Archive for 2008
1st of the month featured bloggers: march
Can you believe it’s already the 1st of the month again? You know what that means! Time for more
1st of the Month Featured Bloggers
It’s probably not surprising that fellow expats hold a special place in my heart. No matter where we’re from and where we’ve moved to, we’ve left behind all that we’re used to, the comfortable, daily routines that we didn’t even have to think about as we shuffled through them for the unknown–new, uncertain lives in new countries.
Expats end up having a lot in common almost by default, and I think many of us feel sometimes inexplicable connections with other expat bloggers. At least I do.
So here are two of my favorite expat bloggers, chosen for their many talents and also for simply making me happy on a regular basis.
Both of these women have an amazing ability to paint a scene with words and photographs and to draw me into their cities and lives. I always enjoy visits to their virtual homes, and I hope that you will too.
* Jessica of In Search of Dessert *
“At the table of life there are knives in the back, and forks in the road. I keep a spoon handy, in case life dishes up dessert.”
With a tagline like that, how can you *not* want to dive in and see what Jessica is serving up?
At In Search of Dessert you’ll find an American living in Switzerland after stops in Texas, Hawaii, Indiana, England, and Rome. A freelance writer and fabulous photographer now, Jessica has also been a donut froster, a librarian, a dishwasher, and a program manager at a Fortune 500 company.
With her words, photos, recipes, and keen observations on daily life, Jessica brings you right into Geneva and surrounding areas or wherever it is she is at the moment. Ah, and did I mention she’s also planning a wedding? Check out Jessica’s special expat weddings blog, Weddings Start to Finish, as well.
* Amanda of London Southern Belle *
Amanda is a freelance writer who found her way to London after a 10-year long-distance relationship with her British husband; she describes herself as “your average belle with steel Magnolia, sweet potato queen baggage.”
Since November 2004, Amanda has written about “balancing her teaching career as a college lecturer, driving on the ‘right’ side of the road and adding milk to hot tea.” Recently, Amanda’s blog has a whole new dimension as she shares the emotional process of her and her husband’s starting a family through IVF treatments.
Warm fuzzies abound when visiting Amanda’s place, so do brew up a nice mug of tea (I recommend Earl Grey!) before you go. You could be there awhile.
Happy blog-hopping!
if you can’t touch yourself, who can you touch?
Did you know that it is now illegal for Italian men to touch their genitals in public?
So ruled Italy’s highest court, which wrote that such touching “has to be regarded as an act contrary to public decency, a concept including that nexus of socio-ethical behavioral rules requiring everyone to abstain from conduct potentially offensive to collectively held feelings of decorum.”
Such big words for a simple act!
As all of us living with Italian men know, a man’s touching of his, ahem, nether regions is a well-established and time-honored method of warding off malocchio.
And I don’t just mean someone giving someone else the Evil Eye–I’m talking about the mere mention/implication/thought of death or other bad things happening (I can see P “protecting” himself even as I type this!).
So, Italy’s highest court, until you’re willing to outlaw bad luck, I’m thinking gratuitous crotch-grabbing in the Bel Paese is here to stay.
I’m just sayin.
And speaking of cannoli . . . hah!
Buon weekend!
P.S. Thanks Carol for the tip on the news piece!
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[tags]malocchio, italy, italian men[/tags]
Love Thursday: Hearts in Savoca, Sicily
Savoca, Sicily, where parts of The Godfather were filmed, is full of love.
Read on...“We Took the Cannoli”: Trip to Messina, Savoca, Tindari, and Palermo, Sicily
I’d love to give you a great recipe for today’s What’s Cooking Wednesday, but although my traveling buddy Cherrye and I are physically back from our Sicilian adventure, my mind, heart, and stomach are still in Palermo:
We took the cannoli. Get it?
And in case you wondered, no, you have not eaten cannoli until you’ve had cannoli in Sicily. They shouldn’t even be allowed to be called cannoli anywhere else. Seriously.
More details soon.
international you call the holiday day
Brian Vaszily of IntenseExperiences.com has written about how every calendar day has a holiday attached to it–from the biggies like Christmas (Dec 25) and U.S. Independence Day (July 4) to more, ahem, minor celebrations for Cable Cars (Jan 17) and Holding Hands (Aug 9).
Unfortunately, we just missed Crab-Stuffed Flounder Day on February 18, but today? It’s apparently National Pistachio Day so grab a nut and get crackin’! Hah!
Anyway, based on the idea that “We need more celebrating of the universe and every marvelous thing within it” (right on!) Brian came up with International You Call the Holiday Day and asked his readers to create holidays.
His questions to consider are these:
- If you could designate your own holiday, what would that holiday celebrate?
- Consider what you cherish that doesn’t get the attention you feel it deserves — that which you feel should be recognized and celebrated more — and perhaps go with that. Or go with whatever your heart tells you to go with.
- What would you name your holiday?
- In the way that chocolate and love notes are exchanged on Valentine’s Day and turkey is consumed at Thanksgiving, what actions would you want people to take to honor and reflect your holiday’s theme? Why?
- In the way that green equals St. Patrick’s Day and orange and black equals Halloween, are there certain colors you’d want to associate with your holiday? Why?
- Specific food and drink you’d want consumed on the day?
- Any existing songs, films, poems or the like that would be a good fit for your holiday?
- Famous personalities that come to mind who best embody the spirit of it?
- Particular stuff we’d all stick up in our windows and inside and outside of our house to celebrate it?
I’d love to hear what you come up with, so if you don’t mind, please post your ideas here and then again (copy and paste is your friend!) over at Brian’s in the form at the bottom of this page and you just might see your holiday appear in his free IntenseExperiences.com newsletter.
What would your holiday be?
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[tags] IntenseExperiences.com, Brian Vaszily, International You Call the Holiday Day, holidays[/tags]
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
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