"Do not go where the path may lead..."

So I scored a pretty sweet site for a Volunteer Visit (a 5-6 day adventure into the life of a real volunteer doing my job in a site that could be similar or absolutely nothing like what mine will be. I went to Valle Escondido on the Island of San Cristobal. (No, not quite Isla colon, but that is the nearest 'real town' to it) Yea, it was in the Caribbean. No, it was not the postcard picture of bright sandy beaches you would imagine. But they do have those within an hour of there, and this was a pretty sweet jungle machete adventure. But I get ahead of myself. Some housekeeping first: -Bad news bears on the mail front. Panama is going for first place in the suckstastic mail-athon, and it's probs gonna be awhile before I get anything. Apparently it takes 2 days for US mail to get to Panama City, and then another 2 months to get to the PC office like an hour away from the mail room. Ridiculous, I know. AND letters tend to be less reliable than packages. So...that...

Blog Notes for Friday May 11th: Hola familia y amigos!!! It has been one week and some change since I landed in Panama, and yea, it has been a change! I'm not even sure where to start. I guess to highlight the last week I should say: -I have a fantastic host family. My host dad is an art teacher at the nearby school, my host mom is a fabulous cook and easy to talk to...sorta...(it is in another language) and my host little brother's name is Natan, just like another little brother I know. (He also NEVER eats his food, is obsessed with Batman, Lion King, and Scooby Doo) -I am very lucky when it comes to my living situation. I have my own room and we have indoor plumbing, most of the time. At night there is often not water in the toma anymore so that is when we have to break out the bucket shower. Yea, bucket showers, that's a thing. Also, there are always two taps on sinks which i think is silly because we have cold water, and cold water. While cold showers feel nic...

Something about going back and trying to fix things in previous sentences makes this blogger totally freak out, so sorry, you are just going to have to deal with misspeallings as they happen. So...oh yea. The field trip today. It was great, I got a little sunburned but not much, sweated more than even my hikes in New Mexico, and then when we got back took a cold shower and scrubbed the mud out of my blisters which was less fun. But it was the first day that I felt like something was really clicking here in Panama. (IDK about you, but in a room full of engineers as a theatre kid I tend to stick out a bit. And everyone says that sis ok and good and that I will have great skills that others can learn from, its still not particualrly easy.) Anyway, off to bed. Got an early morning (6.30am, but not as early as todays 5.30am) and then I am off to live with a bunch of strangers that speak another language, nbd. Love and miss you all!!

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 lo...

So i froze or broke the last post. Idk. This tablet might end up in the bottom of the canal (which is SUPER close to me right now) by the end of the week. Ok, probs not. But maybe. Anyway, what I was trying to do was say thanks for being there whenever I went crazy throughout this PC process, and I am excited to share this adventure with you. You all rock! Also, I know you have high expectations for me for crazy adventures, great photos, and to do some actual good work eventually. And I don't plan on letting you down!! Ready set, tomorrow training starts and my Panamanian life begins!

I'm am currently writing from the lovely country of Panama, and it is totally surreal. If I was less of a zombie and capable of feeling emotions other tired I would be totally freaking out excited right now. To sum up the last 72 hours, I packed like crazy, finished a paper for my Spanish class, spent some time with the family, and then all of a sudden it was time to go. Staging in DC was a tired blur of new faces, new names, and sitting at a table in a hotel conference room talking about Peace Corps' goals and expectations. After that a group of us went out the get pizza and beer in Georgetown and I got back to my room to take a nap about 9pm. After a 2.5 hr nap I got up at 11.30 to call a few friends and the fam before I had to shower, check out, and round up my group (I ended up a group leader to help wrangle the 51 peace corps trainees from the hotel to the airport to panama, and was responsible for EVERYONE's passports, visas, and plane tickets for awhile) Chaos en...