Bona-fide...

Ladies and gents, I am official.  Scary? Only kind of.  Exciting?  Most definitely.

We ended our training with a swear-in ceremony at the Ambassador's house in Panama City, with special guests the ambassador herself and the Minister of Education from Panama.  Lucy's words about our new project with Panama were quite inspiring.  She underlined the importance of having English here Panama, as it opens up not only job opportunities but also outlooks amongst Panamanian students.  "I don't want you to just teach them English," she said, "I want you to take them traveling." (Note: this is a rough translation, as her speech was actually in Spanish).

And another exciting thing?  I got to speak! (hah, for those of you who really know me, this is not unnatural).   A big thanks to the volunteers and PC staff who helped me write, correct, and practice the speech--I was so happy I got to do it.  I'm working on getting a video up, but the uploading is going rather slow...here's hoping I can get it in the next few days!

Tribute.

I know, I know.  I’ve been bad.  I’ve been here for two and a half months and you’ve still seen no evidence of the place I’ve called home. So before I go on to talk about swear-in, my new home in Macaracas, and everything else, let me take a minute to thank my host community...

Everyone, meet Rio Congo.  Rio Congo, meet everyone.  The family in the photo was my host family while I was in training.  They’re fabulous!  The Vargas-Moreno family took me in as their own daughter from the day I arrived in Rio Congo.  There was hardly any awkwardness, as they’re very understanding of trainees and have been so graceful in navigating our differences of background and beliefs.  We love to sit around and joke, and they have introduced me to the wonders of Panamanian cooking.  A weekend at home consisted of waking up early, going to church, and then spending the day creating things in the kitchen or over a fire in the backyard.  Their little dog, Manchita, likes to snuggle up under my feet wherever I am, which is usually in the hammock reading a book. 

I came in just as their youngest daughter, who is my age, was preparing to leave for Costa Rica.  After she left, I think my presence helped them get through having a missing daughter.  Fransisca and Marco miss her as much as I miss my parents, and it’s been a wonder to have one another to create a family.  I’m going to miss them so much and can’t wait to visit them once I am able to.

The other trainees and I had a goodbye party to thank our host families and the community.  While groups in the past have made more “American” meals like hamburgers and hot dogs, our group opted for the less logistically complicated but equally as satisfying combination of pasta primavera and potato salad.  But pasta with potatoes?, you say, What decathlon did you people sign up for?  Ambitious, I know, but the carb-plus-carb combo is something that we’ve worked hard to embrace, and I feel that this is a sign that we have achieved it.  It is not atypical to see pasta with potatoes here, nor pasta with rice, nor pasta with any kind of root vegetable topping it.  I’ve come to believe that the extra helping of carbohydrates provides much needed energy for little things like climbing the hill to the bus stop, walking to a friends house, or gorging myself on more potato salad.  Not to mention, have you seen the incredible color of the salad?  Leave it to Panama to make even the potato salad into something bright.  That pink stuff you see below is called Ensalada de Feria, and is the Panamanian version of a classic potato salad.  The pink color? Beets plus mayonnaise.  Yet again, please note my attention to health here: I am eating beets.  It’s a good thing I’m including all the rest of that food so that I can process all those vitamins.

So, to the entire community of Rio Congo, for bravely taking in 18 gringos and being patient while we navigated a new place, food, and culture...

Carn-ah-vahhhhlll

A quick run-down of the past couple of weeks in Panama: Seasons changed, summer ended, and kids went back to school.  Supplies were bought, backpacks handed out, classrooms cleaned and heads counted.  The streets were quiet…for a week.  Kids got out of school from Friday until the following Wednesday to celebrate everyone’s favorite tradition: Carnaval!

As I’ve warned you before, my site/province is more known for the celebration than the province I am in now, but that does not mean that we don’t celebrate here in Rio Congo!  Each day of Carnaval, starting on Friday night, consists of the celebration of that day’s queen with a float, brass band, and dancing at night and something called a culeco by day.  Culeco is Panamanian for lots and lots and lots of water.  Each day, a tank of water on a truck pulls up to the party, and everyone dances and drinks in front of it while they get doused with water by a fire house.  This lasts for anywhere from four to eight hours, when everyone goes home to change, nap, and eat, and then returns late at night for the queen and dancing. 

And now for the reina: Carnaval-goers take their queens very seriously.  Each queen has a color, a flag, and a comparza (somewhere between a team, a fan-club, and a band) that supports her with noise and lots of her signature color.  Usually the queens represent different parts of the city, and the comparzas compete by making fun of each other and the opposing queen. 

As a part of our language and cultural training, the Peace Corps trainees held our very own carnaval celebration, complete with two competing teams and comparzas.  We cooked Panamanian food together as well, and came together on Monday for a banquet and sound-off.  The end result?  A lot of awkward dancing and some seriously impressive creativity of the part of the trainees.  I’ve included photographic evidence of our PC celebration as well as a little video I took of the last night of Carnaval in Rio Congo (I love the band!) for your viewing pleasure below:

The Rio Congo Comparza: Los Rumberos del Rio

A Congo Pollera: the traditional dress that I wore for a fashion show before our comparza competition

Skills.

A note to my friends who went to camp, worked at camp, or knows anyone even remotely connected to camp:  Rejoice!  There is a time and place for your camp skills!

For tech week, we worked in pairs with teachers in different schools surrounding Meteti as they prepared for and began the new school year (keep in mind that Panamanians are just finishing their summer break, so this is like fall for us).  My friend Emma and I worked with Alicia, a teacher in a small multi-grade school who teaches both 3rd and 6th grade in the same classroom at the same time.  We organized to have one day of observation and two days of teaching an hour long English lesson to the kids. 

Now why this sudden appreciation for all things learned at camp?  Since nearly all of my experience with teaching English during training has been with children and teens, I’ve had to tap into my repertoire of songs and games to incorporate into English learning.  So far, the tool box in my head has been one of my best assets.  My favorite moment so far?  A rendition of  “Baby Shark” (if you don’t know it, ask someone, and prepare to have it stuck in your head for 48 hours) to review family words.  I had the class swimming around the classroom with their hands over their heads like sharks and our co-teacher dancing around in the back of the classroom.  Success?  I think so.