Dor the Panamanian Explorer

Muchachas Guias = Girls Scouts

2010-01-20T15:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! So I will start the new year off with telling you about the Girl Scout troop or "Muchachas Guias" that I started in my community. I held the first meeting in October and we do 2 meetings a month. So far we have done activities like making cookies as a fundraiser :), we've done a raffle of 50 lbs. of rice (here in Panama if your meal doesn't include rice, its not a meal), we've recycled my old cereal boxes (I eat a lot of cereal-it's just like college all over again) to make note book covers, we've talked about over-hunting and its effects on the food chain, environmental conservation, self-esteem and more.

This past weekend we had our swearing-in ceremony where 11 of my girls became official Girl Scouts. We will have another ceremony in March or April as a lot of girls are away visiting other family outside of the community as we are in the middle of their summer vacation. At the end of this month I will take some of them to girl scout camp which is made possible by donations received through various sources - one of them being our sister troop in Houston, TX.

Our sister troop in the states donated money, friendship bracelets, and string to make bracelets. The goal of the partnership is to share cultures. My girls have learned a lot from me about my culture and I love the fact that they now ask me questions about girls their age in the states. Each troop has made a book for the other troop. Our book showcased the lifestyle here in Panama showing that living off of the land and very few monetary resources (most of these girls' fathers make $5 max a day when there is work), these girls still have fun and are happy. From the states we learned all about their aspirations for when they grow up. I wanted my girls to see girls their ages with big dreams. Below are some pictures so you can meet the girls!

(above) In the midst of our ceremony/me giving each of them their girls scout scarves.

(above) At the front of the church (where we decided to do the ceremony) holding up the Panama Girl scout flag. The blue flag in the back is the symbol for girl scouts worldwide (la bandera mundial).

(above) All sworn in! I'm so proud of my girls!

(above) Just finished a batch of cookies!

(above) Selling the cookies on a Sunday after church in front of the school.

(above) I've never seen my cereal boxes-turned notebook covers so decorative!

So what else do I do down here?

2009-10-24T16:40:00.000-07:00

Here is a small write up that I did for some internal documentation here in country that I thought you guys might enjoy!

As a Community Economic Development (CED) volunteer I work with the local cooperative to improve business practices and general book-keeping. On top of that I work with the local youth at my school teaching them environmental education and have also started a local Muchachas Guías (Girl Scouts) chapter. One of my side projects that definitely feels like my main project when it is actually taking place is giving HIV/AIDS prevention presentations.

To date, I, along with a team of other volunteers, have given these types of presentations in three communities including my own and two others up the mountain about an hour and a half from where my community is. Over 700 students (ranging from 7th grade to 12th grade) have listened to these 3 rounds of presentations and have learned/been refreshed on what is HIV/AIDS, how it is transmitted, and how each of them can prevent it. The fun part about these presentations is that as volunteers, we don’t just stand in front of class and speak at the youth for two hours but we involve them with activities ranging from having them act out how the virus affects the body, an interactive discussion about bodily fluids and whether or not they transmits HIV, a demonstration on how to properly use a condom, and another activity in which they learn how easy it is transmit the virus while at the same time learning how to prevent transmission.

The response that I have received from teachers and principals has been 100% supportive and sometimes there isn’t enough time to give presentations to the younger kids at the request of the school faculty. As the students from the interior tend to get embarrassed easily, we encourage them to write down a question that they may have during the presentation on a piece of paper that we have handed out at the beginning. At the end of the presentation the slips of paper are collected and I along with the other presenters go through the round of question and answer. The questions these students ask are genuinely important questions and I feel that without this activity the students would only learn half of what we are trying to teach them.

Through these presentations the students’ awareness level of a disease directly affecting their country’s population is heightened and they learn what they can do to prevent the disease from spreading to each other. Also, before each presentation we (the volunteers) find out the availability of condoms in that specific community and provide that information to the students. The condoms are usually available in the local Health Center but not all the time. Something else that these students gain is an indirect sex education as we talk about the methods and bodily fluids of transmission. We also make it a point to talk about whether the students are prepared to raise a family and provide for kids in the event that they were having/thinking of having sexual relations. In this case we talk about other consequences of having sexual relations other than contracting HIV. All in all, educating some of Panama’s youth about HIV/AIDS has been a very rewarding experience for me and although there will be many who don’t apply what they’ve learned in these presentations, there will still be those few who do and for those students I gladly give my time and energy.

Please note that I am one of many volunteers in Peace Corps Panama who give HIV/AIDS presentations of which our Gender and Development Committee (GAD) supports.

(above) Bridge over a river we had to cross to get to a community to give an AIDS/HIV presentation.

(above) Bet you didn't know that the soil is so fertile here that I found this tree that grows kids. Kids almost ready to be picked.

(above) Eating dinner with an indigenous family. The lady was really a lot nicer than the picture makes her seem :)

(above and below) Mid presentation...

Sustainable development - tougher than you may think

2009-09-05T13:13:00.000-07:00

Do you know what August 13th was this year? I'll tell you. It was my one year anniversary of stepping foot in Panama. Thats right. I've already been here over a year. My total service lasts about 26 months and I'm down about 13 so I'm halfway there! To think that I'm halfway to the end of my service kind of scares me. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to go home and continue my normal life but sometimes I ask myself (like now) by the time I have to leave, will I have made a difference like I have come here to make? Will I walk away satisfied with my work and the impact I have made? Will I have trained enough people to truly make my work sustainable?

These are questions that run through my mind all the time and although I have 13 months left, I have to remind myself of something that we all realized while going through training. In many cases, we will leave our communities not knowing the difference we have made. Our impacts on the lives of these Panamanians won't always be apparent in the time frame that we are here to share and live with them. This is always hard to remember because as Americans we grow up in a results oriented world. If you don't deliver the results, nobody can measure your success or productivity. Here in Peace Corps its all about the process. Its how you do things and who/how you teach to be able to "measure your success." I put "measure your success" in quotes because that is another subject all together. How to measure the success of a Peace Corps volunteer is something that Washington has been working on for years and as of right now we have a useful tool for just that but as you can imagine, evaluating Peace Corps volunteers in the work that we do isn't anything that can be set in stone as there are so many variables to each project and each community.

