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ARTEFACTS Crystal figures
Depicting animals Figures from our partner Gonzalo, depicting animals, have a very interesting story. It is said that his grandmother's uncle served as Italian general in the 2nd World War. It was the right hand of Figures from our partner Gonzalo, depicting animals, have a very interesting story. It is said that his grandmother's uncle served as Italian general in the 2nd World War. It was the right hand of the dictator Benito Mussolini, who, after the very hard campaign to give in power of the country, made him a present value and rewarding their loyalty, a precious crystal figurines made entirely in that country. This lucky man, he passed to his niece, during the Spanish Civil War because he was very ill from Italian military retirement and death seemed imminent. From that moment these historic wonders have been in the house of the grandmother of our friend here. Manuel Ortiz and Diego Casado (Spain)
Squirrel and two bonnies Once upon a time there was eight-year-old girl. She was born at 5. July 1959. She had a squirrel statue and two bunnies statues. Girl loved them. The little girl wiped the dust off on statues every evening. snabby to her mother, because she wasn’t able to do the dishes. Then the girl went to sleep very angry and snabby. changed the piggies faces. They look very terrible. The girl was terrified and started to cry. She asked her mom and brothers if they know why bunnies faces are now piggies faces. Either didn’t known. The girl was so sad and looked at the statues rest of the day. changed back to normal. The girl started to smile. Then the girl found a little letter at the table. Letter says: You must remember that don’t crank to you mother! If you don’t obey her you beautiful statues change to piggies permanently. Be a good girl! Yours: homebody. The girl was embarrassed. that, why only two bunny statues was changed, but squirrel statue didn’t. One evening the girls mother wanted a girl washes the dishes. Then the girl was so Next morning the girl realized that bunnies faces didn’t look good. Bunnies faces had Next morning girl looked at the statues immediately and find out that they had From that day the girl washed the dishes and was very nice. The girl never known that, why only two bonny statues was changed, but squirrel statue didn’t. Jasmin Lahtinen (Finland)
The rabbits During the first years of my father’s and mother’s marriage, my grandmother bought a gift for them; a rabbit shaped glass. This was very valuable for my parents and also for us. My story is about that present. My sister loves rabbits so much sos he was always playing with this present. She taught they were her rabbits. One day while was playing with “her rabbit”, she broke it by mistake. She was very sorry but my mother was very angry. Because this was very important for her. In the afternoon my sister ran away from home. After long hours search, we found her in a gift shop. She was searching for a new gift to my mother but her Money wasn’t enough. She bought this rabbits that you see in the Picture and gave them to my mother. My mother was very happy and she hugged my sister… Ezgi Sena Aras (Turkey)
Knabbel, Babbel and Koetje Once upon a time there was a girl, called Jacqueline. She wasn’t older than 12, but was almost 1m65. Her parents had died in a car accident, so she was an orphan. Luckily, her devoted grandmother wanted to take care of her. Now Jacqueline was in the bedroom of her grandmother where she had found three figurines on the bedside table. The figurines were a rabbit and two squirrels made of glass. Nobody actually liked them in the family so Jacqueline stole them and placed them under her own bed. She talked to her buddies every night and called them Knabbel, Babbel en Koetje. Nobody noticed they were gone. At midnight, on Friday the 13th in her room and Jacqueline woke up. She noticed it was a full moon. Suddenly she heard some noise from under her bed. She looked and saw her buddies alive, they were dancing and singing. The tall child felt an unknown power in her and began to dance with them. She wasn’t afraid at all. The door burst open and her granny came in, who thought that her grandchild was totally crazy. She exclaimed: “What are you doing?” Jacqueline answered: “ Look at my buddies, they are doing a whole show especially for me!” The grandmother said: I don’t see anything, go to sleep . Jacqueline became angry and slapped her with a chair in the face. Suddenly Jacqueline woke up, and realized it was all a nightmare. Marie Ghekiere and Sophie Snauwaert (Belgium)
