Sunday, January 22, 2012
City vs Campo
There is a reason I don't like leaving site. I am perfectly content in my little house in Los Virotales, living minimally. Then I spent two weeks "afuera" and I start to remember. Hey electricity is pretty awesome! Same thing goes for AC, television, internet, and ice cream. I feel totally disconnected to my life there. I feel more American again. And I don't like it one bit! I really want to get back and get into my groove, but I feel like it might be a little harder this time. At the same time I feel a like my town is drawing me back, like I need to be there. Peace Corps life, why must you be so difficult?!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Group 70
Unfortunately we had two of our three members of the CEC staff leave the Peace Corps. And that put the program in a bit of a pickle, the new group of volunteers got here last week, with no one to train them. So current volunteers were recruited to help out. I helped out with week one. So basically I have not been in site for most of January. Myself and a PC Response volunteer, Cat, talked about the role of volunteers in development, agency relations, and community analysis. And Saturday we will get them started on their home garden! I have really enjoyed training, it makes me feel a bit more PC, not just some girl hanging out in the campo. This new group is excellent! Super motivated and full of great ideas! I have no doubt they will do great. And one of them is coming to visit my house next weekend to see the life of a volunteer. Best of luck G70!
The Stypas in Panama
My family visited me :)
And we spent a very tiring but fun filled week together. We stayed at the Decameron for most of the time, which was a bit yeye for my tastes. But with the beach, tasty food, and hot showers I'm not complaining. We made the trek to Los Virotales in a Toyota Corolla (ask my dad how that went). Everyone was surprised we actually made it in the tiny car. My community was beyond excited to have them visit! I think around 30 people came to my house to visit and meet them. Which was fun, but incredibly tiring for me since I had to translate everything. My dad my a 2 year old boy cry. He was scared of this tall white man and would not go near him! Poor guy! I loved being able to show them where I live and what I am doing and that they got to meet my Panamanian family. We did some good touristy things like El Valle, the Canal, and Casco Viejo. I hope I get more visitors soon!
Peace Corps Goal 3. Check.
And we spent a very tiring but fun filled week together. We stayed at the Decameron for most of the time, which was a bit yeye for my tastes. But with the beach, tasty food, and hot showers I'm not complaining. We made the trek to Los Virotales in a Toyota Corolla (ask my dad how that went). Everyone was surprised we actually made it in the tiny car. My community was beyond excited to have them visit! I think around 30 people came to my house to visit and meet them. Which was fun, but incredibly tiring for me since I had to translate everything. My dad my a 2 year old boy cry. He was scared of this tall white man and would not go near him! Poor guy! I loved being able to show them where I live and what I am doing and that they got to meet my Panamanian family. We did some good touristy things like El Valle, the Canal, and Casco Viejo. I hope I get more visitors soon!
Peace Corps Goal 3. Check.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Training of Volunteers
I will start with the bad news. The CEC program specialist and training specialist have both decided to leave Peace Corps. And PC Panama is in a crunch because the new group comes January 11th.
Good news. I was asked to be a trainer! There are eight current volunteers who are going to be responsible for the technical training of the new group of CEC volunteers I would like to give a shout out to Daisy, Ally, and Lauren my fellow G68 girls who will be doing training also! I had to come to Panama City to go over expectation and prep for training. We reworked the agenda and created the lesson plans. My partner and I are going to facilitate the sessions on the role of the volunteer in development, agency relations, community analysis, and help to start and organic garden in the training community.
It makes me feel really good that my bosses thought I would be great for this! It's really easy to get down on yourself when things aren't going very quickly. I needed this little confidence boost!
Good news. I was asked to be a trainer! There are eight current volunteers who are going to be responsible for the technical training of the new group of CEC volunteers I would like to give a shout out to Daisy, Ally, and Lauren my fellow G68 girls who will be doing training also! I had to come to Panama City to go over expectation and prep for training. We reworked the agenda and created the lesson plans. My partner and I are going to facilitate the sessions on the role of the volunteer in development, agency relations, community analysis, and help to start and organic garden in the training community.
It makes me feel really good that my bosses thought I would be great for this! It's really easy to get down on yourself when things aren't going very quickly. I needed this little confidence boost!
Lejos
My community is really spread out, so normally I am walking a lot. But recently Ollie and I have been trekking it. I went to go visit my closest volunteer Ally, who live about an hour away going there, but an hour and a half walking back. Very hilly. And I went to the graduation in La Desbarancada, which took about an hour and a half, but fairly good roads. Then I went to Loma Ranchito which is another near by community to look for some knives for a friend. That was over an hour, one way, on a horse that was a bit to big for me. I could hardly sit the next day. Ollie and I have been sleeping well!
I am out exploring but everything is bien lejos!
I am out exploring but everything is bien lejos!
There's no place like home for the holidays...
....unless you are in Panama.
Thanksgiving
After our in-service training, G68 decided that taking several buses out to Chiriqui was not going to work. So we chartered a bus and all 40 ish of us headed west to spend Thanksgiving in Cerro Punta, Chiriqui. This is how Thanksgiving works in Peace Corps Panama. The majority of volunteers head out to this mountain resort to spend an American holiday with Americans. The volunteers make and serve all the delicious food and we just get to hang out. It was incredibly beautiful there, with a fireplace in our room and beautiful gardens, and hammocks. I also got a hot stone massage, with no fake babbling brook or bird noises, because those noises were real outside. Also this area is well known for strawberries and cream, so you betcha I had some of those. I was really worried about spending my first holiday away from my family, but I really couldn't have spent it better! I got to spend time with my PC family and had dinner with some of my best friends here and we shared what we were thankful for and ate way too much. And truly I am so grateful for them! I complain about leaving site, but I don't know where I would be with out my gringas!
