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.