A promise is a promise...

I said that I would post what a "productive" week looks like in my life.

Of course the MOST productive weeks for me are the weeks like this coming one, where I am somewhere teaching the full, 10 Principles of Leadership Course.  But, being only human, I can't do that all the time.

From May-August I was mostly in Kampala... so this little over view of one snap shot of a week will give you an idea of what life looks like some of the time for me.  Hope it doesn't make your head spin!  I'll post it in a few sections, sorry it's so late! 

So I thought I would walk you through what a productive week looks like, just to try to give you a small view into my world.  Sorry if it’s uninteresting.  Also, note:  This week had a lot more evening activities than I usually have... it was a great people week!

Monday, August 13^th

I had written up a schedule on Sunday night, which is always helpful.  I use the 7 habits of highly effective people schedule that we teach in our course.  It’s great, because it’s priority based.  So armed with my schedule, I left my house earlier than usual.  Carol and I met at 9:00 in the common room in the Cornerstone Development office to work on next year’s internship program.  By 11:15 we were finishing up, just in time to attend our office fellowship.  Our fellowship is on Monday mornings at 11:30. Sarah Ojok, our executive director’s secretary (and very good friend), talked to us about the importance of caring for our physical bodies.  A lively and insightful conversation followed, where we discussed the importance of balance in our lives.  We then got weekly updates, and went for lunch.

After lunch I had arranged to meet with Kenneth, our Cornerstone Leadership Academy Boys Administrator.  He’s not the head master, but he’s 2^nd in command.  It was a work/friend meeting.  We went across the street and had milk shakes, enjoying the beautiful day.  We talked and shared all about what’s happening in life.  I told him about recruitment for our upcoming internship program, and filled him in on what Cornerstone Veritas is doing.  He is a stake holder in our work, and a wonderful friend.  I also was able to get photos from him from Bernard’s project, which he had used the school’s camera to take.  

After we met, I sat at my desk and worked... I am also sure I ran around a bit trying to catch different people and arrange everything from finances to upcoming events.   I sat in my office until about 6 pm, responding to emails and writing various things like internship intro letters and letters to the ministry of education.

I also was coordinating that evening’s activities throughout the day.  Monday nights we have a fellowship for expat workers, in the basement of my office.  We hadn’t met in a while, so I had offered to organize a game night.  Throughout the day, with the help of my friend Mary, had organize pizza, games and communicate with people that it was happening.

By 6:30 pm I was laying on the couches downstairs, waiting for pizza to arrive, exhausted from the day... but in a good way.  The pizza arrived, and I paid (You get paid back by the people who eat)... people started trickling in and I talked with friends for a while.  We ate around 7, and just talked for a while.  One of the people didn’t really want to play games, but the rest of us were pretty up for them.  We found a game that all of us were ok with, telephone pictioner.  If you haven’t played this game, you must.  It was a very good laugh and we all enjoyed.

By the time we finished it was close to 9 pm.  A group of us stood in indecision about whether or not to start a game of Settlers of Catan.  Eventually, it was decided that we would not.  In a strange moment of realization, it was discovered that I may not see some of the guys who attend our group again!  Their schedules are pretty crazy, as is mine, over the next few months so we might not connect again.  They leave the country in December for good. The expat community is very transient.  

I called my boda (motorcycle taxi) and rode quietly home.  My roommate, Hannah, we around so we chatted briefly about our days.  She headed to bed, and I got creative and put together a small birthday gift for her, which I left out on the table for her to see the next morning.

Tuesday:

Hannah gets up a lot earlier than I do, so by the time I rolled out of bed (at about 8) she had already left.  A small note was on the table, thanking me for the birthday gift.   I took my time and got ready for the day.  I needed to be to work by 10 am to meet my team.  I decided to go in a bit early to get some things done before we started our work day.   

When I arrived, Frank Drake, our new staff member, was already waiting for me at the office.  I showed him into our fellowship room, from where we’d be working for the day.  I ran around, doing a million different things to prep for the day, then finally settled around 10:15,  I taught Frank about how we do weekly and monthly schedules and explained what was expected of him.  Once Carol had arrived, we ordered breakfast, and got to work.  

We were planning for Tanzania that day.  This meant deciding who was giving which talks and, because of translation, what parts of the talk we were going to cut.  Frank will not be travelling to Tanzania, but it was important that he starts to learn how we organize for courses.  We worked hard, and took a break at lunch.  We came back together at about 2 pm and finished up.  I had a meeting with Tim at 3 pm, and 

Carol stayed to work on developing the Primary School Program, which is a big new part of her job. 

At 3 pm I went to see Tim.  Tim is our executive director, and a mentor to everyone in Cornerstone Development.  I had compiled a list, and Tim was in the mood to chat, so we spent an hour talking about many different things.  An hour with Tim is a great thing.  He has wonderful perspective, and deep thoughts to share.  I enjoy learning from him.  

After my meeting, I organized myself, and headed home.  It was a hard choice whether to stay around where I work, or to go home... because I had a dinner just down the street from my office at 7:30.  But I decided to head home, which was good.  I ended up doing work at home right until 7 pm, and then left with my housemate for her birthday dinner.  I didn’t know any of the people at the dinner.  It was a very diverse group!  I enjoyed some good gnocchi and conversation, but headed out by 10 pm because I was getting a bit tired.

For some unknown reason, when I got home I caught a 2^nd wind.  I ended up working until 12:30 on my most recent email update.  I don’t know why, but sometimes that happens!  I went to be, contented that we had accomplished much that day and that my housemate’s birthday had been well celebrated.

Part 2 will be posted tomorrow... :)