oh what a day :o)

Victorious over the center, we finally have an individual room!! For real this time, we had a meeting today and things were interesting - slowly but surely, the director of the center finally realized why we have been pushing for an individual room for sessions - because our clients need a consistent, safe space, and we as therapists need a place that we can lock up each day that other people in the center will not use throughout the day.

It was quite a day dealing with the different ways of business and administration. Here, it is really difficult because of the language barrier. During half the meeting, Lisa and I could not understand what was being said and when we asked them to translate, we got head nods and they looked away. Talk about frustrating. Luckily, we kept pushing and things got done. We thanked them a ton but honestly, after 5 months, we should have an appropriate room for sessions.

In other news, I made my second venture to the American Embassy and successfully entered, turned in my passport application, and made it back to the Conservatory in one piece. My cab ride to the Conservatory was wonderful, I met a really cool driver (originally from Syria) who has his Master's degree in Marketing and Finance but lost his job here so he is driving taxis. He had a very professional card and gave it to me, and he also praised my Arabic, he said it was very good for only being here a few months. He spoke a bit of English as well so it was a very pleasant conversation all the way to the conservatory. So good to have a nice taxi experience.

The rest of the day was tiring but in a good way. After rehearsal, Lisa and I just relaxed at her place and talked about life and our job here. Our job is really draining and we need to make sure we take time to rejuvenate. Our clinical hours are intense as we have back to back session, whereas in the States, therapist's usually get a break in between clients. The work here is also just amazing politically, personally, and professionally. Wow, all p's. But seriously, I was sitting in an office today with a Jordanian, Iraqi, and American, just enjoying time together, talking and laughing. How amazing is that. And at work, my kids are just full of all these experiences that should have broken them but they are full of resilience and hope. AWESOME!