My Fav Pic at the moment!

- How adorable! :) Can't take the credit for this one, was Lisa from the group I went to Vietnam with who took the photo.

MPH is not the only concert out there!

This Sunday 1st July, Musica Civitas presents
some of Australia's most acclaimed classical
musicians coming together for a Benefit Concert
aiding the preservation of our
rapidly-disappearing ancient forests.

You are invited to come and enjoy an afternoon of
classical music, including works by J.S. Bach,
Beethoven, Schubert, Messiaen and Australian
composer Sarah Hopkins.

Merlyn Quaife (soprano)
with Andrea Katz (piano) and Dean Newcombe (clarinet)
Michael Kieran Harvey (piano)
Mardi McSullea (flute) with Raymond Yong (piano)
Zoe Knighton (cello)
and Sean Hennessy-Brose performing Beethoven with a twist�

Venue: Horti Hall - 31 Victoria Street (Opposite Trades Hall cnr Lygon St)
Date: Sunday July 1st 2007, 3.00pm

Adult: $40
Student/Concession: $20
Tickets available at the door
Information and Credit card bookings: 03 9038 0888

All proceeds will be donated to the Wilderness
Society, supporting their "Wild Country" vision
and campaigns. www.wilderness.org.au

According to the latest figures released by the
Department of Sustainability and Environment,
old-growth forests are being logged at a rate of
13 MCGs per day in Victoria and 46 MGCs per day
in Tasmania.

"I love a tree more than a man... What joy in
wandering through the meadows, among trees and
flowers. It seems to me impossible that anyone
can love nature as I do."

- Ludwig Van Beethoven

Money makes the world go round

Some friends were having a discussion about how having all these people visiting other countries to do aid work should just send the money over instead.

And that got me thinking- I agree, and it makes sense..... but

Remember the story about the woman pouring expensive perfume on Jesus's feet and how the disciples were angry that she wasted the perfume, which could have been sold to give money to the poor...... (Mark 14:3-9)


Sure money is important, but sometimes we give it way too much power and being logical is not always whats needed and best.

2 sides

During our 1st few days in Ho Chi Mihn City we visited the war museum there.

The biggest thing that struck me was (and I'm not saying that all the images we constantly see of war are not still confronting) was how differently the war was portrayed from Vietnam's point of view compared to an American/Aussie view point.

The only real mention of the US was about the American protesters who were shot.

It's just interesting to see how much of an American view we have of the Vietnam war and movies like Forrest Gump while I wouldn't say are pro-war in any way, still comes from a very American perspective. I can't think of any Hollywood movies that portray the war from a Vietnamese point of view.

This is in no way surprising, but it's probably something we should be more aware of.

It's a grand old flag!

What an amusing year to be a Melbourne AFL supporter!

After losing for 9 rounds just winning 1 game was incredibly exciting- up there with winning the grand final (well almost)
But if there was a team I thought Melbourne could beat, it would be Richmond....I think Melbourne players sympathised with Richonds losing streak and so allowed them to experience the 'we finally won a game' feeling ;)

Anyway this is much more exciting than just winning every game!

Remember to assume the best in people

Each day at about the same time, one of the temple girls would hit a wooded tone block, which was in a AFL football like shape with a slit on one side.

We didn't understand the reason for this until the tour guide for the bike ride explained the story.

A Buddhist monk lived in a temple with a Young boy as his helper and a Goose. Each day the monk would meditate by counting beads on the string. One day the monk counted one less bead than normal. Knowing that he had great concentration skills, the monk assumed that the boy had stolen a bead.

He asked the boy, who denied taking a bead, however the monk did not believe the boy. He searched the boys belongings and the entire temple and when the bead wasn't found the monk decided that the boy must had swallowed the bead. So the boy then went and slit his stomach open to prove to the monk that he had not taken the bead. The bead was not in the boys stomach but the boy then died. The monk was very upset.

The monk then noticed the Goose, and decided to slit open the Gooses stomach and there was the bead.


So each day at the temple, a wooden block in the shape of a stomach with a slit is hit a certain number of times, to remind everyone to always assume the best in people. (this story may be an inaccurate portrayal because it assumes the best of my memory!).

"The opportunity which God sends does not wake up those who are sleeping."
- Senegalese proverb

Uni update.

Thought I'd write a bit about my placement at the moment in the childrens ward of a hospital. Haven't written anything much about my placements before because of all the issues around confidentiality, and so I won't go into heaps of detail here either.

In the mornings I usually run a group in the playroom of the ward for the younger children and thats always a lot of fun- although challenging as well trying to create a group and balencing diff ages and sick kids and bad moods and drips going off.... etc.

In the afternoons I have individual sessions with kids in their rooms and I've worked with kids from an developmental stimulation with an infant with a developmental delay to working with the physio and 'hanging out' with adolescents.

