Sunday, October 26, 2008

Goodbye Santa Clara, Hello San Cristobal!



Here it is, my new home! This is the view from the school and the community is below. I am so happy to be somewhere that has a beautiful view of the water. I have a feeling this will be a good spot for me to collect my thoughts and recharge.

We officially swore in as Peace Corp volunteers this last Wednesday, very exciting. The ceremony was held at the US ambassadors house, which was very nice to say the least. There were some nice speeches and there were hor´dervous afterward. I have to say my favorite part was the cocktail napkins that said "United States of America" on them in gold lettering. It just made me smile.

Above are some photos from the party we threw for our host familes as well. It was great time and while we were all excited to be moving on to our sites, it was hard to say goodbye. My host mom and sisters are above on the right. I will post more when I have a chance. Thanks again for all the emails and phone calls.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Only 7 Days Left

It is nearing the end of October now and we are in the last few days of training. This point seemed a lifetime away when I think back to a little over 2 months ago when I arrived here in Panama. More and more the realization is setteling over the group that this is it and the "vacation" is soon to be over. It is hard to put into words the feeling I have knowing that I will soon be leaving the comforts of new friends, lots of structure and a great host family. While I have experienced lots of new beginnings before in life....starting college, moving to a new city, starting a new job...etc...this is something different entirely. It is sort of like moving closer and closer to this ledge of unknown. I am preparing to jump in to this next three months with an open mind and I feel this will be the biggest test that I have put my self up against yet....it is exciting and a bit terrifying.

The next few days are going to be a whirlwind of activity as we lead up to our swear in ceremony. We are having a despedida or party tomorrow for all of our host families in Santa Clara for which we are making italian food, having piƱatas and painting faces. It should be good time, but bittersweet. Monday we have our final language interview and then we move back to our original home of Ciudad Del Saber for the last few days of seminars and information gathering at the Peace Corp office. We plan on spending the weekend at the beach together to celebrate and then a week from now I will be officially a volunteer and living in my community. I am looking forward to having some time to relax and share more time with the friends I have made.

From here on out any love letters, postcards and care packages can be sent to my new address:

Piper Frode
Cuerpo de Paz-Panama
Entrega General
Bocas del Toro, Bocas del Toro
Republica de Panama

Same rules still apply...padded envelops work best and certified mail is a good idea. All the mail goes to the main island so I will probably be checking once a week or so. Thanks again for all the emails and comments.

Monday, October 6, 2008

I can´t believe it is already October...



PHOTOS!!!! I have finally gotten around to posting some for you all to see. I hope you all enjoy! Left is a photo of our Bocas crew. From top left is Kaitlyn, Brian, Joe (the volunteer we visited), Old David, Ray, from bottom left Jesse, Ben and me.

This last month has flown by to say the least. We are entering the last few weeks of training and you can feel the nervous excitment in the group. The end of September was full of lots of travel, fun, and of course hard work. We spent two weeks away from our training site, Santa Clara for both cultural and tech training. For culture week everyone from my group who will be living in the Bocas Del Toro province traveled to say with volunteer who lived in the area. We stayed with indigenous host families and learned a ton about the history, culture, people and agencies in the area. Some highlights of the culture week:

  • visiting an organic cacao cooperative

  • hiking four hours uphill in the mud to see how the aquduct system worked and then taking in the view of all of the islands of Bocas from the top of a mountain...while drinking fresh pipa (a variety of coconut) juice.

  • trying to peel green bananas in the dark with a machete

  • visiting a cacao farm, eating fresh cacao (tastes like a green apple) and planting banana trees.

This is a picture of the volunteer´s porch. It was a sweet house and I can only hope I am as lucky.




Me learning how to make a Chacra bag from the local womens artisans group. The bag is a traditional woven bag made to carry firewood, bananas or whatever else needed to be hauled around. Men and women also carry them as a purse.

The photos above are a few photos from the town we stayed in, Valle Risco. all the house we pretty similar. Wood with a palm or penca roof. Most of the houses were on stilts and the families hung out underneath in hamocks or on the concrete floors. The town itself was in a beautiful valley and every morning, there was mist in the trees. Our host families there were really hospitable and despite all of us getting sick in one way or another, we had a positive experience.

Technical week was also great. We stayed in a coffee producing area that was high up in the mountains. It was actually cold and we got to sleep with big comforters everynight and wear jackets! Quite a change from what we live in everyday so that was nice. It felt like fall weather on the central coast. We gave several presentations in spanish on marketing, accounting and also taught a lesson in the elementary school. Needless to say we all came home pretty tired but felt accomplished.

We are all working hard at our language skills and this coming week they will be put to the test when we visit our sites for the first time. Needless to say I am pumped to visit my community when I will be living and working for the next two years. I am tired of feeling a homeless so it will be awesome to finally picture myself settled. I will post some photos of that when I get a chance.

Thanks again for all the emails and comments. I love reading them so please keep them coming!