I recently dragged Bertrand and the kids up Pico Basilé, the imposing volcano that sits behind Malabo. As the volcano hasn’t erupted since 1932, we surmised that it would be utterly safe to visit the national park on top of the mountain. On our way up the winding and narrow road, we stopped at a… Read More Pico Basilé – Bioko Island’s Biggest Volcano
This week in Malabo has been ridiculous (-ly awesome). The Embassy hosted our annual Independence Day Reception, then hosted an official nonofficial Community BBQ for all of the AmCits on the island, and also, my spouse started working. Yes. Bertrand started working (not at the Embassy) and upended all of the routines we’ve developed over… Read More Malabo, Six Months In
Late Night Paperwork Party This delightful description of what one family goes through to get Foreign Service vouchers processed and paperwork done is startlingly like the process my family goes through. (Although Ashley is much more good natured about it than I am, for sure.) Still Here encapsulates my feelings perfectly about my work right… Read More What I’ve Been Reading – 3/9/18
Our internet is more reliable than that of most people in EG (we can pay for an expensive connection and we live in a neighborhood with good signal). It’s still not fantastic, and it’s still limited. Try getting a family used to iPhones and kindles and Netflix and living in the future to live on… Read More On reading and life with limited Internet
When I wrote about my New Year’s resolutions earlier in the year, I said that I was content to wait until February to really settle on my creative goals. My work here is engaging and interesting, but the pace of life is different here. I don’t have to spend my free time studying, for… Read More New Year’s Resolutions, part 2
We made it to Malabo. Finally. After leaving Jerusalem in February of 2017, it felt like we’d never get here. Malabo is complex. Equatorial Guinea is complex. To set the scene for blogging over the next few years, I will not publicly grapple with colonial legacies and living here as a wealthy white woman married… Read More First Impressions of Malabo
2017 was rough for me and my family. However, 2018 is a new year, a new post (Malabo!), and a new chance to seize the opportunities that are sitting right in front of our noses. Themes for 2018 Last year, I chose “joy” as my One Little Word, and did a terrible job of following through… Read More Happy New Year!
We’ve been slowly settling back into life in America. Yes, America! We left Jerusalem and we’re now living in Arlington, VA, where we’ll be for the next several months as I prepare for Malabo. While not at work, I’ve been amusing myself by ordering my Starbucks coffee in English, and making desserts. But only easy desserts. Like… Read More Easy Cake Pops
Keeping with 2017’s theme of doing shit that brings me joy, I went on a group hike again, this time to Nahal Tse’Elim, in the Negev. I love the outdoors. I love hiking. And I love the sense of self-sufficiency that I’m gaining the more I explore the world around me. This hike was short… Read More Hiking Nahal Tse’Elim in the Negev
I can’t live through another year like 2016. I don’t subscribe to a type of thinking where if you will good luck into existence, it will come. Positives attitudes don’t stop war or famine or poverty or injustice. But, not recognizing how good I’ve really got it is foolish, and my own negative attitude has… Read More 2017’s Gotta Be Better Than 2016
