Tag: expat

Henley-on-Thames

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2014-09-29 08.20.31

Last week was a little bit crazy. I was working for my third consecutive year at the Henley Literary Festival in the small town of Henley-on-Thames about an hour west of London. As always, the week absolutely flew by. I’ve learned that when time is measured in 20-45 minute increments, it is almost impossible to slow it down. It’s a good thing and a bad thing. I was monstrously productive in the 20 minutes of chaos we had between every event. But it took me half of the down time I did have to relax and enjoy a small break before I had to ramp up again for the next 20 minutes of madness.

I did manage to sneak in some moments of relaxation though: I wrote several overdue cards to friends, I journaled (a lot), I cuddled with the softest puppy I have ever met, I had a (somewhat) leisurely lunch with my favourite boy, I went for a morning stroll by the river and I sent a postcard to my new friend in Paris. Oh yeah, and I was interviewed by Robert Elms on BBC London. Continue reading →

An Autumn Walk

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Views of the Ver Valley

On a road trip with my parents once, we stopped in Vegas for a rest. At one point, I turned to look at my dad and he was sniffing around like a hound on the hunt. When I asked what he was onto, he said, “Nothing. I’m just trying to use my sense of smell more.” I laughed at how ridiculous he looked, but I understood exactly what he meant: there’s so much going on in the world (particularly in a place like Vegas) that we tend to tune out more than we take in.

The world is probably too intense for us to be aware of everything around us at every minute, but it is nice to take a moment sometimes to purposefully experience one sensation and see just how much there is going on in that tiny world. I think of that chat with my dad frequently, and often when I am on a walk or just sitting back and watching things happen I’ll pick one sense and check out what it is experiencing at that moment. It’s a fun game to play with other people too. Chris and I have done it a couple of times when we’ve been at places we want to remember, and I can recall those scenes so well because we took some time to really experience the full picture.

This past Sunday we went for a nice walk through the countryside in Redbourn, and I played with this idea along the way. I paid attention to the sun warming my face and shoulders while autumn breezes chilled the parts of me in shadow. The soft clumps of freshly tilled earth rolling away underfoot as we cut through open fields. The sound of water slowly dripping from the edges of a mill-wheel. The smell of horses. The sound of their hooves padding down the grass. The scratchy, coarse hair I felt when I scratched one behind his ear, and the warm, soft skin of his snout when he pushed his mouth into my hand, hoping for food.

With autumn fully under way, the visual sensations alone would have been plenty to keep me occupied. I found myself zooming out to take in the whole scene (bright blue skies filled with perfectly fluffy clouds over dark brown fields dotted with the fresh growth of opportunistic grass) and zooming in to see the smallest details (bright green bugs being betrayed by their normally perfect camouflage as the leaves change colour beneath them).

It was a great day out that ended the way every countryside walk should: in a pub with a decadent roast, a fat pint of cider and a postcard to write. Continue reading →

A Sense of Direction

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In my last post (aka my first post), I said I didn’t know what I wanted to talk about on this blog.

That is total bollocks.

I totally know what I want to write about.

I got nervous that you as readers might not be into it, so I thought I had to change it up and to make it sound appealing somehow. Blogging lesson #1 learned: this is a place for me to talk about my passions with my voice. It might be scary to put myself out there and it might be appealing to try and emulate the voices of all the incredible bloggers who are writing already, but, terrifying as it is, this is the place where I get to share my words.

So here’s what I want to talk about:

– When I was walking around London for my most recent project, I saw a lot of parallels between the way I approached my walks and the way I *wish* I approached my life. I learned some great lessons from it that I am challenging myself to apply, and I thought perhaps those things might be helpful to share with other people. I can guarantee I will suck at accomplishing these things most of the time, but it’s all in the trying and laughing about it, right?

– I love to travel and I love to read travel blogs, but I think one essential aspect of travel gets overlooked a lot: walking. I love walking. It is the best way to get to know a place. It is the only way you can get into some areas (often the best places), and it is the best way to get a feel for the pace of wherever you are exploring. So I will definitely be talking about walking and sharing stories from the walks I go on.

– Slowness. It’s hugely important and yet it is insanely hard to find in our culture. I learned this many times over on my walks. Taking time to stop, to appreciate, to be aware, to just be, makes a remarkable difference to my outlook and resilience. Life is hard. Travel is hard. Being an expat is hard. But when I stop to look around and see that I am actually on an amazing adventure, it changes my perspective and highlights what really matters: enjoying it along the way.

And there you have it. That’s what this blog is all about for me.

Phew. That feels more like it!

This is My First Post

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Hello, and welcome to this brand new blog!

I have had this thing in my head for a long time and have mentally composed (and actually drafted) so many posts it’s a little bit ridiculous. It’s time to get the ball rolling.

Part of my hesitation is that I am not entirely sure what I will write about. Like I said on the About page, that is kind of the point, but I do need a vague sense of direction to get started. In general, what I think might show up here is stuff about living abroad, moving from one country to another, travelling, walking and my thoughts and experiences in all of those areas.

I also have a strong desire to share with you some personal growth challenges I have been working through. I am not a preachy self-help person. I am not on top of my stuff enough to suggest I know what’s up. But I have talked with other people about some of my recent experiences, and it seems I am very much not alone. My selfish desire is that I will find other people out there who mess up the same ways I do, even though they are trying hard not to, and who are willing to admit they are only human. If I meet one or two of you along the way, I am good to go.

In that vein, I guess, it seems only fair to share a little bit about myself so we can get to know each other.

About Me

I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah.

No. I am not mormon.

I grew up with a family that loved travelling, hiking, camping, road trips and all the other great American West stuff.

I’ve travelled a lot of places (more than some, less than others), and I plan to do a lot more of it because I love it immensely. I love feeling a little lost and then finding my way. I love meeting strangers who help me out and remind me that people are pretty great. I don’t love everything about travel, I can’t imagine anyone who really does, but I can’t imagine a life without it.

In August of 2010, I moved to London. I have lived there for four years now with the exception of three months I spent travelling solo in Asia, where I met a pretty great guy.

That guy (we’ll call him Chris because it is generic enough you won’t be able to figure out who he is, and because it is also his name) just got offered a job in Oman and we’ll be moving there very soon. When I say he just got it, I mean he hasn’t signed the contract officially yet, so there’s still a chance it might not happen, but we’re pretty sure it will.

I will miss London a lot but I am ready to move on. In July of this year, I finished a project I had of walking ALL of the streets in the central area (the Congestion Zone for those who know London). Having finished that, I feel like I did what I needed to do and I am now ready for a big, new, exciting adventure.

Those walks also reminded me of the importance of slowness, of curiosity, of awareness and of throwing the plan out the window. I decided I would try to attempt to apply some of those ideas to my life and share them with you here.

So that’s me in a nutshell!

There’s a lot more to say on all of those things, but I suppose that is what the whole rest of this blog is for, yeah?

Let’s see where it takes us.