A day in the Life of...
United States Ambassador to Guyana Roland Bullen
Stabroek News
February 15, 2004
"Well, my typical day begins about four and four-thirty in the morning, [when] I get my coffee going. Then I get on the internet, read the daily papers from Guyana and the Caribbean region - the Trinidad Guardian, the Nation from Barbados and the Jamaica Observer. I'm generally ready for work at about quarter to seven, and then I have breakfast at seven-thirty.
"I usually leave for work at eight in the morning; [when] I get into the office I look for e-mails that have to be answered. I check the message traffic from Washington to see if any action is required. Most of the rest of the morning is taken up with meetings, either within the embassy or outside the embassy; these meetings usually go on for the rest of the day.
"In the afternoon, sometimes I'm reviewing the work that's done by other sections, [doing] correspondence and making phone calls.
"Generally I tend to leave my phone calls for the later part of the day, and I try to return all phone calls the same day.
"I might also be in conversations with different officers in Washington, depending on the issues at hand, which might involve also e-mails with colleague ambassadors in the region. My typical work day ends at about five, five-thirty in the afternoon...
"Depending on the situation, if there are any social events we may have to attend, we generally will attend around seven seven-thirty.
"When I don't have social engagements, I try to get in a game of tennis with friends and colleagues.
"I go to bed relatively early, I would say about ten o'clock, because I begin my days early. One thing I must point out is that I always have breakfast and dinner with my wife; it is the only time of the day we get to spend quality time together."