I had a very long day out in London today, with lots of missed trains, closed Underground lines, and finally finding Jen at Heathrow. :) We did a bit of sightseeing in London, then came back to Cambridge and had dinner. Jen and I went out to do some night photography whil G stayed home to work on his talk for ICF tomorrow. He had a busy day too- getting a spare mattress for the spare room, and he had his occasional ch speakers' group this morning as well.
Tomorrow we're hitting a nearby used camera fair to see what can be had, then off to town for G's talk at ICF, and then onto StAG. By then I think we'll be pretty well worn out. :)
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Friday, 27 February 2009
February 27, 2009
This has been less of a rollercoaster week for us- we've had a lot of waiting to hear back from people about various things. We heard back from the letting agent (the person who is in charge of leasing out people's properties) that we were approved, and our official move date is March 20th. We heard back from our friend that we asked to live with us, and she said yes, so she also has to fill out an application just to check her past landlords. And even though G and I are married, I have to fill out a separate form too! The lax idea about marriage and living together here makes things a bit annoying- people who are a "live in partner" are treated very similarly to a spouse. Anyway I'm filling out the form.
Our new housemate's name is Zephyr- she's from China, and just recently finished her master's degree in business. She is such a lovely sweet girl- one of the most good natured, friendly, and kind people I have every met. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful person to share our house with. Zephyr also goes to StAG, and is involved with the international work as well, so that will be a blessing to both of us. I found out that she really loves animals, and has been going out into the street looking for neighborhood cats to befriend and love. I think she and Nelly will get on very well indeed. :) We're hoping that we can learn some Chinese from her as well, and having an in house Chinese person to teach us more Chinese food will be great! We are all 3 so excited about it, I'm not sure who is the most excited. :) Nelly would be excited if she could foresee the benefits to her too- while we're away traveling Nelly will have someone to look after her, plus she'll really like having a wooded garden where she can do cat things. :)
I did decide to apply for BNI, and I heard back from my 2 people whom I asked to be my reference (which they call referee here) that they had been contacted, and honestly it felt very good to hear their words in praise of my work and my service. I certainly try my very best to meet my clients' needs, and knowing that I'm doing that well was reassuring. I also heard through one of them that I have given a consistently good impression to the BNI group- that too was reassuring. I've been getting emails from various BNI people who are already interested in meeting up to see more of my work, and for me to get to know their business as well. I haven't heard back officially if I'm a member yet or not, but I do hope they let me join.
The Breckland Orchards photos are all processed and have been sent off to 2 exciting places- Cambridge Journal, and Cambridge News, both of whom have done articles on the woman who started the business, and I am so excited that my work will be in print! I will definitely get copies, so I can use those for my own PR and also send some home. Keeping a file of your work in print is a great idea for photographers. If Claire from Breckland Orchard is very successful in marketing her product, my photos may get wide publicity which would be great for my business.
This week I also had 3 English teaching sessions, devised my own evaluation tools and created a form to use in my 2 hour sessions with people. I worked with guys from Afghanistan, and from Spain, and Serbia. Sometimes it's a bit tiring, but overall the work is satisfying and is giving me the opportunity to put up my prints in the office of my company, where they would like me to potentially sell some to their clients. I'm also going to be creating a little book of Cambridge sights that people could buy to take home with them.
In other business news my first run of business cards came in- I used a company that can print a different image on the back of each card, so I used 50 different images and chose the best ones for a reprint of 200 cards. I'm almost out of cards already from the BNI folks who always take cards to use to refer you to people. I did give a card to a couple looking for wedding photography, and the letting agent for our landlord as I took some photos of the cottage that he could use to market the place. I'm looking for opportunities to get my work out there, even if I do it as a volunteer, because it's good PR for me. So now I can add a letting agent to the list of my clients. :) I'm hoping to find the online posting and get a print out of it as well to put in my portfolio of work.
I haven't mentioned it on the blog, but we are SO excited that our friend Jen is coming to visit! In fact she's flying in tomorrow morning! We are having some very fine weather and tomorrow we're planning to sightsee around London, and then come back here in the evening. Also on the list for the week is seeing more castles in Wales, and hopefully Bath as well. I don't have any major projects pending so I'm trying to take the week off, which is trickier than it's ever been now that business is growing! We're looking forward to having Jen with us, and doing LOTS of photography!
I'm off to photograph snowdrops at Anglesey Abbey today- it must be 50F outside, and it's sunny. It is definitely spring now- although I miss the Michigan snow, I do love the early springs here. :)
Our new housemate's name is Zephyr- she's from China, and just recently finished her master's degree in business. She is such a lovely sweet girl- one of the most good natured, friendly, and kind people I have every met. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful person to share our house with. Zephyr also goes to StAG, and is involved with the international work as well, so that will be a blessing to both of us. I found out that she really loves animals, and has been going out into the street looking for neighborhood cats to befriend and love. I think she and Nelly will get on very well indeed. :) We're hoping that we can learn some Chinese from her as well, and having an in house Chinese person to teach us more Chinese food will be great! We are all 3 so excited about it, I'm not sure who is the most excited. :) Nelly would be excited if she could foresee the benefits to her too- while we're away traveling Nelly will have someone to look after her, plus she'll really like having a wooded garden where she can do cat things. :)
I did decide to apply for BNI, and I heard back from my 2 people whom I asked to be my reference (which they call referee here) that they had been contacted, and honestly it felt very good to hear their words in praise of my work and my service. I certainly try my very best to meet my clients' needs, and knowing that I'm doing that well was reassuring. I also heard through one of them that I have given a consistently good impression to the BNI group- that too was reassuring. I've been getting emails from various BNI people who are already interested in meeting up to see more of my work, and for me to get to know their business as well. I haven't heard back officially if I'm a member yet or not, but I do hope they let me join.
The Breckland Orchards photos are all processed and have been sent off to 2 exciting places- Cambridge Journal, and Cambridge News, both of whom have done articles on the woman who started the business, and I am so excited that my work will be in print! I will definitely get copies, so I can use those for my own PR and also send some home. Keeping a file of your work in print is a great idea for photographers. If Claire from Breckland Orchard is very successful in marketing her product, my photos may get wide publicity which would be great for my business.
