A scatter-brained post: She’s cool, though. She, like. . . gets it.

Here's a random blog post I found.  I wrote it back in late August and for some reason forgot to ever post it. :)

In Peace Corps Panama, the biggest compliment us volunteers can pay our Panamanian friends and colleagues is that they ‘get’ it, meaning that they kind of understand some unspoken aspect of us Peace Corps Volunteers—why we’ve chosen to do what we do and why we live the way we live.

The farther I get into my Peace Corps service, the more I’ve come to value that ability in a person: the ability to understand the crazy hippie-ness that is the Peace Corps lifestyle.

Sometimes I forget that other people differ from me in their way of thinking. Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) can be very like-minded in some ways. When you constantly interact with head-in-the-clouds PCVs, you end up kind of indulging your metaphysically intellectual tendencies and loosening your grip on ‘reality’ (you know, whatever that is.)

Luckily, there are gringos and Panamanians alike that I meet in this country that reel me back in and remind me that people are different and the Peace Corps hippie mentality is not the only way of looking at the world.

There are a myriad of groups that I’ve met during my time in the Peace Corps:

Panamanians – Obviously most people I meet are Panamanian. One major difference between the ‘Peace Corps’ culture and Panamanian culture is the collectivist, family-focused culture of Panamanians vs. the slightly rebellious, restless nature of PCVs. A lot of my PC colleagues and I are still looking to see what we can get out of life. We want to explore the world and break/change/bend the rules. The fact that we are in our mid-twenties and aren’t already married with kids strikes Panamanians as odd. They don’t understand our lack of urgency in remedying this issue. They worry that we’re all alone in the world. Why do we live so far from our families? Shouldn’t we be looking for spouses? Will we marry Panamanians? PCVs are not trying to entertain these questions. We can’t have kids right now—we’ve got some exploring to do, first! (I’m not going to lie, though, Panamanians have something in common with some of my family members in the States in this respect.) Even if they don’t understand our craziness, though, Panamanians always have our backs and are looking out for our best interest. We wouldn’t be able to get by in this country without their amazing hospitality!

US Army – I’ve translated for the US Army a couple of times during medical tours in Panama. They have a myriad of personalities in the ranks of their reserve officers. I think the biggest differences between PCVs and  US Army reserves are that either 1) they (the army) doesn’t understand what we’re trying to get done here. Like. . . are we just little PR ambassadors? Where are the numbers? The results? OR 2) Oh my gosh our lives are so hard. We don’t have hot water? We must be martyrs.

I must say, I do enjoy translating for the army. While I teach them a little of what I have learned about Panama, I also learn bits and pieces of the military culture. It’s a cultural exchange!

Religious groups – There are a couple of religious groups that I’ve gotten the opportunity to translate for while I’ve been in Panama. These people are super sweet. The difference between them and most PCVs is obvious. Think about it. First, you have the obvious fact that they are religious. Compare that to PCVs, who tend to occupy a space left of center and off the beaten track. Would you really expect most PCVs to subscribe to organized religion? Hence, the disconnect. Second, religious groups tend to want to do charitable works. Great! Help people. Flip that on its head and you have the Peace Corps. Sustainability is a concept that is forced down our throats from day one. If the Peace Corps had a religion, giving hand-outs would be a deadly sin—no charity over here.

Backpackers – Any Peace Corps Volunteer can tell you that being a PCV can kind of make you a little snobby toward backpackers. You know, us PCVs, *clears throat* we’re integrated in our community. We’re not just tourists, ya know, we live here. We, like, speak the language and kick it with the gente. We are overwhelmed when we encounter air conditioning, hot water and fast internet because our sites are just so rural.

Anyway, when you spend time in Panama City hostels from time to time, you occasionally run across backpackers. They all seem to have the same story about how many countries they’ve been to. Occasionally in Darien I might meet the random backpacker without an itinerary who thinks they’re super hard-core for coming out here and ‘How can I get to an indigenous village, you know, and see some indigenous culture?’

When we talk amongst us PCVs, sometimes we wonder how other people don’t get ‘it’, but the more you think of it. . .we are kinda. . .weird, huh?

