46! leaving for panama city.

leaving my host fam today... which is so sad!! theyre driving me to the bus station in a couple hours. from there, ill head to panama city to stay in a hostel with the other volunteers. my flights at 2 tomorrow. should be home around 10pm (lets hope i make my connecting flight)... see you all soon!

day 44... last day of classes

i finished teaching today. went to kindergarden in the morning, and my usual primary school in the afternoon. we had all the parties yesterday and today. the turkey-making went really well, and so did the worksheet i made. everyone loved finding the states where they know people. and of course the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were a big hit. at the end of the day one of the students said, ´if you like english, raise your hand´... of course this was in spanish, but not important. they like english now! i got so many kisses and hugs today. one class attacked me with kisses, which was great and was super cute, but they had just eaten cheetos!! i washed my cheeks for a while. i got so many cards and a couple of gifts. i think i did make class fun for the six weeks. i dont know how much english they learned, definitely some, not a ton, but i did change the teaching style at least for these weeks, and the students learned that learning can be fun. (i know, thats cliche...) anyways, now that im done in the panama school system, here´s my review:

1. the discipline system:
while the teachers yell, even scream at the kids, there are no actual consequences besides hurt feelings for a couple of minutes. the teachers yell at kids directly, trying to embarrass them, and i have even heard a teacher call a student stupid. not the way to go, in my (and most peoples´)opinion. while the yelling may have some threats, such as point deductions on quizzes, or missing recess, they never ever follow through. when recess is taken away from a kid for being bad, the student never actually has to stay in. so clearly, there is no reinforcement. the kids know that nothing will happen.
rewards are unheard of. so there are no motives for the students to act well. even the small things that i´ve done here made the kids smile or do better. like, im talking really small things. i drew a smiley face on their paper if they got less than two things wrong. usually they just receive a check mark. the kids wanted that smiley face on their papers! definitely not a hard thing for anyone to do. other times, ill give the students some high-fives for getting an answer right, or even just participating without screaming the answer and giving everyone a headache. stickers are a high reward. i didnt give out as many stickers as i initially thought i would, because the kids really are so crazy. but id like to believe its not really their fault. its the culture. the kids are crazy in the school system. they really are. there is no motive and no reason for the kids to act well.

2. teaching techniques:
the only technique--copying, copying, and copying more from the white board. the kids have a notebook for each subject. the teachers will write paragraphs on the board, the students spend the hour copying it. (it takes an hour for a couple paragraphs because the teacher has to stop for a half hour to yell for a while) when theyre done copying, the students take it home for the night to memorize. usually there is a test the next day. there´s never a cumulative final, so i betcha there is no real learning for the long term. to give the teachers some credit, the kids are learning how to make this method work. and they dont know any other ways. but it was a shame for me to see. i know tehre are so many other things to do in a classroom, and im not even a teacher! sometimes tehre will be a practice test before the real test, but the students know the teacher wont look at it, so they dont study unless its a real test. theres no such thing as a popquiz to keep the students motivated to study. there are no games. there are no discussions. there are no opinions within the classroom. yes, they are young for discussions, but theres no room for questioning. in fact, questioning is bad.
heres what i did: i convinced the english teacher that she could teach the first half of the lesson for copying and such, and then i would reinforce her teaching with games and other activities. i was lucky to have a teacher that really agreed, and wanted to learn new techniques. i did activities that got them moving out of their seat. of course, many times they did get too crazy with these games, but the stickers came in handy at this time. if worst came to worst, the loud kids had to run a lap around the school to get their energy out, and then were not allowed to play until the next game. rule i taught the teachers: dont make the crazy energetic kids sit out of recess...they need to get their energy out, not keep it in. anyways, i did games such as bingo, hot potato, musical chairs, fly swatter, blindfold guessing, coloring projects, etc. all of these are new in the classroom. i hope that these ideas will spread as different teachers hear about them.

3. ¨the special ed department¨:
this name is in quotes, becuase really there is no department for special ed. i think that its great that the school system does recognize that there are students with special cases and mental illnesses, but the system has no idea how to handle these kids. therefore, they think every kid with a disability has the same problem. for instance, a student with adhd and a student with some level of autism will be treated the same way. a student who has a speech impediment is thought to have learning problems, not speaking problems. so there is one person who will walk around the school checking on these students. she might write their notes for them or read aloud the board. but she never helps them overcome any obstacle or tries to include them in the class. these kids are given different tests (basically just a shorter version of the original) because they assume none of these kids can process the information, but it is obvious to me that a lot of these students could very well process a lot more information that the teachers think. but they are never forced to take the hard version of the test, and so they use their disability to their advantage by slacking or leaving the classroom to walk around. when i help these kids individually, i see that they can read and write and process information.
i saw one extreme case where a clearly autistic boy was put in a desk in the corner of the classroom facing the back wall, because the teaching didnt want him distracting the other students with his noises. of course, i suppose it is amazing that this boy´s family even sends him to school at all.
the school doesnt have the resouces about special education, and so i understand why the program is how it is. i think panama is liberal enough to want to do better if they knew that they could. i believe they would consider bettering the system if they knew how. they just dont have the resources.

4. teaching behavior:
...i noticed this behavior right away. and it still bothers me after my six weeks teaching. the teachers will talk about the students and their failures openly in front of other students and teachers. if a kid answers something wrong, the english teacher will look at me, usually roll her eyes, and make a comment. i learned not to make eye contact with her when a student does something wrong. this very obviously makes the kids feel horrible, i can tell. at least the english teacher will talk to me in english, so the kids dont understand, but the other staff members dont have this option.
other than that, the teachers act as if they are there for themselves, not for the students. they will talk to other teachers in the middle of class if another teacher comes in. when i yell at all the students to stop talking, the english teacher will continue talking to whichever other teacher is in the room, knowing the rule does not apply to her. and it kills me!! their conversation is too loud and the kids have no respect for the rules when even the teacher is not following it. i have had so many urges to yell at the teacher, but i have to remind myself its the culture, and definitely not my place to yell!

anyways, i know i am crushing the school system right now. but obviously there is a stable system, and thats great. most of the families i have met take education very seriously. panamanians know that knowledge is important, and the parents will crack down on their kids to study. i mean, my host siblings are ALWAYS studying really. so while the system doesnt have the resouces to change immediately, i think that panama will make advancements in the future, as soon as the money and time comes along.
i think the next group of english volunteers for learning enterprises should really teach the teachers more than teach the kids. the teachers i met were eager for suggestions. i know there are some teachers who are too proud to want to learn more, and thats fine. teach the ones who want to learn. and if learning enterprises can teach these teachers some new ideas every year, soon enough the classroom will look completely different. i cant teach a ton of english in six short weeks. but i definitely was able to teach a handful of new activities to the english teacher.
i did love my kids, despite how ridiculously crazy they were a lot of the time. and i do think that learning enterprises should continue to come to panama. its a greatly developing country with a lot of potential.

day 42

im nearing the end. i cant believe it. but its finally starting to feel like it. everyones saying bye, and its a lot sadder than i thought it would be!

but anyways, yesterday i got a manicure. a french manicure. and it cost me 2 dollars, plus fifty cents for a tip. and it was exactly the same as any manicure at home. crazy USA. then i went to school and did my usual teaching. fue un dia normal.

today i woke up and spent the day with my host cousins. they came from chitre to las tablas to see me, and theyre a lot of fun. one speaks pretty good english, and the other knows only a couple of words. but we found a lot to talk about. and im gonna miss them a lot!

the english teacher was sick, and so tehre were no english classes today. but i did one class on my own because it was their last day with me. so i threw a party. i made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for them!! such a simple thing, yet panama has not yet discovered it. they were a big hit. other kids brought more food. and we had music. and we made turkeys out of our hands and feet (i explained thanksgiving to them), and then we played games with balloons. good day. of course they were crazy wild though and i doubt ill have a voice after the 4 parties tomorrow. hugging those students good bye was so saddd!!

tomorrow should be another normal day. teaching and parties and hanging with the fam. i have to make 90 pb and j´s for the parties tomorrow, and imnot looking foward to that. (they only get half a sandwich, i dont have endless money. it might end up being a quarter sandwich even!)

anyways... hasta luego!

