Up to the mountains, to be of assistance

(Peace Corps volunteers sandwiched between two German volunteers. We getting international up in this place, man!)

I spent this past weekend at a fellow volunteer's site helping out with various activities. The girl I visited is about an hour or so away in the same province I live. I'm actually kind of surprised that I'd never visited her before, but considering how life for the volunteers has sped up recently, it makes sense. We get busy.

This girl let us know during our training at the end of July about a college fair she was organizing in her town. She wanted to give students at her school and schools in the surrounding area an opportunity to see that higher education is actually within their reach, and that financial aid and scholarships exist for them. Basically, she was taking the first step toward getting these kids to college by proving that it's possible. It's a great thing she did. So a group of us decided to come out and support her. Later, we found out that a group called Global Medical Training was doing a free clinic in her town and a neighboring community. They needed translators to help with the event, so it ended up being a great weekend filled with exhausting, yet fulfilling activity.

My friend's site is, by my standards, amazing. It has a restaurant, a beautiful church, a sort of hostel/shelter for visitors (where we stayed and ate for free!), volunteers from other organizations (namely, Germans from American Field Services), and most importantly, an extremely active priest. He has been her community counterpart and has helped her during her service. Let me tell you, having someone like that in the community can make life so much easier. And you can get so much done when a host national actually takes some initiative. You have no idea... So it was fantastic. This man welcomed us the first night (Thursday) with a special mass, where he gave us a huge shout-out and prayed for us. Then, he had both the Peace Corps volunteers and the students from Global Medical Training over for his house for dinner, and all meals during our weekend. And his several trucks were our transportation throughout the weekend.

Friday: Academic Fair/ Day 1 of the Medical Clinic

It was very similar to a college fair in the US: several institutions from around the province came and set up stands in order to discuss programs with interested students. My friend, who organized the event, also invited some artisan groups from the area to display and sell their goods and student groups to perform songs and dances.

(The Peace Corps stand, where my friends gave out candy to the kids and taught a bit of English. "Candy. Pineapple.")

I, however, didn't actually help out too much with the event, except to help get it started. I ended up helping much more with the clinic, serving as an interpreter.

I spent my day with the kinda-sorta medical students. Hundreds of people from all over the area came to take advantage of the benefits of the clinic. As you can see here, it was somewhat informal, packed, and just a bit chaotic.

I had very conflicting feelings about the clinic. On one hand, I'm very glad that organizations do this sort of thing, because the people are so desperately in need of medication, vitamins, anti-parasites, and all that. On the other hand, some unsavory things happen. The problem is this. People who live up there in the indigenous community often have little access to medical attention. It's too far for them to go to the Health Centers. These medical clinics (or giras) are often the only opportunity they have to get medicine. So what happens? They lie. They tell me, the interpreter, about all the symptoms that they may or may not have. That way, they can get the aspirin or whatever medicine they could use for a problem that isn't currently ailing them. The real doctors, who review the diagnoses of the students and sign off on the "pharmacy's" "prescriptions", are more than willing to just give the stuff away because, to a certain extent, the people really need it. But then they run out. It's not an endless supply. So then it gets to be the end of the day, or day two, and there's no more lice shampoo. Or no more cream for scabies, or whatever. It's a real shame.

And then, when the doctors are explaining the doses for medication, they inevitably give advice to the patients. "Well, if you're 86 and still hiking up in the mountains 2 hours to harvest beans all day, OF COURSE you'll get headaches and feel dizzy. That's a sign of old age, etc. Take a rest now and then!" Honestly, though, most of the advice given is not at all feasible. If that's their lifestyle, or more pressing, if that's their only means of income, then how can they change? It's easy to tell someone how to live, especially when you don't have to live the way they do.

So it takes a serious emotional toll, having to weigh your desire to help with the hopelessness of their situation, feeling that one month of multivitamins isn't enough to really tackle the issues. So when the day is over, people are more or less pleased, since their hands are full. The doctors feel more or less content. My long day is over, but I have a sort of empty feeling, like what we've done isn't nearly enough.

Saturday: Day 2 of the Medical Clinic

The next day we traveled even further up into the mountains to a community an hour from the other one we were in.

(This was our beautiful view the entire one-hour ride in the back of a pick-up truck. My back, bottom, and heck, my entire body hurt during that ride, but it was worth it.)

Frankly, it was the same story with the clinic on the second day: long lines, teen pregnancy, malnutrition and parasite-infested toddlers with distended bellies, septuagenarians who work harder in one day than I've worked my whole life, a few things lost in translation, and everything else you can possibly imagine.

