Tag: Travel
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Book Review: Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is Alexandra Fuller’s second book covering her family’s experience in east Africa. The first, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, which her mother describes as an Awful Book, tells the story from her perspective. In Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, she expands the story to include…
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Z is for Zambia
“White Rhino” (CC BY 2.0) by SarahDepper I never wanted to go to Africa. I was sure of it. That is, until I went to Yemen, another place I never wanted to go. But a good reason to go to Yemen came along. And I am so very pleased. I enjoyed Yemen so much more than I had…
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Y is for Yemen
“YE 97 Ponte di Shahara” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by Luca Bruno Photographer There is only one rule when driving in Yemen–basic rule #1–whoever is in front has the right-of-way. Rear-view and side-view mirrors are optional. Most Western men just can’t give up the driving habits of home, choosing instead to be driven crazy by the behavior of every…
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W is for Weehawken
“Sunset on the Hudson waterfront” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by joiseyshowaa It was the summer that changed my life–1968. I spent it in New Jersey where I shared a house in Union City with seven other young women, all college students, while we volunteered in an interdenominational arts/crafts/recreation program for elementary school-aged children. The church where I volunteered was…
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U is for United Arab Emirates
“Homeward bound” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by gordontour We moved to the United Arab Emirates in 1996. Abu Dhabi was my second Foreign Service assignment in the Middle East, and my third living experience in the region. When Ramadan came around our first year in Abu Dhabi, I thought I knew what it was all about, having lived more…
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T is for Transnistria
“Transnistria” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by Marco Fieber/Ostblog.org Transnistria, a sliver of land at the eastern border of Moldova, right next to the Ukraine, wanted to be part of Russia, not Moldova, when the former Soviet Union broke apart in 1992. Refusing to assimilate into Moldova, Transnistria continued to use the Russian ruble even after Russia had issued new…
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R is for Romania
“Romania-1727 – Peles Castle” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by archer10 (Dennis) (70M Views) I learned I had been selected for a Fulbright grant to teach English in Romania just weeks before I expected to leave Iran in July of 1977. And I was astonished that a friend was able to find a Teach-Yourself-Romanian book in Tehran so I could get a…
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Q is for Qatar
“Doha, Qatar” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by . Shell The summer of 1987, before I arrived in Doha in October of that year, the governments of Qatar and Bahrain adopted threatening postures towards one another, the result of a dispute about the Hawar islands off the coast of Qatar. Both countries claimed the islands, which can be seen from the…
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P is for Paris
“Paris” (CC BY 2.0) by Moyan_Brenn Who doesn’t love Paris? There’s just one thing wrong with it for me–I kept being sent back there when I really wanted to see some other places, too. My first trip to Paris was in December 1987 1977, during the New Year’s break at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iași (pronounced “Yahsh”), Romania,…
Sandra Yeaman 