When I had traveled for previous jobs, I rode a horse in Park City, kayaked with dolphins in the Gulf Coast, got wined and dined in Portland, and cheered for bodybuilders at the Mr. Olympia competition in Vegas. Never had I been sent somewhere where a bucket of water replaced toilet paper, nor picked around bugs in my meal. But never had a business trip been so rewarding.

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of traveling to Indonesia for work. I spent four days in Padang (a city on West Sumatra), plus a day in Jakarta and two days of traveling on each end. Since an earthquake hit Padang last September, WV has had a presence in the city – distributing tools to help people rebuild their homes, constructing temporary and permanent school buildings, and assisting farmers with rice seeds and cacao plants. As one of two writers on my team dedicated to writing about our emergency/disaster response, I went to Indonesia with the purpose of seeing our relief work firsthand and also learning more about disaster response in general.

I shadowed a colleague, Jeff, from our programs team who has about 20 years of experience in disaster relief. For six days, I soaked in information about our work specifically in Padang, disaster work in general, challenges during disasters, struggles of working with fundraisers, as well as Jeff’s entertaining war stories. It wasn’t all work, though. I also enjoyed sunsets on the beach, ate insanely inexpensive seafood, walked through colorful local markets, chased down an ice cream man on a stiflingly hot day, rode a motorcycle for the first time, and – on my last day in Jakarta – got an hour-and-half massage for $18. As Jeff often said, “We’re suffering for Jesus.”

After four years of reading stories and seeing photos of the people we help, I thought that meeting some of them would be especially moving. Maybe it was the context in which we were working with them, or the fact that none of their lives were completely devastated (thank goodness), but I wasn’t particularly impacted by those encounters. Surprisingly, meeting our staff in Padang had the greatest impact on me.

A little background…our office here in the U.S. is considered a support office, which means just that. We bring in the big bucks (thank you, donors!) and send out the money to the national offices around the world. The national staff are the ones who directly work with the communities and find out what the greatest needs are. They also are the ones who give us all the information we need to communicate these needs to our donors.

I had a general understanding of this relationship, but I had no idea what it looked like on a daily basis. During our four days in Padang, staff members took us out to the communities to meet with people who had benefited from our help. It was obvious that our staff had built relationships with these people and clearly invested time in getting to know them and their stories. They weren’t confined to the eight-hour workday. Traveling to communities meant sometimes being on the road for two hours each way, which also meant taking work home at the end of the day.

In addition to working in the communities or in the office, the staff also work closely with other aid agencies and the local government. One thing I learned about disaster response is that coordination is key. When an earthquake hits, especially one as large as the one in Haiti, the rest of the world wonders why it takes so long for food and water to get out to the survivors. Often, the key players are involved in coordination meetings to clarify what the needs are, and to ensure that efforts aren’t duplicated. If there was no coordination whatsoever, some communities could get aid from several agencies, while other communities get overlooked by everyone. Or, if there’s one particular agency that specializes in, for example, setting up shelters, it only makes sense that it would assist the community that has the greatest need for shelter.

So when a disaster strikes, the national staff want to be helping survivors right away, but it’s important for them to be in coordination meetings with other players. At the same time, they’re fielding calls and emails from the support offices for information. What’s going on? How many people have been affected? Were any sponsored children impacted? What will our response look like? On top of that, maybe they’re dealing with a power outage, road blockages, or maybe their own family is dealing with the disaster. It’s no wonder they don’t get much sleep.

I came home with a great sense of awe, admiration and respect for my colleagues in Padang. I felt energized and motivated to do my work, simply from being around them. On a personal level, I was surprised how comfortable I felt with them right away. Maybe it was because they, too, were Asian. They were short, young (and young-looking)…and they were familiar with Meteor Garden. :) But more importantly, I was inspired by their dedication, hard work and compassion for their work and the people there.

