Weekend 2

Yesterday the 3 of us staying here over the weekend took a day trip to Tyler Texas. It was nice to be in a bigger city for awhile. We had a full day of shopping. Of course had to have a mani-pedi. We found a crazy coffee shop on our way and had to use it as a shameless photo op.

Beth and I in front of Kickers Coffee

They had painted a bunch of horses on their fence, so I had to feed them.

Air Roasted with a kick!

  Camp Independence is staring today here at SFA. It is a group of visually impaired kiddos who come for a week to do fun camp activities that are modified for them if necessary. For example they are going to have a meet and greet after dinner tonight as well as ice cream. Tomorrow they are doing driving, archery, swimming, rock wall climbing, cooking, etc. I am excited for Tuesday when we go play beep baseball!

I know you are still wondering how in the world these kids are going to drive and shoot a bow and arrow safely. The college hosts this camp every year and they have special areas set aside. The driving will be in golf carts on trails, not on the road and with a guide for verbal directions. The archery is set up where there is no danger of them hitting anything living. The driving is a big deal for them because if you think about it, That is one thing they cannot do that their friends will get to do when they are 16. Imagine all of your friends being excited about their drivers license and you never get one. Depressing huh? This camp allows them the opportunity to experience driving safely so they will at least be able to relate the experience.

The kids start to arrive tonight at 5. Fun and exciting week ahead. The little kids are this week, and the bigger kids are next week. Woo hoo!

Day 10

Today was the 2nd day in beautiful Lufkin Texas. Practiced using residential sidewalks and crossed streets today. In order to cross a street without a traffic light, you have to listen for traffic. I was not pulled back by the collar of my shirt by my instructor so I picked the right time to cross. I do not have any tire marks on my back so it was a successful day. Hot as Hades, but a good day.

Note the wonderfully manicured sidewalk and curb. Nice.

So what is with the crazy head gear you ask? I know it's super stylish, but try to contain your urge to go out and buy this look. I prefer to be original. Let me explain.

Pink Visor-Keeps the sun off my face yet allows massive amounts of heat to escape out of the top of my head. It is pink because pink is just plain awesome.

Bandanna-I had to buy them to contain the tremendous amounts of sweat from rolling down my face and making the foam of my blindfold incredibly uncomfortable in the 100 degree heat and blazing sun. I have 2-wash one, wear one for obvious reasons.

Blindfold-It is a specially designed blindfold to block out all light that has a plastic cover on the outside, and a foam glued to the inside. If I don't wear the bandanna under it, condensation (sweat?) actually forms in the eye holes. Yuck.

I wear a little back pack so I can keep my water with me and have a place to stash my head gear when my lessons are over. These are not things I would normally wear, but doing this blindfold bootcamp, the group of us have pretty much decided that we are under blindfold, and could care less what we look like because we can't see ourselves, so evidently no one else can see us either. Fuzzy logic. Works for me!

Day 9

Went to Lufkin today. We need to drive there from Nacagdoches because it has a better area to learn residential and downtown street crossings and traffic patterns. Yikes! I crossed some streets today blindfolded. Learned how to recover a sidewalk if you do not meet it on the other side. Next time you are out check out some sidewalk corners and see how they are so different. There is no consistency. Also imagine being visually impaired and having to deal with broken curbs, people parking over the sidewalk because they can't fit in their driveway, mud, tree limbs, etc. One sidewalk just plain ended! FYI, if you park your car over the sidewalk, a visually impaired person WILL tap it with their cane. That is what the cane is for...TO CLEAR THE WALKING PATH  AND INDICATE OBSTACLES! Don't park over a sidewalk. Besides, it is just a light tap. You don't go around whacking your cane everywhere. If you make too much noise with it, you may miss important auditory clues.

After my wonderful lesson, I observed another students lesson. On our travels I met the cutest kitten in someones backyard! I of course miss my own cat, so had to play with this one for awhile. My cane has an elastic loop on the end (that I have tied in knots to keep it out of the way as I think it is darn annoying) and I teased the kitty with it for a few minutes. We had a great time.

