Despedida, Swearing-In, and Vacation

10.3.12-18.13.12

The Saturday before we elft Santa Rita, we threw a despedida (going away) party.  It was pretty cool.  It seems like most of the town was there.  A small group of aspirantes and a host mom made arroz con pollo (a very typical fiesta dish), salad, and chicha.  I went to Chorrera in the morning for a few things and was put in charge of the cake.  I was also in charge of the slide show and had people coming by my house most of the afternoon.  It was fun :)  The despedida went pretty well, and then we all got together and hung out afterward.

I spent Sunday packing and looking at pictures with my host family.  I also cooked dinner (lasagna!) for them.  They loved it!  Then I walked around to say good-bye to a few people.  It was harder to say good-bye than I thought it would be.  On Monday morning we said good-bye to our families (also sadder than I thought it would be) and left for our 3 days in Clayton-yay hot water and air conditioning; boo sitting through more health, safety, and security sessions.

Swearing in was on Wednesday.  It was pretty exciting and fun to see everyone all dressed up :)  The PC Panamá director spoke and some representatives from the projects as well as 2 of the aspirantes.  They were really good speeches.  I wish I had recordings of them.  Then we all went out for a nice dinner and then hung out downtown.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, we all went on vacation together as a TE group: we rented 2 villas on the beach and spent the almost-weekend doing nothing.  I had fun cooking; it was quite the outing to buy food for 31 people for 2.5 days!  It was really good to have some final bonding/despedida time before we went of to todos lados del país.  Saturday night a group of us ended up staying in Santiago because the cleaning took longer than anticipated (and because we weren't ready to leave each other).  It was super hard to say good-bye to everyone on Sunday morning.  It's hard to believe I have only known these people for a few months.  I finally arrived at my host family at like 8pm.  I ate, unpacked the essentials, and slept; I was pooped! the end.

Secondary Projects 19.5.12

As my official time of observation comes to a close (June 16), I have been thinking about possible secondary projects.  These would be any projects not directly related to teaching English to the students at CEBG Elifenia Staff in Potrerillos Abajo (my school).

The most obvious (and honestly probably the least interesting to me) is adult English classes.  I really wanted the Padres de Familia (PTA) to organize them and tell me when to show up because that’s what I have heard works best, but somehow my directora was still asking me what time I wanted to have the class at, etc.  We’ll see.  It’ll all work out.  There is definitely an interest and a need, but I don’t know the level of commitment.  It could be that they come for 2-3 weeks, but then get bored.

Another possible project that I am more excited about is computer classes.  I would want to mostly teach about Microsoft Office and typing and maybe a few internet resources.  There is also a need for this because so many of the higher paying jobs require computer literacy.  But again, I have the same question of commitment as I do with the English classes.  We’ll take it one step at a time, I guess.

One project I am already committed to is the Juegos Especiales-the Ministry of Education (MEDUCA) version of Special Olympics.  The official swim coach has no actual competitive swimming experience, so he is going to supervise while I run practice…?  I’m hoping it’s really non-competitive; I have no idea how to write a workout!  Let alone how to communicate it in Spanish to special needs kids.  Wish me luck J  So far no students have turned in the medical exam, so we haven’t started practice.  Hopefully, we’ll get on that soon.  The competition is in September and I have no idea where we’re starting skill-wise.  On that note, I have been working a lot with the special ed. Students-especially 2 deaf 7^th graders. It’s tricky because they don’t read, but they’re super quick and fun to work with J

The last project that I’m thinking seriously about is a peer tutoring/mentoring type program.  I have no idea how the details would actually work or if there’s even any interest, but I can see a need and for me it would be a lot of fun.  It would also be a more sustainable program/use of my time if I could make it happen.  Any thoughts about how to go about organizing and starting such a thing would be appreciated.

I think that’s it for secondary project ideas right now.  If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, they would be welcomed.  After all, I am your tax dollars at work J

Update 15.4.12-10.5.12

My apologies; this is going to be kind of long.  Another month has passed, so I figured I should probably update a little bit.

