Well, one day down, another month to go.

I kicked off volunteer work at a local summer school for children with special needs. Disabilities ranging from severe ADHD to straight-up autism, these kids have problems, and there are a number of people who do their best to find solutions. My dad's a child psychiatrist, so he works at the school often and knows a lot of the kids there, and is well-versed in the field, and he was able to give me a shot at volunteer work there today.

No payment, of course, but the experience and privilege of working there more than made up for it. Not to mention that Dad footed most of the college bills, anyway, so you can call that payment.

But the bottom line is: working alongside actual hospital residents and teachers is an experience. It's satisfying. Unlike Wendy's, there's no "I can do better than this" nagging at the back of my head (hey, I take pride in my job and the efficiency and attitude I bring to it, but sometimes when you're mopping the floors after earning a Bachelor's, you get a little twinge), because I'm going right alongside superiors. Fortunately, I have a lot of patience and experience with kids. So I fit right in.

I didn't do much in the way of "teaching," of course...and since I'm just a volunteer, I'm always under a "no touching" policy, but like I mentioned above with the patience shtick...I'm comfortable in that role. And fortunately, the kids were pretty well-behaved. And once I got involved, they took a bit of a liking to me. ^_^

Meeting, homeroom, math, art, gym, lunch, recess, science, literature, and conclusion....it was just like school. Only more fun. And less homework. And a lot more screaming and stand-off-ing. Not from me, but...yeah. The kids were fascinating. At times they were really intelligent...some of them had no trouble reading the words "literature" and "required" and debating and working things out logically...and at the same time, they had their tantrums and their difficulties and their nervous breakdowns because June has thirty-ONE days (he was so well-behaved up until that point, too...*sigh*). But it was always enjoyable. As long as you're patient and don't back down (unless it's REALLY not worth the argument, and I mean REALLY), it's enjoyable.

I was working with ten-to-twelve-year-olds, too. Mostly boys. You can imagine. But with my younger siblings (who fall into that age group and below) as experience, it was easy to go along. And, admittedly, my own personal experience and interests also help (I seriously got a little too into the LEGOs...I may have to work on distancing myself from them, though I may want to bond with the kids...might be a smarter approach....I'll see what the actual teachers and staff want).

It's a blast, though. A little tedious, a little stressful, but overall...totally worth it. It's stuff that I can be proud of.

Oh, also, to add to the Scrubsyness of the title and the residents, one of my first interactions with the little guys consisted of one of them asking, "How do you make thirty cents without any nickels?" I played along almost perfectly. Also in the Scrubs vein, I had a few eerie Wizard of Oz references early in the morning...first was a sign in the cafe we stopped in that said, "Nobody gets in to see the Wizard, not nobody, not no-how", and then, later, there was a sign on the door that said "Bell out of order, please knock." No evil Janitors painted my shoes red, fortunately.

Get to do the same thing tomorrow. And the next day. And then on Thursday. Then there's no school on Friday, and I'm on vacation for the next week, but then it's back to it for a three-week period. Woo-hoo!

I'm feeling now, though, that it's draining work. Whoof.