Stability is arriving!

Another long week here in London! Tomorrow is Friday and I love it being the weekend. What is new with me? Well, this week I have been in the autistic school again and it has been crazy. I have been slapped, spit on, kicked, scratched, punched, smacked in the face, et cetera. You name the type of abuse and I have probably received it. The student I work with has been very good, but he started his bad cycle (they have good and bad episodes). His begins with giggling and yesterday was the first time I saw him smile. He was laughing so much, I could not believe my eyes. However, this is not a good sign. In a couple of days he will go from being the most well behaved student to the worst. He will be sent to a institution for a couple of months until his cycle goes away. He becomes very sexual in nature, violent, and smears his boules over himself and anything else within reach. This behaviour has yet to appear but will soon be here. Tomorrow is my last day so I will not see very much of it (I hope) but you never know because he could begin doing all of that in a matter of minutes.

I have learned so much about autism. It occurs more frequently in males: for every 1 girl with it 8 boys have it. I have learned what exactly autism is, the different forms, how to handle it, and that for every child/adult it is really different. Some kids are hungy and with autism they automatically assume you know they are hungry without you telling them. When you do not give them food they become very agitated because of hunger and you not meeting their needs. It is a very interesting thing and I could go on and on about what I have learned in this short time at the school.

Today at the school was very interesting. We had a couple of major outbreaks which left staff running all around, a couple bleeding and bruised, and just a very hectic day. I should not go into details becaues as you all know this info is confidential and I do not want to give too much out in this public site. I am very happy though that I am doing it.

For the next two weeks I will be working with EBD (Emotional and Behavioural Disorder) kids at a different school. If these two weeks work out well for me and the school it could turn into a long term placement (until either Christmas or when I leave). We will see.

On Monday I had an interview for a position at a computer firm. I would either be selling computers to places like MTV and the BBC or installing programmes and memory. After the interview, I felt the teaching was more what I wanted, so I turned them down. One positive thing about the interview was the museum I walked past...The Childhood Museum. It was loads of fun. Lots of toys (mostly dolls and train sets). They had one really cool display about immigrants in East London and all the diversity they brought. I really enjoyed this part.

The catering job has been going well. I worked Monday at a music company's annual quiz show. Lots of alcohol and a huge trivia game. Most of it I did not know but could answer every question except one on the US trivia round. (What state is known as the silver state? I know the answer know). Wednesday night I worked a British aristocrat event. Old men were wearing these crazy badges and necklaces. It was a very short, busy night with some good food at the end. Tomorrow night (Friday night) I work at a huge dinner, 1000 people. It is going to be extremely intense for my 6.5 hour shift, but busy so the night will go quickly. Tomorrow night will be my 13th event, so I should get a raise soon, which is really nice!

Life outside of work has been great. In regard to the roommate, I still do not share a room with him. We are living in the same house and I am partially moved into the room, but the landlord might do some changing around and has asked me to stay in my single room but pay the double rate (which is cheaper and really nice). He works practically the opposite hours of me so we went the whole week without running into one another. Tonight though we were home at the same time and went grocery shopping. Do I love grocery shopping! It makes me so happy to buy food. Plus the bakery had samples out and I went four different times. I browsed the candy isle as well and had two samples. This past weekend Adam and I arranged our room to look better and we thought it would be a lost cause. There is only one square corner and that is by the door and heater (not usable). After several different arrangements, we found the perfect fung shwai (spelling who knows and who really cares). High Tower (the tree) is the focal point of the room and it an awesome set-up, but who knows if we will get to use it. He took some pictures so I will see if he can email them to me and then I can email them to all of you.

My other roommate, JP, the Canadian is also very nice. We went to the pub last night and met some new people. All in all I am really happy with my living situation as well as my work.

I am starting to research my first trip out of London. Possibly next weekend to a city I will not disclose yet for Grandma's sake. Anyways, I thought I would update you all with what I have been doing. The weather has been cloudy, but today was quite warm. I have been staying very busy with work and explorations of the city.

I miss you all and again enjoy all of your comments, prayers, thoughts, and everything else. If anyone would like my address and I have not yet given it to you, just send me a quick email. Okay, internet time is up and I need to "publish" this. KZ, I am not proofreading this so please do not get angry at any mispellings or incorrect grammer!

Cheers!