It has been almost 12 years since I moved away from Belgium. In these years I have met a number of very interesting people, from very different backgrounds and walks of life. Often i wonder whether I would have come across all these life stories if I had stayed in Belgium. I met people from all continents - Kenya, Brasil, Seychelles, Nepal, Australia, China, Japan, Russia, Norway, Japan, Dubai, Indonesia, Argentina, Tunisia, India, Israel, Philippines and may, many more countries. I've crossed path with people whose parents are from completely different countries. I've met someone whose father is Arab and Muslim, and whose mother is Russian and Jewish. I've met a Chinese guy whose mother is from Jamaica and whose father is from the UK. I've met British people who were born in Hong Kong, an Irish guy who was born in Israel and Filipinos born in the USA. I've met a Vietnamese guy who came to Hong Kong as a boat refugee when he was four and spent time in a refugee centre with his family. I've met people who left Hong Kong with their family when they were very young and moved to Australia or Canada because they were unsure of what was going to happen after the handover of Hong Kong to China. I've met a Canadian who lived in rural Japan for a few years. So many people, so many stories. And the best stories come from the people who moved around. Getting out of the country where you were born for a few years does broaden your horizon a lot.

Migraine

Many out there still seem to think that a migraine is a heavy headache and maybe a general not-feeling-well. It is far more than that. As a matter of fact, my migraine attacks are full body experiences and leave me exhausted. Usually for me a migraine will start with a feeling of pressure behind my eyeballs. It appears and quickly gets worse, to a point where it feels like my eyes are being pushed out of their sockets. By then a headache has formed that feels like a a ring of pressure around my head. Whenever I move my head, it feels like my brain is floating and bumping into the inside of my head. It does feel exactly like that - with a slight delay to the actual movement, as if my brain where floating or suspended somehow. Every move also comes with a humming sound, though it is not really a sound but rather a feeling that there is a sound. I can distinguish it from actual sounds I hear but seem to think of it as a sound. Imagine a sort of electric humming that flares up when i move and goes back to a more monotonous hum when I do not move. Sensory input gets magnified while I have a migraine. I get very sensitive to light and sounds, but my skin also gets hypersensitive. My boyfriend's beard touching my hand, for instance, caused me to recoil and the feeling got magnified to a point where it became really uncomfortable. When I brush my hand over the hair on my head it hurts. I try to move as little as possible during a migraine to avoid rubbing against sheets or clothes, and to avoid the humming sound flaring up or the bumping brain feeling. However, my muscles feel like I have been through a triathlon, that burning feeling you get after a thorough workout, and I tend to repeatedly tense the muscles in my leg to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling. Most of the time I spend sleeping, to shut off the sensory input. Doesn't always work, so I end up sleeping for a few hours and then wake up again. Overall it leaves me exhausted and I will be tired until way after the migraine has disappeared. Headache, yes. And then some.