I feel like I am trying to do all of the things. Everything from following Dutch Instagram accounts to having enrolled in an in-person course to watching children’s shows with subtitles. I am using Anki for vocabulary building, going through Duolingo, and have even resumed Babbel after a long hiatus…

I reached out to an American expat group to inquire about the best ways to learn Dutch. Some were interpersonal tips (e.g. speaking with Dutch friends, music, volunteering, reading books in Dutch) and some were major life decisions that I’m not interested in pursuing (e.g. …

This is the phenomenon of being a foreigner on foreign land. It is made most apparent when you do not phenotypically look like the majority, and especially when you do not speak the language. …

Hoi allemaal, mijn naam is Malina en ik woon nu in Amsterdam. After a day, or several days, of feeling a bit listless, I’ve decided that my Big Goal is to integrate into Dutch society. And one of the key ways of doing so is through language. Yes, English is…

Good night and good bye — 9:15am I sleep in until about 7:45am and work out, pack my bags, and get ready while bæ is out and about looking for an ATM. Despite finding one online that accepts Visa, he learns that the map is incorrect and he needs to ask several sources for directions to the…

🤬 Broke, tired, and stressed out in the city — 9:10am Even closer to us than the four-story restaurant and grocery store is a much smaller vegan place, tucked away in an alley right behind our hotel. Despite its size and location, Phuc Quang Chay is highly rated on Happy Cow. I also assumed that the food here would be on…

Plant based options galore — 9am We return to our dearly beloved Au Lac Healthy World, eagerly and quite quickly. Planning our stay near a vegan establishment, especially one with so many types of food, is paying dividends. I am pretty boring so I opt for the “beef” pho and iced Vietnamese coffee. As we are…

…and off to my father’s land — 8:20am Rise and shine! Today we are departing Siem Reap, Cambodia (my mom’s home country) for Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (my dad’s). We take a short walk across the Siem Reap River to go to Vibe Café. I read somewhere that it was the first all-vegan restaurant in Cambodia, and…

Gerard aka bæ takes the wheel — 1am I feel something touch my right ear. I am half-awoken by it, so I swat away in the general direction of the disturbance. About a dozen seconds later, I feel something small crash into my lips, waking me up ever-so-slightly more as I blow air out through my mouth while…