I am the Product of my Parentage, and it is fabulous!

One day, a day like many, many others, I went for a walk around town.  I'd gotten tired of hanging out with my roommates  in the house.  There are others, but they aren't as photogenic, so there you go.  This walk started out much like any other; it was a hot, dry day, and I don't remember for sure, but at that point I don't think I had a lot of running water (and by not a lot I mean a trickle that ran for a few hours/day).

     As I was walking along, admiring the colors of the plants and birds, the general Krohn Conservatory-ness that is my town, I noticed one tree in particular.  This tree didn't have a lot of leaves, but it had a number of odd green balls, a couple of which were opening to show something suspiciously fluffy and white!  Do you know what it was?

    A walk or two later, maybe a week, I passed the same tree, and what do you know, but there were more of these balls opening, and white fluffballs abounded.  I collected several clumps, and on the course of my walk, picked the seed-type things from the fluff, and started playing with the fibers that remained- before long, I had my first 4" of home-made, freshly picked cotton string!

     Well, that was just too exciting, so a while later, on another walk, I collected approximately a softball's worth of cotton, and spend 5 hours with a couple of movies, de-seeding my winnings.

     But, what to do with the fiber.  Some intervening experimentation with lesser quantities proved that manually spinning worked, but was rather uncomfortable, time consuming, and very, very lumpy.  But I haven't seen any spinning wheels here, and I believed it a bit above my skills to build...not to mention the fact that I'm running out of room in my house, and it isn't exactly a multi-purpose device, unless you have one that also houses VHS tapes...which still wouldn't do me much good, since as a developing country, Panama seems to have skipped from live performance to DVD.  Preliminary google searches for drop spindles were disheartening, as they called for specially made components, or at good quality 'common' things that would be easy enough to get in the US, but here in the Campo, not so much.  

Spindle, Thread, and COTTON

But then, my luck changed with a youtube video of a drop spindle made of a pencil, a piece of cardboard, and a screwhook.  I still had to adapt it a bit, but ended up with my very own, very non-aesthetically pleasing-yet-essentially-functional Drop Spindle!  And with that, here are a couple pictures of my de-seeded cotton, and spindle.  :-D

Pencil, tuna lid, random jewelry finding, and Homemade Cotton Thread!

Other recent achievements: Lighting and cooking chicken on my grill, and making it successfully through 5 of 6 classes at my Friday Primaria.  6th graders are still being difficult.  Still trying to figure out what to do with them...so, anybody have tips on how to maintain energy, interest, and enthusiasm in the last class of the day (12:15-1PM)?  1 student in particular is of the repeat-everything-I-say and not-listening-and-then-complain-of-not-understanding-instruction variety.  While I have you attention, any tips for a joint pre-k + kinder class would be welcome.  Or 1-5th grades too.. ;-)

Que tengan buen día! (Have a great day!)

It's Fall! But everything is still green, except where it's yellow...

