PRODUCTIVITY!...vs. Panama

     Thanks to my brother for ordering and Cecily for bringing my replacement computer battery, I am writing this blog post by candle light.  Now, I don't really need light to type on the computer, but before writing this post, I was handwriting notes from the computer, and then I did need the candlelight.  I'll type up the notes eventually, but I suppose I'm still old-fashioned enough that if I need or want to really think about something, it has to travel down my arm, though my hand and pen, and onto paper.  Maybe getting split down both arms to be computer typed divides the information into nonsense.  I don't know.  Either way, I'm in the funny, quasi-modern situation of working from my computer by candlelight.  My candle is developing a really cool sideways stalagtite-y wax formation, by the way.
     I'm using the candle, by the way, because the light went out for the second day in a row.  Today and yesterday we had light for most of the day, until about 4:30.  Last night it reappeared at about 10PM, and I hope it'll do that again, and recharge this miraculous thing known as my battery.  Water's also out- boo!
     In case you've missed the news, I finally caved and/or build myself up to getting a magic internet stick, which has made my life both more and less productive.  It works best immediately in front of my house, generally decently just inside of my front door, and doesn't exist more than a foot inside of the house.  But, it's enough for e-mails and uploading pictures, and if the clouds are angled just right, I can watch youtube videos with just a couple pauses to load!  It's fun to be in the 21st century again, here in rural Panama.
     The aforementioned notes I was writing are for my first COMMUNITY ENGLISH CLASS!  I'm doing a set of 5 classes, starting tomorrow and happening until 5 Tuesdays from now.  (I'm writing this on Monday night.)  I simultaneously hope that I have a good number of students, because then I could smoothly and easily bring them to perfect fluency ;-), and that no one shows up, so I don't have to actually teach on my own.  I think that I'll have a good handful, at least, though.  My host mom, at least- it's kind of her job as my adoptive family member here, right?  And she is actually interested in learning English, even asking me how to say various things when I'm at her house.
     Next Thursday I'm making myself available for official homework help for 5-10th graders- this one I hope to transition into peer-tutoring, yay sustainability!  And on Friday, I'm going to start more solo-teaching (ack! What am I doing?!?).  There's a second Primaria in town, just 70 students, but they don't have an English teacher, hence my not being assigned to work there as well, but as the students go to the Secondary from there expected to have learned some English, some parents have requested that I teach their kids too.  So, they get their own real, live, Native English Speaker once a week too!  We'll see how long this goes.  I think I was smelling too much of the neighbor's garbage when I was setting all of this up, else I would have at least spaced it out a bit more.  Oh well- in for a real (nickel, pronounced rey-ahl), in for a dain (dime, pronounced dine).  Wish me luck!
     Ooh, and unless I do already have enough going, there are a couple other things I'm working on with other volunteers, this fantastic thing known as a Magic Circle that I want to start at the Primaria, and my new neighbor volunteer (neighbor being in the next town up the road) swing dances, and we're talking about getting the kids in his community and/or mine dancing!
     Ok, I was going to finish with the English planning fun-ness, but I've got to talk about Magic Circles.  A Magic Circle (which I like to capitalize) is a form of permiculture, or a strategy of permiculture, or something like that.  Basically, you dig a hole about 3 or 4 feet diameter by a foot or 18 inches deep, and through 'trash', whatever organic material you feel like, into said hole.  In the ring of dug-up-dirt which you left around said hole, plant plantains, yuca, whatever you want.  As time goes, add whatever more organic material you have to the pile in the center.  The guy who introduced this technique at our trimestral Peace Corps meeting is a former PCV who has since started his own farm here in Panama, outside of Penonome, called “Finca de los Perezosos”- “Farm of the Lazies.”  So, according to John Douglas, the former PCV, this yields significantly more produce than the usual Panamanian methods, while cutting down on the amount of trash left to burn.  Win-win!  I'm talking to my Primaria teacher about starting on at the school, which will help them, and then I/we/someone can use it as a model to teach other members of the community about this alternative strategy!  (I want to do one in my backyard, too :-).)


One more note: I think I accidentally had a big bowl of vanilla pudding for breakfast this morning.  Panamanians use cornstarch for a lot, including a common breakfast known as ‘crema.’  I had a box of cornstarch for when I need to make chocolate pudding, and since I didn’t have anything else breakfast-y, decided to try it.  Halfway through the process, I realized that it was almost identical to the chocolate pudding, except without the melting-chocolate step.  And more vanilla added.  And raspadura, which is minimally processed cane sugar (but sugar goes in either way.)  It’s a curious sensation, to expect to eat breakfast, and eventually realize that it was actually pudding.  ;-)

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Continuing on Tuesday, since I didn’t post this before now:
So, the much anticipated class came and went!  Exactly none of the community members who seemed excited about it showed up today.  Which was ok, in a way, because the guy who was supposed to give me the key to the building and pull out the whiteboard and help me get everything set up forgot that today was the day, and was in Penonome (the city about an hour’s drive away).  But, we got the key to the space from another guy in the community (though not the key with access to the supplies), and on a ‘hunch’ I’d brought a stash of poster paper and markers.  Just in case.  Despite none of the adults coming up (even my host mom didn’t come to the class), I did have 8 youth-students, ranging from 2nd grade to 9th.  They acted like Panamanian students, that is to say, irresponsive to about everything, but when asked after the fact, said they enjoyed it.  I think I could be a good teacher...not that I’m changing my intention to never make that my career...but who knows, maybe I’ll keep saying never through a career of it (eek!).
    We’ll see what happens next week; it’s slightly possible that the culprit for the thin attendance today was a band meeting that lasted much longer than anyone had anticipated...vamos a ver.   In any case, I came back home to relax, put together a random outfit which I then inflicted on the community between my house and the store, and came home.  They say Peace Corps is a learning experience- this particular event taught me that I have 4 main coping mechanisms for disappointment/disenchantment/discouragement/etc- (1)nature meditation (2)fashion whimsy (3)dancing (4) creative output in crafts or food.  Makes those nasty things rather more pleasant, when I know the fun that follows ;-)

    Tomorrow I have a happyfunplanningsession with my Primaria teacher, Thursday meeting some other volunteers to work on a possible collective book grant, Friday starting teaching at the non-English-teachered-Primaria, then a nice full weekend.  Oh life, you’re so funny.

Also, I’m on day 5 of a 2 day charge on my magic internet stick, not sure what’s up with that, but hey- internet’s cheaper by the day!