Ann-ecdotes

Lausanne Congress - Day 1

2010-11-10T10:55:00.002-05:00

Here's a vid of the congress from the first day, behind the scenes and shots of the beautiful city of Cape Town!

The Cape Town International Convention Centre is an amazing facility and the staff were absolutely amazing! They were really on point on everything that we asked of them. The video production booth in the marshaling yard was used in the recent FIFA World Cup and was just sitting around doing nothing, so we got a nice upgrade for the congress!

Lausanne congress - day 1 / general Cape Town from David Stewart.

Enjoy!

Worship at CT2010 and Jody Cross

2010-11-10T10:46:00.006-05:00

Here's a great snapshot of the wonderful worship at Cape Town 2010 through the narration & perspective of Jody Cross. A fellow Canuck and Arrow Leadership grad! Yay Jody!

Lausanne III, CapeTown2010 with Jody Cross from David Stewart.

Guess who asked me to join the worship team for Missionsfest Toronto in April this year?!

Ann-ecdotes Goes Live from Cape Town!

2010-11-08T15:51:00.006-05:00

Hey all,

It's been a long, long while and so much has happened. So much has been rolling around in my head that I feel the need to blog again. Sorry about the radio silence, life has been good but overwhelming in recent months.

The password is the number 1.

Lausanne II, CapeTown2010 with Ann Chow from David Stewart.

Cheers!

Feelin' the Love

2010-02-08T00:00:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone, I'm on the web!

Duhhh...of course you are, you blog, right?

Um, I know but I'm also on another website here. Yes, it's my church website, but it's cool nonetheless. Thanks to Lisa, the title is WAY cooler than any that I would've dreamed of. :)

My car has been on the fritz, so I've become way more familiar with TTC [Toronto Transit Commission] these days. This also means I'm a bit slow on the uptake. I asked the streetcar driver why there were "Sundays Only" stops. He said they're in front of churches in order to make it easier for the elderly people to use. Oooooohhhh, of course!

A couple of cool interactions this weekend with complete strangers. This guy walked up to my house selling his music CDs. I found it so unusual that I bought one! His name is Sid Akowuah and the CD is titled, "Thank You: After 5 Years of Door-to-Door." It was such a great interaction and the music is pretty sweet too, go check out his website.

I was in Chinatown yesterday getting some veggies and ran into a mother and daughter combo who asked for streetcar directions. They looked a tad lost, so I asked them where they wanted to go. They wanted to go to Little India, to a restaurant at the top of my street. After sucking in some air, I offered them a ride since my car was just around the corner. They agreed! I found out that the little girl loves riding in a car and we chatted happily the entire way there. It was so fun getting to know them a bit and was glad I had a newly fixed car with which to give them a ride to meet their family for dinner.

The New and the Familiar

2010-01-22T23:04:00.009-05:00

I just got back from Calgary where I was visiting friends and family. It was an incredible time where I was constantly amazed at the new things I experienced and yet loved how familiar it was to return to where I grew up. I left Calgary 15 years ago, it's hard to believe!

As I came down the escalator at the airport, I was welcomed by an old friend and her 5 week old baby girl. I instantly recognized her in the crowd with the same bright blue eyes and the biggest smile that could always spark a grin in return. It was good to be back, it was the beginning of a trip that contrasted the new and the familiar.

I'm glad I decided to postpone visiting for Christmas until January - I found out that a Regent College friend of mine was going to be in Calgary interviewing for a teaching position at the local seminary and bible college! She just graduated from Cambridge with her PhD in Old Testament studies. I booked my flight to coincide with her interviews. The last time I saw her was at Urbana 06. Before that I was in Oxford for World Assembly meetings, took off to check out Cambridge before we zoomed off for a weekend in Rome together.

Ambrose, the bible college & seminary is affiliated with my old denomination. This is when everything in my world started to collide since the church I grew up in was quite inward focused. So much so, that they held other Christian denominations at a distance, with suspicion. In high school, I once asked why there were other church denominations and what were the theological differences? I pointed out the Anglican church down the street as an example. I was told that "Well, let's just say they're not one of us." End of discussion. No feeding of my spiritual mind that day! I learned years later, during seminary, that during the Holiness movement, some Christians wanted to be so holy, that they distanced themselves from other Christians in order to set themselves apart for a life of purity before God. Hmmm...I thought - that explained my church pretty accurately!

The fact that Ambrose is a collaborative effort on the part of my former denomination and another is a huge step in the right direction, one that gives me hope. A former Regent College colleague of mine has been teaching at Ambrose for awhile now. We grew up in the same church denomination - he stuck it out and I hightailed it outta there after moving away from Calgary. We laughed when I told him my pastor's response to me pursuing my masters in theology at Regent was, "Well Ann, if you hate the _________ church so much, why don't you just leave?!"

The highlight of my trip was definitely seeing friends and family. Yay! I'm convinced my family becomes more and more amazing as time goes by or maybe I just appreciate them more as I get older. We shared Christmas dinner together, postponed until I could join them. I showed them pictures of my trip to China and they were amazed at the stories and pictures of us in my aunt & uncle's living room in the village that have been there for 33 years! The pictures sparked awesome stories and discussions.

I think the trip has brought mom & I closer. We usually go to Chinatown for dim sum on the bus together, which are times that I treasure since she usually opens up about her life & how she grew up. This bus ride didn't disappoint. She recalled some tough circumstances that she went through. I told her that I believe she's a very strong person. Her response was to tell me that we're a lot alike. *Smile*

If it wasn't for my mom setting up my trip to China, it would never have happened. I'm so grateful that my mom has kept in touch with both sides of the family so I could get to know my family more deeply and discover my roots.

Paul Borthwick's Urbana Top 10

2010-01-06T01:21:00.005-05:00

I'm just resurfacing after resting for a few days after Urbana. I plan on writing more in the near future. In the meantime, here's something Paul Borthwick a missiologist that Urbana consults with wrote to keep you entertained. Enjoy!

URBANA 2009 – Borthwick’s Top 10

Upon returning from Inter-Varsity’s Urbana 2009 Student Mission Convention in St. Louis (December 27th - January 1st), I reflected that I thought Urbana 2009 was “one of the best ever” Urbanas that I’ve attended (and I’ve been at 10 since 1973). Immediately the question came back, “Why?”

Objectively, it was not the largest Urbana on record: the 16,000+ attendees this year is still remarkable but I think that Urbana 2000, 2003, and 2006 were all larger.

Urbana 09 was not my most significant public ministry role. Nothing will compare to the awesome privilege of giving the call-to-commitment address at Urbana 2000, and though I taught seminars and participated in the Pastor’s Program in 09, I wasn’t in charge of anything. (My friend Ken Fong [Bible expositor, Urbana 2000] & I wanted to start a group of “Urbana has-beens” but no one cared)

So why one of the best ever? Here are my combined objective-subjective highlights – with a little prioritization.

HIGHLIGHT #10: Convergence. For me personally, God deeply encouraged me by helping me see how the ministry of developing leaders with Development Associates International (DAI) serves the other networks we touch – like Gordon College, Gordon-Conwell Seminary, and Urbana. At Urbana 09, I met at least half-dozen college-age children of our peers and DAI support team. I saw former and future Gordon students who are preparing for overseas service. I interacted with leaders DAI has served or will soon be serving in Nigeria, Bangladesh, India, and more. And I met international leaders who have been DAI trainers or students (or both).

HIGHLIGHT #9: A true kaleidoscope of cultural diversity (Revelation 7:9). We were led in worship by a multi-cultural team who led us into a different cultural “neighborhood” in each session. Speakers and teachers came from around the world – Kenya, Hong Kong, the Middle East, Costa Rica, Rwanda, India, and many, many more. One estimate reported that attendees came from more than 100+ countries.

HIGHLIGHT #8: In Christ Alone at communion. Bringing in the New Year with a 16,000 person communion service is always a highlight, but this year was exceptional. While singing “In Christ Alone,” students around us spontaneously stood and lifted their communion cups towards heaven as they belted out the crescendo: “No power of hell; no scheme of man can ever pluck me from his hand till he returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I stand.” Given the dangerous places God will call these students to, it was a profound moment.

HIGHLIGHT #7: Managing tensions of ministry in the modern world. Greg Jao, a brilliant emcee and primary Urbana host, summarized each session by articulating the tensions of living as salt and light in the world. He noted the complexities related to Kingdom living – the Gospel preached and lived, incarnational ministry in the tough places, and balancing our "this world/next world" motivation. He challenged students to wrestle with the Scriptures as they address these global and local realities. One vivid illustration sticks in my mind: one speaker is a zealous advocate of pacifism, but another ministers to gang members and carries his own gun. No easy answers indeed!

HIGHLIGHT #6: Seriously reflective, passionate students. Any Urbana attendee will tell you that the worship is a highlight at every conference, but this year seemed different. Rather than the emotional response of standing ovations after a challenging message, students seemed quieter and more contemplative – as they pondered the meaning for their own lives. Seminars were filled to over-flowing, even on the last day. As York Moore stated in one of his reports:

Many Inter Varsity staff who have been to Urbanas for decades have said this is the most spiritually hungry group of Urbana students they’ve ever seen. Seminars have been pouring out onto adjacent halls and floors, long lines to get into Bible studies, and students weeping in the main session as speaker after speaker challenged them to live for Christ!

HIGHLIGHT #5: “Live to be forgotten.” Dr. Patrick Fung, International Director of Overseas Missionary Fellowship, told the story of learning of the hundreds of name-less men and women who sacrificed their lives to bring the Gospel to his native China and many other places. Maybe it’s just because I’m 55 and sometimes feeling like a ‘has-been,’ it was a powerful reminder of living with a “Jesus must increase; I must decrease” value system. [For any who have heard the “Make Me a Footnote” sermon on Ananias, it was a loud Amen!]

HIGHLIGHT #4: Connected to history. Maybe it’s just my age again, but I deeply appreciated the intentional commitment to and honouring of those who have gone before us, so that students understood that our contemporary ministry opportunities in the world have often been made possible by others who paid a price. Patrick Fung paid tribute to the sacrifices of Hudson Taylor and the early missionaries to China. Ramez Atallah honored leaders like Rene Padilla and Samuel Escobar for their prophetic call for a holistic Gospel. On decision-day, Dave Howard – who attended the first “Urbana” as a student in 1946 – got front page coverage as he testified to living out the decision he made 63 years ago.

HIGHLIGHT #3: Testimony from Disciple X from Y. I can’t tell you a name nor a location, but I think this testimony – of a family living for Jesus in one of THE most difficult places on earth since the 70’s – was the most profound challenge to long-term obedience that I have ever heard at Urbana.

HIGHLIGHT #2: Jim and Beth Tebbe’s decision. I’ve had the privilege of working with Jim and Beth since he started working with Urbana 2003 as Urbana Director and now V-P of Missions. BUT they provided one of the greatest memories at Urbana 2009 when Jim announced on the call-to-commitment night that they will be leaving Inter-Varsity to go as cross-cultural workers in a very tough place. Jim & Beth are in their later-50’s, but they vividly reminded everyone that openness to God’s call is a lifetime commitment.

HIGHLIGHT #1: Manny. The last time I had a college-age roommate at Urbana, I was 19 years-old myself (Urbana 73). But Manny Arango, a senior at Gordon College, accompanied me this year. It was great to see things from his perspective, to learn from him about the challenges young people face, and to let him interact with people I know. We actually got to talk 1-on-1 with Disciple X as well as with David Howard (and actually hold his [now-laminated] 1946 Decision Card!). It was great to be with a young leader who is gifted, understands brokenness, loves Jesus, and is looking for God’s direction for the “what’s next?” of life.

Gratefully,
Paul Borthwick (January 3, 2010)

www.daintl.org

Trip It

2009-12-04T11:11:00.002-05:00

Some time ago I joined this online tool that tracks your travel, just for kicks called "TripIt."

It also says who of your Twitter friends are closeby to the places where you're going and whether or not your paths will cross.

Here are my stats as of today:

2009
Trips 14
Days 66
Distance 104,532 km
Cities 7
Countries 4

That's a lot of travel this year, and I'm not even finished yet! Another trip to Madison for ops team meetings and then Urbana itself in St. Louis.

David's Laughter

2009-12-01T00:50:00.005-05:00

Do you ever take a step back and look at your life? That's what it felt like every 6 months for the past 2 years with Arrow Leadership. All 24 of us + staff would gather together from across Canada at beautiful Barnabas Retreat Centre on Keat's Island and at an auberge in the Gatineau, Quebec to learn from instructors, leadership partners and each other; pray, eat delicious food and play.

On the first night, they would ask us to give one word that summarized the past 6 months since we last met. It was good to review the last 6 months and remember highlights of what happened during that time. After each meal, 3 people would stand up and have a chance to explain why they chose that word - it was awesome to hear how everyone was doing and what God was doing in them.

Jason Hildebrand, an actor came during the week and acted out the story of King David in the Old Testament. It gave me a chance to take a longer look at my life, remember where I've come from and be grateful to God for his grace in my life. It helped that I went to China in May, to see where I come from and meet my family. My friend J recently mentioned how he sees a vast difference in me from when we first knew each other in university.

At one point in the play, King David has some one-on-one time with God in his throne room. God reviews his entire life in a few sentences and foretells his future, that out of his line will come One who is greater than he and that his kingdom will never end. It's a very powerful moment.

David's reaction? Dead silence, and then he suddenly flops onto his throne and just. cracks. up! He laughs and laughs and laughs, squishing up his eyes and holding his stomach while trying to catch his breath. I mean, this is the same David that wasn't even considered by his own father to be a suitable candidate for the future king of Israel!

It struck me that this is kind of like my life - I wept while remembering the painful moments in my life and shook my head in amazement as I remembered the many incredible experiences I've had and how blessed I am.

2 Samuel 7:8-16. “‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own...I will also give you rest from all your enemies.

“ ‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son... But my love will never be taken away from him,...Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’ ”

All A-Twitter!

2009-11-25T01:20:00.005-05:00

My friend Q & I took off a couple of weekends ago to Montreal for a bit of R&R. It was great fun! We almost didn't go, as we borrowed her uncle's car that needed to pump through some air every time we started it - quite a nerve wracking experience, but Q has the midas touch!

We had a marvelous time chatting away without any huge agenda. My goal was to go shopping and eat yummy food!

We stayed at a hostel for our first evening, and realized that we were the only women in the place. I enjoyed chatting with another hostel traveler at breakfast.

I couldn't believe my eyes - we drove down the streets of Montreal and I saw a head that I recognized....one of the professors that I took a course with in the summer of 2002! I couldn't help it, I asked Q to pull over. I jogged down the street wondering how I was going to introduce myself without scaring the poor guy. It was him! He was there with other Regent College alum at a relgious conference. I introduced myself and he remembered me! He asked what my first name was, and then remembered my last name. This is a professor who inspired me to consider doing a PhD - I thought about moving to St. Andrew's in Scotland just to study under him! I heard he's at Duke now. I kept breaking out in laughter for the rest of the day - from a wee bit of embarassment, and yet pleased that he remembered me. :D

After that completely surreal moment, we were off to Simon's for a bit of retail therapy! I forgot to bring warmer clothes, so was glad for the sweater that I bought.

I gave a GBUC staff a call, and they were having a dessert party for some students at the Université de Montréal that night! It was so much fun meeting students from S. America, Africa, Quebec and Canada. We played a charade-like game in French - I was totally nervous! Eureka, the right words came to me and we only needed one word answers. ;)

We switched from the hostel to the W Montreal the next night - yay! It's apparently a boutique / luxury hotel. My name is on our corporate account for the Sheraton, and they gave me a gift for a free night's hotel stay anywhere in the world. I thought it would be super fun to share it with a friend. It was indeed a very chic hotel, and I felt very sophisticated walking up to the desk. They saw that I have a membership with their hotel and upgraded us to an incredible room with a view. You can pop your ipod into the speaker system in the room and listen to your own tunes! My friend J laughs at the discrepancies in my life.

We had an awesome lunch with her dad and took off for the trip back home. Thanks Q, I'm grateful for good friends to share a wonderful weekend with in Montreal.

Saint Theresa's Prayer

2009-10-28T21:00:00.001-04:00

May today there be peace within.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.

