As always, the morning started with breakfast (The sun was already out, so I'd assume the time must have been around 6). I'm not sure what we had that day, but I'm pretty positive that all of us were tired.
To get us moving, Bryan introduced a new game - called "This is a what?".
The objective is to pass an object around and say, "this is a ... (insert object name here).". So if I were to have a rock, I'd say " this is a rock". The person next to me would say "a what?" to which you reply "a rock.". Then, he/she would say "oh, a rock!". The objects are constantly passed around the circle. The goal, then, is to not get confused and have good reflexes in keeping the constant pace of the game.
Early that afternoon, we had visitors come who checked out our work. I was responsible for talking about the ranger cabin with Janelle and Matt in my team. Overall, I felt that we did a great job on it - since we deboarded the windows, painted both sides brown, and screwed the windows back together. I also made the visitors do an experiment: I gave them my cane and let them take turns using it with their eyes closed. For a start, they did a great job!
Once the visitors left, we all had fun doing a scavenger hunt, obstycle course, and "magic carpet". Magic carpet is where we all stand on a tarp and somehow we have to turn it over without anyone stepping off on the ground. It was probably the most challenging of the games - but also the one with the greatest fun.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
day 4: The condors
I'm going to rewind a little bit, before our hike and tie this post in with the hike at the same time.
On our fourth day still, Laura talked to us about the Condors. They became endangered in the 80s. Scientists tried saving the bird species by breeding them in safe environments.
The eventual result was that the Condors slowly grew, to the point where there are at least 80 in the canyon today.
After we dressed Landon up as a condor (which was a hilarious event in itself), Laura talked about the radios which each condor has. I guess after a new condor is born, a radio gets attached to their wings which allows the park service to track their location. There are receivers which can pick these signals up if a condor is near by.
Laura had one of these. It was very cool looking, consisting of a receiver and an antenna. You would wave the antenna around like a wand and push the next button to switch to the next channel. On the hike, we took turns with waving the antenna or pushing the scan button. Sadly, we did not find any Condors flying around in the area - but it was still fun!
Bryan also had his bat detector. There were many bats in the canyon, and you could here their thin "ceek" sound as they flew overhead. Since Bryan was very much into researching bats (he did a very interesting study on them in the past), he had a bat detector. Towards the end of our hike, he took it out and let us use it.
That was more of a success, since there were many bats flying by. The radio would make small clicks as their ultrasounds scanned the area.
On our fourth day still, Laura talked to us about the Condors. They became endangered in the 80s. Scientists tried saving the bird species by breeding them in safe environments.
The eventual result was that the Condors slowly grew, to the point where there are at least 80 in the canyon today.
After we dressed Landon up as a condor (which was a hilarious event in itself), Laura talked about the radios which each condor has. I guess after a new condor is born, a radio gets attached to their wings which allows the park service to track their location. There are receivers which can pick these signals up if a condor is near by.
Laura had one of these. It was very cool looking, consisting of a receiver and an antenna. You would wave the antenna around like a wand and push the next button to switch to the next channel. On the hike, we took turns with waving the antenna or pushing the scan button. Sadly, we did not find any Condors flying around in the area - but it was still fun!
Bryan also had his bat detector. There were many bats in the canyon, and you could here their thin "ceek" sound as they flew overhead. Since Bryan was very much into researching bats (he did a very interesting study on them in the past), he had a bat detector. Towards the end of our hike, he took it out and let us use it.
That was more of a success, since there were many bats flying by. The radio would make small clicks as their ultrasounds scanned the area.
day 4: The Wonderful Nighthike
I believe it was the night of our fourth day. Our group decided that we all should go on a few hour hike down a trail.
The trail itself was not bad - there weren't any obtrusive rocks in the way of our hike. We actually hiked to the point where we could see the rim of the canyon and look down into the depth.
We actually watched the sunset over the canyon. The sighted people in the group described it as very colorful, since the sun illuminated the rocks in the canyon.
What I found interesting, however, was what people call "the breath of the canyon". As the wind slowly blows, the air goes down into the canyon and creates a sort of breathing sound, making it appear as though the canyon were breathing.
We sat at the rim for a few minutes quietly journaling and enjoying our time.
Our hike back to camp was all the more interesting, however. Perhaps the first amazing event was when Kelly saw the stars for the first time in her life.
Generally, the stars in the city are covered by pollution and other lights. In the grand canyon, the air is much cleaner and thus the stars are more visible. Kelly was one of our visually impaired students. Since stars in the city are not as clear, she was able to see them for the first time in the canyon.
Our mentors also decided that we, the blind students, should lead the sighted. This also was an interesting experience. I myself never would have thought that I could lead people back to camp by myself and take the leadership of letting them know what is ahead. Since there were only 5 blind students, we got into groups and the sighted people formed a train behind a blind person. I had 3 people in my train - Robbie, Steffie, and Megan. As I ran over small rocks or trees, I let them know, "tree ahead.".
Overall, it was a great hike and it allowed all of us to open up more and show our "true side". :)
The trail itself was not bad - there weren't any obtrusive rocks in the way of our hike. We actually hiked to the point where we could see the rim of the canyon and look down into the depth.
We actually watched the sunset over the canyon. The sighted people in the group described it as very colorful, since the sun illuminated the rocks in the canyon.
What I found interesting, however, was what people call "the breath of the canyon". As the wind slowly blows, the air goes down into the canyon and creates a sort of breathing sound, making it appear as though the canyon were breathing.
We sat at the rim for a few minutes quietly journaling and enjoying our time.
Our hike back to camp was all the more interesting, however. Perhaps the first amazing event was when Kelly saw the stars for the first time in her life.
Generally, the stars in the city are covered by pollution and other lights. In the grand canyon, the air is much cleaner and thus the stars are more visible. Kelly was one of our visually impaired students. Since stars in the city are not as clear, she was able to see them for the first time in the canyon.
Our mentors also decided that we, the blind students, should lead the sighted. This also was an interesting experience. I myself never would have thought that I could lead people back to camp by myself and take the leadership of letting them know what is ahead. Since there were only 5 blind students, we got into groups and the sighted people formed a train behind a blind person. I had 3 people in my train - Robbie, Steffie, and Megan. As I ran over small rocks or trees, I let them know, "tree ahead.".
Overall, it was a great hike and it allowed all of us to open up more and show our "true side". :)
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
day #3!
From memory bank:
A day of hiking and soundscape!
Today was more of a hiking day, and the time when we were introduced to how soundscaping works. We hiked out to ... Bass trail and Laura introduced us to the art of... soundscape!
Each of us had a palm pilot to work on. Everyone had one partner, so only 5 PDAs were needed. Regardless of your visual impairment, everyone therefore still had to make handsigns up for the various sounds which you hear.
The PDA screen had buttons on it: Insect, bird, reptile, jet, helicopter, motorboat, water... both natural and non-natural sounds. The goal of soundscaping is to collect data about the land's sound levels and by doing this we help Laura create a report on how often non-natural sounds interfeer in the canyon. This is why sound pollution is also a form of pollution, and people should really think of it when they walk or drive around in natural areas...
Basically, if you hear an insect let's say, you signal your partner using the system you 2 created. Then, he/she taps it on the PDA. When the sound stops, you signal a stop sound and the signal you made for the sound. Then, your partner taps the button again which "turns off" the sound. On a graph, that records the duration. Me and Janelle were partners for soundscaping, and our insect signal happened to be dragging your fingers around your head in a circular fashion. To signal stop, you did a slashing motion around your throat and then repeated that sign.
This way, we had a wide array of signs. A jet was one finger up, the wind was moving your hand forward from the back of your head straight out in front of you... We tried to make signs which made sense, so that neither of us would be overwhelmed with memorizing.
We had snacks at Bass trail after our soundscape was finished.
A day of hiking and soundscape!
Today was more of a hiking day, and the time when we were introduced to how soundscaping works. We hiked out to ... Bass trail and Laura introduced us to the art of... soundscape!
Each of us had a palm pilot to work on. Everyone had one partner, so only 5 PDAs were needed. Regardless of your visual impairment, everyone therefore still had to make handsigns up for the various sounds which you hear.
The PDA screen had buttons on it: Insect, bird, reptile, jet, helicopter, motorboat, water... both natural and non-natural sounds. The goal of soundscaping is to collect data about the land's sound levels and by doing this we help Laura create a report on how often non-natural sounds interfeer in the canyon. This is why sound pollution is also a form of pollution, and people should really think of it when they walk or drive around in natural areas...
Basically, if you hear an insect let's say, you signal your partner using the system you 2 created. Then, he/she taps it on the PDA. When the sound stops, you signal a stop sound and the signal you made for the sound. Then, your partner taps the button again which "turns off" the sound. On a graph, that records the duration. Me and Janelle were partners for soundscaping, and our insect signal happened to be dragging your fingers around your head in a circular fashion. To signal stop, you did a slashing motion around your throat and then repeated that sign.
This way, we had a wide array of signs. A jet was one finger up, the wind was moving your hand forward from the back of your head straight out in front of you... We tried to make signs which made sense, so that neither of us would be overwhelmed with memorizing.
We had snacks at Bass trail after our soundscape was finished.
day #2!
from my own memory bank:
Day #2:
Today was time to work on the cabin! Our first task in the morning was to de-board the windows of the ranger cabin. This place has not been used for 30 years or more and our task was to first take the windows off. While previous groups have worked on the cabin in the past years, it was boarded up.
We unscrewed the windows, at least the ones we could reach, and then proceeded to pain them brown - which also made the place waterproof and sealed.
After one side of the windows were painted, we began working on making trails to the groover so that upcoming camps could use the trail without destroying the topsoil.
The topsoil is a layer of "living soil" where moss and other bacteria reside to keep the soil healthy and it is, in itself, an ecosystem. Our park service ranger Megan explaoined this very well. In order to conserve the desert, it's important NOT to step on the soil and thus our trails did not go through them. Lunch was pretty good - fahitas!
During dinner, bryan proceeded to give a few riddles. 4 is forever was one of them - so three is five, five is four and four is forever! Turns out, bryan has more riddles than I thought!
Day #2:
Today was time to work on the cabin! Our first task in the morning was to de-board the windows of the ranger cabin. This place has not been used for 30 years or more and our task was to first take the windows off. While previous groups have worked on the cabin in the past years, it was boarded up.
We unscrewed the windows, at least the ones we could reach, and then proceeded to pain them brown - which also made the place waterproof and sealed.
After one side of the windows were painted, we began working on making trails to the groover so that upcoming camps could use the trail without destroying the topsoil.
The topsoil is a layer of "living soil" where moss and other bacteria reside to keep the soil healthy and it is, in itself, an ecosystem. Our park service ranger Megan explaoined this very well. In order to conserve the desert, it's important NOT to step on the soil and thus our trails did not go through them. Lunch was pretty good - fahitas!
During dinner, bryan proceeded to give a few riddles. 4 is forever was one of them - so three is five, five is four and four is forever! Turns out, bryan has more riddles than I thought!
Day #1!
journal entry from 4 brailled notecards:
It has been less than 24 hours since we arrived at the canyon!
This place is amazing. Very quiet. There are no cars driving by, no... sounds of people. It is very peaceful and jets only fly by on occasion.
Today we talked about safety as well as our duties. 3 crews have been assigned: Groover, dish, and cook. Groover duty is responsible for cleaning the pee bucket (scattering the pee around the woods to minimize impact), as well as cleaning the seats to the pooper. Dish cook washes dishes in a line: 4 buckets. one has clean water, second one has ditergent, third bucket is normal water, and the last one has bleach. When on dish chrew, I guess each person of the team is assigned 1 or 2 buckets through which the dishes are washed. I was in a team with Matt and Janelle - and our first assignment is to be groover. I guess tomorrow we will work on being dish crew?
It has been less than 24 hours since we arrived at the canyon!
This place is amazing. Very quiet. There are no cars driving by, no... sounds of people. It is very peaceful and jets only fly by on occasion.
Today we talked about safety as well as our duties. 3 crews have been assigned: Groover, dish, and cook. Groover duty is responsible for cleaning the pee bucket (scattering the pee around the woods to minimize impact), as well as cleaning the seats to the pooper. Dish cook washes dishes in a line: 4 buckets. one has clean water, second one has ditergent, third bucket is normal water, and the last one has bleach. When on dish chrew, I guess each person of the team is assigned 1 or 2 buckets through which the dishes are washed. I was in a team with Matt and Janelle - and our first assignment is to be groover. I guess tomorrow we will work on being dish crew?
The Grand Canyon Experience - Preface
Around the world, many wait lifetimes. Some are scared, while others are excited upon the arrival of the day - When they can finally visit the Grand Canyon.
The average visit to the canyon by tourists lasts for 3 hours. That is not a long time, compared to 2 weeks - and many wish that visitors would spend more time in the canyon, exploring and appreciating surroundings. Some might think 2 weeks in the canyon is a long long time, others would see it as a great opportunity for being away from society. In my trip, I actually perceived both sides of that coin.
I have had many chances to bail out of the trip, and I think when writing, I should be honest about some things: Yes, for a long time, I did not like being at the canyon. Too much work without motivation. For me, motivation is important in order to experience something - and at the South rim I did not receive that. This is why on the 6th day, I became very quiet and went into a mood of "I can't wait to go home!". I even counted down hours, minutes, and seconds until my return. I felt that 2 weeks is a long time. Not only this, I could not understand why these people care. "Why would they want me here? I don't make a difference!"