Christmas
Christmas was a little bit trickier. My host mom, Melania, had invited me ages ago to spend Christmas with them, either with her sister in Las Tablas or her daughter in Panama. One week before Christmas her daughter got really sick and she went to Panama to take care of her. Now of course I was concerned for her daughter and of course she had to go, but I felt super selfish because now what the heck was I going to do for Christmas? I was feeling super bummed and had no clue what to do. The Wednesday before Christmas my host brother came over and said I could still go to Las Tablas. That it would be him and my other host brother, and I already knew the family of Melania's sister. So I agreed!
Christmas is a little different down here. They do the lights (if they have electricity) and tree (some people) which made me happy. Traditions include rice with guandu, also turkey and ham, and of course lots of rice. Also apples, pears, and grapes. No one knew how to make a ham, so I took on ham making responsibilities. Its tradition to stay up until midnight, then open your presents, and eat more. So we stayed up watching Christmas movies and talking. My ham was excellent! And they even gave me a little gift. It was just some cookies and candy, but it was so sweet!
For Christmas Day, it is a day of visiting. Eat lots more and visit your family. I was playing with the kids and the new toy they each got and just hanging out. I got to talk to my family which I thought might make me sad, but it just pumped me up! My mom (my real my that is) brought a photo of me to Christmas Day at my grandma's and said she was going to set me up at the table when they were playing cards. I felt really grown up. That I can be happy in another place for the holidays. That night I made chocolate chip cookies, which turned out looking awful, but tasted delicious! Christmas success!
New Year's
I am going to start off my saying I am not a huge NYE fan. I had been planning on going to Las Tablas again, but upcoming travel plans made it not a good idea for me to leave. On NYE Mila (another host mom) killed a chicken and made some soup with chicha. She had this box of cookies that we ate too. Some of the boys had fireworks, so they were shooting off bottle rockets. Carlos (a host dad) was playing the guitar. It was pretty cold out and I was tired so I went to bed at 11, perfectly happy. Slept right into the New Year.
I was invited for New Year's Day to go to the next community La Desbarancada. One of the families was going to be killing a pig and were inviting people over. The day was just spent chatting and preparing food and eating. I helped to make the potato salad and we had rice mixed with pork and vegetables. It was excellent!
First holidays away from my family have been deemed a sucess! (But don't worry family, I won't try to spend too many away from home!)
Thanksgiving
After our in-service training, G68 decided that taking several buses out to Chiriqui was not going to work. So we chartered a bus and all 40 ish of us headed west to spend Thanksgiving in Cerro Punta, Chiriqui. This is how Thanksgiving works in Peace Corps Panama. The majority of volunteers head out to this mountain resort to spend an American holiday with Americans. The volunteers make and serve all the delicious food and we just get to hang out. It was incredibly beautiful there, with a fireplace in our room and beautiful gardens, and hammocks. I also got a hot stone massage, with no fake babbling brook or bird noises, because those noises were real outside. Also this area is well known for strawberries and cream, so you betcha I had some of those. I was really worried about spending my first holiday away from my family, but I really couldn't have spent it better! I got to spend time with my PC family and had dinner with some of my best friends here and we shared what we were thankful for and ate way too much. And truly I am so grateful for them! I complain about leaving site, but I don't know where I would be with out my gringas!
Christmas
Christmas was a little bit trickier. My host mom, Melania, had invited me ages ago to spend Christmas with them, either with her sister in Las Tablas or her daughter in Panama. One week before Christmas her daughter got really sick and she went to Panama to take care of her. Now of course I was concerned for her daughter and of course she had to go, but I felt super selfish because now what the heck was I going to do for Christmas? I was feeling super bummed and had no clue what to do. The Wednesday before Christmas my host brother came over and said I could still go to Las Tablas. That it would be him and my other host brother, and I already knew the family of Melania's sister. So I agreed!
Christmas is a little different down here. They do the lights (if they have electricity) and tree (some people) which made me happy. Traditions include rice with guandu, also turkey and ham, and of course lots of rice. Also apples, pears, and grapes. No one knew how to make a ham, so I took on ham making responsibilities. Its tradition to stay up until midnight, then open your presents, and eat more. So we stayed up watching Christmas movies and talking. My ham was excellent! And they even gave me a little gift. It was just some cookies and candy, but it was so sweet!
For Christmas Day, it is a day of visiting. Eat lots more and visit your family. I was playing with the kids and the new toy they each got and just hanging out. I got to talk to my family which I thought might make me sad, but it just pumped me up! My mom (my real my that is) brought a photo of me to Christmas Day at my grandma's and said she was going to set me up at the table when they were playing cards. I felt really grown up. That I can be happy in another place for the holidays. That night I made chocolate chip cookies, which turned out looking awful, but tasted delicious! Christmas success!
New Year's
I am going to start off my saying I am not a huge NYE fan. I had been planning on going to Las Tablas again, but upcoming travel plans made it not a good idea for me to leave. On NYE Mila (another host mom) killed a chicken and made some soup with chicha. She had this box of cookies that we ate too. Some of the boys had fireworks, so they were shooting off bottle rockets. Carlos (a host dad) was playing the guitar. It was pretty cold out and I was tired so I went to bed at 11, perfectly happy. Slept right into the New Year.
I was invited for New Year's Day to go to the next community La Desbarancada. One of the families was going to be killing a pig and were inviting people over. The day was just spent chatting and preparing food and eating. I helped to make the potato salad and we had rice mixed with pork and vegetables. It was excellent!
First holidays away from my family have been deemed a sucess! (But don't worry family, I won't try to spend too many away from home!)
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