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Once he was sure that his wing was completely nursed back to health, Shrimp sent word to his family that he would be away for a while and set off towards Trzebinia. He circled the primary school as the children waved to him and shouted out encouragements for the long journey.
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As he flew over the beautiful Hungarian countryside, he thought about all the wonderful things he had learned from his new friends in Szarford and how they, through their generosity and kindness towards him as a complete stranger, had made him want to set out and discover new lands.
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Autumn was already well on the way in in Poland and Shrimp quickly found that it was hard to fly against the cold wind and that his wing was starting to pain him. Swooping down closer to the ground, he found a parked lorry in a petrol station carpark with a sign on the front that indicated that it was on it's way to the oil refineries in Trzebinia. He decided to perch on top of the cabin for the rest of the trip. When the driver, on the way back from the petrol station cafĂŠ, found him cold and shivering on top of his truck he immediately offered him the passenger seat for the rest of the ride to Trzebinia, and gave him the pieces of fish from inside his sandwiches to keep him going until they got there.
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By road, it was only another couple of hours before they got to their destination and the truck driver entertained Shrimp by telling him about the many beauties of Trzebinia. He knew the primary school well and dropped Shrimp off in front of the gates, making him promise to let him know should he need anything or find himself in trouble in any way.
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The children from Szarford had already written to their friends in Trzebinia to let them know of Shrimp's arrival, and a special fish banquet had been prepared to greet him. Shrimp was tired from the long journey and only really wanted to go to bed, but soon felt his energy returning as he got to know his new friends and listened to their stories of far-off lands. They told him about the beautiful places they had visited in Italy and Spain and about how different they were from their hometown in Poland. Shrimp listened to their stories of watching gypsies dance the flamenco in Andalusia and visiting the gorgeous trullo houses in Apulia and resolved to go there himself in the near future.
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Shrimp stayed in Trzebinia for the next month, learning all about the local history and countryside from the children and in exchange helping them with their school projects on aquatic wildlife. As he felt more and more at home in his new surroundings and made some firm friends amongst the schoolchildren, his resolve to visit Italy and Spain wavered. His family were also getting worried and sent him word frequently via migrating bird friends to find out when he would be coming home. But his friends told him that although they would miss him very much, it was important for him to go out and discover the world.
His opportunity came towards the end of October when the Trzebinia schoolchildren were offered the chance of a trip to Massafra, in Apulia, as part of the project they were doing on aquatic biodiversity. Shrimp couldn’t imagine a better way to travel: discovering beautiful new lands in the company of his best friends! What’s more, the trip would be via plane so he wouldn’t have to risk hurting his wing again. One of the schoolchildren carried him in his hand luggage and on a cold morning in early November, they boarded the plane to Bari, the closest big town to Massafra.
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The Italian winter was a relief after the cold of Poland and Shrimp and his friends had a lovely time visiting beautiful nature reserves in the Tarantino and Salento areas with the children from Massafra school. The trip only lasted a week because despite all the fun they were having, the Trzebinia children still missed their friends and families in Poland. Shrimp decided to stay in Massafra for the winter and sadly waved goodbye to his friends, promising that they would meet up again very soon.
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Shrimp spent a very pleasant winter amongst a community of herons near Massafra, often flying to the school to meet the children there and talk about the time they had spent with their Polish friends. And one morning in early May, he discovered that there was to be yet another international meeting in Baeza, Spain – the beautiful town in Andalusia that his friends in Poland had told him about. His wing now fully recovered, he decided to fly there himself and take some time to see the beautiful countryside on the way.
It took him nearly three weeks to fly to Andalusia, and he made many friends along the way, in Rome, Nice, Bordeaux, Madrid and finally Baeza. He was delighted to see his friends from Hungary and Poland at the meeting as well as the children from Massafra and took great pleasure in introducing everyone to each other. The mix of languages was very confusing at first but they soon all found out that there were many things that didn’t need spoken language to be communicated – such as the fun of ball games or the appreciation of the beautiful local countryside and architecture.
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Shrimp loved Andalusia and was starting to wonder if he might not stay there for a while. But at the same time he had been away from Hungary for nearly a year and was starting to miss his home and family.
One morning Shrimp was perching on the wall alongside the river in Granada wondering about what to do when he saw three very familiar figures swoop down out of the sky and settle a couple of metres away from him. With a shock he recognised his three brothers. “Shrimp! We’ve been so worried!” cried one of them as soon as he recognised him.
“You didn’t need to be, I’ve been having a wonderful time! I’ve seen so many things and made so many new friends” Shrimp answered, embracing him. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere!” They exclaimed. The brothers wanted him to return to Hungary straight away but Shrimp felt he still had a lot of Andalusia to see and invited them to stay and discover the place with him. The brothers were reluctant at first but by the end of the first evening were chatting away with Shrimp’s Spanish friends as if they had known them for ever.
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The four brothers stayed in Spain for another couple of months, travelling to nearby regions and getting to know the local culture. Shrimp was delighted to be able to combine his love of travel and meeting new people with his family. But after a while he started to feel the need to return to his beloved Ferto-lake. In early autumn the brothers embarked on the long trip back home.
One of the first things Shrimp did upon arriving home was to return to the primary school where he had been nursed back to health and greet his friends there. What a surprise to find the school all decked out in garlands and tinsel, and a huge banquet laid out in the hall! “Has Christmas come early?” he asked the caretaker in the hall.
“Didn’t you know?” said the caretaker “There’s a group of Polish, Italian and Spanish schoolchildren arriving tonight. It’s an international meeting, something to do with birdwatching” “No I didn’t” answered Shrimp “I’ve been travelling for a while and a bit out of touch” And he told the caretaker he would be back that evening and flew back to the reed to tell his brothers that there was a party at the school that night.