SCHOOL
School is good.  I can almost name all of my students.  I am definitely feeling more comfortable in the classroom.  I even had one day wehre I taught by myself because Zuleika (my co-teacher) couldn't come.  I still haven't completely figured out my role in the classroom.  As my official observation period comes to an end (hah!-I started participating like my second week), I will talk with Zuleika and Yulissa (the directora) more specifically about what they see me doing over the next 2 years.  I think it will help make my time alittle bit more productive.

HOMESTAY
As of May 8, I moved host families.  I genuinely enjoyed (most of) my time with my first family, but they are a little overwhelming and I want to get to know the other side of town too.  It was time for a change.  On the other hand, change is hard.  I was more sad to leave than I thought I would be.  I'm sensing a theme... It was hard-my little siblings were crying a little bit while I was packing :(
My new family is good.  The mom (Lourdes) works at the school selling snacks, the dad (Fran) works in recycling and isn't home a lot.  I have 1 18 y/o brother (Fran Junior)who is a senior in High School in Dolega, and a 10 y/o sister (Astrid) who is a 5th grader in a bilingual school also in Dolega.  Fran Sr.'s mother, Saturnina, also lives here.  It's more tranquilo here, for sure.  But I also kind of got used to my routine in my other house.  I feel stuck between a rock and ahard place, but I get my own house in 4-ish weeks!!!!

COMMUNITY
I really like my community.  The people are super nice and it's really accessible to anything I could want.  Unfortunately, the internet has proven pretty unreliable, but I really can't complain.  I have enjoyed getting out and playing tag/hide-and-seek/baseball with some neighbor kids/students, going to mass and running into more students, and meeting actually quite a few Americans including 2 former PCVs who are retired and living in the community.  My closest volunteer is Meg.  Like I mentioned before, she lives in Rovira/Palma Real which is only like a 10 minute/$.40 bus ride away.  She's with the Community Environmental Conservation (CEC) Project.  She's super cool.  We get together about once a week to hang out and check-in.  I said I didn't care how close my next volunteer was, but now that I have one so close, I really like it.

OTHER
Random other news, and please do not be alarmed.  On Sunday the 29th my host family was robbed while I was church and they were out.  They took my computer and some of my family's cash.  Luckily, that's all.  The neighbors scared them off.  The police came and everything.  I called PC Safety and Security and they are pretty sure I wasn't targeted, so please please please don't worry.  I feel completely safe, especially because I have moved host families since then.  All the paperwork and everything is taken care of.  I am pretty sure my computer has been sold for parts by now, but I am surprisingly at peace with it.  I think I appropriately prepared myself for the possibility before I brought it.

One last piece of news:  I have decided where I am going to live!  I am going today to talk to the landlady and let her know for sure.  Hopefully, I will be able to get a key and start moving some stuff in so it's not such a big project when the time comes.

I have been very fortunate to have no health concerns (physical or mental)- knock on wood.  I am actually in good spirits-ready for my own space, but it’s coming (3 weeks!), so I can hold out.  The rains are here, but apparently they will get more frequent.  Luckily, I enjoy them J I did have to break down and buy and umbrella, though. Overally, I’m doing really well.  That is all.  I still miss you all soooo much!  Please, let me know how things are going there J

Love, Ally
Jeremiah 29:11

Settling In 26.3.12-14.4.12

After almost a month, I am finally settling into a routine: scgiik ub tge nirbubg, planning on Mondays, pasearing (when it's not raining)/internet (when it's not broken) in the afternoon, novelas and work in the evening, bed at like 9.  It feels good to have a regular schedule.  I really like pasearing-it's fun to walk around and get to know the community-especially my students and their families.

I am also settling a little bit more with my family. Cooking on Saturdays is really fun and for the most part they are pretty chill.  It does feel really crowded in the house sometimes, though, and they're always asking to borrow stuff.   I don't mind lending it, but they don't take care of it.  For example, they lose the caps to my markers, etc.  It's also just weird to live with my students; and I'm pretty sure it's weird for them too, on some level.  Anyway, this all means I pretty much decided I will move to a different host family on May 5-that's 7 weeks here and 5 weeks there for my total of 3 montsh.

