Check it out..
Go to his youtube page and let him know what you think!
Go to his youtube page and let him know what you think!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Check this out...
Lawrence, one of the students who participated in our workshop at the International School of Tianjin, just e-mailed me a video he made for the United Nations World Food Programme. I believe he submitted it for a contest and it looks great!
Midwest Love
5:17 CHICAGO-
Hello All!
Greetings from the ESPN Zone in Chicago. As I sit here watching the Olympics and eating something relatively healthy for me (a REAL chicken salad – with lettuce and chicken tenders) I am able to take some time and update you on the happenings of our tour and the whereabouts of yours truly.
Today we have off thanks to National holidays in both Canada and the United States (it's President's Day here and Family Day there). We arrived yesterday after having spent a week in the great state of New York. We had a school each day last week despite the imminent threats of snow all week. We started off at a wonderful school in Buffalo, then flew to the City in order to be at a school in Manhattan on Tuesday, Albany on Wednesday, Mt. Vernon on Thursday and finally Long Island on Friday. Friday evening we flew from NY to Chicago, IL where we have spent the weekend. I have been able to catch up with some friends and family which has been really nice.
Our tour is going well right now. We have made some minor adjustments in our speech and our workshop and have been trying out a few new things here and there. For those of you unfamiliar with the format of one of our days it generally goes something like this:
6:30 – Wake up, get ready, check out of our hotel, try to find the school (a tall order sometimes)
8:30-9:30 Tech Check
9:45 – 10:45 Keynote address to the entire student population - Focuses on stories of youth making a difference, the founding of Free the Children, our organizational initiatives and our own personal stories of taking action.
11:00 – 12:00 Workshop Part I with a group of 25-30 students usually a part of their social action group. Usually we spend this time getting to know the kids, playing games, and finding out what will help benefit their group the most moving forward. We do one activity focusing on Leadership or Issues followed by a quick game and then…
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 3:00 Workshop Part II (Same group of students as before) Here we go a little further in depth with some awareness, teambuilding, or more leadership activities depending on the what the group needs. We finish the workshop with a solid amount of time to help the group action plan. We help them figure out what their passions are, both with activities they like to do and issues that they really care about, and then we help them put them together to come up with fun activities to raise awareness or funds.
Afterwards we make our trek back to our new (or previous) hotel we generally spend an hour or two documenting our day and following up with e-mails accumulated throughout the day. Depending on how far the next school is (and how lost we get) we usually are back in a hotel as early as 4 or as late as 12.
That is the general format of the day, though it varies all the time. Tonight we will be traveling to Springfield in order to make it for our 7:30 tech check time at a school there.
All along the road we have been coming across some truly inspirational students and educators. Last week we came across a group of 10 and 11 year olds at a resource-poor school that had managed to fundraise and convince their parents and faculty to let them travel to Keyna with Me to We trips. This year they will be traveling to Ecuador. Absolutely incredible.
Unfortunately, my battery is about to conk out on me, but my warm cookie has arrived and Tony Riali and the Around the Horn crew is about to keep me company. Much love.
Steve
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sportstalk
5:28 am TORONTO -
Hello online world! It's 5:30 am and I have been up for the past hour and a half trying to fall asleep. It's weird because I haven't slept much in the past 48 hours but I am just not tired. My internal clock is really confused. Maybe it was that full moon we saw the entire flight.
Anyway, this provides me with ample opportunity to catch myself up on the sports world again. Currently, I am listening to Bill Simmons and JA Adande discuss Kobe breaking the Lakers' all-time points record. I am already annoyed with it, on to my BOYS Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon. I love these guys and their podcast I have downloaded and listened to almost every day while I was abroad. They are who I go to for comfort when I need some good old fashioned Americana in my life. They are like Bob Seger and Chevy trucks: Like a rock.
In other news: Federer is up on Murray. Am I supposed to care about this match? I find it pretty difficult. Also I am very hesitant to look at our Detroit sports teams right now...
Ok PTI is over. It's 6:15 I am going to bed. Good.. morning?
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Stuff you should know about HK...
It's warm- it's the dead of winter and still short sleeve weather
They drive on the wrong side of the road- leftovers from the bloody Brits
It's big- there are tremendously huge highrises all throughout the city and a TON of people
It's exciting- there are always people out and about who all appear nice and in good spirits
It's rich - I saw Lamborghini & Ferrari driving around like it was nothin
It's cheap - While the cost of living may be more expensive due to property, you can still get a great deal on just about anything.
