Living in Another Language

a travel & adventure blog

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And We’re Off!!!

Written by: Amanda // Category: Uncategorized

The moment of waiting is finally over, our passports are being put to good use, and we're out discovering some more of the amazing world we live in! Just letting you know as a little PSA, I won't be replying to comments, posting on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook for the duration of our vacation. Derik and I are going phone, tablet, and computer free, and I'm looking forward to a little R&R away from things! Don't worry, I'm not going to vanish entirely for three weeks: I have some lovely posts lined up for you! I look forward to reading all your comments when I get back. Wanna know where we will be? December 18th-30th South Pacific Cruise out of Sydney destinations being: New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, and then back to ... Read More

Radio Silence

Written by: Amanda // Category: Uncategorized

You may or may not have noticed my radio silence the last two weeks. I attempted to pump out a post or two in the last 14 days, but I pretty much threw that plan right out the window.  On August 18th, I flew back to the States for my brother's wedding, and have enjoyed a blissful couple of weeks getting to know my adorable nieces, relishing moments with loved ones I haven't seen in 4 years, and drinking as many sonic slushes as humanly possible. Those 14 days ended up whizzing by as I knew they would, and here I am sitting in the airport waiting to board the my first out of five flights home to New Zealand. I realize I totally confused 90% of my Instagram audience who thought I was still in Dunedin, when I started posting photos of ... Read More

Instagram Favorites

Written by: Amanda // Category: Uncategorized

Instagram. By now everyone (and their mother) has it or has heard of it. I started my Instagram account way back in the days when it was still new, and only like 12 Facebook friends of mine had it. My oh my has it grown. Instagram is a wonderful creative outlet for photos and videos, allowing users to share their lives with the rest of the world. To those of you who don't have an Instagram yet, it sounds weird I know. My husband still doesn't understand it. I've become rather obsessed with finding awesome travel and photography accounts to follow via Insta to get my daily fill on all things wonderful. I'm here today to spread the love and share my favorites! Also please let me know if you have more I can add to my ... Read More

Change is Inevitable

Written by: Amanda // Category: Uncategorized

There's been a lot of talk on change, simplifying, and living minimalistically around the blogging world. I don't know what's going on with 2014, but I feel like everyone's taking an extra step to make life less about 'stuff' and more about the experiences. Maybe some people are just beginning to realize you really don't NEED a lot of crap to make you happy. I love the picture above that I captured while we were in Phu Quoc, Vietnam, because this little boy didn't need much to make him perfectly content. Derik and I watched him play with his pants (as comical as that may seem) for at least an hour as the sun went down. He was doing his own thing, happy to be alive and running around in the water and sand. If only life was always that ... Read More

21 Tips and Tricks to make your life easier! #lifehacks #householdtips #tips

21 Household Tips and Tricks

Written by: Amanda // Category: Uncategorized

I'm all about simplifying my life and finding ways to make it easier! I've been taught 'life-hacks' from an early age, it's just a matter of regurgitating that knowledge of the things I consider normal practices and writing a post for you to benefit from! The 21 household tips and tricks below (actually 22, I through an extra one in last minute) are all used by me on almost a daily basis (yes, even in Korea). FOOD: 1. Strawberries rinsed in vinegar last days longer. 2. Putting your  freshly opened ice-cream container in a ziplock bag will keep it 'first-use' soft. 3. Don't have an egg but you're halfway through making your batch of cookies? Use a mashed banana. BEAUTY 4. Olive oil takes off eye makeup as good (if not better) than ... Read More

Saturday’s Thoughts

Written by: Amanda // Category: Uncategorized

-I'm wondering how many of you will be confused by the fact that it's Saturday here in Korea and Friday back in the States. Don't worry I get my times mixed up more than I'd like to say. -Dishes are the bane of my existence. I spend approximately 30 minutes washing them every single day, but the next morning I feel like there are more dishes in the sink then there were the night before. -My husband and I can't seem to fall asleep earlier than 3:00am on the weekends. I hate it. Especially since it makes us not want to wake up until 10am and half our morning is gone. -My Christmas tree doesn't look as full of cheer as it did last year, yet I used the exact same decorations. What's going on. -We made a 100% fully Korean dinner the ... Read More

Introducing…(aka HUGE NEWS)

Written by: Amanda // Category: Uncategorized

It's been a few weeks in the making, but I'm finally formally announcing my design site: The Suitcase Designs! Cue my heart beating at fifty million miles and hour and palm sweats. I've been dabbling with blog design since I first started blogging back in February of 2012. If you ask my siblings, I actually have a history with web design. When I was 12 years old, I went through a kick where I wanted to make my own website. I got a free domain through Yahoo and learned (all by myself) how to use html...css wasn't around then. As most childhood fads go, that design phase blew by as fast as it came. After moving to Wordpress.org, the freedom to use coding in my blog designs became almost limitless in my eyes. I discover new things each day ... Read More

Three Years Ago the Wedding Bells Rang

Written by: Amanda // Category: Uncategorized

Well not really. We had our wedding on a cliffside (Ecola State Park) overlooking Cannon Beach, Oregon, and had our music played from an ipod hooked into a few speakers. I don't think a single person could complain of the beauty this location gave. No need for wedding decor, nature already took care of that! It was a great location for a destination wedding, and after I received the park permit for $15 dollars we were set to go. We had our wedding on a Monday of all days..mainly because it was one of the only days the park had available in August, and it happened to be on Derik's birthday. So yes, we got married on my husband's birthday. He jokes around that he planned it that way just so he wouldn't forget the anniversary. To this day ... Read More

I love bloglovin!

Written by: Amanda // Category: Uncategorized

It's Monday. The weekend went way to fast, and here I am running around like crazy for another week of teaching. My husband and I are totally over teaching at the moment and are pining for our vacation to Borneo (two short weeks!). I don't have much for you today...but I DO have an awesome link-up! If you have a blog and love to be social, this one's for you. <div align="center"><a href="http://www.northernbellediaries.com" title="Northern Belle Diaries"><img src="https://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y469/NBelleCreations/IheartBloglovin_zps92408d43.png" alt="Northern Belle Diaries" style="border:none;" /></a></div> ... Read More

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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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