Culture Nuggets 🌍

My acid reflux decided to flare up in Madrid which lead me to visit the local Farmacia.....

  https://linktr.ee/culturenuggets   As an adventurous solo female traveler, I have been to many places all around the world. Some were much safer than others and some, not so safe, However, no matter where you travel to, you should always exercise safety precautions. As a woman, I like to make sure I am not out too late at night but if I absolutely cannot help being out at night, I try to stay in well lit areas where there's lots of people. In the case of an emergency, being in a well lit area is safer because you'll be easier seen by surveillance cameras and passing cars.  Being in places that are known to have a nice amount of people is also a smart idea so there will be witnesses in case someone happens. Kidnappers, attackers, robbers, etc. are less likely to harm you in places where there are potential witnesses.  Lastly I leave you with always having a fully charged cell phone with you at all times while traveling. Anything is possible and you wouldn't want to ...

My trip to Indianapolis was so fun. We did so many different things like painting, axe throwing, The Escape Room, and horse back riding. We rode through the trails with another couple who owned the stable. They were also travelers, so we all shared fun travel stories during the ride. They also told us about a few cool places to visit while we were in town. This was my first time going horse back riding and definitely won't be my last!! This was a great first impression of such a cool hobby. I look forward to horse back riding again in the near future in different states across the US. I highly recommend horse back riding. Give it a try and share your experience!!

My husband and I decided to take a trip up north for the 4th of July weekend. We wanted to try some new things and knock some bucket list items off of our check list. We originally arranged to go parasailing but they ended up having to cancel it due to high winds so we did a little jewelery shopping 🛍️ and then decided to go snorkeling. I was super excited about it leading up to it. Once we arrived, we got checked it and took our seats on the boat. The boat had a glass floor so I spent a lot of time looking at the fish, ship wrecks and skeletons (planted there for suspense)😂. Once we reached our destination, we out on our life jackets, masks and flippers. I took a few pictures and got ready to be adventurous!! Once I got in the water I started hyperventilating and saying no no no. Omari (my husband) said, "it's okay baby swim to me the life jacket will keep you afloat". I replied, "I'm getting back on the boat!" "You'll be okay, come on Tam, don...

                                                           Keep in touch!!   As many of you know, in 2019 I accepted a job teaching English in Spain. During that time I visited 8 other countries: Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Vatican, Morocco, Poland and Canada. I made friends in each country and KEEP IN TOUCH with many of them to this day!  A few of them have even been a guest on the Culture Nuggets podcast!! To keep in touch, I send out post cards, Literally ALL OVER THE WORLD !! I do this every June. The one in the picture above is going to Netherlands and I wrote my message in Dutch (the official language of the Netherlands. It reads: "Hello! I hope that all is well. I'm so glad we stayed in contact and I hope to see you soon!!" A few other post ca...

So, I've been apart of a Spanish Meetup group for the past 3 years. They always have a summer beach party, but this year was different. This year we combined out summer beach party with a local Peruvian group to celebrate The Independence Day of Peru. It was an amazing experience. Not only did I get to speak Spanish with native speakers, I made new friends and learned so much about Peruvian culture, politics and agriculture. The BBQ was amazing, I threw a few impossible burgers and ears of corn on the grill and played Jenga with a free children I met there. I'm actually meeting up with one of the maybe speakers that I met there soon to practice Spanish. I've been looking for a native language partner to months so I'm super excited! Yesterday I was in bilingual, extrovert heaven!! Happy Independence and 200 year anniversary Peru 🇵🇪🎉 

May 22, 2021 was the best day of my life. I got married to the love of my life that day. My mother in law decorated the church and made it look like a princess fairy garden, just what I always imagined!! My two best friends sang a duet as I walked down the aisle, our military friends performed a sword ceremony, we jumped the broom and we danced and took shots with the wedding party back at my house after the reception. The next day we went on a road trip to Indianapolis, Indiana where we got real adventurous. We went to Painting With a Twist where we painted a portrait of a tree, axe throwing which was very fun but physically challenging, the Escape Room where we looked for clues to escape from a simulated jail cell, horseback riding where we met another couple who also loves to travel and Cirque Italia where we saw a cool acrobatic tricks. Our honeymoon was very adventurous but it was also very romantic. We went to a couple's retreat for 2 days that had a hot tub, a steam room, a ...

Here in Troy, Michigan is a new sushi restaurant. It's really cool because its set up like a traditional Japanese restaurant. The pricing is great for the amount of food you get and a wide variety of sushi, made to order. The food comes out on a conveyor belt, which you can pick the food up from there as it floats by you. There are other food items like ramen, rice, soups and desserts on the menu that can be special ordered. They even give you prizes once you've consumed a certain number of plates, which was a surprising treat!! We had a blast. Check out my YouTube video above to see how we liked it at Kura Revolving Sushi Bar. 

I love church and I love singing, My pastor asked me to sing during service so I decided to sing, "I can only imagine". Check it out!

