Chapter 8: A Vision

This week has been really busy with team-building that I haven't had the time to sit down and write a new entry. But since right now I'm sick I definitely have the time... I was home all day yesterday watching movies, eating below minimal amounts, trying to sleep. Today I'm still not feeling well.
Two nights ago, YY (my Chinese roommate) made dumplings from scratch, and we had people over to help. It's a Chinese tradition to get together with friends and to make dumplings at home, and it's really good and fun. But YY put some shrimp in one of the meat fillings for the dumplings, and I think that's what I'm having a problem with. Everything else that was in them I've already eaten before in Wen Shan and never had a problem, so I'm pretty sure it's the shrimp. But oh well; at least it's not food poisoning!

The baby on our BCI team. SO CUTE!

Fei Yen - 4-year old girl with cerebral palsy we work with in  PT center

Other than that, though, I've been doing really well. Monday and Tuesday my team and I went to the physical therapy center, even though we're on break and not working with the kids for the next few weeks. But during those couple days I started to work on a project! I have a vision for how I want to work with the autistic kids this year. The team working at the PT center wants to move the office to a larger apartment - it's three or four floors I believe. It's really ideal for the PT center because it has a wide open space on one of the floors with no walls, so it's one big room. But the place needs to be cleaned, and we also want to put decorations up. So, part of my job is planning for the decorating! But the decorations I'm making are going to be used for visual stimulation stations for the autistic kids. I want to make big posters in the shapes of trees and clouds, and I want a sun and a rainbow too. On each of these posters I want to put pictures and flashcards for the kids to practice with - shapes, numbers, objects, people, etc. They need practice with listening and visualizing their surroundings. They also need to learn general things like their shapes and numbers and colors. But what I also want to do with this is write songs for the kids to sing and listen to while they do these activities. Musical therapy is huge for autistic kids, and it is known to help them speak. So I want to incorporate as much music as possible into the daily routine of the kids at the center. It helps make their activities and exercises more fun and interesting. And if the songs are catchy, then they will be replaying them over and over in their minds and out loud so the words and sounds stick with them - and they learn! It's exciting for me because I love music! I may even teach Niu Niu piano. She loves music and is super sensitive to it, and it would be a privilege to teach her even just the basics. Hopefully my many years of lessons pay off!
So anyway, it's been really cool jumping right in with ideas and doing research for this project. My team leaders are really supportive of it, and I have hope that it will help bring out the personalities of the kids, help them feel secure in themselves.
I go back to Kunming on Wednesday. I'm excited to see my family! I miss them oodles!
Hope y'all are doing well. :)