One thing that constantly puzzled me was how docile Brits were. Until I discovered they weren't in fact docile at all.
We realized explaining a divided Berlin to our children was going to be a lot more complicated than telling them it used to separate the good guys from the bad guys, as our own upbringings as parents had everything to do with our view of history.
As an Algerian, I grew up within a complex social code where, similar to England, what you say and what you mean do not always go hand in hand. When my German husband and I first started dating, I shed many tears on my seemingly one-way attachment. How could he care for me if he wanted "to be alone on Sunday afternoon" or "was fine with me staying or leaving?
It all started in a history class in Utah. Four kids and three languages later, read about their unique system for keeping all three languages in tact.
You have a what day? The question I have encountered from locals and expatriates innumerous times throughout a decade while living and working in Shanghai, China and now, in Canada. To a person who has grown up celebrating her Name Day every year, as well as that of my mom, dad, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends and classmates, the puzzling look of people at first made me feel uncomfortable, almost apologetic, as if I’ve made up a story and now can’t proceed convincingly with my own lies. To most people, the idea of celebrating someone’s name appears amusing, if not flat-out weird.
There are a number of us in the States who seem to be falling over in toddler-styled apoplectic fits over the positive press French parenting has been receiving of late. One of the most common complaints I saw emerging from the comment discussions is the French propensity for la fessée or spanking.
One bite of this recipe will transport you to a sidewalk cafe in Paris.
A culinary tour of traditional Bulgarian foods to celebrate our upcoming adoption from Bulgaria.
I come from a family of Italian-Americans, at least on one side. This recipe comes to me via an amazingly talented chef, my Aunt Valerie, who learned it from her Italian Aunt Angie.
An exploration of some of the more contentious points in French parenting like corporal punishment and leaving kids to fend for themselves along with random observations like the prominence of French three and four-year-olds with dummies—aka pacifiers—and security blankets?
Bulgarians wear a martenitsa, red-and-white talismans usually made of yarn, in the form of bracelets or of little dolls to welcome spring.
He asked where my accent came from, since he guessed I was not English. With my fair skin, straightened hair and generally Caucasian features, he thought I was of French descent. I explained that I was 100%....
Francois Grosjean broke my heart with an article he wrote recently, Helen or Hélène. The actual quote that touched me is "few language users are poets."
In a land of teenage pregnancies and questionable style trends, this German dad wonders how he will raise English daughters.
Pheasant in a creamy wine reduction sauce with sauerkraut--lighter than a sausage but every bit as German.
Collect some freshly fallen leaves, not yet too brittle to make a fall-inspired picture frame.
Although synonymous in the minds of many with sausage and beer, this family-friendly festival attracts over six million people annually.
Before the seventies, breastfeeding was the norm in Italy. But the feminist revolution paralleled the invasion of the first multinational companies shortly after 1968 and changed all that.
Strolling through Prague's parks, I encountered locals sunning themselves and even saw a few toddlers in the buff testing out the city's newly activated fountains. While I managed to keep my own and my kids' clothes on (though I lost the battle over shoes), I noticed many Czechs of both genders stripped down to their underwear in the public parks.
Emil in the Soup Tureen is a story by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, who is best-known for the classic children's tale Pippi Longstocking. The story paints a quaint and idyllic picture of farm life in rural 20th century Sweden
This interracial French-American family are raising trilingual (German-French-English) kids in the South of France and may introduce Amharic as well. So how do Amharic and German fit into all that?
In France, officials and pundits like to talk about how France is 20 years behind the United States. Sometimes this is portrayed as a positive (obesity rates, crime statistics), and sometimes as a negative (technology, business, customer service).
One of my greatest fears as a new parent, right after Matthew's birth, was about putting him in school in France. While I hadn't done much research on the system, its results surrounded me: a culture where it's a bad idea to accept responsibility for one's mistakes, where apologizing is seen as a sign of weakness...
This Norwegian-Iranian couple met in Iran, and lived in Tajikistan and Egypt before settling in Norway. They are raising their daughter in English, Norwegian and some Farsi.
I have three girls and my feeling is that I'd probably like them to be French rather than English.
We are always on the hunt for books in our family to support my childrens' language acquisition. For French books, this is fairly straightforward but not for Twi.
This is a traditional Armenian Christmas recipe. In the early days, at every Armenian feast, Anooshabour was a traditional must!
Image Source: firstpalette.com
More than its rich history, artists, or cuisine, Armenia is probably best known for its carpets. This is a fun project for kids and also good for fine motor skills.
Materials Required:
Scissors
Glue
Various types and colors...
Pomegranates are the Armenian national fruit and you could easily say that vodka is an Armenian national pastime. Combine the two together and you have an explosively delicious cocktail, with Armenian flavor.
Armenian Christmas, also known as Theophany, is celebrated one day before the Orthodox Christmas. Although Armenia follows the Gregorian calendar, when the Romans changed the date of Christmas to December 25 in the fourth century, Armenians held to the original January 6th date.
The Yiddish translation of kugel is any baked pudding in Eastern European Jewish culture. My favorite is a noodle kugel, also known as noodle pudding. There are two types of noodle kugel: a sweet kugel and a savory one (which has no sour cream or cottage cheese).
When you live outside your culture, the "easy, joyful, fun" celebrations take on a whole new level of meaning. They become Important. They are no longer a fun way to pass an evening, but part of a culture, part of your culture, that you are determined to pass on and share with your children.
They met in Montenegro and are raising bilingual kids in Serbian and German.
Apricots are a traditionally Armenian fruit. If you haven't had apricots in Armenia, you haven't tasted the sweet juiciness that apricots can be. What follows is a wonderful apricot tart, inspired by the Armenian fruit.
