Vanessa Brown
Bio
Writer, teacher, and current digital nomad. I have lived in seven countries around the world, five of them with a cat. At forty-nine, my life has become a series of visas whilst trying to find a place to settle and grow roots again.
Stories (56)
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Leaving Africa Made Me Realize How Lucky I Am To Be African
Out of nowhere, the tears began to flow. They took me by surprise. "Bye Dad," I whispered as I fixed my eyes on the Helderberg Mountains. I began sobbing quietly as the plane shifted and the Hottentots-Holland Range came into view. We had scattered my father's ashes there months prior. His soul was now at rest in the mountains that made him so happy for two decades.
By Vanessa Brown11 months ago in Wander
The Ferocity of a Father's Love: Protection From Above
As I pen this piece, I am in Perth, Western Australia. This city was my home for ten incredible years but I have been gone for seven now. I had to return to get what was left of my belongings out of storage — a friend’s shed in Perth’s Hills.
By Vanessa Brown11 months ago in Psyche
The Different Faces of Fall: Autumn Around the World
I have always loved autumn. Growing up in the mid-east region of South Africa, the humidity was brutal. Walls and tiled floors “sweated” as the oppressive moisture settled all around us. As autumn set in, the condensation lessened and the clammy feeling that enveloped our bodies eased.
By Vanessa Brown12 months ago in Wander
The Clampetts Go To Canada
In 1962, the CBS network debuted a TV show called The Beverly Hillbillies. The show’s premise was that Jed Clampett, a poor backwoodsman from the Ozark region in Missouri, struck oil on his land and became rich overnight. On the advice of his kinfolk, he moved his mother-in-law, daughter, and cousin’s son to Beverly Hills, California.
By Vanessa Brownabout a year ago in Wander
The House That Assaulted All Five Senses
The house assaulted the senses like a tidal wave. It was March 2023 and I needed a place to stay for three months as I ducked out of Canada to renew my visa. I’d met Skye (not her real name) while I’d been holed up in Cancún a couple of years prior during the global pandemic, and we’d established a friendship. On hearing of my desired return to the Riviera Maya, she offered a room in her four-bedroom home for a really good price.
By Vanessa Brownabout a year ago in Wander
Finding a Little Solace in a Coastal Village in Costa Rica
I was in San José, Costa Rica, having arrived a month before to look for work as an English teacher. I'd made the shortlist and been on an interview for one language school, but things were not progressing as quickly as I'd hoped. On top of that, I was missing home and needed a break from the incessant job searching.
By Vanessa Brownabout a year ago in Wander
