reJENerate

Today was the first day of my Rural Alberta experience! It was a little bit of everything - team meeting, emergency management tabletop (my first day and they were already whipping out what we ought to do in case of a tornado- yippee!), watched preceptor make 2 pairs of orthotics, helped wrap the leg of a lady with lower extremity edema, and got to write SOAP notes on a client’s record!

The drive is kind of freaky in the morning because highway 2A is dark and any oncoming traffic is quite blinding…

Anyways, looking forward to lots of patients from emergency/acute care tomorrow!

I have been pulled in a million directions in the past few weeks, so I haven’t been blogging:

a) Coaching gymnastics 3-4 days/week

Rhythmic gymnastics was my first love and always will be!  I love coaching because I get to share what I love with a bunch of young girls who work really hard (most of the time…haha).  We have SO many gymnasts this season - 22 competing individually and 23 competing in groups.  I will miss them all so much when I am away in Wetaskiwin for my clinical placement :( :( I am also very lucky to have awesome coworkers who are covering 4 weeks worth of classes for me & a boss who is very understanding :) 

b) Hosting at the restaurant 1 day/week

People like to tell me that I am being sucked back into a black hole…but I actually quite enjoy hosting.  When it’s not busy, I get a lot of ‘quiet time’ - a rarity in my life!  When it is busy, I enjoy the pressure to make all the pieces fit and put all the people somewhere in the restaurant without making the servers angry!

c) Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure

This was my 3rd year on the organizing committee for Run for the Cure and I would say it’s the best one yet!  We have an amazing committee in Edmonton that worked really hard and got along very well.  Because of my position (volunteer coordinator), usually I get stuck sitting inside City Hall and miss out on most of the action…but this year, I was able to sneak away to the Start Line for a few minutes.  Words cannot describe the feeling of standing and watching an endless sea of nearly 10,000 people running and walking by.

This year, Edmonton raised $1.6 million for breast cancer research, awareness, and education programs.  YAY EDMONTON!! 

d) School 

I left school last on my list because it has been my first priority for the past few weeks and I’m quite ready to just flop down in my bed tonight and not worry about a thing!  This week we had 2 exams and a major assignment due - all of which were very stressful!  I keep trying to tell myself that marks don’t really matter anymore as long as I’m trying my best to become a competent clinician,but I think the Type-A personality in me is having difficulty coming to terms with just chilling out…

I’m very excited for my clinical placement in Wetaskiwin - it looks like there will be quite a variety of experiences: outpatient neurology, orthotics/splinting, and homecare.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! 

Ah, yes.  The dreaded question.  It comes up quite a bit, actually.  So far, most of the content is pretty interesting (including the history of OT in Canada, which was surprising).  

That’s a good thing right? Well…yes…but I’m also quite exhausted.  We have really long days, 5 to 6 hours worth of classes (some classes are long, we had one on Tuesday that was 4.5 hours) with either no ‘real’ break or one 30-minute break.  I’m defining a ‘real’ break as one where the class is over and you don’t have to go back to it after a water break.   Not that I really have a problem with being at school for a full day, it’s just quite difficult to stay engaged sitting in the same seat listening to lectures for the full day.  ”Same seat, you say?”  Yes, there is only one major lecture hall and we are in it for all of our classes.  In addition to spending most of our day at school, the readings for the 6 classes we have this semester are usually anywhere from 1 to 4 chapters per day per class.  

Those of you who know me are probably wondering if I napped when I got home today.  Yes - 2 hours!  However, as you can probably imagine, there is a price to pay for lost time and I have lots of readings to do before I actually go to bed for the night.  I’m blogging because it serves as a productive and therapeutic break (am I thinking like an OT yet?).  

Anyways, back to my mental health textbook!  Oh, also fun fact - did you know occupational therapists can diagnose mental illness?

This evening, I went bowling at Ed’s with my friends from church: Chris, Josh x2, Jenn, Thy, Duy, and Luke.  We got two lanes for Thursday Night All-You-Can-Bowl ($9.75 incl. gst per person, minimum 4 people per lane + $3 incl. gst per person for shoe rental).  We were there for about 2 hours and played 3 games.  I’d say we got our money’s worth since the price per game is usually $5.25 per person.  

My years of perfecting throwing a rhythmic gymnastics ball straight into the air in such a way that it lands perfectly after a series of elements came in handy!  It appeared at the beginning that I was quite good at throwing the bowling ball really straight down the lane.  I cracked my thumbnail halfway through the first game, so my thumb really hurt every time I released the ball.  Luckily, Chris suggested that I use a lighter ball and use my 3rd and 4th fingers while palming the ball, thereby eliminating the need to use my thumb…and it worked!  