In December, I went back to the States for what I called “Winter Break”.  Then I returned to Panama, and got into “Summer Vacation”, which involved the excitement of teaching summer school, helping at a PCV-run Dance Camp, a field trip by the fresh blood the new future TE PCVs, and my parents' visit in February (not in that order, and other than Summer School which I believe I already told you about, will be covered shortly).
First, though, as I raked my yard with my neighbor's rake, I realized that it was Autumn.  Well, sometime that feels like August, but acts like October...maybe September, which would logically be the option to fit between those two.  But, it's been “summer” (the dry season- everything that isn't a tree is turning dried-up-yellow) for a while now, since about mid-December I think, and the rainy season, hereafter known as “winter” is expected around April or May.  And I just spend an hour raking leaves around my house, although who knows where they came from since every tree I can see is full and verdant.  And have little mangos growing...:-D  Actually, a PCV friend has informed me that she already has ripe mangos in site, so nirvana is coming back!  Going by last year, there are a couple weeks where the ground is basically carpeted in delicious mangos.  That makes up for the fact that I haven't had more than a trickle of water in the single lowest faucet in my house for going-on-three-weeks.  Fortunately, the ~two weeks of too-hot-to-even-consider-physical-activity passed, and now it's just really hot, and it's even “cold” in the morning.  “Cold” means about 80 F. here; 60 is freezing.
So, “summer” is coming to a close (at a glacial pace, just like everything else that happens here), it's “fall” going by the leaves on the ground, and so on to tell you about the excitement that was February and the first half of March, although February was much more exciting.
The very last day of January brought my parents on their very first time to Panama!  After a noisy, brief night and an early morning trip into the campo, I sent them up to my house with my key, crossing my fingers that the bus driver understood my request to drop them off at my house while I went to a few hours of Peace Corps meetings in the Regional Capital of Penonomé.  (Isn't that exciting?)  We spent a couple nights at my house, but decided that it was Too Darn Hot, and spent the remaining nights in various hotels here and there, which had A/C (that is exciting- one even had a pool, but no hot water...win some, lose some).  Over the course of their visit, we walked around my community, and I made sure that they had some Genuine 100% Panamanian Hammock Time, and courtesy of my neighbors, fresh lemonade, with a lemon-ish fruit fresh from their tree, and fresh, home-made raspadura (cane sugar).  They also got to taste very fresh caldo, the juice straight pressed straight from the cane.  It tastes like sugar and grass- who would have guessed that sugarwater from an overgrown grass would taste like that?!?  We hiked (for a couple hot hours) to a pretty river and cooled our feet while eating oranges provided by my host mom and another local friend who led us to the river.  It's funny how similar parts of Panama can be to Colorado- reddish rocks, lots of dust, funny little scrubby trees, and very strong sun.
Away from my town, we went to see the Church at Natá de los Caballeros, which is the oldest church on the Pacific Coast (I believe), which was beautiful and impressive and really, everything I'd expect it to be.  Although we arrived with as little fanfare as possible, a scant few minutes after we arrived, a local woman rushed in to tell us about the church, history, and decorations, and answer any questions that we had.  I felt a little bad that she had obviously rushed in to help us, and was very pregnant, but she was very knowledgeable, friendly, and informative.  We also stopped at the Parque Arqueológico del Caño (the Archaeological Park at el Caño), which is a museum and current excavation of burial mounds in a town called, you guessed it, el Caño.  It's a nice little museum, and it has a mostly excavated burial mound, a second burial mound currently being excavated (with cooperation from National Geographic), a set of large volcanic rocks of which they've identified the mountain of origin, but not the mode of delivery, and a lot more unexcavated mounds.  One of the most interesting thing about the Park was to compare this ancient culture's burial mounds to those around Cincinnati and St Louis.  There are plenty of similarities and differences which would be terribly significant to someone who knows more about burial mounds than I do, but still, interesting.  The current theory is that these mounds are from the ancestors of the current Ngobe people, who've since moved further into the mountains from the plains, which is where the mounds are located.  The mostly excavated mound contains the bones of some guild heads, including a woman, and an artist.  Artists were special, apparently, and buried differently than the guild heads, royalty, or normal people.  The mound being excavated is thought to be that of a chief, and contains him, and his entire family except his main wife and his oldest child, who was left to succeed him.  There's one way to cut out sibling rivalry, no?
We spent a day in El Valle de Antón, which is the crater of a long-dormant volcano about an hour's drive northeast of my town.  We arrived by the grace of my dad's driving skill, as we went via my friend Julie's town, along a road that she assured us was in good condition.  And so it was, until we got to the crest of the rim, and began to descend via a series of cutbacks.  The straight bits of the road were fine, but at every turn, the road abruptly disintegrated into uneven, rough chunks of concrete and gravel.  With minimal seat-grippage, we made it safely down to the center, and didn't even damage the car!  In El Valle, we went to the little zoo, which is simultaneously impressive and depressing, the mercado where Dad bought his very own Sombrero Pinta'o, proving himself Coclesano!  We wandered over to see the Piedra Pintada, a huge rock about the size of my house with squiggly carvings that may be a map of El Valle, and a quintessential tropical waterfall/swimming hole.  We had a typical Panamanian lunch at a restaurant...well, Julie, Mom, and Dad had typical Panamanian, while I had a hamburger.  Panamanian food held its own, for the trip, I think, though it can tend towards the bland.  The best part of El Valle is arguably the climate- it actually isn't hot!  It was a refreshing break from the energy-sucking heat of my town, enough so that we didn't even use the pool at our adorable hotel, in which our room was our own little cabin with a shower grotto, and a little pond/river running through the open-air restaurant.
After El Valle, we went to Coronado, so my parents could experience the thrill that is...drumroll...a Panamanian Grocery Store!  For reference, think of any Kroger/Meijer/any big food-and-more variety of store that's essentially ubiquitous in the US.  However, it was exciting for me because it involved the procurement of a fabulous inflatable easychair and footstool from which I'm currently writing, and a charcoal barbeque grill, on which I'm still working out the operator problems.  We took the plunder back to my house, where I assembled the grill and my dad FIXED MY TOILET SO IS NEARLY FUNCTIONAL AT A NORMAL LEVEL!  Now, when I have running water in any quantity again, I can turn on the water to my toilet, and use the flush mechanism!