Then as the river trip progressed, this changed. I had so much fun on the river that by the time of our last day, I was simply sad to leave. It was too hard to leave the river, that natural disconnection from society. When I first stepped into the pizza place with our group, I felt like an immigrant who just entered this foreign society - a feeling I have not experienced since my come to America 6 years ago.
Looking back to the trip overall, it was a good experience. If you have watched the leading the way 2009 promo video (link on this blog), you will note that at some point, a guy says "there isn't one day that I don't think of my trip." and this is true. At the time when I first heard the video, I didn't understand why he'd say that. But now I can relate. And I can respond to his comment by making my own reflections upon this trip.
My goal, then, is to help you relate respond and reflect upon my experiences yourself. Although recordings of the trip might take some time to appear - since my voice recorder fell in the boat right on our 12th day - I can still write and write about how it felt to be in the canyon. My journal entries are also lost, since they were all recorded. So it will take time to publish those as well. This is why I have to write NOW, before the trip turns into one blob in my mind, one flowing river of experience. Right now I can still go back through the individual days I spent on the rim and on the river. With time this will fade.
At first, I will try to write a daily account of my experiences. But as we move further in the trip, you will notice how memories simply meld into one long timeline. So about the 5th day, I will simply write long posts on what we did on the river, instead of breaking it down. It is during the river where everything seems to be one long experience. Once you have read all of the posts, I would gracefully wish to ask that you reflect upon the ways I viewed the Grand Canyon and this trip and then comment at your will. In this way, we are also incorporating Global Explorers philosophies in this blog - the RRR (Relate, Respond, and reflect). Once recordings become available, I will post more so you can understand the trip in depth. Photos (or pictures) will also be available with time. If you are on my facebook friends list, check tagged photos of me regularly since I didn't take any actual pictures.
The average visit to the canyon by tourists lasts for 3 hours. That is not a long time, compared to 2 weeks - and many wish that visitors would spend more time in the canyon, exploring and appreciating surroundings. Some might think 2 weeks in the canyon is a long long time, others would see it as a great opportunity for being away from society. In my trip, I actually perceived both sides of that coin.
I have had many chances to bail out of the trip, and I think when writing, I should be honest about some things: Yes, for a long time, I did not like being at the canyon. Too much work without motivation. For me, motivation is important in order to experience something - and at the South rim I did not receive that. This is why on the 6th day, I became very quiet and went into a mood of "I can't wait to go home!". I even counted down hours, minutes, and seconds until my return. I felt that 2 weeks is a long time. Not only this, I could not understand why these people care. "Why would they want me here? I don't make a difference!"
Then as the river trip progressed, this changed. I had so much fun on the river that by the time of our last day, I was simply sad to leave. It was too hard to leave the river, that natural disconnection from society. When I first stepped into the pizza place with our group, I felt like an immigrant who just entered this foreign society - a feeling I have not experienced since my come to America 6 years ago.
Looking back to the trip overall, it was a good experience. If you have watched the leading the way 2009 promo video (link on this blog), you will note that at some point, a guy says "there isn't one day that I don't think of my trip." and this is true. At the time when I first heard the video, I didn't understand why he'd say that. But now I can relate. And I can respond to his comment by making my own reflections upon this trip.
My goal, then, is to help you relate respond and reflect upon my experiences yourself. Although recordings of the trip might take some time to appear - since my voice recorder fell in the boat right on our 12th day - I can still write and write about how it felt to be in the canyon. My journal entries are also lost, since they were all recorded. So it will take time to publish those as well. This is why I have to write NOW, before the trip turns into one blob in my mind, one flowing river of experience. Right now I can still go back through the individual days I spent on the rim and on the river. With time this will fade.
At first, I will try to write a daily account of my experiences. But as we move further in the trip, you will notice how memories simply meld into one long timeline. So about the 5th day, I will simply write long posts on what we did on the river, instead of breaking it down. It is during the river where everything seems to be one long experience. Once you have read all of the posts, I would gracefully wish to ask that you reflect upon the ways I viewed the Grand Canyon and this trip and then comment at your will. In this way, we are also incorporating Global Explorers philosophies in this blog - the RRR (Relate, Respond, and reflect). Once recordings become available, I will post more so you can understand the trip in depth. Photos (or pictures) will also be available with time. If you are on my facebook friends list, check tagged photos of me regularly since I didn't take any actual pictures.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Ready for takeoff!
Three hours and my flight is on it's way to Flagstaff Arizona!!!
Exciting! Yet I want to make a final post on this blog before my leave, mainly to help you know more of the trip and how things will be. Yes, there are a few more pieces to fill out..
My plain leaves at 6:35. I have a layover in Chicago (which won't be long at all!) and will be in Flagstaff no time. This will be followed by us waiting in the terminals for everyone's arrival. So this beginning process is similar to the one on the retreat.
I am kind of sad that Shannon and Trish (shannon is the leading the way fellow while trish is an intern) are not going to be on this trip with us, and if they happen to be reading I do wish their safety and are all eager to share with them the fun experiences on this trip.
Bryan will be there, the same laid back goofy and relaxed guy who was at the retreat. So will several guides who are on the rafting and some are from the park service while others from GCY (Grand Canyon Youth).
Alright. I believe the first night will be spent in a hotel. I am unsure if we're getting room mates here yet, but I will probably have cellphone access that night, if anyone has final words to text or call. So that is good :) But starting the 7th, it's bye-bye electronics time.
Which is quite sad. I will miss every single one of my friends. I care for everyone a lot and not knowing how friends are doing will probably worry me to death during this trip. However I recognize the service aspect of the trip and thus will have as much fun as I can. :)
I know I have said 7 days on the rim and 9 on the river, but it's actually... 5 days on the rim and 9 on the river. So I might be a bit overpacked with having 12 underwear, 5 t-shirts and 3 long-underwear and 3 pants (an extra jean/2 longer pants). Ah well. After the rim portion is over, we will be able to ship items we don't need back to Grand Canyon Youth (in Flagstaff, the place we arrive at first), so it won't be a big deal, just as long as I save 2 long t-shirt and a few more things for the river.
Back to the sound testing project a bit though. I have mentioned that several times. It will be taking place both on the rim and the river. The goal being to test the park's sound pollution level. As I have said in previous posts, people only think of air/water/land pollution when they say 'pollution". not sound! Yet when I tried to sleep outside under the stars in the woods around my house the other night, I could not sleep because of too many aircraft ahead flying. So... Go green and illiminating sound pollution! (though, making quiet cars can be a potential hazzard for the blind since we don't hear a car when crossing...)
We will partner up with another person and using a PDA, record times and data about the current sounds around. Fun!
Alright... I think I covered most things. No, Eric, the blind mountain climber, won't be on our trip, good question. Yes, we will eat and prepare foods, this will be also done on a switch basis - rotating positions. I won't take many showers, nor will I shave, so when I return I will probably have a big moustache and facial hair, but hey it's a neat experience, isn't it? :P
Alright... Time to hike and raft and ... miss everyone. :(
:)
With all due respect:
Tomi
Exciting! Yet I want to make a final post on this blog before my leave, mainly to help you know more of the trip and how things will be. Yes, there are a few more pieces to fill out..
My plain leaves at 6:35. I have a layover in Chicago (which won't be long at all!) and will be in Flagstaff no time. This will be followed by us waiting in the terminals for everyone's arrival. So this beginning process is similar to the one on the retreat.
I am kind of sad that Shannon and Trish (shannon is the leading the way fellow while trish is an intern) are not going to be on this trip with us, and if they happen to be reading I do wish their safety and are all eager to share with them the fun experiences on this trip.
Bryan will be there, the same laid back goofy and relaxed guy who was at the retreat. So will several guides who are on the rafting and some are from the park service while others from GCY (Grand Canyon Youth).
Alright. I believe the first night will be spent in a hotel. I am unsure if we're getting room mates here yet, but I will probably have cellphone access that night, if anyone has final words to text or call. So that is good :) But starting the 7th, it's bye-bye electronics time.
Which is quite sad. I will miss every single one of my friends. I care for everyone a lot and not knowing how friends are doing will probably worry me to death during this trip. However I recognize the service aspect of the trip and thus will have as much fun as I can. :)
I know I have said 7 days on the rim and 9 on the river, but it's actually... 5 days on the rim and 9 on the river. So I might be a bit overpacked with having 12 underwear, 5 t-shirts and 3 long-underwear and 3 pants (an extra jean/2 longer pants). Ah well. After the rim portion is over, we will be able to ship items we don't need back to Grand Canyon Youth (in Flagstaff, the place we arrive at first), so it won't be a big deal, just as long as I save 2 long t-shirt and a few more things for the river.
Back to the sound testing project a bit though. I have mentioned that several times. It will be taking place both on the rim and the river. The goal being to test the park's sound pollution level. As I have said in previous posts, people only think of air/water/land pollution when they say 'pollution". not sound! Yet when I tried to sleep outside under the stars in the woods around my house the other night, I could not sleep because of too many aircraft ahead flying. So... Go green and illiminating sound pollution! (though, making quiet cars can be a potential hazzard for the blind since we don't hear a car when crossing...)
We will partner up with another person and using a PDA, record times and data about the current sounds around. Fun!
Alright... I think I covered most things. No, Eric, the blind mountain climber, won't be on our trip, good question. Yes, we will eat and prepare foods, this will be also done on a switch basis - rotating positions. I won't take many showers, nor will I shave, so when I return I will probably have a big moustache and facial hair, but hey it's a neat experience, isn't it? :P
Alright... Time to hike and raft and ... miss everyone. :(
:)
With all due respect:
Tomi
Thursday, June 25, 2009
5th Conference Call!
Well well well. The trip is ever so close!
We had our fifth conference call, as usual, on the last Wednesday of June. This call served mainly as a preperation for the trip itself. Packing, our project, etc.
So it is here important to mention the project. This is not to be confused with the service project, which is where we will do the sound testing on the grand canyon itself. This project is educational ; The goal of it being to present some aspect of the canyon to our group.
My topic is the dams. Specifically, their advantages/disadvantages, and how they were built. I'm thinking of doing a story for this ; and this topic really ties in with the work that I do for my radio show. I probably won't bring notes with me either, since I can recite from my mind pretty well information I know.
Packing wise, perhaps the biggest problem is how much of what to bring. While 7 days of the trip takes place on the rim, the 9 others are on the river. This is why most underwear and socks/pants will be used for the rim portion, while I probably only need 2 or 3 t-shirts for the river and perhaps 3 underwear (long/warm). This is because we will be jumping in the river quite a lot, especially when taking a bath or pee (yes).
I want to mention one more thing which I left out to talk of in the retreat, and this ties more in to the trip itself: How will I live? I am sure a lot of people are thinking of this. You can't exactly shower, poop, pee, and where the heck would you even throw your junk materials?
In the canyon/rim portion, bathroom isn't that big of a problem, as long as privacy can be found. It is on the river where things become more challenging.
Each night there will be a tent set up, where the pooper will be stored. The pooper is a box with a toilet seat over it and a substance to lessen smells. Toilet paper is provided. There is also another box for liquids/urine. When someone goes to the bathroom, you first use the urine bucket and can use the pooper.
Each day, the bucket is emptied in the river. The pooper will be attached to a raft (I wonder how you'd feel being on the raft with the pooper!) and at a certain point it will be picked up by a boat which will take it away.
Ok. Whew, we got the uncomfortable things out of the way.
Showers can be done in the river of ocurse, though probably not a full full shower. Hence the biodegradable soap.
As I have said, most clothing will probably be used on the rim ; but everything will get even at that point since we will cool off with the water. On the river, during showers and such, the clothes I'm wearing will also be cleaned and this is why only a few underwear and t-shirts are needed.
Alright... I should go do my research on the dams. Please keep tuned to this blog!
-Tomi
We had our fifth conference call, as usual, on the last Wednesday of June. This call served mainly as a preperation for the trip itself. Packing, our project, etc.
So it is here important to mention the project. This is not to be confused with the service project, which is where we will do the sound testing on the grand canyon itself. This project is educational ; The goal of it being to present some aspect of the canyon to our group.
My topic is the dams. Specifically, their advantages/disadvantages, and how they were built. I'm thinking of doing a story for this ; and this topic really ties in with the work that I do for my radio show. I probably won't bring notes with me either, since I can recite from my mind pretty well information I know.
Packing wise, perhaps the biggest problem is how much of what to bring. While 7 days of the trip takes place on the rim, the 9 others are on the river. This is why most underwear and socks/pants will be used for the rim portion, while I probably only need 2 or 3 t-shirts for the river and perhaps 3 underwear (long/warm). This is because we will be jumping in the river quite a lot, especially when taking a bath or pee (yes).
I want to mention one more thing which I left out to talk of in the retreat, and this ties more in to the trip itself: How will I live? I am sure a lot of people are thinking of this. You can't exactly shower, poop, pee, and where the heck would you even throw your junk materials?
In the canyon/rim portion, bathroom isn't that big of a problem, as long as privacy can be found. It is on the river where things become more challenging.
