Expecting a Surprise

i started reading nouwen with my friends & fellow travellers:

"Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy. It will open a new place in our heats, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity."
-- henri nouwen, bread for the journey

a week of turkish delights!

what a super awesome & amazingly eye-opening experience it was!!! thanks to cousin camellia+baha & family for inviting me out!!! congratulations to you once again!! hope you're enjoying your honeymoon!! i'll be back to write about the delightfully lovely time we had!! as for now, i must let the pictures speak for themselves...

Turkey Trip Flash Slideshow

(selected pictures taken by patrick, tien & myself)

next stop: paris

glocalization

i got inspired by (yan yan news) to write a little something personal on g11n...

my GaaTse tien wanted to see if i needed anything else from hong kong as we countdown for our turkey trip. being the spoiled brother that i am, i thought it'd be way easier & cheaper and "eastern time" efficient for her to get me these little things there. so i waited up until midnight to skype her on her cell during her lunch break, which cost me maybe a few cents... (btw, skype is still offering free north american calling!) ... and she agreed to getting me much more than i had bargained for!! :D

so my last step in this interpersonal & international transaction was completing the localization (l10n) with a quick email before bed, "translating" in words and pictures of all the little things i needed.

at the end of the day (or after a few hours of sleep when i woke up this morning), i learned that the "glocalization" that my favorite social work prof likes talking about is fact a multi-disciplinary concept! (check out wikipedia in L10n and localization.)

about the name

where is home? where are you from? to where do you belong?? believe it or not, those questions are good paper-writing materials in our field... well, at least for me it was. i still have two more papers to do before, hopefully before, i leave town next week (oh wait, it's THIS week!). ahhh... i don't know why i'm still procrastinating, but i thought it's important for me to tell you about "josh a-way home" before i leave. there are four contributing factors to the name...

those of you who are from vancouver might have picked up that i borrowed the name from thai away home, a great take-out restaurant i often visited. yes, i do miss vancouver, and chances are that i'll be heading back after i graduate. so yea, i guess i consider vancouver a home.

my classmates who were at the equity forum last year might recall the opening chant by a circle of people from the aboriginal community. the lyrics to the song was a repeating "away away, away away away away". now seriously, i don't know if they were saying "awei" or "aqeh" or whatever it was, and i never did ask anyone about the meaning behind it. but to me, it speaks of a people coming together, and perhaps even going back to their roots. so in that sense, i do want to explore my cultural heritage as i continue to write at this site, and maybe even to learn from the "other" about myself as i travel onwards.

thirdly, those who have been following my henri nouwen entries might have picked up that his book finding my way home: pathways to life and the spirit has also made an influence in my naming of this site. it's about a journey of seeking and finding the god of love.

finally my fourth point is a combination of my first three points, but i figured i should call it a new point cuz i'm introducing eugene peterson and his take & eat concept on spirituality. yes, i love eating! and as i'll be on the road for the next many months, i figured that i'll be eating out quite a lot! so yea, maybe i'll even use this site as a food review & guide of some sort! :D

so yes, please consider journeying with me!

***
which world cup team are you cheering for??

parenthood

those little guys are growing up fast! two weeks ago they were oh so tiny and cute, and today the dad/mom didn't even see the need to hiss at me anymore for standing there and taking pictures of them. this afternoon on my way back from pride, i saw the cutest mom&child ducks walking around. the mom was showing her child to step aside so i could pass! i didn't have my camera then or else this post would totally be called mothering instead! ah well, two-parent families are preferred anyways!

hehhee... on the topic of parenthood, maybe i should take a moment (or a line) here to say a
GREAT BIG THANK YOU
...for your nurture and guidance and care and love through all the years! :D

on a totally unrelated note, did you know that for morning prayers at the nouwen conference, we were praying:
"our father & mother in heaven, hallowed be thy name..."
comments? thoughts??