This week I also had 3 English teaching sessions, devised my own evaluation tools and created a form to use in my 2 hour sessions with people. I worked with guys from Afghanistan, and from Spain, and Serbia. Sometimes it's a bit tiring, but overall the work is satisfying and is giving me the opportunity to put up my prints in the office of my company, where they would like me to potentially sell some to their clients. I'm also going to be creating a little book of Cambridge sights that people could buy to take home with them.
In other business news my first run of business cards came in- I used a company that can print a different image on the back of each card, so I used 50 different images and chose the best ones for a reprint of 200 cards. I'm almost out of cards already from the BNI folks who always take cards to use to refer you to people. I did give a card to a couple looking for wedding photography, and the letting agent for our landlord as I took some photos of the cottage that he could use to market the place. I'm looking for opportunities to get my work out there, even if I do it as a volunteer, because it's good PR for me. So now I can add a letting agent to the list of my clients. :) I'm hoping to find the online posting and get a print out of it as well to put in my portfolio of work.
I haven't mentioned it on the blog, but we are SO excited that our friend Jen is coming to visit! In fact she's flying in tomorrow morning! We are having some very fine weather and tomorrow we're planning to sightsee around London, and then come back here in the evening. Also on the list for the week is seeing more castles in Wales, and hopefully Bath as well. I don't have any major projects pending so I'm trying to take the week off, which is trickier than it's ever been now that business is growing! We're looking forward to having Jen with us, and doing LOTS of photography!
I'm off to photograph snowdrops at Anglesey Abbey today- it must be 50F outside, and it's sunny. It is definitely spring now- although I miss the Michigan snow, I do love the early springs here. :)
Friday, 20 February 2009
February 20, 2009
One of my many shots- there are 4 total products, but it's easier in groups of 2.I am so excited- I just finished my very first official product photography shoot! I met this woman through the Cambridge Businesswomen's group, and she called me up to ask me to do product shots of her new beverage line. It's a sort of soft drink called Breckland Orchards, it's made locally (in the Brecklands) and she needed photos done for press releases and her website. Honestly I didn't remember her exactly, but I recognized her name. I was just a little bit nervous- I have done this sort of thing in my studio classes, but here I'm chosing the location, the position, the everything (except the weather!) and if I choose wrong, it'll be a disaster. But I scoped some places out, and we were blessed with a bit of bright light (not direct sun but the best you can get here in February) and I just took shots that looked good to me. She totally loved them- she was excited about them before they even got off the CF card. :) I felt so blessed- I need to be able to work with some people early on here whose expectations aren't enormously high. Not that the images weren't good because they were- but working with her is easier than an advertising company for example, or a magazine editor. People who are used to seeing photography all the time are difficult, and I'm thankful that I've had the easy ones first to help me build up a portfolio and a client base. As my business grows I expect to tackle the harder to please people too, but I'm not quite ready for them yet.
I think I may have mentioned that my starting and running my own business isn't what I thought I'd be doing here. We moved here so G could get experience working in industry and seeing how a small company was run. We got settled in here, and in September I started thinking about doing more photography. And I have definitely felt Gd's hand pushing me along this path- it's been very tangible how he has set up situations, contacts, connections, etc. But I never had a serious thought of making it a bigger thing- I wanted to make sure that I had enough time for international work. It turns out that I had plenty of time for international work and I needed something else to do as well. :) Anyway one of the things G has wanted to be able to do is have more time for international work- his job is full time, so he doesn't have much time to meet with people and prepare studies. Getting more experience in the nuts and bolts of international ministry is something he wants and needs to do for the future, and Gd has arranged in this past week for a little swap- I still have plenty of time for international work and meeting with people, but we now have a goal for G to be able to cut back to 4 days a week, and be able to make up the lost income between my teaching job and photography. Which means of course that the photography business needs to grow. :) And I see that already happening!
So this BNI group that meets at the crack of dawn on Tuesdays- I went Tuesday and I thought I was crazy to be going at 6:30 in the morning to be talking to people about business. I went because it seemed like a good opportunity though. And when I found out that they charge you to join I was turned off by it and thought "Well, I'm not that serious yet." I could see though that I would more than make back the cost- the group is amazing at referrals and networking, and I knew I'd make a lot of money if I did join. But later that day we had a real revolution- we decided to move, and to work toward G cutting his hours back. So now this BNI group that I had NOT considered as something I would ever do, is going to be playing a major role in my photography business. Life with Gd is like this- He has an awesome plan that He's unfolding, and in His perfect timing he busts things out and flips things around, and creates opportunities out of thin air. :) Following Him is exciting I think- it's an adventure, though sometimes we do have periods where it's more like a roller coaster and you start to feel like you're going to puke if anything more changes or happens in 1 week. :) I feel like I've lived at least a month since Tuesday morning- on Tuesday we decided to move, I decided to get serious about promoting my business, we decided to aim to cut back G's hours, and I decided to join BNI and commit to 6:30am meetings every Tuesday! I haven't puked yet but I felt like I wanted to Tuesday night. :)
As we've been talking about it, G and I are a good team in this. G's strength is in thinking up ideas for businesses from his field, and providing the connections that enable that. But running a business is more in my line than his, and although I'm running this little business now G is learning a ton from my experiences. So it's very exciting. And quite portable- I could take the skills I'm learning here and use them anywhere, and even set up a networking group of my own and continue on with photography if that was a convenient business platform into a closed country.
I'm glad that we can share our roller coaster ride with our friends and family back home- it's nice to know that you're all back there pring for us!
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
February 18, 2009
Amazingly the realtor guy actually emailed us today the forms that we need to fill out for the house application- we were surprised. :) Everything here works on a paper form basis, and a few cutting edge places are actually using the internet, but most are not. Anyway we're hoping to be able to move in about 6 weeks- that gives us time to sort things here, give the landlords notice and time to find a new tenant, etc. I've had good recommendations from Americans about Allied shipping service, so I've requested a quote from them. If they could just show up and get everything from the storage unit that would be wonderful! How exactly that is going to happen is a mystery to me. There are some other things I wish I could send over with the unit, like some picture frames for my prints (now that we'll have loads of wall space I can put all my stuff up). But we'll see. Right now our main concern is to get a person to live with us.
