We've begun

This is my restful place for a glass of wine post long work sessions. Tiny dog loves it out here after being cooped up indoors all day.

I am currently in Baltimore for a week, working directly with Dr. Rebecca Landa, the director of CARD at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, and her team. It is an incredible opportunity to work with such prestigious names in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorders. 

That being said, we are spending long days and the discussions and planning can be exhausting due to the limited knowledge any of us have about the family we are going to work with.

 I have met one of my colleagues and the only other western professional who will be in KSA with me. He is a Speech Parhologist by trade but we will be working together as consulting professionals to the entire team. The team in place consists of an occupational therapist, physical therapist, special educator, speech pathologist and a few personal care staff. It has been explained to us that, on paper to the staff, he is the supervisor (due to his male status) but that we will realistically be working together to plan and make decisions. He will then be sharing them w/most of the team. I more directly liaison with the personal care staff (all females.) I keep trying to hand off all supervisory duties to him but he isn't buying it, lol! 

Good news, he is great! Smart and easy to get along with. We have a similar sense of humor and working style and I think we will be well suited as colleagues. What a relief to know I will not be in this alone, I'm so pleased to have him! And he has expressed the same sentiments. Additionally, he is bringing his family along so his wife will be in a similar "western female" boat with me.

It appears that our travel schedule has already changed and we will no longer be in Paris in August...it's now Spain... I'm sure you are all heartbroken for me! Still on for LA in the fall but apparently the family makes last minute schedule changes frequently so we can't really plan on anything.