Meteti Life

Nothing groundbreaking to update on, I just felt like I should write a blog post.

Lately I’ve just been hanging out in Meteti, still meeting people, showing my face around and whatnot. Since I last updated, I’ve been to another medical gira in order to translate for the Army, and had a chance to catch up with the other two G72ers that I hadn’t had a chance to see since we’ve moved into site. It was nice to see some familiar faces!

Other than that, I’ve been meeting some new Darien (and Panama Este) PCVs (mostly Darien), since they come through Meteti fairly often, traveling back and forth. We also had our regional meeting this past week for everyone East of the Canal, so I met a few volunteers there, too. I’ve decided that when I return from Peace Corps, I will no longer understand what ‘professionalism’ means. The Peace Corps office is so laid back that, DURING our Regional Meeting, a couple of the guys in our region decided it would be appropriate to recite ALL of the lyrics to Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake’s first hit. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t worry about it.) They literally did the entire song. The Country Director was not phased: all of us on the East Side tend to be just a lil bit crazy, or ‘rough around the edges’ as he puts it.

After regional meeting, we all hung around the hostel where we were staying in Panama City (Casco Viejo), and then went to hang out at a spot just down the street from the hostel. There were $1 beers, but who cares? There was a jukebox. Game. Over.

When I came in I was a lil bit of a crowd favorite because I grabbed one of my colleagues because of COURSE Prince Royce was playing (he’s everywhere). There’s an available dance floor, DUH, so I had to bachata. (My sister taught me well.) The Panamanians were quite entertained by/supportive of my dancing. (Eso es! Eso!)

Back to the theme of the jukebox. I never contributed a penny to that jukebox, but because other people are less decisive than I am when it comes to pop music, I got a few of my choice tracks on there. I thoroughly enjoyed Michael Jackson’s “Remember the Time.” Some of my PC peeps got educated that day. (‘Oh my gosh! This video is like a mini-movie. Whoa! Look at MJ’s dancers!’ And I’m like ‘Yo, this is like every Michael Jackson video. They are always this amazing.’) Also, nobody else knew that track existed. I was humbled. I am lucky to have had the quality Michael Jackson/Motown education that I grew up with at the hands of my father, so shout out to Anthony Kennedy. He may be tone-deaf, but there’s no denying his taste in music. (Luther? Smokey? Really, tho!)

Since Regional Meeting aftermath was the first opportunity I’ve really had to dance since I’ve gotten to Panama, I made the most of it. I was only out for a couple of hours, but that was all I needed.

When I got back to the hostel, I literally didn’t sleep. You know when you start the week knowing that you won’t get any sleep? Yea. When I had traveled TO Panama City, I woke up at 2:30 am to catch the early bus, and that night when I got back from going out, I just took a shower and caught a cab with some other PCVs to the terminal so that I could get a bus back to Darien. The trip back? I’ve never slept so hard on a bus.

Why did I need to get back? Regional Spelling Bee (in English) hosted in my town. Being a native speaker, I was drafted into being the announcer for the words. That was exciting/fun. A girl from my school got second place. (She should’ve won, though! She did SO WELL. I was super proud.)

Then that Friday there was the Black Culture Festival at my school. Each grade level had a princess to represent their grade, and each grade had a corresponding color. We invited other schools. There was dancing. I learned about the Black Culture/History in Panama. I went to a black history lecture. I watched the Afro-Antillean dances that are a part of Black Panamanian culture. That was pretty cool. I wore some kind of African print scarf that I stole from my momma’s closet in the states since everyone else dressed up for the event and I didn’t have anything to wear. Some other PCVs came to support. There was food. It was a fun time.

Other than that. . .next week is English week. I still have yet to get anything constructive done on my primary project, so how about I let you guys know when I DO get something constructive done, and until then let’s just assume that nothing productive is getting done when I go to school. Next week is English Week, so hopefully during the following week things will begin to approach some level of what I perceive to be ‘normalcy’? (Maybe normalcy IS children running around the school with multi-colored balloons in anticipation of an upcoming festival? Panama DOES have a lot of ferias/festivals/random holidays.)

Welp, I know that update was less than eventful, but ya know. . .maybe at some point during the next month I’ll actually sit down to write a GOOD blog post. I’ve been getting pretty lazy out this. Love me, anyway!

Much love to everybody at home in the Carolinas!