World Refugee Day and Mpls Mosaic

I was bummed that my volunteer painting project fell through, but after I learned that Saturday was World Refugee Day, I figured it was probably for the best. I was told that Helima was expecting me to pick her up so I went over there in the afternoon. Her phone wasn't working, so I yelled her name up to her apartment a few times. She finally heard me and I went inside to find the 2 kids sleeping on the floor. I asked her if she wanted to go to Minneapolis for World Refugee Day.. and she didn't quite understand. She said.. 'sleep.' I had to say it a few times before she woke up the kids and we got out the door. The little girl walked away with my umbrella and her mom chased after her. I buckled the little boy up in his seat and then waited for at least 5 minutes. I had no idea where they randomly walked off it. The boy was saying 'friend.' I thought he was saying I was his friend, but what I actually figured out that they went to get one of Helima's friends. The woman's name was Hamdi and she brought me 'Somali tea' as they always call it. They are always so concerned with bringing me tea, must be important to show hospitality. Hamdi asked me if I was married. She seemed surprised to find out I wasn't. I said I was too young and laughed.. and that confused her even more. ;)



I don't think they knew what to expect. The kids did a craft and had balloon animals made. We watched the outdoor entertainment where they got to speak with other Somali families. I got to meet Helima's English teacher. I didn't even know she was taking classes, but am happy to know that she is. I bought the kids corn on the cob. I'm sure they appreciated it, but Helima doesn't seem like to like handouts.

When the folk group came on, they said that they wanted to go home and we made our way back to St. Paul. They had expected that I stay and eat, but I instead went back downtown to see the rest of the Minneapolis Mosaic shows with Rajesh and Venkata. We went to the talent show and then danced it up with the world dj area with a few others. I haven't danced that much in a long time and it made me really miss dancing. I ended up dancing for the rest of the night which felt great.. especially without drinking anything.

Vision board

This week has been a sleepy one for me. I normally work late at night and sleep in, but I've had to watch Ruby earlier.. so the time adjustment has been rough. I'm also trying to fit in all the things I normally do in less time.

Today after Ruby shot me in the eye with a Nurf gun, I decided not to take her to 'Shoots and ladders', where she wanted to go. Since the weather was so nice, we couldn't stay inside the whole day, so I took her in the burly around Lake Calhoun. What a work out for me.. I needed it.

Now it's back to focusing on the website...

Goals at the moment are fixing developmental issues, SEO, and hiring an Intern. I'm planning on a trip to the UMN campus tomorrow to speak to some of the directors and put up some fliers that Randy has printed and fixed designing issues... which I am so grateful for.

Tonight I went to a vision board night with Rajesh and Lynn hosted by Jenna Gebeke (Facebook group- True Sanctuary)It was nice to be around like minded people as always, and refocus my goals and manifestations. I only wish I couldn't had more time, but the board I did tonight was an overall vision of what I want in my life. I'm sharing my ever so private vision board...

But maybe it'll inspire someone to do their own. ;)

Language Night - the 3rd

Another successful language night with interesting people. It was nice to hear people speaking different languages and interesting reasons why there were here... like Michel, who has created a device to clean the oil out of the water and is on his way down to New Orleans. He's originally from Belgium, but has been living in South Africa. We all hope he can help out!



It was also nice to see some new faces... Janos and Sabino were a nice surprise. :) There are always people wanting to practice Portuguese attending.

There was a huge group of CSers this time, which was awesome and got some of the non CSers wondering what they were missing.

Melody won the $25 gift certificate from the drawing for ExchangeALangauge members.

JOIN NOW SO YOU CAN ENTER NEXT WEEK! :) ExchangeALanguage.com

Thanks to Rebecca for all of her help and for making the drive from St. Cloud every week. :)

I'll be sending everyone an email soon, but our next event is June 15th, 6-9pm. :)

Long weekend? Same as always for me.

I'm loving this weather. The combination of my work and the beach is perfect. Although, Friday was a bit too hot when Nick and I were putting up fliers in the dinkytown/campus area. (Thanks so much for helping Nick!) I'm trying to reach as many foreigners as possible. I think Tuesday's language night will be a good turnout!

Invite your friends(Language Night Minneapolis): Facebook Event Page

I've hired new developers... I'm feeling good about them. They are telling me all the problems that they are finding, something that the other ones never did. I'm really hoping that I can work with them in the future; having to hire new programmers every 2 weeks and projects not being finished really wastes my time.

I'm also excited I've discovered my new CS friend Lynn is an amazing musician. Check her out: Lynn O'Brien Music Hopefully she'll have some local shows soon!



Enjoy your holiday weekend everyone!

Finally Launched!

I've finally launched my baby that I've been working on for over a year. I've been so busy for the past year, now my business is shifting to social activities as I need to get the word out there.

I've set up a language exchange night in Minneapolis at Sauce Spirits and Soundbar. It's more of an inter-cultural exchange and the turnout has been awesome so far. I've decided to make it a regular occurrence so the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month from 6-9pm is set in stone. It's a great mix of locals and foreigners. It's great to watch friendships form. I know what it's like to be an expat and it's not always easy to get in with the locals.



The overall management of the website has been going ok. I'm on development team number 3.. and thinking I'll have to look for another after the current project is done. There is still so much to update and fix that it's a constant process. I've also hired a SEO team 2 months ago and have seen some results so far, but unless you are in the top 3, it's hard to see much traffic from it.

