love

how do we acknowledge all the people, plants, places, and animals that touch our lives... no matter how briefly?

kendal is my best friend here. we support each other through all the beauties and challenges of being here in shenzhen, china. and we travel together. and we live together. and more! an amazing woman with so many inspiring gifts.

richard was my bus guru who can help me find my way home from any random small anywhere in shenzhen, and also has a great sense of humor and insatiable curiousity about the world and her people.

we hiked with these people for a day who, once they got over kendal's sandals and my skirt, were actually fun hiking partners (okay but they never got over the skirt and sandals). but i told ridiculous jokes, they told ridiculous jokes, and we all laughed a lot, and i feel like mountain people anywhere are among the best people ever, always.

how about all the people who came before us that we don't usually see anymore but certainly carry a presence? oh yeaaaahhhh :)

frederik entered my life for a whirlwind three days of excellent english, the best introduction to shenzhen that anyone has given me since i've been here, and comprehensive questions and insights covering everything from life and love to computers and digits.

and there's so many more people not pictured!!!!!! :)

感恩. infinite gratitude.

happy mama's day

everyday mama's day, everyday papa's day
everyday a day to celebrate earth,
everday a day to celebrate sky,
everyday to celebrate LIFE!
happy birthday EVERYDAY!
love like dandelions everywhere shyed into corners, exploding onto pavement,
and motherwort flowers surprise surprise everywhere underfeet (feet themselves, acts of love)
LOVE unnoticed but always apparent, and ALWAYS PRESENT

感恩. infinite gratitude.

rainy days

thanks dave for the facepaint/ pastels
thanks trees for the paper
thanks sky for the inspiration you (always how i love you) bring
and heart... well, we've still got some talking to do

sprouts

this photo is especially for my mama... who taught me most of what i know about food, sprouting, and other important things in life. :)
here, in china, this batch, was my first time successfully sprouting any yummy things... small mung beans, green beans. utterly delicious. two handfuls of beans, in water soaking (changes of water) for 4 days, and then sprouting for another week... lasted for about 1.5 weeks of continuous delicious utterly ALIVE sprouts. pictured here are the final two handfuls of yummy sprouts that me and frederik feasted on, in a traditional gazebo atop a small hill above shenzhen, china

在上海跟三阿姨和uncle

shanghai with the aunt and uncle that i haven't seen since before i became vegetarian, so many many years ago! when i was half my current size and less than half my current age!!!
spring sakura blossoms are so beautiful and smell so good... i think i still like the taiwan sakuras in the mountains the best though :)

incoming storm

thick air wet heavy
storm soon
storm comes riding on thick clouds heavy with rain
heavy with messages (are you listening?)

small shelter in big forest with even smaller girl
(little girl old woman)
sleeping under it
big boom bam wake up wake up to
i am sorry
(never endingly so)
to this raped earth and desecrated skies waters fishes birds
everyone
especially
two legs walking hands crawling
markets and buildings rising as
animals birds falling

clouds heavy with rain
incoming on heavy grey skies
clouds heavy
rain coming
thick with messages from afar
so far that we cannot hear?
so far from deep inside the very
souls of our feet
depths of our hearts
rising
the cries of mamas
desecrated and raped
the cries of

i am here
you too
we are here

what are you DOING?
what HAVE you done?
where do we GO from HERE?

addendum

do you know what "completely alive" even feels like, oh "normal" person???

office work: enlightenment

working in an office for two weeks has helped me gain enlightenment around this part of my being:

 

I'D RATHER BE DEAD THAN PARTIALLY ALIVE

 

almost done. our final program is the last week of may. 2.5 more weeks of office hell. and then, never again. i say the same about the city. only ___ more days, and then never again.

 

we'll see, right?

well,

 

I'D RATHER BE COMPLETELY ALIVE THAN PARTIALLY DEAD

thailand

jiling puts her pack on her back, her wings on her pack, and her glasses on her face to fly from china to thailand and land with sandals firmly on solid THAILAND earth on june 1, with the new moon (oh what a new moon this shall be!)

