I would say there is no such thing as an average day here. But I will try my best to describe how could your year look like.
There are 3 types of days here:
1, A day on a program
That means that you are assisting a program. It can be 3, 5, 10 days long, depending on the project, age group, aim etc.
These days are very busy. You get up quite early, around 7AM as the breakfast is at 8AM and you have to be ready and prepared till that time. It might happen that you still have to arrange some things for the program before breakfast, then it’s up to your personal needs when do you wake up. Some people need personal time in the morning, or a shower or whatever. But you get the point, you have to be ready with everything till 8AM. At 8 the party starts, you are ahead of a busy day: activities, hike, ropes course, raft building, expedition etc. Then you get to dinner around 7PM – it always depends on the program, sometimes you finish a bit earlier, sometimes you have to ask to delay the dinner a bit. Let say, that you managed to finish till 7PM. Then you have the dinner and after dinner usually there are some more activities. Around 9PM you are done with the program. But that means just with the program. Then you gather with the assistants, instructors, you evaluate your day and then you talk about next day: what is the program, what needs to be done for next day’s program, and who will do it. Now you are at around 10-10:30PM. If there is still something to be done for the next day you either do it in the evening or next morning, up to you. Then you can try to have some time just for yourself, yes if you are not so sleepy then you can have time for that in the late evening, to take a shower, make a phone call or go for a walk just to be alone and to clear you head.
So all in all I would say that during an “average” program day you are up and busy from 7AM till around 11PM. Of course, there are some days when you are not that occupied and you can chill and relax a bit and there are also some days when you are even busier.
It might sound a bit scary or overwhelming but for me these were the best days, when you can experience a lot, you can learn a lot and you can expand your boundaries in all kind of ways and levels.
2, A day in the center
A, Spring, summer, autumn
When you are not assisting on a program, but you work then most probably you are working in the center. I would highlight that working hours are not counted as 6h / day. It’s not like an office job, but I guess it is obvious. Some days when there’s a lot to do then you work 6-8-10 hours as the job needs it and there are days when you just work 3-4 hours or not even.
What you do in these days mainly depend on the weather and the season. Sometimes you gather cut grass or branches; you repaint the wooden furniture; reorder equipment after program etc.
It’s quite relaxing – especially after some busy programs – to just do physical job, listen to music or podcasts and just do what you need to do.
B, Winter
During winter there are not many programmes in the center and after a while there is not much to do. So in this season (mostly December and half of November) you don’t do much. You can do the inventory in the storages, there are some things to be fixed, some things to be replaced (beds, furniture etc.) and sometimes there are some office work that you can do on your laptop.
You can learn and relax during these jobs. I learnt quite a lot of practical things about fixing wooden furniture or painting metal things.
A year looks somehow like this:
Spring– full of programs and some work at the Center
Summer– lots of programs and lots of work at the Center
Autumn– less than a lot but still a lot of program and more work at the Center
Winter– there are not many programmes in the program during December and February and not much to do in the Center so I would recommend you to travel during these days. Winter (if there is one) is beautiful in Transylvania. In January there are some ski camps that will be enough for the month 😉
I like this cycle. During the programs you can meet most of the OB instructors, which is great cause you will know people here and you can have fun with them. During work at the Center, you can really switch off and cosy up in your mind while also learning practical stuff and you can get familiar with the Center and with all the equipment we use here.