I missed the cheek and accidentally kissed someone on the mouth the first time I was in France. I never quite figured out if you were supposed to go for the right side or the left side first. While volunteering on an organic strawberry farm up in the mountains in Corsica, I wanted to be [...]

Before going to France for the first time, I had been warned, in a broad sweeping generalization that, “the French”, were not always tolerant of Americans who did not speak any French. And in some cases, of Americans in general. Despite being warned, I was caught off guard when it happened. One Saturday, shortly after [...]

It was a Friday evening, and I was waiting in a café down the street from my car mechanic, while my car was having an expensive, and apparently needed and routine, procedure done to it. I ordered a tea, not wanting coffee to keep my up all night, and looked for a place to sit. [...]

There is something funny about being in airplanes – being in such close vicinity with people that were strangers only moments before, and who after the duration of the flight will become strangers again.  During the time period spent in the air, people become more than strangers and less than acquaintances – people who you [...]