Jessica is a happy girl. She has a wonderful family among her lovely older sister. But since she is a child she has one dream: To have an own farm with many horses to ride whenever there is enough time for it.Moreover, Jessica dreams of many rabbits and a squirrel on her farm. The squirrel will get the name “Sandy” like the squirrel in “ SpongeBob SquarePants” on Nickelodeon. It is her favourite character in TV because Sandy is brave and a bit crazy exactly like her.Unfortunaly, Jessica's biggest dream is so to speak impossible because she lives with her parents on the 7th Avenue in Manhattan/ New York City.Consequently, there are not farms in the neighborhood nor in other parts of the city.Additionally, Jessica's Mum is a photographic model and her Dad works as a Wall Street business man. Without the least hesitation it would be hard for them to find a new job in states like Montana or Iowa which are commun for farming and other stuff their daughter likes to have. In effect little J has no chance to live her American Dream in Manhattan. But this changes one day in August, the last day of the summer school vacations. She and her sister Ayleen use the time to go shopping on the Lower East Side. After hours of running through fashion shops and after wasting thousands of dollars Ayleen gets the idea that she could seek a birthday present for her boyfriend next month. In fact of that he is at university she decides to buy him a book. But the problem is: Where could you buy a book at the LOWER EAST SIDE in MANHATTAN? Seems like a thing of impossibility. Although the nine-years-old Jessica is more than informed about books because reading is her greatest hobby after dreaming of an own farm. Hence, they land in an antiques shop on Henry Street. There can be found a huge selection of old books and other things which are at least fifty years old. After a few minutes Ayleen is the opinion to buy an seventy-years-old issuing of “Iphigenie auf Tauris” which seems interesting enough for a student of german literature.As a gift they get three small figures made of glas: two rabbits and a squirrel. Jessica's dream is not to have glas figures but the fact that they exactly get her favourite animals is amazing. And it is amazing that her sister has no problem to give her the rabbits and the squirrel as a gift. What a lovely older sister! And now Jessica has her own small farmuntil she will move out and found her own farm in Iowa. (Germany)
The Coca-Cola Metal Poster This is the store of my Coca-Cola poster. When my father was a child, his father was the owner of many little flats beside the beach and he rented them for years. When he died, my father inherited them, but they had been empty for a lot of years, so they were really dirty and the walls were broken. Last summer, we decided to get them ready to be rented or sold again, so we spent many hours fixing and tidying them up, so then I found some old things from the extenants and the poster was one of them. By Clara Socías ( Spain )
Little Miss Bambi On an extremely hot day in the mid 60s, a girl called Shakira went for a run.She loved running, even if it was snowing or even if it was as warm as that day. But that day, it was exceptionally warm and humid. She was running and running but suddenly she had to stop because it was just too hot. At her left she saw a cute little café and hanging on the outside of it, was a poster of Coca- Cola. And that was by coincidence her favorite drink! So she went inside the cool café and asked the hottie behind the bar if she could have a Coke. His big blue eyes turned sad and he apologized to her because the Coca-Cola was sold out. She sighed and asked if there wasn’t a possibility to have a Coke. She pouted her lips and looked as sweet as possible at him, and apparently it worked. He had already melted from the heat, but he once again melted for her big Bambi eyes. He couldn’t resist her beauty and he told her he would go search for one. She started to giggle and blush, she had never met such an elegant and sweet boy before. So the boy got up and started running for his life for a Coke. He saw a big red Coca-Cola truck that was just going to leave and he ran to it and jumped on the back of it. For a few miles he was hanging there, fighting for his life and for a Coke. The driver of the truck stopped then to go pee, so he made use of the moment to open up the back and take a Coke out. So finally he had his Coke. But now the problem was that he had to get back, so he could give the beverage to his crush. He saw in the right corner a horse in a field. It was a beautiful white horse and it was looking at him like it wanted a ride. So the boy jumped on the horse and galloped to his beloved one. Shakira, already a bit cooled down but still thirsty, suddenly saw a handsome young man on a white horse. She realized it was her bartender with her Coke. She jumped in the air and started running to him. When they reached each other he jumped of his stallion and gave her the Coke. She took it and drank it empty in one gulp. The boy, after going on such a long journey, expected a reward. Maybe a kiss. He would even be happy with a hug. But Little Miss Bambi just waved him goodbye and started jogging home. And there he stood, with his horse and a broken heart.(Michelle Hoorens, Julie Maselis, Belgium)