May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be confident knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.

Thanks Sandra!

Bread

2009-10-22T00:41:00.009-04:00

We've been working really long days for Urbana operations planning and some of us (me!) don't get the chance to work in close proximity to the team. Makes things more challenging, to be sure but I'm so grateful for Rob's leadership & solid relationships with everyone on the team. They're really amazing people and some have been working on a number of Urbanas already. Their expertise is really appreciated by the team, and eventually by all 20,000+ people that show up at Urbana on Dec. 27th!

Stemming from a high value in teamwork and team building - we have 'forced fun' evenings together. :) Usually, it's the last evening of our multiple day meetings together where we relax, have dinner and do something fun. It's optional, but everyone makes it a priority to hang out and get to know each other outside of meetings. It's a huge testimony to the dedication of the team, since we usually meet from 9am-9pm each day, some are married, some have kids and we all have a ton of work that means we're pulling really long days to keep up with the demand.

In September, we went to the Cardinal's game - soooo fun! I'm not a huge baseball fan, but it was great to go and chat with everyone while enjoying the city of St. Louis.

This last month we were in Madison and baked bread! I jokingly asked someone what happens when a bunch of operations/logistics people get together to relax? We bake bread! Not just a type of bread, about 8 different types at the same time! It was an logistical feat that went really smoothly thanks to a local team expert who used to be a camp director on Catalina Island just off the coast of L.A. It was a Julia Childs theme and we all learned how to kneed properly. We were pretty kneedy. ;)

I was at the cinnamon rolls station with the Vickster and Rachel. There was also French bread, rolls, a rye bread, scones, muffins, etc, etc. Notice the hairnets?

We played board games (got pretty competitive) & watched Julia Childs videos (including a Saturday Night Live skit) while the breads baked. The smells were fantastic and the feasting was even better!

"Thanks 'Julia!'

P.S. Does anyone else notice that our 'Julia' looks more like Jim Belushi? :)

Life in East Toronto

2009-10-18T23:21:00.003-04:00

I live near Little India and really love it. I had friends over for a dinner party last night - people who only come to East Toronto because of me. ;) They were impressed by the crowds on the street - this is the norm on weekends - 3 generations of South Asian families milling about eating dinner and shopping in the many clothing stores selling colourful & gorgeous saris.

I was at the local grocery store, and passed a newly purchased coconut to it's owners in front of me. The guy holds both coconuts up and smiles, and I say a hearty "YUM!" I turn to look at the lady and ask when dinner's ready.

She turns to me and says to come over anytime!

Really?

Yes! Come over anytime! We're Indian and we like it when friends come over any time!

I immediately thought of yummy coconut filled food and the fact that I was stressing out about making dinner for 12 people that night!

I was about to ask what her address was, when the guy behind us yelled, "excuse me!" as he pushed his cart into our backs.

Side Note: My car called it quits this week, so I've been doing a lot more reading on the TTC & streetcars - I get really ill reading on the bus, but I happily discovered I can still pull it off for the other modes of transportation. Good, since I have a ton of reading to do for Arrow next month.

Despair.com

2009-10-17T00:47:00.014-04:00

I've been a HUGE fan of Despair.com for years and then something happened to make me an even BIGGER fan (you're wondering how it's even possible?!?!).

My friend left staff to move to Austin, TX & join the Despair.com ranks! Booyah!!!

I love Despair.com.

Seriously.

They're hilarious and make me laugh.

I got a call from this friend of mine over a year ago (we both worked on Urbana 96!). I pretty much yelped for joy. :) He's trying to figure out the best company to ship to Canada and called me to be his guinea pig as I'm the only Canadian he knows!

SWEET!

I got to choose the shirt I wanted to receive. It's not on the website right now (?) but it's grey and says;

PLEASE REMAIN CALM ~

it's no use both of us being hysterical at the same time.

I'm just getting used to the 45-60 minute commute by bus to work. Sigh... I got home from a working an extra long day at the office to see a little package propped up on the outside of my back door. My heart did a little leap of joy - UPS really went the extra mile to deliver it to me!

I'm wearing it right now as I type - perfect timing as the fee increase for Urbana 09 is tomorrow.

Yay me!

PS: I just looked at the invoice - their address is 866 Woe-Is-Me 800 Interchange Blvd in Austin!

The Gift that Keeps on Giving!

2009-10-14T23:39:00.002-04:00

Do you remember this post? It's the gift that keeps on giving!

I went to a housewarming a few weeks back of a couple of gals that I know and gave them the button! I think they enjoyed it and passed it around to people so they could have a listen. ;)

The funniest part is the guy's southern accent - it sounds completely self-recorded.

Even the Little Things

2009-10-03T13:41:00.003-04:00

It's been a tough, but good week. It seems that things are coming from all sides (is that because Urbana is around the corner?). Less than 3 months away before all 20,000+ people show up for incredible teaching, worship & communion.

Thursday, I was grabbing dinner before the last Tyndale College class I was helping the professor teach. It's only a 5 week course and it was great! I loved the course, teaching at an undergraduate level, the students were thoughtful, funny and engaging. :)

The professor asked me to point the students to resources to increase their understanding of the community context of their churches. The project was to brainstorm ideas on how to connect with their surrounding communities better, what are the needs, how can they help out practically and spiritually.

Anyway, it had been a hard week & I needed coffee before the 4 hour class! I put out my hand for the change and dropped some in the process, including my bus token. :( I was a bit sad about that, thinking to myself that it was now a pretty expensive coffee! I looked a bit silly, staring at the ground for a long time, to no avail.

I got to the parking lot @ Tyndale where you need to pay $3 for parking. A car drove up and gave me his parking ticket good for the rest of the evening! Cool!

I got home and emptied my bags. My bus token dropped out of the bag and onto the floor of my bedroom.

Coincidence? Karma? No, I definitely sensed God's gentle reminder that he cares even about the little things that impact us.

Korean Cheerleading - Try to Top This!

2009-09-20T21:38:00.001-04:00

I was totally blown away by watching this cheerleading squad from S. Korea.

Enjoy!

A Beautiful Urban Moment

2009-09-15T22:27:00.005-04:00

A beautiful thing happened on Sunday afternoon...

I was munching down on Papa Ceo's pizza right before church (grabbing dinner between worship practice & our 5pm service), sitting on a bench on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in Toronto.

There was a really good looking guy sitting there eating his pizza, with his handsome vespa and trendy helmet sitting beside him. (I was using my peripheral vision, fyi!).

A pretty intoxicated couple walk by and engage him in conversation. They were happily chatting away, when suddenly the pizza-eating cutie pie stands up, dons his accordion and proceeds to play a happy tune!

The drunk guy begins to jig on the street and shake his money maker! ;)

I'm pretty much staring by now and laughing at how incredible the scene was, appreciating my luck to be sitting there at that exact moment to witness an awesome moment of spontaneity and the beauty of living in an urban setting where we can chat & interact in a friendly manner.

It was like it was out of a movie! I loved it and it definitely made my pretty awesome day even awesomer. :)

Poverty in Toronto

2009-09-10T23:19:00.015-04:00

I have the most incredible priviledge, to help my friend teach an evangelism course at Tyndale University College. It's really fun, with mature students and small classes.

They're focusing on a particular place, such as their churches & doing an assignment where they need to figure out their ministry/community evangelism context. I had an hour today to help them figure out the demographics of their neighbourhood.

I found out some interesting stuff, particularly that the rich in Toronto are migrating south towards the downtown core, while the poor are permeating all areas of the city including the suburbs.

The United Way did major research over 20 years in Toronto, from 1981 to 2001. The paper is called, "Poverty by Postal Code: The Geography of Neighbourhood Poverty." Here is an excerpt from the summary, "The increase in the number of higher poverty neighbourhoods has been especially acute in the inner suburbs, in the former municipalities of Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke, York and East York, where their combined total of higher poverty neighbourhoods rose from 15 in 1981, to 92 in 2001.

There has been a substantial rise in the rate of poverty among Toronto’s families over the last two decades, with almost one in every five families in 2001 living in poverty.

This trend toward concentration has resulted in a dramatic rise in the number of higher poverty neighbourhoods in the City of Toronto in the last two decades, approximately doubling every ten years, from 30 in 1981, to 66 in 1991, to 120 in 2001."

Here are some interesting quotes from a 2007 Globe & Mail article, "The upper class is moving back towards the downtown, while the poor are being pushed out to the suburbs. The changing face of the city shows poverty surging northward while an increasingly affluent, overwhelmingly white elite holds the core. Postwar suburbia is in rapid decline."

Here is a York U article that explains that poverty and race are connected, "Ethno-Racial Groups in Toronto, 1971-2001: A Demographic and Social Profile."

I wonder of the impact on the city in future decades? I heard last week that Yonge Street Mission is planning to move some of it's ministries north in the next 20 years.

More Chinglish and Commentary About the Church

2009-09-02T23:06:00.005-04:00

The BBC did a Chinglish post, complete with pictures. :)

On a completely unrelated note, there's also this high cringe but accurate video. Yipes! How many people have had this experience?! (ME!)

James

2009-09-01T22:36:00.006-04:00

Received a pleasant email today from my friend we visited in China. We gave our driver an English name (in order to be sure he had a decent name!). James. Like royalty, we thought. He thought differently - like 007? Yes - James Bond! He was pleased. :)

I wrote about him here.

"I made a quick turn-around today, and guess who drove me there in the morning? it was brilliant, because he knew the apartment complex as soon as I named it (most drivers don't).

When he saw me sprinting toward the car, he was beaming, and as I jumped in, he asked..."do you remember me?"

"Of course I do! You're James!" Actually, I recognised his voice and forehead, seeing as that's what I saw from the back seat last time.

A few minutes later, he explained to the other passengers, and said that we were three young women from Canada, you guys were visiting me, and one of you is Korean, "wo bu hui shuo zhong guo hua" in his best, sing-song voice.

He says "HI!!!!! to my two friends in Canada" and hopes that the three of us will get together when I am back in Toronto. My friends, you made a fantastic impression. He remembers offering to let Ann drive us past the roadside checkpoints. He remembers that my roots are from Guangdong. He remembers that Julia was trying to recognise characters on roadsigns. and of course he remembers that we gave him an English name!"

PS: I didn't drive in China - I was pretty freaked out about the idea - I'm such a wimp! Think about it, it's an entire country that drives like they do in Markham!

Are You Tired, Because You've Been Running Thru My Mind All Day!

2009-09-01T00:50:00.008-04:00

I had an incredible time in St. Louis for Urbana meetings. It was stressful because I was interrogated again by Immigration, but they allowed me into the country for business purposes. I'm anticipating this will be the case for the future.

The lady on the plane spilled her wine all over me, so I was worried about how I smelled. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well on the red-eye flight.

I was glad to get to the hotel, shower and sleep before our meetings began that day. It was good to have informal meetings in addition to our agenda, in order to clarify things and make arrangements.

The operations team for Urbana is made up of awesome people who are all working very hard to make Urbana a huge success, by the grace of God. It's a pleasure to plan with them. We worked until 8:30-9pm each night. There was a lot to go through.

We had our last evening free to see the Cardinal's game! Yay! Then we went to Ted Drewes for frozen custard in mini plastic St. Louis Cardinal's baseball caps! :)

You can see the arch from our seats (the nosebleed section). Yes, it's the top row! I think you can see a bird below us if you look closely. ;)

I yelped last night unpacking my luggage. I don't usually put stuff in the outer pocket, but I saw a bulge. I took something out and it said loudly, "Are you tired, because you've been running through my mind all day!" It's the button that you press to hear pick up lines that a guy on the street gave me a few months ago while I was walking along downtown St. Louis! It's like the Staples button that says, "That was easy!"

After the initial shock, I died laughing! I gave it to an ops team member who's birthday was that month. I guess it's the gift that keeps on giving. ;)

Other lines...

"Were you arrested before, because I think it's a felony to look that good!"
"Do you know CPR, because I can't breathe around you!"
"Too bad you're not history, because I'd study you all day long!"
"Is it hot in here, or is it just you?"
"Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?"

Summer Experience Tournament - Toronto

2009-08-30T22:48:00.004-04:00

Here's a rare video of me playing Ulty!

With my Monday night league team, Hammer Hawks at the Summer Experience tourny in Toronto. Look, I made a successful pass! :)

Photo Shoot

2009-08-18T00:55:00.003-04:00

I've been waiting a loooong time for my moment in lights. :)

My friend Alyssa is an amazing photographer and she thankfully agreed to do a photo shoot of me today! Yay!

You can see her stuff on her website and the Little City website (see previous post here).

We met at the Distillery District in Toronto during the hottest day this summer! I have no idea what the temperature was, but I was melting as soon as I stepped out of the air conditioned car! Sumitra came to hold the screen for better lighting.

It was sooo fun, once I relaxed and stopped looking like a deer in the headlights. Yeesh! The background of cool buildings was nice & earthy - red brick buildings and windows with lots of character.

We focused on head shots, as I sometimes need to submit a photo for various speaking engagements, brochures, websites, etc, etc. The big one is the 'Wall of Fame' in the Winchester Room at Knox. This wall features all of the supported missionaries of Knox. I was on the bottom row, but got moved up to the top row because my current photo is so pixillated, it's embarassing! o_O

It'll be fun to see the results & send in a better photo to Knox. :)

Crasher Squirrel

2009-08-16T22:23:00.006-04:00

Have you gotten on the Crasher Squirrel bandwagon? He's so cute, I love it!

Here's the original photo & the story behind it:

Now he's become quite the little photo joke of the day and a huge phenomenon. You know you've hit the big times when the CBC does a cover on you. ;)

This photo cracked me up!!!

Banff National Park did this nice little video with the accidental mascot.

Banff is the backyard & playground for Calgarians, so I've gone my whole life. It's definitely beautiful & there are definitely a ton of these little guys running around, including mountain goats, deer, marmot & bears.

Anyone for a trip to God's country?!

Wedding Fire

2009-08-16T10:26:00.003-04:00

I just read this article about a wedding fire in Kuwait. All of the dead were found at the only exit, were women and children. There was a stampede, so they were either killed by getting trampled or by the fire...or both.

At the end of the article, it said that wedding tents usually have the women and men segregated.

Curious, what happened in that fire where only the women and children were killed in that fire?

Little City

2009-08-15T01:29:00.005-04:00

Hey, there's a new online arts community in town. It started up by some creative types in the T Dot. It's called Little City.

Went to the gallery opening and it was amazing! The pub-cafe, 'Starving Artist' was packed out with friends and strangers alike. Great people watching.

The website features their art and a ton of pics from the evening.

I went to see friends, enjoy the visual art and eat the food. I was very impressed with the munchies, the merch table (bought a Jesse Hair pin drawn by Lisa) and danced the night away with the live DJ!

You know you're a nerd when you're putting the anti-glare & anti-scratch film on your new iPhone & skin to protect your new baby at the party!

They're basically selling their art online - you can purchase it and it'll be mailed to you. Very cool.

Dad's Buddies

2009-08-09T23:30:00.006-04:00

While in the village where my dad was born & raised in China (just outside of Kaiping), we ran across two of dad's friends he grew up with. They still remember him fondly, after all of these years. It was so wonderful to meet them and hear their stories of my dad.

I asked them what they remember of my dad, and they told a few stories. There were 6 boys that grew up together in the village, including my dad. They were inseparable. The village had the kids sleep in the same room at times (were they unsafe and needed to stay together?) so they slept together. There's only 2 left of the group.

My dad was cunning, courageous and had a ton of great ideas all of the time. He cheated this guy out of a chicken leg one time, and his friend was the scapegoat. My grandfather slapped this guy, blamed him for it and my dad never said a word! :) They also gambled each other, and cheated him out of his money too. Sweet!

I guess they were sneaking yams in the field and then got caught. They ran through the corn fields, and then realized they didn't need to run anymore. They just needed to crouch down out of sight & they were never caught.

My dad was the one who wanted to sneak over the border into Hong Kong. He tried to get brother #2 & #3 to come with him (my dad was the eldest son and I guess my grandmother's favourite). Brother #2 chickened out and #3 still had to go to school. It took my dad about 4-5 times to sneak over the border until he was successful, during Communist China. Wow. I was impressed with his courage.

