• Sept 2017,  Slovakia

    Translations Part 3: Restaurants

    It would be a few weeks and bumbling through several languages later before we realized this simple truth while traveling: you’d be surprised how much you can do in a restaurant without language. At least in the countries we’ve been to, restaurants operate in pretty much the same way. They all follow what I’ve come to know as, “The Script.” It goes something like this: You walk in. You say hello. They ask you how many people, sometimes if you want to sit inside or outside (usually with helpful hand gestures). Then, they physically walk you to an available table and point. You sit down. The first thing they’ll ask…

  • Sept 2017,  Slovakia

    Translations Part 2: Directions

    In being in countries where we didn’t speak the language for the first time, there is a progression for learning how to get around. First, we relied on someone else. That person was Mary. In Poland, this worked very well. We didn’t have to do anything, really, except answer her questions and convince her that we truly didn’t want fourth helpings. In Slovakia, however, that safety net grew some holes. The moment we realized this was probably while we were trying to figure out how to get to the castle that was right in front of us. Like really, actually right in front of us propped up on a hill.…

  • Poland,  Sept 2017

    Translations Part 1: Signs

    The second time we went to Poland was when arrived in Europe to live this past year. Handling my jetlag better this time, I was able to stay awake for more conversations in the car and in the bus, learning more deeply about the history written in the cities and towns. It truly is jarring to realize you’re staring at a building that was built in this lifetime under communist rule. It’s one thing to learn about communism in school, but a whole different thing to hear from someone you know about how communism affected where they chose to live in college and why they chose to leave their home.…

  • June 2015,  Poland

    Białka Tatrzańska

    I’ll never forget coming downstairs for breakfast my first time in Europe. It was about 3 years ago and we were on our honeymoon, visiting Kevin’s family. Kevin’s family in Poland lives in a town called Bialka Tatransnka. It’s a little village in southern Poland, about 20 minutes from the Slovakian border and nestled in the Tatra mountains. People in this town are called “Highlanders,” who speak Polish with their own accent and have a cultural heritage distinct from the rest of Poland. It’s an absolutely beautiful area. Houses and buildings have steep, pointed roofs and you can see sheep dotting the horizon everywhere you look. That’s part of the…

  • Start Here

    17 Pockets

    It has 17 pockets. It has specific pockets for a phone, passport, kindle, credit cards, change, chapstick, camera, memory cards, sunglasses, book, water bottle, headphones, pens, and some extra room for something else. It even has a microfiber cleaning cloth with a map of all the pockets and what they’re for printed on one side. I don’t often fill them completely. I’ve learned that the camera pocket is best for a bandana and earplugs and irrelevant currency, and that if I roll up bills, I can hide them in the pen pockets. I look like a crazy person if I put my wine-bottle-sized water bottle in the water bottle pocket,…