Año Nuevo!

Happy New Year Internet!

I spent a lovely quiet New Year's in site.  During the day I got some lesson planning done and cooked a big New Year's Eve meal. I made garlic mashed potatoes, lentils with onion and garlic, chicken with taco seasoning and onions that would have been part of the cheddar cheese quesadillas I was going to make, salad dressing for a salad of carrots (the cucumbers were spoiled), and some chicha de naranjilla (juice from a fruit that is like a lemon and an orange put together).  

I didn't end up eating any of that though because Prima invited me to dinner where we had rice with guandu (a kind of bean), pork, and a salad of potatoes and carrots with mayonnaise.  It was really good.  There were a ton of fireworks that night and some people burned the "old year" in the form of a muñeco (doll) stuffed with straw to represent giving themselves a fresh start for the new year.  I chose to celebrate in a calmer way, so at midnight I was sitting in bed sewing and watching Tangled.  
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For the next few weeks I'm going to be participating in a blogging challenge called Blogging Abroad for people living, working and volunteering abroad, so bear with me as I introduce myself.  

For our first "prompt" we've been asked to write about why we're living abroad.  As I'm relatively close to the 12 month mark of my Peace Corps experience (and it's a new year) it's also a great opportunity to reevaluate my goals and look back on my experience to date.

Here we go:

A beach on Long Island

Who Am I?
My name is Kara and I grew up on Long Island in New York.  I went to college at American University in Washington, DC where I graduated with a dual BA in Spanish and International Studies with a focus on Peace and conflict resolution.  After college I started working in the DC professional theater scene as a stage manager, electrician, and sometimes carpenter.  I loved being surrounded by art and artists all the time and the feeling of actively creating something. 

Assistant Stage Managing in DC

Peace Corps
After a few years I wanted some more stability than the freelance life offered, I was interested in doing more public service, and I missed living abroad.  I'd been interested in Peace Corps since I first heard about it in college, but it was never the right time to actually finish my application, until it was.  Juggling 4 or more jobs just got exhausting, but I was still nervous about changing my entire life.

After I applied I waited 2 months to have an interview where I was nominated for a volunteer position with the Education sector and then I waited 6 months to be invited to serve in Panama and then I waited 9 months to leave for service.  It was a long (and sometimes) frustrating process, but I'm so glad I stuck it out.  The application process has since completely changed.

After joining the Peace Corps in February 2015 I went through three months of pre-service training with 23 other Peace Corps Teaching English Trainees.  At the end of the sixth week of training we received our site announcements where we would be living and working for the next two years.  I've now been in the Peace Corps for just over 10 months and been a volunteer for just under 8 months.

Swearing In Ceremony, May 2015

During the application process complete flexibility was emphasized as an important trait. To that end we talk about "managing" or "adjusting" expectations a lot as volunteers.  Things rarely go completely as planned.  I tried to move through training letting it inform me as to what I should expect and what goals I should set, without bringing a ton of my own expectations to the experience.

I knew I loved teaching and that I wanted to make a positive impact in the world and improve my Spanish, but that was where my initial expectations and hopes ended.  

After training that changed a bit.  

So, How'd Ya Do?

I present a report card on a summary of my goals to date:

• Integrate into my Community:
• School: A-
• Community: C

             I worked really hard to create relationships with my counterpart teachers at school and with the students and was really successful.  I was less successful in integrating into my community.  I have a pretty big site and the heat and my own introverted nature made getting to know people hard.  I have some really good friends in site and I'm planning on making more in the coming year.

• Teach a Community English Class: E (for Effort)

Didn't happen.  I tried to organize it, but it never came together.  I'm planning on starting a class in February or March once school starts again.

• Start an English Club for students: E

Also didn't happen.  The timing was poor with the November holidays and the end of the school year.  Another goal for March.

• Organizing a book drive and create a reading club for students: E

I'm just starting to work on this seriously now, but I'm hopeful to have some books at the start of the school year to start working with students and grow the project from there.

• Read books, learn how to sew, write letters, generally have fun: A

This year has been full of challenges and triumphs, but I love my life here.  I read 20 books since I arrived in Panama, learned how to embroider and taught myself to cross stitch, became pen pals with friends and family back in the US, took some cool trips, and formed some strong friendships with other PCVs and people in site.

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I'm really excited to continue to share my passions for learning (about everything from the correct way to cook lentils to teaching methodologies and equal access to education) and art with Panamanians, PCVs, and the Internet.  I guess my overarching dream would be to infect people with curiosity about the world and all of the beautiful plurality and diversity that exists.

