So, They Say It's Your Birthday...

This is my second of three Peace Corps birthdays. 

Birthdays, Panama Style

Before my birthday my only Panamanian birthday experience here so far has been Prima’s birthday last week.  We sang Happy Birthday, had sheetcake that her daughter bought from a supermarket in Santiago, red jello with ice cream on top (a party favorite here), and I got to take a swing at the piñata (full of hard candies and noisemakers) with the rest of the kids.  It was a lot of fun.

·      Part 1

This year my new friend Gabby from G78 was visiting me for the week.  We spent Friday morning at school observing and hanging out with Cora (my CP who teaches English for grades 7-9).  We even did some family member vocabulary review with the students in preparation for a project that they’re going to do next week.

In the afternoon we went to El Palo de Granadillo, which is a tree in a nearby community that only blooms around Easter.  A lot of people from all over Panama come to see the tree bloom because it’s considered a holy place and the flowers have medicinal uses for pain relief. 

After we got back from the tree Gabby and I hung out for a bit and started making dinner before heading back to Prima’s house for an holajdre making lesson.  Hojaldres are pieces of fried dough that are a common breakfast food in Panama.  After our  cooking lesson we finished making dinner (quesadillas and mashed potatoes) and watched Big Hero 6 (which was not what I was expecting at all).

El Palo de Granadillo

One of the famous flowers

I finally visited the Rio (river) that my town is named after

And found the mysterious hidden IPT (technical high school) near my town

·      Part 2

The next morning on my actual birthday we spent the first half of the day at a youth leadership project development workshop at the FUSODEP office in Santiago because they’re interested in collaborating with Peace Corps to create some sustainable (led by Panamanian youth) opportunities for youth in Santiago to participate in extracurricular activities that would fill needs that the youth leaders identify in Santiago.  It’s a pretty fantastic idea and we’re really excited about it, though we’re still developing what we’re actually going to do in the community. 

The workshop was great and it was awesome to show the visiting  G78ers a larger scale project that we’re working on in Veraguas (especially because it has such high potential for being sustainable and making a huge positive impact).

After the workshop we bopped around Santiago for a bit, went to the mercado (market area with a lot of shopping), got raspao (shaved ice with fruit flavoring and condensed milk), and finally explored the new mall that they’re building on the outskirts of the city.  It’s crazy big and they’re putting in a movie theater (Santiago’s second one), but the really awesome part is that there’s a bus that goes there for free from the mercado (saving 40 cents in bus fare).  

After the mall adventure we got dinner at this really cool restaurant and hung out after to bake carrot cake and watch most of NO, which is a really cool movie about the “No campaign” that helped end the dictatorship in Chile.  Gael Garcia Bernal is a fantastic actor and I'm sort of obsessed with democratic political transitions.

Birthday Dinner with Team Veraguas and the G78ers who were visiting for the week!

Dinamicas (Ice Breakers) during the Youth Leadership workshop!

·      Part 3

The next day I did laundry, chatted with my parents for a bit, and celebrated with my neighbors.  We had cake and sang “Happy Birthday”.  I almost have all the words to the Panamanian version; it’s different than the one I learned in Chile.  After celebrating I fell asleep in my hammock with a good book (Little Bee, go read it) while waiting for my laundry to dry before eating some delicious leftover pasta for dinner.

Birthday cake with best friends

Singing Happy Birthday

Delicious Cake that Prima got for my Birthday

Singing Happy Birthday to Manuel too!

Really solid birthday.

And now for a little retrospective:

·      Ten years Ago

I was 17 and in the 11^th grade.  I spent all my time studying Chemistry and American History,  and writing and reading for English class (and for fun).  I was in Marching Band, chorus, the school musical (Bye Bye Birdie), and jazz choir.   

When I wasn’t studying or at school I was dancing (Ballet, Jazz and Irish), sitting in Greg’s living room watching B-movies, or not-quite-loitering in front of East Sevs (one of two 7-11s in my town).  I worked for my dad on weekends.  I had my driver’s permit, but not my license and I hadn’t started seriously thinking about leaving Long Island.

I had just met the girl who would become my best friend/sister and future co-star of the “Kara and Jess show” where we do things like make incredible messes while making box brownies, get lost in East Patchogue, and go “piano-man-ing” (driving aimlessly) with the windows rolled down and the music blasting.

·      Five Years Ago

I was 22 and a senior in university.  I was working toward finishing a dual degree in Spanish/Latin American Studies and International Studies/Peace and Conflict Resolution.  I was studying Arabic for fun and I had just gotten back from a semester abroad in Santiago, Chile. 

