Living in Another Language

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Archives for February 2015

Central Otago Wine Tour

Written by: Amanda // Category: New Zealand, Review, Tour Reviews

I knew from the second I found out New Zealand was prime wine country, that I wanted to go on a wine tasting tour. I'm not quite sure why it didn't make my NZ bucket list, but would it be cheating if I threw it on there real quick just to cross off? It should have been part of the list for sure!  For Valentine's Day I wanted to do something fun and romantic with Derik, so I booked a last minute wine tour through Appellation Central Wine Tours. Central Otago (and Queenstown) is only a few hour drive for us from Dunedin, and honestly I have no idea why it's taken us this long to drop by this area during the summer! We've visited Queenstown three times previously, but all have been in the winter/early springtime. If it says anything, we're ... Read More

The Best Times to Travel Internationally

Written by: Amanda // Category: travel tips

The other week I shared a post on how to save for traveling the world. After working hard and saving those pennies, you are finally ready to take the next step and book your first (or 100th) international flight. The thing is, you don't want to blow all your money on the airplane tickets and be left with pocket change to live on right? So what are the best times to travel internationally? Remember that every country and continent has it's own 'peak season' and 'low season', and if you can work around the peak travel seasons, you should be able to find pretty reasonable prices for airplane tickets and accommodation. Travel times to avoid Christmas and New Year's- On average, the most expensive days to travel worldwide tend to be ... Read More

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Written by: Amanda // Category: Australia, Location Reviews, Review

From the very moment we found out that we would have a week in NSW, Australia, I knew that I wanted to hold a koala. After further research, I found out that you actually have to go up to Queensland to hold them, but Derik and I were open to a little road trip! We hopped into our sweet new rental car, graciously provided by Europcar , and hit the road bound for Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. We arrived in Brisbane at night, and stayed in an adorable little apartment overlooking the harbor. Unfortunately in the morning we woke up to a downpour, and I was worried my hopes and dreams of cuddling koalas and feeding kangaroos at Lone Pine would be dashed. After reading a few reviews online about it being ok to visit during the rain (due to the ... Read More

What 1,095 Days of Travel Has Taught Me

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

On February 16, 2012 we hopped aboard a plane bound for South Korea with two carry on bags, two personal items, and four checked bags. Little did we know our short year in Korea would turn out to be three years abroad, but here we are. We've since downgraded all we own from those four checked bags to two due to international regulations and hard core fees (problems with living outside the US), but it's been for the better I think. Our expat anniversary also aligns with the blogiversary of LIAL. I started this blog back in February of 2012 as a way for my family to keep in touch with us. Look at it now?! I would have never dreamed I would be sitting here, writing for thousands of loving followers. From the bottom of my heart, thank you ... Read More

The Story Behind The Name

Written by: Amanda // Category: about me, Lately, Travel Blogging

I'm seeing lots of awesome new people pop around these parts, and I thought it was about time to take a look back on the three years of Living in Another Language, and give you a brief history of this blog, why it's named LIAL, and where I'm going with it. Our expat anniversary is only a couple days away, and my blogiversary coincides with it! First of all, I know what you're thinking: "Amanda, your blog's name is Living in Another Language, yet…you're an American living in New Zealand. That's definitely NOT living in another language." Yep. I get it. I've spent months debating over if I should make the big change over to something more world-travel friendly (whether we're actually living in another language or not), or if I should ... Read More

10 Travel Quotes That Will Inspire You To See the World

Written by: Amanda // Category: Travel

I have a thing for travel and adventure quotes because they tend to fuel my wanderlust. I find myself browsing Pinterest for an unmentionable amount of time, pinning quote after quote that speaks to me. Now that Derik and I are on the eve of our three year expat anniversary, I figured it's about time to share my favorite photos paired with my favorite quotes! If you follow me on Instagram, you may have already read some of these! After picking 10 quotes, I realized I have a million other favorites; I may have to do a part two of this post someday! ... Read More

Cruising Sydney Harbor

Written by: Amanda // Category: Australia, Cruises

The Opera House in Sydney Harbor is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Australia. It's not a surprising, I mean, just look at how gorgeous it is!!! Our Christmas cruise with Carnival Spirit began it's voyage in Sydney, directly across from the Opera House. We couldn't have asked for a better way to start our vacation, than to watch the sun set over one of the most picturesque locations in the world (stretching here? Nah). As the ship headed out to sea, we sat out on the balcony and listened to the live music being played at the 'adults only' bar, watched the seagulls playing in the slight breeze, and waved to the group of climbers (no doubt from BridgeClimb) as they summited the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It was kind of ... Read More

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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