Productivity, Finally!

This week the rain returned, I told someone that they would speak English better without chickens, I fell in love with two new songs, I made a good joke in Spanish, and I actually had to use my alarm to make sure I started some long days on time.  A month after I hit the “one year left in my service” mark, things have ramped up significantly.  That’s good news for a planner like me who wants to be busy and productive – and have a real reason to create spreadsheets.

My sister did the verbal equivalent of an eye-roll on the phone last week when I told her that I had a spreadsheet for tracking what I purchased in Mexico for future birthday and Christmas gifts for people back home.  To be honest, I track everything that I can here: gifts purchased for others, books read, vacation days used and planned, US visitors, travel ideas, etc.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I love a good spreadsheet.  Although I can tell you about different things I’ve done here that have added value, in general, feelings of competency haven’t been easy to come by as a volunteer.  My personal spreadsheets have helped supplant those feelings when they’ve been lacking in the professional realm.

Fairy tale view in the mountains, just before it started pouring rain. 

The rain has arrived and things are bursting with color (and tropical vibes). 

My coworker's dog, who joined us for a recent meeting in the mountains. 

Another round of rain on the way. 

We have this cycle of "vulnerability and adjustment" at Peace Corps that documents when volunteers typically experience challenges (dips) and periods of contentment (highs).  I'm now entering month 17, and I can confirm this chart has been fairly accurate for me.  I tried tracking my mental health on a scale of 1-5 my first few months at site, but it was too difficult to distill a week down to just one number.  I discovered that writing a weekly blog post was a much more effective way for me to process my current state of mental health (and there are some posts I wrote that will never get published but that helped get me through a dip).

As you can see above, I'm predicted to have nothing but smooth sailing from here on out. Well, until it's time to start preparing to reintegrate into US culture.

There are tons of benefits associated with being a volunteer, and there are just as many challenges.  For someone like me who has been working in the professional realm for a long time, the biggest challenge has been figuring out how to adapt to a new work culture.  Specifically, how to move from a culture that values efficiency and strategic planning above all else to one that primarily values relationships and grants the time needed to build and maintain to those relationships.  In the US, I would feel a little guilty talking to a coworker for 15 minutes about non-work related stuff, outside of our lunch break, or spending 3 hours of a 3.5 hour meeting eating and chatting.  Here, it would be rude not to do those things – and it’s actually really nice.

We recently had an office retreat to review our work plan for the next year.  We don’t normally have staff meetings in my office, so during our retreat I asked if we could have a quick 5-minute information sharing session once every 1-2 weeks.  It’s not common here, but it’s something that I really needed, so I finally asked for it.  My team said sure, but let’s do it while we’re having breakfast or lunch together.  So one morning this week, we spent an hour and a half eating breakfast together, talking about life and making jokes, and we each talked about what we were working on and what we needed from each other.  It was awesome! 

My coworker's son, who also joined us for a meeting out in the mountains. 

Lovely old hacienda where we recently had a meeting. 

So many colors. 

The week after our retreat, we had a site visit with the environmental program manager from Peace Corps Mexico.  He told my office that a) the second year is when volunteers are typically the most productive, and b) I should create a clear work plan for the next 8 months to clearly identify what goals needed to be met and who in the office I would need assistance from before I start to close out my service.  That lit a fire in all of us and I’m happy to report that I now have specific things to work on every day, I have an active “to-do” list, and I am consistently starting to feel busy and productive.  That’s partly due to the renewed focus on my work plan and partly due to the fact that our project has progressed to a point where there are more opportunities for concrete activities.

For example, this week I joined a coworker for a tourism committee meeting in a remote mountain town to pitch a pilot project to reduce the use of disposable products in their restaurants.  We spent a little over two hours driving there, socialized and ate carne asada, warm tortillas and fresh cheese for about 2 hours, talked about the project for 30 minutes, and then headed out to explore potential tourism sites to promote.  That’s when it started pouring rain and everyone was immediately soaked.  I was the only person with an umbrella and thus, the only person in my truck who didn’t need to change clothes before making the drive home.  The next day we all gathered under the patio outside our office to watch a torrential downpour that was so loud that you had to shout to hear each other.  I love that about Mexico - it's always appropriate to take a break and enjoy the little things. 

Sink - with broom - in the hacienda.  

Front porch on an old hacienda.

Lovely old light fixture.

Front gate view.

Dining room view.

It’s an interesting phenomenon – after hearing repeatedly that year 2 is where you make the most impact, I can feel that it’s true.  I can finally see where my skills and interests really overlap with our project goals and what value I can add.  I can say that I’m finally starting to appreciate and adapt to those different office norms.

Long story short: if you are a volunteer who hasn’t started year 2 yet, and you’re getting frustrated, hang in there!  And if you’re coming to Mexico anytime soon, bring all of your rain gear with you.  And if you want to listen to some really great songs, check out these two: Para Siempre and La Luna.