Ami im Schwabenland recently nominated me for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award (thanks, Ami!). It's very much like the Liebster Award that I was nominated for last October. The rules are simple:

Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you and share a link to her/his/their blog in your post.
Answer the ten questions you've been sent.
Write ten questions of your own.
Spread the love and nominate up to ten bloggers!

Here are the ten questions Ami im Schawabenland sent, along with my answers:

1. Would you like to be famous? If so, in what way?
Nope. Fame doesn't really do much for me, though I wouldn't mind writing and selling a few books about my travels some day.

2. Would you like to know the date of your death? Why or why not?
Nope. I know that I will die, and that's enough.

3. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
At the moment, I'm most grateful for the fact that I'm able to live and work abroad. Of course my husband, my education, and my health have helped to make that possible, too, but I'm very aware of the fact that this has been an amazing opportunity that not everyone has the chance to experience.

4. Have you ever heard a false rumor that was spread about you? How did you react?
Hmm, someone once spread the rumor that I was mean. I was, of course, very upset, and my first reaction was to confront the person. However, it was a difficult situation, and in the end I had to do my best to be more supportive of that person without actually confronting the issue. I still don't know if that's the way I would handle the situation if it were to happen again, and the person left before we could really talk about the issue one-on-one. However, the incident did make me more aware of the difference between cultural and emotional expectations regarding communication.

5. If you were given €500,000 but could not spend it on yourself, what would you do with the money?
I would probably pay for my mother and my sisters to have a vacation in Europe. Both of my sisters are busy moms and haven't been outside the United States since they had kids, so I think it would be a treat for them to come here with my mom and spend some time together.

6. Where in the world do you not want to travel to?
There's a whole lot that I'd like to see in the world, but I don't have much of a desire to go to certain countries in Africa and the Middle East until their political situations calm down and I know I'll be safe. I also can't see much of a point in traveling to Antarctica -- to my knowledge, there's not much of a food culture there. :)

7. What is your favorite meal to prepare?
I really like trying new Japanese dishes from Nami on Just One Cookbook. So far, my favorites include her recipes for Japanese curry with baked tonkatsu, green tea and white chocolate chip cookies, hamburger steak, harumaki, karaage, miso ramen, miso salmon, kimchi fried rice, onigiri, soba salad, tsukemen, yaki udon, and sesame dressing. Next I'd like to try her okonomiyaki recipe. I find Japanese cooking to be a challenge because there are often lots of ingredients and precise techniques involved, but the meals are so worth it.

8. What do you fear most?
Probably the collapse of social order, whether by revolution, war, or zombies. I may not always agree with what my government does, but I enjoy the safety and benefits that our common agreement on peace affords us.

9. What would you name as your all-time favorite movie (or book, or both -- your choice)?
Oh, that's a tough one! I think I'll go with a book: William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. I just love how he weaves together four different perspectives on a family's shared loss using stream of consciousness, Southern dialect, and shifting time. As someone with family from the Southern U.S. and as a woman, the story speaks to me on many levels.

10. What is a movie soundtrack that you really, really like?
That's another tough one! If I had to choose one, I'd go with The Hours. I loved the movie based off the book of the same name, which draws its inspiration from another favorite book of mine: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. The soundtrack is by Philip Glass who composes some of the most hauntingly beautiful melodies I've ever heard.

Your turn! My nominations are:

And my ten questions are:

Why did you start your blog?
What had been a highlight of having your blog?
If you had access to a time machine, where/when would you go?
What is your dream job?
eBooks or paper books? Why?
If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Have you ever disappointed yourself? What did you do to move on?
What human rights issue would you like to see solved in your lifetime?
If you could go back to school, would you? Why or why not?
Where do you see yourself in five years?

Happy blogging!