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  • An Army without Guns…

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    Last month, the Danube surged over its banks as record-breaking floods hit Central Europe.  The city of Budapest escaped fairly unscathed.  The surrounding small villages were less fortunate.  A friend of mine mentioned he would be off work – he wasn’t… Read More ›

  • Zagreb

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    As the sun set, I waited on St. Mark’s square in the medieval old city of Zagreb. Lamps on the streets leading to the square glowed. But on the square itself, the lamps remained extinguished since the morning’s dawn. The… Read More ›

  • The Train from Budapest to Zagreb

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    We were an hour outside of Budapest without having seen the first thing of interest when the train broke down. Initially, we assumed it was a planned stop perhaps a bit longer than usual. Our hopes evaporated when a woman… Read More ›

  • Living Without a Car

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    The easiest way to break an addiction is to go cold turkey. We sold our cars when we moved from the United States to Bratislava two years ago, extinguishing our decades old car dependency overnight. Having the right permissions and… Read More ›

  • The Kindness of Strangers

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    Blanche Dubois summarized my expat life best, “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” And so it is.  That random guardian angel who swoops in when I am most lost, confused, disconsolate.  With a nearly unnoticeable gesture they… Read More ›