It's About Time

Hey friends, sorry I haven't posted for a while. The Internet was out over the weekend and since Monday life in OT world has been nuts. So, it's time for some blogging.

(By the way, thanks to all of the comments on the last post. I've got a response in the works. Stay tuned...)

First of all: Fieldwork. Like I mentioned earlier, life in OT has really picked up. Now that I've been around for two weeks, the therapists I've been working with have been giving me more and more opportunities to participate in treatment. Overall, I appreciate these opportunities and I am learning A TON, but I have to admit, I spend a lot of time feeling incompetent. I haven't seriously injured or killed anyone yet, but I keep messing up little things. On Tuesday my supervisor in the burns outpatient clinic let me "be the therapist" and I kept getting stuck. Grrr. I hate feeling like I don't know what I am doing.

To make life even more stressful, the head of the academic department at the university has decided that Sarah and I need to abide by university requirements and do some pretty extensive weekly assignments. And, on top of everything else, these assignments have unearthed a longstanding rift between the university and the hospital staff. I absolutely hate drama like this. This morning, though, I had a good meeting with a couple of hospital and university people and I think I finally got things worked out. Cross your fingers for me.

But, enough with the bad. Some really great things have been going on, too. Like I said, I'm learning a ton! I've had the chance to do some pretty cool things like splint clients in the ICU and do my own documentation. (Yeah, I know, that part doesn't sound too exciting--but it is!) Last night we had pancake night at the international student hostel. I like to think that we had our own international house of pancakes. (Insert laugh here.) Sarah and I cooked up the hotcakes and everyone else brought toppings. It was soo good. We had ice cream and strawberries and whipping cream and walnuts and other delectable toppings. It makes me salivate just thinking about it.

Living in the hostel has been great. We don't have a television, (or much of anything else!) so every night a bunch of us cook dinner and then sit around and talk until bed. And seeing as people are from all over the world and have many different perspectives, we've had some great conversations.

That's all I got for now. But don't worry, there's more to come!