a planetarium where we saw a short story of a cat who lived on the moon. It was a good story. I also learned how light can bend. That was neat. For lunch we ate at Ruby Tuesday, where I ordered New Orleans Seafood. That was some good food. Overall, today was a nice, calm day. |
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Thursday, June 21, 2007 This morning, we went to Yale University for a tour. It was awesome! I really liked the buildings. They were really neat. The library was fantastic. It had really old books. I love the smell of old books. There were statues on the campus. There was this one statue of Nathan Hale. He spied on the English in the Revolutionary war. A funny story about that statue was that the CIA wanted the statue but the University wanted it for themselves. So one night some CIA agents took a mold of it and made the exact same statue. They put it up for their headquarters' grand opening. The funny part is that no one really remembered how Nathan Hale looked because there were no portraits of him, so the school just got a random student and used him for a statue. So the CIA just has a statue of a random Yale student at their headquarters. After Yale, we went to Gillette Castle. That was a nice castle. He must of had a lot of money for him just to wake up one day and say he wanted to live in a castle. His house doors had an interesting mechanism. He even had a railroad train that went around all of his acres of land. His castle overlooks this huge river, compared to California's rivers. Then we went to the Cartoon Museum, but it was closed. They still had some cartoon characters outside. They had some really old cartoons I now miss. Then we went to the House of Doors, where they had this giant statue of a man. It was not put together because they were currently fixing it. But Mrs. Bogursky took pictures with different parts. She was scared of it. I am at Mr. Bogursky's other brother's house now. I like this house. Today was fun. |
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Friday, June 22, 2007 Today was another "hang around the house" day. Although I did have fun today. I played Uno with Emma (Mr. Bogursky's niece) and then we danced. I watched some exciting shows on television. But I know tomorrow will be a fun day. |
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Saturday, June 23, 2007 Yay. Today we went to the U.S. Navy Submarine Force Museum. The submarine's space inside was really small. My claustrophobia was bothering me a little. I don't know how the sailors got around in there. I liked how they would fire a missle. It would be fired, and it would go to the surface, and it would actually fly like a rocket. Wow. The bunks in there were incredibly small. Then we went to Mystic Pizza, where they filmed the movie Mystic Pizza. The pizza was really good. The funny part is that on their menus it said that the pizza made the movie famous, but I think it's the other way around. Then we went to see some really nice ships. The first one was called the L.A. Dunton fishing schooner. That was a nice ship. Below deck, though it smelled like fish. The ship looked hard to sail. Then we went to check out the Charles W. Morgan whaling ship. The sailors that sailed on that ship would catch whales. That must have been a hard job. That ship was a lot bigger than the first one. They would usually be on the ship about five years. It took six months to get where they were going, and they would spend about four years there, and it would take them six months to get back. That must have been tough work. I played in the playground for a while where a lot of the kids there and I were playing on some little ships. I was the pirate and I would invade the ships. That was fun. For dinner we went to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. That was no ordinary cafe. Nope. They had vine-like plants hanging from the ceiling and big butterflies that flapped their wings and almost looked real. They had gorillas that moved like crazy gorillas. Those looked real. And these giant elephants that were just fantastic. I liked the cafe. Today was a nice fun day. |
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Sunday, June 24, 2007 Sleep. I slept a little more today. The first main thing I did today was go bike riding with Ken and Emma. We went down this steep hill. It was wicked. I like the roads here. Later I ate a knish. A knish is stuffed with potato. Mmmmmmm. That was my first knish ever. I was planning on going with Ken and some other people on a hike, but then no one felt like going anymore, so we ended up not going. I did find something to do, though. I watched the movie The Parent Trap. It was such a good movie. I can't wait for tomorrow. I wonder what this journey has in storage for me. |
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Monday, June 25, 2007 Wow. Today was the best day ever. We woke up early in the morning to drive to New York City. While we were going to go find Brian's apartment building, Mrs. Bogursky spotted a yellow car that looked like Pikachu. I loved it. It said "Pokémon" on it and it had different pokémons on the windows. We finally parked the van, and we went to visit Brian, Mr. Bogursky's cousin. He has a Wii. It was great. I beat Mrs. Bogursky at tennis. Yay! For breakfast we had bagels. They were delicious. After that we to rode the subway. It was incredibly hot down there. Those were my first subway rides. We were in the middle of where the World Trade Center used to stand. Now there are two big holes in the ground. While waiting in line for the Statue of Liberty ferry we saw some street performers. There was this guy that was playing the steel drums. He only knew four songs. He wasn't that good. Then there was this guy that claimed he was an acrobat. He didn't amuse me. We passed through security, and we finally were able to take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. Inside the monunent they only let you go to the top of the pedestal. That wasn't fun. I really liked the view, though. We were up really high, I have to admit. Then we took another fun ferry ride to Ellis Island. That was the place where the immigrants checked in who came from Europe around the late 1700s through the early 1900s. If you knew people in your family who immigrated through Ellis Island, you could probably find their records. Then we went to eat at Ray's Pizza. New York's pizza is way better than California's pizza. I could have another slice right now. Then we went to the biggest Toys "R" Us in the world. It was huge. Can you believe they even have a ferris wheel in there? Wow. They have this section for just Pokémon! I can't compare that store to my local Toys "R" Us store. This is my last night in Ken's house. In fact, this is my last night here on the East Coast. I like it here. |
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Tuesday, June 26, 2007 I hate flying. Today started off really well. In the morning, we said goodbye to Ken and Emma. They were fun people. The best part of my morning was that Mr. and Mrs. Bogursky and Kismet gave me a gift: A Pokédex that has all 490 Pokémon! They're awesome people. I finally said goodbye to Sondra and Eric, and then we headed to the airport. I flew first class to Atlanta. The bad part was that our flight was delayed two hours, and we had a short connection with our other flight in Atlanta. When we got there, we headed quickly toward the gate for our flight to San Diego. When we got to the gate, everyone had boarded, and they had closed the door without us. The policy was that once the door closed you couldn't board anymore. So we watched our plane there not doing anything for 20 minutes. They could've let us in. Nope, we watched our flight for the night take off. We were stuck in Atlanta. After a few arguments with the supervisors, they finally came through. They bought us a hotel room and dinner and breakfast. Can you believe one of the supervisors offered us some blankets and told us we could camp out in the airport? The other bad thing was that our lugguge went in the flight to San Diego. Our luggage got to San Diego without us! So we are in a hotel in Atlanta with no luggage right now. Hopefully we don't miss tomorrow's flight. What a day! |
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Wednesday, June 27, 2007 Four hours on the plane to San Diego. That was a particularly long flight. In San Diego I couldn't find my luggage. I finally found it. I thought I had lost it, and I was panicking. I don't like air travel. This the end of my journey. I really enjoyed it. I want to thank again those who helped make this trip a success. I'm truly thankful for that. In the whole trip I would have to say the U.S. Botanic Gardens and Colonial Williamsburg were the places I liked most. So thanks again to those who helped this excitng journey come true. Tomorrow I go back home. Thank you. |
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