When my father was a university student, they were very poor. So he had to work at the same time. He was working part-time at a restaurant near his campus. One day while he was working, he met a beautiful girl. She was a very kind customer. She wanted a hamburger and coke. Then they began to talk to each other. For one month she was coming at the same hour to meet my father. They felt in love. My father decided to ask her to marry with him but he had no money to buy a ring or even a small gift. His boss realized that and gave him this small magnet which was a promotion fort he restaurant. He told my father that the real valuable thing is love itself, not a ring or something like that. My father was very happy and the next day he asked the girl for marriage. She accepted it with a big smile on her face. They have been married for 30 years and my mother’s best object in her kitchen is her coca cola magnet (Turkey )
Café Blanca was a young lady at the early 60’s. Her family were poor, so she had to move to town near by and find a job. She was lucky and got a job from a café. Blanca was happy of her new job and was very trusting with her future. But her happiness didn’t last long. Her boss was an old man who had no respect for his workers, especially for women. Blancas days were long, she got paid badly and her boss treated her as inferior. She was really upset but at the time she thought she had to just stand it. Once at her day off she was walking in town thinking of her life and future. Will she ever find a better place to work? Or could she do something else in here situation? Could she change things in the old, musty café she was working in? She walked in her thoughts when something attached her attention. It was a tin sign. There was a woman who looked happy and there was also a text: “delicious and refreshing”. Blanca thought that that´s exactly what a café should be. Blanca didn´t have much money, but she just wanted to buy the tin sign. Next day Blanca tried to talk to her boss that she could make the café more comfortable and nice, but her boss didn´t want any changes in his café and got angry to Blanca. He was annoyed by getting advices from a little girl. He started to criticize Blanca. But then Blanca couldn´t last anymore. She showed her middle finger to the man and walked away with the tin sign under her arm. Blanca decided to ground her own café. Better one than the old, musty café. She named it Blancas Café and decided that her café will be “delicious and refreshing” as the tin sign told. She hanged the tin sign to the wall and she felt happy again By Sara Hautamäki (Finland )))
The Coca Cola board "Morning, mom." I've slammed the door so that all the guests of the little bistro turned their heads to see what was going on. "Morning, Maria", my mom has answered. She has been busy taking care of her guests and listening to their orders. Since I had been a little girl, my mom has had this little bistro at the corner of the street. She has loved her job and has done it with passion. Her bistro has been very small, there has just been place for a few people, but that's what has made it so neat and loveable. Oh, and there have been small boards hanging on the wall everywhere. So, as you can imagine, my mom kept a really nice, little bistro. Even though it has been tough sometimes and hard to make enough money for her, me and my little brother Julian, I've enjoyed visiting her in the bistro every day after school. I've sometimes brang my friends with me to chat a little and drink coke. I've always liked the fact that my mom has kept her own business even though there hasn't been much time left for me and my brother. When I turned 15 though, everything suddenly changed. It all began with a nice, sunny day in August. I got up to get ready for school and helped my brother to get dressed for kindergarten. I was really stressed out, because the day before was my brother's birthday and I usually have to care about his birthday presents, the cake and everything else. My mom was getting ready for her work day and I suddenly started shouting at her because I felt under pressure and overwhelmed. She grabbed a sandwich and left the house without saying anything. I felt bad, but tried to just forget about it and habitually go to school. After my school day, I picked up Julian from kindergarten and walked to my mom's business. I saw fire trucks around the shop and got a little nervous. Is everything alright? As we came closer, we realized that there was smoke coming out of the door and the only window in the shop. I started shouting for my mom but I couldn't find her anywhere. All of the sudden, a fire fighter was coming at me: "Here's no playground, you're interrupting the operation!" "My mom owns this shop. Where's she at ?" The fire fighter looked me in the eyes: "I can't tell you." I got confused and looked back to the door frame of the bistro. The shop was almost completely burnt up. Some fire fighters came out of the shop, water hoses in their hands. They all looked very exhausted. I didn't understand what was going on. I asked some of the fire fighters, but nobody could tell me anything about my mom. Or some of them