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
February 17, 2009
One excitement after another this week- we've been thinking about moving into Cambridge because it's so hard to meet up with people living out here in Swavesey. We love Swavesey, love the village and the area and the parks, but we haven't had one person out to our house since we've been here, because it's just too far for internationals and even British people to travel. Many don't have cars or anything. Those of you who know us from A2 will know that we had people over to visit all the time, and we had dinner with people and just hanged out. But here we have been very isolated, and we've thought about moving closer in for awhile but didn't find anywhere suitable that we could afford.
A friend at Bounce A Round suggested this website to me, so I searched it and found a very VERY nice house, closer into town, that we could afford (although it would be even better if we had another person take one of the 4 rooms) which also has a huge garden in the back. It's a bit of a risk for us- I hate living in the city period. City life really isn't for me. Every every other place I've seen so far is smack in the middle of Cambridge, too expensive and very small, no garden (Nelly wouldn't be able to go outside) and generally unpleasant. But we've been chatting with other people at StAG, and they also thought it'd be good if we moved closer into town so we started looking again.
So we put a sort of hold deposit on this place today. I only found it Sunday, and we saw it this morning. But since it's the only good place we've seen in Cambridge the 17 months we've been in the UK we decided to risk the deposit and if it doesn't work out we'll eat the small deposit. The house is VERY big- it has 2 big double bedrooms, 1 bathroom and 2 half baths, with a big living room and dining room (well, big for England). The kitchen isn't hot- it's long and not as nice as ours, but there's not much we can do about that. The house comes with a garage, and the garden (or yard) is really long, with the first half being a sort of flower garden with nice trees etc, and the back half has a big plot for a vegetable garden and it has a greenhouse! So there are benefits for sure.
Please do pr for us- we've been pring about it as well, and are willing to trust Gd in it. But we love living in the village, and moving will mean a huge sacrifice for us. One worth making, but one that I will find hard. It's worth it to be able to invest in relationships with people, have people over for lunch or dinner, and for it to be so much easier to meet up with people in town. We could start having the ladies' study there, and other outreach events like that. So it's totally worth it. Having such a big garden is a consolation for living in the city, and the street is very quiet- I feel like Gd is being so merciful to us in providing things which would make our living in the city more tolerable. He doesn't have to do that, but He is, and I am grateful for it! Do pr for flexibility from the people who are leasing- we'll need to put in a cat flap, and we'd like to repaint (they just renovated the entire house) to make it usable for us.
This is the house in question. :) I didn't take this- it's from the realtor's site.
Again, not my photo. This is the first half of the garden. There's a section beyond it even.
Also pr for us as we sort out moving, and say goodbye to our wonderful landlords. They are the only real relationships we have in the village. Cambridge camera club is full so I'll still be out every week for the camera club, and be keeping up with the club. And we can visit with the news agent lady then too. :)
This new house has NO closets what so ever. So we will need some wardrobes, and several dressers. We're also considering whether to ship all of our stuff that's in storage over, because that would be cheaper than getting furniture for this place. It's totally unfurnished, so we need our couches, chairs, and the 2 beds for the other rooms. And it would save us the cost of renting that space in A2. Anyway as you can see a lot is about to happen. Happily, we will now be able to have more people come stay with us since this place is so big. :)
A friend at Bounce A Round suggested this website to me, so I searched it and found a very VERY nice house, closer into town, that we could afford (although it would be even better if we had another person take one of the 4 rooms) which also has a huge garden in the back. It's a bit of a risk for us- I hate living in the city period. City life really isn't for me. Every every other place I've seen so far is smack in the middle of Cambridge, too expensive and very small, no garden (Nelly wouldn't be able to go outside) and generally unpleasant. But we've been chatting with other people at StAG, and they also thought it'd be good if we moved closer into town so we started looking again.
So we put a sort of hold deposit on this place today. I only found it Sunday, and we saw it this morning. But since it's the only good place we've seen in Cambridge the 17 months we've been in the UK we decided to risk the deposit and if it doesn't work out we'll eat the small deposit. The house is VERY big- it has 2 big double bedrooms, 1 bathroom and 2 half baths, with a big living room and dining room (well, big for England). The kitchen isn't hot- it's long and not as nice as ours, but there's not much we can do about that. The house comes with a garage, and the garden (or yard) is really long, with the first half being a sort of flower garden with nice trees etc, and the back half has a big plot for a vegetable garden and it has a greenhouse! So there are benefits for sure.
Please do pr for us- we've been pring about it as well, and are willing to trust Gd in it. But we love living in the village, and moving will mean a huge sacrifice for us. One worth making, but one that I will find hard. It's worth it to be able to invest in relationships with people, have people over for lunch or dinner, and for it to be so much easier to meet up with people in town. We could start having the ladies' study there, and other outreach events like that. So it's totally worth it. Having such a big garden is a consolation for living in the city, and the street is very quiet- I feel like Gd is being so merciful to us in providing things which would make our living in the city more tolerable. He doesn't have to do that, but He is, and I am grateful for it! Do pr for flexibility from the people who are leasing- we'll need to put in a cat flap, and we'd like to repaint (they just renovated the entire house) to make it usable for us.
This is the house in question. :) I didn't take this- it's from the realtor's site.
Again, not my photo. This is the first half of the garden. There's a section beyond it even.Also pr for us as we sort out moving, and say goodbye to our wonderful landlords. They are the only real relationships we have in the village. Cambridge camera club is full so I'll still be out every week for the camera club, and be keeping up with the club. And we can visit with the news agent lady then too. :)
This new house has NO closets what so ever. So we will need some wardrobes, and several dressers. We're also considering whether to ship all of our stuff that's in storage over, because that would be cheaper than getting furniture for this place. It's totally unfurnished, so we need our couches, chairs, and the 2 beds for the other rooms. And it would save us the cost of renting that space in A2. Anyway as you can see a lot is about to happen. Happily, we will now be able to have more people come stay with us since this place is so big. :)
Saturday, 14 February 2009
February 14, 2009
In the sort of work that G and I are doing here, there are good weeks and hard weeks. This week has turned out to be a hard week, full of exciting things and draining things in our work with internationals. It's been an emotionally draining week, one of those weeks where you are hit full in the face with the reality of sin, and how our world is not the way it was meant to be. It's been one of those weeks full of hard conversations and hard prs.
I mentioned Iz, whose husband has been refusing to allow her to go to chch. We have reason to believe that actually she may have a psychiatric problem. Trying to sort out how to counsel her has been hard- we don't want her to lie to her husband or deceive him, and so we've asked her not to come along if she has to lie to do so. That doesn't honor JC, or her husband. So I don't know if she'll be back on Monday or not.
