The End of an Era

I don't know where to begin. This has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Over the past 10 weeks/73 days/96 screenings, I have met some incredible people, and was inspired day after day, screening after screening.

Before tour began, I really had no idea what to expect. I had heard some stories, and rumors of great contacts, but still didn't really know what that looked like. But how quickly I learned.

There were many happy times, many times where I almost died from laughing, many inspirational moments, a few sad ones, quite a few frustrating ones, but it's the fantastic ones that stick out to me the most. We spent some of this morning going through all of the amazing people who let us sleep on their floors, couches, and beds, trying to come up with one not as wonderful person, but we were unable to complete that task. Everyone was just too nice to us (not that it is an issue!).

Tour Recap:
We started week 1 in San Diego, and for our first screening, we didn't even have the documentary that we were supposed to have. The high school kids were still all very receptive of the work that we were doing, and were pretty cool to hang out with. Our second screening was with the lovely people over at Invisible Children (who are doing great work themselves!). It was the first time that the documentary had ever been shown, and it was pretty rough, but at the same time amazing, knowing that there was more to come soon! The third and final screening in SD was at the University of San Diego, a chapter school, with some pretty sweet people running the chapter!

From San Diego, we drove 6ish hours overnight to Phoenix, Arizona for an early morning screening at a high school. Those kids were also extremely receptive, and ended up donating a lot of money towards TheHundred. We were told afterward that most of those donations were probably the lunch money of those students. What a sacrifice! Wow. We did quite a few high schools in the Phoenix area that were like that one. The University of Arizona in Tucson was also a good one-- the crowd may have been small, but it was mighty! The 10 people who showed up really cared & were passionate about human rights.

During our time in Arizona, we made a quick trip over to New Mexico to visit my lovely hometown, Los Alamos, where we showed the film at the high school to several history classes throughout the day. I hate to admit it, but my expectations were pretty low going into it, and I was afraid of being disappointed. However, the students at LAHS definitely rose to the occasion! We met some super awesome students, and at lunchtime, four teams were able to raise over $250 for TheHundred! Wow. That night we screened the documentary to my home church, where another small, but mighty crowd showed up. It was really wonderful to see the response from people there!

After heading back to Arizona for a day or two, we drove up to Utah, somewhat overnight, slept in the van at a rest stop, and then finished the drive to arrive at Utah Valley University, where we were greeted with even more amazing people! Who knew the western part of the United States could have so many? (haha) We screened the documentary to a few high schools, as well as Utah State University and University of Utah. We had some crazy times walking around Salt Lake City, and even visited Temple Square.

We then drove up to Twin Falls, Idaho, where we stayed in a farmhouse. It was so much fun! The only downside were the bugs, but we survived them, so I guess it was alright! The people at the church there were super friendly and very generous.

As soon as we finished our last screening in Idaho, we embarked on a loooong overnight drive of 13 hours to get to Canada by noon the next day for a high school screening! We would have made it in time, but were stopped at the border for 2 1/2 hours. It was frustrating at the time, but definitely made for a great story for the remainder of tour. Canada was super sweet... and busy! Jane put her all into booking Vancouver (and she did great)! I only wish I had been able to see more of the city-- but we did get to do some sightseeing. We drove through Stanley Park, saw all sorts of bridges from all sorts of angles (West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Regular Vancouver, Burnaby). It was gorgeous, and I'm definitely going back for a real vacation someday. The people there were pretty cool too. They were understanding when we were late because of our little hold-up at the border, and the people that we met were all super nice & were very interested in what we were doing. Jane's mom fed us a lot (of Korean food, of course), which was delicious!

