For those who don’t know how this works, the Liebster award is assigned by other bloggers who like your blog and think it’s worth to be awarded.

The person who nominates you asks you 11 questions. You answer them and then you nominate another 11 bloggers and ask them your own 11 questions and you notify them of the nomination. – And the Award flows on.

And here are Marta’s questions…:

* Sex, Drugs or Rock’N’Roll? Choose one.

Ha, I’d say Rock’N’Roll. – Why? Well, let’s say because my children read my blog… and because my other half and I did Rock’N’Roll before we had kids…

* If you could undo one thing you have done in your past, what would it be?

To be honest, I don’t think there is any real thing I would undo. – Of course, like everyone not all the decisions I took were the right ones but somehow it all turned out to be fine. – It’s more what I would have liked to have done differently: I’ve moved a lot and sometimes didn’t take the time to say goodbye to friends; mainly because I thought that I wouldn’t be gone for long, that I would come back. – This way I ended up leaving “forever” and loosing some of them, alas, forever.

* Piercing or Tattoo, and where?

I would really like to get a nice Tattoo, only that I really don’t like needles…

* What was the best year of your whole life and why?

It’s a tough one. There are many “best years” so far. The year I got married, got my first “real” job, the one I went to live in Florence, the year my son was born, the year we moved to the Netherlands, and the year my girls were born… The last two years, where I finally get the impression to be “on board” again of my professional life. All these years are “the best” for different reasons.

* Fast forward five years: where are you and what are you doing?

I’m  still here, hopefully, with my family, all healthy… and doing what I like. I try not to focus on the future. Too many things happen in very short time and lately I’m pretty much aware that one moment can change everything…

* Hair on men’s chests, yay or nay?

No hair, please…

* If you were to choose one book that you consider your darling, which one would it be?

My at-the-moment-darling-book is Marilyn Gardners’ book Between Worlds. I love her style and at almost every page of her book I felt that she was writing what I tried to express myself (check out her blog!).

* Do you enjoy hiding in wardrobes, especially in the tall part, where the coats hang?

No, not anymore. When playing hide and seek as a child: yes, of course. I even tried to hide putting on the coats on a hanger: quite scary for those who found a “moving” coat in the wardrobe!

* Describe briefly your biggest cooking fuckup.

I love cooking and I am a fantasy cooker, so you won’t find a dish that “goes wrong”. – Still thinking…

* If you could be a movie character and live their life as it is in the movie, which one would it be?

I guess this would be a superhero. It doesn’t matter which one. I just would love to have one super-power for a day or two and then, please, go back to normal because this is only fiction.

* What is the thing you love best about your life as it is?

I really like NOT to know what comes next. I like challenges and I love to live day by day. I enjoy this especially because in the past I wasn’t like that. I’ve spent many years worrying, planning and trying to control what comes next. But recently I find that living day by day is the best for me.

 And these are the 11 question I ask other bloggers:

1) How does a good day look like for you?

2) What is your favourite author and why?

3) Do you have a favourite plant ?

4) Dog or cat? – Why?

5) Seaside or mountain?

6) If you could choose where to live, where would this be and why?

7) Are you a morning or an evening person?

8) Do you like to bake or to cook?

9) Which is your favourite mean of transportation?

10) Mac or PC?

11) If you could start a new blog, what would it be about?

***

And these are my nominees (in alphabetical order ):

1) Amanda from Expat Life with a Double Buggy

2) Daniela from Malaikatravel

3) Galina from Raising a Trilingual Child

4) Irina from Good to be mom

5) Isabelle from Aventures d’Expat

6) Jonathan Ervine from Dad’s the way I like it

7) Lana from Smart Tinker

8) Maria from Trilingual Mama

9) Olga from European Mama

10) Rina from Finding Dutchland

11) Stephen Greene from Head of the Heard

But 2013 is the first year that I’ve been blogging, and WordPress.com did an annual report for my blog (as for all the others!) and I think it’s nice to just have a look at it.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 31,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 11 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

