So it only seems fitting that I resume posting as I try to head out of the country once more, once again taking my time to meander through the mysterious and, more-often-than-not, unpredictable hurdles which unfold before me from minute to minute as part of the travel-during-a-pandemic experience. Masks, social distancing, hand sanitizer are only…Read more »

Like thieves in the night running for our lives, our vehicle slipped quietly along the empty streets of Dushanbe in the dark of night to reach the only international airport in Tajikistan.   There were several of us, and the luggage we had brought to stay for a year, piled into the Embassy’s mini-van.  The Embassy,…Read more »

So, let me get this straight.  If I take another flight on another airlines to New York and DON’T take the flight that I am scheduled to take that will arrive there too late to make my connection to Istanbul, you will cancel the entire remainder of my ticket? That is correct.   We can book…Read more »

Again, out of sequence.  This post is taken from my crowdfunding campaign page on Mightycause.com, but does belong here as it is the story of yet another rescue of mine who made the personal choice to be rescued.   She appeared out of nowhere like a white ghost, suddenly standing at my side in the…Read more »

Sorry, this post is out-of-sequence.  I have been remiss in finishing several blog posts. It was my first “dogless” evening walk after I had finally accepted the fact that I could not continue to manage three growing dogs in my apartment on my own.  They were fine at home, but taking walks had become a…Read more »

He is suspicious, muttered Sorbon, my neighbor and self-appointed new apartment finder.   He and his wife identified the first one, which was still in the running, but we both liked the one in the same neighborhood which was being rennovated so we had been following its trail with great interest. Yesterday, it was all settled,…Read more »

Who is this woman? Sometimes I look at my life and ask myself this question. Today, I spent the morning talking with a glass tradesman, via my neighbor who found me the person and did the translation, about having a replacement for the notorious shower door, which my hysterical landlords said was irreplaceable and that…Read more »

I realized as I sat and listened to my landlord go on and on about all the damage that my cats caused, knowing the reality that they had never  been in the room about which she was complaining, that I was being confronted by a depth of fear and disgust of animals the likes of…Read more »

Well, I have several half-written posts which, when posted, will provide more background for this post, but I felt like this one needed to be posted on the day it occurred. It’s Christmas,  my neighbor Sorbon, as I fell weeping in happiness into his wife’s arms, who threw her arms around me and held on…Read more »

I’ve decided to let an email that I just sent out to the team overseeing and/or collaborating with me on my work project speak for itself about what I have been up to this weekend.  Another treatise on the  nature of  working in a cross-cultural context. __________________ Hello everyone, As with all new projects, there…Read more »