On December 19th, something very exciting happened. In case you weren't aware, I WENT BACK TO THE US! It was a whirlwind trip which involved almost everything I could have wanted: a night of swing dancing, shopping, family time, the Festival of Lights, birthdays, Christmas, schinkenfleckerln, Skyline, Graeter's, hamburgers, and snow. :-)
Almost exactly a week after arriving, I once more boarded a plane to Texas. This had some excitement as a couple hours before we were planning on leaving, I received an e-mail that my flight had been cancelled due to a blizzard that decided to smother everything north of Cincinnati on that day; after an additional scare of there being to available flights until Sunday (by which time I was scheduled to have moved on from Texas altogether), we found another flight from another airport, so all's well. I landed around midnight, and was met at the airport by 2 of my most fabulous friends, one of whom came to visit me here in Panama (Cecily!), and the other whom I'd not seen since graduation- frankly, entirely too much time elapsed (Mollie!)!!!
Having graduated from college and moved on to lives of responsibility (or something like that), we naturally went straight to bed in order to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for a full day of wedding prep- because Cecily and I were there for Mollie's wedding!
And as you probably know, that's a lie because naturally, we spent 3 hours covering years of catch-up and hang-out until we all started falling asleep mid-sentence in our positions sprawled around on the floor.
When daytime actually came, at a we got up not-too-late hour, and spent some time doing errands, a little more hanging out whenever possible, wedding rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and this-and-that. It was great fun to reconnect with the handful of other Prin friends who were there, most of whom I hadn't seen for too long :-D
So, after a brief just-over-2-days outside of Dallas, Saturday brought another plane ride, but this one was just a hop over to San Diego, CA to spend a little more than a day with another most fabulous friend, Lauren. Our time together, though brief, was full of laughter, Broadway (specifically Wicked), near constant drizzle, a hailstorm, a couple rides on a carousel, cupcakes, North&South (a British miniseries that Mollie introduced to Cecily and me that I had to finish before leaving the country) and country-line dancing. My visit with Lauren ended with meeting another fabulous friend from college, Joe, for breakfast, in a delightful quasi-last-minute contrivance. Yay!
The last day of 2012 I got to spend with my grandmother Connie! In another casual, laid back day we went kayaking on the San Diego Bay, with a fish-eye view of a couple aircraft carriers, then we rented bikes...I don't remember where, lunch by the Del with a view of the ocean, an imax movie, and we brought in the New Year with a concert by a delightful rock cover band...and although delightful doesn't quite fit the vibe of the band, I'm going to use it anyway, because it's true and better than any other words that come to mind at the moment.
Connie and I observed as much as possible of January 1st, 2013, by waking up at 5AM to take me to the airport for my final flight for a long spell back to Panama. I'm feeling honest, so I shall confess that I was feeling decidedly reluctant to return to the Panamanian campo. I don't know how it happened, but as much as I love nature and being outdoors, being out of sight and out of earshot of civilization, I do love to be in the city. So, joyfilled from a stuffed-to-the-brim 13 days (including travel), I made my way back to Panama, to be blasted by humidity in the heavy summer city air. In an unexpectedly fortuitous turn of events, there was a fellow on both of my flights wearing a shirt covered with birds and sporting the word "Panama", so I started chatting with him, found that he was flying down to visit his son, and through this and that, this father-son set were kind enough to give me a free ride to my hotel from the airport! For context, I'd been worrying myself about getting a reasonably-priced taxi by myself after dark, so it was a great relief.
Still dragging my feet, the next day I made my way back to site, and found my steps growing lighter as 'home' drew nearer. By the time I got to my house, I was ready to embark on another year as a PCV, valiantly battling the educational system in a hopefully-not-in-vain effort to get some good TE -ness going on. Although I spent the first several days, after an obligatory "I'm back!" visit to my host family, holed up hermit-style in my house watching movies with the blinds closed and all. Over the few days, I slept and relaxed until that partial week passed, and I was ready to spend the next week reacquainting myself with Santa Rita and my neighbors therein, and preparing for my 2 week booster class for the incoming 10th graders
This 2 week class was at the request of the Director (aka, principal) of the Secondary school, and was a requirement for all students entering 10th grade (roughly equivalent entering freshmen). However I was given no guidelines as to assessment or content, timing, length, nada. But, with the help of a couple of my PCV friends in a hotel room and afterward, I pulled together the course, and even I felt that it went well. And as much as I tend to try to interpret feedback as negatively as possible, I am compelled to take it as a compliment that when I asked for written, anonymous feedback, the most frequent suggestion was that the class was too short. It was a rewarding experience, and I certainly learned a lot about teaching, teaching english, Panamanian students, 10th graders, and myself personally and as a teacher.
I learned that to feel more or less confident in front of the class (2 class sessions, about 30 students in the morning about about 50 in the afternoon), I needed to script the classes nearly verbatim and actually have the script where I could read it throughout the class. I learned that being a little silly, not to the point of clownishness, but just little hints of fun can relax and re-engage a class that may be starting to drift. (For example, pointing out the pronunciation difference between "park" and "bark", and barking in class.) I learned that these students, at least, are interested in learning English, but don't know how, and frankly, don't have good teachers...hence MEDUCA* requesting Peace Corps assistance. And I learned that I still don't want to be a teacher as a career. I have nothing but respect for teachers, but I still don't want to join your number; you are inspirational, invaluable, so often underappreciated, you share so much wonderfulness with your students, and have so many opportunities...but I don't think it's cut or for me, or I for it. But, we can't all be teachers, and who knows how I'll feel at the end of another year of teacher training. I have had marvelous teachers over the course of my life, interspersed with less laudable examples, and from them I will draw my inspiration.
Since ending that class last Friday, I've been working on coordinating a Peace Corps event (I get an early chance at the new group of TE volunteers who are starting in Feb- they're all coming to visit my site 3 days after showing up to Panama, so I get to pull together teachers and a lunch and basically all of the logistics for really what is their first look at Panama.), and cleaning my house for the next Very Exciting Event. Actually, on Sunday I went to the beach with some of the City relatives of my familia panameña, but other than that, cleaning and preparing for this Very Exciting Event, in which My Parents Arrive in Panama! In about 20 minutes from writing this, I'll be heading to the airport to pick them up for over a week here! They'll leave as Carneval heats up, then will be a week of recovery, a dance camp in Chiriqui where I'll teach swing, beginning internet, and beginning Word, and then back into the school year- will the fun ever end...?
And no, you don't get any pictures here. Like a very silly person, I left my camera battery charger in Panama, and so was reduced to pure enjoyment and direct commitment to memory of this visit instead of being distracted by recording it all. And I was so busy enjoying and doing that I didn't even have time for the big photodump I'd been hoping for- and that one I am sorry for. Maybe later. For now, have a lovely night/day/morning/whenever...have a lovely time.
*Ministry of Education
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