Living in Another Language

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French press lattes

Written by: Amanda // Category: Food

I've always had a love for coffee. It wasn't until I moved to South Korea that I realized just how strong my love was. Before I knew it, I graduated from 'candy coffees' into sipping iced americanos in the summer. I supposed it's healthier for me. I never was into making coffee at home very much, but that was due to not having a coffee maker! Then, we met Jared and Amber. They're quite the coffee experts...growing up with only the best! They not only have a french press back home, but they have a drip coffee maker, AND an espresso machine! After hanging out multiple times, I've quickly adapted and became a part of their coffee drinking 'club.' Then, they bought me my own french press! I've never had one before, so I was quite excited to ... Read More

Recipes: grandma knows best

Written by: Amanda // Category: Baking, Food, Holidays, South Korea

I don't know if you're like me, but the perfect Christmas cookie recipe is hard to find. Well, look no further. Everyone knows that gingerbread cookies are an American holiday favorite. The soft and spicy cookie is just what anyone needs for the cold holidays...especially paired with a cup of tea or hot cocoa. I was a bit hesitant to share my cherished gingerbread recipe, passed down to me from my Grandmother, with you at first...after all, it's been in the family for years. But being in the holiday spirit, one cannot be greedy and selfish. Also, this recipe is achievable from KOREA with a little help from iherb.com. If you're in for some warm (actually these are even good frozen), soft, and all around darn good cookies...give these a ... Read More

11/11

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

I couldn't help but chuckle as I looked down at the description of the box I held in my hand, "Strawberry chocolate attached fragrant biscuit." This isn't my first time dealing with Peperos...I was introduced to them by my friend of 12 years, Alexis and her husband Jordan. I'm not sure if they knew what they were...but they were good so that's all that mattered. Peperos originated in South Korea (or so they say) by the mega-brand Lotte. They are made from a long piece of sweet biscuit and dipped in chocolate. They remind me of chocolate covered pretzel sticks. Now what I didn't know until last Friday was, 11/11 is national Pepero Day. I found out about it though my students' thoughtful gifts as they brought me boxes of these sweet little ... Read More

Foreign

Written by: Amanda // Category: Food, Weekly Photo Challenges

This week's Weekly Photo Challenge asks readers to post a photo of something 'foreign' to them. As most of you know, I live in South Korea as an English teacher, and have been for the last eight months. Seriously, everything is foreign to me. I'm constantly caught of guard by little things, and this reminds me even more that I'm an alien in a strange land. I've gotten pretty used to the food...but sometimes a certain side dish can throw me of guard. It's quite normal to get a side dish of pickled radishes, seaweed, kimchi, rice, cabbage salad, and some sort of grass salad with red paste on it. What I wasn't expecting was, when we went to a BBQ restaurant, to get a side dish of chilled octopus tentacles covered with red paste and served on ... Read More

Expat resources

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

Hey readers...especially expats! Check out the new page above labeled 'Expat Resources!' I've started compiling a list of online resources that ship to Korea/Worldwide! This not only helps me, but it may help you. Enjoy. :) ... Read More

Where do i get it? 10/4

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

Due to the inspiration of one of my friends, I've decided to write a post about using a certain resource as a means of comfort here in South Korea as an expat. What may that be? The internet. The internet holds a vast amount of information...as well as resources that are able to help a person no matter where and what walk of life they are on. Being an expat, I've tried to make life as comfortable as possible...trying to find little things to make our time in Asia a little more 'Western' (the region of the world, not the cowboy style). I've recently stumbled upon some websites that have allowed me to maintain a slight level of 'normalicy' in an otherwise crazy and foreign world. Honestly, I never thought I would write a blog post about ... Read More

[Bali] late night cruisin’

Written by: Amanda // Category: Bali, Food, Travel, water adventures

Wednesday night, after our lovely and adventurous 'water day,' we headed out yet again on the ocean. This time in style, on a banana yellow yacht. The day was perfect: not to hot,not to cold. To make it even better, we met up with Harriet (my good friend that teaches in South Africa with me here in Korea...well for 5 more days. :(  ) and her bestie Engela and they joined us on the cruise!       Overall, we had a blast on the cruise. Probably because 80% of it was joking and laughing with our friends. To be honest, I dont think we'd do it again if we go back to Bali, but it was a fun thing to do once!   ... Read More

Grand mirage…a piece of paradise. [bali]

Written by: Amanda // Category: Bali, Food, Travel, Uncategorized

Grand Mirage. It lives up to it's name. It's a little chunk of heaven/bliss/all things good among everything else. All the food you can eat. All the drinks you can drink. All the watersports you can handle. Shows, live music, London Olympic coverage, and most importantly 24 hour room service. Derik and I opted to do this all-inclusive amazingness as the first few days of our trip...that way we'd have time to unwind before we headed out across Bali to explore and do fun things. We were not bored in the least at the Grand Mirage, in fact, we were almost always up to doing something! The first day we got up early ate a fantastic breakfast, went kayaking, ate a good lunch (which included swordfish and salmon), chilled on the beach, ate ... Read More

That BBQ Chicken…

Written by: Amanda // Category: Baking, Food, Travel

Derik and I are starting to get into the groove of things. We no longer stumble around hoping we get to the right place at the right time,in Gohyeon anyway. Just wait until we start exploring other parts of Geoje Island. We know the best place to buy tools, the right store to grab a quick carton of milk, and of course we know that McDonalds has a happy hour from 11-2 everyday (of which we visit this every couple weeks, maybe more frequently soon...my husband has rapidly dropped 20 pounds in the last month). We know our schedules at work, we know how much time it takes us to get there walking, and riding the bike. We know some Korean words such as: "Hello/Goodbye," "Thank-you," "Yes," and of course "Sexual Predator," and "Poop." Thank you ... 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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