Friends, and a fellow PCV's blog post

This week has been going pretty well, which is nice after I had a little bit of a tough weekend. I've been working with two teachers in the primary school, and have been able to see some of the younger kids who are super loving. One class of kindergartners basically jumped on me when I was getting ready to leave, and I got to take a photo with them.

And today José, our tech trainer, came to Pesé to inspect my potential housing for after I live for there months with my host family. Then he asked me if I wanted to go with him to visit a few other volunteers! So we picked up Jessica and Miranda from near-by towns, then drove down into Los Santos to visit Harrison. It was really great to see him. He was the last volunteer I said goodbye to when we moved to our sites permanently, so seeing him again and getting to see his site was really great. Then went into Las Tablas and had dinner and just chatted. On the way home we stopped at a bakery too! So all-in-all it was a good day.

Lastly, and why I really wanted to write this blog post, is that I found another of my fellow PCV's blogs today, and really loved one of his posts about our swear in. It also includes the speech that he gave, which communicates a lot about our experiences here. It's pretty impactful, so I wanted to share it!

Here's the link:
http://thoseolpurpleshoes.blogspot.com/2012/03/from-trainee-to-volunteer-swear-in.html

Hope y'all are having a good week!

Photos from the Matanza

Here are some photos from the matanza I went to a few weeks ago. A matanza is basically a slaughter (best translation I can find) and the one I went to, they killed a cow on Friday and we all went to the farm on Saturday and spent the whole day hanging out and eating (and for the men - drinking). It was pretty interesting, and the food was pretty good.

Bruni stirring the pot of meat & sauce - the other pot is cooking chicken for the soup (yuca, corn, and culantro was added later)

The "kitchen": huge pots cooking over fogons (country-style fires for cooking - a fire in the middle of 3 or 4 rocks that support the pot), and meat drying on the lines to be grilled later - this is known as carne asoleada.

One of the cooks - stirring the massive pot of rice with the massive wooden spoon.

 Where we hung out all day and night

My host brother/nephew - Roderick - playing in the trough. He's the one doing the peace sign.

Another one of the cooks cutting up yuca. The entire bag is full of it!

Of course there was a piñata for the kids

We ended up staying the night, and the sunset was absolutely gorgeous. Can you see the first stars?

Then the next day we went swimming in a river about 30 mins away. This waterfall coming out of the rock was gorgeous.

River & surrounding country side

Me, Eliceo (Bruni's brother aka my host uncle), Isabelle (Brunis sister aka my host aunt), and Roderick

Then when I was talking to my parents, this bright blue bird landed on a tree about 30 feet in front of me. I couldn't get a great photo, but this is the clearest one I got. It was gorgeous!

Second week of school and Easter Celebrations

Written Sunday 4/8/12

So for this second week of school, I was working with my PC assigned counterpart and another teacher in the colegio (secondary school). Unfortunately I was not previously aware that they had Thursday and Friday off from school, so it was a short week with them, but I was definitely impressed by some of their teaching styles, and I think with them, I will be more of a resources of activity ideas. But it was nice to also get to know the colegio a little bit better.

As the weeks go by, I'm coming to an understanding that the currently schedule I'm working with is not going to be sufficient to help the teachers like I want to. I think I'm going to end up alternating between schools every other trimester. That way I'll have fewer teachers to concentrate on and will be able to devote more time to each. I'm planning on running this idea by them in the coming month, so hopefully they will think it's a good idea!

This week, as you probably know, is Holy Week, ending in Easter tomorrow. Pesé is known for its re-enactments of The Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection. It started last Friday with a mass for the Viernes de Dolores (Friday of Sorrows) and procession of the statues of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and Mary Magdalene. It was really nice - the women went with the statues of the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene in one direction around the town, and the men went with the statue of Christ in the other direction, then we met basically behind the church and sang some songs, then went around again, pausing at certain points to read some Scripture. I had a hard time understanding it all, but it was definitely a nice thing to experience.

Then of course Sunday was Palm Sunday. Everyone met at one end of town, passed out the palms, the priest said a few words, then we paraded through the town with the statue of Christ on a donkey (well, it was actually a horse) to represent his going to Jerusalem.

