I’m grateful for a Liebster Award. :)

Well, this was a lovely surprise. 😀 A sweet young blogger named Tessa Kohler nominated me for a Liebster award. I’d like to say a big thanks to her! To see Tessa’s blog, which is a sweet, sensitive, life-affirming and positive take on the world from a thoughtful and intelligent young person, click here.

Liebster, noun. I don’t know how many of my FB friends are reading this, but a number of you would know what lieben means. And most experienced bloggers would be familiar with the award. So, I won’t go into detail. Essentially, “liebster” is like “schatz”, I suppose– dear, dearest, friend, sweetie, and so on, a colloquial term of endearment. It is a kind of “chain award”, in which people help out new bloggers, and I have not been able to trace its true origins. But this blogger has.

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In accordance with the rules, I am to answer 10 questions. Here they are, and these are my answers. (Oooh. An interview. I am normally on the other side of interviews, balancing a notepad, pen and iPhone on a recording app.).

1. why do you blog?

For the experience of connecting with likeminded and/or interesting people I wouldn’t otherwise ever get to interact with, and presenting my ideas in a flexible format. It’s also to make sure I fulfil at least one resolution this year, and that is to find one thing each day to be grateful for. I hear that it’s a really good thing to do when your world has turned upside down, or you’ve stuffed up your life, or your life has stuffed you about, or your heart’s been broken, or all of the above. So I’m grudgingly trying it.

2. what is your favorite song and why?

I have too many to name. At the moment it’s Let It Go by Demi Lovato. Because it reminds me to let go, forgive, move on, AND at the same time take the opportunity to be true to myself. It is a reminder that everything in life is one side of the same coin: loss comes with the gain of opportunity to reinvent, reassess your priorities; the dark outlines the light.

3. describe yourself in three words.

How about three factions, instead? *cheeky grin* Candor, Erudite and Dauntless.

4. who is the one person that can always make you smile?

There are two. Raluca and Shanti, two of my soulmate-sisters. 🙂 I am lucky that way. I have a handful of very dear friends, whom I am certain I was destined to meet, in the world, and they are my anchors, my reason, my sanity.

5. describe your idea of a perfect day.

White sandy beach, soulmate-boyfriend (yet to be found), hammock under shade of coconut trees, stack of good books, virgin mojito. He will say, “I like you very much. Stop spinning and stand still with me, and then let’s do this thing called life together.” It’s a nice dream, isn’t it?

6. if you could travel anywhere, where would you go and why?

Wow. That’s a really hard question! But it’s actually easy to answer, in the end. I go to places to visit people I love. So, to my best friends in Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur, Rome/Norway (I can never tell where that girl is), Cologne (though they live in Bonn. It’s a long story.), the Pyrenees, Melbourne. To the U.S. where my dearest cousin lives, to Germany where my goddaughter lives. I have done many, many solo journeys in my life; these days, I travel to connect and reconnect.

7. where do you find inspiration in life?

Going out into the world, acting in some way on things I believe in, connecting with people, always searching for my âmes soeurs (soulmates), working to keep my heart and mind open, and reading (everything that catches my fancy), listening to music, watching good movies. And learning. I love formal learning. So: people, adventures, new skills, reflection and good food.

8. if you could spend a day with one person, living or dead, who would it be and why?

I am going to be shallow here and say Benedict Cumberbatch. Because he’s hot, he’s well-educated and it would be a terribly interesting conversation. If I took the question seriously, I’d say Buddha. I probably wouldn’t have to explain that one.

9. what would you like to be remembered for?

To be honest, I don’t care. Everything dies and everything turns to dust, and that’s as it should be.

10. have you ever experienced a turning point in your life? if so, what caused it, and what have you learned from it?

Yes. Several. The thing I learnt from them is to stop punishing myself for making mistakes or doing a less-than-perfect job on something or saying the wrong thing on a date. Essentially, to let myself be human. My wise Russian friend Lena, another of my soul-sisters, but with a soul infinitely older than mine, once told me, “your problem is that you don’t let yourself make mistakes.” And that problem almost broke me. There is nothing more grounding and reviving than to let yourself be human, flawed and clumsy and doing your best. Secondly, it made me much more compassionate. I was very empathetic before, but I really learned to be less judgemental after that. If we are all flawed, then we are all making mistakes together, we are all in this together.

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Here’s the part where I pass the baton. This is how the Liebster award works. It is a chain award for new bloggers like myself and Tessa.

1. thank the person who nominated you (me!) and link back to their blog in your post.

2. answer the 10 questions i give you.

3. nominate 10 of your favourite blogs that have fewer than 200 followers and let them know about their nomination via a comment or message or something similar.

4. come up with 10 more questions for your nominees to answer.

Therefore, here are my nominees for the Liebster Award (should they choose to accept):

• Tea Lady Mel, who writes about tea and does so beautifully.
• The Prairie Girl’s Pantry, which, while not regularly updated, is a sweet, lovely food blog by a sweet, lovely, intelligent girl.
• The Word Trance, which seems to have already been nominated– but, is an enchanting read.
• A New Life in India, a blog by a couple who packed up their lives in the U.S. and moved to a small town in India.
• Trapped in Paradise, because I can never get enough of travel blogs, especially ones with a sense of humour.
• Scribbles from a Singaporean girl, which I found hilarious, though, admittedly, you must have lived there at least once to get it.
• Felicity Curtain, an Australian nutritionist and dietetics student who writes about her field(s), something in which I have a fair bit of interest.

I’m going to stop here rather than nip around just to fill the 10 quota. If they accept the Liebster Award baton from me, these are my questions to them (apologies to Tessa, but I am stealing some of her questions):

1. Blogging: true connection, attention-seeking, or simply necessary? 

2. Why do you blog? 

3. Describe your blog in three words. 

4. Describe yourself in three words. 

5. You’re in an awful mood. Who is the first person you call to cheer you up?  

6. Describe your idea of a perfect day.

7. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go and why?

8. Given the choice, you would like a year’s supply of _______?  

9. If you could spend a day with one person, living or dead, who would it be, and why?

10. Truth is ________. 

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