Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Some Perspective in the Politically Charged Time
Proverbs 19:21
I think that pretty much says it all.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Probably the Weirdest Thing I Have Ever Done for Work
I sure all of you are thinking to yourself. There is no way Heidi actually did indoor sky diving. She is not an adventurous person. Well that is what I thought myself. Fortunately I have some proof...
Here is the practice time with our instructor. This is the position you are supposed to hold while 100 - 120 mph wind holds your body up in the air. Here Derek is telling me that I need to bend my legs more. Oh and you are supposed to relax.
Here is me right before we went into the locked room. Do you like my Superman colored suit. Pretty sweet, hey? It even has red down the back like a cape. Everyone else was totally jealous. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of my actual flight since they wouldn't let us take any lose items in (go figure). I do have a sweet video of my flights if anyone wants to see it. If anyone has ever had the random thought to do this, it is totally fun. I give it two thumbs up!
Friday, October 10, 2008
My 750 Words of Fame
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
When God breaks your heart
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Isn't this what it's all about?
Thursday, April 10, 2008
So this is Manado, Indonesia
It is a very tropical place, very lush and green. The heat here is quite a nice change, but the humidity is a shock, to my hair mostly. It is a very famous place for scuba divers apparently. It kills me that I forgot my diver certification card. If only... Oh well I was able to go snorkeling which was really beautiful. The people are so friendly and nice. They seem to speak quite a bit of English too, which is surprising. Apparently their language is based of the Dutch language due to their occupation here. Many of the older generations actually are fluent. So interesting fact of the day. Here's some more info in case you are interested...
The Dutch began to colonize Indonesia in the early 17th century; the islands were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. Indonesia declared its independence after Japan's surrender, but it required four years of intermittent negotiations, recurring hostilities, and UN mediation before the Netherlands agreed to relinquish its colony. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic (a large group or chain of islands) state and home to the world's largest Muslim population. Current issues include: alleviating poverty, preventing terrorism, consolidating democracy after four decades of authoritarianism, implementing financial sector reforms, stemming corruption, holding the military and police accountable for human rights violations, and controlling avian influenza. In 2005, Indonesia reached a historic peace agreement with armed separatists in Aceh, which led to democratic elections in December 2006. Indonesia continues to face a low intensity separatist movement in Papua. - The CIA World Factbook
Little known trivia...
**Indonesia has more than 300 ethnic groups and languages. However, most Indonesians converse in Bahasa Indonesia.
**Indonesia is the native home of the largest lizard in the world, komodo dragon.
**The largest flower in the world, Rafflesia Arnoldi, is native to Indonesia. The flower was named from Sir Stamford Raffles. Even though it is huge, it doesn't smell nice like roses or jasmine flowers, for Rafflesia is an insect-eating flower.
**Indonesia consists of more than 13,000 islands, making it the largest archipelago in the world. However, most of the islands are uninhabited.
**Balinese have four basic names for their children, namely, Putu/Wayan, Made, Nyoman and Ketut. If a Balinese has the fifth child, it will be named Putu/Wayan.
**Indonesia has more volcanoes than any other country in the world - there are 167 of the 850 active volcanoes known in the world.
Indonesia Food
Singapore and the Transit Hotel
Does this look like a $14 lunch to you?
Anyway, my favorite thing is that they don't have any food places except a little kiosk that sells this stuff within security in the entire International terminal. How crazy is that? Do they think international travelers don't get hungry. Anyway, I got this lunch and it was pretty decent. Too bad $14 dollars of Compassion's money went to the lunch though. What can you do?
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The coolest thing happened today
I'm gonna be an aunt...but not quite yet
Friday, February 1, 2008
Hong Kong's Special Cuisine
This was served for our lunch two days ago. Pretty exciting. Dan, a guy I work with is like, why do people insist on shaping food to look like the animal is started out as. It is easier to eat if you can’t tell what it used to be. I have to say I agree with this one. Some things, although they don’t taste too bad, to mental image is really hard to get past. For lunch today we had jellyfish and octopus. When I say we, I mean everyone else. I didn’t eat this. I just couldn’t. Apparently it tasted pretty ok, but the look and taste was quite difficult to work out in your head.
Anyway, just to clarify, Hong Kongers (yes that’s what they are called) don’t eat the head. Apparently you can eat the comb but no one really does that. They are bigger on the chicken feet instead. I asked Amy, who is from Hong Kong, if she likes chicken feet and she said not in this sauce (pictured below) but she does in a different sauce. I say, are you kidding me, the sauce makes the difference while chewing on chicken legs and toes. In case any of you are wondering, you don't actually eat the bones. Really you just chew off the skin. As a side note, I have noticed I have used the word "chewy" to best describe some of the things we have had "opportunity" to eat. Use you imagination on that one. Bon Apatite.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
The World Through My Window - The Story Behind the Name
Anyway, I have started this blog especially to be able to let you all know how I am doing on my travels abroad. As most of you know I work for Compassion International which is a Christian child development organization helping children in poverty all over the world. It is an awesome organization so if you haven't heard of it check out the link on this page. I am privileged enough to be able to travel for Compassion with my job. As I mentioned I am currently in Hong Kong for a training of our Asia staff.
So what's with the name? Well the places I travel are generally not ones you can just walk around anywhere you want. Additionally there are many times that the only way you are seeing the country is when you are inside some mode of transportation that almost always have windows. These two things being the case, most of my pictures are taken through a window pane. I have gotten to see many very cool things but there is this pane of glass between me and the world. So I thought, if I ever wanted to make a coffee table book, I would call it The World Through My Window. Since that is probably not going to happen I thought a blog would be the next best thing.
So there you have it in a nut shell. I hope you all enjoy my blog. I will be posting some of my older trip pictures a little later (aka when I get home where they all are) so you can see some of the things I have, through a window of course. I hope to post a few things about Hong Kong and Colombia (where I will be on Saturday) so you can see these two cool cities and meet some great people. Until then, thanks for visiting and come back soon.
Blessings,
Heidi