Busy for the holidays

It has been a crazy busy week.   It seem there is a lot to update about!

• Kris has 3 days left at work in Lexington!!  I could not be more excited that he is leaving Kentucky.  While there were some good times in Lexington, and there are still some very good friends there, it is time to move on.  And I’m glad that Kris is almost finished.  Kris is in the midst of packing up, so prayers for him please.  He’ll leave Lexington and head to Atlanta for the month of December.  We’ll be together for Christmas in Florida, then back to Seattle together!!  I am SO ready to live in the same city as my man!
• My little brother is visiting this week!  We’re having a good time goofing around, catching up and exploring Seattle.  Pictures to follow.
• Life at Mary’s Place is BUSY.  My director warned us that until December 26th, it is just going to be busy and chaotic.  And she was right. Our numbers are up, and tensions are high.  It is a hard time of year for most of the women.  They are seperated from their families and that’s especially hard this time of year.  It’s COLD outside, and WET, and that only adds to the frustration.  We are doing all we can to not only keep the peace, but to provide times of warmth and love for the women as well.
• One of these instances was on Saturday, for our Annual Thanksgiving Celebration!  We held our celebration at a church up the street, in order to have a little more room.  They have a beautiful chapel where we held our hour long hymn sing with a full band!, and our service.  Our Thanksgiving meal was held in their gym.  The tables were bright and colorful.  The food was amazing.  The volunteers were numerous and incredibly helpful!  We had about 65 volunteers – there were 6 year old boys and 70 year old women there to volunteer their time and share their hearts with the women.  We had about 110 women and children attend the lunch, which we considered a GREAT turnout!  I loved seeing the volunteers hugging the women and calling them by name at the end of the day.  What a beautiful day.
• I also have some potentially wonderful news to share about Mary’s Place, but that will have to wait till after 2:30pm today.
• I’m the turkey lady this year.  Two turkeys in one week.  One I made for the Mary’s Place celebration.  The 2nd I am making on Thursday for our celebration.  I’m gonna be turkey-ed out.  Nah, there’s no such thing!
• Wedding planning is going well!   We are down into the details, which is a little tedious, but a lot of fun!  I just really can’t wait for June 12th!!  It’s gonna be awesome!

That’s all for now folks.

A Photo Meme

I’m not trying to avoid writing about all the things I’ve promised (i.e. readjustment, traveling, the impending move), but Heather tagged me, and I just couldn’t help myself!

1. Choose the 4th folder where you store pictures on the computer.

2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag 4 people to do the same.

5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)

Now, first off, I have to admit that, I cheated.  (Don’t hate me!)  But the 4th picture  was a picture of my sister in her wedding dress.  A lot of my family reads this blog, and I couldn’t risk Scott (her fiance) coming across the picture.  Suffice it to say, she’s beautiful.  But I just can’t share that right now.  Ask me again after March 21st.

So, this picture is what came up next.  This was taken at our Midterms (debriefing) time in Atlanta with the rest of my Mission Intern class.  In the picture are Brittany (in the grey) and Alycia (in the red).  Brittany is a fellow MI and was placed in South Africa, and is heading to New York City!  Alycia is our fabulous MIRYAP (Missionary in Residence for Young Adult Programs).  Basically, the woman who gets things done for us.  A director of sorts.  The place we were staying in Atlanta had a great big kitchen, and each night we took turns cooking dinner for the group.  Brittany and Alycia are pictured here helping Kerr and David out on their night, by rolling falafels (which were SO yummy!!)

And I tag…..Valerie, David, Squatbean and Margaret

A #8

A signal 8 typhoon has landed on Hong Kong, sent me home early from work.  I am hoping that it will bring minimal damage, cooler weather and the chance to sleep-in in the morning!

I haven’t forgotten you!

I’ve just been away for the week!!  I spent 5 incredibly stretching and beautiful days in Mainland China!!  I have SO much to post about my trip (and too many pictures to share), but right now its 2am, and I have to be back at work in 6 hours, so I’m going to bed.  Just wanted to let you know I’m here, and will be posting again soon.

Argh

WordPress hates me.  I beginning to think the feeling is mutual……

I love celebrating!!

Happy Birthday Valerie!!  The foster mom to my pup; college roommate of 4 years; best friend of 8 years; constant listener; patient teacher of all things that bake, sizzle, cook and marinate; great road-trip/travel buddy (remember Peter and Fred?); walking jukebox with amazing taste and range; keeper of knowledge of all things random.

Val – you’ve been an amazing and constant friend throughout the years!  I hope you have a wonderful birthday!!

A post all her own!

Happy Birthday Stephanie!!  To the wonderful friend who has: introduced me to the likes of Patty Griffin and Sandra McCracken; baked me scones, cakes, cookies and made homemade meals to make me feel loved and welcomed; faithfully listened to me talk/whine/exclaim about a myriad of topics from boys to religion to school to music to work; taught me that a good long walk can solve just about any problem; provided me a home for the summer and a sense of home on her couch every time I pass through town; and has taught me more about life, love and God than I learned in church or school.

Happy birthday Stephanie.  I hope those around you today celebrate you all day long!  Love you!

How I celebrated Tuen Ng

Have I mentioned that one of the things Hong Kong does really well is holidays?  There are 12 statutory or public holidays throughout the year, though there are something like 23 celebrated holidays. (In Hong Kong, celebrated holidays warrant fireworks, festivals and/or parades.) Today was the Tuen Ng Festival, also known as the Dragon Boat Festival.  Apparently they race some boats with dragons on them, some guy beats a drum, and everyone cheers for a boat.  Or something like that. 

I chose to forgo standing in the masses of people, and to sleep in today – a rarity for me that I always enjoy.  When I woke up this morning, er, afternoon, I was beyond surprised and excited to find that it was sunny!!  We are full force in the rainy season here.  Sunday was the first day it hadn’t rained in 17 days.  17 straight days of rain.  Ridiculous.  And even though it didn’t rain yesterday, it was overcast and threatening all day.  So to wake up to sunshine this morning was a complete thrill.

I called up my friends Kate and Joe and we planned to meet out in their area, out in the New Territories in Sai Kung, for a short hike and an afternoon at the beach.  The hike wasn’t to strenuous, just muddy.  There were some incredible views of Sai Kung Bay and the three of us couldn’t get over the fact that there was sun.  Butterflies galore joined us on the hike.  Kate informed us that butterflies only come out when the air is clear.  After 17 ridiculous days of rain, the air was certainly clear.  And warm.  We have been feeling the draining effects of humidity for months now, but today was among the first of many warm days.  It felt great to be out enjoying it all. 

When we finally crest the last hill and descended down towards the beach, we were met with the overwhelming smell of ketchup.  As we walked onto the beach we joined Filipina groups enjoying a rare day off in addition to their regular rest day, old men grilling chicken wings and burgers, children flapping their floatie clad arms in glee, and teenagers blaring their radios.  Hong Kong boasts an absurd number of men in speedos.  They really take away from the beach scenery.  Which, aside from the scantily clothed Asian men, is breath-taking.  A beach surrounded by green mountains.  Beautiful.  That is, until you step up to the water and see that it is yellow.  Junk boats roaring beyond the shark-safety net emit tons of exhaust directly into the water with every trip to and from the harbour carrying the beach passengers.  We chose not to swim, but did cool our feet off for a little while in the water.  Then we laid out our blankets and sarongs and enjoyed the wine, bread and cheeses Joe had packed away for our beach adventure.  Our little dixie cups dug snugly in the sand to keep from tipping, we each turned to our respective books; Linguistic history for Joe, Stephen King for Kate and Nature Conservation for me.  It was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon. 

Trying to beat the setting sun, we packed up our belongings and went back the way we came, finding ourselves in the town square of Sai Kung for a wonderful dinner.  Our salads were incredible and hit the spot; fresh cucumbers, avocado, tender chicken, egg, spinach leaves, cherry tomatoes (which I picked out and piled on Joe’s plate) and a tasty, but not too heavy, honey-mustard-balsamic dressing.  The water they served was among the best I’ve ever tasted, with hints of mint, lemon and strawberries.  So refreshing.  After dinner we walked along the harbour looking for ice cream, which ironically could only be found in the 7-11. 

