so proud

http://youtu.be/yOQ85OEZhWg

A typical Sunday in San Andres

 

Every Sunday after church for the Catholics the party starts in San Andres, some men get started right away and head to the cantina to drink their lunches while their wives head home with the children.  But the majority of people head to the stadium to watch the league soccer games.  San Andres has an all start team, currently in 3^rd place in the local league.  This past Sunday we played against our neighbors San Francisco and tied, holding our 3^rd place ranking. 



Hello Mama!



Everyone comes out to watch and celebrate, people bring food to sell, there is a bar, and people even bring their pets.  One family brought a mama pig and its 12 piglets to enjoy the festivities.  The most popular thing to eat at these events is the local delicacy Sao (pickled pigs feet).  But they sell all kinds of other Panamanian fried treats as well. I'll stick to my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, thank you! 

The diet here is very strange.  With such an abundance of water the people sure don't drink much of it.  When inquiring about this I found out that they worry that if they drink to much water they will pee too much.   Mmmmmm, fear of urine, okay.....  They prefer a sugary concoction called Chicha, soda, juice or beer :) 

Also, kids don't like PB & J's, I find that very strange; and also that they would prefer to fry their banana instead of eat it raw. 

 I live in a fishbowl here, everyone is watching my every move, and so when I went about snacking on raw green beans and celery sticks people went into a comical frenzy thinking it was so strange that I ate vegetables raw, like a rabbit.   I hope to start giving “charlas” (mini seminars) to the community on nutrition.  Other than the diet the people here are quite healthy, hard workers, very beautiful and intelligent.  I have a lot to learn from them, and I look forward especially to learning about farming and agriculture here as well as experimenting with my own garden. 

Next week I will be teaching 10 1 hour classes per week, incorporating environmental education and conservation into art classes and PE classes.  I am really looking forward to jumping feet first into working in the school (kindergarten to 6th grade). 

Life is good, I am feeling healthy and happy!  As always, miss you all and glad to see nearly 300 people read this blog.  I truly feel loved!

"There are three ways of trying to win the young.  Ther is persuasion, there is cumpulsion and there is attraction.  You can preach at them, that is a hook without a worm;you can say "you must volunteer," and that is of the devil; and you can tell them, "you are needed," that appeal hardly ever fails".

-Kurt Hahn (founder of Outward Bound)

 

Top Ten ways that you know you're in Panama:

10. the little girl sitting next to you in the chiva has a pollito in a shoebox and no one gives it a second glance
9. you think that $3.00 is expensive for a box of cereal
8. you've learned to ...like cold showers
... 7. you swim in your clothes
6. you start to like fried hot dogs
5. you alternate between constipation and diarrhea
4. you ask for more rice at mealtime
3. you buy bedazzled jeans
2. you think that 22 people in a pickup truck is no big deal
1. you don't open the freezer after ironing (Panama has a rare disease that only exists here, it is called Pasma, people believe that when mixing hot and cold causes everything from stroke to paralysis to so much more - whoever invented this and sells the pills at the store is making a fortune.  Don´t worry doctors don´t believe in it either, but if you ask any local or try to disbute it your in trouble)!

Freezing in a Tropical Paradise

 Respingo is a part of Parque National de Volcan Baru, a refuge, tucked in the mountains at the base of the volcano.  It is absolutely gorgeous, and my version of heaven:  Tropical but cold!  It was amazing to crawl into my warm REI sleeping bag and sleep like I was camping in the Sierras.  Ahhhh!

The hike was steep, but not more than 5 Kilometers, when we arrived local park rangers showed us around and taught the youth the importance of refuges like this one.  I got a lot of great information on hiking the volcano and on the trail from Cerra Punta to Boquete, 20 km of forest which houses jaguars, monkeys, the endangered quetzal and some of Panamas largest insects and snakes, oh boy!   Above is our group of youth, Ina

the volunteer that is leaving in June, and a parent who came along for the adventure.  It was a lot like my adventure trips with the Earth Service Corps, but without the rules and regulations of the YMCA.  Although I do feel like my job in SF prepared me well for my job here and feel confident that I can help make the excursion with my ECO Club safer and bring new games, activities and energy to the group.  The photo on the right is our cramped seat belt-less bus ride to the mountain, a bad photo of me, but it is cute of the kids.

 Check out this view, at nearly 9,000ft! 

 This week I am super busy, still observing in the schools, but starting to help out more.  I think in 2 more weeks I will be teaching classes 3 days a week.  We are starting a Vivero (a tree reforestation project) at the school and are planting avocados, plantains, banana and yucca to start.  I am working on a presentation for the community level on the risks of slash and burn farming and also on organic compost and soil nutrition. 
Friday I am going to Vocan, to an Eco fair, where I will help the goat group to sell their yogurt and cheese as a healthy, local alternative.

 Check this picture out on the Right, we are roasting cashews, right off the tree!  A warm, fresh cashew melts in your mouth like butter!

Other than that, still living with my host family, but have signed a contract and secured my house for June.  Looking forward for Maggie and Asella to come visit in July!  Not to mention to be in my own place, cooking for myself and enjoying a little bit of privacy (and maybe a glass of wine behind closed doors)! 