Thursday was supposed to be the Last Supper, but it actually started raining this week (Mother Nature must have a calendar, and when it says that the rainy season starts in April, she knows and on April 2nd I had my first real panamanian thunderstorm), and it rained pretty hard all day and through the night on Thursday, so they did both the Last Supper and the Crucifixion on Good Friday. It was definitely impressive to see, and when Christ died and said "My God, into your hands I commit my spirit.", the actor collapsed against the ropes holding him up to the cross and three fireworks were set off super close. The sound was deafening and really added to the emotion of the moment. It was definitely impactful.

There was a lot of family in town as well, so it was nice to meet more of Bruni's family - they are all very nice and say if I am every in their town/city (Chitre, Chorrera, Los Santos, Panama) that I am welcome at their house, so it is nice to have an extended family here! Her brother and his family who came down during the Sugar Cane Festival were planning on camping at the river that we had previously gone to, but since it was raining so much, they just camped in our living room. I also had some PC friends come into town on Friday, though unfortunately they couldn't stay through the re-enactments. We thought they started at 1 or 2... they didn't start till 4. So when you're relying on public transportation, you have to go when you can get rides. But it was great to see them nonetheless and show them around Pesé!

Finally came Sunday where there was a short procession with the images of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and Mary Magdalene before the mass. It was a typical Easter mass, I believe. Plus they baptized 12 babies! Apparently having your baby baptized on Easter is a big deal here. It was a nice service, but getting up at 6:30 after staying up until midnight was a little rough.

In other news, I'm just preparing for another week at school, trying to get over being sick (I may go to the doctor tomorrow... I've had a cold that's zapping my energy for about a week now), and searching for housing to rent starting in June.

Hope everyone back home had a happy Easter. I missed being there with everyone, especially my friend Paz who came all the way from Colombia to visit!

Love from Panama

P.S. Check back in a few days - I'll add photos!

Photos: Swear in and Playa Esmerelda

Here are a few photos from our Swearing-In ceremony on March 14th when we became official Peace Corps Volunteers, as well as a few from our weekend beach vacation at Playa Esmerelda before heading to our permanent sites. Enjoy!

The ceremony was at the Canal Museum in Casco Viejo, Panama City.

My friend, Emily and I, next to the Peace Corps flag

The lovely group of girls with whom I had a weekly Bible study. They are wonderful and such a blessing to have in my Peace Corps group!

All 31 of us Teaching English folk before the ceremony with our APCD - Joel Alvarez - and our Tech trainer - José Batista.

Friends Heather & Steve (some of my closest volunteers!)

Lovely ladies in blue: Emily Ezell, Jaclyn, Emily Hills, Julie, Ally, and Catherine C.

Panel of speakers: MEDUCA (Ministry of Education) rep, US Embassy rep - John C. Law, and Peace Corps Country Director, Brian Riley.

Me with the Country Director as an official Volunteer!

Fun times at the beach - LOVE!

The house where we stayed had a tire swing - of course I had to hop on and spin :)

Beach bonfire the last night we were there. Good times with good friends!

Here's a few photos! Descriptions to come later!

So here are finally some photos from the past few weeks. I'll post some more over the next few days, so I'm not sitting on the internet all night :)

The Catholic Church in Pesé

Parque in the center of town - next to the church

Factory of Varela Hermanos Seco

My favorite road in Panama - gorgeous trees, cows, and sugar cane fields

Posters for the reyna (queen) of the Sugar Cane Festival

 Liz - the little girl that lives next to me and is related to me somehow, I haven't quite figured it out yet, in her I <3 USA shirt!

A Diablo Rojo bus (though this one isn't crazily painted) they're old American school buses that have become the main form of public transportation in and around Panama City

Despedida! Farewell party in santa Rita - see that massive pot? It's full of arroz con pollo - and the yellow boxes are cakes

A Diablo Rojo showed up at our party that night, so we had some fun taking photos - this was an unintentional photo, but it turned out cool!

Me, Nate and Becca

Last photo with Reyna and César

Señor Quintin - Harrison's host dad - and his 6 month old grandson, sleeping in their hammock

For those of you who were curious - my latrine at my first host family's house

Not so bad!

My shower - plus a bucket in case the water didn't work

Where I washed my clothes - we only used the bright white, new washer when there was enough water pressure (I saw it used twice), the older machine on the right was more frequently used, but I also frequently washed my clothes in the cement sink in the middle. All of the tanks sitting around are full of water either for washing or bathing if the water went out.

Bye Santa Rita! Lindsey, Lauren, me and Ally - my dog, Golber, even showed up!

