Snail Mail Collective {October}

For the October Snail Mail Collective, I was paired with Charlie from Curious Charlie.  You can learn more about the Snail Mail Collective blogger mail exchange HERE.  I had fun getting to know Charlie through emails and her blog.  It was interesting to be paired with another American expat living in Australia.  Charlie is from San Francisco, and is lucky enough to live in one of my favorite cities in Australia- Melbourne. 

Charlie's gift was so generous and creative!  She even had each item individually wrapped, so that made it really fun to open.

 
I love everything she included, and I've even already used the nail polish :-) 

See that cute little owl card?  She made that!  And those pink and white paper stars in the glass container?  She made those, too!  Totally impressed! 

Thanks, Charlie!

Snail Mail Collective {September}

A fun surprise all the way from South Korea arrived in the mail for me today!  My partner for the September Snail Mail Collective was Amber from "The English Travelers," and the theme for this month was "Back To School."  I had a great time getting to know Amber through the emails we exchanged and through her blog.  Amber and her husband are American expats currently living and teaching in South Korea.  They've had some amazing adventures so far- I loved looking through their travel photos! 

Amber did a great job finding fun gifts from her country that fit with the theme.  As a teacher, I always LOVE stationery and office/school supplies, so everything in this package was a hit with me- especially the panda notebook and the cute socks!  I also love that everything was so unique and different than anything I would be able to find here- or anywhere else I've ever visited. 

 

Thanks so much, Amber, for all the fun "Back To School" loot!  I love it all! 

A Change of Scenery & My August Snail Mail Collective Gift

Thursday, September 26: Go to a coffee shop. Order a favorite drink. Write about what makes you happy and what makes you sad. Or write about anything you'd like! Bonus points for including a photo from the coffee shop.

*if you can't make it to a coffee shop, at least leave your usual space and write someplace new.

 

I didn't make it to a coffee shop today :-(  However, I did take some time to leave my usual "blogging space" (butt planted on the couch in front of the TV), and sat outside on our patio for a while.  A simple change in location even within our home was actually surprisingly refreshing.  We purchased a nice little patio set when we moved here, but hardly ever actually use it- usually heat or bugs keep us inside.  So it was nice to sit out there for a while and enjoy some fresh air and "new scenery" before it got too hot. 

 

 

Since today is a bit of a free topic, I thought I'd take the opportunity to write about my Snail Mail Collective gift that arrived in the mail at the end of last week!  This was my second month participating in the exchange.  You can read about my first month in the exchange HERE.  The exchange was created by two great expat bloggers- Melyssa at The Nectar Collective and Chelsea over at Lost In Travels.  You can read more specifics about the exchange HERE.  But, the basics of the exchange are: you are paired with another participating blogger from a different part of the world, you spend a few weeks getting to know each other through emails and getting to reading that person's blog, and then at the end of it, you exchange a $5 or under gift from your country that centers around the specified theme for that month. 

This past month, I was paired with Louise from the blog Stars In Jars.  Louise just recently moved to London after a short stint with her parents in Ireland and a year teaching in South Korea.  It was fun to learn more about her and her experiences living in both South Korea and the UK! 

The theme for this month's exchange was "Under the Sea."  I struggled with finding a small gift to match this theme, but Louise was really creative with what she sent! 

My Snail Mail Gift (Please ignore the dead plants in the background...)

I felt very important receiving mail with a "Royal Mail" sticker on it :-) 

 I love that she sent me a copy of one of her favorite books The Old Man and the Sea!  And that card?  How cute is that?!  I'm a little card/stationery obsessed, so I really loved the card- and how even that tied into the theme.  I'm excited to add this book to my list of books to read- I feel like it's a classic that I should definitely have in my repertoire. 

Thanks, Louise! 

 

 

Meeting Jenna {Snail Mail Collective}

Last month ago, I signed up for a blogger exchange called "The Snail Mail Collective."  This exchange was created by two great expat bloggers- Melyssa at The Nectar Collective and Chelsea over at Lost In Travels.  You can read more specifics about the exchange here.  But, the basics of the exchange are: you are paired with another participating blogger from a different part of the world, you spend a few weeks getting to know each other through emails and getting to know that person's blog, and then at the end of it, you exchange a $5 or under gift from your country that centers around the specified theme for that month. 

I was paired with Jenna from Hayya Bina (which is Arabic for "Let's Go!").  And I am SO glad that we were paired together and had the chance to get to know one another.  I really feel like I was able to learn a lot about her life and expat experience, and I'm happy to say that I really feel like I have a great new blogger friend :-)  Let me tell you a little bit about her! 

Jenna and her husband are from the US, but they moved to the United Arab Emirates about a year ago to work as teachers.  Right off the bat, I was so excited that I was paired with a fellow teacher.  Not to mention, that the UAE is a part of the world that has always intrigued me.  I loved learning more about the Emirati culture, people, and other aspects of Jenna's experiences there.  Take a look for yourself at some of my favorite posts of hers:

-I always love stalking other people's weddings, so I loved this little bit of wedding reminiscing on Jenna and her husband's third anniversary.  http://jennainabudhabi.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/three-wonderful-years/

-I found myself nodding my head in agreement during much of this post.  Jenna shares some great reflections on a favorite expat topic: the ever-elusive and changing concept of "home."
http://jennainabudhabi.wordpress.com/2013/07/07/going-home-and-leaving-home/

-While sometimes I feel like Australians do speak another language, I totally admire Jenna's experience with living in a non-English speaking country.  I'm super impressed by her efforts to learn as much Arabic as she can!  You can see a few funny language "mishaps" here:
http://jennainabudhabi.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/language-laughs/

-Jenna and her husband got to visit NEPAL!  So jealous!  Totally adding Nepal to my travel bucket list now.  Check out some of her awesome photos from their trip:
http://jennainabudhabi.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/kathmandu-my-final-post-on-nepal/

The final part of the Snail Mail Collective was to exchange small gifts from our respective countries.  Now, unfortunately, Jenna's package was a victim of how seriously SLOW the Australia Post can sometimes be.  Jenna sent her package on July 22, and I received it on August 16.  At the rate it takes mail (especially packages) to arrive sometimes, if I didn't know better I would really think that koalas were responsible for delivering mail.  No matter though, her package arrived and I was so excited when I opened it to find the sweetest letter from Jenna and the most beautiful scarf all the way from the UAE!

Jenna explained in her letter that the scarf is called a "shayla" and that it is something that women wear in the UAE to cover their hair and sometimes their face as well.  I loved that Jenna chose a black shayla to send since she mentioned that this particular color of shayla really identifies the gulf region. 

 


Love the details along the border!

I can't wait to continue to follow along with Jenna's adventures in the UAE, and I'm looking forward to wearing my beautiful shayla :-) 

*You can read about my snail mail gift to Jenna here!