Bonus Picture Post

Check it out! Two posts in one week! This one is a bonus picture post. I work with a lot of kids, which is awesome, because they are often more talkative than the adults, and more willing to make mistakes trying to speak English. Plus, they are great teachers of their own language, and will repeat the same phrase as many times as you need to hear it, which may be a few dozen. Also, it's easy to ask them stupid questions, like what's your favorite color/animal/sport/toy/school subject/etc, that you can't really ask an adult without feeling condescending, which is unfortunate because I love talking about those things. For real. It's also fun talking about what they want to be when they grow up. When you ask an adult refugee a question like that, most of them explain they just want a job, any job, and then you feel bad for asking. At least I do, because they can't dream of being an astronaut or a doctor at this age, and will probably end up as a janitor or working in a factory, and that's really not so fun to talk about.

Anyway, this is ending up wordier than I meant. So here are some pictures:

This is a picture an Iraqi girl drew of a "Hospital," "Doktor," and "Ambulans car." The family had been living in Turkey for 4 years, so she preferred to speak and write Turkish, which is evident on the doors. They say "open" and "close." She wants to be a doctor, go figure.

This is her brother's drawing of a mall where they lived in Turkey. It's labeled in Turkish. Kent doesn't really have any malls (that I know of), and they live in a small apartment complex in the boonies, so it's probably a big change. He wants to be a fireman when he grows up. His mom says he watches too much American t.v.

One of my first cases. We went to the doctor with her grandma and hung out in the hallway while her grandma got a pap smear. Then the granddaughter, 7, had to get a shot. She said no and tried to run away, which was...dramatic. The grandma enlisted my help and the interpreter's help to hold her down while they gave the shot, and then she picked these sunglasses out of the toy box as a reward. In Somali culture, even the youngest girls cover their heads, but they get to wear fun colors, unlike the adult women, who traditionally wear black. More Americanized Somali women wear stylish headcoverings of many colors. *edit: Apparently it is common in Somalia for a lot of women to wear very colorful outfits, not black/dark colors.

Bonus picture of me at work at the thrift store with a donated cut-out of Orlando Bloom. As our newest staff member, he works in the elevator as a lift man. Welcome to the team, Orlie.