Literally, the roof leaked on my bed Friday morning--great to wake up to at 5:30am. The nice part, my walk to the kitchen with my wet comforter led me to find delicious scones baked by Katie the night before! There is always a silver lining friends...
The next step of my day= getting in the pool with 6 (two new additions) RND patients to workout, stretch and relax. This was followed by a lovely bus trip across town to get to my 9:30am class.
Before class we were told to read Myth of the Welfare Queen, a true tale of the lives of mothers living off welfare checks and food stamps and how they survive in the neighborhood of Kensington in Philadelphia. Overcome by drug violence and prostitution in the neighborhood, these mothers were trying to raise their kids to eventually get out of that situation whether by education or through jobs. This book was so powerful. If it weren't out of print I would tell you to pick up a copy asap because I know it will influence your perception of our government's social systems. The best part about the day was that we got to meet some of the people from the book. We visited the economic human rights campaign office in Kensington and then got to walk around do a driving tour of the area. They are doing great things in Philly as well as close to home. I seriously encourage you to check out their website and find resources near you . After seeing the immense poverty in other areas such as Nicaragua, it astounded me that people in one of the richest countries could still experience such poverty, and even with resources to help them--are they really helping though??
That situation was momentous and continues to challenge my thoughts on how to fix it. In terms of my internship, I saw someone gets two casts put on, I got soaked in the pool cause the child thought it would be hilarious to dump water on my head, took a leisurely walk in the bright sun after work, which led me to the Philadelphia center to finish my homework before class. I also got the chance to chat with my professor Michael about my entrepreneurial idea of a bakery and he gave me some really great tips on how to make my bakery even better.
Lastly, I got home just in time to catch a ride with Jackie and Karly to go watch a showing of this movie through our church, but we ended up getting coffee instead (cause we were really late) and it was really great to hear Jackie's story and get to know her a little better. The coffee shop was also just like Lemonjellos as are many coffee shops in this area-very hipster.
In sum, I am learning a ton. About myself, interactions with others, philly, and physical therapy. I feel this is a potential place to root my love of learning and use that towards my PT degree.
Shalom
