Funny, Familiar, Forgotten Feelings

Hong Kong is a long way from home. A 16 hour direct flight away and 12 hours ahead from what's familiar to me. Even so, I've been able to find some familiar and forgotten feelings despite my rough start to my Hong Kong placement experience. So no, maybe it hasn't been so "funny", but I hope someone gets the song reference.

You are Here. (Almost to the Big Buddha!)

Wall mural in Tai O's fishing village

My recent switch to a paediatrics placement been good for me. I've been at this placement for just over a week and I have begun to rediscover some familiar feelings that I had previously associated with clinical placement periods --Excitement, passion and motivation! Admittedly, this may be biased, since I've had a paediatrics placement before (which had sealed the deal for me in terms of my desire to work with children). Even though I consider it my "second" paediatrics placement, I know the different cultural and clinical setting will expose to me new practice challenges!! 

Today, I had the chance to conduct a Peabody Developmental Movement Scale assessment with a fellow OT student who (also on placement here from the local university) and I found myself committing the same mistakes as I had early on in my last community paediatrics placement.

Wall mural in Tai O's fishing village

I was reminded of the lesson of "Speak Less, More Often". When I'm struggling to express myself, I tend to be more wordy than necessary. As I was trying hard to instruct the child clearly in Cantonese, I actually spoke much more than I needed to with my 3 year old client. More than he could possibly understand!  Although Cantonese is my mother tongue, I speak (and think) in English much more. Perhaps, I end up over explaining and the age-appropriate way of communicating to the client was somehow forgotten as I was trying to express myself in my less commonly spoken language.What terrible modelling for the parent! As a result of my focus on my spoken language, I was not as observant with some aspects of the assessments. The parent became more involved throughout the latter part of my assessment which was probably due to my instructions that were beyond this child's comprehension level. I will need to work at being more brief and concise in my instructional methods in Cantonese. 

This "flashback" felt good for me because I was able to connect something I learned from a previous placement to my current experience. =) In addition to this, it has reiterated the message that developing cultural competency isn't about just learning the language and being able to speak it. But I should be more focused on being able to communicate effectively in a culturally acceptable manner (which may include using a different language).

A long way from home...

Additionally, I have been able to find time for some occupational work-life balance since my placement switch! I've gone out to see more of Hong Kong! I think the stress from my earlier placement gave me tunnel vision, in that I was so focused on dealing with the immediate pressures from placement, I couldn't handle taking care of other aspects of my well-being. My recent adventures have allowed me feel more like myself... More curious and happy. 

In exploring more of Hong Kong, I came upon another familiar feeling from my MsOT experience: my interest in mental health. Through my blog reading, I found out about rwb330 (紅白藍330) and had a chance to visit it when I had some time off. This is a shop in the Prince Edward area that carries products made from a partnership between the New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association and a local artist by the name of "anothermountainman" (又一山人). Their products are made by clients of the New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, featuring Hong Kong's iconic plastic red, white and blue woven fabric (commonly seen as moving bags). The "330" is promoting health of the physical body (身), heart (心) and soul (靈). I love this unique cultural representation of "holistic health"! They've got so many cute products, including a human-sized teddy bear (probably taller than me)! I have also seen these rwb330 products sold elsewhere in Hong Kong as well. Check out their online store to see what they've turned the red, white and blue fabric into!