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!