My blog has a new home, here on my new website! Welcome! I haven't written much in the last few years through reentry. This past...

I keep hearing people talk about things “going back to normal” soon. Spoiler alert: I don’t think we’re going to back to normal. I...

I’ve long loved the look of watercolor painting and wished I could do it myself. Seeing a friend share some of her beginning watercolor...

Re-entry is hard, in many ways even harder than living overseas. In re-entry, you are trying to sort out a massive change in identity,...

There’s a question I’ve come to dread in my life: “Where are you from?” I’ve been asked this question many times by many people, in...

“Let Love clasp Grief lest both be drown’d” –“In Memoriam A.H.H.” stanza 1, Lord Alfred Tennyson Love clasping grief as I said goodbye to...

One way I’ve been dealing with my re-entry shock and our isolation is by experimenting with cooking Chinese food. I didn’t cook Chinese...

A couple of years ago, I arrived back in Beijing on about March 17. A few days later, I noticed that the lilac bushes in my apartment...

“Return Slowly” sign at The Hermitage Community Last week, I heard a story. There was once a group of Western scientists that wanted to...

There is a familiar rhythm to this time of year in the expat world: it is saying goodbye time.  Many people conclude their time overseas...

Today’s prayer is inspired by the concept of the transition bridge and Psalm 46. You are my “refuge and strength, an ever-present help in...

I don’t like transitions.  The past year or so of my life has been full of them; I am approaching the one year mark since I was finished...