Panamanian and Uruguayan Adventures

I have been so lucky these past few weeks to be blessed with visitors in Panama, a Fulbright seminar in Uruguay, seeing amazing things on both trips, and meeting some great people. 

As I mentioned in my last entry, I was thankfully able to convince Lauren, Ellis and Allison to come and explore this unique country with me.  In David to start, I showed them around UNACHI and Casa Esperanza introducing them to most everyone I work with.  I get a lot of "Hey, there's a gringo" looks walking by myself around UNACHI, so imagine the stares we got as I toured our group of 4 gringos around (including 1 blonde).  To give you a better visual, it felt kind of like a mixture between walking down the red carpet and the arrival of the martians' scene in "Mars Attacks."  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMdC45S79uQ

Casa Esperanza was great as the kids there had been looking forward to my guests coming for weeks by this point.  We had a blast there and they were able to see how much fun and energetic the children are.  The kids just bombarded them with questions from the moment we stepped in and Lauren, Ellis and Allison, who can speak a combined 15 words or so of Spanish, would do their best at playing charades in order to understand as well as ask questions/convey information back to them. 

The next day we began the most beautiful part of our trip as we headed to our private villa in Bocas del Toro.  We stayed at Red Frog Beach, and anyone wanting to get an incredible combination of endless beach and rain forests, this is one place to check out.

Our next journey was to Volcan to hike a specific trail that was supposedly the most beautiful in all of Central America according to one guide book.  Well, the day could be seen as successful or unsuccessful depending on how you look at it.  I think it's fair to say that we all ended up seeing it as a memorable day rather than "successful or not."  We spent the morning taking the bus to Cerro Punta and getting off where our bus "helper" told us the entrance to the National Park was.  Weird thing about that was the fact that there was not a single sign informing us that we were in or entering a national park. Red flag.  Yet we carried on blindly.  After an hour or so of hiking we came to a fork that split into 3 directions. Just what we were hoping for...Walked the first one for 10 min..dead end.  Walked the second one that led into the mountains until we decided that was not what the trail was supposed to be like.  The third way definitely wasn't it either, but we decided to go a little ways on it anyway.  We ended up spotting a tin house in the middle of nowhere with two men hanging out on the porch.  Desperate and frustrated I approached them and asked about the trail. The one man said we were in the wrong area and had to go back to the main road and take a bus farther down....are we serious. Luckily this man offered to drive us back to the main road which I'm sure gave them something to talk about for the next few years.  After tipping him we got on the next bus.   We finally reached the bottom of the area we were looking for (as there was a sign, naturally), but still had a very long and hard uphill hike awaiting us just to get to the rangers station/beginning of the actual trail.  We hadn't yet eaten our packed lunches and it was already approaching 2:00--getting late for a 5 hour hike. That's where Hitchhiking Part II comes in.  The 4 of us got into the trailer of a truck heading up and, thinking we would get a short lift to help us out, it soon became clear these guys were taking us to the absolute top.  This path got rockier and rockier, steeper and steeper, narrower and narrower the higher we progressed--in other words, it was getting more and more obvious that this was not a path meant for cars. After 25 or so minutes of this flying and rolling around in the back, we made it to our destination.  All in all, we ended up doing a small portion of the trail which turned out to be pretty uninspiring, but as Hannah Montana puts it: It's the climb.

The last few days were spent in Panama City and we were exposed to some great restaurants and areas as well as a very unique and interesting tour to the Embera Indian Village. Amazing to see a community of people live so plainly yet seem to be so happy.  

I had to leave a day early unfortunately and head to Uruguay for a Fulbright Enhancement Seminar.  (I know, tough life huh?)  Well, the fresh air that hit me stepping out of that airport was something I haven't felt in months...and I loved it.  It's winter in Uruguay and can't exactly say I had a winter wardrobe prepared. Really didn't matter though as I was basking in the coolness knowing that soon, it would be back to the stifling humidity.  

Anyways, the trip was wonderfully planned and led by the Uruguayan commission.  It was a perfect balance between work and presenting, learning from a Senior English Language Fellow, sightseeing as a group all around Montevideo, as well as free time to explore on our own.  As great as it all was, the last day at Estancio Siglo XX was a paradise on Earth.  Green land until the eye can see, horseback riding, llamas, bottomless glass of wine, an amazing lunch, soccer field, hammocks, 70 degrees with a slight breeze.  I think every one of us at some point in the day plotted a way for us to never leave.  It was a fitting end to an unforgettable few weeks here in Latin America.

Happy 4th of July everyone!  

Tomalo con calma.

Viajes pasados y futuros

Here are some things I've been up to recently as well as the action-packed couple of months ahead that I couldn't be more excited about!
Last week, a group of about 10 fourth-year students invited me on a trip with them to sightsee various attractions in Volcan.  The city in itself is beautiful (as I mentioned in my other blog when I passed through it a few weeks ago) with the tree-covered rolling hills and the iconic dormant volcano, but with a tour guide, we were able to visit some places that would give us more to marvel at than just its nature.  For one, he demonstrated how, on one particular downhill slope along the highway (we were pulled over on the side), when the car is in neutral, it will actually defy gravity and go backwards--uphill.  Not bad for a magic trick, but, seeing as how that didn't fit within my schema, I figured he had to be pulling some stunt. That was until, at one of our stops, there was a stream that was flowing UP the mountain.  The explanation had to do with the magnetism in the volcanic rocks.  A phenomenon that apparently only occurs in 4 places in the world!

Anyways, we also went to a chocolate place, a strawberry shop, an archaeological site with artifacts and dug-up houses dating back to 1000 BC.  It was a great trip and I really enjoyed getting to know the students better as well--it was an awesome, really fun group.

Then, last weekend, another good friend from UNACHI invited me to take a day trip to Borinquito.  It's about a half an hour away and resembles a pool club except the pools are filled with river water thats continually circulating.  A very cool place that's right nearby--just gotta be ready for the rain there!  It started at around 4 and it's def not a light sprinkle; supposedly lasts for hours, but we decided not to stick around and test that and called it a day.

My Reading and Drama clubs at UNACHI have been really fun these first few months as we approach the midterms (starting in July).  I'm focusing right now on expanding their vocabulary and continue to look for creative and engaging ways to do so.  I feel like the lessons have been getting easier to plan and are much more effective as I continue to understand what the students need most, what they are strongest at, what they respond best to, ability levels, etc.
Volunteering is great; especially with the addition of a ping pong table.  I gave a spontaneous English lesson on body parts that ended up in a fierce game of Simon Says.  But again, most importantly, there is a ping pong table.  We also have a parade tomorrow morning that all of us, students and teachers alike, have been making signs for which promote the organization's name and its beliefs.
While everything to this point has been awesome, these next couple of months, filled with visitors and more trips, are set up to be amazing.
In a few days, Lauren, her brother Ellis, and Alison will be arriving and will be here for almost 2 weeks. We have plans to stay at and explore a few different areas within Panama over that time and take advantage of some time off.  Tuesday can't get here fast enough!
With no time in between, I head to Uruguay for the Fulbright ETA seminar for a week.  I've wanted to go to South America for a while now; really excited to get that chance soon.
And in July, the family comes to visit for a couple of weeks!
Alright all, I have to go and get ready for it all.  Tomalo con calma!
(By the way, the fall is wide open, so think about taking a trip to PANAMA!)

