Sunday, April 25
I read a couple of books in elementary school by a Canadian Author by the name of Jean Little. The first one was called Rescue Pup and the sequel was Forward Shakespeare. They were children’s books that followed the journey of a young seeing eye dog in training, the first one being about his time with his puppy raisers and the second one detailing his time in formal training, his match with his person and some details of his life thereafter. I kept some of my old school books and brought this one with me to read the day before going to class. It’s an easy read, of course, but the nostalgia and excitement it brought simultaneously was worth the childish quality of the writing style. I just finished it and it brought to light again all the excitement and all the things I’m worried about. The journey starts tomorrow and on Wednesday I’ll meet my new partner. I’m actually kinda nervous… is that weird? Will it be a yellow lab like Shakespeare, or a black one, or a retriever? Maybe even a shepherd… Time will tell.
I spent the evening doing laundry and making sure my suitcase is packed and ready to go. I’m being picked up by someone from The Seeing Eye in the morning around 10 and it’s a two hour drive to the school. I wasn’t given a class schedule, but here’s what I think I know:
Tomorrow is orientation. I think the other nine students and I will arrive around noon and will be given a tour of the campus and shown to our dorms. Maybe an evening lecture? Tuesday is assessment. We’re taken on what’s called a Juno walk, where an instructor holds the harness and plays the part of the dog so they can get a better feel for what is needed in a match. They look for things like walking speed, how much pull one needs in the harness to be guided affectively, ETC. Wednesday is “Dog Day”, the day we’re introduced to our partners and our lives change forever. (Side note: Fetch and tug-of-war are two of my favourite things to do with a dog. I hope they have a playful streak, whoever they are.)
Quarantine Thoughts
The second week in Philly was about as eventful in the food department as the first one was. I’ve gotta say, everything I’ve eaten here has been pretty good,… with one key exception. I don’t even remember the name of the restaurant, but it turned me off of the idea of ever wanting to order Chinese food in America again. I ordered what I usually do at home. It was a combo with mixed sweet-and-sour protein, rice and a couple of spring rolls. The rolls were the only thing that I can honestly say was alright. The meat was breaded and fried, and the batter wasn’t even cooked all the way through. The rice was the plain white stuff you usually find at a sushi place and the sauce came in its own separate container. Honestly, I just ended up pouring the sauce over the plain rice and eating that because the chicken was too disturbing to stomach. It wasn’t bad, but I think I’ll give that place 1 star.
At first, I was pretty scared to try a cheese steak. They’d been described to me in the past and sounded in no way appealing. I wasn’t sure how I felt about steak on a sandwich and not really being a cheese person either, it didn’t really seem up my alley. However, due to urging from all sides, I was finally obligated to give in. I’m glad I did. I’ve discovered that though I don’t like real melted cheese on my sandwiches, the one-molecule-away-from-plastic stuff that passes for cheese over here is great. What I didn’t understand is that the steak is shredded, which makes it so good, I think. Juicy, shredded steak, bacon, mushrooms, pickles, mayonnaise and some melted plastic have some pretty good chemistry.
We got milkshakes from a place that’s well known in filly. I got “Death By Chocolate”, of course, but I was having trouble making my mind up on anything exotic sounding when there was close to eighty flavours to choose from. Like everything else over here, they were huge. I had to drink mine in two sittings because I just couldn’t handle that much all at once. I kept the cup it came in. They serve them in hard plastic, so I’m not sure if there’s any incentive to bring them back for discounted shakes… but at least I have a cool souvenir.
One more interesting food item to note. This one pizza place we ordered from had funnel cake fries!!! I tried a funnel cake down here and wasn’t super impressed. It’s basically just a big, flat slab of fried bred that’s been coated in sugar. It’s too dry for me. But when it comes in the form of a fry… that’s a whole different story. Funny how size and texture makes all the difference sometimes. They had all of the sweet, delicious qualities of funnel cake without drying out my mouth too much. Wish we had these back at home… or maybe not. Might die of over-indulgence.
And now, time for sleep. Until next time…
Three, two, one… Here we go.
Random Acts Of Blindness 