6 hours in New York from Rene sorensen on Vimeo.
torsdag den 24. december 2009
tirsdag den 15. december 2009
Soon its the end
We have now only 2 days left at VOICES and 5 days left in the USA. So now is a good time to reflect a little upon what has happened during the last two and a half month.
When I think back - the things I remember is most of all the people that we have met. The times where people have invited us into their homes and we were given the opportunity to get an insight into their lives.
I have been thinking a lot about what it is that you learn when you travel to another country. Our travel has had a work related focus - we traveled over here to work for an organization that we wanted to learn from and give our knowledge and support, but what's interesting is that I think the most learning has been in the personal conversations we have had outside of work, with the people we have got to know through work and the places we have been in San Francisco and LA.
The car rides back and forth between San Francisco and Napa with Jackie and Alissa.
The times when we have stayed at Miki and Lance's house.
The conversations with our roommate and her friends.
The thanksgiving dinner at Leslie and Steves's house.
The restaurant visits and car rides with Mitch.
Our weekend holiday in LA with Max and Terry.
All the people we have met at VOICES and in On the Move.
The people we have met has been willing to share so much about their lives, an honesty that I rarely meet back home. The kind of honesty that sometimes changes the way you look at life. An honesty that sometimes can be intimidating for two introverted danes, but nevertheless the kind of honesty that allows you to truly get to know another person.
Thank you. I think I speak for both of us when I say that we feel fortunate to have met you.
When I think back - the things I remember is most of all the people that we have met. The times where people have invited us into their homes and we were given the opportunity to get an insight into their lives.
I have been thinking a lot about what it is that you learn when you travel to another country. Our travel has had a work related focus - we traveled over here to work for an organization that we wanted to learn from and give our knowledge and support, but what's interesting is that I think the most learning has been in the personal conversations we have had outside of work, with the people we have got to know through work and the places we have been in San Francisco and LA.
The car rides back and forth between San Francisco and Napa with Jackie and Alissa.
The times when we have stayed at Miki and Lance's house.
The conversations with our roommate and her friends.
The thanksgiving dinner at Leslie and Steves's house.
The restaurant visits and car rides with Mitch.
Our weekend holiday in LA with Max and Terry.
All the people we have met at VOICES and in On the Move.
The people we have met has been willing to share so much about their lives, an honesty that I rarely meet back home. The kind of honesty that sometimes changes the way you look at life. An honesty that sometimes can be intimidating for two introverted danes, but nevertheless the kind of honesty that allows you to truly get to know another person.
Thank you. I think I speak for both of us when I say that we feel fortunate to have met you.
torsdag den 10. december 2009
onsdag den 9. december 2009
tirsdag den 8. december 2009
mandag den 7. december 2009
Our tourist day in San Francisco
Yesterday we decided to be tourists, so we spent the day walking around the city and saw some interesting stuff...
The jefferson Airplane house (unfortunately our camera ran out of power after one picture, we had to go to a cafe to recharge, luckily the house is on our street so we can easily go back and take some more pictures)
Golden Gate Bridge
Alkatraz (and a wet Kristian)
Alkatraz agian (without a wet Kristian)
Lombard Street
Downtown (the shopping inspiring Macy's)
MOMA
Community Building Design
This Saturday we were given the assignment to design and facilitate a workshop where the staff from VOICES and the youth together could come up with suggestion on how to design the new building that VOICES is moving into here in the end of December.
fredag den 4. december 2009
It's Own!
As some of you may know we are having a block war against Anne and Gunvor from our class... While they decided to cheat we decided to do the next best thing...
Untitled from Rene sorensen on Vimeo.
torsdag den 3. december 2009
søndag den 29. november 2009
the Chili dawg
We can't figure out why seven eleven in Denmark does not have this wonderful machine.
onsdag den 25. november 2009
Letter Campaign
Just a small video of the letter that is part of the donorcampaign we have been a part of setting up. This letter is to go out to people that hopefully will donate money for the VOICES organization. As you might have understood from the last couple of videos we have posted, the theme of the campaign is: ITS ABOUT TIME.
