So as the title suggests life in Shanghai is starting to attempt to come together. I met with the SLP (speech language pathologist) on Wednesday. She showed me around her school, told me about the different students, and even included me in one of her group sessions. I'll be going back on Tuesday to basically shadow her for the day and we'll see what happens from there. She told me of a few different projects she'd like me to work on that all sound exciting. That being said, she seems like an extreeemely busy, semi flaky woman, so it might take a little while before everything settles down on that front.
Aside from that, I'll be taking my first Chinese class on Sunday. Originally I had hoped to survive by communicating in English and using hand gestures and the like but that seems less and less possible every day. Today it took me two hours to plan a trip to a Supermarket "City Shopper" that I was told sells western food. I whipped out my handy map and looked up each of the 7 branches. I couldn't decide whether to choose the one that was on the subway line near my house, the one that was the closest, or the one with the street name I could sort of pronounce. After a whole bunch of investigating, and too many reasons to bore you with, I ended up with only one choice - the street name I could pronounce. I headed out and hailed my own cab (sadly a huge feat for me). I made my best attempt at pronouncing the street correctly and handed the driver a big sheet of paper where I had written the number of the building I was going to. After a long ride, where, I think, he attempted to make conversation, I not only made it to my destination but spoke my very first words of Chinese in public- xiexie "thank you"! Yes, it is kind of a lame adventure for the likes of me, but it's a start.
On the way home I had a reaaaally tough time getting a cab (though I was offered two motorcycle cab rides, which is apparently normal here)but still felt energized from my mission accomplished. I was so pumped up, in fact, that, for the first time, I had the guts to push myself into a mass of Chinese people and order dumplings at one of the many street vendors. Boy were they good.
So, as of now, that is all the news that's fit to print. I promise that my future posts will be far more exciting.
All for him.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Thursday, January 03, 2008
My first week in China
So here I am in China. Sorry for the delay in posting but China censors blogs and makes it very difficult for me to even load this page. Going along with that, as of now, I can't read any of your comments so email me or post on my facebook instead.
Anywhoo, the flight here went really well. All together, including the trip to Chicago, the flight is about 17 hours long. Since I am a freak I slept for literally 15 of those 17 hours. It was delightful. I woke only to eat the airplane meals, which many of you know is one of my favorite parts about traveling. I was not disappointed. Going through customs was easy as pie. Will picked me up from the airport and we came home and celebrated a belated Christmas with the cutest little Chinese Christmas.
So far life in China has been good. The culture shock is definitely much more intense than in any of my other travels but I'm slowly getting used to it. The whole hacking and spitting thing is no joke. In the short time I've been sitting in my room, writing this blog I've heard a man hock up a loogie and spit on the street. Lines are also very difficult to deal with here. You literally have to fight for your place in line because people will push you out of the way. There are also waaay fewer white people here than I was expecting. I figured since Shanghai is such a big city they'd be everywhere. In my neighborhood there are none. In more touristy spots you'll see them every now and again. On top of that it doesn't seem like too many people speak any English. I've had two disastrous trips to the supermarket where the cashier would repeat something to me over and over again in Chinese while I stood there with a dumb look on my face. I think they may have both been asking for change. Luckily Will speaks Chinese so when we're together everything is quite fine. Unfortunately, he works a lot. I think with the shock of being out here and being intimidated by having absolutely no way to communicate (even my dictionary doesn't help much because the intonation here is so different and important)my adventurous side has taken a back seat and I'm spending a lot of time doing a lot of nothing. Another part of that is it's sort of nice to get to lie in my bed and watch 75 cent dvd's and know that I have nothing I have to be doing. That being said, Will works this weekend so I'm going to make myself, no matter what, get out there and see the sights. I also briefly spoke to the SLP out here today and will speak with her again on Monday. Hopefully that will pan out or I'll have to start working on finding some other type of job out here.
Thats it for now!
Anywhoo, the flight here went really well. All together, including the trip to Chicago, the flight is about 17 hours long. Since I am a freak I slept for literally 15 of those 17 hours. It was delightful. I woke only to eat the airplane meals, which many of you know is one of my favorite parts about traveling. I was not disappointed. Going through customs was easy as pie. Will picked me up from the airport and we came home and celebrated a belated Christmas with the cutest little Chinese Christmas.
So far life in China has been good. The culture shock is definitely much more intense than in any of my other travels but I'm slowly getting used to it. The whole hacking and spitting thing is no joke. In the short time I've been sitting in my room, writing this blog I've heard a man hock up a loogie and spit on the street. Lines are also very difficult to deal with here. You literally have to fight for your place in line because people will push you out of the way. There are also waaay fewer white people here than I was expecting. I figured since Shanghai is such a big city they'd be everywhere. In my neighborhood there are none. In more touristy spots you'll see them every now and again. On top of that it doesn't seem like too many people speak any English. I've had two disastrous trips to the supermarket where the cashier would repeat something to me over and over again in Chinese while I stood there with a dumb look on my face. I think they may have both been asking for change. Luckily Will speaks Chinese so when we're together everything is quite fine. Unfortunately, he works a lot. I think with the shock of being out here and being intimidated by having absolutely no way to communicate (even my dictionary doesn't help much because the intonation here is so different and important)my adventurous side has taken a back seat and I'm spending a lot of time doing a lot of nothing. Another part of that is it's sort of nice to get to lie in my bed and watch 75 cent dvd's and know that I have nothing I have to be doing. That being said, Will works this weekend so I'm going to make myself, no matter what, get out there and see the sights. I also briefly spoke to the SLP out here today and will speak with her again on Monday. Hopefully that will pan out or I'll have to start working on finding some other type of job out here.