I started thinking that maybe only other Peace Corps Volunteers occupy the same mental space as me, since the people in all of these other groups seemed to have some fundamental difference. Then I recently met some other gringos in a small international development organization. They really reminded me of PCVs, but none of them had ever served in the Peace Corps.

That’s pretty cool, maybe there are people like me outside of Peace Corps!

What I’ve been reading recently:

Open Veins of Latin America – Eduardo Galeano

Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts

As far as listening, I’ve recently discovered that Sara Bareilles is more awesome than the radio would lead you to believe. In other words, I’ve been listening to a lot of Sara Bareilles.

And Suddenly We’re in the Home Stretch

I took a trip to the States. SURPRISE!

After almost two years in Panama, I figured it’s about time that I come home to see my family. Yesterday, I returned to the Darien. A couple of observations:

I have decided that I will NEVER go that long without coming home again. Though I still haven’t finished scratching the travel itch, I have decided that I need to come home at least twice a year to see my people.

I mean, I came home and met a cousin that didn’t exist when I left for Panama. She’s like almost talking now.

Second observation: Now that I’ve had that little venture back to the motherland, I feel that I have a different perspective on this whole Peace Corps thing. Let me explain what I mean:

1) My Peace Corps service is finite.
I mean, I knew that I only had a few months left living in Darien, but did I really realize that it’ll only be a few short weeks before I’m saying goodbye to all the friends and family that have supported me for the past two years? Guys, that’s a big deal. I’ve invested a lot of time and energy here, and I don’t know when I’m ever coming back.

Yea, I’ll say it—I’m even gonna miss my cat. (I’ve started entertaining the idea of taking her to the States. Lord, help us all.)

2) It doesn’t take long to fly to the States. It’s not even hard.
When I flew to the States, I just left my house and got on a bus to the airport one morning and then. . .suddenly I was in America. It wasn’t even hard. It’s really easy, actually. Somehow I thought North Carolina was more. . .distant. The world is infinitely more connected that we realize.

3) It’s so easy to get wrapped up in your immediate surroundings.
When I’m in Darien, I’m in Darien. I don’t even think about Chiriqui, for Christ’s sake, let alone Charlotte. When I’m in Darien, I’m focused on the manuals I need to edit or the emails I need to send or when’s the next time I need to do my laundry. As soon as I flew to the States, I forgot all of that. Is that not crazy? All of the thoughts that occupy my mind when I’m in Panama, just—snap—gone. Now I’m thinking about what movie I want to Netflix, what I’m going to make my sister for breakfast or what time she gets off of work. Then I get back to Darien and—snap again—I’m right back in the old ebb and flow.

Peace Corps has certainly broadened my horizons. It has that effect on any Peace Corps Volunteer. Anybody would tell you that. What I’ve never heard anyone tell me, though, is how it kind of narrows the scope of your immediate concerns in some ways. Yes, I still read books and think the big thoughts, sometimes, but let’s be honest. I live in a small town. I leave about once a month to stay in the city for a night, and that’s about it. My daily life does not consist of any ‘big thoughts,’ but the little things that do consume my time suddenly become so important to me. I’m not kidding. It is important that I go see my English students at the university on Saturdays. It is important that I leave Alex a voicemail because she doesn’t have phone signal and never talks to anyone outside of Candelilla.

Moving to Panama and joining the Peace Corps has blown my mind in so many ways, and now taking a two week trip back to the States has left my head spinning again. We’re not done yet—my next two months promises to be a whirlwind (I’ll keep you posted!). When I get back to the States in April, I’ll literally just be all Googly-eyed from all the different perspectives I now have on any one idea.

One a side note, it goes without saying that it was wonderful to get to hang out with my family for two weeks! I pretty much spent every waking moment with my sister (except for that time when I binge-watched Glee for what I swear was like 15 hours) and it was great to catch up and have some chill time.

In the meantime, I’m back on the grind making the most of my last few months of life in the tropical paradise (read: sweaty armpit) that is the Wild East, Dirty D, Darien province of Panama.

Hugs and kisses to everyone in the States! I’ll see you soon!

Aja

What I’ve been reading:

My Life—Bill Clinton
Think Like a Freak—Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Gone Girl—Gillian Flynn
Half the Sky—Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl DuWunn
The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus—Richard Preston
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness—Michelle Alexander

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.