40... leaving in 6 days?!!?

today was an experience!! my family took me to isla de canyis (canyis island). let me tell you how i got there. first of all, there were too many of us, so we had to take the farm truck. this is a suzuki truck thats used to transport cows everywhere. but instead of the cows, us kids sat back there-- my two host siblings, my friend rachel, and me. my host parents brought chairs to the back so that it would be a little more comfortable. they were the kiddie chairs, like a mini mickey mouse chair, and a pink fluffy chair, and they were soo small i barely fit my butt into them! but better the floor none the less. so we sat back tehre, looking so funny, for an hour and a half. in reality, though, i really did enjoy the ride. the endless hills are just so gorgeous and i got to see them all. and on the way back we had a sunset ride, and watched the sun go behind the hills. really pretty. really rare. really awesome.
anyways, back to my journey. when we got to the island, i was told we had to take a small boat to the island. i was not told that we had to walk through knee-deep mud to get to the boat. but we did. so i did it. and i was a mess. but it was an experience. there were crabs running everywhere! that was the worst part! but it seemed like some mystical experience going through all these trees and mud and water. my host mom said it was like one of those magical ride at disney world (the one place she has been to in the US), but she was compeltely right. it was like one of those scary canoe rides. but it wasnt a ride. it was real. the boat was so shabby and im so happy it didnt break down. this one guy has the job of bringing island people back and forth between land and home. (about 2000 people live on the island, and need to get out sometimes i can imagine). so when we reached the island, i was happy i didnt arrive wet from a boat flip, and from there we got on island transportation.
and by island transportation, i mean it was an ooolllllddd run down pick up truck that drives everyone around the island. its a super small place, only about ten minutes from one side to the other, but can still be a long walk for the visitors. so we all stood in the back of the truck (it was again the cow-like pick-up truck, i really dont know the name for what it is), and we had a fun time dodging branches and trees as the driver drove us across the island. i had some close calls, but nothing tragic!
finally we reached the house. my host fam is building a house for the whole family to share as a vacation house, but its not done yet, still under construction. itll be amazng, though. its right next to the beach, and one of the only houses on the island with indoor plumbing. we didnt spend much time there, we jsut ran the beach. it was SO pretty... pretty much deserted, untouched, natural, with a view ill never see again. and we had it to ourselves the whole time. so the kids, rachel and i jumped waves for about 2 hours, and it didnt even rain!! definitely a good time, and worth the crazy trip there.
island life was interesting to see. like i said, about 2000 people live there. everyone just works for themselves. there are small farms all over that grow rice, potatoes, corn, etc. and turkeys, roosters, chickens, and all that are always running wild just trying to escape being dinner. (but thats definitely me saying that, not the islanders!). they also run large nets in the ocean, like i saw today, to collect fish. it definitely seemed a lot easier than fishing! other than food, there is a government run school there. everyone just walks from all corners of the island. on our ride back, an old crippled man got into the ¨taxi¨with us because he was sick. he was literally using a stick as a cane, and i wanted him to go to a real hospital asap. of course he just said he needed some water and other supplies from the one small store. the kids learn how to make their own fun. it was so surprising how few people were swimming in the water... i mean they live on an ocean! but people were busy building, growing, cooking, etc. even 5 year olds were running around with machetes, ready to cut the grass. i dont think i wouldhave survived if i were placed at the school here. but it was a great experience for a day!i would definitely go back. even if i had to walk through the mud again.
when we were ready to go back, the island transportation came, brought us back to the boat, and we got back into the cow truck! and now im here. in bad need of a shower after all that mud walking and branch jumping. i only have about 6 more cold showers to go though... cant believe it. got home and ordered pizza (by order, i mean picked up.. theres no such thing as delivery here). i swear that pizza is more popular here than at home! oh, and i made strawberry short cake as dessert for the fam. it was delicious.

39

more culture:

31. the indiginous culture: a quote from my host dad-- ¨theyre more like mexican families.¨i dont really knows what this means for sure, but he says there is a lot of machismo. and i can see that. they are distinguished only by the women´s clothing. the females all wear an indiginous dress, its pretty long, and always a bright color, with a small pattern along the hemmings. ill try to get a picture. the dresses are not exactly ugly, but they definitely stand out. the males do not wear anything different than the rest ofthe country. the females do all the cleaning and cooking, and the men usually drink all day and do nothing, unless they work on a farm. the kids do go to school with the rest of the country, and the females do have to wear the school uniform, not their usual attire. but the country does not view these people as bad, or any different. everyone interacts very friendly.

32. ´fondos´are very typical. its basically a very cheap restaurant. they sell all the typical panamanian foods, including meat, hoaldras, corn tortillas, chicha, etc. my family took me to eat at one for the experience (they dont eat there very often), and for the five of us to eat a meal, it cost less than 7 dollars. but, as i found out later, the fondos use old oil that is donated by townspeople when they are done using it. so everything fried is fried in used oil (and everything is fried.) i dont think about that. gotta do as the panamanians do i guess?

33. im gonna explain the washing machine we have--its one of the better ones of the country. first, you fill it with water, usually using a bucket, manually. then you put some clothes in (doesnt fit much), and put some powder soap in. you turn it on, and then let it wash for about 10 minutes. after that, you have to take out each piece of clothing individually, and wash it in clean water with this solution that gets rid of the soap. we just do this part in the sink. then you put the clothes into this spinner thing, i really dont know what else to call it. it spins the clothes really fast so that they dry more quickly. but theyre not completely dry, so then we put them on the clothesline to dry.

34. the police here are crazy. they pull anyone over for anything. and if theyre bored, they make up a ticket to give you. some people say this happens in the US, but after seeing it here in panama, i say we have it good over there.

35. mamones-chinos-- i posted a picture of these. theyre the crazy wild red ball things. first you pick some off the trees. then you bite into the shell (which is soft), then you get the seed out. i find this part very hard because usually the juice squirts all over when i do this. and then you suck on the seed part for the yummy jelly type stuff that it around it. and when youre bored with the seed, or you ate all the jelly, just throw the seed on the side of the street.

38

hey all-

wednesday was the pollera contest for santa librada. the pollera are the traditional dress of panama for the girls, and theyre beautiful. they include so much jewelery, and can cost more than $25000 for a complete, real outfit. and in order to compete, these dresses really are real. the girls walk up and down the runway, dancing the typical dance, and model the dress for the judges. the judges feel the stitching, to see how intricate it was. and the winner gets a whole lotta money (even in US standards). the whole thing took all afternoon. and then after the winner was decided, there was a parade. well, it was a panamanian parade, and so it was 2 floats, but they were really good. everyone flooded the streets to see these girls modeling their dresses. the winner had her own float, and the runners-up had another. there was a band, and really pretty fireworks. they set off the fireworks just about ten feet away from everyone, its so crazy! i really thought something would light on fire--one of the buildings if not one of the people. someone did say the church lit on fire a couple of years ago. they moved the fireworks with the parade, so they would always set them off right before the floats came by. but they are a lot prettier literally right above my head.

thursday i went to school, and around 1:00 the principal decided that school should get out at 4 for the last day of santa librada. so all the kids were basically stranded at the school at 4 because no one had rides home or anywhere to go. my host sister and i were lucky that my host mom was on lunch break. 2 hours later, when we were close to the school, i saw kids still waiting!! pobrecitos. but, when we got home i decided to take advantage of the time, and i took my host siblings to the festival, since they had not gone yet. i felt like such a mom! i took them to the bull fight first, bought them respado (really good cold drink made with frozen ice, flavoring, and malt) and popcorn. the bull fighting was a lot different than i imagined, and definitely not the same as it is in spain. they take the bull out, a man and the bull chase each otehr around for a while, and then thats it. they never kill the bull (which is good, i dont think i could have handled it), and sometimes people will come out riding the bull to see how long they will last. its definitely a smaller version of the spanish tradition, but still cool to see. then the kids got bored, so i brought them out to the street, where there was a very tiny amusement park. they each got to ride 4 rides, and 5 if they behaved well (im telling you, such a mom!) of course they got the 5th, even though they got annoying. and then we bought some dinner and each kid got to pick out something to buy, because there were street vendors everywhere, and the kids wanted everything. then they started fighting, so i took them home. i didnt want to be mom anymore. espcially a spanish speaking one. i was gonna go to the baile that night, because my host grandparents were going. but my friends were really worn out and didnt want to go. i was kinda sad, but thats all right. ive experienced it before. so my friends and i just walked around for a while, seeing everything tehre was to see, and then headed home around midnight.

so, santa librada ended. today they cleaned everything up off the streets, and the town is back to normal. i dont teach fridays, so i went to the beach with 2 other volunteers. but when we got there, the water was literally so dirty and so mucky there werent even waves until about a half mile out! and then, of course, it started raining. so we headed home. ive noticed that most of the panamanian beaches are dirty run down. when it cleared up i took my host brother to the pool. im exhuasted today for some reason, and so itll be an early night. dont have plans for tomorrow, either! but its the last weekend here with my host fam, and so i just wanna spend some time with them!