There's a guy who has been in our group since October, S, who is almost 40 (way outside the age group) but has a mild form of autism. His maturity level is about equal to a college guy's. Anyway we had an issue with him come up Wednesday where he got very angry and way out of line with one of our coleader girls, which in itself was a mess. However when G had lunch with him today he also found out that S has been looking for avenues to pursue sexual relationships with our iBASE girls, and claims that he has already been able to very inappropriately touch (likely kissing was also involved) one of the girls. G has been diligently pursuing a friendship with S, and actually S is still ok with being G's friend but now we're in situation of talking to chch staff about this, and have asked S not to return to iBASE. But discovering that a very needy guy, with social problems, whom you've been pursuing a friendship with is also a sort of sexual predator who is looking for younger more innocent girls who might sleep with him is hard to say the least. Please pr for G especially to know how to procede with S, and as he talks to staff this weekend. We pursue people who need JC's love, and S needs a relationships with JC the same we all do. But it's still quite a hard thing, and it takes time to sort through our feelings.
We are thankful that Gd is allowing these hard things in our work here, because we have a wonderful staff at StAG who are watching over us, encouraging us, and mentoring us through it. Having a safe environment to experience these hard ministry things and learn and grow through them is a blessing- if we had to deal with these things on our own unprepared in the 3rd world or something, it would be a lot harder.
Thanks for pring for us guys- we appreciate it. Do pray for S, Iz, and for our iBASE girls, in particular the unknown girl that S seems to have this inappropriate relationship with. Pr that we'll be able to decide what to do next to protect the girls in iBASE.
I mentioned Iz, whose husband has been refusing to allow her to go to chch. We have reason to believe that actually she may have a psychiatric problem. Trying to sort out how to counsel her has been hard- we don't want her to lie to her husband or deceive him, and so we've asked her not to come along if she has to lie to do so. That doesn't honor JC, or her husband. So I don't know if she'll be back on Monday or not.
There's a guy who has been in our group since October, S, who is almost 40 (way outside the age group) but has a mild form of autism. His maturity level is about equal to a college guy's. Anyway we had an issue with him come up Wednesday where he got very angry and way out of line with one of our coleader girls, which in itself was a mess. However when G had lunch with him today he also found out that S has been looking for avenues to pursue sexual relationships with our iBASE girls, and claims that he has already been able to very inappropriately touch (likely kissing was also involved) one of the girls. G has been diligently pursuing a friendship with S, and actually S is still ok with being G's friend but now we're in situation of talking to chch staff about this, and have asked S not to return to iBASE. But discovering that a very needy guy, with social problems, whom you've been pursuing a friendship with is also a sort of sexual predator who is looking for younger more innocent girls who might sleep with him is hard to say the least. Please pr for G especially to know how to procede with S, and as he talks to staff this weekend. We pursue people who need JC's love, and S needs a relationships with JC the same we all do. But it's still quite a hard thing, and it takes time to sort through our feelings.
We are thankful that Gd is allowing these hard things in our work here, because we have a wonderful staff at StAG who are watching over us, encouraging us, and mentoring us through it. Having a safe environment to experience these hard ministry things and learn and grow through them is a blessing- if we had to deal with these things on our own unprepared in the 3rd world or something, it would be a lot harder.
Thanks for pring for us guys- we appreciate it. Do pray for S, Iz, and for our iBASE girls, in particular the unknown girl that S seems to have this inappropriate relationship with. Pr that we'll be able to decide what to do next to protect the girls in iBASE.
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
February 11, 2009
Today I got a new job. I didn't know it was going to happen, but it did! So at the Cambridge Women's Luncheon, I met a woman who told be about this company she works for called Fluency in English. Having taught English myself I was interested, so I spent some time chatting with her. When I told her that I had experience teaching small groups, and working 1 to 1 with people to help them with their English, and when she found out I was American, she urged me to email her my details. So I did- I thought, what the heck, it certainly won't hurt, and that's why I'm spending 15 pounds every month to come to these networking lunches. So I went to their website, and I saw that actually I was a very good fit for them, and their company was a good fit for me. I emailed her, and she and the guy who owns/runs this company set up a meeting with me today. They didn't call it an interview, but I suspected it might be a sort of informal one, which was fine with me. I had a great chat with this guy Nick, and he pretty much offered me a job on the spot as one of their pool of English teachers/tutors. He has been looking for people who have flexible schedules, experience with pronunciation in particular, Americans especially, and people with a very wide range of knowledge and experiences who would be good conversationalists. So he offered me a job.
They cater to people in the 30-50s range who want to come for a weeklong English intensive. They spend 8 hours a day with various tutors, in 2 hour blocks, talking, eating, and practicing English. The tutors push them to talk as much as possible, help them with pronunciation, etc. There are apparently 7 other tutors. So pretty much, when people are coming in, they email out and ask people when they are free, and then create a schedule working the tutors in as much as they can. Nick said you can get as many hours in as you want, or as few as you want. It changes week to week depending on who is coming in, and in the summer they are VERY busy with more people coming in.
Now I didn't look for this, but this freelance work is a perfect fit for me. It's a great opportunity to gain experience in my English teaching skillset, particularly working in England which is very good for the resume (we call it CV here). I love internationals, and can meet new people every week from all over the world, and make good contacts with people who might come to Cambridge for longer. We're free (I should say encouraged) to discuss politics AND religion with them, and since lots of them will be moving to the US I could potentially connect them with C's stateside who can befriend them and be the next link in the chain. I'm interested in this business model too- yet another useful business model for overseas applications. So I don't know exactly what Gd has going with this interesting and adventuresome plan of His, but I'm along for the ride.
On top of that, this guy looked at my work and wants me to put some up for sale in their office, because clients often want images of Cambridge to take home with them! I'll probably make up some flip books as well, to sell there. Talk about crazy.
