I’m having one of those weeks where there are just a lot of things on my mind, on my plate…speech, freelance article, set design for Godspell, not to mention a couple of work assignments due this week. I know that I fill up my own schedule with things that aren’t necessary, and sometimes (like this week), they all just happen to come down on me at the same time. I really, really try not to complain (or at least to a minimum) because then people will ask me, “Why do you do this to yourself then? It’s not like you HAVE to do all those things.” True, but that’s not me. What would I do then? Just sit in front of the TV all night or sit in front of the computer all night after having done that all day?

So I do my best to stay calm…at least on the outside, but sometimes I just feel like my head is spinning because I’m mentally reviewing all my deadlines and things I still need to get done. If you could hear my thoughts, they’d sound like this: “Keep your e-mail short because you need to practice your speech for Thursday…oh wait, e-mail that person about the article, which you need to start writing because it’s due on Thursday, too. Yikes, should I start making the jello pie tonight or tomorrow? Should I just buy a dessert for the potluck, or will it be cheaper to make something? Don’t forget to look for an image to paint for the Godspell set. Man, almost time to shower. Can I save time by not washing my hair tonight? Probably not, because it’s starting to smell.” And all that time, I’m trying to write a “quick” e-mail to a friend, but getting distracted by my thoughts.

By the end of the workday today, I reaaaallly wanted to stay home, but I already had committed to going to the Union Gospel Mission. I didn’t want to cancel on them, since only one other volunteer was signed up to go tonight, too. I brought my ninja turtle costume (which I’m sadly getting rid of as a result of a mass cleaning that Matt and I did last week) to the UGM for the kids. As soon as the volunteer coordinator pulled the costume out to show the kids, all my thoughts about what I needed to get done, all my tiredness from the day, disappeared. They were SO excited, and each wanted to take turns trying on the costume. As soon as they put it on, they’d strike ninja poses, and act all tough. It was so cute, and not once was I sad that I wouldn’t be wearing that costume for Halloween anymore. In fact, I wished I had more to give them.

The rest of the night, the kids were whiny and had short attention spans. But during those moments, as they took turns being Donatello,  I knew I was where I should be.

(From the website of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)

“Far from being a field reserved for analysis by specialists, languages lie at the heart of all social, economic and cultural life. That is the meaning of the slogan launched by UNESCO for the International Year of Languages: Languages matter!” said UNESCO’s Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura in his special message for International Mother Language Day.

Vital carriers of the identity of groups and individuals, languages are not all treated as equals. It is estimated that more than 50% of some 6,700 languages spoken in the world are threatened with extinction in the long term, and on the average of every two weeks, a language ceases to be spoken. According to experts, 96% of languages are spoken by only 4% of the population.

This year, the Day will place special emphasis on international standard-setting instruments related to multilingualism. A seminar, organized jointly with the Council of Europe, will be held at UNESCO Headquarters on 21 February. Legal instruments such as the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage will be examined. Linguistic policies put into effect on the African continent or in countries like Hungary and Paraguay are also on the agenda for discussion.

UNESCO proclaimed 21 February International Mother Language Day to stress the importance of linguistic diversity and promote the use of mother languages.

This year, while going through the Valentine candy aisles, I spotted something that totally made my day: a large bag of ALL-GREEN peanut M&Ms! The package said, “Green is the new color of love.” Peanut M&Ms are yumsilicious, and do I even have to reiterate that green is my favorite color??

Anyway. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Many of you know I’m not a huge fan of this holiday, probably from all the hype and the pressure that surrounds this day. It’s a formal occasion that opens up the chance for people to feel bad about themselves–and I’m not just talking about single people. If your boyfriend or husband didn’t say it with diamonds (or a large-enough one), you might feel a little bummed when your co-worker shows you her V-day bling.

Or if you guys only went out for McD’s (nothing wrong with that), while someone else got a crab dinner (an idea on which I’m trying to sell Matt because the blood drive is coming up, and we need to stock up on iron-rich foods!), that’s gotta be a little disheartening. And if you’re single, just carry around a barf bag all day.

You might think that my bitterness toward V-day stems from a bad experience, but I honestly don’t think that’s the case. (Halloween is a different story, but it surprisingly is one of my most enjoyable holidays!) If it is, I really can’t remember. I can only recall a couple of V-days:

1). In high school, I made some V-day crafts for a few friends…I cut out different sized and colored hearts and strung them on a piece of string. I then went around to my friends’ houses and stuck the hearts on the door of their house. One friend (not surprisingly a guy) told me that as much as I try to make V-day about showing love and appreciation to my friends, the day really is about romantic love (in other words, don’t try to make yourself feel better if you’re single by doing stuff for your friends)

2). I went out to dinner (I think it was pizza) in Old Sac with Kristie, Joni, and Trish. On the way home, Kristie was driving and said her eyes were tired. “I’m going to close my eyes, so tell me if there’s anything in front of me.” Of course I shrieked and told her that the freeway wasn’t the best place to close your eyes, ESPECIALLY if you were driving.

3). When Matt and I first started dating and still lived in different cities, I attended a missions conference V-day weekend, and he drove up and surprised me. He brought me chocolates that his mom and sis had made and told him to bring to me. Since we were still doing the long-d thing, it was a little weird to be hanging out in person

4). A few years ago, Matt and Dave Lew owed Nadia and me a homecooked meal (after losing to us at a boardgame), and after months and months of not getting our meal, we told them that if they didn’t cook for us by Valentine’s Day, they would owe us TWO meals. That V-day, after work, while I was at the gym, the guys were back at our apartment cooking. I came back all sweaty to find them busily cooking away. To get Nadia to come over, Matt called her to come get something that Dave needed. She was busy at her house cooking up a bunch of red-colored dishes, only to come over and find that her food would have to eaten another night. The food the guys cooked was…well, quite interesting. The effort was definitely there but they learned that night that you cannot substitute baking soda for baking powder.

