年代初

As one decade begins another has to end, I'm not fitted into a milestone age of 18,21 or 30 or something like that. I defiantly find myself at a transition with the ending of my teenage years branching into my early twenties.
But another transition I find myself is from 2 years of living out of a backpack moving every month, bed to bed, floor to couch town to city, beach to bush, continent to continent. 2 years of lots of lessons and learning curves and plenty of growing up id like to think and in a way manning up. But now at the beginning of this decade I find myself moving to Hong Kong, China to live and work for the foreseeable future. So life in Asia living in one of the most densely populated and fastest cities in the world.

I'm gonna be working for an organization called ICM. They are a group of people who live here in Hong Kong who have joined together to try and stop poverty in one of its neighbouring countries The Philippines. My Job here will the Travel coordinator. I'll be leading and organizing all of the trips that they run into the country. Churches, Banks, Schools, Random groups of people, and individuals all go on trips throughout the year and it'll be my Job to facilitate there trips. Its like my Ideal Job so I'm very excited to be here starting of this adventure.
I love it here, walking down the streets, through the skyscrapers, into the malls, up the mountains, into the jungle, down to the beach and just the pace of this place. Yesterday I got a bus into the city and then I was walking through a high rise walkway when it dawned on me this is now my home for the next while this is my city (as well as the Philippines)
There's so much I'm gonna have to get used to and to start embracing like yesterday I walked past a cue of 20-30 ladies and I can honestly say they were 100% identical in appearance I couldn't see a single difference in any of them. Or things like picking food from a menu which is just covered with lines and dashes in hundreds of different directions with numbers beside them. But Ive got my Cantonese phrase book and so far Faai-ji = Chopstickes & Gai = Chicken
Apartment scouting is top of the priorities right now trying to figure out what would be the best way to experience life in Hong Kong. Where should I set up camp what side of the city and how far up into the sky should I aim?? +852 98550373 is the new number aswell.

The Philippines - ICM

Ive been Down in the Philippines for 2 1/2 weeks with an NGO called ICM. They have five bases in the Philippines which are located on three different Islands, Negros, Bohol & Mindanao. Ive been able to join and work alongside three of them during my short stay here. I've been invited by my Australian Friends, the Turners, to come to the Philippines to see the people and ministries that ICM are involved with over the last 18 years, with the possibility of joining them here in Hong Kong & the Philippines.
The philippino people are as amazing as we'd all expect. They have all of the south east Asian characteristics aswell as plenty more. They are so hospitable opening up there houses and dinner tables without hesitation. Being a christian/catholic nation its got a diversity that I haven't seem before in Asia. They also have this culture of ah no worries things will work out, it can sometimes be a bit ignorant of the bad situations around you but then it also bring a nice relaxing chilled out good fun atmosphere where you can have lots of fun and relax with them on a casual level.
Ive has such a great experience in diving into their culture and im getting a very clear picture of the people and their country. This is mainly because im interacting daily with the local people and working alongside them speeds up this process. So I fell Ive been receiving a great impression of the real ups and downs of the culture. Also been able to talk to so many individuals and find out there stories and all about there lives here in the Philippines. There are huge levels of poverty here in the Philippines with alot of the people which ICM reciepients trying to live on US$0.15 per day.
Ive also been able to see the in's and outs of a christian ministry and from the insiders view because they've treated me like a staff member. Seeing how the process works and the reasons behind why they do the various different ministries and programs here. Which are very advanced and productive in the goals. I'd love to explain sometime but there so much to it. But these days charities and mission organization groups have adapted there goals & programs to be smarter and more efficient in there markets/people groups.
There's a movement to stop just giving charity and focusing on transforming families & communities in there mindsets and ambitions. This is the alternative to giving them some food and moving on to the next hungry family. Therefore teaching the families values, Health, Livelihood. All of this process and the details in this is huge so I wont get into the details but hopefully ill get it all written out sometime soon. But its everything from teaching families to cover food when storing it, to not excreting beside doorways or water supplies, family planning, farming economics & the prospects of thinking ahead or even with a broader ambition of tomorrows meal. By teaching families how to utilize their homes by creating an income of vegetables in plastic bottles, Bamboo half pipes, Car tires.
Then there in film showing evangelistic trips, TB recovery shelters, Orphanages, Open Air Clinics, 6 month transform programs, 8 week uplift program mes, Special medical cases and plenty more so ive had lots of experiences and worked with lots of new amazing people.
Another highlight of my trip in the Philippines was tasting the infamous local delicacy of Balut. Here in the Philippines they have a tradition of eating either a 16 or 18 day old Duck Fetus. They boil the matured egg, then they crack open egg sucking the juice(soup) out and then peeling off the rest of the egg they eat the duck fetus & whatever else is going on in there. Its not as bad as you expect and once you turn you brain off of what your actually eating its just like a boiled egg & the extra crunch of the developed beak & feathers.
We also got a share of Asian Videoke singing the regular old school 80's rock while the locals kept it to the cheese ball love tunes. I also managed to time my visit with two different local festivals. Bringing out all the locals together with marching bands and all sorts of stuff. Then in the middle of climbing coconut trees, late night Dorian sessions, Sea side swimming. It was a great game

