PEN International

September

2009-02-24T11:39:00.000-08:00

In September, I arranged an informal dinner at Pedro’ Mexican Restaurant in Madison, WI to share with the Deaf Community summer activities. The two major events were the trip to England for PEN and another trip to Seattle, Washington for the Lighthouse Retreat for the Deaf-Blind. The attendance was more than I expected. Twelve people showed up, when I was only expecting like five. Those present were very interested in what PEN was and what purpose I had at such a gloriously beautiful castle. I explained to them about the PEN leadership workshop. We had questions and answers about the workshops I had attended as well as other experiences which included socializing with international students and going to London for the day. The discussing included what I learned in England and fortunate I was to have the England trip prior to the Seattle trip because the new information was a real benefit to me in Seattle. I was in Seattle for a deaf-blind retreat as a volunteer interpreter and Support Service Person (aka guide person). Both trips gave me plenty of experiences and knowledge I still use today. Those experiences were the impetuous for pushing me to establish a new life goal of becoming a Certified Deaf Interpreter (CDI). In Wisconsin, there are very few CDIs. There is really only one which I am aware of. I am committed to taking on an advocacy role for the Deaf Community and I would like to see more opportunities out there for all of us, mainly in the form of more accommodations for all.

I will update after I attend CDI workshop in Chicago on March 6-8th.

2008-10-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

2008-10-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

Trip back to USA

2008-10-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

This early morning we said good bye to this beautiful castle on our way to the airport. It was a sad day that this incredible opportunity has now concluded. We enjoyed every minute of the views of the country side on the way to the airport. At the airport we were able to stop for some breakfast because we managed to get through the security quickly. I stopped at the Harrods’s store at the airport and picked up a bag for my sister's birthday and small bag for myself. When I get back to America my sister will meet me at the airport and it’s her birthday. The flight back home was much longer than the flight to England. But this flight was much quieter and more peaceful because all the passengers were adults. It was not like the trip over, a plane packed with a middle school soccer team, so chaotic. The flight to England they sat behind me and kept kicking my seat the whole trip! Imagine being on plane for 6 hours and having 12 years old boy kicking at your seat the whole trip!

When I finally arrived at Milwaukee airport, my sister picked me up to go meet with our family for dinner for my sister's birthday. My sister loved the bag and shirt I got for her. My family loved hearing stories about my trip. They were so happy to have me back home too.

This trip was a wonderful opportunity and an AMAZING experience! Thank you Alfred Bader, Nippon Foundation, PEN International for making this happening!

PEN International- Day 5 (last day!)

2008-10-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day of the institute. I am disappointed that it is coming to a close. I am just beginning to grasp on to the ideas and concepts of the content and I want to learn more!

This morning we all started off excited and disappointed because it's our last day. Cassie Franklin provided a workshop called Transition After College. She created a diagram with seven circles which are connected to each other. Each circle represents a concept or idea which includes Values, Identity, Education and Goals, Intra and Interpersonal Skills, Communication (accommodations), Support System, and Knowledge of Rights and Responsibilities. Cassie discussed each of these areas and gave examples of each one. Then we each of us had come up with our own examples which we all shared with each other. I think I put the highest value on this workshop. The content was so relevant and included content which is relevant life long and for any age. I feel that is was one of the most important workshops of the week long institute for all of us.

We end the institute with that last workshop titles “From Networking to Employment”. Scot Atkins and Denise Kavin explained how important it is to network with others and stay in a network. One statement from the lecture sums it all up very nicely "Networking is a philosophy of life. It is an opportunity to help people and be helped by the people you have met."

For the remainder of the day, we completed evaluations and each student gave presentations on what we learned from this institute after that was finished we had an AWESOME reception. We were each given an award and had a group photo outside in front of the castle. There also were two birthdays this week as well. They each got a cake. The cake tasted different than back home. I really like the cake back home better. On this last night we spent playing games and most of us students stayed up till 4 am. I went to back 11 30 because I was so tired and we has to leave 7am for the airport.

PEN International- Day 4

2008-10-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

We started this morning’s workshop- Setting Goals and Achieving Them with Scot Atkins and Pat DeCaro. We wrote down our goals, how to achieve them, resources we can use to help us to achieve them, and the deadline for achieving the goals. For me, I wrote down to become a better Deaf Role Model for Children or Deaf adults. I have to work with other people and learn from them; take some courses/ workshops I might need, get involved with activities, like camp, board member of organization/events, and research about expectations of a role model. There is no deadline for this goal, this goal for me will last lifetime. The resources for this goal are: time, effort and enthusiasm, my Deaf and Hard of Hearing advisor, people, researches, blogs, movies, books, etc.

The afternoon’s workshop was Role Modeling and Volunteerism. This was very timely for me. It help me to connect with the content from the morning workshop. We did a human tracing, which means a person lay on a large piece of paper and trace around that person. We put definitions of Role Model which would matches or parallel body parts, for example, heart=kindness, caring, loving. Over the time spent on this exercise we learned that our own individual role models changes as we meet new people and they help us to become more involved, give us feedbacks, etc.

Volunteering was the second part of this workshop. The whole point of this section was to see how beneficial volunteering can be for us. What will happen to us if we volunteer? Feel good about ourselves and others, work experiences, learn, produce, and many more. Also the impact you make by volunteering can be HUGE!

The last workshop for the day is Deaf Culture at Home. We studied about our culture but also the culture of Russia, Japan, and China. We compared and contrasted our behaviors, misunderstandings, communication skills, employment opportunities to name a few. Two very important concepts covered were Responsibility and Respect of others, regarding their background. We could see that this was key in making this workshop successful. Most of the misunderstandings we had were similar to what the people form other countries had experienced as well. For example, if you get lost and need help finding directions to your destination you usually ask a hearing person and that person keeps pointing and talking away from your face, losing eye contact. It makes it difficult to communicate if a Deaf person cannot see other's person face. Deaf people often times become very frustrated and just give up and end up not going to where they wanted to go to.

Each evening we usually went to an amazing, really cool, Pub in the Castle. It was fun socializing and connecting with all the other participants’ students and staff alike. - But made for very short nights of sleep. I must say great time - Again, AMAZING experiences!

PEN International- Day trip to London

2008-10-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

Today we have an opportunity to see and experience LONDON, on our own, for the day. Together Cassie, Jason Franklin and I joined up with Christine Ong from NTID. Jason A. was with us for the first part of the day but he went to visit his UK friends in the afternoon. We went to King's Cross to see Harry Potter's Platform 9 3/4. It was at the train station and I LOVE trains! It was really exciting for me. I wanted to ride the train there just was not an opportunity to do that. After the train station, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral where Princess Di got married. Next we walked across the millennium bridge to Tate Art Museum. We stopped at Young's restaurant in front of Tate museum looking out over the river. I got a beer called Double Chocolate Stout. It really did taste like chocolate even though it was beer. It was actually pretty good. I also got garlic bread and salad. The food was very good. We walked around to Convent Garden for some shopping then to SoHo for more shopping and chocolate for my friend. We went to the National Gallery and saw a HUGE outdoor screen showing the Olympics. We were in the UK during the Olympics and UK is very much into the Olympics much more than we were. The English had Olympic coverage 24/7 on TV; this was a noticeable difference than America. We went back to the bus station but on the way we freaked out about being late and caught the tube (subway) several times. We got off at Westminster Abbey and saw the House of Parliament and Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. We had to find bathrooms, which is NOT easy to find here! We made it back on the bus. We were one of the first groups to back. We returned to the castle and ordered pizzas. The veggie pizza had corn on it. It is a “regular” veggie for them. We put mushrooms, green peppers, olives, and depended on the place to put more veggies but we did not want corn! Interesting enough, it actually tasted good. Then time for BED!

PEN International- Day 3

2008-10-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

This is the morning of our third day. The title for the morning’s content is Assumptions and Expectations. The presenters focused on Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. This workshop taught us about environmental and attitudinal employment barriers and how to overcome them. There are two limits/ requirements of a deaf person to get a job; communication and safety. Those requirements can be modified but not many employers understand or even know about it. This workshop educated us, and other people, about what we can do to educate the company into making accommodations with and for us without a total rejection due to our disability. I will always remember this statement form this session, "Modification changes the way a job is done, not the job requirements." Often times, people misunderstand the difference between the way to get the job done and the actual requirements of a job. The job will be completed with cooperation and a modification to accommodate the employee.

The morning went fast and the afternoon was equally interesting and relevant. This afternoon, we discussed characteristics of successful leaders. What made them good leaders in first place? Several characteristics were identified including loyalty, enthusiasm, acceptance, effort, responsibility and sacrifice to name a few. We had an activity where we had 10 people on a boat and the boat is sinking. We have to figure out which 5 people get to stay in the boat, which 5 get off the boat. Essential we had to decide how lived and who died. This was a very difficult task and the groups from each country had different answers. This then lead to a very interesting and lively debate. We were very surprised by some decisions and the differences in cultural core values. China and Japan decisions were based from a humanitarian perspective while Russia placed value on productive members of society and the individual contributions or potential. That is why they chose people who were scientists and technologists. We, the Americans, focused on the physical ability and the amount of money a person had as being worthy of living. We could not come to a consensus in our group and actually just had to vote to figure out who got to stay in the boat and who had to get out. But taking a vote we actually came to an agreement faster than the other groups. It almost seemed cruel but in actuality it was the fairest approach because everyone was then equal. That is part of American society forging and getting things done fast. This exercise provided us an opportunity to see how culture influences personal core values which impact decision making.

After the long and intense days in the workshops it was most enjoyable to go for dinner and the evening speakers. This particular day we had a speaker from Japan who signed in Japanese sign language. It was really neat to watch someone presenting in a different language other than ASL or English. Mayumi presented about her experiences with Deaf people and founded PEP Net- Japan. PEP Net is a network for colleges and universities about services for people with disability like interpreters, resources, etc. Mayumi also presented about her experiences and told us how each of our experiences are building towards the next new experience. During this presentation, as well as all the presentations and workshops, we learned so much. With all the different topics, concepts and exercises there was so much information to process which was exhausting at times.

This evening we ended with two more cultural presentations. Our group from USA and China presents about our respective countries. One thing I noticed during our USA presentation is the peanut butter. We, Americans, love peanut butter and had brought some to share with everyone. Peanut butter is a very individual American food. This was some of the participant’s first taste of peanut butter and most of them actually did not like peanut butter! The Last dinner at the castle, I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich. MMMM (They don’t have peanut butter in the UK, so if you ever travel there, bring some!)

PEN- International Day 2

2008-10-01T20:01:00.000-07:00

We awaken early because our days are scheduled so full. We meet for breakfast every morning of the week to socialize and meet new people. The same is true for Lunch and dinner and even break times.

Today, the first workshop focuses on the life experiences of two Deaf Leaders, Alan and Vicki Hurwitz. They both discussed about their growing up, what activities and organizations they participated in. They also talked about their personal life; how they met, married, and had children. They also lectured about their leadership growth and development and how it is related to work. At the conclusion of their presentation, they gave us tips as future student leaders. Vicki stated “I believe that it is important, reading is very important for Deaf children."

In the afternoon, we had a workshop called "Effective Communication and Negotiation Skills." We learned about five different types of personalities which we may encounter during our experiences. These personalities are; Competition, Collaboration, Compromise, Avoidance, and Accommodation. We also discussed about how a person would behave in a situation using each one of the five personalities. We learned how to compromise the needs, interests, and positions of a situation and to figure out how to solve a problem. For example, is the location fair for you and the other person you have conflict with? Try to find a more suitable or neutral location, for BOTH of you. Then have patience with the person and discuss different ways which both of you can come to an agreement. Always try to follow up about the situation after you discussed to see if it was successful or not. This was a very worth while afternoon.

