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.