Each night there will be a tent set up, where the pooper will be stored. The pooper is a box with a toilet seat over it and a substance to lessen smells. Toilet paper is provided. There is also another box for liquids/urine. When someone goes to the bathroom, you first use the urine bucket and can use the pooper.
Each day, the bucket is emptied in the river. The pooper will be attached to a raft (I wonder how you'd feel being on the raft with the pooper!) and at a certain point it will be picked up by a boat which will take it away.
Ok. Whew, we got the uncomfortable things out of the way.
Showers can be done in the river of ocurse, though probably not a full full shower. Hence the biodegradable soap.
As I have said, most clothing will probably be used on the rim ; but everything will get even at that point since we will cool off with the water. On the river, during showers and such, the clothes I'm wearing will also be cleaned and this is why only a few underwear and t-shirts are needed.
Alright... I should go do my research on the dams. Please keep tuned to this blog!
-Tomi
Saturday, June 20, 2009
A new Newspaper Article!
Well. although this does not cocern my grand canyon trip exactly, I thought it would be interesting to post this newspaper article up on this blog.. Enjoy!
----------
By STEPHANIE REX
Eagle Staff Writer
June 18th, 2009
SLIPPERY ROCK — Feeling his way up and taking one step at a time, Tamas Geczy reached new heights June 18, achieving a climb that not many would typically expect him to accomplish.
Geczy, a vision impaired student from Cleveland, took part in Slippery Rock University’s VIP Sports Camp for the blind, which gives children from ages 6 to 18 a chance to reach their goals and experience challenging activities.
“This really helps me in self development,” Geczy said. “It helps me to become more independent and it really helps with that because the camp gets you to experience and try new things.”
As Geczy stepped up to the wall, an SRU student guided him step by step, helping him to start the long way up at the rock wall at the Aebersold Recreation Center. Patiently reaching for the next footholds, he gained speed, leaving the instructor at the ground.
“You got this,” the instructor said.
At about 25 feet above ground, Geczy reached the bell at the top and gave it a ring, as his friends cheered below.
Wendy Fagan, an SRU instructor in adapted physical activity, organized the camp, which has been held at SRU each summer for the last six years. She said the majority of the 51 students who attend don’t get the opportunity to participate in such a wide variety of sports at their public schools.
“This gives them increased confidence in themselves and great joy,” Fagan said. “They get to meet other kids who are visually impaired, and many times, they may be the only child in their whole school who is visually impaired.”
The camp ran June 16 to 19 with sports activities across campus, including track, golf, rock climbing, soccer, swimming, taekwondo and a dance party at camp’s end.
Fagan said the week at camp also proves to the children that they can accomplish anything.
“One of the boy’s said, ‘The only thing that you can do that we can’t do is see,’ and I just loved that,” Fagan said. “This reinforces that they can do anything they want to do.”
SRU students instruct all of the activities at the camp while the week is sponsored by Lions International and CVS/pharmacy. The students come from a three-hour radius from communities in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Timothy Clark of New Florence has attended the camp for five years. After climbing about 15 feet in the air, Clark came down, took a break and said, “I’m going to do it again,” with a smile.
“I think things like this are even harder for us,” Clark said. “We only rely on feel and other camps don’t give you the opportunity. I’m just blessed that I can get up in the morning and come and do this stuff at the camp.”
Clark, who wants to have a career in radio, said he has been thrilled to participate each year.
“When I get home, I am filled with stories of what I have done,” Clark said.
Clark said his favorite part of the camp is making new friends. As Geczy scaled the rock wall, he said, “My friend is actually rock climbing right now.”
“Some of these new friends can relate to what I am going through,” he said.
----------
By STEPHANIE REX
Eagle Staff Writer
June 18th, 2009
SLIPPERY ROCK — Feeling his way up and taking one step at a time, Tamas Geczy reached new heights June 18, achieving a climb that not many would typically expect him to accomplish.
Geczy, a vision impaired student from Cleveland, took part in Slippery Rock University’s VIP Sports Camp for the blind, which gives children from ages 6 to 18 a chance to reach their goals and experience challenging activities.
“This really helps me in self development,” Geczy said. “It helps me to become more independent and it really helps with that because the camp gets you to experience and try new things.”
As Geczy stepped up to the wall, an SRU student guided him step by step, helping him to start the long way up at the rock wall at the Aebersold Recreation Center. Patiently reaching for the next footholds, he gained speed, leaving the instructor at the ground.
“You got this,” the instructor said.
At about 25 feet above ground, Geczy reached the bell at the top and gave it a ring, as his friends cheered below.
Wendy Fagan, an SRU instructor in adapted physical activity, organized the camp, which has been held at SRU each summer for the last six years. She said the majority of the 51 students who attend don’t get the opportunity to participate in such a wide variety of sports at their public schools.
“This gives them increased confidence in themselves and great joy,” Fagan said. “They get to meet other kids who are visually impaired, and many times, they may be the only child in their whole school who is visually impaired.”
The camp ran June 16 to 19 with sports activities across campus, including track, golf, rock climbing, soccer, swimming, taekwondo and a dance party at camp’s end.
Fagan said the week at camp also proves to the children that they can accomplish anything.
“One of the boy’s said, ‘The only thing that you can do that we can’t do is see,’ and I just loved that,” Fagan said. “This reinforces that they can do anything they want to do.”
SRU students instruct all of the activities at the camp while the week is sponsored by Lions International and CVS/pharmacy. The students come from a three-hour radius from communities in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Timothy Clark of New Florence has attended the camp for five years. After climbing about 15 feet in the air, Clark came down, took a break and said, “I’m going to do it again,” with a smile.
“I think things like this are even harder for us,” Clark said. “We only rely on feel and other camps don’t give you the opportunity. I’m just blessed that I can get up in the morning and come and do this stuff at the camp.”
Clark, who wants to have a career in radio, said he has been thrilled to participate each year.
“When I get home, I am filled with stories of what I have done,” Clark said.
Clark said his favorite part of the camp is making new friends. As Geczy scaled the rock wall, he said, “My friend is actually rock climbing right now.”
“Some of these new friends can relate to what I am going through,” he said.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Project Role Model Update!
Dear reader(s)!
I have reported on Project Role Model in previous updates -- so I will
not elongate this message by talking about its foundations and
description again. In my last "Update", I left to international bowl,
to have Project Role Model compete against 47 states and 8 countries.
International bowl has ended over a week ago - and it's results are
now final: Project Role Model has taken a little "break" as I do
related work to it over this summer.
International bowl was a lot of fun. So much fun, in fact, that with
MRS. Frazier, I have created a slideshow of events during the
competition - and uploaded it, under the projectrolemodel channel. to
Youtube.
In deed, the enormous trophy here besides me represents my second
prise win in the senior Individual CMPS (community problem solving)
portion of internationals.
Second prise. So what does this mean? For those who are curious in
following Project Role Model, I have compiled a list of FAQ
(Frequently asked questions). To quickly locate questions, look for
the next paragraph in this e-mail message or blog post. Some are
direct responses to a few people who have asked me things ; Others are
the figment of my own logic and intelligence.
Q: Very nice, Second prise! Are you still going to continue Project
Role Model, or will it end here?
a: It most certainly will not end at this point in time, for several
reasons. First, there are new 7th graders coming next year -- and
their arrival constitutes another year of presenting to them about
blindness and disabilities in general. Next is of course the Grand
Canyon trip, which was an essential part of the project and an event
yet taking place. Be rest assured that Project Role Model will
continue well into the future, even at my workplace and careers.
Q: What about Next year though? Will you do Community Problem
Solving/Scenario Writing/Future Problem Solvers?
A: Excellent question. Because plans to move to the blind school are
no longer in effect (thank god), I will do more FPS next year for
sure. Staying at Orange automatically secures that I have the best
coach I have seen (and the one with whom I share many inside jokes and
memories with due to our collaborations). Next year I will continue
CMPS, as well as do another scenario. Perhaps the onsight skits and
scenarios will also be something I will indulge in.
Q: That's great! Any ideas on what your next years CMPS project will
be? Will you continue to develop Project Role Model or start something
new?
A: While this is very very hard to answer yet, there are a few plans in mind.
I am a person of change and spontaniousness. As I have stated, Project
Role Model will not be scrapped or abandoned, for a lifetime at least.
However there are other matters which I might investigate next year.
Take the sound pollution problem for instance: Because of my valuable
Grand Canyon trip, I will be working and investigating sound pollution
directly. This could give me a start on another CMPS project perhaps,
if not on sound pollution directly, but on raising awareness for sound
pollution and the fact of its existance. When people think Pollution,
they only see air, water, land... Not sound. That's an idea.
Q: Your World's Perspectives show was part of Project Role Model. Are
you scrapping that?
A: ABSOLUTELY not! WPS (World's Perspectives show) has now had over 30
shows aired and produced, 5 of those interviews. Although our listener
base wasn't as large this year, I still wish to continue producing
more and more shows, even if they are prerecorded nightly. Most likely
chances are indeed pre-recording the shows each night, but this works
nicely too. Expect WPS to continue well into the future, and as our
world changes, to update you with fresh perspectives on what is going
on. (
http://djtom.hitmeradio.com
)
Q: Whats up with Operation Role Model? On the FPS website they call it
Operation, in your presentations you called it operation... What's up
with that?!!!!!
A: Very funny, very. This has been a long-standing matter for laughter
between me and my coach - the change in name. Originally, Project Role
Model was called Operation Role Model. But as time passed, many people
(especially the middle school) began to refer to it as project, to the
point where we ourselves really thought it was named Project instead
of Operation... So in a sense, you could call it Project Operation
Role Model. haha.
Q: Where can we watch the youtube videos? I wanna see them, chum!
A: There are currently 2 videos on Youtube. One is the slideshow, and
the other is the competition video.. I have plans to also put up the
Blind Truth video there - but I will ask our Orange TV production team
first. You can find the youtube page directly by visiting
http://www.youtube.com/projectrolemodel
And watching them there. :)
If you have any more questions that were not satisfied here, feel free
to reply to this e-mail message, comment on the blog, call me if you
have the privelage to do so,... In any way you desire to ask
questions. I will attempt my best at answering.
With all due respect and wishing you a happy/amazing summer season:
Tomi
I have reported on Project Role Model in previous updates -- so I will
not elongate this message by talking about its foundations and
description again. In my last "Update", I left to international bowl,
to have Project Role Model compete against 47 states and 8 countries.
International bowl has ended over a week ago - and it's results are
now final: Project Role Model has taken a little "break" as I do
related work to it over this summer.
International bowl was a lot of fun. So much fun, in fact, that with
MRS. Frazier, I have created a slideshow of events during the
competition - and uploaded it, under the projectrolemodel channel. to
Youtube.
In deed, the enormous trophy here besides me represents my second
prise win in the senior Individual CMPS (community problem solving)
portion of internationals.
Second prise. So what does this mean? For those who are curious in
following Project Role Model, I have compiled a list of FAQ
(Frequently asked questions). To quickly locate questions, look for
the next paragraph in this e-mail message or blog post. Some are
direct responses to a few people who have asked me things ; Others are
the figment of my own logic and intelligence.
Q: Very nice, Second prise! Are you still going to continue Project
Role Model, or will it end here?
a: It most certainly will not end at this point in time, for several
reasons. First, there are new 7th graders coming next year -- and
their arrival constitutes another year of presenting to them about
blindness and disabilities in general. Next is of course the Grand
Canyon trip, which was an essential part of the project and an event
yet taking place. Be rest assured that Project Role Model will
continue well into the future, even at my workplace and careers.
Q: What about Next year though? Will you do Community Problem
Solving/Scenario Writing/Future Problem Solvers?
A: Excellent question. Because plans to move to the blind school are
no longer in effect (thank god), I will do more FPS next year for
sure. Staying at Orange automatically secures that I have the best
coach I have seen (and the one with whom I share many inside jokes and
memories with due to our collaborations). Next year I will continue
CMPS, as well as do another scenario. Perhaps the onsight skits and
scenarios will also be something I will indulge in.
Q: That's great! Any ideas on what your next years CMPS project will
be? Will you continue to develop Project Role Model or start something
new?
A: While this is very very hard to answer yet, there are a few plans in mind.
I am a person of change and spontaniousness. As I have stated, Project
Role Model will not be scrapped or abandoned, for a lifetime at least.
However there are other matters which I might investigate next year.
Take the sound pollution problem for instance: Because of my valuable
Grand Canyon trip, I will be working and investigating sound pollution
directly. This could give me a start on another CMPS project perhaps,
if not on sound pollution directly, but on raising awareness for sound
pollution and the fact of its existance. When people think Pollution,
they only see air, water, land... Not sound. That's an idea.
Q: Your World's Perspectives show was part of Project Role Model. Are
you scrapping that?
A: ABSOLUTELY not! WPS (World's Perspectives show) has now had over 30
shows aired and produced, 5 of those interviews. Although our listener
base wasn't as large this year, I still wish to continue producing
more and more shows, even if they are prerecorded nightly. Most likely
chances are indeed pre-recording the shows each night, but this works
nicely too. Expect WPS to continue well into the future, and as our
world changes, to update you with fresh perspectives on what is going
on. (
http://djtom.hitmeradio.com
)
Q: Whats up with Operation Role Model? On the FPS website they call it
Operation, in your presentations you called it operation... What's up
with that?!!!!!
A: Very funny, very. This has been a long-standing matter for laughter
between me and my coach - the change in name. Originally, Project Role
Model was called Operation Role Model. But as time passed, many people
(especially the middle school) began to refer to it as project, to the
point where we ourselves really thought it was named Project instead
of Operation... So in a sense, you could call it Project Operation
Role Model. haha.
Q: Where can we watch the youtube videos? I wanna see them, chum!
A: There are currently 2 videos on Youtube. One is the slideshow, and
the other is the competition video.. I have plans to also put up the
Blind Truth video there - but I will ask our Orange TV production team
first. You can find the youtube page directly by visiting
http://www.youtube.com/projectrolemodel
And watching them there. :)
If you have any more questions that were not satisfied here, feel free
to reply to this e-mail message, comment on the blog, call me if you
have the privelage to do so,... In any way you desire to ask
questions. I will attempt my best at answering.
With all due respect and wishing you a happy/amazing summer season:
Tomi
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Retreate - day #2!
The second day of the retreat... Ah, yes. All the fun.
I know this blog hasn't updated in a while - and it took me quite some time to get recordings prepared for everyone. However, worry not ; The second day of our retreat did take place in success.
Below are some of the things I wrote on notecards!
---
Today was a fun filled day. It started out as a very cold morning - and ended with a warm fireplace.
After having a very bad breakfast, we headed off to the swimming pool. It was colder than I thought! Snow was falling pretty much all day - something I really didn't expect. I also woke up with a sore throat, which really did not make things a lot better.
At the pool, we learned to use lifejackets
(note: please see the photos found at
this page
for pictures of the described events)
Quite a fun experience.
For me, perhaps the most rewarding (and looked-forward-to) time was when it came to meeting Eric. This occured after our pool/lifejacket adventure. Eric
introduced himself
and moved on to talking about
Trecking poles
These neat cane-like sticks are very good with helping us hike (and will be a requirement for the trip itself!). Eric
The technique used for the trecking poles
We then proceeded for a very large hike, which took a few hours to complete. It was quite difficult - but again, the hike directly allowed us to use the poles and find out just how stable and powerful they are. The way we hike is with a partner (again,
this page has pictures )
and this is where communication comes in and plays an important role - you have to communicate with partner in how you wish to be guided.
For me, that was a bit of a challenge, since I don't really care how I'm guided - either sighted guide or freestyle walking next to a person works!
Erick left after the hike and lunch. He gave an awesome speech on leadership (recording not yet processed!) and we said goodbye to him afterward.
His speech lead into the last activities of the night: Packing. We talked of what to pack, and why each item is important. In fact, a skit was done by the staff members! The skit was, of course, improvised, with the goal of explaining what one must bring to the trip and what happens in certain situations (safety measures). Global Explorers does try to ensure safety at all levels. :)
The last activitiy of the night was flag making. We made our Grand flag. This process was very interesting, as everyone added a color to the flag (woven from various types of cloth). We each split into teams, and each member picked a color of cloth. This was braded together with the other colors picked by the other team members. Each team presented their brade - and braded it in with the main flag.
So, you can safely say, our flag is very unique! Michelle was given to be in charge of the flag...
---
I didn't write much more - remember, this was late at night! And it took up a lot of flashcards (9 to be exact), each having around 320 letters. and they had to be manually pinched out with a pen! What a process!
But yes, please do check out the pictures and the posted recordings. I really hope that they can help you get a window into how I (and all of us in the team) experienced the retreat. I have no doubts that our actual trip will be blogged about in the same way. Accept it will take a longer time in documenting everything done in the 2 weeks - if my voice recorder doesn't break, that is.
with all due respect -
Tomi
I know this blog hasn't updated in a while - and it took me quite some time to get recordings prepared for everyone. However, worry not ; The second day of our retreat did take place in success.
Below are some of the things I wrote on notecards!
---
Today was a fun filled day. It started out as a very cold morning - and ended with a warm fireplace.
After having a very bad breakfast, we headed off to the swimming pool. It was colder than I thought! Snow was falling pretty much all day - something I really didn't expect. I also woke up with a sore throat, which really did not make things a lot better.
At the pool, we learned to use lifejackets
(note: please see the photos found at
this page
for pictures of the described events)
Quite a fun experience.
For me, perhaps the most rewarding (and looked-forward-to) time was when it came to meeting Eric. This occured after our pool/lifejacket adventure. Eric
introduced himself
and moved on to talking about
Trecking poles
These neat cane-like sticks are very good with helping us hike (and will be a requirement for the trip itself!). Eric
The technique used for the trecking poles
We then proceeded for a very large hike, which took a few hours to complete. It was quite difficult - but again, the hike directly allowed us to use the poles and find out just how stable and powerful they are. The way we hike is with a partner (again,
this page has pictures )
and this is where communication comes in and plays an important role - you have to communicate with partner in how you wish to be guided.
For me, that was a bit of a challenge, since I don't really care how I'm guided - either sighted guide or freestyle walking next to a person works!
Erick left after the hike and lunch. He gave an awesome speech on leadership (recording not yet processed!) and we said goodbye to him afterward.
His speech lead into the last activities of the night: Packing. We talked of what to pack, and why each item is important. In fact, a skit was done by the staff members! The skit was, of course, improvised, with the goal of explaining what one must bring to the trip and what happens in certain situations (safety measures). Global Explorers does try to ensure safety at all levels. :)
The last activitiy of the night was flag making. We made our Grand flag. This process was very interesting, as everyone added a color to the flag (woven from various types of cloth). We each split into teams, and each member picked a color of cloth. This was braded together with the other colors picked by the other team members. Each team presented their brade - and braded it in with the main flag.
So, you can safely say, our flag is very unique! Michelle was given to be in charge of the flag...
---
I didn't write much more - remember, this was late at night! And it took up a lot of flashcards (9 to be exact), each having around 320 letters. and they had to be manually pinched out with a pen! What a process!
But yes, please do check out the pictures and the posted recordings. I really hope that they can help you get a window into how I (and all of us in the team) experienced the retreat. I have no doubts that our actual trip will be blogged about in the same way. Accept it will take a longer time in documenting everything done in the 2 weeks - if my voice recorder doesn't break, that is.
with all due respect -
Tomi
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Winning First Prise in the FPS Community Problem Solving Project
The Term "service" brings a different meaning to each individual's
heart. For just as we all are individual people/souls, so are we
unique and contain our OWN perspectives.
To me, service contains 3 concepts: love, consideration, and creating
foundations. If I were to twist these with Global Explorers' terms, I
would say love and consideration concur with respect and relate.
Winning first place at the Future Problem Solvers (FPS, visit
www.ohiofps.org for website) Community Problem Solving (cmps)
individual senior division was not easy in any way. I also received
5th place in the scenario writing division of FPS, representing my
High School. A shock goes through me when I think of this
accomplishment -- as I did not expect to win FIRST prise for CMPS in
the ENTIRE state. Yet I am glad as this brings me a step closer
towards recognition of limitlessness.
But let us explore for a moment why I even worked with others in doing
what I do. What lead me to it?
While I lived in Hungary, I noticed how much life "sucked". How I was
frowned upon not just by the sighted society, but also because of my
own peers at boarding school. So I came to the United States with the
expectations of seeing a difference. And a difference I did see!
Instead of being treated with jealous feelings from others, I was
almost COMPLETELY ignored. I am saying almost here for the few
exceptions of students who did become a "closer" friend - like Steve.
But generally, I was treated like a curtain -- and in many ways this
stands today in the regard that I cannot hold a complete conversation
with a student without it turning very awkward.
But in 9th grade I made 2 promises to myself:
"Tomi, I do not want to ever see ANY OTHER HUNGARIAN BLIND person grow
up the way you grew up in poverty and with the lack of required
technologies,"
and "Tomi, the next blind person who passes through your community
will NEVER EVER experience the isolation you have felt!"
and so that established my love. My love for the world, my love for
the people in this world who I just want to see happy and content. The
unconditional love which flows from the heart is the purest form in
existence - and I have it. The reason why I wanted to accomplish these
2 things is because I want to see people smile and feel the love
within them which I now express. Many in society sadly do not
understand and cannot comprehend that term. Unconditional love.
So I accomplished goal 1 by translating the free NVDA (non-visual -
desktop access) software program into Hungarian. A complete screen
reader which is free and open source for anyone to use. Although I
have given most of the project to the Hungarian blind friends I know
(as my focus has shifted), I still keep an eye on what is happening to
NVDA. It is becoming a popular assistive software of choice back In
Hungary, with many blind organizations installing it on computers as a
free alternative to commercial $1800 costing screen readers.
Goal #2 was harder to accomplish, and this is where my other skills
were tested. Consideration. How will some people view me and what
image do I display to others, as well as "what do I need to consider
in order to make my impacts last long?". Oh trust me, I've had even
blind people come up to me and tell to my face, "I hate you for
demanding equality and thinking you're limitless, you blindie! " (not
those words of course but I could comprehend their point).
Consideration of course required my open mind, which I possess
greatly. I do not want to exclude mentally challenged, deaf, and
mobility impaired people from my impacts, for example. This is why I
say in a lot of speeches that ANY disability has no limits if you view
it so. By being blind I demonstrate ONE such disability, but there are
an array of others out there.
So, it took a while to consider and think. To create my mottos, "I
give you free will" and "Live life the way you want it lived!". Oh yes
and my latest new slogan, "disability=less sighted guidance, more
freedom and independence". And I wish to make this clear: Anything and
anyone in this world, regardless of their disability, has the ability
to overcome any limit or obstacle IF and only IF they have the proper
belief in themselves and having an open mind for new ideas helps a lot
too.
Now for the foundations part. This is where it all connects. All of my
accomplishments connect with each other. My middle school speeches
directly prepare the students for their assignments for next year
(analysing how my Grand Canyon trip went). . My blog serves as a place
of discussion for every person in contact with me as well as my way of
keeping a "journal" of how I truly am limitless. Again, my Grand
Canyon trip is in the foundation and an integral portion of what I do,
and so are my speeches since they also show limitlessness.
My radio show (The World's Perspective show) helps anyone with gaining
an open mind and understand THEIR perspective on a selected topic. It
also demonstrates directly how a disabled (enabled?) person can reach
anything.
There are other minor things which I have done, but I think this
suffices my point. Do you see the foundation? It's only one word:
limitlessness. And even the farthest of accomplishments (like my Radio
show which does not "directly" talk about blindness) shows that
concept. Now you know what I mean by foundations! All change has a
foundation. :)
So last but not least. What did the 6 page research paper I wrote for
CMPS (the Community Problem Solving Project) do?
Dear reader, it bound the foundations with a trophy. I mean this
directly. By writing that paper, I summarized in 6 pages, with the
help of a few proof readers, of what I want accomplished and have done
so far. "To show the world the capabilities of students with
disabilities." Notice that my underlying problem there did NOT
specifically say "capabilities of blind students." but "students with
DISABILITIES." Aha. Click!
So there it is. Now you know how I work. I create a foundation and
build my web of change around that. I created my foundation last year
when I realized my own confidence and no limits. What was the
foundation for that? Those 2 quotes I wrote at the beginning of this
message. Ah. Yes. It is all encased in one common shell: Change.
And with that, I finish writing this long post. I want to close by
thanking all those who helped me weave my soft web of change, for
providing me opportunities to network with a variety of minds and
hearts. Without connections, it is difficult to start building your
foundations. Being 17, I do not have that many connections. But the
ones I have, those few people, were enough to start me off. Mom by
taking me out to this nation ; MRS. Gaspar by writing a press release
; MRs. Frazier for contacting the middle school as well as taking time out from her after school schedule in helping edit rough drafts of both the scenario and the CMPS write up; Lucy for proofreading and giving feedback on my various works ; Shannon for providing me the opportunity to apply to the Grand Canyon trip and my
scholarship ; MR. Senge for giving me that scholarship and thus
connecting me with others ; DR. Wingenbach, for allowing me to present
to the board and the local Kiwanis club ; Brenda who worked briefly
with me on fundraising (and helped build confidence) ; and a lot of
others who are not mentioned here but are loved the same, my local
church included. And I suppose you can't forget my girlfriend Amelia
whom I've known for over one and a half years and who gave me the
confidence to move forward during those low times of depression and
her support can never truly be understood by anyone but myself.
I hope everyone's well. Be safe, and live life the way YOU want it lived!
With love, consideration, and a foundation:
Tomi
p.s: If anyone wishes to read the 6 page report, feel free to ask me
and I would be more than happy to send you a copy electronically! :)
heart. For just as we all are individual people/souls, so are we
unique and contain our OWN perspectives.
To me, service contains 3 concepts: love, consideration, and creating
foundations. If I were to twist these with Global Explorers' terms, I
would say love and consideration concur with respect and relate.
Winning first place at the Future Problem Solvers (FPS, visit
www.ohiofps.org for website) Community Problem Solving (cmps)
individual senior division was not easy in any way. I also received
5th place in the scenario writing division of FPS, representing my
High School. A shock goes through me when I think of this
accomplishment -- as I did not expect to win FIRST prise for CMPS in
the ENTIRE state. Yet I am glad as this brings me a step closer
towards recognition of limitlessness.