About 28 years ago in my community there was a Swiss nurse that came and taught about the importance of healthcare. Now if you could see my community now which is still pretty rustic, you could only imagine how things were 28 years ago. As I was speaking with one elderly woman about her (now grown) children she mentioned that because of the Swiss nurse's advice on giving birth in a hospital instead of at home, she ended up having her last 2 kids in a hospital. Long story short, one of the babies was in very critical condition, wouldn't come out and had the cord wrapped around her neck. The old woman (who wasn't old at the time) was also in very bad shape and told me that if she wouldn't have taken the advice of the Swiss nurse and gone to have the baby in a hospital, she and her daughter would have died. This is just ONE story from ONE woman on whom this Swiss nurse made a difference. I can go on with other examples about the nurse and about the former volunteer who was in my community for agricultural reasons (I work with businesses and community groups) and the effects that they had on the people of my community. I'm sure that I know more about the difference they made on these people than they themselves ever did.

What I'm trying to say is that I have to continuously remind myself to keep on doing the good work I'm doing without thinking about the long term effect I will have made on this community because unless I go back in 20 years, and even then, I won't know about the differences I've made on other people's lives. Thats hard for me because as I see changes and improvements made, these things motivate me to do more. So because I don't immediately see them, I have to assure myself that the differences I make and the lives I touch will be evident long after I leave.

On a lighter note, here is another glimpse into Panamanian culture as far as some food is concerned. I get a vegetable truck in my site selling great veggies 2-3 times a week but to get fruits I have to buy them hours away and bring them into site or wait for the individual fruit seasons. So far mango season was good to me as I have a huge mango tree in my front yard. The only problem was when the kids would come steal them until I made it a rule to give me one everytime they came to knock them off the tree :) It was pretty convenient to just go outside and pick up my fruit off the ground to eat instead of buying it at the store. Here are some examples of some mangos that were gifted to me. Super grande...

Below is only one of the best new fruits that I have come across called Mamon chino. It doesn't grow in my site but the season is among us and these make their way into the veggie truck as well. This is what the hairy little thing looks like...

To eat it, you tear it open to find an egg shaped seed with juicy jelly-like goodness surrounding it.

As my neighbor Roger demonstrates, you suck on it until you can't anymore and spit out the seed. Super yummy but I think I've eaten way too many this year. I'll hold off for more until next year. It has a sweet taste. coming up very soon is orange and mandarin season. I'm in luck because I have various orange and mandarin trees in my yard. Time to start enforcing my fruit rule with the kids again.

(Below) Who knows what this crop is? Its rice. So part of my job is to integrate myself in the culture and people as much as possible. People don't want to work with the American who shows up and starts bossing people around. They build a respect for the American who works as hard as they do and makes an effort to get to know them and their culture. This strategy helps us as volunteers integrate and have validity when its time to do our own work. This particular activity of integration involved me volunteering to go cosechar arroz (harvest rice) with my host brother. This involved me getting all decked out in my long pants, long sleeves, sombrero, and rubber work boots.

To get here involved about an hour and a half horse ride up and down some mud slippery hills and some breathtaking views that I unfortunately didn't get to take pictures of for fear for my life when I thought the horse was going to break a leg walking down some pretty sketchy slopes full of rocks and send me screaming off the side of the mountain. But no worries, I lived to tell the tale.

(above) This is my host brother. He is about 38 years old and I went with him and a couple other people. You chop the rice off by using a special knife that you hold in one hand.

(above) Here I am with my rice. I should probably give up on wearing hats forever because I end up looking like this or Abe Lincoln. I'm only smiling because I know we are leaving VERY soon. Its really not that bad but when you do it for hours at a time in the hot Panamanian sun, thats a different story.

(above) Here is some of the rice that we harvested. He will bundle them together, put in a bag so they can later be dried out in the sun and then have the women take the rice out of the shell using a "pilon." I'll try to get pictures of this soon.

All in a day's work here in Panama!

It sure has been a minute!

2009-07-08T20:44:00.000-07:00

Ok so yes, I know that it has been forever and a day since my last post so I should have a million updates for you, right? Not really, not much time for that but I will do my best...

Lets start with what I have been promising for a while. My house! So I moved into my own house in March. On a Peace Corps frame of reference, I would say my house is pretty nice. I've adjusted to it and am completely comfortable. I have 2 bedrooms, one of which I use for storage and a main area that spans the width of both bedrooms that I use as a kitchen and a general area. We can't forget my porch which is probably where I spend the most time (the hammock is really the only comfortable seat in the entire house). I had a man in my community build me a bed and its great! I bought a full sized matress and college style fridge (it really was no easy feat to get those things to my house much less my actual site) and I live well. I have my own outdoor latrine and I have one faucet in my front yard that will provide water at least every other day for about 30 minutes, sometimes longer if I'm lucky but since the rain is starting I am starting to have water on a daily basis. Hallelujah! I worry about water a lot less now since the rainy season somewhat started. The longest we went without water in the dry season was 4 or 5 days but luckily there is a natural spring nearby where we also get water. I'm also lucky to be an hour and a half from the nearest city that I could always go buy drinking water if the situation was bad enough but luckily that hasn't been the case. I'll stop yapping and let you see for yourself....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_WTghsZKg8

So you may have noticed a quarter of a million kids on my front porch, that wasn't for effect, I really do have kids come hang out and visit all the time. Is it nice sometimes? Yes. Do I get tired of it sometimes? I'll let you answer that one on your own.

Come to think of it, I don't know if I have given you a breakdown of what I actually work on in my community. My community has a Cooperative which in this case is a store (1 of 5 in the area) that last made a little over $90,000 in sales. We sell dry goods (can food, rice, bread, sugar, cooking oil, etc.), we have a super mini pharmacy area, we sell sandals, meats (pork, chicken, fish, beef) and also a hardware section. There have been some major losses in the last couple of years and questionable administration and also a change in the board of directors. I work basically as a consultant to the Board of Directors, the Vigilance Committee, and the Education Committee working with them on basic business skills and making them think about different perspectives they wouldn't have considered otherwise. We have recently purchased a cash register, the manager quit, we've hired a cashier and new manager and the Board of Directors (here in Panama called the Directiva) are taking a more hands on approach to the business. Changes in profit are yet to be seen but we have high hopes for the rest of this year and the years following.

