Nomad Notes

September 8, 2024, Santarem, Portugal. I rock the Residency Appointment and wait for a couch.

September 3, 2024, Santarem, Portugal. I injure my knee and experience the kindness of the Portuguese people.

August 25, 2024, Santarem, Portugal. First, a multi-day Lisbon club crawl. I finally get into my empty apartment, and, forgetting that I am no longer 30, begin camping on the floor.

August 9, 2024, San Francisco. Visa excitement, the night of my life, the Santarem showdown, and Bom Jesus!

This season begins in 2024, with my decision to establish Residency in Portugal and includes the many trials and victories of the first 9 months of that residency.

It is now 2023, after the pandemic, and I return to Europe to sing again in Paris and to visit friends I have not seen in 8 years, as I contemplate my potential residency in Portugal.

I visit Vilnius, Lithuania, to learn that worse than hatred is indifference and realize that because THEY lived, I am here today.

My visit to Krakow, Poland, and to the death camp at Auschwitz, realizing that if they had the courage to live it, I can have the courage to look at it.

I learn a lot in the ancient city of Akko, and navigate Haifa without a map or a phone.

My Buddhist practice helps me to drive up to the Golan Heights and make peace with my cousin’s mother.