How to Choose Your Next Expat Home
The snow pants were presenting a problem. As was my Little Red Riding Hood pea coat, my cozy and fluffy sweater shawl, and my snow boots. Leaving Kyiv and moving to Tbilisi in the middle of winter meant…
What It’s Really Like to Hike Svaneti
I’m pacing the three-meter length of the shoebox Northface store in Tbilisi, occasionally bouncing on the balls of my feet to fake like I know what I’m doing. The sales girl smiles at me encouragingly, but it’s…
Rethinking Solo Travel in Ureki, Georgia
I’m sitting in the reception area of a hotel in Ureki Georgia, with bedding and other random hospitality debris piled high around me, and there’s one thing for certain. I am definitely traveling alone. I know this…
What Happened in Tbilisi
You know how when you show up in a new place, with no friends, no job, no place to stay, you have the chance to reinvent yourself entirely? No one knows anything about you – this is…
On Leaving Ukraine
I knew it was time to leave Ukraine when they knocked down the cigarette stands across the street. It’s not that I smoke cigarettes, but that was my go-to place for late night chocolate. I had established…
My Weird Reverse Culture Shock After Ukraine
It’s been a long time since I’ve chilled out in the US. In the last two years, I’ve only spent about a week back home. So when I packed up my life in Ukraine and prepared for…
5 Things to Know Before Teaching English Abroad
Oh man, the dreams we have before embarking on expat life, the ideas we have before teaching English abroad! Visions of motivated students delighted with every inspired lesson, eager to listen to the wisdom you drop. Relaxing sunset…
Two Years of Expat Life, Three Lessons Learned
Today is my two year anniversary of getting on a plane and flying over Canada to Tokyo, where I’d spend a brief, adrenaline-pumped fourteen hours before continuing on to Singapore. It was the start of my expat…
10 Hidden Truths about Teaching English Abroad
When I chose to do a CELTA, I anticipated learning a lot about teaching – and I did. I learned to minimize my Teacher Talk Time, how to breakdown new vocabulary for students, and that I would…
So I Never Wrote About Singapore, a Story in 24 Pictures
It’s been almost two years. It’s time to talk about Singapore.
