Category: Meanderings Abroad
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Food & Life in Italy
Well, it’s been less than a week and I’m already missing my friends and wondering when we can move back to France…. Let’s just get the challenges out and cleared. Challenge 1 – The Visa Remember how I said that I’m constantly needing to remember to stay fluid and flexible? Well, the promise of a…
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He’s 50!
We had a number of different variation of how my “old man” would ring in the new decade at half a century years old. However, none of those came to fruition thanks to the changes in COVID-19 (shame it was 20, huh?). Even as it was, we were technically in violation of lockdown rules when…
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Mongolia July 2019
It had been a while since Mom and I had taken a mother-daughter trip, so with life starting to return to normal, we made plans to reinstate them. With lots of options, we decided on Mongolia. Many people gave us quizzical looks respectively whenever we mentioned where we were going as it is not a…
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An Okinawan Holiday
The downside of going back to work and working for a business rather than an academic institution is that vacation days are limited. Add to that other life challenges, makes for a bit of a difficulty in taking summer holidays. However, I’m not at all complaining as life is a far cry (positively) from what…
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So the story begins…(1)
It has now been two months since we left the desert and all that life there encompassed. The last year or so proved to be the most challenging of times because living outside of the bubble, that most expats survive in to convince themselves that being there is worthwhile, causes your eyes to open and…
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Yearly Fujairah Weekend
Ever since we met in 2014 we have taken a yearly trip to Fujairah as a getaway weekend. I remember our first one fondly as it was when we were just getting our hearts around the idea that love was in the air. Each year when we return, we re-connect and re-kindle the flames of…
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Hanami
In Japan, the best seasons are the fall and spring. These are the times of the year when you can be outside and enjoy all that the flora can offer around town. Or, many people take special trips around this time. The spring offers views of the famous cherry blossoms where you can see people…
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Kyoto Day 3
Our last half-day in Kyoto was a cold and wet one. We put on our Oregonian minds and endured the rain drops enough to do the short walk along the Philosophers’ Path (哲学の道哲学の道) where we reminisced about the old days when J and I created our own pronunciation of philosophize to philoSOPHisize because we had…
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Kyoto Day 2
Nearly another 20,000 steps saw us with a “lighter” touristy day…. We decided to head out to Arashiyama since J had never been out there and it had been quite a while since I went out that way. It is not far outside of the downtown area and E was super excited about the train…
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Kyoto Day 1
It’s been many years since I made a visit to Kyoto again after living there for three years in 2001-2004. Sometime ago I made a short visit as my first time back since my divorce. I wanted to remember my love for the city outside of the time being unhappily married during those years. Now,…
