Day Two

Aaaaah. Day two in the bag.
It's been interesting these first two days.
On many, many levels.

Getting up early?
Not so bad.
Cut-throat drivers, break-neck speeds, drivers who drive like they are the only ones on the road?
Going against my grain.
I didn't realize just how "slow" I was taking it.
Transporting little ones on semi-deserted roads in the middle of the afternoon & having basically no need to drive at rush hour.
The rush-rush, the ants marching ordeal. I dislike. I dislike very much.
But it's part of the deal.

The actual "work" part of it?
Eh. It's training.
Policies. Procedures.
Procedures. Policies.

Today we talked about Juvenile Justice, supervising juveniles, and juveniles' rights.
I eat that stuff up like candy.
While I don't like to hear about how broken these children are, their families, and even the systems which are meant to help and protect these children, I like hearing about the process. I like hearing about the kids who have had positive outcomes. I like hearing about how I can impact a juvenile.

It has been brought to our attention many times during training about how being "in" a locked facility, has been the only stability and safety some of these kids have ever known.
While the trainers talked, many new ideas have popped up in my mind about ways we can empower some of these kids - which felt very exciting. Knowing that this center and this program is open to ideas from the staff and willing to support these ideas.

The most interesting part - in my opinion - of the past two days has been observing the people in my class. There are 15 of us in the class & out of those 15 only 7 are female. I'm accustomed to working primarily in early childhood, where the vast majority of the workers are female. And in my naive mind, I assumed this would be the same way. And what is even more interesting and uplifting is the fact that there are so many males, who come from various community-based organizations, who are minorities.
(I hope I'm not offending anyone here, it is just my observation)
I think it is wonderful to see positive male role models for the juvenile male population that we'll be working with. Males they can truly look up to and be inspired by. Men that seem devoted to this work and helping these at-risk and delinquent youths.
The role of the men in our society is changing & I have seen time and again men step up to that challenge & it is a wonderful thing to see. First-hand.

That being said, yes, I am exhausted. I'm missing Rav, the kids, and blogging more than I can say. But I'm trying to make the best of this. I'm trying to look at this opportunity as a first step. And all in all, I am enjoying it.
We'll see if I'm singing the same tunes when I'm on an actual unit with 20 young men who are bent on making my life hell.
For now, I'm enjoying though.