So it’s been a while. What have I been up to? Work, and lots of it! But no worries, I do love my job here. This is what a typical day looks like:
6:30am – Alarm goes off, I’m supposed to get up.
6:45am – I actually get up and go for a quick run to central park and back, check the movie schedule at Bagel Barn (oh yes, it’s a bagel cafe plus free movies!) on the way.
7:15am – Shower, breakfast.
8:15am – Walk to work, takes 5 seconds as Transitions is a whole 50 feet away. Grab a mug of Guatemalan coffee and joke with the guys in the kitchen.
9:00am – My emails “should” be answered by this time. Also by this time, my boss, Alex, has probably come into my office with news of an important friend/visitor who we are giving a tour in an hour. In Guatemala, one never knows where the day will take them.
10:30am – I hungrily search for a snack in the kitchen, Edgar the Transitions cook/friend stops me and makes me eggs, beans and toast.
1:00pm – Lunch. Fried chicken day is my favorite. More joking with people in the kitchen.
2:00pm – Emails or Skype meetings or visiting visitors. Why don’t I take this opportunity to explain what my actually job is. My title is technically “Development Director” but sometimes I call myself “Manager of Donations and Outreach” because it intimidates me less. Right now I’m working on setting up a database of our 1,300 donors (one didn’t really exist previously!), and I help my jefe, Alex, with (English) communication to Board members, big donors, volunteers, Rotary clubs, and Church groups that support us. I also research potential funding opportunities and write grants. A couple weeks ago we submitted a grant to the Christopher Reeve Foundation, and this Friday another grant is do to an international relief organization in the UK. To say the least, I’m learning a TON!
3:00pm – On Tuesday and Thursday I have Spanish class for 2 hours in the afternoon.
5:00pm – Day ends. Mickey and I drag ourselves out of work and back home. So where is home? Actually, Mick and I now live in the Transitions Print Shop – the social enterprise side of our work. Just a month ago, our room was home to a few old computers and two big desks. But now, thanks to our newly painted yellow walls, a few pieces of furniture, and a pretty lamp shade, this room is home to us.
6:00pm – On Thursday we host English Night. We invite students at nearby Spanish Schools to volunteer with us an hour on Thursday, helping our clients with one-on-one English conversation. We always provide cookies.
7:00pm – Discussion between Mickey and I about what we are supposed to do for dinner. Here are some of the usual options: delivery from Pollo Campero (very excellent and cheap fried chicken, delivery is free), taco night, Brit struggles to make French toast, dinner a few blocks away in the Merced Church area, or bagel and movie at Bagel Barn.
9:00pm – Mickey and I have been watching episodes Arrested Development and True Blood on his computer. Some nights we read or study Spanish, every night Mickey pretends to be a True Blood vampire and scare me.
10:00pm – Mickey and I have a tendency to laugh too much in the evening. Sometimes I get a little wheezy (leftover asthma from bad pneumonia when I was 2) and need to you my inhaler before bed.
room now. The make over process involved: extreme window and floor cleaning, new paint called “yellow corn,” and better lighting.
