A typical Friday.

So you may be wondering...what do I do on Fridays? Maybe you're not, but I know at least my mom is. ;)

On Fridays I don't go to my field site, for a number of reasons. First, it appears that Fridays will be the best time for me to have my "one-on-one" with another missionary here. Our semester abroad program gives us a ton of support throughout our experience, and one way of doing this is by scheduling "one-on-one" time with our resident coordinator. The folks in charge of the program were very thoughtful and asked me if I would like to meet with another married woman, and I jumped at the chance. M is great, and so far my time with her has been so refreshing and helpful. So, we've been meeting on Friday mornings for things like coffee or walks in the park.

At noon I have supervision with my field instructor. Part of our social work field education includes mandatory supervision, which is basically a meeting with our field instructor to talk about our week in field. Our supervisor is there to get to know us as professionals, help us think through sticky situations, and evaluate our performance in the end. So, before lunch I walk over to the school where our field instructor is working for an hour long meeting. She never gives me answers, but it is super helpful to be able to talk with another more experienced professional about the things that come up in field.

In addition, Friday is the day that our Ecuador class meets. This class is just to help us understand the history, culture, and politics of Ecuador, so it's a lot of fun. Learning is very experiential, which means we take field trips and have guest speakers on occasion. I'm not taking this class for credit, so I just get to enjoy the field trips and learning about the country I'm calling home for now.

Finally, Friday is our day to skype with our field instructor back in the states. She likes to check in with the three of us senior social work students just to see how we're doing, how our field placements are coming along, etc. She is a wonderful lady and I actually do look forward to this time. It's also a great outlet to process things with the other two students, who are in a different field placement at an international school. 

So that's how I end my week! Although the day is still fairly busy, it's a nice break from my long commute and the full days at my field site.