Oh! Important noticias: my address! and yes, please put my phone number on the package/letter so they will call me when it gets here :)  I can't wait to get tons of mail!  Hopefully I will send some more of my own soon.

Allyson Hoover
Cuerpo de Paz
Dolega, Chiriquí
República de Panamá
Teléfono 6801-7139

p.s. please let me know in some manner if you send me something so I can keep track if I'm missing anything :)

Holy Week/Easter 1.4.12-8.4.12

Being in a Catholic country, Holy Week is a pretty big deal.  Palm Sunday was fun, but then of course I would say that-it's mass.  On Tuesday, peopel from church came into the school to talk about the meaning of Holy Week.  Wednesday was a half-day and Thursday and Friday were off.  On Thursday, I was going to do a pilgrimage-ish walk to El Angel with some of the teachers, but it was pouring rain and it scared me off. So I went to mass instead. It was alright, but it made me miss Holy Week at home.  Friday, I went to Potrerillos Arriba with Yova (my host mom) to see a passion re-enactment.  We had Eucharist and then sat around a little while waiting for it to start.  Finally, it did, and let me tell you: it was the most detailed rendering of the passion I think I have ever seen!  We stayed for 2.5 hours and Jesus had just been convicted; there was easily an hour left.  We walked most of the way back (an hour or so).  It was a good chance for me to get to know my host mom better.  Easter Vigil was good, but there were no Sacraments of Initiation, which was kind of disappointing.  Easter Sunday mass was in Rovira 5-10 minutes up the road (side note-there's another volunteer from the environmental project living there!), and that was really fun!  They had a guitar and it was really full and joyful; just like Easter should be :)  The end.

Week 1 in Site 19.3.12-25.3.12

So I pretty much hit the ground running during my first week.  I went to school and barely had my feet under me-there are 250 students to meet, learn names/personalities/etc.  And I have a relatively small school!  My counterpart is super on the ball, though, and we were planning on Monday already, which awesome :)  But it kind of makes me wonder why I'm here on some level.  Oh well, I'm sure it will all become clear in time.

At my new home, I unpacked and washed every article of clothing in my posession.  I did some pasear-ing (walking around and meeting people).  Thursday was the regional teachers' meeting, which was actually qutie enlightening.  I began to see the root of a lot fo the classroom management problems I have been observing.  Saturday, Yoli (my host sister) and I went to David (the nearby provincial capital).  We walked a lot and did some exploring.  I found my new favorite store: Arrocha.  It's essentially Walgreen's on steroids :)  And we went to El Rey (supermarket) to get stuff for curry and fruit salad.  I decided I will cook for them on Saturdays.  I'm excited about it.  It turned out pretty well and they enjoyed it. The kids were already asking what I would be making the next week.  Finally, 1 week after arriving to site, I got to go to mass.  It made my day.  It was good to be at mass and fun to see a bunch of students.

Site Visit 2/27-3/1

My site visit was really good.  It seemed to go by pretty quickly!  On Monday, I finally actually got to my site.  I met my actual counterpart, Zuleika, who seems really nice but a little shy.  I went to class and did some observation and talked with some students.  I left school a little early with Yasy to go meet my host family.  I will have an 18 year old brother: Jorge-Luis, a 13 year old sister: Yolibeth, a 7 year old brother: Jhon, a mom: Yovana, and a dad: Jorge.  They were super nice, but it was just super overwhelming to think about all the change that is coming!  I have my own room, which will be nice.  However, I feel kind of bad, because the room I am in is normally Yoli's and now she is sharing with her brothers.  Oh well.  Also, on Monday, I found out that I have another possible host family, so I could split my 3 months between them, which I will probably do for a couple reasons: 1) so I don't displace people for as long of a time, and 2) to get to know more people/different sides of town..
Tuesday and Wednesday were more like what have now become normal days.  I got up at 6, went to school at 7, started class at 7:30, came home after school at 12:30, ate lunch, took a nap, took a walk around town, came home for dinner, played uno/watched novelas, and went to bed around 9.  I can't wait until I get to know the town better.  Even now that I have been living here almost two weeks, I still feel like I don't know anything and barely any people, but that will come with time.
Anyway, I took a bus back on Thursday with another PCV whose site is also near David.  We miraculously had no problems and also ran into a current PCV from Bocas who was on her way to the PC Office in the city for a meeting.  Poor girl has a 2 day trip anytime she wants to go to the city.  It makes my 8 hour bus ride not sound so bad...haha.  It was really nice when we arrived back in Santa Rita to see everyone.  I think site visit made everyone realize how much we are going to miss each other when we're not together everyday.  But that's what we signed up for and came to do, right?  It will just take some getting used to.
That's all I have for now.  More to come soon: Swearing In, Vacation, and Arrival at Site.  Hopefully these aren't too boring.  If they are (and even if they aren't), please let me know what you want to know so I can hopefully answer some of your burning questions.  Also, I will  hopefully have more pictures when I post again :)  Miss you all!!!