Foreign Service Related Things

More updates from this aspiring diplomat—and it’s good news!

I passed the Foreign Service Officer Test for the second time. Overall, my score this year improved compared to last year’s. Here’s a breakdown of the sections:

Bio: My score in this section improved dramatically, which is what I was most hoping for this time around. The way this section of the test is scored is shrouded in mystery, so I was a little worried about coming out with a low score in this section again on my second try—if I couldn’t do it right the second time, how could I hope to improve? No worries, though, I seem to have cracked the code!

English Usage: This score was about the same as last year (about a couple of points higher). I’m happy with that, because I was happy about how my score turned out last year. No complaints.

Job Knowledge: This is a section that needs some lovin’. My score was atrocious. It was even lower than last year! (Not that I expected my score to increase in this section: I didn’t study for this test.) No worries, though. I have a plan! I noticed that most of the questions I couldn’t answer had to do with the structure of the US government and legislative processes, so I purchased a Kindle version of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to US Government on Amazon.com and I’m going to read it. I’ve also been getting into reading political memoirs lately, so I’m certainly picking up some things there. (I’m currently reading Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton, which essentially reads like an 800 page CV. If this lady isn’t making a run for president in 2016 then pigs must already be flying.)

Essay: My essay score got a little bump. I’m happy with my score. I think it was safely a passing score, and there’s really no need to focus on increasing my essay score. Increasing my Job Knowledge score is what could really make a difference.

Either way, I passed and I’m happy about my results. I learned a lot from taking the test a second time. I think I’ll really be prepared for the test when I take it again next year!

In the meantime, the fact that I passed this year means I advance to the next stage of the Foreign Service selection process and I have a second opportunity to write my personal narrative essays to submit to the selection panel. Last year my essays did not get me an invite to the Oral Assessment, but this year, who knows? I’d like to get a shot at the OAs so that I can get practice for next year. Only one thing to do then—focus on writing the best essays I can! (I’ve done research into this, and I’m going about it differently this time!)

IN OTHER NEWS:

Remember how I said that an Embassy program is going to send some of my kids to the States? Well, Embassy personnel came to my site this past Friday to interview candidates. (They were impressed with the kiddos! I’m so proud. Next week we find out the results of the interviews.) I finally met in person with a public affairs diplomat that I had been emailing with during coordination for this program.

I didn’t know she was black (I won’t pretend I wasn’t excited about that) AND her hair was AMAZING. We didn’t have much time to talk around all the business of meeting parents and running kids around for interviews, but I did get to talk to her for a couple of minutes. She told me that Panama was quite an adjustment for her, since most of her tours had been in East Asia, particularly in China. At that point, I probably started talking too much, because that made me SUPER excited. CHINA?!? That’s NUMBER ONE on my list of places to serve! Her Mandarin must be amazing!

Meeting Embassy personnel always makes me super excited. And GUESS WHAT?!? She offered to write me a recommendation! I could’ve died. Every time I meet a diplomat it’s such a positive experience. (You guys must know what you’re doing!) I’m considering having her write me a recommendation for a fellowship she recommended I apply for.

Welp, those are all of the updates I have for right now. Things are going well in the D! The next couple of months promise to be pretty busy, so I’ll do my best to keep you all up to speed.

Much love to everyone in the States! Hugs and kisses (mwah)!

What I’ve Been Reading Lately:

Black Boy Richard Wright

The Audacity of Hope Barack Obama

Endgame Frank Brady

Slaughterhouse Five Kurt Vonnegut

The Social Animal David Brooks

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith

I Gotta Wear Shades

Y’all, my future so bright.

Or, I hope so anyway.

I feel like these days, grad school has become my word vomit.

I’m going to be a diplomat one day, y’all! These grad school apps are the first step in my five year plan of gaining entry into the Foreign Service by age 30.

. . .Did I just put that in writing? Guess I gotta put my money where my mouth is.

Anyway, I’ve been working on applications to six different graduate school programs in public policy and public affairs. I’m ALMOST. DONE.  (With the apps, that is.) Recently, I have been spending so much time in front of a computer screen. For a second there, my eyes were starting to go all Googly and I thought I was getting slight carpal tunnel.