Campaign Video
This is a newly made video we did for the V.O.I.C.E.S. donor campaign. We thank Knowmads for inspiration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy-cTdpt3ug . Its a great concept. Hope you like it and feel free to donate :)
If you want to see it in a bigger format go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA9sOlN4zC8 .
mandag den 23. november 2009
lørdag den 21. november 2009
fredag den 20. november 2009
Them Crooked Vultures
We were fortunate enough to get our hands on 2 tickets for the already legendary Them Crooked Vultures concert in Oakland.
For those who don't know who Them Crooked Vultures are the band exists of:
Guitar / vocal: Josh Homme (Queens of the stone age)
Drums: Dave Grohl (Foo fighters, Nirvana)
Bass: John Paul Jones (Led zeppelin)
onsdag den 18. november 2009
the V.O.I.C.E.S. tour
We had 5 min. to spare so we thought it would be a good idea to film a little tour of voices and let you guys know where we work.
mandag den 16. november 2009
the stars of hollywood
We had half a day in La... what better way of spending it than walking down the walk of fame?
torsdag den 29. oktober 2009
Coloring kids
We had promised Miki to help her out at a childrens painting event. The children could either get their faces or arms painted or do a drawing themselves. We helped out as the grown ups we are. Rene was rather happy about it, since it is somewhat similar to tattooing and all that fuzz, I on the other hand found it rather challenging....
tirsdag den 27. oktober 2009
Today
We've had a very interesting day today, so we wanted everyone that reads our blog to hear about it.
The first picture is from a meeting that we had together with Mitch and Kristyn.
By the way Mitch is our partner in crime. He is the person that we are working together with on the different assignments. He has been a part of the creation of the VOICES project that we are now a part of, and he has on the very short amount of time that we have been here, helped us a lot - and given all the support that we needed to get started working in a new culture. The meeting that you see here, is about the creation of a donor campaign, that we will be a part of executing before going home in december. On this picture we have just brainstormed on different ideas on how to get people to become donors - we are confident that we will create one of the best donor campaigns ever.
This picture is from an other meeting we had this afternoon. Here Mitch and Steve are discussing how the three of us (Mitch, Rene and I) will design and execute a process of moving the entire VOICES organization into a new building. A very exiting project as well, that we are looking forward to facilitate.
This picture shows of a presentation at the McPherson school, about a leadership program that On the Move has initiated.
To round off the day we attended a lecture on community development, in the town hall auditorium.
All in all a very good day, and we are beginning to feel that we have some good assignments where we will be able to make an impact during the time that we are here.
The first picture is from a meeting that we had together with Mitch and Kristyn.
By the way Mitch is our partner in crime. He is the person that we are working together with on the different assignments. He has been a part of the creation of the VOICES project that we are now a part of, and he has on the very short amount of time that we have been here, helped us a lot - and given all the support that we needed to get started working in a new culture. The meeting that you see here, is about the creation of a donor campaign, that we will be a part of executing before going home in december. On this picture we have just brainstormed on different ideas on how to get people to become donors - we are confident that we will create one of the best donor campaigns ever.
This picture is from an other meeting we had this afternoon. Here Mitch and Steve are discussing how the three of us (Mitch, Rene and I) will design and execute a process of moving the entire VOICES organization into a new building. A very exiting project as well, that we are looking forward to facilitate.
This picture shows of a presentation at the McPherson school, about a leadership program that On the Move has initiated.
To round off the day we attended a lecture on community development, in the town hall auditorium.
All in all a very good day, and we are beginning to feel that we have some good assignments where we will be able to make an impact during the time that we are here.
mandag den 26. oktober 2009
modeling
Miki and Lance that we are staying with at the moment wanted us to have the shirts and t-shirts that we are wearing on these pictures.
Their sons own this clothing company called greekmile, and wanted us to have the shirts and in return do some friendly promotion.
søndag den 25. oktober 2009
A day at the pacific ocean
We woke up to a beautiful sunny day with temperatures as high as 25 degrees.
So we decided to go to the beach and hang out.
Sunday thoughts
It is incredible how time differs according to the content that you give it.
