Highlights

I'm sorry I've been so bad at keeping up with this blog! I'll try to hit some highlights of the past few months:

Kuna Yala
Two other volunteers and I took a quick trip to the Kuna Yala/San Blas islands, an amazing paradise on the Caribbean side of the country. I haven't actually explored much of Panama so I really enjoyed seeing a new place. It is a semi-autonomous region of the indigenous Kuna people who in the 1920s defeated the national Panamanian government in the defense of their land. It is a wonderful success story of a people who continue to fiercely protect their culture. In the postcard-perfect San Blas islands, they welcome tourists in very basic accommodation (traditional huts; my friends and I camped) and environmental and cultural integrity and salvation rather than the high-rise resorts, and all their consequences, that no doubt would be there if the Panamanian government got their way. Needless to say, it was awesome. The only problem was that we wanted to stay longer.


Running
While I've always been athletic in terms of team sports, I never really understood those crazy people who run just to run and actually enjoy it. Well, now I'm one of them! A bunch of volunteers and I are even running a half-marathon in Panama City in December. I'm eight weeks in to a training program, so it doesn't seem like such a crazy idea anymore! Plus it has opened up the topics of fitness and nutrition in my conversations with people in my town.

English Week
In August my school celebrated English Week. This year I've been concentrating on the junior high (7th-9th grades) and for English Week we did a lot of fun contests and games in English. But my favorite thing we did were my presentations on the United States. In the spirit of promoting cultural exchange and understanding, I prepared powerpoint presentations on several English-speaking countries. I had planned on giving each class a presentation on a different country, but at the last minute, after seeing how excited the first class was to learn about the U.S., I decided to repeat that presentation for every class. It was amazing for a few reasons: first, they had never seen a powerpoint presentation before, and second, they had no idea how big and diverse the U.S. is. It was very cool to be the one to expose them to such brand new information and experiences. I ended with photos of me and my friends from college, who are Chinese, Korean, black, and white, for several reasons. One was just to show American racial diversity and change their image of what an American looks like. Also I wanted to show them that since I am friends with people of all races and backgrounds, they can be too. (There is a lot of racism and social segregation here, especially against indigenous, black, and Chinese Panamanians.)

Birthday
I turned 25 in June. I didn't have the quarter-life crisis that I expected to have... Maybe next year?

Spelling Bee
One of my 8th grade students, Selmarys, participated in the annual regional spelling bee. She didn't win but she made it to the third round. Just to go and compete with kids from bigger cities and better English programs (one kid had a gringo father and was clearly fluent) was an impressive feat and I was insanely proud of her. Plus I was pleasantly surprised to see not only her mom but also the principal and teacher from our school there to support her.

Olympics

I caught more of the Olympics than I expected to (as opposed to last time, when I was in Uganda and didn't even know the Winter Olympics were happening). I took every opportunity to talk to teachers, students, and other community members about the different countries that they were seeing on their fuzzy TV screens. It was really frustrating to come up against their ignorance and prejudice, but I had to just keep taking a breath and realizing that these were great opportunities for me to promote cultural education. In particular, watching the Japanese gymnasts with my colleagues and hearing the most educated people in town repeatedly refer to them as "chinos," Chinese, was extremely frustrating. I try to explain that there is more to Asia than just China, but that is one lesson that is not getting through.

Archbishop

The Archbishop of Panama came to my town recently to give a mass First Communion. I always say yes to invitations to religious events in other countries, partly because it's a great way to experience another culture and partly because they usually result in humorously uncomfortable and embarrassing situations. Alas, the service was uneventful, perhaps because it was so crowded my whiteness was hidden in the crowd and I wasn't singled out for any embarrassing torture. I enjoyed the archbishop's message that he addressed to the teenagers receiving their first communion. He emphasized peace and understanding among all Christians regardless of what sect they belonged to. I would have like to hear that kind of message about all religions, not just all sects of Christianity, but hey, it's a start.

Panama-isms

One of my favorite things about Panama is how every conversation needs to start with the weather. Specifically, complaining about the weather. There are only two types of weather here: hot or rainy. Literally every conversation starts with gripes about either the heat or the rain. An exclamation such as “This heat!” or “This rain!” accompanied by a dramatic frowning face is the norm, followed by how either the heat or rain is making them lazy. (Literally, “me da pereza,” it gives me laziness.) It doesn't matter if it's a complete stranger (in that case, it's a great way to start a conversation), a coworker and you have to discuss work, or your best friend and you have way better things to talk about. You have to start with a weather complaint.

Another one of my favorite things about Panama is the belief system that Panamanians have about their health. The biggest belief is that you cannot under any circumstance mix hot and cold. For instance, if you are hot, you should not bathe or swim. Living with my host family last year, I liked to go for runs in the late afternoon. Naturally, after a run, I wanted to shower. My host mother thought I was crazy and would insist that I cool down first. So I got into the routine of running, sitting and eating dinner, and then showering. I don't remember if I ever got a cold during that period. But I did get a fungus on my chest, neck, and back from sitting around in wet clothes. Another example of a fatal error would be ironing and then opening the freezer. Your body can't handle the shock of going from one extreme temperature to another! Cooking soup? God forbid, don't open the fridge! Engaging in any of these risky activities would result in dire circumstances – at best, a cold; at worst, death. Maybe this explains why the most popular lunch food is soup. (Specifically, a traditional soup called sancocho.) Why, at the hottest point of the day, would you want steaming hot soup? It makes sense, if you are trying to maintain your body temperature. Maybe this also explains why people drink more hot coffee and tea than water. (And then complain of headaches and dizziness when they barely drink any water.) I've also been told that if I get caught in the rain, I need to go home and bathe right away. I'm not sure how getting wet would solve the problem of being wet, except that it would ensure that I change into dry clothes. The one medical advice that I agree with? Cinnamon tea cures upset stomachs. Try it. Any time I have a sniffle or a cough, everyone asks me what I did wrong. Did I bathe right after working out? Did I go swimming on a hot day? Did I drink a hot beverage right after consuming a cold one? Silly me.

