New Friends and New Centers

I just spent an awesome Friday night with good friends, and had a blast! Most of you know that I am a community-oriented person, and I thrive when I have a close group of friends surrounding me. Even here in Antalya, where previously I knew two people, God has provided a community and some wonderful friends. I would even venture so far as to say that I have a social life! It feels so good.

This week I visited two different rehabilitation centers, both closer to the center of town. Since I first started at the center I am at now, I have been trying to understand how representative it is of special education in Turkey. I thought it was pretty normal, from what I could tell. After visiting these two other centers though, I realize that even if it my center is representative, it is not the best possible education that Turkey has to offer. From what I understand, Turkey has a huge lack of special education teachers, so almost all the teachers at my center are regular ed. teachers. The two new centers that I visited are staffed by teachers trained in special education, which makes a huge difference. It was really exciting for me to see that special education as I know it (and teach it) does exist in Turkey! Right now the plan is to change centers in March, so that I can experience other places, and work with other people. At this point, I just have to decide which center to go to, and they could both be really exciting! One of the centers even has two therapy dogs, which would be awesome to see!



P.S I want to say a huge thank you to whoever the anonymous donor is! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for the huge encouragement and the vote of confidence. It is appreciated more than you can know.