There was a sweet middle-aged Tibetan woman in my Monday evening English class. She wore lengths of fabric wrapped around her as a skirt and thick woollen socks under her sandals to ward of the cold wet Belgian winter. Her English was almost non-existent. We worked our way slowly, oh so slowly, through a few…
I was an idealistic child. I had big dreams and big hopes for the world. I read biographies of great men and women who moved mountains and stood against injustice in the hardest of places. I devoured every NGO magazine or leaflet that came through the letterbox. I started my life as a fundraiser around…
At the end of the church service on Sunday, I joined our pastor on the stage, and tried to calm the loud beating coming from my chest. Public speaking doesn’t usually unnerve me but yesterday was a little different. I was saying goodbye to two of our closest friends and I wanted to do it…
There are days when writing a list of things I am thankful for is easy and wonderful and motivated by overflowing gratitude. And then there are the days when pms is raging and I nearly cry at the gym and I sit at the computer for two hours with a long to-do list wondering what…
Monday evening, a few hours after dinner, I finally gave up on the thing I’d be working on on my laptop and went to find Rasmus, who was reading and drinking ouzo (as you do). He put aside his e-reader and I climbed into the armchair with him and sighed. I’d been working all day on something…
I spent Friday in the kitchen, creating a whirlwind of pots, pans, spoons and measuring cups. I was co-hosting a baby shower that evening and had desserts to make for 20 wonderful women. As always, it wasn’t quite as smooth a process as I always have in my mind. Less unruffled-Nigella-Lawson, more Monica-Geller-at-Thanksgiving. I had…
