“Habibi - for you, special price, almost free. Look, I give you these earrings. Make myself. Are you married? I can marry! I nice Egyptian man for you.” His name was (shocker) Mohammed and he was one of the many... Continue Reading →
After our epic week in Laos, Corli and I flew to meet her husband and a few friends of ours in Thailand to spend the Christmas holidays together, springing for a nice resort for the first few days on the... Continue Reading →
One of the big desires we had when booking Laos was to visit an ethical elephant sanctuary to spend time close to these majestic animals. I’m sure there are lots of elephants with below-level intelligence, anger issues, violent streaks, etc.,... Continue Reading →
After three years under Covid regulations, Hong Kong is finally allowing quarantine-free travel. I was thrilled to be able to travel to a new country - Laos. I didn’t know many people who had been before, and there weren’t a... Continue Reading →
*goes on a trip to a foreign country and comes back wanting to show you pictures of the cats she saw* "What's up, I'm Rachel." I haven’t been in a serious relationship with something besides a bread recipe or tv... Continue Reading →
When you’re almost forty, sometimes it feels weird explaining the branches where your family tree split as a child and why you are posting pictures with gorgeous young men while hiking in exotic locations (if only because I get questions... Continue Reading →
if you know you know Whenever I come back to California, what I consider home-home, people always ask me what’s different. To say “just about everything” would be a cop-out, and not exactly true. I’ve lived abroad for almost a... Continue Reading →
The one where I realize I am a bit of an asshole. In which I arrange for an "end of the year" staff photo, and arrive late. https://open.spotify.com/episode/7zmfKHWI1eZEs1t8UKpqL2?si=e56412885d464dd4 You might know the thread on Reddit (a popular online forum for... Continue Reading →
Having one Qtip jammed up into my brain and then another one scraped against my esophagus by a stranger dressed in a hazmat suit while I am locked inside a hotel room was decidedly not how I expected to celebrate my four year anniversary of moving to Hong Kong, but here we are. Thanks, Covid.
Last summer, the two weeks quarantine upon arrival were in my apartment, which was hard for a laundry list of reasons, but I gotta hand it to the HK gov’t - they know how to make things much, MUCH harder! Luckily (I guess), after a year of going nowhere, even with the mandated hotel quarantine, I was desperate to get home so I took the plunge. In a way, I was almost looking forward to the adventure of returning to Hong Kong and trying out the new system. If nothing else, some character building and a good story, right?
We saw dolphins in the surf on the second night, and I sprinted into the ocean to try and make friends (if I recall correctly, I did an Ace Ventura impression. It did not work but by golly, I felt alive). I shivered on the walk back to the dining commons, made two trips to the pasta bar, and then by silent, mutual consent, the group decided running was hard and pasta was good, and sporadic dolphin chasing missions were more fun and probably counted as cardio.
my work from home situation. not pictured - leggings on the bottom. Current status: spent the day wandering an island and now feeling the “singles tax” of getting a sunburn in the places my arms couldn’t reach on my shoulders... Continue Reading →