When our time in Vancouver, BC came to an end, we drove down back into America, had no trouble at the border at all, and then headed into Seattle! Normally (apparently) Seattle is super rainy and miserable, but the weather was really nice pretty much the whole time that we were in the area. We stayed with another Nomad's dad the first night, and while we were there, we played ping pong, pet the chickens, and saw cute pictures from when Caleb was tiny. We had some pretty sweet screenings in WA as well. UW was a fun one, as was Whitworth University (Morgan & Amy are cool people). I'm sure we went a few other places, but they are escaping me at the moment. Pastor John showed us around the culinary side of Seattle (burgers, coffee, ice cream), and then we did a screening for his youth group in Tacoma later in the week.

I took a few days off when we were in Portland, and Sean and Jane did some fun screenings, as well as set up a table at Kollaboration (a showcase for talent among Asian young-people, which happens to be run by one of the co-founders of LiNK). So that was sweet. Oregon seems like quite a blur, but I do remember going to Rogue River HS and University of Oregon, both of which were pretty awesome! We also stayed with a former Nomad, which is always a fun time, listening to crazy tour stories and just having someone who can relate to what we were going through.

From Oregon, we headed back down into California! Northern California & the Bay Area were good to us. We met some really sweet people, and were inspired by the response to the issue, especially at the smaller screenings. One that sticks out in particular was in Mammoth Lakes at the high school there. There were 7 people in the little classroom at the library across from the high school for an after school screening-- but they were all very interested in what we had to say. It was inspiring to see such a small group of people in such a small town that is fairly isolated 10 months out of the year (when it's not ski season) who were so excited about doing something to change the world. Throughout our time in the Northern half of the state, we met person after person who was passionate about the issue, which re-inspired us every time. As our time in Northern California came to a close, we went to one last thing- a benefit concert, where we met some more cool people, including a Christian rapper by the name of Mickey Cho. He was such an inspiration to us, and really got us ready for our time in LA. Sean purchased a CD from Mickey Cho, and he signed it, saying "to LiNK! Awesome working with ya'll! We'll change this world!" Wow. So incredible.

As soon as that concert was over, we drove about 4 1/2 hours to Santa Barbara to spend the night with one of Sean's old roadie friends, Devon. She was so sweet & pretty much forced Jane and I to sleep in her bed, since she knew what our sleeping arrangements were normally like. The next morning, we started our crazy week of 18 screenings! That's almost twice as much as a normal week (who booked that, I wonder...?). But somehow we survived that-- probably with the support and amazing-ness of the people that we met at each of those 18 screenings and lots of coffee. :)

The last three weeks of tour seem like such a blur. I was in charge of booking that portion of tour, so I was busy making contact with everyone, ensuring that the screenings would be the best quality possible, and finding housing every night that made sense so that LA traffic wouldn't kill us each morning (though it did anyway).

Like I have said many times, this tour has left me inspired beyond belief. I would like to thank each and every person we met for making this such a great experience for me. I would also like to thank everyone who donated anything from 1 penny to 1 $2500 check. The West Nomads were able to raise over $16,000 towards TheHundred, meaning we raised the funds for SIX North Korean refugees to be brought out of hiding and relocated to a safe country! How awesome is that? So thank you, Western United States & Canada (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California)!

:)

Giving Thanks While on the Road

What an interesting week. It has been the best and worst one of tour, all at once. How does that work, you ask? Well let me tell you...

We started out this week on Sunday with three screenings-- 2 at different churches and then one at a benefit show up in Ventura. At our first screening, the church handed us a $2500 check very discreetly, we almost missed out on the fact that they had just given us the funds to rescue a refugee, but realized it right before we left, and were able to thank them profusely. Sean and I both felt that we hadn't done our best during the presentation, but apparently the congregation was moved enough that they were awesome enough to save a refugee's life! Wow. What a great start to our week.

One downer was that LA traffic was awful this week. We barely made it in time to every single one of our screenings, no matter how early or late we left for it. Oh well. I suppose that's the life of an LA-er.

