Day Seven

And that brings us to today. I've found that my days in the small compound tend to be uneventful.

Today is my last day before the weekend. We have an event on Saturday but I cannot make it, so maybe I'll ask one of the interns who will be there to guest write a post!

Since I declared my intern project yesterday, Thursday afternoons are basically my afternoons off. I get to sit in the air-conditioned building and write. Kind of a nice way to end my week!

Interns are expected to do a project during their six weeks here. Some may choose to do training and will work with one animal to train it to do a certain behavior, such as lifting a paw so the vet can take blood, things like that. Carolyn will work closely with these interns to ensure that training goes safely. Others will do things such as food surveys or gardening, or renovations.

My project is communications. I am working closely with Mandy, our director of communications, to make this happen. This blog is my project. The reason that posts are taking so long to be posted is due to the fact that they are being filtered and need to be approved. However, since Mandy has been very involved in communications projects related to a big fundraising event, she has not been able to work with me on this project until recently.

As I am learning how to post appropriately (I was a biology major and know nothing about public relations!), I hope that Mandy will be able to keep up with my posts easier. She has to ensure that what I tell people is correct.

Before taking on this project, I didn't realize how much one had to think and weigh their words in public relations. Since I believe that this blog will eventually be shared by the Center, either through their website or their Facebook page, I have to be careful that what I write is consistent with their policies on posting information about the animals and people.

Of course, I'm allowed to complain about how hot and buggy it gets in the afternoon, how by 9:30 in the morning my shirt and pants are covered in blood and meat juice, and how I keep cutting myself with my knife. These are the realities of the job. It is not a pretty job, and you won't go home smelling like roses.

However, should I say that one particular keeper is a nasty person (none of them are!)? Am I allowed to announce news about animals before the Conservators' Center does?

No. And that is what Mandy does. She tells me things like, "I don't think the word you used explaisn what you're trying to say about this person. Please fix that." "You can't discuss an animal's health issue before the people close to the animal have been notified. We have to be the ones to announce news about illnesses, births, and deaths. Imagine first learning on Facebook that the animal you adopt is sick?" Then I go through my post and fix these.

The Center is great. Don't get me wrong. However, I have zero modicum when it comes to stating things in an appropriate manner (for example, I accidentally cursed out my professor twice in one class. We were discussing a sensitive topic and I got upset. I don't think he saw though), and will often put down what I think without considering how it might sound. For example, I might get upset with a particular person and, while writing about the incident, make her sound like a witch when in fact we have a great relationship.

Another thing that I have to consider, and Mandy looks for, is the fact that English is my second language. While I'm very proud of my skills, I do have difficulty sometimes with compound sentences and tenses. Sometimes my wording is "off" and makes my whole point not what I intended. It all seems right in my head but when I put it down, sentences can sound stilted or may make no sense. I have been working on my English since I was seven years old, and it still gets difficult sometimes.

Have a good weekend, everyone! I'll be back on Sunday.