I’m not a good bowler by any means, but I did have lots of fun!  All-You-Can-Bowl goes from 5pm to midnight, so if we had gotten there super early and left later, it would’ve been a crazy deal…but how much can you really bowl in one night? We got super hungry, so we finished the night off with Chinese food at All Happy Family Restaurant.  There was no birthday cake in sight, but the manager (?) of the restaurant let us have a candle and a barbecue lighter and we sang Happy Birthday to Jenn (not me) because her birthday is tomorrow.  

Galaxyland was one of those places that seemed super cool when I was a kid (and it still is, but definitely not to the same extent).  Devin and I went to Galaxyland last Saturday and we have a tip for you: always walk around and go pick out what rides you want to go on first.  I used to be one of those people who would jump straight for the unlimited rides pass because you think to yourself, well it’s unlimited, you can go on whatever you want so that’s the cheapest, right?  WRONG.  For myself, I’m a very particular rides-goer and there are plenty of them I don’t like going on.  

I think the rides ranged from something like 3 to 7 tickets each.   D and I walked around and took an inventory and there were only 2 rides we really wanted to go on -the Galaxy Orbiter (rollercoaster, 6 tickets) and the Flying Galleon (boat that swings like a pendulum, 4 tickets).  So we went and shared the 20 ticket package for $28 incl. gst, which was way cheaper than if we had mindlessly bought 2 x $36.95 = $73.90 unlimited ride passes.  

Closing thought: unless you know you’re going to love lots of the rides, make sure it’s not a better deal to buy tickets!

Today, Melinda and I went to the Art Gallery of Alberta.  Regular admission is $12.50+gst and student admission is $8.50+gst.  Since M and I used our student IDs AND we showed them our bus pass/transfer, we got an additional $2.85 off (so $5.65+gst each)!  

Our first stop was in the BMO World of Creativity exhibit, where we checked out nature-inspired shapes, played with magnetic art, did two puzzles, and made texture rubbings (pictured above).  Our favourite part was that we could climb on the different surfaces to do the rubbings (there were rock climbing holds on the little plastic hill).  

The highlight of our visit was the Andy Warhol: Manufactured exhibit, which is closing on August 21st.  It was interesting to go on the tour and learn about how Andy had come from a working-class family and how his art reflected the commodification of America (like through his screen-printing, which can be replicated, whereas most art is regarded as ‘one-of-a-kind’). 

This week, I went to a church camp with a girl with disabilities.  We did lots of fun stuff like make tie dye shirts, put stickers on picture frames, colour, sing, watch Tarzan/The Jungle Book/Return to Oz, go for walks, throw water balloons, face paint, and go on a scavenger hunt!  

After having worked on the research project (about kids with disabilities and physical activity) from May to August, I find myself thinking more and more about the interactions between kids.  Often, kids are mean to each other simply because they don’t understand.  As adults, we frequently overlook our responsibility to give kids the right answers and thus, it promotes and perpetuates bullying.  

At the beginning of the week, I noticed that the other kids weren’t really sure how to interact with this girl I was with.  They would ask questions like, “How come she only likes to play with ______?” or “Why does she use a wheelchair?”  To these questions, I’d respond honestly with something like, “That’s her favourite kind of toy.  Everyone has their own thing that they’re into.  What’s your favourite thing to play with?” and “She does a little bit of walking, but her feet get tired and sore, so her wheelchair helps her get around.”  

By the middle of the week, there were kids who would trade stickers with her, ask to push her in her wheelchair, go for walks with me and her, put on puppet shows and ‘dance shows’ at her request, offer to get whatever toy she wanted to play with.  It was super neat to get to watch the acceptance grow among the kids as the week progressed.

Anyways, I’ll leave you all with this thought: Kids aren’t really all that different from each other, but they just need a little bit of help to see it sometimes.  How are you helping?

Sorry for the lack of blogging - I was finishing up stuff for my research practicum.  The whole premise of the project was to interview sport and physical activity leaders to learn more about the role of specialized sport/physical activity in the lives of children with disabilities.  My supervisor hopes to submit a manuscript for publication sometime before the end of the year.

Anyways! With that said, I am officially done my degree requirements.  When the Academic Awards and Ceremonies Office decides to update my records, you will be able to call me Jennifer Thai, B.Sc. Kinesiology!

I need things to do to celebrate (seeing as there are only 31 days until I have to be back in school to start my next degree)!  Taking suggestions starting…NOW!

I was lucky to be mentioned on  Two and the City’s “Friday Favourites” (the cheesecake from The Old Spaghetti Factory at Taste of Edmonton where I work, my new blog, and I even make a photo appearance having soup at one of my favourite restaurants - Blue Plate Diner)