Teen Camp

Last week, I went out of town to the North Dakota school for the blind in Grand Forks. The week was different than what I expected. On Sunday, I hung out for a while, and then had a sub for dinner. After that, my roommate and I had to listen to some teachers explain how the week was going to be. They explained that we were going to be independent that week, and told us we could make our own decisions. We got to decide what to have for each meal every day, and what we would do after dinner each night. We were also told that we had jobs each day, and by jobs I mean volunteer work. After the discussion, we made a grocery list while planning our meals. We went to Hugo's afterwards to get the groceries for the week, and we learned how to locate things in the store. In this story, I will just call my roommate S. Anways, my roommate S and I had to guess how much money it would cost to get groceries for two people. I guessed about $80, and S guessed $100. S was closer to the actual answer, and the real price came up to $100.10! We put the items away once we got back to the school. We talked about what our evening activities should be, and we discussed what we would make for dinner each night. S had some good ideas which were Pigs in a blanket and Tacos. I thought of Macaroni and Cheese as well as spaghetti. Once we were done with the important discussion, I set my alarms for the week. I had alarms for when to wake up, when to call for transportation to my work site, when i leave, and when to start cooking dinner. The night went by quickly, and it was bedtime before I knew it. The next day, my new routine went into effect. My first work site was the Smart Shop Thrift Shop, and it was a fun place to volunteer. The first thing they had me do was vacuum, but that didn't go so well. First vacuum cleaner: the belt must have moved out of place because it was smelling like it was burning, Second Vacuum cleaner: didn't sound right, and the third vacuum cleaner: the bag was full, and they didn't have any extra bags. After the third vacuum cleaner, I suggested that I would walk around looking for empty hangers. I did that for about an hour and a half, and I found loads of empty hangers on the racks. It took me about 3 trips to the front desk to drop them all off. Next, I went to the books to straighten them out. Some of them were slanted, so I re-positioned them so they were up straight. Once the books were done, I went to reorganize the shelf with games and puzzles they had. It was a mess, and looked like people just pulled the games and puzzles out. It took me a while to get the games and puzzles straight and organized again. Once my volunteer shift was over at the thrift store, it was time to head back to the school for lunch. I had some Batman ravioli. Since I felt like being a little rebel that week, I got Oreo yogurt to have as a side. Once lunch ended, It was time for me to head to the food pantry. When I got there, they had me open boxes and put foods on a cart. They wanted me to take the food to the pantry, and then stock the shelves. That's all I did my first day. My orientation and mobility lesson took place a few minutes after I returned to the school. We went to downtown Grand Forks, and took the bus all the way back to the school. Nothing interesting really happened every evening last week, so I will just jump straight to the next day so I don't bore you too much. The second day at the thrift store was a little different. I looked for hangers and straightened the books. At the food pantry, I stocked the shelves with food items such as apple sauce, soup, and other things. During my mobility lesson, We went to explore the Grand Forks airport. The teachers we were with wanted to teach S and I how to use the escalator, but I was too afraid to use the escalator. One of the teachers and I used the stairs, but S and another teacher used the escalator. Later that night, a friend that S and I have known for a long time came to visit. We had tacos for dinner, and he joined us. We had mini tacos since the shells were tiny. When I finished my dinner, I went to the main area to hang out with the other kids. Lucky I went out there, because I got to have a root beer float. I LOVE root beer floats, so I was super happy that they offered me one. Wednesday was mostly the same. At the food pantry, however, they had me stock shelves and crush boxes. Hahaha I mean fold boxes. It was quite a strength workout. For my lesson after the food pantry, we just stayed inside to work on navigation skills and play a game of Trex. I sat out in the main area finishing up my macaroni and cheese. After that, I played Sing It on the Wii. On Thursday, there wasn't much they wanted me to do at the thrift shop. I had to hang up hats and gloves, and then grab empty hangers. I didn't go to the food pantry that day because I got to go to Hobby Lobby. I was a bell ringer for the Salvation Army at Hobby Lobby that day. It was cold and windy, but I didn't go inside once during my bell ringing shift. Thursday night, we had spaghetti. I didn't do anything that night when I was done with dinner because I had a huge headache, and I wanted to get some rest. When Friday came around, The day was filled with packing up to get ready to head home. I got to play Wii Sports a little bit before I had to go. It was a great week, and I really enjoyed it.