China - Gilin & Yangshou & Shenzchen

China, well china ey. Like in Hong Kong I was frequently left pointing at the menu taking out the money and praying for something dead and cooked. Ending up with frequent dishes with ell and then snake wine to top it off the most potent beverage Ive ever had. The whole place is just packed with symbols and bright colours everywhere. Its the first country ive ever traveled to without having a lonely planet, the travelers bible, in my back pocket. Oh my word when you don't have a lonely planet it just raises the bar. You just don't have a clue about anything seriously anything. It made the adventure so much more fun. arriving into a city not knowing the size of the city, the location of the bus station, the average price of accommodation, what type of things to-do and activities the list goes on. And then to really make things confusing china has gone for the symbol language which means an English speaker literally cant understand a single thing. Oh my word it was so much more fun and annoying hahaha.
But my first stop was Guilin which is 12 hours from the Chinese Hong Kong border. Im not sure what they are but the guilin region is surrounded by these small hill / peak / mountain things which just look class. They're very sharp looking hills and the whole region is surrounded by them. Which makes it one of china's most scenic places with tourists flocking there.
As i arrived over the boarder i also manged to by a bible on entry. Now i was under the impression that some Christians seem to smuggle bibles into the country and here was me wandering around at the border city of Shenzchen picking up a Chinese bible for Y22 roughly 2.5 euro. SO was looking forward to practicing my skills wiriting out some stuff. I got my Tatoo translated and i worte i tout in my journal which was eligible aswell so they told me.
So i spent my days wandering around on bamboo rafts to bicycles wandering through some small villages out and around the city. Trying my hardest to get lost in rice fields and old quarries and endless amounts of weird spiky mountains.
But China has its very cheap side as long as you stay off the main strips then you can defo survive on only $12-15 a day. But those main streets are aiming alot higher but its great to see that in defiantly doable on a cheap budget. The places is covered in street ladies selling fresh fruit all day everyday. Which made for an excellent breakfast of a big pile of green grapes, a slice or two watermelon & then an orange or two but that means ya gotta stay close enough to a toilet for a while just encase ya know or maybe that's just me?
The Old men in China have this habit of rolling up there tee-shirts up over the belly to keep there prize possession nice and fresh. This leaves big round belly's pointing in all directions as you walk the streets night & day. There Car horn's are explosive i frequently nearly put my fist through some windows. You'd be walking down and the next thing this car horn would go off and seriously loader than anything you've ever heard, you'd literally jump out of your skin. Or they love there over enthusiastic yawns. Its hilarious they well up for let out everything they've got when a yawn's tickling inside. So you'll be sitting beside some old dude on a park bench your minding you own business and next thing he starts screaming from the top of his lungs. hahah i havent yet tryed to see if i'd be accepted if i went for it myself or would they just know that its some whitey trying to fit in?
The Military organization of the country was evident from the odd staff meeting id observe through a show window or on the street. they'd all line up in formation men & women lined up focused away listening to every word now matter how hard i tryed to get there attention. nothing not even a wink.Another highlight of my trip into china was the book i was reading. Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger. Some very inspiration testimonies of what God has been doing on the streets of Hong Kong freeing drug addicts from the chains of heroin without any pain. But Jackie left England in the 70's and went to the walled city of hong Kong. But i seriously got inspired by this story and was very challenged I also got very attached to the story and didn't want the book to finish. I always had people stopping beside me staring because I was laughing out loud and i got stuck with this huge smile smack on the middle of my face which I couldn't control. Very very cool stories.
This week was also a huge for me as in so many things became clearer to where I am and what im planning on doing over the next couple of years in my life. It was such a special week which i had so much time alone and time to pray and process my trip home. Its like I was given keys into so many things. After leaving High School and going into college that was all prity standard. Then going to the Congo that opened up alot of who I had become and what I wanted in my life. In the Congo the realization that i wanted to serve God with everything I had became quite obvious. So I went back and lived in Ireland for a year then I went off New Zealand for a year. But now after returning to Ireland i feel ive left with a sense of Destiny and ownership of my life and becoming an adult. Also living in the present and not focusing on the past and other places but embracing where I am in the physical and keeping my mind where I am. Its so freeing and releasing and extremely important to me but far to long to explain on text a bit outta my league. So its very exciting..

