More Than Four Sides

Category: outside the US

  • Tomorrow: Haiti!

    Getting ready to fly to Haiti (at an un-Godly hour tomorrow morning – ugh!) I’m excited about the weather forecast there – high in the low/mid-80’s and lows in the mid-60’s – perfect! I’ll be staying at the Hotel Montana – which looks very nice, and has a pool, and a fitness center, as well…

  • Daughter connecting with birthplace

    My daughter, Shanthi, was born in New York City, and I never dreamed that she would have any direct connection with England, where I was born, except to vacation there and visit family.  But, she never ceases to surprise me – from birth onwards!! A couple of years ago, she found out that she was…

  • A Jewish Friend in Kenya

    Last week, I was sent on a very brief trip to Nairobi, Kenya, to meet with a variety of health professionals to discuss reviewing, revising, and updating the HIV-specific curriculum for educating health care providers at all levels of health-care facilities throughout Kenya. As it happened, just a couple of weeks before, I had been…

  • I found the missing photo!!

    In my previous post, Musings…, I mentioned that I took a photo from this odd structure that we came upon in our wanderings in a less-than-picturesque part of Lisbon, and I thought I had trashed the photo – the magic of the Mac, and iPhoto – i just discovered it in a folder called “Recovered…

  • Where were you born?

    The original premise of this blog was to get myself and my readers thinking outside boundaries, both geographical and cultural. In addition, just a couple of weeks ago, my daughter took advantage of the fact that I have British citizenship, and she was sworn in as a subject of the United Kingdom. Her action prompted…

  • Musings (everyone seems to muse these days) on a week in Portugal, as I fly home…

    My first real trip abroad (ie outside the US), as an independent person was when I went to London, England when I was 16 years old, and spent 3-4 months with my aunt, and her assorted household, in a wonderful, funky old house on Parliament Hill, on the edge of the wondrous Hampstead Heath. On…

  • Power Outage in Zambia

    My last night in Zambia, on this two week trip, and the power is out for the second time this week, for more than a couple of minutes. Usually the generator kicks in, but tonight it sputtered and failed – did someone forget to fill it with fuel? So, I’ve got candles lit, and my…

  • Wishing (with little hope) for peace…

    I receive emails from a listserv whenever there is big news from Sri Lanka, and this week, so far, I’ve received 3 reports in 3 days of bombings, with a total of 44 killed, and more injured. the bombings occurred in Colombo – the capital city – where many of my relatives live, and in…

  • Start of Day 5 – still in the desert

    From WOL On-Road D… Here we are loading into the bus on the last morning – our group had stayed at Kibbutz Ketura, a really lovely guest house within a Kibbutz that is focused on ecologically-sound agricultural practices. We had a lovely bar-b-que dinner the previous night, poolside – I was very sad that I…

  • So, Day #4 is over!

    Whew!! I think both Ron and I had tough days today – no rear wheels falling off while going through tunnels, but lots of headwinds and hills!! the thighs and knees are groaning!! but the scenery is amazing – there’s nothing like seeing the desert up close. the colors are glorious. The On-Road group started…