VACATION!!!!!!

May 25, 2013 

Off to the beach for the weekend with the Gringo clan. THANK GOD. I know it's only been a month, but I have never looked forward to getting out of site this badly in my life, I think I just need some time away with my gringo pals. 

Originally this weekend was supposed to be just a girls weekend with myself, Erin, Keara, and Jessie but we decided to invite some of the local man folk as well. We have rented a four person cabaña right on the beach and it is only $10 per night per person, not too shabby. The weekend got started with a bit of a mess but improved tremendously as the days went on. I started off by buying the wrong bus tickets, I bought the tickets to Panama City instead of the tickets to Santa Clara, which are significantly cheaper. Then I checked my backpack while I was waiting for my friends Erin and Tyler to show up so that we could all leave the Chitre terminal together. As I was waiting for them to arrive the pavo shows up to say that the bus is leaving, and that I can either get on this bus or wait for the next one, so without thinking I tell him I'll get on the next one so that I could wait for my friends. I watch the bus leaving as Erin arrives and we greet each other like we haven't seen one another in years, though it had been just a week. We wait in line to get the tickets for the next bus and Tyler shows up exclaiming, "Wow, Melissa! You're just bringing your purse?? That's an impressive packing job!"..... OH Shit. I forgot to get my backpack off of the bus that was headed to Panama City.... whoops and then begins the freaking out. I run around like a crazy person seeing if they can call the bus driver to drop off my backpack at one of the stops along the way so I can pick it up there, the Pavo for the next bus can't get a hold of the bus driver so he tells me he'll keep trying to see if they will leave it at the halfway point in Penonome. FINALLY, after about a half hour of waiting and calling and sweating and freaking out he gets the driver on the phone and he says he'll drop it off with the terminal in Penonome and we can pick it up there on our way to Santa Clara. THANK GOD!!!! Not that it would have been the end of the world, I just would have gone naked to the beach for the entire weekend, and unshowered probably, though nothing of true value was in the bag, as far as I can remember. Once that was figured out I could begin to relax and enjoy my weekend, which we did to the max! 

We spent the weekend walking to rocks, grilling hot dogs on the beach, invading private areas, running around like crazy people, jammin with artisans and Rastafarians and having an amazing time catching up on each other's crazy lives in site so far. It is moments like these that you really begin to appreciate the time you have with your support systems and get to truly realize how valuable it is to have one another so close by. I don't know if there are any pictures from this weekend, though that might be for the best, I will check the other folks to see if they have any on their cameras. 

I might be seen on Panama's most wanted

May 20, 2013

Okay, not actually, please don't freak out. But really I might kill the entire third grade class. 

This is how the day went; I walk into the class and the whole class starts cheering, and I think to myself, awww this is so cute, they like me, they really like me... but THEN my counterpart walks into the room and the entire class starts boo-ing- WHAT THE EFF?? So inappropriate. This week is finals week before the trimester break and the only thing they had to practice for their final oral presentation was to recite the list of vocabulary words (granted, in my opinion this is the worst final exam format I have ever had the displeasure of observing). Needless to say NOT ONE student actually studied. Each one would get up in front of the class and just stare at my counterpart until she started egging them on giving them hints to what the words were, not effective. The worst part wasn't that they didn't study, or that I could strangle my counterpart for creating such a pointless and inadequate exam but listen to what the kids were doing whilst their peers were trying to present, they were: 

-glueing their hands together

-taking wet paint from the artwork and having paint fights

-wrestling

-punching, kicking smacking 

-screaming across the room

-throwing pens and bottles across the room 

-drawing on each other 

And all the while my counterpart does NOTHING‽‽‽ WHAT THE HELLL IS GOING ON????? I tried just taking deep breaths and sitting there trying to be quiet and not do anything except to give the occasional discerning mom "really?" look to the kids eyebrow raised and all, but all they would do is smile sheepishly and then continue to do what they were doing.... and then I went apeshit. 

Not really but I did ask my counterpart if I could say a few words at the end of class and she said I could. So this is what I said; "The behavior of today's class saddens me, I have never been in a classroom that was so poorly behaved, where there was no respect for the teachers or one another. If I ever see behavior like this again I will not be returning to this class because I do not want to spend my time helping a class that doesn't want to learn." Or something along those lines, I'm pretty sure the world went dark and I turned into the hulk because the class got silent. Then my counterpart asks the class, "You all don't want that do you?" and the majority of the class said NOOOOO, except for one little brat who said, "I don't care if she never comes back" (this was the little shit who was glueing her hands together) To which I replied, "I'm not here to be your friends, I am here to help your school and teachers, I would like to get along with everyone, but if not then that is fine with me, that is not my job." I said this all in Spanish, so I'm not sure how much of it got lost in translation, but I think you get the point. I also am not sure if that was the best way to handle it but I don't know if my counterpart would have ever done anything because she is so freaking passive. 