Hong Kong

So i've left Ireland on a one way flight again not knowing what this next couple of months look like. Ive got a small 10 stop over in Hong Kong / China and then onto Auckland where I plan on settling until mid January any how that's the so far. Ive never been to Hong Kong or to china so when my flight home for the wedding was going via Hong Kong i thought it would be rude not to stop in and have a look.
The before i was leaving Ireland my cousin Lisa gave me a name & email of a family that are currently living in Hong Kong who ever Aussie's & good friends of there who lived in Ireland for a year back when Pete was a little nipper like 10 or something. So technically id met these guys before so its shouldnt be too intruding to drop in an say hello for a while. So within 24 hours of me sending them an email Harry came to the train station to meet me and bring me back to meet the family. The turners what a family, There's five of them in total with Harry & Julie holding the fort and Jack at 9, Cleo at 7 & Little Will pushing a good solid 3.
The turners have very so generous & a huge blessing let me come into their house and eat the grub & im even settling the kids play room where all the toys are kept. They've welcomed me in and I've had such a great time getting to know them and trying to understand how life in Hong Kong works. They've been here for five years now with Harry working as an investment banker & Julie working with ICM. They both have very strong connections with ICM and there work in the Philippians only 2 hours flights away.
Hong Kong its self is very different to anything ive seem before but also very similar to alot of places aswell. Its kind of got a lot of different cultures and cities pushed into one. Landscape wise its only a small set of islands together with the center being jammed packed with skyscrappers and then on the other side its surrounded by mountainous rain forest and tropical waters. With summer just finishing its cooking hot and doing anything physical requires at least 2 litres of water intake and 3 changes of boxers.

Even though the city is jammed with 8 million people its still got a very classy side to it. There are parks and walkways everywhere. Very well kept, layed out clean walkways with lots of chin-up bars and all that kinda stuff to keep everyone nice and healthy. So you can see they keep a high pride in there appearance and keeping healthy, the whole city apparently after sars got a complete clean up and now there very strict on keeping the place safe & hygienic.
Seeing the skysscrappers from a distance both at day and at night has been one of the most inspirational sights ive ever seen. Obviously loving buildings and stadiums and all that jazz had its influence but seriously its just bonkers they just keep going up and there's hundreds of them everywhere you look. and when they light up at night ah man bonkers. Or the signs overhanging horizontally across every street from every building everywhere red, green blue white flashing everything. BRILLIANT.
And now ill admit im not exact a fashion king or queen or whatever but lets be honest i didn't now 80% of these brands that exist. I probably knew of two types of watches Casio & Rolex not the other 10-20. So its prity funny walking round and then there's the car parks. Every thrid cars is a Porsche 911 and then Ferrari floating about every now and then. Its not every day your priced out of many markets in Asia but its safe to say Hong Kong and parts of mumbai have succeeded at raising the bar for prices. Even food stalls are making me dig deep hahaha but what a places and has to be on every travelers hit list.
So while getting my Visa for china processed, finish the book im reading and also spending some time by myself trying to process the madness of the last 5 weeks in Ireland. So much happened and seeing so many people trying to catch up on 15 months of one of the most influential years of my life and trying to pack all that into a couple of hours with each individual was intimidating but fun aswell trying to testify about all. And without sleep the last 3/4 days i needed a bit of time to get my head together. and then there was a need for detox my poor little skeleton of all that chocolate & endless amount of manna that me Lovely angelic mother put in front of me which i obviously downed in a instant. People never forget never ever forget or appreciate... Family home Fridges which are filled by mothers and eaten by siblings. Oh my world its like Christmas every time you walk upstairs and into the kitchen and its filled with endless choices of extreme belly tingling JOY. anyway Hong Kong.
Ive had a blast here and next stop is China where im going to venture into for 7-9 days depending on how things go. So im very excited bout that seeing if that place is all that its cracked up to be.

