Finishing Orientation

Hey everyone!

Still trying to get my bearings in Panama. Thursday and Friday were full of looong sessions sitting in chairs absorbing more information that I thought my brain could process about how to do everything from money to health and security to Spanish to my job. I am doing well with my Spanish, but have really NO IDEA how to be a water systems designer. In EH with me (Environmental Health,or Salud Ambiental) there are 23 other Trainees, as well asI think 2 more classes out in the field already.

Further info about what I do know about my job is that basically, EH is the hard corps peace corps. EH is the group in the most primitive, remote sites with the most isolation and limited acçes to things like all of you wonderful people back home. Go big or go home, right? Well, right now I am certainly going big and after the hike we went on today, I have nothing but the utmost respect for the EH PCV's. Now that's not to say I dont think I can do it- the hike today was a lot, but I did it just fine in the end. I know I can totally do it. I just know that there is a LOT of growing and challenging and struggling I am going to have to do in the process to get there...like likely learn an indigenous language. (Again, exciting. But new wracking)

Oh yea, that hike. Today was a field trip to visit an EH voluteer in their site. We went to one of the closest ones- a 2 hr bus trip, a 10 min trek on a rutty washed out dirt road
 in the trunk of a land rover with 3 other people, and then a 45min hike up the side of a mountain in the jungle one a ...yea, it was sometimes a trail. Most of the time. But then
sometimes you just know to turn at the palm tree and cross the creek I guess. It was ridiculous, and I loved it. I tried uplaoding pics but my tablet and I (though we have become better friends at blog posts) have not come to terms with uploading pics to FB yet and attempt ! and 2 failed. Sinve I move out to my training host family in a town without internet, those wont get uploaded for probs a week.

On our hike we visited a toma and the tank for the water system and I learned the basic ideas of how to take water coming up from the ground and process it through pipes to move it down the mountain to people's homes. It'll make more sense with pics, I promise. We then had lunch prepared for us by the little village and then made the trek back to the land rovers for the ride back to the bus. On the way home we stopped for cheesy empanadas and chicheme, a juice that is best described as being kinda like rumchata, only made from cornmeal and with chunk of said cornmeal in it. It tastes less like cinnamon toast crunch and more like tapioca pudding, however.

Also, last night we went ot a mall. By mall I also mean the central bus termina lfor Panama City, and a mall attached that might rival Mall of America. It is HUGE. We had Wendy's for dinner and I helped some of my friends through the ordering process....and then helped one of them get herself a phone. That was only moderately successful since the sales man told us tht we were getting a phone that could change its SIM card, but in fact it could not. But it will at least wor for her for awhile. IDK what phones work best yet in Santa Rita but ill find out soon and may buy a phone next weekend. Regardless, Ihave an international calling card now so I can probs make a few phone calls next weekend eithe way.

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