(N)everchanging
Every two years, my family would save up enough money to travel back to our roots: Hong Kong. In the August of 2009, I returned back to my homeland. It was different this time around compared to the...
Read More 2 min read
Finding My “Other Half” in China
As I boarded the plane for Bejing, China, all I could think of was the summer that I was leaving behind. To me, a proud California native, my sparse memories of the few visits from my childhood suggested...
Read More 3 min read
One Exotic Island – Three Amazing Worlds of Indonesia
It's all about perspective – looking out from a temple across the ocean at sunset, walking crowded streets and hearing motorists whiz past, or breathing in sweet mountain air while watching the fog roll...
Read More 2 min read
The Warring Polar Opposites of Palestine and Israel
After 9/11 many racial assumptions arose as people questioned others from Arab countries. Two summers ago I travelled to Ramallah, Palestine to learn more about my heritage. My mother and I flew to...
Read More 2 min read
A Home Across the Ocean
Family is the solid pillar in one's life, no matter how far away siblings and relatives might be. As an immigrant who has lived in America for the past twelve years of my life, I have met many...
Read More 3 min read
A Trip to the Motherland
“Guys, guess what? We are going to Israel! Yes, you heard it right, Israel!” Those were my mother’s first words at the beginning of February of 2011, and she would not stop repeating...
Read More 3 min read
Changing Locations, Changing Perspective
Seven days -- not enough time to leave an impression on anyone, or I supposed. Lost in translation. I guess the phrase wouldn’t be an adequate way of describing it because I still speak the language....
Read More 3 min read
We Adopted My Sister
We adopted my sister, Maya, from India when she was one year old. As she grew up she asked questions about where she was from and what it was like there. My parents promised to take her to India when...
Read More 2 min read
Language Barriers
As a child, I never acknowledged my mom’s lack of developed English. In fact, I treated the anomaly as a game for my young self to decipher and put together, like pieces of a puzzle. It wasn’t...
Read More 2 min read
The Land Of The Passionate People
Growing up with Nigerian parents and listening to them talk about their "home" all the time, I always wondered what it was like in Nigeria. Was is really that hot? Was it like America? Does my dad really...
Read More 3 min read
Walking the Sahara Desert and Holding My New Brother
I don’t know if any trip will be as important as the one I took last November. My parents decided to adopt a baby from Eithopia and accepted a 8 month old boy from a tribal village. My sister...
Read More 2 min read
Tehran, Iran: My Story
Iran isn’t the kind of place that one might visit over summer vacation, but for my family, it was an ideal destination. My dad is Iranian and most of his family still lives in Iran. I had been to...
Read More 3 min read
Merida, Yucatan
This Past summer (2009) I was blessed with the Chance to Go to my parent’s homeland of Merida, Yucatan. Also known as the home of one of the Seven Wonders of the World: Chichenitza. It...
Read More 2 min read
To Italy with Chocha
Chocha is my grandmother. She was born in Rome, Italy and had promised me since I was a small child that she would one day take me to visit her homeland. This was a day that I dreaded! You might...
Read More 3 min read
Life Changing
To say I’m uncomfortable would be an understatement. With a cold sweat, I wake up from a dream where I’m running. It’s about 4:00 in the morning. I’m nauseous. I’m about to suffocate from...
Read More 3 min read
The Pennsylvania Hills
I learned to measure milk in a half an eggshell, found doppelgangers exist, fell in love with rollercoaster-like land . . . and decided family reunions had possibility. I truly tried to avoid my...
Read More 3 min read
Visiting a Homeland
In December of 2008, my mom and I took a trip halfway around the planet and to an entirely different world. We visited my parent’s home country of Bangladesh after almost...
Read More 3 min read
Vacation to Home
The morning is just light enough to distinguish blurred human figures already bustling through the streets of Beijing. I lie in my bed listening as the voices outside...
Read More 3 min read
My India
Fear. Bombs. Blood. Screaming. TERROR. This was all I could see, hear, and think about while visiting one of Mumbai, India’s exclusive malls. All I could do was watch the people in the mall, with...
Read More 2 min read
The Becoming of Appreciation
My buoyant ambiance is dampened...
Read More 2 min read
Luvianos
We were to depart from Dulles International Airport, at 5:00pm, and arrive at Mexico City International airport at 9:30pm. Those were the simple instructions given to my eight year old sister, my eleven...
Read More 3 min read
Discovering the Roots of My Personality
In Memoriam On August 19, 1692, Martha Carrier of Andover was hung as witch in Salem, Massachusetts. She is one of the witches about whom many people know nothing. To me, she is the most interesting...
Read More 3 min read
The Forbidden Island of Kaho’olawe
Kaho'olawe; also known as Kohemalamalama'okanaloa, is translated as "the holy genitals of the Ocean God Kanaloa" and is the only island throughout Polynesia to be named after a God. The following are my...
Read More 3 min read
Trip to Israel for Jewish Olympics
In the summer after my freshman year, I participated in the Maccabiah games, which is a worldwide gathering of Jews, in an Olympic style competition, that happens every four years. It was a three week...
Read More 3 min read
What My Trip to the Middle East Taught Me About Life
I dreaded the sixteen hour plane ride and when it was over I was actually happy, which I never thought I would be on this vacation. The man at the desk asks me something and I can't understand him,...
Read More 3 min read
Scorpions
As our ship pulls up on the shores of Tel-Aviv, the New York City of Israel, residents have their arms outstretched in welcome. I bend down and kiss the scorching ground of a land I have only read about...
Read More 2 min read
Nigeria – My Home
"Welcome aboard KLM airlines, flight number 226 direct from Amsterdam to Nigeria. Total flight time is nine hours and 45 minutes. Please refer to your pamphlets in the seat pockets in front of you as...
Read More 3 min read