Day 8

It rained again today. I had my blindfold lesson this morning and I learned the art of holding an umbrella in one hand, and using my cane in the other. Unlike yesterday, I stayed pretty much dry. A little weird walking in puddles and hearing the splash from my cane tip as I hit them on my trek.

I made a few mistakes this morning. I was supposed to do the route we have been practicing together strictly on my own today. I took the wrong sidewalk and didn't even know it. I veered onto it and thought I knew exactly where I was. My instructor was following me, and he asked me what my plan was. I told him "At the end of the sidewalk I should run directly into a bike rack!" "I can't find the bike rack, it should be right here!" I naturally assumed that someone in the middle of the night had moved the bike rack on me, because how could I be wrong?! He of course tells me that I took another direction on the sidewalk (it is set up in an 'X' pattern) and I got onto the sidewalk on my right instead of staying straight which was where I THOUGHT I was- bringing me directly to a bike rack where I would know to make my left turn and stay on the sidewalk and not go into the street. Well, My instructor had me start over since I got so turned around. Did OK my second try.

Walking to the campus cafeteria to meet everyone for dinner I caught two junior high girls talking about a service dog a student has here on campus. They were going through all sorts of names for it like 'walking eye dog' 'walking see dog' etc. So I thought I'd clear up the confusion. ALL service dogs for the blind are called Dog Guides, not Guide Dogs. Referring to a Guide Dog may be incorrect, since the term Guide Dog is a trademarked name. The dog could have been trained at any number of Dog Guide training centers in the United States, and each of these centers are very proud of their dogs, hence the trademarks. Here is a brief listing of a few Dog Guide centers: The Seeing Eye , Leader Dogs for the Blind , Guide Dogs of America which is different from Guide Dogs for the Blind. There are a few more, but you get the point. If faced in a situation where you are talking about a service dog for the blind, you would ask where their dog was trained and they will tell you one of those places. Such as "He is a Leader Dog." I may have the opportunity this year to visit one of these training centers. Since O&M professionals are their #1 referrals they invite us out to see their operations and learn about their programs. One day it would be nice to be a puppy raiser as well. You keep the puppy for 6-12 months then give it back to the center so it can begin formal Dog Guide training. If you are at all interested in raising a puppy please contact one of the centers. Now consider yourself formally instructed on the etiquette of inquiring about Dog Guides.

As Tigger would say "Ta ta for now!"

Day 7

Well, so much for the drought in "deep east Texas" (as they say around here). We walked out of our dorm this morning on our way to our lessons and looked at the cloudy sky. I paused, looked back at the door thinking to myself "maybe I should go back to my room for my umbrella) then shrugged it off figuring that it hasn't rained here in a year, it won't rain today! My lesson was dry. Observing the lesson from 9:30 to 11 was a completely different affair. It started sprinkling, then pouring, then quit, then poured again. There was no lightning, so our group kept on with our cane skills outside. Another student was observing with me. When it really started to rain we turned to look at each other, and just shrugged our shoulders and kept on doing our thing. I figured it was at least better than 100 degree heat. It's not like we were out in nice clothes or anything, a little water wouldn't hurt us. Now I know how a wet rag feels.

My lesson today was frustrating. I felt like I just couldn't get anywhere. I took wrong sidewalks, wasn't using my auditory clues, not trusting my instincts. Just not a great time. Tomorrow I do the same route without assistance. Wish me luck. All this is preparation for the "Drop Off" in Lufkin. We learn a route over a few days and then are literally dropped off and told to find a location. Our instructors are there, but cannot assist us. They are just around in case we have safety issues. After my experience today I am freaked out about that drop off.

As Scarlett O'Hara said "I won't think about that today, I'll think about that tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day."  (place wrist on head and look passionately into the camera)

Vivian Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara in the famous Curtain Dress.

Day 6

So we went outside today. I complained about the heat last week, but evidently I was just kidding because this week we are out in the sun for an hour and a half under blindfold, then for another two to three hours observing lessons of other students. (We need a ton of hours of observation and teaching in order to get our certification.) For our lessons we tend to have a trail of people following us around, which means when you do something stupid EVERYBODY knows about it, but we are all good sports here and can laugh at ourselves too. So far I have not hit any poles, but I did step off a curb today. That was shocking. It was so abrupt I think I just stood there in shock. (In retrospect not the safest course of action.) We were in a safe area and my instructor was right in front of me in case I did stumble. Sometimes making simple mistakes is the best way to learn.