were just ignoring me and then sat down on the stairs at the front door. All at once, I spotted people stretchering somebody off. I instinctly ran over the stretcher, pulled off the blanket and saw that my mom was laying there. I started tearing up. The people around me took me to a car, so I didn't have to keep looking at the dead body of my mom. They consoled me and tried to make me feel better but I couldn't. I was shaking and mad at myself for the fact that I've had a fight with her in the morning. My brother still didn't understand what was going on. I told him mom would be in the hospital, even though I knew he'd figure out the truth soon. We waited until the fire fighters finished cleaning up. They told us then, that, for some reason, the stove caught fire while my mom was cooking something and apparently, the bistro immediately burnt down. They also told us to go home and stay at one of my friend's house for a couple weeks and that everything will be alright. Then they left. My brother and me, we entered the bistro, which you couldn't recognize as one. It was all dusty in there and black from the soot. I walked around. All you still could recognize were some left over parts of the kitchen. We left the bistro. Next to the stairs, right at the front door, there was laying a small coca cola board which says : deliciosa y refrescante. It was dirt over it but it was undamaged. A fire fighter must have found it and carried it out. I took some water and a piece of matter and cleaned it. I'm so happy I found something that reminds me of my mom and her bistro. (Germany)
My grandfather’s book I choose this book that my grandfather used at school when he was young because, I think it is a perfect symbol that represents the 60´s in Spain at that time. It was the typical book that ever student used to study. He keeps it on a shelf as a memory. It has an emotional value for him, because it reminds his childhood and when he studied with his friends who have passed away . In those days everything was very different . All students were separated by gender. In addition, they didn´t use to have any video games or TV, so play in the countryside, as he lived in the north of Spain, a place called A coruña . Then he worked repairing ships and travelled around the world, but despite this fact he and his family kept the book so far, to lend grandchildren something about his childhood and stories to tell. By: Gonzalo Bercedo, Sam Peter Núñez and Ana Pérez (Spain)
Surprise I was in the library. I had a homework therefor I need an encyclopedia. I had a choice between two. I chose the encyclopedia with the pictures on the cover. Suddenly I found a map in it. It was just like in the movies. It was a map with symbols of a treasure. I think I am losing my mind. After that I began to looking for the treasures. It was on my birthday. At the end I found the treasure with a notice in it. There was written “Happy Birthday, your classmates”. It was a great birthday surprise for me and the best way to get a present (Turkey)
Juan’s book The story tells about the boy who name is Juan. It is the best day of Juan´s life, his birthday. His parents kept his birthday present as a secret. Juan hoped for a matador outfit because his idol was famous matador. He was interested in books but he never actually read books. His dad taught that it is bad hobby for him because it is waste of time. So Juan thought that he will get that outfit. Juan woke up to see what he got for his birthday. It was a huge surprise. He got a book. First that was a shock for him. When he opened the book it became his favorite book. He could not be without book even when he was with his friends. He got all information from the book what he needed. He still read the book and he remembers that day ever after. That birthday was best day of his life. The end. By: Aleksi Peltola.(Finland)
Expedition Vanuatu During the evening, while biologist Javier Bardem was reading his book: Enciclopedia, he mentioned that there was something wrong with his book. But he couldn’t say what it was. He had received that book earlier that day from a friend in Madrid. Javier was planning his expedition for tomorrow to Vanuatu, an island group situated in the Pacific Ocean. The next day he left. When he arrived in Vanuatu he took the boot to a smaller island, Malekula. Javier expected to meet the local people and learn more about the nature, but there weren’t any people, just the beautiful nature. He started to walk, in the rain, with the expectation that he would see people deeper in the jungle. On his long hike he didn’t see any people, only a few snakes, tarantulas and monkeys. Finally he arrived at the sea and decided to build a camp. When he had finished building his camp, he started a fire. Javier realised that he had brought his book with him. He took it out of his bag and saw that, because of the rain, it had become soggy. He was thinking by himself:” O no, what will my friend Salvador Dalí say about this. He had lent me his book to take a picture for him of a