Mes de la Patria
Canela
Neighbors
Reader´s Theater
Thanksgiving
To Present Day...
Mes de la Patria
The best 4th of July I ever spent was my last one in DC. We watched fireworks from the roof of my friend's house (my first lessons in "don't look up" and "keep your shoes on"). It was a beautiful and terrifying chemistry refresher (anyone know what colors magnesium and potassium burn?).
In Panama we celebrate independence for a whole month. The big celebrations are:
November 3rd: Separation Day, when Panama gained its independence from Colombia,
November 4th: Flag Day
November 5th: Colon Day
November 10th: Primer Grito in Los Santos
November 28th: Independence day, when Panama gained its independence from Spain
There is a parade somewhere in Panama almost every day of the month. During November I attended or marched in 9 parades. Two of those were on the same day in different locations and one was a cancer awareness parade.
For parades everyone dresses up in varying levels of Panamanian traditional (tipico) dress whether or not you're in the parade. Many of the teachers at my school have these gorgeous fitted dresses embroidered with traditional pollera designs and I want to try to sew one for myself for next year.
A Sea of Polleras Montunas with blusas Santeñas
Roxana Empollerada
The only tipico clothes I have are my cutarras (really comfortable leather sandals), which will get ruined if I wear them to parades because it invariably rains buckets.
My parade wear is usually jeans, a white blouse, some tambleques (beaded flowers that you pin into your hair) and these really awesome rubber sandals that I found in the market in Santiago (take that aguaceros).
Parades are typically preceded by an acto (a patriotic cultural performance) that starts with an invocation by the local priest and may include a tamborito (traditional Panamanian music with drums and call-response style singing), tipico dancing, speeches, choral poems, and other musical performances by students or members of the community.
Parades may include: school bands, students dancing tipico, floats, tunas (marching tamborito), flag/fan/dance/machete student corps, gymnastics teams.
Manuela wearing a more
modern-style tipico dress
A Gymnastics Team
All of the parades, cultural events, and "day" celebrations (Students' Day, Teacher´ss Day, etc.) ate the entire month of November (as promised by every PCV I spoke to), so I didn´t have much time in the classroom, which was frustrating, but it was really fun to participate in all the festivities and I feel like I strengthened some of my relationships with my counterparts at school and community members.
The staff and other PCVs told us that our first year of service really is just about integrating into your community and as I approach my year anniversary of Peace Corps service I´m realizing this is absolutely true. In my typically industrious, goal-focused nature I struggled with wanting to work, but having a hudred barriers come up. It´s about redefining what "work" is. I`ve received equally excited reactions and compliments to my adventures in cooking and eating Panamanian food and playing hide and seek with the kids as I have to my time in the classroom.
Canela
Canela is probably my biggest accomplishment since coming back from med hold in Panama. She's a 12 week old grey kitten that I adopted from another PCV here in Veraguas. I've never had a pet before, so it's a steep learning curve, but I loved her pretty immediately, so I think we'll be ok. We spent some quality hammock time with a good book the other day. Pre-Canela I didn't think sitting in my hammock could get more relaxing, but I was wrong. Living with a kitten is an interesting experience. I alternately call her "Canela" or "terrorism", but I know all of the flying ninja attacks from behind walls and furniture are really expressions of love.
Won´t you be my Neighbor?
I have the best neighbors in the world. They´ve basically adopted me as daughter number 6 and I´m beyond grateful for them. Prima teaches second grade at school and her husband Mariano has a finca (farm). They´re always giving me food and fixing things (including getting Canela out of a tree and helping me hang clotheslines). Their daughter Carmen is one of my English teacher counterparts at school and her children, Manuela and Manuel, are my chief playmates. Maria lives across the street and we chat a lot. She loves to ask about Canela. Prima is going to teach me more embroidery (she sewed the fan that Maneula is holding) and I´m going to ask her to teach me how to cook Panamanian food. Becoming friends with them is probably one of my biggest accomplishments of this first year.
Reader's Theater Competition in Veraguas
Students reading their script during the competition
Johnna´s students won!
Reader's Theater is a really cool activity we can use to help students increase their reading comprehension, confidence, and to improve their pronunciation. Similar to a staged reading of a play, students rehearse and prepare a short script which they then perform.
In Veraguas we worked with MEDUCA (Panamanian Ministry of Education) and local schools to organize a competition for primary and middle schools students to perform for their peers. In the weeks leading up to the competition we visited schools around the province to help students practice. It was really great to see other schools and meet more students.
The day of the competition we organized the space and set up the brindis (snacks and juice) and trophies. There was some trouble with connecting the sound system , so I sat down and sorted through all the cables until we got the mic to work and then I "ran the board" during the event because we didn´t have a mic stand and there wasn´t a way to mute it without going to the amp. You can take the techie out of the theater and stick her in an auditorium in Panama...
After the event we all went out for ice cream and Pizza Hut. I really miss NY pizza.
Team Reader´s Theater
Thanksgiving (x2)My first Thanksgiving in Panama was really quiet. I made a bunch of food for myself (including splurging on real cheese and a failed attempt at making porotos) and watched movies at home. A week later 175 PCVs went to Chiriqui for the weekend for a holiday celebration. We ate, danced, and enjoyed the beautiful fresco mountain weather. I wore a sweater, took my hair down, got to take a hot shower, and ate fresh strawberries. It didn´t feel like I was in Panama anymore and It was an amazing weekend. So amazing, that I have no photos.
To Present Day...
After the celebration I popped home for the night to take care of Canela and for my first co-teaching adventure. The transition from mountain paradise to dry season heatwave was rough.
I taught some 5th and 6th graders about Thanksgiving. We did vocabulary and an attempt at a group cloze activity. It was my first time formally teaching here, so it was a little daunting and full of deltas, but I think it went well. Next year is going to be fun.
Then I headed back to my home sweet hostel in Panama City for TOT (Training of Trainers) to prepare for G78´s PST. It feels so strange to be on the precipice of training the incoming group when it still sort of feels like I just got here, but I´m excited to meet the new volunteers.
The following Monday the school had a celebration for the students who are in the band and participated in all the desfiles. There was a lot of delicious food and the students really enjoyed it. The following day was the Christmas party where the entire school went to mass in the morning and then had a big brindis afterwards. The students also received gifts. Most boys got baseball bats or mitts and most girls got dolls or craft kits. Sometimes the gender role definitions really smack me in the face here. Goals for next year include starting conversations about gender roles with students and to hopefully encourage them to think about the logic behind some assumptions.
School is over. I´ve been spending a lot of time in my hammock sewing. Graduation is on Monday. I´m excited to see the 9th graders graduate (and hopeful that they´ll keep studying).
Up Next:
- Graduation
- Summer English camp
- Celebrating Christmas and New Year´s with Prima and family
- Snorkeling at Isla Coiba
- Eating Pizza in NY
- Seeing Casey get married in DC
- Listening to some good music in Brooklyn
- Planning and plotting for next year
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