Nomad no more
Australians boast the inglorious irony of being the best off people in this pandemic and yet we’re potentially…
2019: Highlights from a humdrum year
In thinking about the year just past, my first thought was that it was a boring year. Not bad as such, but I felt like I went through the whole year without a satisfactory answer to the perennial question: "How have you been?" In other words, I constantly had nothing new to report. Whenever I responded that I'd been "good", I meant it literally rather than as a polite non-answer.
2018 provided plenty of change in significant areas of my life so 2019 was certainly dull in comparison. And really in comparison to the whole previous decade of my life, which barely saw me doing the same thing for more than a year.
But I don't want to be ungrateful. If I pause to ponder the last 12 months a little more, I'm able to find a few highlights. They may seem simple, but they have nonetheless enriched my life and I am thankful for these little things.
Going for glocal
The other day my dad kindly informed me that if I ever stood for politics I’d need to…
City love (and lack thereof)
There are lots of things I love about you, Sydney. I love your dazzling waterfronts, stretching out from the Sydney…
Australia: Not the place I thought you were
The other day after work, I was flowing with the peak hour crowd down Anzac Parade, when I witnessed something awful.
An Aboriginal man was heckling and shoving an East Asian man. The Indigenous guy was yelling obscenities and things like "Go back to where you came from!" to the suited up Asian guy, who was trying, literally, to shake him off. That was Awkward thing Number 1.
People just watched. And did nothing. That was Awkward thing Number 2.
By people, I mean mainly Asian people. The University of New South Wales appears to be predominantly Asian, even the law faculty - a contrast with the College of Law at my own alma mater. That was Awkward thing Number 3.
And I did nothing because, frankly, I'm both Asian and female. I actually thought I might get hit. That was Awkward thing Number 4.
It made me think about how Australia is not the place I thought it was when I was little.
A cure for emotional jetlag
You've been feeling jetlagged this last week although you never left the state, let alone the time zone. Sometimes the world and your past come to you.
What feels like home
4,000m above sea level and 400,000m from the closest shore of the Pacific Ocean, playing beach volleyball every Sunday afternoon in the park somehow became one of the defining elements of my life in La Paz.
Now, at sea level and right on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, playing beach volleyball every Monday evening in Manly is becoming an anchor, a touchpoint, to each week here in Sydney.
It's funny, the unlikely things that make me feel at home.
Why finding a house is like finding a husband
It was my cousin’s wife who said it: Finding a house is like finding a partner. You see a…
Next stop: Sydney
Tomorrow will be my first day in Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, paid employment in Sydney. There is…
Reconfiguring Home: Weddings and Earthquakes
October 3 She is lovely. Creamy vintage lace, delicate buttons all down her back, descending into a sweeping fishtail. I…