A Week in the Life of Wes

Even in a country such as NZ where pretty much nothing of any signifigance happens, time still seems to pass so quickly. As of yesterday I have been in NZ for 3 complete months now. That means that I have been here for a fourth of my total time here. Man that went by quickly.

Well the weather here is getting warmer and lovelier, although it is still just as erratic. I am currently sitting here in the sun in about 70 degree weather on our back porch (which is soon to be a construction site and then quickly followed by the location of a lovely refreshing swimming pool). Well on Sunday last I mentioned how on Monday I was hoping of going windsurfing. Unfortunately the company was all booked up so we had to take a rain check on that. No worries though I hae a whole 9 more months. So monday was instead spent going on two walks with Yannik around Mt. Mangere and the local resevior. After that it began to downpour rather violently so I stayed inside and read A Portrait of Dorian Grey. Its quite a good book by Oscar Wilde. An author who I find interesting and amusing both as a writer and as a person. Regardless there are some pretty great egotistical and pretentious quotes in the book for anyone interested. I should mention in case I haven't already that Monday was NZ Labour Day so evethything was closed and it was a public holiday. I even didn't have improv that night. This is probably due to the large quantities of labor involved in such things as improv, and more importatntly making an ass of one's self. At any rate, that night after Yannik went to bed, we stayed up and watched W. (the movie about George W.'s life) it made me a little homesick and made me feel sorry for the man the ran our nation into the ground. (Sorry for my political plug). I always find myself filling in both Leigh and Christoph at the ends of movies because they always fall asleep halfway through them. Fortunately this time it meant that they did not see the embaressing parts of America that are presented in that movie. (You know back in the States, we all joke about how the world views us. However its rather humbling to go to another country and realize that really is how we are percieved. Humbling and rather embarressing) Well Tuesday was a pretty typical day. I woke up and took care of Yanik. After he left I excercised and then read and worked on German. Yannik returned that afternoon swollen again from allegies. I worked with him on swallowing pills for work time. I suppose it has been a while since I have really talked about Yannik and I's relationship. So...

Well Yannik and I get along well. Its a hard relationship to describe I suppose. I mean it exists really. He knows that I care for him, and that I am someone he can trust and feel comfortable around which is really good. At the same time though its not like we have a huge social connection and enjoy each other's jokes and stuff. I now feel more comfortable at times to have a chuckle with Yannik. When he comes out of his room with his pants around his nipples and his shirt tucked in he rimends me too much of Steve Erkle not to laugh. Laughter is something I have had to becomce comfortable with here. In our culture laughter towards the mentally handicap is viewed as severelly taboo. However, on the contrary, I now believe it is crucial to find the laughter in situations such as this. I love this job, and its a great one. I have excellent hours and only one child. However it definitely is a more difficult job at times and without a doubt takes a person with the right type of mentality. I don't say this to toot my own horn, it really is just true. It is easy with somelike Yannik to feel like things are so pointless or why bother with some things. It at times seems so ridiculous to offer Yannik a choice between toast or cereal in the morning, when he will eat either one you give him. Or not be bothered by the fact that sometimes when you do give him a choice he still refuses it after you make it for him. Or why work with Yannik on things like learning the alphabet. There is very little chance that he will ever read in his life. Its easy to feel like some of the things you do with/for him are futile. And thus it definitely takes the right mentality to do it day in and day out. Thus finding the laughter in all the silly and ridiculous things that Yannik does enables us to keep going every day to see what else he will do. More than laughter of course though, are those times when you do do make a breakthrough. And that is trully neat to watch, especially with a special needs child like Yannik. When I first arrived Yannik was biting his hand alot. It was one of his self inflicted injuries that he did alot. I made it my goal to work with him on this, and be strict with him where I thought his parents were not. Leigh, Christoph and I talked about it and made a plan for what was to be done. Whenever he bit at someone I would send him to his room. In public or when we were out of the house and he bit I would make him stand where he was, while I pretended to be on my phone until he started to say "no biting". After putting him in his room, I would ask "What do we not do?" to this he always responded "No biting" So then I started to ask him this question before I asked him things I thought might make him bite. So I'd d get him essentially to say "no biting" before I then asked him to brush his teeth or something like that. I can now say that after a lifetime of biting and his parents trying hundreds of methods and years of work on it, after the three month I have been here, Yannik rarely bites anymore. He is now down to maybe 5-10 bites a week which is mind blowing considering every morning when I first arrived after greeting him with a good morning his response was a bite in my direction. Same thing for his father. So that to me was definitely an awesome reward and really cool process to both watch and be a part of. Now that I feel I have finished that task my goal is either to get him to chew with his mouth closed or to swallow a pill. However I should say it is easier to teach someone what not to do, then to teach them what to do.

Well, onwards and upwards. What happened on Wednesday. On Wednesday I went to Leigh's sister's house (they are moving homes due to their neighbors (not a good situation)). and I did manual labour for them all day; digging holes, leveling parts of the yard, and painting. Just getting the house ready for them to show. I did have the biggest compliment of my life while I was there. I showed up and right after I started working the sun came out so I changed into shorts and a wifebeater. She came outside to describe my next job and she was like "Oh and your muscular. Good." I simply timidly shrugged and asked what was next, but in my head was "YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!! Well, I had a lovely day working in the yard, and was able to make some money which was nice. That night I went out to Couchsurfing, and had a great night. My success of the evening was securing the number of the casting director for "Shortland Street" which is the big NZ Soap Opera. So I am going to give "Andrea" a call and see if I can be an extra on the show. I think that would be Extraordinary! On Thursday I slept in after Yannik left for school. Then took Leigh in to work and went to the library. I downloaded an episode of "Rome" which is a series I have started to watch. I also returned the Oscar Wilde and checked out Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins. Which is like the DiVinci Code on LSD. The book is bizzarre, and the author was definitely on mushrooms or something when he wrote it. Talk about an extreme version of Alice in Wonderland. Anyways that afternoon Yannik and I played catch. (I had to teach him how, but it was pretty cool cause I don't think they have ever really been able to play catch with him) I am hoping I can play with him again today to solidify it in his mind. We also worked on "closing his mouth" which will eventually become eating with his mouth closed. Oh ya, and I took him for a haircut. The razor scared the Bejezus out of him, but he was pretty good for 15 minutes, and then he decided we were officially done.

And that pretty much catches us up with today. I took Yannik to the doctor again today, because yesterday he was pretty swollen, and now as I am writing this I am waiting for a batch of dough to rise with which I will make my first thing of German soft Pretzels ever. I will tell you all how it goes. Enjoy everyone.

Love,
Wes