volcano, he rain hated building his camp, so he could paint it.” The cover was totally broken. There was a hole in the cover and he noticed that a letter was hidden in a space under the cover. Javier read the letter and it said: ”If you want to know what you can find on this island, start walking to the volcano!” While he was walking alongside the sea, he saw a fin of a shark swimming with high speed in his direction. He ran faster and faster. Just in time he ran into the woods. While he was running, he felt that he was hit by something. He passed out. The next day he woke up. Javier mentioned that he still was in the woods and there were weird people, with bones through their noses, curly hair and paint on their face, watching him. While he was asking himself where he could be, he saw a man coming to him. The man introduced himself as Bond, James Bond, the leader of a tribe that lives in the woods of Malekula. He was drinking Martini: ‘shaken, not stirred.’ After a short conversation Javier knew that this day would be his last day. By: Amber Viaene (Belgium)
The life of an encyclopedia Hello, my name is Carla and I am an encyclopaedia. I have many children and they live in the whole world. It is so fantastic because they are so lovely and get many cards of them so that I am able to know what they are doing the whole day. My home is in London and is near Buckingham Palace. It is so beautiful and I have seen the Queen and that was amazing. My life is so boring because the whole day I am in a shelf between two books about education. They are not like me. I like horror movies and they prefer romantic movies. Furthermore the stay always at home and I am going in Hyde Park and so on. I also like travelling and next year I start my journey around the world. This is amazing and I am so excited. The things that I am gonna see and the activities I am gonna try. But when you think about the different meals and cultures. It is so incredible. My highlight will be that I have the possibility to meet my brothers, sisters and my children. All in all I am able to meet a large number of my family members. Yesterday I started with the preparation of my journey and I only know the order of the continents. The journey will start in Europe than Asia, Africa, and Australia and at the end America. I would like to see every country and to collect new entries for one of my great-grandchildren because they are new and useful. You can read them as a book and also in the internet not like me because I am just an old encyclopaedia with the dream to do a journey around the world. But now I am optimistic and I will do it. Now I continue and I know that I have to plan it very detailed and careful. You have to know that I love adventures and will write a book about my experiences. This will be a bestseller and the other books will be very jealous of me because I am gonna see the palace of Versailles, the victory column in Berlin and the Nokia theatre in Los Angeles. The highlight for me will be the Golden Gate Bridge. This time will be perfect and I have something to tell my husband who is a dictionary about medicine language. He does not come with me because he is needed at home. This makes me sad too but I can’t change it that the son of our owner is a student of medicine. For him I will write a postcard from each town that I am gonna visit and he will decorate the door of the fridge. I am so excited to see how it looks like when I am gonna turn home. But for the moment I still have to dream and when it starts I will be happy and excited. (Germany)
KODAK RETINA CAMERA I have lots of beautiful memories of my grandfather, but I especially love one of them. My grandfather was from Galicia. When he was 20 years old, he came to Madrid and started a business on electrical devices. He also loved photographying, so when he earned some money he bought a quite good quality camera. He was the only one who owned a camera in the family. I remember when I saw it for the first time, it was awesome! On Sundays we usually went to El Retiro. I can´t forgot my grandfather taking pictures of my cousins and me, and taking care of us while we were playing on the ground. By: Celia and María Rodríguez Díaz (Spain)
FICTION STORIES Once upon a time there was a boy called Michael. When he was 10 years old his grandmother gave him a beautiful camera for his birthday. He loved it, and from that day on he took pictures of everything he did. He took pictures of the birds flying in the sky, from his sister playing with their dog, Mason, and from the people that lived in the village. Every evening he developed and looked at the pictures he had taken that day. But one day when he came home from school, he went to the forest with his mother to go for a walk. But all of a sudden it started to rain also with thunder and lightning. He and his mother ran to the car. But while they were running, Michael took pictures of his mother running because he thought it was funny. Then something horrible happened. His mom slipped and at the same time a tree was hit by a lightning. The tree fell right upon his mother. Michael didn´t know what to do, he was just a little boy, he started crying and screaming. He ran to his mother and tried to push the tree away, but because he was just 10 years old and the tree was too big for him; his mother stayed stuck under it. Eventually his mom died is his arms that night... For three weeks Michael looked at himself up in his room and he didn´t want to speak to anyone. He didn´t go to his mother´s funeral and he barely ate. He threw his camera away. All his life he blamed himself for his mother´s death. And he never, ever took another picture in his life. by: Gaëlle & Sarah(Belgium)
