happy holidays!


so it's my first christmas away from home and i am a bit sad about that. no making five thousand cookies and driving them around to family and friends. no hours spent in malls and stores and going into debt buying everyone the perfect gift. no christmas eve enchiladas and no christmas morning strada. what am i to do?

well, this is what i AM doing. today, i'm making cookies with my host brother. (this morning we made apple cinnamon pancakes, which were delicious.) tonight we're going to a christmas season mass or sorts at the catholic church. then saturday i'm going to spend all morning at the evangelical service! wooo whooooooo! (or not.) and monday i am leaving to go meet friends at a house we're renting out up in the mountains where we'll be cooking a holiday feast on christmas (not to be confused with a christmas feast, there will be non-christian souls among us). then i come back to site to celebrate the new year. the tradition here is to make scarecrow type people that look like people who did you wrong in the past year and at midnight you set them on fire. hmmmmm, who should i make? (just kidding.)

so that's my holiday line up. i hope everyone at home has fun things to do and will be able to spend time with family and friends. i'm disappointed i won't be there, but i am having a good time here and i am excited about the plans that i do have. love you all and miss you tons!

side note: i found a house to live in. now i just have to build a latrine, built a shower, hook up the electricity, and negotiate a lower rent. (the guy is now asking for $20 more a month than he originally said. hooch.) wish me luck!

here's the rundown...

i am dedicating this post to my daily life because people at home ask what it is exactly that i do, and i realizaed i should probably tell ya'll, no?

as i've said before, i live in a tropical mountain town. there are a couple main roads, but they're in very poor condition. the main one into town is currently under construction. they're putting down stones so that the road is not just a bug muddy mess. anyway, to get to most of the houses you have to use trails like this one.

here's the house i'm living in. i live with one of the wealthiest families in town. they have a fridge, indoor kitchen, t.v., things like that. there is a shower in the house actually, but it sprays out freezing mountain water. taking a shower is my least favorite part of the day. the latrine is out back (no toilets here) and i have to walk up about 20 steps dug into a mud hill to get to it. not fun when raining or in the middle of the night. oh, and don't let the picture fool you. not all the windows are glass (VERY rare un the campo). they just put them in the front to look nice. most windows are concrete bricks with holes in them (see photo). also, here's my room. it's normally the oldest boy's room, so i am sure he is anxious for me to move out.

my host family washes my clothes everyday, cooks for me, and looks through my things when i'm not home. it's cool though, they are just curious about the gringa in the house. here's a typical breakfast. fried egg (and when i say fried, i mean fried. in a pot with an inch thick of oil.), white bread, and some warm, sweet, and liquidy thing (creamed corn or something they call oatmeal). lunch is usually rice and beans at the school or soup at home. soup is a pot of chunks of chicken, squash, corn, and root crops (potato, yucca, etc.). they even take out the chunks of chicken when they serve me. how nice. dinner is a huge bowl of white rice with either beans, fried fish, a fried egg, and/or fried plantains. and sometimes cabbage or tomato soaked in mayonaisse. (i know, i am eating white rice and mayo.) and i'm drinking 2 to 5 cups of coffee a day and lots of candy and cookies from the little stands in town. so the food isn't great. but when i move out i'll be able to cook for myself, so i tell myself this self-poisoning is only temporary.

now for the work. currently i am working on a few projects.

1) i am working with the youth cooperative made up of kids aged 8 to 18. they are all really timid since they are used to the panamanian norm of telling kids what to do, what to think, etc. it's really hard for me because i want them to express their opinions and design their own projects. we'll get there. anyway, the point of this project is to empower youth, teach them business skills and how to run a coop in the hopes that they will start their own when older, and to have fun. right now i'm working on a plan for summer. (their summer break is january and february.)

2) i am working with an artisan group. many of the people in my town are artisans. they wor with wood, fibers, and soap stone (there is a mine in my town). a group of soap stone carvers have formed a group and i am working with them on organization and improving the sales of theur products. i don't have any pics now, but i'll take some so you al can see what u'm talking about.

3) i'm working with a group called liderazgo juvenil. it's made up of 6 people aged 16-23. they are trying to establish a computer center in town. a couple months go they built a room and now they need to finish details and figure out where they can get computers. this is a really important project because the town is of 4000 (that's REALLY big for the campo) and currently there are no computers. more and more youth are starting to attend high school and college and they need to know how to use computers for studies and to get jobs in the city.
4) i'm working with the man who works at the health center. the health center in my town is outdated. but the man who works there knows everything about the community and is dedicated to make it better. he found someone to donate land to build a park and he wants me to help him form a youth group to build the park. he's on vacatuon now for december, but we'll start on this project in january.

5) other random stuff. there are random meetings in the community i attend. i go around and meet people and visit the ones i already know. i think i'm going to try to teach computer classes in the school. (the school has computers, but they don't teach the kids how to use them. also, according to a whack government law, only students can use them, not community members. thus the need for the computer center.)

so everyday is different. i wake up around 6, leave the house by 8, and am in the community all morning. it's hot a humid and i get bitten by bugs. most afternoons, it begins to pour so everyone stays home. if not, i'm working on projects or visiting people. in the evening it gets cold, which i hate. but by then, i'm tired and i'm usually in bed my 9 or 9:30.

that's my life. currently, i am looking for a house to move into so i can live on my own and avoid fried food and white rice and have my own space. i'm also looking forward to christmas, which i will spend with volunteer friends. but i am very very sad that i will miss it at home with my family for the first time in my life. :( other than that, i am generally really happy and excited about my life here. and i can't wait for people to visit me! (hint, hint.)

okay, here's some other random pics from site:

fruit from a cacao tree. you cut it open and the beans you make chocolate out of are in a fleshy covering which you can chew on. it takes like sour strips candy, thus, i love it.

one of those crazy stick bugs. i saw it while walking on the mud road.

2 weeks in site, 102 to go.

hey everyone! so i have been in site for two weeks now and i am loving life. surprisingly, i have had no freakout or regrets about being here. everything has been really great. i'm not really working with my cooperative yet, but i am getting to know the people in my town. there's almost 4000 people and it's about a 3 hour walk from one end to the other, so pasearing is hard work. it's actually recommended that volunteers don't just jump into business right away. it's better to get to know people and gain your community's trust and learn about the culture. so that's basically what i'm doing.

life here is slow. i wake up early and go visit people every morning and then eat lunch at the school. in the afternoon it pours, so everyone stays in their house. i read, study, and hang with my host family (which is great - mom, dad, 4 boys, 1 girl; i have my own room). i'm usually in bed by 9. everyone is really laid back and friendly. and there isn't any anti-american sentiment, which is really nice. and the landscapes is beautiful (tropical, in the mountains), even if it rains everyday. most men here are farmers and artisans, and the women cook and wash the clothes and do other traditionally womanly things. most young kids go to school, but since there is no high school in my site, most teenages begin helping out in the house, farm, etc. and the families are pretty big. between 5 and 10 kids is normal, although some people have like 15.

so besides the youth cooperative, i am going to work with a group of artisans that carves soap stone (there is a mine in my site). i also might work with some other families on their own small business ventures. and there is a youth group and i want to start a girl scout troop (muchachas guías). oh, and just about every person wants english classes. so i think things will get busy.

since being in site we've had día de los difuntos (think day of the dead), 2 parades (for panamá's independance day and my provincial capital's birthday), and i've been to an all out rager that was a birthday party for a 2 year old (started with kids and clowns, ended with a drunk dance party - i didn't partake in the latter part). it's been a lot of fun.

more updates to come. in the mean time here´s some pictures.


making bread with the local baker


the so called road in my town, but mostly you get around on trails


the cementary on día de los difuntos


cutest girl ever


one of my favorite teenage friends


my new home town


my bug bitten legs aka dedication to my site (it looks so much worse in person)


hanging with the kiddos


the litte cutie they call coco junior


independance day


my school's marching band


the plaza in my provincial capital, just beautiful

oh, by the way, i have my new address! (posted to the left.)

"your work just became your life"


yesterday, our boss told us just that. today we swear in and officially become volunteers. yee yee! i am really excited to move into my community and work there, but it is somewhat overwhelming that my work really has become my life. i am now a representative of the states 24/7. community members take note of every little thing that volunteers do. you have to consider how everything you do will be perceived by the people in your town. and you are living in your community to help in any which way and to create a culture exchange, so you really are working all day, every day. but i say, bring it on. i am super excited to get started! wish me luck!

so, i end here with some pictures from my training period.


my house



my shower and latrine out back



when we learned to kill, clean, and cook chickens



the beach in colon



hanging with friends



making hojaldras (fried dough) at our softball tournament



the staff team in the tournament



with friends from my training group (top: nelson, coco, lisa alta ; bottom: melissa, lisa pequena, greggy)

the following entry is dedicated to laura, crystal, kelly, tanya, laura, and mike. you are probably the only people who will even know what i am talking about.

