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. . .