I have accepted the fact that I am going to forever be called “Teacher?!” and never Lori. I really don’t have a problem with that, actually. Also, I was informed by a... Read more >>

One month today. For those of you not staring at a calendar as closely as I am these days, yes. It’s been exactly one month since Heather and I got on that plane and flew to our... Read more >>

My second night in Samara was as exciting as my first. It was a Sunday night so, thankfully, my cabaña did not transform into a karaoke bar or a hotspot for Latin dancing. After a long day... Read more >>

Culture is an easy word but a complex concept. It’s one that we all know and readily use, but one that is not easily defined. I have been learning how much sound is connected to culture and am... Read more >>

As an elderly woman whizzed by me, galloping at an alarming pace in her black dress pants and high-heeled patent leather shoes, I gripped by reins and giggled. She was delicately balancing a purse on... Read more >>

My husband, Larry, and I sipped cold beers beneath a swirling ceiling fan in the bar of our hotel and contemplated leaving Caño Negro. We’d arrived only hours earlier in this northern... Read more >>

One of the things we learned in the CELTA Certification course was to immediately write your name on the board so the students know what to call you. Apparently, the University of Cambridge, who... Read more >>

Do you remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books that you would order through the Scholastic Book Club when you were a kid? You know, the ones that allowed you, the reader, to be a double agent,... Read more >>

I have always been something of an over-achiever. When I was four, I read aloud a Halloween poem my bus driver, Jennifer, had written in black marker on posterboard to share with her pre-school,... Read more >>

This story was originally written for my sister who was absent from our most recent family trip to Costa Rica. I was ready to dig into my book on the beach, but my energetic mom had other plans.... Read more >>