Today was an eventful day, again filled with love and laughter, and it went nothing according to plan. We arrived at the centre for 9, like we were told, because of our field trip to the school. Similar to when I lived in Spain, when you show up on time, you're actually 45 minutes early. Nobody is ever on time, and it's not a big deal. So we had morning Kafu with Hana and a few of the mothers, while the kids were waiting in excitement. It is really lovely when we get greeted at the entrance to the centre by everyone waving and smiling, so happy that we are there. Again, it was great to bond with the kids over games, sport and fun, and the kids now just speak to me in Bosnian, and then we laugh and I nod. I can pick up on a few things, but really laughing is the best we can do.
So some people took cars, while a few of the other kids took the bus with Hana, and we went to the school. We thought that it was a workshop of some sort put on by Americans about inclusive education. We were wrong about everything but the Americans, but regardless, it was a lot of fun. There was a group of Americans (generally from New Jersey) that were promoting peace, love and hope throughout Bosnia. They have been doing a Bosnian tour for 10 years now, and they go to schools and play games, have fun, and promote the fact that we're all different, yet the same, and that one person affects the whole world around them. The school as a whole, is moving towards inclusive education, and they were very excited that Ana and I were there. At 12:00 Ana and I went to meet Jasmin, the president of the PT association. True to Euro style, our ride was late, and we missed the 5 minute meeting at SOS kinderdorf. Apparently the meeting was cut short due to an issue that arose regarding one of the kids at SOS. He applied to go to High School in Sarajevo, and was #2 on the list, and he just got rejected because he is an orphan at SOS. It was explained by Jasmin that all of the children at SOS have lost one, or both their parents due to war or other circumstances. It is a village of safe homes for these children, and each house is run by a very dedicated woman, who cares for 5-6 children 24/7. Unlike other orphanages, these children are supported until they're 27, not 18. Anyways, the meeting was supposed to be about a rehab pilot project at SOS. The PT association will screen all the children for physical impairments, and begin working on therapy with the children that have physical impairments and start prevention therapy for children who don't, but may be at risk. The issue that they want Ana and I's input on is how to address the emotional issues these children may experience with having a physical disability. Ana and I are to hopefully meet up with Jasmin again before he goes on vacation on Saturday. However, we are meeting up with Sanela, Bosnia's only OT, in the near future to continue collaborating on this issue. OT's and others: if you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment. Jasmin is an incredible man to talk to. He is so passionate about rehab in general, and really trying to get the BiH PT federation moving forward. We hope that we will see him again. We were told that we can go back to SOS another day to observe some therapy, and we're excited to do so.
After our meeting, we went back to the school, and played more games with the kids. At the end of the day, there were some more music sung, including some premature balkanika, sung by some little girls, and a traditional Bosnian song sung by Amir, a member of Radost Zivota. We then took the bus back to the centre, and we were talking to the mothers, and one of the mothers was talking about how she has a cousin that lives in Vancouver (or Vankuver in Bosnian), and I formulated my first sentence in my head and said it to Ana: "Vancouver and Sarajevo are very good cities" or "Vankuver i Sarajevo to je dobro grad", and Ana announced that I had something to say. Shockingly, I was shy, and I didn't want to say it. That is, until I got cornered in a closet by one of the mothers, demanding me to say it (in the nicest way possible). I said it, and then she repeated it to all the mothers, and they applauded and laughed with/at me. But it's a start, and although my grammer will always be horrible, I need to start speaking.
We take the tram car to and from the centre everyday, and today was the first HOT day (woo-hoo! Bosnia has occasional cold spells in the summer, and it hasn't been warm at all since we arrived!), but with the lack of deodorant in Eastern Europe, I can tell our daily tram car rides aren't going to get any more enjoyable. But I am happy the sun is out to stay!