During this first week I think I speak for both of us when I say that we have seen and experienced a lot. Today when we were driving with our colleague and friend Miki back from San Francisco after we had eaten at a Shanghainese restaurant I had a weird flashback to my stay in Shanghai, China. In San Francisco they have quite a big china town, and sitting there eating food that tasted exactly the same as it did when it was best in Shanghai, was very confusing and uplifting at the same time.
Miki is basically the reason why René and I are here. We met her in Shanghai at an art-exhibition she was setting up, and now all of a sudden we are sitting in San Francisco eating shanghainese food and combining the two very different worlds that China and the United States are.
On my way over here I read this quote by Einstein in Johannes Møllehave's recent collection of all his articles. It said: (translated from danish) "any idea that isn't absurd from the beginning doesn't have a future." Travelling to San Francisco is in many ways an absurd idea, considering that we did not know much about what we would get ourselves into, but for some reason, sitting there in that restaurant talking about Shanghai the absurd began to make sense.
During this first week I think I speak for both of us when I say that we have seen and experienced a lot. Today when we were driving with our colleague and friend Miki back from San Francisco after we had eaten at a Shanghainese restaurant I had a weird flashback to my stay in Shanghai, China. In San Francisco they have quite a big china town, and sitting there eating food that tasted exactly the same as it did when it was best in Shanghai, was very confusing and uplifting at the same time.
Miki is basically the reason why René and I are here. We met her in Shanghai at an art-exhibition she was setting up, and now all of a sudden we are sitting in San Francisco eating shanghainese food and combining the two very different worlds that China and the United States are.
On my way over here I read this quote by Einstein in Johannes Møllehave's recent collection of all his articles. It said: (translated from danish) "any idea that isn't absurd from the beginning doesn't have a future." Travelling to San Francisco is in many ways an absurd idea, considering that we did not know much about what we would get ourselves into, but for some reason, sitting there in that restaurant talking about Shanghai the absurd began to make sense.
The next Keith Moon???
We were walking down the street down town and heard this cool drum beat, we went to check it out and were amazed to find a 4-5 year old kid behind the drum set.
practical work
Here is a video of some of the more practical things that we have done so far. Enjoy :)
lørdag den 24. oktober 2009
the students at McPherson primary school
This picture is taken at a primary school called McPherson - where On The Move is doing a leadership program. This is all the students and staff that are related to the school. We (Kristian, Kristians cousin Johannes that are visiting at the moment and Rene) are in the upper left corner.
Golden gate bridge
Alissa gave us a ride to the city where we are spending the weekend. on the way we drove over golden gate bridge, and found out why it's called golden gate.
Danish food for the americans
A couple of days ago we wanted to cook a danish dinner for Mitch and Tanya.
We chose to cook frikadeller.
by the way they loved it!
fredag den 23. oktober 2009
First week in Napa and San Francisco.
After we have now posted a few videos we thought it was about time that we wrote a little something about what we have experienced so far.
I will just give you a short brief on where we work and live and the situation in general.
The organization that we work for is On The Move, which is an NGO that provides supportive programs for youth in the age-range 16-28 ish. On the Move is an umbrella organization with different sub-projects. One of them is called V.O.I.C.E.S. which is a project that supports kids that are coming out of foster-care homes and needs a safe place where they can get guidance on education, jobs, healthcare, etc, and this is where Rene and I primarily will be working, since they are beginning to expand this part of the organization to other cities. So far we are still in the start up phase, meaning that the tasks that we are working on are smaller assignments that changes from day to day, but we are hoping to get more meat on the bone soon.
Our living situation so far has been quite exiting, since we have been living with different people that are connected to the organization someway or the other. So we have met a lot of different people, amongst other Miki and Lance that you see on our second posted video. Until now we have been living mostly in Napa, but we are leaving Napa for San Francisco to spend the weekend, and to look for an apartment where we can stay until December 20th.
The American culture has been incredibly open towards us, which has made it very easy for us to get settled, and get into the mindset of the people that lives here.
@ V.O.I.C.E.S - Sonoma office
The tour of the "hippie house"
This is a small tour of a really cool house we crashed in for a couple of days.
the house is owned by Miki and Lance, we have never experienced the kind of hospitality the showed us (they were almost to nice to us) .......... we are truly grateful!!
We are looking forward to hanging out with them through-out our stay
torsdag den 22. oktober 2009
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