torsdag den 29. oktober 2009
Coloring kids
tirsdag den 27. oktober 2009
Today
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
søndag den 25. oktober 2009
A day at the pacific ocean
Sunday thoughts
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???
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
Golden gate bridge
Danish food for the americans
fredag den 23. oktober 2009
First week in Napa and San Francisco.
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