Shifts, Mince Pies and Early Mornings...

So, the first week of my placement is now over and the weekend has begun with a few glasses of wine with some ladies of my larvly flat. Its been such a good week, I have enjoyed it so much and learnt alot too.

The first day on Monday was just an introduction to what I was going to be doing, talking about who I would be working with, what problems may occur, the organisations policies and things like that. Warning you all now, you will have to get used to early mornings... I'm up at like half 6 every morning and have to leave for half 7. Some of my flatmates like Eric is up at 5 a.m. to be in for 7! :( It's still dark when I leave, so I set off in the dark and leave in the dark at 4 p.m. Anywho, I go to meet most of the people who I will be and am working with. As soon as I went in and introduced myself to them, I felt like I fitted in straight away and, as much as it is a cliche, welcomed in with open arms. Everyone is lovely there, and my mentor is a proper sweety. He is helping me so much and doing so much for me, like getting loads of information and stuff.

Tuesday was my first day in working with the service users, and it was really good. I worked with two service users on my own and the feedback I was given was that I worked really well and handled the different distractions really well, as someone kept interupting me when I was working with the other people. On the afternoon I working with the Literacy group, and as the main teacher (I guess I will call them for this task) wasn't in, they had a sub, so they did some work looking in TV mags for words. It was really interesting seeeing how they used different techniques to find the words, and how others found it quicker than others due to the techniques they used.

On Wednesday morning at 3.30 a.m., our fire alarm went off at flat 3. The whole block had to get out the building in the FREEZING COLD and wait for the firemen to come and turn the alarm off. It went off in a sodding International students room who said she was asleep. She better have been or I will have her guts for garters. I was so tired when I got in on the morning, but literally five minutes of everyone getting in I was put in a great mood and made a pie with the cooking group. It was oh so yummy too.

Thursday was the day of the carol service at the church. The service users used Makaton to sing 'The Twelve Days of Christmas', which, even though they were slightly out of time, it was amazing to watch. I was also in the kitchen helping out all day making a soup, and even though I wasn't really working with the service users, I was working with some of the staff and got to know some of them better which I think also helped as we started to build up a bit of a good relationship. That day was also good as I got to leave early :D

Today was really good, but again we didnt really do much work. However I got to chat to alot of the service users for ages which I think helped me as I got to practice being able to understand some of the service users. You see, some of the service users are hard to understand when they speak verbally, so as my mentor said, I have to give time for my hearing to adjust to the way they speak. We also made some Christmas Decorations which I actually have hung up on my ceiling as it is so rustic and pretty.

Overall, from jsut the first week I have learnt an awful lot. I have also started to pick up Makaton which is a mixture of speaking and signing. I think I have fitted in really well with the group and even though it isnt like most placements as you can tell, such as I havent actually done any medical stuff yet, and wont be at this placement. But to be honest, I dont care. I think Ive learnt just as much in this first week as anyone else being in a hospital. Mine just doesnt involve sticking needles in people's arses...