A blog about expats, ancestors and roots…
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Slovak Gingerbread Cookies (perníčky)
Decorating gingerbread cookies around Christmas time is my oldest memory of helping mom in the kitchen. It´s also an activity I wanted to share with my daughter, and has been really fun to do. Sometimes the icing was too runny, or the hole cut in the plastic bag was too big (letting too much icing…
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Interesting facts about Lebanese culture
My name is Christy, I am Lebanese and have been living in Aix-en-Provence since August 2021. I studied journalism, and worked as a food editor, then editor in chief of one of the leading food websites in the MENA region. A foodie at heart and a strong advocate of cooking from scratch, I will be…
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Where to eat and shop internationally in Marseille: an interview with foodie, in love with Japan
Today I am expanding our scope to present you with exciting suggestions of places related to foreign cultures, this time in Marseille, a “global-city with more than 100 districts and 200 nationalities”*. I had the good fortune to meet Priscilla, a Marseillaise with Guadeloupean and Danish origins, who has been developing her passion for food,…
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Aix-en-Provence: Polish and Canadian … where to eat and shop internationally (#3)
In the last blogpost of this series, I promised to focus on Eastern European culture, so I thought it would be interesting to ask my friend Bea, a Polish-Canadian expat, if she could share the places that have been nurturing her soul. Bea has been living in Aix-en-Provence much longer than I have, so she…
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DNA testing, ancestors and cultural identity
During my stay in the United States, I noticed that people were very curious about their ancestors’ origins, especially amongst 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants, and that DNA testing has grown in popularity as a direct consequence of this interest, despite many controversial articles about the exactness of these tests and their impact on people’s…
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10 interesting facts about Christmas traditions in Slovakia
1. Waffles, “oplátky”, were traditionally made by teachers. They started baking them right after a celebration of St-Lucia. A few days before, pupils would run from home to home, singing a song they learnt at school and asking for the wheat. 2. Christmas trees started to decorate towns by the end of 18th century. But…
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This can help you to teach Slovak to your kids raised abroad
No doubt books are essential in the transmission of our mother tongue to children when we live abroad, but having access to books suitable for each stage of a child’s development might be challenging, depending on the region in which we live. In cities with a dense concentration of foreign-born communities, bookstores dedicated to specific…
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Cultural heritage inscribed on the skin
When I first saw pictures of Frank greeting some well-known Czech personalities a very traditional, yet unusual manner, my curiosity led me to contact him to ask a question: How on Earth, did Czech and Māori cultures connect? Frank Tomas Grapl Junior is calling himself MāoriAvian or CzechoMaor (or for Czechs: Maoravak). This is a…
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How discovering the concept of TCK made sense of all the feelings I have had throughout my life
When we think about cultural diversity, the concept of TCK (Third Culture Kid) inevitably comes to mind. One may wonder what it is that characterises these people? Instead of quoting findings from sociological studies, I would rather share my experience. My name is Salwa, I was born and raised in Paris. My parents were born…
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Aix-en-Provence: Reunionese, Korean, Ethiopian … my good places to eat and shop internationally (#2)
In this second post of my series presenting international addresses in and around Aix-en-Provence, let’s start directly with an Ethiopian restaurant situated in the city center of Aix, Chez Ama. Living in the US pushed me to change my diet and to become flexitarian, so whenever I see a restaurant that has a vegetarian option,…
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