Category: outside the US

  • Traveling in Israel with boys…

    I know I haven’t been here for awhile, and I kept meaning to post, but was tired of posting anymore about running (although I did recently finish my first half marathon, which was momentous), or about divorce, or about living alone.

  • Code-switching…

    My boys are with me for three weeks, in Baltimore. And, I enrolled them in Tennis Camp, at Druid Hill Park, right near my apartment. Last week was their first week there.  They have three days to go…before we drive down to Harrisonburg, VA for our annual 4 days of immersion in Ethiopian culture, thanks…

  • Refugees and immigrants

    During my run this morning, I listened to Reveal – The Smuggler.  It was a fascinating story about a french reporter, Raphael Krafft, who gave assistance to two Sudanese refugees and helped them cross into France.  The story is harrowing, and at times heartbreaking, and, as often happens to me when I’m hearing stories of people…

  • Google Earth

    Fairly recently, I loaded a live wallpaper app on my Pixel XL phone, because it was linked to the cool case I got.  Mine is the one on the far left. The cool thing is that when you attach the phone into the case, it offers you the option of setting your wallpaper (phone screen…

  • Art in London 

    There are several mandatory stops for me whenever I’m in England. I managed to get to two of them, and added a new stop – the Tate Modern. I mentioned going to the British Museum with S last week, and I might have gone back, as it is huge (or “yuge” as our new president-elect…

  • Art in London 

    There are several mandatory stops for me whenever I’m in England. I managed to get to two of them, and added a new stop – the Tate Modern.  I mentioned going to the British Museum with S last week, and I might have gone back, as it is huge (or “yuge” as our new president-elect…

  • A quiet day at home

    It was very cold today, and I was not sure what to do with my day.  At the end of it, I had a nice quiet day at home with Shanthi, who valiantly tried to go in to work, but was defeated by a multitude of powers beyond her control. I walked the retired greyhound,…

  • Vacation

    I arrived last Tuesday, and was delighted when the U.K. automatic passport reader recognized me and let me through. The guy just ahead of me in the queue failed to be recognized, and watching him, I was sure I was going to suffer the same failure, and have to go explain why I have a…

  • Passport woes, part 2

    I am in England now, writing this, so, all the mad rushing around of last week did result finally in my having a valid passport to travel (2, in fact). I wrote about my crazy hectic Wednesday, when I somehow squeezed in a trip from Baltimore to the center of DC to hand in my…

  • Next Year in Jerusalem…Last Year in Sierra Leone

    We close the Seder with the words “Next year in Jerusalem” (you can read an excellent article about the meaning of these words in the Passover liturgy here). And every year that I recite or sing these words, I think about how cool it would be to spend Passover in Israel, and specifically in Jerusalem. …