Kazakhs and Tajiks and Russians, oh my!
So work is picking up, which is good and bad. Good, in that we’ve been anxious to host some new groups of visitors; bad, in that I don’t think I really enjoy doing this anymore.
I organize professional development programs for groups of ten coming from the former Soviet countries. There are two types of groups: business entrepreneurs, who stay for 5 weeks (participants speak English, have internships, are pretty self-sufficient) and "professional" groups, who stay for 3 weeks (participants do not speak English, attend workshops, lectures and tours that we set up, rely on us for transportation and interpreting). The professional groups are organized by theme. For example, we have hosted the following themes: "Youth Advocacy," "Library Administration," "Orchard Farming," "Secondary School Administration," "Administration of Justice and the Rule of Law."
Basically, my job consists of four things: bidding for a group, getting ready for a group, hosting a group, and cleaning up after a group. Bidding is new, as of this year. Bidding sucks. It means that for each group USAID wants to send to the US, up to 3 organizations are invited to bid. We have a 1 in 3 chance of winning any group we bid for, and no guarantee that we will a) be invited to bid at all, and b) be awarded a group. It means we have to put together a full-fledged grant proposal, usually within two weeks, work our butts off, and probably not win it. So a lot of up front work with no guaranteed return on investment of time.
So let’s say we win a group. Before they arrive I have to do two things: find host families for them (they stay in families for the bulk of the time) and set up the professional program. This involves making a lot of phone calls and waiting for return phone calls. We have a database of past host families; the Council sends out a newsletter each month, and we ask for hosts there; occasionally people call and ask us about hosting. It's a bit difficult finding hosts for non-English speakers. We do have Russian speaking families, but not very many, and we can't impose on the same families every time. So we do end up with families that don't speak Russians hosting Russians that don't speak English. It's definitely a challenge.
Setting up the program is both easier and harder. First of all, I already put together the program proposal with virtually no information about the visitors; next I have to figure out what these people actually want to learn while they are here, and re-write the program to reflect their actual interests. I set up all of the seminars, round tables, discussions, lectures, site visits, tours, etc. for the duration of the 3 weeks. Plus I have a lot of logistical things to arrange - the 15-passenger van rental, hotel rooms, dinner and conference room reservations, etc.
(Setting up programs for business groups is quite different - in that case, I have to find month-long internships for our visitors, which is a whole new challenge.)
Here’s what happens while a group is in town:
The group usually arrives in Portland around 11pm. I meet them at the airport, usually accompanied by the interpreter, and take them to the hotel where they will stay for the first 2 nights. The next 3 weeks consist of meeting the group in the morning, sometimes as early as 7am, driving them around in the 15-passenger van to all of their appointments, taking them to lunch, getting them on public transportation to their host families' homes, showing them the best places to buy souvenirs, clothing, electronics, etc., and handling any emergencies that come up (someone needs to go to the doctor, someone gets lost on the way home, etc.). Some nights I might be out till 11pm or 12am driving people home from some event. Some nights I go to a host family's home to interpret during dinner or a party. Even on the nights when I could go home early (7 or 8pm) I am often on the phone with various hosts for another hour or two clearing up misunderstandings or letting them know what their guest's plans were for the evening, and what they needed to know for the next day. Over the course of 3 weeks I get one day "off," but I am still on-call to handle any crises that might come up ("Where can I buy a laptop computer for $200 at 9:00 PM on a Sunday?" is the type of question that often comes up.)
The group generally leaves on a 6am flight. I pick the group up from the hotel at 4am and drive them to the airport, help them get checked in (which involves *numerous* repetitions of the luggage size and weight requirements - some people don't understand that 2 bags plus 1 carry on doesn't mean 2 bags plus one carry on plus a computer bag plus a shopping bag plus the giant teddy bear for their niece plus plus plus...). I wait till they get through security, then head home to bed.
If it sounds exhausting, it is. But it can be a ton of fun, too, and there are a lot of times when I sit back and think, "man, they're *paying* me to do this?!" I've met some really great people, and had some wonderful conversations. The down side is that I’m kind of burnt out on it, and I’ve gotten used to the 9-5 kind of thing over the past year or so. It’s really hard to get excited about having no time off for weeks and weeks at a time. *sigh*
Right now, we are definitely hosting a group from Kazakhstan from June 29 - July 20. We are also hosting a shorter-term group from Russian from July 22 - 29. We are bidding to host a group from Tajikistan from July 18 (yes, this overlaps) - August 8, and another group from the Ukraine from September 27 - October 18. Basically, I have 4 proposals to do simultaneously, all due ASAP.
If we get all of these, my summer will be just about shot. This means M & I don’t get to take our traditional, non-SCA camping trip over the 4th, which I was really looking forward to this year; in fact, I won’t have a single day off for 7 weeks straight, except that I've already arranged to take the weekend of July Coronation (we'll find someone else to be responsible for the group for those 3 days). I know it’s a super-cool job and all, but I think I’m getting too old for this.
