¡felicidades a mi! i made it out alive.


as a trainee, every day has a full schedule. class, class, and more class. and then some charlas about skin eating infectious diseases and diarreaha. fun. so i was excited to have a free day today, but it came with a catch: spend time with your host family and learn about their culture.

i know, i know. that sounds cool, right? well maybe if you´re learning how to dance típico or going to the beach with your family it would be cool. but when you live with two elderly people who only go to church and watch tv it is not. espescially when you think they hate you. (side note: my host family thinks i don´t eat- because i am a vegetarian and believe in a thing called portions, that i leave the house without saying anything - which NEVER has happened, and that i hate their four year old granddaughter- with whom i play, share my food, etc.)

so today i was blessed with the wonderful experience of going to church with my host family. they are evangelicals, a religion about which i have limited knowledge. except for the fact that the services are long. and today´s service was no exception. it was FOUR HOURS LONG. although i am not religious i am open to learning about different religions, but today was a bit much.

music was an important part of the service, which would be cool if it sounded like kirk franklin but it was more like random noises piercing your ear drums. they had a nice set of drums, which they didn´t really know how to play, and a nice keyboard, which they only put on beat maker mode and hit two keys in the liking of bum bum pshhh. over that lovely music there was everyone singing at a different pace. and we had to stand through each ten minute song clapping our hands with joy.

another interesting part was the precher´s sermon. it was about how all you need is god, an idea that many religions embrace. but then he went on to say that the reason this country has problems is that the people here aren´t religious enough. and that people who say that the country needs constitutional reform and law changes are wrong. that all the country needs is god. i understand the importance of spirituality and it´s role in peace, but to tell a room full of poor and struggling people that all they need to do is believe in god to overcome those things does not settle well in my stomach. and then the preacher went on to point out that developed countries like the usa and russia have prostitutes and drugs and other problems because they haven´t accepted god. AND, all of the people in the church were giving him amen´s left and right. i didn´t really know what to think of it all.

after this experience, i don´t think i´ll be going to any more evangelical services in panamá. i think that four hours was enough.

and i sure hope that my host family likes me a bit more after this morning.