More Nov. 2007 stuff

Me and my training group on Swear-In Day!!

Hey everyone, I know its been a while since you all have heard from me and that because I have been settling in to my new community in Veraguas. I am writing to you all as an official Peace Corps Volunteer, I am no longer a trainee. I was sworn-in on Oct. 25, 2007 along with 37 other men and women.

My swear in was pretty cool because I was selected as the representative of my sector to give a speech on behalf of our group and gave a speech in front of about 150 people (including the US Ambassador to Panama and some high Panamanian govt officials) in Spanish.


Its been somewhat of a transitional time for me the last few weeks because I finished training and parted ways (well not forever just temporarily) with the 37 other people in my training group(which I have spent just about every single day with since August 12) as we all headed in different directions throughout the country of Panama to work on our respective projects.

Best spanish class ever!!

So a lot has changed for me since I last wrote you all. But I am having a good and safe time so far here in Panama. So far since I have been here in Panama I have been to 5 of the 9 provinces and have traveled a bit throughout the country, a little sad but I have already visited more of Panama in the last three months than most Panamanians will in their lifetime. I am now living pretty much smack in the middle of the country in the province of Veraguas (the only province in Panama I might add that touches both the Carribean and Pacific Ocean) about 30 minutes from my provincial capital, where there is a McDonalds. I know a little sad that I get excited about something like that, hahaha. As always, I miss everyone a lot and can´t believe its been 3 months since I have been out of the U.S., Panama is actually starting to feel a little more like home as I am getting used to all the quirks and different aspects of the culture compared to back home. I had a pretty good Thanksgiving up in the mountains of Panama with about 100 other Peace Corps Volunteers where we had a feast including turkey, ham, stuffing, yams, squach, mashed potatoes, pumpkin/apple pie, basically everything we would get in the states it was great. The place where we were at is a nice loge in the mountains and is the only area of Panama that gets cold and that you need a jacket. It actually feels more like your at a loge in the Alps (except no snow) then in Panama. Either way it was a good time. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving back home!!

So I am living with my new host family now who are pretty cool, they treat me real well and honestly I have lucked out with living situations twice because not all the other volunteers have such easy situations that I have had. Not only do I live in one of the more developed site as far as Peace Corps Panama goes (its one of the most developed of all the country) but my family treats me real well. They feed me three meals a day(sometimes more food that I can handle although its mostly rice, beans, and chicken everyday), I also have my own room with a big bed and the second day I moved in my host mom had a large dresser brought in for me to unload all of my stuff which I might add was the fist time in 3 months that I had all of my belongings out of my backpacks since I have been in the country. I also live in the "casa grande" aka "big house" in my town because my mom runs the lottery in my whole town.

The Casa Grande. Otherwise known as the house I lived in from Nov.07 - Jan.08

Well it's a underground lottery but she has about 15 people that work for her and does a couple thousand in sales everyday there is a lottery so she always has money around which is kind of crazy and there is always people coming in and out of my house buying lottery tickets from her. It's a pretty crazy situation. And I have begun to do work in my town as well, I am working at the moment with a group that runs a computer center in my town and also with the a cooperative that runs a few businesses including 2 general stores. My town by the way is basically I that I wanted when I first joined the peace corps because it's a pretty good sized site with most of the modern conveniences available if I want. But its also a pretty outgoing community that has a lot of typical Panamanian cultural events all the time. For instance, about a week ago my town had a festival that lasted all weekend long which included 2 nights of "discotecas" that last until 6 am in the morning and play nothing but Latino music (one of the nights which had a live band providing the music and was more traditional Panamanian music), 2 days where they had bull riding and bull toro events (which was pretty cool because you could get right up close to the cages, an accordion competition, and the last day with a parade that had about 10 elaborate floats go all around my town with everyone dancing and following the floats around town. And my town has another parade coming up this week but it will be a little different this time, its to celebrate Panamas independence from Spain. And I am getting to know people slowly but surely and getting my face out there. For instance, I was traveling for about a week out of my community during Thanksgiving time and while I was gone someone I have never met before from a government agency that deals with environmental protection came looking for me twice at my house and wants me to help them with something(not sure what because I don't know the guy at all) and go to one of their meetings on Saturday. So in the short time I have been in my town someone has mentioned me to him and he came looking for my help. So there you go.

I have been meaning to put a few different things in Panama that I have had to get used to while I have been so that you can get a feel of what it is I have to live with everyday. Here are a few. Well the most obvious that I have pointed out is that it rains everyday (although this time of year is the peak of the rainy season and it should rain less in a few months and I have already gone through 3 umbrellas) and no one leaves their house without their umbrella, however, it is still hot and humid as can be and the rain is welcomed because it cools the weather down. Everyone takes the bus here(including myself) and their public transportation system is really good. One can get from one side of the country to the other(it is about a 8 hr bus ride though, still getting used to the long bus rides) just about anytime of the day very easily for about $10.00 and anywhere else in between for less money. They have these crazy buses too in Panama City called the ¨Diablos Rojos¨ or Red Devils in English which are old school buses from U.S. that they paint crazy murals on with pictures of Mr.T, Snoop Dogg, Garfield, viking warriors, and just about any other figure they can paint on it.

Diable Rojo bus

Also interestingly, in about every home there are little geckos that live on the walls that people don´t get rid of. So yes there are little lizards that crawl on the walls of my house while I am watching TV and the reason that people don´t get rid of them is because they don´t bother you at all plus they eat all the crazy bugs in the house. Oh yeah the mosquitos and bugs are killer down here, I have probably been bitten by a couple hundred bugs and mosquitos since I have been here which is why it is mandatory for all volunteers to take malaria medication every week. Also there are bats around here and when a bat flies in your house its no big deal, people actually think its kind of funny and they think I am a crazy American when I get bothered by the bat. Also, I have learned to use a machete and people carry them around everyone and supposedly you can even walk in a bank with one as long as it is in a case. They don´t use weed cutters or lawn mowers they chop down their weeds using a machete. Something that drives me crazy is that all Panamanians love the Yankees and there are no other teams in the MLB only the Yankees. Just about the only MLB games they show are Yankees games and I hate the Yankees (sorry if there are any Yankees fans out there). I also have to take cold showers everyday no one owns a water heater in their home it's a huge luxury. Lastly, Panamanians have taken some English words and constructed their own pronunciations and variations of English words, for instance a security guard is referred to as a washiman, a quarter is referred to as a quata, they use the word pretty(however pronounced pritty) to say something nice, a homerun is a honron.