On the bright side, I was able to interact with new people (American, Panamanian, and a cheery pair of Germans), I got some great practice with vocabulary I'm not accustomed to using, and I did a bit to help people desperately in need.

Quiero mis quince: Panama Style

The quinceañera, or something equivalent to a "Sweet Sixteen" party, is a celebration that takes place at a girl's fifteenth birthday. This particular party was thrown last night for my former host mom's granddaughter. It was an all-day affair and a good time was had by all.

8:00AM: It begins

The first and most important thing you need to know about Panamanian parties is that they're super loud. This is the stereo system that ended up at the party. However, it started out on the front porch of my host mom's house while the ladies prepared food. Starting at about 8, the music was blasting out of these speakers and ruining my chances of a calm Saturday.
The second thing you absolutely must know about Panamanian parties is that the music selection is laughably thin. I can nearly say beyond a shadow of a doubt that the playlist is between ten and fifteen songs, and usually shorter than that. If you're really curious, I suggest you look up one of the following songs to get an idea of the music I'm stuck with all the dang time:
-Samy y Sandra Sandoval, "La cucarachita" (I acutally like this song. In my opinion, it's one of the only palatable songs within the típica genre.)
-Prince Royce, "Corazon sin cara" (You will hear this song at least five times during any party. This style of music is known as bachata.)

The food

Pictured here is a tamal. This was one of the several things prepared on a large scale for the party. Tamales aren't as common in parties as arroz con pollo and ensalada de papas, rice with chicken and potato salad. A word about arroz con pollo. The semantics behind the order of words is super important in understanding the Panamanian diet. It's rice with chicken, not the other way around, because the ratio of rice to chicken is about five to one. Lots of rice, little bitty pieces of chicken and veggies. They eat a lot of rice.
Anyway, the food took several hours to prepare. I helped out a bit by peeling potatoes and carrots. I believe the food was ready at about lunchtime. The tamal in the picture was my second lunch, at about 3. I'd already eaten, but I figured I couldn't turn down free food.

The decorations

Next to my house is the representative's office/meeting place. Whenever there's an event, it is usually held there. It was the site for the party. I helped blow up some of the balloons in the picture, but my hands were not adept enough to make those balloon flowers you see. The color scheme was purple and pink, if you can't already tell. Notice the heart in the center of the picture with the name "Kemberly" written on it. As far as I know, my host mom's granddaughter is named Stephanie, so I was very confused when everything in the program said Kemberly. Not Kimberly, but Kemberly. When I said Kehmberly, I got funny looks. I was thinking, "It's not my fault you spelled it wrong..."

Pictured above are the handmade party favors and the cake, which were both very nice.

9:15pm: Finally, the party

The party itself was very interesting. There was a full program and everything. Groups of family members made entrances to music, which led up to the entrance of the quinceañera.

Then there were lots of little rituals connected to relics. Her mother presented her with a ring, which symbolized her transition into womanhood. Her godfather presented her with a stuffed teddy bear, reminding her that she will always be her parents' little girl. In the picture, you can see her siblings helping her take off a pair of sandals. She passed on the sandals to her six year-old sister, who I guess is next in line in the family. She then gave flowers to important members of her family and candles to her closest friends.

Here you can see my host mom, flanked by "Kemberly" and her uncle.

Here you see all the candles being lit. The attendants of the party made a circle around the quinceañera, lit the candles, and then sang her Happy Birthday in Spanish.

At the end of the program, they put on waltz music and the quinceañera danced with her family and friends. Here she is dancing with her little brother.

Even though there was a lot of sitting and waiting around involved, it was a very nice party. I thorougly enjoyed myself, despite the fact that I didn't do any dancing. However, at 3 in the morning when the music was still going strong and it woke me up, I was ready for it to be over.

Welcome to your new home! You're on your own!

The day before I left for my second round of training, which was Saturday, July 21, I officially moved in to my new house. However, I slept in it only one night. Now that I'm back from training, I am actually living here and am loving it! I have to make my own food and all that, but after six solid months of elephant ears, chewy meat, corn products, and sugar, I'm looking forward to eating healthy. Below is a picture tour of my humble abode. Welcome!

The view of my house from the street. If you've got good eyes, you might be thinking, "The entrance looks blocked off." It is, kind of. My host family installed this gate while I was gone. There are two parts. On the right side there's some barbed wire spread across some poles. The other part is kinda cool. It's called an entrada de caracol, or a snail entrance. It's just a few strategically placed sticks that keep large animals out and, hopefully, drunks.

