Guess who is official?

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:
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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)

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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!

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

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...

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

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

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!

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.