Quick update for anybody wanting to know.
After two days of PST, all of the other Group 72 trainees and I were about ready to go insane from sitting in the same room for ours and listening to common sense info presentations about safety and security. Today was our first day escaping the bubble a little bit. We visited a current TE volunteer's site about 2 hours outside of the city. Her site was AMAZING. I would feel lucky to get a placement that's anything like that site, and I'm sure a lot of my fellow trainees felt the same way, so we're all kind of pumped about getting site placements in the future.
We also went to the bus terminal yesterday, which was attached to a ridiculously large mall. The bus terminal itself looked like a mall, and then there was the actual mall. We ate dinner there, so what did I have? Sbarro. Yes, Ebony, I came to Panama to eat Sbarro. Guess what else they have in the mall? A MUSIC STORE! Think Music & Arts. In a mall. I'm not even kidding. There was a guy that worked behind the counter there that left me very confused, because I'm not sure why his English was so good. There's also an internet place in the mall where you can pay $1 for an hour of internet. I paid like $.40 to get on for 15 minutes, because I just wanted to check my email and get on Facebook a little.
So for now, it's time to move into our host families, where we'll be living for the next nine weeks during pre-service training. I'm excited to get to move in so that I can actually meet and talk to some Panamanians. Up until now, since I've been in the bubble among my fellow trainees, I haven't had as much of an opportunity to meet locals, so I'm pumped about meeting my host family. Hopefully it'll go well.
In further news, Panama dusted Jamaica today on their way toward potentially earning a spot in the tournament for the World Cup. According the guy I was talking to that serves our meals in the villa, they'll play again on Wednesday against the winner of the Mexico-El Salvador match. It'd be cool to get into a little more soccer while I'm here. For one thing, sporting events are good conversation starters, and I'm looking to befriend some locals.
Anyway, right now I should be packing up my things to make the move to the host family tomorrow, so I'll get to that and try and keep you all updated from time to time in the meantime. Thanks for reading the blog! Comment if you have any questions about my life so far in Panama. :)
--Aja
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Hasty Ramblings about my Last couple days in Charlotte/Staging
I made it to Panama! So here’s an update on what
I’ve been up to:
First, shout out to a couple of my aunts. The day
before I flew out of Charlotte to head to Staging in DC, my Aunt Jackie bought me
brunch, and then I went by my Aunt Joan’s workplace, where she got me a couple
pairs of flats for teaching. (That’s important, because I have to dress like a
grown-up when I teach, and buying shoes in my size in Panama could prove difficult.)
Thanks y’all, and thanks to everybody who gave me cards and monetary gifts for
Panama!
So the night before flying to DC, I barely slept.
After I got ready for bed, I had trouble falling asleep, since I had this
irrational paranoia that if I went to sleep, I wouldn’t wake up in time for my
early flight. When my alarm went off to wake me up at 5am, I literally thought
there had been some mistake—it was 2a, I blinked, and then it was 5—how does
that happen? Either way, I brushed my teeth and got dressed, got my luggage
together, and was pulling out of the driveway with my mom by 5:30. We made it
to the airport around 6, check-in went in smoothly, and then I waited in the
line to go through security. . .lemme tell you, CLT was poppin on a Tuesday
morning—why was that line so long?
After I waved by to my mom when I went through
security, I went to my gate, sat down, and turned on my Ipod to listen to some
music while I waited out the 20 or so minutes until my flight boarded. After
about 10 minutes, my mom called and asked WHERE I WAS. What?! Needless to say,
I hadn’t gone anywhere by that point.
Eventually, I became mobile, made to DC, and checked
into the hotel there. Since I was wearing dress clothes, I basically checked
in, changed into my sneakers, and headed out the door. I needed to run an
errand at the bank and then meet my sister’s boyfriend for lunch (shout out to
Dimo for buying me Ihop—that might be my last bite of grits for a while).
Afterward, I took the metro back to the hotel and got my paperwork together
for. . .dun dunnnn. . .staging!
There are 48 people in my training group, and they
all seem really cool. I was worried we’d all be really corny, but crisis
averted. I think it’s going to be really fun hanging out with these people for
the next two months. There are two different sectors represented by our
training group—Community Environmental Conservation (CEC) and Teaching English
(TE) Volunteers.
For the duration of staging, which lasted from about 2p-7p,
I felt like I was in middle school again. Some things you never outgrow. We did
ice breakers (scavenger hunt! Find someone who. . .) and introduced ourselves
to the group (What’s something interesting that you packed?) and even
identified a class clown (cough: Adam). I think all of us were pretty ready to
peace out at the end of the day, but it was nice to get the ball rolling a
little bit and officially become Peace Corps Trainees!