I leave you with the Balkanika song of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgr6pHgquoY
Cao! xoxo
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Balkanika
So I have a new love in my life in the form of music. It is known as Balkanika and it is hilarious yet awesome. It is channel 27 on TV and is the Much Music of the Balkans, without commercials and the music can be heard throughout every bar and cafe in Sarajevo. The Balkan countries are made up of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Serbia, Turkey, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Romania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Kosovo. The music is a combination of fast tempos of the 80's and 90's, with trumpets, oboes, harmonicas, an occasional arabic tone, and lyrics I don't understand. That is except for the Romanians, who throw in random English lyrics overtop dirty euro dance beats. It's lyrical, wonderful and matched with hilarious music videos. The videos normally consist of half naked people, expressionaless men, slightly out-of-sync group dances, beaches or open fields, light shows, sunglasses, cats, unicorns, abstract art, and/or people in snowglobes. I don't know if this description has won your heart over, but if not, here's a few of our favourites for you to take a gander at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj-x0biQsSA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjbkTctD98Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URFU2gL5eMc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xW85VcIgXA
So, as mentioned previously, Balkanika is everywhere, including Radost Zivota (the centre). All the kids/adolescents/adults LOVE Balkanika for all that it is. We arrived at the centre this morning for 9am kafu (coffee) with some of the mothers and Hana (the psychologist). Again, I contribute very little to conversation (rare- I know!), but smile and continue to spit out the occasional "dobra", "dobra dan", "zdravo", "kako si?" (how are you?) or "zovem se Chelsea" to those I haven't met. At 9:30, everyone started arriving, and group started, and what was on as background music?-- Balkanika. We started with some fine motor skills and expressive art in the form of colouring, and everyone drew Ana and I "Welcome" posters. My name in Bosnian, according to the adolescents is "Celzi". My dreams of having a "z" in my name have now come true. There were alot of flowers, suns, and drawing of hands in great colours. The kids were trying to learn English and teach me some Bosnian. They are the coolest group of individuals, and their love and compassion for eachother, Ana and I is almost palpable and warms my heart. While colouring, there are some individuals who are blind, or have difficulty with fine motor due to spasticity or tremor, but they encourage eachother do as much as they can of a drawing/picture, and then they pair up with a friend, to finish it together. They talk about their problems and issues in the most non-judgemental way, and then try to put their problems into perspective by talking about how lucky they are to have the friends at the centre, and the life they live. They are very inclusive, uplifting, and encouraging and we spent a lot of the day laughing. Ana and I are still building rapport, and trying to get to know the kids more personally. Project ideas are still running through our minds, but nothing concrete is in place yet. We had lunch and afternoon kafu with the mothers, who are also the most cheerful group of ladies. Although to me, it sounds like they are often yelling at one another, I am then ensured its just friendly banter, because they break out in laughter about every 20 seconds. I got a phonecall from the President of the Physiotherapy Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina today, and Ana and I are meeting with him tomorrow afternoon. No idea what we're doing, but he wants our "fresh terapia brains" and we may or may not be going to SOS Kinderdorf tomorrow. I'll update on that tomorrow. It shall be interesting.
Just when we thought our day was about to end, we found out that every 3 months, the centre celebrates all of the Birthdays from the past 3 months in the form of a party (aka Balkanika with cake and juice) with the neighboring association. It was a lot of fun, and I learned that the best way to build rapport with people when you don't speak the same language is through dance and laughter. The association had a live band, that were fantastic. Again, 80's/90's tempo with trumpets, oboes, harmonicas and lyrics I don't understand. Everyone got involved in the dancing, and there was traditional Balkan folklore circle dancing, where everyone holds hands and dances in a rotating circle. I'm sure there are traditional dance moves that we were supposed to follow, but nobody cared. There were some people dancing on the counters, and lots of love and laughter. Here are a few photos of Ana and I partaking in the fun:
Tomorrow is another day of fun and excitement at Joy of Life. At 9am, we're going on a field trip with some of the kids to one of the schools in Sarajevo that is starting to move towards inclusive education. There are apparently some Americans in Sarajevo that will be there presenting ideas/projects/theories, so it will be good to collaborate with them. And then in the afternoon, we'll be meeting with Jasmin, the President of the Physiotherapy Association. I guess it will be a day of collaboration! I guess that's what OTs do best! That, and reflecting.
