i was inspired


underrated:
grandparents
singing in the shower
taste buds
thumbs
sex education


overrated:
logic
shaving
fashion
professionalism
text messaging


yours?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Seriously,

if you want to get things done,

go to a three hour meeting,

in a another language....


wrote a blog about food
check

wrote a list of suggestions for the next intern in HK
check

made a list of things to buy like deodorant
check

created a program for next years youth group called 'love actually'
check

went over some hebrew vocab i studied last night
check

created my activities for ethnic minority youth for the rest of the summer
check

laughed at my dream of flying on a broomstick with harry potter last night
check

decided what movies to rent from the library
check

chewed some gum
check

i'm sure you all care...

i, pictures

i wash all my food in the sink with bottled water




i ride the subway everywhere




i appreciate that hong kongers dont use dryers (this is 30 stories up)




i try to add healthy to my microwaveable meals



i couldn't believe when a girl puked all over the bus that the driver took a bucket, splashed water all around our feet (thinking it would get rid of the barf?) and just moved the throw up all around the bus



i like to pet animals. did you know that?



i'm glad hk is trying to be 'eco-friendly'



i eat curry for lunch almost every weekday. this all costs less than $4



i play squash now, it's quite enjoyable. i think i had just been hit in the head.

her in all her glory

Many years ago I began reading a book titled, "Life Together". It was written by a man who was imprisoned and eventually killed for his fight against Nazi's in Germany. One may never know of his background however, because he decided to write about things beyond himself. He was hung weeks before the wars end. His name was Dietrich Bonhoeffer.


He was a great Christian thinker and produced many books that are challenging and encouraging today. So challenging that I never finished his book, as my view and experience of "life together" with other Christians seemed like such a far cry from what he wrote about.


He wrote things like,
“Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ”
“believers are privileged to live in visible fellowship with other Christians”
"the physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.”


Some of the best friends I have are a result of living in community but some of the most scaring and challenging times in my life are as well. Living in community has meant two things to me the past couple years. One is the actual church in which I attend and give much of my time to and the other is living within the same household or at least nearby and truly sharing life together. These two have been seperate in my life as well.


The church is a place of great brokenness and great triumph. I have been disappointed and rejuvenated, hurt and helped, saddened and enlightened and thank God for my husbands job, because He knows how quickly I would just quit.


But I am in no place to put the church in my own little box like I have for years. I've been seeing the negative, the brokenness, and the weak in church and have wanted to create it in my perfect image. I don't accept her for who she is. I want her to treat me with respect and lovingkindness but when I don't find that, I give up.


Tonight, I have finally realized what Bonhoeffer was talking about. The quote, 'you don't realize what your missing until its gone' comes to mind. I don't have the church in Hong Kong because she is hard to find, and I truly miss her, even with all her brokenness. I'd take a punch in the gut every once in a while just to have the grace and love that also comes with her.


I met with other Christians from around the world tonight and I can't explain the impact it had just being in the presence of people who confessed Jesus is Lord. It was only then that Bonhoeffers words made sense about 'source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer'. Before tonight I took advantage of the church and used her for my own gain.


Again, things come full circle...It seems to me that when you believe in a God that transforms and redeems, things always come full circle.


The first thing I learned in Hebrew. Now I know why.

Psalm 133:1
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!
שִׁ֥יר הַֽמַּעֲלֹ֗ות לְדָ֫וִ֥ד הִנֵּ֣ה מַה־טֹּ֭וב וּמַה־נָּעִ֑ים שֶׁ֖בֶת אַחִ֣ים גַּם־יָֽחַד׃

stories untold

I think I am beginning to adjust. It took me longer than expected, I believe due to the fact that I was here with a group of students in Hong Kong, traveled to China, and then came back alone. Life changed drastically as I was not staying in a fancy hotel nor was I able to rely on anyone else really. I miss my social worky friends...

victory at the great wall!

I wasn't (and still am not) sure how I can process such events as traveling abroad. I thought I would be able to blog about the incredible sights I see, the people I meet and maybe give a picture or two of poverty and struggle, but honestly when you're over here, the surprising struggle oneself experiences is enough to discuss. The only problem is that I am not sure what to discuss. All I know is that its been a struggle.

A struggle that picks you up in one place lonely, deserted and drops you off at another stronger, braver.
A struggle that sometimes makes you think that Jesus is standing right in front of you whispering 'keep going, i'm here when you fall'.
A struggle that you think may kill you when your in it, but when its over you think, ah it wasn't that bad.
A struggle that you may never be able to verbalize because words can't do justice.
A struggle that makes you want to tell all your friends what a gift they are...



Us humans are funny ya know?
Sometimes I'm thinking, I'll never travel abroad again, and other times I think, how in the world will I go back home?
Walking contradiction I say. My life's motto.




Work
I want to explain my job because I feel as if I have left much of what I am doing here up in the air. Perhaps?

I am working at an agency that services many different populations in Hong Kong. Think Catholic Charities, without all the money. They work with refugees, elderly, immigrants, ethinic minorities, children, and the likes. My job is to work with the ethnic minority youth.

Today actually was our first event. It was brilliant really. I did not however, come up with it. We took them on a "city hunt" (think Amazing Race) around Hong Kong to find opportunities for further education and work.

