You Like Me! You Really Like Me!*

(*With apologies to Sally Field, from whose 1984 Oscar acceptance speech I stole borrowed this phrase.)


For a lovely early Christmas present, Trish over at the blog Mum's gone to.... left me a comment telling me that she'd given me a Liebster blog award. Since I always look forward to Trish's blog posts full of wry observations about her travels (but adeptly covering many other topics as well, and you should also go to the blog she's writing based on her late father's memoirs), I was especially flattered that she had taken the time to pass an award on to me.  I have seen these awards before, but never quite understood how they worked.  This time, though, I took the time to read through the directions carefully (I'm working on this, OK?), and I am prepared both to gratefully accept the award as well as carry out the duties related thereto.

If you are not a German speaker (or reader), you should know that the word 'liebster' is the superlative form of the adjective 'lieb' - dear, sweet, or beloved - adding the '-st' makes it most dear, sweet or beloved, and therefore...a very special blog.  (I could get into the adjective -er ending, but it's related to word gender and case and therefore boring to almost everyone in the world except a few weirdos like me grammarians.)

 The award is given to bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. It has these stipulations:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you. 
2. Reveal your 5 blogger picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog. 
4. Hope that the people you have sent the award to will forward it to their favourite bloggers



Keep in mind that, like most bloggers, I read a lot of blogs, and add new ones all the time, which makes it very challenging to narrow it down to just 5.  However, I finally chose 5 bloggers whose blogs I have been 1) reading for at least a year and 2) whose writing I admire and enjoy and  3) whose posts I look forward to as much as an email or a phone call from a friend:  


The first blogger I am linking back to is Wilma at  Life in Our Corner of The World.  Wilma shares her observations about life as a wife and mother in Arizona as well as family photos and memories of times past.  She has been a supportive reader of my blog since its inception and, in fact, gave me a Liebster award some months ago back when I didn't know what it even was! Now I get it, Wilma, and gratefully pass the award back to you.


My next pick is Barbara at Tanzania 5.0.  I started reading Barbara's blog when she was still living and working in Tanzania.  Barbara is a former member of the Peace Corps and seems to have mastered the knack of having adventures wherever she goes, and I love her fabulous photographs and the way she describes her experiences.  She's back in the US now, still having adventures (most recently in Sequoia National Park), and still filling her blog with equal shares of humor and incredible images.


Next up is Nappy Valley Girl at Nappy Valley...in New York.  NVG is from the UK, living as an expat in Long Island, NY.  She's married to The Doctor and also juggles raising two little boys with a journalism career while blogging about parenting, travel, current events, and life as an expat in the US.  I love reading about life and parenting in the US from her point of view as an expat...so interesting to see your own country from another's viewpoint!(Note for US readers:  the word 'nappy' in the UK refers to diapers...in case you were wondering!)


Another one of my favorites is Circles in The Sand, another expat blog.  Circles - another journalist - also blogs about the challenges of working and parenting and also provides an incredible insight into life in Dubai as well as quite a few resources for expats living there. Her posts are varied- one post may be a tongue-in-cheek observation about parenting, the next may be a roller-coaster-cam video from the fastest roller coaster in the world - in Dubai, of course!


Last but not least is Hails from Coffee Helps.  Hails is an English teacher in an elementary school here in Korea.  I found her blog when I first started looking for information about life in Korea.  She writes about life in Korea, her travels, her work, her plans, her dreams, and her experiences with a keen eye for the absurd, but also with great insight.  Now that I am in Korea, too, I can't wait until our schedules line up and we get to meet in person!


As flattering as it is to receive an award in general, I must confess that a truly lovely aspect of getting this award  is that this blog entry has pretty much written itself (this should come as no surprise to those of you who have been reading my blog for a while and are familiar with my general sloth.)  At this busy time of year, it seems like a wonderful gift!