Thursday, March 13, 2014

Volunteer Visits!


Talk about things coming full circle.
1)   Remember the volunteer who I first visited a year ago when I was training? Anyway, she’s a tall and lanky one, and she COSed (finished her service) recently, so, being as she doesn't want to carry all of her things back to the States, I just came into possession of a good amount of clothing and shoes that actually fit me. . .did I mention it was free? Yea, I feel like a baller right now.

2)  I just had my visit from a current trainee! My visitor’s name is Chelsea and she’s a group 74 Teaching English trainee (soon-to-be volunteer!). Chelsea is a SUPER good time, and, although it’s sad to know that she won’t be placed in Darien, I’m at least hoping for an East Side site for her JUST so we can be friends!

SITE VISIT

I was pumped to get to hang out with one of the newcomers, talk to her a little about Peace Corps life, and teach her all I’ve learned about Darien province and about indigenous culture in Darien and the Comarcas Embera-Wounaan.

While Chelsea visited, we took a short trip to visit one of my East Side buddies in the Comarca Embera-Wounaan so that, while Chelsea was out in my site, she could also get a little context about where some of the people are from. (There are a lot of indigenous people in my site that either are from the Comarca and/or make trips to my site to shop before returning to their homes.) I always have a blast visiting volunteers in their sites to see where they live and how they interact with their gente. This trip was no exception, and the three of us enjoyed hanging around the community, playing/bathing in the river, and even enjoying some jungle meat and plantains that we cooked for dinner, gifted to us by some rather generous neighbors that had been hunting that day.


We also went fishing. Quick anecdote that illustrates what a lot of volunteers experience in their communities here in Panama:

Chelsea, Benja and I decided that we were going to go fishing, just for the fun of it. Benja had a spear and some goggles, so we hit the river armed to kill something and eat it for dinner on the off chance that we succeeded in the hunt.

As expected, us gringos weren’t really that adept at the whole catching-your-own-food thing, so Benja kind of moved his efforts over toward an area where a few of the neighbors were hanging out in the river. Seeing their resident gringo in distress and lacking the necessary skills to catch his dinner, the neighbors went into action. They immediately requested the goggles and spear and went to work catching several camarones (shellfish), and even added on couple of fish that they caught with their bare hands. Added to the veggies Chelsea and I brought from my site and the conejo (rabbit) and patacones (fried plantains) that we made later, (compliments of the same neighbors’ generosity,) we had a feast that night. It was delicious.

The point of the story is, here in Peace Corps Panama, us Volunteers don’t always find that our community members are apt to teach us how to do things. However, what they are always willing to do is help out a defenseless gringo by taking over the work. If you want to get something done and you don’t really know how, just stage a poor effort in front of your gente. They’ll take over from there.

Anyway, moving on to other parts of my site visit:

In sharp contrast to Comarca life, one of the realities of my site is that I essentially run the social gathering scene for Darien Peace Corps Volunteers. Being that I live in the travel hub, volunteers are constantly traveling through my site, so although Chelsea and I did pasear a lot in my community, we also did spend plenty of time hanging out with other Darien volunteers. She didn’t seem to have a problem with that, though. :)

I wasn’t really ready for Chelsea to leave, but I’m glad she got to stay out here as long as she did. She's now headed to finish up training in the training community and find out her site placement in a few weeks. I am excited for her site announcement so that I can see where she ends up living for the next two years, and I will definitely be visiting her in site once she’s all settled in!

Once again, much love to everybody in the States! Shout out to my Dad for finally applying for a passport. Now he just has to actually receive said passport in the mail and buy a ticket so he can come see what the Dirty D is all about!

P.S. Exciting news: I’m moving into a bigger house! So excited! This will be so much more accommodating to the numerous guests I tend to have, AND I’ll be able to bust a move on my new concrete floor without making my house fall apart. I’ll keep you all updated!

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