COS Conference

The last leg of my trip out of site was my week long COS Conference.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer nearing the end of my service, I am required to attend what is known as a ‘COS’ (Close of Service) Conference. This conference is the last time where my entire training group will all be together. It’s kind of like a ‘full circle’ moment. You see all the volunteers with whom you first arrived in country, with whom you formed your first Peace Corps friendships, and with whom you went through all the struggles of the first two months of training and the awkwardness of adjusting to your new sites.

Needless to say, it can be a little weird. (As in. . .wait. . .what? We’re leaving this place? Like now-ish?)

The conference serves several purposes. Being a governmental organization, we must (of course) discuss all the administrative paperwork and medical tests that will need to be completed before we leave the country. Second, we discuss several options of paths we’ll take following our Peace Corps service. Will we pursue graduate study? Enter the workforce upon our return to the States? Seek employment abroad? Extend our service with the Peace Corps or seek a position with Peace Corps Response? There are several options, and although it’s hard for us to imagine that our training group will be going our separate ways within a few months, it is exciting to discuss the different paths that our friends and colleagues have chosen to pursue following Peace Corps service.

Finally, the Close of Service Conference is a time for all of us to have some closure with the volunteers in our training group and with the Peace Corps office staff. We take some time to thank each other for the close friendships formed over the two years and for the support provided by the Peace Corps office. The conference ends with a dinner at the Country Director’s house, were the office staff graciously serves us our last office-provided meal. (I had grilled chicken in a mushroom sauce!)

In my training group, whenever we get together, music happens, and this meal was no different. Michael brought his violin, Danny brought his guitar, Kelsie brought her ukulele, and Sez and Mel brought their beautiful voices. Even I pitched in background vocals for a number. Again, it was kind of one of those ‘full-circle’ moments that kind of makes you reflect on all those moments that group 72 (my training group) has gotten together over the past two years.

What may have been the icing on that cake for me is that my group members voted for me for an award!

Last year, PC Panama training staff created an award called the Brandon Valentine Leadership award. Brandon Valentine was a member of PC Panama’s training staff who passed away almost a year ago now. He served in the Peace Corps in Jamaica and Panama before becoming Peace Corps staff and he was just an all-around incredible human being. Anybody who had ever talked to him for two seconds could tell you that. It’s just in his spirit.

In his honor, the training staff created the Brandon Valentine Leadership award to commemorate the spirit of Brandon and to recognize one volunteer from each training group who embodies the positive leadership of Brandon.

Volunteers are chosen for this award based on a vote by their peers. Our group is so amazing, there wasn’t just one volunteer chosen—there was a two-way tie! I won the award along with Max, another volunteer in my training group. We were both incredibly honored. To be voted for an award from volunteers in G72 is pretty special to me. I think very highly of them and they’ve got so many cool talents, so I wasn’t expecting lil’ ol’ me to get an award like this. Like I’ve said before, I’m just surprised my group members aren’t tired of listening to me talk after two years!

All in all, COS was a whirlwind of a week in which I realized that my service really will be coming to a close soon, and it made me stop and think about all of the things I’m thankful for in my Peace Corps service—the personal and professional growth I’ve had. The community members in Meteti that I’ve gotten to know and work with. The kids that are always a blast to be around. The Peace Corps staff that have supported me in my work and in my future goals. And of course, the Peace Corps Volunteers that will continue to be my friends long after I’ve left Panama.

This crazy ride isn’t over yet, though, so I’ll stop being sappy. My official COS (Close of Service) date is April 10, 2015, so I’m still enjoying the ride up and until that date when I am no longer a member of the US Peace Corps.

Much love to everyone in the States! Have a Happy Holiday season! I’ll be givin’ you all hugs and kisses pretty soon!

What I've been reading:

Kaffir Boy -- Mark Mathabane
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking -- Malcolm Gladwell
Living History -- Hillary Rodham Clinton

Darien and Chiriqui--Traveling Adventures

I’ve just been on a crazy whirlwind of spending three weeks out of my site traveling, working, and spending time with my fellow PCVs that I don’t get to see very often.