Thats it for now!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
T-4 days until China
I cant believe that I am leaving so soon. I've been counting down for three whole months now but somehow I never reaaaally realized that the time would eventually come where I would actually be picking up and moving to China. I'm leaving Christmas morning and flying over the north pole, so hopefully they're will be Christmas movies and candy canes in my future. Wish me luck!
Oh yes, I now have skype and my user name is enidcoleslaw11. If you don't have it download it so we can phone chat for free while I am away!
Oh yes, I now have skype and my user name is enidcoleslaw11. If you don't have it download it so we can phone chat for free while I am away!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
My Favorite Client
The main child Ive been working with is named Ronald. He is 2.7 years old and has cerebral palsy. I absolutely love him. He is the cutest thing you have ever seen in your life and CP is the main reason I came here. He is totally nonverbal so I{ve set him up with a communication board. Basically I{ve drawn a million pictures of everyday objects (toys, food, clothes, etc.) and am teaching him to communicate by pointing to these pictures. Studies have shown that this kind of board helps a child to develop language skills whether or not he is ever able to actually talk. Im very e He is doing so well with it! He totally understands how to use it and his mother says he has improved at home too!
peace out
peace out
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Weekend
So my big plans to travel alone this weekend were foiled by my being a bit of a sicky. I suppose it was for the better because I was able to get to know a few people in my program I didn´t know very well.
On Saturday morning Annie, Miguelina, Dan and I headed to the bus station at 8:30 in order to catch a 9:00 bus to Coroico, a town 3 hours away. Our plan was to climb a mountain and then return to La Paz later in the night. We missed the 9am bus so we got onto another bus which would leave at 9:30. At 9:30 we realized that we were supposed to prepurchase tickets for the bus and ended up getting kicked out. We didnt get on the road until 10:30. We arrived at 2 and started hiking at 3. I, of course, was the queen of the mountain and had to keep stopping to wait for everyone. The hike was very hard, as it was uphill the entire time, but it was well worth it. The scenery was beautiful, I´ll post pictures later.
Today I went to a SPA! I had a 45 minute massage for under 23 dollars including tip. Then I spent 2 hours swimming in the pool, in the steam room, the jacuzzi and the sauna.
All for now!
On Saturday morning Annie, Miguelina, Dan and I headed to the bus station at 8:30 in order to catch a 9:00 bus to Coroico, a town 3 hours away. Our plan was to climb a mountain and then return to La Paz later in the night. We missed the 9am bus so we got onto another bus which would leave at 9:30. At 9:30 we realized that we were supposed to prepurchase tickets for the bus and ended up getting kicked out. We didnt get on the road until 10:30. We arrived at 2 and started hiking at 3. I, of course, was the queen of the mountain and had to keep stopping to wait for everyone. The hike was very hard, as it was uphill the entire time, but it was well worth it. The scenery was beautiful, I´ll post pictures later.
Today I went to a SPA! I had a 45 minute massage for under 23 dollars including tip. Then I spent 2 hours swimming in the pool, in the steam room, the jacuzzi and the sauna.
All for now!
Friday, June 08, 2007
Back by popular demand
Sorry for all you complainers. I have been very busy and havent had time to blog.
SO here is the update: Every morning I go to Cerefe, a school for children with special needs. My friend Marina and I work in one classroom with the children who are functioning at the lowest level in the school. We work with all of the children but are each assigned 1 specific child who is considered to be our client. Mine is Mauricio, an 11 year old boy with Down´s Syndrome. To be quite honest the whole morning placement is chaotic and not well supervised. We tend to have very little idea what we are doing, the teachers leave the children alone for long periods of time and the children rarely show up to school.
My afternoon placement is much cooler. I have 2 of my own clients. The first, and my favorite, is Ronald, a 3 year old with Cerebral Palsy. I´ve created a communication board ( a way of communicating using pictures), and am teaching him and his mother how to use it. He is nonverbal and at this point unable to walk, but he is really really smart and is learning to use the system pretty quickly. My second client, who I really dont like too much, is a 2 year old who looks like he is 6 months old. I´m basically doing play therapy with him.
THATS ALL FOR NOW
SO here is the update: Every morning I go to Cerefe, a school for children with special needs. My friend Marina and I work in one classroom with the children who are functioning at the lowest level in the school. We work with all of the children but are each assigned 1 specific child who is considered to be our client. Mine is Mauricio, an 11 year old boy with Down´s Syndrome. To be quite honest the whole morning placement is chaotic and not well supervised. We tend to have very little idea what we are doing, the teachers leave the children alone for long periods of time and the children rarely show up to school.
My afternoon placement is much cooler. I have 2 of my own clients. The first, and my favorite, is Ronald, a 3 year old with Cerebral Palsy. I´ve created a communication board ( a way of communicating using pictures), and am teaching him and his mother how to use it. He is nonverbal and at this point unable to walk, but he is really really smart and is learning to use the system pretty quickly. My second client, who I really dont like too much, is a 2 year old who looks like he is 6 months old. I´m basically doing play therapy with him.
THATS ALL FOR NOW
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