Tessa Ingel

I was born in South Africa, surrounded by multiple languages: English, Sotho, Zulu, Afrikaans, Russian, Portuguese, Greek, and Polish. Mozambique - which lies on the northeastern border of South Africa - was an exotic blend of Portugal and Africa. It was there, at around the age of six, that I was treated to my first taste of Portuguese - a musical language that to me sounded like water skipping over pebbles.
My parents were avid, adventurous, independent travelers. Every year, when manufacturing closed from December to mid-January, they would take off to explore the world. Our devoted grandparents would move in, and we would all wait impatiently for the postcards to arrive.