Current Events – Triathlon, Vick, Kennedy

Indeed it has been awhile since my last update, but it’s not that I haven’t thought about updating. I have – but I guess when it came down to putting it in writing, well, then life just happened. Things I’ve been thinking about but clearly just passing thoughts since after a day or two, the subject passed or was replaced but the next compelling subject or current event. I guess I do have A.D.D.

I wanted to write about doing my first triathlon – no, I did not drown and yes, I still cannot float, but I did survive. Actually, we, doing it with my girlfriends, all survived. It was so fun training together, and every training session was a reminder of the Christian walk. It requires discipline, dedication, and focus. I had to keep reminding myself to “find the cross”, whether I was running down a sidewalk, on a treadmill, swimming in a pool or lake, or biking the road or spinning in a gym class. The cross is everywhere, and when I focus on it, He sustains me. The simple act of discipline in training and not giving up is so minute compared to the suffering Jesus went through for me. He didn’t give up for such a grand task and responsibility – I surely can handle the physical and mental challenge He’s given me the mind, body, and heart to conquer.

Then Michael Vick signed by the Eagles? How funny is it that the days after the announcement, my company angry calls and emails against what “we” did. Yes, we have branding rights over the stadium, but our relationship to Eagles management? Anyhow, I was thinking about the Philadelphia “welcome” of Vick to the Eagles – typical angry fans, Philly style. I don’t really follow sports – I just really like playing them – but as I thought about the negative reactions the public was expressing against him and the Eagles for signing him, I couldn’t help but think of me, a wretched person who does horrible things daily, whether it’s expressed publicly or just in mind and thought, and yet my Heavenly Father still accepts me and welcomes me with open arms. Vick served his sentence and seems to be truly sorry for what he did. Who am I to judge? That sin thing really sucks.

And more recently, just this past week, the passing of Senator Teddy Kennedy. Can’t say I personally knew the man, but I surely do have a lot of respect for him. Yes there were poor decisions along the way with Chapaquick and other things I’m sure, but again, who am I to judge? To see and hear his “foes” from a political standpoint get teary eyed about his death is a testament to the skill and dedication of this man.

I used to say to my family that I wanted to become the President so I could change things – make things right – fix everything that’s messed up. Yes, idealistic but I guess that's how I'm tuned. Yesterday they were showing replays of Kennedy’s speech back in the 70s, relinquishing his fight for ever running for President, and instead, committing to serving the American people through his Senate seat. I couldn’t help but ponder whether I too would one day enter the political spectrum. I claim that politicians are not effective and government itself is just too bureaucratic and inefficient. But as I was listening to them playback some of the success of Teddy Kennedy, I was impressed. The things that he fought for and won are real actions that have affected me… title IX for example. One day, we’ll see. I don’t think I could be the President – I’m not such a fan of debating. But then again, politicians debate and argue a lot too, but we’ll see where life leads. Well, right now at least, live day by day... learning to follow His lead.

Empowering young people to create social change

Other thoughts I had during my Taiwan/Japan trip this spring.  There are a lot of young people and there are a lot of elderly people.  In just spending time with my grandparents, I see how bored they are daily.  They hardly ever leave their apartment.  What if we could create a program that brings young people in from high schools or universities to run programs for these older people, such as teaching them English or computers, or something.

Are young people helping already? Yes, here and there.  What if we could provide them opportunities?  What if we could help them see the opportunities and needs, and provide easy ways for them to engage?

Youth empowerment is something I’ve been passionate about since college.  With this recent presidential commission on youth work that I’ve been working on, it has been on my mind a lot lately.  A couple opportunities I see right here during my week in Taiwan…

Programs for the elderly – they hang out in packs in public parks, apartment/housing courtyards…

Advocacy campaigns to encourage environmental stewardship... saw way too much trash in the public beaches/parks in taiwan... although they do have really intense recycling programs in the cities...  more strict then US standards.