But let us explore for a moment why I even worked with others in doing
what I do. What lead me to it?
While I lived in Hungary, I noticed how much life "sucked". How I was
frowned upon not just by the sighted society, but also because of my
own peers at boarding school. So I came to the United States with the
expectations of seeing a difference. And a difference I did see!
Instead of being treated with jealous feelings from others, I was
almost COMPLETELY ignored. I am saying almost here for the few
exceptions of students who did become a "closer" friend - like Steve.
But generally, I was treated like a curtain -- and in many ways this
stands today in the regard that I cannot hold a complete conversation
with a student without it turning very awkward.
But in 9th grade I made 2 promises to myself:
"Tomi, I do not want to ever see ANY OTHER HUNGARIAN BLIND person grow
up the way you grew up in poverty and with the lack of required
technologies,"
and "Tomi, the next blind person who passes through your community
will NEVER EVER experience the isolation you have felt!"
and so that established my love. My love for the world, my love for
the people in this world who I just want to see happy and content. The
unconditional love which flows from the heart is the purest form in
existence - and I have it. The reason why I wanted to accomplish these
2 things is because I want to see people smile and feel the love
within them which I now express. Many in society sadly do not
understand and cannot comprehend that term. Unconditional love.
So I accomplished goal 1 by translating the free NVDA (non-visual -
desktop access) software program into Hungarian. A complete screen
reader which is free and open source for anyone to use. Although I
have given most of the project to the Hungarian blind friends I know
(as my focus has shifted), I still keep an eye on what is happening to
NVDA. It is becoming a popular assistive software of choice back In
Hungary, with many blind organizations installing it on computers as a
free alternative to commercial $1800 costing screen readers.
Goal #2 was harder to accomplish, and this is where my other skills
were tested. Consideration. How will some people view me and what
image do I display to others, as well as "what do I need to consider
in order to make my impacts last long?". Oh trust me, I've had even
blind people come up to me and tell to my face, "I hate you for
demanding equality and thinking you're limitless, you blindie! " (not
those words of course but I could comprehend their point).
Consideration of course required my open mind, which I possess
greatly. I do not want to exclude mentally challenged, deaf, and
mobility impaired people from my impacts, for example. This is why I
say in a lot of speeches that ANY disability has no limits if you view
it so. By being blind I demonstrate ONE such disability, but there are
an array of others out there.
So, it took a while to consider and think. To create my mottos, "I
give you free will" and "Live life the way you want it lived!". Oh yes
and my latest new slogan, "disability=less sighted guidance, more
freedom and independence". And I wish to make this clear: Anything and
anyone in this world, regardless of their disability, has the ability
to overcome any limit or obstacle IF and only IF they have the proper
belief in themselves and having an open mind for new ideas helps a lot
too.
Now for the foundations part. This is where it all connects. All of my
accomplishments connect with each other. My middle school speeches
directly prepare the students for their assignments for next year
(analysing how my Grand Canyon trip went). . My blog serves as a place
of discussion for every person in contact with me as well as my way of
keeping a "journal" of how I truly am limitless. Again, my Grand
Canyon trip is in the foundation and an integral portion of what I do,
and so are my speeches since they also show limitlessness.
My radio show (The World's Perspective show) helps anyone with gaining
an open mind and understand THEIR perspective on a selected topic. It
also demonstrates directly how a disabled (enabled?) person can reach
anything.
There are other minor things which I have done, but I think this
suffices my point. Do you see the foundation? It's only one word:
limitlessness. And even the farthest of accomplishments (like my Radio
show which does not "directly" talk about blindness) shows that
concept. Now you know what I mean by foundations! All change has a
foundation. :)
So last but not least. What did the 6 page research paper I wrote for
CMPS (the Community Problem Solving Project) do?
Dear reader, it bound the foundations with a trophy. I mean this
directly. By writing that paper, I summarized in 6 pages, with the
help of a few proof readers, of what I want accomplished and have done
so far. "To show the world the capabilities of students with
disabilities." Notice that my underlying problem there did NOT
specifically say "capabilities of blind students." but "students with
DISABILITIES." Aha. Click!
So there it is. Now you know how I work. I create a foundation and
build my web of change around that. I created my foundation last year
when I realized my own confidence and no limits. What was the
foundation for that? Those 2 quotes I wrote at the beginning of this
message. Ah. Yes. It is all encased in one common shell: Change.
And with that, I finish writing this long post. I want to close by
thanking all those who helped me weave my soft web of change, for
providing me opportunities to network with a variety of minds and
hearts. Without connections, it is difficult to start building your
foundations. Being 17, I do not have that many connections. But the
ones I have, those few people, were enough to start me off. Mom by
taking me out to this nation ; MRS. Gaspar by writing a press release
; MRs. Frazier for contacting the middle school as well as taking time out from her after school schedule in helping edit rough drafts of both the scenario and the CMPS write up; Lucy for proofreading and giving feedback on my various works ; Shannon for providing me the opportunity to apply to the Grand Canyon trip and my
scholarship ; MR. Senge for giving me that scholarship and thus
connecting me with others ; DR. Wingenbach, for allowing me to present
to the board and the local Kiwanis club ; Brenda who worked briefly
with me on fundraising (and helped build confidence) ; and a lot of
others who are not mentioned here but are loved the same, my local
church included. And I suppose you can't forget my girlfriend Amelia
whom I've known for over one and a half years and who gave me the
confidence to move forward during those low times of depression and
her support can never truly be understood by anyone but myself.
I hope everyone's well. Be safe, and live life the way YOU want it lived!
With love, consideration, and a foundation:
Tomi
p.s: If anyone wishes to read the 6 page report, feel free to ask me
and I would be more than happy to send you a copy electronically! :)
Monday, April 27, 2009
Retreat - first day!
"Note: any links on this page reference to various recordings. To download the recording, right click the file and click save target as. Under Windows.
Welcome to Estes park, where snow and cold mix together in creating unique experiences.
The first day has been interesting so far. I was one of the first students to arrive at the airport. We were supposed to meet at the fountain, but to our shock (and amazement) it was empty - no water! So instead of a fountain, we all stood by a railing beyond which was only empty space.
Perhaps Bryan was the first to see me arrive at the "fountain". He works with Global Explorers and will be going on our trip -- and his personality I think will bring lots of positive energy to a group if need be. In some way he is like me in terms of being goofy and serious at the same time.
In fact, while we were standing around for the rest of our group to arrive, Bryan saw a drumline not far from us - the Troopers. He kept saying, "wouldn't it be nice to get a private band?" and later on actually walked up to the band and asked if they could
Play the drums for us
Which we enjoyed and found quite entertaining!
The rest of the day went by pretty fast. I was surprised to find out that there were actually 6 girls and 4 guys instead of 5 and 5 as I previously thought. Not good. This kind of offsets the female ratio...
Everyone in the group is from different places, and this made our conversations all that more interesting. We spent quite some time in the vans talking with Michelle from Canada and how life in that nation is different from how we live in the United States. I myself spent time with a couple people, discussing philosophy and conspiracy topics with a few students during our lunch.
The YMCA we stayed at in Estes park was very nice and good with accommodations. Well. To a degree. Our food often times wasn't the best, though I enjoyed the bacon-potato soup which was served for our dinner. Our rooms, which were located in a separate building on the camp grounds, were quite nice as well. They each had 1 queen and king sized bed, with a bunk bed in the corner. I took the top bunk while my room mate Robbie slept in one of the other beds. I enjoy sleeping at a high elevation level. :)
Dinner was followed by some very interesting activities dealing with leadership.
Global Explorers has a very unique and good leadership motto. A good leader relates well with others, reflects upon the past and future of his actions, and responds in an effective manner. During the night, we explored these qualities in depth. Bryan made up an interesting activity of "saving the planet". Each of us in groups of 3 had to create a plan for a new civilization. We had to find good leaders who could lead this planet and thus use the Relate-reflect-respond model to think of proper people.
This is what really took us through the night of the first day - from 6 to around 10 PM. By the time we got into bed, everyone was very tired and I only had energy to take a shower and fall into bed. Saturday would be our ONLY full day of the retreat. All of us were excited to be meeting Erik, who was scheduled to arrive on due course around 10 in the morning.
Welcome to Estes park, where snow and cold mix together in creating unique experiences.
The first day has been interesting so far. I was one of the first students to arrive at the airport. We were supposed to meet at the fountain, but to our shock (and amazement) it was empty - no water! So instead of a fountain, we all stood by a railing beyond which was only empty space.
Perhaps Bryan was the first to see me arrive at the "fountain". He works with Global Explorers and will be going on our trip -- and his personality I think will bring lots of positive energy to a group if need be. In some way he is like me in terms of being goofy and serious at the same time.
In fact, while we were standing around for the rest of our group to arrive, Bryan saw a drumline not far from us - the Troopers. He kept saying, "wouldn't it be nice to get a private band?" and later on actually walked up to the band and asked if they could
Play the drums for us
Which we enjoyed and found quite entertaining!
The rest of the day went by pretty fast. I was surprised to find out that there were actually 6 girls and 4 guys instead of 5 and 5 as I previously thought. Not good. This kind of offsets the female ratio...
Everyone in the group is from different places, and this made our conversations all that more interesting. We spent quite some time in the vans talking with Michelle from Canada and how life in that nation is different from how we live in the United States. I myself spent time with a couple people, discussing philosophy and conspiracy topics with a few students during our lunch.
The YMCA we stayed at in Estes park was very nice and good with accommodations. Well. To a degree. Our food often times wasn't the best, though I enjoyed the bacon-potato soup which was served for our dinner. Our rooms, which were located in a separate building on the camp grounds, were quite nice as well. They each had 1 queen and king sized bed, with a bunk bed in the corner. I took the top bunk while my room mate Robbie slept in one of the other beds. I enjoy sleeping at a high elevation level. :)
Dinner was followed by some very interesting activities dealing with leadership.
Global Explorers has a very unique and good leadership motto. A good leader relates well with others, reflects upon the past and future of his actions, and responds in an effective manner. During the night, we explored these qualities in depth. Bryan made up an interesting activity of "saving the planet". Each of us in groups of 3 had to create a plan for a new civilization. We had to find good leaders who could lead this planet and thus use the Relate-reflect-respond model to think of proper people.
This is what really took us through the night of the first day - from 6 to around 10 PM. By the time we got into bed, everyone was very tired and I only had energy to take a shower and fall into bed. Saturday would be our ONLY full day of the retreat. All of us were excited to be meeting Erik, who was scheduled to arrive on due course around 10 in the morning.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
preparing for the retreat!
At the moment, everything seems to be packed. From pants and t-shirts to water and shampoo.
Tomorrow marks the start of my retreat down in Colorado. We will be going to Estes park -- and staying at a YMCA there.
On Saturday, I will be meeting Eric and I know we'll have fun as one team. There will be lots of activities and teamwork which all of us will have to accomplish.
I am sure that some readers are wondering about how I will journal during these few days. I have tried to ensure that I can record as much detail as possible.
Several types of journaling methods are at hand. I have purchased a voice recorder which can record up to 13 hours of high quality audio. This will be used to keep records of certain activities. With group permission, I should be able to post these audio files online -- so everyone can listen to them!
I also have a Slate and stylus. This is a way of "hand-writing" in braille. I did not want to bring a full fledged note- taker or a braille writer -- these items are bound to create a heavy load. So the simplest, yet most complex way of writing braille is using what is called a slate and stylus.
This (device), which you can find through Google Images, looks more like a grid system of cells. 14 cells (6 dots in braille) are ligned across a metalic plate vertically. Each cell is a whole through which you could push a pencil or other writing tool. So each cell has 6 dots. You write braille by pushing each individual dot of the letter onto the page.
You might this that this is hard work, but it really is not. The key importance is to know one golden rule: your writing is mirrored. In a braille cell, dots 1, 2, 3 are the left vertical 3 dots while 4,5,6 are the right. Because you flip the page over after you have finished writing, with a slate and stylus you must write "backwards": Dots 1,2,3 are on the right while dots 4,5,6 are left. In addition, you must write from right to left instead of left to right. Why? Because again your writing is mirrored. If you were to look at an ambulance car's license plate, you would see that the word ambulance is written backwards so that when a driver looks in his mirror, he/she can see it with the right orientation.
These 2 devices comprise the backbone of my blogging experience. When I return on Monday, expect to see articles detailing my experience!
With all due respect-
Tomi
Tomorrow marks the start of my retreat down in Colorado. We will be going to Estes park -- and staying at a YMCA there.
On Saturday, I will be meeting Eric and I know we'll have fun as one team. There will be lots of activities and teamwork which all of us will have to accomplish.
I am sure that some readers are wondering about how I will journal during these few days. I have tried to ensure that I can record as much detail as possible.
Several types of journaling methods are at hand. I have purchased a voice recorder which can record up to 13 hours of high quality audio. This will be used to keep records of certain activities. With group permission, I should be able to post these audio files online -- so everyone can listen to them!
I also have a Slate and stylus. This is a way of "hand-writing" in braille. I did not want to bring a full fledged note- taker or a braille writer -- these items are bound to create a heavy load. So the simplest, yet most complex way of writing braille is using what is called a slate and stylus.