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i have lots of culture to add today! (ive been keeping a list, so read up)

23. taxi rides cost a dollar to get pretty much anywhere. sometimes, 1.25, but thats the maximum.

24. we eat mangos from the trees.

25. the bedsheets are never fit to the bed. at first i thought i just had old sheets, but no. theyre all like that. so in the morning, i always end up on the mattress because of course they come loose in the middle of the night!

26. people here say ¨que pretty!¨ (how pretty) as part of theyre everyday phrases. i just find it so funny, because theyre taking an english word, and just adapting it to their language, and it sounds so awkward to me in the middle of a bunch of spanish. ´ay madre,´is another popular phrase that i find funny.

27. panamanians dont really say ´s´at the end of their words. for example, ´mas o menos´really sounds like ´ma o meno.´made the language a little difficult to understand at first.

28. ´patacones´are fried plantaines. theyre SO good, SO much better than french fries!

29. they eat iguanas here!

30. when someone finds out that i wear contacts, they immediately ask what color my real eyes are--literally, everyone asks. contacts are worn to change eye color here, not to correct vision. they dont get why i wear them.

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(more to come!)

the 35th day.

went to the santa librada festivities last night. its a bunch of people riding around on horses while drinking. and cows are everywhere. and so are santa librada flags, and fireworks. they sure do love their fireworks here, but not the pretty ones, just the noisy ones. the streets are all set up with decorations and street vendors galore. at the end of the street is the club that they created just for santa librada, and is only here for the 5 days, and then theyre tearing it down. theres an area next to it thats for the ´baile´which is a dance, and panamanian singers do their thing with the accordian, while everyone else dances the funny panamanian style dance, and everyones going in circles the whole time. its not too fun to dance, but definitely hilarious to watch. we had a good time. went to both the baile and the club. on thursday my host grandparents are playing as an end to all the festivities, so im definitely looking foward to that baile. and tomorrow is a ´pollera´contest. pollera is the name for the traditional dress of the panamanian girls. these dresses can cost up to 25,o00 dollars, with all the jewels and pearls. ive seen fake ones, and even those are incredible. but girls are coming from all over the country to model their polleras, and this is apparently an amazing part of santa librada.

other than these happenings, im back to teaching, and loving it more each day. im really getting used to the kids, and learning how to tame their crazyness to some level. i started teaching the alphabet today, because i learned that none of the kids know past the letter G. so their homework tonight is to learn, review and memorize letters through K, and a word that starts with each of those letters. tomorrow is just more of all this, teaching and santa librada!

days 31 through 34

i have lots to say since i havent had internet that last four days!

here´s a summary of my long weekend in chiriqui: (and its a long post too)

friday:

we drove about four hours from las tablas to chiriqui, but of course the actual drive took wayyy longer because we stopped like 2345 times. but four hours, ill say, because thats the time it should take. we stopped at all of my host mom´s siblings´houses. she has seven other siblings, so basically we were out until late going from house to house. i assumed we would do one big dinner party type thing like we would in the US, but thats not how things work here. food is not a social event. people dont gather for meals. they gather to talk, and so why not just talk for a while in each of the houses, i suppose? i met this one neice of my host mom who is eighteen, and she was so funny about meeting me, because she is obsessed with learning english. she doesnt know much at all. shes in her first year at the university, but really cant speak it. we only spoke in spanish, and i helped her withher english homework. i found out that they never even taught her what a cognate is. and so i taught her, and she understands like 50 percent more of the words now. anywyas, we went back to one of the sister´s house to sleep. all of these houses i was at, to say the least, are a lottt mroe simple than what i am living in with my family. i took my first bucket shower. and i had to be careful that the ants didnt attack my toothbrush. but other than that, everything was great. everyone gave me food alll the time. even tho i am vegetarian, they do seem to find a whole lot for me to eat. theyre super nice, the families all live within two blocks of each toher, everyones super close, and its a cute close knit family. i can tell my host mom is sad to be away from them. oh! and how can i forget! i met a costa rican family! some family member of my host mom (there were too many of them to keep straight) moved to costa rica, and has a costa rican family. and so i spent forever tlaking about costa rica with them of course. and they gave me their info for me to come stay with them whenevber! how perfect! i want to go back so badly!

saturday:

i woke up to more food. im never that hungry, but its rude not to finish hte plate, so i am training my stomach on how to finish. its so horrible for me, and i cannot wait to train it back to normal. we were staying really close to a big city named david. its the second largest city in panama, behind panama city. and so it was really busy with lots of stores. and my host mom took me shopping, to say the least. she likes to shop! all of the stores seem to sell the exact same things (everything), and we went to many of them. my host sibs got a lot of new clothes, and i got panamanian shoes (for $1.30). then we hung around the town more, went back to the house and ate some more of course. thennn we started our journey to the border. yes, the border of costa rica and panama. i was THAT close to going back! but there are huge markets around there that sell things from both countries for real cheap. so we shopped around some more. and i saw costa rican things that made me miss it more. but then my host mom got sad that i like costa rica more, so i decided i had to like panama more. thennnn, after heading back towards the house, i found out that we were going someplace different for the night! we went to my family´s vacation house in the mountains. they told me an hour ride, or less, but of course it was about three hours because we stopped every ten minutes. every member of my family got new shoes on that ride tho. finally we made it to the house. i was into the backyard, nad saw a cabbage patch! then i looked up and saw the picture perfect rainbow. and the mountains were gorgeous! and the climate is mountain temperature, which means it was not too hot. so i laid in the hammock had had the best few moments ever. then the kids came yelling for me to play with them. we just hung around their house that night, but it was relaxing, and pretty nice.

SUNDAY:

i woke up around 6:30 and had yet another huge breakfast. we went into town and had ´fresa con crema´which is the signature food of the town. its a really rich cream and really fresh strawberries, and it was amazing even though i was full. we walked around some more, and we met this cute little indiginous girl. lots of indiginous families live in the chiriqui region. theyre really interesting, so more on them later. this girl showed us around her house. they sell flowers, and so it was just so beautiful. but the house itself, man it was basic. but they had monkeys and baby pigs and puppies, and so i really enjoyed myself. we walked around more, and my host fam bought about 100 pounds of vegetables, and antoehr 100 of meat from a street vendor. i dont think this is an exageration. they said its a lot cheaper there. after that, we went to visit some friends of the family. they were super cool, and had a really nice house. they took us to their vegetable farm, and we went for a nice little hike around there. i saw potatoes, onions, cabbage, lettuce, and so much more. potatoes take about 3months in total to be ready to sell, onions the same, and cabbage a bit longer. we were really high up and the view was just awesome. of course i took pictures. el volcan, which is the name of the town, is the highest point in panama. the volcano there is active, but not erupting, and that is the actual highest point. and we were pretty close to it! then the two families went to eat at a restaurant. this is the first time i have been to a restuarant with my host family. its not a common thing to go do. like i said, food is not the social gathering point. everyone ordered the same thing, just the type of meat varied. they had rice, hte meat and a salad. no one ate their salads, so i had like 5. after that we came back to the house to hang out, i laid in the hammock, and read a lot of my book.

today (monday): we headed back for las tablas. but on the way we stopped at all the siblings´houses again, plus many times for other random things. made it back in about 6 hours including all the stops though. and now im here, reading to celebrate santa librada. in fact, my host cousin just called me to see if i wanted to go out to the party with her. i think i will.

thirty!

not much to say yet for today, but this is my only chance for internet today. im at a different school with my friend rachel. i decided i needed a change of scenery, so we´re teaching together. she came with me to the kindergarden, and now we´re at escuela presidente porras for round two of the day. 2 of the girls just made my day at the kindergarden...they came up to me and said that english class is now their favorite subject!! yayy! so that made my teaching there definitely worth it. rachel and i went to go use the pool in between teaching times, but they kicked us out (after we put on bathing suits but before we got in the water, and so it was suchhh a tease, especially because it is sooooo hot and sunny today!!)because only university students could use it--and there was NO ONE in the pool at all!! im still upset about this. but anyways, rachel and i changed back into clothes, and took a very sweaty walk through the town. we got some pizza for lunch. pizza is actually really common here. vegetarian pizza is not, of course, but they let me special order. and it was delicious. (my host sister learned the word delicious and now uses it for everything, its hilarious.) so we´re about to start teaching, and then my plan is to go back to the house and lay on the hammock for a while.

oh, and i guess i should have mentioned that we are not going to chiriqui today--no surprise. but we are going tomorrow supposedly. i woke up this morning and they didnt bother to tell me till i was almost out the door. like ive said a million times, there is no such thing as a plan here, only some ideas of things to do that can change in a second. hopefully i´ll be on my way to chiriqui tomorrow! but who knows!

twenty-nine

funny thing happened this morning...

my friend rachel and i went for a run. this is not the funny part, although to the panamanians it was. the streets were mostly paved, but of course there are the random spots where it was hard to run, and we therefore got very muddy. and it was raining out, which was perfect for us because it was not too hot, but the panamanians thought we were just ridiculous. we decided we will only go running on the days it is raining so that we dont die of heat, and then we can go swimming on the days it is sunny (so basically this means i will probably go running a lot). anyways, after the run we were both sweaty and thirsty, which therefore means i have to go to the refridgerator to get some cold water to drink. makes sense, right?? what a mistake!! my host sister and the maid, who were the two people home almost had a heart attack. apparently, if you touch the refridgerator or anything cold when you are sweating or after you are ironing, you will die of a stroke. im not kidding. my friend and i both asked multipole times to make sure we understood. so, if you have been ironing, you must wait some time before touching the fridge. and if you are sweating you have to take a shower and dry off before touching the fridge.... or else you´ll get a stroke and die!..... apparently we need to learn this in the USA still!! i felt a little bad when rachel and i were laughing at this, and they had no idea why. we tried explaining that it is totally fine to get a glass of water, but they would not hear of it. i wanted to show them, but i didnt want them to have a heart attack. so, we just let them get water for us.

it felt very good to go running. itll make my next fried meal better. i also taught my host sister how to do sit-ups, and told her we have to do them everyday. she got a kick out of that.

tomorrow we are going to chirique (according to my host fam), but of course, plans are ALWAYS changing, so im not getting my heart set on it this time. although i do hope we go, ive heard it´s really pretty, and a spot where every tourist needs to go. all of my host mom´s family lives there, so i will meet all of them, too.

last night i went to novena. i really had no idea what that meant, but the english teacher i work with said it is something for santa librada, and really fun, and i really should go. so my friend rachel i and went with her. turns out, i had to sit through three hours of church. thats all it was. some special service about the saint librada, and thats how the whole festival kicks off. but ive seen the church before. and so im just gonna say i was much more fascinated by the bat flying around during the service than anything else. i think the teacher just wanted someone to go to the service with her. so we did. but i dont think ill ever go to a novena again. im just hoping the rest of santa librada only gets better (which everyone says it definitely will).

28.

day 28 already!

so the town is getting ready for ´santa librada.´ santa librada is the second biggest celebration, right after the annual carnival. im not exactly sure about the meaning of santa librada, clearly librada is some saint that is important... and she comes back at this time yearly i believe. but the students are all getting ready, as are entire families. there are santa librada flags everywhere, which are different from the panamanian flag. and the kids are getting a bunch of time off of school for the pre-fiesta events (but nothings new with getting off school- any excuse here!) anyways, im excited. the actual festival is four or 5 days long. it starts this sunday. there are bull runs, beauty shows, panama hat contests, dances, concerts, religious stuff, and tons of other stuff. people come from all over the country to celebrate, so im excpecting some big things. i even saw that they are putting up a merry-go-round and ferris wheel in town! everyones talking about the celebration, and its some of the best days here, and so im really excited for it.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Librada --this spanish version has better info, but for those of you who need the english, just translate it.

other than that, im just teaching and hanging with the host fam. i love it though. panama is growing on me each day. more updates later!!

midpoint break in el valle, days 24-26

so here goes another update:

friday morning i left for el valle with the rest of the volunteers. the trip was about 4 hours long with three bus switches. but the timing worked out pretty well, and we had no problem making the transfers. when we got to the valley, of course it was pouring like crazy, and so we had nothing to do besides hang out at the hotel. luckily, it was pretty nice (with hammocks everywhere, of course). we played some cards and eventually got dinner. it´s not exactly a huge touristy place, but definitely more so than what i have seen so far around panama. we definitely ran into a good number of english speakers. and the hostel cost 18 a night, and that is definitely more than a hostel should cost in panama. so anyways, we were hanging out, but as usual, i was very very tired, and so a bunch of us decided to just sleeeeeep. which i did.

saturday was THE day. we woke up around 7 to go hiking. the hike is called ¨la india dormida¨or ¨the sleeping indian¨because the topof the mountain is shaped like an indian sleeping, apparently. i didnt get that picture so well, but oh well. the hike was pretty intense, i definitely got a good workout. unfortunately when we got to the top it was covered in clouds. and so even though it was cool to be in the clouds, i couldnt see anything around me, and therefore no super cool view. but i got some other good views when i was just below the clouds, so no worries. on the way down we found a waterfall in the middle of the mountain. it was amazing! there was a pool at the bottom of it, and so we all found a way (which was definitely not easy) to go swimming. definitely the top moment of the weekend. i just love these natural waterfalls. yes, the water was cold, but man did it feel good after the hike. pictures of all this to be posted of course. we got back to the hotel from the hike around 12pm. ate some quick lunch, and left for the beach right away. this beach spot was picked out by our in country coordinator lorena (basically the founder of the program) and to say the least, she is RICH. so, just imagine the picture perfect beach and pool. this is where we went. it was verrryyyy luxurious, and definitely SO fun. i finally got some color on my skin! we relaxed in the ocean for the rest of the afternoon. amazingly, it didnt rain! (which is a first for panama). we headed back to the hotel around 6pm, went to dinner, then went with lorena to one of her friend´s house, and hung out there. gooooood day.

woke up early this morning to go to the market. i got two necklaces, which i bargained for and was very proud of. there were all types of art there, as well as fruit and vegetables, and met some cool people just talking about the art and such. then we got on a bus back, and three buses later, im here at the internet cafe. i havent been back to the house yet, but ill be there soon--which im excited about because i miss my host family!

day 23.

taught at the kindergarden this morning. about to start teaching here at the elementary school. then gonna make some burritos for my family for dinner. tomorrow i am off to el valle del anton with the other volunteers!

day 22 again...the university experience.

another post for today while i have a computer.

right now i am at the university, with one of my host cousins. i came to help teach some of the classes here, and it is a funny experience, to say the least. the class forgot that they had an exam, and so for the first hour i had nothing to do. but i went down to another english class, just to see if i could help out, and it turns out that there was already someone from alabama teaching the class! he was so funny. turns out he is here with another organization that teaches english teachers here different teaching techniques (which is great because they really do need it) and he was just filling in for a professor tonight. we talked for a while, he was pretty cool, but spent 2 years as a missionary in argentina. but he had great teaching techniques. if i were teaching older students like he does then he could have definitely helped me out. however, i am sooo happy to have younger students, to say the least.

i went back to my friends english class, and they were finishing up their test. the teacher could not find the tape recording with the english voices, so good thing i was there! she had me read these passages outloud for the class, acting as a tape. i felt so horrible, making these students who are like 2 years older than me learn this language from me! i didnt want to give them a test on the first day. so i spoke clear and slow. they said it was great :) yay. halfway through my reading, someones cell phone went off. and she answered it! and talked while she was taking the test! the tecaher just laughed. i definitely did too. i explained that i would probably get kicked out of the class for something like that. definitely just a tad different here.

