Life's Gifts

“Life is a gift. If you do not value your gift, nobody else will.” This message was attached to my Yogi tea bag string, ironically, on the eve of my birthday. I come from a family string of gifted sisters that have high achievements within their personal and professional community, yet somewhere along the gene pool, I never embraced science and math like two of my sisters, nor had much talent with music and arts like the other two. In fact, I had a really challenging time figuring out what to major in at college, and what to do career wise.

I love learning, discovering, and education in general, but being a student was not my cup of tea, so I quickly finished college in four years with a communications major. After working in the corporate world for about five months, I jumped off the conveyor belt we seem to mechanically get put on, and went abroad to teach English in China. Some may perceive this as escaping and procrastinating with responsibilities (it’s okay, these thoughts crossed my mind too, and it continues to bring a worry brow across my parents’ forehead), but living and traveling on a Chinese wage budget, buying groceries at the local street market, creating daily lessons to my college students, hanging socks to dry on an outdoor bamboo pole on the seventh floor, and making travel plans for weekend and holiday breaks brought me more ‘life’ skills than any textbooks, diploma, and staff meeting.

After three semesters of teaching, I still wasn’t sure what my ‘calling’ was, yet life kept bringing me gifts of random opportunities. I ended up working as a cruise director on a river boat cruise along the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River, which introduced me to the hospitality and tourism field, where I managed and organized luxury tours all around the globe for three years. Getting a bit restless of over 900 days of international travel, I went back to teaching, and taught ESL and GED to at-need communities in Austin.

After all of these life and global experiences, I came to the realization that these are my gifts! People, cultures, equality, service, diplomacy, education, and travel are my skills set. I may not be able to discover vaccinations, or design jet engines, or be a concert pianist, or build office complexes, but I am capable of sharing my gifts to others. Cultural Embrace exists so we may introduce people to ‘Discover the Similarities and Share the Differences’.

We all have different opinions, expectations, experiences, highs and lows with life. That, in itself, is a gift of being human. Our knowledge and skills at Cultural Embrace are to form the box to best fit your shape, and wrap it up with the appropriate ribbons and wrapping papers. Cultural Embrace’s goal is to bring additional value, so when you receive your package, you will untie the bow and open it to discover the beautiful gift called…LIFE!

What MLK, Jr. & Boyz in the Hood Means to Me

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr Day! This is one of my favorite holidays, as he is my biggest hero. It is easy to be inspired by a leader that influenced the United States and much of this world with his nonviolent tactics for equality. Many of my personal and professional philosophies are influenced by his principles, in hopes that we, all global citizens, can keep his “Dream” alive, and work together to be a better connected and more united world.
This weekend, I threw my annual MLK Birthday Bash party, which also served as a fundraiser for our H.U.G. projects in Guatemala, Kenya, and Austin, and collected food for our local Austin food bank. I enjoy throwing this annual party, as it is a chance for my different ‘groups’ of friends to come together to connect with one another’s well-being, and post-holiday catch-up.

My MLK group celebration started back in college. I remember seeing “Boyz in the Hood” in the theaters back in 1991, and thought it was such a great movie. By my Senior year at University of Maryland, I lived in a house with seven housemates, and every MLK day, I would rent the video and invite friends over to watch the movie, and have dinner and drinks. If you have seen “Boyz in the Hood”, you probably know it is not a warm and fuzzy, feel good Hallmark type of a movie. So why do I continue to watch it on MLK weekend, when we are supposed to be celebrating a man that promotes non-violence, peace, and conflict-resolution? Exactly the point! We have issues and struggles in our own streets of America, and abroad; but if we continue to ignore society’s problems, and look the other way, hoping that it will resolve itself, or that someone else will deal with it, we’re not being effective human beings. According to Martin Luther King, Jr. “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” Watching thought-provoking movies like “Boyz in the Hood,” “Crash,” “Motorcycle Diaries” (three movies that I watch annually) fills me with more drive and compassion to take a stand and make a difference in this world…my world…our world.

As Ice Cube’s character, Doughboy, says at the end of the film, “Either they (media) don’t know, don’t show, or don’t care about what’s going on in the hood.”  I have many more words and opinions of media, especially how it’s changed for the worse since 1991, and may need to share my attitudes and feelings for another series of blogs. But as MLK, Jr. stated, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” I continually believe that until we put our feet in someone else’s shoes, and understand where they are (or were) within their situation, we cannot judge or discriminate against them. We may not see eye-to-eye and agree on opinions, but to be open to and listen to him/her/them, share our thoughts of wisdom and guidance (if applicable and needed), and to be a friend, providing a lending ear, hand, and heart. In the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr., we must ask life’s most persistent and urgent question, not just this weekend, but everyday, “What are you doing for others?”...and actually do something.    

Wrapping up 2010

The end of the year always fills me with a mix of emotions. I am bewildered that yet another twelve months have past, as each year seems to fly by faster than the previous one. I’m also confused of what season it is, as I just spent the past 10 days in Guatemala in tank top and shorts, and returned last night to mid-70s weather. (This native Maryland girl doesn’t consider it to be ‘winter’ without a wool coat.) And then I’m discouraged that that I didn’t get to accomplish everything off of my 2010’s goals list, yet trying to stay optimistic and eager to ring in the new year with a fresh outlook and new and revised goals.

There are always things to do, and more to achieve when you own a business, particularly in the service and travel fields. So my aim for 2011 is to eliminate the mile-long resolutions list, and pick just a few realistic goals and set two or three strategies to effectively execute them.  Seeing my goals get completed and met are a lot more motivating (to do more) than running on the endless trail, trying to find the finish line.

So as I reflect on Cultural Embrace’s year-end accomplishments, it has been a busy 2010, and I can understand why it’s flown by. We sent over 210 individual and group travelers to embrace their world as well as their own passion. We sent 7 participants to work as a nanny/au pair in Europe, 23 professional internship placements from Argentina to South Africa in a wide variety of fields, 33 teach placements (mostly paid) throughout Asia, Latin America, and Europe, 107 volunteers with 78% in Latin America, 12% in Africa, 6% in Asia, and 4% in the Oceania. 23 participants lived and worked in hospitality, non-technical jobs throughout Australia, New Zealand, and Spain. And we had 23 travelers that embraced Costa Rica, Mexico, and France through cultural language classes. Additionally, we tailored our travelers’ (individuals and groups) requests for excursions, housing, and ground transportation.

We also launched our H.U.G. projects, designed as a personal and corporate commitment to partner with select non-profits and provide additional financial, emotional, and logistical support to their causes. We will continue to tailor our programs and services to meet your goals and requests with the availability and needs of the local community; but Cultural Embrace will work together in the under-served communities of Guatemala, Kenya, South Africa, and Austin to improve their living conditions in five key areas: 1) Education, 2) Diversity & Leadership, 3) Environmental Conservation & Awareness, 4) Healthy and Balanced Living, and 5) Creativity.

“The Social Network” wasn’t only a hit on the Hollywood big screen this year, but a means for us to stay connected to others. We have embraced social media via Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Blogs.  We granted partial and full scholarships to 7 participants travel on our programs and serve as Travel Advisers in the destination and to share their adventure and photos to our social media community.  I highly encourage that you read and view their blogs, as it exemplifies a day in the life abroad, and is an inspiration for all of us to live each moment to its fullest.

And isn't that the best outlook on life...to live it to its fullest and seize the day?! I hope you have a wonderful, safe, and peaceful 2011!