My cousin also said that my dad was captured by the Japanese and ordered to do labour for them for a week, and then he escaped. I'll have to do more research on when that was. The Sino-Japanese war, I would guess.

Here's a video of the afternoon we hung out with these guys, chatting on a couple of benches in the laneway of the village. I loved hearing the Toysanese!

Enjoy!

When the Lonely Planet Fails You

2009-08-07T01:38:00.005-04:00

Did I tell you about the time when I needed to travel by myself from China to Hong Kong?

I flew from Xi'An to Shenzhen Airport on my own, getting up super early & showing the word "airport" to the taxi driver on a slip of paper. Not before trying (and failing!) to say the word in Mandarin first. D'oh!

Then I worried that I was getting ripped off from the taxi driver, as she didn't run the meter. Hmmmm....I had to trust that she was giving me the going rate for the early morning airport run. :(

I got to Shenzhen airport without incident. I went there instead of flying straight into Hong Kong, as the flights are a fraction of the cost and that appealed to my Asian thriftiness! Shenzhen is the city just outside of HK in China. I heard that there was an airport ferry into Kowloon. My cousin in HK had her doubts & was trying to get me to take the bus as she was going to meet me when I arrived. In all of her life of living in HK, she'd never been to the ferry terminus.

My friend rattled off what the Lonely Planet gave for ferry sailing times and wondered why I was stressing out about it. My friend Q reassured me of how to get to HK. She said it was more straightforward to take the ferry than the bus. Cool! I thought it would be amazing to see HK for the first time from a boat into the harbour and was looking forward to it!

At the airport, nobody spoke English but I had the words "ferry" written on a piece of paper and I said "Hong Kong." The lady at the Info Booth waved her hand in the general direction and said "bus."

I got to the right bus to the ferry terminal and was excited and happy to be on my way. I got to the counter and said "HK." The guy shook his head, put up his hand, pointed to the exit and said, "airport." Uh-oh! What? Wasn't I at the ferry teriminal for HK? NO.

I went to the bus counter, where finally someone spoke English. She said that the ferry service had been completely cancelled. Seriously?! OH NO. She said the only way to get there was by bus. Darn! It was leaving now and was much cheaper. Well! Better hop to it!

It was a bit freaky to get off the bus at the border and go through customs and then board another bus. They slap a sticker on you and somehow the bus drivers are waiting for you on the other side of the border. Thankfully, they're really quite organized and I had to trust the system!

I tried to text & call my cousin with my China mobile. I told her where the bus stopped, but she went to the wrong place. I found out once I arrived that my mobile doesn't work in HK, so a few public phone calls later, I told her that I'd be at a particular Starbucks with my large backpack. I have no idea how she missed me, but 45 minutes later, I called again from the payphone, and noticed her talking to me on the street with her mobile. Whew!

Hammer Hawks Video

2009-08-06T11:24:00.001-04:00

Another video of Hammer Hawks vs. Piggy Wants the Conch. We won 17-15 I think.

Ultimate - Piggie vs Hammer Hawks (2009 Aug 31) from David Auyeung on

Squatters

2009-08-04T22:38:00.013-04:00

My friend Sam & I were talking earlier this month on how much we needed to get away for a bit.

We both had the August long weekend free, so off we went! Bruce peninsula, here we come! I've always wanted to go ever since moving to Ontario 4 years ago. It's where the Group of Seven painted and were inspired to paint the Canadian landscape. I've also seen the pictures & was excited to explore it myself!

My car is rather unhappy these days, so we wanted to rent. No cars left.
We wanted to camp - no camping spots.

Rent a room somewhere? No dice.

Wait! Sam's friend Bruce lives in Sauble Beach. He secured us a backyard of someone's house to pitch our tent. Facilities? Showers? Not sure, but let's go anyway! There were showers down the street from where we ended up, but God certainly poured down his provision on us this weekend!

Car - used mine.
Tent - borrowed one at the last minute.

Drove up to Sauble Beach - found the perfect parking spot. Bought icecream, sat on the beach & people watched. I was impressed by the multicultural families hanging out together on the beach there. Nice!

We showed up here & wondered if we had the right address!

It's called the Lighthouse Cottage and apparently, everyone in town knows about this house. It's beautiful on the outside, the porch wraps around the entire side of the house. It's even more beautiful inside! Did I mention that it's across the street from Lake Huron?

This gorgeous guy about our age opens the door and we discover we have the right house. Sweet! He mentions that he's the only person there. I state that it's probably going to pour with rain that night, and so would it be ok to stay inside? The guy says sure, and turns out to be an excellent host! He's finishing up his masters thesis in International Development, incredibly well traveled and thoughtful on many topics.

We do a grocery run, he cranks on the BBQ & we had steak & veggie kabobs that night. After dinner, a jump in the lake at night & then hop in the sauna that he built.

I kept giggling over the fact that we got to stay at the most amazing house for free with a terrific host. We also found out that the parents were coming up the next day and the dad said that, "he didn't want any of Bruce's squatter friends hanging about the house." I love it! I've never been called a squatter before. :)

We went hiking the next day we hiked the Lion's Head trail on the Bruce peninsula. We got kinda lost, but it was still a beautiful hike. We read (afterwards) that the blue blazes mean that it's a side trail. The white blazes indicate a main trail. Oops!

We finally made it to the Lion's Head lookout above the water overlooking the cliffs.

We laid there in the sun (it was supposed to be raining all day) and relaxed at the top of the cliff. We were amazed at God's blessings on us.

Met the parents/owners of the cottage - they agreed we could stay another night. Yes!

We left to go to the 25th wedding anniversary bonfire party of perfect strangers - they ended up being the nicest people! Sam & Bruce swapped playing the guitar & singing.

The night sky was clear & starry, almost a full moon and you could see the outline of the trees surrounding the small lake we were on. It was one of the most beautiful days/weekends I've had in a long time.

Perhaps it's the Weather

2009-07-28T23:25:00.003-04:00

Perhaps it's the weather, but there were some cranky people out tonight. Unfortunately, they were sitting at my table! Fortunately, there were awesome people sitting immediately around me so that I didn't really need to engage said cranky people in conversation.

I've noticed recently that there are a few very unhappy/angry people in my life. It seems as though something's always wrong or never quite right or just downright worth ranting & raving about until you feel like passing out! I've decided to not spend much time or energy on these relationships since they sap the joy out of life.

On a brighter note - it could've been a scene out of a movie.

I just purchased a parking ticket to park on the street downtown tonight. I took the ticket out of the machine and suddenly the wind snatched the ticket out of my hand and spun it in front of this mom & son duo walking down the street. I tried to grab it out of the way, but instead the wind whipped it around them. The mom tried to help me by swiping at the tab, which made it spin even more! The son finally gave it a shot, grabbed it and handed it to me with a sweet smile.

I gratefully took it back and told him that he was my hero. I love the little moments like that. :)

iPhone!

2009-07-27T22:21:00.002-04:00

I finally got the toy that I've been drooling over for at least a year now - an iPhone 3G! Yesssssssssss!

It's powering up right beside me, looking very sleek and sophisticated. ;)

I used my Fido dollars to get it (free). There was a deal for $99, and I had 240 Fido dollars = $240 in the Fido store.

There was also a deal for data packages - I got 6 GB of memory for the price of 1 GB. Sweeeeeeeet...

My old phone is good, so I'll definitely hold on to that in case. My pda was from 2003 and about to fizzle out & die. I'm so excited to merge my phone and pda into one gadget! It's all about steamlining.

It's crazy, I should've done this a long, long time ago. I suspected that I was paying way too much for my plan. I could've halved my payments if I had gotten over being intimidated by the ordeal. Instead, I had a fantastic new toy for $1 more than I was paying before!

Awkward Moments as an Asian

2009-07-26T22:39:00.007-04:00

I read this article online, and only pulled a couple of points from it. If you want the full article, with feedback, go here. :)

"You must be the IT person" or "You must be so good at math."

Linda Akutegawa, who is Japanese American and vice president of resource and business development for the nonprofit Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP), says that too often it is assumed that Asian-American executives are best as tech- or admin-support staff.

"Implicit in that statement is that you're good at numbers and technology, so you're good behind the scenes," explains Allan Mark, who is Chinese American and the America's director of diversity strategy and development, for Ernst & Young (No. 3 on The 2009 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity® list).

Truth is, "not all Asian Americans are strong with numbers," Junn says, though the stereotypical comment is almost "inevitably asked."

Editor's Note: A friend was asked for help in math by another classmate at university. He said, "Sure! Let me put my ping pong paddle off to the side & I'll be glad to help you," knowing full well that he was terrible at math! I laughed until I cried. ;)

"You're not exactly leadership material."

For Asian-American executives who recently immigrated to the United States, the stereotype is two-fold: Not only are they viewed as not being leaders but their cultural norms are interpreted by U.S.-born executives as passive.

"In America, the leadership skill is defined by how confrontational, direct and aggressive you are," says Sameer Samudra, Six Sigma black belt at

Cummins, No. 42 in the DiversityInc Top 50.

Samudra, who was born in India and came to the United States as a student in 1998, remembers a boss once questioning his commitment to work because he was reserved during meetings.

"We respect authority and come from a hierarchical culture," Samudra says. "Our leadership style considers how well the team members get along, so there's an emphasis on team building and learning in the process."

Editor's Note: Ok, this one touches closer to home. I've wondered if I've been put in this category too, as I'm actually pretty quiet when it comes to meetings when I feel my opinion is undervalued. I was always quiet in class growing up. Being confrontational, direct or aggressive is my last resort. I'd rather handle situations in any other way. If I feel that I must be confrontational, direct or aggressive to get my opinion/thoughts on the table, it's usually a bad sign and I'm usually frustrated or feeling undervalued by that point.

What are your thoughts on the topic?

Letter B, letter B, letter B, letter B! B-b-b-b-b...letter B!

2009-07-23T23:56:00.005-04:00

Do you remember the Sesame Street song to the Beattles tune, "Let Her Be?" It went, "letter b, letter b, letter b, letter b! B-b-b-b-b...letter b!" I love that song!

Jason & I drove down to the border today so I could apply for a B1 (a regular business) visa to enter the US and got it! Normally when Canadians travel into the US for business purposes, they travel under that category and don't need to apply for this visa.

I'm very relieved. It's been quite the saga for a month now and I've been really stressed out about it.

About a month ago, I attempted to go the US for Urbana meetings. My flight was at 8am, and I was denied access and given a very difficult time by the US immigration officers by that time. I was told that I was in very big trouble and wasn't flying anywhere that day. They took my fingerprints and photo. I missed my flight & had to cancel all meetings in the US. Thankfully, I booked my flight through Aeroplan, who just credited the airmiles to our account, so we didn't lose any money. It was barely 8am when I got escorted back outside of the secure area, and I was distraught and confused.

Canadians are required to have visas on them when they travel to the US as of June 1st. My personal humble opinion is that now they're enforcing visas to enter the US whereas before they couldn't if people were entering with just a piece of ID.

I went to the office, and I was told that it was my fault that I didn't get into the US since I couldn't convince them that I was indeed just going down for business meetings and not work. I left work feeling even worse than before. To make matters even more stressful, the 'check engine' light turned on in my car on the way to work.

Later, I called and talked to someone who said I wouldn't even qualify for the visa I was informed I required. They did confirm that I needed a B1 visa, so now I'm stuck with a contradictory record on my file.

I tried to go to the US consulate a couple of weeks ago, but I need an appointment to enter the building. I can't get an appointment since I'm a Canadian citizen and I don't require a visa to enter the US. What a catch-22! I didn't want to wait until my next business meetings to try & resolve the issue so I went to the border in order to talk to someone in person.

The border agent asked why I came to the border, that I wasted my time as I don't need to apply for a B1 visa. He also agreed with me that I needed a B1 visa, so thankfully, he gave one to me today.

Today, my life got monumentally better.

MoveIn Toronto

2009-07-22T01:35:00.002-04:00

There's a new movement in Toronto, and it's called MoveIn Toronto!

Met with the guy who's facilitating things in big ways for the city of Toronto, and it's quickly expanding to Ottawa. He's a friend of a friend.

People are coming out of the woodwork to move into the poorest neighbourhoods in Toronto to bring the light of God through being a part of these communities. Their priority is to work among the poorest of the poor here in this city.

He wants to get 50 of these young risk takers for Christ to Urbana 09, so naturally we met up for lunch about a week ago. It's amazing, the theme of the movement is "The Word became flesh and moved into the neighbourhood," as is the theme for this Urbana. Now, is this a God-thing or did they perhaps hear about the theme of Urbana and it fit so perfectly with their missions statement, that it rang true?

There are 3 poverty tracks at Urbana that would be perfect for them to participate in:
1. Inner city poverty
2. Global poverty
3. Advocacy

They already have joined forces with a local church to get the group rate and already have fundraised for scholarships for their people. I'm excited to see what God is going to do with 50 risk takers for God once they return empowered, encouraged and trained from what they learned at Urbana and listening to what God is showing them in their neighbourhoods.

We just finished going for a prayer walk in the Teesdale area, sharing a meal together, praying some more, worshipping and breaking bread together. It was very cool to meet the people that God is bringing together, they're very beautiful and from incredible backgrounds.

I got the sense that God is bringing people to this neighbourhood from great distances, far and wide, in order to bring them to himself. To be in relationship with him and with the other.

An Unexpected Gift

2009-07-20T22:41:00.004-04:00

I've had friends come visit me in Toronto recently, it's been a huge pleasure to show them what it's like to live here.

One friend is now a missions pastor in Michigan, and he wanted to chat with missions pastors in Toronto to see how the Canadian churches approach missions and learn from them. We visited 3 churches, People's Church, Rexdale Alliance and Knox Presbyterian (my church!). It was good for me to actually go to these places and talk to their missions pastors. I learned a lot about how missions programs work and how they go about choosing who they will support.

An amazing thing is that one church is really wanting to work with First Nations peoples and do missions here in Canada as well. They're bringing in some good people to teach & give guidance. I told him about the scholarship fund that I've set up, and they're very interested in supporting the endeavour! Wow! Pray that this solidifies in the next few days.

It was so encouraging to know that there are churches out there who want not just to see First Nations people as a mission field, but as Christian leaders who could really benefit from the same incredible teaching alongside everyone else, come back and make a huge impact on their families, their communities, Canada and the world.

I'm encouraged to speak to other churches as well. This was an unexpected and yet welcome gift.

An Incredible Opportunity as a Community

2009-07-20T21:54:00.006-04:00

I have this growing passion on my heart and I’d like to ask you to partner with me. Ever since hearing the statistics from Urbana 06, I’ve felt a gentle nudge from God to do something about it.

At the bottom, you will see the ethnic breakdown of Canadians at Urbana 06. Our recruitment goal was 2006 participants in 2006. There were eventually 2136 participants, an increase from 1404 participants in 2003! From the Canadian contingent, 925 Asians represented 43% of the total group; 864 White people at 40% and only 10 First Nations.

Our goal is 2500 Canadians for Urbana 09. My personal goal is 15 First Nations students from Canada. I want to introduce to you my friend Cheryl Bear, who studied with me at Regent College. Her family, including her husband and 3 sons has been traveling with the goal of visiting every First Nations community in Canada. I’ve asked her for advice and partnership on identifying key First Nations leaders to send to Urbana 09.

Together, we have an opportunity to provide scholarships for these students. Can you imagine if the number of First Nations people at Urbana 09 increased from 10 to 15? To give the incredible opportunity to learn how powerfully God is working in the world and that this same God also directs their footsteps in faith would be amazing!

The impact on their families, communities, and Canada would be profound, by the grace of God. If you’d like to contribute, please make a note with your gift to Inter-Varsity Canada, ‘First Nations Scholarship Fund.’ Feel free to tell your friends!

Statistics from Urbana 06
Ethnic Group & Number
Asians 925
African Am 66
Hispanic/Latinos 18
Multiethnic 11
First Nations 10
Pacific Islanders 2
South Asian 50
White 864
Not Known 190

Total 2136

Competent Communicator

2009-07-18T03:54:00.006-04:00

I did it!!!

