it's been a long time...


first off, i want to apologize for the months i have gone without posting a thing. but don't woory, i'm still alive and back to blog for you all. i don't have my camera on me, but i'll hopefully post some pictures soon.

what have i been up to? i've been working in my site and it's been summer, which means that there isn't a huge storm everyday. so you know i'm happy. it's actually gotten really windy and much cooler here for the "summer," something i didn't expect. i even wear a light sweater sometimes. in panama. crazy. i taught english and computer class over the summer, which was fun, but i am not too sad it's over. teaching is draining. the students here are used to the panamanian education system, which requires them to copy info from the board, stay quiet, and keep their ideas to themselves, if they have any. so it was hard to get them to really involve themselves. i also moved into my house, which now feels like home. i've decorated, have pictures of y'all up, have two hammocks (thanks to the best bf ever), and am enjoying cooking my own food. no more white rice. :)

i've also gotten to travel around a bit. february began with a bang. i went to celebrate carnaval in the azuero, the carnaval capital of panama. it was craaaaaaaaaazy. everyone parties in the streets (which are packed) and big water tankers spray people with water. then floats come around with the queens, who dance and wave to the crowds, and each one is followed by a float with a band. the streets are filled with all sorts of people (old, young, city people, campesinos) and everyone yells and dances and has a good time letting all thier sin out before lent begins. basically, the best party ever.

recently, i also traveled to an indigenous site. the people are of the embera tribe and live (more or less) how they have since before the gringos came and took over. they make their money by having tourists come and visit. the women wear just a bright piece of fabric as a skirt and then men use loin cloths. their houses are wood platforms, raised off the ground, with palm thached roofs. some have walls, some don't. the whole things was really surreal. and beautiful. the communities are on the edge of the chagres river in a national park. i will definitely bring everyone who visits to visit. (photos to come. in the meantime, google image search parara puru.)

lastly, last month i hit my 6 month mark of being away from home. i really started to miss everyone and think, "do i really have 21 more months to go?" but, i realized that i live in the tropics, have a wonderful house and community, have awesome friends, and am getting paid to help make a difference in people's lives and really just hang out with and learn from people from another culture. so, life is great. and, my mom and sister are visiting in a month! i couldn't be more excited. oh, and if anyone buys magazines (fashion, celebrity gossip, news, whatever) and can drop off their already read issues at my mom's house before she leaves, i would be forever greatful. FOREVER. i need to stay up to date with which middle age celebrity is having twins next, if barack is going to be our next president, and what trouble lindsay lohan is in now. oh, and if you read any good news articles online, email them to me. whenever i get online i am too rushed too look up news. thanks! i just feel so detached from the states sometimes.

ha'ta luego, pue'.

the house!


okay, to see pics of my new place (and others from my community), click on this link:
http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2267057&l=fc204&id=1203709
(btw, the first swimming hole is right behind my house. sweet. the second swimming hole was a 2 hour walk from my house. not so sweet. but i definitely bonded with the teens from my coop that i went with.)

enjoy!

so here's my life update:


today, moving into my house!!!!!!!!!! i'm so excited. it's really cute. i'll send pics when i take them. broke decorating can be fun. i made curtains and a sofa slip cover out of shower curtains yesterday. and a bedspread out of a tablecloth. ya'll are gonna love it when you visit. ;)

living in the campo story: yesterday i was on the latrine and heard tttssssst. before i knew what was happening i had jumped up, ass out and pee dripping. a 2.5 foot snake was 2 feet from me. i panicked, unsure if was was in danger (it was only green, not coral or patterned) and if i should jump outside ass-out in front of my host family. luckily, i didn't have to detbate what to do because the snake slithered out of the latrine. still, it shook me up.

other campo news: i burned my first trash yesterday. put it in a plastic bag and lit it up. in the states i would be thinking, this is sooooo not environmentally friendly. and smokey the bear would pop out and remind me of forest fires. but in panama you just think, "will the freakin wind please stop blowing black trash smoke at me!"

so i guess that's it for now. i love and miss you all. more to come.

ways panamá will drive you crazy:


- having to wait 40 minutes in a restaurant just to order, while people who arrived after you are already eating

- being squished into a 12 person van (the bus out of my community) with 26 other people who smell of BO and baby oil as "suavamente" blares on the radio and you bang back and forth because the road is in really bad shape

- or, being on a bus full of drunk men and having the tire pop (because the driver may have been drunk too) and waiting on the side of the road at night while they put on a spare

- having to pay 50 cents a minute to call the usa AND another person right here in panamá

- starting your 9 o'clock meeting at 11 o'clock

- having your host family give you an ice cream cone, a popscicle, and a handful of candy, right after they call you fat



oh, and here's my future house!

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