Even though it was the week of Thanksgiving, we had so many screenings! I'm not sure if people were more kind because it was almost the holidays, or because they are just awesome. I think it's the latter. I met so many incredible people at all of the screenings. Christina opened her home to Jane & I, even though neither of us was at the screening that she hosted. Jonathan allowed us to sleep on his floor & couch, even though it was just for 2 hours, since we had to get going at 4am to take Sean to the airport so that he could surprise his mom for Thanksgiving (so awesome- apparently she cried because she was so happy! Glad we could help out with that one).

Thanksgiving was wonderful! Jane & I joined Kevin's family for a lovely meal & some fun hanging out time. We played pool (where I lost royally... I'm pretty bad...) and ate lots of delicious pie-- pecan, apple, and pumpkin! I really loved exposing Jane to American-ness. We drove past a giant blow-up turkey the day before Thanksgiving as we drove to the beach to hang out, and all I could say was "Welcome to America! That's how we do things." Goodness. Some people are ridiculous. Though it was pretty awesome to be able to spend the day on the beach at the end of November. I do love southern California!

I wish I could say that the week ended as well as it started, but I got a very grumpy phone call this morning from one of our contacts, letting me know that he was angry with LiNK because we didn't have a North Korean refugee at our screening. Unfortunately, that's not what we do. Sean, Jane, and I are passionate about the issue, and that is usually all that matters. Apparently they were expecting a refugee, and when we did not deliver one, they were so disappointed that they want to take back all of their donations to LiNK, as well as never hear from us again. This guy even was angry that there was a "white American boy" and a "Canadian girl" on stage talking to the people about North Korea. Really? I don't appreciate being told that I can't talk about the issue because I'm not North Korean, let alone Korean in general. Such a disappointment for us :( But I guess there has to be ONE crazy contact out of 100. We had been having such a good roll so far, so it was pretty inevitable. Luckily, Justin defended our honor, and the situation was made better.

But hey. We are ending our week on a positive note! Our regional manager, Brenda's friend is going to India on a mission trip, and is holding a benefit concert tonight to raise funds for her trip. So we are relaxing and about to listen to some good music to end our week on a high note!

Crazy times. Only one more week left! Next stop: more of LA and OC! :)

Become a Nomad!!!

It's Your Turn To Speak: Apply to be a Nomad from LiNK Global on Vimeo.

Applications due November 30th! :)

LA. Week 1. Crazy.

This week went by super fast! We have had 15 screenings over 5 days, a day off today, and then 3 more screenings tomorrow! It was totally worth it though. We have met some incredible people over the past week. Foothill Tech HS started out our week, then off to UCSD in the same day (Liz Choi & here chapter are awesome!). On Tuesday, we had Cal Lutheran & SBCC, both of which were much better than we ever expected, which was so awesome! Wednesday was pretty much our day from hell... Jane & I stayed at a high school all day while Sean went off to CAMS and LACC. After all that, we met back up after sitting in traffic for forever, and split up again to go to Oxy & College Ave. Whew. After all that, we stayed with Rod, who was a really awesome guy who lives in the hills that overlook LA. What a view! He also had a lot of cats, and a lot of musical instruments. Which was super sweeeeet!

Thursday started out with us going back to CAMS, and then heading to Cleveland HS, where there were about 50 kids for an afternoon screening! Wow. They were all pretty cool, especially the KSA club members. In the evening, we went to the church that rescued Yoon Hui over the summer! They were very humble & very excited to see the documentary. As soon as that was done, we headed over to Pomona, where we met up with one of Sean's friends from IC to go see the midnight premier of Harry Potter! I won't spoil it for anyone, but it is somewhat different than the book (as usual). That is all.

On Friday, we started out our day slightly tired, but pumped after seeing HP7(part1). We went to Thoreau HS, a continuation school with about 70 kids. They all squeezed into one classroom, and were intrigued & interested in what we had to say about North Korea. They asked some great questions, and some of them stayed after we were done (which was the end of their school day/week/start of Tgiving break) to talk to us some more! From there, we headed to Glen A. Wilson HS, where a LiNK chapter just formed about a month ago. We had no idea what to expect, but as soon as we showed up & saw the "Welcome LiNK Nomads" sign, we knew something amazing was about to happen...