Other than the store, I am still trying to get my environmental group at the school off the ground but have come across different hurdles that I am trying to deal with. At the school in March, I along with 4 other volunteers conducted an HIV/AIDS Prevention presentation for 7th through 12th graders (about 350 kids) and will soon be doing the same in other schools in nearby communities. I am also involved with Peace Corps Panama Gender and Development group serving on the board of 5 members. As a team we are involved in supporting volunteer projects and training volunteers to train Panamanians in life skills, leadership, promoting gender equality and to host an annual GAD (Gender and Devopment) Conference for Panamanian youth all over the country full of activities to promote self esteem and educate them on the above mentioned life skills and leadership (this will happen next March).

Also since my last post, I have gone to the states to see one of my best friends graduate from grad school in Cali (Go Marc!) and to hang around the Bay Area to celebrate the graduation and back home to spend time with the familia.

(above) The girls and I hanging out doing some wine tasting in Napa Valley!

(Above) The familia. Yes, Daisy (15 yrs old) is still kicking it at home.

I also had a visit from my fiance to celebrate my birthday abroad:

(above) We hiked up from my site to see a nice view :)

Sorry to take forever to post. I'll have some more random stuff for you soon!

Easter in the campo

2009-04-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

Happy late Easter everyone. So this year as my family was getting together for the traditional family reunion with fun filled activities and easter egg hunt in Texas, I was in my community learning all about Catholic Panamanian traditions.

It all started with Palm Sunday where everyone brought palm leaves and attached to them were bags of beans, corn, and other things that the people are getting ready to plant so that the father of this catholic church could bless their future crops for good yield this year. Pic below shows everyone in the park with their palm leaves getting blessed by holy water. I was gifted a palm leaf so the father could bless and then I could keep in my house until next year. I was told it was for the witches...

The Thursday before Easter was a celebration at church that I didn´t go to but was told that various people got their feet washed as a representation of the message. Then on Friday, everyone met at church at 7am to carry a cross that was made by some people in the community to one of the hills in the area. I was told that we got lucky because this year the hill was close by (an almost 2 hr hike).

(above) Here we are about 15 minutes into the walk. Two men are carrying the cross and the rest of those participating from the community (over 100 people) are behind me. You see that peak in the distance? That´s the hill we´re heading to. You may also notice the machinery in the distance as well (we just got a road and they are finishing it up). This is also the road to my house.

(above) Now its the lady´s turn to carry the cross. I went next with another 5 young women.

(above) Almost there.... There are a lot more people you can´t see who haven´t made it up the rocks just yet.

(above) We made it on top, the father gave his last of 14 (yes we stopped 14 times) messages and we sang the last of the songs and said our 14th ¨Our Father¨ prayer, a hole was dug and bing bang batoboom here is the cross on the hill. My house is down there somewhere in the distance.

On Saturday night at 10:30pm to about 1am we had another (the last) church mass of the Easter season where people from all over hiked over 2 hours to come. This was called a fogata and there was a big bon fire.

To experience Easter in another country, in a different religion with different traditions where the people are humble and depend on the land to live was something that I never imagined to experience. An experience like this brings you back to reality so while I as a child was getting dressed up in my Easter dress concerned only with hunting eggs with candy and confetti, there are other children around the world helping their parents get the seeds to the farm ready to be blessed by the father so that they can have enough food to eat throughout the year. Just one of the MANY experiences that has and will shape me for the rest of my life.

Aquí en la lucha

2009-03-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

I thought that I would take the time to make this blog a reflection on my experience here and my journey through Peace Corps up to this point...

April 11 will mark 8 months since I have moved out of the United States. Where these 8 months, have gone, you ask? Only God knows. Contrary to the answer you will get when asking my mom or my fiancé if this time has gone by fast, I can honestly say that this time has blown by. Day to day, it seemed slow especially in the first 5 months but taking a step back and realizing that in just 4 months I will have been living abroad for 1 year, the idea still amazes me.

Let´s be completely honest here, it has taken me the majority of these 8 months to get used to living far away from friends and family, to be stripped of all comforts while at the same time being forced to adjust to new ones. I´ve had to get used to living and working in a completely different culture speaking a different language, and I´ve grown close to fellow volunteers from all over the US who are fighting the same battles I am, both physically and emotionally, all over the great country of Panama. I can´t say that I am completely used to everything even at this point but I am adjusted and continually adjusting. Thats one of the many things that I have learned this far. You never really know what you are capable of doing until you try and I´ve surprised myself many times this far reminding myself that. I´ve learned that you can adjust to just about anything as long as you try and of course with my good friend ¨time.¨

On top of dealing with a new life, one thing that has been difficult to adjust to is hearing about friends and family and their triumphs and tribulations whether it be a new significant other, a new marriage, a new job, a new degree, a new hobby, losing a job, losing loved ones.... I think to myself, ¨I´m missing out on so much, everyone and everything is changing without me and I´m missing it all.¨ I´ve had a new revelation recently as I look over these last 8 months: I would be lying if I said that I haven´t changed and I´m the same person I was 8 months ago when I stepped onto that plane to leave everything I knew was safe and secure.

I´ve learned so much more about myself in this process, many perspectives have changed, there has been many times where I stop and either look at the scenery (looking out on the mountains/animals/people as I travel down the mountain from my community to Panama´s main highway -or- resting after climbing/scaling rocks/hiking to look up at an amazing waterfall which makes the pain in my legs worth it -or- waiting at a bus stop for 3 hours but not minding at all because nothing but the beautiful view of mountains and the continental divide surround me and that dirt road, I could pick from a million sights) or stop and think about what a mess I´ve gotten myself into and just laugh because never in a million years would I have pictured myself in a 3rd world country having to deal with some of the things I deal with over here (taking a day trip to the nearest city and after spending the better part of the day on the internet and eating a good meal, making the mistake to go grocery shopping before I look for a fridge and finding out that I needed to go to multiple stores to get the cheapest fridge but now I can´t because my groceries weigh a ton and like hell I´m going to lug all this stuff around OR pay a taxi to take me everywhere PLUS make it back to the bus terminal in time to catch a bus to my mountain entrance BEFORE the last truck makes the last trip of the day up the mountain to my community WHILE at the same time sweating my butt off walking in the Panamanian heat -or- jumping out of bed at 6:15am because the water came today and if I don´t hurry and fill my buckets with water for the next 20 minutes, I won´t have water to cook, wash dishes, drink, or bathe for the next 2 days without having to get water from the creek nearby) . So needless to say, as everything is changing back home, I am going through many experiences over here and growing mentally and emotionally at the same time.

