Other ideas are an English conversation club, a recycling
program, and a life choices/sex-ed workshop for 9th graders (I’m
probably partnering with a few people who work at the school for this, which
will be great).
I’m also working with another PCV, Miranda, on putting
together some seminars/workshops for our teachers. We’re planning on doing
several of them over the course of the next few months. So I’m is going to be
busy for sure through the end of the year!
As for right now, we’re wrapping up the second trimester and
anticipating the week-long break the first full week of September. I didn’t
have too much to do the past couple of weeks since the teachers were mainly
reviewing, but the past week I’ve been planning fo the next trimester. It’s
been nice to actually have some free time to plan (I definitely didn’t have
that at the primary school – they don’t have exams, so don’t have any down
time).
In other news, I was able to go to the beach in the province
of Chiriqui this past weekend, which was a lot of fun. It was my first time in
that province (it’s the most south-western province in Panama, bordering with
Costa Rica). It’s gorgeous! The Interamerican highway isn’t in great repair in
areas, but the trip is beautiful – huge, lush, green mountains along the way -
then add nice beaches to that! I stayed at a hostel one night, roomed with
three of the guys in my group and joined in the guys-night dominoes game after
we left the other girls, then in the nicer hotel with the girls the second
night - the boys didn't run me out, I just wanted a hot shower! We celebrated Sydney’s birthday, so I took Funfetti cupcakes as a gift
(thanks for the mix mom!).
Unfortunately because we had to wait a while for the bus, I
didn’t make it all the way back to Pesé on Sunday. But that just gave me an
excuse to visit another volunteer friend north of Santiago (the capital of the
Veraguas province). Her site is in the hills leading up to the mountains, and
has some gorgeous views as well!
Lastly, I had a friend from the province of Bocas del Toro
(most north-western province, next to Costa Rica) stay with me last night. It
was great to hang out with her and we made some delicious meals; tacos for
dinner last night complete with sour cream, salsa, and cheese then black bean
burgers and a tomato/cucumber/onion & vinegar salad for lunch. Yumm!!
We also got an impromptu tour of the Varela Hermanos alcohol
factory here in Pesé and it was super interesting! We even got to wear
hard-hats at one point haha. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera, but I’ll
write a detailed post about that soon.
Now I get to look forward to the visit of my friend Veronica
from the US! It will be great to see a friend from home!
For now, I’ll leave you with an interesting article that I
saw recently calledWhat if Jesus Meant All That Stuff? by Shane Claiborne. Whether you’re a Christian, atheist, or any other religion, I
think it’s an interesting and insightful article. I’m also in the middle of
reading the author’s book – The Irresistible Revolution. So far, it’s great – I’m
sure you will be hearing more about it from me when I finish it.
HERE’s the link.
Happy mid-week!
Sav
