Workin' Folks

Last week, Carl and I started our job. It's been a long time in coming since we've been here for almost three months...THREE MONTHS! Anyways, we were looking forward to starting; so much to do!

Actually we started working before we started working. A Learning Tour came from West Coast MCC (folks from Reedley, Dinuba, Bakersfield...all near Fresno, sniff, sniff) and so we had to organize the guest houses and food for them during our last week of language classes. It turned out quite well and even our kids got into the work mode. Well, they made themselves super friendly with anyone in the group that could read; interacting with people is part of our job!

*On a side note, our homegroup from Fresno sent a care package along with the group that totally made our week. There was some pretty neat stuff, especially Joel's bug catcher and Kezia's fishy friend. Thanks guys!!*

So the work and learn team came and went, we learned probably more than they did, and then it was off to the regular work.

What do we do?

Well, Carl's main task right now is cleaning up the large deposito that has all the spare furniture, the tools, and tons of junk. It's a huge workshop and Carl is in his glory organizing it. That's what he does most days with Pedro. They are also fixing up vehicles, or taking them to be repaired, and then making a maintenance check list for all the buildings. They will probably start on that next week if Carl and Pedro get the deposito cleaned up and organized. After that, there will be a ton of work to do around here, if we have it in the budget. If not, then Carl and Pedro will have to prioritize which projects get done. There is also a MCC home being set up for new workers in Charagua, and so Carl and Pedro will buy all the large appliances for that.

A big part of our job has to do with money, buying stuff, budgeting, I'm sensing. Everything that doesn't fall under programs, is for us to keep track of. That's something that Carl and I enjoy. It's something we did with our own finances before we started with MCC. And goodness, we actually enjoy keeping track of every-single-little-tiny expense for our PMR!

My job keeps me in the office for now. I've been working on budgeting for the common meal, writing memos in English and Spanish, which take me f-o-r-e-v-e-r. My goal is to knock off 10 minutes off each memo, so maybe by spring it'll only take me 20 minutes! Ha ha! Then working on hypothetical support staff schedules, talking with program staff about cleaning in the buildings, laundry, child care needs. Then I dash off and chat with the support staff and find out what their perspective is on their jobs, what they do, and what they don't do. Today I emailed a few campo workers, made headway on a hosting budget plan for work and learn tours that come, and started to read over a peace and justice educational plan...thankfully it was in English. I think that was the point....

I'm sorry that I don't have pictures to post, but I knew that Carl would frown at me if I said, "Hey Carl, the kids are asleep, let's go pose in front of our desk for the blog!" So, maybe I'll take the camera around tomorrow and show pictures off later.

You're probably wondering what our kids do all day while we work. Well, all three are home with Nati, but they aren't always at home. Stay tuned for a later installment, "Summer Fun in November!" or something like that....