Thursday, April 17, 2008
For today's foundation of Occupational Therapy prac, we learned how to manipulate a wheelchair. My coursemate Jess picked me up at 10am and drove to the South Geelong train station. 3 of my other coursemate were waiting for us there. The South Geelong train station was just about 10minutes drive from my house. As soon as we got to the train station, we bought our tickets and caught the 10.20am train to Footscray (the stop before Melb-southern cross station). I wish International Students is eligible to apply for a student concession card. Its not fair, just because you are not a local student and a full-fee paying student..u cant apply for one?!! In short, 'Students' should be given concession price for train,bus or tram fair. A return ticket to footsrcay cost $12.40!
The bus fair system in Geelong is different from Melbourne or Adelaide. In Geelong you buy ur bus tickets on the bus itself as in from the bus driver. Adult fair is $1.80 and the machine will print out a small piece of paper...stating the time and validity (which is 2 hours). Sometimes if you are lucky enough, you will meet a kind bus driver who thinks you are a high school student and charge you 90cents. Feels lucky to look young at times when you are not. Muahaha. Another trick is to act like you-dont-know-anything , if the bus driver says concession, say yes and he might charge you 90cents. If he ask to for your concession card, just simply show him your student card and he will say..'thats not a concession card, u need to apply for one'...sorry la full fare then.
When we all got on the train, one of my local friend forgotten to show her concession card to the person selling train tickets and she got herself the full fare ticket. Haha i told her to sell off the ticket and get herself another one..this time a concession one..jokingly. We arrived Footscray at 11.20am. I am very surprised that non of my local friends has been to Footscray. Before we make any further move, the first stop was the toilet in the train station. For the first time in my life, i saw a toilet door which is half exposed?..hmm..as in you could see the person's head from outside..or if possible the person doing business.
There is only one toilet and another for disabled. We were all laughing saying how ridiculous the door is.
After all the toilet jokes, we went searching for the bus stop that we need to take to the Independant Living Centre (ILC). To my surprise, Footscray city looks shabby. Dull and grey with alot of pigeons. An instant different feeling from Geelong. More asians and less 'white people' ( My local friend said the same thing as well)..."more of your kind"..HAHA. I think they were bit culture shocked. I felt the same when i first got to Geelong. There were quite a fair bit of asian groceries shop and restaurants...somehow i felt like i was in a different place, felt like i was in the open market back in kk...the area near Le Meredien Hotel except..its not as stinky and dirty.
Foo-da-scrayy
We managed to find the bus stop and waited for the bus to come. Its about 20minutes ride to ILC. Everyone was getting ready small change and i told them that we could use the train ticket for busses or trams..which is good cause u dont have to pay extra. We were very new to the place...and have no idea where to stop. My local friend was like..'i think its here...' 'quick press the button'...we all look blankly at each other and couldnt find the button anywhere nearby cuz we were sitting at the sits for elderly,disabled and pregnant which we arent suppose to. So i remembered seeing ppl pulling a string on top next to the handle bars..HAHA..so i quickly pulled it and 'TING' .Based on the map and instructions we manage to find our way but we got bombarded by the bus driver cause we press the stop button a lil too late. so what.
We were half an hour early and we registered ourself. The whole practical was fun. We were given a talk on the different types of wheelchair, usage and how to select a good wheelchair for a patient based on their conditions. we also learned the types of materials used to make the wheelchair sits..which wouldnt harm the patient and to support their body weight not putting pressure on the pelvic bone. Interesting. We were then thought on how dismantle, fold a wheelchair and test how heavy the wheelchair is. HAHA. There were really light ones..that looks fragile to me. I never realise there are lots of different types of wheelchair, i find this one interesting:
Introducing the beach wheelchair!! Specially used for those who wants to go to the beach.
Next we get to try on the different wheelchairs.so we were goin round and round as if we were having a wheelchair marathon. There is a purpose to this, because we have to write a report on the wheelchair that we would choose if lets say we have a disability. Mmmmm.
You can tell that some wheelchair are fast and smooth as in when you apply force on the wheels..and some have less comfortable sits. Some wheelchairs with arm rest can be distraction when you push the wheels. It can be quite tiring to push the wheels..not easy.
It was an interesting and educational day. The ILC also sells other types of products for disabled people, like cutlery and some other equipments. I went to the disabled toilet and to my surprise it was really really huge! there was a bed..hmmm maybe a matress...i have no idea what is it for. For one moment i thought i was in a simulation room.
On our way back to Footscray train station, i notice bus driver's driving skill is quite ganas and also there are too many stops along the way. Like after 3-5seconds the bus will stop. Hate it when the bus driver press on the break paddle really hard!