The Gnabe-Bugle

The most important (and perhaps only) rule that Peace Corps Volunteers must follow is Do Not Get Involved In Politics. This rule makes sense, since we are invited here by the Panamanian government. The irony is that most of us have very clear opinions on political matters (usually very liberal) and we are used to being loud and outspoken with these opinions at home. I certainly struggle with this rule here, as I often have to keep my mouth shut when people are discussing the current president, Ricardo Martinelli, or the minister of education, Lucy Molinar. The biggest issue in Panama right now pits the federal government in Panama City against the indigenous Gnabe-Bugle people, who live on land rich in minerals, especially copper, and stand in the way of mining and hydroelectricity projects. I encourage you to visit another volunteer's blog post from February, when major protests were going on. He explains the situation much better than I ever could:

http://lirobbins.blogspot.com/2012/02/protests-ii.html

And here for a more opinionated article:

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2012/03/20123208464402131.html

The One-Year Mark

So I've officially been in site for one year. It's kind of crazy. Leading up to the one year mark, my attitude was pretty optimistic, with most of my thoughts being, “Wow, I can't believe it's been a year already! Time goes by so fast!” Now that I've passed the one-year mark, though, my thoughts have turned a little darker. It's only been a year? It's only been half of my time? I still have another whole year left?! Time is a really weird concept here. Sometimes it feels like it flies by and other times it crawls. With no change of seasons or daylight savings time, every day kind of seems like the last.

I guess I've been in a bit of a slump the last week or so, in case you couldn't tell. My dad, stepmom, and sister came to visit for a week in March. It was such an amazing week that it was hard to come back to site afterwards. The day they came to my site was actually the best day I've had this whole year. It was the first time I ever had to translate and that made me feel really good about my Spanish. (Even after a year, I still have good days and bad days with the language. And really bad days.) My community members were so awesome. The school put on a presentation for them and Eira's family cooked lunch for us. Just walking down the street and everyone shouting “Hola Abigail!” and wanting to meet my family made me feel so integrated. We also spent time at the beach and in Panama City and they got to meet Jen and Leah.

Which brings me to some sad news. Leah ET'd. ET means Early Termination, one of those Peace Corps acronyms that we turn into a verb. She ET'd means she quit and went home. While it was the right decision for her and she's very happy about it, it was hard to see her go. She, Jen, and I were a pretty tight trio. Plus, she was the first one in our group to ET (a record, I think – most groups have people leave during the first few months), so to see someone actually do it was hard. I think ETing is always in the back of volunteers' minds, especially in the beginning and on bad days, but to see someone actually do it made it real. A real option. It makes you stop and think, “What am I really doing here?”

The new school year is off and running. This week is making me feel pretty optimistic about it. At first I felt discouraged because all of my teachers from last year left and I have three new teachers this year. (Because of the way the Ministry of Education works, teachers move around a lot.) In certain ways I'm starting all over again from zero. I have to build relationships all over again before really getting down to trying to improve their teaching methods. But on the other hand, I'm in such a different place than I was last year. I'm so much more confident with my Spanish, my teaching knowledge, and my role here. They're the new ones coming on to my turf. So I think this year will go well. Especially since two of them actually speak English! And one of them thinks using activities in the classroom is a good idea! Woo hoo!

So I'm coming out of my slump. I've gotten back into my workout routine – endorfins help. My school got internet, so I can communicate with people more. (Though I'm not sure how internet is going to help the room full of typewriters.) I'm beginning some secondary projects so my whole life doesn't revolve around the school. An entire year ahead of me looks daunting, but I'll make it through.

Carnavales

Last week was Carnaval, the four/five days before Ash Wednesday. I knew Carnaval was huge in Brazil, but I think Panama is trying to give Brazil a little competition. Many volunteers flocked to the Azuero Peninsula where the biggest celebrations are. I spent two days in Las Tablas, the biggest celebration in the country, and then three days in Ocu, a friend's site, where Carnaval was smaller but still awesome. Carnaval consists of queens dancing and waving on floats, murga bands following in their wake, and water trucks spraying water on the crowds. (Which is a good thing, because it's really freakin hot.) I mostly concerned myself with nonstop dancing in the streets, trying to get hit by the water, and catching the free tshirts they were throwing (I got 8). In Las Tablas Jen and I even managed to get invited up on to the top of a water truck where we spent the afternoon wielding the hose. (It was quite a power trip and I'm still bragging about it.) I don't think saying it was the most fun five days of my life would be an exaggeration. I'm having trouble trying to describe Carnaval in words, so here are some pictures.

New Year

I guess I dropped the ball on this blog, didn't I? Well, things are going well. I went home to the US for the holidays and had a great time. I thought it would be hard to come back to Panama, but I couldn't stop smiling after my plane landed. That was a pleasant surprise, to realize how much I like Panama!

