by Shaula Bellour (Indonesia) | Jun 1, 2011 | Childhood, East Timor, Family Travel, Husband, International, Kids, Multicultural, Shaula Bellour, Twins
In a few weeks’ time, we will be heading to the US for our much-anticipated annual home leave. Once a year, our organization covers the cost of flights to our “home on record.” Though our last physical address was in Oregon, our permanent address is my mom’s house, in a suburb near Seattle.
It’s the place where I grew up and where I usually say I’m from, even though I haven’t lived there in nearly two decades.
For our kids, home is here, in Dili. This is where their stuff is, where their beds are, and where their friends live. Although they don’t really remember our life before we moved to East Timor, they do know that they aren’t from here and will occasionally ask “Mommy, where am I from?”
I usually tell them that they are lucky enough to be from two places: England and America, just like one of their friends is from Sweden and Vietnam, and another friend is from Italy and Germany. Still, it’s a pretty abstract concept to a three-year old mind. (more…)
Shaula Bellour grew up in Redmond, Washington. She now lives in Jakarta, Indonesia with her British husband and 9-year old boy/girl twins. She has degrees in International Relations and Gender and Development and works as a consultant for the UN and non-governmental organizations.
Shaula has lived and worked in the US, France, England, Kenya, Eritrea, Kosovo, Lebanon and Timor-Leste. She began writing for World Moms Network in 2010. She plans to eventually find her way back to the Pacific Northwest one day, but until then she’s enjoying living in the big wide world with her family.
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by Jennifer Burden | May 31, 2011 | Family, Family Travel, International, Kids, Motherhood, Parenting, Sports, Travel, USA
I love sports! Well, mostly basketball, college basketball. My husband and I like watching games on TV, and we also like to go to championship games, whenever possible around the U.S. However, that’s become more difficult to do now that we are parents of little ones.
The first game we took our daughter to was a first round National College Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament game when she was only 2 years old. We weren’t planning on attending because we already had plans, but it turned out that our plans fell through at the last-minute.
So, after a few clicks on Stub Hub, a secondary ticket vendor, we had tickets to the game, and we were updating our Facebook statuses to see who else was going to be there. (more…)
Jennifer Burden is the Founder and CEO of World Moms Network, an award winning website on global motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. World Moms Network writes from over 30 countries, has over 70 contributors and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Best 100 Websites for Women”, named a “must read” by The New York Times, and was recommended by The Times of India.
She was also invited to Uganda to view UNICEF’s family health programs with Shot@Life and was previously named a “Global Influencer Fellow” and “Social Media Fellow” by the UN Foundation. Jennifer was invited to the White House twice, including as a nominated "Changemaker" for the State of the World Women Summit. She also participated in the One Campaign’s first AYA Summit on the topic of women and girl empowerment and organized and spoke on an international panel at the World Bank in Washington, DC on the importance of a universal education for all girls. Her writing has been featured by Baby Center, Huffington Post, ONE.org, the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life, and The Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists.” She is currently a candidate in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the Executive Masters of Public Affairs program, where she hopes to further her study of global policies affecting women and girls.
Jennifer can be found on Twitter @JenniferBurden.
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by World Moms Blog | May 27, 2011 | Bilingual, Child Care, Childhood, Eva Fannon, Family Travel, Friday Question, Holiday, Husband, International, Italy, Japan, Kids, Motherhood, Oceania, Tara B., Third Eye Mom, Transportation, Travel
This week’s Friday Question comes from World Moms Blog writer Eva Fannon of Washington State. She asked our writers,
“If someone gifted you tickets to travel anywhere in the world, where would you go, and who would you take with you?”
Here are some of the exciting places some of our World Moms would love to visit…
Asta Burrows of Norway writes:
“I would take my husband and wee lad to Western Australia. We have been there several times; I love the wine tasting and my husband loves the windsurfing. However after reading Tara’s article about flying with kids, I am not sure I could handle such a long journey – but it would probably be worth it!” (more…)
World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children.
World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.
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by Tara Bergman (USA) | May 24, 2011 | Family, Family Travel, International, Kids, Motherhood, Parenting, Tara B., Transportation, Travel, USA
Recently, I set out on an adventure. I didn’t kayak down the Amazon or climb Mount Everest. I traveled from Washington to Pennsylvania (and back again) with my two boys, ages 5 ½ and 13 months, on my own to visit my family.