After such a wildly eventful day, we wound down at a cabin we rented right on the beach to relax and pretend that the ocean was cool enough to produce a refreshing sea breeze.  The water was chilly, but beautiful as always.  As one might expect when one is travelling without terribly much forethought, we arrived at the beach with exactly 0 towels between the 3 of us, because we're just that good.  But somehow, we still managed to enjoy ourselves (plus, the water was cold, which limited our swimming a bit).
For pretty much all of the aforementioned adventures, my parents had rented a car which we returned after our day at the beach, before heading in the City for the last few days of their visit.  Panama is a country roughly the size of South Carolina.  I think South Carolina has more than one city, but Panama just has one, and that one holds about half of the country's population, and might as well be in South Carolina for all City-Panamanians know about the rest of the county.
In the City, we got around with a series of taxi drivers of varying friendliness and economy, and I can honestly say that there were only 2 or 3 out of the double handful who I wouldn't recommend...if I'd gotten more names and numbers to give recommendations.  We went to the Old Town, current political center, called Casco Viego, or Casco Antiguo (Old Shell), and to the edge of the Business District, where the new Trump Tower keeps company with the Hard Rock Hotel and the other shinyshiny skyscrapers, expensive hotels, and office buildings.  On a walk along the Cinta Costera (a new project currently under construction, building a loooooong park with a walking and bike path along the coastal edge of the city, my dad wearing a non-indicative t-shirt and his Sombrero Pinta'o attracted the attention of several construction workers who were taking 5 at an entrance to the active construction zone.  Without a word in English or Spanish, one rushed over to my dad, his face lit like a child's at (wait for it), and he waved his compatriots over, and blurted out the word - “SANTA!”  (The word from before was 'Christmas')  He then orchestrated a picture on his phone of himself, his fellow workers, and the Panamanian Santa.  Incidentally, Santa had also been recognized by a family of Panamanians in El Valle, when we went on that mini-hike to see the ancient petroglyphs and waterfall in El Valle.  So, if you were wondering what Santa does in his off-season, he vacations in Central America.  Or, does some personal recon for those twice-checked lists...watch out!
We bussed it up to Colon where we received repeated warnings NOT to walk around, and so never took more than 10 unaccompanied steps in the city itself, visited the Duty-Free zone which is The Place to go for, well, duty-free items.  Most of the stores are bulk suppliers for other stores, but I hear there are some great deals to be had on electronics and the like.  After the Duty Free zone, we had another bout of luck with the taxi driver who took us on a brief tour of Colon, out for a peek at the Caribbean, and down to the Train Station.  He also told us a bit about the history and people of Colon, the Canal and its commerce- and spoke a bit of English, too boot!  The main reason we'd gone to Colon was to take the Canal Train back to Panama; in years gone by, it was the principle way to travel, but now it's primarily tourists, and the price has adjusted accordingly, but the view is still gorgeous.  Much of the ride is over Lake Gatún, which is most of the central portion of the Canal, and looks like a lake.  But, the train also passed through tropical jungle, and there is a brief glimpse of the locks and Miraflores and...well, the locks immediately north of Miraflores.
The next day we actually went to Miraflores, and went through the 5ish story museum which covered the entire history of the Canal, and an overview of the coming expansion, and when we reached the top, were in nearly perfect timing to see 2 cargo ships entering the first set of locks, and watch the water drain and drain and drain and drain, and the ginormous doors in motion.  The locks really are an incredible feat of engineering, with a mess of politics, economics, and suchlike thrown in- if you haven't read McCullough's book or been to the Miraflores museum, you should.  Preferably the latter, and visit me!  On their final morning, we went to the airport, and I woefully made my way back to town...on the first full day of Carnival, so I got to spend a lot of time in line to get on the bus.  Note for that visit to the Canal Museum- don't plan on travelling much around Carnival.  The roads get packed, although I did get to go through the tunnel under the future airport near my part of the country!
That's probably enough for a blog post- I'm closing in on 3 pages in the program in which I'm typing, and more than 2000 words- if only school reports were this easy!
But there's still Baile Tus Sueños, and the Field Trip! Oh, what the heck.  My parents are probably half my readership, and they already experienced most of the last 2000 words.
So, after my parents left, I hid from Carnival in my town and made faces at the Culecos (people who throw water in the traditional Panamanian Carnival celebration which was minimal in my town).  After about a week, maybe a week and a half, during which I made final arrangements for the 23 Aspirantes (hopefuls, aka, new batch of future TE volunteers) to come visit my site, talk to some of my teachers, tour around, and have lunch, I took off for Chiriquí to help with a dance camp, called Baile Tus Sueños, or Dance Your Dreams.  I arrived on Monday and left on Friday, and in the middle, we taught 30ish kids a couple basic hip-hop choreographies, had a failed attempt at a swing class (one hour, lots of kids under 12, outside on a hot afternoon, plus inexperience...), team building activities, environmental education, sexual health education for the handful that were 12+...it was fun!  The PCVs whose pet project it was were going utterly mad, but I think it went really well, and would fully endorse them to run it again- particularly taking into account the 20 million lessons learned over the course of this week.
I rushed back to my site on the Friday, to run around my site making sure that everything was in order for my 30 guests coming the following day (23 aspirantes, plus their PC handlers, driver, greeter volunteers, and Julie who came to help actually on Friday).  After a brief scare in that the chairs I'd requested from the town representante hadn't appeared, my host mom discovered that they were At That Moment being fetched, and sure enough, they arrived in short order, and my host brother helped me set them up in the Casa Comunal.  My co-teachers who'd agreed to talk to the group both arrived in good time, and wonder of wonders, everything went smoothly, and even on Hora Americana!  I didn't have water, to let the Aspirantes refill their waterbottles at my house, but my wonderful neighbors invited the whole group to their large, covered, tiled porch, where they provided cold water and fresh starfruit to everybody.  I like my town <3.  Once we had rested and cooled down, we went down to visit La Cascada del Río Antón, and the Aspirantes got to dip their feet in a real, live Panamanian river (they'd just arrived in Panama on the previous Wednesday, so it was nearly the first time they'd gotten to see anything).  The greeter volunteers commented that it wasn't quite fair, since my Teachers who came speak respectable English, and everything is perfect here (except the lack of water, and excessive heat).
Then came the beginning of the school year, and here we are.  I'm in the second week of working with my first teacher of the term, and started my Friday classes at the multigrado Primaria, and the beat goes on.  Happy Autumn!

