It’s been over a year since I moved from Kosovo to Portugal, from the very east to the most western part of the continent. I had little to no knowledge about this beautiful country; besides, it has a lot of sunny days, and I knew Cristiano Rolando was from here. …

The average person complains between 15 and 30 times a day. In minutes, we may spend up to 15 minutes of our day complaining about things happening to us. Some complaints are short but frequent, and some can take up a whole conversation. That is exhausting. Though complaining is normal…

I used to hear this a lot as a kid from my grandfather. My son, wherever you go, build a house. It didn’t make sense to me. I mean, as a kid, many things don’t make sense to you, but some haunt you. Intuitively I wanted to understand how I can build houses wherever I go. So I asked, grandpa, what do you mean wherever you go build a house? …

Spring will come. This time a little later. But it will come, I promise. Trees and flowers will flourish. The nights will be shorter. The silence will feel lighter. We will sleep better… Springs always come. But weirdly, never the same. To remind us of revival. Something new, fresh. Something lively. This spring appears a bit more special. Reminding us of one another. And not just the flowers. Or sunny days.

It was a month before Christmas. I had gone home for a weekend and just woke up on a Saturday afternoon. In the living room, my sister in law was helping my nephew with his homework — they were drawing something for Albanian Independence Day. Noel is 6 and had…