Pictures, etc.

These are just a few pictures in more or less chronological order.  I will be trying to go back through some posts and put some more pictures in the 'right' places, but I'm hoping these will tide you over for now?  I know I have been terrible about pictures.  I will try to be better.  Hope everyone is doing well.  Also, I unfortunately failed at my task of finding out my new address last weekend :( For those of you that I haven't told already, please be patient with it...Finding out the address requires figuring out where the nearest/most convenient post office is and going there and talking with them.  Also, I just got an e-mail from the Peace Corps that my first letters are just now arriving at the office there...?  However, I hadpackages sent later arrive sooner...?  Who knows.  I will keep you updated.
Love,
Ally

 

My host sister, Alison, from Santa Rita and the neighbor boy, Alvin

 Alison in her pollera (the traditional dresses here; only worn on special occasions)

 Alicia, Yuri, and Alison

 The school in Santa Rita where we had most of our PST (Pre-Service Training)

 The rio in Santa Rita

 The chino (tienda owned by chinese people...very common) where we bought snacks

every day of training, and pretty much every other day too.

 The volunteer´s house where I went in Veraguas.  The one I think I will be
renting is actually the same color...

 Yasy (the special ed. teacher), her husband and her son when they took me to Boquete.

 Yasy's daughter and me :) Also in Boquete.

 A great view of the mountains in the background...one of them is Volcán Baru,
I'm just not sure which one yet...

 My new host family's dog: WiFi (pronounced wee-fee in Spanish).
They named her that because she runs around so fast...haha

 My 7 y/o host brother in Potrerillos: Jhon.  I don't know why he chose that moment not to smile...

 My (newly) 13 y/o host sister Yolibeth.

Somehow both parents and the 18 y/o avoided being photographed
for the time being...we will have to change that.

Community Entry Conference/Travel to Site Visit 2/29/12-3/3/12

The Community Entry Conference took place at CEDESAM, in Rio Hato.  It is pretty close to the beach and we actually walked to the beach on Wednesday afternoon, but there were tons of tiny jellyfish and we had to go eat dinner, so we didn’t stay too long.  At the conference, we met our counterparts (the teachers we will be working with at our site for the next two years).  Unfortunately, mine couldn’t come, but the (ready for this?) Special Ed. (!) teacher was the person who met me at the conference to take me to my site.  Her name is Yasy and she is pretty excited to have me coming to the school in Potrerillos Abajo, which is exciting, especially since I won’t even necessarily be working directly with her.  At the conference (which was 2 days, but really only 24 hours), we basically talked about what the expectations are from Peace Corps, from the volunteers, and from the counterparts, as well as some common cultural misunderstandings.

On Thursday afternoon, there were rumors that the Ngäbe-Buglé people would be closing the roads in an ongoing protest against a hydro-electric plant and possible mining in the Comarca (essentially equivalent to an Indian Reservation).  Anyway, because of this, those of us going to Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro (the 2 westernmost provinces) rushed out of the conference to catch a bus.  As it turned out, we weren’t quick enough to beat the road closure, so we ended up getting off the bus in Santiago, Veraguas and staying in a pretty awesome hotel: Hotel Gran David.  I think it fits the Peace Corps budget because like half of it is under construction.  So the 6 PC Trainees and our counterparts had basically a whole wing to ourselves.  It was super nice because not only did we have air conditioning and hot water, but cable TV, WiFi and meals at the hotel restaurant!  We ended up spending 2 nights at the hotel and to be perfectly honest, it was a great 36 hour break from reality.  We basically sat around and did nothing.

