Dreamy Weekend

On a day like today or tomorrow, I would wake up whenever I feel like it, consume some delights at Bakery Nouveau with my love, bike around beautiful Seattle with our ingenious Dahons, soak in the view and fresh air from up on a hill at Gas Works Park while H strums on the guitar, get pampered with massages from Gene Juarez, dine at one of the cozy sushi joints around town, and end the evening reading magazines at B&N. One can dream right? It’s actually a jam-packed three wedding weekend for us, but hope everyone else has a relax-and-unwind kind of weekend ahead!

One Week Countdown

Freedom

This Independence Day, freedom takes on a whole new meaning for me personally. :)

Have a FANTASTIC, FREEDOM-FILLED Fourth of July friends!

Taking Chances

I can’t believe I did this, but I did the craziest thing I’ve ever done and auditioned for Oprah’s OWN show. I know it might not be that crazy for some people, but for me, it skyrockets up to number one on my crazy-things-I’ve-done list.

More than anything, I did this to overcome my fears… growing up as a Preacher’s kid, I always had the pressure to be perfect. With that, came my obsessiveness of being a perfectionist as well as fear of what others think of me. Well, especially after my little bro passed away, I’ve felt the urgency to pursue my dreams and get over my fears. As I write this today, I still haven’t overcome them fully, but I’ve been giving myself internal pep talks through the years and doing this was a huge leap forward in fighting those demons (my fears). I kept on trying to convince myself not to waste my time by doing this – What will people think of me after seeing this? Do I sound funny? Do I sound cheesy? Am I making a fool out of myself? Is this dumb? But I knew if I didn’t, I would live with a lot of regret. So I kept telling myself that the worst that can happen is that I don’t make it and people think I’m crazy for even trying. If I really think about it, I might die of humiliation, but really, it’s not that bad. Or at least that’s what I tell myself. ;) Every moment that passes by, I’m reminded that my time here on earth is limited, so why not just try. Besides, anyone who achieved incredible things in life was only because they TOOK A CHANCE.

So I took my chance at something ridiculously unattainable and submitted my audition! I went in late in the game so I’m way behind on votes and it’s almost over. But if you believe in me, I’d love it if you would click on the image below, try not to laugh at my awkwardness, and vote for me (as many times as possible)! For extra credit, feel free to share my video with your friends/family/co-workers/communities/etc. Thanks so much for indulging me!

This audition is dedicated to my husband, mom, dad, and late brother for always believing in me.

I hope in some little way, by my doing this, it will inspire those of you reading, to take a chance on your own thing too. What are you waiting for?

Happy Father’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Snowy and Coco

I’m currently working on our “Best of GH Kim” post, but until then, I thought I’d bring you some cuteness to tie you over.

Snowy and Coco are on my lap right now to help me write this post. We’re doggy-sitting my parents’ dogs for an indefinite time, and we’ve definitely had to make a lot of changes around here for the past couple weeks they’ve already been with us. For one, I slung them over my shoulder in a camera bag while biking because I didn’t want to leave them at home.

A quick background on them: My mom was not into dogs because she was traumatized in her earlier years, but after we lost Paul, my dad and I thought it would be good to find a cute little dog for her. We decided Toy Maltese would be perfect. First came Snowy and then about a year later came Coco. They’re from the same mom so they’re sisters. Snowy is outgoing but has a lot of fear. Coco is shy but is fearless. They are both lovers and they are healers.

Below is a picture of the two darlings fresh after a bath (Coco on left, Snowy on right).

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter friends! Hope you have a beautiful day filled with only good things!

Thailand

Update: My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all the people who thought of me and prayed for me, and especially to my financial supporters: Sylvia/Matt, Veda/Jake, Kim ‘rents, Debbie, Jimmy, Jinyoung, Christine/Richard, Chung ‘rents, Jane, Anne/James, Ali, Leslie/Austin, Susie, Jane/John, Ambra/Andre, and Esther/Mike. You made this trip possible for me, and for that I’m eternally grateful. :.)

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Where do I start? So much happened during my trip to Thailand that I’m still in the midst of processing everything. It feels as though I’ve waken up from a bad dream of seeing real people live in such a way that nobody should. It’s one thing to hear about it, but it’s something else to actually see it firsthand and it just breaks you.

I’ve been having trouble expressing my thoughts and feelings into words and while editing these images, it felt like something was pressing against my lungs, making it hard for me to breathe.

Right when we got to Thailand, our team hit the ground running, er sprinting more like it. Our schedules were filled back-to-back-to-back with visiting businesses, factories, churches, bars, night strips, night markets, a small village and an orphanage all over five different cities in Thailand.

I photographed nine consecutive days and nights. There was some supernatural help right there because I’m usually wiped out after one wedding. Personally, it was a challenge to balance listening, learning, brainstorming, giving input, being in the moment, while also documenting all of it.

Our trip dealt with a lot of heaviness, but was sprinkled with moments of joy and hope. It helped to be surrounded by a group of amazing, passionate, and fun people.

The lowest part of my trip was after walking the streets of Pattaya, Rachel, Rhonna and I were walking down the hallway to our hotel rooms, and a man in his late 60s or older was walking down the same hall into a room with a Thai girl in her teens. Excuse my language, but I just wanted to kick him in the balls! The highlight of my trip was a spontaneous elephant riding adventure in a jungle!

We were asked to bring only a carry-on for our trip so I was forced to streamline my equipment. Coming from a girl who always shoots with two camera bodies and 4-5 different lens, this was not an easy feat. All images were shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and a 16-35mm f/2.8L lens. It was really hard to narrow down but below is just a small sample.

(below) A portrait of the world’s longest reigning current monarch, H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Thailand’s currency, baht.

