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

There are kids in my house at least 4 hours every day. One or two will stop by for last minute homework help or to get a high five starting somewhere around 6am. I am not usually awake yet, so unless it is a really important homework thing or they seem really desperate, I usually ignore them or tell them to come back later after 7. Josecito is a particularly demanding 8 year old who is usually on my porch shouting, 'Amber! Come here! Gimme 5! What are you doing? Come here! Amber! Come here! Why are you still sleeping? Amber! Amber!' ...he's not my favorite alarm clock, but he is one of my favorite kids. From 8am until at least 11am I usually have a break, 3 guaranteed hours of peace in my house while all of them are in school. About 11am they start having recess breaks and I find them stopping by for 10 mins or so on their way back from buying candy. At noon the kindergarteners are done and the rest of them finish at 1 so by 2 my little hut is guaranteed to be busy with 5 ...

Hey friends. It has been 365 days in Panama, and as my second year in Panama begins, I thought I would give you a quick recap, particularly since the last few months got a little crazy, I left Nebraska on May 1st, 2012 and landed in Panama on May 2nd. Ten weeks of a special kind of hell called training where everyone pretends like they love it all the time later, I swore in as a PCV on July 5th, 2012. I quickly found myself learning how to be a Djabwera, an Embera sister, living in the remote village of Playona. After 3 months of living in survival mode experiencing the ups and downs of living with a host family in the height of the rainy season of the Darien, I got to move into my own hut. I was supposed to be living alone but have had many uninvited roommates of the wildlife variety. In those months I became close friends with the fellow PCVs of the Darien, particularly the 3 down river of me. Let's just say the first 6 months in country are tough and I am not sad to have t...

Yes, all activities were done wearing flip flops. Unless I was barefoot. :-) Sunday, February 3rd Wake up at 6AM when the girl next to me starts elbowing me repeatedly with as she brushed her hair. The bus takes a pit stop for breakfast but I am too tired and cranky to buy anything. Two and a half hours and a boat ride later, Ben and I finally arrive on Bocas Island, our 26 hour cross country bus ordeal finally over. We find out our next boat doesn't leave until 6pm so we catch a ride to Starfish beach and spend the afternoon in paradise. Our ride back shows up late so we get back after 6, terrified we missed the boat. Turns out the driver is still in the casino so we meet up with Tricia and Grayce and watch the Super Bowl until he is ready to go at 8pm. We get to Tricia's island in the dark, get to her hut, make dinner, and go to sleep immediately, about 9.30. I haven't been this tired since college. Wednesday, February 7th We start moving at 6.30am and T...

So now is the time tht most of the next crew, G73 is starting to seriously prepare for their arrival to Panama in June. For those of you using the welcome book to pack, here are my suggestions based on what I have experienced in my first year in country. Hope it helps! 6 days a week in training you will wear:   -Long pants or skirt (cargo pants, khaki pants, nice jeans, quick dry pants. Of those, I recommend really only 1 pair of jeans. It is too freaking hot!) Skirt should be about knee length, lightweight cotton or sturdy material, and not tight fitting) -Collared shirt or blouse (could be a button up or polo, long or short sleeved. Again, not too low cut or tight fitting) -Business casual shoes (Almost anything not a flip flop, not open toe for men. Could be tennis shoes, flats, sandals with ankle straps. In good condition.) -Socks if aforementioned shoes require them. -Comfy shorts to hang out at home in, sleep in, wander around the community in, play sp...

That is what Chelsea calls them. Stories or anecdotes or quips about yourself or things you have done or things that have happened to you in your peace corps service that are...gross. The reigning king of the crusty confessionals is a Volunteer who, while using his pit latrine in the rainy season, managed to get splash back in his mouth while dropping the kids off at the pool. I have a crusty confessional. It was 3:41AM last Saturday night. I was laying in bed, tucked into my mosquito net. Let me tell you about mosquito nets. The inside of one's mosquito net is holy ground. A mosquito net is like a  superpower force field, protecting you from all evil in the world- mosquitoes, rodents, wildlife, pumas, kidnappers, rebel armies, small children. That is what we believe. That is what we tell ourselves to live our crazy jungle lives in peace and serenity. In my mosquito net, nothing can hurt me. So here we are. Safe. Secure. Tucked into my mosquito net and absolutely dead to ...

The results of the seminar were apparent immediately. An hour after the seminar ended, more than half of the 27 families came out to help finish the first four. The brand new president of the health comittee, Victor, took note of the number of hours each person worked. That night he scheduled work days for Saturday and Sunday, and then sent my host mom, the Vocal, out to spread the word to everyone in the project. On Saturday as I walked around the community I noticed that 5 rainwater catchment tanks had new covers on them. One woman showed me the new lid on her trash can. When I had lunch with my host family on Sunday, my host mom scolded my little brother for eating food off of the floor. In my 3 months living there, that had never happened. Just before I had to leave on Sunday we finished the handwashing station on the first completed latrine. 1 down, and 3 more oh-so-close. I left on Sunday after the seminar to do a water committee seminar and to help Danielle build a com...

By Friday morning, the 5 PCVs heard the alarm go off at 6AM, and we knew we should get up, but it was more like 6:45 or 7 before any real movement was accomplished. The community met us there at the meeting hall right at 8 so we were able to get started ahead of schedule. Again, this is UNHEARD OF across Panama in general, especially in my region. So epic win. We started by breaking into small groups to outline the jobs of a president, secretary, treasurer, technician, and vocale. Based on the characteristics and responsibilities of each office, we then elected a new health committee since the previous one was choosing to resign. The outgoing Health Committee VP/treasurer spoke about some of the challenges of the pilot phase and his recommendations for the future groups. In the end we elected a new committee that even has TWO women on it! (My host mom is one of them :) ) After the new committee was elected we discussed how the next families will be chosen. We are only going to cont...