It's summer here now, so we don't have school. Most of us were working on region-wide summer seminars for Panamanian English teachers. Jen, Leah, and I held a week-long seminar last week for the English teachers in our region, Panama Oeste. It was a lot of work, and certainly interesting trying to work under the organization of MEDUCA (the Ministry of Education), but it ended up being a great experience. 43 teachers showed up and seemed really invested in learning and improving as teachers. I don't usually like public speaking but after the first day I loosened up. I especially enjoyed one presentation I gave on assessments and rubrics. (I love rubrics.) It was a good experience for me to put under the "personal growth" column.

This past weekend I had a trainee from the new group come visit me for four days. She was really great and it was fun to have a visitor. It was so weird to think about my visit as a trainee to Sarah and Sean a year ago and how much I've changed since then. I can't believe I've been here for a year already. Before I came here, 2 years sounded like such a long time, but it's really not. It's going by so fast.

Summer's almost over - the teachers come back the 13th, the students two weeks later, so I'll be busy again soon. I've heard rumors of some changes that will be happening at school this year, so I'm excited to see if they're true. I think it will be a very different year. I'm much more comfortable with both my Spanish and my teaching skills, as well as the community as a whole.

October Wrap-Up

I'm sorry, I'm behind, but I want to write about October before I write about November. October was a great month. It started with el Dia del Campesino, which doesn't translate well but is basically Panama Cultural Pride Day (one of many). A campesino is someone who lives in the campo, the countryside. Panamanians have a lot of patriotism and pride in their culture. Combine that with a strong party ethic and you get some great holidays! El Dia del Campesino was all about traditional clothing, food, music, and dancing. Different grades put on different tipico dance performances. I used to hate tipico music, probably because my host family used to blast it 24/7 (not an exaggeration), but lately I've started really liking it. On el Dia del Campesino the school also set up a little stand for each of the 9 provinces of Panama and students dressed up to represent each one. I was glad to see the indigenous and minority groups represented, even if it was in a slightly stereotypical way. Of course, as I'm learning, there's a reina (queen) for everything. Queenship involves dancing/swaying to a constant tipico beat, parading around town on a float or the back of a pickup truck, waving, and throwing candy to onlookers.

I went to two really fun birthday parties in October. The first was Yisleidys' 5th birthday. The second was her grandfather Enrique's a few days later. Enrique is Eira's husband; they are the family I am closest to. I'm not sure but I think he turned 51. Birthdays here always include the same elements: arroz con pollo (a delicious chicken and rice dish that I can't get enough of), ensalada (which means salad but the only salad here is the potato and mayo kind), cake, ice cream, and a piñata. This is a birthday in a wealthier family; I've visited other kids on their birthdays and they didn't have anything different from any other day. It's really funny to see how excited Panamanians get about piñatas, no matter how old they are. Kids' piñatas have candy inside, but adults' piñatas have candy, coins, and pads inside. Yes, pads. As in female sanitary products. And grown men think it's hilarious to unwrap them, stick them on each other's backs, and see how long it takes them to notice. Maybe I'm losing my sanity a little bit, but I thought it was hilarious too. Adult birthdays also involve games with balloons. Like, how fast you can pop one with your butt. I went up against Isabela and totally won. My prize was a bar of soap.

I've discovered that I'm not as far as I thought from a popular strip of beaches on the Pacific. My favorite is called El Palmar and it's only an hour and a half away, so I can go for the day and still get home at the end of the day. It's beautiful with palm trees and black sand and it's popular with surfers. I've only gone twice but it's good to know it's there.

I had a bit of a crazy experience one night a few weeks ago. One of my 9th graders, Gabriela (is it wrong to have favorites??) invited me to a service with her church. Churches are really good ways to get to know people in the community, so I immediately said yes. What I didn't know until I got there was that they were Seventh-Day Adventist (I think that's what they're called in English). I don't know much about the different sects of Christianity, but this one was the kind in which the pastor (again, I don't know the right word, but it's "pastor" in Spanish) speaks passionately and the members of the congregation burst out with "Amen!" at random points in the middle of his sermon. I was just happy that my Spanish was having a good day and I understood everything. Especially when the pastor started asking people questions individually. He asked me, "Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?" I mean, yikes. Talk about awkward. I just threw out an "Amen!" and he moved on. I felt bad about lying, but really, it was not the time to get into a theological debate or an explanation of Judaism. After the service we all huffed it to the river (a 30 minute walk) so the pastor could baptize a new convert. It was pitch black and I'm sure the water was freezing, but it was an awesome thing to witness. At least, it was until the pastor asked me, "Would you like to be baptized too? What's impeding you from being baptized tonight?" Yikes. Awkward again. I just kind of hid behind the women and said, "Um, not right now, but thank you," and thankfully he let it go. Despite the awkward moments, it was a great experience that made me glad that I say yes to every invitation that comes my way.

At the end of October we had el Dia del Estudiante, or Student's Day, at school. I wasn't really sure what it would entail until the day actually arrived. (It seems like most of my life here consists of not knowing much, showing up, and going with the flow.) Student's Day turned out to be really fun. One student was chosen to dress up as each teacher and taught their classes for the day. Two of my favorite colleagues, Fimia and Cristina, who are fun and crazy, dressed up as students and sat in classes, too. It was hilarious because they acted out and started fights and did all the annoying things that the students usually do. The students who taught got a reality check and a new appreciation for their teachers, that's for sure. After classes there were games which I think were solely designed to embarrass the teachers in front of the students. I missed out on the first one -- a cake-eating contest with no hands! I totally would have rocked that one! -- but I got into a vicious game of musical chairs (same as our version except you have to dance around the chairs, not just walk) and another butt-balloon popping game. I had to pop a balloon with my butt and then do whatever the little piece of paper inside said. I had to tell a joke. I was just glad I didn't get the one that said sing a song! It was one of the first times that I truly felt like part of the faculty and part of the school community. It was a great feeling. Now that I know what Student's Day is, I'll definitely dress up like a student next year and wreak some havoc!