This (device), which you can find through Google Images, looks more like a grid system of cells. 14 cells (6 dots in braille) are ligned across a metalic plate vertically. Each cell is a whole through which you could push a pencil or other writing tool. So each cell has 6 dots. You write braille by pushing each individual dot of the letter onto the page.
You might this that this is hard work, but it really is not. The key importance is to know one golden rule: your writing is mirrored. In a braille cell, dots 1, 2, 3 are the left vertical 3 dots while 4,5,6 are the right. Because you flip the page over after you have finished writing, with a slate and stylus you must write "backwards": Dots 1,2,3 are on the right while dots 4,5,6 are left. In addition, you must write from right to left instead of left to right. Why? Because again your writing is mirrored. If you were to look at an ambulance car's license plate, you would see that the word ambulance is written backwards so that when a driver looks in his mirror, he/she can see it with the right orientation.
These 2 devices comprise the backbone of my blogging experience. When I return on Monday, expect to see articles detailing my experience!
With all due respect-
Tomi
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Fundraising: Tips and experiences
Fundraising takes time and great effort.
Being the recipient of the 2009 Senge scholarship does not mean that I would or should not fundraise. The actual scholarship pays for 50% (aprox. $1250) of my trip, so there is still another $1250 to raise.
My fundraising experience was quite unique, in that once I started the ramp down, I rapidly accelerated until we actually overraised money!
Let me explain. When I first received the packet for this trip in late-January, I was quite worried. Who wouldn't be? I saw the big $2300 on the page and glared at it as I said, "how will I raise you!"
You must understand that I am an independent blind man. I do not like getting people involved in business, especially a family who I am in disagreements with a lot.
Although I valued and appreciated the fact that my mom and sister wanted to help, my goal was to raise the money I need independently and through this hopefully show them that I can be completely independent in life (a belief they do not uphold)
For the first 2 months, there were small attempts made towards fundraising. These were minor things such as making an announcement about a jar which we placed in the cafeteria. A brief explanation of Global Explorers and my trip was constructed and put on the daily announcements for a period of around 5 days. We also showed my Blind Truth video on the TV in the cafeteria.
All in all, this raised around $9. (wow) but seeing that only students contributed in this, it really is a good start. I mean, a lot of kids wouldn't just have $10 to put in there and give away without hard consideration!
So I worked along MRS. Frazier (who also helped with the middle school connections) in sending out a letter to the faculty of my school.
Actually I should back up a moment! Between the faculty contact and the student fundraiser our distric PR team contacted the local newspaper here, the Chagrin Valley Times. So they came out and wrote a nice article about me, which really helped raise awareness. The article was published with a phone number people could call, and some readers were very keen at giving a few checks.
Then came the faculty! The e-mail was sent to the distribution list of everyone in my high school, and I think this raised a lot of money. By this time, I also head
My Leading the Way Add Page
Which summed the trip into the "who? Why? Where? When? What?" state. That website was something I constructed on a nice Saturday afternoon, and I think it helped a lot with letting people know of the trip in a short amount of time.
So, the article and the faculty contact generated quite the money! I also tried contacting TV stations without much success... But even without all that press we raised $1065, a nice chunk of money!
Then, around the end of March, came the scholarship news...
By this time, I had plans with my mom and various people at my church (St. Margaret's of Hungary to have a bake sale of poppyseed and chestnut rolls. A few outside sources already knew of it, so we couldn't really cancel the raise. Plans also started with Brenda from
Silpada Jewelry
, who was a great and well dedicated person trying to help with the fundraise. If I were not to have received the scholarship, I'm sure me, her, and the church would of most certainly raised more money than needed. So that is my recommendation: If you are thinking of selling things, hosting a Silpada party r even selling chocolate at your school are 2 excellent ways to raise thousands of dollars quickly! :)
The Senge Scholarship for me wasn't about money. I am not a person who likes to brag or boast about achievements, and anything dealing with money never means the money in my mind. Let me explain. I have a very low self esteem but a very high level of confidence in the work that I do. That might seem like a weird combination of personality, but it is true. I knew that I have good writing skills, so when I submitted that scholarship I was at least aware that I would receive feedback on my essay and how it was, regardless of receit of the money or not.
This was true. But what I did not expect from Mr. Senge and his daughter (who are of course founders), was the overwhelming complements about myself and what I do. Yes I knew that I do "good"in this world and my dreams are pretty high up there what with creating a society which lives in love, but I did not think to ever be given complements.
So the scholarship served more as a self-booster and a direct message, a push for me to climb up even higher and higher during life. This is what I mean when I said that it is not the money which counts.
Wow, well I'll leave it at that... For those who are struggling to fundraise, please consider my story here. And I hope what I said here will help you... help you a lot. If you need me for help, I would be more than glad to work with you on getting you started. My goal has always been and remains to this day: I want to see people smile and be happy. Not be in fear or feel like they can't do it... You can. You can do anything if you truly believe that you can and understand yourself. You know what I thought a few weeks after I began fundraising and what I told my mom? öh, don't worry. The press and people will have the heart to help me out, I doubt we'll need to "sell"items.". And that is how it exactly was.
But some people live in communities where perhaps individuals are not as generous. I am lucky to be surrounded by people with good hearts, but some are unfortunate to live in other places where crime rates are high. Where people cannot help their fellow neighbor. For these individuals, I want you to know that there are those, like myself and many others out there on the internet who you can always contact for help. I am dedicated to my goal and care for everyone equally.
With all due respect:
Tomi
Being the recipient of the 2009 Senge scholarship does not mean that I would or should not fundraise. The actual scholarship pays for 50% (aprox. $1250) of my trip, so there is still another $1250 to raise.
My fundraising experience was quite unique, in that once I started the ramp down, I rapidly accelerated until we actually overraised money!
Let me explain. When I first received the packet for this trip in late-January, I was quite worried. Who wouldn't be? I saw the big $2300 on the page and glared at it as I said, "how will I raise you!"
You must understand that I am an independent blind man. I do not like getting people involved in business, especially a family who I am in disagreements with a lot.
Although I valued and appreciated the fact that my mom and sister wanted to help, my goal was to raise the money I need independently and through this hopefully show them that I can be completely independent in life (a belief they do not uphold)
For the first 2 months, there were small attempts made towards fundraising. These were minor things such as making an announcement about a jar which we placed in the cafeteria. A brief explanation of Global Explorers and my trip was constructed and put on the daily announcements for a period of around 5 days. We also showed my Blind Truth video on the TV in the cafeteria.
All in all, this raised around $9. (wow) but seeing that only students contributed in this, it really is a good start. I mean, a lot of kids wouldn't just have $10 to put in there and give away without hard consideration!
So I worked along MRS. Frazier (who also helped with the middle school connections) in sending out a letter to the faculty of my school.
Actually I should back up a moment! Between the faculty contact and the student fundraiser our distric PR team contacted the local newspaper here, the Chagrin Valley Times. So they came out and wrote a nice article about me, which really helped raise awareness. The article was published with a phone number people could call, and some readers were very keen at giving a few checks.
Then came the faculty! The e-mail was sent to the distribution list of everyone in my high school, and I think this raised a lot of money. By this time, I also head
My Leading the Way Add Page
Which summed the trip into the "who? Why? Where? When? What?" state. That website was something I constructed on a nice Saturday afternoon, and I think it helped a lot with letting people know of the trip in a short amount of time.
So, the article and the faculty contact generated quite the money! I also tried contacting TV stations without much success... But even without all that press we raised $1065, a nice chunk of money!
Then, around the end of March, came the scholarship news...
By this time, I had plans with my mom and various people at my church (St. Margaret's of Hungary to have a bake sale of poppyseed and chestnut rolls. A few outside sources already knew of it, so we couldn't really cancel the raise. Plans also started with Brenda from
Silpada Jewelry
, who was a great and well dedicated person trying to help with the fundraise. If I were not to have received the scholarship, I'm sure me, her, and the church would of most certainly raised more money than needed. So that is my recommendation: If you are thinking of selling things, hosting a Silpada party r even selling chocolate at your school are 2 excellent ways to raise thousands of dollars quickly! :)
The Senge Scholarship for me wasn't about money. I am not a person who likes to brag or boast about achievements, and anything dealing with money never means the money in my mind. Let me explain. I have a very low self esteem but a very high level of confidence in the work that I do. That might seem like a weird combination of personality, but it is true. I knew that I have good writing skills, so when I submitted that scholarship I was at least aware that I would receive feedback on my essay and how it was, regardless of receit of the money or not.
This was true. But what I did not expect from Mr. Senge and his daughter (who are of course founders), was the overwhelming complements about myself and what I do. Yes I knew that I do "good"in this world and my dreams are pretty high up there what with creating a society which lives in love, but I did not think to ever be given complements.
So the scholarship served more as a self-booster and a direct message, a push for me to climb up even higher and higher during life. This is what I mean when I said that it is not the money which counts.
Wow, well I'll leave it at that... For those who are struggling to fundraise, please consider my story here. And I hope what I said here will help you... help you a lot. If you need me for help, I would be more than glad to work with you on getting you started. My goal has always been and remains to this day: I want to see people smile and be happy. Not be in fear or feel like they can't do it... You can. You can do anything if you truly believe that you can and understand yourself. You know what I thought a few weeks after I began fundraising and what I told my mom? öh, don't worry. The press and people will have the heart to help me out, I doubt we'll need to "sell"items.". And that is how it exactly was.
But some people live in communities where perhaps individuals are not as generous. I am lucky to be surrounded by people with good hearts, but some are unfortunate to live in other places where crime rates are high. Where people cannot help their fellow neighbor. For these individuals, I want you to know that there are those, like myself and many others out there on the internet who you can always contact for help. I am dedicated to my goal and care for everyone equally.
With all due respect:
Tomi
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Welcoming the Middle School
I had a very exciting and to a degree, tiring day today. For a while now, it was planned that I would return to the middle school and answer questions or comments from the students of MRS. Kapostasy's English class.
I'm unsure if I have mentioned this aspect of my life in great detail yet, but I had a goal in mind, who's roots are set deep within in the past, to try and "break down" the barriers which currently exist within this world. Many people in society view the visually impaired with sorrow and pecimism ; Something I and others do not enjoy. While there are those visually impaired who like to take advantage of the laws (such as the ability to move to the front of a line in any circumstance), I stress equality in my life at all levels.
So a few weeks ago, I have talked to 6 English classes (composed of over 100 seventh graders) and 3 Cultural and Diversity classes. My goal was not only to show these students the true "limitlessness" of a disability, but to also set down basic groundwork so that I may return in the future and talk of my Grand Canyon trip.
That day was today, and I have to say, it was easy to tell that a lot of the kids have deeply pondered since the last time I talked. This is quite surprising to me and makes me happy to know that a lot of kids can think of a matter deeply and even at a younger age be mature about it. The classes were acceptional. No rude behaivor, or conversations took place in the background. The questions which they asked were complex and very much effective.
I also showed them the
Leading the way promo video
and through this talked extensively about the trip itself. The blog has now become an integral part not just for the outside public to read, but also for many of these middle schoolers. They know of my goal. Simply put, I want them to experience my trip too. I wish I could take all 100+ of them there with me, but... sadly that's not possible. So creating this blog will help integrate with the Middle School. Next year, I also hope to be connecting it with their English (possibly summer reading?) classes.
Breaking down barriers will continue for me. Not just this year, but the next, and the next... As you know,
I also do my radio show
which encourages possessing an open mind for all new ideas. That show, although it isn't "aimed" to break down barriers, helps you gain an open mind by discussing very contradictory views not just about the paranormal, but also the social and technology life we all live in. Yes, the New Age movement is talked about, too.
So to all the middle schoolers reading this complex language (Is it that complex really?), I wish to give you a warm welcome to the blog. We will have lots of fun collaborating in the future, and it is my hope that you gain something out of this trip too. If you can't be there with me, at least you can learn from my experiences and become a better person. Everyone has flaws. I have a set of them too. So there's no limit to advancing and becoming better. :) Keep that in mind.
I will not desert you guys haha.. As I said, I hope to be returning sometime in the near future and talking in great detail of the trip. But your comments do count and through them I can improve myself. Feel free to ask questions or voice opinions. I'm always here.
With all due respect:
Tomi
I'm unsure if I have mentioned this aspect of my life in great detail yet, but I had a goal in mind, who's roots are set deep within in the past, to try and "break down" the barriers which currently exist within this world. Many people in society view the visually impaired with sorrow and pecimism ; Something I and others do not enjoy. While there are those visually impaired who like to take advantage of the laws (such as the ability to move to the front of a line in any circumstance), I stress equality in my life at all levels.
So a few weeks ago, I have talked to 6 English classes (composed of over 100 seventh graders) and 3 Cultural and Diversity classes. My goal was not only to show these students the true "limitlessness" of a disability, but to also set down basic groundwork so that I may return in the future and talk of my Grand Canyon trip.
That day was today, and I have to say, it was easy to tell that a lot of the kids have deeply pondered since the last time I talked. This is quite surprising to me and makes me happy to know that a lot of kids can think of a matter deeply and even at a younger age be mature about it. The classes were acceptional. No rude behaivor, or conversations took place in the background. The questions which they asked were complex and very much effective.
