The first day of school was
interesting. I didn’t really have a schedule so I kind of made my own schedule.
The first couple hours of school, my counterpart took me to the police station
and government center to register. It was a lot of him talking and me smiling.
I was then taken to a meeting at the developmental center, where I would have
gone in but it was indicated that I should wait in the hallway. After, I was told to go back to the room.
When I got back, rather than sit there, I started to observe classes. It was
interested to see the teacher sitting at their desks reading while the students
write in complete silence (again leftover Soviet techniques). One class was
awesome however. The teacher had each student stand, say their names and their
ages to their classmates. The students would then repeat the name of the
student. Not all classes had enough seats or desks for the students so some
shared.
When my supervisor got back we
communicated through my dictionary. It was clear that he is very interested in
doing projects with me and seems to want to start on these endeavors early. I
am very open to that as well. I told him I would get the life-skills books so we
could utilize them.
At lunch-time, after a delicious
meal with the crew at Fairfields, I was able to meet with the agency FLOM, a
Finnish organization that has programs with adults and children with
developmental disabilities. We talked to the director who seemed open to us starting
new programs within the organization. Since they have limited funding, they
seem to really appreciate volunteers. I will be interested to see how I can
collaborate with this contact!
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