I kept getting scolded today for trying to 'see' with my cane. You are not supposed to use it to try to visualize objects or surfaces. It is supposed to be for gaining information to travel safely. For instance, detecting drop-offs like stairs, indicating walls, and detecting a new sidewalk in the direction you want to travel, you just find it and go. I was tapping around with my cane to try to get more info about the width of the sidewalk, where the grass is, etc. then I would hear "Stop trying to see with your cane!" "Find it and go." I hate being wrong, so I was making extra sure I was at the right place. This is evidently not what you do. It takes too long, and has the potential of getting you turned around which can be disastrous. Patience young grasshopper...

Once we finish our classes and internships (3 of them) we take a board exam and gain national certification. The certification of an O&M has nothing to do with a teaching certificate like educators receive. Even though many O&M specialists work for public schools or contract out services to schools, there are as many or more that work strictly with adult populations. A lot of them even work for both. They have a school contract, and on their off time they work for the local rehab agency. (This is my plan actually.)

We stuck to sidewalks today. It was a little weird to be walking under blindfold with 4 lanes of traffic next to you. Hearing the cars pass by makes you want to cringe. Soon we will learn to cross streets at intersections. The walk signals here in Nagogdoches are audible. They actually count down while it is safe to cross. The college here has several students with blindness and some of them have requested the lights be put in. I had no idea you could do that. Now I know that my future students can petition the city for safer traffic control on their routes. Learn something new every day!

Did I mention the cafeteria here is pretty awesome? We are still finding new things in there. Today at dinner most of our class (of only 13 people) was sitting around our table trying to avoid the hundreds of Junior High band-campers along with the regular SFA students. All of a sudden I see a guy in front of me get up to go get something and come back. Normally no big thing, right? My eyes popped right outta my head when I saw what he brought back. My friend across the table saw my reaction and whipped her head around risking temporary whiplash to see what had grabbed my attention. She turned back around and our eyes connected. We both had only 1 thing on our minds. THERE IS CHOCOLATE MILK IN HERE SOMEWHERE! We simultaneously rose from our chairs like zombies on a mission. Those sly devils hid the chocolate milk from us tucked away by the breakfast cereal. Well it is a secret no more. We came back to the table like we had won the lottery. To put it in perspective, I am more excited about this new discovery than I am about the loaded dessert bar and the Texas-shaped Belgian waffles- (Sorry my Minnesota people, you would have to live here to understand). I think on the 8th day the Lord created chocolate milk...and it was good.

But on the 9th day he sent everyone to the gym for an hour after dinner to work it off. 3 cheers for the fitness center at SFA!

Weekend 1

There is absolutely nothing to do here in the weekend. My weekend buddy had her mom and step-father visit on Saturday. Lucky for me her step-dad was able to fix my bed! It went from this:

 

To this:

 

Now I am not worried about the chair falling out from under me and breaking my face on the dresser. Yay!

Now I am worried about my hallway. Going out after dark is a little unnerving. It reminds me of The Shining. You know the scene with the twin girls at the end of the hallway? Check this out:

My room is at the far right end of this hallway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

REDRUM...REDRUM!

 I am not worried anymore though. My friend found Army men watching over our building. They are stationed on the walls of the emergency stairwells outside.

Look closely at the corner of the building.

Evidently some SFA kids played a little joke and put a bunch of toy army men on these ledges. I can't figure out how they are staying there other than maybe they were glued up there. You have to set off an alarm to get out those doors, so maybe they climbed out their windows. Either way I feel better  protected knowing the army is here watching over us.

We have lessons outside this week and for the rest of the class. I am prepared with my sunscreen and my hat. You might want to steer clear of all of us until we have had a shower. The good news is that we all suffer together. The other news is that we all signed up for this! Weather report says 100 degrees all this week as well. What were we thinking?!