Samarkand Happy Memorial Day weekend to everyone! Our weekend was spent sitting on a train, wandering about the city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, sightseeing, and shopping. I have to say that although being a tourist and sightseeing is fun, one weekend is enough at a time! I’m glad we are back in Tashkent and getting ready for another (half) week. We visited several popular places around the city, learned about the history from our tour guide on Saturday, and spent probably too much time in little shops within rooms of a historical mosque that used to be used as classrooms. Now they [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday and Thursday Pictures coming soon Some fun things lately: 1. Taking action photos on our porch 2. Seeing Swan Lake, the ballet, in a nice theater in town on Weds evening 3. Eating locally made ice cream almost daily from the corner store for about 30 cents 4. Being crafty in our apt preparing things for the orphanage 5. Going really fast through a lot of traffic when the professional driver drove us to the orphanage one morning when we were extra late 6. Exploring the neighborhood like children, marveling at all of the things that are different from the [View Full Entry]

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Monday Today we encountered some frustration and discouragement, as reality has begun to sink in about how much we will really be able to accomplish. After today we now have 4 more days left at the orphanage, and so much to do. Next week we are going to be at the neurological hospital for children. This morning started with an opportunity to use our flexibility and go with the flow skills. Our interpreter was called to a meeting at the last minute this morning, as some MTI staff are leaving tomorrow and a project proposal for the next fiscal year has [View Full Entry]

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Weekend fun Pictures coming soon... Saturday: Tourist stuff We woke up late, and I decided to go for a run in the yard, as I think I was going through running withdrawls. I’ve been doing some other exercises in the morning that have made me quite sore in places I haven’t been sore in a long time, to try to make up for running. But nothing compares, and then I’m just left stiff and sore! So, I ran for 20 minutes or so and listened to my I-pod in the 30 yard long space our house lies in, surrounded by a [View Full Entry]

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Day 4 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11-14 God has a plan for these kids. Today we gave a lecture on seating and positioning. I was very thankful for a continuing ed. course I took this past winter in Fairbanks on seating and positioning, because after the initial introduction to the topic, I called a boy up as an example for all to see, and I couldn’t use my notes! As we attempted to evaluate him [View Full Entry]

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We've had a lot of down time this week, for planning and getting aquainted. But this means we've had time also for lots of pictures and some goofing off! This update will be continued and I would like to write about the time in the orphanage today, but for now I'm uploading a few fun pictures. [View Full Entry]

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Day 3 Today we brought in a whole bunch of our sensory materials for our lesson on Sensory integration and Sensory processing dysfunction. I was really excited for this topic because it is SO applicable to the children in this orphanage setting. Ella and I reviewed a lot of our materials, such as a booklet from a class I took last fall on Sensory integration, old class notes, and other sources. We used the worksheets I made up a few weeks ago, and passed the translated versions of these out to the caregivers. Although our translator thought it would be best [View Full Entry]

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Day 2 Today we gave our first lecture, which was an overview of normal child development. There is lots of opportunity for intervention here in the orphanage, and although the caregivers want to learn, many of them are set in a way of thinking that limits the potential for these children. For example, the caregivers feel that the kids who can’t use their hands can’t go to school and learn because they can’t write. The things that we see as problems are very much accepted. The topics that the caregivers want training in are different from the problems we see as [View Full Entry]

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Day 1: We woke up early, despite the lack of sleep in the past 2 days. Our house is really nice! It’s on a dusty broken street but the house itself has lots of room, 2 bedrooms adjoined by an open doorway. Ella and I are sharing a room and Sharon has her own. We have a shower with hot running water, a TV ( although we haven’t turned it on yet), a fridge, a washing machine, and even air conditioning. But despite the heat, we haven’t used the air conditioning yet. There is a cherry tree in front with ripe [View Full Entry]

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I’ve been thinking a bit on these flights, how meaningful songs are. I think I’ve been up for way too many hours with minimal sleep, and lots of time to think. A man from India sitting next to me on the plane asked me if I was a writer, because I kept scribbling away in my journal, and pausing to think. I also watched 2 movies, both of which were moving and made me cry. The Bucket List- I really recommend. And Juno. I also read the paper- war and turmoil all over the place- and of course the journalism companies [View Full Entry]

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