“Al Dhalam Souq IV” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by andryn2006 Oman sparkles. In the three years, from 1996 to 1999, that we lived in Abu Dhabi, we drove to Oman several times. And every time, we felt a difference when we crossed the border. The streets looked as though they had just been swept for our arrival. The rocksContinue reading “O is for Oman”
Tag Archives: Travel
M is for Moldova
“Kishinev morning” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Clay Gilliland When the former Soviet Union broke apart, the small country of Moldova was one of many that emerged from its ruins. Many pundits expected it wouldn’t last, that it would be absorbed by its neighbor to the west, Romania, as part of a grand reconstruction of what had been theContinue reading “M is for Moldova”
K is for Keren
“Keren Public Library” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by Book Aid International Lisa, a teacher from Texas at the Asmara International Community School, introduced me to Keren, Eritrea. Or perhaps it was Keren that introduced me to Lisa. It happened in the Keren Public Library. Once a month, Lisa and her daughter went to the Keren Public Library where the USContinue reading “K is for Keren”
J is for Japan
“Daisho in Temple, Miyajima, Japan” (CC BY 2.0) by Imahinasyon Photography A plain wooden trunk in the basement of the house of my childhood was off limits. Its contents included my parents’ mementos from the days before we children arrived. The kewpie doll my dad won for my mom at the fair, some dish towels mom had embroideredContinue reading “J is for Japan”
I is for Iran
“Music Room” (CC BY 2.0) by D-Stanley I loved it and I hated it on the same day every day for 882 days. It was Iran, and my love-hate relationship began on April 2, 1975, at the start of what I referred to as the world’s most elaborate April Fool’s gag. Two years before, I hadn’t thought suchContinue reading “I is for Iran”
H is for Hungary
“Szechenyi scene” (CC BY 2.0) by karaian Five days in Budapest, Hungary, in October 2000: that’s all the time I spent there. On the Thursday of that week, October 12, while I was attending a conference on travel issues in Budapest, the USS Cole was attacked in Aden Harbor on the southern coast of Yemen. What’s the connection?Continue reading “H is for Hungary”
G is for Germany
“Germany” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by barnyz From 1985 to 1987, I spent my spare time in Germany in search of a bad German restaurant. I didn’t find one. The closest I came was a mediocre restaurant in an area that catered to tourists–Oberammergau. I decided that one didn’t count.
E is for Eritrea
Eritrea had been independent for less time than I had worked for the US Department of State when I arrived there in February 2004. I knew very little about it, only that it gained independence from Ethiopia in the early 1990s. My stay in Eritrea was short–just four months. But by the time I left,Continue reading “E is for Eritrea”
D is for Doha
“Doha skyline” (CC BY 2.0) by Francisco Anzola When I got off the plane late one October evening in 1987 in Doha, my first thought was Who left the oven door open? The heat assaulted me at the top of the stairs set up on the tarmac to facilitate passengers getting off the plane. I had never feltContinue reading “D is for Doha”
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