A pentacostal church service and adventures with CEC friends

2/12/12

Sorry for the delay in posting. Since I spent so long on the internet last time we were in the office, I didn’t feel the need to do much when we went on the 10^th. Also, we have discovered there is wifi at the school where we have tech classes, so hopefully I will be able to check emails/post blog posts more frequently now. Though, in typical school fashion, I can’t access Facebook or other social sites, so email is still the best way to reach me.

As for my past week – last weekend was definitely interesting. I went with Reyna and César to their Pentacostal Church last Sunday in La Chorrera. Since I have only ever been to Episcopal, Catholic, or non-denominational churches, going to a Pentacostal one was an interesting experience. The service consisted of singing several very long songs (very enthusiastically) at the beginning, then the preacher, also enthusiastically, said the sermon. While my Spanish has significantly improved, I had a fair bit of trouble understanding. A lot of this was due to the fact that there was a lot of noise other than the preacher – children were running around and playing, some were crying, several teenagers were talking (not all that quietly) and the occasional adult would also move around and/or have conversations. So whatwith my not-fluent Spanish which requires extra concentration, plus the extra noise, I had a lot of trouble concentrating enough to really understand.

Towards the end of the service, most of the congregation went up towards the little stage where the preacher and singers were. The preacher than walked among them, putting his hand on some people’s heads and preaching (again, I couldn’t understand what he was saying) and after a minute or two they would fall to the ground. Since I couldn’t understand what the preacher was saying, I didn’t completely understand what was going on, but I assume that the people who fainted/fell to the ground were having an overwhelming spiritual experience of some sort. Reyna and I were still in our seats, but César was up near the stage, though I don’t think the preacher came over to him.

  After the service, we went to Don Lee – a Chinese restaurant. I got fried rice and a chicken/vegetable mix which was pretty good. I enjoyed it but found it funny that they also served French fries, which doesn’t happen in the US; Chinese restaurants are usually one of the only places where you can’t get fries. From there, we stopped at a couple of food vendors and bought some fruits and veggies for the week, then headed home.

  The beginning of this week was typical with language and tech classes. The PCV that was in our class this week was really nice and I found out that she plays ultimate!! And that there is a group of PCVs who notify each other of tournaments/events in Panama. Ultimate seems to be a growing sport here, and one of the PCVs who was with us last week has even helped start a league near his site! So that makes me really excited!

  On that note, I finally started running again. Ran twice this week, which was the first time in probably two months (the last time I played ultimate). So I’m kind of sore today, but glad that I’m finally getting some exercise again.  

In other news, I had my second APCD interview – and will have a third one this week before I get my site placement this Friday, February 17^th. We’re all getting really excited about finding out!! But it’s also kind of nerve wracking! But whatever site we are assigned, there will be great things, but also things that we wanted, but didn’t get. So I think whatever site I’m assigned, I’ll be happy.

Additionally, we had our second Language Placement Interviews. They place us in one of the main levels: Novice/Intermediate/Advanced. And within each of  these there is a low, medium and high. The first time I was placed at Novice high, but this second interview placed me at Intermediate high! So I was really happy with my progress. Of course it’s subjective, but at least I know that I’ve significantly improved in my language skills.  

**Note - I went to my first class in the new level this morning (the 13th) and it was definitely harder! Hopefully I'll be able to keep up!  

Now for my weekend. Yesterday I helped with the English camp that the other PCTs who have the best language skills have been conducting. It was nice to finally get some teaching interaction here in Panama. The camp is open to everyone, no matter what age. I helped with the 12-14 year olds. I was working with 5 other PCTs (Niko, Claudia, Brennan, Miranda, and Sydney) We did a “shopping” activity that had them practicing numbers, colors, “I need…”, “I have…”, and school vocabulary. It went pretty well, but faster than we planned, so we just did some fun games like “Double, double, this, this” (clapping/partner game), Red light/Green light, and a few others. There were only 6 kids, but it was fun!  

Then in the afternoon, Ally and I ventured over to the other community where the CEC folks are. We went to try to catch a chiva (little bus), but after about 15 minutes, we decided to go ahead and start walking – we could always flag one down when it passed us. But after about 30 minutes of walking, only 2 or 3 had passed us, and they were all completely full. We had just come up on a little fruit stand when a taxi passed us, so we flagged it down and hopped in. We met the others only about 25 minutes after we had planned, so that wasn’t so bad! It definitely felt like a typically Peace Corps type adventure.  

We got to see their little town – a fair bit smaller than ours, but it has a nice park/soccer field – and we went to the river about 5 minutes walk away. It was nicer than the part of the river that I’ve been to in our town; it was deeper and had really pretty trees hanging over it (instead of a bridge with frequent traffic). There were about 8 of us total, so it was nice to hang out with some of the CEC folks!

We made our way back on a chiva around 5, I had dinner, then just relaxed. After running, walking for 30 minutes, then swimming, I was definitely tired. But there was a party at the house that is caddy cornered behind ours, so the music was super loud until probably 4, so I had some trouble sleeping. Thankfully today was really relaxing. I just kind of lazed around this morning (Reyna and César went in to church, and I decided to stay home), did some laundry, read some, and this afternoon I studied Spanish a fair bit and cooked with Reyna. I learned how to make some delicious coconut dulces (sweets).  

Now to start a new week! So tired tonight though… need to go to bed early.  

Also another small success: I found an outlet in my house that accommodates my 3-pronged computer charger! Woohoo! Haha it’s the small things.