A simple request. I don’t want to talk politics, I want to pray for people.
10 Tips For Relocating to a New Country
With a growing number of countries offering Digital Nomad Visas and as a recent podcast guest on this topic*, it occurs to me that I have a unique perspective that may be helpful. Whether you are looking to work remotely or to change your lifestyle, here are a few tips if you’re considering relocating to another country (or if you’re asking for a friend…wink, wink).
1. Make a list: No, not a to-do list, but a passions list! What are your interests? What brings you joy? What are the things that you’re passionate about but have never found the time to pursue? Use this list to guide your ultimate destination.
2. Do your research: Create a list of must-haves and build your destination list around it. BTW – your passions list should be part of your must-haves. It doesn’t have to be exhaustive, but you want to make sure that you find a good fit for your life or how you want to live.
3. Take a trip: Break out that passport and travel! It’s a big world, go explore it. You can’t get the feel of a place without getting the feel of a place. When you visit, you can do a few tourist activities, but make sure you get some local flavor. Talk to the hotel concierge or your Air BnB/VRBO manager or host for some local experiences and/or local people that can serve as a guide. Also, talk to the indigenous people about their country.
4. Be flexible: If you’re moving to a new country, don’t expect the nuances and rituals of your previous home. Learn something new, have patience and if there is a new language, learn it (people will appreciate your effort and respond to you differently).
5. Make connections: Social media can provide you with a window into different countries. There are groups for just about everything. Join a few that match your needs (I joined a Black Expats in Costa Rica Facebook Group about three years prior to moving.)
6. Create a plan: No, everything doesn’t need to be etched in stone, but at least plan your logistics: moving, selling or storing belongings, finding a renter or buyer for your residence, etc. This should include a timeline.
7. Credentials please: Particularly if you’re moving with a family, have your vital records and paperwork stored in a manner that it is easy to access. I mean passports (obviously), health records, birth certificates, ID cards and other country-specific administrative records.
8. Make a budget: You are no longer a tourist. Make sure you account for the essentials (rent, utilities, healthcare, food, transportation) as well as some splurges along the way.
9. Follow your heart: This is your journey. What is right for you may not be right for someone else and that’s okay. Don’t be deterred if everyone is not onboard with your move (this excludes your family unit – you need some consensus). Do it anyway!
10. Enjoy the ride: Even if this isn’t your final destination, lean into it! Slow down. Take in the scenery and culture. Find your tribe. Have some great experiences!
Women Are Standing Up By Cutting Their Hair
And burning their hijabs in the streets of Iran. Finally…
Women continue to be second-class citizens around the world, and yes, the Western world too. Whether you agree with that statement or not, you must agree that killing a 22 year-old woman, Mahsa “Jina” Amini, because some of her hair was exposed from her hijab is barbaric (technically she was beaten, later died from her injuries in the hospital and the police are lying about it, sound familiar?)
I will never understand why some must impose their will over others no matter the cost or resulting suffering. These “morality police” are clearly forgetting the will of God to whom they claim to worship.
Some people will skip over this post because it is about Iran and Islam. Please don’t. The country and the “infraction” are different, but this happens almost everyday, in AMERICA.
Iran is a country made up of citizens and a government who makes the rules. To be dismissive of these protests and the plight of these women because it is happening in Iran is hypocritical. You CANNOT hold a people accountable for the history and actions of its government. How often have you disavowed your government or its actions to someone from another country who assumes that you support everything because you are an American citizen? I know that I have… many times.
Learn what’s going on and how you can amplify their voices. Why? Because it is the right thing to do AND because we are all human.
It’s. About. Time.
The U.S. Justice Department has charged four Louisville police officers in connection with the murder of Breonna Taylor. One charge is that the officers falsified evidence in order to obtain the search warrant. Think about that…
Podcasts: love ’em or hate ’em?
Everyone has a podcast these days. You can find them on just about every topic: some have a very niche target say, Stephen King book fans or Queen Sugar enthusiasts, and others have a broader audience of self help or a celebrity’s musings.
I remember prior to the pandemic, I had never listened to any! Can you believe it? I can think of at least two people in my circle being horrified and wanted desperately to help me find my show(s).
Now, I’m about to dip my toe in… My significant other and I have been saying for at least the last year, when we moved to Costa Rica we would launch it. Well… we’re here! We’ve known each for 31 years (whew, that doesn’t sound right!) and we’ve had some great conversations. Some have been filled with laughter, others not so much. So we’ve decided to take our show on the road!
Talk to me! Tell me if you do podcasts or not. Let me know some interesting topics that you haven’t heard discussed and would like to. Please be respectful. 😉
Register to Be a Donor
Are you a donor? Of any kind? If not, you should consider it. You could change lives. You could save a life.
