May You Have a Rich Multicultural Year in 2013

I'm dreaming of ice skating: photo by DrieCulturen

I really wanted to write a Christmas wish this year but before I knew it I was too late. So before new year's eve hits us I want to wish you all a rich multicultural year wherever you are at the moment and wherever you will be going in the year ahead.

Thank you for reading this post. Thank you to everyone I have connected with this past year through this blog, twitter or facebook. I enjoy life a little more through all the new encounters. As a way of expressing my gratefulness there's a giveaway available here on this blog. If you are interested in winning a free signed copy of Maggie Mykleburst's book "Fly Away Home" leave a comment before the 31st of December 2012.

Looking back over 2012 here are 10 things I am excited about:

1. Connecting with so many interesting people this year.
2. A new book that was published "Expat Teens Talk" by Lisa Pittman and Diana Smit. Here's my book review.
3. A new mentoring program for expat teens that has been started called Sea Change Mentoring. Here's an interview I had with Ellen, the initiator.
4. Discovering a great third culture kid poem: "Who Am I?" written by Marina Sofia.
5. In honour of my blog's first anniversary that TCK author Heidi Sand-Hart agreed to an interview and to give away a signed copy of her book "Home Keeps Moving". If you missed the interview do read it.
6. I was on the radio on two different occasions this year talking about my experience growing up abroad as a third culture kid. Here is the interview on DeGids.fm "Een DrieCulturen kind voelt zich eigenlijk nergens thuis. Here is the interview on Expat Radio "Niet weten waar je thuishoort, je bent wellicht een TCK!" Both are in Dutch.
7. The blog post with third culture kid Victoria saying "I am not from Anywhere" received the most comments this year.
8. This blog was nominated for a couple of awards: The Versatile blogger award, Blog Expat Top Award , I'm not a tourist expat blog competition.
9. I really liked this guest blog by Libby Stephens "Grandparenting over the seas".
10. Daily there are people from more than 10 different countries in the world reading blog posts here. The last 24 hours people from the USA, the Netherlands, Russia, the UK, Israel, New Zealand, Germany, France, India and Austria were here. It's a small world after all! It's exciting.

I need to share something funny. The top search word that people search for and reach my blog is the word "tjendol". I was really surprised. In this post I shared 7 things about myself. This is what I wrote: one of my favourite drinks is: Tjendol (or Cendol), in good Indonesian restaurants you can get it here in the Netherlands. It's just divine. It's with coconut milk and palm sugar. Lesson learned: you're never too old to taste something new. I thought the top search word might be "expat" or "third culture kids" but no "tjendol" is the word that won this year. Sometimes things just work out differently than you expected.

Looking back are there things that you are excited about? What are you grateful for?

Ps. remember to leave a comment and have a chance at winning a free signed copy of Maggie's book.

Here's some advice from Maggie for third culture kids: "Although I think it's great to consider yourself a citizen of the world, I still think its important to know where you come from. To feel a sense of pride and belonging to your passport country."

Related Posts:

• Christmas the Third Culture Kid Way by Unsettled TCK Cecilia Haynes
• An Expat's Letter to Santa by MaDonna Maurer at Raising TCKs
• Christmas Around the World
• For the Third Culture Kid birthday candles are easier to come by than the Christmas kind by the Displaced Nation