A medieval fresco depicting St Nicholas from the Boyana Church, near Sofia, Bulgaria. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sinterklaas or Nikolaus, San Nicola etc. in European countries is based on the legendary figure of St Nicholas. Born in 271 AD to a rich Greek family in Asia Minor in in the city of Patara (Lycia et Pamphylia), he was very religious from an early age. His parents died by an epidemic while Nicholas was still very young and he was raised by his uncle (also named Nicholas), the bishop of Patara. ” He tonsured the young Nicholas as a reader and later ordained him a presbyter (priest). “(wikipedia) Nicholas decided to distribute his wealth to the poor and become a priest. Later he became the Arch Bishop of Myra, a place near the city of Anatolia in Turkey.

He had the reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him and became the model for Santa Claus (celebrated on 24th or 25th December), whose modern name comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas in turn comes from a series of elisions and corruptions of the transliteration of “Saint Nikolaos”.

The fame of St Nicholas’ good deeds began to spread across the Mediterranean and he became known as a patron saint of children, sailors, merchants, archors, travellers and of the city of Amsterdam. Therefore this figure has a special meaning to the Dutch and to the children.

There are many legends about St Nicholas. One tells how a terrible famine struck the island and a malicious butcher lured three little children to his house, killed them and placed their remains in a barrel to cure, planning to sell them off as ham. Saint Nicholas, visiting the region to care for the hungry, saw through this horrible crime and resurrected the three boys from the barrel by his prayers. In another version (from the 11th Century), the butcher’s victims were three clerks who wished to stay the night. The man murdered them and intended to turn them into meat pies. Saint Nicholas saw through this and brought the men back to life. – These kind of legends seem to have originated some of the well known helpers of St Nicholas in many European countries.

The legends with the most likely historical basis are those with St Nicholas being the helper or being the secret benefactor:

Nicholas heard about a man who had lost all his money. He had three daughters who were old enough to get married but had no dowry.

This family was so poor they had nothing left to eat. The daughters were going to be sold as slaves because they couldn’t live at home any longer. They were very sad. They wouldn’t be able to have families of their own. And they would have to be slaves—no longer able to decide where they would live or what they would do.

The night before the oldest daughter was to be sold, she washed her stockings and put them in front of the fire to dry. Then all of them went to sleep—the father and the three daughters.

In the morning the daughter saw a lump in her stocking. Reaching in, she found a small, heavy bag. It had gold inside! Enough to provide food for the family and money for her dowry. Oh, how happy they were!

The next morning, another bag with gold was found. Imagine! Two of the daughters would now be saved. Such joy!

And the next night, the father planned to stay awake to find out who was helping his daughters. He dozed off, but heard a small “clink” as another bag landed in the room. Quickly he jumped up and ran out the door. Who did he catch ducking around the corner? – Nicholas, the young man who lived with his uncle. “Nicholas, it is you! Thank you for helping us—I hardly know what to say!” Nicholas said, “Please, do not thank me—thank God that your prayers have been answered. Do not tell others about me.”

Nicholas continued helping people. He always tried to help secretly. He didn’t want any attention or thanks. Years passed and he was chosen to be a bishop. Bishops look after their people as shepherds look after their sheep. And that is what Nicholas did. When there wasn’t any food, he found wheat; so no one went hungry. He always helped people in trouble. All his life Nicholas showed people how to love God and care for each other.

Everyone loved Nicholas. After he died, they told stories of the good and kind things Nicholas had done. Sailors took these stories about Nicholas everywhere they went. Some of the stories were about his special care for children—helping and protecting them when danger threatened. And so more and more people learned about good, kind Nicholas. They wanted to be like him. He is an example of how we should live. And that is why he became a saint. (Carol Myers)

Related articles

• St Nicholas and his helpers Knecht Ruprecht, Krampus, Père Fouettard and Zwarte Piet (expatsincebirth.com)
• Sinterklaas celebration in The Netherlands

Raffael 085 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here is an overview of some of my posts on other sites:

