6 Ways I’ve changed in the first 6 months

In honor of passing the 6 month mark in Panama (July 11^th to be exact) I am going to write a list of 6 ways that I have changed since setting out on this journey 6 months ago.  And for the record, this is 6 months since the day I arrived in Panama for training, as opposed to 6 months from the day I got to my site (I am just about hitting the

1.       I will eat just about anything. . .seriously. . .liver, fried hot dogs, spam (not gonna lie, fried hot dogs and rice/fried spam and rice aren’t too bad lol), mystery meat, meat that has been sitting out for multiple days, sardines, water from questionable sources (I believe this is how I ended up sick for three weeks though. . .soooo I should PROBABLY be a little more cautious with that), cereal that has become ant infested (just pour it out of the bag, pick out the ants and wa-la. . .good as new), soup that is filled with ants (my host mom’s comment after I told her, “oh, I THOUGHT the bones I used to make the soup were filled with ants, oops”), and really anything that people decide to feed me. 

2.       Physical- This will be lumped together as one lol

a.       I am the tanest I have been in my entire life. . .no joke.  I have an awesome choco tan line on my feet, and a pretty good farmer tan.  My stomach however, glows in the dark lol. . .guess I gotta head to the beach a bit more J

b.      My hair is the longest it has been at least since senior year of high school, possibly in my entire life.  Also probably the lightest in color that it has been in a long time. 

c.       I am becoming quite buff. . .seriously. . .my arm muscles are getting intense.  This is thanks to pealing rice, corn and coffee, grinding corn and coffee, carrying tons of crap (luggage during the first few months, now mail and groceries and other necessities from the city to my town and full gas tanks to my house), transportation (yes, it is an arm workout, traveling in converted pick up trucks on mountain roads requires a lot of upper body strength), running hills (my poor legs, which are also getting more muscular, need all the help they can get), hand washing my clothes (solid hour plus of an arm workout every week haha).

3.       I’m much more independent- pretty self-explanatory considering where I am and what I’m doing 

4.       I have no fear of dogs.  Seriously.  During training I was still a little skittish, now, I don’t even get the tiniest bit nervous.  Odd, considering many people in my community have a fear of the dogs around here, leaches do not exist, nor do fences really.  But I have learned to just scream “YA!” and fake to throw a rock at them, or pick up a stick and threaten them.  Yes, for all you dog lovers out there I know this seems pretty mean. . .but dogs here are not like dogs in the states, and the people here do not treat them the same way either.  In turn, every dog here is conditioned to fear being hit. . .I have never hit a dogs, but if it tries to bite me all bets are off. 

5.       I go to bed early, and wake up early, and I love it.  I get into my bed at about 7pm every night. . .seriously.  With no electricity most people head to bed at about this time, they may not go to sleep right away, many listen to the radio, but 7 is a pretty normal bedtime.  Once it gets dark, the bugs come out in full force, so I also like being able to tuck myself into my mosquito net as soon as the sun is gone lol.  I then usually read for an hour or two before going to sleep.  I wake up at 5:45am every day, I don’t even need my alarm anymore, and head out for a run before it is too hot and when there are less cars on the road/less people out so the cat calls/honking/hissing are at a minimum lol.  And I do mean I do this every day, weekends included. 

6.       And of course, I have to mention this one. . .my Spanish is getting pretty good.  No, it is not perfect, yes, I still find myself smiling and nodding sometimes, but I have had some solid hour long, storytelling conversations with community members.  I have also been able to tell my own stories, even make people laugh.  All of this is solid proof that my Spanish is coming along.  Can’t say the same for my English though, definitely getting worse ha. 

And that my friends, is a little look into the new, Panamanian me J Crazy to think I have already been here for half a year. . .

What I HAVE been doing for the last 3.5 months. . .and what I WILL be doing for the next 20.5

As I think I have explained before, the first 3 months in site are really just to get to know the community, work on your language proficiency, learn the culture and have people get use to your presence.  After three months you have a meeting where you invite all of your community and the agencies you will be working with (for me that is ANAM, they are the ministry of the environment) and my APCD (i.e. peace corps boss) comes.  Kind of intimidating to say the least. . .I was one of the last people out of my training group to have my meeting, hence it being closer to 4 months in than 3.  But. . .I’m happy to say it is over, and went pretty well I think. 

