I have only heard British and Irish accents since arriving in Albufeira. Which means that the coastline is covered in burnt gingers. It’s great. Because that means that there will…

Rather than a photo which I took, I am sharing with you what my family in Gaza tried to send with my mum. Unfortunately, because it is such an obviously…

Azza. It means the dear one. We had met only once before, in 2014, sat next to one another on a panel for Min Fami in Toronto. We’ve been communicating…

That’s Darwin. He had rabbits in his lap, and he was watching several screens about science things. I can’t tell you what, precisely, because I was too busy taking selfies…

Because I don’t know how photography happens, here I am waving at you from one of the oldest bookstores in the world. Livraria Lello (R. das Carmelitas 144) is said…

There is no bidet culture in Porto. Now that that’s out of the way, I can tell you about our day. We opted for a super slow roll, leaving the…

Porto stole the most beautiful men from Lisbon and transplanted them here. This might cause a situation for both Azza and me on the day that we are meant to…

In the English language, a dog’s language is translated to either ‘ruf ruf‘ or ‘woof woof‘. In Arabic, it’s ‘3aw‘. Which is what I thought the Spanish speakers were doing…

Azza has now noticed it, too. That Portuguese men appear to have on fake eyelashes. I would be lying if I told you this doesn’t lead to a lot of…

We decided to slow our roll today, and had another cozy pyjamas day, watching television, reading and writing. While traveling, and especially because I’m writing daily, I feel obligated to…

Our early afternoon was spent at the majour flea market held every Saturday. Azooza caught a scarf, while I caught caffeine. In Portugal, they might not recognize the request for…

(Of course I’m sitting on a sardine throne. It’s Portugal.) Wandering through the cereal aisle, she heard a commotion with me lodged between.“MEL?““NO. NOT MILK. HONEY.”“MEEEL!““I DON’T WANT MILK. HONEEY.”“BZZZZZZZ.”“SI!…

It’s our last day in the country so we had our café con leche (caliente) at the little coffee shoppe in our neighbourhood before saying goodbye to València’s Old Town…

Through the very sweet El Cabanyal neighbourhood, I wandered the 40 minutes down to the beach, and then kept going another near two hours until I reached the end of…

I’m sitting inside of the Palau de la Música, at the València Ciutat Cultura. I wandered in here from the park because they’re growing citrus trees inside of the center,…

There are parks all over this city. Most all of them have play structures for children, but this was the only one which we came across that had these bouncy…

This photo is from yesterday. As I walked down the street perpendicular to this one, I noticed the one giant palm stood alone. Upon closer investigation, I discovered that they…

I am honestly not certain what’s more beautiful – an already smokin’ hot man made hotter by reading, or the Spanish countryside between Málaga and València. You tell me, please….

On the morning I woke to the two awful messages from last summer’s situation, Jesús (my landlord for my first week in this city), had made me freshly squeezed orange…

From the second I looked at my phone this morning, nothing today went as planned. Unfortunately, being a glutton for punishment, I decided to go out anyway and make certain that…

Sub7aan Allah. March 28, 2014 was a very important day – it was the first time I read my work aloud, under my own name. It was also the first…

I’ve already stated this – I am not a fan of Picasso, neither the man nor the art. However, being in Málaga, one has little choice but to engage his…

After an unseasonably cold weekend, the weather picked up and we were able to discover a little more of this city. Specifically, we roamed around Málaga’s historic center, which is…

One thing I love doing in any new city, where available, is taking public transportation for hours. Getting on a bus and staying on until kicked off. Never the metro,…

This beauty is Azooza. She arrived yesterday evening and this afternoon, we finally got into the first of our two places here in Málaga. Being both featured in Min Fami,…

I scooted all over the city on one of these today and felt absolutely wonderful. It went to a maximum of 22.5 km / hour, which was ample. Most especially without…

I watched a man with a metal detector go over every grain of sand for an hour, covering perhaps 20 meters of this vast coast. Billions of grains of nothing,…

They still use the term haberdashery in this country. When was the last time you used this really fun word? I never have. Do you actually know what it means?…

I left Geneva as the dawn slowly lit into its shadows. It was the first time the skies were without a cloud, all shaded blues, deep pinks, and every lavender…

Today is my last day in the country, and so I popped out of the city proper and made my way to Vevey, a small Swiss town with an absolutely…

“I just feel complete and serene and without clouds in my feelings,” is what Heba’s man just sent her regarding their relationship and his feelings for her. I want for…

The aftershock always feels heavier than the original trauma. Watching and reading so many messages of solidarity and love has made an emotional day a little easier to navigate. Today,…

Sometimes, I go to mosque to pray on Fridays, a thing which I do when either traveling or feeling pain. Had I been in New Zealand, yesterday’s post might have…

I spent my entire afternoon at the Musée international de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge. The ICRC is one of the few organizations whose efforts I stand behind fully. Apart…

It’s only a few years between us, but technically true. She says she doesn’t feel it because I treat everyone with the same level of respect; I think she’s being…

Preamble: There are instances where it is critical to love oneself more than the other party, including but not limited to abusive / violent relationships; in the spaces where our…

These last few months, I had barely thought about it, really thought about it; these last three days, it hadn’t even crossed my mind until yesterday, early evening walking the…

I was reflecting on a few important points of which we far too easily lose sight while inside of the grieving process, so jotting them down as much a reminder…

It seems that yesterday’s The Bad Day resonated with far too many of you. Thank you for opening your chests to me, for allowing me to leave a few gently…

Everyone has’em. Some, more often than others, depending on environment and emotional circumstance. (I am not here touching on the chemical.) Today was a little bit of a rough one….