Writings and Travels of Lina Em
Boxing Day, which is typically a British holiday in which you open Christmas gifts, arrived quite warmly, cool breeze and partly cloudy weather. It is a rest day but we are invited to have lunch at an ex-UNEP employee’s home near Karura Forest.
Continue reading “Tempura Shrimp & Vegetables”
I’ve never been an early morning riser. 7AM is the most I can manage. How does one manage intend to wake up to get to a National Park at 630AM?
Well, one doesn’t.
Continue reading “Roaming Nairobi National Park”
The Rift Valley is best seen in Kenya, so says the hotel guide. For this part of the trip, bookings were made at Lake Elmenteita Serena Lodge. It is a “hut/tent” style of lodge, designed to be the ultimate form of African “glamping”. Located on the conservancy of Baron Delamare, purchased in 1845, the hotel chain, Serena (owned by a famous Indian), opened its first lodging in 2011.
Continue reading “Glamping at Lake Elmenteita”
They say honesty is key to telling a story. A good story.
The truth is, I’ve never had any desire to visit Kenya, let alone Africa. Maybe Morocco or Egypt but not so much Africa. The savannahs never really called to me the way lush rainforest did.
But I find myself in Kenya, nonetheless, and I decided to make the most out of the opportunity.
Despite being well traveled and organized, I am always aflustered the day of travel. The house has to be cleaned spotless before departure, the dog sent to camp and the cat prepared meals in advanced. It’s a time consuming process and with only half a day to prepare, I somehow made it and arrived at the airport. Of course, without my phone cable. Why does Apple make their phone cables differ for various devices? Money, most likely.
This topic came to me when I saw all these articles about “This is Renee Z?”, which of course, I clicked because I love her role in Bridget Jones. And they were right. She was almost unrecognizable. But no matter how I looked, I couldn’t see where they could have done surgery work. I closed the browser and didn’t want to think too much because I try my best not to read celebrity news. But it bugged me all day. So I did a quick sampling on Photoshop, a stamp clone here and a brush here, and voila, it was the same Bridget (I will always call her Bridget). What was revealed was simply lack of heavy make-up (I added some rosier lipstick, some blush to hide the shine) and also, most importantly, I “tweezed” and “shaped” and “colored in” her eyebrow. Aside from make-up, it was age. She was gracing age “au natural”.
Continue reading “On Make-Up and Being Myself”
I had an ex-coworker say many times, “I don’t believe in education, especially college. I think it’s a waste of time. Everything I learn, I can learn in the real world.”
This is coming from a man. He’s privileged. He comes from money. He’s white. He is European, French to be exact.
Continue reading “On Education”
The past few months, I had taken up a semi-full time freelance position with an ad agency, allowing myself 3 days weekend, never exceeding 8 hour workdays, and also learning how to balance money for insurance, taxes, rent, and savings. It feels like being an adult while still enjoying my time. I went into the job feeling quite burnt from the last one; weary and heart sickened, I kept my distance and just went about doing my work and not wanting to get too close to the people there.
Continue reading “Seasickness On the Hudson”
For a lot of us, hair defines a person. It is our vanity and downfall but it is our pride and joy. The thought of going bald, going grey, or not having the “perfect” hair worries us and often sends us into a manic stress, researching and buying anything to make it better. Even for women who tie their hair up or hide them under wigs and scarves, this is a sort of vanity. We are embarrassed by its unruliness and hide them. We are told by religion to hide our real hair because it’s sacred. We try to fit into society by wearing a wig something that’s not ours so that we don’t stand out.
Sunday brunch at home was mostly trying to figure out what to do with all our CSA. It’s accumulated for the past 3 weeks and there were a total of 6 squash that I had to go through. I made a batch of baked zucchini frites yesterday, which are always amazing but I needed a new recipe.
Continue reading “Summer Squash Pancakes with Swiss Chard Salad”
From the age of 16, I knew I wanted to be a designer, specifically graphic. I couldn’t imagine myself otherwise. So when things had gone downhill the past few months and interviews were few and far between, my conviction as a designer started to waver. Was I even good enough to be a designer? Or will I ever find a job that will make me happy?
Continue reading “On Leaving My Job”