My favorite mishtakemet
Here's another work-related post... so who will enjoy this?
mirideee? perhaps
abby2207? Perhaps not? I dunno... but I'm gonna post anyway.
So for a while I thought I shouldn't have a favorite mishtakemet (קרי: schizophrenic girl I work with - I have 5), but then I decided it's ok. They're not my kids. I don't have to love them equally, and as long as I don't tell them, who cares? For lack of a better שם בדוי I'll call her "X". X is the one who lives in Givat Shmuel (קרי: not charedi). She's schizophrenic and somewhat bipolar with crazy laughing-crying fits. And she's also the one who's somewhat suicidal and darted out in front of that car that one time and apparently does that sometimes to other people besides me. Who knew? But really, she's the greatest ever. Not only is she not charedi, she also is hilarious and can do great צפונית imitations. And she's the only schizophrenic person I know who successfully cracks me up time after time (or ever, for that matter). Oooh, so last week, I showed up at her door, she opened it and greeted me with "היי אלישבע, רוצה לשמוע משהו מצחיק?". After I greeted her back and said sure she told me with a completely serious face "אנחנו חיים בדמוקרטיה" and both of us started hysterically laughing. And so did everyone I told about this incident, tho I think the funniness is only limited to those who live in this crazy little country of ours. Other people just don't understand the way we do. Ok, not only is she funny and not charedi, she also enjoys the same past times as me (קרי: playing on the playground or shaking our butts to "yehei yehei" by the Chevra - who cares that we're in our early 20s?) She likes taking long walks like I do and she also was recently diagnosed with asthma, meaning that I can comfortably tell her (or she can tell me - it's happened both ways) "Can you please walk a little slower? I've been having a crappy breathing day." And it's all chilled and cool and normal and not weird "what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you-are-you-gonna-die" or something. Because she's not charedi, she comes up with these great outings, so I've gone with her to Park Ha'leumi in Ramat Gan (I forgot how much I love that place) and twice to the movies and twice bowling and to Azrielli and the Petach Tikva mall, oh, and a few times to the playground. And we cook sometimes. That's fun. And if you were wondering, work reimburses me for all that stuff. I've also been noticing great improvements in her functioning (We're supposed to be working on independence and life skills). And she told me she's doing better with me than with any of her previous 4 or 5 חונכות because I look at her as a person and believe in her. She said she can also tell that when I have fun when I'm with her, I'm really having fun (true dat) and not putting it on because it's my job.
Ok, now for my adventure with X yesterday. She's been on my case to find her a חוג so "שיהיה לי יותר תעסוקה " (yeah, she likes to use big words). So my boss refered me to this all-women's ריקודי עם class in Bnei Brak that's open to everyone regardless of mental whatever. I called the lady in charge, Esther, and she told me stuff and then I even brought in X on Thursday and met with Esther's secretary to talk about different chugim. We were told that there's a beginner's dance class on Sunday night at 9. And you dont' have to sign up in advance. Just come and pay 25 shek and dance. Great! So on Sunday I met her outside the place and we started going up the 2 flights of stairs and on the way up she started wheezing and kind of not being able to breathe. Great... So as I said, she's pretty new at the whole asthma thing and doesn't even have her own inhaler or know how to use one. Every time she has an attack, they just hook her up to her brother's neb (machine thing that I sometimes, tho rarely, get hooked up to when I'm really sick). Using an inhaler requires a certain amount of skill and it's kind of hard for X to learn things, especially things that require coordination, such as this. So I asked her if she had an inhaler. Nope. Does she know how to use one? Nope. Argghhhh.... I called up her mom and explained the situation and told her I had a Ventolin inhaler in my bag and if it was ok with her, I was gonna try to get some of it into X's lungs. She started some sort of wanna-be-rational explanation of how it shouldn't be happening and she was fine at home and she never gets bad this suddently. But listen, lady, I have your daughter gasping for breath over here. I don't care if she's supposed to be doing this or not. Then she told me she didn't think I'd have much luck, but go for it and if she doesn't get better, don't let her dance and take her home right away, and do I know the symptoms that I should be looking for? Uhhh.... naw, I don't think so.... Only been dealing with this for the past 11 years. Do you think I know enough? It took about 10 wasted puffs until I was satisfied