Hello again! It’s been two months since I’ve last updated
my blog, but that’s because I have been very busy! In September, I had my IST training for two
weeks. It was the first time that
everyone from my group had gotten together since we left for our sites, and it
was great to hang out again. For the
first week, we were in Farrallon, Cocle where we had 8 hour days of intensive
seminar trainings. I learned a lot of
useful things that I’m planning on bringing back and utilizing in my site. During the night, we would walk to a beach
that was about a half hour away and hang out there. This first half of training was really fun
because both TE and CEC volunteers were at the same training so our whole G 74 group was
together.
For the
second half of IST, we split up into our own sectors and had specific
seminar training and applicable practice.
We were paired into small groups and had to facilitate 6 hours of an
after school English club at the local elementary school and also give a
professional teachers seminar in English to a group of professors. For our English club, my friends and I
focused on how to learn English through media, movies, songs, and pop
culture. It was really fun to work with
kids for the first time outside of the classroom!
The kids were awesome, and we were surprised to find out that they were also incredible break dancers!
For our teacher seminar, we gave a lecture on how to create a student-centered classroom, which is a classroom that is not “traditional” rote learning style. It went really well and it was a great learning experience for us! Here's a picture of me and some matching PCV's pumping ourselves up before our presentation. We were trying to look intimidating, but my friend Lexi in the middle didn't get the memo...
Here I am facilitating my first teacher seminar! It was nerve wracking but exciting! I learned a lot and the teachers were great!
After two weeks of intense training and practice, we all needed to go out and take a celebratory shot! My friend Sam is the selfie master!
IST was a
great experience, but I was excited to return back to my site. That same week we started facilitating at the
local university a PCV developed program called Leadership Development for
Global Education (LDGE). It is a 10 week
course for University English students that teaches participants how to become
leaders and gives them the tools to make a positive change that they have selected in either their
community or school. It's interesting, but the pilot program is proving difficult
to get off the ground at this smaller University. I like it though because it’s a great way for us to talk with
Panamanians our own age and get to have an open dialogue about some of the real
problems they have here.
That
Saturday, September 26th, we celebrated my friend Cesar’s 26th
birthday at my house. I made a cake and
decorated the house, and 10 of our friends came! It was a lot of fun! We sang, my friends
tried to teach me how to dance tipico, and we played cards. I think Cesar had a great night! I am really lucky to have friends my own age
in town, especially ones that are so funny!
The birthday boy and my friend Routillio
My friends playing the drums and singing for Cesar
I’ve
recently started helping some local girls learn how to play the flute. Before IST a group of moms found out that I
play and they approached me to ask if I could teach their daughters. Panamanians have a lot of pride in their
school bands, and the students practice every day for two hours! So in September I started working with them for one hour once a week before their practice and it’s been going great! This past weekend I got to see them perform
in their independence parade, it was really cool!
The first
week of October my town was lucky enough to have an organization called Spay
Panama come and host a sterilization clinic for the dogs and cats in Parita. It was incredible, we had about 10
vets performing operations from 8 am to 5 pm and they were able to sterilize 300
+ animals! I was busy
all day looking after the 3 dogs I had brought and then volunteering, mostly by transporting the
animals between the stations. I was also
able to trap and bring over four stray cats to the clinic that had been
bothering my host mom for a while! All
in all it was a very successful day, and now I don’t have to worry about taking
care of any more puppies!
The second
week of October was a crazy one for me!
I jam packed three trainings into one week! From Sunday to Wednesday I was at my friend
David’s site on Isla Cañas helping him facilitate an Eco-Tourism seminar he had
organized for his community members. It
was a two-day seminar, but because his island is hard to reach so I ended up having to
get there a day earlier and leave a day later.
The first night we were there, we got to visit with the Ambassador to
the US! He and his wife were also on the island for the night to see the
turtles lay their eggs, and they asked to meet the PCV's on the island. It was great to
talk to him again, he and his wife are such interesting people. We even got to go out to the beach one night
and see a turtle lay eggs for ourselves! It was an
incredible experience to see such a massive turtle lay her eggs and appreciate all of the
work that goes into it. On the second
day of the seminar, I facilitated the English portion of the seminar, where I
taught key phrases and vocab words to the participants to help them with customer service. After the seminar was
over, we got to take a tour of the mangroves of the island on a motor boat. It was so cool because we
were able to get out and climb all through them! It was a very successful trip and I learned a
lot that I can hopefully bring back to my community.