later, we all just sat around and i talked about the US. they asked me how much college costs... and their reactions were priceless. they work hard to pay the 27 dollars it costs here. (and that 27 includes books for sure). so we talked about money for a while, making me feel very guilty. i think i tried explaining the exchange rate like every 2 minutes! i was very relieved when the topic changed to snow and weather. definitely better conversation.

anyways, we walked around town for about 20 minutes, got a cheese empanada (which was SO delicious and i want another) and a batido (which is basically a smoothie), and now i am sitting with my host cousin in her next class, which happens to be a photoshop class. they have a test today, so theyre all busy trying to create newspaper images (i wish they would just use indesign... i think my dad should teach this class. all the students are so confused, and im sure i would be too with this teacher). but either way, i get more free internet time, thus this whole new blog entry for the last few hours of my life.

also, as another sidenote, on the way here i was tlaking with one of the students, and just asking him about life as a student here. he said there is no homework, and ifthere is there is no reason to actually do it. and the classes are not necessary because everyone can pass extremely easily. i would put that in quotes if i did not translate it from spanish. he knows zero english and will pass with flags flying. should i come here for university??? (dont worry, i wont)

20, 21, 22!

wow time is flying! how crazy!

school this week has been really fun, i am getting the hang of everything, all the kids and teachers know me, and i am just fitting in. i still get exhausted by the end of the long day, but with this heat i can´t expect anything else. (heat-- yes. sunny and tan--definitely not.)

anyways, not too much to update on. life is normal and good here. my host family is still the best. and ive been cooking pasta and making some american foods for them, which i love because then i get a good vegetarian meal as well.

oh! so today at school we had costa rican visitors. all of the students and teachers crowded on the basketball court to sit and watch some typical dancing from both countries. the kids themselves did the dancing, and it was so amazing to watch! they had on makeup, and the cultural clothes, like the big skirts and shirts and jewelery--they looked very gorgeous. first the kids from my school here danced some panamanian dances. then the costa ricans (all from ages 5-18 i think) did a bunch of their dancing. even though the countries are so close and seem like they would be similar, they are not at all. the cultures are extremely different. personally, i liked the panama dance better, but of course im still partial to everything costa rican as well. at the end, the panama kids showed the costa ricans how to do their dance. they were so adorable and fun to watch. pictures to be posted soon of course.

this weekend is mid-point break already. all of the volunteers are going to el valle. we leave friday morn and come back sunday night. im expecting some good beach time, as well as some great hikes.

culture time:

19. leftover food is kept in the microwave in order to keep the millions of flies out of it.

20. panama time and panama plans can change at any second. theres no such thing as solid plans here. even school hours change when they want. today, for example, classes were at 7am instead of the usual 1pm.

21. have i mentioned the cold showers yet? warm showers are unheard of. even in my nice host home.

22. school uniforms are the only the formal about the school system. the kids here do not care about discipline, and the screaming, yelling and running in unstoppable. it really depends on the day if my classes will listen to me. i always think i will go home voiceless from classes. i have not seen the kids here make a line yet. it´s just a big crowd of screaming kids all the time. and the teachers dont really do anything about it. except that they have to wear formal uniforms. of course the teachers have their own uniforms as well.

days eighteen and ninteen.

long update:

1. friday night turned out to be fun. one of the family´s cousins came over as a surprise visit for two reasons. 1, because she wants me to come to her school as well. she´s in high school, so it´ll be for older kids--and just once or twice, not constantly. 2, because she wanted me to go to a parade with her. so we went. and the parade? only one float that circled the central park about twenty times. i found that very hilarious. but that was my fourth of july parade even tho it was not the fourth and there was only one float and again the kindergarden girls had too much make up on. but there were fireworks as well! and those were fun and made me nostolgic for the fourth, even tho it didnt matter to me too much that i missed the holiday.

2. saturday morning i woke up early and went over to another volunteer´s house to help her with her fourth of july celebration for her town. we made water balloons and had a toss, played with a beach ball, played red rover, and then gave the kids chalk and told them to paint things from the US. (ive learned to be very careful not to say ámerican things´over here because they are american as well. we are north american, or from the US**) the kids in this town absolutely loved the water balloons. we even had prizes, like playdoh, stickers, and candy for them. afterwards, we made staple food from the US--none other than peanut butter and jelly. they loved it, and i definitely loved it as well.

3. after this celebration we took a bus into chitre, the large town about 45 minutes away from where i live. we stayed the night at my host-cousins house. seriously, the people here just take us in and love having us. i say this because my 3 other friends were going to stay at a hotel and instead the family made them stay with them, even tho they have hardly any money and not enough space. they did not want us in a hotel. 7 of us squeezed onto three single beds. it was tight, but i was tired and slept. the cousins had taken us all over town. we went shopping everywhere, even at an american resale store where i found super cute american eagle jeans for three dollars, and i bought them just because i do need more jeans to wear now. we got some ice cream, then went to the supermarket to get some food to cook. went to their house, cooked, and then got ready to go out. i hadnt worn makeup in the last three weeks, and so it was nice to put on and feel decent once again. then we went out dancing and to a bar slash casino. it was a very nice bar--definitely even nice for US standards, and therefore expensive even for us. the volunteers have realized that people do not want to show us their normal outtings, they want to show us what they think we like. (i personally would have loved a local bar). but the girls introduced us to their friends, and everyone is just so nice, that of course i had fun anyways.

4. came home this morning. the other volunteers saw a mcdonalds on the way home and just had to stop and eat some. how disgusting. even tho i really hate panamanian food, i didnt want to ruin this cultural experience with mcdonalds. but i guess these volunteers are in smaller towns with nothing to do or eat, and barely any electricity or running water. i have all of this, so i am not as stuck in rural panama. so i sat while they ate mcdonalds. they really enjoyed it to say the least. and i had air conditioning for a while, and that was nice. then we just got back on the bus, and now im home from the weekend. its nice catching up with my family. my host mom made my basked mostaccoli dish that i had made for them, so that was super nice of her. im exhausted, and just gonna read and watch some tv. ive already finished two of my three books, so im trying to pace myself. i definitely did not realize i would have so much free time! but school finally starts again tomorrow after this long break i have had. i have a four day week, and then leave friday to go to El Valle--all of the volunteers are meeting there for mid-point break.

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more cultural fun:

16. the women here wear their hair in huge curlers as a style. im serious. they think that it is very stylish to roll their hair up in the curlers, but never actually take them out. ill try to get a picture of someone on the streets, because it is very common, and very hilarious to me. i still have not gotten used to it. i keep thinking that they are not done with their hair.

17. the water just goes on and off whenever the town wants. in the last three or four days, i have gone about half the time without running water. i take showers whenever it is on, to say the least.

18. panamanians do what they want, when they want to. for example, if i am sleeping in my room, but they want something from the room, they just go get it. they don´t think this is rude. they do not care if i am in their way, or if i want to cook while they are cooking--just do it. everyone makes room for everyone else. this kinda drives me nuts, actually. but im trying to get used to it. (for example--the very loud jesus music very early in the morning, waking me up... oh well)

seventeen.

today was a pretty relaxed day... woke up and taught at the kindergarden. the new teacher there is a lot better than the other. she definitely knows more english, although she is definitely still learning. perhaps it was a lot easiertoday than normal because there were only about 5 kids in each class! how crazy! i asked why no one was there, and the teachers said it was because of the rain... but it rains here every single day so i do not understand. i guess they just didnt have to go to school today for some reason. we just played some color games, and reviewed head, shoulders, knees and toes. those kiddies are just too cute.

after school i took my host sibs and met up with the two other volunteers at the pool. it was nice to hang out with them but also take my hermanos somewhere, since there is never anything for them to do when they are not in school. we just got back from the pool, and i can tell theyre exhausted, so that makes me feel good that they ha da good day apart from their norm.

came home to surprise mcdonalds dinner once again. chicken salad minus the chicken for me. the kids just love it though.

i was going to go help my friend in her fourth of july celebration for the kids of her town tomorrow. but my host family asked if i would go with them to the farm again because they want to show me the island that is nearby. of course i couldnt say no. so im doing a day trip tomorrow. not sure what to expect, but the word island doesnt exactly have a bad conotation, so im excited.