In the evening, we had a cultural night with all the other countries. We learned about their countries and were able to see things from their native places. For example, games, dances, music, videos, individual's life story, and shared treats. This experience was so interesting and amazing because I have never been to any of these countries. I was just aw struck by everything. It was great. Every place is so unique. You have to be there to experience and see what their culture is like. I cannot explain it in English word, it is just AMAZING!

PEN International- Day 1

2008-10-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

My Student ambassador partner, Jason Anderson, slept in this morning. I wanted to but the excitement of being here kept me awake. To wake Jason I had to go and get security to break down the door to wake him up. It was a very crazy start to the morning.

After we arrived at the Castle for our first meeting/ conference, we were given a tour of the castle. We were given an explanation of the rules about the property and so on as well. The tour was so amazing. We were shown the dungeon and a tunnel. We went into the tunnel which have been dung about 300 meters away from the Castle to outside of the Castle but underground. A Castle this old is a very fitting place to have a legacy of ghost tales and this castle had its share. There are many ghost stories which have been told not only about the castle but at the dorm where we were staying as well. If a ghost came to my room last night I did not notice as I was “dead to the world” so to speak because I was so tired. Anyway- The castle dates back to the 12th century, according to the earliest record which has been found. The dorms were believed to have been built on a missal silo which was used during World War 2.

After lunch, we had an activity to break the ice which encourages us to meet with other students from Russia, Japan, and China. We were to partner up with three other students from other countries. (Except that there are 6 Americans, so two groups had two Americans). This experience was a real challenge but I learned so much about how to communicate with other students without using English or American Sign Language. I loved the experiences I had with the other participants during this exercise. We drew pictures and used gestures. We were to tell each other 5 things about ourselves to help us get to know each other better. We then present each other in front of everyone. The presentations were amazing. It was very interesting seeing all of the groups presenting with each other without the use of a common language. It was such a challenge and to be successful everyone in the group had to cooperate in order to complete the task at “hand”. I believe that because we had to work so hard together it was the impetus which pulled us together. We really became good friends that time. I didn’t expect it to happen that fast but it did.

After dinner, we did our group presentations about Leadership. The Americans picked Richard Pimental as our Leader in America. He is the man who wrote/ contributed to the American with Disabilities Act. We had our chosen leader and the participants from the other countries picked people who they felt were leaders in their countries as well. Even though we were from different countries and we had chosen different people whom we felt were leaders they all had something in common. Each different leader was a Deaf Leader. All of the groups chose leaders who were highly respected and valued in their country. We Americans picked Pimental because of how important the ADA Law is. China chose their leader because of Art/ Dance ability. Japan chose someone who was seen as a leader in their country because of their Individual with support from society. Russia picked their leader because of their contribution to the fields of science and technology.

Trip to England

2008-10-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

We left Milwaukee, WI, USA about 11 am to Cleveland, where we met with other students from National Technology Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, New York. We had a direct flight to London, United Kingdom. It was about a 6 hour night time flight. We arrived there early in the morning their time while I know it was still dark back at home. Between Wisconsin and London there is about 6 hours difference in time between the zones. The first thing I noticed when I arrived at the airport is the bathroom. It is different than what we have in the US. They don’t use paper towels and their toilets are more round. They even call their bathroom "toilets." It took us a while to get on the bus to Herstmoceaux Castle.

The ride there was really unique because of the landscape and driving skills. They have more curves in their roads and they are excellent drivers too. Their roads are much smaller than ours. The signs, of course, are different.

Once we arrived at the castle I met with a group from Russia. It was very interesting meeting people from other countries, spending time with them as we toured the castle. There were several observatories around the area in addition to the castle itself. Later that night, we went into a small town to a pub called The Lamb Inn. We had our first UK drinks and even tried the famous Pimms drink. The pub has a dog and I got a chance to pet him. Finally late in the evening we returned to the dorms and I completely passed out not from the native beverages but I was exhausted 48 hours without any sleep.