Around the World... in Four Days

Claire is back in preschool this week for a 4-day mini-camp: Crafts of the World. She had Monday off, but now she and her classmates are spending the remainder of the week going around the world learning about arts-n-crafts from other lands. I, too, once went around the world. I believe the year was 1995 when I set sail from Jim's Tap on Main Street in Brookings, SD. It was a fairly brief voyage, yet my shipmates and I managed to "visit" 10 countries in just a few short hours: Canada, Germany, Jamaica, Mexico, Ireland, Australia, Japan, England, Norway and Slovakia. But instead of studying local arts-n-craft traditions, we each consumed a select beer from each country. The voyage was part of my older brother's bachelor party. Incidentally, the fact my older bro is an official Tour Guide after having traveled around the world so many time's at Jim's during his college years in the 1980's - with an official Tour Guide jacket to prove it - might give you a good indication of where I get my proclivity for fermented beverages. Anyway...

Today, Claire visited parts of Europe where she learned about kings and queens. Yesterday she visited Australia and whittled herself a didgeridoo - an Aboriginal wind instrument. But instead of whittling it out of wood, she used construction paper. And after spending just a couple hours at home with Claire and her didgeridoo, I phoned her teacher to announce, "If your around the world adventure has any planned stops in South Africa, I'm pulling Claire out of class faster than you can say 'vuvuzela'!"

Here are some photos of Claire wearing her crown and showing off her didgeridoo!