hope u all have a good fourth-- ill be celebrating it panama style (therefore, not.)

days 15 and 16.

hey all, im here in an internet cafe... ready for another update? this is a long one...

tuesday night was a lot of fun. i think i have mentioned that my host dad´s dad (or my host grandpa i should say) and his wife are famous panamanian singers. they sing typical cultural music and are pretty well known throughout the area. and on tuesday night they hosted a dance. i drove with them (yes, definitely VIP treatment) in their van to the show, and then we went to some house t o eat dinner beforehand. when they started singing, eve ryone (about 500 people were there i would say), got up and moved their chairs to the side, moved all the tables out of the way, and started dancing with their partners. it was like clockwork and very cool to see. i danced to only a couple songs (the ones withou t a partner of course, seeing as i went with one of my girl friends) and made a fool of myself. it was a lot of fun tho. my friend kathleen and i ended up staying the night, or rather only a couple of hours (because we got home around 3am... and we were the first ones to leave) over at the cousins´house. they were super awesome and one of the girls even know english. the music is actually really good. they gave me a cd, so ill share when i get home of course. we´ll meet up with those cousins again for sure. they want me to go to their english classes at the university.

left their house early in order to start our venture to pedasi, a cute beach town thats about an hour and a half from where i am living. we got there, after quite a few funny wrong turns. and of course once we get tehre the rain would not let up. so we spent some time in the hammocks under a covering just hanging out. there were 6 of us who went, and it was still nice to see the town, but im still craving a sunny beach day!

the bus rides are always an experience, too. the system is called the ´chiva´ buses, and each bus seems privately owned. the driver decides how much it will cost, so we always have to be careful to not get ripped off considering when 6 americans are traving together, we a re easy targets. when the bus dropped us off here in las tablas there was an unusal amount of activity and things going on. i realized it was a parade. my host family came to join me and we sat and watched the parade together. apparently there are random parades that happen quite frequently in las tablas. ill jsut consider this one my fourth of july celebration i suppose, even though it was some sort of beauty pagant. these kindergarden girls were all made up, with make up and hair updos and stuff. personally i thought it was pretty scary but i guess t hey were still cute in some way. they are the new princesses of the town now anyhow.

when i finally got home i was just so pooped, i basically ate some dinner and went to bed around 8... not that thats too early for me now. seriosuly, the typical panamanian bedtime is around 9. its ridiculous.

anyways, i dont have school again til monday. i found this out on tues, when they suddenly decided to cancel classes. wednesday was a national holiday for the new president´s inauguration. but thurs and fri are off due to ´school construction.´they figured it was too messy for the kids to come, so they just dont need to. i really wanted to travel during this time but all the other volunteers are teaching still, and its really hard to take off days so early in the trip, so i understand. its just a shame though.

so today i cooked lunch for my host family. i was super proud of myself, considering i dont even know how to cook in the states. but i went to the supermarket this morning, found some pasta, sauce and a lot of vegetables and made a baked mostaccoli with peppers and a good salad! the oven was a little hard to use, and tehre was not a lot of pots available to me, but i made it work. the kids were a little creeped out by it i think. the boy ate all of his pasta but the girl wouldnt even try it! but the parents liked it, and i enjoyed having some non fried food, and thats all that matters! and i even have leftovers for dinner too. i think it tasted pretty darn good if i do say so myself.

so thats about it. hopefully therell be some more fun things on the way in these days off.

you all should send me an email or message about your lives!! i dont wanna be missing out on everythinggg!!!

chao!

day fourteen.

so i have time before class today, and i figure, hey, why not go use the computers again? so here i am. just gonna share with you some of the cultural things i have noticed since ive been here. i wrote some down last night, since i had no computer, and the tvs were not working either! heres what i remember:

1. everyone says ´buenas´(means good) when walking past another person. i hear it about 293874345 times per day.

2. dinner is not a family occassion. lunch is more so, but still not like we have family dinner in the states. most people come home from work to eat lunch, even though it´s just an hour. its not like a siesta where everything shuts down, but it is a good break in the day. no one really goes out to restaurants either. there are a couple but its not a common thing to go do.

3. central mountain and eastern time here is called either colombia chile time, or peru time.

4. studying is a family occassion. everyone studies together, all the time--theres not really much else to do.

5. people wear comfy clothes in the house, but will put on makeup and get dressed up even for a five minute outting--no being seen in sweatpants! i dont like this.

6. EVERYTHING is fried. everything.

7. panama hats really are everywhere. so are ámerican clothes resale stores.´everyone wants the latest fashions in the US. jeans, for example, will sell for around 3 dollars. my host sister was wearing childrens place clothes the other day, no joke. i even recognized the skirt. no escaping that store!

8. no one is racist. but almost everyone is culturally ignorant. no one thinks less of different colors or ethnicities, but no one asks about it either. it is just assumed that everyone has the samereligion. in fact, many asians have immigrated here, and a large percentage of the community stems from asian roots.

9.no one says goodbye on the telephone. when theyre done talking, they just hang up.

10. chickens are wandering the streets everywhere!

11. theres a naked girl in almost every newspaper everyday. the fam says thats the only way the newspapers sell--the media definitely means something different here (but im still trying to figure out how exactly important news travels)

12. so many people own parrots! we have 2 baby perrititas.

13. people dont really exercise here. its pretty much unheard of. and people also eat a ton of fried stuff. and theyre skinny (mas o menos)--im still trying to figure this one out.

14. hammocks hammocks hammocks everywhere! i love it!

15. ´resfrado´is a national drink. its shaved ice, with malt, and other flavorings. its SO good. people push around carts selling it on the streets all day. costs about 30 cents.

ill keep adding to this list as more things come up for sure!

day thirteen.

i wont have a computer again until thurday... my host dad took the laptop to the farm with him (and he goes to the farm mon thru thurs)

planning to go the beach with other volunteers on wed, because all the kids have off of school that day for the inaugeration of their new president.

camera is in the shop, theyre looking to see if it can be fixed

for some reason the english teacher is no longer teaching at the kindergarden i was at. woke up this morning and found out when my host mom told me. she said he could no longer be paid, and theres no more time for english classes. im going to see if i can still go sometimes, because those kids were just so darn cute... and obviously this is a situation in which i can help. but for now i am just at the primary school in the afternoons.

longer update to come on thurs, promise!

days eleven and twelve- a weekend with the host fam.

i had a very good, yet very hard weekend.

on saturday morning i learned the actual meaning of island time, or panama time, by many experiences. when my host fam means early, they mean a little later, and when they say ´now´they mean in an hour or so. and so when they told me to wake up early, i was ready to go by about 830. anddd, we were on our way right around 3 o´clock! the drive to the farm was very long. when they said one hour, it actually meant three hours. hopefully ill get this special timing down soon. on the way, we kept making lots of stops. i think my host dad was paying all of his farm workers, cuz there was a lot of money involved. finally we made it to the farm around 630 or so. the house itself was very empty. a bedroom, a kitchen with a george forman-like grill and a toaster, and an empty room that could be a living room. little lizards were running around all over the place. and if i thought the mosquitoes were bad here, they weren´t.

we went for a drive around the town, so that i could see the people who live there. the farm itself is HUGE. probably about 2000 acres, not kidding. when you think of a ton of rolling hills and empty greenness in panama, this is where we were--right in the middle of it. it was so gorgeous. they own about 700 cows, a bunch of horses, chickens, and other farm animals. they produce milk and meat on this farm, and only a couple of fruits and grains for the workers themselves to eat, not to sell. a couple blocks off the farm we reached the coast, and saw this little fishing town. my family knew all the people in the town--probably about 200 people at the most. and the houses were were incredible, in a way that they were so simple that they were too simple. i dont know if i would have been able to live in something like that. but everyone was so happy, playing baseball and sharing bicycles. pictures of this town to come. we went back, made some dinner, then just went to bed. no lights = bed very early.

woke up around 630 this morning to the sounds of roosters, cows and other farm animals. i was already well rested by that time, so i got up and watched the farmers milk the cows. didnt do it myself, but i got close enough that it was good enough for me. then i went for a short horseback ride, and walked around the farm some with the host siblings (of course we only covered a very small portion of what the land is). we came back for breakfast around 830, and then just hung aorund the house some. we were playing UNO, or at least an idea of what the game is since the kids are young and like to make rules of course, and thennnn kids being kids, broke my camera. this definitely put a downer on my day. big time. like, big time. i am going to chitre, the big town about an hour away, to see if i can get it fixed. i am hoping and praying big time.

