Everybody else is doing it.

I'm going to hop on the bandwagon. A lot of Peace Corps bloggers do this post, so far be it from me to break the mold. Here we go. . .

Books I’ve read (that I remember) since I’ve been in Panama (in no particular order):

Dreams of My Father—Barack Obama

The Mismeasure of Man—Stephen Jay Gould

The Fountainhead—Ayn Rand

Game of Thrones—George R.R. Martin

Clash of Kings—George R.R. Martin

Hunger Games—Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire—Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay—Suzanne Collins

Angeles del Olvido--?? (I forgot)

David and Goliath—Malcolm Gladwell

The Tipping Point—Malcolm Gladwell

Outliers—Malcolm Gladwell

Lean In—Sheryl Samberg

Life of Pi—Yann Martel

Crime and Punishment—Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Orange is the New Black—Piper Kerman

My Horizontal Life—Chelsea Handler

The Fault in Our Stars—John Green

Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me—Chelsea Handler & Friends

The Poisonwood Bible—Barbara Kingsolver

The Alchemist—Paulo Coelho

Ishmael—Daniel Quinn

Infidel—Ayaan Hirsi Ali

The Defining Decade—Meg Jay
The Glass Castle—Jeannette Walls
The Time Traveler’s Wife—Audrey Niffenegger
The Great Train Robbery—Michael Crichton

Uhh. . .that’s all I can remember for now. If you want to know more about any of these books or about my opinions on them, hit me up!

Artists I’ve listened to a lot of during Peace Corps (in no particular order):

Bruno Mars

Mariah Carey

Whitney Houston

Ariana Grande

One Direction

Taylor Swift

Rihanna

Beyonce

Maxwell

Justin Timberlake

J. Cole

Miguel

Chris Brown

John Mayer

Kesha

Amy Winehouse

Allen Stone

Eric Hutchinson

Christina Aguilera

Adele

Prince Royce (willingly or unwillingly)

Joss Stone

Paramore

Pharrell

Bad Rabbits

Jesse McCartney

Michael Jackson

Carrie Underwood

Maxwell

Jay-Z

Usher

Eric Benét

Alicia Keys

Destiny’s Child

. . .that’s all I can think of right now. If you want my opinions on any of these artists, just ask me, cuz my personal opinions are pretty well-formed about the body of work of almost all these artists.

Ok, kiddos. Amor y paz!

#presidentkennedy

Hello Readers!

I feel like I haven’t given a good update in awhile. That’s because life’s been picking up here a bit, recently. I’ve been—dare I say it?—busy with. . .work. If you’re in the States that sounds like a negative thing, but if you’re a Peace Corps Volunteer FROM the States and you have a Type A bone somewhere in your body, then that sounds like good news to you. (Read: I’m happy to be busy!)

After a year, I feel that my role in the school is a little better defined, and I feel like I know enough about my school/town/province in order to be able to effectively plan activities and know what is and is not going to work in term of getting projects done.

I’ve also picked up another leadership role as the president for this year’s GAD (Gender and Development) Board for Peace Corps Panama. I’m super excited about this, because it means that part of my JOB is organizing a group of people who are passionate about issues like women’s health and youth development, and who are excited about doing projects related to those themes and realizing those projects ALL OVER PANAMA! Woo-whoo (Ask not what your GAD Board can do for you. . . .#presidentkennedy)

Right now the board is gearing up for our Retreat in Boquete in August, where we’ll be revising all of the manuals that we use to give seminars and facilitate camps. We’re also planning to support a Gay Pride parade later this month in Panama City AND we’re starting to put together choreography for a FlashMob dance for World AIDS Day in December. I’m not a dancer, but we all know I love to dance, so I’ll be participating this year!

GAD is part of the reason that I’ve been busier recently, and I feel good about it. I’ve enjoyed my Peace Corps service so far, and it has definitely taught me a lot about myself, one of the lessons being: I need structure.

Let’s be honest: I’ve never considered myself an overly-creative person, just a creative problem-solver. Also, I’m not one of those people who likes to fly by the seat of their pants, have twenty different things going on at once, or who likes to wake up not knowing what’s going to happen today. I like to make plans. I like to keep and agenda and make to-do lists. Peace Corps, though, has forced me to let go of some of those things and be a little less Type-A and a little more go-with-the-flow. You can’t plan THAT far in advance. . .Panama doesn’t want you to. And Panama will fight back.

Now that I have a little bit of structure in my life in the form of GAD Board, I’m ready to bring the old Aja back out of the closet! Who’s got a calendar handy? No need, I’m on it! Emails, emails, emails! –It might sound crazy, but I’m excited to WORK!

In other news, I’m still waiting on my Dad to get his passport and come to Panama ::cough, cough:: AND I’ve  decided that I aspire to be a diplomat in the Economic sector of the Foreign Service (rather than the Management track to which I had previously aspired). This will mean nothing to most of you, but it’s exciting for me! I’ll be affecting international economic policy in your friendly neighborhood Embassy one of these days. ;) For now, though, the graduate school essays are in the works, and we will be hoping to be spending the summer in Charlotte gearing up for graduate school next year this time!

Love and hugs and kisses to my family and friends in the States!

Aja