This Saturday is the Autumn Equinox. I started marking the seasonal changes a few years ago. It started out just as a mark in my diary, my own thoughts to keep me company on these little-remembered dates. I’d wash the windows for the Spring Equinox, to remind myself to clean back the cobwebs in my […]
Back to school: Routines & responsibilites
08/09/2013 by 3 Comments
A new school year has arrived – plenty of anticipation and anxiety as families run around to get ready. It’s essential to get off to a good start, and a sure-fire way to do that is by establishing routines. The kids will quickly fall into the routines at school. They should do the same at […]
Third Culture Kids
15/08/2013 by Leave a Comment
Third Culture Kids (TCKs). Does this term sound familiar? Sociologist Ruth Hill Useems came up with it in the 1950s as a way to describe children who grow up in a country (or countries) different from where their parents were raised. Military kids, international business people’s kids, and diplomats’ kids are the primary livers of […]
Mums making lists
06/08/2013 by Leave a Comment
Have you already realised you are always making lists? Even the not so organised person makes lists all the time. It’s like some secret obsession we may not even figure out, but believe me, it’s there! There are: The obvious grocery shopping lists, the do-not-forget-lists for the next morning, the to do lists of the week, the topics lists […]
Let’s hear it for the U. S. of A.
04/07/2013 by 1 Comment
“Hey baby, it’s the 4th of July” goes the chorus line of a song by X, an L.A. punk band from the 1980’s. Indeed it is. Also known as Independence Day, July 4th commemorates America’s liberation from that pesky British rule. The original Thirteen Colonies legally split from the Empire two days earlier and on July 4th, 1776 […]
Let’s hear it for Canada!
01/07/2013 by Leave a Comment
July 1st is Canada Day, celebrating the anniversary of Canada’s confederation. The Constitution Act of 1867 joined Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Canada province (now Ontario and Quebec) into one country, granting Canada a substantial amount of independence from England. Not until 1982 did Canada become a completely independent country though, and this was also […]
Let’s hear it for Luxembourg!
22/06/2013 by Leave a Comment
A bit of a head start, the National Day of Luxembourg being tomorrow, but not really since the big party is tonight. Hence, today is a good day to talk about why and how we celebrate. Which most of you already know anyway, so let’s be brief. Tomorrow, we are celebrating the birthday of Grand […]
You like potato and I like potahto
11/06/2013 by 2 Comments
Accents. Everyone’s got one. Some of us have more than one depending on the language we are speaking or who we are speaking to. Here in Luxembourg, accents are an everyday occurrence. They are a signal to others expressing where we come from. Even if physical features make it difficult to ascertain one’s roots, once […]
CLEW 