The Beginning of Freedom
I was on the lookout when change came and found me. After twenty years in Paris, after eighteen years of writing, working, and living in the same lovely-crappy-inspiring atelier, I felt myself stagnating, waiting for a chance to break out…
Things to Do in Palermo: Visit the Monastery of Santa Caterina
From 1311 to 2014 the Monastery of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria was the home of dominican nuns. Nowadays, the place is a museum that gives visitors an idea of what living there must have been like. Each nun had a baby…
Unfocused: Secretly Sad
My mother’s illness and death have left me dangling. After we buried her in July, my life went on, yet I felt paused. Grief consumed my energy and emotions overwhelmed me when I least expected it.
From one crisis to the next
Many months ago, I froze my travel blog in space and time. Not only because of the pandemic, but because of two serious family situations that I could not yet share online. For legal and emotional reasons, I kept quiet…
Tone Determines What You Say
Thailand does not border China, right? People exaggerate; fear makes money. We count our pills, our inoculations. It is February and we fly. The water is turquoise, the curry spicy. We worry, just the tiniest bit, about mosquitoes and dengue…
What Happened On The Mountain
Last week, Daniel and I were invited for a six-person hike from the town Sa Pa to the village Ta Phin. I looked it up on the map. The route seemed to take us on an easy two-hour walk into…
Quarantine Stories
We were in Vietnam when the country went into semi-lockdown. For three weeks in April, we hardly left the property. We were allowed to go out for food or medical emergencies, yet preferred to stay quarantined. I was quite anxious…
