Hello everyone,
I am writing as requested to let all of you know how I am doing and what I have been up to. I believe last time I wrote I was doing my internship at Camp Kostopulos in Recreation Therapy. This was a great experience and I had a lot of fun doing it. This is a picture of me helping with the Salsa dance program which I assisted to design and get going. It was a lot of fun, and I could even keep up with the participants in the program.
After my internship ended in December I spent a little time unemployed until I couldn't handle that anymore. At that point, I discovered even I am qualified to be a substitute teacher. I substituted in the Salt Lake City School District. I was able to substitute everything from Kindergarten to High School. I think I really enjoyed Middle School the most, and they tended to ask me to come back a lot. It was a lot of fun working with kids, and trying to keep them motivated despite the lack of a regular teacher. This was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for some meaningful work on a short term basis.
I continued searching for work while substituting and found an incredible position at a methadone treatment center called Discovery House
http://www.discoveryhouse.comeven/. I am a Substance Abuse Counselor there. This might take a little explaining. What we do is offer treatment for people who have opiate addictions; i.e. heroin, oxycontin, lortab, percoset, and other pain killers. We also vicariously work with addictions to cocaine, benzodiazepines, and various other drugs. Treatment consists of two components, a biological or medical treatment of methadone or suboxone to treat the biological symptoms of withdrawal. The second component is the psychological component and that is where I come in. I am a counselor to assist with the psychological aspect of addiction. A lot of the behavior associated with using drugs can be addressed through counseling, and it has been found to be very beneficial to recovery to pair medical treatment with psychological. It has been a great experience. I have learned quite a bit about what is involved in addiction and recovery. It can be frustrating but it is also a very rewarding experience. Oh, I should mention my hours are from 5:30 am to 2:00 pm daily.
This has allowed me to find time to take part in a variety of other activities. One of these was coaching soccer for an afterschool program at a local elementary school. This has been fun, although it did become slightly frustrating towards the end. The kids started out very motivated and excited. We planned to play for 4 weeks originally with two games each week. Our team was the last to sign up and so we had one less game than the other teams, but we convinced the director to extend our season for two weeks. We had a lot of participation the first few weeks, but by the end we had a very difficult time getting anyone to show up for practices or games. It was a great experience working with the kids and trying to teach them principles of teamwork, and sportsmanship. I am very proud of my team though. They were some of the most well behaved kids who played, and I would argue some of the most disciplined. I hope I was able to express to them the importance of having fun, as well as being able to play a fair and honest game.
After soccer, I would usually go for a ride, yes, that is right I am taking after my Dad and training to ride from Seattle to Portland with him this year. I have been trying to ride everyday, and have purchased a new bike to assist in the endeavor. If you would like to see some of my rides, here are a few urls:
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/U-to-City-Creek-Loop ,
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/42396 ,
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/20th-to-U-loop. I have really been enjoying cycling this year, and will alternate days between my road bike and my mountain bike. I think I am in the best shape I have ever been.
I am sure many of you are wondering about my dating life, as many often do. Contrary to popular myth I have been dating quite a bit. I have done everything from baking cookies and taking them to my home teachies to attending Les Miserbles. It has been a lot of fun. Over the past few months I have been dating an incredible girl named Erica. She is like the beach. Beautiful, fun loving, and inspiring. Even on days that are bad and it is dark and stormy there is still nothing as incredible as being at the beach, and that is what it has been like with her. Unfortunately, she broke up with me last Saturday. She tells me she loves me and really cares me, but she says she is not in love with me. I am not exactly sure what this means, so if any of you have any insight into the secret world of girls, I might be happy to hear. We did have an incredible time though. We spent time mountain biking, long boarding, we went out on the town, and took time to serve others. It was really a wonderful relationship, and I don't
regret a moment of it. One of our funnest dates was when we went to Sky High Party and Pizza. This is a restaraunt that has inflatable toys. We jousted, and rolled down the giant slide, raced through the obstacle course and boxed with giant gloves. In less than an hour we were both ready to collapse. After wearing ourselves out we went to "Meet the Robinsons" in 3D, a great movie by the way. It was fun to be able to be a kid with her, and I really hope I find someone a lot like her, who is also
able to make me feel like I am at the beach all the time. I haven't quite given up on her yet, but I am trying to keep my options open at the same time.
Oh, I almost forgot to include that I do have a calling my ward, and am doing my best to serve faithfully. I have a great ward, with some great people in it. (Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of people I am really interested in dating.)
I think that is pretty much everything I have been up to over the past few months. I hope you are all doing well, and I look forward to reading about each of you on the blog over the next few weeks.
Isaac