Some donations, happen after you have passed away. Others can happen while you are alive. One such donation is bone marrow and stem cell donation.
There are many people who wait for a blood match and never find one. For this reason, there is a need for donors who are certain ethnicities, especially African American, Black, Latinx and Native American.
I am a stem cell donor and I am registered. It is an easy and fulfilling gift to give. Learn more.
If you are healthy and under the age of 40, sign up and register as a bone marrow donor. Join the registry.
Bittersweet
On June 30, 2022, Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as an associate justice to the U.S. Supreme Court making her the first Black woman to hold this position. I recall how much pride and emotion her nomination held for me and so many others.
But, I feel sorry for her. Does she still want the position? The precedent that the majority of SCOTUS just overturned of Roe v Wade is a slippery slope for so many other freedoms and attacks on privacy. (I bet Loving v Virginia remains intact. Not that it shouldn’t, but the hypocrisy is blatant.) A precedent that was not found faulty in its legal foundation but rather the personal opinions of justices…
What’s worse is that on the proverbial other hand, recent rulings have upheld loosened gun laws, greater latitude for possible infringement on individual rights (by police and politicians), blurred separation of church and state and regulations that impede climate change.
U.S. History shows us that SCOTUS can be expanded if and when necessary, but unfortunately I don’t imagine Biden would take that bold step. Nor do I envision him changing the lifetime term.
As a lifetime position, there is time for the tide to shift. However, in the meantime, how many minority opinions will she, Sotomayor, Breyer and Kagan write?
Writing Is Therapy
I hadn’t written a short story since high school. Literally. In high school, I chose writing over my love of numbers; that’s when I became a writer. It was quite accidental.
Two things happened: I took a creative writing course during my junior year and reality became too real. That year, I lost a few friends, 16 year-olds, to gun violence. Needless to say, I was having a hard time. Writing helped.
About a year later, I transitioned to poetry and as they say, “the rest is history.” That is, until now.
I have written hundreds of poems. That’s what I’d been inspired to write… Enter Costa Rica and my Black Writer’s Group. These writers are working on novels; a few of them are working on several, some have self-published. There is only one other sometime poet in the bunch.
I was content with being a poet. Not performing, only written word. Then, I read a short story by our writer of the week. It was wonderful.
And as I walked to that week’s meeting, I began to think: maybe I’ll write a short story! I haven’t written one in over 30 years, but why not?
I listened to the waves crash and lap the shore as I walked. Yes, I’m going to write a short story!
At the close of our weekly meeting, we share goals for the coming weeks and I shared my intention. I was excited. Now I just needed a topic…
That next week was an anniversary that I’d like to forget. It was the day that my cousin and an uncle died unexpectedly, seven hours apart. It was a Monday morning and the weight of the loss began to press down on me.
I fetched my laptop, sat staring out of the glass, sliding doors at the pool and began typing. The words poured from my fingertips. I wrote for hours. I shared it with the BWG and they loved it.
Now I’m working on short story number two. This one is about four times the length of Seven Hours. It is somehow more difficult to write; I don’t know why. But my guess is that I still have some unresolved feelings about the topic.
Years ago, I was found to be a match for a sick patient. I went on to serve as a stem cell donor. After a year of thriving, she took a turn and died. She was 14. That’s all I know. I never really talked about that.
I think writing this story is helping to sort something out for me that I didn’t know was there. We’ll see.
The Answer Is Yes
I loved Steve Kerr when he played for the Bulls. I love that he uses his platform to speak out. But, to answer your question Steve, it is a resounding YES. Legislators are and have been more interested in holding on to their power than to pass any legislation that would curb the ongoing violence in America.
I knew in the aftermath of the slaughter at Sandy Hook that nothing would change. If a classroom of murdered kindergarteners didn’t change hearts and move them into action, nothing would.
Symphony
The jungle of Costa Rica produces a daily symphony.
A howler monkey’s call and response,
Mating calls intertwine with
Trilling lizards,
Thrumming of humming bird wings
And a cricket’s solitary song.
The crescendo of monsoon rain on a tin roof
With the wind as a strong accompaniment
To the bullfrog’s lament into the inky night.
Dissonance of the varieties of tropical birds compete and threaten
The overarching harmony.
Howling dogs
And roosters’ crows
Punctuate the arrangement.
I sit appreciatively,
Awaiting the encore.
Love Versus Hate
The level of hate that it takes for an 18 year old to shoot a bunch of strangers in a grocery store! WOW… it is mind-numbing…
And of course, it’s not the first time. I don’t think people realize what it does to you: the daily reminder that people hate you for a trait that is predetermined. We were born in this skin.
We know what he was being taught at home. The difference it would make if parents taught love versus hate.
Mule of the World 