CECSA

My new internship placement is a marked improvement, Im very fond of it already. CECSA is the educational center for deaf adolescents, also run by the Comite Prociegos y Sordos. The students are very eager to engage with me and the staff treat me like a peer, which feels great. I have lots more work on my plate, and Im enjoying it. I will be able to accompany the social worker, FR, on home visits because the Comite arranges for a driver if we have to go to unstable neighborhoods. The director, HO, is very kind and has scheduled for me a series of short classroom observations, which have served as a great opportunity to get to know the students. The GSL used at CECSA is even more similar to ASL, which has aided communication. I get to enjoy a daily coffee break with the school social worker and psychologist, meet with parents and joke around with the students.
The only tricky aspect of the new placement is the commute. I catch a bus at 615am on the highway loop in zone 11 which drops me and dozens of others at the entrance of Zone 1. Together we all trek a few blocks into the business district. When I leave the school at 3pm, I walk several more blocks in the other direction for an urban treat--a ride on the Transmetro. In service for about a year now, the Transmetro is a single commuter line largely resembling a Chicago El train, except for the fact that it is a bus. It has its own lane down the center of the main city road, and federal guards at each stop for safety. It is the only commuter line of its kind in Central America, and it costs the same as the painted, gutted school buses that serve as transportation in the rest of the city. All said, the folks at CECSA are definitely worth the commute.