I hope you enjoy the Balkanika as much as we do! xoxo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj-x0biQsSA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjbkTctD98Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URFU2gL5eMc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xW85VcIgXA
So, as mentioned previously, Balkanika is everywhere, including Radost Zivota (the centre). All the kids/adolescents/adults LOVE Balkanika for all that it is. We arrived at the centre this morning for 9am kafu (coffee) with some of the mothers and Hana (the psychologist). Again, I contribute very little to conversation (rare- I know!), but smile and continue to spit out the occasional "dobra", "dobra dan", "zdravo", "kako si?" (how are you?) or "zovem se Chelsea" to those I haven't met. At 9:30, everyone started arriving, and group started, and what was on as background music?-- Balkanika. We started with some fine motor skills and expressive art in the form of colouring, and everyone drew Ana and I "Welcome" posters. My name in Bosnian, according to the adolescents is "Celzi". My dreams of having a "z" in my name have now come true. There were alot of flowers, suns, and drawing of hands in great colours. The kids were trying to learn English and teach me some Bosnian. They are the coolest group of individuals, and their love and compassion for eachother, Ana and I is almost palpable and warms my heart. While colouring, there are some individuals who are blind, or have difficulty with fine motor due to spasticity or tremor, but they encourage eachother do as much as they can of a drawing/picture, and then they pair up with a friend, to finish it together. They talk about their problems and issues in the most non-judgemental way, and then try to put their problems into perspective by talking about how lucky they are to have the friends at the centre, and the life they live. They are very inclusive, uplifting, and encouraging and we spent a lot of the day laughing. Ana and I are still building rapport, and trying to get to know the kids more personally. Project ideas are still running through our minds, but nothing concrete is in place yet. We had lunch and afternoon kafu with the mothers, who are also the most cheerful group of ladies. Although to me, it sounds like they are often yelling at one another, I am then ensured its just friendly banter, because they break out in laughter about every 20 seconds. I got a phonecall from the President of the Physiotherapy Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina today, and Ana and I are meeting with him tomorrow afternoon. No idea what we're doing, but he wants our "fresh terapia brains" and we may or may not be going to SOS Kinderdorf tomorrow. I'll update on that tomorrow. It shall be interesting.
Just when we thought our day was about to end, we found out that every 3 months, the centre celebrates all of the Birthdays from the past 3 months in the form of a party (aka Balkanika with cake and juice) with the neighboring association. It was a lot of fun, and I learned that the best way to build rapport with people when you don't speak the same language is through dance and laughter. The association had a live band, that were fantastic. Again, 80's/90's tempo with trumpets, oboes, harmonicas and lyrics I don't understand. Everyone got involved in the dancing, and there was traditional Balkan folklore circle dancing, where everyone holds hands and dances in a rotating circle. I'm sure there are traditional dance moves that we were supposed to follow, but nobody cared. There were some people dancing on the counters, and lots of love and laughter. Here are a few photos of Ana and I partaking in the fun:
Tomorrow is another day of fun and excitement at Joy of Life. At 9am, we're going on a field trip with some of the kids to one of the schools in Sarajevo that is starting to move towards inclusive education. There are apparently some Americans in Sarajevo that will be there presenting ideas/projects/theories, so it will be good to collaborate with them. And then in the afternoon, we'll be meeting with Jasmin, the President of the Physiotherapy Association. I guess it will be a day of collaboration! I guess that's what OTs do best! That, and reflecting.
I hope you enjoy the Balkanika as much as we do! xoxo
Monday, June 28, 2010
Zdravo!