I'm officially a competent communicator!

Or, so says Toastmasters International. I received my certificate in the mail. My TM club, Beaches Speeches sent in my achievement early, in order for our club to reach the "Distinguished Club" status, which is the highest achievement a club can make. We had a deadline and I finished my 10th speech the day before the deadline.

Needless to say, it was an easy pass. ;)

My last speech was called "Legacy" where I was supposed to inspire my audience. It was really rewarding! I challenged the crowd to consider what it takes in order to leave a legacy - how does one live their life? What are they passionate about? I gave the example of my dad - a simple immigrant who worked as a cook in a Chinese restaurant. Is this the basis of a legacy maker? The amazing thing was going to China and meeting my dad's family for the first time. They tried to outdo each other in their memories of my dad, how much they missed him, and how much they knew he loved them too with the letters they wrote and the money he always sent back whenever they needed it - for weddings, building homes and even his parents' and brother's funeral.

David, the friend of mine who came as a translator for me told me later that he teaches his students to think about how to live your life in order to leave a legacy. He said that my dad was a legacy to my family, and that I'm the legacy of my father. Wow. It was a profound realization. It helps me know that God has a purpose for everything, including my familial and cultural roots and that I not only honour my earthly father, but I honour my heavenly Father with my life. My only visual aid was a picture of my family when I was in high school, the last one taken before my dad passed away.

The toughest member of our club happened to be my evaluator (oh joy, oh bliss!). I prepared myself for his evaluation, but all he did was stand up there and say "wow, wow, wow." He went through all of the aspects of a speech that we've been trained to think about and he couldn't think of anything to improve on. He noted that I looked determined as I got up to speak. :)

I noticed that some of the members had tears in their eyes as I spoke.

I left feeling terrific, and am excited to keep going with my Advanced Communicator Bronze speeches - the Professional Speaker and Facilitating Discussions. Should be challenging and hopefully fun!

God's Blessing

2009-07-15T00:21:00.004-04:00

My car is on the fritz. :( We replaced the sensors (4), but it didn't address the original problem. My computer is slow & unable to diagnose the problem, therefore I'm driving the car until the problem is obvious. I can tell it's really sluggish in 1st after it's been sitting for awhile, and then again in 3rd. I wonder if it's related to my slow computer. I hope not - replacing it will be $2000-3000.

I'd already had a pretty crappy day by 8am, drove to work and had the 'Check Engine' light turn on. Thus began the car drama.

After chapel, I left work early to head to the mechanic. It was about 1pm and I was hungry, tired, sad & stressed out.

Walking into a Pakistani restaurant for a tasty and cheap lunch, I wait for the guy to serve me. Another customer comes in and speaks to him in what I assume is Urdu. His order is taken and I am left standing there: hungry, tired, sad & stressed. I guess he figured I was with the other guy. I remain standing there and the owner just looks at me. I shrug and say 'forget it' and walk out.

Two doors down is another Pakistani restaurant, and yet completely different! The owner makes eye contact with me as soon as I walk in, smiles and greets me with arms open wide. I asked him what was good on the menu today, to which he fumbles 'I'm the owner, I can't tell you what is good - it's all good!'

I asked what his favourite dish is...tandoori chicken. Excellent, I'll take it! He replies, 'please sit down, it will be my pleasure to serve you.' YES!!!

Not only do I experience service with a smile, I get a nice glass of water and fantastic conversation about Pakistan and China (did you know that Pakistan and China are neighbours? China and Pakistan are friends! China was very helpful to Pakistan when there was a war between Pakistan and India). We also talk about cultural shifts in China and whether or not the current generation is losing their Chinese culture and respect for their elders.

Not long into our conversation, he's sitting down at another table and talking to me about faith, Islam and Christianity - how they overlap and differ. I told him that I believe that we are created to worship God and believe that Jesus was God come to earth. We exchanged names and I hope to come back again when my car needs fixing.

I told him that I'd had a pretty brutal day, and that I was blessed by God through him today.

Major Upset!

2009-07-13T21:48:00.005-04:00

Went to Kitchener/Waterloo for Regional competition for Ultimate on Saturday with Fiesty.

I was asked to handle, which was awesome! Meaning that I'd get to direct the disk more and advance the disk to the cutters. This is a role I've been wanting to get into more. I was hoping to talk to the captains about it, so it was fantastic that I was asked to before I had the chance! It definitely makes playing with Fiesty worth it for the chance to practice handling. Yay me! :D

We played our first 2 games against some extremely good womens teams - Lotus (Toronto) and Stella (Ottawa). They ended up finishing 1st and 2nd in that order. We knew we were gonna get schooled, so it was no surprise that we were bageled 0-13.

Then we played Lily (the Toronto B team) and the team I was on last summer. Our energy dropped & we still didn't score the entire game. The terrific thing is that we didn't lose heart. Instead we played harder against our next opponent, Scarlett from Ottawa (the B team from Ottawa).

We were the first team to SCORE! We were elated - our first point of the DAY! Our zone defence was awesome, as they had no upwind throws. We took half with 7-0! We ended up winning the game 8-1 us!!!

The amazing thing is that we kept playing hard and still improved our game throughout the day, just like we did in Montreal. What a way to end the day and I was glad to have the chance to handle more without enormous amounts of pressure.

Greg played with his mixed team, Zen. He commented later that he was the 2nd oldest person playing at the tournament. Someone of course asked who the oldest person was, and Greg declined to answer because of gender issues, that the person would be touchy about the announcement. I answered that someone on our team was 41 and it wasn't me. Greg responded by saying that he then was the 3rd oldest person on the team. Hilarious! ;)

Paying the Bill

2009-07-12T01:14:00.005-04:00

Sometimes I forget why I avoid hanging out with certain people. I remembered in a quick hurry tonight while paying the bill for our food & bevvies.

Some people consistently don't pay their share of the bill! How annoying! When I asked the question if everyone had paid their bill, it was suggested that I pay using my credit card and take the cash. I said 'No' too loudly and then the person was annoyed with me. I replied that it doesn't resolve the issue that people haven't covered their costs and I didn't want to pay the rest of the bill myself.

In the end, a few of us pitched in more cash in order to leave a decent tip. Someone else calculated exactly how much 15% would be, which is way too picky. It should be in the 15-20% range, not calculating 15% to the penny. What happened to generosity?

What exactly is in the minds of those who don't cover their full costs? Perhaps they forgot to include the liquour tax? Maybe they figure someone else will cover them if they remain quiet? Then again they may not want to actually give the server the proper tip.

Mental note: going out with cheapskates is not an enjoyable experience.

Confirms Something My Cousin Said

2009-07-07T22:51:00.007-04:00

My cousin, Dave & I were in China getting a massage where I was told that I had an American nose! Can you believe it?!?! My very flat nose has always generated comments growing up that I have a very flat, wide Chinese nose. :-)

Anyway, when more serious conversation ensued, my cousin asked me/us what Canada thought of China. It was an awkward question - how do you answer that to a cousin I just met? He knows that China is represented in a negative light in international media.

He said that Chinese do not like Canada, because Harper snubbed the opening ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. Apparently the Chinese know and remember these things for a long time. Wow, I was impressed! Impressed that he would remember who did and did not attend the opening ceremonies and knows Harper's name! This guy struck me as the most level headed family member and a leader in the family - he's really sharp!

He asked what we thought of Tibet. When we asked him what he thought of Tibet, he replied, "Oh Tibet is nothing! Tibet is China. Tibet belongs to China. No discussion. Case closed." They don't worry about Tibet because they demonstrate peacefully, but just resent the shame that the Dalai Lama brings on China, the loss of face.

On the other hand, he said that China spends a lot of time & energy worrying about the extreme East (Taiwan) and Northwest (the ethnic Uighurs and Muslims). They are trying to control the violence there, and believe that the Taliban is working in China too. Check out the map here, they're represented in green, the Turkic minority in the northwest part of China.

I've been reading about the recent violence between the Uighur and Han Chinese (of which I am a part) and can't help but feel torn - sympathies for any minority group that is misrepresented and likely harassed unfairfly and then anger/sadness that the hate is directed at the Han. It seems that it was sparked by a lie that some women factory workers in eastern China were raped, which then led to beating/killing the Uighur workers in the factory. So then the bitterness boils over in Northwestern China towards the Han that's been simmering in the background. Sigh. Nobody is innocent, and there is blame to be spread evenly on both sides.

Reading an article today, I did chuckle at what a storekeeper said of the Uighurs, "Uighurs are spoiled like pandas." Ok, completely racist, but I like the analogy! Pandas are pretty adorable, and almost extinct and so get special treatment in order to keep their species alive. They are highly valued in the Chinese culture too.

The sad thing, is that I don't see a happy ending to this violence. :(

Rump Roast

2009-07-06T21:55:00.002-04:00

For your viewing pleasure... Rump Roast 2009! (Vid of TUC friends).

Hammer Hawks vs. Piggy Wants the Conch

2009-07-06T00:50:00.002-04:00

We lost 12-17 to Piggy, but it was a fun game against friends. :)

Ultimate - Piggie Wants the Conch vs Hammer Hawks (2009 June 29) from David Auyeung on Vimeo.

Fast & Furious!

2009-06-30T23:58:00.009-04:00

It's been a fun ride on the operations team for Urbana 09 - tons of highly skilled and thoughtful people on the team and very enjoyable meetings. Since January, I've been going down once a month for a few days of meetings.

Rob, the ops director is a fantastic team leader - he's very team driven and relationally focussed. He's also a Californian, which means he's organized AND laid back!

We just reached 835 Canadian registrations for Urbana - up from 777 an hour ago! The early bird fee ends today, and I think Canadians are especially interested in not paying an extra $50 USD. :) I can just imagine the keyboards sizzling from the Urbana registrations across North America. There are 6000+ registrations total.

The goal for Canadians is 2500, so we're 25% of the way there! Keep going Canadians!

The info line staff (and Rob) are staying up until 2am for the west coasters.

I'm excited about our next meeting in August (we took July off). We'll be meeting in St. Louis to see the facilities and some walk throughs of our various systems. AND doing some fun things as well, when we're done with our full day meetings.

My Milk Toof

2009-06-27T00:24:00.004-04:00

This is my new favourite blog - it's so creative, unique & sweet. You'll love it too!!!

My Milk Toof

Enjoy!

Three Self Church

2009-06-21T22:47:00.003-04:00

While in China, we had the privilege of attending a Three Self Church. It's the official church in China, and I thought it was wonderful worshipping with brothers and sisters in a communist country. Yes, it's overseen by the Chinese government, but at least they have some freedom to gather together in public. Since it's overseen by the government, you wonder how propaganda has infiltrated into the teachings and how orthdox the teachings remain, but still, it's better than forcing the church underground entirely.

This is what I found online here, here and here: "There are upwards to 80 million Christians in China today. In the years following World War II, Western powers dominated China in critical ways. After the communists came to power in 1949, Christian leader Wu Yao-tsung and the premier, Chou En-lai, prepared the Christian Manifesto, which called Chinese Christians to heighten their "vigilance against imperialism, to make known the clear political stand of Christians in New China, to hasten the building of a Chinese church whose affairs are managed by the Chinese themselves." It stated further that Christians should support the "common political platform under the leadership of the government." To this end, the government worked with Protestant leaders to establish the Three-Self (self-government, self-propagation, self-support) Patriotic Movement.

Now the TSPM, together with the China Christian Council, formed in the early 1980s, serves as official overseer of Protestant churches."

The church we visited was huge and pink (?!) on the outside - it looked like a castle with a couple of turrets. Inside there were hundreds of people packed inside. There weren't any seats on the main level, so we had a good view from the balcony.

The service was super loud (I guess they like their worship LOUD), led by a worship team complete with actions to the songs. There was a sermon in Mandarin and then we shared communion together. They made really thin rice wafers for the host. Cool. I really appreciated sharing communion with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

It was interesting to think that these people are not here because its a cultural thing, nor the trendy thing to do. You know that there are/have been government officials there taking note of who was there. I imagine that if and when the government decides to crack down on the Christians, these people would be the first on the hit list.

The whole thing was a bit surreal - seeing the packed out church, sharing communion and looking through the window at the huge Chinese flag flying outside.

You gotta admire them for standing up for their faith, where even attending church is a bold statement.

Sexy Beijing | Lost in Translation

2009-06-12T23:31:00.004-04:00

We also watched this video of an ex-pat Beijinger inquiring what English names they chose to locals. High entertainment value here kids! :D

We had a tour guide by the name of Andy - Julia & I couldn't look at each other because we would've just cracked up!

We had the chance to give our driver an English name. He was worried that we were going to call him "Idiot" or something similar. We gave him a kingly name, like 'James' or 'Jim' for short. He drove & thought about this potential new name, and then suddenly he said "Ahhh....007! James Bond!" Yes, yes! Guns and women! He smiled. I think we have a winner!

Simon's Cat "Let Me In"

2009-06-12T21:08:00.004-04:00

Watched this video @ Q's in China - my friend, the dog owner was cat sitting at the time. :) Seriously, every time we passed by a pooch, my lovely friend would stop to chat or a pet whenever possible. So cool!

Simon's cat became a theme of our trip, as did Kung Fu Panda! We watched it in China, the same day we went to the see real Pandas at the breeding centre in Chengdu. Pandas are amazingly cute!!!

Chicken 'n Dumplins

2009-06-09T21:39:00.004-04:00

My friend Q wrote quite eloquently about a time in China when we were at her place & wanting to make Sunday dinner after church. I like the part where I'm easily distracted. ;)

http://outthereq.blogspot.com/2009/06/chickens-and-eggs.html

Enjoy!

Checking In

2009-06-08T23:28:00.006-04:00

The Chinese & Canadian government knew pretty much every move I made during my visit. I signed up with the Canadian Foreign Affairs website in order to let them know where I was at all times. They kindly sent text messages and emails updating me on new swine flu cases - there was an infected person on the same flight as mine, but exactly 24 hours later.

I needed to inform the Chinese government where I was in order to get a visitor's visa. Every flight needed our passport information, as did the guesthouses we stayed in. Yipes. We were checked for swine flu as soon as we arrived and had to sign a form saying that we weren't sick. They took our temperatures by infrared readings (we walked between 2 posts that measured our temperature).

In all of that, I was glad to see a lack of corruption from any government officials or police forces directed towards us - nobody harassed us and we didn't need to pay any bribes.

One of the funny moments was checking into the local police station as guests of our friend. We were informed that this is what you also need to do in China.

J & I giggled quietly, because right beside our chairs was a garbage can of...a PIG!

Sadly, I didn't get a picture of it. Would've been awkward trying to explain that to the communist cops!

Interesting, a cop started her shift that morning, sat down in front of an entire wall of surveillance screens. There were cameras positioned at various points in the city. I guess big brother (sister) really is watching!

God Goes Before Us

2009-06-08T22:35:00.009-04:00

Going to China was a huge reminder that God goes before us through his Body and his Holy Spirit, even in communist China! God is good, all the time!

I worked on what I would say to my family with my Arrow Leadership class - we focused on evangelism among other things. Also, when I was in Hong Kong, I purchased 2 bibles to bring in with me. We entered China with my 70 year old cousin and her husband so everything went very smoothly at the border. The nice thing is the ability to blend in if I don't say anything! :)

Mom's Side of the Family: We had really interesting conversations with a cousin on my mom's side who has throat cancer. He said that he's interested now in spiritual things, whereas before he thought it was just superstition. He has a friend who's told him about Jesus. (Praise God!). My other cousin wondered why I wasn't preaching at her. They've both had bad experiences with Christians.

Dad's Side of the Family: I was a bit worried because a cousin of mine is a police officer, and so I didn't want to seem like I was pushing my faith onto my family.

Background: There are usually red banners with words of good luck along the frame of the door, on the outside of the family home. We walked into my cousin's home, and Dave my translator friend and fellow believer said that they had interesting writing on the outside of their door and that it's very likely they're believers! The words "Emmanuel" and "God Loves the World" are written on the banners outside of their door. There was no altar to Buddha, but instead a Jesus calendar in their living room! I almost squealed in shock. I did hope a bit before I came, that perhaps when I met them, I'd find out they were already Christians!

I asked about the banners, and someone said that a member of my cousin's husband's family is a Christian & owns the apartment they live in. It seems that they've gone to church (!!!) and heard the stories of Jesus. I gave the 2 university aged relatives a copy of the Bible in both English & Chinese, since they're learning English. I did share that I love God and not Buddha. I directed them to start with reading the book of John, and could email me if they had any questions. I didn't say a ton more, hoping instead to develop a relationship with them. I know that we'll continue emailing & calling each other.

Ancestor Worship: I did honour my family by doing some 'ancestor worship' where they set up a meal for me to 'eat' with my ancestors. Before I did anything, my aunt said for me not to worry. They all know that I’m a Christian and therefore don't believe in what I'm doing. Apparently my mom told them that I was a Christian before I arrived. They know that I'm doing this only to honour my family, and not because I believe in Buddhism. Awesome! I'm glad that they knew where I was coming from.

I'll have a video up soon with the ceremony. Also, my aunts want me to let them know when I get married so they can kill a chicken for me?!

So, no huge altar call or anything. Ha, ha. I'm sooooooo glad to have met them and it was worth all of the stress of planning. I loved seeing where my parents were born & raised and meeting my family.

My dad's side is particularly warm & hospitable. There were 2 pictures of my family in their living room from when I was 4 years old & then in high school! I felt loved, accepted and that I belonged.

Thanks for your prayers, I hope to continue emailing & calling my family. I pray that God continues to move in their lives by his Holy Spirit, speaks to them powerfully through his word and through me in the future.

Check out the well in the house - no running water! They also cook with straw & wood as well as electricity. Wow.

Ethnic Minorities in China

2009-06-01T12:01:00.003-04:00

I found this interesting map of ethnic minorities in China. My cousin said that China's not really concerned about Tibet since they conduct peaceful demonstrations, but more concerned about Taiwan and the western provinces and the increasing violence of the muslims in the area.

Quote from an Urbana Exhibitor

2009-06-01T11:26:00.004-04:00

Since our attendance at Urbana 03 and 06 conferences, we have had well over three hundred volunteers who have traveled to Bolivia because of the challenge and conviction they received during the Urbana Conference. We have developed some wonderful relationships with these individuals and watched as they were pre-professionals and now professionals in their fields. The challenge and burden of missions continues to be an anthem in their everyday life, challenging them not to be complacent in their faith but striving to rise above the trappings of this world.

~ Hospitals of Hope International, Bolivia & USA

Trip of a Lifetime

2009-05-30T20:03:00.004-04:00

I'm back! I got home last night after being away for the entire month of May. Arrow Leadership for the first week, and then off to China for 3 weeks. I think I traveled for 18 hours - I left at noon on May 29th and returned at 6:30pm on the same day! Of course, I got to the airport 2 hours early too. What a marathon!

It's too overwhelming to post all in one shot, so I'll try for smaller posts as time goes by & I continue processing my time there.

Generally, I'm blown away! I had an amazing, fantastic, incredible, eye opening trip and had many wonderful experiences that will shape me for the rest of my life. I'm very glad I went, and am grateful for the friends I visited and traveled with. Two friends I am especially indebted to are Queena and David. I couldn't have done this trip without them nor all of the help from my mom who helped set up the trip.

My tummy was great the entire time and I pretty much ate everything, including uncooked cucumbers and fresh fruit. :) I brushed my teeth with the tap water too, and I was fine. I did get bitten by mosquitos but did take my meds. We'll see what happens by the end of the month whether or not I got malaria!

Meeting my family was such an important part of my trip - I approached it with as little expectation as possible and determined to just go with the flow. It seemed as though plans would change in the blink of an eye, so any planning would've been futile!

I went back to my family's villages - my people! I understood bit of Toysanese and I was average height in my family! Yay! It was great to have dinner together in their home, crowded around a large round table eating way more food than humanly possible. I looked around at the people that a couple of days earlier were complete strangers, and yet were blood related. In a very short time, I felt close to them, like I belonged. I loved meeting everyone, but missed having my parents with me. I think my dad would've been proud of me. I'm pretty sure I did everything properly. I hope that they felt honoured by me and wow, did I ever feel honoured by them, especially my dad's side of the family. WOW!

Almost Ready to Go!

2009-04-28T00:38:00.009-04:00

There's a small pile of stuff on my floor that keeps growing. It's the stuff I plan to shove into a backpack & take with me to Arrow & China!

My malaria pills, e-tickets for my flights, contact information for friends and family in English and Chinese, a mini dictionary with commonly used phrases, sanitary wipes, my passport with my double entry visa to China, presents to give to my family.

The potential irony is that I'm bringing Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic gear with me to give away as gifts to my family. It's made in China. What if my family members actually worked the (sweat) shops that produced the stuff? o_O

I'm staying with my cousin in HK, but my current challenge is that I don't know where she lives! I have a photocopied envelope with the scribbled return address that I think I have figured out. I Google-mapped it (I LOVE Google Maps! What did I ever do without it?) and it asked if I meant another location. :( This could mean that I'm right or I could end up in the completely wrong location! Double yipes!

I'm flying into Shenzhen which is in China on the outskirts of HK and then crossing the border & taking the ferry to HK. Of course, I need to know my destination when I get to the ferry terminal. Once that's figured out, then I need to communicate with my cousin where and when to meet me! Did I mention she doesn't speak English? Wah!

My mom is brilliant. She's mailed a photo of myself to my cousin so that she knows what I look like. Yes! I think I'll wear a huge Canadian flag when I arrive into Hong Kong. Does she know what the Canadian flag looks like?

Eureka! I received an email today from my cousin's son in English saying that they're expecting me in HK and what are my arrival details? YES!!! I asked him to confirm the address via Google Maps and if he could write out his mom's address in English & Chinese please? He sent me a photo of our family too, so that I can have a fighting chance to figure out what she looks like. Pray hard.

Here is our general itinerary when I'm traveling with friends for the first 10 days. Yay! After I arrive into Hong Kong & visit my family, I have absolutely no idea what to expect or what I'll be doing when I'm with them. Correction, I'll likely be eating awesome food and learning a ton about my family, my roots, my ethnicity and having my identity completely shaped by the experience. Oh, and yes - I am bringing a journal!

Locations & Activities Part One

Beijing: TianAnMen Square
Beijing: Forbidden City
Beijing: Temple of Heaven
Beijing: Summer Palace
Beijing: The Hutong (original neighbourhoods of Beijing)
Beijing: The Great Wall
Sichuan Province: Chengdu, Pandas!
Sichuan Province: Chengdu, City Tour, Tibetan Quarter, Sichuan Opera & Teahouse
Sichuan Province: Travel to Le Shan, the largest carved Buddha in the world
Sichuan Province: E’mei Shan Buddhist Pilgrimmage Site (gondola ride). Tour the mountain and temples.
Sichuan Province: Nanchong, Hotpot Dinner (hot-as-you-like-it fondue)
Shaanxi Province: Xi’an, Terra Cotta Warriors, Beginning of the Silk Road
Shaanxi Province: Xi-an, Qin Dynasty Imperial burial grounds (221-206 B.C.)
Shaanxi Province: Xi-an, Banpo Neolithic Village (5000 B.C.), Big Goose Pagoda, Muslim Quarter for Pulled Noodles

Locations & Activities Part Two

Hong Kong: Ladie's Market, TST, Star Ferry, Lan Kwai Fong, Dragon Boat Festival
Guangdong Province: Guangzhou, river boat cruise, dinner with mom's family
Guangdong Province: Kaiping, meet the rest of my extended family!
Guangdong Province: Villages outside Kaiping where my mom & dad were born & raised. Learn about the dialou, a UNESCO Historical Preservation Site. Visit Li Garden.

Give Even When It Hurts

2009-04-19T22:29:00.014-04:00

Have you ever tried finding a weigh scale? You know, the kind that the lady of justice uses to judge equality and fairness? It's tough! I went to the loonie store last night to see what I could do about making one to prove a point in my speech today.

I got home and my downstairs neighbour was in the backyard. I was randomly chatting about what I was doing with these strange items in my hand when he casually mentioned that he has one! He brought it out and was probably a bit taken aback by my utter shock and amazement - it's beautiful! I think it's also an antique. Wow.

My speech today was to prove a point using visual aids. I was excited to use the scale and beads to illustrate the fact that power is limited (the beads) and unequally distributed in the global economy (shifting the beads to each side of the scale).

I then challenged them with the concept of Positive Discrimination that Vinoth Ramachandra from Sri Lanka challenged the Asian Inter-Varsity staff with a few years back. The idea that since power is limited and unequally distributed, the only way to redistribute power and promote justice is to discriminate against ourselves so that others can have.

He said that it's not the common phrase we hear of, "give until it hurts" but "give even when it hurts." Feeling the pinch of giving up, going without, releasing power is the only way that power can shift to those who normally wouldn't have. It's not because of lack of effort or striving on their part nor is it their fault, the fact remains that societies and the global economy favour the rich. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer...you know the drill.

The website Global Rich List was sobering and challenging too. Stats Can quotes the average annual income (gross) for an unattached individual in 2006 was $28,500. If you put this income in the website, you can calculate that this person is among the top 10 percentile when it comes to being the richest people in the world!

It was an interesting Toastmasters meeting today, as the theme was based on the premise that if you do good things, good things will return to you. If you emit good feelings, you will receive good feelings back. The discussion that ensued was fairly egotistical and self-centred. It was all about me.

I received very positive feedback on my speech and others confided that they preferred the content of my talk over the theme of the meeting. They enjoyed the simplicity of the weigh scale and thought it was a powerful way to convey the concept of positive discrimination.

I was glad to challenge the group to realize that for all of the striving to better their lives, feel good and get more money out of life, that it's not all about me/us but about the betterment and benefit of others. It's not wrong to succeed, but the question is what do you do with your success.

PS: Had a good laugh - went to return my loonie store purchases only to be told that it was an exchange system only. I now have a lifetime supply of fruit of the loom underwear!

Chic

2009-04-17T21:29:00.009-04:00

Good friends are priceless. Where would we be without their love?

The day began with a Good Friday service that morning and then to Korean BBQ with friends. The singing of beautiful hymns, contemplating the death of Jesus and celebrating community through a yummy meal.

I had the pleasure of inviting 9 friends for dinner on Good Friday, including Lam and his fiancée visiting for Easter from Vancouver. I made reservations at Loire, a lovely little French restaurant that I've walked by for awhile now. There are these amazing little restaurants mere steps from Knox, but I've not had the opportunity to dine there until now. It's owned by 2 French chefs, and the food was incredible! I had the duck, which was so flavourful. It tantalized the tastebuds!

I dropped by a couple of days prior to arrange the dessert. I didn't want a large cake, but a smattering of their desserts instead. He arranged the desserts beautifully so that we could pass these around to nibble at. 2 of my friends are gluten intolerant, so he quickly suggested crême brulée with a hint of ginger and cardamom. It was a complete hit!

Before I left, I went to say thank you to the owner for taking such good care of us. It was a wonderful evening. He said [with his strong French accent] that he didn't even recognize me from before, that I looked very chic! ;)

Went back to my place for drinks and consume the chocolate I received as a gift. It was a wonderfully satisfying and relaxing evening.

Cheers!

We're Cute, You Know We're Cute!

2009-04-15T22:29:00.005-04:00

THIS is awesome, thanks to Kylene for posting on her FB page. Why, why, why would Hollywood have a white guy (not that we don't appreciate white guys) be the hero for Dragonball, the movie?

[Hey, is that a bottle of hot sauce on the shelf behind him?]

Invisible Children

2009-04-13T22:36:00.004-04:00

I'm going to be camping out in the middle of downtown Toronto in protest of what is happening in Uganda and the child soldiers that are being abducted and forced into a war of an incredibly crazy man, Joseph Kony. Joseph Kony is the world's first individual indicted by the international criminal courts for crimes against humanity. Watch this video.

The project is called The Rescue - in order to rescue the children from living in fear - the ones who have already been kidnapped and the ones who fear being kidnapped and entire villages who fear the violence these soldiers are forced to do.

April 25th.
We're looking for media (TV, radio, journalists) and politicians to come and cover the event and make a difference. Put pressure on the government to pay attention to what is going on there and change the situation. Jack Layton? CBC?

Madison is Full of Trusting People!

2009-04-10T02:05:00.004-04:00

I forgot to mention - went for bevvies with Kuecks & Stacy after our meetings ended in Madison one evening. Got dropped off at 11:30pm in front of the house we were staying at. It was Stacy's first night & my second at this place so she had her luggage with her and they were kind enough to keep the door unlocked so we could stay out as late as we wanted to see friends, etc.

Stacy & her luggage went first so I could lock up after we got in. Then I thought, 'hey, they must have more guests than us tonight for all of the shoes in the front hallway.' Then I got up to the landing where the living room was, where Stacy was wondering where her bedroom is and thought it was strange that there was no note to welcome her & point her in the right direction.

Peeked around the corner to the living room and promptly died of a small heart attack - we were in the wrong house!

'Stacy! This isn't the right living room! We gotta go!!!"

Stacy: 'Are you serious?!?!'

Both of us tiptoed as fast and as nonchalantly as we could (at 11:30pm in a quiet neighbourhood) and then bust out laughing (quietly!) at the end of the driveway.

Then I checked the address. D'oh! Who would've thought there were 2 unlocked homes at night almost next door to each other!

We skedaddled over to the right house where Lorita was up waiting for us, about to write us a welcome note and wondered what happened when she heard doors shut and no guests tiptoeing through her door!

Never a dull moment, kids!

30 Something

2009-04-09T23:59:00.005-04:00

Today I...

Cranked over another year. Whew! Life gets better and better with age!
Received a phone call from my cousin in China - she speaks terrific English and is a university student in Guangzhou.
Found out that there are different strains of malaria in pockets of China & I may not have gotten the correct medication. Need to check out the CDC website again.
Realized that Guangzhou is a city, and Guangdong or Canton is the province. Right!
Love Facebook - it happily reminds everyone that today's my birthday and it was great fun receiving birthday wishes from everyone - life is good. :)
Accepted an invitation to go for dim sum tomorrow after the Good Friday service with friends.
Played the last game of our season and won (not first place, but it was a good game nonetheless). Tons of people said happy birthday on and off the field too. Yay!
Talked with every member of the family (chatted with Eileen yesterday since it was her birthday yesterday).
Picked up my visa for China today - yay! I got the double entry visa that I asked for. I found out the hard way that they only take cash, money order or cheque, so I had the pleasure of standing in line twice.
Went through culture shock just waiting 'in line' at the Chinese embassy. o_O
Am looking forward to dinner & drinks with close friends to celebrate in a more intimate setting at a fancy French restaurant tomorrow - Loire.

Chinese Adventure

2009-04-08T22:14:00.004-04:00

I pick up my visa to China tomorrow morning, on my birthday! I'm so excited!

Thankfully, the gift of a free luxury suite from the Starwood Alliance that manages about 7 different hotel chains has switched my reservation from the W in Hong Kong to the Westin Chaoyang in Beijing. It's close to Tiananman Square. It'll be fun to see Queena & Julia and stay somewhere nice (with a potential of a free upgrade) for the first night before moving on to other accommodations. I hope for a solid night's sleep too!

Queena has done a fantastic job at planning a sweet itinerary that isn't crazy busy that includes touring around Beijing on bicycles in the hutong area, the Great Wall, pandas, a buddhist monastery, a teahouse opera and of course...hot pot!!! Booyah!

We're also going to see where she lives, which will be awesome - she's offered laundry too - yay! I'll need it at that point! You can read her blog on the right hand side. I've loved reading her stories over the years.

Mom = Amazing

2009-04-08T22:02:00.004-04:00

It's true! My mom is absolutely amazing. She's single-handedly arranging things for me for when I go to China to meet my family. I couldn't have done this without her. I also think she's worried sick about me going, but is also quite relieved to know that Dave is coming with me to interpret and help get around.

She's kept in touch with my dad's side of the family too, even after he passed away. My cousin from my dad's side who now lives in Brooklyn commented on how much she's enjoyed getting to know my mom recently as they've talked over arrangements together. She said that my mom is such a kind, generous and good lady. I only aspire to be like her, despite all of the hardships that life has thrown at her.

Thanks mom, you're the best! I love you.

Pandora's Box

2009-04-05T21:45:00.005-04:00

It's been a very interesting day - I gave my 7th speech for Toastmasters where I'm supposed to present information based on research. Well...I researched online dating and whether or not I should start. ;)

I started out by hiding behind the flipchart where I had posted up my profile. A picture of myself, my stats, hobbies, interests, my definition of a fun date...you get the picture. Then I popped out from behind the flipchart and we went over what was actually true of me and what wasn't. It generated some good laughs, which was great!

After saying some results of the research that I found, I explained that online daters often regret being totally honest online as they feel that it gives a bad impression. In other words, they lie. Men and women lie differently. Women fudge their age & weight, while men lie about their marital status (!!), income and educational level. Yipes!

There are pros though, there are a ton of different dating websites, probably something for everyone. AND you know that everyone there is interested in getting together and the level of intimacy desired (dating, serious relationship, etc.)

Of course, there are always the stories that your friends tell you where they either met the love of their life online, or they know a friend who found their dream man, blah, blah, blah.

I concluded that I was still on the fence about the whole deal, but did post my profile on a site for 'research' purposes. ;) The results have been mixed, to say the least.

The funny result was the fact that all of the men at the meeting had something to say about the subject, as did the women! It was a hot topic that generated great laughs and even more interesting discussion over coffee. There was a lot of teasing that perhaps Pandora's Box was inadvertently opened especially when it came to dating me! Ha, ha.

Another crazy discovery is that I signed up for Lotus tryouts again, in order to get my butt kicked...again! It'll be a great workout regardless of the result. I found out that most of the women are in their mid-20's and I'm currently the oldest one out there! Yipes again!

The the fun begin!

Madison

2009-04-03T21:54:00.006-04:00

I've been going once a month to either Madison, Wisconsin or St. Louis, Missouri for operations team meetings. They've been quite enjoyable, thanks be to God!

The ops director is someone I've worked with before. I really appreciate his fun, organizational, highly relational, easy, strong team approach.

We're doing pretty well - already getting some great stuff done and getting to know each other better as a team at the same time.

We were involved in Spring Meetings with IV/USA this week - which meant of course being able to see friends I haven't seen in years! It was so fun seeing Jenn, Phil, Kuecks (went for drinks with her & Stacy), Paul Tok, Kara & Roland, Renée, Henry, Bob & Debbie...

Debbie is amazing! She pulled out a gift that she bought for me - a travel pack of Ginger Chews from Trader Joe's! (We don't have Trader Joe's in Canada). :( Anyway, Debbie knows that I love these things. I aspire to be as thoughtful as this lady. :) Bob grabbed me a coffee on his good-coffee-not-the-crappy-hotel-coffee run from Ancora's. It's great to know good coffee shops don't go out of business!

Paul Tok said that he's kept tabs on me - someone recently told him that I've become quite a player with IV Canada. Ummm...seriously? I was invited to the Asian American party, but I had already planned to catch up with Kuecks.

Found out a good friend got engaged when I popped in for a cup of tea - yay! Another friend mentioned hoping to adopt a baby from Kazakhstan after going on a short term missions trip with InterVarsity/USA in 1997. I found out that he just returned from adopting 2 weeks ago! Holy smokes!

I loved seeing my friend Moncher - she's a cardiology specialist in Madison who's gotten married & had a baby last month! We haven't seen each other in years - it was wonderful to see her & catch up. She's as beautiful as ever. She's one of those people who make you feel like a million bucks.

All in all, a typically fantastic, reconnecting with amazing friends, Madison trip.

Found | An Interpreter!

2009-04-03T21:13:00.003-04:00

I am feeling sooooo much better about my trip to China - I've found a friend who's willing to come to China to interpret for me when I go to visit my family! I'm absolutely thrilled and relieved.

My friend Dave who lives in Toronto goes back to visit his parents who live in Hong Kong. He'll be there the day after I arrive into Hong Kong. I'm so grateful that he's willing to come with me! He speaks and reads both English and Cantonese. Yay!!!

I feel a bit safer navigating the travels with someone who's fluent in both languages too. Hopefully he can help me speak to my family beforehand to set things up too. I need to figure out where my family lives and how to connect.

Thanks to a colleague of mine, I have a fantastic backpack to bring with me too. Things are really falling into place.

My stress levels have decreased somewhat. :)

The operations team for Urbana was trained a bit more with our Myers Briggs this week in Madison, Wisconson. It was great to be there, and I found out what happens to people who are intuitive under stress - they become high sensory people, but it's weak/negative parts.

I realize that I've been stressed out - last week instead of doing my taxes, I called up a friend to go out for beers instead! I still haven't done my taxes! Hopefully tonight I'll tackle them. It'll be great to see how much I get in my income tax return!

Handler...me?

2009-03-28T23:47:00.003-04:00

Tonight was soooo much fun and not as humiliating as I suspected.

I played the Ultimate intermediate women's tourny tonight and had a total blast. It was coached by Lotus women, who are really keen to help women improve their game.

I didn't get into the competitive women's tourny last weekend. It was an invitational and you needed to indicate your interest. So, I figured heck - I'm just gonna play my best at the intermediate level and have fun. :)

At the end of the evening, I asked for tips on how to improve and the one Lotus gal said that I played great tonight & handled well.

She thought I normally played the handler position! Really? Me?!?! She appreciated that I stay calm on the field and then gave me some tips on how to position myself better on the field. Then she asked if I'm going to come out to tryouts. Cool.

I started to force myself to handle the disk more last summer and think I've really improved, so this is great news!

Barely Able to Contain My Hope

2009-03-26T18:11:00.005-04:00

I just got back from having coffee and cake in the cutest Japanese cafe in Scarberia (Scarborough for those less informed) with a friend from Ambassadors for Christ.

I remembered a couple of years back he was open to coming with me to China to meet my family and translate. I emailed him a couple of months ago asking if he was going on his bi-annual trek to Hong Kong to visit his parents, who live there. Would he be open to coming with me into China to meet my family & interpret for me?

He replied saying that it's a strong possibility! Goodness, really?

I've been pursuing other avenues with not much great success, quietly hoping that he'll come with me to meet my family. He's a wonderful Christian, and he could really help me share my faith if they're open to it.

He said that he thought it would be fun to travel together. :) He wrote down the dates and is going to talk to his parents. It'll be a sacrifice as he'll go for a total of 2-3 weeks, so coming with me for 6-7 days seems like quite a chunk out of his time with his family. He can read Chinese too as he lived there until he was 16! Ahhhh!!!!! He said that he'd be unfamiliar with the culture in Canton - I looked at him - are you kidding? He would at least know the difference! I wouldn't even know the difference if it smacked me upside the head! (Let's hope it doesn't, shall we?)

My family just admitted the other day that they're all pretty worried about me wandering about China on my own without much support. My sister suggested that I cut my losses & just cancel the whole thing because she's worried that something will happen to me. No WAY! Not saying that something may not happen to me, but there's no way that I'm cancelling this trip of a lifetime.

Please pray, pray that he comes with me. I didn't tell him of my family's fears, since I didn't want to put undue pressure on the guy. I'm almost bursting with hope that he'll come with me. I told him I would pass out with joy (and relief!) if he came with me.

Not Once, but Twice?

2009-03-23T14:42:00.002-04:00

Incredible! I've been recommended to apply not once, but twice (!!) for the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization - Cape Town 2010 - which will be held 16-25 October 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa.

It's a huge honour to even be recommended to apply, so you can imagine my shock and amazement when another person considered me a qualified candidate.

I've already submitted my application with two references. Now I wait until June to see if I am able to go!

The Speaker Crush

2009-03-18T23:45:00.004-04:00

Watched the commercial for the upcoming "Amidst the Powers" conference presented by Epiphaneia at the Meeting House this Saturday. As an event planner, I would say this is pretty accurate!

Oh...I've been pegged - I'm the creepy Speaker Crush person. Creeeeeepy!

There's another conference person type - The Interrupter. Which of course, reminds me of an Urbana story! There was a seminar at Urbana 96 that I planned - I popped in to see how it was going since it drew massive numbers - I mean, the line up was down the hall, down the stairs, out the building and around the block! We had just relocated to the new location and I needed to see if everything was going smoothly.

I noticed there was this annoying man from the side of the theatre, standing in the far right hand aisle, yelling and interrupting our 2 debaters (the topic was the role of women in missions!). I was about to go over there and haul him outta there! The speakers names shall remain nameless, but I suddenly realized that the interrupting man was the husband of the one speaker and the fact that he was constantly "correcting" his wife in public was part of the whole deal.

BTW:
Alex got props for his writing on their website blog. We really couldn't make the following announcement any better than our friends at Knox Presbyterian, so we'll let them say it for us....

"This is the event of the year. Headlining this conference are Stanley Hauerwas, Walter Wink, and Marva Dawn, three of the most insightful and inspiring visionaries in the North American church today. Along with other activists, leaders, and theologians, they will be helping us to explore how we’re being called to participate in God’s coming kingdom of justice and righteousness. Is our faith relevant to what’s happening in the world – to wars and recessions, food and sex, economics and sabbath? Do we even care about justice? Or are we content to huddle in our churches and sing our songs and all that – and then go out into society and act just like everyone else? Are we willing to put our lives in the service of Jesus Christ and take up the struggle against oppressive powers in our world? Will we make a difference? These are questions that matter."

Driven by Love

2009-03-16T21:55:00.007-04:00

Have you ever stopped to consider how people are motivated? I took the Enneagram test last year and it was soooo helpful. It helped me figure out that I'm a 6, which is the number that is known for asking a ton of questions (which can tend towards a critical nature) and über loyal (to friends, to the job, to family). This test primarily helps determine what motivates you. Some numbers are driven by their need for power & control, perfection, success, to be helpful, etc. The 6 is motivated mainly by fear. Check out my previous post.

Wow!

I would tend to agree. On the other hand, I have a job that pays me to worry and plan for the worst case scenario. I wonder if I would imagine all of the possible things that could go wrong less if I had a different job? Yes!

I've been praying about how I go about life, including being driven by fear over the past few years. I was in my car, and the question came to mind - well then, what is a better way to live? The answer was simple and clear - I would rather be driven by love! Not the cheesy 'love' but the purest sense of the word. I should do excellent work because I love it, love the people I work with, love the big idea mission of it all. I will gather with friends because I love them in the truest sense. Participation on the worship team would come purely out of my love of God.

Reading the book, "The Shack" was a good one for me. I particularly enjoyed the way the Trinity interacted with each other - with joy and love. The book emphasized how we tend to live our lives with a deep brokenness towards independance, at the expense of the other. Even at the expense of our relationship with God.

I could imagine a life with less conflict and selfishness if we were to really love as God loves himself and us. No struggle for power or entitlement. A generosity of spirit that would overwhelm any pettiness that crept into our relationships.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Hanging out with inspiring people

2009-03-12T00:41:00.002-04:00

I'm sure you've noticed how hanging out with inspiring people encourages feelings of hope, aspiration & energy? I was glad to meet someone like this on Monday - drove clear across the city to do so and was rewarded by a piece of delicious pastry to go along with the easy meeting of the minds.

With lots of fodder to consider, the drive home was a breeze. (The sugar rush was pretty nice too!).

Along with that, I had a conversation with a friend today, bemoaning the fact that some things just take WAY longer to come about than originally anticipated. For everything, there is a season. Waiting for God's timing is brutal at times! We read a confession from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer confessing our sin of impatience today - yessirree Bob, that's for me!

Perhaps Lent 2009 is a season of waiting in anticipation of what God is about to do in my life.

International Women's Day 2009

2009-03-07T23:24:00.003-05:00

Useful Global Gender Facts

Sunday 08 March 2009

Networking

Women use 20,000 words a day while men only use 7,000

Global Issues

Females in developing countries on average carry 20 litres of water per day over 6 km
Globally women account for the majority of people aged over 60 and over 80
Pregnant women in Africa are 180 times more likely to die than in Western Europe
530,000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth each year
World population hit 6,872,741,131 on 1 January 2009
Of 1.2 billion people living in poverty worldwide, 70% are women
80% of the world's 27 million refugees are women
Women own around only 1% of the world's land
AIDS sees women's life expectancy of 43 in Uganda and Zambia
5 people are added to the world's population every 2 seconds
Women are 2/3 of the 1 billion+ illiterate adults who have no access to basic education

Innovation

Globally women comprise 42% internet users (Italy 37% ... US & Canada 51%)
In OECD countries women comrpise only 30 per cent of degrees in science and technology
Women's representation in computer and information sciences workforce is around 30% globally
Female inventors still only account for around 10% of the US inventor population

Business / Finance

Women control $14 trillion in assets and this should grow to $22 trillion over next 10 years
Women comprise 21 of the 37 million people living below the poverty line in the US
Only in Japan and Peru are women more active in starting a business than men
Women spend more time researching before they invest than men do

Media / Arts

Only 21% of all news subjects (people interviewed or whom the news is about) are female
Women less than 1% department heads, editors, media owners but third of working journalists
80% of UK purchasing decisions are made by women but 83% of 'creatives' are men

Work

Women do two-thirds of the world's work but receive only 10% of the world's income
Women's education is the most powerful predictor of lower fertility rates
One year out of college women earn 20% less than men and 10 years later 31% less
Women on average are away from workforce for 14.7 years compared to 1.6 years for men
The biggest EU gender pay gap is in Cyprus and Estonia at 25% then Slovakia at 24%

Government

56% of women who voted supported Obama compared to only 49% of men voted for Obama
Until 20 years ago there had never been more than 5% women MPs globally
Benazir Bhutto was the first woman prime minister of a muslim country (assassinated 27/12/07)
From the 27 EU member states, UK ranks 15 for women's representation in national Parliaments
From 1945 to 1995 the percentage of women MPs worldwide increased four-fold

The whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world

2009-03-07T01:04:00.003-05:00

I've recently received one of the highest honours - an invitation to apply to attend the upcoming Lausanne 2010 Congress in Cape Town, South Africa!

"We are pleased to inform you that you have been recommended as a potential participant in the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization - Cape Town 2010 - which will be held 16-25 October 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa.

At the urging of evangelical leaders worldwide, the Lausanne Movement, with the participation of the World Evangelical Alliance, will host these important meetings. Cape Town 2010 will provide a global forum - before, during and after the Congress - in which leaders from around the world will explore issues facing the Church and God's world. Then together, leaders will prayerfully seek God's guidance in responding so that God's name may be honored and many more men, women and young people will be able to hear and respond to the message of Christ presented in a relevant and culturally appropriate manner.

It is anticipated that over 4,000 leaders from 200 countries will attend Cape Town 2010. The Participant Selection Team, made up of leaders worldwide, has established specific criteria to ensure that the Congress will include men and women from a broad spectrum of nationalities, ethnicities, ages, occupations and denominational affiliations.

We are committed to a recommendation and selection process that is guided by local and regional leaders. It is our desire that the 4000 men and women who are chosen to attend the onsite Congress will reflect the composition of the evangelical church within their respective countries and offer a microcosm of the global evangelical church. Therefore close interaction with local/regional leaders is crucial."

This invitation is pretty unbelievable! I so amazed that I've been recommended and then invited to apply! There will be a small contingent from Canada, and everyone has been wondering if they will be eligible to represent Canada.

The next step is getting accepted. I am thrilled for even the chance to apply. A friend who is involved in the Lausanne Canada committee has said that I'm the first he's heard to even be invited to apply - he's not even sure he's going yet!

Contrasts

2009-03-07T00:39:00.007-05:00

Working for a Christian non-profit organization, raising my own funds, working closely with the business sector is an interesting mix of money contrasts.

I raise my own salary - I'm essentially a volunteer for the organization.

I work with the event planning industry - looking for the best and most economical way forward but have high expectations when it comes to deliverables. I'm constantly on the look out for gift-in-kind opportunities and yet am willing to pay for excellent service. Negotiation skills are mandatory.

Personally, I try to live simply, yet last week I stayed at the Hyatt Regency in St. Louis for a business trip as it is one of the hotels we will be working with. Our lunch was catered by and paid for by the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission.