The fact that I only have a year and a half left, you may think it sounds like a long time but with the plans that I have for my community, I now understand why the commitment is as long as it is. I feel like I am barely standing back up on my feet after having everything ripped out from under me and that took 8 months! So even though I am doing well, there still exists day to day frustrations that are quite annoying and there isn´t one day that goes by that I don´t think about home, my family, close friends, and the love of my life but overall, I´m on my feet here in Panama and as we say over here ¨Aquí en la lucha¨ (here in the fight/doing my thing/doing what I can). It has been an incredible experience (these soon to be 8 months) and I can´t wait for what the next year and a half have in store for all of us.

Thanks for your continued support and don´t think that since I am in another country, we can´t talk on the phone. I have cell reception about 95% of the time depending on travel situations. My cell number is posted on the top left hand corner of the screen and for you lazies out there, email works too ;) Below are some photos of random events that help keep us all sane down here on the isthmus. I hope you are challenging yourself in whatever you do because without the challenges, how can you know your true potential?

Much love from Panamá!

-Dor

(above) Friends hanging out during training many moons ago.

(above) Hanging out at the beach hechando cuentas (telling stories).

(above) Celebrating at an Indian restaurant in Panama City after we ¨officially¨ became Peace Corps volunteers.

(above) The guys who dared to go against the ladies in a game the night before are here fulfilling their punishment for losing by wearing bikini bottoms and taking a dip in the ocean.

(above) Celebrating a birthday!

(above) Visiting Dylan´s site and using his hot plate to make tacos because he hadn´t bought a gas tank yet.

(above) Some of the gorgeous ladies of group 62 hanging out on the beach.

(above) Three of my neighbors after I told them to smile big so I could see their teeth.

Me? A Teacher? Who decided that?

2009-03-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

Hello my deprived fans. I have been in my site for officially 2 months now and I can honestly say that I am happy to be there. My site is pretty big in scope and divided into several sectors. To get from the sector I live in to the center of the community, I hike about 15 minutes up and down hills. I realize that I haven´t done a great job of hanging out in the other sectors as much as I should but that´s what I´ll be working on over the next year and 9 months, right?

So to get familar with the kids in the community before school starts (Panamanian school year is March-December but for some reason the government pushed the start date to April this year), to be productive and pass time, and to help my name spread throughout the community, I started a short 3 week English course. In the mornings for 2 hours I teach 6-10 yr olds and in the afternoon I teach 11-17 yr olds. My class in the morning averages over 30 kids and the afternoon class averages to 20 students per class.

In latin american culture, its generally acceptable to show up late. If you tell someone to show up at 8am, showing up at 8:45 is pretty normal. They made sure to warn us about this during training since it directly applied to Panamanian culture. I´ll tell you what, these kids are really excited about English class because for my 9am class, I see kids passing my house on the way to my class when I´m standing in my pajamas outside brushing my teeth at 8:20! Its not unusual for some kids to come to my house and hang out while I finish getting ready and then we walk to class together.
(Above) Here is a pic of my morning kiddos.

So although I didn´t come to Panama to teach English, its a great way to get integrated into the community and my original perspective on teaching still remains... not the profession for me :)

You may have noticed that I mentioned my house. Yes fans, I HAVE MOVED INTO MY OWN HOUSE! I won´t dare put photos up until it is properly decorated so you might have to wait until the next post to see it. Having my privacy back after 7 months of being without it is absolutely amazing. Until next time... chao!

2009-02-26T06:12:00.001-08:00

Running low on time but I wanted to update you at least with a couple of pictures... enjoy!! I promise I´ll have more for you next time.

(above) So in addition to witnessing the killing of chickens, here is the first time I saw them kill a pig. They tied him up, stabbed him in the neck and drained the blood. In the background you see a pot of boiling water that is poured on the dead pig to make the hair easier to scrape off. Lets just say we all ate pork for a good couple of days after that.

(above) This is one of the ways that my community celebrates Los Carnavales which is a big celebration here in Panama equivalent to Mardi Gras. Usually most people go to the big cities and party in the streets and get drenched by the culecos who spray water everywhere but here in my site, they built this pen out of bamboo to ride the bulls/cows or as they call them, ¨Vaca Brava¨ (Mad cow). This went on for 3 days with dances at night time. Everyone was surprised that I knew how to dance their dance called Típico. Good times.

(above) This hill wasn`t a lot of fun to climb and at this point I still had another 20 minutes to go but I couldn´t complain about the view. This is about 25 minutes in a truck up the mountain from my site.

Peace Corps Lifestyle Moments - 1st edition

2009-01-25T12:03:00.000-08:00

Ok fans, as promised...(drum roll please)...welcome to Peace Corps Lifestyle Moments - 1st ed. To reiterate, PC lifestyle moments will focus on randomly selected aspects of my lifestyle and thoughts surrounding the topic of discussion. For our first segment we will give our attention to the latrine or as we here in Panama like to call it, the ¨servicio.¨ I have included a picture of my host family´s latrine for your viewing pleasure.

Peace Corps Lifestyle Moments-

Holding your bladder throughout the night to avoid getting up in the cold (yes cold) and walking through the dangers of snakes and all kinds of night rodents including the roaches waiting for you in the latrine.
Seeing all the roaches and not really caring at this point. You made it all the way here, when you got to go, you got to go.
As you sleepily stumble to the latrine which requires you walking up a hill with a million places to trip, you startle awake at the sound of a giant pig snorting as he sleeps (after which you find another route to your destination).
Stepping out of the latrine to realize that a horse is blocking your path back to the house.
Thanking God that when you dropped your flashlight it hit the ground and didn´t go down the hole leaving you to trek back to the house through the woods Blair Witch style.
Having your host mom offer you a bowl to pee in so you don´t have to worry about getting to the latrine at 2am. You know, in case you like the idea of everyone in the house waking up to the sound of your pee in a bowl.
Realizing all the gallons of water I´ve saved since I don´t have to flush (priceless).

