Whirlwind

I was out of site for almost the entire month of November.  Much of the month passed with a sort of dream-like quality, but here are the parts I remember...

Wedding!

My one and only sister (Panamanians still can’t believe I have just one) got married in LA on November 10^th.  I got into town Monday night November 5^th in time to fulfill my American duty by voting on Tuesday.  The following days were spent with family, trips to REI, one night of Israeli dancing, and getting caught up on wedding logistics as a first-time bridesmaid.  It was very strange to jump so abruptly from one world to another, but it felt good to be home.  The wedding itself was lovely, and I've never seen my already pretty sister look so gorgeous.  I on the other hand felt pretty uncomfortable dressing up and, after 6 months of no make-up, sort of freaked out when fake eyelashes were stuck on me and immediately took most of them off.

Professional hair-do!

Sadie & Brennan!  Stunning.

Family

Overall it was a nice trip home and saying goodbye was hard.  Last time I said goodbye I knew I’d be home again in six months.  This time it might very well be 20.  But I wasn't able to dwell on this for very long.  I hopped on a red-eye flight and landed back in Panama Monday morning November 12^th.

IST = “In-Service Training” & Turning 26

After being in site for four months, the Peace Corps brings training groups back together for “In-Service Training.”  The idea is that by now we've identified key topics that our work will focus on and so should receive more specified training in these areas.

Coming in from the states, I was a little late for IST.  Arriving jet-lagged and culture-shocked made being greeted by our training group of 40 people I haven’t seen in a few months all the more intense.  It was good to see everyone, but hard to switch gears back into training-mode.  The first few days involved sitting and sitting and more sitting while listening to presentations.  After four very active months, this was hard to handle.  And then my birthday happened!  The perpetually drunk Canadian owner of a nearby bar got me a birthday cake, so after a nice night-swim at the beach, our group headed to the bar to celebrate.  I am now 26 years-old, and I actually do feel like it.  I am a grown-up, and I’m doing some pretty big things.

Cake gifted to me by drunk bar owner

Peace Corps training group enjoying birthday cake!

My Peace Corps program director also got me a cake, and she was the one that spelled my name wrong (the drunk bartender got it right)

26!

My group changed locations to continue more hands-on technical training (sadly, no longer near a beach).  I was impressed to notice that some of my fellow volunteers, who’d been more timid during Pre-Service Training, now seem more outspoken.  I no longer felt like I was the only obnoxious student with my hand raised in class, but rather that we all participated and contributed to the training sessions pretty equally.  I could also tell that the group’s Spanish skills have significantly improved.  Nice!  Unfortunately much of the training substance was not actually applicable to our work.  We heard from experts on corn, rice, plantain, etc. who presented highly detailed, scientific methods of diagnosing and treating plant diseases.  I was disappointed that very little of this will be useful out in the campo where our resources are more limited.

Pretty outdoor classroom

SAS 71 group after using machetes to cut off sick plantain leaves

Gringo Thanksgiving

About 150 of the 250 Peace Corps Volunteers in Panama got together to celebrate Thanksgiving.  We took over a hotel in the western highlands of Panama, not far from the Costa Rican border.  There we enjoyed beautiful scenery and a shockingly cool climate.  Being around so many Americans in one place was overwhelming.  The weekend involved an overload of both partying and gossip.  I suppose that is bound to happen whenever and wherever a large group of 20-30 year-olds gets together with no other obligations.  I found this all to be pretty intense, and although I miss my friends when I’m in site, I was pretty relieved when the party was over.

Deliciousness

Change of scenery

Intro to Agribusiness

When I touched down in Panama and turned on my cell phone after a week of being in the US, the first message I got was one asking me to co-facilitate (along with two other volunteers) an agribusiness seminar in the province of Veraguas November 26 through 28.  My first thought was that this would be an awesome opportunity to get more involved in agribusiness work – a topic that I’m highly interested in.  My second thought was the realization that this would extend my already long period of separation from my community.  I feel that so much time away is seriously disruptive to my integration and service work, but I decided that in the long term a few extra days wouldn't make too much of a difference and that it would be worthwhile to gain the new experience.

We gave the seminar to a group of participants in a rural development project, as well as to some of the employees running the project (with the idea being that they can now give the seminar to even more participants).  The mixed audience presented some challenges.  We covered three central topics in three days: farm management & planning (including how to keep track of inventory), product marketing & market analysis, and general money management (prioritizing costs and setting personal budgets).  The main challenge here was keeping topics simple enough to be clear and understood, but still realistic and useful.  Additionally while the employees running the project have graduated from universities, the campesinos have only on average received up to a sixth grade education.  We covered some basic arithmetic principles and spent about a half hour practicing how to use a calculator.  It really struck me how many things that we may think of as common sense were actually acquired through years of formal education.  To expect campesinos to catch on quickly is unfair and unrealistic.  Slow and steady.  Overall, I was impressed with how well the audience paid attention, and it seemed as though they got something out of it.  The unfortunate thing about working seminars like this, which are outside of our communities, is that we can’t do any follow up to see if people are actually using the tools or ideas we gave them.  

Practice with calculators

Me explaining the basics of personal finances and why it's important to save money.

I’m FINALLY heading back to site tomorrow.  I've heard it’s been raining a lot so hopefully my house hasn't been too damaged.  I’m really looking forward to spending some time tranquilo, reconnecting with my community and settling back into the campo life :)