The day that I booked my flight to China and because I work a lot with the Hilton in Toronto, I received a gift from the Starwood Preferred Group for a night's stay anywhere in the world, in any of their hotel brands. I've chosen to stay at the W Hong Kong, in their 'wonderful' room with an automatic room upgrade if there's one available. I've been told to expect a gift in my room upon arrival.

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about this. :) Mainly because the other nights I expect to be pampered by the hostel that I've already booked for the rest of my stay!

A friend chortled and commented on how that's an accurate snapshot of my life - a life of contrasts yet most definitively my life.

Sweet Revenge

2009-03-06T00:46:00.007-05:00

For those faithful readers who have been reading my blog for awhile, do you remember this guy? http://ann-ecdotes.blogspot.com/2005/12/utter-disregard.html

I coached his intermediate level team today. *smirk*

Who's playing at the competitive level in Toronto and who's still playing (poorly) in the lower level? ;)

Jesus is Hard to Enjoy

2009-03-05T14:36:00.003-05:00

Jesus is Hard to Enjoy
by Pete Hammond

I seek comfort – He invites me to join in his suffering.

I like acceptance and approval – He calls me to be counter-cultural.

I assume my right to safety – He calls me to personal risk.

I desire financial security – He encourages generosity.

I cherish privacy – He invites me into community.

I yearn for personal significance – he made himself “of no reputation.”

I hide for fear of being judged and rejected – He knows me fully and loves me.

I really like my pillow – He had no place to lay his head.

I want to prolong a healthy life – He calls me to die daily.

I hide in macho male bravado – He weeps for others.

I love good regular meals – He feeds others.

I ponder doctrine – He practices love.

I crave success – He wants me to oppose evil at all costs.

I seek out important people – He befriends the despised and rejected.
Jesus is hard to enjoy,

But what I find deep within me is much worse.

“Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, Who though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death,even death on a cross.”

(Paul to the Philippians in Philippians 2:5-9)

Lord, help me make choices in my journey that lead to becoming like Jesus;

by breaking the hold of sin and evil within me, resisting my appetite for comfort, popularity and worldly success, so I can find real joy in Jesus!

Asian History Month

2009-03-01T23:14:00.002-05:00

In conversation at church today, we were talking about Black History month in February, and how we see very little (if any) acknowledgement of this in Toronto of all places.

We looked up Asian History month, and found out that it's in May - the same month that I'll be in China learning a TON about my family history & roots. Kinda neat, eh?

Two Letters

2009-02-28T00:02:00.007-05:00

I was in the passport office today, renewing my passport. I happily found a letter from my cousin in the mailbox today. She lives in Brooklyn. I read her letter while waiting for my turn and found the tears welling up. I never realized how much you can miss family you've never met before.

She said, "I have a lot of things about our family to talk to you, but I will try to little by little let you know. The very important thing is that everyone loves you and misses you so much and I was so happy to have the opportunity to talk with your mother and you on the phone...we want to know more and understand you more. Next time, could you say something about your childhood story to us? I am the female cousin of the same surname with you."

It'll be so good to get to know my dad better through this trip - he passed away when I was young, so I never really had the chance to get to know him very well.

I really like what Bruce Hindmarsh, James Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology wrote in the most recent "Regent World" publication.

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
2 Corinthians 3:2-3, NIV

"I'm sure that you have letters that spoke to you in a deeply personal way at a significant time in your life. It is probably not an accident that much of the New Testament is itself made up of letters, and that Paul naturally turns to the personal letter as a metaphor for the Corinthian church and their relationship with Christ and to the apostle. A personal letter doesn't pretend to the objectivity of the essay (where the author disappears) or the subjectivity of the diary (where the reader disappears). It is a distinctively personal form of communication.

And yet personal does not mean insubstantial. A letter really should say something...Perhaps we ought to think of all theological education in these terms: as personal communciation about serious matters, not unlike letter-writing. In fact, perhaps we ought to think of Regent College itself as a kind of personal letter written on the hearts of our students and alumni...Regent College is a letter from Christ himself, written not with pen and ink but with the Spirit of the Living God.

"On human hearts...from Christ...by the Spirit of the living God." The source of any substantial and personal communication about God is finally the Holy Trinity. And such very personal theology is in turn a blessing to the world, "known and read by everybody."

Everybody...here in Toronto and perhaps even to family in China.

L'Arche Daybreak

2009-02-21T21:50:00.003-05:00

Erika, Mike, Patrick, Scott & I went to L'Arche Daybreak yesterday for their Taize service. They have a Friday night communion service, led by various priests in Toronto. This is the place that Henri Nouwen lived. It's a beautiful service, enhanced by members of the community. It's a community for people with physicial and mental disabilities. It's wonderful to see how seamlessly everyone is incorporated into the service. Joy and warmth exudes from the people. We were invited to stand up and introduce ourselves to the community and were welcomed. It was a very peaceful time.

I've been meaning to return so for long, I need to go back soon. Ruth invited a few of us to retreat there while brainstorming about the possibilities of her role as spiritual formation director for Inter-Varsity. The property is quite vast, with a number of different buildings and places to walk outside.

Text Message from Somewhere in China

2009-02-21T20:56:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, I received a text message on my phone from somewhere in China! It's from my cousin, I think.

This is what is said "Sister Anna, I don't know can you receive my message, but I decide to try it. I am your uncle's daughter, your young sister in China."

Wow!

I texted her back and asked which side of the family she's on? I'd love to see if her English is good enough to translate for me when I come to visit. I wonder how old she is? My mom is the youngest of her siblings, so my cousins could be quite a bit older than I am. Perhaps she's really my second cousin!

I'm *still* looking for a translator to come with me to meet my family. I'm also wondering if I can stay with my family or if I'll need to get a hotel? I STILL need to figure out which village my mom's side of the family lives.

So many questions and I'm pretty overwhelmed. I was hoping to call my cousins tonight, but I couldn't summon the courage up to call. Hmmm...perhaps tomorrow because on Monday I fly to St. Louis for Urbana meetings until Thursday.

I've booked a Catholic hostel for my time in Hong Kong, which I can cancel once I have my dates figured out to visit my family. Amazingly, the same day I booked my flight, I received a gift of a night's stay at a Hilton hotel anywhere in the world until December 31st. I'm going to book it for my last night in Hong Kong!

Yes We Can, eh?!

2009-02-21T20:38:00.003-05:00

I just read an article raving about Obama's visit to Ottawa this week. For his first international trip, and he chose his neighbours to the north. In the article, it said "Yes, We Can, eh?!"

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
1. Vancouver: 1.5 million people and two bridges. You do the math.
2. Your $400,000 Vancouver home is just 5 hours from downtown.
3. You can throw a rock and hit three Starbucks locations.
4. There's always some sort of deforestation protest going on.
5. Weed.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN ALBERTA
1. Big rock between you and BC.
2. Ottawa who?
3. Tax is 5% instead of the approximately 200% it is for the rest of the country.
4. You can exploit almost any natural resource you can think of.
5. You live in the only province that could actually afford to be its own country.
6. The Americans below you are all in anti-government militia groups.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN SASKATCHEWAN
1. You never run out of wheat.
2. Your province is really easy to draw.
3. You can watch the dog run away from home for hours.
4. People will assume you live on a farm.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN MANITOBA
1. You wake up one morning to find that you suddenly have beachfront property.
2. Hundreds of huge, horribly frigid lakes.
3. Nothing compares to a wicked Winnipeg winter.
4. You can be an Easterner or a Westerner depending on your mood.
5. You can pass the time watching trucks and barns float by.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN ONTARIO
1. You live in the centre of the universe.
2. Your $400,000 Toronto home is actually a dump.
3. You and you alone decide who will win the federal election.
4. The only province with hard-core American-style crime.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN QUEBEC
1. Racism is socially acceptable.
2. You can take bets with your friends on which English neighbour will move out next.
3. Other provinces basically bribe you to stay in Canada.
4. You can blame all your problems on the "Anglo *#!%!"

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN NEW BRUNSWICK
1. One way or another, the government gets 98% of your income.
2. You're poor, but not as poor as the Newfies.
3. No one ever blames anything on New Brunswick.
4. Everybody has a grandfather who runs a lighthouse.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN NOVA SCOTIA
1. Everyone can play the fiddle. The ones who can't, think they can.
2. You can pretend to have Scottish heritage as an excuse to get drunk and wear a kilt.
3. You are the only reason Anne Murray makes money.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
1. Even though more people live on Vancouver Island, you still got the big, new bridge.
2. You can walk across the province in half an hour.
3. You can drive across the province in two minutes.
4. Everyone has been an extra on "Road to Avonlea."
5. This is where all those tiny, red potatoes come from.
6. You can confuse ships by turning your porch lights on and off at night.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN NEWFOUNDLAND
1. If Quebec separates, you will float off to sea.
2. If you do something stupid, you have a built-in excuse.
3. The workday is about two hours long.
4. It is socially acceptable to wear your hip waders to your wedding.

Let's face it - Canadians are a rare breed.

The Official Canadian Temperature Conversion Chart:

50° Fahrenheit (10° C)
· Californians shiver uncontrollably.
· Canadians plant gardens.

35° Fahrenheit (1.6° C)
· Italian Cars won't start.
· Canadians drive with the windows down.

32° Fahrenheit (0 ° C)
· American water freezes.
· Canadian water gets thicker.

0° Fahrenheit (-17.9° C)
· New York City landlords finally turn on the heat.
· Canadians have the last cookout of the season.

-60° Fahrenheit (-51° C)
· Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
· Canadian Girl Guides sell cookies door-to-door.

-109.9° Fahrenheit (-78.5° C)
· Carbon dioxide freezes makes dry ice.
· Canadians pull down their earflaps.

-173° Fahrenheit (-114° C)
· Ethyl alcohol freezes.
· Canadians get frustrated when they can't thaw the keg.

-459.67° Fahrenheit (-273.15° C)
· Absolute zero; all atomic motion stops.
· Canadians start saying "cold, eh?"

-500° Fahrenheit (-295° C)
· Hell freezes over.
· The Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup.

By the way, my friend Greg is having his annual "Mexico in Scarborough" party next weekend where he'll crank up the heat in his house. This requires everyone to bring shorts and he's prepped his new outdoor hot tub especially for the occasion. There's definitely still snow on the ground!

My friends laughed at me this week because I had already put my snowbrush away for my car and cracked out my new trenchcoat. Good thing I didn't put away my winter jacket...

Ethiopian Boys

2009-02-16T12:28:00.003-05:00

Immediately after returning to Toronto from Pittsburgh yesterday, I went to see some friends on their overnight layover back to Winnipeg. They had just arrived from Ethiopia where they collected their newly adopted 3 year old Ethiopian boy!

It was just incredible to meet him, Bereket which means 'blessing.' He's a bundle of joy and manages to communicate so well despite the fact that he doesn't know English. Wow. Becca & I went and had a blast watching the new parents interact with their son. He does call them mommy & daddy. It's very moving.

They were in Ethiopia for 2 weeks before coming back and got to know where he came from a bit. He's always full of smiles, but I guess he only started laughing a couple of days ago. :) My friends were thankful for Ethiopia for their son and impressed with how the entire village knew him and spoke to him about the fact that he was getting on a plane to his new home in Canada. I guess the saying is right, that it takes an African village to raise a child. I wish it was more like this here in Canada!

Becca & I got Bereket a fantastic teddy bear and my friends from Pittsburgh gave some clothes that their little Ethiopian boy has outgrown - a sweater and warm coat. Just in time to finish their trip to Winterpeg! ;) I was so glad it worked out to see them.

16 Hours

2009-02-16T11:44:00.008-05:00

A friend & I drove to Pittsburgh, PA/Youngstown, OH this weekend for a total of 16 hours! Thankfully, the border crossing was the least of our worries, but we did manage to get a bit lost sometimes. The conversation was never dull, but made the driving easy and enjoyable.

Scott, my road trip buddy

My starchy-white meal on the road - not a piece of greenery anywhere!

The wedding was in Youngstown, OH, but I realized that some friends from Madison live just an hour away in Pitts. :) We stayed with these friends and saw their new homes, new lives and even new dogs! It was fantastic to see good friends after not seeing each other for so long. I think it's been 5 years for one family! They've since adopted an Ethiopian boy who's now 3 years old and completely adorable.

We didn't see much of the city of Pitts, but we learned a lot from my friends. We learned about the 'Pittsburgh left' which happens when the light turns green & the car on the opposite side of the intersection will turn left in front of you and give a little wave of thanks, even if you didn't intend on letting him have the right of way! I guess it's an unspoken agreement that they have the right of way and then get angry if you don't let them through! Well!

We went to eat at this place called Pamela's P & G Diner - this place has Americana written all over it, with an attached store full of merchandise, à la Cracker Barrel. The people watching was really great and the food portions were enormous! Good times!

Brekkie with our host, Ryan

We got lost again driving to the wedding, which then made us squeak in right at 3pm, when the wedding was to begin! Yipes! That was way too close for comfort and I felt badly about it. 8 minutes to 3pm, I got a phone call from the groom wondering where I was. :( :( They decided to wait for me (cringe!). On top of it all, I was almost out of gas.

Once I ran in there, I had to take a minute to calm my nerves. I was to read the scripture for the wedding. Thankfully, the scripture was already printed out and I had a few minutes before I needed to get up there to rehearse silently. I received some great compliments on my role, which was great.

I loved seeing Ron get married and meet his friends from college and his new wife! She's Korean and they met while Ron taught English in Korea. Her parents looked beautiful in their ceremonial dress, a Korean hanbok - wow! I wish I was Korean just so I could wear that gorgeous dress! I think it's flattering to any body shape!

Mike & Elizabeth were there too, from Regent days. They now live in Kentucky and Mike's since joined IV staff! Yay! We met their youngest son, Milo. He's soooo cute! It was awesome to catch up with them.

The wedding feast!

Me & the groom!

Smooth Like Butter

2009-02-15T22:16:00.002-05:00

Some smooth Ulty playing from the Ninja, Cowboy, Bear tourny last weekend. I'm not playing, but it's still fun to watch!

New Urbana 09 Video

2009-02-12T00:12:00.000-05:00

The new Urbana 09 promotional video is out!

Going to China!

2009-02-11T23:28:00.007-05:00

I've been pinching myself all day....I purchased my flight to China! I recently hired a travel agent to work on getting Inter-Varsity Canada staff to and from Urbana 09. He's really good and I'm pleased with how things are progressing. We met up this morning in Hamilton and then checked out China flights as the last thing we did today.

[Canadian staff were stuck using an American travel agent for Urbana 06 called Le Travel based in Chicago. We started calling them Le Late! But that's another story...]

I'll be in Vancouver for Arrow the first week of May, and then I'll just keep going west for the rest of the month.

Everything worked out perfectly. Yesterday, I found myself sweet talking my way out of sticking around and working on Urbana to 3 different people, including the ops director for Urbana 09. I figure the sooner in the year, the better for escaping for vacay.

I'll fly into Beijing to meet up with Queena & Julia for about 10 days bombing around a few places and then go on my own to Hong Kong to see some friends and meet my family for another 10 days or so. I'll fly from Hong Kong back to Vancouver-Toronto. It's an ideal situation for a great flight price too! I can't believe it wasn't that much more expensive to depart from a different city than my entry city.

Wow! I talked to Q on the phone this morning - it was sooo good to hear her voice and confirm that I'm making the right overall plans. I was hoping to visit Seoul too, but the cost was formidable. :(

My mind is whirling with all of the possibilities - incredible food (!!!), pandas, terra cotta warriors, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Summer Palace, pandas...

I picked up my car this morning from the shop, my mechanic is Chinese from China. He was excitedly telling me of these places that are beautiful in China - he wrote the names down in Chinese. I'll have to ask this lady from work to translate for me. :)

I'm still searching for a translator though. I'll check to see about family members who may know enough English or friends of friends. Does anyone out there know of someone willing to come with me for about a week?

Now to renew my passport, get a visa and my shots!

Speaking of pandas, it reminds me of one of my fav youtube videos!

Oh What a Relief It Is!