I also made another useful contact today at Bounce A Round. There's a new woman, D, who is from Egypt and is a mslm, and she's just started coming. She has a lovely son, and her husband is Egyptian/British. Her husband happened to stop by today, and she mentioned to him that I'm a photographer and he started closely questioning me about rates, events, etc because he's helping to organize a forum for Arabic scientists, to help Arab countries deal with 3rd world issues. He has people coming in from all over the globe, and is looking for a photographer to photograph it! So we talked, and he thought he'd have an idea on what they can afford by the end of the month. I gave him a very reasonable rate, warned him that pros here in the UK charge twice that, and asked him to call me once he knew exactly what he needed and I might be able to cut him a deal. This sort of dealing is a middle eastern thing, so I just went with it. :) So I may have an all day event March 14th. I'm going to see what happens- the fact is I might do it for free just to make the contacts among the Arab community.
Speaking of people from Arab countries, I went into the Snappy Snaps place in Cambridge- they are the only professional printing service in town. I need to do some prints for an upcoming networking thing Tuesday morning. The very first thing I noticed is that the guy at the counter, when he realized I was a woman, would not make eye contact with me. I knew that he was middle eastern, and from that I can tell that he's at least somewhat serious about being a mslm. Mslm men should not make eye contact with women who are not of their family, and women are not to make eye contact with men who are not of their family either. So, knowing all that I just talked to his nose instead, which is what I usually do with Mslm men. I wasn't there long, but I wonder if he noticed, and when I go in next I'll be sure to do the same. Why do I do this? I could just look him in the eye like Western women do- he knows I'm not mslm anyway. Does it matter? In my opinion it does matter. I am not a loose woman, and I know that in his culture women who are modest and chaste do not look other men in the eye like that. I want to communicate that I am a modest woman, so I don't look him in the eye. If he notices, he may wonder about me, and since I plan to do some business there over the next few months, I may have the chance to talk to him more. In international work we especially do as Paul did, "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." In fact, if I were to photograph this Arabic event, I would be happy to wear a headscarf, or even a burka (which is the black overdress that covers wrists to ankles which is worn in some mslm countries), and I would need to be careful not to make direct eye contact there as well.
It's been an exciting day- iBASE is tonight, and which is always interesting and exciting too.
They cater to people in the 30-50s range who want to come for a weeklong English intensive. They spend 8 hours a day with various tutors, in 2 hour blocks, talking, eating, and practicing English. The tutors push them to talk as much as possible, help them with pronunciation, etc. There are apparently 7 other tutors. So pretty much, when people are coming in, they email out and ask people when they are free, and then create a schedule working the tutors in as much as they can. Nick said you can get as many hours in as you want, or as few as you want. It changes week to week depending on who is coming in, and in the summer they are VERY busy with more people coming in.
Now I didn't look for this, but this freelance work is a perfect fit for me. It's a great opportunity to gain experience in my English teaching skillset, particularly working in England which is very good for the resume (we call it CV here). I love internationals, and can meet new people every week from all over the world, and make good contacts with people who might come to Cambridge for longer. We're free (I should say encouraged) to discuss politics AND religion with them, and since lots of them will be moving to the US I could potentially connect them with C's stateside who can befriend them and be the next link in the chain. I'm interested in this business model too- yet another useful business model for overseas applications. So I don't know exactly what Gd has going with this interesting and adventuresome plan of His, but I'm along for the ride.
On top of that, this guy looked at my work and wants me to put some up for sale in their office, because clients often want images of Cambridge to take home with them! I'll probably make up some flip books as well, to sell there. Talk about crazy.
I also made another useful contact today at Bounce A Round. There's a new woman, D, who is from Egypt and is a mslm, and she's just started coming. She has a lovely son, and her husband is Egyptian/British. Her husband happened to stop by today, and she mentioned to him that I'm a photographer and he started closely questioning me about rates, events, etc because he's helping to organize a forum for Arabic scientists, to help Arab countries deal with 3rd world issues. He has people coming in from all over the globe, and is looking for a photographer to photograph it! So we talked, and he thought he'd have an idea on what they can afford by the end of the month. I gave him a very reasonable rate, warned him that pros here in the UK charge twice that, and asked him to call me once he knew exactly what he needed and I might be able to cut him a deal. This sort of dealing is a middle eastern thing, so I just went with it. :) So I may have an all day event March 14th. I'm going to see what happens- the fact is I might do it for free just to make the contacts among the Arab community.
Speaking of people from Arab countries, I went into the Snappy Snaps place in Cambridge- they are the only professional printing service in town. I need to do some prints for an upcoming networking thing Tuesday morning. The very first thing I noticed is that the guy at the counter, when he realized I was a woman, would not make eye contact with me. I knew that he was middle eastern, and from that I can tell that he's at least somewhat serious about being a mslm. Mslm men should not make eye contact with women who are not of their family, and women are not to make eye contact with men who are not of their family either. So, knowing all that I just talked to his nose instead, which is what I usually do with Mslm men. I wasn't there long, but I wonder if he noticed, and when I go in next I'll be sure to do the same. Why do I do this? I could just look him in the eye like Western women do- he knows I'm not mslm anyway. Does it matter? In my opinion it does matter. I am not a loose woman, and I know that in his culture women who are modest and chaste do not look other men in the eye like that. I want to communicate that I am a modest woman, so I don't look him in the eye. If he notices, he may wonder about me, and since I plan to do some business there over the next few months, I may have the chance to talk to him more. In international work we especially do as Paul did, "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." In fact, if I were to photograph this Arabic event, I would be happy to wear a headscarf, or even a burka (which is the black overdress that covers wrists to ankles which is worn in some mslm countries), and I would need to be careful not to make direct eye contact there as well.
It's been an exciting day- iBASE is tonight, and which is always interesting and exciting too.
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
February 10, 2009
Arena went very well yesterday. Please keep pring for us and our table- I had a particularly difficult issue come up with one of the young ladies who attended. I'll call her Iz. Iz is very new in her fth, and has been attending a charismatic ch in Cambridge. Recently, she said she saw a demon in her husband, and started shouting and screaming at him. He took her to the psych ward, where she was admitted for 3 days, and she says she was not in control of herself. After this incident, her husband (quite naturally) forbade her from going to ch. One of the iBASE girls brought her along to Arena, and I was able to have a very good talk with her. But please pr for me that I'd sensitively answer her from what the bbl says about putting JC first in our lives. Her experience with Gd is entirely based on feeling, and not on the facts of who Gd is in the bbl and what he expects of us. We've invited her along to our iBASE group, so that she can begin to see that following JC isn't about feelings. As you can imagine, this is a tricky situation for me.