Lawd it was a rough day, but I got through the rest of it, and playing with kindergarten right after that class did help to improve my mood. Though I have got to say, today was the first day thus far in my Peace Corps experience that I actually doubted if I could handle my service, but then I realized that this is all part of the challenges I am going to face and that I am going to have to learn to take the good with the bad. 

***Also my apologies for the craziness of this rant but I just had to get it off my chest before I exploded. 

The Puppy Plague

So I don´t know what it is about the rainy season in Panama but it is causing a crazy outbreak of illness amongst all the dogs in Las Minas. My host mom is calling it Mosquillo, but that doesn´t really tell me much of anything. I think it has something to do with the crazy amount of flies and mosquitos that are infecting the dogs, but unfortunately one of my pups, the first one I was gifted seems to have come down with the illness. I´m not really sure what to do about it, she is so skinny and can´t keep food down and has got this awful infection around her eyes. I took her to the Agro-vet but he isn't a real veterinarian, so I'm not sure how much his opinion helped but he gave me some vitamins to give her strength and some pills to help her appetite. Hopefully it will work... we'll see. 

The Crowning of Miss Pedasi

May 18, 2013

Soooo you are all now in the presence of royalty! I, Melissa Starr Boudrye have been crowned Miss Queen Pedasi, you should all be honored. lolzzz 

SO here's how it happened: 

Myself, Erin, Erin's host sister Clau, her boyfriend Francis decided we needed a break from campo life and made the trek to Pedasi, a little hippie beach town a little bit outside of Las Tablas, Los Santos. Clau and her boyfriend used to live in the area so they got us an awesome deal on a room right in the middle of town, which was great because Erin and I both seem to be struggling with our Peace Corps budgeting... 

After a HUGE dinner of Chinese food we decided to take a nap to gear up for our wild night on the town. Once we were refreshed and looking semi decent we went into the town to a local bar owned by a bunch of Argentinians (so obviously I felt right at home). Clau told us that there was a talent contest that night and that the girl who won would get a free margarita, so I figured I might as well sign up, I could sing a little diddy and at least have fun being spontaneous for a night. Turns out it was NOT a talent contest but a pretty legit competition to be crowned Miss Pedasi.... whoops. 

The first portion was a Latin dance competition so I BS'd it as best I could but I'm going to be honest I didn't know what the hell I was doing, there was one other gringa in the competition so she and I just danced together laughing like a bunch of lunatics as we made absolute fools out of ourselves. 

The Second Portion was a runway walk... again what the hell?? I kicked off my broken cutaras (sandals sp?) and walked down the runway trying not to trip or burst out laughing again, my friends and some other PC volunteers who showed up at the bar were having a laugh riot taking pictures of all of us, though I seemed to be the only one who wasn't taking it seriously. 

After the second round they eliminated a good number of the girls until there were just four of us left.... and who'd a thunk I would be in the top four...not me. Then came the third round the QUESTIONNAIRE, basically an opportunity for the local guys to ask us ladies a bunch of mildly inappropriate questions in Spanish, and a perfect time for me to once again make a fool out of myself.  

After the third round came the final judgement and it was down to just the four of us ladies; myself, the other gringa, a local, and a stunningly beautiful Colombian. I had no expectations for this portion as I was standing there sweating and looking mildly shabby in the only nice-ish clothes I brought with me and I was standing there looking a fool next to these stunningly beautiful girls dressed to the nine's in their heels and their skin tight club dresses, basically I figured there would be prizes First through third and then one of us would just receive a gracious thank you for participating. The other gringa got called up first and she received a bouquet of flowers and a sash, then the local girl got called up and received a bouquet and a sash, then it was down to the Colombian and myself. So naturally I thought to myself, well shit she is going to get the first prize and then they will thank me for my participation and I will walk away mildly ashamed. So I tuned out when they gave the Colombian her bouquet of flowers and a sash and then I received my sash with no flowers and sat down with my friends after a semi-awkward curtsey to the audience. 

