This talk reflects on the experience of working and making in a country that is not one’s own. During his residency in Philadelphia, he navigated unfamiliar systems, spaces, and rhythms—learning how place reshapes process. Making by hand became a way to slow down, observe, and connect, both with materials and with people. Through a series of built objects and daily workshop encounters, he began to understand how curiosity, labor, and storytelling shift when one is outside their cultural and geographic comfort zone. The talk explores adaptation, creative humility, and how making can become a tool for listening, learning, and finding footing in a new environment.