we then got in the car and drove around the farm land. i saw so many cows! i have some good pcitures with them (well, i dont personally have them due to the earlier events, but my host fam took some pictures that they will pass on to me) they were soo cute! and then my host dad said proudly: and these are to kill! ohh, yummm.

we drove to a nearby beach, and it was so gorgeous. there were hammocks all over the place and the sand was very white. but of course, to go with my camera mood, it was kind of cold and started to rain after a half hour. we went under a covering, where everyone was trying to hide from the rain. and tehre i met three american girls who are here in panama doing some team building exercises at the schools. so, i talked with them for a while and it was nice to speak some english. made my mood perhaps a tad bit better. but then the rain would not let up, and so we decided to just head home. teh car ride was not short, to say the least. but anywyas, im back and ...so here i am. nothing is open on sundays and so i have to wait until tomorrow to find out about my camera. im just gonna watch tv for therest of the day, im guessing. the kids are studying (the younger one is learning about malaria, actually). perhaps i should plan some more lessons as well.

day ten.

im in the double digit days!

i just finished eating dinner. had mashed potatoes, veggies, and corn. sounds pretty american, huh. my host mom is just the best, and i saw that she bought a vegetarian cooking book. she was looking through it and asking me everything i wanted. and now she and my host dad are out buying the foods for it. how nice!!! i´ve never felt bad about being a vegetarian before now!

i went to yet another new school to teach today, this time for older kids. they were aged up to eighteen. and i went with activities for the intermediate level, and i was very surprised to find how little english they knew even after all these years of english... since kindergarden! they couldnt even answer how old they were. so we started there--we threw a ball around, asking each other questions. some classes liked it, others didnt. i also showed them pictures of me and my friends and family to learn that vocab, and they just loved the photos. they saw all of you! again, i was disappointed that their english teacher knew very little english as well, and this was one of the better schools of the area. they asked me to come back as often as i can! im starting to have too many schools though!

this school was about forty minutes from where i live in las tablas. its in the middle of the country, only surrounded by trees and hills and we were in the clouds. everyone was horseback-riding to get around. i just loved the bus rides to and from classes. this is what i had imagined panama to be... so gorgeous, yet simple at the same time. kids have to travel just as long to get to school, and they have to go that far everyday!

after classes i met up with two other volunteers. our plan had been to go to another town, but the timing with the buses did not work out, so we just walked around the downtown area of las tablas, and talked in parque central. it was nice to speak english for a while. one of the girls lives in a house with a bucket shower and a bathroom only slightly covered by a cloth. man am i lucky! the downtown area of las tablas is very small. when i heard that i was coming to an actual city, i thought tehre would be things to do. but no. there are a couple small convenience type stores, some ´fondos,´or small restaurants, the church and not much more. but i was happy to finally experience live outside of my little suburb area.

my host fam just told me that tomorrow we are leaving for their farm! tomorrow i am going horseback riding on their horses, helping with the farm (they think i can do it), and sleeping there for the night. on sunday morning we are travelling by boat to a small island that is nearby to go to the beach and in cable cars! not sure what i expect the farm to be like... they said there are a lot of crabs?! that´s all i know. guess i´ll just see how it goes!

oh, and michael jackson?! who woulda thought... he is ALL over the news here. i expected that in the US... but man, in this little country of panama? they absolutely loved him here. the kids were singing thriller all day.

day nine.

turns out, we did not go to chiriqui. my host mom found out that she has an important meeting tomorrow. so she said she is taking me to the beach on saturday.

not much to update... life today was pretty relaxed. a lot of the kids didnt have school today. i dont really know why... something about a teaching being sick i guess. so i didnt teach the second half of the day. went to the kindergarden, and was done for the day at 10:30. i came back to the house and played a lot of cards with my host siblings. i helped cook. and i bonded with the servant slash maid we have here. (i had to type the word slash because the keyboard here is very confusing and i cannot figure out how to type that symbol) the maid slash nanny slash servant is nineteen... younger than me, married, and doesnt know any english, so it was really hard to bond. turns out, she just loved learning about facebook. who woulda thought. i walked around the neighborhood with the siblings. my house is in a suburb-like location, of course on a much smaller scale. the houses are really nice, and it is super safe around here. but there is nothing to do unless you go into the downtown of las tablas... and even then its just a couple of markets, one bar, and a central park.

tomorrow i am going to a new school, because there are no english classes in my normal schools on fridays. im going to the high school, so the kids will be much older. the kids are in their last levels of english, and so i will see what their english turns out to be. im expecting to mostly shadow the english teacher and answer questions about the united states. should be good tho. the older kids will be able to talk to me much more than the younger ones... maybe ill find out some good juice about the town here.

after that, im gonna go meet up with the other volunteers that are within a half hour of me. we´re gonna walk around the town of pedasi, so ill get to see another area.

day eight.

so my host mom wouldnt let me go teach at both schools today, she said i would get sick soon if i keep teaching so many classes! it was a pretty funny conversation, with me saying i should go, her saying i shouldnt, and the constant spanish and english mistakes, but in the end, i slept in this morning, and only taught from twelve to six with the third and fourth graders.

i cant get over how crazy the kids are about the teachers. i cannot walk two steps without a kid saying ´hola teacher!´´hi teacher,´or ´maestra emily´and about 100 hugs and kisses. i think i avoided me teachers when i saw them in the hallway. perhaps i didnt exactly avoid them, but i definitely did not kiss them! its a nice feeling though. they are really liking the things i brought from home. markers and crayons dont really exist here. everyone has colored pencils, but i have even MORE colors... who could have imagined how fun those could be. stickers are a huge hit as well, as i expected.

after classes, my host fam took me to meet the grandparents, or my host dads dad. he is a famous singer here in panama. he sings typical panamanian music, and he draws about 4000 people each week,which is really a huge number considering this country has about 3.5 million people total. 4000 would be at least all of chicago in proportional terms. and let me tell you, their house...AMAZING! it was HUGE and had hammocks all over the place. and the kitchen was outside, but it was covered in this antibug stuff so there were no bugs. and there was a library filled with gorgeous old books. and a garden with a fountain. and so much more... all in panamanian style of course, making it even more wonderful to me. like an exotic resort, except the owners are actual people who want to make me dinner and gave me avocadoes! they are taking me to a concert (which they are calling a baile slash dance) and i am so excited.

so i came home for dinner and get this... what was waiting for me to eat for dinner?? none other than the infamous McDONALDS. wow. they were so excited to give it to me. (um, ew). i had a salad. oh well. i havent eaten mcd´s in more than a year, but im just saying panamanian mcdonalds doesnt count, right?

so THEN my host mom just told me that TOMORROW we are leaving for chiriqui! its supposed to be a really nice place. i thought we would leave friday after class, but apparently she ha dalready told me that it is tomorrow, and i just didnt catch that detail. so im done teaching for the week i suppose. i feel really bad about that, but cant let down the host fam, now can i. they are going just to bring me and show me their house there. (remember, i am definitely NOT roughing it). i am super excited to go.

other than that, im just roughin the mosquito bites. but its ok, becuase i am laying in hammocks while i do so.

day seven.

taught 4 classes of kindergardeners this morning. we did a fun game with a stuffed animal bear (in order to learn the word ´bear.´mainly because it was the only stuffed animal i could find. then say sang a song... i think i sang it about 5 times in each of the four classes. and it has about 15 words to it. then we played with some different colored toys in order to learn the primary colors. i played simon says with the three commands: stand up, sit down, be quiet. and we sang the first four words of head, shoulders, knees and toes (meaning we learned those exact four body parts. after writing all this out, it actually sounds like we got stuff done in class! the kids are so quiet and shy around me, since i am new and all, and so it takes a long time for them to warm up and to get things going. i have about 40 min with each class. it went a lot better today than yesterday, so im thinking each day will get better as well.