anyone got an adjective other than "rico" for me? anyone?


although i consider my time in chile to be one of the best experiences of my life, it most definitely contributed to my inability to communicate in any other spanish speaking country. sure, it is the place where i perfected (okay, let's not kid anyone, made comprehensible) my spanish, but it wasn't really spanish. it was chileno.

chileno is a language that grows on you. at first, you don't understand a thing that people are saying to you and so you nod your head and say, "si" a lot. then you begin to get it, but you don't feel cool enough to mimic your chilean friends just yet. then, you let go. you start greeting people with "como estai weon?" and throwing "po" out left and right. even more, you embrace the ultra obnoxious cuico within and inturrupt some falite's speech with "obvio po" and "claaaaaaaaaaaaro." you even go as far as calling yourself "la raja." you see, chilean is a language to which you will quickly find yourself attached because it's fun and has that feeling of exclusivity that pig latin had when you were eight. you are finally in with the cool kids.

but it's not just the slang that has you. what you don't realize is that your entire spanish vocabulary has been corrupted. palta, choclo, calabaza, frutilla, durazno, poroto - don't try using them northeast of the andes. i made the huge mistake of calling a squash "calabaza" here in panama and my host family is still laughing about it. oh, and don't compliment anyone on their "polera" unless you want a blank stare in return. and don't ask for a "lapiz." (unless of course you really want a "lapiz," otherwise some snobby argentinian will respond, "ESTO es un BOLIGRAFO." to which you will respond, "pshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.")

so as you can see, converting from chilean to standard spanish can be a difficult and embarrassing transition. and especially when it comes to adjectives.

chilean basically comes down to two words: "super" and "rico." together, they make up thirty to forty percent of all conversations in chile. ( and that is a hard fact if you ever read one.) now here comes the crazy part: no one else uses these words. ever. so as you can see, i am at a huge loss of words here in panama. i can't say, "that dress is rico," "the food is rico," "the hotel is rico," or "with your new haircut you look super rico." so apparently i need to learn the 738 synonyms for rico (including stylish, delicious, comfortable, and attractive). so what to do? apparently hit ya'll up for adjectives online and read the chicago university spanish-english dictionary we have all come to love every night before bed. actually, i need to learn more than just adjectives. in panama you can't just use "wea" for every thing that you don't know the word for in spanish. you see, life here is hard.

i must add though, this sabatoge of my spanish on the part of chileno has helped me out some. the accent makes me sound legit. luckily for me, panamanians are like chileans in that they like to drop s's, d's, and as many other consonants as they can. so you can imagine the street cred i gain when i say things like "ma' o me'o" or "hay pesca'o?" and what makes me the most happy is that i can still say "vamo' a comer hela'o!!!" in a throaty and indistinct way that cracks me up but makes others mistake me for a native. only, once we're eating it, i better not say it's rico.


(oh, and by the way, they add "pues" to everything here. but if you say it quickly and drop your s, i swear, it sounds just like po.)

panamá, how i love you so.


coming home from my trip was fun. i got to open my room and say hello to my recently molded clothes. apparently, if you go somewhere for 2 weeks and leave you room in the humidity and it is closed up in the dark, everything you own turns into a big, moldy mess. not so much fun. but after 2 washes and a spin in the dryer, my clothes are now fine. except for one shirt that has nice little black dots creeping up the front of it. my purse has that too. i wish i could say it is some intricate and stylish embellishment, but no. it's mold. new for fall 2007.

also, i was at the mall in panamá city one day, in the food court ready to order something other than white rice and a hard-boiled egg. that's when i saw something out of the corner of my eye that stopped me in my tracks. some teenaged boy was in a mac dre tee! very hyphy, with glitter and all. it had mac's face and said ¨r.i.p. mac dre.¨ it also had all the area codes from the yay on it. i started cracking up, but since the girl i was with is from maryland, she didn't get it. i really wished that someone from home was there to share the moment. :(

and in other news, we had a big softball tournament this last weekend in out training community to help raise money for education. we had a bunch of teams play, sold food, and had a raffle. it actually turned out really well and the people had a lot of fun. unfortunately, i don't have my camera on me, but next time i'm at an internet café i'll try to post some pictures from the event.

signing out, this is coco robinson.
ready to take on more mold and any other ridiculous panamanian situation.