Ethnic minorities have fairly difficult lives in Hong Kong for several reasons. Simply put, they have major language barriers as they speak only their native tongue and english. They do not have ESL here in Hong Kong, therefore they are not forced in school to learn Cantonese. This is a very negative thing because to join the work force in Hong Kong one must speak both Cantonese and English. Social workers are pushing and have been for years to get policies that would change the way Hong Kong educates ethinic minorities. Also, there is discrimmination against the ethinic minorities because of their differences in culture. Thats another story though.

But today was great. I have been working 12 hour days this week to prepare for the event and out of the 100 people I called, 9 showed up! And this, I was very happy with. The youth were engaged for the entire activity and seemed as if they want to come back for more!

one our way to get the youth

One other thing I have been doing throughout the week is tutoring and playing with ethnic minority children. Here is an example of an interaction.

Me: Yes I will teach you how to country and western dance.
EM: really? I can't wait! okay, tomorrow I come get you from you office.

One Day later a EM walks into the office.
EM: Can Jennefer come out to play with us?
Me: I'm busy girls come back later on.

Ten minutes later.
EM: Can Jennefer come out to play?
Me: Tomorrow

Tomorrow's here.
Staff at our agency: The girls told me yesterday that you are there new dance teacher and that they will be performing for us at the end of the summer a dance from 'High School Musical'
Me: hahahahah
EM: but you promised....

all the summer interns (all different fields). the office is the size of my living room and holds about 17 staff!

This week has been great and incredibly busy. I think I am beginning to learn to process...

meet me

If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness and fears.

Cesare Pavese

a normal day in panorama

i get up and go to work
anyone notice i don't have sheets?

i walk past all the dorms

i walk along a path and gaze at the mountains....





i walk to the subway station





and i arrive at the purple building called work

disABLEd

My roommate the first week in Hong Kong rides a scooter. She is an all-star with an attitude of a saint. In Hong Kong, they do not have Americans with Disabilities Act, therefore the first day out on the town was quite the adventure. You see in HK you take the subway or train everywhere. Perhaps you get on a bus every now and then, but for the purposes of our visit the first week, we did not use buses.

When we got to the platform of a subway train, after going on about 9 lifts (elevators), we were 20 minutes behind everyone else and without a tool to get her on the train. There is about a 8 inch gap between the train and the platform and she was not about to be a daredevil.

Of course we died laughing, because humor we found is the best way to deal with these kind of situations, and it was just so ironic that we had worked so hard to get to that point and had not even considered how she was going to get on the train or that there would even be a gap. We walked around for a while to find someone to help us and 10 minutes and two trains later, we were on!







I could go on and on about what people with disabilities struggle with daily but instead I ask you to go rent a wheelchair, grab some friends, and take the ride of your life. You won't regret it! You could even make it a scavengar hunt.
Ex: How many people have we caught staring in the last 3 minutes?
How many bumps have I gone over since I got in?
Does my bum hurt?
Will someone pick me up if I try to hitchhike?

One Child Policy

If you have been to Beijing or Shanghai, you get it. Being from Houston where I thought traffic was at its worst and people were in close proximity, I have now found that Houston has met its match. And then got whipped...

In '79 China's leader decided to make a huge decision for the born and unborn. They created a policy in which families could only have one child. The rules within the policy have changed over time and I am unclear as to whether it effected every single family back in '79. Today, it effects roughly 30% of China's population. They allow minorities, rural, and other small cultures to have more than one. The minorities need growth and the rural need growth and laborers as well.

The implications of this policy are monumental. You hear about babies needing to be adopted in China and you hear little tidbits about the population growth, but until you see the amount of people and hear the stories of life in China from a local, I'm not sure it sinks in. Our guide told stories of what they use to do back in the old day. She said, "yah, back in old day, we drown our baby girls. because you know, we want boy. hahaha. we don't do that anymore. no. we don't do that now. well, some people may, but mostly we just get abortions. yah, sad right? but we want boys." Before, insurance would even cover your abortion and if your employer found out you had another baby, you would be fired most likely.

So why are there now 18 million bachelors that are not married in China and girls still fill up the orphanages?

Because families want boys who will carry on the family name, provide better labor to the family, and take better care of the parents when they are old.

Now, China has a major problem on its hand and to be honest, I am not sure China realizes that. Maybe they do, but China keeps to China, if you know what I mean...

Today, I don't think insurance covers abortion and people have a mindset of having one baby. If you want to have two however, you must pay a large fee and everything that comes with having a baby. Education, medical, and all the likes. The government is not responsible for that child, in other words.

Orphanages are overloaded, men are without wives, the population is incredibly unbalanced, and grandchildren have huge responsibilities now on their shoulders because China does not have a great social security system. What ever will China do?

pakistani loves

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about."

pakistani's come because they seek refuge
because they have family here
because there's more opportunity
because they are possibly fleeing war, famine, violence, etc.
because there's better education
these kids know 3 languages and struggle more than i'll ever know. they are all out of school because of the swine flu. i've been having so much fun with them at night because i have been working until 10pm most nights. they are right there with me dancing, laughing, and playing. telling me all about bollywood videos, IM chatting, and everything muslim. i love every second of it. especially the little boy. he is a firecracker.

they gave me permission to show these pictures to my friends.