TEAMworks China - Speech Mashup

More culture fun!  Did you know that Tibetans have a tendency to stick out their tongue when they're embarrassed, when they're excited, or when they're nervous?  Well, we now do.  While evaluating a sweet Tibetan grandpa, Amanda might have had to tell Cheri that his tongue sticking-out issues were cultural and not a disorder.  In fact, it meant he liked us very much.  Perhaps being evaluated by 3 American women was the fulfillment of a lifetime dream.  But we'll never know, not only because his stroke had made him a little mumbly, but also because he could mostly only speak Tibetan, which Amanda does not.

When introducing how to use a Big Mack switch, Carmen first explained how to record a spoken message.  She explained that the message often is used to gain a person's attention; for example, "Come here please."  Amanda then prompted one of her male therapists to think of a message so they could practice recording using the switch.  Amanda hit the button to turn on the recording, he spoke the message, and everyone but Cheri and Carmen were falling on the floor laughing.  When we finally got a translation, we found that his message was very attention-gaining.  "I think you're hot...  Is it ok that I pursue you?"  Later that afternoon, it came back around, when during our final teaching session, he was asked to go help a young quadriplegic girl transfer from her bed to her wheelchair.  He asked Amanda if he could quickly leave the class, and she said, "Sure, no problem.  Would you like to take the switch with you?"  At first he was puzzled and asked, "Why would I need that?"  To which she replied, "Just in case you needed to ask the girl out on a date....  You could get permission to pursue her."

The week ended with a flurried picture-taking session after the staff gave us beautiful gifts of Pashmina scarves and Tibetan hand-painted wall hangings.  Hugs all around, and a bittersweet last walk from the hospital.

Get ready for it....  Are you ready?  Amanda's OT/PT (and now ST) staff were taught the Hog Call!  Yes, one little corner of China is now calling the hogs - Chinese style...  "Woo pig soey, Wazough-back!"  And yes, we have a video!

Stay tuned!  A surprise guest blogger will be joining us tomorrow.

comments powered by Disqus