The Liebster Award

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As soon as I knew I’d be heading to Norway for a couple months, I started reading Audrey’s blog The Girl Behind the Red Door about her life as a writer and expat in Oslo.  She’s been a great source for insider tips and inspiration, and I hope to be able to meet her in person soon!

So you can imagine I was pleased as punch that she nominated No Apathy Allowed for a Liebster Award.  You may have already seen it floating around the blogosphere, but basically the Liebster Award is a fun way to share and get to know another bloggers.  Let’s do it!  It goes a little something like this:

  • Share 11 random facts about yourself
  • Answer 11 questions given by the person who nominated you
  • Nominate new bloggers to pass on the fun
  • Write 11 questions for those bloggers to answer

Let’s start with my random facts:

  • I just discovered that I indeed have some German heritage!  Looks like my German great-great-great grandfather emigrated to the US just in time for the Civil War. He fought as a Union soldier and ended up a prisoner of war in the South.
  • After I set my alarm clock, I have to check it at least once, if not several times, before I can fall asleep — even if I clearly remember setting it just a couple minutes before. Yes, this is totally OCD.
  • I’m addicted to the Amazing Race. It’s one of the very few TV shows that I watch regularly (albeit online here in Germany). It can be ridiculously reality-TV-ish sometimes, but I love watching people maneuvering through new countries, cultures and languages.
  • The smell of freshly cut wood reminds me of my Grandpa and his work shed.
  • I can’t really tell the difference between German beer and other kinds of beer (excluding Bud Light, Coors, etc, of course).  This is most definitely a sacrilege among my German friends and loved ones, so shhh!
  • The sound of snow crunching under my feet is my favorite.
  • I love chewing on ice cubes.  But my teeth are much happier now that I live Europe, where drinks are only rarely served with ice.
  • Despite terrible motion sickness, I still love to travel and always have some Dramamine in my bag, just in case.
  • Javier Bardem’s accent makes me weak in the knees.
  • I’m a very visual learner. For example, when learning a foreign language, I tend to “see” the words and grammar in my head when I’m speaking.
  • Despite growing up within driving distance of the Cascade Mountains, I’ve never been skiing.

And now for Audrey’s questions for me:

  • Which country do you think has the most beautiful/interesting money?  This is a totally boring answer, but I love the Euro for its perfect logic.  Bills with larger values have larger sizes, and same goes for coins.  This saves me so much time and effort when digging through my wallet for exact change!
  • Is there something special you collect when you travel?  Photographs.
  • What do you do to pass time on planes, trains, or in automobiles?  Read, sleep, listen to music.  Or if I’m particularly on the ball, I’ll have downloaded the most recent This American Life podcast to listen to.
  • If you could snap your fingers and be somewhere else right this moment, where would you be?  Back in Seattle with my family.  Sure would prefer snapping my fingers over an 11-hour flight!
  • Do you consider yourself a good traveller? How so?  Sure. Part of that probably comes from having lots of travel experience and being able to sometimes expect the unexpected and still manage to enjoy myself.
  • Post your favorite travel photo. 
Sunset over the Seine
Sunset over the Seine
  • Imagine someone is planning a vacation to the city you live in now. What advice would you give them?  Visit in the summer time, when the streets of Berlin are really alive.  If you can see beauty in the city’s grit and rough edges, then you’ll love it here.
  • Beaches or mountains?  I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, surrounded by water and mountains — so I’ll take both!
  • What’s the scariest/most challenging thing you’ve ever done while travelling?  Riding in any kind of public transportation in East Africa (which I did nearly every day for a year) made me fear for my life on more than one occasion.  I eventually learned just not to look at the oncoming traffic.
  • One of my favorite essays in The Best American Travel Writing of 2012 is Thomas Swick’s My Days with the Anti-Mafia. How important do you feel it is to travel morally? That is to say, proactively selecting hotels, restaurants, and tours that are not supported by organized crime? Or steering clear of countries which consistently abuse the rights of their citizens, etc.?  Of course I try to make well-informed and ethical travel choices.  For example, when trekking the Inca Trail, we used a company that treated its sherpas fairly and was committed to minimizing its ecological footprint.
  • And this one’s just for me… When it comes to the Hepburns… Katharine or Audrey?  Katharine for her spunk and Audrey for her little black dress!

Join in!

If there are any of you out there that are so inclined to join in, consider yourself nominated!  Here are a few questions of my own for you to answer — either in the comments or in a blog post of your own…

  1. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
  2. What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
  3. If you could wake up tomorrow speaking any language you wanted, which one would it be and why?
  4. What’s the one thing you definitely could not travel without?
  5. When was the last time you did something that scared you?
  6. What’s your favorite self-indulgence?
  7. What is the strangest thing you’ve eaten while traveling?
  8. What’s the most embarrassing story you’re willing to tell online?
  9. What’s your favorite way to stay fit?
  10. What would your super power be?
  11. How old would you be if you didn’t actually know your age?

5 comments

  1. Emily says:

    These are fun! I’m the same with my alarm clock – it can’t have changed from when I set it, but I still need to check that it is set and set with the right time. I love, love, love the Amazing Race. And Phil! :)

    • I got to watch the season premier while I was in Seattle! Now I need to figure out how to get my fix again back here in Europe. Sometimes Youtube serves me well, but sometimes I end up buying the season in iTunes…

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