I also was a bit envious of their direct connection with the community. We (in our office) are constantly reminded that the work we do is important – essential, in fact, to the work that our organization does as a whole. I know that. But during those days in Padang, when I was so far removed from my stuffy cubicle on the 2nd floor, my heart really yearned for a more direct connection with the people we help. I want to be as enthusiastic about the people I work with. But on the days when my clients are disrespectful and inconsiderate, I have a really, really, really hard time feeling joyful about my work. I joke that our team is at the bottom of the ladder, but I sadly also believe it.

This trip has given me a greater understanding and appreciation of our partners around the world, and it’s also given me insight as to how our writing team could serve them better. Interestingly enough, the trip also expanded my vision to explore ways that I could follow my passions to help others in ways that also are most fulfilling for me. I’m not sure at all what that really looks like or what that means yet, but I imagine I’ll discover that one day.

For a visual of my trip, check out my online photo gallery.

I’ve been wondering how to describe Harry Potter Land (aka Wizarding World of Harry Potter), but I discovered that my fellow Harry Pothead has already written up something for her own blog. Join me in welcoming my very first guest blogger, Melanie, and her summary of our adventure at Harry Potter Land…

When we arrived at Hogsmeade, we were eager to first find Harry, Ron and Hermione so we could join them on their Forbidden Journey. There were hordes of Muggles everywhere; we could barely find our way through the crowds. We looked up at the street sign that told us Hogwarts was to the west, and we knew our wizarding friends would meet us there. Hogwarts castle could be seen in the distance, and we could already feel the excitement erupting within us.

As we rushed to the castle we noted that since it was early enough in the morning, it would only be 15 minutes before we were reunited with our fellow Gryffindors. After we stowed our parcels into lockers, we filed our way into the Herbology Greenhouse. The temperature was extremely hot and humid, but thankfully, Professor Sprout anticipated our arrival and set up fans all around so we could stay cool as we found our way through her class and into Hogwarts castle.

As we entered Hogwarts, through the halls, we passed the Potions classroom, passed the portrait of the Fat Lady and found our way into the Gryffindor common room. Still no sign of Harry, Ron or Hermione. Where could they be? We traveled deeper into the castle and arrived at the entrance to Professor Dumbledore’s office. If only we could remember his latest password to get in. Was it Lemon Drops?

When we passed the giant phoenix at the front of Professor Dumbledore’s office, through a hall of large, hanging portraits of previous headmasters in lively conversation about all the new Muggles that were traipsing in and disturbing their peace, we found Dumbledore standing on the deck of his office, waiting patiently for us, as if he knew to expect us at this exact moment. No wonder he was the greatest wizard of all time.

Dumbledore was talking to us about the journey we had ahead, and as we passed his pensieve and all his spinning trinkets, we bid him good-bye and continued our search for Harry and everyone else. To our pleasant surprise, we found them in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. They snuck in under Harry’s invisibility cloak and told us their plan to get us to their Forbidden Journey. Ron accidentally made it snow, but as soon as Hermione stopped the actual snowflakes from falling, we continued our way to the Room of Requirement where our journey would begin.

As we stepped onto our magical bench, with the handy use of Floo Powder, Hermione sends us to the top of the Observatory and away we go!

We see Harry up ahead on his Firebolt and hope to follow him to his Quidditch match. Except we are quickly interrupted by the giant dragon that Harry challenged at his TriWizard tournament! We lose Harry and the dragon chases us through the Hogwarts bridge and breathes fire at us, sending us into high-pitched shrieks!

After we lose the dragon, there is still no rest as we find ourselves now lost in the Forbidden Forest. Where did Harry go? Slowly, we see Aragog lowering closer to us, calling all of his giant spider friends to shoot venom at us in hopes of turning us into a hearty meal! We are suddenly whipped away and tossed around, and find ourselves looking for the source of our getaway from Aragog, only to find we’re stuck in the Whomping Willow with its violent tree trunks knocking us from side to side!

But through it all, we’re knocked back onto the Quidditch Pitch where we finally see Harry and Ron up ahead on their broomsticks. Flying through a game of Quidditch was spellbinding! We flew by the three golden rings with what would have been an amazing view of the game, if it weren’t for Draco taunting Harry about inviting all his new Muggle friends to the game.

