A much needed update!

I know I haven't been writing in blog for a long time. So much things happened and flew by. Time is flying at super speed. I felt like it's only a week here, but I am actually already 5 weeks into my internship, about halfway done! Crazy!

Right after my last blog post, I got a really bad cold. I did recover, but still got this cough for last 4 weeks. (I know, you must say I am crazy for actually putting up with coughing and coughing for 4 weeks, but like I said, time really flew by way too quickly) Doc said it might be a small bronchitis. So, I have meds that should help my coughing to improve by end of the week. *cross fingers* my cough does get better because if it doesn't, it might means I have TB. Joy!

Roy and I had a week of 'vacation' after Oleai Elementary school ended its school year. However, it did not mean vacation for us. We went to a student's home to teach two families of Deaf students the basic signs. It was really fun watching families learning so much basic signs that could get them leaps ahead in communicating with their Deaf family members. I realized that's the beauty of ASL- you could know only a couple of signs yet still be able to tell stories and jokes! Below is picture of us all- I was one who took this picture.

Last weekend,  I decided to sign myself up for a swim competition on Saturday. It meant swimming 2.7k from a tiny island called Managaha to Saipan. There were about 25 swimmers involved. I thought I will do okok since I haven't had a decent swim practice since Gallaudet swim team ended its season in last February and the fact that I have coughing. However I surprised myself by placing 7th. I think what really helped me was knowing that there's sharks lurking around hidden in deep blue ocean! This is a link to the www with a newspaper article about the swim competition. http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=100905&cat=2

After successfully escaping from Managaha, on Sunday, Rudy, Roy, and I went on a tour around southern of Saipan to check out couple of old Japanese jail, bunker, and tank, and stopping by two beaches as well to wade in cool water.  

 

Old Japanese Jail. These rooms now have plants growing inside them as you can see behind me!

 

Old Japanese bunker, from outside and inside.

Old Japanese tank

This week, Roy and I are teaching teachers, staff, family members of Deaf, and others ASL for the ASL classes. So far, it is really enjoyable and fun. ASL classes will continue until my 8th week of internship. Next week, summer school for the Deaf kids will begin, which means my days will be crammed with summer school in the morning and ASL classes in the evening. I am really looking forward to seeing Deaf kids again!

That's all for now. Bye! :D

Extra! Extra!

Here's the link to an article about Family Retreat for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at Pacific Island Club last weekend. It's where Roy and I gave a presentation. My presentation was about SRP. I told the audience of parents and families of deaf children about how important it was for parents to get involved with deaf children through reading. I explained to them about how my parents spending time every night to read books to me helped me to fall in love with reading and writing and to become proficient with reading/writing. I told them if my parents could help me to become a successful Deaf college student, then they could do it too! It's very touching to see the parents being inspired and realizing that their deaf children can have a bright future if they take 30 minutes every night to read to them. Roy's presentation was so fun- he used animation to teach couple of signs to the parents and encouraged them to figure out the concept from the pictures in the book.

Enjoy the article!

http://www.mvariety.com/health-matters/family-retreat-for-deaf-hard-of-hearing-a-success.php

First week at Saipan

First week here at Oleai Elementary was truly amazing. I was, naturally, nervous before my first day. But, once I took a single step inside school, I instantly realized I will be fine. I was greeted by numerous people, teachers and children. They were delighted to have Roy and me there. Teachers and interpreters and children excitedly talked to us to get to know us more. Deaf children were shy at first but after few minutes, they were enthusiastic and asked me many many and many questions! They proudly told me many facts about themselves. The children are great! Interpreters and teachers are very friendly as well and very generous.

As week progressed, Roy and I primarily work with four 5th graders. There are two kindergarten and a 1st grader student here at Oleai Elementary. The students are really sweet and do know signs. However, their English is not strong. That is why I brought SRP (Shared Reading Program), which is a bunch of educational books of various levels of reading, all way from Kendall School to Oleai Elementary so they could take a book along with a DVD and bring them home to practice reading. Also, their parents could watch the DVD to learn how to tell the story in ASL. That way, parents could sit down and be able to read the book to their deaf children. I am looking forward to see how much SRP could help Deaf students to understand English better!

Culturally, I also learned so much about the daily lives of Saipan people. Oleai Elementary is in area where most people who live there are either Chamorro or Carolinian. Truthfully, it does feel a little strange being a minority since I am white. No matter anyways because people here are so friendly toward me. Food, a huge part of culture here, is a mixture of Chamorro, Carolinian, Filipino, Asian, and some American. Some non-American food is already familiar to me since I went to Hawaii. Other food is entirely new to me! Melisha is my guide for Chamorro food. Roy is my guide for Filipino food, since he was from Filipino. For an instance, yesterday I tried pulutan, which is beef with pig blood. It doesn't taste so bad! I am still figuring out which is my favorite meals and trying to memorize names for various food. Nice thing is that, since food here is generally inexpensive compared to the US mainland, I could buy and sample various food without killing my wallet!

One thing that I had to get used to was that people here do not show as much skin as mainland US does. I cannot wear "regular" shorts since here at Saipan they consider it to be too short. I have to wear shorts that reach almost to my knees, sometimes even pants. I have to wear shirts that have sleeves; no tank tops. I also cannot wear bikinis. I have to wear one-piece suit. At first, I wasn't comfortable since it is very hot here, usually in mid-80s everyday and 70s at night. I got sweaty easily. Gradually, I am able to wear pants without being bothered too much. An interpreter here told me about how she visited to NYC during springtime and had to wear numerous layers of clothes, plus winter coat, plus ear muffins, plus mittens, etc. She complained that she saw some people wearing merely sweatshirt and pants. I laughed and told her that I sometimes wear flip-flop even when there's snow. She thought I am extremely insane. I told her, "eh, my family is from Canada!"

Below is a picture of us all, except one student who was sick that day. We were celebrating Bobbie's birthday.

Front row: Daveanna, Melisha, me, Bobbie, Bryan, Joaqisha

Back row: Connie, Roy, Malou, Mystica, audiologist, and Ymhil

Pictures!

Here are some of pictures, finally!  Below are few pictures from Hawaii, so you guys can get an idea what I did in Oahu. 

Me on top of Diamond Head

Me, Austin, Nicolas, and Bryce: the guys I hang out with most of the time. (We were on lawn watching a free hula show)

Nicolas, me, and Bryce in front of Waimea Falls in North Shore.

Now, I shall give you guys a tour of my apartment in Saipan!

View of my apartment from front door.

The living room as seen from front door. The door over there is my bedroom.

My bedroom. On right is a huge wardrobe with shelves inside.

View from front of my apartment.  Beautiful isn't it!