Wedding Season

I flew back home for 5 weeks from August 6th - September 9th. My eldest Sister Susan was marrying a friend of mine jonny. So they managed to drag me all the way across the world for the wedding ah to be honest i was looking for a way to get home and couldn't justify spending all that money for a visit but for a wedding I most defiantly can.
The First two weeks of my trip home involved seeing as many people as i can and trying to tell them as much as i could while trying to listen to all the cool things which happened in Ireland at the same time. Throw in a stag party in there for good luck aswell.
Arriving home was some of the best hours of my life. As i walked off the plane I collected my baggage and went to the toilets sat down and then offered up these next 5 weeks to God and thanked him for the amazing blessing and opportunity it was to be able to fly from New Zealand all the way to Europe for this wedding to see all my friends & family which id been away from for 14 months. I think my heart was beating at double the rate for at least 5 days and i was on 4 hours sleep and one meal a day for 5 days. My whole body was racing with excitement and unbelievable joy because i was home being reunited at see everyone again. Even people from around the world happened to be passing through Ireland during the same month so it was like all the people in the world that i care about happened to be in the same place. So cool.
The wedding itself has to be one of the most memorable days of my life and possibly the most fun. So much happening and so many people that I knew in one place and I wasn't the one getting tied down so it was perfect. But yeah what a day and Suz sorry to see ya go but ya did the family proud ill take it from here on in.
Then we had two weeks to work with and with some friends from New Zealand coming over to visit Ireland / me. We had 3 kiwi's, a Scotsman and a yank come over to say hello. trying to fit in as much as possible showing them my home town, family & friends. Then on my last week we went for an adventure out to the wild west.Team Peter consisted of Peter, Jonny, Steph, Hazers & Mackenzie. We started off the trip with a 10 hour road trip for only 250miles or something so lets say it wasn't the most direct route and well we ended up in long ford who the hell goes to long ford well Team Peter does anyway. Doolan, Father ted craggy island aka the Aaron islands, Lehinch were are hotel location. Well were we pitched our tent anyway. One of the most important reasons of this trip apart from, the whole showing the tourists the sights, But going to some of the most important historical sights in Ireland of where Christianity made its stand and began the fire in the country. Slane Castle & Clonmacnois were top of the list and they didnt let me down atol. Maybe its just me but they were two of the most beautiful places ive ever been and knowing whats happened on those pieces of land hundreds of years ago and how significant they are unbelievable. Then also we had the cliffs of mohar mohar mohar which were just savage knowing that my country kicks ass was a great picture to leave me with as i set off on my next adventure and also possibly one of the most enjoyable trips ive ever had which such a great group of people we had so many laughs and a great time hanging out and getting to know eachother. So yeah another thing If Peter was an animal what animal would you think he would be? I know its obvoius im definatly a dolphin.
Time to say goodbye to the family and friends untill next time anyway i dont think ill be able to come back for every wedding which is gonna be very tough in the future but i thank God i got to come back for this one and that it was possible. But ya never know i could be settling down soon in the emerald soon so who knows?