American has had a pretty mild winter so far, however it’s still cold enough to freeze lakes in Minnesota. On my recent trip there I was able to experience one of the things that makes Minnesotans great – their love of the cold weather. I admire people who live in the Northern US; they have [...]

One of the most unusual sites I witnessed in my travels was experiencing Christmas in Asia. I had been living in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam for 3 months when December 25th rolled around. In a country with no real religion, and no westernized consumerism (yet), Vietnam surprised me with their Christmas spirit. Christmas in [...]

There are times in travel where you just have to ‘go with it’. You don’t really understand what’s going on around you or why and no one can really give you any answers due to the language barrier. Heck, sometimes the locals don’t even know why something is done the way it is! So those [...]

Footprints seem to mark the beginning of life for humans. We are born, and soon our little foot is being dipped in ink and imprinted on our birth certificates – marking our ‘official’ beginning. In Sri Lanka the birth of the main religions also came to life with a footprint – a sacred footprint. However [...]

Sometimes I feel so fragile. Ready to break at any moment and last night was one of those nights. A night where I was confronted with my own solo culture, family culture, my religious culture, and my country culture. As I walked the streets of NYC on Christmas Eve my mind swam in confusion. Solo [...]

This weekend something very special is happening in Belgium, and it only comes around every 2 years; the Flower Carpet.  This Belgian tradition started in 1971 with the first Flower Carpet being laid in the famous Grand Place of Brussels.   Begonias are the star flower and they are packed together one by one, 300 to [...]

Thaipusam Festival Singapore The Tamil Hindu festival of Thaipusam is only celebrated in 5 places in the world.  I was lucky enough to experience it in Singapore in 2007.  With my camera I was able to capture a close up view of the body piercings which are meant to show a family’s devotion to the [...]

This Christmas was shaping up to be one of my favorites.   After living abroad alone last year,  I had planned to spend Christmas with my mom and dad in South Dakota.  My whole family is spread out in the Midwest and it rarely happens that we are all in the same place due to my [...]