some random fotos

Peace Corps used to send us lots of Newsweeks.  That was Bolivia time though, volunteers worldwide stopped receiving the magazine, saving PC some serious dough.  Anyways, I had cut out one of many glamour shots of The Man (who in a weird way I work for now...yay!), and it arrived yesterday along with the rest of my stuff that had been carefully listed, packed, and sent here to Panama.  The PC Bolivia staff did an incredible job going to each of our sites, following ridiculous instructions like, "look under the bed and inside the shoebox...my favorite pen is inside and I'd like that to be sent back too."  Absolutely everything I asked for arrived.  Yet, it was a strange feeling, really like opening a box of memories.  And when my friends and kids and Dracula didn't pop out of the box, I was indeed saddened.  But moving on...I now have that trusty emergency radio from Grandparents Lambert, so I can listen to the many stations that play Panamanian music (though did hear a new Britney Spears song thrown in the mix last night), my Cornell Football shorts, wool socks (!!!), and my stuffed lamb.  For some reason, I feel like NOW I can move on, though I've been in another place (many, in fact) for 4.5 months.
Cashew season is a-coming!  This tree randomly had ripe fruit (still haven't tried one, since I'm afraid of the poisonous shell hanging down...).  When they're really in season, my entire yard will be full of them.  It's the only kind of fruit tree I have...and yes I will be inviting everyone in town to pick fruit, and so yes I will have a photo shoot with cute kids and cute cashew fruits.  Speaking of cute kids..
Some of my readers, with Huevos Verdes con Jamón.  That's Green Eggs and Ham.  Today I went to my first trimesterly meeting for my region.  Found out there is a lending library for kids' books in Spanish!  I had to pay $3 in dues, but totally was worth it for the bag of books I'll get to have in my site for 4 months.  Of course, all your donations are always welcome (also math tools would be useful!  flashcards, compasses, rulers, et al.).  The best thing about this is now I know where YOUR book donations will be donated when I leave country.

Planning to build an "estufa mejorada" (better stove...the kind that uses less wood and smoke goes out a chimney) mid-Feb.

January. Like, the whole month.

Well, it’s been a while since I really updated about what I’m up to.  January, as promised, has been dry (we had one strong rain, thankfully) and fairly devoid of agricultural work.  However, I’ve been touting the benefits of mulch and green manures, in hopes that when planting season starts again, maybe some of the farmers will consider planting nitrogen-fixing crops to benefit the other crops, or use mulches to protect the soil from driving rain and the hot sun.

A big activity, however, has been bringing Spanish-language kids’ books with me whenever I go visiting.  All the mothers tell me that they want to have their kids practice their school stuff over the summer (and sadly, there is little way to accomplish this with reading, unless there’s a PC volunteer with a stock of books in Spanish), and the kids really do get an excited look on their face when I bring out Dr. Seuss in Spanish.  Shoutout here to my parents and Grandparents who provided these books!  I think I’ll also be making up some flashcards for math (though I know that’s much less exciting).

I have electricity now!  Feel free to send those DVD’s and mixed CD’s (or books that I can read in the evening, thanks to the miracle of lightbulbs)… I got myself a mini-fridge, which is a real boon to my cooking and health  I can now cook things and have leftovers that I’m not afraid to eat, store dairy products (no ice cream, sadly), and have cold drinks.  I’m living quite comfortably, especially with the fan blowing at night.  Now, almost every house in my town has electricity, so don’t get the image in your heads that I am living in the gringa mansion that doesn’t fit in with the rest of town.

I finished my first novel in Spanish!  I read Isabel Allende’s Suma de los Días.  It took a while, I read in fits and starts, and it began to drag a bit at the end.  Still, I did it!  My technique was to just read, even if I didn’t get every vocab word.  Occasionally I’d read with a pen to underline words to look up later…but I still don’t have an English-Spanish dictionary (I requested one, but I think that request is just as lost as my mail seems to be these days).  I was definitely aided by the fact that it’s more of a collection of stories about her life in the last 13 years (since her novel, Paula, about the death of her daughter), because the other novel I have of hers has been really hard to get through: very slow plot that includes a zillion little details and characters.

I have been running several mornings a week.  Aided by my feline alarm clock (seriously, what is it with the eating/kneading my hair at daybreak?), I usually hit the gravel at about 6:15am, before the heat, wind and lots of cars on the road.  I run to the paved road that connects the Pan-American to the big city a few km down the road.  I’m not sure what distance I really am running, but I feel more in shape than I did a month ago.  Several women, my host mom included, have expressed that they’d like to lose a little weight or at least do some exercise.  I tell them there’s nothing to stop them, but I really want to run alone (I have my reasons).  It would be cool to do an exercise class, but there are definitely some logistical issues.  We’ll see.

Can’t actually believe I’ve already been here 3 months.  Seems like a short time written down, but it’s a significant amount, considering it was the length of training in Bolivia, and I was in my Bolivian site only 5 months and felt so attached to it.  The end of January also marks my 1-year anniversary of getting on a plane to Cochabamba, Bolivia…for an adventure I had never anticipated.

To Give

Pictured:  cherry tomatoes, peppers, oranges, bananas and one honkin' big papaya.  These things were given to me over just 2 days, when I went visiting to families.  It's a wonderful custom in Panama to give when you have something to give.  Maybe in the United States, with all the economic downturn, it's good to take an example from the Panamanians, who for the most part don't really think in terms of a good or bad economy.  They think of giving on a daily basis to their friends, family and neightbors, whatever they can.  I was hesitant to vocalize my problems with money to my host family, but they quickly learned that I could not afford to buy myself a bed, furniture or really even a door for my new house.  Suddenly, they told me they'd give me the door they'd bought for me to use when I lived with them (my host dad cut it to the new size), and they had a table they didn't really need that now lives with me.  My neighbor gave me a chair, a bed, a mattress and even a pillow.  

If you look around you, there's probably something you have more than you need of, and there is probably someone who could use some of that abundance.  I'm not just talking money, but perhaps time to spend with a lonely person, or a favor done for someone who needs help, and hour of volunteer work (you don't need to be in Peace Corps for that).  Just a thought...but everyone can give something to others, so what's stopping so many people from that?