In Japan - I also went to Tokyo for a couple days... a grassroots movement starting with young people and multinational companies to stand up for worker's rights!  My friend was sharing that there is a major "over-working" culture and really, what I felt as he shared, a major public health problem.  Not based on actual research that I've done, but based on what my friend was sharing... people, both young and old, are dying of work-related stress and pressures, suicides...  my friend's cousin for example.... who btw is younger than me!  In a city that has 24 hour comic book cafes where folks can sleep in lounge chairs - yes, some go to use the internet and read books; but others simply missed trains going home due to work and stay there for a few hours and then pop back into the office. The concept of "family" seems to be lacking.  This generation needs to stand up for themselves and fight for their rights.

AHHH... ALGAE!

I'm training for a triathlon in August. It's fair to say it's my first triathlon. I did a DUathlon, that I had also done 2 years ago, this past weekend - run, bike, run. For the tri, the addition of the swimming is an added dynamic that makes for an extremely challenging event. Don't get me wrong - the duathlon is challenging. They say that the DU is actually more physically demanding because it's basically all leg strength and endurance; but running and biking... I can push on through that. Swimming... swimming just freaks me out.

It's not that I don't know how to swim - I just stink at it. I'm the girl who in college where all students must pass a very short swim test in order to graduate, waited until senior week to complete it. Yes, I was stressed but luckily I survived and passed.

But, I have been training, albeit in the comforts of a chlorinated but clean swimming pool at my gym, with a large black stripe that guides me across the pool. But today, I went with some of my girlfriends who are also doing the tri with me to a local lake in New Jersey where the USAT hosts weekly open water swims there, and can I just tell you how absolutely disgusted I was? What was I thinking!? Swimming in a lake... I don't even like swimming in the ocean - at least the ones along the east coast of the US. So my friend Jenny, as we step into this lovely murky water, comments, questioning why this other lady next to us has so many freckles all over her body.... then the next thing Jenny says... oh my gosh, why are they wiping off? it was algae!!! It was all over her... and well, it would soon be all over us. I WAS HORRIFIED.

Anyways, we sucked it up, did 3 laps... felt like I was going to die from my inability to swim and the fear and disgust over the algae, but it was great. Really glad to get in that practice swim, and really need more of it! Sort of wish I had a picture of us after the fact, but I think it might make me vomit. :)

Learning to let go and letting him take control

Heal The World
Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me
And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

I remember watching the 1993 Superbowl halftime show where Michael performed this song with a bunch of kids and the audience was all engaged with flashcards and stuff. Even back then, the lyrics spoke to me and inspired me. As I look back, I realize how God has really geared me to want to "heal the world" and "make it a better place". I thought that my interest in global issues started with my trip to China with the SmileTrain and iEARN the summer my frosh year of college - my first ever business trip... probably the best biz trip I've been on. I befriended young people from all over the world there, in particular, a 15 year old boy from Uganda and an older boy from Sierra Leone who shared their stories of the lives they live in war-torn and conflict-ridden countries. Their stories humbled me, made me so ashamed of myself and my lack of knowledge and lack of awareness of the world, and led me down a completely different life/career track. I had read what was going on around the world, but meeting people my age who were going through it personalized it and made it so much more real.

I went back to school making the shift from a biology, pre-med track to something completely different and something uber-challenging for my more science geared mind... I decided I needed to learn about the world and switched tracks to political science and international politics. I was so lost, but I am so thankful I went through it. I have to admit, sometimes I do sit and think where I would be today if I continued down that medicine track - I loved medicine so much (still do) and was so sure I would be a doctor... a sports doctor. All my friends thought I would go that track. Oh well...

Anyways, as I think back to that Superbowl half-time show, as a young kid, to hurt for this world and desire that "healed" world could not have come from my limited experiences growing up in the comforts of America and in my sheltered Chinese-American bubble. It is only God who could have planted that desire in me, crafting for His purpose. The experiences he's given me are beyond any expectations I could ever have. I'm learning to follow Him. I've said over and over that I want Him to take control of the steering wheel but it's so hard to let go, but it's time to grow up and commit. Do I believe or don't I believe? He knows me more than I could ever try to know myself. From before the 1993 Superbowl, He has known. From before I entered my mom's womb, He's known. I can't be in any better hands. So why be so stressed...worried...scared... trust him, love and adore him.

