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Archives for February 2014

What I’ve Learned from Travel this Year (guest post)

Written by: Amanda // Category: Guest Post

There are certain bloggers that I'm just absolutely fascinated with. Their stories, travels, and lifestyle is so intriguing, I can't help but stalk their blogs just waiting for another post! Casey is one of those bloggers. Not only am I insanely jealous over her constant travels, but she also hails from Portland, Oregon. Love that! Please make sure you go visit her blog and say hi! -------------------------------------------------- Hi Living in Another Language readers!  I'm so excited to be guest posting here today!  I’m Casey from True Colours, a travel blog that encompasses my passion for seeing the world and documenting my trips and tips for everyone with a little wanderlust in their hearts!  I do a lot of traveling, both for ... Read More

One Year of No-Poo

Written by: Amanda // Category: Beauty

A year ago today I stopped using shampoo and conditioner cold turkey. To those of us that practice this method, we refer to it as 'no-poo.'  I've only used shampoo and conditioner twice since my no-poo journey began, and that was during my summer vacation when I forgot to bring my BS and Vin mixtures with me. Now that it's been a year, I feel like I can give a somewhat proper review of the process, as well as shed some light on how I've gone so long with this method, and why I'm going to continue this process indefinitely (or as long as I see fit). First of all, as my other no-poo posts have been overtaken by the comment monsters (I have 2 jobs and can't just sit there and answer questions all day people! I need to hire someone), you ... Read More

How to Travel Right out of College

Written by: Amanda // Category: Expat Living, travel tips

One of the #1 questions a (young) world traveler is often asked happens to be: "How can you afford it?" I can tell you a good majority of us don't have daddy paying for all our adventures. Personally (sorry if I'm about to step on a few toes) I think funding yourself while traveling is a more rewarding and learning experience anyway. So how exactly did we manage to start traveling right out of college? How would you (the reader) go about doing it? It's difficult to answer this question, because honestly, there are so many ways to take the plunge! To give you a little bit of a background, my husband and I both graduated with our Bachelor's Degrees in May of 2010. We fully funded our wedding (held in Ecola State Park, Cannon Beach, ... Read More

The Foreign Familiarity of a New Home (Guest Post)

Written by: Amanda // Category: Guest Post

Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Jessie. You may have seen her hanging out on my sidebar last month, and I was more than happy to share a few of her adventures via Twitter! She's going to be introducing herself, but you should know that if there's a person out there that deserves a well-traveled and courageous award,  it's this lady! Please make sure you stop by her blog and tell her hi! ---------------- Amanda always shares interesting insights about the things she encounters every day living as an expat and traveling throughout Korea. Her stories, for me, stir up fond memories of the two years I spent living in Guangzhou, China, of my trips traveling around Asia, and of those visits to family in Taiwan every few summers ... Read More

Two Year Expat Anniversary

Written by: Amanda // Category: Expat Living

The past two years have been good to us. If you've been following along with our journey as long as I've been writing about it, you know it's been quite the adventure. We're happy because adventure is exactly what we were wanting. Today marks two years of being an expat. I remember our initial journey over like it was yesterday, probably because I was sicker than a dog and embarrassing everyone on the plane (ok maybe not that bad, but it felt like it). Thankfully I haven't had any more bouts of travel sickness other than slight anxiety sometimes, and I've been willingly stepping on planes ever since. I couldn't be more excited for this third year abroad, and am very curious to see what the future holds for us. In the past two years, we've ... Read More

Valentine’s Day

Written by: Amanda // Category: Love

I used to hate Valentines Day. As a matter of fact I still kind of do. It irks me that there is a day that men (and women) are obligated to do something for their significant other. I know V-day is supposed to be a romantic, sexy, fun, and amazing holiday, but I can't help but think: "what about the rest of the year?" Why do we have to wait for this one specific day to show our love? There are 364 more days in the year that our special someone deserves to be loved and swept off their feet. Don't you think? I am however, the most puzzling person ever. Derik knows how I feel about Valentines Day, but every time this dreaded day comes I get pissed if he doesn't do anything 'extra' special for me. WHO AM I?! Sigh. Darn all those cultural ... Read More

