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.
Monday, July 20, 2009
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)
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