********************************************************************************

I hope to have more lifestyle moments in the near future but let me take some time to show you more pics from my new site.

(above) This is my host family´s house. The family consists of an elderly couple with their 2 adult sons, and 2 adult daughters with their combined 5 kids. The only reason I have my own room is because one of the daughters and her 2 kids are in Panama City for the time being. I live in an area of the community where the closest 20 houses are all family of my host family in some form or fashion. This includes about enough kids for me to start a school which I WON´T be doing.

(above) This is a waterfall that took us about an hour to hike/climb to. Serious climbing and hiking I´ll go ahead and add there. I was sore for about a week afterward.

(above) So I asked some of the kids to get me some mandarinas (mandarin oranges) and before I new it, I had them climbing trees. The background shows sugar cane and banana trees but I swear there is a manadarina tree right next to where I was standing to take the pic.

(above) Time for a culture lesson. In the campo (interior part of the country where people live off the land far from any major city) people host whats called a junta (pronounced hoonta) where they will provide chicha (pronounced cheecha, juice of some sort, in this case, with alcohol in it) and invite men in the community to help them with a project needing a lot of manual labor. In this case, the pit for the old latrine was getting pretty full of you know what (yes, trust me I KNOW how gross that it) so they dug a new hole (about 9 ft deep) and moved the latrine. All fresh and deep!

(above) So I would like to make this blog a little more interactive and besides creating my PC Lifestyle Moments, I would like to introduce you to this chicken. She has a very unique hair do which makes me crack up each time it rains because it just looks like she has had a long hard day. I have been calling her Shirley in the mean time but I wanted to get some input from the fans on ideas for her name. I have already received the suggestion of Elvis Poultry (wa.wa.waaa...) but would like some more suggestions. Comment on the blog and get me some good names!

(above) These are some of the kids playing Loteria which is a game played similarly to bingo. It comes from Mexico and is in Spanish so the kids love it. My mom sent it and in the month that I have been in my site, there has probably been 2 days max that the kids haven´t asked me to borrow the game to play.
(above) Me taking advantage of the scenery and the time I had to take pictures while waiting for the next truck to take me to my site which ended up being 2.5 hours. I was up the mountain visiting my closest PC volunteer neighbors.

And last but definitely not least...

(above) Me with my future husband.

Things are starting to look up.

2009-01-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

Hello there fans. This blog entry will not be anything close to what I want to post since my time is severely limited but to give you a quick update. I am doing absolutely fabulous. For the first time in over 5 months, I am genuinely glad to be here and feel like I am getting the Peace Corps experience that I wanted. I live in a community of about 500 people. I have to walk a lot on many hills, I have some great mountain views, the people are really great (meaning nice and open), and for being in site for a little under 3 weeks, I already feel so much better than I did at my old place.

My new host family consists of an elderly couple with their 3 adult children living at home. The surrounding 15 to 20 houses are also family relatives so that makes it really easy to meet a lot of other people. I actually have my own room in the house which is amazing. The house is made of mud up to about 3 feet then wood boards the rest of the way and of course the typical zinc roof. I will have to post pictures later. This is also the first time in my life that I live without a refrigerator which surprisingly isn´t that big of a deal but when I get my own place in March, I hope to have one for myself. The water situation is pretty much the same as my old site. There is one faucet outside of the house and the water comes once a day in the morning so when it actually comes, we fill buckets with water and use that for everything we need during that day.

My mom sent me some bingo cards so I have started to play with the kids who now use rocks to mark their cards after first attempting to use dry corn kernels but getting tired of the chickens sabotaging our games trying to eat the bingo markers! I´m in the process of making some bingo cards to help teach the kids english vocab before they go back to school.

I have to go now but I want to let you know that I am going to start a segment on my blog called Peace Corps Lifestyle Moments where I will descriptively talk about various experiences that I have gone through as a Peace Corps volunteer. It´ll be great, look forward to it. So long for now my friends. Please note the new cell phone number on the left side of the screen.

Take Two!

2008-12-30T07:33:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and everything else that I´ve missed out on. So I start my new job today... meaning I finally move to a new site. This one is a complete about face from my last site. Full of hills, mountain views, hiking, some mud houses ... somewhere you would expect to find a Peace Corps volunteer. Get excited! It´ll be great.

I will have more details and hopefully some pics for my next post but just wanted to let you know that I am no longer a Panamanian nomad. Time to start the awkardness of getting acquainted with another family and community. Hopefully this will be the last time that I have to do that and the next move will be to my own place in March!

You know your perspective on life has changed when you get excited about your new host family building a brand new latrine. Just one of the perks in my new site.

Homeless in Panama...

2008-12-09T10:42:00.000-08:00

Hello fans. I have some bad news to inform you about this holiday season. So because of safety and security reasons, Peace Corps Panama has taken me out of my community and is in the process of finding me another site. As of right now, I don´t know when a new site will be developed or where I will be placed. I left my community this past Saturday after the Mother´s Day party that my community counterpart and I planned with kids in the community (Mother´s Day here in Panama was on Dec. 8). It was a pretty sad farewell and in the days leading up to my departure and since I´ve been gone, I´ve realized that I was much more connected and integrated into my community than I thought I was.

So what does this all mean you may ask? It means that my host mom/counterpart who fought for a year to get a Peace Corps volunteer in the community is left with many questions as to why I am leaving. It means that all the kids that I had built a relationship with in the community are left slightly disheartened and discouraged to see me leave which absolutely kills me. It means that I am stuck in a hotel until I can get to a new site (which is by no means a problem because I am definitely enjoying the running hot water and air condition). It means that I have to go through the awkwardness of moving in with another host family and starting the 3 months of living with a family all over again before I can move out on my own. It means that another community will get the expertise of a Peace Corps volunteer who wouldn´t have otherwise had one this soon if at all. It means a new start for me which I am incredibly excited and a little apprehensive about at the same time. I´ll update you as soon as I know anything. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers in the mean time.

I´ve included some pics for your Panamanian enjoyment.

Have a great holiday season everyone and never take your blessings (including your friends and family= for granted.

(above) On an island near my old community - the house in the background was built with the help of a former Peace Corps volunteer´s efforts with USAID to provide shelter to the local volunteers (Panamanians) who assisted with sea turtle conservation on the island.

