Definitely not! I am so in the Christmas spirit these days that nothing can bring me down! :) Things here have been so crazy and it has been a good distraction from the fact that I'm here in Ireland and not home with my family, which is where I should be. And Neil Diamond's "Merry, Merry Cherry, Cherry Christmas" makes life that much better!
Last Wednesday our group started showing up a little before two in the afternoon. I expected the group to be an easy one, with the exception of my member, who I have met several times and I know to be difficult. Bernie O'Toole is twenty four years old and lives with her mother. She doesn't have the best home life and because of this she is a difficult person to be around. I'm not sure of her diagnosis, but she has some kind of intellectual disability. Bernie is notorious for constantly complaining and acting like she hates being here, when in fact she feels completely the opposite. Every once in a while you can see how much she really loves being here, and in addition to that, she always calls a week or so after a break here to ask when she can come in again. Knowing all of this, I mentally prepared myself to deal with all of the complaining and convincing her to do things that she truly wanted to do. Bernie called us around half two to be picked up from the DART station in the village. She greeted us with a smile and worked off her shyness in a matter of minutes. When we got to the house she was extremely chatty with me, painted my nails, and played Go Fish. I had no idea who that girl was and what she did with Bernie! She and I really enjoyed the night without any trouble, for the most part. The next day was a little rockier. I started to recognize the old Bernie more and more. But I think I did okay with giving her a little bit of tough love when she would complain. The thing with Bernie is, that a long time ago she realized that the only way for her to get attention was to complain or pretend to be sick. It's actually very sad. But I spent my time with her giving her positive reinforcement and not indulging her bad attitude. I think it was a success and we enjoyed the weekend. It was so strange trying to convince her to do things I knew she really wanted to do, and then endure the complaining out it after it was over. She also would cuddle up to me on the couch sometimes, which was so sweet. Friday morning during Mass at our house, I had to sit on the arm of the couch next to her. There was a foot or more of room between her and the person next to her and I asked her to move over a bit and she wouldn't. Then any time I would shift a little to get more comfortable she would grumble. I wanted to smack her! lol But instead I gently told her she could move over any time she wasn't comfortable....she never did. We drove her back to the DART station after a quick lunch and as she rolled her bag into the station she stopped to give me a big smile. That was thanks enough for me. :P
Aside from my experience with Bernie, the group that was supposed to be an easy one had a lot of chaos! David, Jose's member, got sick during the night and had to be taken to the hospital! He's doing ok now, but we were all pretty worried about him. Lennart was sick with a cold (aka Man Flu) and he slept most of the group. It was fine because Jose could hang out with Tony who was Lennart's member. It was a shame because we went to see "New Moon" and I know Lennart wanted to see that movie with us. He was Edward for Halloween after all! (Oh and by the way, I am SO on Team Jacob after that movie.) Mary, Kaitlyn's member, also got sick during the last night of the group, but she was ok after an hour or so. So the "easy" group was not so easy after all...
After the group was over, we all scattered to our rooms and awaited the cleaners. They came for an hour to clean up the major rooms for us. Kathleen and Khadija hosted a party for us volunteers and several other helpers of the break house, including drivers, cooks, and our handyman. The party began at seven and I think it was a success, although there weren't too many guests. I wasn't complaining, because we were so tired after the group. Gabriele came here that night from Milan to stay with us for a few days. We all enjoyed a good dinner and some wine. When the people were gone (after midnight! jeez...) we got some good quality time with Lele. Saturday was a day off. We had plans to go out to town, but the weather was so crappy so we all stayed in and watched movies. :) Sunday was the big Christmas social! Every month, CASA has two socials (one for each side of town). In December, we join the two sides together for a huge social! We rented out a conference room in Croke Park, Dublin's football stadium, and we filled it with all 450 of us! I had an amazing time, although I was really disappointed that my member, Shane, wasn't able to make it. Shane is one of my favorites! He's my age and he's deaf, but we had a lot of fun the last time he was in the house. He is able to read and write and sign a little, so communicating with him is easy. He was sick, so he didn't come to the social and I was so bummed. But I ended up just being extra help to other people, so it worked out. We started the day with Mass. The kids did a nativity play and I almost died, it was SO cute! Afterwards, we had a nice Christmas dinner with turkey, ham, potatoes, and stuffing. Mmmm! Then Santa came out, and Kate and I were asked to be his elves for our tables! We wore Santa hats and carried bags of presents. It was amazing! After the presents, there was LOTS of dancing! It was finally time to go home at around eight that night. Us volunteers went out with Lele for a few pints at his favorite pub in town. We came back and a few of them stayed up late, but I needed a good night's sleep so I went to bed around midnight.
Today is Monday, which means the cleaners will be coming in a little bit. I'll be off to the village for some reading and much needed coffee drinking. :) Love to all at home,
Claire
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment