I'm really enjoying my new job as a Specialist Support Staff for youth with intellectual disabilities. This poster that I've discovered online is for the National Intellectual Disability Week in the Philippines. It's really good to know "na meron na palang ganoon sa atin, nabibigyan na rin ng importansya ang mga taong may ganitong kapansanan." What I meant was we have a National ID Week celebration in place already. Everyday that I come to work, I so envy the youth I support because they have all the things needed to live a normal life as best as they could. And they have us, their support staff, who are in many ways not only staff but also mentor, guide, brother, sister, father, mother, uncle, auntie, grandparent, and friend.
Three times a week I support one youth who goes to a high school 30 minutes drive away from Hamilton. It's been a month since I've started working with him and I'm very happy to report that he has done extremely well. He was given a Certificate of Merit for his achievement in Term One. The credit is all his and the other support staff before me. What I see is that I'm beginning to have an influence in his life too.
I remember when I was teaching in high school in the Philippines when we had a senior student who was the daughter of the President. Since those were difficult times, she always had a complement of Presidential Security Guards (PSG) whenever she went to school or anywhere else, including the cinema. We were on the 4th floor and to the credit of her security and the administration of the school, her escorts just stayed on the ground floor. It afforded a semblance of normality for her, the students and the teachers. Just imagine if her security also attended my class!
Why am I recalling this? Well it's because in a way I feel like an escort, a security person for the youth I support. Without going into too much details, suffice to say that he has to be within my eyesight at all times. That means wherever he is, I too am there, "tipong close-in security." His teachers and classmates have gotten used to my presence now.
I thought I've let go of my desire to teach in high school. But the past few weeks I've been in high school, I'm beginning to take a second, serious look, if I should be going back to teaching in high school as I did for two years when I was new in fantastic Aotearoa the Land of the Long White Cloud!
Before my family came over I was flatting with four other flatmates Bevin, Chris, Juanita and Sarah. I was the only migrant and whenever I cooked Pinoy foods they always complained about the smell but once cooked they liked the taste, at least I think some of them did or were brave enough to give it a try! For the really smelly ones like dried fish, pusit, etc. I cooked them outside.
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Flatting is a slang term used to describe a living arrangement wherein a house or apartment a "flat" is let out to a group of people. Flatmates are the people who rent the flat. It is a convenient living arrangement for students, young people and even professionals who no longer wish to live at home.
It was an old house and was quite cold during winter. The front garden upkeep was optional. At the back was the deck with a hammock wherein many a day or night when it was warm we lay reading books or just discussing whatever fancied our minds. Most of the time it was about me and the Philippines. Rent was cheap as and it was fun cooking and tasting each other's dishes. It helped that Bevin was studying to be a chef and Juanita was in her final year as a nutritionist. It's interesting to note that Bevin and Juanita eventually got married a year after. As for Sarah, she spent a year in China teaching English and for Chris I have no idea whatever has happened to him. He was quite reclusive, mostly sleeping during the day and out of the house at night.
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I enjoyed my flatting days and would definitely recommend it! I was just lucky that my flatmates never became a problem . The experience was worth it and the friendships we've made carries on until today. Why am I writing this now? I guess it was around this time that I started my flatting days, towards the end of summer and all the way to spring time. Oh, and did I say we had two cats at the beginning which just ballooned into how many when we started feeding them? But that's another story!
