What exactly I do...

Due to popular demand I thought I'd give you all some information on what exactly I do here.

Firstly, a little background information on the organisation, Engineering Ministries International (eMi) that I'm working for. eMi provides free architectural and engineering services to Christian ministries around the world. Generally this is orphanages, hospitals and schools. I'll be posting soon on a feeding centre and school in Guatemala I've been working on. They are 6 offices around the world; Costa Rica, India, Uganda, US, Canada and UK.

The way the projects (school, orphanage etc) work is that after the project is accepted, a group of architects, surveyors and engineers head to the site of the project. They are a group made up of permanent eMi staff and interns (people like me) from an eMi office and a bunch of volunteers who come from places like the US or Canada just for the week (or up to 10 day) long trip. During the "project trip" week, the site is surveyed, missionaries who were working for are conferred with about what they actually want, soil is tested, the avaliability of utilities is accessed and plans started. Then we all head back to the office or our homes and keep on working on the project. While we are still working long distances with volunteers in other countries it is very difficult. We have to polish or change the architectural plans. Most of the structural engineering design needs to be done when we get back. In simple terms this involves making sure the columns and beams are big enough to hold everything up. The water engineers need to decide where the water will come from and where all the waste water will go. The electrical need to look after power supplies and wiring. At the end of the project, reports have to be written up, detailing why we chose to do what we did. And providing all the plans and details of how everything is to be done.

While all the design is happening, everything needs to be drawn up on a drafting program called AutoCAD. Things are constantly needing to be changed and corrected. This is where red lines come in. The plans and details are printed off, and someone checks over them and marks all the problems with a red pen. Then someone else fixes all the mistakes and highlights them as they go. Then they print off a new copy, ready for more redlines. This process continues until everything is perfect. At first, I did quite a few redlines for other people. Then about 6 weeks ago, I got to redline for someone else- oh the power of a red pen! It felt great.

For those of you thinking I'm just drafting, don't fear. I do some design work too, looking at the beam design and the number of bars in them. Sometimes my boss Dan calls me and James, the other structural guy over and gives us a bit of an engineering lesson, showing how he designed where the reinforcement went in the column for example. I've also calculated loads and looked at loading factors set out in "The Code". Loading factors are what Engineers apply as somewhat of a safe guard, like if the steel is not as strong as you expected, or you get more people and furniture in the building than expected. The Code gives details of what loading codes to use in what circumstances. It's basically a big rule book. I also got to look at seismic loading, which was really fun. I even designed an excel program so calculating won't be so involved next time.

So there you go, my daily working life.

The holy week experience

I love experiencing how another culture lives everyday and on special days. So spending Semana Santa here (the week leadig up to Easter, holy week) was exciting. As 75% of Costa Ricans are Catholic, in some ways it's a bigger thing here than in Australia. Most people have the whole week off and the shops close on Wednesday afternoon. Even buying alcohol is banned for part of the week. The television was full of movies portraying the life of Christ and the lives of various popes. Town was quite as alot of people headed to other parts of the country to be with family. The neighbours visited with gifts of sweet breads and pastries. My own host family had various relatives coming to stay and cook . They asked me about traditional Easter foods in Australia, and all I could think of was hot cross buns! So they asked me to make some, which turned out quite well. After all the lead up I was expecting things to just get bigger and bigger until Sunday, but everything stopped on Friday night. The shops opened up again on Saturday and people came home. Apparently the focus is more on the crucifixion than the resurrection. Sunday church for us was a bit of a non-event, apparently most protestants down play Easter because the Catholic church plays it up so much. To make up for this, all the staff families had lunch together, exchanging "He is risen!" "He is risen indeed!" and hard boiled coloured eggs. I ended up socialising til about 8pm (considering this is bed time normally, that was a big deal!). I learnt more about how North Americans celebrate Easter too!

The week was filled with a few unexpected, pleasant surprises, involving other cultures.

Some of you will be aware I'm slightly obsessed with Jewish culture and traditions. Before I came to Costa Rica I thought it would be really cool to meet some Jews in Costa Rica, but I didn't think the chance of this happening was very high. I considered asking God to send some my way, but decided I should perhaps focus on Latin culture for these 6 months. Well Thursday night I went to a Seder at the home of a Messianic Brooklyn Jew and his Cuban wife! Turns out they actually know someone I know in Melbourne, which was exciting! The Seder was a very intimate affair, with just eight of us. I only got to go because my boss got sick and thus his family couldn't attend. An absolute bonus for me was that I was the youngest present so I got to ask all the cool questions. Plus James and I were the kids (well we were at least 25 years younger than everyone else there) so we got to search for the afikomen. To hear again how passover points to Christ was wonderful, and to know we were celebrating with millions of people around the world was something really special.

The next surprise was a concert taking place in Vienna. I spent holy week in Vienna 6 years ago and visited lots of sights which were shown throughout the concert. The conductor spoke in German, which to my delight I understood. I got a bit of a "I love Vienna moment" and sort of home sick for it all even though I'd only spent 7 days there.

He is risen! Hallelujah!

Interns

As you probably know, I'm not here by myself. There are three others doing the same thing as me (i.e. volunteering for just these 6 months). We all get along well, and compliment each other. We don't just work together, we hang out, go places and babysit staff kids together. So let me introduce my friends and colleagues.
On the left is a photo taken on the project trip in the backseat of a back seat of a van. It was very crowded! Right to left is Sarah, Marcos, Susannah and James. We all love this photo! Right is the 4 of us at orientation (horrible of me, wish I could edit myself out), plus another couple who will be joining us here in Costa Rica soon.


Sarah, is the fellow girl in the office. She works part time here and part time at the local orphanage, because she has more maternal instincts in her little finger than I do in my whole body. Sarah is also a civil engineering student, and does a lot of work with water here. She reads a lot, and always recommends books to us. The eldest of 5 (4 younger brothers) and possibly the most selfless person you'll ever meet. She'll never admit it, but her Spanish is amazing, and so is she, I couldn't imagine this internship without her.



Marcos is the one we're all convinced was accepted first, because he is so suited to this role for a number of reasons! Firstly, he was born in Guatemala, and though he moved to the US when he was three, he speaks perfect Spanish and understands the culture. When we need to find out information in a hurry, Marcos is the one who talk for us. Secondly, he's the only graduate, and thus is more experienced and knows how to use computer programs better than the rest of us. He's the only architect among us. He's very passionate about his youth group back home and loves Hillsong (moot point between the two of us lol!).

James is the closest person to me when it comes to culture because he's Dutch (second generation) and Canadian (we love the commonwealth!). James and I are both structural engineers at the moment, and thus share office space and music. He is the most adventurous of the 3 of us, continuously telling us 'if it hasn't worked out yet, it just isn't over yet' (great advice when you're in the middle of a flood, at night, when the power is off, in a foreign country and don't know where you're staying that night). He loves surfing and bikes and according to the mothers, possesses a very well written blog.

So there you go, 4 young adults from 4 different cultural backgrounds who've come together to work here for 6 months. We're all so different, yet we can talk for hours. I love them all, and can't imagine what life here would be like without them.