I had been looking forward to Halloween for a really long time. It's one of my favorite holidays and also Emma's birthday so a couple of us volunteers went to Panama City to celebrate. The cities are the only places in the country where people actually celebrate Halloween. In the campo (countryside), people have really strong beliefs about brujas (witches) and duendes (goblins). People think I'm insane for living alone. They are constantly asking me, "You live alone?! Aren't you afraid of the witches?" There is also a belief in a blond-haired, blue-eyed duende that kidnaps children. Parents like to use the duende to get their kids to do something. ("If you don't behave, the duende is going to come and get you...") People are extremely serious about these beliefs, though. And they view Halloween with apprehension and fear. There is actually a proposal in the government right now to ban the celebration of Halloween due to its supposed detrimental influence on Panamanian youth.

Anyway, we heathen Americans were excited to celebrate it. We all, without even planning it together, dressed as Panamanian things. Emma made an awesome costume, a can of Balboa (one of the beers here). Jen was a Panamanian woman, which meant she wore an inappropriately tight, brightly colored shirt with rhinestones and a random English word on it. She also had cheap plastic accessories, all in the same bright orange color to match her shirt. It was dead-on Panamanian fashion. Alysa was a "Valla Ilegal" sign, which is the sign that the government posts over billboards on the highway that haven't paid (which is practically all of them). I was a diablo rojo. Diablo rojos, literally "red devils," are the public buses. I'm not quite sure how to describe them. Imagine 1950s-era American school buses after a makeover on "Pimp My Ride." Panama must have some kind of deal with inspection centers in the States; once they fail in inspection, they're shipped down here and pimped out. They are all painted differently, but there are common trends among them all. They say their destination on the windshield, though usually so illegibly that it's useless. Random American pop icons and cartoon figures are often featured, such as Bart Simpson and Sponge Bob. They always display the bus driver's preference in soccer teams, either Barcelona or Real Madrid. There is always a religious phrase or Bible quote scrawled along the bottom of the windshield, reducing the already poor visibility of the driver. There are always geometric patterns and flames. There is often an elaborate scene of something random and inexplicable, like a wizard in robes, a log cabin in the woods, or a medieval castle. The emergency door in the back always features either a religious scene, like Jesus on the cross or the Virgin Mary, or an icon from popular culture, like Shakira, Clint Eastwood, or Harry Potter. The inside of the bus always has a feather boa framing the windshield, fuzzy dice and air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror, pom-poms decorating the gear shift, and a Panamanian flag somewhere. Another popular decoration is the driver's children's names spelled out down the two poles in the front. Since words don't really do these things justice, here are some pictures from a Google Image search:

And how I translated that into a Halloween costume:

September Wrap-Up

Sorry I haven't written in so long! September was a ridiculously busy month. I was all over the place. First, I took a quick trip to the U.S. for my cousin Leah's wedding! It was in California, so it wasn't technically a trip home, but I was so happy to see so many members of my family and to see Leah marry a guy who is as awesome as her. It was weird being back in the U.S., but since I was only there for three days I didn't really have time to go through reverse culture shock. (Though a trip to the grocery store was amazing and overwhelming.) Coming back to Panama was hard, especially leaving the hot showers behind, but it was nice to get back to my community and realize that everyone had missed me and that my Spanish hadn't deteriorated at all. In fact, on the plane home, I thought, "Why are they telling us all this safety stuff twice?" before I realized that once was in Spanish and once was in English.

I was only back in site for a few days before I had to leave again for my group's second IST (In-Service Training). You may remember we had our first one in early June. This one was longer - five days of training classes from 8am to 6pm. It was exhausting but I learned a lot and it was nice to see everyone in my group again.

IST ended on a Friday and that same day I went to the office in Panama City to participate in the Diversity Panel for the new group of trainees. During training every group has a session about diversity which consists of a couple current volunteers talking about their various “diversity factors” and what it's like to be a black/Hispanic/gay/ etc. volunteer in Panama. In my case, I talked about being Jewish, which has been difficult at times. Panama is mostly Catholic and Evangelical and the people in my community don't really know anything about Judaism. (Except that it has something to do with killing Jesus.) I also talked about being a woman here which can be really frustrating in this machismo culture! But that's a topic to write about another day. I liked meeting a new group of trainees and making them aware of some of the things they'll be facing when they get to their sites. It also made me realize how long I've been here and how far I've come since I was a trainee like them!

Since I was in the city already, a bunch of my friends and I spent the weekend there. I love Panama City and explore more and more of it every time I'm there.

After that, I was only back in site for a few more days before I left again for Regional Meeting. Every four months, all the volunteers in each region have a meeting. (My first one was in May.) Since there aren't many volunteers in my region, Panama Oeste, they group us with the region next to us, Cocle. I like Regional Meetings because we get to catch up on all the Peace Corps news and interact with volunteers from other sectors. There are about 40 volunteers in the Cocle/Panama Oeste region. (Approximately 200 in Panama in total.) The best part about Regional Meeting is that we all go to the beach afterwards and spend the night.

Group 67 Teach English Cocle/Panama Oeste family, Brady Bunch style

Finally, after Regional Meeting, it was the end of September and I was back in site for good. It has been nice to get back into my routine and catch up with everybody. I bought GRE study guides in the U.S. so I've been studying a lot and I'm planning to take the GRE when I'm home in December. I took a diagnostic test before I started studying and I only got two wrong on the verbal section... and only two RIGHT on the math section. As my mother said, “At least you know your strengths, honey.” I have a lot of math studying to do before December!

