I had been enjoying both iOS apps Dwell and Abide for the way they integrated with my spiritual practice, but it’s disheartening to find out they both skipped the trial and billed me €40+.

All the teachers around me are slowly getting nervous anticipating the start of the new school year. Anja’s taking her anger out on the pottery wheel. I can smell the freshly-sharpened pencils from here. Or perhaps it’s just the August rain, wrinkling the foreheads of sun lovers, creating warm puddles on the pavement, telling us it went by in a blink.

• The first week back at work is fairly quiet, I even found myself on the verge of boredom at one point. Organically, this makes me feel bad, but I remind myself that weeks before and after holidays tend to have this effect on my life. I tell myself I’m just landing.
• No one can convince me the municipality of Amsterdam isn’t using major …

After two weeks in Scandinavia, it’s clear: we are both too Dutch for proper recycling. Secretly hoarding our trash to avoid a reprimanding from our AirBnb host as he hovers over his six-compartment recycling bin, we continue our trip from rural Sweden to Copenhagen looking for a public recycling station.

“Imagine if we got so nervous …

Whenever I listen to PJ Harvey, I get the sense her songs best reflect the personal life of Juliette Lewis.