Author:
jennifershipp
Burmese citizens can only travel to a small selection of countries visa-free. And getting a visa isn’t always easy. Often, in fact, for Burmese citizens it’s a process that involves an interview and the final determination can take months. As American citizens, Lydian, John, and I had never really considered how this fact could affect our lives. In fact, systemic political oppression like this affects a LOT ...
I always knew, or rather, believed, that when Lydian finally met the right guy that things would happen quickly. I had a hard time picturing her dating for a prolonged period because Lydian makes tight relationships quickly. She gets attached and holds on to people for dear life. I figured the odds were good that she’d fall for someone who was wired with a similar attachment style. And they wouldn’t dither. ...
John and I are on the final leg home after two months in Southeast Asia. For the first time ever on these long journeys abroad that we’ve taken since 2010, Lydian is not with us. She stayed behind with a man she met in Burma. In fact, partway through the trip, she abandoned us to rendezvous with him in Yangon.As John and I retrace the same steps back through the same airports we took when we left home ...
About a month ago, we arrived in Singapore following about 44 hours of land and air travel over the course of three days.
Our mission: to figure out our mission.
We’ve seen the colisseum in Rome. We lived next to the pyramids in Egypt on our first trip there (we’ve been through Egypt 3 times). We’ve laid our eyes on all the requisite tourist destinations that have ...
Our mission: to figure out our mission.
We’ve seen the colisseum in Rome. We lived next to the pyramids in Egypt on our first trip there (we’ve been through Egypt 3 times). We’ve laid our eyes on all the requisite tourist destinations that have ...
For the past year, we’ve been feverishly working to build a coliving/coworking space in Guanajuato, Mexico. That’s right. Mexico (NOT Malaysia). And needless to say, the project did not follow a linear course. We finished our small apartment complex at the beginning of October and then Lydian spearheaded the marketing of the Guanajuato apartments as vacation rentals on AirBnB and Expedia. And so far, as of ...
We’ve been in Mexico for two years this January. With the exception of three trips back and forth to the U.S. for various reasons, we’ve been stationed in one place for what seems like a long time. Yes, we’ve traveled within Mexico quite a bit. We’ve been to every state in the country except two, I think. I’m not really keeping track and I’m not really trying to see every state in Mexico. No one cares how ...
Moneen is downstairs knocking on the door. He’s persistent today, probably because he’s having withdrawal symptoms and he wants to go buy some alcohol. We don’t usually answer the door when we’re working because otherwise we don’t get much work done. Normally, Moneen is a fairly nice kid. He’s missing a few nuts and bolts, but I believe he means well. We pay him for odd jobs sometimes and when he’s sober, ...
It’s been just a little over two years since we did a major excursion out into the world. I don’t count moving to Mexico as a travel excursion because this is now “Home”. We never intended for this much time to pass, but we didn’t have a choice. Our construction project demanded our constant attention. For a long time, we thought we’d travel the PanAmerican Highway as our first Big Trip out of Mexico, but ...
Last night, I dreamed that I was walking through a deserted city in the dark with my computer. Deep drifts of snow covered the streets and the moon was full it cast a blue glow over everything. I could see the dim outline of houses lined up along a deserted block. I looked down at my footprints as I made my way to a house situated on the corner of an abandoned block and there, I opened my computer so that ...
A long time ago, John and I talked about owning a six-plex. That was back in the days when we struggled to buy bread and eggs. We looked at six-plexes in those paper publications put out in the mountains of Colorado about a decade and a half ago, but we didn’t have the funds to make it happen. In fact, we had no funds at all. And when we moved to Mexico, it was initially our intention to build an apartment ...
It could be some time until all of the things arrive. The things that I need to make all of this look and seem like perfection.
It could be some time until notable progress is made. Notable. NOTABLE…what does this mean?
The trash. The half-eaten chicken carcasses in what will become my living room. The lack of respect. The lack of consideration. The lack of love. The ...
It could be some time until notable progress is made. Notable. NOTABLE…what does this mean?
The trash. The half-eaten chicken carcasses in what will become my living room. The lack of respect. The lack of consideration. The lack of love. The ...
John still has a lightly colored spot on his forehead where he developed melanoma last year. The spot doesn’t look or behave like melanoma now. No doctor on earth would diagnose him with melanoma because it isn’t melanoma anymore. It doesn’t look like melanoma and John isn’t sick. But last year, the spot was very dark and growing rapidly. We never saw an oncologist. We never tried to have it removed or ...
About a year ago, I started wondering what life would be like without Facebook. What would I do with the time that I normally spent on Facebook? I knew that I’d fill the time with other activities, but I wasn’t sure what I’d do. How would my face-to-face relationships change? Would I have more in-person friends? And what about my general sense of connection/disconnection from the world? I wanted to know…did ...
Today we went to INM to re-up on our temporary residency permit in Mexico. I try not to get nervous for these tramites, but it makes me tense. There are lots of reasons why. One reason is because it’s important. Another is because it has to do with the government and thus I’m powerless to fight against whatever happens to me, John, or Lydian. But I think more than anything, one of the things that makes me ...
You know what?
Life is hard.
There are tornados. Earthquakes. Fires. Hurricanes.
But the worst natural disaster is humans.
We are our own worst enemies.
There’s a man named Terrazo. He’s an old guy with sad eyes. I think he has cataracts. I think he’s partially blind and partially deaf. When I first saw him, I ...
Life is hard.
There are tornados. Earthquakes. Fires. Hurricanes.
But the worst natural disaster is humans.
We are our own worst enemies.
There’s a man named Terrazo. He’s an old guy with sad eyes. I think he has cataracts. I think he’s partially blind and partially deaf. When I first saw him, I ...
I wish I could be cynical about things right now. Cynical would be a step up from where I’m at emotionally at the moment. I’m working toward cynicism.
If I could pick one tarot card to describe my current life situation it would be the 9 of Swords, Lord of Cruelty card. It’s not because I’m being cruel but because I’m feeling the effects of other people’s cruelty. But let me explain. When I say “cruelty”, ...
When I was in high school and even junior high, I compulsively worried about my weight. Realistically, I had an “eating disorder”, but let’s not be dramatic. In retrospect, I would say that most Americans have an “eating disorder” in that they wish they could lose weight, they try to diet, starve themselves for a day, and then binge for three days to make up for the lost time. For me, the problem was ...
Around 9:00 PM last night, John said, “I’m so tired…I hate to do this, but I’m going to bed.” The weeks have been long. There are so many decisions to make all the time. And he bears the brunt of it right now so he’s tired.
What color should the cracks between the tile be? Do you want the grout to be shiny or dull?
Do you want the windows to be 30” ...
A lot of people compare San Cristobal de las Casas to Guanajuato and there are strong opinions on both sides. Until last week, I’d never been to San Cristobal so I couldn’t weigh in, but now that I have I can say that I’m very glad that Guanajuato is my home. That’s not to say that San Cristobal isn’t a really cool place. It is. It’s beautiful. It reminds me of the higher altitudes in Colorado. But ...
I love to write, but I struggle to accept that I’m a writer. Or that I’m anything. I want to be more than a writer. Or not just a writer. I love to travel. So I guess I'm also a traveler. Sometimes I've been other things too, I suppose. Movement and transition is a form of stability for me. I want to live everywhere and try everything I can. I want to live out a whole lifetime in every country or at least ...