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Weird Wednesday (02/13)

Written by: Amanda // Category: Weird Wednesday

Tomorrow is one of the most romantic days of the year. Flowers, chocolates, hearts, and lace clutter the stores, begging you to buy something for your loved one. I was very pleasantly surprised that Valentine's Day is also celebrated in Korea. However, here it's known as the holiday where men buy things for their women...then White day comes along exactly one month later, and women are expected to return the favor to their guys! After living here a year, there is one thing that has caught my eye about this country. They take even the smallest reason to celebrate love. cutesy notepads, pencils, shirts, phone cases, ect...are all available here, applauding relationships. It's a HUGE deal if a couple (young or old) stays together 100 ... Read More

Weird Wednesday (01/30)

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

I've never liked bugs. I wouldn't say I'm 'scared to death' or anything by them, (except for one time in Panama City, Panama when a hissing cockroach turned flight to fight. The thing was the size of a baby's shoe...and had eight girls running for their lives. Terrifying.) but I don't have any interest in bugs. A few months ago, I was teaching one of my beginner English classes about pets. After getting through the basics...(rabbit, cat, dog, hamster, fish) I asked them about what pets they had at home. One little boy piped up that he had a _____(korean word ?). Having NO idea what that was, I spent the next 15 minutes of class trying to figure it out. Finally in pure desperation, I had him draw a picture. One thing about little Korean ... Read More

Weird Wednesday (01/23)

Written by: Amanda // Category: Weird Wednesday

I knew it was just going to be a matter of time before a strange item would be sighted in a bathroom stall. Public bathrooms are just strange here. Not only do they make miniature toilets for the little ones, but they give you moist towelettes to wipe down the seat before you go. If you need to use the restroom in a more 'lavish' area, many times they have bidets instead of normal toilets.  If you're not sure what a bidet is, it's basically a toilet that 'cleans' you, instead of you using toilet paper. Some of them even have heated seats.  I don't even know how many awkward situations I've been in...looking at all the buttons (in Korean btw), and trying to figure out how to flush the stupid toilet! I'm actually not writing today to talk ... Read More

Weird Wednesday (01/16)

Written by: Amanda // Category: Weird Wednesday

Today on Weird Wednesday I'm bringing up my students. I've observed many foreign things when it comes to what my students wear, eat, act like, and mention in everyday topics. Even just yesterday I had one of my 5-year olds throw up out of the blue on our way to his next class. The desk teacher (they're pretty awesome ladies who do not mind doing all the dirty work) came up behind the student and started hitting his back repeatedly...hard (meanwhile I was running to get a trashcan...I guess they don't do that here?) I'm used to a gentler approach of rubbing the rather sick individual's back, and maybe applying a cool cloth to the back of their neck. Ok, well whatever works. I've also noticed quite a few kids running around with tissue up ... Read More

Weird Wednesday (01/09)

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

There are some things that never cease to amaze me, or make any sense. Thus the reason for creating my weekly post 'Weird Wednesday.' You can check out the first post from last week here. As winter approached Geoje Island, I began to notice the lack of proper heating structure in Korea. Either you're getting heated out of your home due to the apartment above you having their floor heat on full blast, and the apartment below you doing the same thing (I call it the grilled cheese effect, and Derik and I happen to be the grilled cheese), or you're working in a school that, for some reason, still uses space heaters as it's only source of heat. I can live with the space heaters. I can live with wearing my jacket and gloves all day at school. ... Read More

Weird Wednesday (01/03)

Written by: Amanda // Category: Weird Wednesday

Everyone enjoys strange and weird things, and living over in Korea now for the past year we've come across quite a few. The funny part is 90% of them are 'normal' to those growing up over here. Whether my reaction is a raised eyebrow, a tiny smile, or an outright laugh, I've decided to share these moments/items/ideas with you. I have come up with a new section of my blog to which I have fondly called 'Weird Wednesday.' As mentioned in the title, I will be posting one weird 'thing' every week. I hope these posts can add some entertainment to your life as well as educate you on the foreign (to you, not so for me) practices of those living in South Korea. My first Weird Wednesday subject is a little pack-of-perfection that I found at the ... 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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