Besides Arena, I also had a new networking meeting yesterday. I wasn't sure how it'd turn out, since it's run by a PR and Marketing company that does a lot of stuff with bands, music, etc in London. But it was great- it was very fun, informal, and I got some excellent suggestions from the PR team that hosted it. These days I'm thinking through where I would like to go with my photography business. There are a lot of things I could do- galleries, exhibitions, stock photography, etc, where my photos would stop being just my babies and get out there and do some work themselves and make me some money. :) Right now I'm making money on the services end, but I'd like to get my images out there and making money for me. This networking thing was exciting and useful, and I will be going again. It's 4pm the first Monday of every month.
I have a lot of photo work to do- some demo books that I have been procrastinating on (I find them so hard to do and time consuming) and new business cards, and that sort of thing. I'm learning a lot about business from all this, which is very useful since we want to start businesses overseas.
Can I just say how blessed I was to grow up in a family that encouraged me to set my eyes on whatever I wanted to achieve and to just go for it? My parents encouraged us not only in words but also by their example of being will to take risks, try new things, experiment with new ideas, and be ok if things didn't work out. Now that I'm here in the midst of sorting out the details of my own business I am seeing again and again the value of raising your children to not be afraid to take risks and to not limit themselves. I don't know if I'll ever have a booming famous photographer business, but I know that if I wanted that I could reach for it, and that if I worked hard at it I could achieve it. Right now I'm in the phase of sorting out what do I actually want- once I have a clearer goal, I can start moving in that direction. I'm so blessed by my family- in so many areas of my life I have set high goals and achieved them, and that success spurs me on to set new goals and go after them. I hope that I can be such a good example to my theoretical children one day. :)
Anyway time to get to work on all this business stuff. :)
Besides Arena, I also had a new networking meeting yesterday. I wasn't sure how it'd turn out, since it's run by a PR and Marketing company that does a lot of stuff with bands, music, etc in London. But it was great- it was very fun, informal, and I got some excellent suggestions from the PR team that hosted it. These days I'm thinking through where I would like to go with my photography business. There are a lot of things I could do- galleries, exhibitions, stock photography, etc, where my photos would stop being just my babies and get out there and do some work themselves and make me some money. :) Right now I'm making money on the services end, but I'd like to get my images out there and making money for me. This networking thing was exciting and useful, and I will be going again. It's 4pm the first Monday of every month.
I have a lot of photo work to do- some demo books that I have been procrastinating on (I find them so hard to do and time consuming) and new business cards, and that sort of thing. I'm learning a lot about business from all this, which is very useful since we want to start businesses overseas.
Can I just say how blessed I was to grow up in a family that encouraged me to set my eyes on whatever I wanted to achieve and to just go for it? My parents encouraged us not only in words but also by their example of being will to take risks, try new things, experiment with new ideas, and be ok if things didn't work out. Now that I'm here in the midst of sorting out the details of my own business I am seeing again and again the value of raising your children to not be afraid to take risks and to not limit themselves. I don't know if I'll ever have a booming famous photographer business, but I know that if I wanted that I could reach for it, and that if I worked hard at it I could achieve it. Right now I'm in the phase of sorting out what do I actually want- once I have a clearer goal, I can start moving in that direction. I'm so blessed by my family- in so many areas of my life I have set high goals and achieved them, and that success spurs me on to set new goals and go after them. I hope that I can be such a good example to my theoretical children one day. :)
Anyway time to get to work on all this business stuff. :)
Monday, 9 February 2009
February 9, 2009 PR Mondays
Sometimes I wish I was more organized. :) I'm actually quite well organized (organised here in the UK) but my real problem is my tendency to juggle 10 more things that I actually can do well. Anyway we've been here 17 months and still don't have a good method for distributing short pr updates. Some people are on facebook, some read this blog, some only have email, and some have no computer at all. This makes things complicated for me as you may well imagine. :) So I'm in the process of systematizing, and I've chosen Mondays as a good day to post a specifically pr related blog (not that prs won't feature in other posts as well), and to send out a specific, short pr email. If you'd prefer to be on the email list email me with your contact details. This blog post will be a bit longer than most pr ones because there's some background information about these things that I need to pass on.
We have several upcoming things which you could pr for us:
1. Arena- this is our 5 week evening course for people to bring friends who are interested in JC along to. Every term we have one, and our events are aimed term long with the Arena course in view. It's 5 weeks, with a lovely meal served, and a short talk about a C topic followed by discussions at tables. This term we're looking at John, and G and I are leading one of the 4 international tables.
Please pr specifically for:
-Many interested internationals to come along
-Us to lead the table well, pointing questions back to the bbl and not just answering from our own knowledge
-Open hearts for those who come
-No language issues preventing people from understanding
2. ICF talks- ICF is the international C fellowship here in Cambridge (we have one in A2 also I think) and they've asked G if he'd be willing to give 2 talks at their weekly meetings. G has been part of the occasional speakers group at StAG but this will be his first talk outside of our small groups. They are looking at people's encounters with JC.
Please pr that:
-G would have enough time to prepare well for the 2 talks
-He'd speak clearly and slowly
-The truth of the bbl would impact people's lives through his talk
-G would rely on Gd in this new venture for him.
3. iBASE- This is our 18-25s group for C's at StAG. We've been leading the group for a year now, and training up 2 others to lead as well. The rest of this term (term ends April 2) our 2 co-leaders (M and W) will be leading the bbl studies. We're working through Peter's first letter, and at StAG all the homegroups, small groups, etc write their own studies as we work book by book through the bbl. This is different from most American chchs, but is critical in helping us all to understand the bbl thoroughly and well.
Please ask that:
-M and W will take sufficient time to prepare the studies
-We would be able to meet with them each week to go over their studies and help them
-They would see the value of studying the bbl and grow as their write their own studies.
4. iLadies- I've been co-leading the iLadies (international ladies' bbl study group) for over a year, and we have mostly Asian moms attending, who have small children. All the international groups are going through Peter's first letter. Our ladies are quite active in doing social and cultural events to invite friends along to.
Please be lifting up:
-Our outreaches to new moms at Bounce A Round (moms of preschoolers group)
-A daytime Arena course which is starting today, where moms can come and ask any questions and learn about JC
-The leaders of the group, that we would lead well and love our friends well
-Upcoming events, including a sparkler party on Fat Tuesday
-A serious feud going on between 2 BAR ladies, which has just exploded! Please ask for understanding for the 2 ladies involved, and wisdom for us as we deal with this issue.