 

Lindsey in front of the Diablo Rojo that took us to the PC office from Santa Rita

First Week of School

So this past Monday I started working in the schools full-time. This means that I’m at the primary school by 7:20 when classes start and usually get home just after 1:00. My schedule for this week, and the next 5 as well, is to work with 2 teachers per week. I planned out my schedule so that I am able to be in each class (Pre-Kindergarden all the way through 12^th grade) at least twice and usually three times the week I’m working with that teacher. Though of course, this is subject to many variables such as teachers not coming to school and holidays; the first Monday I was here was the day of the patron saint – San José – and next week there is not school on Thursday and Friday in honor of Easter and the re-enactments of Holy Week events that are put on here in Pesé. With that first holiday and the fact that I still needed to meet a few of the teachers and wanted to solidify my schedule and job description with everyone, I decided to wait until this past week (a full week) to really start working.

On the note of teachers not coming to school, so far I have not been to all of the classes on my schedule on any given day due to either a) the English teacher not coming or b) the primary teacher not coming. If the primary teacher doesn’t come, the students have the day off and just go home. But if the English teacher doesn’t come, the primary teacher just adjusts the rest of the schedule and sometimes the students get out early. So accepting the fact that my schedule probably won’t go as planned has been a bit of an adjustment, but roll with the punches, right?

Seeing the teachers in action has also been a great learning experience. The two I worked with this week both have their own strengths, but also have things I think that could improve. The main thing that I’ve noticed so far is classroom management. Of course this varies class-to-class and teacher-to-teacher, but it is not rare or strange in a classroom here to have students talking basically the whole class period, and when they have a question they either just shout it out, or walk up to the teacher at the front of the class and ask them before sitting back down. There is also a lot of yelling “Teacher! Teacher! Teacher!” to try to get the teacher’s attention. I’m definitely going to try to implement the raise-your-hand rule. But the teachers definitely do some good things too and they know what should work in this culture. So I’ll throw some ideas out there, and we’ll see what might work or not.

I also found out that Pesé has a public library that almost no one uses. I think I’m going to make it my new work space (Amy & Christine – I’m thinking of you two lol). I can’t work very well at home because to concentrate at all I have to lock myself in my room, and then I feel like I’m being rude and unsocial. But the tv is always on and there are always people coming over and talking – which is great for being social, but not so great for working.

A few days this week I also went running. I hope that I can get into a route of it. But my family has started wanting to come with me, so we go for walks sometimes. I went with Roderick one day, and then when we got home, I said I was actually going to go running. He still wanted to come with, but I had to say no. Less than 5 minutes into my run, I hear a bicycle next to me. I look – and it’s the boy that hangs out next door. Then I look back and there is his sister as well as Roderick, all three on their bikes following me lol. This definitely made me feel like I was working in another country – I had all of the kids following me.

Friday was one of my tougher days so far. We went into Chitre to go to the grocery store and then to dinner late on Thursday night and didn’t get back until after 10:30, and I couldn’t fall asleep until almost 11:30. With a 9:00 bedtime, this was seriously late. So working on Friday was a bit of a struggle, and trying to explain it to Bruni was also tough. But I think we understand each other a bit better now. I’ve also been on the verge of getting sick, so not getting my 9 hours of sleep the past 3 nights hasn’t helped with that. Today is definitely a relaxed day because I don’t have too much energy - I'm also fighting getting sick. Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel better.

But yesterday was also a lot of fun. One of the boys that lives around the corner – he’s a student at the secondary school and is 14 I think – invited me to go to a farm about 30 minutes away with his family. We got up there about 10:00 Saturday morning and over the course of the day I got to see a lot of the area around the farm. He asked me if I wanted to ride a horse – I said why not! So he saddled one up for me, and I rode around for a few minutes – even cantering some. Then he got another horse and we went for an hour-long ride down to a little store and back. It felt great to be on a horse again! And usually when I ride now, I don’t get to do much more than trot – so having the freedom to go as fast as I wanted was great (don’t worry mom – I didn’t go at a full gallop or anything).

We also hooked up the buggy to 2 oxen and made the 30 minute trek down to La Ciruelita river with a few of his cousins. It was a gorgeous, wide and meandering river that had some big rocks in it, so it was fun to jump off into the deeper water.

This coming week is Semana Santa and Pesé has a lot of re-enactments, so look out for some posts about that in a week or so. Also, I’ll be working in the colegio (secondary school) this week. So wish me luck with that!