Saturday morning, we finally caught a bus at 8am and arrived in David (the provincial capital of Chiriquí) at 11am with no problems.  After that, Yasy took me to her house in David where I stayed the rest of the weekend and those in Bocas continued their journey for another day.  On Saturday afternoon, I took like a 2 hour nap because for some reason sitting around in a hotel is exhausting.  On Sunday, she took me with her family and we spent the afternoon in Boquete.  It was really beautiful (see pictures!) and I actually got cold!  Despite the unexpected travel hiccups, the whole 5 day adventure was really quite an enjoyable lead-in to my site visit.

Tech Week 2/23/12-2/28/12

This post is going to be short and sweet.  Tech week was theoretically our mini ‘student-teaching’ experience in La Chorrera.  I know all of you who actually did student teaching will laugh at the fact that mine lasted only really 5 days, only 2 of which was class actually in session.

The first couple days (really only the first day for me because my teacher wasn’t there on Friday) we spent getting to know our cooperating teacher and helping him/her set up the classroom and plan lessons for the first couple days.  Most of them were finishing up or had just finished their yearlong plan.  My teacher said he had it all pretty much together, so we just talked about MEDUCA (the Ministry of Education), teaching, and ourselves for a slightly awkward 2 hours where neither of us really knew what exactly we were actually supposed to be doing…

Monday (the first day of school) was the ActoCivico which is where they have announcements and sing the national anthem.  I can only hope that one day I will know the words.  If you care to look it up, it’s rather lengthy, especially compared to ours.  Then the day was spent in homeroom, so I just chatted with some of the students and then went to our ‘debriefing’ meeting at the library (after stopping at the ice cream shop on the way and teaching them how to make a milkshake…) and then went home.  Tuesday, I showed up ready to introduce myself in English and help with pronunciation because that is what my teacher suggested.  However, 10 minutes into the class he turns to me and asks if I want to teach the rest of the class, so I did.  Good thing I have a fair amount of experience making things up as I go.  Then we had our debriefing and then tech week was over.  That is all.

Carnaval 2/18/12-2/21/12

Carnaval, known in the States as Mardi Gras, lasts 4 days here.  We began celebrating on Saturday and festivities continue through this evening.  It is really interesting to see some of the different customs.  One is that each town has a ‘Reina’ (queen) of Carnaval and they compete as the weekend goes on to eventually be the Reina of the nearest city (here, for example, La Chorrera).  It is essentially a beauty pageant, from what I can tell.  Another is that the kids run around with buckets of water and try to dump it on as many people as possible.  There are also culecos (big trucks full of water that spray people) and bailes (dances).  These last two are often simultaneous or at least related, which is nice because then you don’t get too hot while you’re dancing.

As PCT’s, our celebration of Carnaval was limited to the nearest surrounding towns due to our lack of actual identification (they are getting our more permanent visas and foreign ministry ID’s, which requires our passports…).  I just hung out on Saturday and did a lot of reading.  Sunday, I went to Los Mortales (where the CEC trainees are) with some other people from Santa Rita for the culecos and some music.  It was pretty fun, but I got pretty sunburned (although not my worst ever).  Yesterday, a group of us went up to the lake in Arenosa (not too far, but it takes about an hour in a chiva).  It was absolutely beautiful, and really nice to swim.  I didn’t get too much more sunburned (I was much more diligent about the sunscreen).  We also ate at a restaurant up there that served only fish...  Needless to say, I just ordered French Fries and Patacones, which were also much cheaper than fish.  I was so tired when we got back that I went to bed at a little after 8!  Today has been another lazy day.  I have done some reading, played in the kiddie pool with Alison and Yuri, and typed a couple blogs and e-mails.  It will be nice to get back to a more normal schedule tomorrow.

An update on Alicia’s mom: she is still in the hospital but is doing pretty well.  She needs a pacemaker and they are waiting for the shipment to arrive from the US.  It is supposed to be here on Thursday.  They said she got out of bed today, which is a good sign.  Continued prayers would be appreciated.

