Short

It’s been an interesting year.  I have a bunch of thoughts floating around in my head about a million different things to write about, so i’m sorry if this is more incoherent.

So to start off, my absence was due to finals, and pathetically, only two of them, but that was enough to get me pretty stressed out.  When people asked how I was doing, i just had to point out that my face tells the whole story, i was breaking out like crazy.  i’m one of those who wasn’t blessed with leaving acne behind when i left my teens. sigh.  But, in hindsight, it was a really good term. I learned a ton, and tho i’m not a lot closer to really committing to a church or anything, I feel super blessed to get so much time and room to think and discuss so many bigger things.  That said, I’m psyched to be done. For now. I’d imagine this gets easier…

After my final exam this past thursday, I beelined to my friends R and P’s house to visit their new addition, little G.  I must admit that life has been throwing me a curveball as of the last year or so which, among other things, just means I’m getting older. The curveball? I have been for the first time in my life comfortable with newborns… I’m even inclined to hold them, crazy… but not crazy enough to change a diaper.  That said, holding a 3 week old is pretty amazing, and the smallest little being i’ve ever held… AND  then on Saturday as a last-minute request, I went to visit another little one, and she was only 2 days old!  Talking to their parents, both first time parents, it was a pretty amazing experience.  hm.  getting older for sure.  The best Christmas presents ever.

hm. this is all i have in me for now. Merry Christmas to all you wonderful peeps out there.

acid

i hesitated to post this link because it’s so sad and difficult to look at, but in conversation last night with a friend i was reminded of it and so here it is…

http://blogs.tampabay.com/photo/2009/11/terrorism-thats-personal.html

they are photos of acid attack victims, a despicable practice inflicted on women across asia. they are incredibly beautiful photos of the incredibly ugly consequences of gender inequality.

Triage

This past Sunday I went to the closing documentary for the Amnesty Film Fest, Triage: Dr. James Orbinski’s Humanitarian Dilemma. Dr James Orbinski is a Canadian doctor who spent much of his life with Doctors without Borders, working in the worst humanitarian crises around the world in the last couple of decades. It was incredibly difficult to watch, as Dr. Orbinski told story after story of his experiences while revisiting Rwanda and Somalia, you cannot help but wonder about evil and the human condition.  He tells these stories with incredible honesty, that so many decisions  made in the moment are hardly ideal, but always approached with the frame of mind of making the best of the worst situation possible. The word triage is the “concept is a process of prioritizing patients based on the severity of their condition as it occurs in medical emergencies and disasters.” (thanks wikipedia!) He begins the documentary explaining that as doctors, they need to make the difficult decision of who to try to save and who they know won’t survive.

His in his autobiography he writes, (http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385660693)

“Ummera, ummera–sha” is a Rwandan saying that loosely translated means ‘Courage, courage, my friend–find your courage and let it live.’ It was said to me by a patient at our hospital in Kigali. She was slightly older than middle aged and had been attacked with machetes, her entire body rationally and systematically mutilated. Her face had been so carefully disfigured that a pattern was obvious in the slashes. I could do little more for her at that moment than stop the bleeding with a few sutures. We were completely overwhelmed. She knew and I knew that there were so many others. She said to me in the clearest voice I have ever heard, “Allez, allez. Ummera, ummera-sha”–‘Go, go. Courage, courage, my friend–find your courage and let it live.’
—From An Imperfect Offering

It really just scratches the surface of the complexity of international humanitarian aid, but i would highly recommend trying to track down the documentary or book if you have the time.

Chinese Food

I was sitting eating lunch with my mom and a couple things happened that made me think we Chinese do things rather differently when it comes to food and restaurants. If you’re someone unfamiliar with the rather unusual customs, allow me to fill you in.

1) Handy things like the Michelin guide or nifty websites with user ratings or apps like Urban Spoon are entirely unnecessary because there is nothing more reliable than your Auntie Fanny or Uncle Frankie (biological or otherwise).   If they tell you the Winter Melon Soup at Restaurant X is the best thing since steamed rice, you go to Restarant X and have the Winter Melon Soup.

2) With Number 1 in mind, if you “happen” to be in some foreign country and didn’t know anyone who lives or has ever been there, (or I suppose, if you are not Chinese) you find the Chinese restaurant with the most Chinese people inside, and then check to see what is on every table.  As it happens, everyone Chinese person has an Auntie Fanny/Uncle Frankie, and they are a part of an intricate world wide network of good food.  Don’t try to be unique (even if that is your personality type). If everyone has Peking Duck on their table, don’t go and order the chicken.  That’s foolish, and the last time they cooked chicken was before they started said restaurant.  Even if you don’t like duck, order the duck.  Or go to Restaurant Y that is known for their chicken.