Back to Back Winter and Summer Vacations!

Since my last post, the events of which I hardly remember such that they seem to have taken place months ago, there was another week or so of end-of-school-year festivities, a retirement party for the assistant principal and 2 teachers at the Elementary school, my going to help a fellow PCV with a program called "Elige tu Vida" (a program aimed at 14-17 year olds, with a split focus on decision making, in work and sex; popular program that I want to run in my site this year), and probably a few other things, but nothing that I haven't already covered to some degree or another.

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

The Glory of Acting My Age, and other stories (aka, Lump post!)

Pictures added!

A while ago, I promised the Story of the Puppy, so here it goes.

One rainy day in November, which was pretty much all of them actually, I was taking some scraps to my compost pile in my backyard, when I see a little black lump by my wall.

Spot the puppybutt!

It’s about the size of my 2 fists together, and fuzzy, but with some matted/wet spots- but definitely looks too young to be by itself.  Some weeks previously, the neighbors had warned me that Mamadog was pregnant and had taken up residence in my backyard, and that she tended to be particularly temperamental, but this was the first clue that I’d had that she’d had a pup.  I figured that perhaps her backyard den, under a cement block thing, had been flooded, hence the appearance by my wall, but Mamadog was nowhere to be seen.  After a bit, Mamadog came back, and sniffed around at the Fuzzball, and soon laid down by it, and it got to eat- a relief that she wasn’t abandoning it to my care, adorable as it is!  Because everything was sodden, and because projects are fun, I cut up a couple boxes from care packages- you see, they are appreciated ;-)!, and cut up some grocery bags to waterproof the boxes, and made a bedbox for them.


And it was very cute.

I'm finally adding these pictures after visiting facebook and being slammed with news and opinions of the shooter in Connecticut, and in light of this, I hope you take a minute to collect some warm fuzzies in the cute purity of a well-loved puppy, and then distribute them to whomever you encounter for the rest of the day.  It's amazing what even a few minutes of compassionate attention can do for someone, particularly when it's unexpected and unsought. (12/16)

     Ooh, and reviewing the last post, I owe you all Thanksgiving- in the confusion of packing and getting ready to travel across the country, I neglected to get a charged battery in my camera, which is unfortunate for you, but I rather enjoyed, since I could just enjoy and experience, instead of trying to record it.  The traditional Peace Corps Panama Thanksgiving is a fundraiser by VAC, which is something like Volunteer Advisory Council.  Or something.  It’s held out in a town called Cerro Punta, near Vulcan Baru, Panama’s active volcano, and has frigid temperatures reaching down into the 50s. (yes, fahrenheit.)  It drizzled the entire time we were there, and I wore my fleece nearly constantly; loved it!  I left my house at about 4:30 in the morning on Wednesday, and after a neither rushed nor particularly slow 12 hours of traveling, arrived at the resort.  I heard that there were over 100 volunteers in attendance, which means that probably more than half of PCPanama was there.  Wednesday was hanging out, catching up, and meeting some other people from different projects and provinces.  On Thursday, more hanging around, and I went on a hike in Vulcan Baru National Park (I think that’s the name), which involved a 15 minute ride in a trailer behind a tractor into the park on a dirt road that was mostly there to a cabin where we all changed into rubber boots, and then a hike out to see a gorgeous waterfall.  Despite the boots, my pants still got muddy, but I was grateful for the boots, since quite a bit of the “path” was creekbed and/or flooded, and more than once the mud was at least ankle-deep.  Other than hikes, there were decent spa services, massages, etc, which some volunteers took advantage of, and a nice gathering area with fireplaces- again, freezing 60 deg. temperatures made the fires so delightful.  Thursday morning were also meetings by VAC and another volunteer committee that non-officers were allowed to view/attend, which was interesting to see.  Possibilities for the future...
And Thanksgiving Dinner.  There were teams of volunteers working through Wednesday and Thursday morning to cook a giant traditional Thanksgiving meal, with turkey, ham, stuffing, biscuits, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and more.  And it was delicious (and I got to take a pack of leftovers with me for lunch on the return trip, and Thanksgiving leftovers are delicious!).  We had dance parties and there were foosball tables, and pingpong tables, and good times were had by all.  And I got to have a brief ballroom dance sampler with the brother of one of the other volunteers, who happened to be visiting her over Thanksgiving, which was positively delightful!
If you’re thinking of coming to visit me, it’s far away, but northern Chiriqui (Cerro Punta, Boquete, Vulcan) are by hearsay and this experience, well worth consideration.

While I’m catching up, I’ll mention the Special Olympics.  Peace Corps works with the Special Olympics people here in Panama, and provides volunteers to help facilitate the Events as necessary.  There were big ones in Panama City with lots of different events and stuff months ago, but I worked at the Cocle and Veraguas games, and had a lot of fun.  Most of our participation was escorting the competitors to and from their events, making sure that they never wandered off by themselves.  Most of the competitors were middle school age, with outliers on either side.  (In case you aren’t familiar, Special Olympics are for those individuals who are diagnosed with mental challenges, while Paralympics are for those with physical impediments.) We also set up chairs and tents, assisted in giving prizes, and generally did whatever the people in charge asked of us.  Because I worked at the Cocle Games on the previous weekend, when I went to the Veraguas games on the way home from Thanksgiving, the Volunteer Coordinator asked me to explain to the PCVs who hadn’t volunteered before, what exactly we were supposed to be doing.  At both sets of Games the working volunteers were a combination of PCVs and Panamanians, with a few other foreigners who were in Panama on different programs, namely Fulbright people and a group of Germans who live and work in the same community as one of my groupmates.  Both games had wonderful atmospheres of love and support from all sides!