By the way, anyone in the Portland metro area want to host a Kazakh July 1 - July 19? I'm serious; let me know. All you need is a spare room, access to public transportation, and a really good sense of humor.
I organize professional development programs for groups of ten coming from the former Soviet countries. There are two types of groups: business entrepreneurs, who stay for 5 weeks (participants speak English, have internships, are pretty self-sufficient) and "professional" groups, who stay for 3 weeks (participants do not speak English, attend workshops, lectures and tours that we set up, rely on us for transportation and interpreting). The professional groups are organized by theme. For example, we have hosted the following themes: "Youth Advocacy," "Library Administration," "Orchard Farming," "Secondary School Administration," "Administration of Justice and the Rule of Law."
Basically, my job consists of four things: bidding for a group, getting ready for a group, hosting a group, and cleaning up after a group. Bidding is new, as of this year. Bidding sucks. It means that for each group USAID wants to send to the US, up to 3 organizations are invited to bid. We have a 1 in 3 chance of winning any group we bid for, and no guarantee that we will a) be invited to bid at all, and b) be awarded a group. It means we have to put together a full-fledged grant proposal, usually within two weeks, work our butts off, and probably not win it. So a lot of up front work with no guaranteed return on investment of time.
So let’s say we win a group. Before they arrive I have to do two things: find host families for them (they stay in families for the bulk of the time) and set up the professional program. This involves making a lot of phone calls and waiting for return phone calls. We have a database of past host families; the Council sends out a newsletter each month, and we ask for hosts there; occasionally people call and ask us about hosting. It's a bit difficult finding hosts for non-English speakers. We do have Russian speaking families, but not very many, and we can't impose on the same families every time. So we do end up with families that don't speak Russians hosting Russians that don't speak English. It's definitely a challenge.
Setting up the program is both easier and harder. First of all, I already put together the program proposal with virtually no information about the visitors; next I have to figure out what these people actually want to learn while they are here, and re-write the program to reflect their actual interests. I set up all of the seminars, round tables, discussions, lectures, site visits, tours, etc. for the duration of the 3 weeks. Plus I have a lot of logistical things to arrange - the 15-passenger van rental, hotel rooms, dinner and conference room reservations, etc.
(Setting up programs for business groups is quite different - in that case, I have to find month-long internships for our visitors, which is a whole new challenge.)
Here’s what happens while a group is in town:
The group usually arrives in Portland around 11pm. I meet them at the airport, usually accompanied by the interpreter, and take them to the hotel where they will stay for the first 2 nights. The next 3 weeks consist of meeting the group in the morning, sometimes as early as 7am, driving them around in the 15-passenger van to all of their appointments, taking them to lunch, getting them on public transportation to their host families' homes, showing them the best places to buy souvenirs, clothing, electronics, etc., and handling any emergencies that come up (someone needs to go to the doctor, someone gets lost on the way home, etc.). Some nights I might be out till 11pm or 12am driving people home from some event. Some nights I go to a host family's home to interpret during dinner or a party. Even on the nights when I could go home early (7 or 8pm) I am often on the phone with various hosts for another hour or two clearing up misunderstandings or letting them know what their guest's plans were for the evening, and what they needed to know for the next day. Over the course of 3 weeks I get one day "off," but I am still on-call to handle any crises that might come up ("Where can I buy a laptop computer for $200 at 9:00 PM on a Sunday?" is the type of question that often comes up.)
The group generally leaves on a 6am flight. I pick the group up from the hotel at 4am and drive them to the airport, help them get checked in (which involves *numerous* repetitions of the luggage size and weight requirements - some people don't understand that 2 bags plus 1 carry on doesn't mean 2 bags plus one carry on plus a computer bag plus a shopping bag plus the giant teddy bear for their niece plus plus plus...). I wait till they get through security, then head home to bed.
If it sounds exhausting, it is. But it can be a ton of fun, too, and there are a lot of times when I sit back and think, "man, they're *paying* me to do this?!" I've met some really great people, and had some wonderful conversations. The down side is that I’m kind of burnt out on it, and I’ve gotten used to the 9-5 kind of thing over the past year or so. It’s really hard to get excited about having no time off for weeks and weeks at a time. *sigh*
Right now, we are definitely hosting a group from Kazakhstan from June 29 - July 20. We are also hosting a shorter-term group from Russian from July 22 - 29. We are bidding to host a group from Tajikistan from July 18 (yes, this overlaps) - August 8, and another group from the Ukraine from September 27 - October 18. Basically, I have 4 proposals to do simultaneously, all due ASAP.
If we get all of these, my summer will be just about shot. This means M & I don’t get to take our traditional, non-SCA camping trip over the 4th, which I was really looking forward to this year; in fact, I won’t have a single day off for 7 weeks straight, except that I've already arranged to take the weekend of July Coronation (we'll find someone else to be responsible for the group for those 3 days). I know it’s a super-cool job and all, but I think I’m getting too old for this.
By the way, anyone in the Portland metro area want to host a Kazakh July 1 - July 19? I'm serious; let me know. All you need is a spare room, access to public transportation, and a really good sense of humor.