Do you celebrate name days? Chances are, your answer is either an enthusiastic ‘yes!’ or a slightly confused ‘err, what?’ In honor of just having celebrated my own name day (mark your calendar for January 27th if you don’t want to miss it next year!), this post is about the fun tradition of marking name […]
5 Reasons Why I Make a Terrible Latvian Mother
Parenting outside the culture where you yourself were born and raised can be a tricky thing. I certainly do some things differently than the German moms around me. At the same time, I have the feeling that I don’t parent like a typical Latvian mother either. From outside naps to early potty training, I fail […]
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30 Hours in Bustling Brussels
Now when the busy Christmas season is over, I finally have the time to sit down and write a few words about our trip to Brussels back in November. Hubby and I travelled to Belgium for the awards ceremony of the .eu Web Awards and returned home with a prize! But for us, the real prize was […]
Top 5 Posts of 2017
It has become a tradition to start a new year of blogging by looking back at the year before. 2017 was quite an exciting year for Let the Journey Begin, from the first post going viral with thousands of readers every hour to travelling to Brussels for the .eu Web Awards and coming home with a […]
Winter Solstice Traditions in Latvia
For millions of people around the world, Christmas is closely tied to Christian beliefs, after all, it is a celebration commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. In fact, in many languages, the word for the celebration itself has to do with Christ or birth. Not so in Latvian where we celebrate “Ziemassvētki”, literally the “winter festival”. You […]
Kanēļmaizītes – a Latvian Christmas Treat
The English-speakers know them as cinnamon rolls and love to top them with icing. The Swedes call them kanelbulle and have set aside a day (the 4th of October) for celebrating this sweet roll. The North Germans have crossed them with croissants and named them Franzbrötchen. We Latvians certainly have no claim to the invention of the cinnamon bun, […]
Celebrating Nikolaus in Germany
In Germany, the morning of the 6th December is almost like Christmas. On the evening of the 5th, children all over the country are busy cleaning their boots. They leave them out for Sankt Nikolaus – Saint Nicholas in English – to fill with goodies overnight, and wake up to a lovely surprise in the […]
BEST European Identity Website
Yes, you read that right! Let the Journey Begin was named the Best European Identity Website at the annual .eu Web Awards last week. I’m honored and grateful, and quite incredulous to have received this award. What makes it even more meaningful is that it’s an award for a European identity webpage. After all, it is a topic […]
Different Language, Different Personality?
I was a shy child who often preferred to stay home reading a book to going out on adventures with other kids. As a teenager, I was at times more comfortable with telling my deepest thoughts and emotions to my diary than sharing them with a friend. Yet I am sure that many people who […]
Birdy Talks: 3,5 Years
As another year rolls to a close, it is again time to take stock of our firstborn’s language progress. Growing up with three languages continues working well for Birdy and her language skills in Latvian and German – our two main family languages – are age appropriate overall. These days our 3,5-year-old aks ‘why’ a thousand […]