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!