I went out onto the beach for the sunrise hoping to see some hatchlings, but it was too early in the season.
The next
day I left the island to go to the mountains for a fellow PCV’s library day
event. I am starting to build a reading
corner in my primary school’s library, and I went to learn more about it and to
network. It was really cool what she had
pulled together! We were reading and
doing arts and crafts with all of the kids in the library for a while, then a
Panamanian non profit came to talk about the importance of libraries and told
them an interactive story. We ended the
day with a talk about HIV/AIDS (given by a local youth!) and watched
WALL-E. I was glad I got to participate in this event, I now have a lot of new ideas and contacts for my
project!
A Biblioteca Nacional representative kept the kids captivated with his story!
They also led a workshop painting rocks with traditional indigenous design patterns
Kids make the best funny faces, and love the opportunity to be silly in school!
A group picture of all the facilitators. We're a colorful bunch!
From Friday
to Sunday I was at an Ultimate Frisbee coaches training seminar. It was two days of training but mostly
playing Ultimate! We had a blast! I really want to start an Ultimate club in my
site because it’s a sport that boys and girls can play together and it’s great
exercise. The site where the training
was held is very different from my site, so for one of the days we got to
play in the pouring rain! It was so much
fun! That night our great hosts made us
a huge barbecue and we spent the night eating and playing games. It was a crazy week, but I was lucky enough
to hang out with some amazing people and learn a lot.
At the end
of October, two English teachers and I finally got the English club off of the
ground! After lots of planning and red
tape, we had our first meeting. We
decided for the pilot program to invite selected students for the last few
weeks of the school year and then open it up to all students at the beginning
of next year. We have about 12 kids and
meet each Thursday for two hours. The
kids are great, and it’s fun to do activities with them outside of the
classroom.
For
Halloween, I had some friends come stay at my house and we went to part in a
nearby town at another PCV’s house. It
was so much fun! I found a full dinosaur
costume at a goodwill for $3 and it was probably the best investment I have made
here. It was so much fun to hang out
with everyone and celebrate an American holiday.
During the
month of November, there are a lot more parties than usual because they have
Independence celebrations throughout the whole month! On November 3, we had a huge parade here in
Parita where school bands from all over came to march. The parade started at 12pm and didn’t stop
until 10pm that night! It was a lot of
fun to see all of the different bands and acts that passed by while hanging out
with my friends. Panamanians take their
school bands very seriously, so there were a lot of different and elaborate
costumes with bands from almost every province represented. It was also really cool to see some of the
girls who I give flute lessons to marching!
Here's a picture of one of my students dressed in the traditional pollera, she is having so much fun!
My friends Cesar and Guille embarrassing a baton twirler marching in the parade
The best bands were the independent adult bands that marched after all of the school bands. They're incredible!
Besides all
of the crazy parties, parades, and trainings, life here in Parita has been
going great! I have been working a lot
more with my teachers and am now really getting to know a lot more of the people
around town. The dogs are also doing
great. I have changed my puppy “Scout’s”
name to “Neci” (pronounced ‘Nessy’) because I wanted her to have a Panamanian
name. I call her Neci after the
Panamanian word “necia” which is a funny way to say “naughty.” I decided to name her that because I was
already calling her my “little necia” and when I made the conscious decision to
keep her, I wanted to give her a permanent name instead of the original name that I
gave to all of the puppies who now have different ones with their forever families. She is getting so big! I’m still training her, but I don’t think I
will ever get her to not chase after the broom when I’m sweeping! She is a good girl with lots of energy which
keeps me active!
Because standing up to eat like a big girl is just too hard....
I am
looking forward to the Thanksgiving party that Peace Corps puts
on every year for the volunteers. All
200+ of us go to a big hotel and spend two days eating and hanging out! They hire someone to make a big Thanksgiving
meal and everything! I’m so
excited! Then just a few short weeks
after that, my parents and sister are coming down to visit me for
Christmas! I have so much to look
forward to, so naturally more updates to come!