Human trafficking?

Just something on my mind over this trip that I will share more about later. Don't let me forget.

Oh... and empowering young people. What if we could... because we will, and we must... empower them to act on the issues of this world. They care... or they might not care because they are not aware... in a world of what if's... let's change it to a world of let's do it... together... as one global community.

Somewhat out of the blue, but this is where my mind goes... will right more later. The cafe I'm in is closing now!

Kaohsiung & Kenting - Beaches of Taiwan

We just returned back from a nice relaxing trip, first to Kaohsiung and then to the Southern coast of Taiwan - Kenting. My cousin moved to Taiwan last year and started a test prep'ish school (more than just test prep but you get the gist) in Kaohsiung. We jumped on the bullet train from Taipei and arrived in Kaohsiung about an hour and a half later, hung out and got a taste of his life. We went to Modern Toilet for dinner that night - twas quite entertaining. I mean, while you eat, you sit on a toilet and depending on what you order, you are likely going to eat out of a toilet (or a sink), and well, if you don't for whatever reason, you eat ice cream that looks like poo from a squatty toilet. Yes, it was quite wonderfully disgusting? How else do you describe it. It was fun though. We had a great time. The kind of humor my family enjoys. Then we played some guitar hero at his place, and I introduced the wonderful game of blokus to my cousin.

The next morning a driver came to pick us up for a day long drive down and tour of the Kenting area - the Southern coast of Taiwan. It was prettier than I expected. My dad had set my expectations low reminding me that it's not Hawaii or the Caribbean. I had Jersey shore in my mind, so I was pleasantly surprised. We stayed in Kenting for a couple of nights, vegged at the pool and beach for one of the days, and the next day went hiking through some national forest with lots of interesting trees and caves that we wandered through. Then headed back to Kaohsiung where we jumped onto the bullet train back to Taipei.

pictures to come....

Taipei - nonstop eating...

Wow it sure has been a whirlwind, super busy trip so far. After we all arrived in Taipei - mom first, then my brother, then me, and then dad - all arriving on different days and from different cities - our crazy days of meeting with friends and family, constant eating began and continued for what I feared might be never ending. Now, you might think - eating - Tammy loves to eat so she must love that. Well, I do love to eat, and while in the US, I usually say "I eat anything". Well, that's not totally true. In the US, I am pretty comfortable eating anything "American" or international foods that are "Americanized"; but I know myself well enough to know that in Asia, I definitely do not eat everything - in fact, far from it. In Taiwan, it's always hard because we're constantly meeting up with family and friends who tend to invite us to "nicer" meals - meaning, no beef and broccoli or general tso's chicken, but fancier seafood dishes - some of which are quite normal and really nothing to be afraid of, but I'm quite strange when it comes to certain sea creatures, and well, also some body parts hailing from some land creatures as well.

Anyhow, in an effort to not look like a totally uncultured Chinese-American kid, I try my best to try as much as I can, but quite frankly, some of it just makes me gag. Over the years, I have learned to discretely sneak food from my plate to my brother sitting next to me, but that can only get you so far. Strangely, eating can be quite a tiring and stressful times.

But anyhow, literally, our schedule everyday for a few days was: wake up, eat breakfast, head out to town, meet with some family friend for a nice lunch, hang out in the city, snack more, meet with another family friend for dinner, hang out, maybe hit the night market for some more food, head home, sleep... repeat the same the next day.

Lots of eating... lots of walking... very tiring...

Oh... don't get me wrong... there's awesome food here too. I love the street food here, and the pastries, and the coffee and milk tea and interesting fun drinks like bubble tea... it's just the "complicated" stuff I'm a bit tired of.

