end

And so, semester 1 of 2009 ended last Friday, with the submission of her assignment on grief and loss. This semester has been wildly different from the previous two semesters. With only two modules, summarised by three assignments and one examination, my female took the chance to recuperate from the obscenely hectic schedule she had last year.

She stared off not liking the counselling module on domestic violence. Towards the end of the semester, my female owner grew to enjoy the module and to appreciate the lecturer’s style of teaching. Nonetheless, she still has issues with some of the smart alecks in the class who make unnecessary stupid comments. All in all, she doesn’t regret taking the course, as it has opened her eyes to a common but often silent phenomenon lurking in families.

Right now, my female owner is revising for her examination on clinical health psychology. A module which she has no complaints about. She enjoyed the course contents and hopes to do a placement in a hospital eventually.

The bane of the semester is still her placement at the aged care facility. It is not so much about working with old people that frustrates her. In fact, it has widened her horizons both personally and professionally. My female owner had always felt that she was stuck with this placement because she did not obey God’s prompting. Her first allocation was at Ipswich (about 1.5hr away from where she lived) at a disability service provider. For many reasons, my female owner finally decided to reject the placement even though she felt God saying to take it. A month later, she was offered another placement, working with children with trauma history. The arrangements didn’t work out and she ended up with the aged care placement with dodgy training arrangements, making her feel like an absolute guinea pig.

You can just imagine her mulling over the “if-onlys” and “I wonder”. One day, God told her that even though it seemed as if she got the placement out of “no choice”, He wanted her to know that He had arranged it and that He was still in control. My female owner hasn’t worked out the reasons for this placement and at times, she feels crossed about it. She reckons that one day, she will finally understand how this season of her life fits into the whole picture.

So there, three modules (including the placement) for Semester 1, almost completed. Technically, she is at about the half-way mark in fulfilling her dream… wow.