with the amount I had actually gotten into her and satisfied with her improvement. She kept either forgetting to breathe or didn't breathe at the right time or started laugh-cough-wheezing in the middle. And I was such a mommy... reminded myself of my mom "תנשמי עכשיו לידי. כל עוד שאני שומעת את הנשימות שלך, את לא רוקדת. את שומעת אותי? רוצה לנסות את המשאף שוב?" And of course she started jumping up and down to show me how well she could breathe (and wheeze)... Totally reminded me of myself. Hehe... :-P. By the time 9 pm rolled around, I decided she was breathing well enough to dance. So we went in. Turned out it was an extra advanced class and not beginners. We kind of danced and did our own thing on the side (shook our butts and danced like an Egyptian, etc) until we got kicked out for "confusing" the other ladies. whatever. And then we went out to get a bus, but little did we know that the bus that usually goes to Givat Shmuel doesn't go there anymore after a certain hour, so we ended up getting thrown off the bus at the last stop somewhere in Bnei Brak. And then started walking to Tzomet Coca Cola where her dad picked us up. It was horrible. I felt like a horrible סומכת. Logically I know nothing is my fault. I did everything I was supposed to do. I was given wrong information about the class and I got on a bus that SHOULD have gone where I wanted it to but didn't. And I entertained her there even tho seriously it was boring as heck. And... AND... I saved her when she couldn't breathe. Like seriously... dude... what would she have done if I wasn't there???? In the car, I lectured her dad about the importance of proper asthma care and how it's נחוץ for her to get her own inhaler, learn how to use it, and have it on her at ALL TIMES!!! Sheesh... Arghhh.... Kitzur, so when I got home I felt completely horrible about the whole waste of an evening, and kind of half expected to get a phonecall and say I wouldn't be meeting with X anymore... But guess what? This morning, I got a phonecall from X telling me her father likes me and wants to invite me to X's brother's bar mitzvah on Tu Bishvat. Awwww....
Anyway, bedtime... but I had to get that out.... X is great...
mirideee? perhaps
abby2207? Perhaps not? I dunno... but I'm gonna post anyway.
So for a while I thought I shouldn't have a favorite mishtakemet (קרי: schizophrenic girl I work with - I have 5), but then I decided it's ok. They're not my kids. I don't have to love them equally, and as long as I don't tell them, who cares? For lack of a better שם בדוי I'll call her "X". X is the one who lives in Givat Shmuel (קרי: not charedi). She's schizophrenic and somewhat bipolar with crazy laughing-crying fits. And she's also the one who's somewhat suicidal and darted out in front of that car that one time and apparently does that sometimes to other people besides me. Who knew? But really, she's the greatest ever. Not only is she not charedi, she also is hilarious and can do great צפונית imitations. And she's the only schizophrenic person I know who successfully cracks me up time after time (or ever, for that matter). Oooh, so last week, I showed up at her door, she opened it and greeted me with "היי אלישבע, רוצה לשמוע משהו מצחיק?". After I greeted her back and said sure she told me with a completely serious face "אנחנו חיים בדמוקרטיה" and both of us started hysterically laughing. And so did everyone I told about this incident, tho I think the funniness is only limited to those who live in this crazy little country of ours. Other people just don't understand the way we do. Ok, not only is she funny and not charedi, she also enjoys the same past times as me (קרי: playing on the playground or shaking our butts to "yehei yehei" by the Chevra - who cares that we're in our early 20s?) She likes taking long walks like I do and she also was recently diagnosed with asthma, meaning that I can comfortably tell her (or she can tell me - it's happened both ways) "Can you please walk a little slower? I've been having a crappy breathing day." And it's all chilled and cool and normal and not weird "what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you-are-you-gonna-die" or something. Because she's not charedi, she comes up with these great outings, so I've gone with her to Park Ha'leumi in Ramat Gan (I forgot how much I love that place) and twice to the movies and twice bowling and to Azrielli and the Petach Tikva mall, oh, and a few times to the playground. And we cook sometimes. That's fun. And if you were wondering, work reimburses me for all that stuff. I've also been noticing great improvements in her functioning (We're supposed to be working on independence and life skills). And she told me she's doing better with me than with any of her previous 4 or 5 חונכות because I look at her as a person and believe in her. She said she can also tell that when I have fun when I'm with her, I'm really having fun (true dat) and not putting it on because it's my job.