Nervous in Korea (Guest Post)

Written by: Amanda // Category: Guest Post

  So happy to have Ms. Chantal taking over my blog for the day! If you haven't discovered this wonderful lady yet, I suggest you head straight over to her blog: Scattered Seashells. She has an amazing family (including the cutest two year old girl I've ever seen), and her husband serves in the US Army. They were recently transferred to South Korea (ummmm YAY blogger meet-ups soon), and I've enjoyed following her daily adventures via instagram! Enjoy! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We arrived in Korea at the beginning of December. I wish I could tell you I was blown away by being on the other side of the world, but honestly, we were just exhausted. An 18-hour trip, ... Read More

Lessons of Love (From Abroad)

Written by: Amanda // Category: Expat Living, Love

In pre-marriage counseling, our pastor told us that one of the best things we could do for our marriage was get out on our own, by ourselves. At the time I was still thinking about going to a music school in Australia that I had been accepted to, but we weren't sure how it would all work financially. We were strongly encouraged by the pastor to take the leap and move abroad, just because something like that brings a couple together more than you could ever think possible. You are forced to lean upon each other instead of your families, spend a ton more time together, and learn to genuinely enjoy each other's company. He was right. I'd be lying if I told you the first few months in Korea wasn't difficult marriage-wise. We had been used ... Read More

Your Questions Answered: The Miscellaneous

Written by: Amanda // Category: about me

We come to our last and final 'Questions Answered' post of the three part series! I am so thankful for all your interest in my husband and I, what we're doing, and my blog! I hope you have enjoyed all the Q & A's, and feel free to ask me any more questions at any time! You never know, I may write whole blog post about it. :) ESL TEACHING: "Do they accept non-native English speakers for teaching jobs in Korea?" -Rekha Unfortunately Korea has a very picky hiring system. They enjoy the privilege (and can afford to with how many people are looking into teaching ESL here) of being selective. 99% of the time, Korean schools do not accept non-native English speakers to be part of their English program. The only exception that I know of ... Read More

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Currently on Instagram

Our adventures may be few and far between nowadays Our adventures may be few and far between nowadays, but the ones we get to take are oh so sweet. 

My daughters are now 2.5 years and 6 months old. Life never slows down, but only gets faster with each day we’re blessed to live. Social media may not be a part of my life how it used to be, and instead I’m working on living life intentionally each day as we raise our girls during these crazy times. 💕
2020 has been a year has it not? As much as I love 2020 has been a year has it not? As much as I love social media, I found myself taking a break as the things we were all going through made social media so insignificant to me. 

In January/February I had a miscarriage. It was a horrible way to start the year, and little did I know it was just the beginning of it all. 

Even with the loss, hardship of moving back to the US in the middle of a global pandemic, and navigating our new lives here, we were given many blessings. The greatest of those was finding out I was pregnant again in March.

It’s a scary time to be pregnant right now, especially after a miscarriage, because doctors visits are very minimal. Also, Derik was never able to come to a single visit. I was terrified something would happen and I would be told bad news and have to face that alone. But God was gracious to us. 

We kept our special little secret to ourselves, and it wasn’t until our third trimester before we told immediate family and close friends. My pregnancy was very private for me, and a special time to bond closely with the babe growing inside me.

Our sweet little girl arrived November 30, and yes I had to deliver with a mask on, but she is perfect and I truly feel our family is complete. 💕🌈
 
“When a rainbow appears, it doesn’t mean the storm never happened or that we are not still dealing with its aftermath. It means something beautiful and full of light has appeared in the midst of the darkness and clouds. Storm clouds may still hover but the rainbow provides a counterbalance of color, energy, and hope.”
I am in love. As I’m sure every other plant/mons I am in love. As I’m sure every other plant/monstera collector is when you get to behold such a beauty in real life. If there were ever #plantgoals, this is it. 

Since moving from Germany, it has been a long and slow process getting our life back to normal. All of our belongings have yet to arrive so we’ve literally been camping in our house on an air bed and camping chairs for two months. 😂 All that to say, having to start my plant collection over again here stateside has been so much fun! I will miss the plant prices if Germany, but the selection here blows my mind. Anyone else obsessed? We’ve lived here for almost 8 weeks now and I already have 11 plants 😂😬😬😬. I don’t have a bed or a couch, but by golly I have greenery. 😂🤦🏼‍♀️🌱
Oh my heart. I’ve been trying to figure out the Oh my heart.

I’ve been trying to figure out the words to say about our time in Germany, but my fingers can’t seem to type out how to express my love, gratefulness, thankfulness, sadness, and heartbreak I feel about leaving. Every country we’ve lived in has taught us something and has given us so many beautiful memories, as well as opened our eyes a little more to different cultures and ways of living.

But Germany was special. The first time we stepped foot into Germany was in 2015, and we loved it so much we stayed the extent of our travel visa (3 months). I was able to visit again in 2016, and then we officially packed everything and moved in 2017. Germany has always had my heart: the people, the festivals, the food, wine and beer, the immaculate home landscaping, and even all the rules that every resident is just expected to follow to a tee (like recycling every tiny scrap of trash). Our family grew from two to three while in Germany. Bringing our daughter into the world, and raising her for a year and a half in a different culture, will be one of the most beautiful memories of my life.

Our move was impacted by the COVID pandemic, and it took three long months of delays, red tape, and countless phone calls to get everything together so we could actually get on a plane and have our stuff packed and shipped to our new home. 
I am breathing a sigh of relief to know all the stress of everything is over and our new adventure can begin. I am mourning the loss of leaving Germany. I am in a weird transition right now trying to grasp it all, but here we are jumping into new things head first! We are back in the US for a while, in the beautiful state of Tennessee, and look forward to many new memories, travels, friends, and being able to spend time with family! 
Photos from my sweet and talented friend @juliejayphotos
I feel like I failed hard this year at Christmas m I feel like I failed hard this year at Christmas markets. We went to a total of ONE market, which is exactly 19 less than I told myself I would go to this year to make up for not going to any the year before 🤦🏼‍♀️(I was 40 weeks pregnant and not feeling crowds). I will say, it was a great one and the weather was so nice, we stayed out until the market shut down.

If there’s one thing I will miss most about Germany when it is our time to move, will be the sheer enthusiasm this country has for Christmas, and I’m not talking about consumerism. Food, laughter, friends, family, music, dancing: celebration. Also, Germany shuts down for not only one day, but THREE. Stores are closed, mail is not delivered, people aren’t out and about. Everyone is home enjoying time with family, and I love it. However, I may have gone into full blown panic mode Christmas Eve when I realized I had a total of 8 diapers to get us through until the 27th. 👀
We spent Thanksgiving back in North America: Whist We spent Thanksgiving back in North America: Whistler, Canada! A 10 hour flight from Germany , and I can’t say this one was better than the one we took over the summer on our trip to Alaska, but we survived! Entertaining a 11 month old for that long is much harder than a 6 month old, especially when they aren’t into sleeping on the plane AT ALL. 🤪

Whistler was beautiful despite the lack of snow, and we enjoyed our time with family, the delicious food, and as much sightseeing as one could do with a jet-lagged baby. 
This was actually my first trip to Canada ever, (unless you want to count the move my parents took up to Alaska from Arkansas when I was two. 😂🤷‍♀️ ) and I loved it! We would really like to take a big Canadian road trip someday and explore more of the country! 😍😍🇨🇦
Being a mama may mean I don’t always have time t Being a mama may mean I don’t always have time to put myself together, but I would rather spend the extra moments making special memories with our daughter that she can cherish forever. I doubt that she will look at this picture and see a tired, messy haired mama that’s barely had time to wash her face nevermind carefully apply makeup, but am hoping she will see a mama that never tires of carrying and cuddling her, or sharing new experiences with her. 💕
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