Athletes in grey shirts and volunteers in yellow bringing the Torch around the track in the Opening Ceremony.

And to wrap up, Acting My Age.
Since coming to Panama, my role as been Peace Corps Volunteer with other Volunteers, Peace Corps Volunteer in my community, Teacher in the classrooms...and what non-PCV social experiences I’ve had have been with people, well, not twice my age anymore, but significantly older.  Actually, a lot of them probably are more than twice my age...anyway.  Most people between 17 and 40 or so seem spend at least half of their lives working in the City, or in the case of the 17-24ish’s, in school, since we don’t have a high school, let alone a university, in my town.  Not that I’m complaining about my company, mind you- a good proportion of my social acquaintance throughout my life has been significantly older than I am.  But sometimes it is nice to get let go of the responsible, Representative of the United States thing, the Peace Corps Volunteer thing, the University Graduate thing, and just be a person.  And frankly, most Peace Corps social events aren’t my cup of tea either, for a few reasons.  HOWEVER, this past weekend was the 6th Agricultural Fair in my town, with dances on the 3 weekend nights- discoteca style on Friday and Sunday, tipica on Saturday.  I didn’t attend on Friday night, not having quite the nerve to go unaccompanied to the drunkfest that I thought it was likely to be, but I could hear the music until past midnight; according to my host family, it went on til 6 AM.  I went to the Fair itself on Saturday, bought a pair of cute sandals that I hope last, and watched the Great Mother’s Day Giveaway.  December 8th is Mother’s Day here, by the way, and was celebrated in both of my schools, as well as at this Feria, mostly by every mother in attendance getting a number, and then getting the present associated with that number.  (Side note, I happened upon the Mother’s Day celebration at my main Primary School, and got roped into singing for the 50-odd mothers- I did Amazing Grace, since it was the only vaguely appropriate song I could think of at the spur of the moment, and that I could remember most of the lyrics to...not my best performance, but it was kinda fun).  Julie, my PCV friend who lives relatively close to me, came by to the Feria also, and we went to the Baile (dance) that night.  The featured performer was an accordionist, and I was enjoying the music, but there were unsurprisingly, a lot of drunks thinking that they could dance.  I did dance one number with Some Random Guy, who actually did stay on rhythm, and danced well, considering that tipica dancing is basically a two-step, and they don’t do turns or anything to break the monotony...well and good if you’re drunk and/or really into your partner, but as a social dancer, it isn’t my favorite style.  I’m getting to the point, I promise!
Sunday, Julie and I had scrambled eggs with salsa, homemade rosemary bread with cream cheese and jelly and banana-orange-pineapple fruit salad, because Peace Corps life is rough, for breakfast.
      Later that afternoon, after Julie’d gone back to her town, I went back to see how the Feria was winding up, and got there just in time to see the end of the Electric Slide, with a good number of people actually doing the dance!!!  That pretty much made my day, but when watching the forthcoming dances, the girl sitting next to me and I started exchanging random comments (breezy, mosquitoes, music, etc), which turned into something of a conversation- and she’s a 24 year old who works in tourism in the City 3 or 4 days/week, but spends time in town too, and has a fair number of friends who were also at the ‘discoteca’ dance on this Sunday night.  She arranged for me to dance with a friend of hers while she danced with her brother, and introduced me to others of her friends (none of whose names I remember, and barely the faces, but I blame loud music and scarcely existent lighting), and so I got a couple dances in with their group, including a bachata, in which I kept messing up the timing on the turns, but was dancing with a guy who could actually lead!!, both in changing the frame shape, and moving around the floor.  Al final, I walked back to my house with this group, and my new friend said she’d take me around the city some free weekend.  So, I got to hang out with people who were roughly my age, not drunk, friendly, and who could dance.  What more can a girl ask for?

Patronales- Independence Day(s)

Ok, so it was a bit more than a couple days to get this next post up- I was too busy collecting material for new blog posts to write old news.  But, you'll have to wait for that :-P.
Coming soon: Furball! (no, I'm not keeping it), and Thanksgiving in Cerro Punta

In the meantime, Los Patronales and the Anniversary of the Separation of Santa Rita from Cabuya.

