Walkin' and Talkin'

Walkin'
The big news first: Laurel is walking!!! And not just a step here and there but here-comes-Laurel-charging-down-the-hall kind of walking! She thinks it's hysterical to suddenly pop out from around a corner and laugh her crazy little cackle in response to your surprise and delight. As soon as I figure out how to do so I will post a short video clip of her walking expertise.

Talkin'
Some of you may know that I've been involved with a VERY worthy charitable organisation since early last Fall. The organisation is the Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre and what we do is provide free legal advice to refugee seekers who are appearing before the United Nations High Commission on Refugees to have their status determined. We are the only group in Hong Kong that provides this much needed service but we have been really struggling financially. The two wonderful women that dreamt up this organisation and have grown it from nothing have worked their own little miracle in getting 4 of the largest and most respected law firms in the world's Hong Kong offices to partner with them. We now have a large roster of volunteer lawyers, interpretors and caseworkers. Over the weekend of the 21st and 22nd we are providing training to our volunteer lawyers and (here comes the talkin' bit) I'm going to facilitate/teach a session on research. I'm feeling quite fluttery in my tummy about getting up and talkin' research skills to a bunch of skilled researchers (or at least skilled enough to have landed pretty flash legal jobs!). So any words of advice or encouragement will be much appreciated!

In addition to my personal involvement with this project, my firm has partnered with HKRAC to provide funding and pro bono hours. So now I'm getting paid to encourage people to volunteer with us! And if work ever slows down enough, I could even be getting paid to do the volunteer work I was already doing.... Anyway, I'm feeling very pleased about this whole situation. I believe corporate-speak for what we have here is synergy. Yep, I do believe I am leveraging off my prior experience with HKRAC to create a synergistic situation. (Just as an aside - can you believe Microsoft??? "Pro bono" gets the red-line but a dumb-ass word like "synergistic" is totally acceptable.)

So that's all folks, I'm off so that I can ramp-up for the training session and start actioning some of the tasks ahead of me!

Hanoi

Ok, so some of you know that the last month I've been consumed at work with organising a conference in Hanoi for all the Asia Partners at our firm. When I was asked to do it I thought it sounded like a pretty cush job that would culminate in a fun filled weekend in Hanoi. Apparently there's more to organising a conference than just booking a venue and telling people to show up! Especially if you are organising said conference for the Partners (yes, capital P!) of a fancy-schmancy law firm.

The upside to fancy-schmancy Partners is that I did get to stay in Hanoi's most beautiful and historical hotel, the Sofitel Metropole. If you are ever feeling VERY wealthy in Hanoi I couldn't recommend it more. The conference went reasonably well with some predictable (and some unpredictable!) drama from the Partners. Anyway enough said about them.

Steve flew down for the weekend and we got to spend a lovely Sunday wandering around Hanoi's old-quarter. There is a beautiful little lake in the center surrounded by a lush little park. We spent a few hours wandering around there and enjoying an ice-cream while we sat and watched Hanoi's young couples enjoying their Sunday canoodling by the lake. In one of the pictures you can see what the electrical like situation in on Hanoi's streets and it's a little scary! The lines are low enough to touch (should you be that stupid!) and multitudinous!

Words can't really do it justice so I'll just let you enjoy the photos. A funny thing about having a weekend away from the kids is that they truly occupy your thoughts almost as much as if they were with you. Maybe particularly so because it was Children's Day on Sunday and Hanoi made a pretty big deal out of it. We actually felt a little bereft...

PS - the food was AMAZING!!

First Haircut (AKA - Boo Hoo! My baby's Growing up!)

I suppose it had to happen sooner or later..... he was getting awfully shaggy. Josey had his first haircut yesterday and has been transformed from a sweet cherubic little baby with fluffy, semi-curly hair to a short haired little man-boy. Still pretty cute though! SO here you go: Before, During and After.