Site announcement

What a big emotional day. Today we received our assignments for our site and project. I went into this day not knowing what the next two years of my life will consist of. And now I somewhat have an answer.
I am headed to a site in the province of Bocas del Toro to work with a group of indigenous Ngobe-Bugle farmers with the production of cacao (otherwise known as Cocoa and used to make chocolate all around the world). I will also get to working on home gardens, mud stoves, an aquaduct project, and with a women's artisan group. Incredibly enough, I will have a view of the Bocas del Toro islands and Caribbean ocean. And I will get to learn a new language too! The people in my community speak both Spanish and Ngobere, so it will be quite an experience. I am so incredibly excited and feel that somehow I have received the most wonderful project and site assignment possible for me!

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!

Staging: The surreal moments "is this really happening?"

I have arrived! It has been a long day of travel, but I finally made it! To Miami, that is. I am at my staging in Miami, where we train for two days and take care of logistics. I suppose that I will really feel like I am joining the Peace Corps when we finally all meet up tomorrow for our first time. Maybe by that time, we won't be in shock, but I doubt it. I think that day won't come until we are each settled at our sites in Panama, some three months from now. But until then, we will just keep trying to grasp and hold on to those few things that make us feel like we really have set out on this adventure and that no matter how hard we blink, it will still be happening. But I made it and was welcomed into Miami on a shuttle bus full of a family on a classic Griswold vacation, who each gave me hi-fives for being a volunteer. And then went out to a great Miami dinner of seafood with a live latino band with the baseball game playing behind them on a big screen while drinking a beer (presidente to be exact). Bienvenidos!!!

Here is a journal entry that I wrote earlier today on the plane. I think I was in shock.

Today is the day where it all begins, where my life begins to change as I leave for this fateful journey. When my alarm went off at 4:30 am this morning, I first thought that I should go back to sleep and was suddenly jolted out of my bed by the reminder that this is a big day. As I fly across the US, I think how immense this country is sand therefore how large our world is. I won't be in this country for a while, but I will soon be representing the US and American citizens. How can I, just a small girl from the northwest represent all of this? I will do my best though. I really have no idea what will take place in the next few years, no tangeable thoughts to give me stability and security. All I can do is sit on this plane with an open mind and heart, excited for what lies ahead. I am currently in shock though and can hardly believe this is happening. but I am excited and truly believe this is what I want to be doing right now. So I will go in with a positive outlook as I depart on these adventures of Peace Corps in Panama.

The Commitment

I have just committed to my two years of Peace Corps service in Panama, and I couldn't be more excited! I will be leaving exactly one month from today for my training and although it is coming fast, I can't wait. Now I just have to make sure that I am ready to go on April 14th 2008. I will be joining the Sustainable Agriculture Systems (SAS) program in Panama. I will work in rural Panama, anywhere from 2 to 16 hours away from Panama City. About 70% of Panama SAS volunteers work in rural communities where at least 70% of the population is under the national poverty line and the other 30% of volunteers work with a few of the nation's indigenous groups. I could be doing anything from helping local coffee and cacao farmers make their practices more sustainable in order to reduce harm to their workers and land and help them get into the fair trade and shade grown coffee market or chocolate market, to working with local womens groups raising chickens and home gardens, or helping with the native seed collection project. No matter what, I will be working by the sides of small farmers in rural Panama, wielding a machete every morning. While I am there I will most probably help to install water and sanitation systems in small communities. I will find out more throughout my training. For now I am just excited and passionate about what is to come! Please feel free to email me or even to come visit me! Panama has some beautiful beaches and it isn't that far away!