After staging, I had a great time with some of the other Trainees. Peace Corps gave us money ($$!) and I went out for Thai food with some of the other Trainees (the red curry I had was delicious), and afterward we got a couple drinks at the bar across the street. It was nice to chill after a long day, and to get to know some of the people in my cohort. Again, they are mad cool! Our training group is gonna be fun.
After staging, I had a great time with some of the other Trainees. Peace Corps gave us money ($$!) and I went out for Thai food with some of the other Trainees (the red curry I had was delicious), and afterward we got a couple drinks at the bar across the street. It was nice to chill after a long day, and to get to know some of the people in my cohort. Again, they are mad cool! Our training group is gonna be fun.
Downside: We had to be in the lobby by 3:30a in
order to leave for the airport at 4a. Eww. Yea, I only got 2 hours of sleep,
and then had to heave around luggage in an airport, deal with security and
customs, and endure about 5.5 or 6 hours of flying. All of our group is pretty
beat right now, and looking forward to the first solid night of sleep we’ve had
in a couple of days (several of us shared the pre-staging flight paranoia and
didn’t sleep the night before) so I am ready to hit the sack! We’ve got medical
and administrative orientations tomorrow in addition to the Spanish interview
to assess our Spanish levels. My B.A. is in Spanish, so it’s nice to have one
less thing to worry about as far as adjusting to Peace Corps training goes. I’m
ready to get the ball rolling tomorrow! I’ll try and keep you all up to date
with what’s going on!
I know this post rambled on, but like I said, I am
TIRED as mess, so you know how that goes. My eyelids are closing now, so it’s
about to be bedtime for me. I’ll update soon!
--Aja
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Weekend
Time is winding down, yo!
I'm finishing up my last weekend in Charlotte. Yesterday was fun. Some of my family came over to my mom's house to eat food during the afternoon before this crazy flash-blizzard thing ran them all back to South Carolina. :-P It was nice to get to see some of the fam before I head out, and I even got the inside scoop on some exciting news! Thanks to all the fam that came out, I really appreciate it!
After the fam left, I went to the Pentatonix concert (woop, woop!). If you don't know who they are, hop on over to YouTube and prepare to have your mind blown. You'd be surprised how good a 5-person a cappella show can be. . .especially when their bread and butter is covering Top 40 tunes. I was flipping out the entire time. I just enjoy the fact that somebody on the pop music scene is still practicing good musicianship. Really, these guys are amazing. Their beatboxer busted out a cello and played it on stage, and he's like. . .SICK at playing the cello. Needless to say, I did not feel worthy to be in his presence. Afterwards, I was physically sore from hopping around and generally just feeling too much excitement. My poor heart can't take it.
Welp, being as I have nothing left to do between now and Tuesday, I feel pretty ready to hop on the plane. My sister left this morning to head back up to Chapel Hill so now I'm just jamming to the new One Direction single (you can't make me feel ashamed) and making sure all of my ducks are in a row for Tuesday. I'm pretty much packed up, so there's not too many last-minute things to do. The next time you hear from me, I'll probably be in Central America.
--Aja
P.S. Ignore the fact that these kids are so cheesy and just TRY to pretend that this song is not mad catchy.
I'm finishing up my last weekend in Charlotte. Yesterday was fun. Some of my family came over to my mom's house to eat food during the afternoon before this crazy flash-blizzard thing ran them all back to South Carolina. :-P It was nice to get to see some of the fam before I head out, and I even got the inside scoop on some exciting news! Thanks to all the fam that came out, I really appreciate it!
After the fam left, I went to the Pentatonix concert (woop, woop!). If you don't know who they are, hop on over to YouTube and prepare to have your mind blown. You'd be surprised how good a 5-person a cappella show can be. . .especially when their bread and butter is covering Top 40 tunes. I was flipping out the entire time. I just enjoy the fact that somebody on the pop music scene is still practicing good musicianship. Really, these guys are amazing. Their beatboxer busted out a cello and played it on stage, and he's like. . .SICK at playing the cello. Needless to say, I did not feel worthy to be in his presence. Afterwards, I was physically sore from hopping around and generally just feeling too much excitement. My poor heart can't take it.
Welp, being as I have nothing left to do between now and Tuesday, I feel pretty ready to hop on the plane. My sister left this morning to head back up to Chapel Hill so now I'm just jamming to the new One Direction single (you can't make me feel ashamed) and making sure all of my ducks are in a row for Tuesday. I'm pretty much packed up, so there's not too many last-minute things to do. The next time you hear from me, I'll probably be in Central America.
--Aja
P.S. Ignore the fact that these kids are so cheesy and just TRY to pretend that this song is not mad catchy.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
This is for my Kennedys! (FAQs)
If you already know what Peace Corps is or if you understand the logic behind why someone would choose to throw the deuces and head to Panama for 2 years after college, you probably don't need to read this. If you think I'm crazy, you can read on. (I mean, I still might be a LIL bit crazy, just saying.)