Once upon a time there was a young photographer. He came from a poor family and the only thing he owned was a camera that he got as a Christmas present when he was 16. That camera was also the most important thing is his life. The young man earned his living by photographing and selling his pictures to various magazines. One day the man was taking pictures in a park and he put his camera on a bench near by so he could eat his lunch. When the man chewed the last crumbs of his bread he suddenly stopped and stared at the bench. It was bare. The man was shocked and tried to leer around to see if someone stole his camera, but he didn´t see anyone. How was it possible that he didn´t notice anyone stealing his camera? Why did he leave the camera on the bench? The man left home with tears in his eyes. He was desperate because he didn´t know how to get his daily bread on the table without his camera. He wasn´t abble t afford a new camera and he didn´t have enough money even for food. Despite the difficult situation, the man left to auction to try his luck. If he found a cheap camera from there, he could survive. Even if he found a new camera, it could´t replace the old one because of its sentimental value. While he was at the auction something unexpected happened. His camera was one of the items that were on sail. The man didn´t understand how the camera got there but that wans´t important now, because he only wanted his camera back. Because the camera was old no one wanted it and the man got his life back. by: Miia Lahtinen(Finland)
This camera is my grandfather´s. He was a photographer, he took pictures of every single material we found interesting and exciting. His father was a journalist, and he was very interested in cameras, he could spent hours with a camera. On his 15th birthday his father bought him one of the brand-new cameras, the most expensive one , and gave him on his birthday. My grandfather understood that it was a really expensive camera and he perserved it. When he got married with my grandmother, he showed her the camera. As the time passed they had some financial difficulties and he decied to sell the camera. But my grandmother refused ir¡t and put it away, which my granfather didn´t know. After my grandfather died, she gave it to my father to make him preserve the camera too, as his father did. My father kept it as a secret with my mother, until this year. This year, he told the camera´s story and gave it to me to make me preserve it like they all did. By: Efehan Kutad KARAKAYA(Turkey)
My father´s uncle was a photographer. Taking pictures meant everything to him. He loved my father very much. One day my uncle came to my father´s house. My father always tell this sotry, he always sa: “he was putting a camera in my hands. It was really beautiful and glamorous”. He was fascinated, the uncle noticed that, and said: “take it, it is yours now. You have a camera boy”. My father use to say: “When I look to the past I can´t remember to have felt happier than at that moment”. Now my father is a very good photographer. (Turkey)
My grandfather bought this camera to my grandmother for their fourth wedding anniversary, because my grandmother loved taking pictures. After some time, my granmother became a good photographer. She started making exhibitions. Her reputation was spreading. In those days she was so popular. Everybody wanted their portrait taken by her. She became a well known person is her country. One day, she was taking pictures on the top of a hill and she fell down and broke her leg. She couldn´t walk again after the accident. Her family is still keeping the camera. This camera came to my hand after 60 years. It was my grandmother´s first camera. The camera was a gift from her father for her 14th birthday. She was so happy that she once slept with it! This camera is very important to me for two reasons. First, is like a family tresure for us, my grandmother gave it to my father when he was 14, and he did the same to me. And the second reason is, my granmother took a picture of Neil Amstrong and Buzz Aldrin in front of the Apollo 11! When she first heard about the Apollo 11 project, she got very excited, that she put in her mind the idea of taking a picture of them. She did it. Her last words to my father were: “Don´t let anyone take my only precious”. That´s why we didn´t give the camera to anyone no matter what they offer to pay. (Turkey)