That’s a 2700 mile trek each way with flight layovers involved.
For the flights, I had my older boy seated next to me and my toddler sitting on my lap. Well, on paper he was sitting on my lap, but anyone who has flown while holding a 13 month old knows that the toddler is not sitting on your lap.
He may be jumping on your lap, wailing on your lap, or barfing on your lap, but he most certainly isn’t sitting on your lap. (more…)
Tara is a native Pennsylvanian who moved to the Seattle area in 1998 (sight unseen) with her husband to start their grand life adventure together. Despite the difficult fact that their family is a plane ride away, the couple fell in love with the Pacific Northwest and have put down roots. They have 2 super charged little boys and recently moved out of the Seattle suburbs further east into the country, trading in a Starbucks on every corner for coyotes in the backyard. Tara loves the outdoors (hiking, biking, camping). And, when her family isn't out in nature, they are hunkered down at home with friends, sharing a meal, playing games, and generally having fun. She loves being a stay-at-home mom and sharing her experiences on World Moms Network!
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by Shaula Bellour (Indonesia) | Apr 14, 2011 | East Timor, Family Travel, International, Kids, Motherhood, Parenting, Shaula Bellour, Transportation, Twins
Sometimes driving here drives me a little bit crazy.
To be fair, driving in Dili can’t really be compared with most other urban areas in this part of the world. Though it is a capital city, it’s more of a sleepy town than a sprawling metropolis. Traffic rarely moves faster than 35 mph, so it doesn’t feel particularly dangerous or difficult to navigate.
The curious one-way system can make things tricky at times (and the fact that most streets don’t have names), but even the busiest main roads are just two lanes.
However, driving can still be frustrating. According to the US State Department: “Driving in Dili is especially hazardous, with large trucks and military vehicles sharing the streets with vendors, pedestrians, and livestock.” Yep. (more…)
Shaula Bellour grew up in Redmond, Washington. She now lives in Jakarta, Indonesia with her British husband and 9-year old boy/girl twins. She has degrees in International Relations and Gender and Development and works as a consultant for the UN and non-governmental organizations.
Shaula has lived and worked in the US, France, England, Kenya, Eritrea, Kosovo, Lebanon and Timor-Leste. She began writing for World Moms Network in 2010. She plans to eventually find her way back to the Pacific Northwest one day, but until then she’s enjoying living in the big wide world with her family.
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by Kyla P'an (Portugal) | Apr 6, 2011 | Education, Family, Family Travel, Husband, Kids, Life Lesson, Motherhood, Multicultural, Parenting, Travel, USA
Shortly before I met my husband, I spent three years living abroad. Two of them in one place and the final in transit back from Kumamoto, Japan to the east coast of the United States, the slowest way possible.
Three months after I met my husband, he invited me to join him for a destination wedding in Brazil. Four months later, he lost his job and decided he wanted to see more of the world too. He spent the next six months traveling around China and SE Asia and for five, blissful weeks during the holidays I joined him in Thailand and Laos.
In our four years together pre-kids, we traveled to nine different countries. Our attraction to one-another had a lot to do with our mutual desire to live abroad someday and raise our future kids that way too .
So it comes as somewhat of a surprise to me that here I sit, ten years later, just 11 miles from where we first met.
(more…)
Kyla was born in suburban Philadelphia but spent most of her time growing up in New England. She took her first big, solo-trip at age 14, when she traveled to visit a friend on a small Greek island. Since then, travels have included: three months on the European rails, three years studying and working in Japan, and nine months taking the slow route back from Japan to the US when she was done. In addition to her work as Managing Editor of World Moms Network, Kyla is a freelance writer, copy editor, recovering triathlete and occasional blogger. Until recently, she and her husband resided outside of Boston, Massachusetts, where they were raising two spunky kids, two frisky cats, a snail, a fish and a snake. They now live outside of Lisbon, Portugal with two spunky teens and three frisky cats. You can read more about Kyla’s outlook on the world and parenting on her personal blogs, Growing Muses And Muses Where We Go
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In a few weeks’ time, we will be heading to the US for our much-anticipated annual home leave. Once a year, our organization covers the cost of flights to our “home on record.” Though our last physical address was in Oregon, our permanent address is my mom’s house, in a suburb near Seattle.