(above) On the way back to the Port from the island I had to take a pic of the mangroves striking a pose. Doesn´t this look crazy?

(above) You know I had to include a random shot. My clothes drying with the platanos overhead. Colorful bunch.

(above) Here is a shot from the Mother´s Day party this past Saturday. We were playing a game called Taxi.

(above) You know that water ride at theme parks where you sit in a log and go down a little water way? This is so much BETTER than that. You can´t see it here but they are riding on a banana leaf! This was a couple of days ago in Bugava at a creek in the area.

(2 pics above) Me drinking pipa (coconut juice) with a family (this picture show about 8% of the family that was actually there celebrating mother´s day- it reminded me of mine own family on Easter weekend).

Thanksgiving Peace Corps Style :)

2008-12-01T08:01:00.000-08:00

So much to everyone´s surprise, we didn´t have to chase a turkey down in the yard to kill it for our Thanksgiving dinner :)

Depending in how big of a city you are in (and how many foreigners are in the area), the bigger local grocery stores have many things you wouldn´t expect to find in Panama around Thanksgiving time since they don´t celebrate it here and some people even asked me if our ¨Dia de Gracias¨ was like their Christmas... which I kindly explained that it wasn´t.

So I traveled to another city to hang out with friends that I hadn´t seen a month or so and this was the fabululous result. We had a great turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, salad, sweet potatoes, wine... it was great. It was almost as great as it would´ve been had I been with my family but definitely one for the memory books.

It was great to be with other Americans celebrating our yearly tradition. Much thanks to Fred (far right in the photo above) who basically cooked everything even down to homemade pumpkin pie! Happy Thanksgiving from Peace Corps Panama!

Flooding in Panama

2008-11-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

Please pray for the people in the Bocas del Toro, Chiriqui, and Comarca provinces of Panama. There is some serious flooding with rivers spilling over their banks and many people are losing their homes. Peace Corps Panama is also working on evacuating the volunteers in the heavily affected and high risk areas. Please keep us in your prayers. I´m blessed that my area is not affected.

Panamanian culture and I

2008-11-24T12:13:00.000-08:00

So as November is the month of Patria (Panama celebrates its independence from Spain and Columbia) lets take a blog post to appreciate some cultural traditions of Panama. As I´ve already mentioned, Panama has a million holidays this month including many many desfiles (parades). Panamanians still think its odd that we don´t have desfiles this month except one. Macy´s Thanksgiving Day parade counts even though I never actually go but enjoy it from the TV screen while my mom and I are in the kitchen preparing for our Thanksgiving meal.

Anyway, the women dress in traditional Panamanian attire called Polleras (po-ye-ras). See pics below. They also wear decorative hair pieces called tembleques. These were taken at various parades that I´ve been to this month.

(above shot plus the 3 following shots) These were taken at my training site for a different kind of parade a little over a month ago.

Wait for it.... Wait for it....

(above) SURPRISE!! I got to dress up for a night of Patria we had at my host mom´s church the other night! I loved it and the whole church gave me an applause for choosing to dress in traditional Panamanian attire :)

And yes, a couple hours later I had the biggest headache with all that stuff on my head. I couldn´t wait to get it off. I don´t know how these girls walk and dance for hours in parades with all this stuff on!

(above) Here I am with my host sister and her daughter.

(above) I´m holding my friend´s niece. Baby pollera!

At every parade I went to I always told the people I was with that before these 2 years are up, I was going to dress up in a pollera. Didn´t know that it was going to be this soon! Next time I´m going for a more colorful one and less hair pieces ;)

Zzzz... Earthquake!!!!

2008-11-21T08:34:00.000-08:00

On November 19th a little after 1am I felt my first earthquake of my life. Pretty cool that my first earthquake ever was in Panama. So this is why I can never live in California (sorry Liz, I can never be your roomy if you make it out there).

So for those of you who know me well, you know that I can basically fall asleep anywhere and at that, fall into a pretty deep sleep. I won´t advertise the different places that I have managed to fall asleep but believe it or not, fans, it wasn´t the earthquake that woke me up. What woke me up was my host brother running into the room screaming to get up. I think he had been yelling at least a couple times before I sat up in bed still thinking I was in a dream where there was a train or a plane (couldn´t decide which) on top of the house making a deafening noise and making everything shake all over the place.

When I realized what was actually going on, it stopped and then I laid back down and fell soundly asleep. No big deal... I thought. Apparently the epicenter was really close to my town with a magnitude of 6.2. Pretty big deal to sleep through, huh? Thanks for waking me up Dennis! Thanks to him I can´t officially add earthquakes to my list of circumstances I can sleep through, good thing :) because having an earthquake on that list WOULD be a reason for embarassment unlike the rest of them. For more info on my Panamanian earthquake...

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/11/19/panama.quake/index.html

Thats all the updates for now my friends. Until next time, I promise I´ll make the next one a good one. Stay tuned...

Much love from Panama.

1st of Many Successes

2008-11-12T15:09:00.000-08:00

This picture is as recent as it gets around here. I took this picture 2 days ago as I walked through the city of David visiting agencies and finding the post office which of course didn´t have the package I´ve been waiting on for over 2 weeks. Anyway, no incredibly huge news going on. The 11th of this month marked the 3 months that I have been out of the U.S. Speaking of other time frames, I have been in my site for about 3 weeks and have definitely come across some issues. To not go into too much detail, I am dealing with issues of reorganization, motivation, communication, broken promises, bad influences, religion, and a sense of community. I AM glad to report that yesterday I had the best day that I´ve had here in Panama because for the first time I felt that I was needed at my site and I felt confirmation and affirmation in my purpose of even being here - to make a difference.

To not expand into too many details, lets just say that after a meeting I had yesterday, a group of adults walked away energized, motivated, and willing to tackle the internal problems that existed within the group but had never been acknowledged or discussed until I facilitated the interaction between the members. At the end of the day, my host mom who also happens to be a member of this group gave me a hug and told me that I had no idea what I did today and that for years, they have tried to do something like this but have never succeeded and it took me to open everyone´s eyes to push forward. She also said that after every meeting she would be so enraged and come home to cry out her frustrations but after the meeting yesterday, she left with such a feeling of peace.

I call yesterday the first of my many successes. As my internet time is running out, here are some pics that I thought you fans would enjoy. Much love from Panama.

