It's been almost six months since I posted on this blog. And it's been even longer than that since I tried to write something. When I say "write," I mean really write. My own writing, not just the writing I get paid to do. In February of last year, my writing motivation took a huge … Continue reading Writing, Wrap Ups, and The Thing
Last night I got to do what so many of my American friends cannot, and it's unclear when they will be able to again: I sat in a large theater and listened to an orchestra. The theatre reminded me of a sparse lecture hall because people were so spread out. Everyone wore masks, including those … Continue reading COVID Life in Portugal
On a gloomy August morning, I walked to a public Portuguese clinic armed with my EU residency card, a screenshot of Portuguese Immigration saying my expired card had been temporarily extended, and a letter from Finanças (the Portuguese IRS) confirming my third address change in one year. My purse held prescriptions for several different antibiotics. I … Continue reading Health and Language Barriers during COVID
When the Western world started to slowly work its way into mandatory quarantine, I saw this meme posted on Facebook: "Shakespeare wrote King Lear while he was quarantined for the plague." My email inbox filled with essays about how to channel your quarantine boredom into a creative output. The BBC published an article about how … Continue reading Shakespeare Wrote King Lear During the Plague: Quarantined in Portugal
When friends back in Asia ask me what the dating scene is like in Portugal, I don't know what to say. Fine? Active? Normal? It's not that I don't see a difference between dates in Bangkok and dates in Porto--I definitely do. It's more that I didn't know how to describe it. Then a friend posted … Continue reading Dating in Bangkok and Portugal: From Salsa to Guacamole
When people asked why I was going to Germany for five days in late November, I had a few standard replies: I'm going to see where I used to live; I just want to go to a country where I speak the language; cheap tickets. I only told a select few the truth: I was going … Continue reading Traveling to Embrace Loss
There are many things to regret about dating a gaslighter. You regret being naive, you regret selling yourself short, you regret the years you probably took off your life from the stress of someone continually making you question your own mind. When I first met the Gaslighter, I was swept off my feet. He was … Continue reading When a Gaslighter Improves Your Standards
I didn't have a lot of expectations when I drove up the winding road leading to Monsanto. I passed two of the town's famed giant boulders at a narrow turn and I could see the beginnings of the beige stone walls that I associate with quaint, European towns. My GPS had stopped working an hour … Continue reading The Most Portuguese Town in Portugal
Last night at 4:30 a.m. I sat in the back of an Uber listening to my date talk about the differences between football and futsal. He held my hand, tracing swirls between my fingers and palm. It was our fifth or sixth date. We'd just spent the evening in downtown Porto grabbing drinks and dancing … Continue reading An Anniversary
Before I moved to Porto I looked up the logistics of shipping my goods from Thailand to Portugal. Reviews and blog posts screamed: DON’T DO IT. My packages were held up in customs for months, one man said. I had to pay extra tax, despite already paying tax when I bought the item, another blog … Continue reading A Tale of Two Boxes: Don’t Ship to Portugal
The Wandering Writer 