2009-02-10T00:48:00.005-05:00

Gotta admit, I've been tired of the look of my blog for a long time now, but never had the guts to change it for fear of losing my formatting. Jared, are you still reading - the font colour is darker now! ;)

I love this new background! It's more 'me.' Unfortunately, the entire backdrop doesn't come through, as the blogger template blocks the middle portion out.

Also, the "Cutest Blog in the Block" weblink covers my most recent blog entry title! Grrrr!!! Any tips on how to move it?

Kaiping

2009-02-09T20:56:00.009-05:00

I found out my father's village is called Kaiping! I'm actually making headway in figuring things out for my upcoming trip.

I called a cousin of mine who now lives in Brooklyn, NY. She's going to think about coming with me to visit my paternal side of the family. She said though, that a cousin and second cousin of mine also speak some English. I hope so - that would be amazing!

She said that it's a bus ride from Hong Kong to the village, so that sounds doable. I'm hoping to look up bus schedules online.

In my search for information on Kaiping, I came across this website, called generasian.ca, written by a Chinese Canadian from Vancouver. I love it! I hope to find out much more about my family through this trip.

Here is what the website author wrote about my dad's village:

Kaiping's history is relatively recent. The name Kaiping literally translated means "Open Peace."

According to an old Vancouver Kaiping book I found in our family's possession, written almost entirely in Chinese, I found a single lone page describing Kaiping in English. It had been written by a Harry James based on information he had received from a Seto Gock on April 18, 1946. The entire commemorative book is a great snapshot of the life of Vancouver's Chinatown just shortly after the end of the Second World War - with profiles of Canadian and Chinese leaders, business ads, old maps and names with photos of prominent Kaiping persons then living in and around Vancouver Canada. Here, in part, is the introductory paragraph of Hoy Ping, from this 60+ year old publication:

The district of Hoy Ping in Kwangtung Province was formed a little over 400 years ago from land which was formerly parts of the districts of Sun woy, Hoy Han, and Yen Ping. It is somewhat cone-shaped with the most irregular boundaries, being larger at the north end and tapering off almost to a point at the south. Its area is about 160 square miles and is bounded on the north-east by the districts of Hock Shan and Sun Hing, on the west by Yen Ping and in the east by Hoy Shan and Sun Woy. Before the formulation of the district, the area was infested by Bandits and the territory had to be "opened up" to expose and disperse them.

Cool! Bandits! ;)

I took this paragraph from his website, as it's about the time that my grandfather and great grandfather came over from China to work in restaurants in Banff and Calgary. I think both of their spouses had passed away early on, freeing them to come to Canada together. It seems to have coincided with the "males only" immigration regulations of Canada at the time.

They eventually went back to get my mom in 1954 after she had been in Hong Kong learning a bit of English. She said only women that were younger than 19 years of age could immigrate to Canada, which is why she could come to Canada after the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed.

"There were anti-Chinese laws passed at the turn of the last century in Canada. The 1925 photos show exclusively, males only (two years after the Canadian "Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923"), and shortly afterwards, the appearance of First Nations women in 1929, ( Chinese men started to take First Nations women as wives due to the inability to bring Chinese wives over) then later, the appearance of children ...especially after 1947, when the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed, thus allowing Chinese women to emigrate to Canada."

I think it's interesting that the Chinese males would take First Nations women as their wives, I wonder how that came to be?

NCB Tourny

2009-02-08T02:21:00.004-05:00

Some awesome Toronto Ultimate Club peeps organized a very fun tournament tonight - the Ninja, Cowboy, Bear tourny. I was on the Blue Cowboy team and it was great to play with people I haven't played with before. It's awesome to mix things up a bit and play with people you normally play against. :)

The heckling was particularly beautiful tonight. I love this sport!

I was shocked to find out that I won an MVP award! Wow! The swag was awesome - got a great Canadian Nationals Ulty quick dry shirt (VC) from Calgary and a bike reflector.

There were some fatalities though - some teddy bears met their demise in order to become tails, hats and a mask. :(

Pent Up Anger

2009-02-06T00:41:00.008-05:00

Sometimes I find it hard to stand up for myself in the heat of the moment. I tend to get run over in my hurry to avoid conflict.

Not tonight!

I was playing Ultimate with my team, with really great players...for the most part! Thursday nights I play with my hat team - it's a team where the captains get together over a pint & draft players onto their teams. It's worked out really well, since all of the teams are evenly matched and the games are competitive and fun.

Anyway, I don't choose to play with my teammates, it's just how it goes. That's how I happen to be on the same team with this guy *Bob* who thinks he's a MUCH better player than I am. We were on the same team last fall too, with the same player selection process.

How good does he perceive himself to be?! Good question! Soooooooo good, in fact, that he continues to tell me how to play and improve my defensive position on the field. I appreciate his deep wisdom so much that I pretty much ignore him, while rolling my eyes internally. This has been going on for months.

I did check with the other players on my team (the ones I respect) to see if my position was really off, considering the offensive strategy of the opposing team. They insisted that I was not getting burnt in the endzone, and placing myself well on the field.

My modus operandi is to run hard and generally have good field awareness (know where all of the players are on the field in relation to me and the disk).

Bob did a strange and generally looked down upon thing. He switched to mark the person with the disk instead of the guy he was supposed to defend. The person happened to be a girl...my girl. For the most part, you're supposed to mark according to your gender. Guy: Guy, Girl: Girl. What you're really not supposed to do is let your guy run freely into the end zone to score. Which is precisely what Bob did. He switched the mark to my girl, leaving the guy free to score in the end zone.

I was 1 foot away from Bob, but his back was turned to me. So I preceded to yell "Bob, get off!" This is normal procedure when you're telling your player that you're there and ready to make a quick switch back to regular defensive strategy. Read: You're marking the wrong person! Sprint like HELL to your guy who's about to score!

Bob then says "Ann, move your feet!" I apparently merited this remark because I'm slow or either too far away to put the mark on my girl. This is especially amusing since I was never more than 5 feet away from my girl and had to stop in my tracks in order to avoid colliding with Bob as he switched to mark my girl.

So, the girl throws the disk into the endzone to the guy running freely without a threat from Bob, to score in the endzone.

I turned to Bob and yelled across the field, "Bob, SHUT UP! This is not about me, but all about YOU!" Wow! That felt GOOD! I've been wanting to say something for months!

Grinning slyly, I saw him talking to our captain about the situation after the game and watched our captain shake his head and tell him he was the one out of position, allowing the point to happen.

Ha, ha!

Backpacking Through Europe

2009-02-06T00:39:00.004-05:00

Went backpacking with Christina in May 2000 - seems to be my 'big holiday' month!

Anyway, here's her blog about our trip. I had no idea she blogged about our adventures! We went to Germany, Paris, Spain (Barcelona) and Italy in a few weeks. Fantastic memories. :)

http://chroniclesofchristina.wordpress.com/2000/05/08/the-chronicles-of-christina-in-europe-episode-1/

China is a big, big country

2009-02-03T21:38:00.006-05:00

I just got off the phone with my mom. It was fun and hard all at once. My goal was to figure out which village my mom grew up in, in order to plan on how to get there from Hong Kong.

No dice. She said it was hard to talk to me - hard to say the name of the village? Hard emotionally to talk about her village? Doesn't want to tell me?

I asked if there were family members who spoke English. She gave me names of cousins of mine who didn't speak English. Riiiiiiiight.

I'm going to see if my friend who lives in HK would be either willing to come with me or find someone from his church who would be willing to travel with me as a translator. Mom said it's probably better that I don't go at all if I can't find someone. Ummm...thanks?!

Any suggestions? This is going to be CRA-ZY!

Then she came up with their children - one who went to university - they may possibly speak English. Now we're talking!

Mom gave me my cousin's names, and then giggled when I tried to repeat them. Argh! She also told me that I can't really afford to visit my family. I found out that she brought a ton of money to give them when she visited a few years back. Yipes! It's also part of the reason why she can't go back - she doesn't have that much cash to give to them again. It's part of the heavy financial expectation on her. Am I supposed to bring big financial gifts for my family too? She said no, they probably wouldn't expect me to do that.

Mom wants to call them first, as a heads up, yay mom! I have their phone numbers, and will try to call them afterwards...as soon as I muster the guts up to call!

Discovering My Roots

2009-01-30T00:33:00.007-05:00

No...not my hair colour - my real roots! In China!

My cousin invited me to to China to visit my dad's side of the family at Christmas, which has gotten the ball rolling. She said she'd really like to introduce me to my family and show me where my dad grew up. I'm about to cry just thinking about it!

Mom was amazing as usual, and offered to pay for my flight. She said that if I didn't want to travel with my cousin, I didn't have to since her English skills aren't the best. She just moved to Brooklyn last year to get married to a Chinese guy who can't speak English. Mom said, "just like you Ann!" Har, har. o_O Seriously, mom said that I'm the famous cousin since my dad immigrated to Canada and continued to support our family financially. Not that we were flush with cash, but we were probably better off than my family.

I'll have to let my cousin know that I'm planning on going in May with my friend Julia & Q who's working currently in China. I wonder if she could really take the time off from work to visit with me? I'm also hoping to visit my mom's side of the family too. Mom said I didn't have to, but who are we kidding? I'll be sooo close!

The thing I'm a teeny weeny bit worried about is the fact that it's an Urbana year, and taking time off may be tricky. I'm hoping that traveling in the spring will be more possible than in the fall!

Anyway, hoping to visit Beijing with J & Q (the Great Wall), and then split off to Hong Kong and go into the mainland to meet my family for the first time. Wow! I'm really overwhelmed, but I'm excited about the possibility. I'm pretty sure I'll bawl my eyes out and will need to process everything. I've wanted to visit for years, but it's never worked out.

Thankfully I have a friend in HK who may be able to connect me with someone who'd be willing to come with me to be my interpreter. I wonder if there are services of this kind - surely there are others like me who need a ton of help to communicate with their families!

AND, if I can swing a decent flight with a layover in Seoul, I have 4 friends that I'd love to visit there!

Which reminds me, I'd better renew my passport - it expires in November!

Inauguration in Wisconsin

2009-01-26T23:03:00.004-05:00

It's 2009 and an Urbana year. Whew, get ready for it everyone!

I've begun flying to Madison, WI and St. Louis (STL) for Urbana 09 operations team meetings. I'll be going about once a month to meetings to represent Inter-Varsity Canada & work on logistical preparations for Canadians pre-Urbana and onsite.

I was just in Madison this week, and happened to be there for the Inauguration day of Obama. I couldn't figure out why things were so slow at customs, and then heard at O'Hare that the country was at code orange. I'm very familiar with these colours, as the US went to code orange the first NYE after 9/11 which then increased security for Urbana 03. It's the colour right below code red, when the country goes into emergency mode.

Landed in Madison and everyone was glued to the TV. He had just been sworn in. We went to lunch across from the state capitol building downtown and I gave the seats facing the TV to the Americans with me, as any polite Canadian would do! Suddenly, the place erupts with joy! What happened I asked, slightly alarmed & looking at the TV. The lady at the table beside me leans over and says really loudly, "He's outa here!" I look at the TV and realize that Bush had just stepped into the plane. :)

Anyway, I got to the office and Glenn, a good friend comes up and says loudly "So Ann, how does it feel to be the 2nd best country in the world as of today?" Ha!

Attended an inauguration party at someone's home, complete with an Obama cake. My friend Kara was joking about Bush, and then exclaimed that hey, she just referred to Bush in the past tense and was quite pleased with that fact.

It was cool to be there for such a momentous occasion. It was good.

Going back to Madison is sooo good. It's like going home. :) I love going to the NSC and seeing friends and catching up. There's definitely less and less people that I know, but I attended chapel and Shirley was there playing the piano and singing as usual. Good times!

I stayed at the Belleville B&B, with outstanding hospitality as usual. It was wonderful to go for Mexican with a good friend, hang out with 2 handsome men (Dave & Trent), share a bottle of wine with the girls and share a meal with Francis & Emily. Yay! Life is good when you have incredible friends to share it with. I left very full and well-loved.

Disc Disease

2009-01-14T21:35:00.004-05:00

Found out I have neck vertebrae deterioration. I kinda knew that already, but wanted to see if there was anything to be done about it. It confirms the achy pain I've had since August that just won't go away.

Actually, I've been pretty worried about my neck since university days, but it's just never occurred to me to see the doctor about it. I've gone to a few chiropractors with varying success, but I really only could see improvement from the one in Vancouver. He was the least invasive and most effective one ever. Haven't found an equivalent to him here in Toronto.

Here's the result of my x-ray:
There is cervical kyphosis (curvature). There is mild degenerative disc disease of the cervical spine, most pronounced at the C4-C5 level. The same level demonstrates left sided neural foraminal stenosis secondary to osteophy formation. The alignment is maintained. There is no evidence of acute fracture or dislocation.

I think some research into the terminology is in order!

The doctor said that he's not seen such a bad neck in someone as young as me, so I guess I have an old neck! there's nothing to do about it except avoid situations of acute trauma and maintain health. Right...thanks. I've increased my calcium intake and am pretty bad at remembering to take it.

My Provider (God)

2009-01-13T00:36:00.010-05:00

Fundraising is a mixed bag. It's hard. Humbling. Crazy. Who in their right mind would do this sort of thing? (Ha! No comments from the peanut gallery!).

There are also many times of elation and astonishment. As in, almost-can't-believe-it's-true amazement. I pretty much tip-toed out of someone's office this week in a small effort to retain composure before he could change his mind!

If I were gaining a regular salary instead of fundraising, I would very likely rely less on God, pray rarely and not believe so resolutely in miracles. Heck, I'd almost believe I received a salary because I deserved it and not realize it's all from God and all about God.

I've been on this project to apply for the GST rebate that the Canada Revenue Agency offers to foreign conventions. World Assembly qualified as a foreign convention and I had a year to apply. Many bazillions of receipts later and calculator tapes stapled onto stacks of receipts, I was ready by July 2008!

Well, we were rejected because we needed to reapply as the conference organizers, not the sponsors. Round two!

The powers that be on the Canadian side thought it was fair for me to receive a 50/50 split of the reimbursement since I did all of the work to apply. I was motivated by the fact that I need to fundraise hard to meet my goals for this fiscal year AND pay for the rest of my Arrow Leadership course expenses & travel costs. My plan was to pay for the Arrow costs from the funds received.

Later, I found out that the sponsor will receive 100% of the funds and we receive nothing, even though it's unlikely the time & effort would have been put into applying for the rebate otherwise. :(

The powers that be have a plan. :) If all goes well, perhaps we can still get a cut. Not 50%, but hey, more than $0!

"The plan" considered the fact that I need to pay for my Arrow expenses this upcoming year. $4600 which includes flight to Vancouver and additional travel costs.

A very kind and generous person has agreed to cover the remaining fees through another fund. Yay! That commitment was proposed a week ago and I'm still smiling about it!

Hey Genius!

2009-01-11T22:55:00.005-05:00

You think you're pretty smart, eh? Just shy of brilliant? Don't hold back, here are some tests to prove your mettle!

You can see how many words you know the definition to, and you can combat hunger at the same time. Sweet! You can increase your vocabulary too, you just can't go wrong with this website. Either your vocabulary will increase or be the best partner one could wish for in a Trivial Pursuit game!

http://www.freerice.com/index.php

Confession time - you know you've gotten too dependant on the red squiggly lines underneath our misspelled words in Word. How would you do in the Grade 5 Spelling Bee?

http://www.businesswriting.com/tests/commonmisspelled.html

I'm embarrassed! I only got 16 out of 25. Yipes! Can you beat me?!

Neologism Contest

2009-01-09T00:21:00.007-05:00

You may have seen this already, but I think it's pretty funny. Enjoy! :)

Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.

The winners are:

1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.

3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.

6. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.

7. Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavored mouthwash

8. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.

9. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.

10. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.

11. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by Proctologists.

12. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.

13. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms

14. Frisbeetarianism (n.), The belief that, when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

The Washington Post's Style Invitational also asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

Here are this year's winners:

1. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

2. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

3. Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

4. Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

5. Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

6. Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.

7. Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease.

8. Karmageddon (n): It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

9. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

10. Glibido (v): All talk and no action.

11. Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

12. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

13. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

14. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.