We follow Draco and Harry down below the stands where they tumble with each other on their broomsticks, but no one is safe when Dementors suddenly appear! The Dementors were everywhere, surrounding us, and there was no escaping them. They were too fast and chased us into the Chamber of Secrets where they tried to give us the Dementors Kiss! We could see their insides and their faces up close as they drew us closer to suck out every happy feeling from inside of us.

When Harry finally found us again, as he cast his Patronus charm against the Dementors, the whole Chamber began to cave in! The walls were falling and we were dodging the falling ceiling pieces as we made our narrow escape out of the Chamber with Harry leading the way.

And we made it out! We saw the open air and the vastness of the Black Lake outside of Hogwarts as Harry led us safely back inside of Hogwarts where we were greeted and cheered for by all our wizarding friends! Ron and Hermione were there, the Weasley brothers, and even Dumbledore came to see us again to remind us to pick up our stowed parcels upon our departure. We waved farewell and thanked them all for their hospitality and warmth as we finished our magical journey with them.

We left Hogwarts castle feeling exhilarated and eager for more. We knew there was so much more to see and do in this wizarding world; we still needed to visit Hagrid and his flying Hippogriffs, we needed to challenge the other Champions of the TriWizard Tournament on their flying dragons, we needed to make our way back to Hogsmeade to find Ollivander so we could get our wands, and have our meal at the 3 Broomsticks with butterbeer and pumpkin juice, and go on a shopping spree at Honeydukes and Zonko’s… but all of that could wait just a little bit longer, because first, we needed to experience the Forbidden Journey just one more time… !!

I’m kind of at this point where I feel like there’s too much to blog about, so I don’t feel like blogging about anything. I also feel like I want to hide out for a few weeks and not do anything. I feel like there are a lot of people to catch up with – in person, on the phone, over e-mail – but to make time for everyone and everything feels overwhelming. But that’s only because I think people actually are wondering why I haven’t been in touch, when that’s most likely not the case. I’m feeling guilty over something that people probably don’t even care about… :P

I just got back from a weekend in Sac/South Bay, where we attended the wedding of my cousin Kim and her new husband Mike. Kim was an absolutely beautiful. bride, but every time I looked at her, I wondered if she was too young to be getting married. She has a baby face, but most of all – she’s my “little” cousin Kimberly! Well, not so little anymore, since she’s in her late 20s and obviously old enough to get married. 

All the cousins on my dad’s side are either college age or older now, although in my mind, everyone is still young. Nathaniel, who is nine years younger than I am, drove Matt and me around for the first time. My first thought – “Nathaniel’s driving?!” It’s sad to see everyone growing up so quickly, but growing older also makes our gatherings more fun. We can hang out on our own without having our parents around, and we can have “real” conversations that don’t only consist of elementary school topics.

One of the highlights from the weekend was playing Taboo with all the cousins on my dad’s side (minus one who is on the east coast, and Kimberly). Guys vs. girls…girls won, of course, even after Jason proposed a “winner takes all” bonus round. Some moments from the game that still make me laugh:

• Traci: “They sell this by the foot at the store.”  Naomi: “Slim Jims!”
• Matt: (trying to get the guys to guess the word “ape”) Grape – but without the ‘gr’! (Obviously he got penalized for that one)
• Nathaniel: (pretending to scratch his armpits) “You should have said, ‘Goo-goo! Ga-ga!’ Everyone else: “What kind of ape says ‘goo-goo! ga-ga!’?!!”
• Naomi: (giving clues for the girls) ”Paul!” Me: ”Octopus!” (Naomi’s confirmation that I was correct elicited a loud, “What??!!” from everyone.)

OK, maybe you had to be there. But just thinking about the weekend gives me warm family fuzzies again. If I didn’t love living in Seattle so much, I’d be lobbying for a move back to NorCal.

