A month later...
A lot of exciting things have been happening in my personal life as of late which has kept me mostly away from livejournal and when I have updated, it's been to my 'personal' journal just about everyday stuffs. If you want to friend that journal, let me know and I'll get you the un :) Otherwise I presume people read this for the HIV content.
I got lightly tongue-lashed for not letting people know about speaking engagements before they happen so I will try to do a better job with that. My next scheduled engagement is tentatively March 22 at Gallaudet University in D.C. as a panel member w/ other Hope's Voice speakers. I'll let you know as the details firm up.
December 8-12 I was a guest and presenter at Y-Peer's Global Advisory Board meeting along with my 'boss' from Hope's Voice, Todd. Firstly I cannot even begin to describe how much of an honor it was to even be chosen to go. It was a very last minute thing, but I was more than happy to clear my schedule for the availability.
I was a bit nervous at first even thinking about it. I haven't met a ton of people from other countries and never all at once and these were youth leaders in their countries so I was a little intimidated. I flew into NYC and instantly froze. I bundled up and headed over to meet up with Todd. After some quick last minute errands we took a taxi to the bus pick up point. We had the slowest taxi in the world that seemed to be magnetized to find traffic. We ended up getting to the bus about 15 minutes late, but luckily they were still there and not just waiting for us. At first we weren't sure if it was our bus so I went over and asked the bus driver if it was heading to Mohonk. He said it was and that if they were on time then I would be late and have missed the bus and then what would I have done? I really don't have the best luck with transportation people in NYC. I meekly said that I would hope to find Penn Station and catch a bus from there. I asked if he'd still let us on the bus (he was blocking the entrance). Quite gruffly he replied 'I guess I have to, now don't I?'. I ran to get Todd and the rest of our stuff and we grabbed seats at the back of the bus.
Getting on the bus was somewhat of a culture shock. English was definitely not the language of choice. Everyone was so excited, young, and each had this cool hip look to them with their brightly colored hair, clothes, makeup, bags, accessories. I felt blan and so 'american' in my jeans, red scarf and black parka and my matching red and black backpack. Todd and I settled down and went over the game plan of the weekend. It wasn't long before someone interrupted and asked if my name was 'Christina'. Uh, yes... why? 'Oh! I was just reading about you, it's such an honor to meet you'. Hrm... well, that was the first time that had happened. Over all it was an intense and amazing four days. I only got really ill once, but it was just a headache/nausea thing so I was only out for the morning and I think it was really my body just telling me to slow down and pay more attention to it.
We arrived Friday afternoon and presented on Saturday. For the rest of the time we worked with them and watched them as they put together goals both long term and short term both for their countries and globally. It was quite an amazing experience. At times it was a little crazy, but what do you expect when you take strong youth leaders from all over? I didn't want the weekend to end really. I think I left it feeling a little more cynical towards American youth and the general sense of entitlement and apathy that goes along with growing up in the United States - a relatively stable country that hasn't seen war on its soil in over a century and a half ago (this isn't counting single attacks such as Pearl Harbor and 9/11). I felt cynical and inspired at the same time. How do we get youth to care? Where do the problems lie? What can I do to change this or raise awareness about this? I have some ideas rolling around, but what's your take on the situation?
Other than that, I wrote an article for POZ that appeared in their January issue. It can be found by clicking here. I didn't link to it at first because they misspelled my name online, and I am a bit sensitive about those sort of things... but it has since been fixed. DISCLAIMER: I did not write the title or tag line. Actually regarding the tag line - it just refers to the fact that I was extremely non-adherent in high school. I absolutely unequivocally believe in HIV drugs.
That's my two cents for now. How about yours? More in a minute.
I got lightly tongue-lashed for not letting people know about speaking engagements before they happen so I will try to do a better job with that. My next scheduled engagement is tentatively March 22 at Gallaudet University in D.C. as a panel member w/ other Hope's Voice speakers. I'll let you know as the details firm up.
December 8-12 I was a guest and presenter at Y-Peer's Global Advisory Board meeting along with my 'boss' from Hope's Voice, Todd. Firstly I cannot even begin to describe how much of an honor it was to even be chosen to go. It was a very last minute thing, but I was more than happy to clear my schedule for the availability.
I was a bit nervous at first even thinking about it. I haven't met a ton of people from other countries and never all at once and these were youth leaders in their countries so I was a little intimidated. I flew into NYC and instantly froze. I bundled up and headed over to meet up with Todd. After some quick last minute errands we took a taxi to the bus pick up point. We had the slowest taxi in the world that seemed to be magnetized to find traffic. We ended up getting to the bus about 15 minutes late, but luckily they were still there and not just waiting for us. At first we weren't sure if it was our bus so I went over and asked the bus driver if it was heading to Mohonk. He said it was and that if they were on time then I would be late and have missed the bus and then what would I have done? I really don't have the best luck with transportation people in NYC. I meekly said that I would hope to find Penn Station and catch a bus from there. I asked if he'd still let us on the bus (he was blocking the entrance). Quite gruffly he replied 'I guess I have to, now don't I?'. I ran to get Todd and the rest of our stuff and we grabbed seats at the back of the bus.
Getting on the bus was somewhat of a culture shock. English was definitely not the language of choice. Everyone was so excited, young, and each had this cool hip look to them with their brightly colored hair, clothes, makeup, bags, accessories. I felt blan and so 'american' in my jeans, red scarf and black parka and my matching red and black backpack. Todd and I settled down and went over the game plan of the weekend. It wasn't long before someone interrupted and asked if my name was 'Christina'. Uh, yes... why? 'Oh! I was just reading about you, it's such an honor to meet you'. Hrm... well, that was the first time that had happened. Over all it was an intense and amazing four days. I only got really ill once, but it was just a headache/nausea thing so I was only out for the morning and I think it was really my body just telling me to slow down and pay more attention to it.
We arrived Friday afternoon and presented on Saturday. For the rest of the time we worked with them and watched them as they put together goals both long term and short term both for their countries and globally. It was quite an amazing experience. At times it was a little crazy, but what do you expect when you take strong youth leaders from all over? I didn't want the weekend to end really. I think I left it feeling a little more cynical towards American youth and the general sense of entitlement and apathy that goes along with growing up in the United States - a relatively stable country that hasn't seen war on its soil in over a century and a half ago (this isn't counting single attacks such as Pearl Harbor and 9/11). I felt cynical and inspired at the same time. How do we get youth to care? Where do the problems lie? What can I do to change this or raise awareness about this? I have some ideas rolling around, but what's your take on the situation?
Other than that, I wrote an article for POZ that appeared in their January issue. It can be found by clicking here. I didn't link to it at first because they misspelled my name online, and I am a bit sensitive about those sort of things... but it has since been fixed. DISCLAIMER: I did not write the title or tag line. Actually regarding the tag line - it just refers to the fact that I was extremely non-adherent in high school. I absolutely unequivocally believe in HIV drugs.
That's my two cents for now. How about yours? More in a minute.