There are so many unique parts of Japanese life that it's hard to remember them all. Recently an article called The expat art of giving up reminded me of a quirk I hadn't thought about in ages: the hourly rest time at the Japanese swimming pool. Swimming pool lanes, photo credit M …
Japan
Where is Yuko? Can we find my long-lost Japanese friend?
I made some very dear friends when I lived in Japan, and I'm still in touch with quite a few of them, even though it'll be ten years ago this July that I left Osaka. It's been wonderful (though scary) to see the kids I taught turn into teenagers, the young women I taught marry and become mothers, …
Exploring my “privileged places” and how Vienna’s stations confused me
I'm a big fan of Gretchen Rubin who writes and researches about happiness (what a lovely job!) and in her newest book Happier at Home a passage she quoted from historian Mircea Eliade really struck me. It's about what he names "privileged places": a man's birthplace, or the scenes of his first …