i walked aorund the downtown area after kindergarden let out. i got a chitchi (i dont really know exactly what its called, but thats what i hear when it comes out of the panamanians mouths). went back home, at lunch with my host fam. and as many of you will be so happy to hear, this is when i BROKE MY VEGETARIANISM!! (at least for the first time purposefully). i ate vegetable soup. but it had chicken broth. i didnt have the heart to tell my host mom that it was not vegetarian because she had made vegetable soup especially for me since i dont eat meat in it. i felt ok, just a little mentally ill i think. but im already over it.

i went to my next school (where i teach grades three and four) and did 5 classes there. these kids are a lot older, and so i taught them some new vocabulary, did some dancing, singing, and games. im starting easier, and then im gonna toughen up and drill some ingles into them. we´re starting the letters of the alphabet on monday- im giving them til then, because they dont even know the alphabet yet.

ive learned that school really is important here. as much as we think the educational system is not as important in other countries, the families here really take pride in their knowledge. right this moment i am listening to my host mom drill my host sister in the multiplication tables. my host brother is studying religion, and so the mom is drilling about g-ds creation as well. but im the one who helped them with their english homework today!

anyways, yet again i am too exhausted to do anything cool tonight. some of the teachers (who are in their twenties so its not too weird, i promise) said they would take me to town and show me what its like. im hoping ill have the energy tomorrow. im only teaching early morning kindergarden mondays and tuesdays, and so i get to sleep in tomorrow. should be good.

IMPORTANT INFO: i think i fixed the blog so that everyone can comment!!! if you still cant then tell me again, but we should be good to go!

hasta manana mis amigos!

day six, el primer dia de escuela

hola todos,

this is weird typing in english, since i have not really spoken any this whole day.

so the first day went down like this:

i arrived at school at 7.50 am, and had kindergardeners to teach. i realized how hard it is to teach kids a language without the kids being able to read anything. they also dont understand my accent and why im so different! they didnt know what los estados unidos is, and so they were just very confused. of course they were still cute. i was helping another english teacher who moves between the classrooms, kind of like how we have art and music class. i taught from around eight to ten or so, and then had a very long break until 1230. i was waiting for my host mom to come pick me up for lunch then, and so i could not leave early. now i know i will take a taxi home right after those classes because the 50 cents or a dollar for the ride is definitely worth a 2 hour nap.

then around 1230 i went to the primary schools, and was paired with a very awesome english teacher tehre. she had some lessons already planned for today, and so i basically just watched and helped with pronunciation. but she is very excited for me to bring new activities around as well. she said when she is done with this unit, i can teach the next one. the kids were so adorable. my name to them is 'teacher emily' and they can barely say the name emily (it really is a hard pronunciation!) and its adorable. by the end of the day every kid in the school knew me, and when i walked out at 545 (yes, i taught from 8am until 545 day... at least i get my 2 hour break from here on out) all of the 400 kids at the school knew my name and everyone surrounded me. that was clearly a very fun moment. my host sister was in the last class i taught, and she was so adorable, and it was fun to finally really know one of the kids in my class.

the kids treat teachers very respectfully. whenever i dropped something, or had to get a piece of paper or chalk for example, the kids would pick up everything for me and bring it to me. there were 2 kids at the end of every class that would carry my backpack and other materials to my next class so that i didnt have to carry it. and they stood when the teachers entered the room.

the day did go pretty smoothly, but im hoping ill get to make more of an impact on the kids once i start learning tehir names and what their backgrounds are. the other teachers are so nice to me, and all eager to talk about the US and english words.

so, we'll see how tomorrow goes... right now i am just so exhausted!

day five, arrived in las tablas con mi familia

WOW DID I LUCK OUT WITH MY HOST FAM! THEY ARE AMAZING!

to say the least, i definitely will not be roughing it. i am sitting at their kitchen table using their laptop to write this post right now. i was laying in their backyard hammock before. and they are fluent in english (well not the kids, but thats good so at least i can practice my spanish!) i have myown room. with a tv. and a fan. the dads dad is a famous singer here. the mom is director of all the english programs in my town. just amazing.

we just ate dinner, and the mom (linette) made me a vegetarian sandwich, cooked carrots, tortillo de queso y pineapple. de-lic-ious.

during dinner, they just told me they are going to take me to my vacation home this weekend. they showed me pictures, and it looks GORGEOUS.

tomorrow i start teachiong--this is definitely the scary part. i dont know how that will go at all, but im hoping for the best.

days three and four- the end of orientation in panama city

hey everyone

just got to take a shower...FINALLY! panamacity decided to turn off all water from like 7am until 10 pm, so no one could shower, use the bathroom, wash hands, drink anything but bottled water... i honestly think the city got even more smelly. but we´re all good now. im clean and feel a lot better, even if the showers are cold.

YESTERDAY:
went to the panama canal and saw a boat pass. it was cool. definitely everything you would expect... some locks, some boats, some slow movement. but now i can say i saw it, so awesome!

then went to the islands created by dirt from the panama canal. three others and i rode a four person bicycle, and got some funny photos. saw a gorgeous tree.

THEN we attempted very hard to go see the bahai temple. our driver, eduardo, took the five of us who wanted to go and dropped us off at this place. it was definitely not as impressive as the bahai temple in chicago, and was not too too pretty. they wouldnt let us inside either! they said you have to be a member... which i found very wrong. i didnt see any bahai symbols anywhere... so we called eduardo to drive us back. i was very disappointed. then in the car he gave us pamphlets all about jesus being the savior. turns out, he brought us to a mormon church. not the bahai temple at all. i was so upset! so i have yet to see the temple.

went to a jewish temple for shabbat services... and guess what?? it was EXACTLY the same as services at home, except it was spanish instead of english. but the hebrew and the decor and the inside of of synagogue was the same and i felt so at home. everyone was so friendly and i got phone numbers to call in case i need help. iso nice to go, and the family i went with was SO nice!

we went out clubbing at night with lorena and her friends. danced a lot, and now my legs are sore.

TODAY:
we just walked aorund town some more and caught up on sleep. but i am still exhausted.

tonight we went to a dinner show. it was a really nice place, saw some old panamanian dances and songs and typical customs.

somewhat sad im leaving panama city, i think theres more i could do here, but im definitely excited to just see what my life is going to be like for the next 6 weeks,and get myself organized and on schedule.

we are leaving for our host families tomorrow morning at 7 am, should get there around 1-- long bus ride-

i have soooooo many mosquito bites!!!!

i dont know when i will have internet next, i will explore my town as soon as i can, i hear its somewhat larger than other small panamanian towns, but ill find out soon!

day two.

quick update:

still havent eaten meat... may happen soon though. panamanians sure definitely do love their meat.

went to the fish market this morning. everyones grilling the fish for dinner. also went to the vegetable/fruit market. im eating my goodies from there.

panamanians are super friendly. overly friendly.

went to casco viejo today... old city part of panama city. walked around and went to a museum.

tomorrow is a BIG DAY! going to the panama canal in the morning, then going to the mall/market, then i requested a trip to the bahai temple, then parque central stop, then im going to shabbat services at the one of the three temples here in panama. the country coordinator of our trip is half jewish, believe it or not, and so her dad is going to take me (and the one other jewish girl here with me) to services with him, then the coordinator/leaders are taking us on a night on the town. should be a good time... reactions of all later.

my spanish is already mejor! its great.

posts have to be quick here, only one computer at the hostel- longer/better update when i can!

day one.

ok, so first problem with panama¨ the keyboards... hence the apostrophes and not a colon. but other than that, everything´s good. algo muy confuso esta occuriendo con mi blog. so i have made this new one. follow this one! its the panaMANIA! blog... kudos to laurie for hte name.

so, i am here. in the hostel. it`s expensive for a hostel, but has a flat screen tv, and i guess it´s a good transition into the more ´hardcore´ life i´ll be living soon enough. people are nice. food is not so nice. hot weather is nice. humidity- not so nice.

about to go eat dinner, still dont know much about my teaching situation. we´re getting information slowly but surely. sounds exciting though... leave for LAS TABLAS in the los santos region this sunday. until then, just hanging here at the hostel in panama city. going to a fish market at 6 AM IN THE MORNING TOMORROW... (¿not so nice?) we´ll see. i think there are some exciting things planned for hte next few days.

din time. let´s hope theres something vegetarian!