Posted by Ellen | Posted in My life in the USA | Posted on 17-09-2010
Working with special needs children is rewarding, but at the same time it takes a lot from me. I am working now 5 days a week at the school, and in the weekends now and then for the hospital, and it is taking its toll. Tomorrow will be my 12th day in a row I’ve been working, and I think it has been a bit too much 
Especially when I’m not feeling fit at all. The kids are having runny noses and coughing a lot, so it is no wonder I am not feeling that great either. The children are great, I love them, but sometimes I want to put some of them in a box and keep them there for a while so they will not harm other kids or adults. One of the kids gripped my nose last Friday and turned it around. This particular child has behavior problems, you cannot even imagine. Two other assistants had to “rescue” me. Today she bit another assistant. When she is uncontrollable, her mom has to come and take her home. Her mom is not happy because she has more children to look after. But, as I said, most kids are just adorable and fun to work with.
Last weekend, I worked at the hospital, and we got a call on the code phone. It appeared to be someone who just wanted to talk with a patient. My colleague asked the man very politely to call the operator on a normal line, because we can connect him from the line that he called on. He did call, and he got me on the phone. He asked to be connected with a particular extension, but it was the code phone extension. Obviously, he had the wrong number written down. So I explained to him what was going on and asked for the patient to whom he wanted to talk . He said the name very rapidly and in a strong Spanish accent. He was already pretty irritated by that time. I asked him politely to spell the last name of the patient. His reaction blew me away: “F.Y, you guys!” And he hung up. I started to laugh and told my colleague what he said. I told her that next time, I will ask him to spell that too!
This week I need to get some shots. I already have the second Chicken pox shot, and tomorrow I will get the Hepatitis B shot. Hopefully it is all just for precaution. Also this week, we filed the paperwork for my resident card, for removing the “C” from it. (The “C” means “Conditional.”) We had it sent by certified mail, and today we saw it has been delivered to the office in Laguna Niguel.
Because I am biking now every day, I bought myself a helmet. Traffic is pretty busy here. I do not like to wear the helmet, but I feel I must protect myself. At least it looks somewhat professional
This weekend I’ll be off work! That will give us time to go hiking. I look so much forward to that. But also I look forward to being around the house, doing things with Dan and feeling very relaxed.
I wish you all to have a great weekend with beautiful weather!
Sorry, already a week has passed by. Things are pretty busy here, but I do not complain. Every morning I love it when I can bike to school and be there for the students. It is so great to see when the children react more responsively toward me and that they actually like to see me every morning 
Last Friday Dan, Ryan and I went to the mall in Ventura. Dan went to a book store, I vanished into Macy’s, Target and Payless Shoes. and Ryan did his thing. It is sale time, the best time of the year. I saw some great shoes, the so called shape up sneakers. Payless has them now too, and they have the sale, second shoes half the price. Because of my weak and painful Achilles tendon, I was thinking of buying a pair. This evening, we went to a local Payless store and bought two pair of them. They walk as if you are on cushions. And so far, it seems to help support me with walking.
Saturday morning we went to the gym. The rest of the day was filled with cleaning and doing groceries. For Sunday, I had invited my Dutch friends to come over for dinner. I did not have to work at the hospital, so that would not cause a problem…Yeah right…At 7.15 AM Sunday morning, the phone rings; my colleague Maria at the hospital. “Ellen, should you not be at the hospital in Camarillo?” I said, I do not think so, but I stepped out of bed to check my printed schedule for this week. Phew, I was right. But, apparently, my manager had changed the schedule last Friday, without telling me I was having the Sunday morning shift. I told Maria that I cannot help it, that I have had made my plans for that day, and that they should have asked me ahead if I was available. She understood. 5 minutes later the supervisor called me and he said, I had to hang on to my print out, because they already hang up the new schedule, so I have prove that I was indeed not supposed to work. How they’ve solved it, I do not know. But I sent an email to my manager, that I hope in the future, they will call me ahead if they need to reschedule my shifts. Then, I can be as diligent as I always am toward my job in the hospital. My manager wrote back later : “I will.”
After those phone calls, I could not sleep anymore. It did not matter that much, because I had to make the preparations for the Dutch friends dinner. But before I started, I first called my sister Marja, who was having her birthday. We had a short but very warm talk! For dinner, I made chicken with curry, pineapple and rice, fish with curry and sate. I had yellow Squash soup as a starter. I managed to find kroepoek (shrimp chips), but they tasted horrible. My friends brought food with them too, so we had a complete meal for all of us. We had a wonderful evening, and I was very happy it was a success. Then, dishwashers are a blessing, lol.
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