Author: dhrrs

Visiting Iceland was never really on my list of must-do trips. A friend of mine in Hong Kong had gone a couple of years ago, and while her pictures were nice, they didn't get me too excited. (Although I am a fan of Bjork and Sigur Ros....) But while I was visiting Berlin, I reconnected [...]

One of my favorite things about Malawi is the Gule Wamkulu. This secret society is a UNESCO Cultural Heritage originating from the Chewa tribe. They are the spirits of the ancestors, returned from the afterlife to run amok and perform at special events. The identities of the members is kept a tight secret to non-members/non-believers, [...]

One of the most anticipated events for any Peace Corps Trainee is SITE ANNOUNCEMENTS! This is the day that we learn where we'll be living for the upcoming two years. How far am I from a major city/the capital? Will I have electricity? Running water or borehole? Where am I in relation to my PC [...]

Serving in the Peace Corps had been a dream of mine for years. When I first moved to Japan in 2013, I looked a little bit into it. However, I never thought that it could be something that I could actually do; I thought there were too many barriers for it to be a reasonable [...]

I love the Middle East. Like, a lot. Sometime in 2017, somehow, Muscat, Oman, fell across my radar as a place to visit. A bit off the beaten trail, perhaps -- but as I talked with people about it, especially while in Lebanon, Oman began creeping up to the top of my bucket list. Thus, [...]

My first adventures overseas began at age 11, in 1993, when my family packed our bags and moved to Cairo, Egypt for the next 3 years. I wasn't too happy about it at the time, but the experience completely changed my perspective on the world and the course of my life: my life as an [...]

I made a number of friends during my month in Beirut. One sunny afternoon, one friend Ziad and I took a drive to the ancient city of Byblos, north of Beirut. Part of what makes Lebanon so interesting is its placement as a seat for some of the most important empires in history. Byblos is [...]

I flew into Lebanon WANTING to love the country. I don't know why, exactly; I had been to neighboring Israel (/Occupied Palestine) and enjoyed it, and I spent several years in the Middle East as an adolescent, so I was familiar with the region already. But something about Beirut specifically got me very excited, and [...]

Like many Americans (and probably Westerners in general), I grew up reading stories about Greek mythology: the (lecherous) adventures of Zeus and his jealous wife Hera, athletic Athena being distracted by the golden apples, the grieving Orpheus who tried to save his love Eurydice from Hades, the minotaur and cyclops... The world of the Olympic [...]

Every November and December, Christmas markets pop up all across western, central, and eastern Europe. They're some of the main tourist attractions during the Christmas season, with each city offering variations on local specialities, seasonal dishes, ornaments, and handicrafts. So of course, as I was backpacking around the region, I managed to catch quite a [...]