These are the questions that people in my family ask me ALL. THE. TIME. So now I'm gonna put all the answers in one place.
1) Ain't you goin' somewhere? Where you goin'?
Panama
2) When you leavin'?
February 19th, 2013
3) How long you gon' be over there?
2 years
4) That's a long time, ain't it?
Well, I guess. Doesn't seem that long to me. (What I mean is, 2 years to try and get something done in the development world is really not that long.)
5) What you gon' be doin' over there?
Teaching English. (follow-up: You teachin' people who don't speak English? Yes. You teachin' kids? Yes.)
That's the Cliff-Notes version. Teaching English is what's called my 'primary assignment,' aka, what I've technically been invited by the Peace Corps to do as a volunteer. I'll be teaching in a school, but I'm only required to do so part-time. The idea is that I'll also take on side projects, maybe give conferences or teach literacy to adults after school or create afterschool programs for kids--you never really know until you're placed in site.
6) How much do they pay you?
Ok, here's the good question. This is the question that bothers me the most. In the minds of my family, if I'm not going to grad school or something, I'm supposed to be working a well-paying job. (I'm in a first-generation college grad type situation.) Spoiler alert: Nobody does Peace Corps for the money. I went through a year-plus long application process with essays, recommendations, two interviews, medical checks, blood tests, dental exams, legal checks, and finally got placed and invited to Panama (jackpot!) and I am mad excited about it. (That's another question people ask me: Well, are you excited? Duh. I've wanted to do this since my freshman year of college.) If it helps you to rationalize it, think of Peace Corps as my grad school. I'm not doing Peace Corps JUST as a stepping stone to a career, but it does fit really well into my idea of what I want to do with the rest of my life. I'd like to either go into international development work or go into the US Foreign Service--both of which make sense for someone coming out of the Peace Corps. BUT my pet peeve is when my mom goes "Oh, but it'll probably look good on a resume." You can't discount two years of my life as simply 'looking good on a resume'! It's too much to sacrifice just to have something to talk about in a job interview.
Oh, but to answer the question, technically I'm a 'Volunteer.' Peace Corps does pay for my flight to and from Panama at the beginning and end of my service, and they pay my living expenses, cover me medically for the duration of my service, give me a living stipend, and give me a readjustment allowance when I come back to the States. I won't be living like a queen (that's not the idea), but I won't be starving, don't worry!
7) Do you get vacation time? Will you get to come home?
Yes, I get vacation time (see the links below). If want to fly home in the middle of my service, though, I'll have to pay for my own plane ticket. I can have visitors. Ebony's coming to visit me. (Yay!)
8) A question that NOBODY EVER ASKS ME: What is the Peace Corps?
Nobody ever asks me this. . .I don't know why, because I'm sure most people in my family had not heard of the Peace Corps before I said I was entering PC. Well, to answer the UNASKED question, Peace Corps is an international development organization founded by President Kennedy in the 60s. Peace Corps sends volunteers on 2 year assignments to various countries around the world to. . . .teach, build latrines, promote public health initiatives, develop businesses, do IT work. . .a buncha things.
I'm posting a link below to the Peace Corps website and to some of the Peace Corps FAQs and explanation of benefits, blah, blah, blah. If you still think I'm crazy, that's cool, I'm just throwing up my hands on this one, but if you want to find out more, click away. Still have questions? Ask in the comments.
--Aja
Peace Corps Website
Family and Friends (page on PC Website)
They kinda pump up bein a PC volunteer, like I'm altruistic or something. . .ignore that part.
These are the questions that people in my family ask me ALL. THE. TIME. So now I'm gonna put all the answers in one place.
1) Ain't you goin' somewhere? Where you goin'?
Panama
2) When you leavin'?
February 19th, 2013
3) How long you gon' be over there?
2 years
4) That's a long time, ain't it?
Well, I guess. Doesn't seem that long to me. (What I mean is, 2 years to try and get something done in the development world is really not that long.)
5) What you gon' be doin' over there?
Teaching English. (follow-up: You teachin' people who don't speak English? Yes. You teachin' kids? Yes.)
That's the Cliff-Notes version. Teaching English is what's called my 'primary assignment,' aka, what I've technically been invited by the Peace Corps to do as a volunteer. I'll be teaching in a school, but I'm only required to do so part-time. The idea is that I'll also take on side projects, maybe give conferences or teach literacy to adults after school or create afterschool programs for kids--you never really know until you're placed in site.
6) How much do they pay you?
