Tag: urban
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Romancing the Rain~ Shanghai
Do you hide when it rains? Do you take cover? Or do you sing and dance? I see so much romance in a rainy day. The enchanting city streets reflecting reality to create a better, softer world. Shanghai sparkles…
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Ancient Tradition and Pretty Lanterns~ Shanghai
Lanterns adorned with ancient poems, lights in the sky, colorful decorations, bright smiles, ever-growing crowds; this is the lantern festival in Shanghai’s Yu Gardens. Every year I keep going back simply to be with the joy of this special happening, celebrating the start of Chinese spring under a big full moon. How dull would life…
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A brief look at Brussels~
One of the perks of Living in Europe is the proximity of major cities and the ease of traveling around the culturally rich continent. Breakfast in xanten, Germany and lunch in Brussels, Belgium is a stress free affair! Our family is looking forward to moving to Germany this coming summer after 11 years in Shanghai,…
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Life Unfolding on the Suzhou Creek
It’s late afternoon, all are a bit too sluggish to go fast, slow moving people, dragging their feet, pushing their bikes uphill over the bridge and the woman too tired to walk, sits on top of her bike load letting her husband pull the tricycle; it has been a long day. Even the shadows are unable to…
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The Bund~ Before the Day Begins
There is a great magic to seeing a place at sunrise, before the rush of day clouds it. Early in the morning, there is a bliss that relaxes the faces of early risers, as though they are reminded that there is still magic in life, how can there not be? Light colors the sky as…
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The Complex Web of Greed~ Lebanon
I left my native Lebanon to New York City back in 1987. The war was still raging and the political and economic situations were highly unstable if not volatile. Today, almost 27 years later, the Lebanese struggle with rationed electricity, unstable economic and political situations, living on the brink of another war, receiving a flood of…
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The Comforts of Anonymity
Anonymia, Greek for nameless, the state of us urban dwellers to each other. This suggests that our names define us and and who we have become in so many different ways. Being a stranger in the big city can be so comforting to those of us who opt for this lifestyle. We can be who we…
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The urban flow~ Shanghai
Big cities have this way of resembling beehives, busy, constantly moving. Most of these urban centers are jarring, fast, harsh, noisy, and unforgiving to all that is slow. Not Shanghai. Shanghai has a gentle flow about it, where people just glide by on their bicycles, slow enough to examine life around them and nod with…