Last week, I met a new guy and 15 minutes later I called him a “f**king idiot”.

In the midst of a pandemic, covid-related subjects come up quickly in a conversation. He happened to say he doesn’t wear a mask at his workplace because he wants to “breathe properly”.

Well, guess who also would like to breathe properly… the people he will potentially infect and who might end up on a ventilator, or even dying.

People Like This Guy Are Everywhere

The other day, my landlord came into my apartment not wearing a mask. The same day, while shopping for groceries, I saw dozens of people…

Travel. Languages. Portuguese.

If you give a thong to someone, probably some sexy time follows. If you give it to a Portuguese, you’ll be in trouble. In our language, “to give thong” means to fool someone, to tell nonsense.

If you think about it, there are dozens of expressions like this in your own language. Expressions that come out of your mouth daily but would confuse anyone else without the same cultural background.

This is a collection of some of those in the Portuguese language. Enjoy the next lines that, hopefully, as the Portuguese say, will make you “break the coconut laughing.”

“To be with the olive oils”

To…

TRAVEL — QUIZ

How well do you know the countries of the European Union? Below there are 27 questions, one for each member state. How many can you get right?

Answers are at the bottom.

1. AUSTRIA

Empress Elisabeth of Austria of Austria is more commonly known under which name?

a) Anne Boleyn

b) Nefertiti

c) Elizabeth of Bohemia

d) Sissi

2. BELGIUM

Belgium has 3 official languages. Which ones?

a) French, Dutch, German

b) French, Dutch, Italian

c) English, French, Spanish

d) English, French, German

3. BULGARIA

Bulgaria is home to the beautiful Rila Lakes. How many are there?

a) 3

b) 7

…

In an interview with Tim Ferriss, Jack Kornfield, author and Buddhist practitioner, told this story:

We were out wandering in the rice paddies on our way to a village to collect alms food one day with my teacher, Ajahn Chah, and some monks. And out across the rice paddies was this great big rock, a boulder.

And Ajahn Chah said, “Is that boulder heavy?”

He asked the question, kind of the way a zen master would, and being intelligent young monks we said:

“Yes, it is, master.”

And he smiled and he said, “Not if you don’t pick it up.”

…

Eating is a major part of traveling.

However, for vegetarian and vegan travelers, tasting the local delicacies is often challenging. But as the world turns to plant-based diets, it is becoming easier for veggie folks to include food in their experience of a new destination.

I have been a vegetarian for six years and traveled to 20+ European countries since then. This is the list of the places where I had the best eating experiences.

1. Berlin, Germany

With more than 600 veggie restaurants, Berlin is the vegan capital of Europe, hands down.

It offers everything you could ask for: from vegan fast…

It is one of the hardest lessons to learn in life: just because it ended, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t beautiful, meaningful, worth it.

A relationship, a job, a trip, a phase in life. Life itself.

You want your happy moments to last forever. Don’t we all?…

When intense happiness gives room to emptiness and tearing pain, you wonder: did the good outweigh the bad? Or shouldn’t any of it have existed at all?

Each moment belongs to a day and serves its purpose. Tomorrow’s misery doesn’t take away from yesterday’s joy. They exist separated in time and space.

Happiness…

My boss looked as pale as a ghost.

A tiny drop of sweat started forming on his forehead, and the eyes showed absolute terror, as he saw the end of his life approaching at fast speed.

He grabbed the seat until his fingers hurt, waiting for the moment. Waiting for the end of it all. For the plane to crash.

But it didn’t.

That’s why, a few months later, he got to tell me his experience landing at Madeira airport, in Portugal, on a day of particularly bad weather.

My boss was a businessman. He flew almost every week, short…