I also showed them the
Leading the way promo video
and through this talked extensively about the trip itself. The blog has now become an integral part not just for the outside public to read, but also for many of these middle schoolers. They know of my goal. Simply put, I want them to experience my trip too. I wish I could take all 100+ of them there with me, but... sadly that's not possible. So creating this blog will help integrate with the Middle School. Next year, I also hope to be connecting it with their English (possibly summer reading?) classes.
Breaking down barriers will continue for me. Not just this year, but the next, and the next... As you know,
I also do my radio show
which encourages possessing an open mind for all new ideas. That show, although it isn't "aimed" to break down barriers, helps you gain an open mind by discussing very contradictory views not just about the paranormal, but also the social and technology life we all live in. Yes, the New Age movement is talked about, too.
So to all the middle schoolers reading this complex language (Is it that complex really?), I wish to give you a warm welcome to the blog. We will have lots of fun collaborating in the future, and it is my hope that you gain something out of this trip too. If you can't be there with me, at least you can learn from my experiences and become a better person. Everyone has flaws. I have a set of them too. So there's no limit to advancing and becoming better. :) Keep that in mind.
I will not desert you guys haha.. As I said, I hope to be returning sometime in the near future and talking in great detail of the trip. But your comments do count and through them I can improve myself. Feel free to ask questions or voice opinions. I'm always here.
With all due respect:
Tomi
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Third Conference call
Hello to all readers!
Last night, we had our third conference call with the group. Here many plans for the actual Grand Canyon trip were shared, and here I wish to lay some of these down.
As before, we had a guest on during the call. Grand Canyon Yuth is another organization which will be working with us during the trip. Therefore, it was important to meet some of the people from that organization.
The primary focus of the call was to talk about the river trip and how that will be layed out. This is where Grand Canyon Yuth came in, as they will be helping us throughout the river experience. Lots of great information was shared in the call, and below are a few bullet points which should help you understand more about the trips experience and some of the activities I will be involved with.
-The river: We will be rafting on the colorado River for one week. Specifically, the upper portion of the river. I believe we will be going over 500 miles on the river itself.
-estimated time on the river per day will be around 5 hours.
-Since we cannot set up a base around the river itself, we will have to sleep outside under the stars. Pretty neat, perhaps one of the aspects I look forward to on this trip.
It was also interesting to learn some other things we will be doing on the trip. The National Park Service has laws when it comes to sound levels in park areas. As many helicopters and vehicles are around the Grand Canyon, the noise level at certain areas is loud. We will be doing sound testing on the canyon itself and I believe even on the river trips. This data will be sent off to the park service and they will try to ensure that proper laws are met.
Our goal, though we were told that this one isn't for certain yet, will also be to rebuild a cabin into an educational facility. This will require that we paint and I imagine even build certain parts of the log cabin in order to make it usable. However this has not been confirmed yet, so I can't say that we'll be doing that project for sure -- although I hope we do!
There were other minor parts to the call itself which would take a while to type down, considering that I have to go catch a bus back to school at the moment. I see many exciting things rising for this trip, and cannot wait to meet everyone in April. Our flights have already been confirmed for April 24, and we will be there for 2 days. Returning Sunday. This will be the "retreat" portion of the trip, where we will meet everyone. It will truly be an exciting oppertunity to talk with everyone and finally unvail more of what the trip will consist of. :)
With all due respect:
Tomi
Last night, we had our third conference call with the group. Here many plans for the actual Grand Canyon trip were shared, and here I wish to lay some of these down.
As before, we had a guest on during the call. Grand Canyon Yuth is another organization which will be working with us during the trip. Therefore, it was important to meet some of the people from that organization.
The primary focus of the call was to talk about the river trip and how that will be layed out. This is where Grand Canyon Yuth came in, as they will be helping us throughout the river experience. Lots of great information was shared in the call, and below are a few bullet points which should help you understand more about the trips experience and some of the activities I will be involved with.
-The river: We will be rafting on the colorado River for one week. Specifically, the upper portion of the river. I believe we will be going over 500 miles on the river itself.
-estimated time on the river per day will be around 5 hours.
-Since we cannot set up a base around the river itself, we will have to sleep outside under the stars. Pretty neat, perhaps one of the aspects I look forward to on this trip.
It was also interesting to learn some other things we will be doing on the trip. The National Park Service has laws when it comes to sound levels in park areas. As many helicopters and vehicles are around the Grand Canyon, the noise level at certain areas is loud. We will be doing sound testing on the canyon itself and I believe even on the river trips. This data will be sent off to the park service and they will try to ensure that proper laws are met.
Our goal, though we were told that this one isn't for certain yet, will also be to rebuild a cabin into an educational facility. This will require that we paint and I imagine even build certain parts of the log cabin in order to make it usable. However this has not been confirmed yet, so I can't say that we'll be doing that project for sure -- although I hope we do!
There were other minor parts to the call itself which would take a while to type down, considering that I have to go catch a bus back to school at the moment. I see many exciting things rising for this trip, and cannot wait to meet everyone in April. Our flights have already been confirmed for April 24, and we will be there for 2 days. Returning Sunday. This will be the "retreat" portion of the trip, where we will meet everyone. It will truly be an exciting oppertunity to talk with everyone and finally unvail more of what the trip will consist of. :)
With all due respect:
Tomi
Monday, March 23, 2009
Some of my other projects
Hello to all!
As still part of my goal to allow you, the reader, to connect with me at another level, I think it is important to mention some of the other work I do and will continue to do in the future.
First up is my technology reviewing work.
As of recent, I am testing the next-generation operating system from Microsoft, Windows 7. I have tested several "builds" and releases, and am currently running build 7057.
After I try various aspects of a build, I write a review of how it functions with products or in performance. These reviews are posted online to my website and various other forums for readers to view and comment on.
My website can be found at
2. My DJ work:
I am also a volunteer DJ at an online radio station. This is fun work! Each afternoon, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, I broadcast live from a room located inside my school building.
The show is called the World's Perspective show, and it focuses on allowing the listeners to connect with me at a more "personal" level and allowing them to choose the topic to talk about for the next days. Visit
my DJ website
for more info on the show.
3. After school, I was also part of the robotics team (team #1787). Since the season has ended last month, Robotics is over -- however this year's competitions were fun. The objective of robotics is to build a robot according to competition rules and a provided game animation and manual. After the kickoff is over (this year it was held on January 05), we have 6 weeks to build ou r robot and go to the competitions! visit
the US First website
to watch the animation and competition results. We were in the Buckeye regional.
Of course, I also do lots of speaking activites at various places. Speaking just never ends. I have given speeches to middleschoolers, the Kiwanis club, our school's Foundation... And am scheduled to speak at more meetings in the future.
I also write a lot. I have written a 60 page novella, titled "The Precursor of Chaos", which is a twist off from some Orwellian concepts. Currently I'm writing a book titled "The Old world: How Technology destroyed Society", which details our current society's condition and how it is being destroyed. The book will describe in detail how we currently live (culture-wise) and booth good and bad aspects of today's world. It will probably be published in the future, after I see more "outcomes" as to what will happen
Finally, This summer I will also attend Youth Slam 2009, through the National Federation of the Blind.
Watch the promo video here
That's about it for now... I might edit this post if any new projects come along! :)
With all due respect:
Tomi
As still part of my goal to allow you, the reader, to connect with me at another level, I think it is important to mention some of the other work I do and will continue to do in the future.
First up is my technology reviewing work.
As of recent, I am testing the next-generation operating system from Microsoft, Windows 7. I have tested several "builds" and releases, and am currently running build 7057.
After I try various aspects of a build, I write a review of how it functions with products or in performance. These reviews are posted online to my website and various other forums for readers to view and comment on.
My website can be found at
2. My DJ work:
I am also a volunteer DJ at an online radio station. This is fun work! Each afternoon, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, I broadcast live from a room located inside my school building.
The show is called the World's Perspective show, and it focuses on allowing the listeners to connect with me at a more "personal" level and allowing them to choose the topic to talk about for the next days. Visit
my DJ website
for more info on the show.
3. After school, I was also part of the robotics team (team #1787). Since the season has ended last month, Robotics is over -- however this year's competitions were fun. The objective of robotics is to build a robot according to competition rules and a provided game animation and manual. After the kickoff is over (this year it was held on January 05), we have 6 weeks to build ou r robot and go to the competitions! visit
the US First website
to watch the animation and competition results. We were in the Buckeye regional.
Of course, I also do lots of speaking activites at various places. Speaking just never ends. I have given speeches to middleschoolers, the Kiwanis club, our school's Foundation... And am scheduled to speak at more meetings in the future.
I also write a lot. I have written a 60 page novella, titled "The Precursor of Chaos", which is a twist off from some Orwellian concepts. Currently I'm writing a book titled "The Old world: How Technology destroyed Society", which details our current society's condition and how it is being destroyed. The book will describe in detail how we currently live (culture-wise) and booth good and bad aspects of today's world. It will probably be published in the future, after I see more "outcomes" as to what will happen
Finally, This summer I will also attend Youth Slam 2009, through the National Federation of the Blind.
Watch the promo video here
That's about it for now... I might edit this post if any new projects come along! :)
With all due respect:
Tomi
Saturday, March 14, 2009
A Brief yet Detailed Autobiography
Hello to all Readers!
As promised, my goal is to allow you to connect with me at a profound level. This can sometimes be hard to achieve. Right now, to many of you, I am a stranger, a person who you don't yet know. Well, I'll tweak that. A person who you do know, but in not much detail.
I was born visually impaired, due to an eye condition known as ROP (retinopathy of Prematurity). The condition stems from too much oxygen being given at birth to an incubated patient. Since I was 3 months premature, it was required that I be incubated. And so yes, I was given too much of the oxygen, which caused the blood pressure in my eyes to rise and consequently blow my retinas off.
Hungary was, and to a degree still is, a nation which does not accept the visually impaired well. My mom spent a lot of her life trying to learn more about my disability and thus provide me the oppertunities for education through homeschooling. She learned braille and I was taught braille in a different way than most would think: Since monthly sallarys in Hungary were low compared to other nations, we could not afford the more fancy materials, such as a professional braille writer. I learned braille using a small square which had 6 wholes on it. You could move the individual pegs around these wholes to form each of the 64 dot combinations found in the braille code.
It must be noted here that the Hungarian ways of teaching recommended the learning of the Abacus -- an interesting way of performing mathamatical calculations. I remember quite well fighting with my mom over the use of the abacus. It was not an easy task.
So I was home schooled first and second grade. In third, my uncle recommended that I come to the United states for a half year in order to see the education here as well as oppertunities for an eye surgery. I was a shy person. Since I grew up on computers (which I've been using since age 5), I generally could not handle the public well, let alone interact with students normally. I was afraid. I came here with no English and it almost felt like coming to an entire new and strange world, where me and my family were the only ones to speak a proper language.
I returned to Hungary in 4th grade, while my mom came back to the United States after a short visit to Hungary in order to continue work. Me and my twin sighted sister stayed with my father, who then continued my homeschool education. Since he didn't know braille, often times my textbooks would be recorded in audio form on casettes which I would listen to. At the end of that year, I took a large exam on everything my father taught me in all areas - Science, Grammar, math... Even singing, which I generally don't enjoy. -_-
In 5th grade, it was decided that I should go to the boarding school for the blind, located in Budapest. This was a residential school, where everyone else was blind or at least visually impaired.
Since it was in Budapest, I had to take a four hour trainride from the school to my dad's home. This meant that a guide was assigned to pick me up from the platform at the school and bring me safely into the building -- as well as on Fridays, take me to the station and put me on the train where my dad would pick me up. We alays brought tickets for me behind the conductor's car, in the first compartment. So my father knew that I would be there.
The trainrides were boring, and nobody ever talked to me. In fact, nobody was ever in my compartment -- although I didn't notice this at the time. At school, I was often times severely beaten and abused. My room mates felt jealous for the fact that I actually visited the United States for half a year, while they had to live in that wretched boarding school for years and years, sometimes even at kindergarden(called ovoda back there) age.
Oh and wretched that school was. If you said one swear word and was caught by the councelors, you would be made to stand against a radiator for hours on end. Many of the councelors were female, and actually watched you take showers.
And I was beaten and my lungs were boxed at every night almost, because I was the weak kid as well.
Perhaps if it wern't for those beatings though, I wouldn't be as strong as I am today. They helped me wake up to the "cruel side" of this world, that not everyone is nice-and-innocent as I'd think.
In 6th grade, with the help of my mom, I came back to the United States and began studying. This was nice, as I lived peacefully in my home and at school, nobody would dare bother me since I was blind. In fact, I was always treated differently. Nobody set with me at the lunch table. Well besides my only best friend Steve. As I entered my high school years, this became worse, and I frequently wrote depressing poetry, about things such as "what's wrong with the blind?"
I was never accepted. But then again, did I take the initiatives? Not really. I tried setting a goalball team up in 9th grade at school, which is a sport for the blind, without much success. At the end of 10th, I finally took off the "reserved for Tomi" sign above a lunch table, which surved for letting others know that my table was there. Again, I wasn't confident at all in choosing a table to sit at, so the school's goal was to provide me a way to sit at the same table without having to ask students "can I sit here?"