A closer view of the house itself. There on the left you'll see my dryer, or the clothesline where I hang all my things up after washing. That chair, several other chairs, the desk, and the few tables in the house are from the school. They were kind enough to lend me a bunch of things. Without all that, I'd have no counter space or seats!

The front porch. Quiet (usually) and peaceful. As you can see, the front and back doors are parallel, which is so convenient. I just open up both and get some ventilation going, and avoid the heat as best as I can.

The bedroom. You can see the mosquito net, of course. I didn't have it up for a night or two, and when a bat came flying in I thought, "I need that stupid mosquito net!" I also broke down and bought a fan for the house. I had gone this whole time (including summer) without a fan, but thought it would be silly to suffer just to boast about not having a fan later.

The kitchen. A volunteer on her way out sold me the (small) fridge and toaster oven, which was super nice. The large fridge on the right doesn't work, but it's great for storing food and all my dishes and stuff. I have a blue tub that I use as a sink. No running water, but I get water from the school, which I bring home and pour into the tub for brushing my teeth, preparing food, washing dishes, etc.

The living room. The fancy couch came with the house, along with a matching chair you can just barely see on the left. You'll also notice the fancy netbook I got while in Panama City. It's because of that nifty new contraption that I'll be able to keep in touch so well!

The back porch. That table-looking structure there is the beginnings of a fogón, or wood-burning stove. I don't plan on using that. However, I'm thinking of hanging a hammock up back here and having a nice little covered hangout spot. The only problem is this. The house used to be uninhabited. So people got used to no one around and have taken to just walking through this area at their leisure. So over the past few days, I've had to greet people essentially walking through my porch/backyard just to get from A to B.

The water source. I have one faucet, and the water usually comes once every few days while I'm at school. So I have a hose that I feed into a big reserve tank, which I then distribute to those buckets to bathe and all that.

The backyard. The view isn't visible from here, but it's pretty nice. Down to the right is a path leading down to a pozo, or natural well. In bad times when there's no water, that's my other option for bathing. In the center of the frame is the latrine/shower.

In case you're curious about where I poo, here it is! On the far side you'll see that the cement floor is swept. That's where I shower, or bucket bathe. This is actually quite a nice setup. My landlord installed a light so I can use the latrine at night with less fear of insects.

So there you have it. Not much, but it's home.

Back from Training, Raring to Go

On Sunday, July 22, I headed to a place called called Rio Hato in the province of Cocle, about two and a half hours from my site. All the volunteers from Group 70 (both Teaching English, or TE, and Community Environmental Conservation, or CEC) met at this camp-type place for a second round of training that lasted two weeks.

Sadly, we and the CEC volunteers parted ways after only two days. However, in that short time, we played Capture the Flag and enjoyed each other's company quite thoroughly.

We spent our two weeks mainly in a large conference room having several seminars a day, teaching us various things, from how to get grant money for our projects to how to approach the mandated curriculum and adjust to make it more realistic to our students' levels. It was a long two weeks, considering that we were sitting down and in class for about eight hours a day, but it was great to see all my friends again. The seminars they gave us were much more specific and relevant to the work we are doing, so going to this training session has gotten me very excited to go back to school and implement these new strategies. And it was the perfect amount of time away from site. Every now and then I need some time to decompress. I got it, and now I'm stoked to get back to work.

During our two weeks, we had a free day on the first Wednesday. Most of us went to the nearby beach and hung out by the water all day, which was great. I definitely needed some sun, seeing as how I had spent most of my time indoors. Then, that Saturday, we had a free day and night. A large group of us went to Panama City and basked in the modernity of its largest mall, Albrook Mall. We took advantage of the wide variety of food, shopping, and even saw The Dark Knight Rises together, which was awesome! And it was subtitled, not dubbed. I was so thankful for that. We got to live it up in the city and enjoy the nightlife, but then it was back to "school," if you wanna call it that.

When the training was over, no one wanted to part ways. That's pretty customary with our group. So, most of us headed to a nearby beach and stayed the night there, trying to get our fill on friends before we had to leave each other. I came back home yesterday, and I'm very excited to be home.

And today, I quickly met up with a friend from home, a guy who was in Glee Club with me. He has a friend who is also in Peace Corps, who he was visiting for about a week. It was only a few hours, but I'm thankful that Brian took the time to get in contact with me, and now I'm glad to have met Jess, his friend, because now I have another person in the country to visit.

A fast-paced two weeks filled with activity. Now it's back to school, where life will slow back down to a sloth's pace. Can't wait.