Root Beer and Rainy Season Introductions

I continue to feel more and more confident in my decision to work with Casa Esperanza everyday.  I envisioned coming down here and having an impact on the youth and community in David, Panama, and I feel that this volunteer organization puts me in a great position to do those things.  The kids and I have a great bond by this point--either working together on their homework/studying for upcoming tests in various subjects or having fun with activities and joking around.  There was also a meeting in Boquete last week for all C.E. employees (from all over Panama) in which each branch gave a Powerpoint update regarding their progress and success in their own regions of Panama. They talked about how many children they have recruited from the streets in the past few months, how many meals they have provided, other work they have done in the community, etc.   It was really interesting to hear and see all of this behind-the-scenes action.
So, on Friday, the kids, Belbis (another teacher at C.E.) and I walked to a nearby soccer field and played a couple hours worth of kickball and soccer--needless to say I was living my glory days again and wreaking havoc out there.  Anyway, after the last game I decided to go get something to drink at the grocery store across the street--As I was searching for some water to quench my thirst, my eyes fell upon a bottle of IBC Root Beer.  Not believing my luck, I grabbed and paid for it before it somehow disappeared.  Once I stepped outside, opened the bottle and started walking back to the kids, I suddenly felt really awkward.  This bottle looked an awful lot like a beer bottle.  What do I do?  Try to chug it before heading back over there? No, that would look so much worse if Belbis or one of the kids caught a glance and thought I was downing a beer in between soccer games with 12 year old kids.  Other options? I could just take it over there and be discreet about it.  Hmm, sketchy glances? Lowered opinions? Bad influence?  No thanks.  After much debate I walked back to the field, bottle and all, sat back up on the bleachers and immediately started making conversation about my Root Beer.  "Man, this stuff is so good. Have you ever tried this?"   Belbis: "Is that beer?"  "No, no..look it's just root....beer" (ah crap I thought in my head)  She clearly doesnt know the english word "root" but definitely understands "beer"...Why couldn't I have just gotten that bottled water?....  The only thing that came to mind to prove it was soda was to offer taste tests.  She declined, but I was determined.  I made a desperate move and offered the last half of my root beer to the kids.  I then had a circle of kids passing this bottle around.  Definitely a disturbing sight for any passerby if there were any, I'm sure. None of them had ever heard of, seen or tasted root beer before--some liked it, while others spat it out...but, in the end and most importantly, no one disagreed that is was soda.
Well, speaking of being exposed to new things, I got my first real taste of Panama's rainy season this past week...one afternoon, it just started torrential down pouring and within 10-15 minutes the streets were completely flooded leaving all of the walkers stranded on the side of the road who, just 10 minutes ago, were enjoying a beautiful day out on the town. I wasn't about to give in to the rain that easily though.  Luis and I had plans to go shoot some pool that afternoon and darn it we were gonna play some pool.  So we sprinted/jumped across the intersections taking breaks in between to reflect on how unbelievably soaked we were and how we were the only ones doing this...stupid American/American-influenced Panamanian.  Yet, we made it. Sopping wet shoes/clothes, and all, and played an hour of pool with a little ceviche on the side to celebrate being indoors.

More from David..

I guess I'll start with my solo trip to el Parque Internacional La Amistad which is a nice nature park that is right by the Costa Rican border.  Even the bus ride from David to Cerro Punta (where it's located) provided some beautiful sights as we passed through the towns of Volcan and Cerro Punta.  Keep in mind that for this whole trip, I didn't really know what I was doing/where I was going--I just decided the night before that I wanted to go out and explore so I found this place in my travel book and decided I'd go check it out.  I was thinking the bus ride would be about half an hour and that it would be obvious where I should get off...so, after multiple stops and about 45 minutes with still no idea of where I was/where I should get off, I decided to become amigos with the bus driver.  Thankfully, after another hour and a half (of me wondering if he understood what we had talked about), he told me I should get off and where to go to catch a taxi to the park.  Once I got to the park, I stopped for a quick lunch inside and was surrounded by humming birds throughout the meal--unfortunately, these were the only animals I was going to see that day.  I was really hoping to see some of Panama's wildlife as the book/park's website indicated 5 different species of cat, among other animals, lived in the park, but with the exception of a few birds along the way, no luck in that aspect. However, the nature, which included waterfalls, large old trees, streams, moss-covered bridges, etc, was beautiful.  It was about a 5 hour hike in total, and there wasn't a minute of easy trekking.  It was misting/lightly raining consistently throughout and, because the trails consisted mostly of rock, you can imagine the difficulty of going up and downhill on these wet rocks, pieces of wood, descending broken stairs, etc.  I might have slipped and almost died once, but since I went by myself, those are things I will never have to admit to--I was flawless, best hiker this world has ever seen.

This past week I had a lot of fun with the reading club I taught.  We worked on prefixes, suffixes and root words, focusing on a few in particular.  After about 50 minutes of instruction and practice, I set up a Jeopardy powerpoint that we played as a class for the next 40 or so minutes.  My students hadn't heard of the game show before which made it a cool and new game for them to do in class.  They really enjoyed the game and the competition, so I'm thinking I'll have to utilize it again for future assessments.
Positive comments from my students have also been rewarding as some have come up and talked to me about how various things make a lot more sense after tutor sessions or clubs than when their teacher explained it to them (don't tell) as well as becoming more interested in reading. They are realizing they can visualize the stories just like movies (as I tend to act things out when I read aloud to them; embarrassing I know, but what are ya gonna do) yet understand the characters on a deeper level than they would in the movies--like I said, a main goal of mine is to go against the culture here and get them enjoying reading in order to eventually improve their comprehension skills.
I have recently made a few really good friends both from UNACHI and Casa Esperanza. Luis, who went to Casa Esperanza as a kid (20 now), invited me to hang out today and go to a public pool here in David (which I didn't know existed) where I was finally able to take advantage of the hot weather here instead of just sweating off 5 pounds a day in khakis and a collared shirt.  I've also finally found a great gym to quench my desire for pick-up basketball--15-20 guys playing pick-up everyday at 5 o'clock..I am content once again.
I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from Casa Esperanza...talk to you all soon.
Tomalo con calma.

Buddhism in Panama? Didn't predict that one..

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo Nam Myoho Renge Kyo Nam Myoho Renge Kyo Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.  If this doesn't make sense to you, don't worry..it didn't to me either.   A colleague from the University invited me to a Buddhist service this morning.  It was an extremely interesting experience, but not like anything I had in mind or have done before.  It was at one of the members' house and there was a small altar set up in the front of the living room.  One man (seemingly a leader) sat in a chair directly in front of the altar, facing it.  There were a few rows of chairs behind him for everyone else; there were about 15 members in total.  I walked in with my colleague hoping she'd pick the couple of empty seats in the back row....of course not.  Instead, she picks the front row in order to really show off my cluelessness.  Once seated, I looked around and noticed everyone had their hands in prayer position, so I quickly got mine in place, attempting to act casual and like I've done this all my life.  The other obvious thing was that they were all chanting something...so with my hands in prayer, I listened as carefully as I could.  It sounded like a bunch of jibberish that was definitely not English or Spanish.....great.  But as a foreign newcomer who was sitting in the front row, I had to do something (and quickly) in order to avoid the sketchy eye from everybody in the room...so within about a minute of sitting down and listening, I decided to move my mouth and mumble sounds.  Before I knew what I was doing, I proceeded to try and emulate the mysterious sounds a little louder.  You can picture me trying to say this phrase really quickly in which I had no idea what I was actually saying. Well, apparently I wasn't doing as well as I thought I was, as my colleague went into her purse a few minutes into it and handed me the words (would have been nice if she had done this BEFORE, but what are ya gonna do).  OK, well now I knew how to say the words, but I still had no idea what I was saying.  And go figure, these were the only words that were spoken for the next hour.  The members would chant them in unison, sometimes speeding up, sometimes going very slowly.  (Turns out, via wikipedia, the words mean "To Honor/devote oneself to the Wonderful Law" and it is chanted to attain perfect and complete awakening--would have been cooler to have known that going into it)  You better believe I got darn good at this phrase after an hour straight of repeating it.  After the hour, the group circled up and had a sort of meeting for the next 45 minutes, mostly about their hopes of creating an official worship place in order to attract more people, etc.  Overall, it was totally different from anything I've been to which made it a really neat thing to see.

Other than going to Buddhist gatherings, I have also been establishing my role with the volunteer organization, Casa Esperanza.  I talked with the director of the program here in David and he invited me to actually go on the streets sometimes with other members of the organization in search of children being mistreated and thrown into the work force.  I told him I'd love to become active in that aspect as well.  The next day, I worked with the children and bonded with them throughout the day.  I actually ended up teaching an English lesson to them on the fly (about 15 of them ages 12-17)--it was very cool to see how eager most of them were to learn the language as several came up afterwards to ask even more questions.
Other news: Panama had a 6.0 earthquake whose center was really close to David Saturday morning.  At 3 a.m. I felt my bed sway and shake underneath me--a pretty wild experience since I wasn't sure if it was an earthquake or a scene from Paranormal Activity.  Glad it was the former..
I just took my first shower in a few days as a pipe burst on Friday, leaving our neighborhood completely without water.  Evidence:

A student at UNACHI came up to me earlier this week and after conversing for a while, we began talking about music and the fact that he plays the guitar.  As a passing statement, I said I would love to learn to play too someday...he responded with, "You want to learn now?  ...I can teach you if you want?"  Really? Well, uhh OK.  So he led me to a different part of the school where there was a guitar and long story short, I ended up having an hour long guitar lesson right then and there.
Last thing before I go, as I was sitting on the bus this past week, staring forward and lost in thought, a monkey pops up in front of my face and makes a terrifying shrieking noise as it's eyes bug out and are locked in on mine.  Needless to say, I jumped back (forunately managed to refrain a shriek of my own) and took a few seconds to process the fact that monkey was a foot away screaming at me on a bus.  Once I came to terms with it and he stopped screaming at me, I actually liked the little guy.
Alright, miss you guys.  Take it easy everybody...Tomalo con calma.

Trabajo and entertaining short stories

I'm sitting in the airport now in Panama City ready to fly home for Christine's wedding (couldnt be more excited!), so I figured I would quickly write an update.
Work at the University has been going really well. Teachers are beginning ask for my help more now and use me in their classrooms. I have also taken on a Reading Club and a Drama Club, both of which I have two classes that alternate every other week.  On average, I have about 20 first year students in each of the classes while each session is scheduled for an hour and a half.  I've had one week of each class so far and it's clear that they are eager to listen to and learn from a native speaker.
My focus in Drama Club is to give the students a chance to learn English in a different way from what they may be used to in the daily classroom--from activities, games, role play, etc. that gets them moving around and simulating realistic conversations and scenarios.  For the first class, I just wanted to get to know them better and give them an opportunity to speak a little bit and get them comfortable participating in the club.  I had them pair up and I passed out some interview questions that I had made for them to ask their partner.  I created the interview recording sheet in a way that would prompt them to figure out how to form the question and the response themselves.  Some of the questions were what they liked best/least about Panama and what is today's biggest problem in the world/ideas for solutions. After they finished, I had them role play a press conference with 4 celebrities in the front, everyone getting a chance, and the rest of the class (the press) ask them questions.  Interesting to hear the responses about Panama, as many cited the corruption in government and a solution (when I asked for it) being more of a focus on values and morals in the education system at an early age. I've also noticed that they respond well to songs and learning the lyrics to music seems to be an effective (and sneaky) way of getting them to both read and speak the language. Had to go with the great R. Kelly for the first one--"The World's Greatest."
For Reading, I plan on collaborating a lot with the English reading professors and go through/break down passages or stories that they are reading in class.  I'm stressing reading comprehension strategies and getting in the habit of stopping often to summarize the previous paragraph(s) before going on.  I also used some jokes that play on words/double meaning--I was, as expected, the only one laughing when I first showed the answers (probably would have been really entertaining for you), but these seemed to loosen up the atmosphere once they understood them too. A big thing for me here is to get these students actually interested in reading in general (not only English)...I continually have the image of the crowded beach I went to here in which not one person had a book/magazine to read.  I'm hoping a little JK Rowling will provide "a little magic" as I will start reading the first Harry Potter book with them the next class.
Anyways, stories that I don't really have time to write fully about now, but are worth noting: my house is finally completely set up and the mosquito/stray dog problems seem to be done with for the most part; I got hit on by a guy who, at first I thought was just friendly when he sat at my table at a local restaurant until he asked me over to his house for dinner and whether or not I like to get intimate.  (oh, and he writes romantic stories just for himself)...quickly got out of that situation; a student (female this time at least) proposed to me (politely declined); I got in a fight with a cab driver over 50 cents (you'd understand if you lived in Panama); I've also made good friends with a couple taxi drivers; I travel 45-50 minutes by bus to my university everyday when, in reality, its a 4 minute drive; everybody at my university (students and professors) are amazing; and finally, I cried not only because uconn won the championship, but because that was the worst ever basketball game ever I've ever seen ever, let alone an ncaa championship game...ever.