We've had lots of holidays and celebrations in October, with even more to come in November, so I'll write about all of those next time!

House Pictures

Pictures of my house!

kitchen/dining room/living room

my room! (yes, someone made me a bed with my name on it)

the extra room has become a combination of Dora's room and a reading/art room for the kids when they come over

the back of the house -- where I wash dishes and clothes

bucket bath on the left, latrine on the right

The only thing I'm missing is a hammock which I just bought but haven't hung up yet.

Sick

I don't have much to report because I've been sick with bronchitis for the past two weeks. I barely left my bed that whole time. I'm much better now, though. There's nothing that antibiotics, a stack of books, and an Indiana Jones marathon can't fix.

Someone asked me recently how my Spanish is coming along. It took me a minute to answer, because I hadn't thought about it in awhile. I guess that means it's getting better, right? If I haven't thought about it that means I haven't been struggling and feeling frustrated. There was definitely a difference between my doctor's visit last week and my doctor's visit months ago during training when I had to go for an x-ray of my wrist. "It hurts, the wrist," was pretty much all I could tell the doctor back then. "Much pain." I was much more articulate and descriptive this time around.

My dad just sent me, among other treasures, a bunch of books in Spanish, both for me and for the kids in my community. (Thanks Dad!) I decided to try to read one of the kids books first instead of jumping right in to the older books meant for me. I saw it as similar to trying on clothes-- you always start with a bigger size. I was pleasantly surprised that Charlotte's Web was really easy. Next I'll try Harry Potter, before tackling the Paulo Coelho. (Sidenote-- I'm always eager for more Spanish books!)

Four Month Visit

Last week I received my four-month visit from one of my Peace Corps bosses. They visit everyone in their fourth month in site. It was really nice to get one-on-one attention and support. We discussed a lot of things, both good and bad, and I felt incredibly supported by Peace Corps. It's easy to forget, with such independence on a daily basis, that there really is an office full of people I can call for help or support whenever I need it. It also felt good to conduct the entire visit in Spanish, compared to the awkward Spanglish conversations I had with her during training. The most important result from her visit was the reiteration of my role here -- mainly, that I'm not a Panamanian teacher, but a Peace Corps Volunteer. I shouldn't be going to every class. Instead, I should be sitting in the teachers' lounge, planning lessons and preparing activities and materials. It's a much better use of my time.

This week I've made a lot of progress with the junior high English teacher, Leiby. She spent all of her free periods actually planning with me, rather than merely taking my plans and ideas and butchering them or ignoring them completely, like she has in the past. Not only did we plan together, but she had some really great ideas. Of course, who knows how these lesson plans will translate into the actual classroom, but it's a start. I'm much happier with the job aspect of my Peace Corps life now. I'm really seeing some progress and changes, no matter how small. Of course, with every step forward, there are usually two steps back, but we'll see.

The rainy season, or "winter," is in full swing, which means most mornings it's incredibly hot until the afternoon when it starts pouring. Sometimes the storms are so strong, we lose electricity. (Though we also lose electricity when the storms aren't that strong...) Sometimes the rain is a sudden downpour, coming from nowhere and lasting only a few minutes, and other times it will be a steady heavy rain that lasts all day. For the junior high students, whose school day goes from 12:30 to 5:30 in the afternoon, the rainy season severely effects their education. Their classes are constantly interrupted by thunder or the lights going out and back on and out again. It's impossible to hear anything over the sound of the rain hitting the tin roof. (I've lost my voice trying to teach while it's raining.) The rain also effected the water supply at one point, leaving the school without water for a couple of weeks, though it recently got fixed. A five-hour school day in reality is more like three. Not to even get into the quality of the education they receive in those three hours. The rainy season lasts most of the school year. How are these kids supposed to compete on a global scale? On the bright side, my school just receieved a bunch of new desks, so at least all the students have seats now.

New Home

I don't know where to begin! I've been incredibly busy the last few weeks. The first week in June, my entire group of 40 volunteers that came in together in January had In-Service Training, or IST (as opposed to our initial 3 months of Pre-Service Training, or PST... Peace Corps is a world of annoying acronyms). It was nice to see everyone again, especially for my 24th birthday. I also learned a lot and was excited to return to site with a ton of new ideas, not to mention renewed confidence and enthusiasm.

My biggest news is that I've finally moved into my own house! The Peace Corps rule is that you spend the first 3 months in site with a host family (or a combination of host families) before you can move into your own place. My house is perfect. It's just the right amount of "roughing it." I love it. It's technically three rooms, but since it's all kind of open it's more like one big room. My friend Eira helped me furnish it, going into town with me to haggle the prices of my mattress, small fridge, and stove. Her brother Ari made my iron bedframe, surprising me by forming my name in the headboard. Other neighbors and community members helped by lending me tables, a water tank to store water, and a gas tank to cook. Eira's husband Enrique hooked up the gas tank to the stove for me. (I like to feel independent and do things for myself, but not at the risk of blowing myself up.) I have a latrine and "shower" (bucket bath) in the backyard. Water comes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for an hour or so, so when it comes I use a hose to fill up a big barrel tank with water. I use that water to drink, cook, wash the dishes, wash my clothes (by hand), and to bathe (bucket bath means throwing a bucket of water over your head). It's amazing how little water you actually need. I read somewhere that every time you flush a toilet, you use more water than the average Panamanian uses in an entire day. I certainly never run out of water in my storage tank, though it is frustrating to never know what time exactly the water will come. For example, this past week, on Monday it came at 10 in the morning, on Wednesday it must have come in the afternoon when I was at school, and on Friday it came at 4:30 in the morning. The trick is to go to sleep with the faucet in the backyard open, so when it noisily spits to life it'll wake you up. And that's when it comes at all, a problem that seems to be recurring, so I make sure to never let my tank get too low. We're lucky though, if we ever truly run out, at least we have the lake nearby to go jump in and get somewhat clean. The most exciting part of having my own house is finally being able to cook for myself! Though I do tend to do what volunteers call "strategic pasearing," where you pasear at dinnertime, knowing you'll be fed. I especially go to Eira's house because 1) I like hanging out there, 2) she's a great cook, and 3) she considers me rude if I don't eat while I'm there, no matter what the time of day.

