A Lift From Mom
Neelum Chand carries her son, Shuvam, 1, through the Nutrition Rehabilitation Home (NRH) in Dhangadhi, Nepal, after lunch on Sunday, April 29, 2012. The NRH, a project of the Rural Women’s Development and Unity Centre, a Nepali NGO, works to restore malnourished children to health. Forty-one percent of Nepali children under age 5 are short for their age (stunted), according to the preliminary 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey. Stunting is an indicator of malnutrition, and ensuring children are properly nourished in the 1,000 days between pregnancy and age 2 are vital to a child’s development.
Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World
Raining & singing in the Pantheon
When my mom and I visited Rome, I couldn’t wait to visit the Pantheon. You see, not only is the building 2,000 years old, it also has a hole in its dome. When it’s sunny, light streams through this oculus; when it rains, water falls through. I could see storm clouds building in the distance. Maybe, just maybe, I’d be lucky enough to see it rain in the Pantheon? My mom said she was ready to go. I stalled. “Oh, look at those pretty engravings over there! Aren’t these crosses over here shiny?” Yeah. What I really wanted was rain, rain, rain. And finally, it came. And it was magical. The rain fell in slow, sparkling sheets. Most everyone stopped what they were doing and stared up at the dome. Flashes popped and cameras clicked. A couple umbrellas snapped open. A red-and-white chain kept visitors out of the direct path of the rainfall but many people still got wet. Oooh. Ahhh.
While at the Pantheon we were also lucky enough to hear a choir performing inside. A Catholic church group from Manhattan, Kansas (my birth city!) were walking from famous public building to famous public building in Rome and singing their hearts out for free. So lovely.
Happy birthday to Mom, August and Eun!
I threw my mom’s surprise birthday party at the beginning of May. Organizing this from afar was quite a task.
First, I had to lie to my Mom and tell her I couldn’t escape from DC for the weekend to celebrate a banner year birthday with her. In truth, I woke up early on a Saturday morning, drove down to Newport News and spent the morning of her party day picking up food from KFC, Domino’s and Mona Restaurant, a Korean restaurant that agreed to cater the bash even though they normally don’t serve such small parties. My sister and brother-in-law brought the cake and drinks.
Then, my Dad and I worked together to invite people to the party. Dad focused on church friends and I focused on Korean friends, many of whom don’t speak English. Ah, finally putting my hard-earned language skills to use for the first time in a while! I ended up leaving funny voicemails for almost everyone because no one picked up their phones. Luckily, enough people got the message and showed up.
Finally, I had to decide where to have the party. I haven’t lived in my hometown in a while and I’ve definitely never thrown a party there. I settled on the Virginia Living Museum, my niece’s favorite place to see her fishy friends Nemo and Dori (as well as furry and flying friend such as owls). Jennifer Turlington, the museum’s events coordinator, was wonderful in helping secure a party space and even coming up with the ruse for bringing my mom to the museum: why not have my Dad tell my Mom he was taking her to a flower show there? Not to knock my Dad too hard here, but I was suspicious my Mom would fall for this lie since flower shows aren’t exactly my Dad’s thing. Nevertheless, it worked. Jennifer posted a volunteer at the museum entrance. My Dad went up to the volunteer and said, “We’re here for the flower show,” which were the magic words for the volunteer to lead my parents through a side entrance, then down a path, then into a building, then down a hall into a classroom filled with all of us. Surprise!
The look on my Mom’s face was fantastic! She later said she wondered why she was being led to a “flower show” in a classroom in a building. She also said this was the best birthday she ever had.
August’s 8th birthday party in the beginning of June was a maelstrom of laughing, screaming, sugared-up kids exacerbated by a thunderstorm that led to much indoor horseplay and rowdiness. At the end, when everyone was gone and Eun and Marty were sweeping up and wiping down after their son’s celebration, they said, “See? No one ever tells you about THIS part of being a parent!” Haha! Those two crack me up.
Eun started out as my Asian American Journalists Association journalism mentor over 12 years ago. Over time we’ve become good friends to the point that I feel I’m a part of the Van Der Kim family: Eun, Marty, August and Reid (my godson). So I was thrilled to be at her 40th birthday party in mid July. The best part of the night? When Eun’s sisters-in-law appeared at the front door – they flew in from Arizona to surprise her!
Mom, the world traveler, in Paris
Doesn’t my Mom look so cute in this picture? This is as close* as she and I got to famous Paris monuments during what I’ve dubbed our “Catholic Extravaganza Tour,” a 2+ week adventure through pilgrimage sites in France, Italy and Germany. At this point in the journey – the beginning, that is – my Mom was still oh-so willing to let me photograph her. By the end, she was tired of her personal paparazzi. But hey! She now has some of the most awesome and candid vacation shots ever. I’ll be sharing more of them over the next couple weeks.
*We had planned to use our five-hour layover in Paris to venture into the city for lunch. But Air France didn’t cooperate with us. Our flight left DC late and we had just enough time in Paris to transfer from one airport to another, where we caught our next flight.
Cooking Korean food
Last weekend my Mom came to visit and taught me how to cook 멸치 볶음 (myulchi bokkeum), which is anchovies lightly friend in sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar and a small bit of maple syrup. I’m getting more into cooking and hope my mom will teach me how to create more Korean dishes.
(Above: That's me photographing while snowshoeing through a snowstorm. Picture by