Double post day!

So, my counterpart (Primaria co-teacher) let me borrow his magic internet stick to see if it gets signal in my house!  AND IT DOES!  Inconsistently, but hey, it's more than I've got otherwise.  So, you get 2 posts today (this one and the one about Independence Day), and we all get hope for internet at my house for the future! Isn't that exciting? Pictures still seem to take an eternity or so, but we'll see how long it actually takes when I have my own stick.

       In both the United States and Panama, preparations for Presidential elections are in full swing.  The candidates of the opposition party are being selected, and running mates bandied about.  I don’t know about the US, but lately I’ve been seeing increasing numbers of cars and trucks with various candidates names’ and parties driving around my town and the towns nearby, and I’m sure commercials, yardsigns, and billboards are popping up in the US, and probably here.  I don’t know about TV commercials here as the TV in my house doesn’t work, but I’d be surprised if there weren’t bastante (plenty/enough) commercials here.  The difference is that in the United States, the presidential election is in a number of months, and here in Panama, the election doesn’t take place until after I leave in 2014.  They certainly don’t waste time!...Except for all of the time that gets wasted waiting for busses that have imprecise schedules at best, for the time waiting to see if it will rain, for time just spend...sitting around.  Time spent waiting for meetings, waiting for appointments.
In the meantime, (haha, more time) I’m having a lot of fun in my house, although I’ve been rather anti-social now that I’m moved in.  But, I visit my familia panameña every few days, and am fully planning on getting out and walking more often, pasearing, visiting, all that jazz.
Now I have 2 weeks here, with my 10th grade profesora (the one who teaches English, French, Ethics, and Bellas Artes) before going to a 2 week “IST”, which is In-Service Training.  It’s unfortunate that it takes place in the middle of the most productive trimester of the school year, but oh well.
If I didn’t cover it before, here in Panama they have 3 trimesters in the school year.  They run late February-June, June-September, and September- December.  The first is largely spent getting the students, and teachers, back in academic modes, with a fair number of holidays, celebrations, recognitions, all manner of interruptions.  The second is the least interrupted, when the students and teachers are in gear, warmed up, and so it’s considered to be the most productive part.  Other than the 1st week of my Ciclo being out the window for the Aniversario festivities, another saint day at the Primaria, English Week at the Ciclo, and a variety of those little things that can come up in any term, it’s been much more consistent than last term.  Side note, substitute teachers don’t exist here, so if the teachers have family emergencies, official seminars, medical appointments, etc, their classes have free periods.  Technically, we’re are here to support our teachers in their teaching, and make sure that the schools don’t consider us to be unpaid substitutes, so I haven’t been stepping in when my teachers are out, but I might change my policy on that.  Particularly if my teachers ever have one of those 1 or 2 week MEDUCA seminars that I hear about other teachers disappearing to every so often.  I still don’t think I want to be a teacher for a career, but it actually hurts when I see the expectations for these students contrasted with the opportunities and situations offered.
Don’t misunderstand me, I think that my teachers are all above average (which is really saying all that much in the context of the Panamanian public school system), but they have a lot of room for improvement, and the MEDUCA approved books are so badly written that although there are decent parts, there are other sections that I have to read a passage 3 times to figure out, and yet others that are complete nonsense.
In addition, none of my teachers have their own classrooms, which makes usage of posters and other props more challenging, and technological limitations abound.   All of that being said, my teachers are very invested in their jobs, and generally devoted to their students.  And, they are ready and willing to work with me, which is marvelous for their students and the TE program, but a lot of pressure on me, which I feel particularly strongly when I think about my lack of formal educational training.  Oh well; c’est la vie!

And now, a bit of news of home life:  I’m sure that everyone will be able to breathe a sigh of relief- I’ve successfully identified and located cornstarch here, and although had to make some other substitutes, I made chocolate pudding from scratch.  So, in the end, all is well with the world.  ;-)

Independence Day

Today is, or is as of writing this, (because although I'm writing on the 4^th, who knows when I'll be posting) el Día de Independencia de los Estados Unidos, or Independence Day of the United States. A handful of people here remembered it to me, and a few more got it after just a couple of hints. I was fully intending to spend this week with my Primaria teacher, but he didn't go in yesterday, and after we did Kindergarten today, he basically kicked me out of classes because I “shouldn't have to work on my Independence Day,” which meant that I could go to El Valle with a handful of other volunteers from around here. The a lot of Panama PCVs went to a beach party in Chiriquí, actually where I went on my volunteer visit back in January, but I hadn't wanted to miss that much school...even though I am missing it anyway, with today, yesterday, and tomorrow my teacher is going to a ceremony/presentation in Los Santos to get our new Bandera Azul flag. As a reminder, Bandera Azul is the First Lady's program to motivate environmental programs in schools. My teacher wanted to invite me to the ceremony, but wasn't allowed to bring more people, so I have the day for...whatever I decide I need to do. Which will involve finding internet to post this!

Now, to the point: Celebrating Independence Day in the United States

I admit that I haven't always been the most fervent patriot in the Union, and that celebrating the 4^th of July was more for the sake of fireworks than the country itself, but I am very grateful to be an American citizen. Of course there are political problems, social problems, economic problems, energy problems, environmental problems, internal problems, international problems- the list can be endless of the problems.

But every time I spend time outside of the States, I learn as much about home as I do about whatever country I'm in.

And in that, I am reminded of how good we really have it. Granted, with the exception of bits of time in Austria, Germany, and Canada, my international adventures have been in less developed, less modern, or perhaps just less “Western.” Whatever the reason, for the most part, we have reliable access to running, potable water, and much of the time, even heated water. There's almost definite access to electricity across the board, and as annoying as the orange barrels are, someone is maintaining the roads. Not everyone has air conditioning, but most communities have some place they can go to enjoy it. To varying degrees of quality, we have neighborhood, city, county, state, and national parks, and a hefty percentage of the population is equipped with an automobile.

Beyond all of this, there are the less measurable things that are at least as important, if not more. The American Dream has gotten a bit tarnished over time, but having that idea that anyone can be anything is really encouraging. That's not to say they will be, or that it will be straightforward, or even seem possible, but knowing that it is possible for an individual to find and take chances and opportunities to make their life into whatever form they want to- is that not an idea to cherish?

Our educational system is beset with problems, but it does result in creative and productive engineers, scientists, librarians, teachers, leaders political and social, thinkers, inventors, writers, builders...people in every realm of activity.

The American ideals of opportunity, freedom, justice, accountability...despite the problems, there are throngs of people who still want to come to the United States so desperately that they will risk everything that they have, just to be able to start with nothing, in hopes that they or their children, or their grandchildren, will be able to improve themselves.

A few weeks ago, my 'uncle' asked me why there were so many immigrants want to go into the United States. I don't know an answer from surveys or studies, but I know it must be a strong reason for them to face the challenges that confront both legal and illegal immigrants.

Yes, there are faults to find, and counter-examples to everything that I mention as good and well-done, but they haven't proven to be as lastingly definitive of the US, and who doesn't have room for improvement?

And so, despite the the occasional 'declines into socialism,' debates on constitutionality of this and that, despite particular decisions and actions that I disagree with, and certainly at times a lot of frustration, I am and I will continue to be proud to be an American citizen.

(I do think it highly ego/ethno-centric that we have claimed the name “American”, which really belongs to quite a few countries on two continents.  Here in Panamá, they use "Estadounidense", which roughly translates to the sociological "United States-ian" more often than they use "americano."  However, I'm not going to change my opinion of the entirety of the United States on the basis of linguistic annoyance.)