(above) This is a desfile (pronounced des-fee-le for all my non spanish speaking fans out there) that took place in David last week celebrating Panamas independence from Colombia. This month is jammed pack with Panamanian holidays...seriously. The guys in the pic are wearing uniforms with the colors and theme of the flag of Chiriqui, my province. That day it was raining so bad and these kids walked for hours in the downpour. Nothing like Chiriqui pride! Mecho!

(above) Angela, Andrea and I (among at least 30 other Peace Corps volunteers) are hanging out in David to see the elections. Obama had all our support all the way from Panama! We went to a restaurant in a casino where they actually let us listen to the TVs in english and then in the middle of Obama´s acceptance speech the casino turned the sound off and cheesy dancers perfomed their choreographed routing on stage to entertain the rest of the patrons since I´m sure they were bored with the english speaking TVs and all the crazy gringos dancing all over the place celebrating Obama´s win.

(above) This is a bracelet that the family of one of my cooperative kids made for me. Isn´t it great?!

(above) Why did the chicken cross the road? (Because I made my friend Dylan chase it so I could take a picture of a chicken crossing the road...)

(above) This picture was a special request from my Grandpa who wanted to see a Panamanian pig. Love you Grandpa!

(above) A shot I took within the 1st month of being here in Panama. I call it Two Worlds. The crazy development of Panama city in the background while the art of the indigenous people in the foreground.

Guess who is official?

2008-10-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

So last Wednesday, 10/22/08, 34 of us were sworn in by the US ambassador as Peace Corps Volunteers. I wasn´t necessarily expecting to feel anything different afterward but it did feel good to finally be "official." Ten weeks of training are finally over and do I feel prepared you ask... only time will tell. I´ve been on my own in my new site, with my new host family (Hostmom and 3 sons ages 27-30) for the last 5 days, bucket baths and all. The family is great. They are very outgoing, religious, well rounded people. A couple of the guys also seem to think that its funny to talk spanish so fast that I can´t understand. Here is a conversation I had with Dennis (the middle brother) yesterday:
______________________________________________

Dennis: (asking me a question that I couldn´t understand)

Me: What?

(repeat the above 3 times)

Me: You know I can´t understand you when you talk that fast! Say it slower!

Dennis: (trying to be smart about it) This is how Panamanians talk. You´re going to have to get used to it.

Me: Well you´re just going to have to get used to repeating yourself 5 times when you talk that fast to me.

(laughter in the background from everyone else)

__________________________________________

It was actually pretty funny. But my spanish is really getting better thank God. In my site, the people aren´t as friendly and open as people in a small village where a lot of other volunteers are placed or even as the people in the community where we trained. The people here wouldn´t have any patience for someone with minimal spanish skills.

So a little more about my site and living conditions... Due to regulations I can´t publish where exactly my site is but its a small town where everyone lives in houses. Sorry to disappoint all of you who thought I was going to live in a mud hut or for one of you in particular who assumed my new home would be a teepee for the next two years. I do have electricity and since the guys in my house like to watch sports, they pay for cable so believe it or not, I get CNN en Español anytime I want! Water comes once a day and we have a small machine called a bombo that pumps the water into the house. Behind the house we fill three 25 gallon jugs with the water and thats what we use to wash dishes, bathe, flush the toilet (I do have an indoor bathroom) and whatever else we need. My site is extremely accessible unlike some other volunteers who have to hike over an hour to get to the nearest bus. The bus stops once an hour in front of my house and if I want to catch another bus that runs every 15 minutes or so, I just have to walk for about 10 minutes to catch it. I also get cell reception at all times so purchase your international calling cards and give me a call!

Here are some pics for your enjoyment. Hasta pronto, pues.

(above) The beautiful women of group 62 ranging in ages from 22 to 30.

(above) The dashing gentlemen of group 62 ranging in ages from 23 to somewhere above 50.

(above) The US Ambassador speaking to us in impressive Spanish. Panama flag in the middle back there.

(above) To celebrate our swearing in we went to an Indian restaurant in Panama. Here are the cool kids who chose to sit in the room where you had to sit on the floor Indian style!

(above) After indian food, we went to karaoke bar! I believe my hips weren´t lying as Jodi and I sang Shakira!

(above and below) So I forgot to mention that to celebrate our swearing in, our whole group went to a beach for 3 days. It was amazing and a lot of fun.

(above) The pensive dog on the beach. He was deep in thought and I wanted to capture it :)

(above) So you should know by this time I like to try to be artistic. This pic as well as the pensive dog were the artistic shots.

(above) This is the house where I will be living with my host family for the next 3 months.

(above) This is the view from the porch. If you remember the view from my old porch with my host family (scroll down), this view is A LOT different.

Fishing for crabs!

2008-10-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

So here are the fishing pictures that I haven't had time to post. This was prob about a month ago. Beautiful, huh? Walking through the knee deep mud and water up to my neck was still worth the trip. Oh and no cracks about my borrowed hat, I was called Abe Lincoln all morning! Long sleeves were for the bugs.

Nutrition: Carbs and Fried Foods

2008-10-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

The title of this blog will resonate with anyone who has lived in the campo in Panama. Today we had a presentation with the medical office about nutrition here in Panama. The first slide said something to the effects of the average Panamanian food being carbs and fried foods. For instance, as we have all experienced, it's not uncommon to sit down for breakfast to a plate of fried bread called hojaldre and a fried hotdog called salchicha. We don´t even wince anymore... its common. Nor do we wince when we are presented with a plate of spagetti with a side of rice. Food is food, right? Don´t get me wrong, I still manage to get through it by eating as little as possible. All of my host families that I have lived with stare at me with wonder as I serve myself half a serving of rice after they have all covered their entire plate with it. Here in Panama, rice is not a side, its the basis and staple of the entire meal. When I get back to the states, I don't know if I will ever eat rice again. I will also probably eat salads for a good couple of months after I get back as well because salads are not easy to come by.

Okay enough about me complaining about my lack of a well rounded diet here on to business...