• I wrote about Swiss punctuality on nomadparents.com
• On europeanmama I wrote a post to a newly mum.
• On djiboutijones I published a post in a series called “Painting pictures” about the meaning of saudade (port.).
• On Your expat child I wrote an article about internet safety for kids and you’ll find also an interview with me  on this site.
• I’ve published a post about Swiss German Helvetisms on The Piripirilexicon.
• My post about Bilingual siblings language preferences was republished on Expatica.com
• I wrote two blog posts for the TEDx Talk Delft here and here.
• On Multicultural Kid Blogs I wrote a post about the European Day of Languages “Celebrating linguistic diversity“.
• Some of my posts are published on EXPATICA.
• Im writing for my blog on AngloINFO “Expat Living in The Hague“. My intent is to give interesting and useful insights into the life and traditions of The Hague for international families moving to, or newly arrived to the ‘City of Peace and Justice’. – Some of my posts on AngloINFO are inspired by posts written in my blog expatsincebirth (and vice versa).
• I regularly write for the site What-About-My-Pencilskirt?, a German site for Expats: Butter bei the fishes: Wie schwierig ist Englisch für Deutsche Expats?, Expat-Life – die große Chance Krisen meistern zu lernen (Resilienz) …

• I regularly wrote for the site Passionate Parenting: How to survive the long summer holidays with children, How to say goodbye…, Cultural outings for the family in The Hague area, Summer in the City of The Hague 2014

• FIGT: FIGT from a European Perspective

Some print publications:

• Saudade: The Love that Remains, the Joy of Grief by Ute Limacher-Riebold in Among Worlds December 2015
• I wrote two chapters in the Anthology Dutched Up! Rocking the Clogs Expat Style.
• I regularly publish in the ACCESS magazine
• I published a chapter in Finding Home

Some reviews I wrote for other sites:

• V!VA. A tool for Wellbeing
• The Hague Highlights: The 100 Must-See Places in The Hague
• The Dutch are different
• Parental Guidance: Long distance care for aging parents

If you would like me to write a post on your blog or for your site, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

St. Augustine writing, revising, and re-writing: Sandro Botticelli’s St. Augustine in His Cell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yes, today is my blogs’ first anniversary! It’s been exactly a year since I published my first post and I have to say that I really enjoyed writing every single post.

I’ve started blogging one year ago because I had written about many topics just “for me” and wanted to share them somewhere. To write a book about them seemed very appealing but then I realized that I covered so many different topics, that it would have been like a jack of all trades device. A friend gave me the idea to try to write a blog. But it was a few months later, when another friend told me the same, that I really started blogging. It was during our holiday in Switzerland that I choose the name and the main cathegories I would write about.

Selecting a name for my blog didn’t take that much time. My status as an expat-since-birth did pretty much sum up the topics. I did evaluate the different definitions of Third Culture Kids, Adult Third Culture Kids, Global Nomads etc.  in a post called “expat definition maze” but couldn’t find really a cathegory I could fit in, so I created my own one: expatsincebirth.

About multilingualism:

The knowledge I acquired during my studies about bilingualism and multilingualism brought me to write several posts about these topics in the cathegory being multilingual. As a multilingual person, my home are my languages and when I got children, I had to choose which language to speak to them in our multilingual family. With the  “secret language among (my) twins” I introduced the complex linguistic situation within our family. After pointing our the different definitions of OPOL I wrote about OPOL among multilingual siblings.

I find it pretty interesting that multilingual siblings don’t necessarily have the same language preference and that the initial language plan we usually make when our children are still babies, can change for several reasons when they get older.

There are many myths about bilingualism. I didn’t want to list them all up. There are already many posts and literature about this. But one in particular did intrigue me. It’s about multilinguals having multiple personalities. I’m still collecting answers about this in order to write a paper about it. – You’re very welcome to leave a comment on my post about this.

And then there is the myth about code switching being a sign of weakness. Well, it is not, on the contrary: Don’t worry if your child does code-switching!

Those who know me, know that I’m firmly convinced that reading is very important. And it is even more important for multilingual children to read in the different languages they grow up with. For those who don’t like to read, I wrote a post about how to make our children like poetry (and songs!).