While planning for this event, the chapter had approximated 20-50 students to show up for their after school screening. However, 19 teachers offered extra credit for the screening, and they did an amazing job at promoting it. So on a Friday, after school, 200 kids showed up to watch "Hiding"!!!!!!!!!!! Wow. Those girls were really underestimated by the administration. Not only were there more than expected, but they didn't all fit into the classroom! So we moved the screening into the largest room on campus (where they were all still stuffed in like sardines), and had a super awesome screening!

After all that, we drove down to Torrance for our last screening of the day for a youth group. They were all super sweet & asked a lot of questions, even the cute little 6th graders! I also tried Kimchi for the first time last night... Let's just say it's not my new favorite food... haha.

Fun times. Today we have the day off, so we are just bumming around in Torrance! Tomorrow is going to be a crazy one as well, along with the next 3 days up until a quick little break for Thanksgiving. :)

Next 2 weeks: Greater LA/OC!

Westside Ministries

11/7/10

Before arriving this morning, we knew two things about this ministry: they were poor, and they had somehow managed to rescue a refugee over the summer. We were excited to share the story of Myung-Su, the refugee who they funded. As soon as we arrived, we knew that these were amazing people. The pastor was in the kitchen in sweats, making french toast for breakfast for the entire congregation. Quite a few people were even wearing their "Run DMZ" shirts that they had purchased over the summer.

As we shared the stories of the five refugees, we got a response like none other that we had seen before. When Myung-Su beat Justin at arm wrestling, they cheered, as if he was their son, and he had just scored the winning touch down at the football championship game. A similar cheer sounded when the Chinese police officer overlooked the refugees on the bus.

This group was so impressed by the change that they had made in just one individual's life, that they decided to continue their commitment to this issue, and to LiNK. They wrote us another $2500 check to rescue a second refugee, and pledged to raise the funds to rescue an additional THREE refugees by January 1, 2011! We were blown away by their generosity, not because they rescued 2 refugees already this year, but because these people in the ministry are not rich. They are literally giving all that they possibly can, and probably even more than that. It's the poor helping the poor. Many of the people originally came the the United States illegally, so they understand the situation-- many of them have lived or experienced the same stories.

I was (and still am) so inspired by this small, humble group. Honestly, now I feel like I'm not doing as much as I possibly can for this cause. This experience has inspired me to give the remaining four weeks of tour more than my all.

Around noon today (11/8), we got a call from our VP (Justin), letting us know that not only had that ministry done all of that yesterday, but this morning, they sent off another $2500 check, and had received a $10,000 check, bringing their total refugees rescued to SEVEN since July!

Wow, Westside Ministries. I am touched by your generosity. There is just no way to say Thank You enough. If everyone in the world was as kind and as wonderful as you, this world would be an incredible place.

Wondering Whether there will be Weather

I still don't believe people when they tell me that it rains all the time in Seattle. This is my second time visiting the lovely (supposedly rainy) city, but have yet to experience the miserable weather!

Washington was pretty cool. The people that we met were awesome! Our first night, we stayed with a fellow Nomad's dad... and played some intense games of ping pong! Quite enjoyable :) The next day, we were shown around the delicious side of Seattle by Pastor John, who took us out to eat burgers, ice cream, and coffee. Also quite enjoyable :) We even stayed with Ms. Robb, who had a beautiful view at her house, overlooking the ocean, including a very short walk down to the beach, where we proceeded to see seals swimming & ate some brie and crackers. Yum. We also stayed with Sean's brother's family... with their cat that has thumbs, and their dog that just loves everyone (and Sean's adorable niece... need I say more?)