Thank you for your prs!
We have several upcoming things which you could pr for us:
1. Arena- this is our 5 week evening course for people to bring friends who are interested in JC along to. Every term we have one, and our events are aimed term long with the Arena course in view. It's 5 weeks, with a lovely meal served, and a short talk about a C topic followed by discussions at tables. This term we're looking at John, and G and I are leading one of the 4 international tables.
Please pr specifically for:
-Many interested internationals to come along
-Us to lead the table well, pointing questions back to the bbl and not just answering from our own knowledge
-Open hearts for those who come
-No language issues preventing people from understanding
2. ICF talks- ICF is the international C fellowship here in Cambridge (we have one in A2 also I think) and they've asked G if he'd be willing to give 2 talks at their weekly meetings. G has been part of the occasional speakers group at StAG but this will be his first talk outside of our small groups. They are looking at people's encounters with JC.
Please pr that:
-G would have enough time to prepare well for the 2 talks
-He'd speak clearly and slowly
-The truth of the bbl would impact people's lives through his talk
-G would rely on Gd in this new venture for him.
3. iBASE- This is our 18-25s group for C's at StAG. We've been leading the group for a year now, and training up 2 others to lead as well. The rest of this term (term ends April 2) our 2 co-leaders (M and W) will be leading the bbl studies. We're working through Peter's first letter, and at StAG all the homegroups, small groups, etc write their own studies as we work book by book through the bbl. This is different from most American chchs, but is critical in helping us all to understand the bbl thoroughly and well.
Please ask that:
-M and W will take sufficient time to prepare the studies
-We would be able to meet with them each week to go over their studies and help them
-They would see the value of studying the bbl and grow as their write their own studies.
4. iLadies- I've been co-leading the iLadies (international ladies' bbl study group) for over a year, and we have mostly Asian moms attending, who have small children. All the international groups are going through Peter's first letter. Our ladies are quite active in doing social and cultural events to invite friends along to.
Please be lifting up:
-Our outreaches to new moms at Bounce A Round (moms of preschoolers group)
-A daytime Arena course which is starting today, where moms can come and ask any questions and learn about JC
-The leaders of the group, that we would lead well and love our friends well
-Upcoming events, including a sparkler party on Fat Tuesday
-A serious feud going on between 2 BAR ladies, which has just exploded! Please ask for understanding for the 2 ladies involved, and wisdom for us as we deal with this issue.
Thank you for your prs!
Sunday, 8 February 2009
February 8, 2009
As I type this, I'm listening to the sounds of car tires driving over very crunchy melted-snow-turned-slush-now-frozen on the street outside. A strange sound for February in the UK. I'm sure you've all heard of the snowstorm we had this week, and I've been kept from blogging by my daily photography expeditions to photograph places in the snow. I've been very busy since it's snowed several mornings this week, except yesterday when the sun was out on the snow and it was just gorgeous. :)
We really had no idea that we'd get this much snow. They weren't predicting it (they can't predict the weather from day to day here) but they did think there might be a little snow. Well 24 hours later London had 12 inches, Cambridge had 5, and here in Swavesey we had a modest 2in. Everyone had the day off because no one knows how to "drive in the snow" (can I just say that the roads were clear 100% by 10am) but really everyone seemed so very happy to be playing in the snow that I can't complain. We took lots of photos in Cambridge with the snow coming down like crazy- it looked like a snow globe. I went into London that afternoon, but sadly the snow was all melted by then. It was interesting though because the trains were very slow, there were no buses, and there were hardly any people out. Good for photography, and for testing one's patience. :) That was Monday, followed by a peaceful Tuesday and Wednesday.
Amazingly we woke up Thursday morning to a little snowstorm- again! So I hastily got dressed and ran out to photograph at Wimpole, and G took 2 hours off in the morning to come along. It was beautiful- again, we had the entire place (all 300 acres) to ourselves, until we were heading back to the car when we came across a couple people. Everyone we passed smiled and joyfully said "Good Morning!" We had some "Isn't it a lovely day?" and "It's just lovely isn't it?" as well. Honestly it was refreshing to be so happily greeted- people here don't often say hello even if they pass 2 feet from you. But those of us who love the snow were all out together enjoying it together, in a way.
Incredibly, Friday morning (by this point I was getting up earlier to check out the window to see if there was snow) you guessed it- it was snowing AGAIN! So I packed up again, and this time G stayed home to get work done. I was running out of local places to catch in the snow, so I decided to go down to Swavesey parish church and photograph in the churchyard. By this point I had to use a random plastic bag as a rainjacket for my camera, because there was so much snow that it was soaking the camera, and my gloves and scarf which I was using to keep the camera dry. I was the only one out, and by this point the roads were a little slippery, but nothing serious. The slush had frozen solid overnight (it got down to 28F, incredible for her) and gave good traction. :) Anyway I had the lovely quiet snowy churchyard all to myself, and had a good time photographing headstones, trees, gates, etc. There's been a church on the site since Saxon times (7th-11th centuries) and sections of the current building date at least from the 1100s. You can see headstones from the 1700s for sure, when they aren't covered in snow. :) If you're interested in the church you can go to http://www.swavesey.org.uk/meridian/s_bull_station_rd/station_road_3.htm to read up on the history.
Swavesey parish church.
Swavesey churchyard, including the 300 year old cedars of lebanonAfter the Swavesey church I went on to Fen Drayton, the nearest village over, population 800. It's one of my favorite little villages. It's very old, with plenty of medieval timber buildings, thatched cottages, and quaint Georgian houses. There I encountered a very surly Royal Post man, who asked if I was "out in this for the fun of it?!" I told him I was a photographer, which seemed to make it ok in his mind. Interestingly, just 5 minutes before I walked past a young woman with her 5 month old baby in a pack in front of her, who smiled and said "It's beautiful isn't it!" To each his own I suppose. :)
From Fen Drayton I went on to another cute village, Holywell, which has a picturesque church building and a good view of the farmland surrounding it. After that I had to jet back for G to take him to a noon meeting. Whew! :) From there I went on to Anglesey Abbey to photograph out there, and though it had stopped snowing it still looked very interesting.
