Last year at this time, I was hanging out in Irkutsk, Russia. My Thanksgiving dinner consisted of chicken tacos from a fast food wannabe Tex-Mex joint across the street from where I was staying – my attempt at eating something sort of “American” in honor of the holiday. Last Thanksgiving, I wrote about being thankful […]
Thankful for the Kindness of Strangers Read More »
It started a few months ago, although I don’t remember exactly when. It may have been while I was strolling through the streets of Tashkent or it might have happened as I tried to fall asleep on the brutally hot train through western Kazakhstan. By the time I reached Riga in mid-September, the refrain echoed
“Well, it looks like you’ve been gone for a while,” observed the officer sitting behind the passport control desk at the Atlanta airport. “Yes, 13 months,” I said with a smile. He looked at me inquisitively before asking a series of questions: Where did I go? Who “sponsored” me? What did I do? Why? I
Reverse Culture Shock? Not So Much. Read More »
