One of my favorite underrated Beatles songs is called A Day in the Life. The story goes that John Lennon was writing one song and Paul McCartney was writing another, and they morphed the two songs into one. It ends with a pretty epic orchestral crescendo, not really closing the song off like you would expect, but ending the song nevertheless.
My life sometimes can feel a bit like that song. I wear a ton of different hats here, including Social Media Coordinator, Community Events Coordinator, Spanish Student, (temporary) Finance Manager, etc. It can be a lot, and sometimes my to-do list looks like a smattering of different random tasks. However, they all carry a purpose, and enjoy doing them! In the end, it all falls together perfectly.
That being said, it can be quite difficult for me to sum up what an ‘average’ day looks like for me, because there really isn’t such thing as an average day. Instead, I thought I’d share with you ‘A Week in the Life.’ See what I did there? This was last week, June 29th-July 5th. I did my best to summarize each day, but I also tried to error on the side of less detail. I still ended up writing a short novel. Sorry about that.
Monday mornings start with a time of worship followed by a staff meeting. This week, I got to lead worship for our group, which I always enjoy. Following that, we had our weekly staff meeting to plan our week and discuss our jobs. Then, I worked on my Spanish homework, at lunch, and headed to Spanish school for two hours. I usually attend Spanish school three times a week for two hours at a time. After Spanish school, I headed back home and spent the remainder of my workday answering emails. My evening was spent playing guitar and signing Taylor Swift songs with some of the other girls in my house.
[Mya and I]
Tuesday mornings are my favorite because they are the day I get to teach guitar to my friend Mya. She’s 12 and is already an amazing guitar player. I have a blast teaching her! After guitar lessons, I returned home to work on my Spanish homework, eat lunch, and head to Spanish school. Following Spanish school, I worked on our finances for our ministry budget. At the end of the month, we have some extra work that needs to be done to close out our budget, so I began working on that. I also took some time to watch Volcan Fuego erupt from our backyard. It was a lot more active than usual, and we could see the lava flowing down its side, even from 10 miles away.
I started my day off on Wednesday with a Skype call with Kelli, our field support at our home office in Georgia. We were able to chat about how my job is going as well as I’m doing personally, which was great! Following my call to Kelli, I went to the bank to work out some stuff with an upcoming short-term trip I’m co-leading. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful, which meant I had to head home and call my bank to figure things out. After that phone call, I drove our team to San Lucas, a nearby town, where we had lunch together, went grocery shopping, and went to a thrift store. We returned to Antigua and went straight back to the bank, where my transaction was (thankfully) successful. I ended the night attempting to work on more finance-related work.
Thursday is normally another Spanish school day, but I took the day off of school to get caught up on work. I spent my morning scanning all of our ministry recipes for the month of June, as well as finishing balancing our budget. I then worked on some communication with relation to an advocacy group I’m creating for our ministry. Then, I returned to the bank to work on another transaction I needed. Unfortunately, this one was unsuccessful, so I had to return home and call my bank to find out why. On the plus side, I was able to practice my Spanish while at the bank! After the workday finished, we had a mini-potluck with the five of us at our house. We at dinner together, and then I went to my room to watch a movie and relax.
[Volcan Fuego erupting]
Friday was supposed to be celebrated as a day off in honor of the Fourth of July. However, it wasn’t a day off for Guatemalans, and I had some work I had to get done. So I slept in a little bit and took a little extra time getting ready in the morning before ’starting my day.’ My friend Mafer was in town from Guatemala City for the afternoon, so I met up with her and her mom to have lunch. We spent about an hour together catching up. Then, I headed back to the bank. By this visit (my fifth visit in less than a week) I was on first name basis with the banker. My transaction was, yet again, unsuccessful, which meant I had to go home, call my bank, and go back to try again. By the time I got back to the bank, they were on their lunch break. I ran into one of my teammates who was leading a short-term team. It was their day off, so I spent some time wandering around with the team, taking them to the best coffee shop and the best jade store. Then, back to the bank I went, and this time, the transaction was a success! I returned home, ate dinner, and enjoyed a chill Friday evening watching the tv show Friday Night Lights with Michelle.
I had another exciting yet busy day on Saturday, with Fourth of July celebrations and more errands needing to be run. I, once again, had to go to the bank (success again!) followed by doing my Saturday chore (sweeping and mopping). Then, I showered and headed out to a Fourth of July farmer’s market with one of the girls from my house. There were lots of vendors as well as food available. We went for a super American option—pulled pork sandwiches! We spent an hour or two wandering around the market before heading back home to begin preparations for our Fourth of July party. We had some friends over, barbecued burgers and hot dogs, and had all kinds of sides and desserts. I made buffalo chicken dip and fried onion straws. We weren’t able to buy any fireworks, so I had to settle with looking at the pictures my friends back home were posting on Instagram. After our guests headed home, we all played cards together, and then Michelle and I watched some more tv.
[4th of July Dinner!]
Sunday is our Sabbath, and I made it my goal to enjoy it as such. After such a busy week, I wanted to get as much rest in as possible, so I didn’t set an alarm. I woke up about 9:30, and didn’t shower until about 2:30. In the time in between, I spent some time journaling, reading my Bible, talking with some of the others here, practicing the art of iced Aeropress coffee, and watching some more Friday Night Lights. In the late afternoon, I headed to Monoloco to watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, USA vs Japan. It was a fantastic game, and it was a ton of fun getting to watch it in a restaurant with a bunch of other Americans that were just as excited as me. I ended the night with some more journaling, and Buzzfeeding.
There you have it! As you can tell, its hard for me to just sum up a day, or even a week, because there’s so much happening! But I absolutely love my job, and am thrilled to be doing what I’m doing!