A very special Christmas!! So my beloved boyfriend decided to surprise me with the ultimate Christmas gift on December 25, 2020.  My mother and I joined his family for Christmas dinner. We all prayed and ate the holiday meal together as we shared laughs and funny stories. Then we decided to take a few family photos. We took about 4 pictures on his sister's phone. The camera on the cellular phone counted down from 10 to 1 each time. During the last photo, we all posed and smiled as the camera counted down. By the time the camera got to 4, my boyfriend Omari jumped out of his spot. Everyone stared at him, yelling and asking him why did he move. Then he dropped to his knee and asked me to marry him. We all screamed in awe of his random act of love! We were all shocked and very excited to say the very least. Check out everyone's reaction in the photo below....                                ...

  So, while I was in California back in September 2020 I purchased  some turtles! They were only 2 weeks old when I first got them and they are growing pretty fast! So far they are very sweet. Check out this video to see some turtle action!! Oh and don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel ;-)

I decided to host a Halloween party this year. We had pizza, cupcake, cider and candy. We took pictures, had a costume contest and did a few hustles. We even had a disco light and music. It was loads of fun and a great way for my family and my boyfriend's family to get to know each other better. I can't wait until next Halloween!

https://creationmuseum.org/ I decided to take a quick day trip to Petersburg, Kentucky to visit the Creation Museum. This museum is not the average museum by any means! They have a café with vegetarian/vegan options, a 3D theatre, lecture hall, interactive exhibits and a petting zoo. They even have zip lining and camel back riding! I went for the first time in 2013 with my grandmother and a campus Bible study group. This time around was a great reminder of how cool this place actually is. It's a Christian museum that focuses on the teachings of creation in Genesis. So if you're a new Christian who wants to learn or an experienced Christian that wants a deeper understanding of the Bible, I highly recommend this museum for a fun, interactive, biblical adventure!!

https://www.frankenmuth.org/ Frankenmuth, also known as Michigan's little Bavaria, is so underrated. There's so much to do here! Us Michiganders should totally take advantage of the wonders of our great lake state! I've visited Frankenmuth more times than I can count but this time around I visited the cheese Haus where we saw a puppet show and purchased some strawberry cream cheese and blueberry cream cheese. We also went to a wine tasting and a coffee shop called the Kaffee Haus. We saw a live band playing classic American "oldies but goodies" songs at the farmer's market and we even visited the Michigan Heroes Museum which has many displays honoring military veterans from Michigan. I also got some collector's charms for my bracelet at the Pandora store. What a cool local day trip! It's only a two hour drive from Detroit.😁

So for those of you who know me know that I've been obsessed with Chinese culture, clothing, language, etc since I was a little girl. I bought so much stuff in Chinatown this day!! I've been to Chicago's Chinatown twice but this was my first time to California. If you know of any other Chinatown's in other US states, please tell me about them in the comments. Until next time, PEACE!!!

During my week vacation in Las Vegas, Nevada I did everything but gamble 🎰(shocker). The first full day was very interesting. I woke up and had breakfast and then made my way to the Erotic Heritage Museum. There were many pictures, mannequin exhibits and short films. Long story short, I saw and learned a lot about sex (although I thought I was am expert) LOL.  The second day was spent on The High Roller which was a large Ferris wheel. Instead of sitting in seats like a regular Ferris wheel, the High Roller has room sized pods where you can stand or sit and see the view of the city. Then we went to a restaurant called Nacho Daddy where they have scorpion shots. That's right, the shot of tequila has a 🦂 on it. Of course I didn't do it but I cheered my friends on while squirming in my seat (I have bug-o-phobia)! This restaurant even has a vegan menu, so I ordered Vegan chicken tacos.  The third day we went to Gordon Ramsey's steak restaurant in the Paris Hotel Casino resort....

During my trip to California I got to dance on the Santa Monica Beach, jumping in the waves in the Pacific ocean, shop in  Chinatown, and drive through the mountains. It was very sunny and beautiful. There were palm trees everywhere and everyone wore short shorts. I stayed with my best friend in a town called Panoramic City in the valley of Los Angeles. This town has a huge Mexican population so I had several opportunities to practice my Spanish. A few native speakers complimented my Spanish speaking abilities which motivated me to keep striving to become fluent. I even got to visit my God mother in Inglewood. I hadn't seen her 5 years so I surprised her at her job to hug her. The end of my trip to LA ended with a road trip to Las Vegas, Nevada. We drove the historic Route 66 and sang Beyoncé songs in perfect harmony. What a great vacation!! My best friend relocated to LA 2 years ago So he was my tour guide.

So I decided to try doing a podcast about the different cultures, cuisines and friends I've met during my time living in Spain! Check it out by clicking the link below the video!!! https://anchor.fm/culturenuggets

Unfortunately I haven't had much to post due to the pandemic. This blog was dedicated to my Adventures overseas. Now that I'm back home in Detroit, Michigan I'll be blogging about fun things to do here! Most places have reopened this past Monday so hopefully I'll be going on a few local adventures so I can get back to blogging!! Stay tuned.....

During my anniversary week in Morocco, I went for an hour camel ride through the desert. It was super fun! I made new friends, rubbed the cute camels and practiced my basic Arabic. I used an agency called Civitatis. They organize trips and events in several destinations around the world. Here's a link to the Culture Nuggets podcast about my time in Morocco: https://anchor.fm/culturenuggets/episodes/The-Evil-Eye-and-The-Forbidden-Hand-eevn9a https://www.civitatis.com/en/marrakech/quad-biking-camel-riding-tour 🙋مايا لاما