At Home, Elsewhere

learning how to be at home

  • Love is Always Worth the Risk

    Love is Always Worth the Risk

    I am back on the southeast coast of France, and I didn’t want to write today. It’s only because he wants me to keep going. If it were up to me, I’d never leave his side in these few days we have together. It’s a romantic feeling that I know will go with time, of…

  • Potatoes, Goats Cheese and Chestnuts

    Potatoes, Goats Cheese and Chestnuts

    Soon I take the long train back to the southeast coast of France. I am sad to leave Ardéche, it feels as if I have made this place my home. The steadiness of a routine is something that I become attached to quite quickly these days. Yesterday, I sat at the table for lunch for…

  • I Carry my Words with me

    Today is the last full day I have in Ardeche… so I prepare my suitcases once again. As with every time I leave, it makes me reflect. What do I want to keep in my life? What do I want to give away? Every place I go gives me a chance to observe others and…

  • The Wind Rises, Again

    The Wind Rises, Again

    Le vent, il se lève. Yesterday evening it got darker a little earlier than usual. The sky to the west was filled with a mass of grey clouds, it glowed softly as the sun went down. The sky to the south still looked a little blue far off into the horizon. I walked out onto…

  • Empty Days

    Empty Days

    Recently, my days are happily empty. I often sit by the window next to the heater with a drink. Although it is sunny here, the temperature is still a little low. Especially as soon as I get up, I don’t like to talk to anyone or think about anything. I simply want to sip my…

  • The Freedom to be Still

    The Freedom to be Still

    The last couple of days, my face has been in pain especially around my eyes. Spring is a beautiful season, but in the countryside I suffer with hay fever. Although it’s not fatal, it is really annoying and at the moment the whole of France is on red alert. I would like to walk outside…

  • Moving Like a Butterfly

    Moving Like a Butterfly

    My breakfast these days starts with spoonfulls of creamy yoghurt and homemade jam, followed by lightly grilled soft bread topped with local butter. Beside this I take an espresso with a glass of sparkling water. The conversation normally centres around what’s for lunch, the seemingly most important meal of the day here. But yesterday we…

  • Re-Knowing the Moment

    Re-Knowing the Moment

    These days, I am still having intense dreams which disturb my sleep. Although I am happy during the day, at night when the mind rests, the worries I try to ignore come back to me. It feels like a trap that I cannot escape from sometimes… but today, I was reminded of something: it all…

  • Living Life as an Exchange

    Living Life as an Exchange

    Travelling has helped me to view the world in a functional way. No matter where you are, there always exists some form of value exchange. Sometimes it overwhelms me and gives me a headache, this way of thinking. Perhaps it makes me tired because I constantly feel that I have little by way of value…

  • The Warmth of Little Things

    The Warmth of Little Things

    Every time I travel somewhere, I learn a little bit more about how to keep a home. In most countries I’ve been to, I’ve been invited to someone’s house so I’ve been able to see how people live differently. I realise that there is no right way, there is only a preference… and over the…