On Thursday, we drove over to Spokane for a screening at Whitworth University. Wow. The students there rocked my socks off! Amy & Morgan were great hosts, and sent us off with goodies for the road. The students even stuck around for an hour after the screening to talk to Jane & I about getting involved with LiNK :) Fun times.

Next Stops: The beautiful, rainy state of Oregon
Also Seattle... tomorrow morning. We have to leave Portland at 4:00am to get there. Hmmm....

Oh Canada!

What a whirlwind trip to Jane's home country/home town! It all started with the 13 hour overnight drive to even get here... then we got stopped for 2 1/2 hours at the border (Our big black van is sketchy? What?). We were a few minutes late for our first screening, but they were very understanding, and loved the documentary. The PRINCIPAL even commented on what great speakers we are. That was definitely something awesome to hear after a looooong drive. It made it very-much-so worth it.

After our 5 days here in Canada, we as the West Coast team, have officially raised enough funds through donations to rescue ONE refugee! :) Thank you to San Diego, Phoenix/Tucson, Los Alamos, Orem/Provo/Logan/Salt Lake City, Twin Falls, and Vancouver for making that possible!

As soon as I finish writing this, we are off for one last sight-seeing adventure here in Vancouver (to Stanley Park), and then we are off to Seattle, Washington. The past 3 weeks have been wonderful and inspiring, and I'm excited to see what the next 2 weeks have in store for us before we head down back into California! :)

Hiding Teaser (part II)

This teaser is the first 2 minutes of the film. Wow.

Hiding Teaser II from LiNK Global on Vimeo.

Week 2: The week of opposites

After heading back to Arizona from New Mexico, we got to hang out with & meet some awesome people! Arizona was quite enjoyable, though rather warm, I must say. So on Monday night, we started driving to our new location... Utah! We ended up spending the night in the van, because it was raining (which ruined our camping plans...). Utah was pretty much the exact opposite of Arizona-- hot & dry turned into cold & rainy. Even though the weather was opposite, the people were just as cool!

The first night after sleeping in the van, we were put up in a hotel! (Quite the opposite there as well). We also met Mike, who has a stuffed Pokeman that matches the one traveling with us in our van :) Alex was a fun person to hang out with-- she even came with us when we visited the Mormon Temple in downtown Salt Lake City! We had some fun times together.

On Saturday, we drove further north to Twin Falls, ID. Our introduction to this lovely town in the middle of nowhere was watching 14 crazies jump off of a perfectly good bridge into a 500 foot deep canyon... with parachutes, of course. It was pretty crazy & intense! We met up with Bryan, who took us to the farm house that would become our home for the next 2 nights... complete with stink bugs & spiders living in the basement (well, the whole house, really). But it was super fun & super nice! The people at The River Christian Fellowship were so receptive to our story, even though we were only able to show 1 story of hope (not the full documentary). Tonight we will be showing the doc to their young adult group (and possibly some of the other members of their congregation).

Overall, Utah and Idaho have been pretty awesome! Next stop: VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA! I can't wait for Jane to show us around her country (well, at least the very small part that she grew up in)! :)

Rainy Utah

Well, Utah... You are a fun & interesting place. We spent the greater part of this afternoon in Temple Square... and learned about all sorts of interesting things! We saw a giant 15-foot statue of Jesus in space, toured the LDS Conference Center (that holds 21,000 people!), and saw a miniature model of the Temple.

When we first came into Utah, it was about 1am... We were going to camp in Kanab, but it was pretty sketchy. So instead, Sean drove for an additional 3 hours to get us to a random rest stop in the middle of nowhere, where we slept for about 4 hours in the van. We then woke up & continued on to Orem for a screening at Utah Valley University. We've had some great screenings here in Utah-- the people are all so nice.

We've also had some crazy fun times here. Sleeping in the van is always an adventure-- and it was raining the whole night-- relaxing, but unfortunate for our original plan of camping. We have seen some beautiful sunsets (and sunrises), especially here in Utah with all the mountains & lakes.