Dobar dan (good day)! Well, we made it! Ana and I have arrived in Sarajevo, and although sometimes a little overwhelmed, things are going well. We were greeted at the airport on Friday afternoon by Hasena (the co-founder of Joy of Life) and her husband, Mensud. They took us to the centre for 5 minutes to say "Zdravo" to a few of the mothers and kids. Many of them had already left for the weekend, so it was a quick tour and hello, then we left. As we drove into the city, Mensud and Hasena explained to us (and by us, I mean, Ana, who translated to me) some of the history and the major buildings around town. We arrived at our apartment, to be thoroughly surprised by how nice it was. Before arriving, all we knew was the price and approximate location. We are in the heart of the old town, and we have an excellent view of the city and the surrounding hills. 
We dropped our bags, headed down to old town, and Mensud and Hasena pointed out the necessities in our neighborhood (supermarket, pharmacy, bank, etc). We stopped and had Burek (a traditional pastry that normally is filled with meat, but I opted for the spinach/cheese option), followed by traditional turkish coffee, which is probably the strongest coffee I've had in my life! Hasena and Mensud headed home to their children (they have daughter who is 18, and a son that just turned 4), while Ana and I headed to the grocery store and home to get settled.
The rest of the weekend was filled with watching Fudbal (World Cup) while drinking coffee, wine and beer, and attempting to meet locals or anyone who cared to talk to us. It seems that nobody in Sarajevo speaks English, and although I am picking up on words, here and there, but I'm pretty much lost in translation. I can generally just say "Hello", "How are you?", "Good", "Thank You" and "See ya later". Ana has become my lifeline, but with complete immersion, I'm hoping to be able to survive independently in 5 weeks.
Ana and I went for a run on Saturday afternoon, and we realized that people don't exercise in Sarajevo, so needless to say, we got many strange looks. Also, we are really taking our life into our own hands, and running appears to be an extreme sport here. With the combination of cobblestone, rock, holes in the ground, no sidewalks, steep hills and cars driving 60km/hour in the narrowest streets, it makes for an interesting team sport.
Today (June 28th), Ana and I started at Radost Zivota (Joy of Life) today. It was basically a day of orientation and getting to know some of the people that work at and are apart of Joy of Life. Hasena picked us up at 9:00am, and we rode the tram for about 25 minutes, and walked to Joy of Life. The centre is very small, where the mothers hang out in the kitchen, there is a group therapy room, a bathroom, and an office. Once we arrived, we had a small orientation over coffee, and went over some of the forms with Hasena and Azra (the co-founders of Joy of Life). I sat there, and smiled, while Ana's brain went into overdrive, translating constantly. We then met Hana (a psychologist), Nermin (a speech-language pathologist), Sylvia (a "defectologist"), a music teacher, and the kids. Although, to our surprise, there were very few I would classify as "kids". Majority of the individuals there were aged 20 to 40, all with varying disabilities. We all went around in a circle, introducing ourselves, saying our name, and how old we were. They then sang us some songs, one in English, then the Bosnian version of the Hokey Pokey, and a few various other songs, with actions. They were wonderful. The group then asked Ana and I questions varying from what we were doing there, to where we were from, to who we were cheering for in World Cup. My favourite part of the day was when Ana explained to the group that we would be there everyday for 5 weeks, and that we're excited to become friends with them, and the entire group started to clap and cheer.
It was explained that they often have group therapy daily, to work on socialization, talk about issues they may be having, problem solve as a group, and play games. Today, we played their adapted version of "Who wants to be a Millionaire", which asked a variety of questions related to Bulkan history, pop culture, science and random facts. The centre often gets small projects to work on to earn money. Previously, they have made small bags, but right now, they're making curtains (?) for a fashion show. So after lunch, we gathered and rolled fabric and socialized as a group. At 2:30, Ana, myself, and Hana had coffee with the mothers, and then it was time to go home. They sent me off with a book of children's songs to help me learn the language.
