I swore I wouldn't do this again. Leave you, dear reader, hanging by a month and a half long thread while I tromp through what is a constantly changing arena of foreign living. Sorry about that, but September just kind of slid by me, as did the end of another year of my life, the end of another trimester, and several weekends of Panamanian parties.
I'll address that last one. Here in the Azuero, we are deep in the heart of festival season, which is both beautiful and distracting. Every weekend, someone asks me, "Chelsea, are you going to the (insert tipico artist here) baile in (insert neighboring town here) for the Saint (you name it) festival?" It's not all that ubiquitous, but you get the idea. At the end of August, I went to the Santa Rosa festival in neighboring Llano de Piedra, famous for its all night dance that ends with Alfedro, a romantic tipico musician, mounting a mare and trotting around the bar playing his accordion (I didn't stay up to see that part, since I had to work the following morning but have been heckled by my friends ever since for missing it). September 12th and the preceding weekend marked my town's foundation celebrations, complete with multiple parades, a queen, a discoteca (a dance club that plays varied music, from salsa to reggaeton to electronica to tipico), and a baile (a strictly tipico event featuring a tipico artist, i.e. Alfredo--see above). Last weekend was the nationally famous Mejorana festival in Guarare, celebrating all things folkloric and traditional in Panama (in fact, popular music is prohibited in town all weekend), boasting four different bailes in one night, and ending in a mud fight that takes place in the town square that has been converted into a bull riding ring (if you wear white to this last event, townspeople will grab you and throw you in the mud, fyi).
Between festivals I have had a week of training followed by another few weeks of my usual rotation with the teachers at the junior high/high school where I work. Workwise, the environment continually changes. Co-teaching, for those who are curious, is a delicate ballet that is usually carried out as if said ballet were being danced by the Chicago Bears. Each teacher is different and has different needs, themes to be covered, and students with varying levels of motivation, so each week poses a different set of challenges. Kudos to my fellow volunteers for having found ways to work with teachers and explain our roles, which is something that, as the first group to be carrying out our project, we have had to navigate on the fly. Amid co-teaching I also try and find the time to dedicate to other community projects that I'm considering undertaking as we move towards summer break, which starts on December 23rd (hint-hint all of you who are considering visiting me!).
One said project is working with the public library here in town. The Macaracas library is in a unique position to reach A LOT of little potential readers, and I've worked on building a relationship with the librarians for some time now. Minor success? Last week I delivered a book donation from the US Embassy to the library, hoping the delivery would spark some sort of motivation or at least conversation on how to use reading to reach out to kids. And what you know? It kind of did. The librarian and I finally put together a story hour to take place last Sunday. We got cookies and juice donated by the mayor and the district representative, respectively, and read two stories--one in Spanish and one in English. It seems small, but for a library that rarely does programming it's a huge step in the right direction. Turns out I like reading to kids and Jenny (the librarian) came out of the event with even more ideas on how we can keep the momentum going.
A new trimester has brought a ton of new projects and a schedule that makes the days absolutely fly by. Imagine me shrugging my shoulders. I am honestly not sure where September went. I think it was here. In fact, I know it was, because I'm a year older. But even that caught me by surprise. So thanks for your patience, followers, and I´ll try to get better! I'm alive and healthy, just so know. I'm not promising anything, but expect more detailed updates soon on projects, life in the campo (countryside), and, of course, festivals.
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