I know it has been too long since my last blog. It feels like a million years have gone by in the last few weeks.
My mom left on Sunday and is now safely back in Victoria with my dad. She was here for five weeks. It was a long visit for her and certainly an experience. It’s hard for her because she was with the children every day and now she has to be without them for months. It’s all or nothing. The Christmas break was long. Even though our Christmas was wonderful, the holiday blocked my progress in training. Once I started my training in November, I wanted to continue and build momentum. It is good to be back at LCB, getting into a routine and working hard.
I completed grade two contracted Braille and am now reading books and working on building my reading speed. My speed is improving. I read approximately 25 words a minute, a huge improvement from when I started in November. But I must make sure to read everyday. Our teacher, Mr. Whittle, recommends reading an hour a night and five hours on the weekends to really increase speed.
I’ve started working out at the gym. A group of us go after school at five almost everyday. One of the instructors drives us there and we find our own way back, usually by cab. The gym is new and equipped with the latest exercise equipment. It feels good to be exercising. I haven’t been on an exercise routine in a while.
I am making progress in travel. I traveled over Christmas in shades and my mom noticed my speed and confidence had increased. Even without sleep shades my travel is easier because I am not relying as much on my small amount of vision.
I am doing a variety of routes with my instructor. He is also assigning me several independent routes. He gives me a specific route or asks me to find a specific store. I go to the store and bring back a business card to show I made it there.
I walk with my cane at a good pace. I am fast, but I am working on my accuracy. Some days I have excellent travel sessions where I get where I am going without many detours. Other days, I have an adventure. Veer to the other side of a street without realizing it, get turned around and walk the wrong way, walk on the street instead of the sidewalk… When these things happen I get frustrated, but I also know that it is a part of training and these little adventures are not mistakes, they are discoveries and learning experiences.
Ruston has many trains that go by throughout the day. We all stop whatever we are doing because the train wistle is so loud it prevents all thought or activity. In order to travel north down one of the main roads here, you must cross the train tracks. This is one of the only times that our instructors want us to shoreline. We shoreline the curb and then the grass until we get to the tracks. Then we cross the tracks, with a bit of stumbling involved, and breathe a sigh of relief when we get to the other side. The goal is to get across the tracks as quickly and safely as possible.
I am learning about addresses this week. I learned that most cities have dividing boarders within the city. In Ruston the north south divider is the rail road tracks. The east west divider is a street called Vienna. When you stand with your back to either of these boarders, the odd numbered addresses are always on your left and the even numbered addresses are always on the right. I am also learning to count the blocks. I am memorizing the sequence of the streets and now can figure out where specific businesses are located, simply by knowing their address. You can’t usually pinpoint exactly, but you can narrow it down to within two or three businesses.
I went on bus travel last week. There is no bus system in Ruston, so a group of us go with our travel teachers to a nearby city called Monroe to practice taking the bus. I took the bus to a specific destination. I went to the mall and practiced indoor travel, found specific stores and weaved and wound my way through the food market. After eating, I excused myself to use the bathroom. I left the table at the food court and proceeded into the abyss of open space. Tables, chairs and echoes overwhelmed me. I returned 30 minutes later. Needless to say, finding my way to and from the bathroom was an adventure. When I finally found my table again, my instructor said I had been brave to do that on my own. He said many students will not order a drink, so as not to have to use the bathroom. That is so sad. As blind people we deprive ourselves of so many basic and not so basic things and experiences because we don’t want to take a risk and step out of our narrow and often imprisoning comfort zones.
Cooking class is going well. Since Christmas I baked chocolate chip muffins, oatmeal cookies, brownies and a chicken and rice casserole. I’ve never cooked so much in my life!
Oh, I forgot to mention, I learned how to tie a man’s tie, or it could be a woman’s tie, in a Winzer knot. I never tied a tie before. It took me two hours to learn how, and I can’t say I’ve really mastered it yet. It is funny because I am short and the tie is far too long on me.
In shop class, I completed the first phase of making grid blocks. Now I am making what are called “Braille blocks.” Braille blocks are thirty three sixteenth inches. We scribe our lines, make our indications and drill the wholes. The end result is a block with six holes exactly like a Braille full cell. We do three of these and then learn a new tool, and then do three more and learn another tool. The latest tool I learned to use is the table saw.
Soon I will be learning how to make pegs for the Braille block. Shop is my most challenging class. It doesn’t come naturally to me, so I am working hard and pushing myself.
In computers I am learning many JAWS and windows commands that I didn’t know. I am learning to be even more efficient on the computer. We get assignments to do, such as writing a short essay about our experiences at LCB, and formatting the document. The instructor gives us specific instructions of what she wants us to do. For example: bold all the headings, indent all paragraphs by half an inch, make sure all text is full justified and so on.” Just when you think you know things, there is always more to learn.
Yes, I am immersed in all this learning, but by far the most incredible part of being here is the people. I have met and bonded with so many wonderful people. There are 20 students here. We do so much together and experience so many things, good and bad. The bond grows each day. LCB is a family. The emersion is not only physical emersion to learn the skills of blindness, but also, at a deeper level, an emotional emersion. Training is a time, a space away from your regular life to take stock of life and to work on yourself, something I haven’t done in a long time. I have cared for so many people over the last few years and now have been given this unbelievable opportunity to take time for myself. Sometimes it feels so luxurious to do this, but I know the training will benefit me enormously in the long run and will benefit others as well.
Love to all of you. Keep safe and be happy.
Love Elizabeth