BUT then the owner came up to me and handed me an envelope with $40 and with a smile said, "Here is your prize Reina of Pedasi"..... I stood there stunned WTF???? Then my friends bust out laughing, "YOU WON YOU STUPID IDIOT"..... whoops, I just assumed that I didn't win because I didn't get any flowers, but it turns out I got cash instead- HOLLAAAAAA. So there ya have it folks I am royalty get on my level. :) 

AGENCY DAY

May 16, 2013

Today was agency day, the day that the Herrera province got the opportunity to meet the important people of the Ministry of Education MEDUCA, it was also a chance for all of our province to meet one another since most of our group 72 hasn't met any of the previous groups. It was also the first day that Chitre got rain- so walking in heels was a thrill and a half. 

Once we all got there we played a bunch of ice breaker games, which were fun and actually pretty effective- Way to go Regional Leaders! Then we broke up into our program departments, Teaching English, and Community Environmental Conservation and explored more of our city as well as met every person who works in the MEDUCA Herrera office. 

It was a little intimidating meeting most of those people especially since we all looked like a bunch of ragamuffins with our soaking wet hair and already worn out "fancy" clothes, but I think we still made a good first impression... eh? 

Then for the fun part all of us crazy gringos went out to a tipico bar and danced like a bunch of lunatics while receiving free beers from locals, and it was also a time to actually get to know the other volunteers, who are AMAZING and crazy and wonderful just like our group and so I have continue to fall more and more in love with my province.  

Broken Promises

May 14, 2013 

I made a promise to myself never to eat spam....I guess promises were made to be broken. 

Real talk though, what is with Panamanian's obsession with spam?? It tastes like a combination of soap and what I'd imagine cat food tastes like, not that I've ever tried it, but still. Thank GOD for the tons of tabasco sauce that the fam sent me otherwise I would have been struggling a lot more than I did. **BTW I need more of the stuff, you can't find it here unless I go to Panama City and as much as I love it, it is not worth a $12 bus ride and the inflated prices I'm bound to find at Reba Smith Grocery. 

Pasear in Cheppo

Sunday May 12, 2013

Today was a good day. We had been planning all weekend (my host fam and I) to go up to the mountains in Chepo and spend some time. I thought we were going to just hang out in a house or at a finca somewhere but we decided an adventure would be a better use of our time. We drove the hour up to the top of the mountain in a back of a pick up truck, to say it was breathtaking would be an understatement; it literally took my breath away. Imagine being on an amusement ride with no safety buckle, and with a view of rolling mountains and countryside like something out of one of The Lord of the Rings novels. It was surreal. Once we arrived to the top of one of the mountains and the road ended we got out and started walking, not really having any idea where we were going. My host cousin Viki had heard there was a river somewhere around there so we started asking people and started hiking. We didn't really have an idea how long the hike would be so we were all dressed inappropriately and naturally my host sister Melissa brought her chihuahua, so we were a spectacle. We ended up hiking for about three hours up and down these incredibly brutal hills that were just dirt and rocks, we spent most of the time slipping and trying to keep ourselves balanced enough not to go tumbling all the way down. 

Once at the top of one of the hills we came across a house and there were a bunch of children playing outside we asked them if they knew where the river was and they said they would show us something even better so we continued on our adventure for another 45 minutes or so down into the jungle and through a forest of coffee plants and had to shimmy on this killer ledge until we arrived at one of the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen in my life. It was such a secluded area and it was clear that it wasn't a very populated area for the lack of  trash and general human destruction. The boys said hardly anyone knows that the place exists except for those who live in the area and use the little watering hole as a bathing grounds. Only myself and Generino know how to swim so we jumped right in to try and attempt to cool off after a consistent 4 hours of sweating. Our little guides showed no fear and climbed up to one of the higher rocks of the waterfall and dove right in, it was wild. 

I am going to regress into cheesiness and just say I felt one with nature for maybe the first time in my life it was incredible. Even though my host mom and sister and cousin were struggling a bit, my little students who came with us and their dad (our neighbor) had loads of stored up energy left, I don't know how they did it, my legs were shaking with exhaustion where as they were still running around and climbing up rocks and having fits of giggling. It was an amazing way to spend the day and even though it was exhausting I felt so accomplished once we finished. 

I can't wait to do it again, but I think I'll have to find someone else to come with me because my family has made it clear that they have absolutely no intention of ever doing that again. 

Pics to come once I have strong enough interwebs!! 

Chau! 

You know you live in panama when....

85 degrees is cold enough to wear a sweater to work....