Mothers Abroad

In this Guest Post for Multicultural Kid Blogs I have written about how we celebrate Martinmas in Germany; the story of this celebration, the preparations and about how we can create authentic family traditions.

Martinmas is mostly known and celebrated in Waldorf-inspired families around the world but it is a tradition in many european countries. Here are some ideas to mindfully celebrate Martinmas.

We have adopted the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival among our Family Traditions since we have lived in Beijing. I love the values embodied by this celebration…

As a family with different cultural backgrounds who lived in 6 countries, we have gathered so many beautiful traditions and celebrations. And many of them are for Spring! In this blogpost I'm sharing with you many ideas that you can integrate into your own spring celebrations.

When changing countries every two or three years how can we build a group of support? How can we meet other parents without our kids going to school? How do we navigate differences in legislation between countries?

A piece of my heart will always stay in South Korea where we lived for a couple of months.

The celebration I enjoyed most in China was definitely the Mid-Autumn Festival, 中秋节. And not just because of the delicious Moon Cake we ate :) 

 I took 28 flights in the first 18 months of my daughter's life and amongst them 10 were long distance flights with up to 7 hours of time difference. Here is the thing: I HAVE SURVIVED. Do you want to know my strategies?

« Where are you from?… « where are you from? » 

You know that question, don’t you? The question that many Expats and Third Culture Kids don’t know how to answer…

Je suis très heureuse de reprendre ma série d’interviews Mothers’ Voices que j’ai démarée en 2015 et ravie d’avoir Charlotte de Hello, Maman comme première invitée après une si longue pause.

J’ai rencontré Charlotte sur Instagram et nous nous suivons réciproquement depuis un moment. J’aime beaucoup la sérénité avec laquelle Charlotte organise sa vie enfin de pouvoir instruire en famille son petit garçon et continuer son travail d’orthophoniste qui l’amène à dispenser des formations dans toute la France. Dans cette interview, nous parlons de comment ell arrive à gérer “homeschooling” et “vie nomade”, comment l’instruction en famille fonctionne en France, les sources d’inspiration de Charlotte, comment elle prend soin d’elle en tant que maman et plein d’autres sujets.

The first time I traveled with my 5 weeks-old baby I was terrified. I'm sure you know that feeling: you don't know what to pack, what to expect

I keep asking myself: does she remember?

Here is the reality: no friends, no job and you don’t really like it there … yet. Will you ever like it? 

Before my daughter was born people would ask me « In which language you will talk to her? ». The truth is I had no idea. I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t know the answer to this question.In fact, I was also very curious about the answer.

As a nomad family who has already lived in 5 different countries with our baby in 16 months, goodbyes are part of our life. To such an extend that my daughter’s first word was « bye bye ».

As most parents I was petrified when I had to travel for the first time with my baby. She was 5 weeks old and it was a bit more than a trip. We moved from Vienna, Austria to Beijing, China. 

26 flights later including 9 long-distance ones I can tell you: it can be fun… sometimes

That's it, leaving Beijing. For good. Not the way I thought I will but because of the pollution of the air, the water and the food.

Before we moved here, I thought I can live anywhere in this world and adapt everywhere. Truth is I can't.

Yep. This is how we call it here in Beijing. This is how we call these days when we wake up, look outside the window and return straight to bed. What's the point in getting dressed anyway?