School so far has gone through like a breeze. I finally mastered contracted (grade 2) braille at the end of 6th grade. In America, they like to make things complex. Braille is just one of these "things", as each letter in the English Braille alphabet stands for a world. A, But, Can, Do... Parts of words are also contracted, such as ea, ch, sh, st, en... With various symbols and dot patterns. This is called Grade 2 braille.
My motives for raising awareness on the capabilities of the blind began this year mainly, after attending the teen empowerment academy through the
National Federation of the Blind"> , an organization for the visually impaired.
The 8 week long summer program simply empowered me and gave me oppertunities to further boost my confidence and understand who I am. My family generally views my "disability" with much pecimism and worry. This is understandable, as my mom grew up in Rumania, where oppression was everywhere. She naturally worries for me, as I'm still a child -- but being 17 I think it is now time for me to transition away from my home. So the Teen Empowerment Academy gave me just that oppertunity.
Throughout my Junior year, my goal has been to raise awareness. I've done a tv interview, made many speeches, and talked to over 100 middle school students. I've submitted a Community Solving Project, which has been entered into a competition, on this issue of the sighted world not realizing that the blind are the same as they are in so many aspects.
I would recommend anyone reading to visit my leading the way page, where you can also watch the promo video -- and learn more about who I am. It can be found at
http://www.eurpod.com/leadtheway.html
. And don't forget my main life motto:
Live life the way you want it lived!
:)
With all due respect:
Tomi
As promised, my goal is to allow you to connect with me at a profound level. This can sometimes be hard to achieve. Right now, to many of you, I am a stranger, a person who you don't yet know. Well, I'll tweak that. A person who you do know, but in not much detail.
I was born visually impaired, due to an eye condition known as ROP (retinopathy of Prematurity). The condition stems from too much oxygen being given at birth to an incubated patient. Since I was 3 months premature, it was required that I be incubated. And so yes, I was given too much of the oxygen, which caused the blood pressure in my eyes to rise and consequently blow my retinas off.
Hungary was, and to a degree still is, a nation which does not accept the visually impaired well. My mom spent a lot of her life trying to learn more about my disability and thus provide me the oppertunities for education through homeschooling. She learned braille and I was taught braille in a different way than most would think: Since monthly sallarys in Hungary were low compared to other nations, we could not afford the more fancy materials, such as a professional braille writer. I learned braille using a small square which had 6 wholes on it. You could move the individual pegs around these wholes to form each of the 64 dot combinations found in the braille code.
It must be noted here that the Hungarian ways of teaching recommended the learning of the Abacus -- an interesting way of performing mathamatical calculations. I remember quite well fighting with my mom over the use of the abacus. It was not an easy task.
So I was home schooled first and second grade. In third, my uncle recommended that I come to the United states for a half year in order to see the education here as well as oppertunities for an eye surgery. I was a shy person. Since I grew up on computers (which I've been using since age 5), I generally could not handle the public well, let alone interact with students normally. I was afraid. I came here with no English and it almost felt like coming to an entire new and strange world, where me and my family were the only ones to speak a proper language.
I returned to Hungary in 4th grade, while my mom came back to the United States after a short visit to Hungary in order to continue work. Me and my twin sighted sister stayed with my father, who then continued my homeschool education. Since he didn't know braille, often times my textbooks would be recorded in audio form on casettes which I would listen to. At the end of that year, I took a large exam on everything my father taught me in all areas - Science, Grammar, math... Even singing, which I generally don't enjoy. -_-
In 5th grade, it was decided that I should go to the boarding school for the blind, located in Budapest. This was a residential school, where everyone else was blind or at least visually impaired.
Since it was in Budapest, I had to take a four hour trainride from the school to my dad's home. This meant that a guide was assigned to pick me up from the platform at the school and bring me safely into the building -- as well as on Fridays, take me to the station and put me on the train where my dad would pick me up. We alays brought tickets for me behind the conductor's car, in the first compartment. So my father knew that I would be there.
The trainrides were boring, and nobody ever talked to me. In fact, nobody was ever in my compartment -- although I didn't notice this at the time. At school, I was often times severely beaten and abused. My room mates felt jealous for the fact that I actually visited the United States for half a year, while they had to live in that wretched boarding school for years and years, sometimes even at kindergarden(called ovoda back there) age.
Oh and wretched that school was. If you said one swear word and was caught by the councelors, you would be made to stand against a radiator for hours on end. Many of the councelors were female, and actually watched you take showers.
And I was beaten and my lungs were boxed at every night almost, because I was the weak kid as well.
Perhaps if it wern't for those beatings though, I wouldn't be as strong as I am today. They helped me wake up to the "cruel side" of this world, that not everyone is nice-and-innocent as I'd think.
In 6th grade, with the help of my mom, I came back to the United States and began studying. This was nice, as I lived peacefully in my home and at school, nobody would dare bother me since I was blind. In fact, I was always treated differently. Nobody set with me at the lunch table. Well besides my only best friend Steve. As I entered my high school years, this became worse, and I frequently wrote depressing poetry, about things such as "what's wrong with the blind?"
I was never accepted. But then again, did I take the initiatives? Not really. I tried setting a goalball team up in 9th grade at school, which is a sport for the blind, without much success. At the end of 10th, I finally took off the "reserved for Tomi" sign above a lunch table, which surved for letting others know that my table was there. Again, I wasn't confident at all in choosing a table to sit at, so the school's goal was to provide me a way to sit at the same table without having to ask students "can I sit here?"
School so far has gone through like a breeze. I finally mastered contracted (grade 2) braille at the end of 6th grade. In America, they like to make things complex. Braille is just one of these "things", as each letter in the English Braille alphabet stands for a world. A, But, Can, Do... Parts of words are also contracted, such as ea, ch, sh, st, en... With various symbols and dot patterns. This is called Grade 2 braille.
My motives for raising awareness on the capabilities of the blind began this year mainly, after attending the teen empowerment academy through the
National Federation of the Blind"> , an organization for the visually impaired.
The 8 week long summer program simply empowered me and gave me oppertunities to further boost my confidence and understand who I am. My family generally views my "disability" with much pecimism and worry. This is understandable, as my mom grew up in Rumania, where oppression was everywhere. She naturally worries for me, as I'm still a child -- but being 17 I think it is now time for me to transition away from my home. So the Teen Empowerment Academy gave me just that oppertunity.
Throughout my Junior year, my goal has been to raise awareness. I've done a tv interview, made many speeches, and talked to over 100 middle school students. I've submitted a Community Solving Project, which has been entered into a competition, on this issue of the sighted world not realizing that the blind are the same as they are in so many aspects.
I would recommend anyone reading to visit my leading the way page, where you can also watch the promo video -- and learn more about who I am. It can be found at
http://www.eurpod.com/leadtheway.html
. And don't forget my main life motto:
Live life the way you want it lived!
:)
With all due respect:
Tomi
First Introductory Post
Respected Readers!
When it comes to blogging, excitement is always present -- looming within the pit of one's stomach, pumping through the body. The reasons for this excitement are simple: reactions to your opinions and posts from you, the readers.
Generally, if I were to write a blog focusing on myself and my own personal life views, finding the right ideas to post might become a struggle. There would be a lot to talk about -- from the basics (in order to help readers in knowing me better), to how I formed my beliefs and opinions, to the billions of topics available for discussion on the blog itself.
But when the focus is set on a particular topic -- such as a grand canyon expedition -- finding the right posts to create becomes a breeze.
My name is Tamas, though I am called Tomi (pronounced toe-me, which by the way is why I'm sometimes called a toe-truck as an insult or tease). I was born in the nation of Hungary, and lived much of my life there. Although I could write a 5 page entry on how growing up in Hungary was, and the differences in life back there compared to the United States, I don't feel it pertains to this blog much. However, my goal is to help you connect with me not on a "stranger" level, but on a more personal, more profound note.
Therefore, I will be posting my next entry, which will contain my autobiography, or at least the bits and parts of my life which will help you establish this connection with me. For now, all you need to know is that I'm visually impaired, due to a condition known as ROP (retinopathy of Prematurity) and only see light on my right eye.
So. Why am I creating this blog? As I mentioned in the first paragraph, when you know your focus, writing becomes easy. My focus is clear and set: To provide readers with a deep and enriched sense of how I went througha Grand Canyon expedition and accomplished it with success.
So now we're talking. A grand canyon expedition?
Yes, a grand canyon expedition.
There is an organization out there, known as
Global Explorers
. Global Explorers is unique in that they try and integrate all cultures and diversities into their expeditions and trips. Their goal is to help and guide students through any of their trips -- The Grand Canyon is just one of them -- and through this, assist them in gaining a life-long experience. So the program, known as Leading the Way, is one of GX (Global Explorers)
programs.
The goal of leading the way is to help students become better leaders through respecting cultures, working together as a team (teamwork), and performing service. Those are, at least, three of the main goals of the Leading the Way program, though there is a lot more to it at a surface level.
Leading the Way not only offers trips to the Grand Canyon, but also to other places like the Arctic and Amazon. But alas, the Grand Canyon was the trip I have found and applied to.
I applied to the program in October, a few days before the deadline. So I did not expect (but hoped deep within) to be accepted into the program. I knew that 9 others( 5 sighted and 4 blind students) would be accepted as well.
But I received the call from the program's coordinator, Shannon Smiley, congratulating and accepting me into the program -- and rejoyced at the thought of actually experiencing the Grand Canyon.
I knew that there would be a few challenges to overcome in order to experience the canyon -- this was mainly the prospect of raising $2300 in order to go. My stomach sank when I learned of that value after receiving my 89 page braille packet in the mail a few weeks later.
But as it stands today, I will be exploring to the Grand Canyon. Funding is going great -- I have raised around $100-1200 so far, and more money is being collected through churches and community members as we speak!
Ttoday I also received news from the Senge Foundation on receiving their Scholarship, which pays for half of the program costs. I will be posting more about this in future articles.
So there it is, a brief (and hopefully not too long) introduction. You will see many more posts today and through the next few days, as I talk more about some of my funding initiatives, the Scholarship, my autobiography... So please please keep an eye out on this blog.
With all due respect and warm regards:
Tomi
When it comes to blogging, excitement is always present -- looming within the pit of one's stomach, pumping through the body. The reasons for this excitement are simple: reactions to your opinions and posts from you, the readers.
Generally, if I were to write a blog focusing on myself and my own personal life views, finding the right ideas to post might become a struggle. There would be a lot to talk about -- from the basics (in order to help readers in knowing me better), to how I formed my beliefs and opinions, to the billions of topics available for discussion on the blog itself.
But when the focus is set on a particular topic -- such as a grand canyon expedition -- finding the right posts to create becomes a breeze.
My name is Tamas, though I am called Tomi (pronounced toe-me, which by the way is why I'm sometimes called a toe-truck as an insult or tease). I was born in the nation of Hungary, and lived much of my life there. Although I could write a 5 page entry on how growing up in Hungary was, and the differences in life back there compared to the United States, I don't feel it pertains to this blog much. However, my goal is to help you connect with me not on a "stranger" level, but on a more personal, more profound note.
Therefore, I will be posting my next entry, which will contain my autobiography, or at least the bits and parts of my life which will help you establish this connection with me. For now, all you need to know is that I'm visually impaired, due to a condition known as ROP (retinopathy of Prematurity) and only see light on my right eye.
So. Why am I creating this blog? As I mentioned in the first paragraph, when you know your focus, writing becomes easy. My focus is clear and set: To provide readers with a deep and enriched sense of how I went througha Grand Canyon expedition and accomplished it with success.
So now we're talking. A grand canyon expedition?
Yes, a grand canyon expedition.
There is an organization out there, known as
Global Explorers
. Global Explorers is unique in that they try and integrate all cultures and diversities into their expeditions and trips. Their goal is to help and guide students through any of their trips -- The Grand Canyon is just one of them -- and through this, assist them in gaining a life-long experience. So the program, known as Leading the Way, is one of GX (Global Explorers)
programs.
The goal of leading the way is to help students become better leaders through respecting cultures, working together as a team (teamwork), and performing service. Those are, at least, three of the main goals of the Leading the Way program, though there is a lot more to it at a surface level.
Leading the Way not only offers trips to the Grand Canyon, but also to other places like the Arctic and Amazon. But alas, the Grand Canyon was the trip I have found and applied to.
I applied to the program in October, a few days before the deadline. So I did not expect (but hoped deep within) to be accepted into the program. I knew that 9 others( 5 sighted and 4 blind students) would be accepted as well.
But I received the call from the program's coordinator, Shannon Smiley, congratulating and accepting me into the program -- and rejoyced at the thought of actually experiencing the Grand Canyon.
I knew that there would be a few challenges to overcome in order to experience the canyon -- this was mainly the prospect of raising $2300 in order to go. My stomach sank when I learned of that value after receiving my 89 page braille packet in the mail a few weeks later.
But as it stands today, I will be exploring to the Grand Canyon. Funding is going great -- I have raised around $100-1200 so far, and more money is being collected through churches and community members as we speak!
Ttoday I also received news from the Senge Foundation on receiving their Scholarship, which pays for half of the program costs. I will be posting more about this in future articles.
So there it is, a brief (and hopefully not too long) introduction. You will see many more posts today and through the next few days, as I talk more about some of my funding initiatives, the Scholarship, my autobiography... So please please keep an eye out on this blog.
With all due respect and warm regards:
Tomi
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