3) Chinese people LOVE QUEUES. I don’t know what it is, perhaps it’s our natural curiosity, but if there’s a queue, it’s GOT to be good.  In fact, I’ve seen so many queues in the middle of the day in the middle of week that I often wonder how many Chinese people actually work.  It’s a great thing for the business owner because queues and crowds inevitably invites more people… how often have you returned home to a massive box of egg tarts and your mom/dad/relative insists you have several because they are the best new thing, so good they had to line up for it? (aka, if you had to wait for it, it HAS to be good.)

3) Cleanliness is well, not nearly as important as how good the food is. The less time they are waxing the floor means the more time they are spending making the food good.  And if the floor is the pavement on some abandoned street in the middle of nowhere, all the better.

4) Chinese people cannot resist a deal or a special. If the crab is on sale, we get crab (along side that Winter Melon Soup).  That’s also why restaurants have handwritten menu items on garishly loud coloured paper on the wall in even when the menu already has over a million menu items.  Inevitably, everyone has to try that because of course, the golden word is, “SALE”.

5) Good Food is so important that Chinese people will go clear across town, take 3 different forms of transportation and take 3 times the amount of transit time than the actual meal time.  That’s how important it is, it’s almost like, harder I had to work for it, the more valuable.

6) Everything you don’t really like is good for you.  Stuff you do like has either too much “heat”, is too “cool”, or will give you goiters in your old age.

7) Chinese people will always tell you you’re fat, then give you so much food you feel like bursting and then complain you didn’t eat enough.

Conversations

i just started a blog about my thoughts on the downtown eastside

http://conversationsonthedtes.wordpress.com/

it’s cheezy and a christiany, but oh well, it’s a start. it came from a conversation i had with a friend of mine who lives on the DTES, and it comes from a long standing conversation on how to engage the “church” in Vancouver to care a little more. more often than not, churches do sandwich runs and feel like they’ve done enough, but that hardly addresses the bigger picture. (and for the record, homeless people eat really really well in Vancouver, although food banks are a different matter) i was talking to a pastor friend yesterday and he said it’s so hard because even last week, he had a woman say to him that she wanted to stand next to those guys pan handling with a sign that said “get a job”. yeah, it’s not that easy…

i’m not offering any answers b/c i have none, but just my reflections on my time spent down there. and hopefully i can start a few conversations.

Stuff

i watched this on a friend’s fb today, and it’s an extension of what i’ve been thinking lately… coupled with a rather disturbing photo documentary of pollution in China, i’m thinking i need to make some changes, but more on that later.

Thanksgiving

After what may have been one of the most beautiful summers in recent memory, Fall is upon us, and Canadian Thanksgiving came quicker than I realized.  It’s also reading week at school (which just means i’m back at work full time) and the homework assignment for one of my classes is to take a quiet spiritual retreat for a day or two,  a timely reminder to slow down and take a step back.  With that in mind, I went with some old friends to Pender Island, where JTH’s mom lives right on the water. An absolutely gorgeous property with a view of Mt. Baker from the kitchen, her mom is out of town so we “kids” took over for the long weekend.  I was super excited for several reasons, first, Thanksgiving is all about food, so I knew it was my chance to cook lots! i rarely cook at home, so this gave me a chance to release some overdue cooking angst(?). Second, I just got a new zoom lens, a 70-200, a gorgeous lens that completes my “set” for the time being. And what better way to initiate it than with wildlife photo-ops? Lastly, this weekend was all about reading, resting, and replenishing… lofty goals indeed!

So the photo album this time around is full of food, sunsets, sunrises, good friends, and wildlife…  The best thing is that i haven’t felt that contented and rested in a long time, for that i’m truly thankful.

For the photos, click here.

Happy Thanksgiving my friends!

Ride

So after that rambling (and in retrospect, rather incoherent) last post, here are the photos from the great “Ride for Refugees” from Saturday. I was super impressed with K who brought his little guy T for the ride, all 50km!! T did really well, he’s only 18 months so i’d imagine a lot could go wrong, but he didn’t fuss at all, impressive. He was officially the youngest person there, so we did get a fair share of attention. helps that he’s so cute.

The weather was beautiful, and the turnout was huge for their first year here in Vancouver.  here are the photos below.