It’s been exhausting and exhilarating and—I’m not going to lie—emotional. I don’t have too much time left in Panama with my crazy new gringo friends. After all we’ve been through, our little Peace Corps family will be spreading across the US and across the world pretty soon!

I’ve been on some adventures recently. I took a trip around some parts of Darien I had yet to see. That was another crazy and exhausting experience. It’s pretty amazing that Peace Corps has granted me the ability to visit and really get to know some corners of the world I may never have gotten to visit otherwise. (Tourists have to go through a lot of red tape from border patrol to get out into the Darien Gap/Sambu region, but as Peace Corps, I can hop on boats and travel out there whenever I want!) During this trip I attend anniversary celebration of the indigenous reservation, Sambu. The indigenous people out there know how to have a good time! It was a very fun, family-friendly environment. Basketball tournaments, dance competitions, hold-your-breath competitions, etc.

Anyway, I can’t just talk about Darien, because I’ve been EVERYWHERE during the past three weeks.

Among other things, I went to Chiriqui to give a youth development seminar on the Costa Rican border with a few other PCVs. My friend Logan had invited me out there to participate. I was glad he did, because his site is on the other side of the country from me! If he hadn’t have invited me for this seminar, I may not have made it out there. I was so glad I did come out. His site is BEAUTIFUL! I also had a great time hanging out with my chiricano PCVs (PCVs living in Chiriqui). Living in Darien, I never get to see them.

The seminar was given to about seventy ninth graders in Logan’s school, and it was a huge success! Those kids are smart as a whip and understood all of the big ideas we were feeding them—values, self-esteem, goal-setting and sexual health.

Following three days in Logan’s site (and after he bought us all delicious fried chicken. . .that’s another story), I took off for San Felix (another town in Chiriqui) to crash at another PCV house for a few days. I stayed with Ben and Rachel, a couple of East Siders who moved West a few months ago. It kind of felt like a little mini-reunion!

After that. . .three days in Cerro Punta, Chiriqui. Beautiful town. Nice and fresco (chilly) as we like to say. I went there for a two-day training of 45 PCV facilitators for the Gender and Development Board’s summer youth conferences. I also practiced for our World AIDS Day Flashmob and, of course—celebrate Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving for me went a lot more smoothly than expected, given the amount of work I needed to get done during the festivities. The playlist for the Thanksgiving dances was bangin’ (thanks again to Logan) and there were generally positive vibes all around during the celebration. Like I always say, spending Thanksgiving at a celebration with Peace Corps Volunteers isn’t like it is with your family back in the States, but is always a good time spending a holiday being thankful to have your new family in Panama. :)

Side-bar: I won a superlative!

At Thanksgiving we always vote for Peace Corps superlatives for fun. (Most Panamanian, Most Crushed On, etc.). I won ‘Most Likely to be a Future Politican/President’. And then all my Peace Corps friends told me they’d vote for my (decidedly non-existent) ticket and we all decided what their individual cabinet positions should be. (I’m surprised those guys aren’t tired of listening to me talk after two years! Gotta love those people.)

Yea, Thanksgiving was a blast this year. The party’s not over then, though. I still had quite a few things to do. After spending a day at the beach (because I can), I traveled back to Panama City to participate in the Gender and Development Board’s Second Annual World AIDS Day Flashmob. It’s exactly what it sounds like. We flashmob in a public place, then we hold up posters with information about HIV and AIDS in order to promote awareness. We flashmobbed four times in the Cinco de Mayo/Casco Viejo area of Panama City.

That happened. It was SO MUCH FUN. It was hot. I was completely soaked in sweat from head to toe. I ran around in various stores on the shopping strip with a 10 second blurb about why I wanted to use their speakers to blast five minutes of pop music so that my group could dance. The participants had a great time.

After that was over, I hauled all my personal belongings and all of the Gender and Development Board’s work supplies over to Ciudad del Saber, near the Peace Corps office in Panama City. I’d be staying there for a week for the last leg of my journey out of site—COS Conference.