Hasta Luego!  Que tengas un buen dia!  Ciao
-Sina

The Walk to Alanje

There is more to learned in one day of discomfort, poverty and anxiety than in a lifetime of apparent happiness, security, riches and power.  -Anonymous

Last Friday I moved my feet, one in front of the other to a town called Alanje.  It was in celebration of good Friday, and in return all my sins have been cleared and I am forgiven.  Ahhh feels good! Actually, not that good because of the blisters I accumulated on the 17 hour, 50 mile walk from my town of San Andres to Alanje are pretty gnarly.  People walked there from all over the country, and it felt great to arrive and be part of something so big and so profound.  Although I don´t know if my reasons for doing it was the same as the rest of the country, but it definitely helped me integrate into the culture more and was great exercise.  Above is a photo of me at sunrise, about half way there as we walked through the night to avoid the heat. 
Once we arrived at the church the walkers, bikers, bus riders and everyone waited in a line for 2 hours to ask a mannequin dressed up as Jesus to forgive them for their sins.  I opted out of that process and instead laid on the grass and enjoyed a green mango salad.

Life here is good, its moving fast and I am keeping busy.  My schedule consists of working in the elementary schools every morning from 7am until noon, observing and teaching a mix of English, Environmental Education and gardening.  Then I escaped the heat in front of a fan after lunch until about 3, where I then head out on the town to pasear (literally means to pass by, but in Panama it means to visit families house by house trying to get to know everyone in town).  This is a good way to know who´`s related to who and all the local gossip.  I also attend meetings with the youth led Eco Club who is responsible for the recycling program in town, which I will inherit the responsibility of when the current volunteer leaves in June.  I am working with a local group who makes goat cheese and yogurt to prepare a business plan in order to get a brand so they can sell their product in stores, etc... This is a lot of fun, and yesterday I learned to make yogurt and cheese, mmmmmm!  Tomorrow I am heading to the Frontera (the Costa Rican border) to help translate negotiations between tourists passing through and the goat group in an effort to sell some of the product we made yesterday.  I am excited, the Frontera is supposed to be really cool, and its a tax free zone so I plan to buy a bicycle. and a helmet of course!
Tonight my town is having a baile (a dance) where Panama`s most famous Tipica singers are performing.  I am quite nervous and excited to learn the Tipica dances but am just going to go for it with my lack of rhythm.  Vamos a Ver, we`ll see.
My Spanish is improving daily, my tolerance to the heat, and my suntan as well.  This weekend I will spent hiking with youth from the Eco Club as we will head out for an overnight backpacking trip to try and view some of the most endangered and beautiful birds in the world, the Quetzal.
Hopefully I can catch a photo of one for the next blog.

Adios from this little isthmus, missing you all, and thinking about you daily!

Love, Sina

The Cult and Other Lessons in Religion

Old Chinese proverb:  Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it.

Welcome back, and thanks for reading.  This whole idea of writing a blog is great (Thanks Hess btw).  All week I write down little notes or funny things that happened during the day in order to compile them weekly into something entertaining for me to do and hopefully interesting for you all to read.

Today I would like to share some lessons and insight in religion which I have learned in the past 2 weeks in San Andres.  In an effort to meet new people and integrate into the community I have decided to attend all the churches in town.  My first experience being Cult, held in my home 2x a week as my host family is Evangelical.  Yes, they call it Cult as well.  It consists of about 30 people entering our house and singing, chanting, speaking in tongues, and crying for about 2 hours.  It`s short, in comparison, but by far the most intense.  At one point the Pastor grabbed my face and in a fury of spit and tears said some sort of sermon or prayer or whatever they call it.  If anything it scared me away from their religion and did not work as a method to convert me.  I will try and find other things to do during the hours of 6-8pm every Tuesday and Thursday, or just make funny faces at the kids when they peek from their "prayer".

Next I attended Catholic Church, by far my favorite, short and sweet with lots of singing and lots of kids...  This weekend is Easter and I have been invited to participate in Semana Santa.  School shuts down and people celebrate Thursday through Sunday.  On Friday, I will hike to a place called Alanje, it is about a 9 hour hike from my town, we will start at 4am and arrive in time for the evening activities, I am not sure what they are, but I imagine they consist of food, singing and crowds.

 Last Saturday I attended 7th day Adventist church, also with a lot of singing and kids, but not as short and sweet.  In fact it is an all day affair, 8:30am-noon, a break from noon to 3 and then back at it until 6pm.  Talk about devotion.  Also Adventistas don`t listen to music or drink coffee and I supposed are banned from other vices on Saturday, which I only learned the hard way.  In preparation for the long day of religion I prepared myself a nalgene of coffee with all the fixings to make sure I didn`t doze off.  After a while of people staring at my bottle a woman in charge made sure to gently inform me and ask me to take it out of the church, oops!  I also made the mistake of joking that I didn`t know if I would be able to give up music for a whole day every Saturday, which was very seriously replied with "but Jesus gave up his life for you, it`s the least you can do".  Trial by error right?
All I have left now is Jehovah`s Witness, but I think I will hold off for a little to decompress from my last very, religious week.

People understand and are nice to me when I mess up, they get it that I am far from home and this is very different for me.  They use it as a way to teach me, and I use it as a way to learn more about their culture and make new friends.  Every church always introduces me at the beginning of the service (yes in front of sometimes 200 people), thanks me for attending, and thanks God for me being with their religion and in their town; I feel loved.  Little do they know how multi-religious I  really am. 
Other than that, life is good.  With mango and avocado season approaching the town has lots to talk about.  We get lovely afternoon rains to cool down the temperature.  We talk about the weather and the harvests a lot and I am excited to start working on organic gardening.
I`m learning a lot and missing home a lot like usual.


Me and the neighbors baby goat:

 Kids at school:

Indigenous Nobe kids at school

 The house I am living in at the moment with a papaya tree in front.


Thanks for reading!  Hasta luego!