I had moved to a new apartment with old roommates where I built a free-standing wall to partition part of the living room into my bedroom.  I went back to my job working at the university mainstage as a technician (carpentry and electrics) and Box Office Assistant/House manager.  We were about to go into rehearsals for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead , my last of 11 shows with the Rude Mechanicals student Shakespeare troupe.   I was back to dancing (Modern and Jazz/Contemporary) after stopping for a few years and I was almost over a severe knee sprain and I hadn’t injured my shoulder yet.

I had just gotten back from my Grandma’s funeral and been rejected by Teach For America.  I had no idea what I wanted to do after graduation, but I knew I wanted to stay in DC, so I was about to attend my first tech cattle call to solicit theater work and start my freelance life.

I can’t believe how much has changed and how remote, yet recent it still all feels.

Year Bucket List

• Learn ASL
• Facilitate a seminar solo
• Work out at least twice a week
• Write in my journal for 10 minutes every day
• Read for half an hour every day
• Sew a dress for Fiestas Patrias in November
• Hike Volcan Baru
• Bake cookies with Prima’s daughters
• Practice Spanish for at least 1 hour every day
• Take the Foreign Service Officer Exam
• Retake the GRE
• Do cool stuff in site (in all the many forms that can take) 
• Visit the provinces in Panama I haven't been to yet 

Backpack, Backpack...

January was a wild month.  A few days after the New Year I set out on a new adventure: going back to the States to visit my family and friends for the first time in almost a year.

A summary of events (but mostly food):

Part 1: Panama to New York 

The moment I arrived at my mother's school

Getting to New York was an adventure.

I left site around noon on the 5th (with a delicious send off lunch from Prima).  It was actually pretty emotional to be leaving, knowing that I was going back to the US.

Delicious lunch from Prima

I got to Panama City around 5pm, ate wings at the Gorilla food court for dinner.  Every time I go to Albrook I get a little bit of culture shock.  There are video screens that show advertisements on the hands-free sink faucets in the bathrooms.

My flight left Panama at midnight on the morning of the 6th.  I was operating with my American sense of what international travel (or travel in general) looks like and I arrived at the airport around 7pm (being early is one of my five favorite things and I was too impatient to walk around Albrook anymore) and was told that they wouldn't start checking people into the flight until 9pm (which turned out to be more like 9:30).  Luckily I had my sewing with me and made friends with a really nice Canadian woman.

I didn't have to check any bags and getting through security was quick (though my sewing scissors didn't survive).

After finally getting to the gate I bought myself a hot chocolate for a treat.  I came back to the gate to find that we had to go through security again.  Our bags got re-xrayed and everyone (down to toddlers and elderly people in wheelchairs) had to get a pat down.

After round two of security they roped us into the now "secure" gate area.  It was a full flight so people were practically tripping over eachother with all their luggage.  I was looking forward to getting on the plane, so I'd have some more space.

The flight was smooth and we got into Newark around 5am.  I took public transport into New York and was able to get in touch with my friend Kat so we could have coffee and catch up before she left for tour.  After coffee I went to my mom's school in Queens where her 4th graders barraged me with questions.  I spent about a half hour talking to them before escaping to find some lunch at a diner and some platanos verdes (green plantains) at a local market so we could make patacones (alternately known as tostones; fried plantains).  Mom and I drove out to Eastern Long Island after school.

My adrenaline wore off pretty quickly after we got home and I ended up crashing for a few hours before someone convinced me that I should pause sleeping to eat dinner.

The Long Island part of the trip (really the whole trip) was a whirlwind of people and food.

• Sushi with my best friend, Jess, for her birthday.
• Family Christmas with my Dad's side of the family where I made them patacones and people seemed to like them (or they humored me).
• Deaf West's Spring Awakening on Broadway with my parents, my brother (Andrew), and Jess.
• Ate a delicious Italian food dinner with Jess and Theresa (before Theresa left on her Italian vacation adventure).
• Drove places in my lovely little Yoda (thanks to my brother for giving me his car for a few days).
• Ate bagels with my friend Patrick.
• Had delicious pizza and garlic knots from the pizza place next to my high school.
• Ate delicious french toast with my new friend Helen while we discussed our Peace Corps services (she was a volunteer in Guatemala) and planned cyber events for Peace Corps Week with Stony Brook University students
• Borrowed my brother's Netflix account to binge watch TV.

