by Shanti Sosienski When I went to Vietnam two years ago, I was often a distant observer. I breathed in the scent of the Pho soup that was carefully prepared at the corner noodle shack, but I didn’t really taste it. There were a few days when I almost convinced myself that this wasn’t the…
by Kristin Pedroja Kristin is obsessed with exploring. Perhaps it was her upbringing in Wichita that got her dreaming of yonder from a tender age, but wanderlust had her in its clutches as soon as she saw the Alps for the first time at age eight. After receiving her English degree at the University of…
Everyone says, “You lived in Japan? Well did you see that movie, Lost in Translation??” People look at me expectantly, waiting for me to confirm real life against their movie version of what living in Japan must be like. And I admit, there are some similarities. Like Charlotte, I, too, followed my love to Tokyo….
by Melissa Walters Day One: Finding My Legs What would the tropics be without a tropical storm? Within moments of my arrival, the bottom fell out of the sky. This gave me time to get unpacked (I brought more stuff than one person should ever take on vacation) and get acclimated to what will be…
by Pearl Dworkin, Beauty Diva Have you ever noticed how terrible the lighting is in airplane bathrooms? I always feel like those bathroom mirrors add a few years! It’s not our imagination that air travel sucks the life out of our skin. There are many factors that influence our skin when we travel. The recirculated…
by Stephanie Block Hanukkah, Hanukah, Chanukah… what are you? Are you more than just a Christmas consolation prize? The Jews must really be G-d’s Chosen People if they get eight whole days of presents, am I right? The origins of Hanukah date back to those warring days of yore, when the Middle East was a…
December is the party child of the Gregorian calendar. With Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, and New Years Eve, we would think that the Son of God would have chosen a less busy month to be born. But, if we take a look back at history, we’ll find some interesting changes that took place after the…