OK. I’m trying again. I wrote this earlier today and before it published, it disappeared!
It’s been several months since I got back from Turkey. Until a couple of days ago, I was in Virginia hanging out with my grandson, Cris. (Mom is in the Cayman Islands in veterinary school and I’m helping out my son while enjoying my grandson).
I had been there more than two months when I got an invitation to help launch the Polish version of “Tales of a Female Nomad.” The Polish publisher flew me over and scheduled two morning TV interviews, two radio programs, and several magazine and newspaper interviews, complete with photo shoots. Justyna Kubiesa, a PR employee of Pascal, the publisher known for its travel guides, accompanied me to everything. She even set me up with three Couchsurfing families. (I had told her I wanted to stay in homes and not hotels.) The families were great; altogether there were six kids, the oldest was in fourth grade (I talked in her classroom while her mother translated.)
I loved Poland and all the people I met. Interestingly, I discovered that my friend-making strategy of smiling and making eye-contact with people on the street, didn’t work. People look down or straight ahead when they are outside; they don’t smile at strangers. When I asked about it, most people explained that it is a custom born of the years when the Nazis (1939—1945) and the Russians controlled Poland.
My special “wellness” program didn’t work in Poland either. The program’s mostly about food and I just had to eat the pierogi and the sausages and even some of the fabulous desserts. Everyone wanted me to try the food they had prepared!! And of course, I couldn’t say no! Yummm. (I did walk nearly every day which is another part of the program.)
I was in Poland for ten days; then I flew back to VA. On the 9th of November (five days ago) I left Virginia and boarded a plane for Seattle. While I was on the plane, someone hacked into my computer and sent out one of “those letters” to more than a thousand of my contacts. You know the letter: I and my family were mugged and robbed and left destitute in the Philippines. A knife was held to my neck. Send money through Western Union!
My daughter, Jan, got the letter and immediately went to Facebook and posted the fact that I had been hacked. Fortunately, the hacker couldn’t write and most people realized that I couldn’t have written the note. (If I wrote like that, I would have long ago been drummed out of the profession.)
I have spent the last few days in Seattle changing passwords and addresses and alerting banks and credit card companies.
I’m here until after Thanksgiving.
- On November 27th I will be speaking at Alma college in Michigan and then head back to VA.
- On the 7th of December I am going to visit Carolyn Nicely in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where I will dutifully work on my wellness.
- I will fly back to VA on January 8th.
- On January 27th I fly to Bandon, Oregon, where I will be house-sitting for the month of February. I hope to work on my next book.
- On February 28th, I’ll head back to Virginia. And then?? Not sure.
- Enough for now. I hope to be better at posting in the next month….but only if I have something worth writing about.
Thanks for hanging in there. If you don’t know, I do have a list that I send e-mails to a bit more frequently than I post here. If you want to be included, let me know. femalenomad@gmail.com
And finally, if you would like to give a nomad book as a Christmas gift (maybe to teenage friends?), let me know. I will autograph one and send it to you. And once you receive it, you can send me a check. The price is $15.00, and I will cover the postage.
Enough for now. Happy Thanksgiving.