Anglesey Abbey, plus a snowchild in the foreground. :)
The river leading up to the Lode Mill at Anglesey AbbeyYesterday (Saturday) I was a bit tired of getting up early to go out, and there was no snow but there was a beautiful sunny morning, so off I went down to the churchyard to take some shots for comparision before the snow melted off.
That's what I've been up to during the snowy week, which I'm sure will be called the "snowstorm last February" in the future. :) Most people just stayed home- there are very few plow trucks, and no snow shovels, or proper ice scrapers. Kids had most of the week off- school was canceled here in Swavesey Thursday and Friday, giving them a nice long 4 day weekend. I have a lot of photos to process, but I've put up a few to give you an idea what it's looked like here. Maybe not all that interesting to you Michigan folks, since you get snow all the time it's not novel. :)
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
February 4, 2009
Thank you all for pring for the workshop on Sunday! It went very well indeed- I had some good conversations of medium depth with the person who gave me a ride, and as there ended up being 2 of us in his car it wasn't awkward. I also had some good chat with about half of the people in the club at various points during the day, especially over lunch. Being one of the few people not having wine with my lunch made it interesting to watch the people who did have wine suddenly become a lot more friendly. :) Anyway it turns out 1 guy lived in Georgia for 3 years, 1 woman lived in Wisconsin for 6 months, another guy drove across the US with a guy who was cycling from east to west coast, and several people had been to Yosemite. Many of them didn't realize I am American, which bodes well for my accent work. :) But anyway we had good chat about the US and about photography, and the photography itself went very well.
As you all heard by now we had a little snowstorm Monday. The snow was great, and I've got photos to put up later today. I went into London to photo there, although the snow was past it's prime when I got there.
Today I have Bounce A Round, followed by the women's luncheon, and in the evening the central pr meeting at StAG. Keep lifting up Mark and his family- Mark's thinking is like Paul, who said "For me, to live is Chrst and to die is gain." But it will be a bit hard on his family. We're all feeling a bit like you'd feel when a very good friend is moving away to a beautiful country, which has no internet access, and although you will be moving there yourself someday, you will miss this dear friend until you see them again. It could be 20, 30, 40, or even 50 years for some, but whenever it is we will meet up again in this beautiful land which is our true home. For believers in JC this is the reality we live with- although we will miss those who die before us, how can we wish for them not to die when the land they are heading to is so much greater? A land with no sorrow, no pain, no wronging each other, where Gd himself walks among us and provides the light via his presence? At StAG we're feeling a bit blue about Mark going, but those who are mature in their walk with JC are feeling a bit excited for him. His example to us of the exciting land ahead for him is very encouraging too- he spoke of it often before this news, but now he speaks as one who is surely heading there very soon. Some atheists would say that relgn is just something to help people deal with a person's death- I thought that myself when I was one. But that is simply not true. Faith is the belief in things that are unseen, not in things that are imaginary. We have plenty of evidence for our faith, and dealing with death has very little to do with our motivation to believe. We are reminded by death that there is a great judge, who will assess our lives after we die, and that each and every one of us is imperfect, both in thoughts and actions, and in not choosing to follow Gd who is the true King. When we stand before him after we die, we know that we will be found guilty- not just of a misdemeanor, but guilty through and through. But we know that JC came to take the sentence that we deserve- he swapped with us in a mysterious way, and by our faith in him we are made perfect in Gd's eyes.
So while we will miss Mark, and naturally experience grief at our separation, we are learning to walk by faith, growing in confidence just as Paul said we should. And I hope that someday whenever it's my turn to take that journey, be it young or old, that my friends will rejoice in my heading off to the same beautiful land, and not think of my going there as a tragedy. I'm not afraid of that day, and even at the young age of 29 I look forward to going there myself. For followers of JC, funerals are more like a sending off party that's being given after the person has already left- we do grieve at the separation(that's a natural process) but we also rejoice and celebrate. I know I will rejoice as well as grieve when my friends who follow JC as well head off to that land.
As you all heard by now we had a little snowstorm Monday. The snow was great, and I've got photos to put up later today. I went into London to photo there, although the snow was past it's prime when I got there.
Today I have Bounce A Round, followed by the women's luncheon, and in the evening the central pr meeting at StAG. Keep lifting up Mark and his family- Mark's thinking is like Paul, who said "For me, to live is Chrst and to die is gain." But it will be a bit hard on his family. We're all feeling a bit like you'd feel when a very good friend is moving away to a beautiful country, which has no internet access, and although you will be moving there yourself someday, you will miss this dear friend until you see them again. It could be 20, 30, 40, or even 50 years for some, but whenever it is we will meet up again in this beautiful land which is our true home. For believers in JC this is the reality we live with- although we will miss those who die before us, how can we wish for them not to die when the land they are heading to is so much greater? A land with no sorrow, no pain, no wronging each other, where Gd himself walks among us and provides the light via his presence? At StAG we're feeling a bit blue about Mark going, but those who are mature in their walk with JC are feeling a bit excited for him. His example to us of the exciting land ahead for him is very encouraging too- he spoke of it often before this news, but now he speaks as one who is surely heading there very soon. Some atheists would say that relgn is just something to help people deal with a person's death- I thought that myself when I was one. But that is simply not true. Faith is the belief in things that are unseen, not in things that are imaginary. We have plenty of evidence for our faith, and dealing with death has very little to do with our motivation to believe. We are reminded by death that there is a great judge, who will assess our lives after we die, and that each and every one of us is imperfect, both in thoughts and actions, and in not choosing to follow Gd who is the true King. When we stand before him after we die, we know that we will be found guilty- not just of a misdemeanor, but guilty through and through. But we know that JC came to take the sentence that we deserve- he swapped with us in a mysterious way, and by our faith in him we are made perfect in Gd's eyes.
So while we will miss Mark, and naturally experience grief at our separation, we are learning to walk by faith, growing in confidence just as Paul said we should. And I hope that someday whenever it's my turn to take that journey, be it young or old, that my friends will rejoice in my heading off to the same beautiful land, and not think of my going there as a tragedy. I'm not afraid of that day, and even at the young age of 29 I look forward to going there myself. For followers of JC, funerals are more like a sending off party that's being given after the person has already left- we do grieve at the separation(that's a natural process) but we also rejoice and celebrate. I know I will rejoice as well as grieve when my friends who follow JC as well head off to that land.
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