• what happens when you strand a writer ON AN ISLAND

    Where nothing happens all the time?

     

    culture shock

    well, yeah

    mosquito bites

    occasional entries in a blog, even though it's a word she finds repellent

    (wait, those were the mosquitos!)

    and yet...

    Dateline: Lamu, Kenya

    I found myself on an island in the Indian Ocean where time moved slowly and nothing seemed to change. I was forced to slow down and observe even the smallest of details in the lives around me. One thing did change: me. When I returned to the United States, I found that what an old Somalia hand told me was true. The worst culture shock is when you return to your country and see it for what it is.