I guess that’s all for now.  The next couple weeks are going to be super busy: we have tech week in local schools (in La Chorrera), then the Community Entry Conference where we meet our counterpart, and then our 6-day site visit.  After that, we have less than 2 weeks left of training!  I can’t believe how fast it has actually gone!

Until next time!
Ally

P.S. Happy Birthday, Daddy J

Site Placement: 2/17/12!!

Today was a very exciting day: we found out the sites where we will be spending or 2 years of service!!!  Some people were nervous, but everyone was excited this morning when we got on the bus to go to Clayton.  It was cool because all the regional leaders were there to kind of welcome us to the province.

My site will be (drumroll please)…Potrerillos Abajo, Chiriquí.  It is about one hour north of David, the provincial capital.  It is also about an hour away from Volcán-the volcano you can hike to see both the Caribbean and the Pacific at the same time!! I’m super excited that it is in the foothills of the mountains, so presumably cooler that where I currently am (J).  My school has approximately 225 students and 1 English teacher.  The area has a mix of indigenous and Hispanic, so maybe I will even get the chance to pick up another language!

I think pretty much everyone was excited about their site-or at least excited to know where it is and a little about it.  Now all we have to do is wait 2 weeks to meet our counterpart (the person from the town with whom we will be working most closely), and to actually go and see it.  I for sure can’t wait!

Santa Rita Halfway Point: 2/15/12

I am getting into a pretty good routine with my family now (just in time for it to change, go figure).  It started out kind of rough because my family doesn’t really like to leave the house to pasear much, which makes it difficult to get to know the rest of the community.  I found out it’s because they don’t particularly get along with the extended family who lives near us.  I’m not sure what exactly happened, but they avoid each other to what I find to be absurd lengths, but whatever.  Now that I understand a little bit more, it’s less weird that they don’t go out much.  I have started to be better about going out on my own/with other aspirantes (Peace Corps Trainees).

I have also found that there is a lot of bochinche (gossip)!  I think it has to do with the fact that 1) it’s a pretty small town and half of the town is related somehow and 2) Panamanian culture is very ‘indirect’ meaning that they avoid confrontation at all costs.  It is expected that if you have a problem with something, you will go around it and tell someone else about it until eventually it gets back to the person with whom you have a problem so they can avoid being embarrassed by the ‘confrontational’ conversation.  It’s taken a lot of getting used to because as most of you know, I am a very direct person and find it offensive/rude if someone goes to other people instead of coming to me if they have a problem with me and I try to show other people the same respect; except that here it’s rude…oops..  I think this will be my biggest struggle during the next 2 years.

On a totally different note, my host mom’s mom went to the hospital yesterday.  From my limited Spanish, she had a bubble (may also be a clot) in her heart, and they had to do surgery to take care of it.  Prayers for her and for her 12 kids would be appreciated.  It sounds like she will definitely be in the hospital the next few days, maybe longer.

I think that’s all I have for now.  I will write again next week, after we find out our sites and celebrate Carnaval J.

PST Halfway point: 2/15/12

It’s hard to believe we are halfway done with training!  My days have stayed pretty much the same as when I spelled them out earlier.  It’s nice to kind of have a routine again; I haven’t really had one since before graduation.  Last week we had our second Language Proficiency Interview (LPI), so our Spanish classes changed up-just in time for the last week of classes…  Our tech sessions have been a mixture of deathly boring and quite practical.  It’s kind of a toss-up whether the day will be engaging or not.  Some examples of the two extremes: one day we talked about the elements of language and language acquisition-very theoretical.  Then we had a guest speaker one day who came in and talked about/did some very practical activities that we will (hopefully) be able to use in the classroom.  Also, about once a week we go back to Ciudad del Saber for a Core Session about Peace Corps policy and procedure.  We have to get up pretty early to go, but it’s usually quite the treat because the office is air-conditioned and there’s a lot of pretty good food, and a pool!  A few other PCT’s and I have taken to going swimming in the Olympic sized pool during our lunch break J  Despite all of these wonderful things, I think everyone is getting a little stir crazy and ready to find out our sites and get moving forward (Friday!!!!!).

