Yes we can… let go of our cynicism sometimes

You know, I just came back from a day’s journey in the field, visiting villages where people have returned after the conflict, in which their homes were burned or destroyed. I was just emotionally drained at the sight of people living without basic necessities that you and I take for granted – like running water, food, education, clean and untorn clothes, and a roof that doesn’t leak when it rains [Read more]

Time to bring these women to heel

Have the women’s unions in the UK become a little too buorgois for their own good?

Fighting to stamp out heels?

Yes granted no one should be forced to wear them. I get that.

But I’m guessing, and it’s just an educated guess, that most women are in jobs where they aren’t even earning enough money for their needs. They are working casual and part time jobs, long hours, and most probably not being forced to wear heels, while all what money they do earn goes into paying for child care. [Read more]

Global turmoil? It’s all about the food, baby

Being a foodie, I obsess alot about it. Food. All kinds. Vietnamese, Italian, Lebanese, Turkish, Thai, French, Greek, Indian, just to name
a few.

Usually, I’m already thinking what to have for dinner as I gorge on my lunch. So, having such pre-occupation with food has meant that when food is in limited supply, or the flavour is mediocre, or that there is not much to choose from, means that I whinge a lot.

I know. Some people eat to live, I live to eat. [Read more]

Saving the world can wait – this is about dating!

We all have friends through whom we live vicariously. Hell, some of us inspire vicarious living from our friends!

A new and ridiculous level is reached when a whole group of friends are living vicariously through one person.

I have a close group of friends who exchange email group conversations at least a couple of times a week (sometimes daily depending on how busy people are, and the topic). [Read more]

Welcome home – to culture shock of a different kind

So I come home for two weeks, hoping to have some downtime to chill, reflect and prepare for my next assignment, but what I got was two weeks of running around from one gathering to another, meeting friends for lunch, dinner, drinks, and more drinks, with a few work related events thrown in there to help make me feel like I wasn’t just home to have fun! [Read more]

Love/Hate Vietnam – the list of contradictions goes on

So I have a friend who I have the occasional (ok, more like daily) gripe with about our love-hate relationship with Vietnam.

It’s great to have a fellow Aussie to unload upon (see, the ‘aussie’ thing again).

Anyway, catch us on a bad day and everything is wrong with Vietnam. From the lack of cultural and social etiquette of the citizens (yes, it offends my sensibilities to see people pee in public spaces so casually as if it’s natural and that it’s their god given right) to the abundance of bland mediocre overpriced food, the artificial environment that is the expat environment, the simulated and manufactured ‘experiences’, the power relationships between local women and expat men, and the constant negotiating with taxis, xe oms (motorbike taxis), shops and services, feeling like I’m being screwed over all the time and negotiating the traffic (every time I step out on the street it’s like playing Russian roulette with my life!). [Read more]

A story of a boy in a refugee camp

I remember receiving one of those fliers with a story attached about a little 5 year old boy who lived in a refugee camp, eating once a day, whose life is in constant chaos, where he has little if any access to education. [Read more]

The lighter side of being an expat

Having spent most of the morning trying to make my way to work through flooded streets (again) I’ve decided to take a moment to speak about something that has become more important to me now I’m an “expat”.

Facebook profile photos; if you’ve seen mine you’ll know how often I change it since I’ve been away from Australia.

Don’t sit there chuckling at me just because I change my facebook profile pics often. It’s not because I’m vain. Or bored. Or that I spend way too much time on there as I should. [Read more]

‘Authentic’ expat experiences are hard to come by

Living an expat life is kind of like being on a reality tv show because on the one hand it’s real, yet it is also manufactured and totally artificial because depending on where you are living, you cannot truly behave as you are or would if you were living in your home country. [Read more]

The radical woman

This week I’ve engaged in some exceptionally stimulating conversations about gender politics, feminism and what it means for both men and women to engage in this movement towards true gender equality. [Read more]

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