For a few weeks, I'd been hearing about the coming 23rd of October.  They were selecting the Reina, and as the time grew nearer, getting decorations up and even put a grandstand by the Casa de la Cultura (community center/space).  All of my schools' bands were practicing daily, and it seemed something was up, although it wasn't clear what for, or why the 23rd of October was particularly important.  I've found it rather difficult to get answers to cultural things, perhaps because they forget that I'm not local, and haven't been observing their holidays for my entire life.  So many things we as people take understanding for granted, which is far from intuitive or clear to an outsider.
At any rate, eventually the Expected Date rolls around, and what do you know, but all of the significant mucky-mucks of Santa Rita are there, and my schools' bands, as well as a couple other groups!  And they are celebrating, as mentioned above, the separation of my town from the next town up the road.  Because they do like their independence days, as you will soon read!
It was pretty exciting to see the hard work of the marching bands, and the practicing at all hours of my school-age neighbors, pay off in the form of a parade around la vuelta (the loop).  The bands were impressive, considering I believe only my secondary school had more than “lyra” (some vaguely lyre-shaped xylophone cousin) and drums; they have a brass section as well!  The parade was ended by the Reina in Carnaval-esque costume (think sort of heavily sequined mermaid with a matching headdress) and one of her Damas, in a traditional pollera.
And then there were brindis, and socializing, and soon I ran away to do some grocery shopping in Anton.  Woohoo!
 (Side note on this, at the post-parade segment, a woman who lives in a little town up the road invited me to a mass/celebration in a town called Loma Larga, which means Long Hill.  It was noisy, and hearing English is hard enough in a crowd, let alone interpreting Spanish, so there certainly was some room for misunderstanding...at any rate, as far as I got it, we arranged that on the 28th, I would meet her at a certain bus stop, and we would go to this celebration together, because it the town is a bit of a hike off of the road.  So, I get to the appointed stop, and wait.  And wait...for about an hour...yeah, I know, hardly any time in Panama-time, but that's an aspect of the culture that I'm reluctant to embrace.  Eventually, I start to wander, end up talking to a lady who owns a store, who hooks me up with another lady who was about to head to what I believe was the event I was invited to, so she showed me the way.  I never did find the lady who invited me, but 2 other ladies ended up sort of taking charge of showing me around, and I ended up with their contact information, an invitation to another event in December, and vague plans of taking them on the walk to El Valle!  The event on Loma Larga was their Patron Saint Day, Saint Judas.  There was a mass, a procession (walked perhaps a quarter-mile and turned around to return), and the brindis, because there are always brindis.  Yay free food!)

And now we come to the Patronales, which I eventually figured out weren't about Patron Saints, but rather the weekend of Independence Day- related things.  National Anthem Day, Flag Day, and The Anniversary of Separation from Colombia are all together, but I don't recall the exact dates of each.  Whatever the dates, my schools participated in parades for the entire long weekend!  On Saturday the 3rd, we had the parade in Santa Rita, which was very similar to the 23rd, but with more bands, and -amazingly- uniforms!  Everyone was suddenly decked out in snazzy uniforms, with funny hats and matching boots and everything!  In all of the other performances I'd seen, other than folclorica stuff, all of the kids just wore their school uniforms, but now suddenly they seemed bands worth considering!

(Another side note: I'd promised Julie, my friend and one of my closest PCVs that I'd go to her town that night to go with her to a baile that her town was having, for the Patronales, so after watching the parade, I skipped town to head over to hers.  There, we hung a shelf in her house, chatted, wandered over to their Casa de la Cultura a couple times, returning to Julie's house because the baile still hadn't started, but eventually went back, and ended up watching a cock-fight before the dance actually started.  Have I mentioned that a “baile” is a dance?  Well, if not, “baile” = dance.  It was...interesting.  More interesting watching the audience than the birds, but not sufficiently so to make me need to see another.  My hitherto undefined inclination to see a cock-fight was satisfied, and even now it makes my stomach turn a little to think about how one of the rooster's spur would occasionally get stuck in the flesh of the opponent.  However, certainly another cultural experience to check off of the list!)

On Sunday, my schools went to the town of Rio Hato for another Patronales parade, but I hopped back into Santa Rita to see a bike race at the invitation of a lady in the community, actually, the woman who teaches the folclorica dances at the schools- and it was the real deal!  It was one of the most official looking things I'd seen, for all that it still did start in hora panameña (ie, late).  There were 4 or 5 teams of bikers from around Panama, mostly in real bicyclist-looking apparel, and it was another pleasant surprise (after the uniforms in the parade).  Perhaps it's unfortunate that my expectations of what to expect have rather been lowered in my months here, but it is delightful to be thusly surprised!  There were, of course, brindis, after the race, and there was a group selling soda and grilled chorizo to raise money for a Christmas party for the community kids.

Monday brought a big parade, again with my main Primaria and Secondaria, in Antón, a name which should be at least slightly familiar by now.  Due to a connection that my neighbor PCV Richard had made with the Mayor of Antón, we were Invitado to watch the parade from the grandstand- a big honor!  As invitados (~invited ones), we got to sit in on the opening meeting.  Also, a portion of the brass section of my Secondary's band was chosen to play the national anthem!  I walked through the parade route with my Primaria, because there wasn't a specific place in the line-up for Peace Corps Volunteers, until we got to the grandstand where I broke off to go up and watch the rest of the parade.  It was really cool to see band after band from all over the country come through, ranging from elementary to colegio, which is 10-12th grades, but are divided into areas of study.  I watched 10s of bands and performance groups go by, when what do I see but another friend-PCV marching with her school!  The parade started a mere half-hour late, practically on time around 8:30.  By about 3, I was ready to go, particularly upon finding out that it would probably last until 6 or 7 PM.  Apparently there are 80-some school bands that come...and then there are the “private bands.”  It was all very impressive, but I was done parade watching by that point... and I had to get to Penonomé for a very important “V for Vendetta” watching party with some other PCVs, because it was Nov 5th :-)  Heading eastward on the Interamericana (the Pan-American Highway) was the most traffic I'd ever seen on it, but fortunately I was heading west, which was clear as usual.  I got to Penonomé without issue, though thoroughly exhausted, and we chilled in the hotel, interneted, and went to see “Skyfall” in our months-old movie theatre-  yep, “Skyfall” opened in Panama before it did in the US :-D.  We picked up a couple pizzas from a gas station that serves surprisingly good pizza, and eventually watched the main feature.
The following day, Tuesday Nov 6, did feature a huge parade there in Penonomé, for which I didn't stay, though I did get to see the beginnings of the Election Day coverage before I left to come back home.  And thus went the Patronales.

I'm writing this on Monday, November 26th, which I had off of school due to Wednesday, the 28th, being the Anniversary of Independence from Spain.  I'll let you know if I get to see something interesting related to that ;-).

Next time (barring further distractions, which will almost definitely come as the school year comes to a close), PUPPY and THANKSGIVING!

(Note, due to my week-charge of internet running out, I'm actually posting this on Saturday Dec 1- IT'S DECEMBER!!  I was going to add pictures, and even had them selected, but apparently the fates don't want you to see them.  They're not even pretending to upload.  However, when I go Home for the Holidays, I should be able to orchestrate a massive photodump onto the interwebs- woohoo!)

It's the Holiday Season! (Part 1)

Here in the campo, however, it looks rather different from how it is in the States.
October didn’t have so much by way of actual holidays, but each of the Primarias around had its own “Día del Campesino”- “Day of the Peasant” (according to my dictionary...I’m living with the Panamanian peasantry!  (and there are pheasants as well)).  We also had the "23rd of October", which commemorates the Separation of Santa Rita (my town) from Cabuya (neighboring town), Halloween stuck in for the various Americans here, and then the 4 days of Separation from Colombia parades/celebrations from Nov 3-6.  Oh, and Día de los Disfuntos, Day of the Dead, on Nov 2.  And then later this month we have Thanksgiving, which you'll hear about in time, and the 28th of November, which is Independence from Spain.  And then la Navidad, which is a combination of Christmas and Christmas Eve, and New Years (which I will be spending in the good old US of A!!)...oh, and Mother's Day is coming on Dec 8, graduations (since the school year ends in Dec here).  And then some other little things in there for fun, which I believe includes a patron saint day in a town near Cabuya in December as well.  So, now, a peek at some of these festivities!
       
        Since I attended the Días of my Primaria, my other Primaria arriba, the Primaria de Cabuya Arriba, and “Rayitos del Sol”, which is a preschool-type-thing in town, I’ve gained a fairly strong understanding of what goes into one of these presentations.  The biggest was my main Primaria, which makes sense as it seems to be about the size of the other 3 put together, but the formula was essentially the same.

        The sites were all decked out in bits of folclorica, woven pencas, bundles of rice, oranges, grapefruits, bananas, and that sort of thing.  Very cultural :-)  Bits of folclorica involves the giant rice-pounder thing that I forget the name of, examples of traditional clothing (in addition to that worn by the participants).  Pencas, as you may recall from a previous post, are woven palm fronds, and the rice, oranges, etc, are displays of the local produce- it’s a celebration of farm life, so they celebrate the trappings of campesino-hood.
At my main Primaria’s day, 5 or 6 of the “neighborhoods” built ranchos in which members of these communities sold traditional foods and more produce.  Every festival is an opportunity for the local families, and the schools, to get some fundraising in, so there are refreshments always available- generally for under 2$, for a decent amount of food and beverage.


This being Panama, the vast majority of events require a Reina, the Queen, and her court, which consists of a princess or two, and the Damas- Primera Dama, Segunda, and sometimes Tercera Dama, all with their caballeros (gentleman, or knight).

Bewildered little flower girls

        The actual showcase is distinctly Panamanian- firstly, each presentation started at least 30 minutes late, and then began with the entrance of the previous year’s Reina,  and the current year's court.  These lovely ladies are chosen by votes and/or fundraisers at their schools, and are sporting the full pollera with heads full of trembling beaded tembleques (tembleque loosely translating to “tremblers”).  To the sounds of traditional music, either live or canned, the Royal Court enters, and after an array of ladies and flower girls who are generally 5 or 6 years old and completely clueless about their directive, the new Reina enters.  Each of court lady entrances involves the girl coming in with a caballero or 2, making a couple loops around the performance area, some dance steps and forms, and going to a seat behind the performance area.  

hint: La Reina's the one on the right

The new Queen enters, naturally with the fanciest pollera and glitzy-est tembleques, and the previous Queen coronates her and makes her exit.
Once the Court is in position, the Conjuntos de Baile Folclorico from the host school as well as 5 or 6 guest groups each perform some traditional dances.  The performances at each of the Días was nearly identical, with most of the events featuring the same groups performing the same dances.  Downside: I admit, even for me, the novelty wore off after seeing the same dances over and over, particularly as some of the groups repeated dances of another group in the same Día, but Upside: seeing the same dances repeatedly, and by different groups, gave me the opportunity to gradually make sense of the announcer’s words, and put names to the dances, and get an idea of the general choreography of the dances.

One of the common dances was the “Fogon Caliente,” or “Hot Wood-burning-Stove”, which involved in parts, the boys holding the backs of the girls’ skirts and waving their hats, and at other parts, the boys putting their heads to the girls’ stomachs to be covered by skirts (or on the girls’ shoulders, as the little kids danced it, to the high amusement of the audience).

Another repeated on was a rice harvesting dance which used props- the girls carried wooden trays with some rice, and the boys used fake machetes...and one of the elements of the dance involved the boys leading(?) their partners around in the circle with their machetes at their ladies’ necks.
These performances generally lasted several hours, though the audiences weren’t shy about moving around during the pieces.