After we find out our sites, we have 4 days off as ‘Time to Reflect,’ which just happens to coincide exactly with Carnaval (the Panamanian Mardi Gras celebrations).  For several reasons, we are not allowed to travel for the holiday other than to the closest city.  I don’t think my family will be going anywhere, but I am trying to figure out how to celebrate here.  We’ll see J  Anyway, after Carnaval, we start Tech week, which is when we go into some local schools and work with teachers as they prepare their classrooms and start the first two days of school.  After Tech week, we have a couple days out of Santa Rita to process and then meet our community counterpart for our sites!  After that, we spend a week in our site meeting people and doing some observation.  Then we come back to Santa Rita for a week or so, then back to CdS for swear in!  We will be moving into our sites on roughly March 17, which just feels like really soon.  Stuff is going to start happening really fast and the last month is going to fly!

Volunteer Visit: 1/27/12-1/30/12

The last weekend in January, we all had the opportunity to visit a current volunteer in his/her site.  I went to visit Simone in San José de Soná, Veraguas.  Basically, the PC told us where we were going, gave us money for the trip, and set us loose to travel on our own.  It was exciting and scary at the same time because we don't have a ton of freedom or free time in training.  A group of us all going to the same province caught a bus to the provincial capital (Santiago) where we had lunch at a fabulously American café called Cheesecake +.  From there, we went our separate ways.  It was interesting because this was really the first time I had been out on my own at all since I arrived here.   It was good to learn that I can do it, though.
When I arrived in Soná, I met Simone and within 15 minutes we discovered that she has family in Ankeny!  She is from White Bear Lake, MN and I think is the first person here to whom I have not had to explain CSB/SJU.  It was pretty exciting!
While I was there, we mostly hung out and I picked her brain about generally being a TE (Teaching English) volunteer.  We made chicken curry and baked cookies, went to the río and laid around in the hammock reading.  We also spent a lot of time walking and hanging out with the kids who live next door.
My thorn of the weekend was on Sunday.  We were on the front porch and the kids started wandering over.  Apparently their dad had gone somewhere to drink (as most men do on Sundays), so they were left with their elderly grandmother and didn't totally know what to do with themselves.  It made me sad, but I'm also glad we were there to hang out with them.  I had 2 roses for the weekend.  One was just having nothing to do/nowhere to be.  The other was that I finally got to go to mass!  I was able to follow what was going on, but it is going to take a while before I can keep up with all the responses.  On the whole, it was a good weekend.  I got to just hang out a ask a bunch of questions as I thought of them.  It makes me even more excited to arrive in my site!

Pre-Service Training (PST) Week 1: 1/16/12-1/21/12

Pre-Service Training (PST) Week 1: 1/16/12-1/21/12

PST is the 9 weeks prior to our swearing in (in the middle of March).  We spend this time working on our Spanish skills as well as our teaching/technical skills.  We have also gotten more specific information about what our assignment is.  They keep saying our first goal is for the teachers; our second goal is for the students; and our third goal is for the community.  What this means is that we will primarily be doing co-teaching, as this is a more sustainable practice than just having volunteers take over a classroom. I am actually quite relieved about this because I am not trained as a teacher or in English language instruction, but that’s what these classes are for, right?

So my typical day starts with me getting up for school (around 7), showering, breakfasting, and going to class around 8:30 to talk with the professor.  There are only 5 people in my class.  I already feel like between my Spanish class and my host family my Spanish is so much better than it was!  After Spanish class, I go home for lunch at noon and then to the school for Tech classes from 1-5.  This is where we are learning teaching (English) techniques and cultural information about the Panamanian school system.  I am really excited to get to work.  We have been learning a lot about co-teaching because we will be doing a lot more work with teachers than with students (which I actually feel more qualified to do anyway).  In the evening I go home for dinner and mostly just hang out and do some homework.  Sometimes Yuri and I go over to the neighbors´ and play Uno with the kids/volunteer over there, which is always fun.  The other day, there were 10 of us playing!  That´s really all I have time for now, but hopefully I will be getting internet more regularly (cross your fingers).  I miss you all and would love to hear from you (via comments or e-mail...I will get it eventually...lol).

