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.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Trip back to USA
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!
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!)
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.
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
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!
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
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!
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