Six weeks ago I received an email from the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. I wasn’t surprised, because during the preceding...

It’s official: we’re moving to Banjul next year! Where?! Banjul is the capital of The Gambia, and The Gambia is a tiny country inside...

I just went to Tajikistan—a country I never imagined visiting. I couldn’t even locate it on a map—the “stans” have always been a bit of a...

Uh-oh, it’s almost time to move on again! As much as I enjoy living in Mumbai, every Foreign Service tour meets its inevitable end. We...

Need a random city trip recommendation? How about Bucharest! Having confused Bucharest with Budapest and Belgrade all my life, Romania’s...

So, I’m a manager now! I’m still posted in Mumbai for another year, but my job here has changed dramatically. Bottom line: no more visa...

BLUF: this was the best five-day vacation ever! Though the Maldives were never on my list of must-see destinations. There was something...

Dressing for work has become somewhat of a hobby. My bright blazers rarely go unnoticed by my colleagues and I’ve been asked more than...

Final installment! Here are Part 1 and Part 2. Race Day The NN Rotterdam marathon 2024 started at 10:00 AM for elite runners, and at...

While consistent and thorough training obviously matters, a big part of running long distance is getting into the right mental state of...

Oops, I did it again! My second full marathon is officially on the books. It felt like a mission impossible, but I managed. This is a...

We just spent our spring family vacation in Sri Lanka: nine days of beach, hills, and cities. Our first stop after landing in Colombo was...

Last week I took a week long trip with my family to Sri Lanka. We stayed in several places (Colombo, Unawatuna beach, Ella, Kandy) but my...

To celebrate 15 years of running, completing 3 half marathons in 2024 so far, and not having knee pain anymore, I’m making a list of my...

I recently started intermittent fasting. It’s partially an experiment (my husband is really into health and nutrition) and partially due...

Mumbai has one of the biggest U.S. consular sections in the world and is referred to as a “visa mill” among officers. So far, I’ve...

Kolkata is India’s third largest city, located in the northeast of India near the border with Bangladesh. I should have checked a map or...

This weekend I completed a half marathon in exactly two hours. Is that a good time? Depends, I guess. Objectively speaking it’s a good,...

I would lie if I said I hadn’t thought about turning this blog into a book somehow. But as much as I’d like the idea of being an “author”...

It took me a year and half to come up with enough annoyances to write about, which makes Indians—in my estimation—less annoying than some...