School started today! Our schedule has completely shifted now, and it’s going to take a little getting used to – mostly because eating times have shifted and that changes everything. Here’s how the new schedule is going to go:
5:30AM – the kids wake up
6:00AM – we wake up (on running days… on other days we can sleep later)
6:15-6:45AM – run time
7AM – kids’ breakfast
7:40AM – kids depart for school
9AM – worship
11:30AM – staff meeting, Monday and Friday
2PM – I help set up for lunch
2:30-3:00PM – lunch
3:30-5:30PM – after-school program (which I’m not involved in)
5:30-7PM – overnight program kids shower, do laundry, do chores, etc.
7-7:30PM – dinner
8:30PM – kids’ bedtime
I wasn’t completely sure about what I’d be spending my last 3 weeks here doing, but don’t worry, I figured it out today. Debbie had a bunch of questions about the electrical system here and some issues that an inspector doing an unofficial inspection came up with. She wants me to study the electrical system and keep an eye out for a few things. To name a few: if anything jumps out as unsafe, if the equipment is sized appropriately to accommodate the new buildings they’re planning, and if there are any other things that should be looked at more closely. They also want me to check out the electric bills and see if they seem reasonable.
With all of those things together, I’m going to have more than enough to keep me busy for the rest of my time here. I’m happy though. I feel like I’m being of real use and have been doing things that actually take advantage of my skills and background. That’s a good feeling to have!
Debbie and I spent the whole afternoon going over what she knows and then walking the property so that I could check out the equipment for myself. Maybe this is weird, but I’m excited to get started! I’m going to learn a lot by doing this. It’s much more hands-on and involved than anything I did while working, and I’ll definitely have to do some research and studying in order to be successful (electrical friends – expect a call from me! I’m going to do a lot of phoning friends for advice haha). It’s cool that I’ll have a real chance to figure things out and be able to make recommendations that will be taken seriously. Hopefully I’ll be able to leave something useful behind!
My only pictures today are of pumps and electrical panels, so enjoy this beautiful picture of a hole that 1) shouldn’t have water in it (so we’re off to a good start) and 2) I climbed into to get a closer look at a couple of septic pumps. Woo! If you want some slightly more interesting pictures, you can go back a couple posts to the one from Friday… I got someone else’s pictures from the staff team-building exercises and added them in!