One of our contacts (Mike), also has a stuffed Pikachu, which was RATHER exciting. The West Nomads & Mike are clearly soul mates. That is all about that. Though right now we are watching Star Wars with Alex (and quite a few other people). It's always a fun time!

We have the next three days off, so I'm really excited to just hang out & get some stuff done. Today we did some sightseeing in Salt Lake City. Tomorrow we are going to drive up to Idaho (Twin Falls) to continue our trek towards the North! And in just 4 short days, we will be in CANADA!!! I'm pretty stoked about that.

First Week on the Road

What can I say? The West Coast has, so far, proven itself to be the Best Coast (sorry Brenda, but it's the truth). We have met some of the most amazing people, from San Diego to Phoenix to Tucson to Phoenix to Los Alamos to Tucson! They have fed us delicious food, given us comfortable places to sleep, taken us around town, been interested in what we have to say & in what we are doing, and have overall just been amazing.

In Phoenix, we met some super inspired kids who were so interested in our cause. They know what's up, and they can relate because they know people in very similar situations (minus the refugee part-- but they know the "economic migrant" part).

Tucson was also exciting. Our screening at U of A was crazy! The room that was originally reserved for our screening ended up being given away to another group for a seminar... so 10 minutes before our screening was supposed to start, we found another room to utilize. Our contacts there were so great, being flexible & helping us out as much as possible! After the screening we ate ate eegee's in Tucson (a local restaurant chain)-- they serve the best drinks! It is basically a mix between a slushie and an icee. Wow. So delicious. Shaina (our host) tried to take us to Seguaro National Park (with the GIANT cacti), but the park was closed by the time we got there. So instead, we laid on a bench and looked at the stars (For you Californians & other City Folk, stars are bright, burning balls of gas in the sky that are absolutely amazing).

We headed up to Los Alamos, NM after we finished up in Tucson and Phoenix, arriving at 1:30am at my parents house. They were so sweet-- all of us had sheets on our beds (or the couch), and in the morning, my mom baked us Company French Toast, which is bascially the best breakfast that has ever been made in the history of the world (I'm not biased or anything, I promise... haha). LAHS was super cool. I am so proud of my former high school. The kids were so attentive & many of them were extremely inspired (in fact, some of them inspired US because they were so cool). My home church was also super cool. They know their stuff up in Los Alamos, and knew the questions to ask and the things to say. It was nice to know that they now understand what I'm doing & what LiNK is all about. I'm glad we were able to share my passion with the people that I know and care about.

I was also invited to do a radio interview for a christian radio station in Santa Fe/Albuquerque (KKIM). It was basically like an intense 15 minute Q & A session. It was really great to be able to get the word out throughout New Mexico about what we are doing! We have another radio interview when we are in Idaho... and maybe a few more will come through (?)

We are just arriving in Tucson for another screening tomorrow. Valerie (our host) has already made herself identifiable as an awesome person! She is so prepared for us to come already, and has thought out every minute detail, even what we want to do tomorrow afternoon (hiking, sight seeing, other fun activities). She is such a sweet lady & we haven't even met her yet!

Even though this is just the first week, I'm pretty sure this tour is going to be amazing (at least I'm hoping so!) Things I'm looking forward to: Camping on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, visiting Vancouver, and having (so far) 15 screenings in one week in LA (and it's not fully booked yet), and meeting lots of awesome & inspired new people! Crazy & fun times! :)

San Diego!

I'm starting to wonder why I didn't go to school here (kidding). It's so nice! Everything is right next to the ocean... no complaints here! Last night we stayed with some of Sean's friends from Invisible Children (another non-profit who does some cool, cool stuff in the realm of social justice-- check them out!) We had a really great time with them, talking about our awesome organizations and the great work that we are both doing.

