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But as always in life, the people are ultimately more important than the place. What I love most about living abroad is the other expats you meet: funny, fascinating individuals from all over the world who are always game for another shot of gin. Who share the same philosophies about life and youth and adventure, and pushing yourself to live live live as much as possible. They’re people with stories more compelling than mine could ever be: engineers and foreign diplomats and journalists working overseas, born in Seoul but raised in Warsaw and London. They’re bankers who dropped everything to be pastry chefs, midwestern girls with big dreams who just wanted to soak up Paris. They get me. I get them. … [Read more...] about Paris Expat: The Reality of Life in France

Realistically my best time for working and writing blog posts is at the weekend when I have Mr S to share the childcare. I don’t want to give my entire weekend up to work so I make the most of the morning to get blog stuff done and then I can spend the rest of the day with my family. Mr S gets his quality bonding time with his son, while I can tick plenty off my to do list! We make sure our calendars are in sync so he can be home early if I have an event and I make sure that I don’t plan anything when he has the gym booked or the football on. … [Read more...] about Ten Ways I Achieve a Work Life Balance With a Newborn

At the center of much of the brutality in Cervantes’ play is Aldonza (Broadway veteran Heidi Meyer) — a working-class woman and sometimes prostitute — who is distrustful and resistant to accept true gentlemanly kindness bestowed upon her for the first time in her life, in this case by Don Quixote. He is a man on a quest to become a knight. Yes, he is a bit befuddled mentally — he envisions an inn to be a castle and goes into “battle” with a windmill he mistakes for a four-armed giant — but at heart Don Quixote is a truly kind man battling real demons of his own that he imagines are due to an evil magician called the Enchanter. (In reality, he is quite physically and mentally ill.) … [Read more...] about REVIEW: SDMT puts on a compelling ‘Man of La Mancha’

This elaborate Opera house was built in 1884 when Manaus was in the middle of its rubber boom, it was flush with cash and home to several wealthy rubber barons. Times have since changed and therein lies much of the charm of this iconic building – as a relic from Manaus’  illustrious past. An ambitious Renaissance Revival building and no expenses spared project that set to bring European culture to the heart of the Brazilian rainforest. Life in the jungle can be unpredictable though, Teatro Amazonas’ fate was sealed when synthetic rubber emerged, the barons deserted Manaus and the theatre spent 90 years empty without hosting a single performance. The glory days of the rubber trade, a thing of the past. Today, Teatro Amazonas is among the most famous and celebrated of Brazil’s buildings with its iconic domed roof decorated with 36,000 tiles in the colours of the national flag once again playing host to concerts, its own annual film festival and of course … [Read more...] about Top Amazon experiences for the adventure traveller

By bringing the age factor to the fore, Sanders’ problems may also increase scrutiny of former vice president Biden, 76, who suffered two life-threatening brain aneurysms three decades ago. Such a focus is not good news for a man whose every verbal miscue already raises questions about whether he’s having a senior moment. More broadly, however, Sanders’ setback underscores the need for all candidates to release a comprehensive summary of their health records — and not on the eve of the primaries, but before the end of this year. … [Read more...] about Turbulence hits the Democrats’ top tier