I interviewed Dan Beaupré, NGS Director of Educational Partnerships about his Giant Traveling Maps that visit schools across America. Click here to read my article on Wandering Educators.

Also, if you live in Florida or are planning to visit, this is a great and unique guidebook, Scenic Driving: Florida. by Jan Godown Annino. Read my review.

I decided to hack your blog for one day to tell you…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

Even though you’re yet another year older, you’re still young at heart. As long as you keep that sense of humor I love so much, you can never get old!

I hope your day is marvelous-

Love,

Rachel

Every time I turn on the TV or radio or read a newspaper or magazine, there’s news about the Swine Flu. Colds and flu spread so easily that sometimes you are just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you will get sick. But we’ve heard time and time again from medical experts that keeping ou hands clean is the best way to prevent getting sick. Once school starts, that’s when airborne illnesses spread.

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Here’s what I know from common sense:

1. Wash, Wash, Wash – Talk to your kids about washing their hands may times throughout the day. At home, wash your hands together in the sink. Show them how to rub them together fast and wash both top and bottom of hands with soap.
2. Hand Sanitizer - I am not a big fan of this stuff because it fries the heck out of my hands, but it does cut germs. Put a small bottle in your child’s lunch box. He might think it is fun to use it.
3. Hand Habits – Nail biters, thumb suckers and cuticle chewers are more likely to get sick. Try to get your child to stop these habits.
4. Nutrition - A healthy diet is essential for everyone to stay healthy. Bad diets compromise the immune system, making it more likely for a person to contract an illness. High sugar and fat diets are not going to keep your child healthy. Vitamins can help.
5. Sleep Habits – Does your child get enough sleep? Exhaustion will bring down your ability to fight off colds and flu. Get your child into a good sleeping routine, winding down at least an hour before bed and going to bed at the same time every night.
6. Fitness – Everyone in the family needs regular exercise including your children. They will sleep better, feel better and strengthen their immune systems.
7. Schedules -  Don’t schedule your children with extracurricular activities. A hectic lifestyle is not a healthy one. Kids, like adults, need unscheduled down time.
8. Friends – Keep your child from going to friends’ houses and from them coming to your house for play time if wither child or any of their family members are sick.
9. Kissing - I heard an MD on Good Morning America today say that people in his office are not shaking hands due to the Swine Flu. He recommended that it is good idea to forgo the usual kissing hello of friends as well. It may be impossible to get small kids to keep their hands to themselves, but you can try to explain this to them.
10. Keep her Home – If your child does get sick – especially with flu-like systems, don’t send her to school. Many moms have to work, but they should have a backup system for home care from a friend or family member when their kids are sick. If parents kept their kids home when they are sick, it would make a HUGE difference in preventing the spread of germs.

Click here to read Part 1 of this interview . . .

Many Americans never really get to experience, firsthand, what foreigners think about our culture. But you have many times. Have you encountered any misconceptions others have about us?

Many. The reality of life on Earth is we have a lot of different cultures, and we don’t always get each other. When I lived in England as a child, many of my classmates thought Americans all drove cars as big as Delaware and had high-speed police chases through our communities every night. It was 1977, and “Starsky and Hutch” was one of the most popular TV shows there.

As a teenager in Norway, I encountered other stereotypes – that America was a dangerous place, and that we were all either very rich or very poor. Again, the reason for these misconceptions, I think, is that television shows extreme sides of our culture. These shows may be entertaining for us, but different cultures might take them too literally.

I’ve also encountered political stereotypes, which have shifted in the last decade. I was at a punk rock concert in Bergen, Norway, a few years back. Between songs, the lead singer started ranting about how stupid Americans were for voting for George W. Bush, “not once but twice.” I don’t think she was expecting a Norwegian-speaking liberal American in the audience, and she was a bit bewildered when I yelled from the audience that that we didn’t all vote for him. (But hey, at a punk show, it is culturally appropriate to yell at the band.) I went up to her later and apologized for interrupting, and she apologized to me for stereotyping an entire nation based on its elected officials.

Have there been times when you realized you had improperly stereotyped other cultures as well?

Absolutely. It’s something we all do, and on some level, I would argue that is natural and okay, as long as you also challenge your beliefs and really get to know people. If we travel in foreign places, we’re going to have knee-jerk reactions to things we don’t understand. The trick is allowing time to question our initial negative reactions.

In Globejotting, my book about how to write more meaningful and exciting travel diaries, I talk about how journaling about your expectations before you leave on a trip makes for interesting contrasts once you arrive.

When I teach this idea, people sometimes suggest it’s wrong to travel with preconceptions. But, come on! We travel to places because we have a sense of what they will be like. If we didn’t have some sense of what a place was like, why would we go there in the first place? But usually, there’s at least a subtle difference when we arrive between our expectations and reality.