My other exciting news is that I got a kitten! A volunteer nearby, Leah, found her in her site but was leaving to go visit the U.S. I offered to take her as long as I didn't have to give her back when Leah returned. I guessed (correctly) that I'd get attached. I named her Dora, after The Explorer, because of many similarities, mainly their bilingualism, the disproportionate size of their eyes, and their affinity for backpacks. Half the time she drives me crazy and half the time she keeps me sane.

Recently we had "English Week" at school which basically meant I was working my ass off for the weeks leading up to it. Every grade did some sort of English-related activity, ranging from a 3rd grade fashion show of occupations (farmer, teacher, lawyer, engineer, etc.) to a 9th grade rendition of Miley Cyrus. Of all the challenges I've faced in the Peace Corps, practicing Miley Cyrus over and over and over again was probably the hardest thing I've done here. I'm only half kidding.

Luckily, I've had a couple opportunities to get out of site, see some other friends, and relax a bit. One night I went to Santiago, a city about four hours away, to celebrate a fellow volunteer's 30th birthday. Another time I went to Panama City to see a friend from Zimbabwe who just happened to be here. Small world! In Panama City we discovered a New York bagel place that nearly made me cry with joy. That's going to be a welcome stop every time I go into the city.

Things are finally settling down now though and I'm settling into a nice new routine in my new home. I'll put up pictures soon!

Panamanian Spanish and Cultural Quirks

I can't believe how quickly time is passing! I've been in site for two and a half months now. We've finished the first trimester of school. I'm proud of the things that I have accomplished in that short amount of time. The primary job in every Peace Corps Volunteer's first three months in site is to integrate into the community. I feel like I am doing very well on that front. I'm lucky to be working in the school, such a central institution in the community, so that everyone has known me from day one. I'm still trying to learn all my students' names - I have almost 500! - but every time I step out my door I hear a dozen shouts of "Abigail!" or "Teacher!" My community is a lot bigger than it seemed at first. (It's about 2,700 people.) There is one particular family that I spend a lot of time with. I hang out at their house almost every day. They're really great people, very patient with my Spanish, and very social and talkative which rubs off on me and gets me talking a lot. Plus they love to feed me.

I've had good days and bad days with my Spanish. One day I'll be chatting really quickly, throwing out verbs in the past subjunctive without even realizing it, and the next day I won't be able to say really simple sentences in the simple past tense. It was frustrating for awhile but lately I've been having more and more good days and fewer bad ones. I get laughed at sometimes, like when I mix up the word for avocado (aguacate) and downpour (aguacero). "I love downpours! Downpours are my favorite!" Wait... that's not what I meant...

For some reason I also consistently mix up the words for broom (escoba) and scarf (bufanda), which aren't even alike. I get a lot of questions about what the U.S. is like and I've repeatedly told people, "It gets so cold in the winter, we wear heavy jackets and hats and brooms!" I just tell myself, if you're not willing to make a fool of yourself, you don't deserve to learn another language.

Panamanian Spanish is certainly different than what we learn at home, though. For instance, the concept of "now." The word "now" actually means "later" here. And "more now" means "even later." And "very now" means "soon." It's actually equivalent to the South African concept of "now," which is oddly comforting. (Yes, I still miss South Africa.)

But some things about this language really bother me. Like how there are five different words for machete and four different words for glasses, all of which are completely interchangeable, yet there is only one word for both crayon and colored pencil, one word for both butterfly and moth, one word for both waiting and hoping, and, worst of all, only one word for both cookie and cracker. COOKIES AND CRACKERS ARE NOT THE SAME THING.

Panamanian culture is a funny thing. I'm still trying to figure it out. For instance, directions. Never ask a Panamanian where anything is. You'll get a one word answer, "There," with a head bob in a very general direction. Occasionally you'll get "Up" as an answer instead, also with the head bob, which seems slightly more descriptive but could mean anything from "up the hill" (which hill, you'll never know), or "up the street," or it could refer to a neighboring town that's at a slightly higher elevation. Good luck.

Other than exact locations of things, Panamanians have no problem stating the truth, especially when describing people physically. They are just as likely to say "the fat woman" as they are to say "the blonde woman." Physical characteristics are simply facts. It took me awhile to get used to, but now I like it. It's the truth.

Along with this blunt honesty comes a love for stating the obvious. When you walk down the street and run into somebody, the typical greeting is a one-word question: "Walking?" If you're walking up a hill, it's "Going up?" Walking down a hill - "Going down?" If you show up at somebody's house, it's "Visiting?" When I run, I get a lot of "Running?" and "Exercising?" Um, duh.

