Leslie Forman

Travels!

October 15, 2014

Moving Home After Living Abroad: 4 Tips for Re-Entry

This is not my first experience with re-entry. I’ve experienced two severe bouts of reverse culture shock over the years, along with many milder ones. Here’s what I’ve learned along the way.

January 9, 2012

How to Enjoy a Long Layover in Mexico City

I spent Christmas at home in San Francisco, and wanted to come back to Chile to ring in 2012. So I booked a one-way ticket on Aeromexico, which happened to be the cheapest one-way flight I could find, and included a 16-hour layover in Mexico City (roughly 7am-11pm). Despite the fact that I couldn’t get […]

November 1, 2011

Cementerio Rapa Nui: A Lovely Place to Rest in Peace

Today is All Soul’s Day, and I feel that it’s the ideal time to share photos from the most breathtakingly beautiful cemetery I’ve ever seen. During our trip to Easter Island, we stayed at a modest guesthouse close to this cemetery. I feel a bit weird posting photos of a cemetery, but this place is […]

September 7, 2011

Joe Biden stares down Speedo-clad wrestler and names a horse in Mongolia! A quick look at Mongolia’s democracy, urbanization, and political risk.

From Google Analytics I’ve learned that lots of readers come to leslieforman.com to learn about Mongolian politics, especially the nature of its democracy, freedom of speech, and relations with the United States. So far, the lone post I have to answer these fascinating questions is this one, about George W. Bush’s visit to Mongolia in […]

December 7, 2010

The Quiet American. An Uncanny Vietnam Coincidence

Andrea James, who I have never met in real life, always leaves fascinating comments on this little blog.  This week she posted a heartbreaking story about the news value of a death.  Her story is uncannily similar to one of mine. Suffering is not increased by numbers: one body can contain all the suffering the […]

October 10, 2010

On “doing well & doing good” – a reaction from Mongolia

This adorable little girl lives at the ger camp in the Semi-Gobi Desert, the place where we rode camels.  I chose her photo to illustrate this post, because I think her stylish coat and practical boots exemplify the type of consumerism that improves the lives of everyday Mongolians. While I was in Mongolia, the insightful […]

October 6, 2010

The Places I’ve Called Home

This post started as a comment on Small Hands, Big Ideas, Grace Boyle’s wonderful blog.  Following a meme that seems to be flowing around this corner of the blogosphere, she outlines the places she has lived and what they meant to her. Her post begins: I write about it a lot – traveling, my relocating […]

October 4, 2010

The Mongolian Ger as a Yanic Symbol

I met Sara in 2004 when she joined Gamma Phi Beta at Cal and became my first little sis.  An architecture major passionate about design and creativity, Sara often joked that the world of architecture had too many phallic symbols and not enough yanic symbols.  I remember her defining yanic as the female equivalent to […]