Last Thursday- I Took Someone to Holland
I met a family via mutual friends here in Korea, whom I later found out (after they had suspected it) that their son has autism (very recent diagnosis). Having had much experience in the field of autism and its partners and because they had heard of my professional background, they were really interested in meeting with me. I met with them over dinner at their house, but before I could, some prep work had to be done. I could definitely speak as a relative (twice over) of someone who has autism and as an educator. But something is missing. I can't speak as a parent. So quite some time ago I decided to contact the moms in my life who have background knowledge (I wrote about this in a previous blog posts http://theoscblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/going-to-holland.html) because they can offer that parental advice, experience, and piece of mind. I went to this dinner with my handy-dandy notes and I'm glad it went better than I had expected. I was able to put their minds at ease, which I must say was a great feeling. The biggest piece of mind I think I could offer them just came from my own observation, "Remember, some of the things he's doing aren't because he's autistic, they're because he's three years old. That's the stuff three year olds do." I think I was able to get them to differentiate that not everything is autism, it's the genuine common thread in the human experience.
I feel they are now able to "go to Holland." http://www.child-autism-parent-cafe.com/welcome-to-holland.html
Want to help autism? You can help by downloading this fine piece of media. Everybody wins! http://theoscblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/sarah-silverman-legends-of-autism-award.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last Friday - Cheonan
Last Friday was a lot of fun. After a half day of work (out of a series of 4 consecutive half work days, thank you midterms), the English department headed out for dinner in Cheonan. Cheonan is a city within Gyeonggi provice (where I live), but I'd never gone. It was strange because my friend Mel (from http://melinsouthkorea.blogspot.com/) had just told me about how she abruptly ended up in this city a couple days earlier. We went to this great restaurant inside a mountain by a couple of universities in Cheonan. The restaurant was great and the food (along with the makoli) was a plenty. After this, the "young teachers" went on a hike. That was tiring. Having eaten so much before was not such a good idea, but after it was done, I can now say I've hiked in South Korea. Afterwards there was a gathering at Mel's where she made an awesome vegetarian meal followed by rounds of Catchphrase (a game I MUST own when I get back to the US) and You Don't Know Jack (remember that one?).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday- Up & DoWn
This day started out fine. A great dinner for the "mayor of Korea", our friend Mr. Bruce Lee who celebrated the 10th anniversary of his 25th birthday. Moti Mahal Indian food, you can never go wrong with the restaurant. Another event followed after. Some stuff happened there which left some damages, but time heals all. I just hope things get better in that respect.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sunday - Blossoms
Sunday was new day. I had made plans to go to the Pyeongtaek Flower Festival in Anjung and it was a lot more than I had expected. It was fields and fields and more fields of wonderful plants from all over. There were exhibitions set-up, even animals too. I was thrilled when I saw the albino boa, I always wanted a snake as a kid but my mom had a phobia, so instead we compromised and I got smaller snakes with legs, or as the rest of you call them: lizards. I had a lot of fun there and a great meal soon followed.
Side note: this was my first experience taking a city bus in Korea, almost made it the whole year without it happening, but I will say that after being on it, it would have been fine if I had never rode it
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monday- Damages
I had found out earlier that day that one of the foreign exchange students at our school (or as I lovingly call them, FESeseses), fell off a horse while going on a horse-back riding trip. Luckily it was nothing major and he only had some pain, nothing broken. Time to dust off and ride again.
Later in the afternoon I got some messages. I got an email from my brother, a Facebook message from my sister, and a status update from my cousin notifying me that my great-aunt Carmen has passed away. Of course I felt it, but I asked to leave school early because I needed to get home to use Skype and call my mom and she if she was okay, after all she was her niece. My mom was okay, as okay as you can be I suppose, but she was worried about what my grandmother's (my great-aunt's sister) reaction would be about the news. So I guess I was worried about my mom being worried about my grandmother. Everything is being arranged right now so that she is buried in her hometown of Mazatenango. You were a great woman aunt Carmen, loving, happy, fun, and hospitable, you will be missed and I feel fortunate and blessed to have been able to meet you. That three hour drive we took the last time I was in Guatemala keeps replaying in my head.
Rest in Peace to my great-aunt Carmen.
Later in the same day a few of us teacher friends in the area had some Mexican food together, it was good for us, we needed to get our minds off of some things if even for a brief moment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday- Three
Bad things happen in threes right? I hope they don't happen in eights, nines and tens. Well a problem arose with one of the FESeseses and another student at my school. Because the FES student came to me when the problem happened (drama between the two girls), solving this problem consumed most of my work day. I'm used to the FESs coming to me because as foreigners in South Korea, we tend to understand each other and I'm able to offer advice. Luckily, I only taught half of my classes this day, so I was able to be there for the FES and see that a solution be executed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday (today) - Skype Savior
Thank God Skype is around! That's all I have to say. This is helping this funk big time. I just had a great time in one of the best Skype conversations ever.
More info coming soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment