Friday, June 8, 2012

June 8, 2012 Day 4 in Oaxaca
Honestly, I know its only been four days that I've been in Oaxaca but I am in love with it! Today was once again an adventurous day because I learned how to use the public transportation here. Personally, I was very scared for this day to come because I have never taken a public bus in Mexico when I came to visit my cousins years ago. I went with my buddy Ashwini and it wasn't as bad as I expected, I managed to find landmarks while I was sitting on the bus so that I can remember where to get off and take a motortaxi to my field site. The motor taxi was pretty cool and scary because it reminded me of those rides at amusement parks that you sit on and they spin you side to side until you get dizzy. The reason I found it slightly scary was because its a very tight squeeze when you sit inside it and the sides are open so I thought I was going to fall out. At the same time it was pretty cool because the thrill of riding it felt like an adventure straight from a movie.
The field site I was assigned to is called CORAL which stands for Centro Oaxaqueno de Rehabilitacion de Audicion y Lenguaje. I found CORAL to be wonderful because they provide low-cost rehabilitation services to children who are deaf and work with their parents in therapy sessions. When me and Ashwini arrived to CORAL there was this little girl who I thought had the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. She had beautiful dark skin but when I looked at her eyes they were as blue as the ocean and it looked like glass. Her mother was telling me that her daughter inherited the blue eyes on her father's side of the family because his ancestors came from Spain. The supervisor at CORAL showed me and Ashwini today the different areas where they conduct individual therapy for the children and group therapy with the parents. The supervisor also showed us where they children play and told us that we will be going to schools to observe how they observe children who may have hearing loss and bring them to their clinic for diagnosis. I find it wonderful that work like this is being done here because I'm sure it must be hard on the parents dealing with their child being deaf and struggling to make ends meet.
Overall I really am becoming more emersed in the Oaxacan culture as each day goes by. Honestly, I hope this month goes slow because I really feel like its my home away from home. Everyday is an adventure here and I can't wait to start working at CORAL next week and getting to know the children and their parents. 
"No puedo esperar a que las aventuras de mañana traerá!"


No comments:

Post a Comment