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.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
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!
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!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, July 24, 2009
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!
-----
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!)
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!)
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
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!
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!
Monday, July 20, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
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!
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!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
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).
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).
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
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!!
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!!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
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!
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!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
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!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
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)
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.
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.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
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)
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)
Friday, July 3, 2009
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.)
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.)
Thursday, July 2, 2009
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!
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!
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