Enjoying my rest day. I learn something new everyday.

I had a long sleep with the cats joining me. I need to hurry up with this blog entry because Mimi is currently giving me the defiant ‘I want food’ glare. The one where they look like they are trying to access your thoughts. I learn something new every day. It’s apparently not polite to say thank you in India. They find it offensive because they expect you to express gratitude with actions (for instance, eating a meal that someone has made). I read previously that eye contact is seen as intimidating in some other countries. We are so insistent on eye contact in this country it can feel extremely intense. I do it but I normally look away and then look back to the person I’m talking to so that it doesn’t feel too intense. I hated eye contact as an autistic when I was younger. I read a lot of stuff because if I am ignorant then I try to educate myself. I recently didn’t know a damn thing about flat packs but I can do bits of them myself now that I have become more familiar with them the past few weeks. It’s all about learning as you go along. I only have to be shown a few times at the most and then I can do some tasks completely independently. I can learn stuff within just a few days. I don’t think I would be that way if it wasn’t for my autism part of me. That makes my brain able to see tiny parts of details which are important when learning things. If you can’t see every single step to anything then you miss stuff that means you may not do something properly. I require patience from anyone teaching me otherwise I will feel their stress and not be able to pick what I’m supposed to be learning up. That is why I can drive because my dad taught me in between lessons (passed my practical first time, had to redo the theory because I failed by two points the first time). I know that if I hadn’t had that experience I wouldn’t have passed my test. I don’t like being stressed. I completely get brain frazzled. I can work within chaotic environments because of where I’ve lived in my life. The low secure unit and residential home for autistic people was an environment where you have to constantly watch your back (other clients were sometimes violent) and the unpredictability of each day could get a bit insane. I was one of the youngest in those places because I had just reached adulthood. It was eye opening at that age. Anyway, I’ve got stuff to do so I’m logging off now.