Learning new languages for expats is not always that easy. But there are some tips that can help. I did point out the five more important ones that worked for me and added another post with tips how to encourage children to learn the local language.

There are many reasons to become multilingual at any stage. We don’t have to start at a young age to become multilingual. I shared my multilingual journey and pointed out that the most important thing is to be willing to learn new languages: “When there’s a will, there’s a way to become multilingual“.

About parenting:

In my posts about parenting I tried to give some practical advices. Some more will follow but up to now I gave some advices for when the children have the flu and I shared a first-aid experience I had this summer with one of my daughters, trying to remind other parents about refreshing their First Aid skills regularly.

In the colder period of the year Indoor activities for children become more important and role plays can be fun also for the older ones.

I’m not an over protective parent and like the  Love and Logic approach in parenting which consists also in doing lot of questioning in order to make the children take their own decisions from a very early stage. Also helping less helps our children more than we sometimes think, and it helps us too to realize how independent they can be (even as toddlers).

I’m very interested in e-safety for parents and children and the resources that are available about this topic. I published a few posts about  “How to reduce screen time for children” and about “mobile phones for children“.

The importance to spend one-on-one time with our children and how to manage if you have more than one child is very important in my daily life with my kids. “How to make children listen to us and how to listen to them” and “communicating is listening with empathy” are two posts where I point out the importance of effective communication with our children.

I got a bit annoyed by posts called “What not to say…” and decided to post some about “What to say”: “to parents of a child with a disability” and to a “mum of twins” because I prefer positive reinforcement.

I didn’t write a lot about twins yet, but I’m preparing a whole series about twins “from baby to teen”. The first post about this is called “Twins at school: once separated always separated?“

When we spend holidays with our children we sometimes don’t really get to enjoy them as much as we would like. By giving them some chores we can easily get some holiday feeling too.

In order to lead a happier life, despite of all the movings, the changes and having many tasks around our kids, families and work, I wrote a post about the fact that our happiness depends on our selves: if we decide to be happy and take action we will succeed.

As I’m raising my children in a multicultural context and see many different parenting styles every day and I’m really fascinated in the different parenting styles across cultures I wanted to find some answers to the question “Do you think the cultures you’ve been in touch with did influence you in your parenting style?“. I’m still collecting feedbacks which I will publish in a paper. You’re very welcome to leave a comment on the post.

About expat life

I did publish several posts about expat life in general and some specific ones about the Netherlands and Switzerland. I will add some more about Germany and Italy, and maybe some other countries.

About ATCK’s raising TCK’s

Lately I got involved in several discussions about ATCK’s and TCK’s and joined several TCK groups online. I’m planning to write a small book about this and am preparing a questionnaire for ATCK’s (Adult Third Culture Kids) that I’ll soon publish on my blog.

I found out that TCK’s (and expats, global nomads etc.) often “tend to “start cutting bonds around 3 years into a friendship”” and that three is a magic number for TCK’s. Other topics in this cathegory are the good-byes, the ways “people call you“, the impossible question about “where is home” that TCK’s don’t like to be asked and “what kind of memories our kids will share with us“.

If you are interested to participate in my ATCK survey, please leave a message in the responses of my post “Are you an ATCK raising TCK’s” and I’ll get in touch with you.

****

The most satisfying aspect of running the blog in this first year has been interacting with bloggers and parents from around the world. I found many like minded persons and am having really interesting conversations with people around the globe that I’m really grateful to have found this bloggosphere.

 I’ve joined several groups on the internet and met some of them also in real life. The Multicultural Kid Blogs group on Facebook did even start a own blog that I strongly recommend. Then there are the fb groups Mum knows Mum, Third Culture Kids Netherlands, Expats in The Hague which meet regularly and Third Culture Kids Everywhere etc. that all give me very interesting ideas and inputs for posts.

I would like to thank all my followers for joining my blog and for leaving very interesting comments! The almost immediate response to my writings is amazing and all your feedbacks are very precious to me.

Van harte bedankt – Vielen herzlichen Dank – Con un grazie di cuore –

With a heartfelt thank you – Merci de tout coeur – Gracias de todo corazon!