Have a heart for ducks...

Wow what a past few weeks, has been especially busy. As the weather moves into the 100's we don't seem to have slowed down, but wonder why we get tired, duh!

Having been last week in Chennai for another conf (Andi), where this time I took part in training mostly program officers around comms for a regional disaster team, which meant helping them understand how communications and media works and putting them through interviews and writing reports, stories etc! But was good time despite the 8 a.m. starts and late nights.


Three of the conference leaders in Chennai - (From left) Edward, Mike and Richard...


Then got back to go straight to friends daughter's two-year-old birthday party held at the Hyderabad Marriott - was a fun 'do', a highlight of which was after the children had finished a number of us 'adults' hopped onto the bouncy castle!

Then Monday morning as many of you might have read/seen on the news, a tsunami hit the Solomon Islands, which meant that from early morning every day till now and will continue over the next few days, I have been focusing particularly on responding and supporting the communications for the World Vision global partnership, media and region. This means not just media but updates, news releases, overall situation reports and making sure the right pix, stories and footage are being facilitated from the Islands.

As World Vision are one of the largest NGO's there, this meant that the response was fairly swift in helping people whose lives had been devastated by the earthquake/tsunami.

Tonight after work I cook a meal for friends for our (well we try and doesn't always work out) weekly American Idol update and have tried to tidy the apartment, which seems to gather dust every day and then welcome my husband home from Mumbai where he's been in meetings for the day.

Another interesting, or to me at least, story from the past few weeks is that I almost ate a duck's heart. That's right - when in rural Thailand recently we visited a very local cafe for lunch and the only dish on the menu was duck and noodles. So that's what I ordered... When it arrived I saw a number of what looked like almond nuts. Lifting one up with my chopsticks I happened to mention this fact to the Thai WV staff and saw their expressions change as they explained to me, that that it wasn't exactly going to taste like a nut...

On a different note I have had my position as crisis and relief comms manager for Asia Pacific re-confirmed as due to budget was originally on a six month contract, which means I must be doing something right! Then in two and a half weeks I head back to the UK - one week of which includes work. Gareth is in the States at the same time and then we meet in the UK for visa renewal, weddings, family and friends.


So finally. Gareth and I wish you a blessed and happy Easter and look forward to catching up with you again soon.