In an air conditioned van, we hurdled down the long road that winds from the west of Zanzibar to the southeastern coast. As the journey progressed over an hour and a half, we watched as the raucous city life playing out just beyond 4 millimeters of glass faded into a world of pastoral requiescence. The […]
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A smile at a human in a bar on a night in a city And so began a trillion love stories And so began ours With my laugh like music and your eyes on fire You couldn’t wait to tell me another joke To tell me I was pretty I asked “pretty what?” […]
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It was absurd, really. How fated it was. A friend of mine called it a coincidence, but I know it had to more than that… I walked into a restaurant and as a single human, dining alone, I got sat at a small table that was already occupied by two others. I wasn’t sure if […]
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Somehow, I have the great fortune of currently living on the peninsula in the striking city of Dar es Salaam. The apartment I’m hosted in by my kind friends features a yard filled with palm trees and exotic flowers and a deep, saltwater pool that I spend every afternoon in. Beautiful coastlines, yummy restaurants, novel […]
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I wake up sweating. The sun pouring through my window is new and unfamiliar and conspicuously yellow; like a child has drawn thick, waxy rays into my room with a Cornsilk Crayola crayon. The chickadees outside are putting on a show, whistling melodies that are foreign and exotic, even to my fairly well traveled ears. […]
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In just two months, my black and yellow trekking backpack and I developed an oddly deep bond. I suppose it’s not entirely bizarre, for me, at least. I’ve always been one to get attached to inanimate objects. Not because of any monetary value they may hold, but because of something significant they represent. And this […]
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I’ve been through *eh hem* a few breakups. I mean, I’m pretty much an expert. (Look at me, asserting self love wherever I can.) Breaking up with, being broken up with, literally just leaving the country mid-relationship (twice)… You name it, I’ve suffered through it. Some were more significant than others. A couple of them […]
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When I was nine years old, my big dream, the biggest, dreamiest, dream I could dream, was that one day I would be able to work as a volunteer in an African village. *Normal* I used to watch those commercials that would come on way past my bedtime. The ones with the children, hungry […]
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When the songthaew finally pulled into the village, I eagerly hopped out the back of the truck and threw my backpack over my shoulder, happy to have my feet back on solid, unmoving ground. The driver came around back to collect the small amount of cash I owed him and kindly asked which hostel I […]
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I had spent six days in total silence. Nestled in a hut high up in the mountains and deep in the forest, where the temperature drops more than 25 degrees once the sun goes down, each night I would wrap myself in a small thin, blanket and curl up on a hard, wooden bed. With […]
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