Jane Merryman

                                                     
I asked the owner of my guesthouse about this word I kept hearing that sounded like "grew-et-see."
"Oh, that means ‘hi’ in Swiss German," he said. "Literally, ‘I greet you.’ Spell it g-r-u with an umlaut-e-z-i."
Grüezi. Everyone said grüezi. Old people, youngsters, lone hikers, merry groups. As they passed me on […]

It is dawn on the day of Nyepi, Balinese New Year, and the only sounds I hear are the sounds of the first morning of the world.
Light barely delineates my window, but roosters already call to each other up and down the street. Doves coo-coo-coo in the plumeria tree next to my porch and small […]