One Year In

A couple of days ago marked one year since I first flew into Panama.

The fact that this date also coincides with the beginning of a new school year here in Panama makes it feel like some things are coming full circle. A year ago I didn't even know where the Darien was, a few months later I was super salty about being placed there to live for two years, and fast forward to today and I'm here making it work (well, ya know. . .me and cartucho!).

Walking up to the school for the first time in a few months gave me flashbacks about what it felt like to be in a new place, seeing everything around me with new eyes and wondering about the kind of people that I would meet in Meteti. It's so strange to now feel some sense of normalcy and to feel (at least a little) like I belong in the group of teachers. This time around I'm not a newbie at school!

The new group of Teaching English Volunteers have already arrived in Panama, and I'll be recieving one of them to visit in my site in a few weeks. It'll be exciting to have someone visit my site who actually wants to. . .ya know. . .visit my site. (I have a lot of people crash at my house who are just looking for a bath, a place to sleep, and maybe a few beers.) I'm excited to share my new home with someone and tell them about my work and the province in which I live!

Random shout out to Robin Thicke. I'm listening to some solid R&B right now while I'm writing this post.

What have I been up to? Random bullet points:

--GAD Camp (Youth Leadership Camp) about 45 minutes down the road from me. A week long, had a blast, got tired of kids by the end of the week. Brought three kids from my community to the camp, and I'm making them help me form my frisbee team. Yay, mwhahaha.

--UWB Camp (Ultimate Frisbee Sports/Leadership Camp) on the other side of the country. So many bus hours. Had a blast being a lazy facilitator. Brought one kid from my community to UWB camp, and I'm going to make him help me with my Frisbee camp, too.

--Panama Missions (Missionary Group that does medical tours) 30 minutes down the road from me. I hung out with them, ate their free food, enjoyed their air conditioning, and interpreted for the locals that came in to get a little free medical attention.

--Ambassador visited again. (You know, just to see me, because we're besties.) That parenthetical part was a lie, but still, it was pretty cool to see him and the Public Affairs diplomat that has been so helpful to me (she helped me get the boxes of books I have in my house). Ambassador and diplomat visited the Panama Missions clinic and took some PCVs to dinner and were present at a little graduation ceremony that was held for the students in the Saturday English class that the Embassy funded, held in the private university where I now sit taking advantage of free internet. The Ambassador (or, as I like to call him, J-Swagg) (ok that parenthetical part was also a lie) is mad cool, and so is Kristin (the diplomat that travels out with him), and they make me super excited about doing Peace Corps projects when they visit.

Ok, there's the word vomit about my life. More exciting things:

--One of my homies in Meteti just got transferred to work in my school as an English teacher! This is super exciting. Imagine that feeling when you find out one of your friends is now gonna be at work when you go there. BAM! Now when I have nothing to do at school, I can just hang out in his classroom and it counts as doing work. YESSSSS.

--I had such a good time at GAD camp (and hanging with my 'roommate'/GAD Rep Danielle and doing GAD things) that I decided I want to run for GAD Board. (GAD=Gender and Development Committee of Peace Corps Panama. They do warm fluffy things like youth seminars and camps, and workshops for women's artisan groups and whatnot.) More on this later.

Sorry y'all, I realize this is a super drab blog post, I just haven't had time recently to slow down and think. Writing is an introverted activity, and all of the extraversion I have been exhibiting lately is not really conducive to blogging.

Much love to everyone back in the States!!! Mwaaaaah!!