Ok, now for my adventure with X yesterday. She's been on my case to find her a חוג so "שיהיה לי יותר תעסוקה " (yeah, she likes to use big words). So my boss refered me to this all-women's ריקודי עם class in Bnei Brak that's open to everyone regardless of mental whatever. I called the lady in charge, Esther, and she told me stuff and then I even brought in X on Thursday and met with Esther's secretary to talk about different chugim. We were told that there's a beginner's dance class on Sunday night at 9. And you dont' have to sign up in advance. Just come and pay 25 shek and dance. Great! So on Sunday I met her outside the place and we started going up the 2 flights of stairs and on the way up she started wheezing and kind of not being able to breathe. Great... So as I said, she's pretty new at the whole asthma thing and doesn't even have her own inhaler or know how to use one. Every time she has an attack, they just hook her up to her brother's neb (machine thing that I sometimes, tho rarely, get hooked up to when I'm really sick). Using an inhaler requires a certain amount of skill and it's kind of hard for X to learn things, especially things that require coordination, such as this. So I asked her if she had an inhaler. Nope. Does she know how to use one? Nope. Argghhhh.... I called up her mom and explained the situation and told her I had a Ventolin inhaler in my bag and if it was ok with her, I was gonna try to get some of it into X's lungs. She started some sort of wanna-be-rational explanation of how it shouldn't be happening and she was fine at home and she never gets bad this suddently. But listen, lady, I have your daughter gasping for breath over here. I don't care if she's supposed to be doing this or not. Then she told me she didn't think I'd have much luck, but go for it and if she doesn't get better, don't let her dance and take her home right away, and do I know the symptoms that I should be looking for? Uhhh.... naw, I don't think so.... Only been dealing with this for the past 11 years. Do you think I know enough? It took about 10 wasted puffs until I was satisfied with the amount I had actually gotten into her and satisfied with her improvement. She kept either forgetting to breathe or didn't breathe at the right time or started laugh-cough-wheezing in the middle. And I was such a mommy... reminded myself of my mom "תנשמי עכשיו לידי. כל עוד שאני שומעת את הנשימות שלך, את לא רוקדת. את שומעת אותי? רוצה לנסות את המשאף שוב?" And of course she started jumping up and down to show me how well she could breathe (and wheeze)... Totally reminded me of myself. Hehe... :-P. By the time 9 pm rolled around, I decided she was breathing well enough to dance. So we went in. Turned out it was an extra advanced class and not beginners. We kind of danced and did our own thing on the side (shook our butts and danced like an Egyptian, etc) until we got kicked out for "confusing" the other ladies. whatever. And then we went out to get a bus, but little did we know that the bus that usually goes to Givat Shmuel doesn't go there anymore after a certain hour, so we ended up getting thrown off the bus at the last stop somewhere in Bnei Brak. And then started walking to Tzomet Coca Cola where her dad picked us up. It was horrible. I felt like a horrible סומכת. Logically I know nothing is my fault. I did everything I was supposed to do. I was given wrong information about the class and I got on a bus that SHOULD have gone where I wanted it to but didn't. And I entertained her there even tho seriously it was boring as heck. And... AND... I saved her when she couldn't breathe. Like seriously... dude... what would she have done if I wasn't there???? In the car, I lectured her dad about the importance of proper asthma care and how it's נחוץ for her to get her own inhaler, learn how to use it, and have it on her at ALL TIMES!!! Sheesh... Arghhh.... Kitzur, so when I got home I felt completely horrible about the whole waste of an evening, and kind of half expected to get a phonecall and say I wouldn't be meeting with X anymore... But guess what? This morning, I got a phonecall from X telling me her father likes me and wants to invite me to X's brother's bar mitzvah on Tu Bishvat. Awwww....
Anyway, bedtime... but I had to get that out.... X is great...