Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Training has been a riot!

So it has been quite some time since I have had a moment to sit down and use the world wide web. And so much has happened in this first month and a half of living in Panama. To sum it up, it has been amazing, wild, adventurous, awkward, wonderful, and a riot.
I have been living in a small town about an hour and a half outside of Panama City. I live in a tiny pink cement house on top of a big hill with a wonderful host family in a great community. I look out and see mango trees and cashew trees and parakeets and parrots. I have seen bats and poison dart frogs and tarantulas. We have been taking language classes and technical agriculture classes six days a week for eight hours a day. I have been learning so much that some times I feel that my mind can't take it all in. But it is amazing. We have been traveling around the country, visiting volunteers and just attempting to learn what lies ahead for us. Some of my experiences follow. Playing dominoes late at night with the entire extended family which all live within yelling distance of my little pink house. Waking up to bumping reggaeton music every morning at 6am. Riding on public transportation called Diablos Rojos, otherwise known as Red Devils which are actually american school buses painted with outrageous murals and decked out with sequins and jems. Eating breakfast consisting of fried corn hockey pucks and fried hot dogs (not my favorite, but we are having a volunteer contest to see who consumes the most fried hot dogs over the next two years, winner might get a ride in the oscar meyer weiner truck back in the states). Winning ten dollars in bingo and twelve dollars in the local lottery. Busing over the grand canal and still feeling amazed every time. Swimming in the waterfall near by. Eating fresh mangoes as they fall to the ground like rain in the northwest. There are so many more stories and experiences, so more to come soon!

No comments: