Liebster award

I woke up this morning and found a very nice message from Tamara from Non-native Bilingualism who nominated me for a Liebster award. Yay! I'm not quite sure what the Liebster award is but as Tamara said in her post, liebe means dear in German so it must be something good. And since she already tried and failed to find out the origin of the award, I'll just leave it at that.

The rules are the following:

THE RULES:

• When you receive the award, you post 11 random facts about yourself.
• Answer 11 questions from the person who nominated you.
• Pass the award on to 11 other blogs, making sure you tell them you nominated them
• Ask them 11 questions.
• You are not allowed to nominate the blog who nominated you!
• Make sure the blogs you chose have 200 or FEWER followers

And the following rule added by Tamara which I will take on as well :

 

Share your posting with the blogger who nominated you so that they, too, can learn all this cool stuff about you!

As I went through the blogs I read, and that are included on my blogroll, I realized I'm a bit antiquated and out of touch. Some of the blogs I used to read regularly are no longer updated or active. I guess it shows my age and the age of my blog !

So after some thought and introspection (and some serious procrastinating since who really like to prepare power point presentations?!), I nominate the following blogs for the Liebster award. Congratulations! thank you for lighting up the blogosphere and sharing your input and experiences. May the force be with you in 2013.

Here we go with the 11 random facts:

1. I was hit by a car when I was 12 years old and the nailpolish that matched my clothes that day (black and blue) didn't even get chipped (I was ok too)
2. When I went to China in 2005, I ate sea cucumber which was the grossest thing ever.
3. I once met Tom Cruise. He was really short. I don't like him. Not because he's short but because he annoys me.
4. My food obsession is so strong that when we went to China, we had to find THE soup lady at THE market in THE small city that I'd seen on TV. and it was THAT good.
5. When I was a kid, I believed that my dog Brownie was not really a dog but a little man dressed up in a dog suit.
6. I have been known to play office dares including putting someone's chair in the elevator, drinking from the bubbler, writing things in my boss' diary and calling everyone"Bob". 
7. I think dutch is a very cool language.
8. I can recite every line from Sixteen Candles
9. I have an uncanny memory for names and faces. I have found myself in many an uncomfortable social situation since I remember people after meeting them only once (or even just passing them in the street) and they generally don't remember me.
10. The first concert I ever saw was Billy Idol back in 1983. I was 8 years old...and he stuck a drumstick down his pants and threw it into the audience. I will never forget how disgusted it made me feel...
11. I have a book project in the works...stay posted for more info to come!

The questions asked me by Tamara:

1. What are you most afraid of?
I have a serious case of Scoleciphobia ie phobia of worms...it makes my kids laugh.

2. What promise do you see for the world?

This is a tough one because I tend to be a "glass is half empty" kind of person and think most people are self-centered a*sholes, but I hope that the good people in the world will outweigh the bad...

3. What excites you about life?

Seeing my kids growing up into some of the most wonderful, kind and interesting little people I've ever met.

4. What are you experiencing in your body, right now?

grey hair...

5. When was the last time you felt overwhelming love for someone or something?

every time I look at my kids.

6. If you could sit next to anyone on a plane for 10 hours, who would it be?

my husband and kids (as long as they had lots of food to keep them occupied)

7. If you were to make one change in your life tomorrow, what would it be?

I'd be nicer to myself.

8. What would your life look like if you had no regrets?

Surprisingly, I think it would look much the same as it does now, but I'd apply question 7 a little better.

9. Would you live your life differently if you were your own best friend?

Yes. See question 7 above. I'd be kinder to myself and trust myself more.

10. Dress or jeans?

both at the same time

11. What's the best gift you've ever received?

(Not sure I should say the swiss army knife my college boyfriend gave me before I travelled around Europe the first time which I incidentally threw away last by accident last year...)

Now for the list of nominees, in no particular order. All these blogs inspire me for different reasons :

1. Babelkid where BabelMum and BabelDad share wonderful anecdotes on multilingualism and multiculturalism
2. Melissa at Where Going Havo? who's an American living in the Czech Republic raising a multilingual family.
3. Lynn at Open Hearts Open Minds who shares the ups and downs of life in general and multilingualism in particular.
4.  Tallulah at Bilingual Babes who is also raising bilingual kids. It's inspiring to read about her kids and their success.
5. Nicole at living in a second language. She's been in France for as long as I have. I love her writing style.
6. L at Toutes directions pour la france because when I read her adventures in France, which often echo my own, I realize that I'm still sane...
7. Rachel at Pretend Parisian who shares snipets of her Parisian life (reminds me of my French dream!)
8. Karina at Milk Jam an American foodie, like me, who bakes American cookies for a living! How cool is that?! (yes, I'm jealous...)
9. Ashley at Tales of living in France  who is raising a family in France.
10. Beth whose blog, Beth in France, I don't keep up with as much I used to but who continues to show that living in France doesn't mean losing your identity or your mind.
11. and last but not least, my very good friend M who really needs to keep up her blog ! She helps keep me sane in this crazy land of chti frogs.

And now, the 11 questions I want my nominees to answer (nothing too deep really) :

1. What's your favorite expression?
2. What's the best thing you've ever eaten?
3. What's the worst thing you've ever eaten?
4. is the glass half empty or half full?
5. Who is the most memorable person you've ever met?
6. What is your favorite word in your second language (assuming you have one)?
7. What's your signature dish?
8. If I say, Duran Duran, you say....?
9. If you could learn any language, what would it be?
10. what's the most important thing to teach your kids (assuming you have them)?
11. do you like worms?

Réalville : Tree house fun

This summer will go down in history as the summer that saw no summer. We spent an incredibly rainy week in the Tarn et Garonne at my in-law's summer house. Since we couldn't really go in the pool, we were lucky there were donkeys and cows around the house and plenty of puddles to jump in. And there was a surprise for my treehouse loving husband.

J is an architect and has become increasingly interested in treehouses and cabins. He built one out of cardboard that's been in our house for almost 5 years and is the best toy any kid can have: it's cheap, easy to repair and packs flat (ok, that's for the parents). He should copyright the plans. But I degress...

So to celebrate our anniversary this summer, I booked us into a treehouse for a night. (At first, I was trying to find a family treehouse for a week or so, like Swiss Family Robinson style but everything was booked).

What I found, by going through the Bienvenue à la Ferme site - my favorite site for all things farm and fun- was an amazing treehouse in a 200 year old oak tree on a truffle far, surrounded by rolling green hills and vineyards. The farmer, George Delcasse, is warm and welcoming. The treehouse - cabane perchée - is amazing : it has a kitchen, a shower, a pull out sofa, a terrasse equipped with plancha to cook your dinner, an outhouse at the base of the tree. He lends you a tandem bike and provides tons of information about things to do. Unfortunately, it poured rained and was windy the night we stayed in the treehouse - which swayed back and forth which I guess added to the effect of sleeping in a tree - but we able to drink apero and eat our breakfast out on the deck, which makes you feel like you are on top of the world.

To get to the tree house, you have to climb up a set of stairs, duck under a large branch, climb more stores and then lift the trap door. Once you're inside, with the trap door closed, you feel like you're cut off from the world and that you're sitting on top of it.

I highly recommend it if you're ever in Réalville in the Tarn et Garonne.