1. It's hard to navigate through things in another country, esp when you don't speak the language. I've gotten very discouraged.
2. This place is breahtaking, and it's hard to study when you're like Alice in Wonderland!
She recently emailed me back telling me to take notes of what I learn here, and worry about the paper when I get back. That way I can soak up my time here, and when I go back to the US I can write a paper and she'll help me publish it! YIKES! Simultaneous relief and pressure!!!
Today I finally got to visit I Ragazzi di Sipario.
I held back my tears. I met with one of the owners and talked to her about their resturant. Basically it started with a Christian movement that owned a resurant and got ready to close the restuarant. 3 families that have adult children with special needs saw an opportunity. They opened their doors in Novemeber 2007.
They employ 11 adults with special needs whom are also shareholders in the restuarant. They also partner with a high school vocation program in which 10 students come to learn how to cook and/or serve food.
I'm honestly very excited about the doors this encounter may open. She is going to try to connect me with educators she knows. Their group also has a group for adults that was to do art and even a television show. I'll visiting that program next week.
When I asked her if there were any other programs in Florence like theirs, she said no. She said that there are some that involve doctors, but they are differnt. She said, "We didn't want to have docotors. Our lives have had doctors, psychologists, and therapists; art therapy, music therapy, theatre therapy. But life is not about therapy. We want them to have happy, joyful, satisfied lives."
Beautiful don't you think?
I still don't know what to write about exactly, but for now... I'll keep playing Dora the Explorer in Italy.
Ciao!
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