Mi casa nueva, el cumpleaños, y los mosquitos!

A house I can call my own and it feels good.   I found a nice 2 bed/1 bath house that the renter was willing to furnish using my rent money.  A win-win...he can keep the furniture after the 9 months I'm here (rent it for more afterwards), and I can rent a furnished house for no extra charge.  It's a beautiful place, and definitely got a steal.  However, this guy came down here to work on it and basically built it up from scratch...aka there have been several set backs that we've had to deal with (eg. the couple of stray dogs that have a tendency to bark outside my place at night--still working out how to deal with that one though)  So first of all, we obviously had to go out and buy the furniture, wait a week for it to be delivered, then spend a few days putting it all together. (meaning another week spent at the hostel)

Spent 12-3 am the first night putting together this bed frame--not easy

Second, I needed to get cable/internet installed--setting things up and getting appointments here in Panama just is not as easy as in the states, with their "no-rush" lifestyle, which is something that has been a little difficult to adjust to.  Another thing was how dirty the place was at first; a lot of sweeping and mopping to be done.  Because of the fact that it was pretty dirty, there were quite a few bugs that had to be rid of including the tiniest, peskiest mosquitos I've ever dealt with.  For about 4 consecutive nights, I went to bed only to wake up with more bug bites on me (11 on my right arm/hand, 2 on my foot, a couple on my shoulder and another 2 on my back)
Last night was a huge break-through though--I woke up at 2:45 am because of the "bzz" noise of a mosquito in my ear...at this point, after days of killing these things, I knew there was one mosquito that was enjoying me for dinner every night and had eluded my murderous attempts too many times already--I was so fed up with it that I decided I was going to turn on the lights and not go to bed until this blood-sucking devil was finished. After 20 minutes of continually spinning around, missing it in the air, searching again for this elusive creature, I spotted it resting on my bed (of course, its favorite place).  I approached it like a stealthy assassin and, with images of my 17 bug bites floating in my head, swung with no mercy.  And that is how it's done.
Here are some recent pictures I took of the house:

Anyways, as most of you know, my birthday was the 23rd and I was lucky enough to get to celebrate it in multiple ways here.  There was an ACCESS orientation that day in which a mock lesson was carried out in front of accepted students from 2 neighboring cities.  ACCESS is a program that is designed to tutor poorer students who show high potential in English.  Once again, it was a pleasure to see and talk with the U.S. Ambassador, Phyllis Powers, as well as the U.S. Director of Public Relations, David Searby.  One of the tutors saw on facebook that it was my birthday and got the students singing happy birthday (in very good English).  After the demonstration was done for the day, I proceeded to take about 25 consecutive pictures with each of the girls in the class--felt like Justin Bieber for a minute, needed my wing man Jaden Smith to take some of the pressure off.

Later that night, I went to the fair with a couple of friends in David to the city's International Fair.  The fair lasted from March 17th-27th and consisted of hundreds of seller's booths, concerts, fireworks, horse shows, discotecas and carnival rides.  It was a lot of fun and was amazing to see the amount of people at this fair pretty much at all times (as well as the amount of horses in the streets).

Besides all of that, I've been searching for a volunteer place to work with and might have found one in Casa Esperanza (House of Hope).  This is an organization that fights against child labor and exploitation and gives them a place to learn, grow and play like children should during the day.  They told me I could potentially tutor, help with english, play with the kids, carry out activities, etc. So, I'll go this Thursday and see how it works out. Fingers crossed.
Alright, well I heard it's still snowing in some parts there in the states so I'm sorry to rub it in, but...there hasn't been a day under 90 since I've been here.  Had to do it.
Take care everybody, feel free to send me updates with how you are all doing too.