It was supposed to begin at 10am, of course there were about 2 people there at 10.  But by 10:45 there were over 30 members of my community (plus an assortment of children), the ANAM person from Cope (the closest reasonable sized town that has real stores and some Fondas which are kind of restaurants) and the ANAM person from Penonome (my nearest city).  I was quite excited, since in order to invite them I had to type up formal letters and hand deliver them to their offices (seeing as I am a wimp that in itself was difficult for me lol), and often time agencies here say they will come and then don’t.  Also, the MIDES (ministry of developmet, the group responsible for giving out the Panamanian equivalent of welfare and also has a women’s group in my town) also showed.   All in all not a bad turn out, there wasn’t much more I could do to let people know about the meeting, I put signs in the 3 tiendas, paseared and told people, made an announcement at the Padres de Famila (like the PTA) meeting and at the women’s group meeting. 

The first part of the meeting I had to show the people what I learned in the first few months.  I made a wheel out of recycled materials (see pic below), every color on the wheel correlated to colored bag with prizes.  The people spun the wheel, I asked a question, if they got it correct they got a prize from that bag. 

Then my boss spoke.  Then we started talking about what types of projects the community wanted.  The people were a little slow to speak up, but in the end the list boiled down to the following

1.       Recycling

2.       Ecostoves

3.       Working with APEP (this is an envl group that TECHNICALLY exists in my community and is in the midst of building a house for ecotourism, this group is the REASON there has been Peace Corps volunteers in the town. . .however they are not very organized.  But after a talking to, we are going to try to fix up there group and really get to work on some things for ecotourism, at least I hope)- this is the project that has the potential to be the most fun, and also I think the most beneficial to the community. . .there are no jobs in my community, literally, bringing in tourists would bring in money and create more jobs, even if only for short periods of time

a.       Building a trail and platform to the big waterfall in my town

b.      Advertising

c.       Planning what tourists can do- i.e. harvest/toast/grind/make/drink coffee straight from the trees, learn how to make sombreros, harvest oranges and make fresh orange juice, clean up trails other than the waterfall trail and make signs, cooking lessons, people to cook for the tourists etc

4.       New/larger/better solar panels for the school- our school has solar panels, but they do little more than power the lights.  Although it is rumored electricity will be coming to the town soon, this rumor has been going on for years.  And even if they were to get electricity, they would have to pay for said electricity, whereas solar panels are better for the environment and after the initial cost are free. 

5.       Reforestation- this is a little more low on the list, there are a few hills in the community that completely lack trees due to cattle grazing and slash and burn so that when the rains come the water just flies down the hills. 

Then, let’s not forget that I also have been and will still be working in the school.  Although I don’t really like it, I teach English to grades 1-9.  Actually the younger kids are a lot of fun, the 7-9^th is kind of miserable.  I don’t know what I am doing and they are all WAY behind where they need to be. One of these days I will write a whole post on the school and explain more into all of this and why I gave in and am teaching English even though it is not in my project description and I more or less don’t like it lol.  I also teach environmental education to the younger kids using hands on activities and will be helping re-establish the environmental club and helping with the school garden. 

So, yea, lot’s of stuff haha.  But, we will see what really ends up working out.  The ecostove project is a continuation of the past volunteers project, recycling was also done in the past but seems to have kind of disappeared. . .so here goes another try.  A lot of what is needed for these projects is the money to do them. . .yay to lots of grant writing. 

But, I will be starting with one or two things and working my way up.  Recycling and ecostove will be first, and trying to get this envl group into a more functioning manner.  Vamos a ver. 

A good catholic girl??!!

As most of you know, I am not exactly what one would call religious.  My father is Jewish, my mother Catholic, and although I went to CCD every Monday night a child and made my communion and confirmation, I probably spent more of that time making glue balls (sorry mom, and all the catholic school kids whose glue we “borrowed” over the years) then learning about God.  This is not to say I don’t believe in anything, or don’t have faith, just that organized religion is definitely not my thing.  I believe in Mother Nature, and I go to church every time I step onto a road or trail and begin running. 

                Well, Panama is a Catholic nation, and Loma Bonita is no exception.  In the school in my community every morning is begun with a prayer, usually a religious song as well, and religion is a class.  We have a church here in Loma Bonita, that holds masses every Sunday morning.  However, it is not often that a priest holds the masses, it is usually a community member.  I actually enjoy the masses more when a community member leads them then when a priest does, simply because the sermons always relate SO much better to the people and the community.  From the beginning of my time here, when people ask what my religion is I tell them I am Catholic, a1. Because technically I am, b2. Because most people here are not familiar with most other religions and really would not understand my mother nature/running explanation of religion and c3. Because being Catholic gives me something in common with 99% of my community. 

                With all this explained, you will now understand how I find myself sitting in church every Sunday morning at 10am.  This however does not explain, how I ended up going to chtourch 13 times in 16 days.  Hands down a life record for me, probably more times than I have been in church in the last 10 years truly. 

