Of denied requests and long walks...

Personal log – 6^th of September, 2006.

Hello everyone! How’s everything going on? No travel news as of the moment but I’m well, still in Cebu. Might travel again soon but I don’t know just yet.

After weeks of silence, I’m writing once more, but not on my usual positive self. I just came back from my school yesterday to have my request for “internship” submitted to the higher ups of the school. Gisteren, ik ben was teleurgesteld dat mijn “verzoek” was niet goedkeuring gegeven. Zij gezeggen te me dat Nederland is ver ver uit en niemand kan controleren (supervise) me. Ik kan begrijp dat zij kan niet goedkeuring gegeven. First of all, I still had a few subjects to take this “teaching internship”. But I specifically wrote in my letter that I would take all of them when I got back from the NL. I wasn’t planning on skipping on all of them. I’m not the type of student who expects to graduate without doing the work. Besides, if I did my teaching internship in NL, wouldn’t it be ridiculous to learn American Sign Language when the NL has Nederlands Gebaren Taal (NGT or Dutch Sign Language)!?!? Tweede, ik was de eerste student wie de “verzoek” maken. Ik kan begrijp dat zij zijn bang. Then one of the “higher ups” gave me this “I-told-you-so” look which even gemaakt ik heel boos! Is it so wrong to want to be different? Is it so wrong to dare not to be average?!?

So I decided to take a walk to Ramos which was a few hundred meters from the school just to cool off. I was going to help out in the SPED clinic yesterday, and I didn’t want to be angry around the kids, especially not these kinds of kids. Eventually after the walk, I got on a jeepney and I said to myself, “I will still try to observe special kids in NL, whether they like it or not!” They can’t make me average. I decided long ago to not to be average, and I am not going back! Many people die unfulfilled lives, because they remain average. I read that somewhere. I want to be successful. I am one of those in the minority of “once” average people who decided to do extraordinary things… or in my case, WILL DO extraordinary things… ;)

When I got to the SPED clinic, I was assigned to help teach this young Dyslexic/ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) boy. He was so hyper and very smart. He liked being praised for what he does, which I gladly did. He was doing well too, so I decided to treat him nicely that day despite my already simmering temper… It turned out after his one hour session that my anger had subsided and I felt rewarded to have helped him out that day. I mean, I wasn’t his “main” teacher, I was only assisting, but assisting him made me happy when I saw the happy smile on his face when I told him of his achievements for that day.

Funny, the professor who runs the clinic said that THAT boy didn’t like the idea of changing teachers abruptly and I was lucky he wasn’t being “pissy” and showing me his own temper at me that day. And I was glad that he was so well-behaved! For an ADHD kid, I was wondering if I was going to be running around the school after him! hehehe

For those who don’t understand it, please refer to my http://world.altavista.com to translate the Duch parts of this blog.

End log.