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How tapping into connection and community create impact: International Women’s Day 2022
How did you mark International Women’s Day this year? After two years of lockdown-induced live events, it was a thrill and honour to MC...
How to UNplan your life and still pursue your passion purposefully
Have you ever wondered how people muster the time, patience and chutzpah to write that book, found a new business or start a brand new...
Free childcare? Yes please! When it takes a global pandemic and an economic meltdown for what is alr
We are in the middle of a global pandemic and an economic meltdown. The only thing that needs to happen next is for an asteroid to come...
My summer podcast recording in Goethe’s hometown. And oh, a heatwave.
Grey clouds, never – ending airplane noise and Plattenbau* . These were my common associations with Frankfurt am Main. Like most intrepid...
A few days in Melbourne beyond laneways, coffee + AFL: as MC for a block…chain party at the German B
I have always had a secret crush on Melbourne. As a student I would relish the chance to head down for a uni conference, catch a few...
A New Type of Writing Assignment
” You need to write what ?” asked my mum. Like all things 21st century, if you can explain a new-fangled project or something rather...
Post-maternity leave in Germany (the second time round): The New Normal
“If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere” sang Frank Sinatra about New York. So far, no musician has produced a similar song...
The first 180 days as a foursome: A new parenting manual
My little baby turned 6 months old today. I’m sitting here watching the sun-set over the Mediterranean Sea at Fréjus in France,furiously...
Confessions from the gyno’s chair: What it’s really like to start maternity leave in Germany…2 weeks
Whoever said maternity leave was easy obviously did not start their 36th week of pregnancy in soupy 5° C, surrounded by Stollen,...
Darkness and Light. Time and Place in the life of a refugee
His body, lying flat. His arms and limbs, lifeless. This was the picture of that little boy whose life was taken by the sea, a little boy...
After 6 years of living in Berlin, these are the 31 things I’ve learned so far
“What are you going to do about a job”, she asked “You can’t even speak German”. This was the repetitive, daily conversation I had with...
New work – Cover Story in Renegade Collective Magazine “Lean In/Getty Images Collaboration to remove
It’s available in hard copy all over Australia, at Barnes & Nobel in the US, lots of other places around the world (including oddly,...
Why German ‘Parent Time’ (Elternzeit) is the new maternity leave
What is it really like to experience maternity leave in Germany ? Do all German mums bake Apfelstrüdel all day ? Do all expat mums work...
A tale of two Germanies – East, West and in between
I had originally intended to publish this post to time in with the 25 year Fall of the Berlin Wall celebrations on 9 November. Yet I held...
It’s ok to bawl in the Bäckerei and a few other things Berlin taught me about Motherhood (Part One)
Thought I’d disappeared, gone to a kibbutz or started an underground urban gardening co-operative the last few years? Not really. Truth...
Blog resurrection
New posts are coming soon! My blog archive is being migrated from the former hosting platform. In the meantime, have a read of my work as...
Nice day for a white Wedding : Berlin’s ugliest but most charming suburb
„Wo ick wohne? Wie alle feine Leite, Berlin W. hinten mit en ‚Ding‘! –?? – Na Mensch, vastehste nich, Berlin Wedding!“ – Hans Ostwald,...
A Slice Of Expat Life – Ziva
A few months ago during the cold, dark Berlin winter, there was a little ray of sunshine that brightened it up. The lovely Valerie Khoo,...
Better Urban Living- my blue wings April 2012 Column
(First published in blue wings magazine,Sanoma Magazines, Finland) In his 2007 book ‘Affluenza’, British Psychologist and Author Oliver...
Why You Should Take a Career Sabbatical: Guest blog post on the hugeYesisYes blog
(First published on yesisyes, March 2012) How many times have you been sitting in your office with a full in-tray, an annoying boss...
Happy International Women’s Day
I had originally wanted to publish this post on International Women’s Day but since that date, I had some new inspirations which I found...
Bold New Clicks- March 2012 blue wings column on start ups and new entrepreneurs
(First published blue wings,March 2012, Sanoma Magazines Finland) There are now some 400 million entrepreneurs starting and running new...
The Warts And All Version Of Starting a Writing Career In a Brand New Country
I’ve been thinking about writing a lot lately. Which is different to actually writing. Firstly because it is just on two years since I...
Nice day for a white Wedding: Berlin’s ugliest but most charming suburb
“Wo ick wohne? Wie alle feine Leite, Berlin W. hinten mit en ‚Ding‘! –?? – Na Mensch, vastehste nich, Berlin Wedding!“ – Hans Ostwald,...
The Green Box Project Launch, Berlin – When Alcohol meets Art
On first blush, mixing alcohol with art may seem like a dangerous endeavour. Yet when you think of any gallery launch or vernissage there...
Postcards from Berlin
I would not consider myself a poet by any stretch of the imagination. Although I am very taken with rhymes. While scrolling through my...
Global Faces of the Future : Aleksandra Nasteska – National Director at We Canada, Actress and TV Ho
This is one of those rare encounters that could only have taken place in the twenty first century. A few months ago on twitter, on the...
Why You Need to Learn To Dance and 9 Other Things My Grandmother Taught Me
Growing up, many of my friends did not understand what it meant to be a grandchild. Their grandparents had either passed away or were in...
Get netted – my weekly web picks
I haven’t done one of these in a while, there is alot that has been happening around the Internets (still not sure why it’s plural but...
Food glorious food – the Berlin way
Schrill Spanish notes from the band could be heard from the street outside. The smell of fresh baked bread and gooey French cheeses also...
The importance of authenticity
I had heard about Kenyan environmental campaigner and human rights activist Dr Wangari Maathai before she died yesterday. Whilst I had...
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