Enroute to Taipei!

It's been awhile since I last posted. I think I owe an update on life the past couple months. Here are a handful of things (in no particular order at all)...

1. I entered the world of twitter. Still trying to figure it out and all, but somehow I got it to connect to my facebook status (which btw I never used to update...so if you're wondering why all of a sudden I am... that's why). That's also why I have not replied back to any responses you may have sent on facebook - sorry but thank u for the responses - I do appreciate them!
2. StartingBloc Social Innovation Competition has occupied a lot of my time the past couple months and this past weekend, 1 of the 18 teams was crowned the winner! All the teams did an awesome job - I'm very proud of them... and gives me confidence in the future of our world - that there are a generation of people who not only want to, but can effectively collaborate and innovate and tell/sell a story around why we must change whatever it is we need to do to create a more sustainable future. A lot of work leading it but very rewarding as well.
3. My family is really cool and I love them.
4. I'm snowboarding and attempting to play sports on my knee again - the knee itself doesn't feel great but playing outside makes me feel really great and energized!
   
5. SmileTrain won an oscar award for Smile Pinki! Maybe I'll blog about SmileTrain another time, but I would say my experience interning there opened my eyes up to the world and to the issues our world faces... so the organization means a lot to me!
6. Gmail Offline capability... is great. On my flight, I was able to delete and respond to a bunch of old emails... going from (literally) over 3000 UNREAD items to 628 total emails!
   
7. I'm sure there's other things, but that's it for now... but last update - I'm headed to Taiwan right now to hang out with family and celebrate my grandpa's 90th birthday.
   

So here I am, sitting in Narita International Airport for my connecting flight to Taiwan. In addition to Taipei where my gramms, gramps, and other family live; we're supposed to travel around the country a bit...

Thought I might share about my eventful (or not so eventful but nonetheless memorable) journey thus far. So my flight this morning left from Philly at 5:35AM. Horrible time of the day. Since I would have had to be there around 3'ish, I figured I might as well just go earlier when I could con someone into driving me to the airport (thanks Jenny). I was also worried that I'd snooze away my alarm and miss my flight entirely. So I arrive at the airport around 1:30AM or so, thinking I'd be able to go through security at least and hang out by the gate. That was a negative. It was so eerie because the airport was so empty - void of cars and people. A couple of airport workers and a handful of passengers similar to me; but not much else. The security checkpoint area was closed apparently until 4AM, so I took over a nice, soft bunch right outside the checkpoint. Not having passed through security, I was a little less comfortable with completely zonking out... but I did end up getting some shut eye here and there. I mean, I was pretty bored out there, and tired. I started taking pictures of myself (how vain of me) and my sleeping quarters. Here a couple of (glamorous...hehe..) shots. Umm... yeah, I was very bored and delirious.


So here was the next challenge that I was somewhat stressed about. Because I am cheap and was using miles and points to get to Taipei, I had booked 2 completely separate flights - totally unconnected. I was concerned I would have to go through customs and all in Tokyo, and then re-enter to get to Taipei. I had this whole luggage strategy in my mind which in the end, got all taken care of during my layover in Houston. Too boring to explain. In Tokyo, I did not have to go through customs and I was able to follow a group of other folks who were traveling to Taipei and squeeze myself onto their shuttle, and, well, here I am, getting ready to board my next leg to my final destination - gramms and gramps in taipei.

Signing off until the adventures truly begin in taiwan!

...and the Oscar goes to... Smile Pinki!

Lots has happened since my last update (I'll update y'all later). Congrats to the SmileTrain, an organization that I am quite fond of as I spent quite a bit of time with the organization during my college years. My experience there gave me the passion for helping the less privileged and poor... and the Oscar they received last week... is so well deserved. I'm so proud of them. Here's the (mass) email I received from the founder...

................................................................

Hi,

I got back from Hollywood at 2am last night and my ears are still ringing from Sunday night when they announced…

…“And the Oscar goes to… Smile Pinki!”

