Somewhat Less than Normal: Notes on actually coming home

Somewhat Less than Normal: Notes on actually coming home

After 25 or so years of living in vast, sprawling cities, far, far away- as far away as my impulses to dive into the unknown and unexpected could take me– I have landed with a thud…

Just Like Starting Over (Again): Canada!

Just Like Starting Over (Again): Canada!

This is Nanaimo in the snow. This is one of the many bear-frequented trails that run above and below and alongside our little temporary Yew (tux wa’culhp) cottage on the campus of Vancouver Island University, where I’ve somehow found myself working. I get paid to 

Tell Me All About Your Bookshelves (Past and Present)

Tell Me All About Your Bookshelves (Past and Present)

  Ten years ago, approximately, I left Istanbul, and along with a city that I loved/loathed, I also left behind a lot of books. By this, I want to absolutely emphasize that this was a heartbreakingly vast quantity of books that had slowly but steadily 

Damn, That Shit’s Elusive: The Happiness Project Revisited (Plus Books! I have books!)

Damn, That Shit’s Elusive: The Happiness Project Revisited (Plus Books! I have books!)

About a year ago, probably longer, I announced that I would be revisiting the 100 Happy Days challenge. You know the one- you post every day for 100 days something that made you feel happy, no matter how small, how fleeting. I totally failed. And 

Greetings From my New Expat Bubble

Greetings From my New Expat Bubble

Hi. You might remember me from such posts as that one six months ago, back when we were still living in Hanoi, in a long, narrow railroad flat perched five floors above the reeking, oil-slick, sewage-milky, belly-up fish filled Truc Bach lake. Like many things 

How to be Happy in Denmark (and Vietnam): Notes on Getting it All Wrong Again

How to be Happy in Denmark (and Vietnam): Notes on Getting it All Wrong Again

I’ve been sick for the past two or three (maybe four?) weeks. One of those fun, persistent malingering malaises that morphs from one form to another, then back again, sometimes overlapping in comical yet debilitating ways. I currently have twin ear infections that have swollen 

The Skies Are White, If Nothing Else: Christmas in Hanoi!

The Skies Are White, If Nothing Else: Christmas in Hanoi!

Christmas is back in Hanoi! Those creepy, hip swiveling robot Santas are playing their saxophones outside occasional pho joints and unexpected Christmas trees are popping up in lobbies and windows around town. At the overpriced expat grocery stores you can now buy the world’s tiniest 

A Totally Impractical Guide to Changing Everything All At Once (Again)

A Totally Impractical Guide to Changing Everything All At Once (Again)

I should be studying right now. Four units into the first module of a master’s degree in applied linguistics, I’m painfully wrapping my head around the idea of a lexeme’s paradigm (not to be confused with a gangsta’s paradise, though I will admit that I 

John McCain Crashed His Plane Just Outside Our New Flat

John McCain Crashed His Plane Just Outside Our New Flat

It was a few years ago (1967), but still- he ejected just over there- you can see it from our living room window.   About two weeks ago, we moved house. Again. I may have mentioned the reluctant need to uproot, yet again. The construction 

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (and Living) in Ridiculously Humid Climes

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (and Living) in Ridiculously Humid Climes

  A month or two ago, my third external hard drive in three years decided to just stop being a functioning external hard drive. It was only a year and a half old when it died and took all of my laptop’s back ups with 

Just Like Starting Over: Hanoi 2.0

Just Like Starting Over: Hanoi 2.0

Can I tell you about our early days in Hanoi? Back in October?     So many months ago. The weeks when we lived in a stuffy, cramped hotel room in a curious neighborhood that would have been more curious if it hadn’t been hemmed 

Dear Fellow Travellers and Expats: You are NOT More Special or Better or Smarter Than Your Average Bear

Dear Fellow Travellers and Expats: You are NOT More Special or Better or Smarter Than Your Average Bear

  I’ll admit that I’ve been up since 4am almost every morning this week, woken by a wide-eyed toddler towering over me in the early morning half light, adamantly making the ASL sign for water, food, ball, whatever in my face, and am coping with