This camera is our only relict from the so-called “Spanish miracle”. In the 1960s, economic growth began to spread throughout Spain, largely due to its important position in the cold war. My family didn’t see so much of this miracle, as the fortune of my once so prosperous Great-Grandparents melted like ice on a midsummer’s day due to the Great Depression and an ever-growing crowd of children. Thus they were happy to have my Grandmother, the second oldest daughter, married early to a young worker, clever but unfortunately penniless. Somehow the economic miracle didn’t show up in my family for quite a while. Only once, when my Grandfather brought home this camera they could foresee a brighter future.They began to belief it possible that Spain would have a free and prosperous future.That’s why the camera is not only a nice commodity for my family; it has more of a symbol. My Grandfather got it by chance. The head of the factory he was working in was always selling old things of his own in a shop next to the factory. He was an old and prosperous Falangist who had, as rumours told, gained his wealth under some peculiar circumstances during the time of the Second World War. Some spoke of smuggling Jews over the border at extortionateprices and others of disappearing people, mostly Franco-opponents. However, he spent a lot of money to have the latest technology. As economy was booming, new inventions entered the market and thus his household hourly. They were mostly driven out again only a few weeks later by bigger and better inventions. My Grandfather first caught sight of the camera in August 1961. I can still hear him telling the old story over and over again. “I once was a young and foolish man”, he used to say “having the same crazy ideas as everybody has, the same dreams, the same silly little somethings that matter so much to you. One Day, when going to work I saw my little something. A beautiful, black and silver camera. It was love at the first sight, a ridiculous, a hopeless love. We were poor, you must know, having just as much as we needed for our daily expenses. So I tried to stop thinking about it, only to find myself wandering near it every time I had a spare minute. I feared and hoped the camera would be bought at the same time. But luckily nobody bought it. Day after day I came relieved it was still there and went fearing what the next morning might bring. Fearing that she would blast away my dreams with her laughs about my stupidity, I didn’t dare to tell her about camera. Anyhow, one day the shop-keeper offered me the camera as a present. A real present. All for free. Only because he had seen me gazing at it so many times already and read the desire in my eyes. I was I was over the moon and back again. Of cause I couldn’t accept the offer, so I ran home and gave all the money I had saved the last weeks.You couldn’t guess how happy your Grandmother was that day.” Thus ended his story. But my Grandmother told me the rest of it, unknown by my Grandfather, a few days before she was gone. “One day when he returned from work your Grandfather wasn’t the same. He was tense and anxious and brought back less money than usual. Every day he went to work earlier and came back later. After some time the wildest suspicions entered my head. I even suspected him of having a mistress. After some month I had enough of his behaviour. I followed him, unnoticed, to work. He looked like a little boy who has done some mischief and is summoned to the principal’s office, standing in front of the door, hoping that some wonder would release him. The picture must have touched my heart. Even if we normally had just enough to live on, I now decided to buy that camera. I changed the last heirloom of her parents, a great, silver tiara, at the smith against quite an amount of money and bought the camera. Then I exorted a promise of the shop-keeper that he would make your Grandfather believe the camera was a gift and went back home, satisfied with myself to the highest extent.” (Germany)
1960´s Sewing Machine Stories 1.- Original Sewing Machine Story 2.- The Summer Storm 3.- Magic Sewing Machine 4.- My Special Week 5-Sewing Machine
My grand mother has this sewing machine since 1960. It was a Christmas present to her from my grand father. It cost 1500 pts. (about 9 Euro) It was very expensive for them at that time. But my grand mother always wanted to have a sewing machine because buying clothes for her and her children (my father, my aunt) was very expensive. If she bought fabrics and made clothes by herself, it would be much cheaper. Also she was very good at sewing. Since then she has been using this sewing machine. Even now, she still makes dresses for her and her grand daughters. By : Andrew Kei Benito