You could hear the deafening roar and wild cheering from Hollywood to Bollywood and everywhere in between. This is a great moment for all of us who are part of Smile Train… and the “cast” of The Smile Train consists of more than a million people. It’s a great moment for our incredibly hardworking and dedicated, TINY staff of 43 people who do the work of 200 people! For all the members of our Board of Directors, Board of Governors and Medical Advisory Boards who have spent many years keeping The Smile Train on the right track. For our 1,200+ partner hospitals that are on the front lines every day providing more than 300 free cleft surgeries EVERY SINGLE DAY! For the 5,000+ surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, speech therapists, dentists, orthodontists, social workers and other healthcare workers who through their hearts and their hands give each and every one of our patients the safest and highest quality care possible. For our 1,000,000+ donors and supporters who have been so generous and kind and loyal. None of this would have ever happened without their donations.

Most of all, this is a great moment for the millions of children in the world who are suffering with clefts. Waiting and wondering when and if anyone is ever going to come along and help them the way we helped Pinki.

With all of this massive publicity and exposure, good will and good wishes, we will be able to help MANY more children MUCH FASTER than we ever dreamed. And we aren’t just going to help MANY more children… we are going to help ALL of these children.

To all of you who have helped make The Smile Train possible I say thank you, thank you, thank you. This Oscar is for you. And for all those millions of kids with unrepaired clefts out there who are waiting for help, I say hold on.

The Smile Train is on the way.

All the best,

Brian
Co-Founder/President

P.S. To see the Smile Pinki trailer, please check out our web site http://www.smiletrain.org/.

Presidential Commission on Youth and Intergenerational Patnerships

After an awesome lunch at McDonalds with Efren, I trekked back into DC. I had a meeting with a friend who works with Synergy Ministries to debrief on the time I spent with Himadri at CSS India. I was hoping to make my way down to the Lincoln Memorial before heading to the Global Youth Action Network fundraiser, but time was not working with me. I did make it to the Capitol, took some pics, and then headed to help set-up for the fundraiser event.

So I got connected to the Global Youth Action Network (www.youthlink.org) back when I was in college. The organization is HQ'ed in NYC, but I actually met the co-founders at an international education conference I attended in China the summer of my freshman year. Great organization. Anyhow, the co-founder Jonah drafted a Presidential Commission on Youth and Intergenerational Partnerships and submitted it to President Obama on January 8 of this year, and presented at tonight's fundraiser. I was helping out at the GYAN fundraiser tonight - it was great to see old friends and meet a bunch of new ones, young and old, all passionate about helping those around us in our communities and around the world. Here's a snippet of the proposed commission...

President Elect Obama,

In 1960, during his presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy asked Eleanor Roosevelt for her political support. She agreed, but not without his promise to create a Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. The commission was created the next year and had an historic impact on the lives of women, nationally and globally.

In 2007, as you prepared for your own White House run, you asked young people for their political support. You got it, but in exchange for what? Many young people supported you because they believed in your message of hope and promise for social and political transformation.

I'm sure you will agree that when young people are empowered with new technology and a new political vision they can revolutionize politics. They did so in 2008 by helping you raise more money and mobilize more people than any campaign in history. We believe that young people, when given the opportunity, can improve the social fabric of this country and transform what it means to be a citizen of the United States and of the world.

We want to create the space for this opportunity and believe that bringing the agenda of youth to the world stage will make that possible...

go to www.pcoy.org to read more.

Then I jumped on the metro to head back to Efren's place and met some "friends" on the platform who insisted on me taking a picture of them. Friendly couple... the lady had a bit too much to drink. Anyways, after I upload the pics, I'll share that with you. Quite funny. Looking forward to the craziness in just a few hours... inauguration day.