So I have visited the place where I will be living for the next 2 years. I will be working with different community organizations but first of all I will be working with a youth cooperative. The way I describe a youth cooperative is like a student organization. By next April there should be about 70 youth cooperatives in Panama. They teach young Panamanians all about leadership, managing money, life skills, self esteem, project management...basically skills that they otherwise wouldn´t be learning in school. It also gives them an outlet to be creative and keep them from negative influences that could exist in their communities. The coop that I will work with has many different projects going on including mangrove reforestation project, a computer center (that needs a lot of work), and a small store (also a lot of work needed). I met with them this weekend and its pretty apparent that they all need motivation and a breath of fresh air in this coop. A lot of them are excited that I´m there to work with them and I really am too. I´ll keep you updated on other projects as they come up. I also plan on teaching Junior Achievement at the local school.

On another note, I got updates on the UT OU game this weekend... Hook 'em Horns!

One intestinal infection later...

2008-09-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! So the last couple of weeks have really taken a toll on me! The last 2 weeks involve eating lunch in Costa Rica, milking a cow and getting shit on, touring a coffee finca (farm) getting an intestinal infection and spending the night in the hospital, many many stomach problems, throwing up a couple times, drudging over an hour through knee deep mud to go fishing, traveling all over Panama meeting all kinds of wonderful people and teaching Junior Achievement to young kids, learning to dance Tipico which is the popular dance here and going to "relax" at the beach with friends (thats all I can remember for now but here are some pics to illustrate). Love you guys and again, I am so sorry that I have been in and out of reception so it´s not the easiest to communicate but pretty soon I will have somewhat of a routine.

(above) My host sister and I pose for a pic after I give her this blow up globe for her birthday. She absolutely loved it (Thanks Mom!)
(Above) My friend Andrea and I who got up early to enjoy the sunrise.

(above) After a long 2 weeks of traveling and surving on not the greatest food, we all decided to meet up at a beach. Beautiful, huh? This is Las Lajas in the province of Chiriqui.

(above) So this is my host family and I about 2 days ago. We were celebrating the oldest girls 12th birthday for which they waited 3 days after the birthday for me to be able to celebrate with them as well. I couldnt have asked for a better host family. Love them to death.

(above) Im on the left if you cant tell. This was on a hike in a coffee finca (farm) but at this point we stopped for a second in a bamboo forest.

(above) So Ive seen (up to this point) 5 chickens being killed and have helped take the guts out and separate the chicken parts. I dont look at chickens the same anymore. Dont know if Ive mentioned that chickens are everywhere and at one point, the house where I was staying had a dirt floor kitchen (eating/cooking area) where the chickens came in and out and at any given meal I had at least a couple of pollos staring up at me as I ate their friends...sad.

(above) Check out this cutie. Right by my right elbow is where we are cooking sancocho (chicken and ñame soup) while in the mean time I had a dancing partner to help pass the time. The bench on the left of the picture is a tree trunk split in half.

(above) Is this not the funniest thing youve ever seen? Ok prob not the funniest but it was worth the pic. This is in David.

(above) First time that I milked a cow. It actually pretty gross and wouldnt mind if I never had to do it again. This was also only a few minutes before it shit on me and I took off running!

(above) This is my attempt at being artistic with my picture taking. I was sitting on a bus on the way to a city on the Costa Rican border at a bus stop. Pretty rustic.

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

Now is a time when I feel a little homesick. Not because I am having a bad time or can´t hande Panama, but because I feel like I should be home with all my fellow Houstonians going through everything their going though before/during/aftermath of Hurricane Ike. I know that me being home wouldn´t exactly accomplish anything for the city per se but I want to be with the people I love during this time. I feel pretty helpless from Panama and I absolutely cling to all world news I can get (not much) to keep me updated. For all Houstonians out there, know that you´re getting prayers from Panama and I´m glad that from what I hear, my friends and family are safe. Talk to you soon.

Host Family

2008-09-07T12:25:00.001-07:00

Here are my host sisters (11, 9, and 6). I absolutely love them to death and they are really getting attached to me. Makes me miss my twin cousins at home. I don´t really have much time to write a lot but I will say that I am slowly but surely introducing them to American food. This past week I made tacos which they had no idea what they were but absolutely loved them after some hesitation in trying them and this morning I made french toast. I don´t really think they liked it but were trying to be nice to me anyway. Thats ok, its not like all the Panamanian food I´ve eated has sit well with me. Till next time!

Hi everyone!

2008-09-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

So here are some pics of my time here in Panama. Hope you enjoy! I'm adjusting better and better everyday and I will let you know that I am slowly but surely becoming a better packer than I have ever been. I traveled to another community in Panama for 4 days with nothing but a backpack. For those of of you who are familiar with my packing strategies, you know that it was a small step for mankind but a HUGE one for me. I'm learning more and more about the culture and definitely practicing my spanish but each time I learn a new Panamanian word, I think to myself that all my spanish speaking family and friends are going to laugh when I come back with this vocab! Start preparing, guys!

I love you and miss you all. Enjoy the pics and please keep me updated on your lives back home! Just bc I'm out of the country doesn´t mean I don't think about y'all all the time!

Chao, pues.

This is the house that I live in with my host family (above). The grass is called grama. There are dirt spots because people dig it up and sell it. I makes for a pretty bumpy/hilly walk to the house.

This is the view from my front porch (above). The thatch roof is called a rancho. These neighbors have a hammock hanging under there. Check out the rain clouds in the back. It rains everyday.

This is what packing for 2 years looks like! I actually managed! (above)

(above) We hiked to a waterfall in our community. As you can tell, living in Panama has resulted to me wearing glasses all over again. Feels just like 7th grade again ;)

This is a couple of us with kids from a youth cooperative (above). We took them to a national park where they learned about conservation and protecting the environment. We hiked up to this place where you can see both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Here is a shot of one the oceans, not sure which one but beautiful anyway (below). You can see where its raining.

(above) Don't worry, this tarantula was a lot bigger in real life than in actually looks in the picture. I took this pic just seconds before a Panamanian hacked it to pieces with his machete.

Im Here!

2008-08-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

So Ive arrived in Panama and am doing really well. The food and variety thereof is a bit different but Im handling it really well. During these first 10 weeks of training they have us pretty busy and I don´t have all the time in the world to access the internet so I promise to right more soon! My spanish is really improving and its fun to learn all the idioms of Panama. I miss everyone SO much and am constantly on an emotional roller coaster but am overall really excited to be here. This is going to be an experience of a lifetime.