This morning we decided to start to check out the city, and drove down to the USS Midway & checked out the giant statue of the sailor kissing his girl (see picture). It was great fun!

Our first screening of tour was at High Tech High in San Diego-- the kids there were pretty great! Unfortunately, the documentary ("Hiding") still wasn't finished, but they were troopers & watched Seoul Train instead.

Now we are hanging out in Balboa Park. It's so beautiful here. We're loving the San Diego weather & scenery! I can't wait to meet more people & to do more screenings (especially once we get "Hiding!"-- on SUNDAY).

Next screening: Sunday in San Diego. Organized by the Invisible Children Regional Managers :)

LAUNCH NIGHT!

It is [almost] time. Tonight, we are celebrating all of our hard work with a launch dinner & [hopefully] watching the [hopefully] completed documentary & then packing up the vans! Apparently we will be here until at least 2am tonight (well, tomorrow morning, really). That's all for now... time to get busy! :)

2 DAYS TO LAUNCH!

The West coast team is gearing up for a great tour! So far, we have 51 screenings booked, well on our way to our goal of 70-100 screenings over the next 10 weeks. We are super stoked for our first week on the road-- we will be in San Diego. Perhaps will will check out such awesome things as the San Diego Zoo, the pristine beaches, and maybe even Sea World (assuming it's all free, of course...)

After that, we will head to my lovely hometown of LOS ALAMOS for screenings at LAHS & Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church on October 1st! (So all of you Los Alamos people have no excuse to not be there... unless, of course, you do have an excuse). I'm really excited about that-- New Mexico was kind of my pet project during booking, since we weren't supposed to go there originally.

After New Mexico, we head back to Arizona, then Utah, Idaho, Vancouver (Canada), possibly Montana, Washington, Oregon, and then back to California! I am super excited for launch day, for all 4 LiNK vans to head out on the road together! It's going to be pretty epic :)

Oh and hey. The documentary might even be ready by the time we launch... it's in the final production stages (fine tuning, etc)!

:)

And the Countdown Begins...

We launch for tour in T-4 days. Crazy!!! (Well, that is assuming we get at least 70 screenings booked by Thursday). This weekend has been crazy busy, but fun :) On Friday, we went to an Asian-American "Rock the Vote" event at the Ford Theater... and got to meet Lisa Ling and her husband, while supporting voting! It was put on by one of LiNK's donors, so we got to meet her as well.

On Saturday, we went up to Simi Valley for a screening of "Inside North Korea" at a church, kind of as an end to the summer tour. It was nice to get to see a screening in action, espeically since the executive leadership team were the ones who did the actual presentation-- so we just had to observe. Since we were up in that area, I was able to spend some time in T.O. for the last time before heading off on the road. Fun times!

Today, we went to another donor's house for what was supposed to be the premier of "Hiding." Unfortunately........ it's not done yet :( So our host showed us a documentary that she made & is releasing shortly, called "Macho Like Me," about her experiment to transform herself into a man, and experience the world from the Men's perspective for 6 whole months. It was a great film & some interesting insight into the opposite sex (and it was quite amusing, too). We viewed it at her house... which actually has a built in movie theater. By far it is the nicest house I have ever been to. Daaaang.

When we got back from that, we washed & waxed & cleaned out the 2 vans that are not in the shop, so as to get them ready to go out on the road! Now they are all shiny & pretty (just need to be vacuumed). Too bad 2 of the vans are still in the shop, including the one that (we assume) the West team will be driving around the country!

This week will be full & busy of more booking, and one last mock screening. Tomorrow night is our pass/fail mock, so hopefully that will go well! :)

ring.That.BELL!

The west team (Kelley, Jane, Sean)


Wow. It's Wednesday... and it feels like the past three days have actually been about three weeks long from the long hours here at the office. But it will all be worth it in about a week when we launch tour!!!

