Urban Goats and Suspicious Kangaroos (Interview)

Picture a Swiss maid, complete with bonnet, mountain cottage located in the Alps and a flock of goats she holds near and dear to her heart (think “Heidi” or “The Sound of Music”).

Now imagine that same Swiss maiden transported to the heart of Melbourne, Australia, steaming cup of coffee in one hand, laptop under her other arm, goats following obediently behind as they cross the street. The drawstrings of her bonnet fly behind her in the wind, and curious kangaroos peer around corners in suspicion that the goats have come to invade the outback and pillage all available foliage.

OK, maybe the goats are pushing it a little. My imagination tends to run wild at times. In any regard, this is one way I picture “Momma” when I read her story below. I started following A Momma’s View a few months ago, now I can’t wait to see a notification that she’s posted something new.

Her life experience has given her a unique perspective, one that I find interesting and compelling to read– especially considering that English is not her first language. Her blog is a collection of thoughts and musings; she defines it as a “Lifestyle blog”.

Momma’s blog is different from many others because she writes in an interesting way about things that interest her and it shows. I find that many of her topics are not necessarily areas of interest for me until I read her posts, that’s when I find myself googling for more info on that particular subject, or commenting on the post itself to ask more questions.

To say anymore at this point would be to take away from the interview below. Read on!  The maiden awaits.

To get us started, can you tell us a little about yourself Momma?

I am a woman. Sometimes I am strong, sometimes I am not. Sometimes I am disciplined and sometimes I give in. I love my two wonderful kiddies (a boy and a girl) that we home school, and I adore my husband, who is also my best friend.

We live in Down Under (Australia that is). We moved here just about 10 years ago from what I call Up Over (Switzerland that was). Quite a change, but it was totally worth while.

So here is my personal issue with blogging in English: it is not my first language and I know I am making mistakes, but as long as you still get what I want to tell you, it’s okay, right?

I am a Swiss woman, and I grew up in the mountains in a little town which was rather quiet during the summer time and then turned into this crazy busy ski resort during winter. I was a happy child and besides growing up in a big house with a big garden I also grew up with horses, dogs and cats (and all sort of other animals my mom fostered every now and then).

I traveled and always loved it as I felt (and still do) that it opens your mind. I never got a University degree, although I was studying at a certain point but I felt like the life outside University was more for me and so I by coincidence, started working freelance for sport events (Media) and loved it.

Exercise plays a big role in my life and so does eating.

 What led to your move from Switzerland to Australia?

Opportunities, as weird as it sounds… We just had the chance to do it and so we did. We decided to in our mind look at the move as if it is for good and that we would try to stay. And we managed to make it happen and now we wait for our Aussie passports to arrive 🙂

What led you to start blogging?

I always loved writing. In fact I used to work in media and I really missed it after our move to Australia. For a long time I was only thinking about blogging and writing in general until a couple of months ago, when I finally did it and started my blog.

Since then I write on a daily basis. Additionally, I took part in NaNoWriMo and managed to actually finish my novel by November 20th; I also kept blogging during this time. I just love writing and expressing my thoughts…

You’ve defined your blog as a ‘Lifestyle’ blog. With so many blogs where people write about their life, do you feel a need to set yourself apart from the rest?  If so, how do you strive to do so?

There are tons of lifestyle blogs out there and that was something I guess kept me from starting for such a long time. But then there is only one Me and only one life lived like mine. So there is basically only one lifestyle like mine. That is what sets me apart from the others. I am who I am. Nobody is like me. And that is something that is important for me. To be myself and not letting anything change that.

What characteristics or attributes do you admire in your favorite blogs to follow?

I guess my favorite bloggers all have one thing in common: they all seem to show who they are. They seem authentic and honest. They don’t try to sell you anything (obviously). They just share their knowledge, their thoughts, hopes and worries. Their posts have a message and are not just “bla-bla’s”…

Feel free to name a few of your favorite blogs– we’d love to check them out!

That is not easy, as there are so many I like. I usually mention my favorite posts of the current week in “My Picks Of The Week”. It is not only about sharing those amazing posts with others but as well to create a little list for myself to get back to and read them again when I feel like it. But then sometimes there are totally new ones… I will give it a go:

There are definitely my guest bloggers:

Perspectives On… (http://terriwebsterschrandt.wordpress.com/)

Far beyond the Stars (https://perseshow.wordpress.com )

Trees Of Transition (http://treesoftransition.wordpress.com/)

Listentothebabe (http://listentothebabe.com/)

And then there are:

Opinionated Man (http://aopinionatedman.com/)

Send Sunshine (http://sendsunshine.wordpress.com/)

ViewPacific (http://viewpacific.wordpress.com/about/)

MomLife Now http://momlifenow.com/2014/12/08/youre-doing-a-good-job-mom/

Lucile De Godoy (http://luciledegodoy.com/2014/12/05/gone-but-not-forgotten/)

And yourself, Brews and Views (https://brewsandviews.wordpress.com/about/)

And so many more! The list could go on and on!

As I finish my cup, one final question…how do you prefer your coffee? And (based on our comment exchange a few weeks ago) why do you feel Australian coffee is the best?

Ha! I am not sure if it is the best but the coffee culture here in Melbourne is huge! You get amazing coffee here. All kind of coffee and it reminds me of Italy, France and Switzerland. We always had great coffee, you know.

How do I like my coffee? Well, I like my coffee be proper coffee and not some sort of “nose water”… It needs to be on the stronger side but still not make me jump out of my shoes… I do not like instant coffee! I rather have a tea than instant coffee! In short: A good, strong coffee with a bit of milk. And I put it out there: I love my Nespresso Coffee machine and the variety of coffees I can get for it.

If you haven’t done so already, head over to A Momma’s View. She has a great section here where she curates her picks for the week, and make sure you check out her post on Australia here— it will help explain what I mentioned earlier about finding myself interested in the topics she posts about!

I interview bloggers that I enjoy for one reason or another nearly every week. I find it interesting to pick their brains about how they create their work; many of them have been very successful at the art of blogging.  Check out our Interviews page for links to other interviews such as this one.

My thanks to Momma for agreeing to this interview– we all appreciate you taking the time to share! Wherever you are, I wish you a safe and prosperous New Year!