Computer Nerd's heaven- There are huge computer markets with anything you could want to soup up your PC - I managed to escape without a thing!
You can get any food you want- Subway, Mickey D's, BK, some GREAT bakeries, and any type of Asian food
Mickey D's has chicken wings! - I had never seen that before, I had to try it
You can't walk 500m without coming across a 7-11 - seriously.
There is a spot called North Point - shout out to GPN alum.
People spit on the ground- actually this is a lie, unlike their mainland counterparts, Hong Kong residents rarely partake in this Chinese pastime
70% is still not developed- it's mountainous and GREEN where there aren't high rises.
There are several islands - All of them with big buildings juxtaposed with high mountains covered in trees.
You are on the water! - Pacific baby. Go for a boat ride.
You are 13 hours ahead of home (Detroit) - so take the time it is there, add one hour and switch the AM or PM
There is an old British tram that takes you to the peak of a mountain - on top you can find some major shopping and good eats. The tram has a bit of an old school feel to it.
There is no duty or taxes! What?!
There is Disneyland!
People are friendly - I don't know what it is about this city, every time I come here it gets harder and harder to leave. Must be something in the water.
There is a very natural mix of Western and Eastern cultures - making it easy for English or Chinese speakers to get around
The speak Cantonese – Mandarin won't cut it here.
If you don't have plans to go you should reconsider- it may not be a top vacation destination spot but the shopping, prices, atmosphere make it a very nice spot for travelers of all ages
Plus you can see Mickey!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Greetings from the Chinese International School in Hong Kong!
Hello everyone! As I sit and write to you now, I am finishing up a cup of Ox-tail soup (not bad), finishing up some e-mails, and staring out at the beautifully green mountains that we are sitting in. Did I mention we are in an outside cafe wearing T-shirts? (See photo.) I have said this before and I will say it again but it is REALLY nice to know that places as green and as warm as this exist in the dead of winter.
Currently we are in-between our workshop and our presentation and we have enough time that I decided to update my blog! Hooray!
There has been many things to catch you up on since I have arrived in Hong Kong and I am unsure where to start so I figure I will start at the happiest place I on earth... Hong Kong Disneyland!
Tuesday we went to give a presentation about Free the Children and our Think We tour at the Disney offices (we spoke in the Mickey Room!). It was our pleasure to be introduced to Vivian, the Director of External Affairs, and Carrie, Manager of Community Relations for the Disney Hong Kong offices. We spoke briefly with them about our programs in China as well as our tour and our relationship with Club Penguin. It was a very nice to meet with them despite their hectic schedules and afterwards they offered us an opportunity to enter the park... which we not so reluctantly accepted.
We had an absolute blast walking around Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and of course I felt right at home on Main Street, U.S.A.. We ran into some old Muppet friends, saw a Lion King performance, and Borja got to talk to Stitch! Apparently, Stitch recognized Borja from an outer space prison haha. It was pretty funny. There we NO lines so we got to ride Space Mountain TWICE and Borja and I stuck around for the Disney in the Stars performance at the end. It really never gets old going to Disneyland.
In other news, we have presented to several international schools in Hong Kong now, and they are all incredibly active and engaged in their communities and we are excited to be working with them helping them come up with fresh and new ideas on projects to work on and how to fund raise. It really has been refreshing to see all of the support the students receive here!
We went out to dinner last night at a random place near our hotel and the owner just happened to be entertaining guests at the same time - naturally we made friends. We soon found out that we were in the "Boondock Saints" of Hong Kong and they welcomed me as Axel Foley from Detroit. Haha. That was in addition to a student the other day at a Chinese school legitimately thinking I was Steve Nash. Like, he thought I was joking with him that I wasn't. I love China. OK, our workshop is starting - catch you later!
Guess who I met?
Ganbei!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
What do you want??
Oh Hey! A half a day in Hong Kong has taken me to several shops in the market, down by the water, and upstairs to the 28th floor where I could work out with a great view of the water and a couple of distant islands.
Right now we are working on our presentations for tomorrow and Tuesday when we head to the Disney offices. (See above).
The real question I have though is... What do you want??? I plan on doing heavy shopping this coming week because everything here is pretty darn cheap. Let me know! Cheers!
PS - Also, the Great Firewall of China doesn't exist in Hong Kong - which means Facebook and Youtube! Hooray! And can you guess what movie we are watching??
Saturday, January 16, 2010
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