I also had the opportunity to talk to some students at my high school about Panama, my Peace Corps service and service in general.  It was really wonderful to go back to a place that informed so many of the choices that I've made in my life and to show them a potential path that they could take after they graduate from college.

A late Christmas with my Grandparents

Part 2: Brooklyn

After spending a few days on Long Island I went to visit my friend Greg in Brooklyn.  We've been friends since 7th grade and he's one of the people I always try to see when I'm in NY.  We hung out and drank tea and talked for hours.  It was really wonderful to see him.

Part 3: DC

After spending about 24 hours in Brooklyn I put my backpack back on and hopped on a bus to DC for the last few days of the trip.  

The first night I went straight from Union Station to dinner with my friends Alex and Gordon.  Delicious food, good company, and some DC theater scene gossip was the perfect way to come back to DC.  They very kindly drove me to Lauren and Eddie's house (friends that I crashed with in DC)

The next day I ate some Chipotle and sat in a coffee shop listening to music, drinking tea and looking at email before getting some pie with my friend Ryan, and heading up to Source to see Constellation Theatre Company's production of Equus.  

I arrived early and went to my favorite coffee shop in that part of town to find my fabulous friend Katie having some coffee.  We got to catch up a bit before she had to run to work.  Equus was beautiful and it was lovely to be back in the theater among friends.  After the show I hung out with Katie and my friend Cheryl for a bit before running to catch the metro before it closed (and tragically missing an opportunity to eat delicious falafel). 

The next morning Eddie made fantastic blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast.  After a relaxing breakfast I went and hung out in DC for the day.  I tried to go to the new exhibition at the Renwick, but there was a line around the block.  I decided to sit in a coffee shop with some tea and write for a bit before heading up to Theater J to see their production of The Sisters Rosenswieg.  It was really great to see a show at the J (and to bump into my friend Delia before she moved away).  The show was wonderful and hilarious.  It was great to see so many familiar faces.  After the show I got to catch up with my friend Jay, which was really nice.

The next morning I convinced Lauren and Eddie to go out to breakfast at Busboys and Poets.  I'd been dreaming about their french toast for months.  After breakfast we hung out for a bit before I started getting ready for the big event: Casey and Joe's wedding.

The wedding was lovely.  Casey looked stunning and Joe looked handsome as they said their vows with the full expanse of DC as their backdrop.  I spent the night dancing with Sara, Elizabeth, and Casey, reminiscing about college, and talking about how much our lives have changed since we graduated.  It was the perfect way to end the trip.

Roommates!
Credit: Casey and Joe's Wedding Photographer

The next morning I started my journey back to Panama, site, and (most importantly) Canela.

It was a crazy whirlwind of a trip, full of odd culture shock moments, but I loved it.

Reverse Culture Shock Moments include:

• Being able to flush toilet paper
• Not carrying a flashlight 
• Eating salad (without anyone thinking to put mayonnaise on it)
• Not washing my dishes by hand
• Not lighting the stove with matches or a lighter
• Being cold (or rather, not sweating all the time)
• Speaking in Spanglish (or just Spanish) to people who don't speak Spanish
• Forgetting words (in both languages)
• Not having to check my bag at the paquetera (bag/parcel check) whenever I walked into a store
• Having people get annoyed when I wanted to pay in cash
• Dancing more than once dance in a row with a guy (dancing with a guy for more than once dance in a row signals serious interest in Panama)

Meanwhile back in Panama...

Part 4: Camp!
There's no rest for the wicked(-ly ambitious) and in typical me fashion I had plans to go to work (in this case an English camp for students) as soon as I got back to Panama.

My friend Roxana organized the camp as an English refresher before school starts again at the end of February.  I only ended up being there for two days (silly sinus infection destroying my dreams), but we had a lot of fun and it was nice to be back in the classroom (and on the field) after being on school break since mid-December.

The students were split into two groups and each group learned a pop song in English and prepared a Reader's Theater script in addition to doing a bunch of leadership and teambuilding games.  The last day of camp we had students presentations (and speeches/closing remarks in typical Panama fashion, something I'm slowly getting better at) and brindis with cupcakes that we baked the night before.  The students did really well and I'm so excited to get back to working with students in my site.

Happy students and facilitators on the last day of camp

Upcoming Events:

• Veraguas Regional Meeting
• Taking the GRE during Carnival (#awesomeplanning)
• Girls' Empowerment camp in Jody's site
• School prep week and the start of the new school year
• Pre-Service Training (PST) for G78 (the next group of TELLS and CEC volunteers)