I am a Volunteer.

Its official...and kinda scary. I am a sworn in, real deal volunteer now.

My community is super awesome! It is beautiful and the people are great. But I am not gonna lie... its hard. But in a good way. It is hard to be in a new community not knowing anyone, be a follow up volunteer, limited spanish skills, knowing what my role is and can be. I want so much to start and get going, but I must be patient and understand the community better. I have been pretty much just pasearing (aka awkwardly sitting) and visiting the school. The view, the kids, and Oliver (my dog) help me realize how lucky and amazing it is for me to be in Los Virotales. I feel like I have so much to say, but dont quite know how to express it yet.  So stay tuned.

New address... again

So I have my address for the next two years. So far I have only received one letter from the awesome Panamanian mail system. If you feel the need to write and it is not urgent please do! And maybe I will get your letter ;-)

Amy Stypa
Entrega General
Chitre, Herrera
Republica de Panama
Celular: 6553-2287

Advice

I need help with the following:

1. How to train a dog and what sort of shots and procedures are necessary.

2. Recipes with ingredients that will keep for awhile with out refrigeration.

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This is real.

This is real.

Finally! After a year and four months of waiting to leave, and two months of training... I visited my site. It was insanely nerve racking. This is my life for the next two years.

It's super weird coming to a community and putting yourself into their lives. The people are insanely kind and welcoming, but I feel a bit awkward. And they think I speak Spanish really well so they must be crazy.

When I came to panama I was ready for a small rural community. But after the "easy life" in Santa Rita, being out in the campo is definitely a reality check. Waiting 6 hours for a chiva and arriving in the pitch black with no electricity was not exactly how I wanted to do things. The first few days were tough. I am not a super chatty person, so just randomly meeting and talking to people is very difficult for me. When I live by myself I don't think I will ever have to cook. One day I got fed three lunches and five cups of coffee. I am just going to pasear when I am hungry and someone will feed me. I have started a following of kids here too.

One of the girls in my group is my closest volunteer and there is a teaching English volunteer in Las Minas who I met in my six hour wait. Also there is a japanese type peace corps volunteer in Chepo who is working with ANAM. So I will definitely have some people nearby to hang out with when I need a break.

Each day spent in the community was better than the day before. I started to feel more comfortable and met more people. I think that I am going to be really happy there and will be able to work well with the community.

At the end of my visit, the exiting volunteer came back and it was good to chat with her for her perspective on the community and tell me good places to buy things, eat, and Internet. I was also able to attend her despedida. The community had such nice things to say about her and it was really sweet. My favorite thing someone said was, "The best way we can thank her for all the work she did here, is to welcome the new volunteer and work even harder with her. " yup. That's my community.

And last but not least I met my dog! His name is Oliver and is super cute. He needs to be trained more and fixed because he gets into fights so hopefully that will calm him a bit.

And everything is falling into place.

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It's not all rainbows and butterflies

I love panama but, there are several things I could do without. And in no particular order.

1. Rice. I really do not need heaping servings of rice twice a day. I told Freddy and I get less now, but usually still twice a day. I am pretty sure I have eaten more rice in this short time then I ever have in my life.

2. No schedules or real routes for buses. The other day we were coming back from La Chorrera and we told the driver where we were going, but before we got there we drove through this random town. And there is no way to tell when the buses will come. And how much they cost is posted on this teeny tiny sign.

3. Cat calls. Like really. Please do not hiss and whistle at me. I am not your love. The only English they know is how to "flirt" with girls. And my Spanish is not good enough to talk back. Panamanians definitely have shame, but not when it comes to hollering at girls. It's super awesome to be blonde too.

4. Machismo. This goes along with the cat calls. I was told by a 12 year old boy that I could not help carry something because I was a girl. It's like the 1950s all over again. Most of the time it's manageable and o can joke about it while still hinting that what they are saying is wrong. But other times it is so frustrating.

5. Roosters. I think I have said this before but oh man they are so annoying crowing all night.

6. Manners. In the professional world everything is very formal and appearance is super important. But the kids are not like that at all. I am not sure if it is just because they are more comfortable with me or what. But they use the command form (ex come here) way to much, and rarely say please or thank you. Also they will yell someones name until they respond. I have recently started saying thing indirectly about this also.

7. Sweating. I think the only time o am not sweating here is when I am in the shower. I would have lost so much weight via sweating, but the rice is counteracting it. I am not sure how people deal with this heat all the time. The only really good thing is that it is always a topic of conversation." Que calor" can be said at any time and even multiple times in conversation.

8. Gossip. It is small town talk to the max. Everyone knows everyone's business. And the community all gossip about us. Sometimes it is difficult to really think about everything you say and do, because if it wrong everyone will know, and can really hurt your work in a community. I of course would never to anything wrong... This is for others :-)

9. Bugs. I think there is some sort of thing that attracts bugs to me. My host mom says that it looks like a bomb went off of my legs.

10. Most people are short. This is inconvenient for buying shoes an using an outdoor shower. They should only have the big sizes left right? Wrong. And there definitely needs to be more coverage around outdoor showers. I have to hunch over so no one can see me.

Of course the things about people do not apply to everyone, but definitely happen enough for me to notice. Something's I cannot do anything about, but hopefully I can change a few minds.

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My New Home...Los Virotales, Herrera!

Today is another step toward my Peace Corps journey, I found out my site! I am headed to Los Virotales, Herrera in the Azuero peninsula, about an hour outside of Las Minas. It is beyond perfect for me!

There are about 250 people in the community with a small school of 35 students ranging from 1st and 6th grade with two teachers. The majority of the people are farmers. No electricity and supposedly the aqueduct has been completed. According to my site info there are 5 community groups and 3 governmental organizations working in the community. Also I am a follow up volunteer, following a sustainable agriculture systems volunteer. Potential projects for me are working in the school and with youth groups, working with the women´s groups in home gardens, eco stoves, chicken projects, and teaching english.

My boss said that the people and the place are absoultely beautiful! I am in the mountains which will hopefully be a bit cooler. I have easy access to the site by chiva but in my site it is a bit more hilly so I still get my hike!

Now all of this is from my packet and word of mouth...so hopefully this will all be a reality! I meet my community guide next Wednesday and then go visit my site for a week and come back for a bit more training before I leave for my site for good!

I am so excited, overwhelmed, happy, and pretty much every positive emotion there is!

Here we go!

A la playa

A la playa

At last free days! Don't get me wrong I am loving my host family and training, but it is exhausting. Having almost two whole days not worrying about homework or having to think a lot before I speak was wonderful.

There was 11 of us that went to El Palmar. We stayed at this ridiculous house... Casa de Jay. Jay was born in Panama but his dad is American. He is this hippie surfer dude who just hangs out and parties and let's people stay in his house for crazy cheap.

Two days at the beach swimming and sunning were exactly what the doctor ordered.

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