5). Last year, we watched “Blood Diamonds” and got boba. (I probably only remember that last year because it was so recent.

So now that V-day is here, part of me is like, “Cool, a holiday for love!” But another part of me is like, “Gag me with a spoon–a holiday where people spend oodles of money on each other and act lovey-dovey!”

However you’re spending your day, have a good one! Here’s a Valentines Day “gift,” from our hearts to yours…

I just finished reading “Eat, Pray, Love,” an amusing, insightful, honest book by Elizabeth Gilbert. The author, who just got a divorce and is in the midst of an unstable relationship, takes off for Italy, India, and Indonesia. In Italy, she learns Italian while pigging out on rich pastas and desserts. In India, she learns to meditate at an Ashram (a place of peace, seclusion, and meditation), and in Indonesia, she hangs out with a medicine man.

That’s the three-sentence summary, but the book is way more interesting than I’ve made it sound. What I loved most about the book was the writing style. I felt like I was reading a letter from a friend who was being absolutely candid about her emotions and her adventures. Sometimes people who write about spiritual awakenings tend to take on this gentle, sugar-coated take, as to not offend the reader or even the topic they’re writing about. Not Liz Gilbert. If she can’t think about anything but the pain in her leg or the guy she’s lusting over while trying to meditate, she doesn’t hesitate to say it. It’s been awhile since any book has received five flowers (my rating system) in my book journal, but this book definitely did.

Oh right, the point of my entry. When Liz (we’re on a nickname/first-name basis now) was in India, she befriended a lot of people at the Ashram and recognized that she was being quite the social butterfly (which is her natural tendency no matter where she is). So she told herself, “From now on, I’m going to be the mysterious Quiet Girl,” and proceeded to try to socialize less. I think within a day or so of making that pact with herself, she was assigned to be a hostess for an upcoming conference at the Ashram, meaning her role was to make sure everyone was being taken care of. In other words, she’d have to be social.

She obviously saw the irony in that, and also recognized that if God had wanted her to be a Quiet Girl, He would have made her that way. But He didn’t–and there’s nothing wrong with NOT being a Quiet Girl. But Liz also recognized that she still could improve on certain areas, like not interrupting people so much when they’re talking. She wrote something about how when you interrupt someone, you’re essentially relaying the message that what they have to say is not as important as what *I* have to say.

I never thought of it that way. I tend to interrupt when I’m reminded about something by what the other person is saying, and I’m excited to tell them. But that’s still interrupting, and it’s still impolite and disrespectful. Someone at work recently said that it’s a World Vision thing to interrupt people–which is a negative trait, of course, and it’s something that everyone here needs to improve on. I don’t know if it’s really related to our organization, but my team meetings are full of interruptions, which is why I’m pretty much the Team Mute.

Regardless, I know I still can interrupt people in personal conversations, so I haven’t forgotten what Liz said. I also needed the reminder that, although God didn’t make me Miss Social, that’s OK. A mellower, quieter person isn’t inferior to a talkative, more aggressive person, even if society sometimes makes it out to be that way. So no matter how I am, that’s how God made me–and that’s OK. :)

For some reason this year, I felt like I really wanted to recognize Chinese new year since 1). I’m Chinese (really?), and 2). it’s a big occasion for my peeps. Aside from integrating Chinese culture into my knitting party this Saturday, we didn’t have anything else planned. (Wish me luck making dahn taht!) So I was super psyched when the Chings invited us over to have a Chinese new year dinner with their family. Their immediate family was there, along with some other friends they’ve sort of “adopted” into their lives (like us)!

For one thing, it was great to hear Cantonese being spoken, although I was too shy to say anything. It doesn’t help that I know that Chi’s mom understands and speaks English, so I didn’t feel like I HAD to speak Chinese. The food was great, especially since I sure can’t cook all those dishes….mushrooms and veggies, fish, fun see noodles, ribs, soup with chicken feet. Before Chi’s mom poured me a bowl of soup, she said she had to ask first if I liked chicken feet, or else it’s shocking to look down into your bowl and see the claws sticking up at you. Double yum!

On top of that, there were several desserts–one was a chocolate cherry cake made by culinary students at Renton Technical College. The other was the Chinese new year cake (”neen go”) with red bean filling. Oh man, was I stuffed. I was hurting by the time we went home, but it was a good feeling.

More than anything, I was feeling all warm and fuzzy inside with the realization that God has brought so many great people into our lives just over the past year and half. Leaving family and friends probably is the hardest part about relocating, even for homebodies like us who enjoy our time alone. During those first few months in Seattle, we still enjoyed exploring the city on our own. But when we began making friends and began building up relationships, we realized how comforting it was to have people around who we valued and treasured, and who valued and treasured us.

The Chings and Wus, who have become our steady camping buddies, still are part of our lives, even though both couples have their hands full with parenthood. Keba still manages to make time to e-mail me and spend time with me, all the while reading 300,000 pages of textbooks each week. Our small group is more than anything I ever imagined it could be. And even my fellow capoeiristas leave me smiling and energetic every Thursday after class.

So to look around the table last night and to realize that, although we only knew two of the people sitting there, it felt like we were with family. Where else, than among family, can you talk about a performing arts ministry one moment and then cleaning out your colon the next? We all prayed together before we parted ways and exchanged hugs. Chi’s mom told us, “Come over anytime for dinner,” to which Matt replied, “I’m free Sunday!”

I hope you all had a great Chinese new year, as well!

Happy birthday to my wonderful mum (who I hope doesn’t mind that I’m posting this photo for all the world to see), who is posing with our birthday package from Seattle!