Here are some of my favorite pictures:

This one is perhaps my favorite, particularly photographically; also this pollera had the best movement ;-)

Palo de Mayo (Maypole)

fun fact: Maypole (palo de Mayo) has a tune strongly reminiscent of “Limbo”, and is regarded as traditional panamanian culture; technically this was at a Tourism Fair at my Secondary school, but had a lot of things in common with the Días Campesinos.  Main difference was that many of the classes were assigned a province and decorated their classrooms in accord with the characteristics of their province.  But they still had the queen, court, and interminable set of perfomances, including a couple little dramas, and the produce and food vendors.

These guys are apparently tree spirits, despite looking like some sort of deer-god thing. 

Las 4 Negritas, the 4 little black girls.  2nd graders in blackface singing about how their father would beat them for not knowing how to do certain household tasks...

The Queen and I

            Coming soon, hopefully in the next couple days, while they’re still fresh in my mind: Separation of Santa Rita from Cabuya (independence from the next town over), and the 4 days of parades for Día de Independencia de Colombia!

            In the meantime, may as well finish October.  Except the Separation from Cabuya is the 23 of October...but it’s a parade, and sort of an independence day,  so it can stay postponed.  So, Halloween! Now, if you know me at all, you are probably aware that I’m rather fond of this holiday, and take great delight in getting costumed up.  The prevailing Panamanian belief is that Halloween is all about Satanism, and they’re actually seriously scared of the idea.  I’ve heard several sincere accounts of witch encounters, and multiple instances of duendes (mischievous imp/brownie/elf/dwarf critter)  I’ve had the pleasure of explaining to a few of my neighbors the true importance of Halloween, that being dressing up as something you’re not, and having fun, and eating candy.  And, although the Panamanians aren’t keen on Satanism, their beliefs haven’t rubbed off too much on the ex-pat community, and so the American owners of a restaurant in Veraguas had a Halloween party with free pizza for anyone who came in costume; this drew about 20 PCVs to congregate in the town of Santa Fe, which is gorgeous, by the way, up towards the mountains.  So, if you haven’t seen it on facebook, here’s my scrounged pirate costume:

Ok, one more, to finish this post- Día de los Disfuntos, or Day of the Deceased.  Completely unrelated to Halloween, this is observed on Nov 2 by going to the cemetery and putting new silk, and some families real, flowers on the graves of the relatives interred there.  I went to the cemetery in Cabuya with my familia panamaña when they went to do their duty by the maternal ancestors.  The graveyard is on a beautiful hilltop with a 360 view of mountains and the ocean.  And there were brindis of hot chocolate, coffee, and arroz con pollo (chicken and rice).  Brindi means free food :-)

View Southish (and slightly eastish) towards the Pacific

View north/northeastish towards the mountains

And view South, but now to the right (westish) at a storm in between the cemetery and the ocean !

P.S. There were also brindis at all of the Días del Campesino, in case you were wondering; generally for Invitados, but by dint of being the only Norteamericana, or Peace Corps Volunteer, or somesuch excuse, I generally count, 'cuz I'm a VIP ;-)

Projects!

I don't like to be bored.  Because of this, I try to fill my time with activities, crafts, projects...all that great stuff.

Now, I have my official Peace Corps assignment of working with the English Teachers in my schools, my long-awaited and sparsely-attended community classes, a weekly English Practice/swing dance class, and 1 day/week teaching at a second, English-teacher-less Primary school in town.  Then there's the drawing, the macrame, the cooking, the crafting (wire things, weavings...)- something for every mood!  Perhaps by the end of 2 years, I'll have learned something, like how to draw something that I can stand to look at once it reaches completion.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share my shelf projects.  Here is a picture of the first set of shelves I attempted:

String and cereal boxes.  Structural integrity was lacking, but I still might add some support, or just redo the entire thing.

 And here's the second attempt at shelves!

Wood from my friend Julie, and used real hardware to put it together, and it lasted through  the first night!

You see, despite the double challenge of living in the 21st century of electronic everything, and living in Panama where nobody reads, I still accumulate books.  These books have outgrown my livingroom-to-kitchen window that I'd been using as a bookshelf, and so in order to be able to use and part of my table as more than a pile'o'stuff, more storage was essential.  Woohoo!  Successful project, but I shan't let you see details.  Suffice it to say that it broke the screwdriver in my multi-tool thingy :-(, so I had to get a little creative.

Doesn't that look nice?  If you look carefully, you can see my hammock modifications too! 

Also, yesterday I received this darling invitation from my neighbors, to their Dia de Campesino celebration!  One of the few signs of local handicraftness I've seen.

My main Primary school had their Dia del Campesino festivities last Friday (pictures coming soon...when they load!).  I got to impress a lot of Panamanians and teach my host family how to make traditional Panamanian decorations- woven 'pencas'- coconut palm fronds!  The pencas lined almost all of the doorways, archways, and pillars at school, adorned with oranges, rice stalks, leaves, and other local products.

The picture that results from trying to coach a 7 year old girl who was watching me through taking a picture- and she said she couldn't do it!

Most of the woven side of this was my handiwork.  Another woman started it, but then went to help with cooking or something...at any rate, it seemed like it was safe to pick up where she left off :-)

I started my little garden in the backyard, too!  So far, I have greenbeans planted, chaya, possibly a cucumber, and hopefully some tomatoes!