Ok, here's the good question. This is the question that bothers me the most. In the minds of my family, if I'm not going to grad school or something, I'm supposed to be working a well-paying job. (I'm in a first-generation college grad type situation.) Spoiler alert: Nobody does Peace Corps for the money. I went through a year-plus long application process with essays, recommendations, two interviews, medical checks, blood tests, dental exams, legal checks, and finally got placed and invited to Panama (jackpot!) and I am mad excited about it. (That's another question people ask me: Well, are you excited? Duh. I've wanted to do this since my freshman year of college.) If it helps you to rationalize it, think of Peace Corps as my grad school. I'm not doing Peace Corps JUST as a stepping stone to a career, but it does fit really well into my idea of what I want to do with the rest of my life. I'd like to either go into international development work or go into the US Foreign Service--both of which make sense for someone coming out of the Peace Corps. BUT my pet peeve is when my mom goes "Oh, but it'll probably look good on a resume." You can't discount two years of my life as simply 'looking good on a resume'! It's too much to sacrifice just to have something to talk about in a job interview.
Oh, but to answer the question, technically I'm a 'Volunteer.' Peace Corps does pay for my flight to and from Panama at the beginning and end of my service, and they pay my living expenses, cover me medically for the duration of my service, give me a living stipend, and give me a readjustment allowance when I come back to the States. I won't be living like a queen (that's not the idea), but I won't be starving, don't worry!
7) Do you get vacation time? Will you get to come home?
Yes, I get vacation time (see the links below). If want to fly home in the middle of my service, though, I'll have to pay for my own plane ticket. I can have visitors. Ebony's coming to visit me. (Yay!)
8) A question that NOBODY EVER ASKS ME: What is the Peace Corps?
Nobody ever asks me this. . .I don't know why, because I'm sure most people in my family had not heard of the Peace Corps before I said I was entering PC. Well, to answer the UNASKED question, Peace Corps is an international development organization founded by President Kennedy in the 60s. Peace Corps sends volunteers on 2 year assignments to various countries around the world to. . . .teach, build latrines, promote public health initiatives, develop businesses, do IT work. . .a buncha things.
I'm posting a link below to the Peace Corps website and to some of the Peace Corps FAQs and explanation of benefits, blah, blah, blah. If you still think I'm crazy, that's cool, I'm just throwing up my hands on this one, but if you want to find out more, click away. Still have questions? Ask in the comments.
--Aja
Peace Corps Website
Family and Friends (page on PC Website)
They kinda pump up bein a PC volunteer, like I'm altruistic or something. . .ignore that part.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Umm. . .so I'm blogging now?
Hello readers of my blog. Hello family, friends, fellow Americans. . .others. :)
Welcome to my blog. I was pressured into this.
I'm not a blogger. I had a journal when I was little, but since I've grown up I never really journal anymore. Welp, there ya go, Peace Corps is changing me already.
. . .Which leads me to my next point. I'm joining the Peace Corps! I'm moving to Panama in a week, and any time I mention Peace Corps to the white people (sorry to call you out white people, I love y'all), they're always like 'Are you gonna blog? You should blog about it!' So here I am. :) This is good, though. My family always bugs me about taking pictures and they also have no idea why I keep leaving the country, so maybe if I write about it they might be able to better understand what I'm doing with my life. I'll write a post for the family later, so they can put this whole Peace Corps decision in context (aside from my sister, they're all very confused, I promise you).
As of right now, I've just been packing. I'm at my mom's house in Charlotte for the next week until I leave for Panama. I've got plans to hit up a Pentatonix concert and have a little gathering with my family at my mom's house, and then it's on a plane to DC for Peace Corps Staging!
There will be more posts later. Any questions you have/things you'd like me to post about? Leave comments. I'll post something to get my family up to speed tomorrow, probably.
Yay, I finally made a blog! (Small victories. Baby steps, baby steps.)
--Aja
Welcome to my blog. I was pressured into this.
I'm not a blogger. I had a journal when I was little, but since I've grown up I never really journal anymore. Welp, there ya go, Peace Corps is changing me already.
. . .Which leads me to my next point. I'm joining the Peace Corps! I'm moving to Panama in a week, and any time I mention Peace Corps to the white people (sorry to call you out white people, I love y'all), they're always like 'Are you gonna blog? You should blog about it!' So here I am. :) This is good, though. My family always bugs me about taking pictures and they also have no idea why I keep leaving the country, so maybe if I write about it they might be able to better understand what I'm doing with my life. I'll write a post for the family later, so they can put this whole Peace Corps decision in context (aside from my sister, they're all very confused, I promise you).
As of right now, I've just been packing. I'm at my mom's house in Charlotte for the next week until I leave for Panama. I've got plans to hit up a Pentatonix concert and have a little gathering with my family at my mom's house, and then it's on a plane to DC for Peace Corps Staging!
There will be more posts later. Any questions you have/things you'd like me to post about? Leave comments. I'll post something to get my family up to speed tomorrow, probably.
Yay, I finally made a blog! (Small victories. Baby steps, baby steps.)
--Aja
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