I have decided to apply to six schools: UC Berkeley, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Harvard, Princeton, Syracuse and. . .at the last minute. . .I decided to apply to. . .d00k.

Yea, I know, I know. No, I will never wear d00k blue and I would NEVER cheer for the Blue Devils. Not even in a game of rock-paper-scissors. I have to apply there, though. It’s the only strong policy analysis program I’ve found in the state of North Carolina. (Carolina doesn’t have one—I checked.)

My recommenders have all been AWESOME in helping me out. At this moment there should be seven people in Chapel Hill and Panama City writing about my awesomeness. Hopefully this awesomeness combined with my essays/test scores/GPA will leap off the page and call to admissions officers and say THIS GIRL HAS THE REQUIRED LEVEL OF AWESOME TO EXCEL IN YOUR GRADUATE PROGRAM!

My goal is to submit these applications by the end of the month, and I’m well on my way to being able to beat my goal by about a week. Then I can focus on fellowship applications. (Yea, the process isn’t going to be over any time soon.)

In other news, I took the FSOT (Foreign Service Officer Test) again last week! Those of you who read this blog might recall that I took it blind last year and just barely passed. This year, I’m hoping to improve upon last year’s scores and pass so that I can have another shot at writing my personal narratives and hopefully get invited to the Oral Assessment this time around. This application is another practice round for when the time comes, but I still want to do as well as I can in all phases of the process. I’ll keep y’all updated on how this goes!

Everything’s going pretty well for me here in Meteti. As #presidentkennedy, I’ve been gearing up for some youth camps that the Gender and Development Committee will be hosting again this summer.

I’m also very excited to report that I’ve achieved the ultimate the Holy Grail of feel-good Peace Corps projects—the US Embassy is sending my high school kids to the States!

I’m just going to leave you all with that info for now. When I find out more information about the trip, I’ll let you guys know the whole story.

Love and hugs and kisses to everyone in the States! I’ve got about six months to wrap up my Peace Corps service and I’ll be in y’all’s kitchens eating your food and dancing to the music in my head in no time!

Schmoozefest 2014 and other shenanigans

I haven’t blogged in awhile. Why is that? Welp, when you’ve spent a year and a half living in the same place, those things that seemed crazy to you before suddenly become cotidiano (everyday). That’s not a bad thing, though! My life is certainly not mundane, and at the same time, if I update you every two weeks to let you know that everything’s still good, you’re not going to read that.

Cotidiano =/=Mundane. We killed another goat at my house, but I’m not gonna blog about that, for example.

Here's a really long update on things that happened recently that didn’t seem cotidiano:

State Department Visit

I have continued serving as a teaching assistant for the ‘English for All’ English class for high school students funded by the US Embassy and hosted at the private university (ISAE) just down from the road from me. Since the university has an Embassy-funded project (the English class), we make an effort to connect with the State Department when they make visits to the Darien (which tends to be every few months).

We traveled to Yaviza (the end of the Interamerican Highway, just before the infamous Darien Gap, but again. . .now cotidiano for a PCV in the Dirty D!). Once we arrived there, the State Dept personnel flew in on helicopters and attended a short event hosted by APRODISO, a community development organization in Darien. As an aspiring FSO with a touch of diplomacy nerd, I was super excited to be there to watch the small presentation and ceremony to welcome the diplomats to Yaviza. There’s not much I get excited about more than seeing people come together for a common goal, and I kind of internally flipped out during the APRODISO director’s calm yet passionate speech about the unique struggles faced by the people of Darien and the youth of Yaviza. Leaders like him, that are from the community in question, who have a vision of how to empower that community and who make the sacrifices to do it—these are the people that inspire me and they are the reason that I aspire to a career in public service. It was one of those days that kind of brought me back to square one and remind me why I do what I do.

As an added bonus, when I stood up during the beginning of the ceremony and introduced myself as Peace Corps, the State Department personnel kind of got that look like ‘oh, there is another gringo among us,’ haha. To reiterate what I’ve mentioned before, Yaviza is a place with a majority Afro-Antillean (i.e.: Black) population, so I blend in when I’m there, especially. I’m sure that before I introduced myself, the State Department thought I was a local.

The people from the State Department personnel that came to visit worked in the Narcotics Affairs Division. (It therefore makes sense that they would visit the Darien Gap region.) One diplomat was a former ambassador who is currently the global head of the division, and the other was the head of the Western Hemisphere’s affairs for this divison—what bad-ass job titles! (Please allow me some naivete regarding the danger and otherwise obvious lack of glamor associated drug-trafficking issues. Also, please excuse my French. I get excited sometimes and I couldn’t find an equally effective synonym to express the awesomeness of that job title.)

I got to shake hands, make small talk, and take a few pictures with the State Department personnel afterwards, and one of them gave me his card. After consulting my former roommate Danielle about the appropriateness of sending a friendly email, I sent this diplomat a short email to say thanks for his visit to the Darien and to express that, as an aspiring Foreign Service Officer myself, I was really excited to be able to attend the event and to meet him. The best part is—he emailed me back! I WAS SO EXCITED. Since I want to be a diplomat, talking to a diplomat is kind of like what most people experience when they meet an A-list celeb.

The diplomat was SUPER NICE and offered to mentor me through the FSO application process. Diplomats are the awesome-est people. For real.

Schmoozefest 2014

I was thankfully given the opportunity to attend a reception at the Ambassador’s house, or, as I like to call it, Schmoozefest 2014.

The Country Directors (i.e.: all the big bosses) of Peace Corps countries in the Americas, Carribean and the Pacific all held their conference in Panama this year. For this reason, the Ambassador was asked to host an event the Peace Corps staff. The Ambassador in all his awesomeness SPECIFICALLY ASKED: “Can we invite some Peace Corps Volunteers?” This is why Johnathan Farrar is awesome. Or, you know, as I like to call him, J-Money. (Cuz you know we’re tight like that.)*

Volunteers were each invited to bring one counterpart, so I took my co-teacher Veronica, who teaches 9^th grade English at my school. We were both SO EXCITED to go to the Ambassador’s house, and once we got there, we were attached at the hip trying to talk to people as much as possible. I introduced her to Peace Corps staff and she introduced me to some facilitator’s that she had met. Under pressure from Veronica, I even took a picture with her and Juan Carlos Varela, the president of Panama (and a Georgia Tech alum, go ACC)! It was a dream, we both decided. Highlights included:

• Meeting PC staff from DC who had recently lived in Afghanistan for three years heading up USAID’s mission there.
• Eating DELICIOUS snacks that were constantly circulated while we roamed participating in different conversations happening around the room. (The coconut chicken and lemon cheesecake squares were my favorite!)
•  Nonstop wine that kept appearing in my glass. The closer you stand to the open bar, the easier for the attendant to keep an eye on the contents of your glass and never let it go empty.    

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·       Not to harp on the material things, though. Yes, the Ambassador’s house was really nice and the snacks and wine were great, but what really excited me was MEETING PEOPLE! These are people that all work in a line of work similar to what I’d like to do with my life! They were not only awesome people with cool stories, but they were down-to-earth, patient, and genuinely interested to hear about my aspirations to study policy analysis and work for the State Department. It was a dream to be there! My counterpart and I had a blast, and I told her it was a little snapshot into my future life. I’m talkin’ about it, so I plan to be about it!

Also, I just wanted to mention that the global director of Peace Corps was there (aka, my boss’s boss’s boss) and she was TOTALLY warm and friendly and approachable and I was blown away. Peace Corps is kind of amazing sometimes.

Ovaltine

We killed another goat** at my house. I named her Ovaltine. I told people that was because if later, when we eat her, if you’re hungry and you want seconds, you can just say “more Ovaltine, please!”

Ovaltine and I begun our relationship under awkward circumstances. While on the porch of my regional leader’s house, I called Ovaltine’s owner to ask if he would be delivering the goat to my house that day. He informed me that he had, in fact, already delivered her and that she was tied to one of the posts on my house. I said ‘Great, thanks!’ and hung up the phone.

A little later, as it got dark outside, I left the regional leader house and walked down the road back to my own house. Now, once you leave the road and walk back toward my house, it’s a little dark at night, but I know where I’m going and I’ve made that walk a million times, so it’s no big deal.