I was really surprised to learn people's names here. Keeping in mind the pronunciation of hte letter "y," which is something of a cross between a "j" and a "d" and a "z," here are some examples of names of my students: Yorjany, Yuliecer, Yili, Yolanis, Nayelis, Ileyki, Yeiska, Maryeixis, Yanelis, Yarelis, Yanarelis, Eleuteria, Deyanira, Yaremis, Nayari, Yisleidys, Yohanis, and Yamileth. Taking attendance is hilarious, though I'm getting better. No wonder I'm having trouble learning 500 students' names.

If you know me, you probably know that I have a bit of a clumsy streak. Well, here in Panama, I have an excuse. Every time I break a dish or run into the doorway or trip over nothing or find an unexplained bruise on my body, it's not my fault. It's the witches (brujas). The brujas get the blame for everything, which is fine by me. Though I have replaced all of the things that I've broken in my host family's house (mostly dishes and bowls), while they just laugh and say "Abby, Abby, Abby..." while shaking their heads. They really are exceptional people to put up with me for three months.

New Address!

Hey everyone, the office has moved, so I have a new address if you want to send me letters or packages! Send things to:

Cuerpo de Paz
Abigail Fried
Edificio 204, 3er Piso
Calle Victor Iglesias
Ciudad del Saber, Clayton
Corregimiento de Ancon
Panama, Republica de Panama

Make sure Cuerpo de Paz is the first line and my name is the second. Also, there is an accent on the o in Ancon, the last a in Panama, and the u in Republica.

Holy Week

I don't have too much to report, but I'm fighting the urge to be lazy about this blog. I can't believe I've been in site for nearly five weeks already. I'm getting into a good routine, working at the school and spending my free time getting to know people in the community. I'm getting more and more comfortable with Spanish and I'm having fewer and fewer "bad days" with the language. I'm still far from understanding everything everyone says, but I think I'm just more optimistic about it. I'm downright chatty with the people I'm the most comfortable with, which is weird since I spent so long being quiet and only answering questions directed at me. I'm becoming good friends with Isabela, one of the English teachers that I work with. (Even though she teaches English, she doesn't speak it very well, so our conversations are in Spanish.) She's one of the few teachers that actually live in my community (the majority commute from Chorrera, the city that's 45 minutes away) and she's also my age - she's 25. We have a lot in common, get along really well, and in her I've found the only person that I can really tell anything. It's nice to have a friend here. She also helps when I don't understand somebody, she'll say it in Spanish but in a way that I'll understand.

Last weekend I went to visit my friend Emma, another Peace Corps volunteer from my group. She lives near Las Tablas, a really cute city/town on the Azuero Peninsula, about four hours from Panama City. It was great to see her and to see a part of Panama I hadn't seen before. The beach there is absurdly warm and the town is as quaint as a postcard. It was Easter weekend, which is done a little differently here. (I figured all that talk about "Holy Week" couldn't have meant Passover.) They celebrate with processions in the streets. Large floats are covered in flowers, angels, and Jesus on the cross. Crowds of people follow the floats down the streets in total silence. Emma and I watched and joined the procession for a little bit. We prefer to look at things like that as cultural experiences rather than religious ones, seeing as she's a minister's-daughter-turned-adamant-atheist and I'm Jewish. I love experiencing new cultures, even if it does entail following Jesus down the street.

The weekend was great until I tried to get home on Easter Sunday. It was just one of those days. Everyone travels to visit relatives that weekend, and my 3 hour bus ride turned into an 8 hour bus ride due to all the traffic. When I finally got home, I was going to hang out with my family like I usually do, but they were watching Passion of the Christ. Enough said there. So I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water and dropped the enormous glass jug on the floor, breaking it into a million pieces and flooding the kitchen. Those kinds of days the only options are to laugh or to cry. So I laughed, cleaned up the mess, and went to bed early before I could wreak and more havoc.

Pictures of My Community

the center of town:

the lake that is an hour walk away (or ten minute bus ride, when I'm lazy):

the view when I run:

pineapple farm:

me with 4-year-old Yisleidis (my best friend) at the wedding:

the sloth that hangs out in my neighbor's backyard:

Discoveries

I've made a few discoveries in the past few weeks. For instance, one day I discovered that I could understand the lyrics to songs in Spanish. Anywhere you go in my community, there's a radio playing 24/7, and for weeks it was always just background noise to me. But all of a sudden one day the words were no longer gibberish all mushed together but actualy words that made sense to me. I have discovered that I can actually teach, and teach well. And even help Panamanian teachers improve their teaching too, which is the point of my job. I'm discoving that the more time I spend immersing myself in Spanish, the worse my English gets. Which wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that I have to teach it. I actually had to look up the past participle of "drink" the other day. The former grammar snob inside me wanted to cry. Yesterday I discovered that weddings are pretty much the same no matter where in the world you are. Though the Panamanian wedding I attended yesterday was a little heavy on the Jesus stuff, but that might have just seemed like it to me because it was an Evangelical wedding and I'm used to Jewish weddings. The other day I was looking at my leg, wondering why it looked so weird. I've been running nearly every day for the past three weeks. Then it hit me that it was just becoming muscle. And that was the weirdest discovery of all.