 

landings: chiang mai, pai, and more mysteries to understand regarding massage, permaculture, plants, elders, and more

total of thai-landing days planned: 1-3 months

on beauty and magic

i want to create something so beautiful, magical, and long lasting that will live longer than i (mere precious body) ever will

i have arisen! i am awake!

i want to birth something so beautiful the world has never seen

be more than rainbow with all my colors and more than toned in all my shades

i want to be indefinable, unnamable, unwordable because all the creation is so immense

so extradinarily amazing that nothing can even near describe its magnificence

i want to be a poet, an artist, a woman creator extradordinaire birthing beauties previously unimagined, sculpting landscapes out of sand particles unseen, unheard, unnamed

i paint the sky purple when eyes closed fly me away

and fingers point and burst with flames on one, water from another hand, another finger, another endless potential

cupped hands together, forming energy ball of potential, swirling

i just want to make something beautiful

but i'm not sure where to start

and so i open my eyes and begin

this dream

let's

let's dance thru the streets way past midnight, and sing songs in tunnels with taxis and bikers zooming thru staring, and make faces thru the restaurant window at confused and laughing passerbys, and share and talk and laugh for as long as we can (oh is the sun rising again already?) for this life is PRECIOUS and we are truly unique, kind, and BEAUTIFUL, and this world is FULL of infinite wonder, beauty, and possibility

chocolate

well!

it is spring!

birds are singing

stars are exploding

flowers are beaming

and new winds are blowing from old places!

thankSky

same moon rises over endless city lights

same moon rises over endless desertscape of waving chapparal

the most beautiful sunrise in the world

every

day

 

 

(i met him for a few minutes. we didn't talk much, but i pointed out the full moon. he asked me then, if i missed my homeland. well, yes. i reply. but also, i am here. this is it. but yes... i still miss it.

thank Sky for that which is constant in Life)

time

fifteen years ago

where i am standing, sleeping, jumping right now

with infinite tons of buildings scraping sky and sitting heavy on earth

this used to be a fish pond

recipe

a bowl full of moon

splash of lightning, dash of thunder

gourmet friction fire

clouds

almonds soaking in a glass jar

light seeping through

shadows and sunlight play games

functionality and aesthetics

the coolest people i've met in the "wild" make their everythings (from shelter to eating bowls) with both functionality and aesthetics in mind... for a beautiful and useful life

waking

today i woke up

totally rejuvenated

completely inspired

ridiculously excited

for...

something

i'm not sure what it is

the moon is full on sunday

she is growing right now

i've got ideas in my head and

i'm patching my skirt and cleaning my room and redesigning my company's website

what is so exciting?

the wind is changing

music is playing

and the song sparrows are waking up earlier than ever

letters to the wind

it's been a month now

two more to go

and then?

i don't know

but during the next two months

the wind rests steady in one cove

and you can mail letters to her there :)

this is china

look deeper

school of life

he wanted a photo together! and he asked me to mail it to him. he's not familiar with email or digital cameras, but he knows roots, shoots, buds, and blossoms more than anyone i have yet met here. maybe i will go back to yangshuo one day and keep sponging up wisdom and knowledge. what do you do when someone you really want to learn from speaks a different dialect though? :)

this is medicine

yangshuo, china. 3rd generation "grass medicine doctor." all the herbs from the local mountains, used to treat everything from the common cold to the uncommon cancer. his father is in his 80's but looks like a 60 year old. his children are practicing grass medicine healing arts too. this is medicine.

this is life!

check it out. it's ban lan root. this is life essence.

this is life

my happiest moments are still in nature. here in the shenzhen city base camp, my favorite friend and ally is highly not present. sit spots are typically on the 9th floor roof, with a grand view of the whole city. rows and rows of windows. so, i get to search for the green goodness within myself. oh, goody.

 

the flowers and trees and plants here are amazing.

(so are you!)

this is work!

rubber bands, fun, indoor, or outdoor... i like our team

this is work

just to contrast with the office... here's a site visit prior to a program. note the mud all over me and the other foreigner, and how the locals have managed to remain mud free!

 

yangshuo, china. favorite place here thus far.

 

more office days than outdoor days though... and that is work. and thus is life. and that part is hard.

 

this photo shows the fun part of our program work. not photographed or noted are the high stress levels and tight rubber bands on the opposite end of the spectrum. again, thus is life?

 

china outdoor programs seem more stressful than the american programs i have led.

 

great learnings.

night-life: office home

a typical evening in the indier shenzhen home base... each to their own desk, each to their own computer. this is also our office.

 

note that these are all pieces, small chunks of life :)

this is dinner

a typical evening meal with the indier team at our home base in shenzhen... lots of meat, lots of oil, lots of white rice, and one or two plates of veggies (not their usual) for me and the other vegetarian

china kids- 2

same batch, different email

my china kids

can't see what i post... can't access blogs here. am emailing. thus all the repeats. ;p

indier team- spring 2011- shenzhen, china

add our boss-guy and subtract the yellow-dots-shirt woman, and this is my small china crew of tourism industry, outdoor industry, and general student-of-life teacher-of-yaya vagabond folks!

some of my china kids

can't sum up my first month here yet. it's 1 am and time to sleep. but, a few photos... this only shows the "work with kids" part of my life here. it's a teeny tiny highly minuscule slice of my current china life. more stories and photos en route... eventually!

LOVElovelove :)