The summer storm One day, miss Croussed was alone at home with her seven cats. It was a rainy day, so she couldn’t go outside for a walk with her cats. Suddenly it started snowing and storming in the middle of July. She was really shocked and the only thing that would calm her down was singing and sewing. So she began to sew a new curtain for her poppet house because she really liked to play with her dolls. She liked to make them beautiful because she had been bullied a lot at school when she was a little kid. The reason of the bullying was the big scar on her face because of the accident that had happened a couple years ago. She couldn’t see through one of her eyes. So you can imagine that she didn’t have a pretty face. So when she was sewing, an enormous thunderbolt shocked her so much that she missed the peddle of the sewing machine. Her foot was stuck. She started to freak out because her house was on fire because of lightning. She tried to escape, but she couldn’t detach her foot! After a couple of minutes she passed out because of all the smoke. She fell on the sewing machine with her face on the table. Her body couldn’t handle it anymore so she got a seizure. Her other leg that wasn’t stuck started shaking. The sewing machine started again and she didn’t hear it! She sewed her face on the curtain that she was making. The fire was getting stronger…. Would she survive it? The next year, some people discovered an old house at a lake in the forest. The house was completely burned down and the only thing that was still intact was a sewing machine. And there were also a lot of cats around it. By: Clarisse Slabbinck en Justine Gailliaert
Magic Sewingmachine Once upon a time there was an old lady called Marie. She worked at home doing handicrafts. She had an old sewing machine named Alfa. The woman sew almost to the whole village where she lived and the people thought she was nice and everyone wanted to get their clothes sewed at hers. One wintry day that old lady died. She didn’t have any heirs so her things were moved from her house to a dump, including the sewing machine. The following summer, a poor girl found the old woman's sewing machine from the dump. She decided to start sewing clothes for a living. Old sewing machine worked well and she wondered why such a good sewing machine had been thrown into a dump. However, the girl got money from sewing and before long she was able to provide for themselves and her own little family. By: Sara Seppänen
My Special Week The sister of my father is a dressmaker. She also make wedding dresses for brides and then wecall her couturier. One day, my aunt wanted top erk a skirt for me and my two sisters. As she was finished with the skirts of my sisters she wanted top erk my skirt. Suddenly the sewing machine broke. I was so mad and my aunt also. My cousin, the daughter of my aunt, saw how sad I was. After that she decided to make a present, just for me. And she made a hand made bracelet. I was so happy about it that I still hide the bracelet. Then my aunt repaired the sewing machine, she perks me a skirt, too. It was a great week for me. I had two wonderful presents and I hadn’t birthday that week. ( (Turkey)
Hello, I am an old sewing machine from Spain and I want to tell you my story now. You might think the story of a sewing machine would be boring – what could I have experienced in my life except sewing clothes? But it is not the story of sewing that I am going to tell you, it is the story of the people that sewed their clothes with me. I was made in the 1930s and then sold to a family in Spain. In the beginning, an old woman sewed their clothes with me, but she died soon. I was very unhappy about that because she was always friendly and did not use me too much per day. Then her daughter inherited me and did not use me so much for a long time. She had married a rich man and was able to by her clothing and did not need to sew anything for her family. In 1961, her husband died and she was left alone with four children. It turned out that he did not leave very much money so the woman had to work and earn money for her family. As the economy was not quite stable at that time, buying clothes for five people was not too easy with one income. The children were three boys and one older girl, so the younger boys wore the clothes of the older ones. Furthermore, the girl started to sew clothes for the family in her freetime. At first, she did not like this work but gradually got better and more creative. Later, she also sold some shirts and other clothing to her friends or people who lived near her because they liked her style and it was not as expensive as buying regular clothes. When the girl had finished school, she decided to do a tailor apprenticeship. She did it because she liked the way of being inventive. At home, she trained to work as a tailor with me and built up her own small business as a seamstress. After taking her master’s certificate, she concentrated on designing new clothes and was very successful. When she started an own label, she employed several other tailors and had a shop in the city centre. All the time, I (the old sewing machine) was very important to her even when she bought newer and better ones. I was the one who started her enthusiasm for sewing and designing. by : Elisabeth Muschiol