First Week In Site

It's official, I'm a Peace Corps VOLUNTEER now, rather than just a trainee! It feels pretty good. We had a swear-in ceremony at the ambassador's house that we all got dressed up for. It was kind of funny looking around at everyone... we all looked so clean! The main rules for volunteers, from what I can tell, whittling it down from an 80-page handbook, are three: 1) don't get pregnant, 2) don't do drugs, and 3) tell Peace Corps where you go when you travel. It's nice to feel like a grown-up again. After swear-in we had a free weekend. Seven of us decided to stay at a hotel in Panama City. I really wanted to get to know the city because my site is only about two hours away. I LOVED the city and I'm glad I ended up so close! One day we took a day trip to a beautiful island nearby (Isla Taboga) and spent the day on the beach which was awesome. I've survived my first week in site. It's a lot of ups and downs but I think I can really do a lot here. I work in the school from 7:30 - 3. I work with three English teachers (two in the morning and one in the afternoon) and the point of my job is to improve their teaching methodologies. Hopefully that will actually happen. I have a lot of work to do. My community is really great and all the people in it have made me feel very welcome. Everywhere I go people invite me in and stuff me with food and are very patient with my limited Spanish. Aside from one of my chickens, who aggressively blocks my path from the shower to the house every day, everyone is really glad I'm here. The kids want extra English classes on Saturdays and the adults want night classes, so I'll be starting those in May. There's a lake about 4 or 5 miles from my site (that's a guesstimate, I actually have no idea), so most afternoons I like to run in that direction and then run/walk/crawl back. No one runs here but it's just one more weird thing the gringa does. The kids think I'm hilarious and when I do workouts in the backyard I make them count for me in English. Speaking of my backyard, it's full of fruit trees - papaya, plaintains, avocado, coconut, bananas... I forget what else. My entire community is surrounded by pineapple farms too, so I get to eat pineapple every day. Yum. Some new Spanish vocab that I've learned since I've gotten to site: scorpion, matches, dizzy, branch, noise, godmother, rocking chair, toy marble, burdened, and five different words for machete... I think that gives a pretty good picture of my site.

A Few Pictures

Sarah and I at the top of our hike in her site

the spider incident while visiting Sarah and Sean

a bunch of us just hanging out in Meteti

we learned bullerengue, a traditional dance of the Darien province, while we were in Meteti

Tech Week, Carnaval, and Site Visit

Lots of things to catch up on! First off, all 42 of us went to Meteti, a town in the Darien, the province closest to Colombia, for a week. It was called ¨tech week¨and we all got some experience working with Panamanian teachers who are required to teach English despite the fact that they don't know English themselves! (Imagine someone giving you a German textbook and telling you to teach it...) My first day teaching was probably not the WORST first day a teacher has ever had... but it was probably pretty close. I had first and second graders. I had one kid crying in the corner the entire time (it was his first day of school EVER), one girl leaving her seat to tap me on the shoulder and give me a grape every five minutes, and an incident with a cockroach that made all the girls scream and stand on their seats until I killed it. Great first day, right? I'm using the excuse that it was the first day of the school year and kids are always crazy on the first day of the year... right? The rest of the week went pretty well. Those kids might even remember the word ¨yellow.¨

The bad part about tech week was that I spent the whole week speaking English with the other volunteers, so when we got back to our training community I realized that my Spanish had deteriorated pretty rapidly. So that sucked. I have to avoid English as much as possible.

When we got back we had a four-day weekend for Carnaval. Carnaval is like Mardi Gras times 100 in some parts of the country but since we are still trainees, not sworn in as volunteers yet, we have stricter rules and we weren't allowed to go to the big crazy ones. We had a pretty good one in our training community though. It basically consisted of a cordoned off street full of music, food, and dancing while a big water truck sprayed water on everyone. Also, the scantily- but beautifully-clad queen was paraded through the streets with much fanfare. Good times.

Then we went to Farallon, a town on the coast for a conference. Each of the 42 of us had a counterpart from our schools meet us there and we spent two days talking about Peace Corps and what our roles are going to be in our schools and our communities. Except it didn't last two days because after the earthquake in Japan we had a tsunami warning and had to evacuate the coast a day early! So I got to go on my site visit a day early!

I just spent the last 5 days visiting my site where I will be living for the next two years! It is an awesome town of about 2,600 people about 2 hours by bus from Panama City. I'll be working in a school of about 500 kids from 1st through 9th grade. The 1st through 6th graders go to school from 730 am to 1230 and the 7th through 9th graders go to school from 1230 to 530pm. There are two English teachers in the morning and one in the afternoon. My job is to help the teachers improve their teaching methods and promote a sustainable English program. There is so much interest to learn English in my community, all the adults are already asking me when I'm going to start night classes for them and the kids are all already asking about extra English classes on Saturdays! I'm going to be very busy but I'm really excited that there is so much interest!

One of the rules of Peace Corps is that we have to live with a host family for the first three months in our sites before we can move into a house of our own. Most volunteers split the time between two or three families, but my family wants me for the entire three months. And there's another family who wants me too! Everyone is really really sweet. The family that I just stayed with for five days and that I'll probably end up staying with for the whole three months is a younger couple, Maria and Rogelio, with an 8 year old boy, Fernando, and a 2 year old boy, Dimos. My conditions are pretty much the same as in my training community except that I have a DOOR on my room! And there's an outdoor shower! No buckets involved! Very exciting!

I spent most of the site visit pasearing, going from house to house and introducing myself in my terrible Spanish. The most important part of my job for the first few months is to be visible and to get to know everyone in my community. I can't even count the number of houses I visited in the past five days. It's really frustrating doing everything in Spanish and being the only gringa after spending the past two months with 41 other gringos. Some people I meet tell me how glad they are that I speak so much Spanish while other people I meet tell me my Spanish sucks and that I need to learn more. It's really hard but I'm learning more and more every day. Overall I'm really happy with my decision to join the Peace Corps, even in the difficult moments, because even though it's going to be the hardest thing I've ever done, it's also going to be the best thing I've ever done.

I have been really bad about taking pictures, but I'll try to post a few soon!