Most of my visitors are coming from Facebook, Craigslist, Couchsurfing, and friends.. Friends being the latter, most of my friends are not members and have not referred anyone.(I can easily see all of this) I guess word of mouth will have to come form people I meet and not the people I already know. My membership has not reached 700 yet. I wanted to reach 1000 by the end of the month and I still think there is hope.

I spoke to Ms. Smith's class last Friday at Fridley High School. It was nice to get out there and actually speak to a group of people about it. It was also cool to use a 'smart board'. Go technology... ! I never knew it existed. Thanks for having me.

I'm now trying to manage my time between watching the kids, managing and promoting the website and getting some beach time in. I've been to hidden beach 4 days in a row. I had my last night of my African drumming class tonight... now I have to buckle down with some work before sleep.

You should be all getting your first Exchange A Language newsletter! (exciting!)

Help me out and refer your friends through your email(couldn't be any easier)

Thanks to everyone that has joined and gave feedback!!

Tuesday night English class

I think I've made Tuesday evening English class night. I hadn't been there in a week so it was nice to see everyone. Ahmed, who usually translates a little for me has moved, but he was luckily visiting tonight. I taught 2 other men and Helima. The children were already sleeping. I did a class with the 3 of them, Ahmed joined in at the end. I forgot how fun beginner English classes are to teach. It helps when they have a good sense of humor. It makes me miss my teaching days in Spain. We went over basics, numbers, played bingo with the letters, practiced colors and using money. Helima is still struggling with her letters. Her 3s look like Ws and her 4s look like Ys and everything else is backwards. She understands using money really well, which surprised me. I think they said her daughter was in school today, but I couldn't quit understand what they were saying. I told them I was having an operation on Friday, but I was still planning on coming next Tuesday. Helima said she wanted to visit me in the hospital. She's so sweet, after we were done practicing using money(all in change), she tried to give it to me, saying, "for you." It was worth a dollar and half of it wasn't mine. For someone that has so little you wouldn't think she'd want to give it away to me. I told her she could keep it. They all seem to get along really well in the house, which I've been told isn't always the case since the Somalia is known as "Land of the feuding Cousins" for a reason. There is much separation among the people. I wish I could learn more about them, their families, their lives, their thoughts, their dreams. I will just have to wait until their English is better. I guess that puts the pressure on me, since they only really know letters, numbers and head n shoulders knees and toes.

What it's like to be a refugee

Although I believe that our world has hit a low point.. I'm convinced that things can and will get better. I strongly believe that in order to do this everyone needs to do their part. People need to make a difference in the world, no matter how small. That's why I have decided that I need to dedicate a portion of my life to helping others. I could make many excuses why this isn't a good time to volunteer, 'I'm so busy starting a business and working.. I just don't have time.' In reality we make time for whatever we want, no matter how busy we are. When someone tells you that they can't find time to go on a date.. it's because they aren't interested. That's all there is to it. And since I'm spending no time on dating.. I have time to volunteer. :)

I'm mentoring a family from Somalia through the resettlement refugee program of Lutheran Social Services. The mother and 2 small children arrived last Thursday. I can't imagine what they were thinking when I picked them up from the airport. The woman was put at high priority, which means she was probably abused, tortured, or raped. Most people stay in refugee camps for at least 8 years and at most 18 years. Most children that get resettled only know the camp life. This family was lucky to get out when they did. They fled Somalia to United Arab Emerates, then got a refugee visa to Malaysia, then spent the rest of their time in Thailand before coming here.

They speak no English, the mom has never been to school. This will make learning English more difficult, but not impossible. I gave a English lesson to everyone in the house(They are sharing the house with 4 other Somalians) on Sunday and another class tonight. I'm teaching very basic stuff; colors, days of the week, alphabet, numbers. The mom is struggling. She has to wrap her brain around the idea of writing and reading.. on top of speaking. She is writing some letters backwards. I brought them a box of toys and learning material. I taught them 'Head and shoulders, knees and toes.' They think it's hilarious. I've spent more time laughing with them during that one hour, then I have all day. They are great people. I don't have to speak their language to see that. When I leave they say, "Thank you sister."

I have no idea what it's like to have to leave your home because of violence. I have no idea what these people have gone through to get here. I just want to do everything I can to help them now.

Start up......let's get started

I haven't written a blog in so long. I didn't think I had anything interesting to write about... but lately, I think my life is pretty interesting. I don't need to live abroad or travel to have excitement in my life. (although I do miss it)

First off, ExchangeALanguage, my baby.. is slowly getting closer to launch. My developers have been hibernating for the winter, so little progress has been made. I hope they are awake now to finish, because I'm getting anxious/excited/frustrated/annoyed. We've been so close to launch for about 2 months now. I'm ready!

I'm getting good feeback on my facebook group, which makes me more anxious to launch, but I'm trying to at least use this time to prepare more for promoting and advertising.

My short film/branded commercial is still on hold.. we've been looking for actors since the end of December. Who new it'd be so difficult to find a good, bilingual actress to play the lead in Minneapolis? We have a few more auditions this week so let's keep our fingers crossed.

I have hope I can still launch this thing in the next week.. (I've been saying that for 2 months), but seriously, I mean it this time.