Also, I have a cat named Canela and I love her very much.

Lady Canela in a hammock

Some New Year's Resolutions:

• Get better at Spanish
• Learn how to cook (specifically things with vegetables)
• Become more confident at public speaking

"If you judge people you have no time to love them"

-Mother Theresa

Blogging Abroad's Boot Camp Blog Challenge: Starting January 2015

A (Wholly Incomplete) Summary of the Events of the Past 10 Weeks: Part 2

In Part 1 we left our heroine in the middle of the whirlwind of training, anxiously awaiting site placement and desperately trying to remember the difference between gusano and guineo (one means "worm" and the other means "banana").

Part 2

Week 6 

Tech week!  TE traveled to the province of Cocle to work in schools with Panamanian English Teacher counterparts for the week.  The goal was to observe our counterpart’s teaching style, then co-plan a lesson with them, and finally co-teach that lesson.  I had a great time during tech week.  My counterpart was wonderful and it was really fun to be in the wonderful chaos of a classroom again.  We also gave a mock mini-SECNA about the work we did in the schools during tech week.

The night before site placement TE had a hat-themed dinner at a cool restaurant and I won a piece of delicious tres leches cake for my Mad Hatter hat that I made out of construction paper.  On Friday we gathered in Cocle with the training staff and Country Director to find out where everyone (TE and CEC) in G76 was going to be placed for their two years of service. We also met our RLs (Regional Leaders) who are third year volunteers who live in the provincial capital and offer support to volunteers in the individual provinces.  Two other TE friends of mine and I were placed in Veraguas.  We all have our own sites, but we live pretty close to one another.  I’m really excited to visit people once I have the opportunity.  We had a free overnight after site placement, so we all went to a beach to hang out and swim before…

Week 7 

Site Visit!  On Monday we went to Panama City to meet our community guides and talk about expectations and rules and cultural differences, the list goes on.  It was a really great experience and Maria (my Community Guide) is fantastic.  On Tuesday (or Monday night for those that live far away) everyone started their first journey to site to spend a week there.  I love  my site (despite being sick all week and not really being able to enjoy it much).  Everyone at the school was super welcoming and I’m really excited to start working at the end of training.

Week 8 

Back to classes in the Training Community.  The people who are going to (or near) indigenous communities in the Comarca Ngabe-Buble started learning Ngabere.  I really wanted to learn it too because we could audit the class if we wanted to, but I was unfortunately still sick.  Also, one of my wisdom teeth became infected (basically, I was driving the struggle bus).

Week 9 

Last week in the Training Community!  Last week of classes, a language placement exit exam (to be a volunteer in Panama you have to be at Intermediate Medium by the end of training), the presentation of our mock SECNA, and the planning and execution of the despedida (going away party) for our host families.  It was a wild week that flew by. 

The despedida was really fun.  The LCFs (Language and Cultural Facilitators) brought a bunch of tipico clothes for us to borrow for the party.  I ended up wearing a beautiful blue montun (a skirt that is simpler than a polleron) and red tambleques (beautiful beaded flowers that women wear in their hair for celebrations). 

Then it was time for the great battle of fitting all the things I’d accumulated (notebooks and papers and clothes and supplies) into the luggage I initially brought with me.  I won in the end, but my hiking backpack was insanely stuffed and really, really heavy.

Week 10 

All of G76 returned to Ciudad del Saber to stay in the really swanky dorms.  We spent the week finishing up training sessions and other administrative things before swear in that Thursday.  I also had to have that infected wisdom tooth taken out, but due to magic (and probably some mad orthodontic surgeon skills) I never felt any pain and I was absolutely fine by the evening of the day of the procedure. 

The Swearing in Ceremony was really nice.  The training staff came to celebrate with us and the Country Director for Panama, representatives from ANAM and MEDUCA, and one of the US Embassy officers all made remarks.  Two of the trainees from G76 ((one CEC and one TE) also made speeches and it was really moving to hear them speak so eloquently about the craziness of training and our collective hopes for our two years of service.  After Swearing In we had a brief brindis (literally translates to “toast”, but in Panama usually looks more like tapas-style food and chicha—really sweet juice) before we started our weekend of celebrating.  G76 decided to stay in hostels in Panama City to celebrate there together for a few days before heading to our sites.

That brings us to present day.  I just finished moving to site!  More (hopefully) regular updates to follow!

All of my photo-taking technology wasn't functioning well for the majority of training, but please enjoy these cell phone shots from the past few days:

Catedral in Casco Viejeo

Cinta Costera

Gazebo in the Plaza next to the Cathedral

View from a Hammock