I didn’t see any dragons.  Or hear any drums.  Or cheer for a boat.  But I am am definitely a big fan of the Tuen Ng Festival holiday!!

 <— Sai Kung Harbour view along the hike

 <—- Trio Beach (please notice the little girl along the shore really excited about something)

Press Release

“Now we will speak for ourselves”
Grassroots migrants set to launch global formation in June

“For many years, many have spoken on our behalf. This time, we will speak for ourselves.”

This was declared by Eni Lestari, spokesperson of the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB-HK) as migrant workers in Hong Kong and in other countries gear up for the founding assembly of the International Migrants Alliance or IMA on June 15 and 16 in Hong Kong. Lestari is one of the lead convener’s of the IMA representing the Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers (ATKI) in Hong Kong.

Already 121 individuals from 97 organizations and 24 countries have confirmed their participation in this historic event.

Other conveners of IMA include the Turkish group called ATIK-Europe; Migrante-Canada, Migrante-Europe; Migrante International in the Philippines; May 1st Coalition for Immigrant Rights-USA; PhillForum-USA; and TENAGANITA  Malaysia.

Lestari relayed that the presence of a vibrant movement of migrant workers in Hong Kong played part in the decision to hold the IMA assembly in the said territory.

“Successful campaigns were launched by migrant workers in Hong Kong and the migrant movement here is considered as one of the biggest and most active in the world. Hong Kong is one of the focal points when it comes to the gravity of the migrants’ situation and migrants’ resistance,” she added.

There are about 250,000 migrant workers in Hong Kong and almost 90% of them are women working as domestic workers.

The upcoming assembly will be hosted by migrant organizations under the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB-HK) as well as some NGOs in Hong Kong including the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM), the Mission for Migrant Workers or MFMW and the Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge (BHMWR).

Meanwhile, Teresa Gutierrez of the May 1st Coalition in the USA relayed that the IMA was conceptualized due to the perceived need of creating a formation in the world that can represent people living and working in countries other than their home ones and create a common platform for them.

“To date, there are around 200 million migrant workers present almost every country in the world. They came mostly from countries beset with economic and political problems and they work in countries that are relatively well-developed. Despite the different countries of origin or sectors where they can be found, the common concerns on their situation in the host countries as well as with issues related to why they are forced to migrate exist,” she added.

Sixty per cent of the world’s migrants are to be found in developed regions. Most of the world’s migrants reside in Europe (64 million), Asia (53 million) and Northern America (44 million). Almost one of every 10 persons living in the more developed regions is a migrant.

Connie Bragas-Regalado of Migrante International in the Philippines mentioned that among the topics up for discussion in the founding assembly include issues on wage, remittance, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) Mode 4, the war on terror and its impacts to migrant workers, on undocumented migrants, on women and violence, health and HIV/AIDS and other far-reaching social costs of forced migration.

Renowned advocate for the rights of migrants and Right Livelihood Award recipient Dr. Irene Fernandez shall keynote the event.

Regalado said that some of the upcoming programs of the IMA as soon as it is established is on the coming second Global Forum on Migration and Development to be hosted by the Philippine government in October as well as the advancement for the recognition of domestic work as work and thus entitled to the rights of workers indicated in various international conventions.

“The GFMD is a clear example of how governments talk about migrants and migration without taking into serious account the sentiments of the workers themselves,” she added.
 
Regalado reported that participating organizations in the IMA are also making preparations to confront the coming GFMD in Manila. She said that they will make sure that the GFMD in Manila shall not only hear those speaking for migrants but the sentiments of the migrants themselves.

“The time for the grassroots migrants, immigrants, refugees and other displaced people has arrived. The IMA shall make sure that their voices will never be discounted again,” Regalado concluded

Bloggers Untie?

No, Bloggers Unite – only, its after midnight here and I can barely see the screen I am so exhausted. So unite and untie look remarkably similar.  So, I want to unite, I really really do.  And I will.  But until then, is it ok to just reference some of my previous posts??