Living in Another Language

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Would you like to know? [2]

Written by: Amanda // Category: Expat Living, Food, South Korea

Today starts part two in the Expat to Expat  Q&A hosted by my friend Belinda at Found Love Now What and The Hemborg Wife. I've really enjoyed this link-up series they have started. It's let me get a glimpse of the lives of other expats around the world. Last month we talked about weather. This month? One of my favorite topics: food! 1. What is your favorite food tradition in your new country? My husband and I have a weekly date night. We have decided that we will go to a new restaurant every week, and then once a month we can revisit an old favorite if we choose to do so instead. There are hundreds of little restaurants all over Geoje, and we've really enjoyed this personal challenge! It not only gets us out of our comfort zone ... Read More

Green smoothie: grapefruit

Written by: Amanda // Category: Food, Recipes

It's no small secret that I've been blending away for the last month or so. Now that I have my spiffy new 'ice crush' blender, I've been whipping up the tastiest of smoothies. But then today I hit the jackpot. I felt it might even be against the law if I didn't share the mother of all smoothies my new found favorite with you. I've had quite a few requests for juicing and smoothie recipes: ask and you shall receive! This recipe will be the first of many in a new series I will be doing called 'Green Smoothie.' Clever I know. Alright, lets get started! What you need: -1 cup of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (I'm sure you could blend the meat as well if you'd rather!) -1/2 cup of coconut water -3/4 cup of frozen blueberries -1/2 ... Read More

Breakfast in seosan

Written by: Amanda // Category: Food, Photography, South Korea

A few weekends ago, we packed up the car and headed up to Seosan to visit Ethan and Sandra. It was a late-night 4:30 hour road trip up north, but luckily we had the company of Amber and Jared with us. For those of you who don't know, all six of us went to the same college back in Missouri. We graduated at different times and studied different things, but somehow all ended up in Korea. It's been so great to have friends here that share a similar history. The trip up to Seosan was planned (by Ethan) to celebrate Sandra's birthday, and looking back on it, I can't believe we hadn't made that trip sooner! The four hours in the car went by like a breeze; we arrived in Seosan (after only getting lost once) at around 1:30am to the cutest little ... Read More

Recipes: fish tacos

Written by: Amanda // Category: Food, Recipes

About 3 years ago my life-long friend Alexis introduced me to the idea of fish tacos. When she told me the ingredient list to make them, I thought she was crazy , but she said they were a family favorite. She made them for me shortly after, and I've been hooked ever since. Out of everything I make, fish tacos have to be one of the top dinners my husband asks for. I don't blame him, I love them just as much! The fact that they don't take very long to make is always an attraction too. As I just mentioned, the ingredient list seems a little 'iffy,' but please, just give them a try just once...you won't be disappointed. I haven't served a single person who hasn't fallen in love with these. Fish Tacos Ingredients: Fish -4 to 5 ... Read More

Weird Wednesday (4/23)

Written by: Amanda // Category: Food, Weird Wednesday

This morning I was imessaging my sister, and we got on the topic of bathrooms. It wasn't until I started mentioning things about my current bathroom that I realized how strange it actually is. First of all, there's no bathtub. We were lucky enough to have one in our last apartment...but no matter how much scrubbing you'd do it just never seemed clean. I never took a bath in it...I have a weird thing with bathtubs needing to be spotless before I sit in them. Second? No shower curtain, or lip to keep the water in the 'shower area.' Actually, the whole entire bathroom is one giant shower. Check it out: Cleaning the bathroom is quite simple...it literally involves using the shower hose and spraying water everywhere. I then use a squeegee ... Read More

Recipes: boneless bbq chicken

Written by: Amanda // Category: Food, Recipes

I was looking back through some of my old posts, and I came across 'That BBQ Chicken.' This was a post I had written a little over a year ago about how we were adapting to our new lives in Korea. I distinctly remember not eating much of anything when we first got here...due to not knowing how to go about buying what we were comfortable with cooking. There was an abundance of kimchi and strange looking fish to go around, but our appetites weren't ready to take on such 'foreign' food. I will never forget the first time we received an order of chicken. We bought it off of Gmarket, and honestly I was a little sketched out by the idea of ordering poultry off of a website similar to Ebay. The chicken quality was pretty terrible, but it was the ... Read More

Shopping habits

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

I just bought a new blender. This is big news...seeing as how the one we had before was so old and stained from the last 5 teachers that had it, I was too scared to use it. I love blending things. I also love juicing things. I had a juicer back in the States (thanks to my awesome sister Jessica), and I really did some damage with the things I would buy in the produce section every week. Unfortunately a juicer here is very unrealistic due to the amount of expensive fruit I'd have to buy here to make the amount of juice I made substantial. Btw, all fruit is expensive here. I've learned to buckle up and take the blow to my monthly paycheck while I go to pay for groceries each week...but anyway I can save, the better. I love fruits and ... Read More

Recipes: cheddar garlic biscuits

Written by: Amanda // Category: Baking, Food

First of all, I'm not sure my husband would approve of me sharing this recipe with you. He loves these cheddar garlic biscuits so much, he has claimed them as his own. I try not to make these too often, because my husband and I have a bad habit of eating the entire batch within a day or two. Whoops. If you're looking for biscuits that taste almost identical to the savory goodness found at Red Lobster...look no further. To be honest, I can't even remember what Red Lobster's tasted like, I just know I don't crave them anymore. I crave these guys. I found this recipe on Food and Family and then slightly modified it to taste and mix the way I wanted it to. The ingredients are simple: just dump and go. A batch takes about 20-25 minutes ... Read More

Be mine

Written by: Amanda // Category: Baking, Food, Holidays, Recipes

I used to dislike Valentine's Day. I won't use the word hate, because it would take a lot to get me to actually hate something. I never celebrated Valentines Day in high school or college, I actually celebrated quite the opposite. I celebrated being single with some of my closest girl friends. We would get all dressed up and go out on the town, having a grand ol' time. I was the girl that would be randomly sitting in my dorm lounge when the flower guy would come in on the 14th of Feb. and ask me to deliver the flowers to room ___. I politely would accept, but it was not with a willing or happy heart. This didn't just happen once or twice either. I never celebrated Valentine's Day while dating either. I considered it to be a day in which ... Read More

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Currently on Instagram

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. 💕
Oh Switzerland, you beaut.🇨🇭 We spent a coup Oh Switzerland, you beaut.🇨🇭 We spent a couple days enjoying the beautiful weather in the land of chocolate, cheese, mountains, and cows with bells 😍😍🤩. If you remember, we visited the same area  a month shy of two years ago but but the weather was quite the opposite! I’d have to say though, when you visit such a majestic and beautiful area, it doesn’t matter what the weather is, you’re going to be in awe and love it anyway!
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