Mi Trabajo

I've been at my new job for 1.5 days so here's a little run down of what I will be doing the next 3 months....

I am working with South American Explorers an non-profit organization that helps travelers find the best way around South America...my clubhouse is in Lima so the focus is on travels in Peru. There are definite perks to being a member including free luggage storage, free wifi, tons of discounts, first hand info about touring the country, and a sense of peace knowing that you are getting unbiased advice about how to travel. There is also a focus on eco-tourism (sustainable tourism) that is also really cool!

So my official intern title is "Intern of marketing/advertising". I will be working a lot with starting a facebook page and managing that for the club. If it is a success there is a chance that a similar format would be used for all the club houses. Right now there are about 15 different pages for 4 clubhouses. So streamlining that in the coming months would be nice. Another part of marketing will be getting fliers and information out to our target markets in hostels and restaurants where tourist often frequent.

Today I found out I will also be doing a lot of the event coordinating for the club. Every Wednesday evening there is an event at the clubhouse ranging from listening to a speaker talk about living in Peru, to Travel Club which is a discussion setting to get tips and advice on how to travel from other travelers. This will actually take up a lot of my time as I have to coordinate the event by getting someone to speak, or choosing what will be featured, contacting people, and then advertising the event. This is definitely up my alley, and I am excited but also a bit nervous as I have to learn the ropes of the club rather quickly and get in contact with the right people.

Another part of my job will be giving tours of the club house for people that come in (every staff person does this). I am excited about this, if I can learn the right things to say and such :) At the end it is important to sell our membership (because that is how we are funded). The selling part I am not so excited about, but hopefully I'll learn as I go and be a pro by the end. And it's always fun to meet new people, especially people who have interesting stories about traveling and living in Peru.


My schedule will be in the office each day from 9:30am-5pm, except on Wednesdays I will work from 1pm-8pm (for the event in the evening).

Today I went with my host sister to work so she could show me the way and which buses to take. I took notes, lots of them! DORK! haha. But I think it will help in the coming days. It's actually pretty easy once you know what you are looking for (Bus 22, bus 17, metropolitano...) So anyway, that's my biggest challenge now, but should be under control by next week!

I am really excited for my job and what I will be involved in. I think it will be a great learning experience both in marketing and event planning.

Spanish continues to come back to me day by day. I am planning to take a spanish class at the club house, but also want to find another class to take depending how intense the clubhouse class is. We'll see. I am definitely finding more independence here than I did in Nicaragua. I loved my SST experience there, but also was excited to be here and more-or-less be on my own. That will come soon enough...

I am definitely loving life here and I am doing well.

My email is aHawkinsjae@gmail.com if you want to send me any personal emails :) I would love them. I also skype a_hawkins12. And I know some of you asked for an address to send stuff to...so here it is:

Alli Hawkins
Calle Las Pecanas 120
departamento 304
La Molina
Lima
PERU

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. They are much appreciated.

Good night, for now! Buenos noches.

LO
VE