(below) It’s inevitable for a bunch of Seattleites to make Starbucks the first stop in the morning. It was so needed though because the estimated total travel time from departure from SeaTac to arrival at the Bangkok guesthouse was 27 hours.

(below) I can’t confirm this, but I think there are more motorcycles than cars in Thailand. You’ll often see more than one person on one than not. Someone spotted a whole family piled onto one!

(below) We had to use outhouses at Phimai Christian Centre which reminded me of my younger days when I lived in Korea.

(below) Phimai Historical Park in Nakhon Ratchasima. The ruins were from the 11th century AD.

(below) Home group in a remote village of 30 homes.

(below) One of the ladies working at a silk factory. They work very long days in the heat with no air conditioning, doing physical labor. Wage is 170 baht per day, equivalent to $4-$5 US… so, about the cost of a Starbucks drink.

(below) Driving from Khorat back to Bangkok, normally a 4 hour drive, but even longer because of the “red shirt” protests, even involving blood.

(below) Boat ride on the river in Bangkok that one of the James Bond movies was filmed on.

(below) Since Thailand is made up of approximately 95% Buddhists, you see monks in random places.

(below) Obama siting in Thailand.

(below) A beautiful city on the outside, but on the inside, Pattaya is predominantly dependent on sex tourism, which causes the human trafficking. Our translators told us that pretty much anything and everything goes and no one does anything about it.

(below) Young Thai girl waiting while her 70-something year old “boyfriend” gets a feet fish spa. The fish eat the dead skin cells. Ew to all of the above.

(below) A man’s best friend who is sedated in order to make some money.

(below) Walking around, people constantly get in your face with these explicit menus.

(below) Live pole dancing from the window.

(below) Do they look like they want to be there? Imagine if one of them were YOUR daughter or sister or friend. To a lot of people in Thailand, they are.

(below) She’s not really a she. Holding hands down the street with the guy to “her” left.

(below) Girls this age should be sleeping by this time, not working on the streets. :(

(below) A shirt that says it all.

(below) A few of the guys and I went to visit the local orphanage. I’ve always wanted to adopt and seeing these precious children’s faces confirmed my heart even more.

(below) When it was time for us to leave, this girl wouldn’t stop crying when Craig put her down. We all wanted to take them home with us.

(below) Even before the trip, I secretly wanted to ride elephants because I knew it was a big touristy thing to do there, but I didn’t want to detract from our mission so I didn’t mention anything. It wasn’t in our original itinerary, but God totally hooked it up! Our translator Ying thought it would be good for our team to do something to lift our spirits so we got to ride the cute little guys in Chiang Mai!

(below) Just like there were lots and lots of motorcycles, there were lots and lots of dogs just roaming around. Usually, they were either laying helplessly on the ground or walking around like they’re beat from the heat, but this one was the first one I saw there that was semi-perky. Maybe because it was a young’n.

(below) My last Thai meal at the airport was mango and sticky rice. I took a picture of it because they shaped it so cute.

My team is still meeting regularly and preparing future steps and trips and there will be many opportunities to help. If interested, feel free to contact me.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’d rather carry on and not deal with something so hard since it doesn’t directly affect me. But the fact is, human trafficking is everywhere. The issue is huge and overwhelming, but it will only get worse if we sit in our comfortable homes and pretend that it’s not there.

Click here to see a slideshow of even more images.

From My Heart To Yours…

Earlier this week, one of my close friends Rachel and I were catching up over her yummy cooking.  She shared with me about a business mission trip to Thailand that she was planning on going to through her church (Overlake Christian Church). She would be part of a small select group to help fight human trafficking by means of intervention, prevention strategy, establishing business opportunities, and rescue while traveling to Bangkok, poor villages in the North, and Pattaya. I was thinking how I admired her and her heart, and then before I knew it, she was asking me to consider going as well. I was definitely caught off guard and immediately overwhelmed with thoughts like “Who am I to be able to do something of this caliber? and What could I even offer?” Basically, I was fearful. You see, I’ve never been on a mission trip before because I always served locally and felt that my mission and calling was always that – local. My heart went out for the street girls and boys in Thailand who sell their bodies daily, but I still leaned on not going because I could think of tons of reasons why I can’t. Rather, I would be more than content just being able to support Rachel. Nevertheless, I promised her that I would think and pray about it and get back to her by the end of the week with a decision. As I got in my car, I prayed, “God, if this is something you want for me, please show me the word “Thailand” before week’s end.” And that was that. Two mornings later, after I did my usual routine and caught up on emails, I logged onto facebook and the first thing I saw was someone’s photo album titled “Thailand”.  I was like, “Really God?” and sat there in amazement because I have never in my whole entire life received a literal sign like this.

So here’s the part where I get awkward because my initial inclination is to just pay for the mission on my own because I hate, let me rephrase, I LOATHE asking for money. This is very humbling for me, but I also know first-hand the joy that comes in giving.

If this purpose touches your heart in any way and you’d like to partner with me by praying for me, contributing financially, and/or giving me any tips on Thailand, please email me at Thailand@ghkim.com and I will give you more details.

Even as I type all this, I’m still having a hard time realizing that I’m actually going to be in Thailand in two months!

I’m scared, excited, and hopeful all at the same time. I don’t know what to expect, but I do anticipate a life-changing experience. After all, Hun’s photo mission trip to Turkey in 2002 was where he realized his love for me. ;)

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.

P.S. I was hesitant to post this on our blog, but after some thought, I asked myself why not? We post other personal things here and most of our clients book us because they get to know what kind of people we are through this medium.  Plus, a lot of our family and friends subscribe. If someone gets offended by this, I don’t know what to say except to please just think of me as a shy little girl scout kindly asking to support a cause if you choose to. No harm in that, right? :)