Overall the trip to ILC was fun. Ohhh and my coursemate offered me a 'Hot Jam Donut' sold at the train station. 70cents for one and its one of aussie's popular food besides lamington and vegimite. I thought Krispy Kreme is popular but my friend told me...'nahh'...'Krispy Kreme is expensive'...ahaks..and damn sweet to me.
Alrites...gotta get back to my studies. Human Structure & Func test on monday...Hell no.
The bus fair system in Geelong is different from Melbourne or Adelaide. In Geelong you buy ur bus tickets on the bus itself as in from the bus driver. Adult fair is $1.80 and the machine will print out a small piece of paper...stating the time and validity (which is 2 hours). Sometimes if you are lucky enough, you will meet a kind bus driver who thinks you are a high school student and charge you 90cents. Feels lucky to look young at times when you are not. Muahaha. Another trick is to act like you-dont-know-anything , if the bus driver says concession, say yes and he might charge you 90cents. If he ask to for your concession card, just simply show him your student card and he will say..'thats not a concession card, u need to apply for one'...sorry la full fare then.
When we all got on the train, one of my local friend forgotten to show her concession card to the person selling train tickets and she got herself the full fare ticket. Haha i told her to sell off the ticket and get herself another one..this time a concession one..jokingly. We arrived Footscray at 11.20am. I am very surprised that non of my local friends has been to Footscray. Before we make any further move, the first stop was the toilet in the train station. For the first time in my life, i saw a toilet door which is half exposed?..hmm..as in you could see the person's head from outside..or if possible the person doing business.
There is only one toilet and another for disabled. We were all laughing saying how ridiculous the door is.After all the toilet jokes, we went searching for the bus stop that we need to take to the Independant Living Centre (ILC). To my surprise, Footscray city looks shabby. Dull and grey with alot of pigeons. An instant different feeling from Geelong. More asians and less 'white people' ( My local friend said the same thing as well)..."more of your kind"..HAHA. I think they were bit culture shocked. I felt the same when i first got to Geelong. There were quite a fair bit of asian groceries shop and restaurants...somehow i felt like i was in a different place, felt like i was in the open market back in kk...the area near Le Meredien Hotel except..its not as stinky and dirty.
Foo-da-scrayyWe managed to find the bus stop and waited for the bus to come. Its about 20minutes ride to ILC. Everyone was getting ready small change and i told them that we could use the train ticket for busses or trams..which is good cause u dont have to pay extra. We were very new to the place...and have no idea where to stop. My local friend was like..'i think its here...' 'quick press the button'...we all look blankly at each other and couldnt find the button anywhere nearby cuz we were sitting at the sits for elderly,disabled and pregnant which we arent suppose to. So i remembered seeing ppl pulling a string on top next to the handle bars..HAHA..so i quickly pulled it and 'TING' .Based on the map and instructions we manage to find our way but we got bombarded by the bus driver cause we press the stop button a lil too late. so what.
We were half an hour early and we registered ourself. The whole practical was fun. We were given a talk on the different types of wheelchair, usage and how to select a good wheelchair for a patient based on their conditions. we also learned the types of materials used to make the wheelchair sits..which wouldnt harm the patient and to support their body weight not putting pressure on the pelvic bone. Interesting. We were then thought on how dismantle, fold a wheelchair and test how heavy the wheelchair is. HAHA. There were really light ones..that looks fragile to me. I never realise there are lots of different types of wheelchair, i find this one interesting:
Introducing the beach wheelchair!! Specially used for those who wants to go to the beach.Next we get to try on the different wheelchairs.so we were goin round and round as if we were having a wheelchair marathon. There is a purpose to this, because we have to write a report on the wheelchair that we would choose if lets say we have a disability. Mmmmm.
You can tell that some wheelchair are fast and smooth as in when you apply force on the wheels..and some have less comfortable sits. Some wheelchairs with arm rest can be distraction when you push the wheels. It can be quite tiring to push the wheels..not easy.
It was an interesting and educational day. The ILC also sells other types of products for disabled people, like cutlery and some other equipments. I went to the disabled toilet and to my surprise it was really really huge! there was a bed..hmmm maybe a matress...i have no idea what is it for. For one moment i thought i was in a simulation room.
On our way back to Footscray train station, i notice bus driver's driving skill is quite ganas and also there are too many stops along the way. Like after 3-5seconds the bus will stop. Hate it when the bus driver press on the break paddle really hard!
Overall the trip to ILC was fun. Ohhh and my coursemate offered me a 'Hot Jam Donut' sold at the train station. 70cents for one and its one of aussie's popular food besides lamington and vegimite. I thought Krispy Kreme is popular but my friend told me...'nahh'...'Krispy Kreme is expensive'...ahaks..and damn sweet to me.
Alrites...gotta get back to my studies. Human Structure & Func test on monday...Hell no.
5:14 PM