The August Issue

brb slipping away into a moment in time

Aug 17, 2023

Happy Venus Day (from the future) and Happy New Moon (still),

“Hell was the journey but it brought me heaven” (Swift, 2020). No truer words can describe my housing journey in Switzerland. Thank you all for listening to me complain over the last three months. We are ALL relieved that my days of unstable housing are over. Let’s run some numbers, shall we?

55 days between my arrival & signing my rental contract
6 Airbnb moves
166 housing inquiries
38 apartment viewings
16 applications
2 housing offers
1 perfect apartment!!!!! with 2.0 rooms, 4 keys (for some reason), 1 balcony, 1 full bath (with tub), 3 missing light fixtures (the Swiss special), 2 tram lines, and a 16 minute commute to work.

Map of apartment inquiries (Ramadan, 2023)

I actually can’t tell you how happy I am with my space. It is all ready for visitors. I’ll even sleep on the couch! First person to stay with me gets a special prize (my adoration).

In The Summer of Barbie

Last month I overshared a bit about growing up in the time of Taylor Swift and my nostalgic journey turning 30. I’ve been sitting with this reverence for girlhood lately. I think there was a collective shift fueled by tiktok and the pandemic that had us romanticizing the female experience. In a time where Taylor Swift is boosting the U.S. economy and Greta Gerwig’s success is eclipsing Christopher Nolan's, being a Girls’ Girl is a triumphant experience. And I hate to say it, but if Ariana Grande falls from grace, now is the time. Personally, I am leaning into this collective energy by giving my new apartment a pink theme and healing my inner child/tween/teenager in the process.

On synchronicities

I had a really beautiful moment in this field of Queen Anne’s lace a few weeks ago. I went on a little hike up Käferberg and was listening to this podcast about friendship. I got really emotional when I got to this field because I consider Queen Anne’s lace to be one of my ~ancestral plants~ (along with rosemary). I was first drawn to it during one of our family reunion trips in Pennsylvania. My aunt later told me that my grandma Tutu would send them out when they were kids to pick bunches for bouquets (probably not a core memory for my dad). Now anytime I come across it, it’s one of those synchronicities that reminds me of Tutu. Queen Anne’s lace is actually a wild type of domesticated carrot, but grows like beautiful weeds on the sides of roadways. It also resembles deadly poison hemlock. One of its distinguishing features is a tiny reddish purple center of the flower, representing “a droplet of blood where Queen Anne pricked herself with a needle when she was making the lace.” About a week before this little frolicking session, my sister relayed a psychic message to me which she received from Tutu (as she does) that she would be sticking around in spirit until we were okay. Mind you, a few days later I received my rental contract. I’m telling you this because you’re near and dear to me and you know I’m a woo girl myself. I think the universe is always sending us messages, but it’s up to us whether we listen or not.

Venus Think Piece

We’re halfway through this summer’s Venus retrograde cycle in Leo, which occurs in the same sign every 8 years. The last time she had a retrograde in Leo was the summer of 2015. Dear readers, what were you up to at that time? Because, personally, I was beginning a new chapter of my life with a new job and a new apartment in a new city, where I felt like a Real Adult for the first time. So I wouldn’t be totally shocked if I end up in a new city with a new job in 2031 as well.

I have been having a lot of transits to my natal Venus (in my 10th house of career) this year, as well. This has obviously correlated with some career shifts, but it has also highlighted my public persona. I was recently asked to contribute to an alumni feature of our college’s graduates working abroad and in global health. It was a nice opportunity to reflect on my journey and values that led me here, and I felt proud to be selected for the piece. I also had a kind and ambitious grad student reach out to me on LinkedIn this week about my experience landing a job abroad and asked me for advice on her own career trajectory.

All the while, I am finally getting to show off my public health preparedness skills at work. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been planning our team’s version of an after action review and next week I will try my hand at facilitation and will be writing an accompanying final report on our findings. Perhaps I was working within the incident command structure for too long, but the freedom and creativity in this job is still surprising to me.