by Natalie Karneef | Jan 19, 2017
Day 1 “Maybe I’ll get a flu,” I think, hopefully. “Or there will be a very localized apocalypse.” I am driving to a meditation retreat. It’s New Year’s Day, and shudderingly cold. I don’t want to be here. I think about my fireplace, and the friends I could be spending...
by Natalie Karneef | Oct 20, 2016
This morning is one of those mornings. Nothing terrible happens, shit just goes wrong. Then I find out that the friend I’m supposed to meet in Bucharest, where I’m headed today, can’t make it. At lunchtime, Pietro drives me to the train station, even though I could...
by Natalie Karneef | Oct 1, 2016
So I went to the hospital this morning. I had to explain myself multiple times: first to staff at my hotel, then to the translator, and then, obviously, to the doctor. “What happened?” they asked. I so badly wanted to say that I was crawling through a tunnel in the...
by Natalie Karneef | May 5, 2015
I have to come clean about one of the reasons I came to New Zealand. Usually, I say that I fell in love with the people here. That is true. Also, the jaw-dropping beauty around every corner, and the laidback pace of life. The fact that Kiwis go to the mall barefoot,...