This time was different, though. As I neared my house, I had an epiphany. Somewhere in the darkness there may or may not be a farm animal. Did he say he tied up the goat in the front or the back? Didn’t mention. Damn. What do I do? I have a little bit of an irrational fear of farm animals. I haven’t spent much time around them, so I don’t know what they’re going to do! Dogs? Fine. Cats? Fine. Squirrels, birds, bugs? I got that. Goats? No way.

The neighbors were all in for the night. Nobody around to help me through this. I can see the shadow of a large-ish animal moving in the distance. I don’t dare go any closer. I do the only thing I know how to do.

I call Amber.

“Amber. There is a goat. I’m afraid. It’s in front of my door so I can’t go in my house.”

“Aja. THAT GOAT IS NOT GOING TO HURT YOU. You can do it. GO TO THE DOOR. NOW.”

“Noooooo, I think I can see it looking at me. Why is it looking at me? My neighbors aren’t here. Maybe I’ll call Kramer (the regional leader) so he can walk me to the door. You think he’ll do that?”

“Aja, you DO NOT NEED TO CALL KRAMER. Just WALK TO THE DOOR. The goat is HARMLESS. It’s AFRAID OF YOU.”

Yea, this conversation goes on for awhile.

Then, Gracias a Dios (Thank God) my landlord’s seven-year-old daughter appears out of nowhere. She likes to come into my house and watch me do mundane tasks like eat cereal or brush my teeth. I talk to her:

“Hey, Nobelis. I need to get into my house, but there’s a goat in front of my door and I’m afraid of it. Are you afraid of the goat.”

“No. (In that ‘duh’/’wtf’ tone of voice.)”

“Well, can you walk me to the door”

“Ok.”

As I approach the door and look for my key to open the lock:

Nobelis: “Ok, is that it?”

“No. You have to stay here until I open the door and turn the light on so that it’s not so scary.”

By this point Nobelis’s dad and granddad had appeared on the porch wondering what was going on. I pointed out the goat to them and explained that I was afraid of it. They thought that was hilarious.

Even at the time, I thought this situation was kind of funny. It’s just another example of silly situations in which I would never have found myself were it not for Peace Corps.

Dirty D and the Samboozers

The day after the goat roast, a lot of volunteers were still hangin out on my porch. Being the hippie Peace Corps Volunteers that we are, we had a couple of guitars, and a harmonica in our midst in addition to my flute, so we started jammin. As we messed around on our instruments, one of our more comedically-gifted colleagues began to write some HILARIOUS lyrics about a couple of our Peace Corps friends in the Darien. We arranged and rehearsed the song for about an hour and a half before finally presenting it to our regional leader and recording it on an iPhone. When that recording makes it to the internet, I’ll be sure to post it on the blog! We had a great time being silly. We named ourselves “Dirty D and the Samboozers.”

Rainy Day Radio Show

Finally, my radio co-host Danny Vetter and I recently did another radio show! The theme of this one was Rainy Day songs (all Danny’s idea, he’s full of good ones!). We thought this was appropriate for rainy season. The show talks about the different meanings behind the theme of rain in American pop music, and we play some jams for the people of Darien. I’ll post a link to the show below if you’d like to listen. Obviously Danny and I speak Spanish on the show, but if you’d like to listen to the music we chose to play, that needs no translation!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B18OtlFGxYuMdmo3a3JVczJnY3c/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks for reading my blog! Hugs and kisses to all of my family and friends in the States. I miss you all dearly, and yet it does not seem possible that I only have seven short months left here in beautiful Panama. I’ll be hugging you all before you know it!

--Aja

*That’s a lie and we’re not tight at all, I just like to tell people that. He knows my face, though! (That’s something, right?)

**I learned recently that what we had been calling a goat this whole time is actually a short-haired sheep. Tail facing up = goat. Tail down = sheep. Go figure. We continue to all it a goat, anyway. It looks like a goat, alright? Either way, when it’s boiled, shredded and between two pieces of break it looks like my lunch, so that’s what I call it. Lunch.

What I've read, recently:

Shantaram--Gregory David Roberts
Lord of the Flies--William Golding
The Bottom Billion--Paul Collier