Week 3

"Then I'm walking in Memphis, walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale" (Marc Cohn)

One of the main highlights of this week was the international shopping trip to Memphis and the international Market on Saturday. On our way there, I noticed a lot of police cars passing by with a number of cars in tow with their headlights flashing. We were told that the reason for this is because the police escort those attending a funeral to the graveyard. If you were driving over here and came upon this scene it would be courteous to pull over and let the cars past. I thought that this was a lovely, respectful gesture and one which again highlights the sense of community in Oxford

I really enjoyed walking around the shops and seeing the comparisons to home with regards to the style here. It is also customary here for the sales assistants to bid you welcome upon entering the shops and to constantly ask to make sure you know where to find everything. Upon leaving they also make sure to wish you goodbye, with the common phrase ‘ya’ll have a nice day now!’ The day was finished with a trip to the international market. It was fun walking around, trying to guess some of the foods as they were in all different languages. The thing that amazes me with regards to food over here is just how many types of the same produce you find. This makes it very difficult for me to decide which one is the closest to the type we get at home!

We finally got our fourth class sorted this week after much debate and patiently waiting. It is not the class we were originally meant to be in but rather a backup plan which turned out to be a rather interesting choice. The class is called Nature and Needs of those with Severe Disabilities. I have always ventured towards teaching those with Special Educational Needs and this class is giving me an even deeper insight into those students who have severe disabilities and how we can help them. I have enjoyed learning about the brain and what different areas do. We were also taught a little history in the videos we watched in class and I discovered that the first gas chamber build was in a hospital, in order to commit mass genocides of those who were classified as being ‘disabled.’ It was also heart breaking to learn of a man who had cerebral palsy being locked away in an institution by his own father for over 40 years. This was due to the lack of knowledge at that time about people with disabilities and the attempt to keep them separate from the outside world.

Towards the end of the week we were also taken to Ya Ya’s, a local frozen yogurt shop on the square. They have many different flavours of frozen yogurt, my favourite being the triple chocolate and birthday cake. It was delicious way to take a break from all the work we have been doing for our classes and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to relax and chat.