HereIGoAgainOnMyOwn.com
and How I Fell In Love with Phnom Penh When people ask why I chose to live in Cambodia, I usually struggle to answer. Not because I don t know, but because none of the obvious reasons really explain it. Yes, life is affordable. The weather is warm. The visa is straightforward. But those are just facts. They don t explain why someone arrives intending to stay a few months and, years later, still…
When I moved back to Phnom Penh last year, I imagined life slowing down a little. Less stress, fewer deadlines, more evenings by the river with a cheap beer and nowhere particular to be. Instead, I ve somehow ended up busier than I have been in years, except that this time almost everything I m working on feels like something I genuinely want to build. It s funny how life circles back. More than a…
I paid Upwork over $5,000 in fees last year. And honestly? I d do it again. At the end of last year I pulled up my Upwork earnings report and one number stood out: over $5,000 in fees. That s what I paid the platform just to work. To send proposals, take jobs, get paid. I wasn t angry about it. I m still not. Four years of full-time freelancing through Upwork, and that $5,000 reads to me less like…
Most freelancers do not fail on Upwork because they lack skill. They fail because they become invisible. And there is a difference worth understanding. Browse the platform for ten minutes and you will see what I mean. Hundreds of profiles offering writing, design, translation, development, marketing. Many of them competent. Many of them experienced. Most of them never hired. Not because the…
Two weeks ago I published an essay on the Cambodia-Thailand conflict and how I could not be silent about it as a foreigner living in Phnom Penh. It was liked by the thousands and shared by the tens-of-thousands. People even copied and pasted my words to appear under their names. It was shared by very important people too, by Cambodia s former Minister of Information, by the former editor-in-chief…
I usually try to stay out of international politics. Not because I don’t care, but because there are always more sides to a story than any one person can fully grasp. Still, I feel compelled to speak up now. Not to preach, not to claim absolute truth, but to start a conversation and share what I see happening between Thailand and Cambodia. The two countries have a long history of border disputes,…
I believe good writing should transport you. Whether I’m translating, editing, or telling a story, I aim to bring you closer to the heart of the subject. This poem is my love letter to Cambodia, and perhaps the best way to understand how I work: attentive, layered, and transformative. Fragments Between the stone faces of Bayon and the silent fields where bones still whisper, a country emerges from…
The Bland Truth: A Critique of Portuguese Cuisine Portuguese don t really appreciate critique. Especially not from a foreigner! So here you go, their responses on various social media and my replies. “You clearly don’t understand Portuguese food.” It won t go on about the reasoning for this question, which will equally be countered if you have an opinion on politics, or even football. On the…
I wrote an unsalted opinion on my experiences with the Portuguese kitchen, The Bland Truth: My Critique of the Portuguese Kitchen and was published in the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant on February 28 and in the Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias on March 3, 2025. Below is the English version of this article: The Bland Truth: My Critique of the Portuguese Kitchen Portuguese food is great —…
My 6 months in Sri Lanka has drawn to a close, marking a remarkable escape from the Portuguese winter and a whirlwind of unforgettable experiences in the humid hot tropics. Tomorrow I will board various planes and head back to Almada, Portugal. From cozy guesthouses and lively hostel dorms to luxurious villas, this recent journey led me from the helm of a kitchen as head chef to managing various…