Do you keep in touch with people you’ve met in other countries?

It’s tricky, but I try. I have a lot of friends in a lot of places. Keeping in touch with all of them on a steady basis just isn’t practical. It could be my full-time job if I were independently wealthy. But the flip side to that is that I have people in many parts of the world who I consider close friends, even if I might only see them once every few years, and when we do get together, it feels as if little time has passed.

How many languages do you speak (or sort of speak)?

Hmmm… well, for starters, I sort of speak English. It’s my native language. I am also fluent in Norwegian, which is very similar to Swedish and Danish, so I understand those as well.

I speak functional, albeit broken, French; enough German and Italian to fool people into thinking I understand them, and a few phrases in a lot of other tongues. Basically, I’m a language nerd, and I try to pick up some of the language wherever I go. But none of this is as impressive as some people make it out to be. Once you’ve got one or two foreign languages down, something clicks in your brain that makes it easier to learn additional languages.

Wow, Dave I am impressed! Most Americans do not speak numerous languages like that. Why do you suppose that is?

I wish we would embrace the concept of teaching foreign languages in elementary schools more than we do. I don’t care whether we teach Spanish or Japanese, Icelandic or Xhosa. Once you go through the process of learning a second language, you understand the thought process involved in communicating in a foreign tongue. So when you then meet people who are struggling to communicate in English, you understand what they need from you – slower speech, clear enunciation, simpler words, etc. You become more effective at communicating in English with non-native speakers.

Americans tend to be perfectionists. That makes some people afraid to attempt other languages because we’re afraid we might say something “wrong.” But you know what? People in other countries don’t think poorly of us if we speak their language badly. They think poorly of us if we don’t try, and always expect them to communicate on our terms.

Thanks, Dave! We’re looking forwrd to Part 3!

Stay tuned for Part 3 of this interview!

Visit Dave Fox here.

The next time you are in South Florida spend a day at John U Llyod State Park. It is a beautiful place!

Click here for more info.

. . . for photos tomorrow am of my weekend adventure.

Once more I am appalled at the risks drivers take on I-95, weaving, speeding, tailgating and recklessly changing lanes. How is it possible to not have fear for your life on that highway?  I always tell my husband that he should design a car for me so that I can drive in the fetal position.

Given the fact that every cloud has its silver lining, crazy drivers inspire me. I love to imagine where they are going in such a hurry, and what it is that they could possibly do for a living, having such low IQs. (I have to the conclusion that people who drive like maniacs, cut people off and have no fear of crashing cannot be intelligent.) What a wonderful idea it would be to write a story with the main character as a reckless I-95 driver.

I must try that and get back to you.

Learn About the US Constitution with your Kids!

215 years ago today, the US Congress passed the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution. It was ratified in 1795.

Amendment XI – Judicial Limits

“The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.”

This amendment was passed following a highly publicized and criticized verdict in 1793, Chisolm Vs Georgia. The state of Georgia was sued by two citizens from the state of South Carolina regarding payments due for clothing supplied to the state during the American Revolutionary War. The decision of the court ordered Georgia to pay the debt owed to the plaintiff. Even so, the state of Georgia claimed that it was a “sovereign” or autonomous state and therefore would not consent to the ruling of the case. The leaders of the state of Georgia were so displeased with the ruling, that they announced they would hang anyone else from another state who brought suit against them.

Taken literally, the Eleventh Amendment to the US Constitution means that  citizens of other States or foreign States cannot file suit against States. It has been criticized by many for not being interpreted or honored consistently. I find it all very interesting, and plan to understand this amendment further.

The US Constitution is an amazing body of work, one which all US citizens (adults and kids alike) should understand and appreciate thoroughly.

Check out this link for more info about this amendment.

Felt Penguin Supplies

• White felt
• Black felt
• Red felt
• Orange craft paper
• Tiny black pom pons
• Large red pom pon
• Polyester batting
• Hot glue gun (Help your kids so they do NOT get burned!!)
• Craft glue
• Glitter pen
• Ribbon for hanging

Double up white felt and cut into two identical 5-inch ovals. Cut 2 identical 3-inch rounds for face with white felt also. Cut 1 top hat out of black felt. Cut 2curved arms out of black felt just a bit longer than oval body. Place a bit of batting in center of oval back. Glue top on by using glue gun along edges. Do the same with the head. Glue head to body. Glue on arms. Cut bow out of red felt. Glue on. Cut 2 feet out of orange craft paper or card stock. Glue on with craft glue. Cut tiny triangle nose. Glue on. Glue on eyes. Write name on hat with glitter pen. Glue or sew on ribbon to the back of the hat for hanging.