Here is how my week has been so far:
Monday: Work 7am-9:45pm (2 hours of break for lunch & dinner)= 12 3/4 hrs
Tuesday: Work 7am-9:30pm (2 hours of break for lunch & dinner)= 12 1/2 hrs
Wednesday: Work 7am-10:15pm (2 hours of break for lunch & dinner)= 13 1/4 hrs

In 3 days, I have almost worked a normal-person's 40 hour/week full-time job (I've got 38 1/2!). Not to say that that is a complaint at all! I have been doing some cool stuff & talking to some really amazing people. Yesterday, we got to head over to USC to the Korean Studies Institute for a session with the director there, David Kang. It was really insightful, and also made me reconsider the places that I want to apply for grad schools (which, mind you, I will be doing from the road).

So the reasoning behind our long hours is so that we have plenty of time during the day to book screenings and then we do various trainings at night. We have been doing Mock Screenings to prepare for once we are on the road (Intro to the film, the Pitch/how to get involved, and Q&A). That is definitely a fun time (and also extremely nerve-wracking).

Now here is the current count for screenings (by region):
West Coast (Tomato*Coast) 33
Northeast (NorthPeace) 33
Southeast (SouthBeast) 28
Heartland (aka Midwest) 43

The first team to get to 50 is being treated to Chic-fil-a from our VP, Justin! In order to actually launch next week, we have to have 70 screenings booked PER ROUTE! So the next week will be full of wishing, waiting, and pestering people to get their screening agreements in! And of course, for each agreement that comes in, we get to ring.That.BELL to signify that we got another screening booked! :) So far, I have had the awesome privilege of ringing it 4 times... and I'm hoping for about 24 more times!

Sooooo... If you want to follow the West Coast (Tomato*Coast) team, you can check us out on Facebook (West Nomads), follow us on Twitter @westnomads (https://twitter.com/westnomads), or read our Blog (http://west.linkglobal.org/)!

Well, time for another mock screening!

Booking Hiding

Hiding Trailer from LiNK Global on Vimeo.

Well, I seem to be having a more positive response from people about booking a screening of "Hiding." I booked my first screening on Thursday, and have gotten a very positive response from most everyone since then. I'm pretty sure I am expecting 2 or 3 (or even more) screening agreements to come in tomorrow!

The exciting news about all of this is that the TRAILER for "Hiding" came out this weekend! They called us into the office on Friday night at about 11:30pm to show us the completed version, and it was released on our website last night around midnight! It's super sweet, and everyone should watch it!!! :) Enjoy...

Late to bed, early to rise

Booking.

That is my life for the next 2 1/2 weeks. I have been & will be trying to convince people how important hosting a screening is. The documentary that we are showing portrays the stories of five North Korean refugees who are in hiding in China, and their stories of escape to Southeast Asia.

These particular refugees were rescued as a part of LiNK's "The Hundred" campaign, where the goal is to rescue 100 refugees as soon as possible. The five who this documentary is about were able to be rescued directly as a result of the summer tour & the hard work that those Nomads put in. The funds that they raised went straight to a rescue mission, and made it possible for us to create, & soon show, this documentary!

So now the fall tour has to show up those summer Nomads! Our goal for EACH team is to raise enough money ($2500 for 1 refugee) to save 4 refugees-- 16 total!

We are also working to bring about greater awareness about the human rights crisis in general. I know that even though I am a highly educated person, a year ago, I had absolutely no idea about this human rights crisis, even though I was studying North Korea in depth in my International Relations class. I am so grateful for the opportunities that I have had, and especially for the ones that have led me to this organization.

So to impress upon you the urgency of this situation, (and our regional managers impressing it upon us), the Nomads now are in the office at 7am, and working until at least 5pm each night. Today we got to meet Laura Ling, one of the journalists who was captured on the North Korea-China border last spring. She told us her story & really encouraged us to keep on keeping on, which was really great.

And now, back to booking screenings :)