Vacation posts are always challenging. How do I sum up an amazing week? Do people really want a play-by-play of everything we did? I’m still coming down off of the high of all the Harry Potter craziness from the last two days (not to mention several days of fun and relaxation before that), and I’m not ready to post a full blog about everything yet. I just typed up a long e-mail to ET with very specific details about Harry Potter Land (HPL), but it’s a little too detailed and lengthy to post here. There are too many details for mere Muggles to be concerned with. Don’t worry, though, I eventually will blog about my experience in Florida and, more specifically, HPL. In the meantime, enjoy these photos. (This was only half of what Abby and I photographed, and doesn’t include Melanie’s photos or videos!)

One thing ET and I discussed before my trip was whether or not HPL would spoil everything for Harry Potter fans. I think one thing that really draws us to HP is the fantasy and magic of Hogwarts, of Hogsmeade, of being in world that we can only dream of (but I could do without the dementors and Death Eaters – although I’d probably have a crush on Draco if we were at Hogwarts). It’s such a different world from our reality, but there are enough similarities to draw us in, and to tease us with the notion that maybe we’re simply the Muggles, and that Harry’s world really does exist.

Thanks to the books and the movies, Hogwarts and all that goes on there live in our imaginations. While filmmakers have given us hints on what it looks like, we’ve created variations of Harry’s world in our heads. And, as most HP fans will probably admit, I place myself in his world, too. I’m there in the common room, celebrating Quidditch victories, studying hard with other students, walking through the halls wearing my Hogwarts robe, and pigging out in the Great Hall underneath floating candles.

Now that we have an opportunity to experience that world firsthand, is it the same? The world of Harry Potter in our head is the one that’s in the books and the movies – the one where dishes are done with the flick of a wand, where plants shriek when pulled out of the soil, where winged creatures carry you above the Whomping Willow, and where love and happiness produce a Patronus to ward off evil.

But, as much as Universal can try, that isn’t the world that’s in Orlando. Despite the snow-capped stores and realistic icicles, there isn’t snow crunching underfoot, and we don’t need our robes to keep us warm until the Butterbeer kicks in. We won’t see footprints made by Harry as he walks by wearing his Invisibility Cloak. The toads don’t really sing, the Pensieve really doesn’t show you someone’s memories, and the only amazing thing about the wands is that parents are spending $30 to buy their kids sticks that they’ll probably abandon within a week. People certainly never line up to enter Ollivander’s wand shop, and you’ll never see anyone in tank tops and shorts in the real Hogsmeade.

So does this mean Universal is going to disappoint HP fans with a world that could never live up to our imaginations? For me (and the thousands who have already visited), the experience certainly did not disappoint. If anything, it transported me to a place that I know I’ll never experience, and allowed me to somewhat live out my imaginations.

Experiencing HPL with Abby and Melanie made it even more special. Whenever we do HP activities (like getting together to play HP Scene-It, making sweatshirts, going to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, etc.), we become silly Harry Potheads, giggling and shrieking about everything. It’s not something we can do in our normal everyday lives in our cubes or in the classroom. We’re grown adults with responsibilities who welcome opportunities to not act our age, and to be giddy about something that is pure fiction. Being with them merely increased the excitement and enthusiasm of HPL. You should have seen all the cheering and jumping up and down simply from ironing letters onto tank tops. As we drove on the highways of Florida, we cheered every time we saw Harry Potter billboards (and there were a lot of them!), turned up the radio every time we heard the theme song on the Harry Potter commercials, and screamed when we got our first glimpse of the top of Hogwarts.

If anything, visiting HPL made us even MORE excited about Harry’s world (if that’s even possible). We talked about wanting to read all the books again and watch all the movies again, and we threw around ideas for our next HP project (glass-etched Butterbeer mugs?) and our next event (watching the final movie together on opening night?).

My two apprehensions about HPL were the crowds and the heat. I hate crowds, but what I hate even more is heat. I sweat when the temperature hits 80, even in dry heat. At Universal Studios, the Harry Potter section is the most crowded in the whole park, and the weather was so warm and muggy that we had sweaty spots on our shirts. Yet, amazingly enough, my spirit wasn’t dampened one bit by those two things while I was in Hogsmeade. That place must truly be magical.