Yesturday was a good example of hanging out with adoles- spent time with a ward full of teenage boys. 2 played guitar so were just jaming of the guitars I brought in while I just watched and we chatted about music and why they were in hospital and life...etc.

Another wanted to learn guitar, so I showed him how to play some tab of his fav band. This one had some phych issues going on so it was great to see how much he opened up and got into the guitar stuff.

So thats a very small look at some of the stuff I do. I enjoy it, but like all jobs it has it's moments and deff not for everyone- need to be able to get on with kids, and some very unhappy kids at times and have to be able to sing Banana's in Pyjama's and 'Tot tot chugga chugga big red car' beyond the point of being completely sick of hearing them!

SYG!!!

Yay for SYG which was a good this year as ever! Only diff this year was that I found I was mainly just catching up with friends this year and being with a diff team than usual, was meeting new people within my team more than outside my own team- other years it's been the opp. because I would know everyone in my team really well and be meeting new people outside the team- either way is good!

Came back with plenty of bruises and after a shower went straight to bed (actually did visit a mate who had just arrived back in oz, but it got to the point that he told me to just go home to bed.... I was completely exhausted, didn't even watch the footy- woohoo, Melbourne for 2007 champions! :)

Night program this year was as controversial and there were as many complaints and arguments as there are every year!

- Music coped it- hmm do you go the nice easy, not too christian stuff to try and entice new/non christians or the deeper stuff that the new/non christians may not understand.... ?

All up for honesty and not trying to sell a pretty product but then I guess if the ideas are too deep and beyond the majorities understanding then the simpler but still honest kind of songs should be done? -this argument seems to follow me every year- think people think that as a muso I should have a deep response to this or that they need to educate me on their opinion!?! Can see good points in both arguments and just think that you will never please all of the people all of the time so if the songs used reached just 1 person then I would consider that a success!

-Message coped similar kinds of comments- again I'm a fan of the more painfully honest approach but maybe thats not always best for everyone. Main message was very close to what I'm about and what my job philosophy is all about (another post perhaps!). Or maybe I'm a victim of selective interpretation- and others would have a completely diff idea of what the message was on about :)

At times I thought things got a bit close to over promoting UNOH but then is there really anything wrong with that?

And there were other aspects which I have mixed feelings about so not sure what my opinion is about it all.....?


Tough gig to organise though- so I'm prob a very mild critic compared to most.

So I OD'd on cold and flu tablets......

This was in no was intentional and completely followed the directions on the back of the pack and took the recommended amount for my age.
Think the main issue was that I wasn't really sick in the 1st place (or this particular company needs to change their directions).

Story is that my nose was slightly runny and could kind of sense that I might be getting a small cold- so thinking I was smart by aiming to prevent rather than cure and also because I didn't want to have to argue with mum over why I shouldn't be going to SYG sick and how my health is more important...... when I know that to a certain extend she's got a point!

So I basically got absolutely no sleep for 3 nights straight even after stopping the tablets cos I realised what was going on, and have been in some kind of an ultra alert but incredibly tired state, trying to write 2 essays but thurs. Been through feelings of nausea and 'the shakes' and fever like symptoms and just basically being so alert you can't sleep is really painful experience!

So future recommendations (if I'm ever able to look at another cold and flu table!) is that you should be quite sick and actually in need of extra alertness or get a packet which includes drowsy tablet to counter balance whatever it is that induces the alert state.

I would in no way recommend this to any one- I'm still feeling very twitchy and edgy and have the overwhelming desire to sleep for a week!

....Veranda out the front, clothesline out the back....

All the houses that we built and the majority of houses in general in Vietnam all have a front porch. And then tend to spend the majority of their life there doing just about everything- very obvious in the city where there is so much going on, on the footpath that you have to walk on the roads.

Remember one of the Vietnamese translators asking us if we have Veranda's and the reply was -' not really', we have more party decks and their out the back. Not saying we should do everything out the front and be completely in each others lives, but then I don't really think we should completely shut each other out and do everything out the back.

Just a reflection on the difference in cultural norms and even the changes in our culture over time- that song just doesn't mean the same!

Life

A lot happened in the time my computer stuffed up and me buying a laptop, stuff that I prob would have posted by have kind of moved on at this point, so will just write some dot points.

- Got my 1st offical, payed Music Therapy job (and yes their aware I'm still a student, so it's all above board!)

- Had 2 deaths in the family within a week. Well this made for a rather full on couple of weeks- esp because uni didn't stop and I still had things due and had to do extra days at the hospital to make up. Think I'm doing ok with it all- but also think I've been so busy lately that I've had time to properly think it all through... but well see!

Well that's about it actually but it felt like a lot on top of everything else at the time!