Ana and I left, and on the tram ride home, we discussed ideas for the project. The organization was really keen on the fact that we are there to work with them, not for them. Now, we need to start our needs assessment, and start planning. Overall, it was a good orientation day, but boy do I have a lot of language to learn! It's very difficult being lost in the language barrier, and being totally reliant on another person to communicate on your behalf. But I'll take it one day at a time, and learn as I go. But I'm going to go read children's songs! I'll update again another day. Our internet is inconsistent, but I'll keep in touch as much as I can.
We dropped our bags, headed down to old town, and Mensud and Hasena pointed out the necessities in our neighborhood (supermarket, pharmacy, bank, etc). We stopped and had Burek (a traditional pastry that normally is filled with meat, but I opted for the spinach/cheese option), followed by traditional turkish coffee, which is probably the strongest coffee I've had in my life! Hasena and Mensud headed home to their children (they have daughter who is 18, and a son that just turned 4), while Ana and I headed to the grocery store and home to get settled.
The rest of the weekend was filled with watching Fudbal (World Cup) while drinking coffee, wine and beer, and attempting to meet locals or anyone who cared to talk to us. It seems that nobody in Sarajevo speaks English, and although I am picking up on words, here and there, but I'm pretty much lost in translation. I can generally just say "Hello", "How are you?", "Good", "Thank You" and "See ya later". Ana has become my lifeline, but with complete immersion, I'm hoping to be able to survive independently in 5 weeks.
Ana and I went for a run on Saturday afternoon, and we realized that people don't exercise in Sarajevo, so needless to say, we got many strange looks. Also, we are really taking our life into our own hands, and running appears to be an extreme sport here. With the combination of cobblestone, rock, holes in the ground, no sidewalks, steep hills and cars driving 60km/hour in the narrowest streets, it makes for an interesting team sport.
Today (June 28th), Ana and I started at Radost Zivota (Joy of Life) today. It was basically a day of orientation and getting to know some of the people that work at and are apart of Joy of Life. Hasena picked us up at 9:00am, and we rode the tram for about 25 minutes, and walked to Joy of Life. The centre is very small, where the mothers hang out in the kitchen, there is a group therapy room, a bathroom, and an office. Once we arrived, we had a small orientation over coffee, and went over some of the forms with Hasena and Azra (the co-founders of Joy of Life). I sat there, and smiled, while Ana's brain went into overdrive, translating constantly. We then met Hana (a psychologist), Nermin (a speech-language pathologist), Sylvia (a "defectologist"), a music teacher, and the kids. Although, to our surprise, there were very few I would classify as "kids". Majority of the individuals there were aged 20 to 40, all with varying disabilities. We all went around in a circle, introducing ourselves, saying our name, and how old we were. They then sang us some songs, one in English, then the Bosnian version of the Hokey Pokey, and a few various other songs, with actions. They were wonderful. The group then asked Ana and I questions varying from what we were doing there, to where we were from, to who we were cheering for in World Cup. My favourite part of the day was when Ana explained to the group that we would be there everyday for 5 weeks, and that we're excited to become friends with them, and the entire group started to clap and cheer.
It was explained that they often have group therapy daily, to work on socialization, talk about issues they may be having, problem solve as a group, and play games. Today, we played their adapted version of "Who wants to be a Millionaire", which asked a variety of questions related to Bulkan history, pop culture, science and random facts. The centre often gets small projects to work on to earn money. Previously, they have made small bags, but right now, they're making curtains (?) for a fashion show. So after lunch, we gathered and rolled fabric and socialized as a group. At 2:30, Ana, myself, and Hana had coffee with the mothers, and then it was time to go home. They sent me off with a book of children's songs to help me learn the language.
Ana and I left, and on the tram ride home, we discussed ideas for the project. The organization was really keen on the fact that we are there to work with them, not for them. Now, we need to start our needs assessment, and start planning. Overall, it was a good orientation day, but boy do I have a lot of language to learn! It's very difficult being lost in the language barrier, and being totally reliant on another person to communicate on your behalf. But I'll take it one day at a time, and learn as I go. But I'm going to go read children's songs! I'll update again another day. Our internet is inconsistent, but I'll keep in touch as much as I can.
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