Church and Inauguration Kick-Off Celebration

This morning I visited Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland. It's a town I'm somewhat familiar with because I have family in the area, but I never really explored the area much. So the head pastor at this church is Josh Harris, the author of "I Kissed Dating Goodbye", a familiar book in the Christian community - introduced in youth groups in our teenage years. Anyhow, it's a pretty big church... very friendly folks. The topic of abortion was discussed - I think there is a walk for life next week in DC - and a woman who works at a pregnancy clinic shared her experiences. As she shared, I could not help but think of baby Tabitha at Asha House, the precious little baby girl whose 18 year old mother met a local pastor just before she was about to abort her, and instead, had her baby and gave her to Asha House at birth.

I headed back to meet Efren and dragged him to another church where many of his friends go to. It was funny because I ran into some friends from Philly there - Eleanor and Eunice! So random... then, Efren and I headed down to the National Mall to catch some of the "We Are One" Inaugural Celebration concert at the Lincoln Memorial. We got past the Washington Monument but the crowds stopped us before we hit the reflecting pool area. They had big screen tv's and speakers everywhere so we could all watch. It was pretty cool... a very civilized crowd... a true family, not just of Americans but of people who came together to fellowship together and celebrate and enjoy a free concert. It was amazing to stand there among a crowd of millions, and yet during any speeches, it was oddly quiet... everyone respectfully listened, cheered when it was time to cheer, and sang when moments called for it. After the concert, even the mass exit to the street was an organized chaos... more on the organized side. Here are some pics from the afternoon.

Heading to DC for Inauguration!

This afternoon, I left for my drive down to Washington DC. I stopped in Baltimore to have a late lunch with Burton and Candice. So I'm sitting in this restaurant in Baltimore and there is this guy who looks like someone from work, but I quickly told myself that that would be ridiculous. Later as we were getting ready to leave, we make eye contact, and yes indeed, it is him. How random!

Hung out at Burton's place for a little bit, and then made my way down to Vince and Connie's place in Virginia. They made an amazing dinner, and it was so nice to catch up with them and some other college/post-college friends. Fun times... oh, and Blockus... fun game. Then I made my way into Maryland to my other cousin's pad. Looking forward to church in DC tomorrow and the inauguration kick-off concert at the Lincoln Memorial.

Miraculous Landing

What an amazing scene it was today on the Hudson. Thank God for the safe landing and that everyone got out safely. I was in NYC when 9/11 happened, and I can just imagine what people were thinking as this plane got lower and lower to ground.

I was sitting at my desk when I saw 2 of my colleagues approach the TV in our work "living room". ... a crazy scene to see folks standing on the wings in the middle of the water... I will pay more attention to the flight attendants and the safety procedures going forward.

Meet the Children at Asha House and Asha Mission

Wow - this was not an easy task, but I'm glad I did it. Not perfect but I don't think it's too bad for my first ever video production, or whatever you want to call it. So I put together a video I want to share with my colleagues at Lincoln. We had a team building event with my team before I left that focused on helping the 50 or so children and staff at 2 orphanages in Delhi, India that Jane and her team were affiliated and volunteered with. The video shows some photos of the event and introduces you to the lovely and extremely adorable children at the orphanages. As I finish organizing other photos and videos from the trip, I'll share them here!

Click on the link below - if it asks you for a password, it's "india". Yes, I know... very tricky.


SI&B Team Event - Asha Mission & Asha House from Tammy Wang on Vimeo.

Finally updated!

It has been awhile... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Coming home from India right before the holidays was great, but busy. I haven't had much time to organize and process the experience, but I THINK I'm finally up to date on my posts (I had typed several while I was away but didn't have a chance to post them up). Anyhow, I also added a few pictures and videos to older posts as well. Still working on the photos and other videos which I cannot wait to share! More to come later...

Oh, and yesterday Jane, Jenny, and I spent the afternoon at my office repacking the donated items that I could not carry with me to India and dropped them off at the fedex. Please pray that everything will get to the orphanage without a problem - we securely wrapped everything in lots of packing tape so it should get there in one piece, but getting through customs is a concern. THANKS!