The first step of repatriation is adjusting to the time(s).
Category Archives: Travel
Christmas in a War Zone
Why I am not a big fan of Christmas and prefer the Festivus tradition of airing grievances.
My Worst Cultural Blunder Ever
The title says it all. Mortification, thy name is Zuzu.
Live from Lothringer
My first post from my new home on Lothringer str., Cologne, Germany. Wilkommen!
Lost in Transition
Wracked with anxiety about our impending Prague departure, I try to make sense of my emotions with the help of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide”.
Afraid To Do
Mr. Emerson and I are at odds today. Day 9 of the Ralph Waldo Emerson “Self-Reliance” project.
Five Years
A note to my 2006 and 2016 self. Day 8 of the Emerson “Self-Reliance” project.
Dare To Be Bold
Now is not my time to be bold. Day 7 of the Ralph Waldo Emerson “Self-Reliance” project.
Travel
Three places I would love to visit before I die. Day 5 of the Emerson “Self-Reliance” project.
One Strong Belief
An exploration of my pantheistic beliefs. Day 3 of the Emerson “Self-Reliance” project.
There’s No Place Like Home
Upheaval in the world and personally brings up the ever-present yet elusive question of “Where will I find home?”.
Zuzu Irwin’s Brush with a Bengal Tiger
A fitting end to the Year of the Tiger.
Zuzu Irwin and the Crocodile Farm
The second installment in the Zuzu Irwin global safari series: Zuzu and her family visit the largest crocodile farm in the world.
My Foreign Body
My newest guest post for the stellar expat+HAREM poses the question: Do warm places make warmer people?
“With/out borders” on the expat+HAREM
My newest expat+HAREM post, “With/out borders”, is featured on their beautiful site for the next week.
Why?
An explosive encounter with a racist Czech granny prompts me to once again consider why it is I continue to live in Prague.
Transitions Abroad Essay Competition Winner
Dear Readers, Just a quick note to let you know that the essay I wrote about life in Prague as an expat placed as a runner-up winner in the Transitions Abroad essay competition. The article, Living in Prague as an Expat: The Times They Are a-Changin’, will be on their website for the next year….
What’s In A Name?
The name on my birth certificate reads Sezin Piotruszewicz Menekshe Rajandran. I was named with the same initials as my grandfather on my father’s side, SPM Rajandran. He died just months before I was born, and in fact my mom was so upset at his funeral that her amniotic sack tore and she might have…
Born Hybrid
In 1990 Chris McCandless donated all of his life savings to OXFAM and went into the wild to live in the Alaskan outback. He had the feeling he didn’t belong in the life his parents planned for him. He knew they’d not take no for an answer, wearing him down like a chainsaw until he…
Intimate Strangers
The first in a series of reflections on the incredible Dialogue 2010, curated by Rose Deniz and on the topic of hybrid identities and location.
Fear Of Flying
In 1973 Erica Jong wrote the feminist anthem, Fear Of Flying. The heroine, Isadora, though terrified of flying, boards a plane and her subsequent journey leads to a spiritual and sexual awakening that was the one of the first of its kind in print. Jong’s thesis is that the fear of flying is the fear…
Inside Outsider: An expat+HAREM Guest Blog
My first ever guest blog has gone live at expat+HAREM, a neo-cultural hub for expats and voyagers. http://www.expatharem.com/2010/02/25/the-inside-outsider/
In the “Nought”ies I:
Many of the things that I did in the Naughts Decade. I probably left out a bunch, but anyway.
Why I Don’t Celebrate Halloween Like I Used To
When I first moved to Europe going on seven years ago I was bummed that I felt they didn’t really celebrate Halloween, American style. Dressing up, spider webs, pumpkin carving, creepy music, Trick-or-Treating…Halloween was always my most favourite holiday. I love costumes and basically will use any excuse whatsoever to dress up. Movie premieres, themed…
Come Together
When I was first covering the human rights meetings in Geneva in 2004, long before I knew about this thing called a “weblog,” I was posting reports about the UN sessions through FreeWebs and handing out business cards with the site address to build readers. In 2005 I retained the rights to www.Sezin.org, but continued…
Emirates Airlines: A Skyward Hotel
I always thought that the airlines that offered a personal TV for each seat were the super-duper fancy airlines that only the wealthy could afford. Imagine my surprise at Christmastime to discover that Emirates Airlines has a personal TV built into every single seat in their airplanes! Wow! You get to choose what movies you…
Spain: Not Many Reasons To Smile
After so many years of travelling and living around the world, I have finally learned that there is a huge difference between spending a couple weeks somewhere on holiday and living there full time. When I first went to Spain it was indeed on holiday to Barcelona and I was enchanted. I had always wanted…
curiouser and curiouser
you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone is the gift that keeps on giving. when i lived in france with my parents, backdropped with the jura mountains all fresh air, trees and snow, i enjoyed every moment of it because something told me it would be a long time before i got to…
good, bad, ugly
it’s good that aside from tommy i may have a new friend here in istanbul, a person not a cat. of course, she would be the one person that none of the other ditzy english teachers like because she is older and far more worldly than them. we connected over the stray cats and now…
she keeps on passing
so many days have passed since i have been able to write. our internet connection is shaky at best and i am trying my luck to post this. yesterday, i had my first physical contact with Tommy, the stray cat who adopted us and is now a part of our family. he is the sweetest…
the illusionist in istanbul
we went to see ‘the illusionist’ today. wow. just, wow. go see it! i love watching movies in their original language. there was just not enough of this in spain and here it is more common than not that films in the theatre are in their original version. blessed be the Cinema Gods. after many…
friday, i'm in love
friday is sunday in muslim countries. it is the holy day, mosque day, but in istanbul, unlike more radical muslim countries, life goes on more or less as usual. there is just no work. it is very quiet and the workers in the lot in front are off today. how nice! fridays are such a…
i am the elephant man lost in translation
when i saw ‘the elephant man’ i felt i was him somehow. someone who never quite seems to fit in with the sea of people around him and someone who is always obvious no matter what he does to hide the fact. today after going to see a wonderful doctor who diagnosed my Middle Ear…
pirates, princesas, and we are not in kansas anymore
after quite a grueling two days in madrid in which my ear infection compounded by a hundred after the freezing cold ride on the granada-madrid bus, we have made it to istanbul. madrid would have been a nice layover if i had not been so wretchedly ill, but we did get to see two very…
things that we learn the hard way
that things were not quite so bad before until we enter into an even worse situation, or go deeper into an existing one. drunk people are not wise no matter how much they think they are. they only get more glassy eyed, they slur their words and don’t remember the simple things you just spent…
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