Sunday, April 10, 2011
Getting Settled
After three weeks, I'm finally really getting settled in. I signed up at the gym today. Last week I put a down payment on a car and will get it on Tuesday. Wednesday I'm meeting with a friend who is a doctor to find out if there is anything I can do about my stupid calf. And Thursday I'm meeting with a trainer at the gym so they can do all those terrifying fat measurements and stuff.
Work is going pretty well. I keep myself busy sifting through binders and electronic files and stuff just trying to get everything in order so that I can actually find things when I need them. In the next week or so we should be moving to the new building. I'm very excited about this as there are showers at the new building which will make it really easy for me to go for a run or bike ride during my 2 hours lunches.
Last weekend I participated in a 1500 meter open water swim in the ocean. I had a really great time even though my time was really slow. Arguably, I wasn't really in regular trained condition. One week before the race I swam 3000 meters in the pool, other than that, I hadn't really done any swimming in a few months. I was still a little bummed about the super slow time. Usually I'm not really looking at other people's times, but this time it actually made me feel better. In my age group I finished 11th out of 42. And also finished faster than over half the men in my age group. I was pretty pleased with that.
The gym I joined apparently has a triathlon group and a run club. I'm hoping to be able to join though I don't know that the 8-8 work schedule will really allow for it. Regardless, I'm just excited to finally be able to get back into a workout routine. I started breaking in a new pair of running shoes today on a 40 minute run. The hills and altitude are still a bit of an issue, but too terrible. Once I get going and am really into a routine I want to start training for a race again. The joy of living in the tropics - there's at least one race every month of the year!!!
Labels: Costa Rica
Saturday, April 09, 2011
The Big Girl Job - CR!
So, I´ve officially been on the job for 3 weeks now. It´s been crazy but good. I currently have a team of 6 teachers, and will likely be hiring one more in who will start in May. I´ve been asked what my job is exactly, and well... it´s a little difficult to describe right now. My official title is Director of National Programs and Academics. It´s a big title and sounds really important, though I don´t know that I feel quite as important as it sounds. But I am enjoying myself, so that´s the important part.
My job, in short, is to manage the English program. There hasn´t really been anyone in this position for several months. As a result, right now I spend a lot of my time organizing. English classes go in one month cycles and at the end of each month the clients have a test or quiz. I take care of all the record keeping, creating schedules for the next month of classes, reviewing the evaluations that the clients fill out about their teachers, making sure the teachers get paid, making sure the clients pay for classes, all kinds of fun stuff.
I spend a lot of time speaking Spanish, which is fantastic! (Though I probably spend an equal amount of time speaking Spanglish which is less effective for improving my Spanish. My favorite moments are speaking Spanglish with other native English speakers.... this happens ALL THE TIME and really makes me laugh). The part of the job that I have yet to tackle, but am rather excited about, is growing the program. Right now we only have about 70 English clients (Peru has over 1100!!!!) The goal is for the program to have 300 clients by the end of 2012. This is my responsibility to make happen. Super excited about the challenge and what it will mean for my resume if I can actually make it happen. I also have little to no budget to make this happen, so we´re talking grass roots marketing methods... oh the challenges and creative opportunity that lies ahead!
Labels: Costa Rica, Maximo