                It all started because my host mom asked me to go with her to a mass in a nearby city.  My host mom sings deseos and tamborito, and they wanted someone from Las Lomas (the corregimiento Loma Bonita is in. . .basically like a county in the states) to go and sing and represent the area.  My host mom is 74 and doesn’t like to travel alone, but anyone she asks to go would have to pay for their travel and most people in my community don’t have a few dollars to spare, soooo she asked me.  I said sure, and this is how I found myself taking a car, and 2 buses to a nearby city, then siting through an all day church service on a Saturday.  It was kind of interesting though, the service was for a priest who passed away some years ago, but did a lot of things to help campesinos and protect the environment.  If it hadn’t been so outrageously hot I may have even enjoyed it, they had the mass, people sang, some little kids did a dance, they had speakers on the environment AND free arroz con pollo and durros for lunch.  All in all not the most miserable of events. 

                                                                           The mass

                                                                    adorable kids dancing

My host mom singing

Actually this was the second such event I went to, the first one, a few weeks back (I tried to post something about it but the videos where not uploading >:-o) was an ecological walk and mass that I went to with about 25 people from my community.  Again, the heat ruined in the event for me, but it was definitely my kind of mass.  We hiked about ¾ of a mile to a clearing in the woods, stopping along the way to talk about the environment, then they held the mass in the clearing, and again people sang and danced.  I felt lot’s of town pride when my host mom and a girl from my community sang and 2 of the 3 drummers were also community members J. 

                                                              Lots of people

                                    Host mom singing (her shirt totally says I <3 my boyfriend)

Ok, but that is off topic from the 13 masses in 16 days. 

                The week directly following the Saturday thing, was the beginning of my towns Patron Saint (San Antonio) celebration.  During this time they have a novena (9 evenings of church), a procession and then a mass on the last day (and I learned the hard way that during the novena, church is still held on Sunday morning and then AGAIN that night. . .haha).  The novena was a bit rough, church started at 6 and night and just went on and on.  One night I did not get home until 10. . .and let me tell you walking in the dark on a trail that a man killed a VERY LARGE viper on  only days before is a tad unsettling. 

The procession was quite the experience.  4 men carried a HUGE float for the whole 3 hours that we walked.   The float had lights on it, to have the lights lit, they put a generator in a wheel barrow and pushed that alongside the float.  They also put an amp in a wheelbarrow for the guitars.  In addition to the guitars there was a 4 piece marching band.  We walked and said the rosary and sang and stopped in all the different sectors of my town (or at the entrances since some are pretty far off the road). 

The mass was QUITE the event.  Women began making arroz con pollo at 4am.  I showed up at about 730am and helped them cook.  It was a lot of fun, and a great way to bond with the women in my community (recently I also went and made empanadas with the church women).  The mass began at 10, and the church was PACKED, people from surrounding communities came and they were doing baptisms as well.  After the mass everyone got free arroz con pollo, bread and chicha de maracuya.  There was also a feria where people could sell things.  My community had been preparing for this event for MONTHS, so I was glad it all went so well, and glad a participated, even if it was a BIT too my church for me. 

ALSO recently, my town and the towns around me had a gringo invasion.  About 50 missionaries from Kentucky were doing some work at a church 2 towns over, and were also putting on skits/singing songs/talking with community members.  Imagine my surprise one afternoon when I was re-organizing my room (I will write a post sometime soon bout my living situation), and a group of gringos walked up to my house haha.  They were all extremely nice, I enjoyed speaking in English, and I also ended up doing a lot of translating, impressing myself with my new found Spanish abilities haha.  It was also neat to hear my community call me one of their own.  Members of the missionary group also said a few prayers for me, which as said, I may not be the most religious but I still REALLY appreciated it, it was nice to be supported and I needed all the help I could get seeing as I had been sick for about 3 weeks (I believe drinking some not so clean water was the culprit).  I gave them my blog address so, if any of you are reading this, thank you very much for you support and kind words! Also, my community members honestly loved having you all visit, one told me the other day that they love when North Americans visit because unlike the rich Panamanians we eat with them, talk with them, sit with them etc.  I don’t know how true the comparison is, but it is always nice to know we are appreciated and doing something right!

Ok, so longest post ever, but I haven’t written in a while so this should make up for it.  I hope to be adding a lot of posts soon to make up for my lack of post recently!  And I will try to have more photos and not bore you all to death haha.  Unfortunately my camera was out of battery for about 3 weeks straight and charging my phone won out over charging my camera.