60

my co-worker was telling me the other day that her 14 yr old daughter send on average 1800 text messages a month. that translates in 60 text messages a day! wow. and she’s an average teenager. so that got me thinking, what, if anything, do i do on average 60 times a day?  well, for starters, i know for a fact that i don’t even receive or send 60 emails (all emails combined, including work) a day.  i most certainly don’t blow my nose that often, i brush my teeth twice a day… hm, this is hard.

this lead me to conclude 2 things. first, that generation gaps are getting more and more defined. let me explain… we often hear of kids complaining that their parents don’t understand them, and here i am (i’d like to think i’m not THAT clueless), but i just don’t get it. i can’t even think anything i do 60 times a day, never mind texting other people 60 times a day… do i even have 60 conversations face to face with other people every day?  well, no, or i’d go crazy. perhaps i’d have to count how many sentences i say in one day, and see how that measures up. anyways, i have to take a tally one day and let you know how that goes.

second thing is, my mom noted the other day that i internalize stress. i’m one of those types that doesn’t realize how busy or stressed i am until i’m flat on my back sick.  it most certainly accounts for my rather poor immune system, but i want to DO everything.  what does this have to do with anything? well, i’m up at 6 in the morning wondering about what i do 60 times a day, when i should be asleep when i have a 50km bike ride starting in a couple hours (65 if i count getting there and back) called “ride for refugees”… it’s a fundraiser bike ride that is completely non-competitive, but regardless, i should be getting as much rest as possible.  what i think i’m stressed about is school and all the work i have to do there because it’s so philosophical and i feel more clueless than “clued in” most of the time. i’m stressed because i’m trying to work out the details of a major trip i’m hoping will work out next year (i’ll write more about that if it happens) and well, i’m sure there’s more.  it’s funny because for the most part, i don’t realize it until it’s too late.  or maybe that’s not funny, and something i need to work on to prevent weekends like last weekend when i spent most of it on my back because i was so weak with some severe back pain. yes, we all have our limits.

i just need to figure out mine.

Miracle?

Last week was a bit crazy. it was orientation week for school (but I’ve been leaving at lunch to get to work) and yes, i was (am?) frazzled.  with that whole tri business, i was walking with my head all dazed and confused. and I’m not the best with radical changes in my schedule, and amongst other things, I’ve been leaving things everywhere, sort of like Hansel and Gretel, but not intentionally. like, i left my house keys at work Tuesday, my bike shorts and sunglasses at B’s Tues night, my fork and car garage clicker at home Wednesday! well, then Sunday rolled around, and the tri went as well as i could have hoped, yes, i wasn’t last, and i had fun to boot, although i did manage to lose my swimming earplugs.  we celebrated with dinner at one of my favourite restaurants in Richmond… and when my friends dropped me off at home, they called me a few minutes later to let me know that i had, again, abandoned my cellphone…. on their car roof.  thankfully it they found it before it fell off and got crushed.

So this morning. yes, i woke to discover that not only had i left my cellphone on their car roof, i had lost both my hoodie and my wallet.  the craziest thing is that i haven’t lost a wallet (permanently) since, well, i was 14.  i retraced my steps and deduced that the only logical place they could be was at the restaurant last night.  so i called the restaurant at 11am when they opened, and they told me that the hoodie was there, but no wallet.  sigh. so i resigned myself to putting holds on my credit cards, getting a new driver’s license and a new bank card. thankfully, no one had gone on a shopping spree with my cards.  in all this, i prayed a bunch of times, and the ironic thing was that i had an interesting conversation with C Saturday night about “stuff”. how one of things I’ve been doing is letting go, (or trying to anyways) of all my stuff… that i was making a conscious decision to not let myself get so attached to things that i would be really upset if i lost it or if it was stolen, esp. since i have so much expensive gear!  hm. so it was a real test… and I’d like to think that i did alright. i was sad my wallet was gone, but i was ok with it.

fast forward to tonight. i get a call from a stranger who tells me that he found my wallet… on Nanaimo st?!  and what’s so amazing is that EVERYTHING was still in it… i thanked him for being honest, and he responded with, “i would only hope someone would do the same for me.”

as for Nanaimo street, i called my friends who drove me yesterday to inquire of their whereabouts today, and yes, they had an appointment on Nanaimo street today at 3:30. so… my wallet must have hid on their car roof and deposited itself on the street where said amazingly nice stranger picked it up! crazy. the cool thing is that i called my mom and she told me that she went to a prayer meeting this morning where everyone prayed for my wallet (and also that i would be more careful, eep!) .

and here’s the last kicker story. last Thursday when we went climbing, M told me that he recently had a “miracle”… he was praying for an atheist friend who was going through a really rough time with enough personal tragedy to fill a book. her one solace was her cats, and one had gone missing while she was moving from one house to another, and she was so distraught. M prayed, ” God, hasn’t she been through enough?” and sure enough, less than an hour later, she calls him and tells him that the cat was at her window, even though she was in her new home! crazy. oh and yes, she might have to rethink this atheism thing.

So it’s been a crazy week, but it all ended well. i pick up my wallet from the nice stranger tomorrow morning, and hopefully this week will be less eventful. but i think sometimes we need to be reminded that God does care about our details.

And that nothing is too trivial to put into His hands.