Panama Connections

So yesterday, I got REALLY excited about going to Panama.... I met a teacher who lives near Panama City!!

I was working at International House where I've been helping teach some adult English classes, and stayed afterwards to listen to a group of English teachers from Central and South America (all different countries) ask questions to International House staff, teachers, and some of our students. It was really interesting, and one of the women even said she was from Panama! So I decided to talk to her after the group discussion. I ended up speaking for a minute about my role as an assistant teacher, and my co-teacher mentioned I was going to the Peace Corps and after a little more explanation, I found out that the Panamanian teacher is actually working with a current PCV and has requested 2 to come in March, which is when my group will probably be sent to our sites. Crazy! I could be working with her! But certainly someone from my group will be... Such a small world!

But it was wonderful to talk to her and have a connection in Panama! She was so nice and made me feel like I was going to be welcomed and offered me some help and to visit if I wanted once I get to Panama. It was so nice to know I have a connection down there, and to be able to put a face with a community partner that I could be working with.

My friend Christine, had a great insight: This is God's way of saying that this is the right decision. I hope so! Because it made me so excited :)

Official Acceptance and.... Paperwork

So, after much thought, self-debate, and considerations, I officially accepted my invitation on Wednesday night! I was dwelling on the things that are going to be difficult about my PC service before I accepted, which was making it kind of difficult, but since then I've gotten a lot more excited. I'm sure there will be many difficulties, but there are going to be the other parts of service that will make them worth it. Meeting amazing people, having once-in-a-lifetime experiences, offering my (limited) knowledge and resources to people who otherwise might not have access to them, hopefully impacting at least a few people for the better, and learning things that I never would have discovered otherwise. It'll be an adventure, to be sure. But it's official! I'm leaving in January for 2+ years. Still seems kind of crazy, but there it is. Until then I'm going to be finishing the governmental paperwork, learning as much as I can about the life I'm about to jump into, and trying to make the most of my last few months in the States!

One of the ways I'm trying to learn about things is reading blogs from PCV's (term I will use frequently: Peace Corps Volunteers). The one I just finished was certainly enlightening. One of the posts that I think will be the most helpful are ones like what he wrote about coping on the rough days. Here's his approach. I'm sure I'll be sharing other blog links or fun tidbits about Panama as I come across them.

What I've learned so far is that Panama has a rich and interesting culture, history, and peoples. It's a beautiful country and has a lot of potential, but a lot of disparities as well. As a PCV, I hope to be able to help (in some minute way) those communities that haven't been able to pull themselves out of poverty that consumes too much of the population. I hope to use some of my anthropological interests during these two years as well to discover interesting things/differences about the people around me.

For now I'm working on my new passport application, and some other paperwork that the PC needs from me. In between all of that, I'm spending the weekend with my friend, Kelsey, at the beach, and trying to figure out a job for the next few months, both for a little bit of money and to keep gaining experience with teaching. Hopefully things will pan out soon!

NEWSNEWSNEWS

FINALLY GOT MY PEACE CORPS INVITATION!!!

To Panama! Leaving in January. (what?!?) haha it's definitely surreal, but also really exciting! I'll be co-teaching with a local teacher and staying with a host family both during training and the first three months of my placement.

Took a lot of patience to get this far... I'm sure I'll need even more over the next couple of years! But I'm so excited to see what this adventure holds...

As for the next few months at home, I'm going to try to teach as much as I can, but hopefully also find some sort of job to make some money before I go. Additionally, I'm thinking about maybe grad school after PC, so looking into that... do I need to take the GRE/GMAT?? Gotta figure all that out... Then hopefully brushing up on my Spanish too! So I'm not a total dunce when I get there.

SO! For today... here are a few related links:

Awesome article on a woman who is doing something similar to what I'll be doing over the next couple of years: CNN Article and the website to her organization

Also - Lonely Planet's guide to Panama!

Long-overdue Post

So I know it’s been a while since I updated this… sorry about that. Life got kind of crazy and has been a rollercoaster ride. Since February, I’ve graduated from college (where did those 4 years go?...), turned 22, moved back home, spent a week in London with 3 amazing friends, worked at a law firm for a couple of weeks, worked for 3 weeks with a non-profit in Charlotte as a teacher for both adults and 2nd graders in their English tutoring program, gotten my wisdom teeth out, and driven across the country to San Francisco with a great guy. To be sure, I’ve been all over the place. It has been an adjustment since graduating, and all of my younger friends recently having returned to Vanderbilt for the new school year, it has been weird not going back myself, especially because my friends who are my age have all either gone back to school themselves (grad school, med school etc) or started their new jobs, leaving me home alone in a sense. But now I have some new things going on:

As for my future plans, plans for PC have been in limbo, changed, halted, changed again haha it’s been up and down. BUT the real deal is: I finally got medical, dental, and legal clearance completed in early July (after having my wisdom teem out in June and jumping through a few insurance hoops). Since then I have been waiting to hear something from them since I knew I was not going to be leaving on my original July departure date. After doing a little more paperwork a few weeks ago, I received an email from my placement officer and talked with her on the phone early last week. After a bit of a difficult conversation with her, she said that she was going to forward my application into the next stage and was going to find a placement for me! The only catch: I’m no longer going to Africa. Apparently the next time they are sending volunteers to French-speaking Africa is next summer. SO that means that I am now headed to Central or South America in January!

Another great thing that came of my conversation with my placement officer is that she said she would send me a formal invitation within the next couple of weeks. Yikes! Hopefully soon I will have all of the information I need to make that final decision. As for now, I’m on the search for job options for the fall – hopefully I can continue to get some teaching experience, but making some money would be nice as well… who knows what shenanigans I’ll get myself into.

And as I wanted to keep up my sharing fun tidbits… here is the link to my friend’s blog to just left for PC service in Namibia!! I’m fascinated to read all about her experiences in anticipation of my own.