P.S. I am hoping to have pictures to post the next time I have internet.  It was just a little too much work to try and get it together this time...lol.

Santa Rita: 1/15/12-1/21/12

Santa Rita: 1/15/12-1/21/12

Once we left Ciudad del Saber on Sunday morning, we came to our host families. We are living in 2 small towns about an hour away from Panamá City.  [This is a good time to put in a side note that our training class consists of 2 different programs: Teaching English (TE) and Community Environmental Conservation (CEC).  The TE group is living in one town and the CEC group is in another town just a couple miles down the road.]  I think we were all a little nervous and excited to meet our families.  My family is great   I have a mom (Alicia) and a dad (Sixto) and a 16 year old sister (Yuri-pronounced joo-ree) and a 3 year old sister (Alison!).  Apparently the last trainee they hosted was also Allison.  The house has 2 bedrooms: I share one with Yuri and the other 3 are in the other room.  There is a living room, a kitchen, and a porch (where we spend most of the time).  There is a little shower stall out in the back and a latrine.  We do have running water and electricity but it’s not hot water and it goes out sometimes.  Our diet is pretty much some variation of fried chicken and rice at pretty much every meal.  Sometimes there are some vegetables thrown in.  It was super exciting because last night we had spaghetti!  and it was great because even though she made rice to go with it, she asked if I wanted any before she served it, so I was actually able to go a whole meal without rice!  I was pretty excited.

The entire town is within walking distance and there are several other trainees within shouting distance. It’s nice to have them so close.  Also, it means that a lot of the families in town have hosted/are hosting a trainee (we are the 10th training class to be in Santa Rita!).  My family does not have any animals, but several families have dogs, cats, chickens, pigs, cows, parrots, and some other animals that just wander into their yards.  The roosters tend to keep me up at night.  Whoever said they crow at dawn was making an understatement.  They start around 3am and crow every hour for like 12 hours.  I’m starting to get used to it, though.  Also the dogs (and chickens) just wander through the streets.  Some of them have owners, but some of them I think are also wild.  I tend to just play it safe and not pet any of them unless I am at someone’s house who owns the dog.

In other news, there is a river close by.  A group of us went and swam in it on Sunday (our first day here).  It felt so good to be in the cold water!  I am hoping to go back there in the near-ish future.  Also, I saw a monkey on my first day here! But I haven’t seen one since   I have been really bad about taking pictures, but it’s my goal to have some posted next time I am able to get internet.  Anyway, I guess that’s all for now.  I will let you know when I can as exciting things happen!

Staging and Bridge to PST: 1/11/12-1/14/12

Staging and Bridge to Pre-Service Training (PST): 1/11/12-1/14/12

Staging in Miami was pretty uneventful-pretty much what I anticipate, I guess I should say.  It is worth mentioning that I met up with some other Peace Corps people at the airport; we pretty much stuck out like a sore thumb with so much luggage.  Apparently, there was a facebook group created for our training class and they had already planned to meet at a Café across the street from the hotel for dinner, so that was fun.  We had IHOP for our last American breakfast and then staging actually started.  It was basically a big paperwork-fest along with some ‘what are your expectations?’ ‘here are our expectations’ and ‘here is some important safety and security information that you should know before arriving.’  Then we got up super early Wednesday morning (had to be downstairs by 6am) and went to hang out at the airport until our 12:05pm flight.

Bridge to PST began Thursday morning, so we had Wednesday afternoon to kind of settle in at our 4-day residence near the PC office just outside of Panamá City.  It used to be a military base but the buildings have now been converted to several offices, some villas (where we stayed) and a school of some sort; I’m still not sure what grades.  Anyway, this is where we spent 4 days talking about what to expect as well as more extensive logistics, health, safety, and security information.  The best part about the whole thing, I think, was getting to know everyone (there are 54 in our training class) and the villas-they are way nicer than I think anyone was expecting.  We had hot water, air conditioning, and Wi-Fi (although my villa couldn’t get ours to work).  Apparently, there are times we can/will come stay there for a weekend, either for a training or just to get away for the weekend.  In either case, it’s good to know it’s available!