Category Archives: Life abroad
The House-swap
Last April, while attending the wedding of my friends Mark and Keiko, in Tokyo, Jack and I met Mani and Jono, a young couple from London, who were friends of the groom, and there for the wedding. We swapped stories … Continue reading
Breaking Up With Hooligans
In Roxborough, the Philadelphia neighborhood where my family moved in 1963, the first fast food restaurant to litter the landscape was Gino’s. We’d eaten steak sandwiches and hoagies from Delassandro’s, in Wissahickon, for years, but Gino’s was the first hamburger … Continue reading
Opera Odyssey
BufferIn an effort to absorb more of the cultural life in San Jose, we decided to attend “The Best of the Opera” at the elegant Málico Teatro Salazar with our friends Wayne and Marguerite. We bought tickets for a five … Continue reading
Radiation for Dummies
BufferThe US embassy in Tokyo has issued a Warden Message for US residents living in Japan. It recommends that those living within 50 miles of the Fukushima power plant either leave or stay indoors if “departure is not practical.” I … Continue reading
The Big Dig
BufferMy mouth is a silver mine, once you get past the front teeth. Still, years have passed, decades even, since a dentist has uttered the words, “You need a filling.” My new dentist happens to be the choice of a … Continue reading
Coyotes Come to Call
The first time I heard them, they sounded like a pack of hungry puppies. They yipped, wailed, barked and howled into the night: a convocation of coyotes. I obeyed a sudden, irresistible urge to howl along with them. Here in … Continue reading
Creeping to Arenal
Toni said, “I’m sixty years old, and I’ve never seen a volcano,” so we set off for Lake Arenal. Who knew it would be raining? In the Central Valley, where we live, it hasn’t rained since Thanksgiving. We thought the … Continue reading
Mystery Malady
“There’s something wrong with me,” I said to Jack in the middle of one night last week. “What is it?” he asked, snapping awake. “My lips are tingling, and so are my hands,” I said. I hadn’t wanted to wake … Continue reading
