Living in Another Language

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10 Things to See and Do While Visiting South Korea

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

We lived in Korea for 2.5 years, and made sure we set aside time to explore our surroundings. Korea is a little country, but packs a punch with festivals, landscapes, and historical places to visit. Sadly, we never made it to Jeju Island, which I'm sure would be on this list if we had gone! If you ever happen to be in the area, you'll have to be sure to visit a few of the 10 places I list below. Some of them are pretty touristy, where others are a bit off the beaten path. Cherry Blossom Festivals are held every Spring, usually in April. The cool thing is they're in a bunch of different areas of the country, but the most famous flower festivals are in: Jinju, Gyeongju, and Seoul. Not only will you feel like you're in a magical ... Read More

Final Words on Korea

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

Truth is, I was a mess our last few days in Korea. Between the stress of moving and final farewells to people I hold close to my heart, I was pretty much a sentimental sap that would cry at the smallest thing. Korea was good for us. It taught us how to live on our own, in an unfamiliar land, full of complete strangers who spoke a foreign language. It taught us to be flexible and when to roll with the punches as well as when to stand up for ourselves. It taught us to appreciate western civilizations that literally have the world at their fingertips. It taught us that traveling is a lot less scary than it needs to be, and I guess that’s why we are continuing on in our adventure across the world. I’ve learned people that live in ... Read More

Moving Overseas? How to Get You and Your Belongings to Your Destination Country

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

The following post is contributed (written by) by site supporters of Living Another Language, not me. :) Moving house can be pretty stressful, but it is significantly more so when relocating to a new place overseas! Moving to a different country can be very exciting due to being presented with a range of new experiences and opportunities, but it does take a fair bit of planning. This often means dealing with a few headaches, but it can be so worth it when you arrive at your new home with most things under control. In order to achieve this sense of relief, you will probably want to focus on the key points of getting both yourself and your belongings to the destination country. Here are a few handy tips that will help you to accomplish ... Read More

Why We’re Leaving Korea

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

As you may have read earlier this week, we're leaving Korea. This may come as somewhat of a shock for some of you- I don't blame you, it was rather sudden. Honestly the whole 'New Zealand' thing was planned out entirely within the space of 35 days, and we're still in shock that it's actually happening as well. I thought I'd take a little time to explain why we're leaving Korea. In January and February Derik and I took a two month trip back to the US and around Asia. After returning to Korea, things just weren't the same as what they had been the previous two years we'd lived there. Things seemed stale, tired, and altogether too normal than what they should be, especially since we were residing in a country completely different than our ... Read More

We’re Officially Announcing…

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

We've kept it in for weeks now. Some of you probably have known something was up, and maybe you've noticed we've been deleting certain messages on our Facebook walls. Well, there's a reason for that; we wanted to wait until the timing was right to tell everyone (aka make it 'public')  It's harder to keep things quiet nowadays because of the whole social networking business, but I feel like we've actually done a pretty good job keeping this one to ourselves. You can only wait so long before the news starts getting leaked out of nowhere. That's why today we decided to let you in on our little secret. Living in Asia has been wonderful. We've met amazing people, seen spectacular things, and grown closer together as a married couple in ... Read More

Living Expenses in Korea

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

Now that Derik and I have lived here two and a half years,  I feel we have a pretty good grasp on how to budget things financially, and aren't usually surprised by unforeseen living expenses in Korea To those considering moving to this fine country, those curious about certain info, or those already here, maybe this will be somewhat of a help to you! If these three types of people don't apply to you, then maybe you'll just want to read this just to know the info and surprise your friends someday. :) Believe it or not, Korea is actually a pretty expensive place to live. That is if you're paying for your own rent, utilities, food, transportation, technology and beyond. Some jobs provide housing, transportation, and phone services, ... Read More

The Negative Side to Travel

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

Derik and I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel. Sure we don't travel as much as a lot of other travel bloggers do, but we acknowledge and are thankful that we're able to do something not everyone can. We don't have children, we don't have possessions back home, unless the few containers at my mother in law's count. To be honest, those containers could just disappear and I'd only shed a FEW tears due to our wedding and engagement albums that I'd never see again. The clothes, kitchen supplies, jewelry, and various nicknacks we did keep mean nothing to me. I repeatedly have readers exclaim that they wish they could live our lives, and then go on to talk about how discontent and bored they are at home, and it really bothers ... Read More

Korean Commercials Pt. 3

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

I've been spending the last 30 minutes finding some of the Korean commercials on Youtube that have been circulating around these parts. I usually discover my favorites when we are sitting around in the local CGV theater waiting for our 'main feature' movie to start. I used to love previews back in the States, but here it's just a hodgepodge of weird Korean commercials, and maybe one English action movie preview. Oh well, it's given me plenty of material to share with you in yet another installment of Korean Commercials. If you're bored on a Sunday and want to waste a little time, you can also view the other two installments here and here. 6. Banana Milk: I tried it. Not as great as they make it out to be; especially if you're a grown ... Read More

Gyeongju Cherry Blossom Festival

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

The spring season comes like clockwork in Korea. So much so, you can basically plan to head over to a flower festival or two during the middle of April. This year was no exception, and as you have seen a post or two back, spring is most definitely here.  Gyeongju is the traditional city of Korea. As soon as you arrive within the city limits you're surrounded by old brick walls, the trademark Asian slate roofing, ancient tombs, and flowers. Lots of flowers! We decided to head up to Gyeongju during their Cherry Blossom Festival to score some awesome food, and enjoy the spring activities. We rented bikes for the day at $7.00 a piece, and went for a long ride. Unfortunately since we were on our bikes all day I didn't spend much time ... 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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