Sorry for not posting.~Sophie

              Before you decide to hate us, we have *drumroll please*... EXCUSES! We've been moving, and had to pack the computer, then had to find it, and had to wait longer to get internet. So we are BACK! We are now going to go to a one-room schoolhouse in Minnesota, living in an old house (no more dorms, yay!), in the country. We rule. Johanna's not here (delayed by the move. No specific time. We'll have her update tonight from New York, then later on on a train to Minneapolis and then, finally, here. Three months at most, at least a month. Sorry.) yet, though she is in New York. Here are some diary pages(blog minus internet.)-
                                 June 23, 2011. Ahna-
            I'm so bored. We've been packing up everything for a few days, so there's not much to do except walk around campus. I'm excited to get out of the dorm, because in the summer it's incrediably hot and stuffy. My arm hurts, but it'll be fine. We're leaving in about eight days. I'm worried about Mimi, she's sick. We don't know what it is yet, but I hope it's not anything serious. She's in the school infirmery right now, though the nurses don't think it's too serious, Ami isn't too sure. Ami said that Mimi's worst illnesses started out like this, just a cold, and then bloomed into raging sickness. It's worrying me. She's been really tired, has a fever, and gets HUGE headaches. More later,
Ahni.

Trouble! ~ Johanna (Sorry for not posting on time!)

               Klara has Scurvy! That is a sickness you get from not getting enough fruits and vegetables, I think. No wonder, though! We have only bread and water, plus some soup to dip the bread in. Smells of glorious different foods drift down from the upper deck. One time, a boy from our deck snuck up there to steal a cabbage. Delicious it was too! Anyways, besides stealing food, there was no way to help Klara. I'm pretty sure no one here is a thief, though Annieke taught me how to pickpocket.
              Sneaking upstairs, I could see the light filtering down the door window. So close, I thought, yet so far. Suddenly, voices boomed down as the captain and a sailor shuffled down the stairs in front of me. I held my breath, squishing against the wooden wall, as the men walked closer and closer.
          "Do you hear that?" the sailor questioned, as he stopped directly in front of me. I was nearly out of breath, needing to gasp for air.
          "Hear what?" the captain replied, his breath stinking of gin.
           " Must be the waves. Could've  sworn I heard a mouse or something." answered the sailor, though he spoke German, he had the most distinct Cockney accent. The two men quickly walked off, to the second-class floor. After they had gone, I rushed up the stairs, my heart beating like a jackhammer. I opened the door, slithering through the crack that released the burning June sun into the dark hall. 
            On the first-class deck, fancy clothed women danced to their well-groomed husbands, while children in expensive suits and dresses ran around and played. I spotted a food table that was over-flowed with fruits and vegetables and delicacies so fancy that I, a young girl from a small, poor country village, had never even heard of. I hung my head, so no one could see my face, as I scuttled towards the buffet table. Just as I reached out to steal an orange, a girl's hand shot out and gripped my arm. I looked up, my clouded blue eyes into her brisk ones, her hair an angelically white blond ringlets, my dusty, caramel hair in straight, pained tangles.
         "What are you doing here?" jingled her soft feminine voice in perfect Swedish.
          " A child, a toddler, in my cabin, has Scurvy. They feed us only bread with vinegar for every meal. Please, please, PLEASE don't turn me in." creaked a voice in the back of my throat, dirty, and stinking of sickness. The girl stared, just stared. A crumble of worry embedded itself inside her brow. Slowly reaching out, she grabbed apples, tomatoes, oranges, peaches, pineapples, whatever fruits she could hold in the silk blue skirt of her long dress. She nodded, and I gathered fruits into my gray tunic that cut off just above the knees of my tattered old jeans. We bolted downstairs, into the steerage deck, looking out for sailors or guards.
         When we finally got to my cabin, she and I plopped the food on the floor, letting it roll to Klara, her skin paler than ever. The girl retreated upstairs, after promising to try to bring food every day.
              It is late, and I am tired.

Boat over the ocean. ~ Johanna, (Italics= different language.)

        Today I began my way across the ocean via boat. I would be on an airplane, but heights are NOT my thing. The boat smells, and I must share my match-box cabin with 11 other people. Only three of them I can understand, two are my age, twelve. Ship tickets were cheap for such a cramped space, but in hopefully less than four weeks I will be in America.The girl in my cabin is from Russia. Her name, I think, is Katia. She's from St.Petersburg. She's tall, with long, dark hair that would shine on a sunny day. Her little sister, Klara, is like a miniature version of Sophie, but with darker hair and doesn't speak. We worry for Klara, because she is a sickly little girl, only 3 years old, and in the grime of our cabin , it is likely that she would become ill. Annieke, a girl from the Netherlands that speaks a German-ized Dutch, or a Dutch-like German, says that we should get her to eat more. Annieke is from a small town near the German border. She is a great writer, ergo she helps with posting. She haves straight, blond hair and the greenest eyes in the world. I wish I had green eyes, instead of my shocking blue ones, for they frighten little Klara. My bangs like to wisp over them, though, so lille, little one (Norwegian), is able to be around me. She and Katia were raised in an extremely superstitious family, so Klara doesn't speak much, though I'm not sure she CAN speak at all. I hope our lille is okay...

New posting schedule/We post weekly AT LEAST ~ Sophie

          As school is letting out, we will have more time to post, ergo (proof that I've been hanging around with Ruthie too much. She's thinking of changing her name to Anne or just Ruth.) we will officially post every Sunday. We might be boring, hopefully be exciting, with our moving and all. Johanna is either coming this weekend or next month. I hope this weekend.  We start the posting schedule on either May 28th or June 4th. From now on, italicized text means it's either in another language, or it's a sound. Sorry about not posting, and all the boring posts, we're in a blog slump!

I'm letting Johanna post from Sweden today ~Johanna, translated by Sophie and Google translate

        Hello. My name is Johanna. I don't really know how to post on here, for I have no idea what to write. Getting to Cedar Heights is long process. First, I must qualify as United States citizen. Then, I must journey over the ocean and choose my classes. All the while,  everyone's words are foreign, strange, like snowflakes, wispy and beautiful, but melt to meaningless nothings once they reach you. All I want to do is to get a good education, and become a dancer. I know, a childish dream, but I love dancing, especially Ballet and tradition Ukrainian, though I'm German/Swedish. I'm probably going to get to the school by June 20th.

And I have no common sense...~Sophie

      I, am so empty headed! I invited Johanna to the school when she can't even speak a word of English! I want to be near meine Halbschwester, er, my half-sister, but how hard it is when all the words you know are so useless and meaning to others! She speaks Swedish, Russian, Yiddish, Ukrainian, German, and Norwegian fluently, but no English! She, Johanna (YO-han-na), really wants to be here but... She's still coming, don't get me wrong, unless something pops up last minute. Oy vey! What should I do?

And winner of poll is...~Mimi and Ahna

           We will be getting Beckie and Sophie's half sister. Her name is Johana Liesl Rosenbrennen-Vintervala. LONG name, I know. She's a new immigrant, from Sweden, though she was born in Germany. We'll write more later.